“I think KOTL is [the] most fun hero. He can farm a lot and can take over the pos 3 money”: Team SMG ah Fu

Embraced in a tight struggle for the top spot in SEA DPC, Team SMG just moved a step closer to their goal with a 2-0 win over NEON esports. The victory places them at the top of the SEA leaderboard alongside T1 esports and just above BOOM. With three more weeks of games to go, every match matters and Ah Fu of Team SMG had some interesting thoughts to share in the post-match interview.

The top three teams in the SEA DPC will earn their spot at the Stockholm Major. But it’s not just about the Stockholm Major invite, it’s also about the long-term goals of attending the International. The valuable DPC points (400 for 1st place, 240 for 2nd) is the real competition here. And Team SMG is one of the strongest contenders in Southeast Asia.

Team SMG picked the Weaver as their offlane hero. They also had Leshrac in the safe lane along with Michael "ninjaboogie" Ross Jr’s Vengeful Spirit. But the laning phase did not go as planned for SMG. They were already down 1-5 in the first eight minutes, most of the kills in their safe lane. 

In the post-match interview, SMG Ah fu said the team wants to work on its laning phase after their performance this series.

This sentinement of SMG being weaker than Neon in the laning phase was also echoed by Neon's AvatarMod3 in the pre-game interview.

But SMG’s draft was always tuned towards the mid-late game. Despite losing kills, the team’s lineup scaled really well into the late game with some key items. 

The last pick Leshrac might not have worked out in the laning phase, but the damage output of the Int hero was just too much for Neon to handle.

SMG were slowly building up their networth and had already taken the lead in terms of XP. But the Dota Overlords also gave them a bit of luck as Lina got a Double Damage rune in the final fight. The DD rune was not the reason why SMG won, but it sure expedited the process.

The second game saw SMG pick the IO-Gyro combination. Despite a stacked Tiny and Nature’s Prophet on NEON esports, SMG was able to secure the win.

One particular fight at the 35 minute mark was particularly impressive. As Tusk snowballs to try to kill SMG’s Winter Wyvern, Ryan "Raging Potato" Jay Qui uses his Lotus Orb to save his teammate. What happens then was a treat to watch. Winter Wyvern used his spells from within the Snowball (just cause you can). He used his ultimate, locking down three Neon players in place and handing his team a decisive teamfight victory.

It was moments like this that showcase the skill and near-instant reflexes of Team SMG.

In the post-match interview, when asked which hero he thought was the most fun to play this patch, SMG Ah fu had a rather interesting opinion.

"I think KOTL is most fun hero. He can farm a lot and can take over the position 3 money."

This is surely an opinion that many cores will share (of KOTL taking over their money), but hey, it’s fun if you are the one playing KOTL. Right?

He also said while his favorite hero of all time is Earth Spirit, the hero is not favorable to play in the current patch.

SMG will face NGX.SEA in their next match on April 6. Dota 2 fans can catch all the action live on Twitch or follow the recap here at esports.gg

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