A candid interview with Daxak about conflicts and prospects for returning to the professional stage

At BETBOOM Streamers Battle 15 for Dota 2, we were able to talk with ex-esportsman Nikita Daxak Kuzmin. In an interview with, he spoke about the bias towards his team at the tournament, conflicts and prospects for returning to the professional stage.

The conversation took place before the end of BETBOOM Streamers Battle 15

Actually, first of all, I congratulate you on entering the LAN. How do you like BETBOOM Streamers Battle 15?

In the final, all three teams can beat each other. That is, somewhere because of the mid player, somewhere because of the offlaner, somewhere because of the carry. So the balance is cool.

Who was the hardest for you to play with? Is there such a team?

Not directly. I'm not the one who prepares for the teams. Everyone plays, plus or minus, equally badly, so to speak (laughs). Therefore, on average, the hospital is the same.

Let's say Cake will play in the finals.

Cake plays well relative to his points and is generally a smart person, but he doesn't have anyone to tell him anything. Therefore, it’s cool regarding your points. Recrent is also cool regarding his points, but in general it is clear that he will be erased (laughs).

Avice, let's say?

(Sighs) I saw avice...

Don't like it?

That’s exactly what he [at the time of recording the interview, avice came up and entered into a discussion with Daxak - approx. ed.]. Plays [very poorly].

Avice: “They told me on the Internet that you said nasty things, Nikita.” Daxak: "Just saying you're a [terrible] player." Avice: “No, I'm not talking about the game. Yesterday I was streaming, people came to me and wrote that Daxak said that “you [a sucker] are spreading some kind of [terrible] information.” Daxak: “At most I said that you take all the mothers [to the cinema], and this, well, is not very good.” Avice: “So I [didn’t take] anyone’s mothers to the movies.” Daxak: “Well, God forbid, everyone knows. Yesterday, I don’t think I spoke about you.” Avice: “No, it was the day before yesterday. About mothers, I don’t even know who I took there [to the cinema]. No, well, there were definitely a couple.” Daxak: “And in public all the time.” Avice: “Yes, it’s possible in public.”

So, if we return to BETBOOM Streamers Battle 15: that is, in general, the level of play of the mid players is not particularly good here? Here's Stray, for example. How do you like Stray? Even with your own points?

I don’t know how many points he has, but, to put it mildly, it’s terrible, of course. Stray and ybicanoooobov stream to the low-MMR audience for a reason.

You often have conflicts and disagreements with some players. Some said that you take the gameplay component very seriously and understand it. When it was just announced that you would participate in BETBOOM Streamers Battle 15, I thought: “What if it happens like Nix did with Satanic, when he burned out on him at one point?” But, to my surprise, you treat your teammates calmly and calmly point out their mistakes. Are you holding back or are you generally approaching this tournament without expectations that your teammates will play great?

Let's put it this way: I sucked hard at the first tournaments because I couldn't readjust and wanted to play normally. When I started to somehow win streamer tournaments, I realized that I needed to adapt, I needed to make stupid plans, stupid picks, play stupidly, and therefore not get too upset by mistakes. And the most important thing is that people listen to you at least a little.

It’s not a fact that everyone understands everything, but at least they listen somehow—roughly speaking, that’s it. Therefore, it looks plus or minus adequately. When it was with some kind of conditional macintow, it was, [damn], not very good, so to speak.

But in general, the main adaptation is just to get your teammates to listen to you? And is there any kind of meta here, at streamer tournaments? Did you understand it? Or is everything here generally the same as on tier-1, tier-2?

Well, of course, not for tier-1, not for tier-2. Who can do what? The simpler the characters and the simpler the execution, the more likely it is to work.

OK. You made your debut at media tournaments in March, so this is already your sixth event. Is it possible to say that your pro career is over and you are now finally a full-time streamer and participant in Streamers Battle?

