XinQ on TI10 Grand Finals: “In Game 5, we were too stressed, our mental strength wasn’t strong enough”

PSG.LGD were the favorites to win TI but they did not account for the dream run by the debutante TI organization, Team Spirit. Despite featuring some of the biggest TI names on its roster, PSG.LGD fell short in the Grand Finals against the CIS organization. TI10 was the first time since TI1 that a CIS team won the Grand Prize.

The Dota 2 community in China has been heavily critical of Xiao8. 'The Director' as he is popularly known is also the coach and responsible for the team's draft. In an interview during the TI10 Grand Finals, Xiao8 said PSG.LGD were prepared for Collapse's Magnus and Team Spirit in general. After losing the first two games, PSG.LGD bounced back in Games 3 & 4 with an Undying pick. But they lost Game 5 in a heartbreaking result for Chinese fans and the PSG.LGD players. In fact, Xinq feels Magnus was not the problem, but the players were just mentally tired by Game 5.

After the Grand Finals loss, Xiao8 and some players took to social media to share his thoughts on the game.

Compared to xiao8 and Faith_bian, XinQ had a lot more to share. He shared his point of views from the strategical stand point and replied to some of the comments. Here is what he said.

"I keep thinking that this is on me, we as the players did not perform to our standards. Seeing the comments after our loss, I think I'll feel very bad if I don't say something now."

"Before the Grand Final began, emperor8 (Xiao8) had a long talk with us. He talked a lot about the past. About how many people that had a chance to win TI but couldn't and it'll be a life long regret. He reminded us to not underestimate our opponent, because teams that made it into the finals are all very strong teams. Don't limit ourselves because of the pressure and desire to win. We did the same as before, we discussed together, and prepared a lot for the Final.

We went with our usual IO draft in game 1. There is not much to say for this game, we were cold-handed, made a lot of micro mistakes. We didn't go with our comfort heroes too. We felt like Ursa was a good pick there, and we went with it. Team Spirit was on a roll, and they didn't give us much chances."

"After Game 1, emperor8 kept encouraging us. He asked us if we were still confident with our IO draft, and if we would like to go for it again if he was let through. After discussion, we were still confident with the draft, game 1 was just because we didn't pick good heroes for the draft.

Indeed, our draft in game 2 was derailed. IO was switched to position 5. The hero wasn't great in babysitting and providing vision. It was rough."

"We were pretty lost after the game. Emperor8 came to us and talked it out, he asked us to stay relax and don't feel so pressure. I think he out-drafted Team Spirit in Game 3 and Game 4. He was the one that suggested the Undying pick that was a big deal for our opponent.

In game 5, I think we were too stressed, our mental strength wasn't strong enough. I felt it in the game, I didn't have the courage to break smoke, I felt like they had vision everywhere. We played so passively after enemy dodged few of our smoke plays. We didn't press our advantages when we had it."

"This draft was literally our most comfortable draft. We had strong early game heroes on position 2,3,4,5 and we had a free farm carry, it's a classic kill Roshan and close the game with Aegis strategy. Mid-game itemizations are based on the situations and our game knowledge. Buy the correct items, enemy were afraid of Lotus Orb, let's get one. We didn't have disables, let's rush for a Hex."

"Team Spirit indeed performed better than us in the Grand Final. Their vision, accuracy on reading tempo and communication were on point. However, I think Magnus wasn't the reason we were defeated, you don't have to keep talking about this. Collapse plays many different heroes, and he plays them very well."

We present some of Xinq's replies to several comments by Chinese fans on social media. These comments give a lot of insight into PSG.LGD's drafting and their playstyle.

Comment: "But the fact was literally Magnus that defeated you guys, and what about the Ember Spirit in Game 5? Why didn't you pick it for NothingToSay?

XinQ: "Offlane Magnus gives enemy carry a free farm lane, he doesn't do much before Blink Dagger. We wanted to let them pick it, and then we play for early game and turn into snowballing them. This is our most comfortable playstyle."

Comment: "But they only lost one or two games with his Magnus"

XinQ: "Our Tiny has only lost one game"

Comment: "The key was Magnus, the game was super close even when you had Rubick, you could've lost the game from one mistake. Why were you so stubborn? You had no solutions for the Magnus, why didn't you steal it? It's not like you couldn't play it.

XinQ: "I don't think so. I think that game was clean. If Magnus skewered someone back, I could've lifted and saved my teammate too. Magnus will turn into nothing but an Empower bot."

Comment: "There is no hero that can drag a hero out from their base and kill them. Collapse only plays Mars and Magnus, there's no use of you explaining yourself."

XinQ: "Collapse plays Tide Hunter and Doom too, if you are defending high ground against Magnus, that means you've failed in your early game."

Comment: "You lost because of your arrogance and ignorance."

XinQ: "We had always treated Team Spirit very seriously. But we also had confidence in our drafts, yes we didn't perform, but I don't think it was arrogance."

Team Spirit won The International 10 after a dream run through the lower bracket. The team took down opponents such as Team Secret, OG, and ultimately PSG.LGD. They will be taking home a grand total of $18,208,300 prize money. We are looking forward to see more of them next season. Best of luck!

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more insights into the Chinese Dota 2 scene and news.