Dota 2 news » Creating Confidence

One month is your average time for a boot camp before The International. A few teams even talked about the tensions that can rise by having a longer camp. Fnatic broke all the rules by running theirs for two months.

For them it was important to not just practice but bond as a team. They needed to believe in each other. The Dota 2 community was hard on them as they switched over. Then their early successes led into a slump. It hasn’t always been easy to believe.

Besides learning about each other during their extended boot camp – Era can’t cook, Trixi is a master chef – they had to learn about gaining their confidence back. Could they shake that all off coming out straight from their long boot camp to The International?

And to be clear, this isn’t about other people’s doubts. They can handle that, this is about their own doubts. They want to start strong in group stage and then play their own game but if they fail there is it over? They look to NAVI last year, having a bad group stage only to come back strong – it can be done – nothing will shake them.

Their confidence is relaxed enough now that when N0Tail is asked if there could be anything as sweet as winning The International a smile crosses his face, maybe there is one… a victory at The International with Meepo.