Gambit Moo's interview

-	Good evening everyone. Today I will interview Dmitrii Suhanov, also known as Gambit Moo. Or ex-Gambit Moo. Hello, Dima!
-	Hi.
-	Let’s start from the most important things. Recently there have been a lot of news, and not from the Gambit itself, but from the players’ twitters that they are free agents now. Even you claimed that you are a free agent too, although there hasn’t been any official statement yet about what is happening in the organization. It is obvious that there are some serious changes in the team, some people even consider that Gambit are selling their LCS spot, as many other organizations do now. Have you ever thought about such transformations coming after a rather failed season?
-	 Well, firstly it’s a common thing that players are claiming themselves as free agents. Not only Gambit, but other players too. It’s just the period after the Worlds when most of the contracts end, as no one signs contracts for a period more than one or two years. So there is that period during which players are free agents if the organization hasn’t offered them auto-resigning.  As for a failed season and the selling of a spot, as you remember, last year our results were not so well too. So the talks about selling the spot are not connected with our negative results, it’s just one more factor that led to this. Yes, there are such talks but there are no official statements as it takes a lot of time and Riot needs to check everything. But as far as I know, Gambit is very likely to sell their LCS spot. That’s why I left the team.
-	So there is no more profit for the team to participate in LCS even if they have a spot? Why did they decide to do this? Don’t they believe that the team can rise once again?
-	I don’t think that it is about the expectations from the team and its players; it is more about the organization not ready to pay the expenses that are needed from the LCS team nowadays. Let’s be honest, no one expected Gambit to be the first, and if you are lower that first, then the reward isn’t that big to pay back the money that was spent. In League of Legends, comparing to such games as Dota 2 or CS: GO, the amount of money that you get in tournaments is much less. Also add the fact that LCS teams cannot participate in other tournaments according to Riot’s rules. Yeah, there is an IEM, but the prize money from IEM is twice less that it is in CS:GO tournaments. Also Gambit has never had a lot of sponsors, so it was financed mostly by the organization itself, and it can’t do it anymore.
-	It’s pretty interesting as many people consider that it is easier for League of Legends teams because they are supported by Riot. So it’s sounds somewhat strange for me.
-	As for Riot and Valve, they have different attitude. In Dota 2 most of prize money is distributed between the top 16 teams, and as for Riot, they are distributing their money among different regions and it’s like 50 or 60 teams. If you compare salaries of an average Dota 2 player who plays on the international stage, and an average LoL player, the difference is quite significant.
-	There is a lot of news about teams selling their slots, and now, as you said, Gambit are also discussing it. Don’t you think that Riot has to change their approach to this, as it seems like teams just can’t handle the expenses.
-	Well, considering the money that is offered for a team, I think it’s worth. Generally there is a second wave of organizations coming who are ready to invest in esports. It’s just a reshuffle.
-	Speaking of Gambit, you said the team just didn’t have enough finances to continue playing. But they have had a pretty big fanbase since M5 times, and even when the team became Gambit Gaming they have had a lot of fans. But according to the statistics, their fanbase and sponsors decreased with every year. Don’t you think that the wrong approach from the organization was the reason of all this?
-	What wrong approach are you talking about? When the team wins, it has its fans, and when it loses, it loses fans too. If you compare M5 results and Gambit results, it’s pretty clear why fanbase decreased. The same is with sponsors. Also EU teams can have their national sponsors (Roccat for example), and Russia just doesn’t have that kind of sponsors who are ready to invest in esports.
-	I am also wondering what’s your opinion on the selling spots. Riot are banning for boosting, but they allow a team winning a slot and the other team just buying it.
-	Well, the spot belongs to the organization and not to the players, it’s up to the organization to decide whether to sell it or not. Of course it can be offensive for players, but if they are good, they can find other teams. For example, Dignitas sold their team, but as far as I know 4 of 5 players stayed on their positions.
-	And speaking of Groove, is he kind of free agent too?
-	He is not in charge for a half of a year or even more. He was like a connecting link between me and players and the management of the organization. I guess now technically he is a free agent, but I don’t think he will search for the new organization to join.
-	Haven’t you thought about going to another organization together with GoSu Pepper and Diamond? I bet there are some teams that are looking for some members.
