“Pos 3 is the hardest role in Dota,” says Ramzes on playing offlaner again for DreamLeague S23

There is no individual who is a fan of Dota 2 and its competitive scene who does not know Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev aka Ramzes. He is one of the longest standing players with a decorated history, especially well-known for his achievements at Virtus.pro. He's also one of the few carry players who have had to switch often between the core and offlane role. Now, Ramzes has returned to the offlane once again for Tundra Esports in DreamLeague Season 23.

Ahead of the tournament, esports.gg spoke with Ramzes to reflect on his journey thus far, how he joined Tundra, as well as his experience switching back and forth between pos 1 and pos 3.

Hello Ramzes and thank you for speaking with us today. Let's first talk about how you joined Tundra. Who approached who and what are your first impressions of the team?

Ramzes: "After they [Tundra] had a miscommunication with MC [Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov], I asked Pure to give me a chance to stand in for them like two to three months ago. He then told me Tundra already took in somebody [Tobias "Tobi" Buchner]. But Pure and I are good friends in real life. We spend a lot of time together. We talk a lot of Dota and hang out often since we live very close with each other. So after Tobi left, Pure asked me again if I was still interested to join. And here I am."

That's interesting to know that you and Pure are close. However, you've never played together with him as a team. And neither with the rest of the players. How will you adapt to their gameplay?

Ramzes: "I can't say much yet because we have not played any official games and need to see how they go. But I'm very excited to play with Topson, 9Class and Whitemon. They're really good players and we'll just see."

You've had to switch between position one and three quite often. How does that affect your gameplay?

Ramzes: "As a pos 3, I hit less creeps than when I was a carry. You need to make space, buy a Blink and do something on the map. And with the matchups, I play against heroes I don't normally lane with. But my experience as a pos 1 helps me because I play against heroes that I understand well. It becomes easier when I know what the heroes would do."

Which role do you prefer though?

Ramzes: "It's all about what the team needs. Generally there are a lot of good carries in the Dota scene but not a lot of good offlaners. You can probably name three to four exceptionally good offlaners, but the others would be carry or mid players. There's just not a lot of players on the pos 3. It's not my choice but I can deal with it. It's fine."

Why do you think there's only a few good pos 3 players?

Ramzes: "I think it's because pos 3 is the hardest role in Dota. There's a lot of gameplay knowledge that you need to know about in order to succeed as an offlaner."

Now, you've been a part of so many teams throughout your career. Which team did you have the best experience playing with and why?

Ramzes: "Probably Virtus.pro (VP) as a pos 1 [2016-2019] and Evil Geniuses (EG) as pos 3 [2019-2020]."

What about 9Pandas?

Ramzes: "I would say I had my very best results when playing in VP as a carry. But 9Pandas is a really good team with great players. I am grateful for the chance to play with them and I got to play at one of the DPCs [Dota Pro Circuit] and went to some LANs. Very thankful for them."

I noticed that you also got to captain some teams previously. How would you define your leadership style?

Ramzes: "I try my best. I would help teach my team on how to play, watching replays together, showing how to control the map, make movements and what heroes to pick. But honestly, I'm not really THE captain. Like with 9Pandas, they had Solo and me as co-captains and that made leading the team easier. I'm not like Fly. He's like a CAPTAIN captain, you know? He leads outside of Dota just as well as in the inside. As for me, I'm just half-and-half."

Do you have aspirations to become a captain like Fly?

Ramzes: "I don't need to be captain. If there's a teammate who wants to do it, I'll gladly let them take the reins. Because I'd rather spend my time playing Dota or do something else."

Besides Topson and perhaps Whitemon, Tundra consists of relatively new, younger generation of players. You too are somewhat from the older generation of Dota 2 legends from the likes of Puppey, N0tail, No[o]ne- and SumaiL. If we pit them against new players like ATF, Tofu or Yuragi, for example, who do you think will win?

Ramzes: "Probably the new. I think there is a big difference how they lane. The new practice a lot and play like 20 games per day. They try hard and I think this is the main point."

Do you agree that the mechanical skills are generally better amongst younger players?

Ramzes: "Probably yes, but not by much."

You've had a long career in Dota 2. What is your most favorite or most memorable tournament and why?

Ramzes: "I would say Kiev Major 2017 where we fought against OG and Kuala Lumpur Major in 2018 where we beat Team Secret 3-2 at the grand finals. I just loved how everyone was chanting VP at Kiev. As for Kuala Lumpur, we made a comeback against Secret."

Tundra had only recently announced you ahead of DreamLeague Season 23. Since then, have you actually played together for practice at all?

Ramzes: "No we haven't but we'll be starting tomorrow [May 18]."

How do you feel about the tournament? Which team do you think is the biggest threat?

Ramzes: "This is a Tier 1 tournament so there are many teams that will be problematic. I haven't played a Tier 1 tournament since December, which was ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023. I just want to show my best and try my best. Anyway, I think the biggest challenge will come from Team Falcons, BetBoom Team and Xtreme Gaming."

Are there any other players or teams you want to beat at DreamLeague?

Ramzes: "For the sake of my karma, I have no answer for this. I just want to play Dota and nothing else."

That's very determined of you. Thank you for your time Ramzes and I wish you the best of luck at DreamLeague and your time at Tundra.

Be sure to follow Ramzes and Tundra Esports at DreamLeague Season 23 by checking out our group stage schedule page above.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more Dota 2 news!