KuroKy was a dictator, and YapzOr was lazy — Matumbaman gave a big interview to KheZu

Former professional player and The International 2017 champion Lasse MATUMBAMAN Urpalainen discussed his former teammates and teams with Maurice KheZu Gutmann. He shared what made Team Liquid different from Team Secret and how he won TI.

To begin with, Lasse talked about what he’s been up to since leaving the professional scene. He served in the Finnish Defence Forces, then bought an apartment, most of which he spent renovating. At one point, he went through an existential crisis, and in search of himself, he enrolled in university to study business.

"If you sit at home for 12 hours with no commitments, it drives you crazy. I couldn’t think clearly and fell into depression."

MATUMBAMAN also mentioned that he recently became a father, so he now has much less free time. He stated that he believes his departure from the pro scene was the right decision and doesn’t regret it. One of the reasons for ending his career, according to Lasse, was the toxicity of the Dota 2 community, which had gone beyond acceptable limits.

Next, Urpalainen recalled the start of his career and his path to becoming a professional:

"At first, I didn’t understand Dota at all, I just pressed buttons, and the results came. I didn’t even know why. I just pressed the keys and hoped to do it faster than others. That was my strategy."

Lasse’s understanding of the game was deepened by Kuro KuroKy Salehi Takhasomi, who reviewed replays with him. However, MATUMBAMAN himself believes he didn’t learn much from these lessons.

"My understanding of the game was very narrow. I just viewed the game from my perspective, thinking about what I needed to do. My thoughts were only about myself. I didn’t care what the other heroes were doing, I only saw the big picture."

In the team with Amer Miracle- Al-Barkawi and his greedy playstyle, Lasse had to adapt to something not entirely familiar.

"Even in this sense, I lacked understanding. I just knew what needed to be done — creating omega space for Miracle, a universe of space. I only thought about how to make him smile, because I knew: if he starts smiling, we’ll win, and for the enemy, it’s all over."

Regarding their performance at TI7, MATUMBAMAN doesn’t think the strategies were anything special. In his opinion, Liquid had often played the same way in previous tournaments, and as long as they did everything correctly, their tactics worked, just like at the main tournament of the year. The key was their ability to perform well in critical moments.

"I think we were simply better than the rest. Even with the best strategy, we could easily have lost TI. It’s funny, I thought back then that we needed 100% skill to win, but in Dota, there’s always an element of randomness, thousands of unforeseen things can happen and cause problems."

Speaking about Liquid, Lasse also mentioned the atmosphere within the organization:

"There was no room for sentimentality in Liquid, it was a very tense atmosphere. But if you had asked me if I was ready to endure it, knowing that we would win TI, I would have said "yes". Now, I think teams are better organized in this regard, they are more relaxed. They focus not only on winning, but on doing everything well."

The reason for his kick from Liquid, according to MATUMBAMAN, was KuroKy’s toxicity:

"At Disneyland Major, we had played on the LAN in the UK before, I remember it was after a big tournament, I was exhausted and didn’t want to put in any effort, so I went there like "whatever", and Kuro got really mad about it. The atmosphere was too toxic for me, beyond limits, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I felt like I still tried, we took second place, and after that, I was kicked. I remember there was a lot of toxicity, especially in the grand final, when I was really tired."

When asked which team MATUMBAMAN considers his favorite, he named Team Secret, as it had the most pleasant atmosphere, though he noted that every team had both positive and negative aspects:

"Secret was calmer than Liquid. Secret was more democratic, while Liquid was a dictatorship, especially from Kuro. Although, it was probably a forced dictatorship, as the other team members didn’t have much to say about the game. In Secret, we talked more, discussed ideas, and better understood the strategy than in Liquid. In Liquid, we just did what Kuro told us, and that was it. I liked working in Secret more. I started understanding the game better, accumulating knowledge and understanding cause-and-effect relationships."

Lasse also commented on YapzOr, with whom he played for a significant amount of time in Secret:

"YapzOr was so lazy... He only thought about TI. I respect that, of course, I also cared about TI, but YapzOr took it to a new level. He put in about 20% effort throughout the year and about 110% at TI, so sometimes it was tough to play with him."

In conclusion, MATUMBAMAN remembered his "Last Dance" with the updated Liquid roster. He took on the role of drafter and picked the simplest heroes because he considered his team extremely weak:

"In Liquid, dictatorship returned, I became Kuro 2.0, I had a toxic mentality towards the team, but it worked."

With Liquid, Lasse qualified for The International 2022 and finished in the top 3, after which he retired. Over 10 years of professional competition, MATUMBAMAN earned over $4,000,000 in prize money.

As previously reported by CyberScore, Quinn, iNSaNiA and KheZu joined the talents for DreamLeague Season 27.