-	Let me say that most of the teams already have their rosters. As far as I know Edward has found the new team, but mostly these organizations have their own infrastructure already so I don’t think there are some vacancies for me, but if there are, I am ready for them.
-	How do you think, could Gambit compete with the same roster they had with an addition of some ADC instead of Forgiven?
-	Well, as we know Huni and Reignover have left Fnatic, and there are some serious changes in Elements, so if we don’t consider these changes, I think Gambit couldn’t go higher than top-3. Fnatic will become weaker, Origen will stay the same, so with proper preparation and players’ willing to win we could compete for top 1-3 places.
-	Gambit is the team that only disappointed its fans during last seasons. But it had rather a balanced roster with potential including such veteran players as GoSu Pepper, Diamond and Forgiven and rookies like Cabochard and Betsy, why did they played in the relegation again?
-	Well, I can’t answer this question. We did all we could, but there is a number of reasons, players lost their keys to the gaming apartments, they needed more time to get used to play with Forgiven, and also there are the ambitions. We thought there will be only wins with such roster, and when there was a losestreak, of course it influenced the emotions. And so did the Forgiven ban. I think we could have won with Moopz, but everyone’s morale was down. The standings at the end of the season were also the reason, Gambit were out of play-offs because of circumstances.
-	That’s sad, many people hoped for the best. But I have questions concerning 3 members of your team. The first one is about Gosu Pepper, the legend of the Russian esports scene. At the beginning he was considered almost as a world #1 support, but then his play began to gradually fall down despite him dedicating a lot of time to LoL. Anyway even in the last Gambit games he did a lot of mistakes. What do you think prevented GoSu Pepper from growing?
-	I have a different approach to this situation. I don’t think his level of play dropped down, I think it’s just that a lot of new players appeared. I think nothing prevented him from releasing his potential, it’s just that he has already showed it. Maybe some expected him to grow further, but I think that it is his ceiling and he can’t grow higher. He can gain more experience, but that’s all.
-	And speaking of Diamond, he was the most discussed and blamed one. During the games he committed really stupid mistakes which lost Gambit the game. It can be explained as doing some risky moves to save the game, but don’t you think that he also has hit his ceiling?
-	I think that sometimes he just couldn’t handle the responsibilities he took. He tried to explain to me that before the game and during the game he tried to keep a lot of information in his head, trying to analyze instead of playing YOLO like many others do. And that was what kept him from playing in his full strength and leading to him committing mistakes.
-	So if Diamond finds a new team… By the way do you know whether he looks for a new team or decided to end his career?
-	As I know, he is searching for a new team. And I think his problem is not with the game itself, it’s about his mind, about what he is allowing himself to do and what he is not allowing to do. If he will be able to overcome these psychological issues, then we can see completely different Diamond that everyone was willing to see.
-	Can you say that it was AlexIch’s leave that influenced Diamond’s play? Maybe he tried to become the captain that AlexIch was, trying to prove something?
-	I don’t think so. Yes, after AlexIch left Gambit needed a leader, but Diamond has never tried to fill this role. Maybe it’s just that they didn’t have such leader as Alex anymore.
-	So let’s talk about the last player I wanted to ask you about. Before the last split Gambit has made the biggest transfer in its history because it got Forgiven, who has a lot of experience, is very popular and somewhat scandalous, but still is a high-level player with Worlds experience. But as you said it took a lot of time for  Edward to work out synergy with him, and also that ban that prevented Forgiven from helping the team at the moment they needed him the most. So can you say that it was a failed deal?
-	Yes, of course it was a failed deal.
-	Didn’t you take his reputation into account when signing him, his bad manners and so on? Or did you think you can fix it?
-	Well, there are two sides of it. First, I was against this transfer from the very beginning because of all this reasons. But on the other hand, if you think about it, all prominent players have their own issues, and if you don’t want any conflicts and just take the least scandalous players, you can’t go too far with them. So that’s what a coach should do, to make sure that a player mesh well with the team, as it is obvious that Forgiven is still one of the strongest ADCs in EU. So you should find the balance between the situation when you have 5 unmanageable but strong players and when you have 5 obedient but week players. I can say that we failed to make Forgiven mesh with the team as well as it should have been.
