svyat: "The fact that we made it to the Major is a natural outcome of our work"

After DreamEaters qualified for the StarLadder Major, we spoke with Svyatoslav "⁠svyat⁠" Dovbakh to discuss the team's results at the Minor, issues with nervousness and their series against INTZ.

DreamEaters were one of three teams to qualify for the StarLadder Major via the Minor Play-in after defeating INTZ in the opening series of the tournament. Against the odds, the Russian squad bested the Brazilian favourites, ensuring a spot in the New Challengers Stage following a close 2-1 series.

Shortly after their victory, we spoke with DreamEaters' in-game leader, svyat, to discuss their difficulties against Syman in the group stage, the personal significance of qualifying for the Major and the team's series against INTZ.

Watching your performance from the start of the Minor, it was looking like you would advance to the Major within the constraints of the tournament, as opposed to the Play-in. What was the journey like?

Honestly, I thought we would qualify straight away, too - we showed a great game, we had a good structure, we prepared really well as a team, and after our first game against Spirit, we believed we could make top 1 or top 2 and secure direct qualification, so to speak. At a certain moment, maybe even in the second game of the group stage, against Warthox, the nerves kicked in. When the emotional swings started and when we lost important rounds, I noticed that the guys started getting nervous, I noticed the trembling in the speech of specific players; in reality, everyone was nervous in their own way during different matches. I'll say that this really got in our way, and it's apparent from the matches we lost against Syman, and the fact that we nearly lost against INTZ. Had we not been nervous and played a cold-blooded game, we would have pretty confidently closed out any of our series. We need to work on it.

I think the way things worked out might even be better than if we had steamrolled all of the teams, and I'll explain why - the Major is a very important event, and it is imperative to harden yourself personally and harden up as a team, and learn how to win these games, as well as how to lose them, to be able to deal with it in the future. We were lucky that we were able to play these games, lose maps, and still secure a slot at the Major. I think it's really good and it will serve us well.

Your previous closest Major qualification endeavour had seen you narrowly miss the FACEIT Major with pro100 as the team finished third in the CIS Minor. What is the personal significance of qualifying for the Major with a team you lead?

The simple fact we qualified for the Major doesn't excite me, I probably didn't want it all that much, I never really pondered on it. What I wanted most was for us to develop as a team - I've always wanted to play in a good team, where players want to improve and develop, where they want to play, get along well with each other and have a workable atmosphere. I have successfully found this team, and the fact that we made it to the Major is a natural outcome of our work. Me, personally, making it to the Major is good and all, but I'm happier about my team and that I'm playing with these guys and what we have achieved together.

If we discuss me nearly making the Major a year ago with pro100, at the time we nearly made the cut, but it was mostly by luck. Not entirely for free, but I really didn't like our approach to the Minor, our preparation for it, the way we played as a team and our style in general. We only made it out of the groups because we had three teams in our group, Nemiga could not make it to the Minor because of visa issues. We won against Spirit purely because they had a very bad map veto, we narrowly lost to HellRaisers but that was an upper bracket final, so they could have been a bit nervous. That top three did not come for free, but we did not deserve it. We deserve it now, though.

You mentioned that it was important for you to make the Major with a team you enjoy playing alongside - how does your current squad stack up against previous ones and what makes it enjoyable to play with them?

I think, firstly, and importantly, people listen to me. I am respected as a coordinator and my opinion and vision of the game are respected. You could say that my teammates follow my orders without second-guessing and stick to my plan, so to speak. At the same time, the team has people that take initiative in terms of assisting me in coordinating things in-game, as well as helping me during practice in discussing issues and reaching mutual ground. It's always better to have a list of opinions and it's a lot easier to come to a mutual understanding when there's variety.

Having watched some of your games live on stage, [coach] zoneR really seems to have a positive impact and ensures the team is in high spirits. He picks you up when you're down and keeps a positive vibe when you're riding highs - how does he assist you when it comes to the tactical aspect of the game?

Since the beginning we've been trying to establish how we want to work with Sasha (zoneR) - initially it was one way, then we gradually went in another way. In the end, I simply explained what I needed from zoneR as a coach, and we've employed this system here at the Minor. About what he does exactly - firstly, yes, he tries to keep us uplifted and tries to demoralise the opponent. To be honest, you don't really hear it on LAN, ourselves included because you're wearing noise-canceling headphones. We occasionally hear Sanya (zoneR) scream something, we laugh a bit, it's cool, but, all things considered, on LAN it doesn't massively help us. In official matches online we definitely feel his impact because he can say something positive and it really boosts our morale.

I also asked him to prepare for opponents so that I have to spend less time doing it, instead spending more time focusing on my individual form. From previous experience playing in a team, when I was the coordinator, I would frequently lose form because I spent a lot of time on practice, tactics, demos etc. In conclusion, I realised that I don't like it and don't need it, I need to play well.

I interviewed neaLan from Syman, who was very impressed and surprised by the showing you demonstrated at the Minor. He mentioned that in online practice you managed to demolish them right before the Minor, and, further, you steamrolled one of the tournament favourites, Spirit, in the first match you played. How did the team achieve such good form going into the tournament?

Obviously, it's all a result of our preparation, and talking about Spirit specifically, I think Spirit lost form due to a loss of morale in important matches, a problem we share with them. It was a very important match for them, it was apparent, because if they lose it, they don't even make top 4, and as a result, there's no chance to reach the Major. The match was obviously important for us as well, but we didn't have set expectations from the Minor off the get-go. We understood that we wanted to have a good showing, we understood that we could achieve top 2, but we could just as well have finished at the bottom - we didn't have that pressure, and that match, for us, was an attempt to give ourselves revenge for our bitter loss to Syman. We were given a slap, which made us really mad, leading to our thirst for victory. It didn't matter who we beat, Spirit just happened to be on the receiving end. As for them, their showing was a bit worse because of the morale factor, and I think that really got in their way.

On the topic of Syman, we did beat them online quite convincingly, yes, and in the winners' bracket match we were also beating them confidently. The first map we finished 16-9, the second map, Dust2 also saw something along the lines of 14-10, and after we lost confidence, the emotional swings began and we lost quite a bit of form off the back of it. Perhaps our character isn't sufficiently seasoned yet, and we started losing everything - we lost the first overtime, then lost the third map, afterward we lost to them a second time. We would've shown a much better performance against Syman had we not been so nervous.

Let's talk about the series against INTZ - the Brazilians were heavily favoured against you, yet you very nearly secured a 2-0 victory. You seemed to be aware of what to expect from them - how familiar were you with the team beforehand? Did you practice against them at all?

We had practiced against them, but I don't recall the specifics. We practice against Brazilian teams pretty frequently, we have faced Sharks and Luminosity. As for the match, we did prepare for it, and we were 100% sure in regards to which maps we'd be playing. We prepared well for Overpass, Mirage - we had a good idea as to how they would play, we expected all of their plays, barring a couple of rounds.

In general, I'd describe its dynamic similar to that of our match against Syman. The first map was a confident victory, in the second everything was going well, and then once more we experienced nervousness, sentences along the lines of: "Come on let's just finish up already, let's win already" were voiced, the guys were eager to close out, which played a bad joke on us. We lost our cold-blooded approach and our focus, we just wanted to close it out quickly, but it turned out that things ended poorly. There were clutch rounds where one or two opponents would survive, and we just couldn't finish. The big difference between our match with Syman was that on the third map we finally composed ourselves and won, finally demonstrating our character.