When it comes to the World Championship, we tend to look to China and Korea to be the dominant regions. We have hopes for NA and EU, but they’ve let fans down more than they’ve succeeded. And we only give passing glances to the LMS. And when it comes time to solidify those power ranking lists, we reserve 15th and 16th for the International Wild Card teams.

Enter Albus Nox Luna, a team from Russia that started their Worlds the way everyone expected; a loss to the Rox Tigers. But then, on day three of the Group Stage, Albus Nox surprised everyone by defeating North America’s Counter Logic Gaming. A fluke, right? But then they beat G2 Esports. And then the Rox Tigers. Albus Nox was becoming the IWC team that could.

That is, until they faced Europe’s H2K in the Quarterfinals. After a heartbreaking 0-3 loss to H2K, Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov, ANX’s Top laner, graciously still agreed to do an interview. We talk about the Wild Card qualifier process, what he thought of San Fran and Chicago, and more.

Interview conducted by Amanda Stevens

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Amanda Stevens: You guys are one of the best performing IWC teams in Worlds’ history, how does that make you feel? Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: It feels great, this sense of achievement that we, the Wildcard teams, can perform better than our competition. I think a takeaway from that is that with enough resources, maybe on the same level as our competitors, we can be even better and have a better showing.

Amanda Stevens: How draining is it to go from winning your own region, then to the IWC qualifier tournament, and then have to play in the Group Stage? How taxing is that on you as a player?

Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: It was quite difficult for us. Even for INTZ, who was in better condition because the IWCQ was in their home country. And in our case, it is a really long distance flight to Brazil and also from Brazil to the US. We had enough strength in us to get to the Knockout Stage, but it was quite difficult.

Amanda Stevens: When you realized you had qualified for Worlds, was there a specific Top laner you were most looking forward to facing?

Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: I was excited just overall to face the best players in my position in the world. And I was happy to not only play against one of the strongest players in my position but one of the best players in the world: Smeb.

Amanda Stevens: Now that you and your team have played against some of the best teams in the world, do you think this event will give you the practice to be even stronger when you play again in your region?

Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: Yeah, most definitely. Actually, the other thing is that at this Worlds it was impossible for us to win some matches because teams had this homework done. Some champions that are pocket picks were really practiced by our players. The thing is they were not very efficient in our home region because everyone was adapted to it and they had countermeasures. But here, at Worlds, teams were not really prepared for it. And for our regional play, I think we will be better prepared now.

Amanda Stevens: On a lighter note, you’ve gotten to go to both San Francisco and Chicago. Which of the two cities did you like more? Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: Chicago.

Amanda Stevens: Why Chicago?

Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: The district that we were set up in is just much better. It’s beautiful, there are parks, there were tall buildings and sightseeing. I just liked Chicago much more as a city.

Amanda Stevens: Did you and the team to get to hang out with any of the players at Worlds at all? And who did you like hanging out with the most?

Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: The Brazilian team was the one that we were communicating and hanging out with the most. Unfortunately, they stayed in San Francisco and didn’t advance to Chicago. So, after that only European and NA teams were really available for us for communication.

Amanda Stevens: Do you have anything to say to your fans back home and the new Western fans you’ve picked up over the course of Worlds? Dmitri “Smurf” Ivanov: Yeah, I want to say many thanks to all our fans. Especially the ones who are not sleeping and watching all our matches because of the time zone difference. Also, to say sorry to everyone we disappointed maybe because of the 0-3. Yes, we were tired so we were hoping to play better and we did the best we could.

A special thanks to Vladimir Tortsov for being Amanda Stevens’ translator for this interview

Cover image courtesy of Lol Esports Flickr.