-	Can you say that it was the coach’s fault?
-	Well, partially yes.
-	By the way, it seems like Forgiven isn’t the first failed transfer to Gambit, as the previous Gambit coach Leviathan comes to my mind. The first question is: why has Gambit always had so much problems with coaches, they not being able to come in time, who’s mistake is it? As you said in our previous interviews, Leviathan turned out to be not that professional while working with Gambit.
-	Well, what can I say about it… There is no university for LoL coaches here. Basically having a coach is the practice that has appeared recently due to Riot rules. Many organizations changed a number of coaches, and so did Gambit. As for Leviathan, at first he showed him as a good coach and fulfilled his expectations, but then he just lost the motivation. Players from Alliance warned us about it, and it happened just in that way. He couldn’t come in time due to personal reasons; he was under the treatment or something like that. Of course we didn’t expect this, we even considered breaking the contract with him as he suggested us some crazy solutions, for example, sending his substitute, but then he finally came. As for the summer split, it was because it took players a long time to choose a coach, and when they chose, it was too late. We had nothing to do but to sign me as a coach for the first week. At that time we have already chosen Shaunz, but he came only on Saturday or Sunday that week.
-	Back to Forgiven, but not really about him. I saw you wrote in your twitter that Hai’s fine is nothing compared to Forgiven’s ban. Don’t you think Riot goes too far in its fight with flame, BM and so on?
-	- I don’t think that they go too far. I think LCS players are rather free, it’s just common ethics. Chess or tennis player don’t flame each other. The player was banned not for a sarcastic note, but for the real flame. Of course the Hai situation was funny, but it was just a joke, he probably didn’t even know that it was on the camera, and Forgiven, as Riot told us, didn’t behave properly in soloqueue for a long period of time. At the beginning of every season there is a Riot conference with players where the soloq behavior is discussed. Last time they even quoted some soloqueue player’s expressions so that players would laugh and also realize that they were being watched by the whole community pretty closely.
-	When Gambit’s roster changed, did you consider taking players from CIS region?
-	We did consider.
-	But there were some problems with it, right?
-	We tried out some Russian midlaners after AlexIch had left. But we chose niQ. We also considered some Russian ADCs, but later chose European ones. Of course it’s because of higher level of play, better command of languages and also they could travel more freely. And to be honest it is not the skill that prevented us from taking them, but these technical issues instead, such as visa problems, language barrier, willing of European players to play with other famous European players. No one really knows Russian players, they got promoted to Challenger quite rarely and generally stick together.
-	 After AlexIch left, there were 4 players in Gambit who spoke Russian, and two of them couldn’t speak English very well. It seems like at that time it was possible to take some Russian player, wasn’t it?
-	Yes, it was the time when we tried out Russian players. We played with Kira [ now midlaner for Hard Random, the strongest team in CIS region, which went to IWCT but failed to qualify to Worlds] , but he turned down our offer, I don’t know if he regrets it, but if he took it, he could still play in Gambit. As for the others, I don’t remember them, but yeah, in their case it was a lack of skill and experience.
-	And as for ADC, who did you consider?
-	As I remember, Dayruin, also we negotiated with Vega and Lex, but now with these talks about selling the spot it got cancelled.
-	So after the end of the season you were not that sure about selling the spot, right?
-	Yeah, at first I thought that whether we will try to sell the spot or not, we should still fill ADC position somehow. That’s why we considered them, but now it’s the new organization that is in charge of it.
-	The question may seem illogical, but I wonder why niQ left Gambit. He left the moment when Betsy shined, and a lot of people considered niQ’s release unfair as he was ill, while the others thought it was a good decision because of his health he would not be able to participate in LCS. So how it was?
-	It was both. NiQ started to play well, but he fell ill, he needed to go to Poland to check his health, and on the week we played with Fnatic we subbed him with Betsy. Betsy played really well, niQ was back soon but doctors told him not to fly, and it was before IEM Katowice, so it was really unclear what to do. Also all players wanted to play with Betsy more, that’s why we decided to release niQ. And it was not only because of the skill, although Betsy surely has better mechanics than niQ, his understanding of the game and matchup is worse; it was also about some personal conflicts between players, niQ isn’t the easiest person to work with, he demands a lot from himself and the others, so players just wanted to ease the tensions.
