Big interview with the manager of Team Undying

On the eve of the upcoming The International 10 we managed to interview one of the participating teams – Team Undying. From the team's manager Peter Anders we found out the details of the last DPC season, the team's financial situation, and their upcoming plans.

Right now, Team Undying is raising money for the bootcamp. You can support the team at this link – Bootcamp Crowdfunding. 

Questions about the past season

— How do you rate your performance in the DPC season? Do you think the competition in North America was weaker than usual?

— I think that our DPC performance met expectations, and got very close to exceeding them. Coming into DPC, Quincy Crew was the most stable roster in NA, and EG had an incredible new roster. For us to go to either major instead of one of them would have been a significant upset. While we improved significantly over the course of DPC, and made the gap between us and these two teams much smaller, we were not able to get ahead in our official matches. I would consider competition in North America stronger, not weaker, than usual. NA had two slots at each major. EG performed incredibly, making 2nd at both majors, and Quincy got 5/6th when they did not have a standin. Both teams were undoubtedly impressive.

— What challenges did the team face during the DPC season?

— Over the course of DPC, we had a lot of challenges. We had players in 4 different time zones, playing with over 100 ping. We had no sponsor, organization, or funding beyond prize pool winnings. We all had our own personal difficulties, tied to covid or otherwise. Each of these elements stood in the way of our growth and success, but the team has an incredible desire to become better and develop their potential, which motivated us to persevere.

— Where do you think North America ranks in terms of strength compared to the rest of the regions?

— Every region has their own strengths and weaknesses, and the only true way to compare is at LAN. With that said, the strengths and weaknesses of any given team may be more or less apparent based on the patch. With TI10 being on a new patch, it is quite difficult to compare one region to another. I am, however, confident that NA will have an impressive showing this TI.

— You were great at the regional qualifiers for The International 10 and didn't lose a single map. How did you prepare for it? Who were you most afraid of?

— Thank you, we had two sets of scrims a day for three weeks with a single day as break. We primarily scrimmed against SA and EU teams, as we did not want to help our competition perform better against us. We were most attentive to 4Zoomers, but we took every team and match seriously.

— How did you celebrate participating in The International 10?

— There wasn’t any particular celebration. Everyone was happy, but qualifying for TI is just the beginning. We aren’t ones to get excited about reaching the start of a road.

— How do you rank the system of last year's DPC season? What would you change?

— Last year’s DPC season certainly had its positives and negatives. There’s all sorts of discourse about which regions deserve more or less slots, and if these slots should change between majors. Nothing I could say hasn’t already been said. As for the format itself, having such a long season with only one match per week was exhausting for the players, and could have led to some level of burn out had everyone not been so motivated to get to TI. If we wanted to prepare for EG, we would have 4 or 5 weeks of matches between when the season began and when we played them. In this time, the meta could change and develop to the point where our initial preparations were no longer useful. Having a more condensed league would have helped fix some of these problems.

Questions about club structure

— Can you tell us how hard it is to be a mix in North America right now? How do you make money except for prizes?

— By mix I am assuming you mean players from different regions. It’s difficult, as no one is able to see each other in person, several players are always playing on ping, and sleep schedules have to change because of the time zone differences. That being said, we’ve been able to adapt to all these difficulties and grow despite them. Beyond prize pools, the team doesn’t have any significant sources of revenue. We have the supporter club, players have some income from streaming, and some from investments. Our overall revenue is quite small though.

— Your team released its bundle in June. Can you tell us whether it brings any profit to the team?

— Yes, our team bundle got released quite late. We were originally talking with an organization that, among other things, was interested in having their name and logo in our supporter pack. While we never ended up signing to them, it delayed our release significantly, and then there was roughly a month of delays between when we submitted our team bundle and when it got added to the client. It brings some level of profit to the team, but nothing large.

— What are the average salaries of players in North America?

— This is a hard question to answer. North America has only one esports organization involved in Dota, EG. Every other team is a group of unsigned and unsponsored players. So with EG as the exception, no player in NA has a regular salary.

— For sure, the team has had a lot of offers from different Esports organizations. Can you tell us who made offers and why you turned them down?

— We did talk to many organizations, especially after regionals finished. I won’t name any specific orgs, but North America in particular is a difficult region to sponsor a team in, and Dota in particular has a bad reputation as being an unstable esport. Hopefully with the new DPC system this will change.

Questions about current times

— ESL One Fall 2021 will feature teams from different regions. Why isn't Team Undying there? Did you turn yourself down, or did the organizer not give you an invite?

— Undying was offered an invitation to ESL, however it came after we had committed to BTS Pro Series 7. Their offer was quite generous, and they were willing to help fund part of our bootcamp as well, however we did not want to damage a BTS tournament by backing out at the last minute. BTS has done tremendous things for NA dota, and is much of why the region is still alive. We are a team that values loyalty and returning favors, so we decided to turn down the ESL offer.

— Will we see your team in any other tournaments except for BTS Pro Series Season 7 soon?

— I can’t announce anything relating to this yet.

— Patch 7.30 should be out very soon. What changes are you waiting for?

— We aren’t waiting for specific changes, as much as changes in general. We are a versatile team, and will adapt ourselves to the patch.

— We know that you have an open fundraiser for the bootcamp. Can you tell us a little bit more about where it will be?

— Our bootcamp will be in Brasov, Romania. Our bootcamp is being provided by a very reputable organization who has worked with many other esports teams in the past, and is quite reliable. With that reputation and reliability comes a higher cost, which we have balanced out by bootcamping in Brasov rather than Bucharest.

Questions about The International 10

— Two months are left until the start of the tournament. How do you feel about your chances in The International 10?

— We are looked at by many as an underdog for TI10. I won’t comment on this too much, but we have as much of a chance in TI as OG did coming into TI8.

— Can you name 3 teams that will be the hardest to play?

— One of our strongest beliefs in this team is to never underestimate your opponent. We will be taking every team as seriously as the next.

— In your opinion, who among the participants are dark horses?

— Because of how region locked this past year has been, and because TI will be played on a new patch, every team can be considered a dark horse. Each region has impressed us, and no team will be overlooked.

— After the tournament, do you plan to take a vacation or start preparing for the upcoming DPC season?

— It’s hard to comment on any sort of plans after TI. Anything can happen.

This concludes the interview. Thanks to Peter for answering our questions. We will follow Team Undying's performance at The international 10 and sincerely wish the team good luck! In the meantime, you can follow their social media: Instagram, Twitter.