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Puppey, KuroKy, and N0tail Share Five Incredible Stories About Themselves
At PGL Wallachia Season 5, PGL gathered three of the most notable names in Dota 2 history. Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, and Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi sat together with Jared "Nomad" Bajina to recount their time in Dota 2. From the start of their career to where they are now.
It is an incredible hour of history from the three legends and I recommend everyone to check out the entire interview. But if you're short on time, we compiled the five biggest (among many) reveals from the round table.
Five incredible stories from Puppey, KuroKy, and N0tail
KuroKy hated playing the first two Internationals
The first two Internationals were not kind to KuroKy. He placed last place in both, once as a carry for Gosu Gamers and again as a support for Mouz.
Kuro had been hesitant about switching from Dota to Dota 2. His negative tournament experiences had soured the experience and he talked about throwing in the towel.
However, watching Puppey infamous Play against IG in game two of the Upper Bracket Round 2, and IG's subsequent championship run lit a fire in Kuro's heart.
"The Play in TI2 inspired me. I didn't want to play TI. I was a stand in with some team. It was Mouz. I didn't want to play TI 2. So [Puppey] played finals, he's doing so well. And I saw IG lift the trophy, ignited my heart. They lifted the Aegis and I felt like I could do that too. Only then I started playing Dota 2 actively."
AdmiralBulldog wanted to play with KuroKy
Once he decided to focus on Dota 2, KuroKy realized he needed a strong team if he wanted to go the distance. His first option was to team up with Puppey and well, the rest is history.
But there was other opportunities, one that surprised us.
KuroKy could have been a member of Alliance., or at least a stack with one of their players He received an invite to join a team from none other than Henrik "AdmiralBulldog" Ahnberg.
"Funny thing is, I don't think I ever told anyone. I got a big message, on a Dota Forum, to join a team, from a guy called AdmiralBulldog. And I didn't know who he is and stuff, so I just ignored it. But it's better I joined NaVi anyways."
N0tail "advised" NaVi on how to beat Alliance at TI 3
At the International 3, Alliance was the strongest team entering the tournament. And that dominance continued. They were undefeated in the group stage, with a 14-0 record. They entered the grand finals against NaVi with a 6-1 score in the playoffs.
Alliance was THE team to beat. But despite their many accolades, they still had one team they were weak against. N0tail's Fnatic, who consistently beat them in scrims.
Puppey and Kuro asked Johan for advice, which sounded good on paper at least.
"You asked us. I was talking to you both about how to beat them. Because we were their kryptonite. They had the choice of picking us or LGD. And LGD was the top dog in China, and they picked LGD over us. But we had a strategy. You had to destroy Bulldog on the lane. Leave Loda for later. Bulldog first, then you focus S4."
NaVi followed that route, picking Venomancer and Vengeful Spirit in their first game against Alliance. It led to the fastest defeat of the entire tournament, with the game only lasting 15 minutes.
Puppey believed in N0tail more than Fly
The infamous breakup of Tal "Fly" Aizik and N0tail continues to be a hot topic of discussion. The duo separated before The International 8, with Fly and Andreas "Cr1t-" Nielsen joining EG and leaving N0tail and Sébastien "Ceb" Debs to make a team just before the deadline for qualifiers happened.
It was a rough time for N0tail and remains a controversial move in Dota 2 history.
While many saw OG as the underdogs going into The International 8, Puppey believe that between Fly and N0tail, it was OG who got the better end of that split.
"I believed in [OG], more than I believed in EG. The EG that was formed when your team broke. I still believed in the Ceb-N0tail thing, much more than I believed in the break-up combo. Even though the EG combo did pretty well."
Liquid helped OG find their way in Dota 2
After qualifying for The International 8, OG was riding high. They were crushing other teams in boot camp and continuing their streak from the qualifiers.
Despite all that success, one team gave OG enormous amounts of trouble. KuroKy's Team Liquid dominated them in scrims. Forcing OG to really focus on their shortcomings.
The same losses that hurt OG in scrims, forced them to grow and win the tournament in the end. Till today, N0tail credits Kuro with helping him make his team.
"We come to the TI boot camp, we're in Canada. And nobody has a chance [against us]. Both in strategy and gameplay, we were just on top of everything was my feeling. And then we play Liquid and they 10-0 us. They made me feel like a child. We had nothing against the bullets they had. After our last Scrim at TI. We went out defeated. Not broken, not apart, we're still a group. And the only conclusion we had was we need to play faster. We need to be better, and faster, much much faster. And it wasn't until that moment that we actually created the team. [Liquid] made us."
There is a lot more stories and detail in the full interview, so be sure to check it out if you can!
READ MORE: Dota 2: Between Blunder and Burnout
Featured Image Source: PGL