-	And it was after niQ’s release that Pinoy left, maybe he left because you were already considering Forgiven?
-	No, there is no connection between Pinoy’s leave and Forgiven. We started negotiating with Forgiven after Pinoy had left.
-	And why did he leave? I remember it was claimed as he didn’t grow as a player. But he had little time to prove him, and he didn’t become worse, so that wasn’t the real reason to remove him, was it?
-	Well, I think one season is quite enough to prove yourself. Of course he didn’t become worse, but he didn’t become better as well. The organization set higher goals, so we needed to change roster in order to fulfill them. And our botlane was the primary goal. We had either to remove Edward or Pinoy.
-	Were there any other possible great transfers to Gambit that later failed?
-	There were a lot of talks, but I can’t remember any that failed the last minute. Well, Gambit tried to play with Incarnation last autumn, for example, but it didn’t mesh well.
-	Or he just got offered more money in NA.
-	But he went there only this summer, no? And I am talking about last autumn.
-	Ah, I see.
-	To be honest, he didn’t play that well, but he didn’t play that well In NA either. Also Edward talked to Rekkles [Moo says Rekkles, but I asked Edward and he said it actually was Niels]. Oh, and Febiven was one of the main candidates to substitute AlexIch, AlexIch recommended him when leaving. Yeah, I think Febiven is that great transfer that could have happened to Gambit but was cancelled. It got cancelled because the organization didn’t want to risk, at first Febiven was doubting, then Gambit was doubting, and then the deadline was near and the organization had to sign Febiven almost blindly. By that time the team has already played with niQ and other midlaners, and Febiven was slightly 17 at that moment, so yeah, it just didn’t happen.
-	And also the question about the moment when Forgiven was banned and you had to search for an ADC: you had subs, but Pinoy was playing with his team, so was Steeelback. But the organization still had Genja. Have you tried to approach him?
-	To be honest, I don’t remember if Groove spoke to him. I think Genja just had no visa at that moment, and we couldn’t get it in time. That’s the way it was.
-	Isn’t it awkward that the team got some subs, but couldn’t use them?
-	It’s more like organization problems. When you are subbing someone, you can pay them salary and keep them around in your gaming house, or you can just sub them without any obligations like Gambit did.
-	By the way, did Genja leave on his own will?
-	Well, he put an ultimatum that we couldn’t accept.
-	And what was that?
-	Well, it wasn’t really an ultimatum, but after the season ended we decided to begin our preparations for the relegation a month or 3 weeks before. And Genja said he needed to have a rest and that he was ready to begin trainings a week before the relegation. So we had to say goodbye to him, because we didn’t think that one week is enough. And there is no sense in training with one ADC and then playing the relegations with Genja.
-	Interesting. And what about Darien? If I’m not mistaken, at first he was benched and then he just didn’t want to go back, right?
-	No, not really. At first Diamond was benched and Darien was still in Gambit. We took Loulex, but Darien said he didn’t want to play with Loulex and asked to substitute him. But it was clear that Loulex was just a temporary sub, and anyway Diamond would be back, but Darien didn’t want to wait, so he didn’t want to play as well. And when Diamond was back, the rest of the players were not so enthusiastic about playing with Darien.
-	So Darien’s career ended because of his whimsy?
-	Well, generally, yes. The players just don’t get that they work for an organization; you can’t say in other sports, in football, for example, that you don’t want to play for 3 weeks and can join later, it’s unacceptable. Or say that you don’t want to play with other person, ask to substitute you and then don’t return.
-	But Genja and Darien were still substitutes for Gambit until the last moment, weren’t they?
-	Yes, they were substitutes.
-	Were there the moments when you thought about using them?
-	I think it was only when we had to replace Forgiven and when we had to find an ADC for relegations. We had to use either Genja, or Steeelback, or Pinoy. As I know there were some talks with Genja, but he said he didn’t want to. And as for Darien, we didn’t negotiate with him, maybe only the last weeks when we were considering selling of the spot. When Cabochard was leaving, we had this kind of crazy thought of gathering new Russian team with Darien and Genja, but this was only the idea.