They offered me, but I don't want to be a player. It's too stuffy. At the same time, I still have to do coaching tasks. Because of my reputation, I can’t get into some [cool] teams as a coach. Accordingly, we will have to little by little, through the younger generation, take on students and slowly break through, so to speak.

This story started at BETBOOM Streamers Battle 14, and it still continues. There was a huge scandal about your carry, people didn’t believe that he was playing for his MMR, that his points were supposedly being lowered, and so on. How do you even deal with this? Do you feel that there is severe pressure on you, or have you already passed through the pro scene and generally don’t care?

Well, it’s still a little unpleasant, yes, but damn, this is a classic situation... I’ll say this: my scores are [severely] underestimated. Why? Because everyone will say: “[Damn], Daxak is a loser, what a [weak] loser he is,” and so on and so forth. And my scores are lower... If you look at who I have the same number of points with, well [kick]. I should have more points there, to put it mildly. Especially since I adapt to it. Conventionally, some Satanic and some Nightfall: Satanic seems to have more results, but at such tournaments Nightfall will win solo.

It’s like gpK~ and kiyotaka couldn’t get used to the realities.

Well, first of all, they are two mid players. Secondly, they are more likely to be performers. You know, some Nightfall, which will break everything for everyone, will play better than any of them. But at the same time, they had less results in the competition than these people. And this is impossible to evaluate objectively.

And the fact that my carry there has a twisted MMR - well, he provided all the accounts, provided all the proofs, he has never been in e-sports. If you look at his POV, all he can do is hit creeps. [Damn], I wanted not to take it on the next tour, but, unfortunately, there you can only take it from the list. Plus the list there is small, let’s put it that way. And I’ll have to choke myself with incredible points, where the difference between me and my prize money, MMR and eccobladee2k is five points, simply because everyone is crying.

The funny thing is: at the last Streamers Battle we had a similar lineup, we [beat] everyone in the group, in the playoffs - 0:2, 0:2. Everyone cheated on us there: “We won’t go into the lobby against them, [damn], they cheated, twisted, twisted, [damn].” 0:2, 0:2 - no one said: “Sorry.” “Ah, no, in fact they are [weak], just lucky.” Well what can I say? You can't say anything.

Conflicts often occur on Streamers Battle. Are there streamers with whom you can say that you are on friendly terms?

Well, there are probably a couple. Plus somewhere neutral. Somewhere you need to understand that a huge amount of this is just for the public. You know, I spam my phrases in the game not because I hate anyone, but simply because for the sake of content. Content out of thin air.

By the way, I was surprised that the community reacted so strongly to this “I could have you” after you killed Satanic. And everyone exploded: “How? How can he do this? Well, it’s just an ordinary phrase, right?

Something like that.

But who, if it’s not a secret, are you perhaps on good, friendly terms with among the streamers?

Here's the secret.

Okay, okay. Remembering your old situation with Nix, when you coached him one-on-one: does it often happen to you that you watched someone’s stream, talked to someone and offered to coach him one-on-one?

Well, some acquaintances. One on one, he invited me. First of all, I had little time. We agreed on a small amount of time and without a soul. And without a soul, as it turns out, nothing can be proven. Without some so-called microchips, it is impossible to prove anything to him. In any case, he is the kind of person who will not accept any point of view.

That is, it’s the same thing, like with this screwed-up lineup: like we were [destroyed] - and no one apologized. It's the same here. Malr1ne, who hates me, said everything I said. Nobody apologized to me anywhere, in any way. Well, like, [damn]... I'm a [bad] mid player. I was, am and will be a [bad] mid player. Moreover, I’m [bad] one on one. I have always recognized this, admit it and will continue to admit it. It’s just that, unfortunately, for me Nix as a person most likely simply died. Not because he beat me one-on-one, but because of the way this whole situation was presented, because of the way he reacted. This, again, is my subjective opinion, but I am a person, I have my own subjective opinion.

