Insider Gaming broke the news of Melchior ‘Seleri’ Hillenkamp’s decision to step away from competitive Dota 2, a decision which has since been confirmed by the player and the MOUZ organization.
Below is the full interview where that information was revealed, with Seleri reflecting on ESL One Birmingham 2026, which looks to be the legend’s final event, at least for now.
You left the event vs Xtreme Gaming. How are you feeling about that match?
Ah, I’m feeling fine. It was a bit annoying, because I really wanted to play on stage. So, we only got to play once.
But it also feels like we tried our best, and the patch didn’t help us, to be honest. We just did our best. So, I’m happy about that.
Game 1, you were fully in control. Do you think it was just the draft in Game 2 and 3, or do you think there’s something deeper going on?
I mean, it’s nice to just blame it on the draft. But in the first game, we talked about it. Our coach also told us that it wasn’t easy to play with our draft.
We needed to burst them, and we needed to not get too far behind from the lanes, but it’s very hard. They had two heroes with saves. So, we tried to burst, but there’s always one guy with a save there. But in the second game, we can definitely win.
In the end, you win or you lose as a team. It’s not like it’s one person’s fault.
What were your first impressions of the patch in general?
I was very surprised that the Facets are gone. I think the issue is that they don’t have a good enough grasp of how to balance certain heroes. So, right now, there’s always a big pool of heroes that are very hard to play and get hit very hard.
A hero like Chen, for example, they’ve been nerfing him for years, but the Facet actually gave him something. So, for Chen to not have his Facet anymore, and what he got in return, you cannot really look at it in the same way. So, it hit this hero really hard, and some other heroes as well.
And some heroes, they just gave five spells. For example, I played Venomancer yesterday. I have five spells. That’s pretty nice. So, they got some work to do.
It’s kind of funny looking at it, because it feels like some of them lost their Facets entirely, and then some of them got both of them. Do you think that’s a bit strange?
It’s interesting, yeah. Maybe they have some favourite heroes. I have no idea. I’m sure they’re trying their best as well. It’s a hard game to balance.
You said the patch didn’t help you in performance. Why do you think that was?
I mean, what was annoying for us was that we were not in shape before the tournament. So, a few days before [the tournament], we started getting in shape, and we showed it during the group stage that we were in pretty decent form.
So, we just learned all these things, and then we were finally finished learning this, so we thought, ‘Okay, nice. Now we just have to learn to execute as well,’ and then everything is gone.
Especially the map movement, because the map change… Like, the hero changes are most interesting for me, and probably for everyone watching, but the map change changes the most, because there’s so much less gold on certain parts of the map.
All of a sudden, your entire movement changes. You need to relearn this entirely. So, that was the hardest, I think, for us.
Do you think there was a bit of a disconnect with how the team is moving throughout the map?
I think we got on the same page when we played our official, but it’s just hard.
We’re not going to do it to the same level that we did before, because the way we practiced moving on the map, we spent a lot of time on it, and we finally felt like we had it figured out. So, that was a bit unfortunate.
The team has struggled for form since PGL Wallachia Season 6. Do you feel like the team wasn’t on top of the previous meta?
Yeah, not sure. I mean, we’re a weird team. We have our own heroes. When we are in shape, I feel like we kind of make our own meta, in a way. Even the last tournament, or this tournament, I mean.
Before the patch dropped, we started experimenting with Nyx mid. I didn’t even know we practiced this, but that’s kind of how we work.
We have a mid player who plays a lot of crazy stuff, and we have our own style on the sidelines. So, when we are in shape, I don’t think the patch matters too much.
It’s more that, if we’re not in shape, we’re very volatile.
In shape in terms of an individual level?
Yeah, it’s mostly individual level, I think, but also as a team. We’re just not that consistent right now. So, it really shows when we’re not feeling it.
One weird aspect of your group stage is that you never had a Bo2 draw. It was all or nothing. Do you think that’s just a random result, or does it show that you need momentum?
There’s probably just some random element to it as well. But when the momentum is in our favour, it really helps us.
I think, before this tournament, I felt we could really win it, but we could also get last. So, it’s tough sometimes.
So it really is just all or nothing, then?
I guess. Hopefully a bit less in the future, but it’s hard to get it under control for now.
With the new patch, what’s your kind of process for getting in shape for the following tournaments?
It’s going to be a weird answer. I didn’t talk too much about it too much yet in public, but I’m probably not going to be playing anymore after this tournament. So for me, it’s not going to be too much.
But I talked to a lot of the guys, and I hope it will be positive for them that there is some change that will help them to figure things out quicker. So it’s a bit random.
Are you moving to another team?
No, it’s just too much time commitment to me, it’s too much stress. Not during a tournament, playing on stage is very fun for me.
But it’s hard to have a life next to Dota as a player. I really enjoy playing still, but it’s better if you don’t have too much of a life outside of Dota.
So it’s… That’s the main reason. I really enjoy playing still. It’s just hard to… It’s better if you don’t have too much of a life outside of Dota.
So you’re retiring then?
You never know, right? Maybe there’s some national tournament, maybe I’ll become a stand-in master.
Who knows? But I’m definitely taking it chill for a while.”
You can discuss the Seleri news on our Discord server!
For more ESL One Interviews, see our chat with ATF about Falcons’ longevity as a roster.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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