-	Do you regret that this idea wasn’t brought to life? Do you think that a roster consisting of Darien, Diamond, GoSu Pepper and some Russian midlaner or Ukranian Kira could shine in LCS?
-	Well I think they could have shined, but the question is whether they would be able to win. The idea is cool, but nothing more.
-	But won’t it be easier to find sponsors for such a team? Considering the popularity of the players.
-	Hm, maybe.
-	We discussed Pepper who found a team and Diamond who is searching for it, but do you have your own plans and aspirations?
-	Yes I have, but let me say that there are not so many good players, and there are quite a number of organizations. I think it’s really difficult for a manager to find new LCS team to work with. Well, we’ll see.
-	Is there any chance of you and Groove starting from the scratch with a new team and new organization?
-	As for this season, I don’t think so, but the next season why not. It all depends on money. If we have enough money, we can try to go through the Challenger Series. Maybe even our old players will support us, who knows.
-	Is there a probability that after the spot being sold, a new roster will be created?
-	It’s 50-50, either it will be sold or not.
-	So it depends on whether there will be someone who will buy it?
-	No, there is already someone who’s ready to buy, the question is, whether he will do it or not.
-	And if you will be offered a job in a Russian team, will you take it?
-	Depends on the responsibilities, but yes, why not. It’s even easier to qualify for Worlds as a CIS team; it’s the question of players’ will to do so.
-	So you think the problem of Russian teams not able to qualify for Worlds is that they just don’t want to?
-	Yes, I do think so. I think that the old players generation is slightly dying off, they played for 5 StarSeries seasons already and are tired and white-washed. Also they all are somewhat old, the most optimal age for playing LoL professionally is 17-18, and in CIS most of them are 23 or even more. They just don’t have ambitions to go higher. Maybe when the new generation appears, CIS scene will significantly improve in quality.
-	And the last question, Gambit has been always surrounded by a lot of rumours that were not explained. Were there any conflicts between the players? It was discussed that Edward didn’t like Diamond. So how was the atmosphere in the team? Was it good or were there any tensions?
-	Well, last season Pepper’s and Diamond’s relations were pretty good, they were not enemies, they were not very close friends, they were just good colleagues and comrades.
-	And what’s about AlexIch and Diamond relations? Some said it was the reason AlexIch left.
-	I can say that at some moment AlexIch was disappointed in Diamond, but then he played with other junglers and understood that he was way too underestimating Diamond.
-	And why was he disappointed in him? As I remember, Diamond was playing pretty good at that time.
-	AlexIch thought their synergy was not that good, he thought he was playing 1vs2 most of time, with enemy jungler constantly ganking midlane and Diamond never coming. AlexIch thought that with other junglers he could play better, but then he tried playing with koU and Loulex…
-	Yeah, koU and Loulex, and now he has Crumbz. By the way, do you follow his team now?
-	Yeah, sometimes I watched their games.
-	And what do you think about Renegades?
-	Well, I think they are doing some serious roster changes, which is kind of expected, I think with old roster they were not likely to show something, and now we’ll see. AlexIch is still playing extremely good, I think with a good jungler – I don’t think that Crumbz will stay, but if he stays, then they need a good toplaner and good botlane, and in that way they can be a pretty good mid-tier team, maybe even higher.
-	So as we are speaking of NA now, why do you think Korea is number one and Europe is number 2, while richer regions such as China and NA just failed it? So seems like money doesn’t matter at all, does it?
-	No, money of course does matter. China was a favourite, but it probably is because of the communication problems as Koreans couldn’t speak Chinese at all, I don’t even know how they communicated. If some X team buys 2 expensive players, it won’t solve their problems on the international stage, they can suddenly win their local stage, but they will continue to lose internationally. And also these strong players will eventually drop their skill as for keeping it high, you need a proper competition with strong teams in the region. As for China, they had 2 strong teams and others were weak, Koreans didn’t have this problem as well as EU. NA had this problem too, only TSM and CLG were strong and others were weak.
-	I think it is the time to end our interview, I’d like to wish you good luck in finding a team and organization to create a new Russian roster and rock LCS with it. Thank you very much for the interview!
-	Thank you too.