That is, you wouldn’t volunteer to coach him one on one again?

Yes, I’ll tell you this: even at the last 8, 9, 10 thousand MMR, I didn’t really [stand] mid. I didn't upgrade MMR on support. Even as a carry - I used to play as a carry. Will I play carry? Yes. Will I play as well as I did in the offlane? God forbid. People don't understand this. Even on the offlane, well [damn], I don’t have 126 heroes or whatever - ten at most, maybe five, which are signaled. It's hard to explain to people.

Then the phrase was said that the only thing Daxak wants in life is to be recognized. Do you agree with this take that you would like recognition?

Well, I definitely want recognition. It’s like any person who has achieved at least something somewhere. At the same time, I want to achieve more. You always think to yourself: “I want to achieve more, I know.” And you see this, well, again, subjectively. You know, I watch games, I think something in advance, I see that it comes true. Or it doesn't come true because they didn't do what I would have thought of. I’m like, “If my knowledge works, why the hell doesn’t anyone need me?” Roughly speaking, reputation. He fucked her up a lot.

Is winning all the Streamers Battles in which you participate one of your goals in life?

No, God forbid, [don’t care] at all. I say, I can’t make any more money, I can’t win, but it’s something together and plus recognition, yes. That is, if my goal was to make pure money, I would not leave streams. If I had won cleanly, I wouldn’t have left esports.

You said earlier that being a streamer is 50 times easier than being a pro player. Are there any features in your streaming career that are either difficult for you or incredibly annoying and you’re too lazy to do them?

The funniest thing is communicating with the audience. Because the audience is from people who constantly stream game games, especially about toxic games... And a toxic game is, roughly speaking, any team game where there is a competitive effect, where there is still money. [Kick-Ass], every person just hates you. Every person says that they will play 50 times better than you. But how is it that they don’t play?

What do you enjoy most about being a streamer?

Well, you can say that you have a free schedule, and in general, plus or minus, you don’t depend on anyone.

I'd like to ask you a couple more questions about the pro scene. We recently had reshuffles, and I’m interested: Team Yandex won the tournament, having previously replaced DM with ATF. Do you think this is a tough boost for the team? That's how a player is on the "three".

Purely on paper, ATF is one hundred percent stronger than DM. But there is one nuance: ATF plays for its own victory, and DM plays for the team’s victory. That is, when you have greedy cores - Watson and Chira JUNIOR - it seems to me that against good teams the DM would be better in style. That is, Ammar was a leader in his team, no doubt, but he did not play the role of a “troika”, he played the role of a “two”. Malr1ne gave it to him. And here he will have to speed up. If something goes wrong on the line, it will be [bad] for them. Subjective opinion. But if he changes lanes, he's a handsome guy.

And the replacement in Team Spirit: it is clear that Collapse on Batyuk is most likely a weakening. How do you like Illidan as a trainer?

I have never worked with him, and therefore this is, roughly speaking, a shot into the void. Of course, I heard a million rumors about what, where and how he drank, what, let’s say, drinks, and so on and so forth. But this, again, is his health, his life. I have no idea how he trains. I consider Collapse to be the strongest player in both micro and macro. Batyuk is simply young - depending on how he is raised.

And lastly: how do you like TORONTOTOKYO in BETBOOM TEAM as a coach?

I've never worked with him either, so I don't know. You can, of course, always link: “[Damn], they’re out now, probably because of him or because of Save- in the mid lane.” Yes, you never know what is happening in the team. You can remove the strongest player, but the team will become better.

Well, in the end, give a few words to the fans who will read this interview.

Thanks for Daxak, I don't know. Watch videos, streams.

***

BETBOOM Streamers Battle 15 took place from September 21 to October 3. The teams competed for a prize fund of ₽4 million. The last two matches of the event were hosted by the VK Play Arena in Moscow. In the decisive match, Cake Team defeated Daxak Team with a score of 3:1.