Interview with aAa's Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: "I stole the first blood on Sylar so my weekend was great"

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

During the EMS One Fall offline finals in Poland I had the privilege of sitting down and meeting the guys behind the all French Dota 2 team against All authority, after speaking to them for a while I realised that the majority of the community back home watching will not realise just how dedicated this team is. Long story short these guys have put everything on hold to move into a gaming house and go full time Dota 2.

Before leaving Poland I was able to grab hold of Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy and ask him some questions to help give you guys an insight into how dedicated these guys are.

against All authority's Lineup

• Séverin 'SEV' Philip
• Alexandre 'Sky' Albeza
• Grégory 'BanZ' Puivif
• Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy
• Christophe 'Eeel' Boucardey

The Interview

onGamers: First things first, thank you for sitting down with us to do this interview. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: Hello everybody, I'm SpidaH from team against All authority (aAa) and I play support. I'm 24 years old and I finished my university studies in international relations which I did in the US. I like to feed a lot and make bad calls :D

onGamers: Now during your time at the EMS One Fall finals we heard a small snippet of your team’s back story, could you give us more detail on the recent developments for the team which has now landed you guys in a team house playing Dota 2 full time.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: Our project goes a long way back. We all had the will to go pro and full time for months now. Some of us have finished university, others put their studies on hold for a while, basically all of us went from doing [real life] stuff to going full time on this. We've been together for 6 months now. Here is our reasoning on this. We were all completely unknown to the public a few months ago, I personally had zero competitive experience prior to joining the team so it gives you a good idea of where we were at the time.

However, we all had one dream, become a pro team and fight with the best out there. In order to get there with people who were all underdogs, we had to find out a solution. This is where the gaming house idea came out. Most of the guys in tier 1 teams today have been around for ages so the only way we can have a shot at this is to play more, get more involved and more importantly, do it intelligently.

With a gaming house, we are able to watch replays together, point out the small mistakes here and there, work out strategies and drafts, watch matches as a group and talk about them etc... Anyhow, we put money aside to pay for whatever bills we may encounter and team aAa is also helping us.

onGamers: How much of an impact has moving into a team house had for the team, do you feel practicing under a steady schedule and under the same roof has helped your team take things to the next stage.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: It's having its impact slowly but surely. We've only been in it for 5weeks now and we've had a roster role change halfway through this first month. Things were a bit hectic during that time but we are getting back on track. We are definitely more serious about things though. Its small things but even our pub match history tells a lot. To give you an idea, we used to random and have fun all the time. Now we oblige ourselves to pick our heroes and play the roles we have to play in competitive. No fun allowed man :(.

onGamers: Having five French players under the same roof seems like it would provide an advantage in the kitchen, who would you say is the best cook on the team?

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: I promised the guys I'd be the cook a few months ago because I think I have the most experience with it but I'm beyond lazy so I cooked maybe twice in 5weeks haha. BanZ and CDR are pretty good though, CDR cooks like everyday, he's godlike in terms of effort.

onGamers: In terms of the EMS One Fall finals you were a last minute replacement due to the fact mousesports was unable to attend the event. How late was the notice given to your team and how fast were you able to respond to the request.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: We were asked if we could come Thursday night at like midnight and needed to arrive Saturday before lunch time. It took us 5 mins to say ok and 15 to get the plane tickets. #rockstars

onGamers: Ha, that is pretty crazy. After your place at the tournament was confirmed did you have any time to fit some last minute practice in or research against the teams you were due to face.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: We sort of practiced a level 1 Roshan strat that we ended up not playing haha. We knew we were playing VG right away so we thought about cheesing them. We didn't really have the time to do anything specific but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, these guys are a few tiers above us at this time, it would be ridiculous for us to say that we could have done better had we had a week of practice prior to facing them.

onGamers: How was your experience at the EMS One Fall finals, we saw your team go up against the champions Vici Gaming and Sigma.int in a very difficult group which you were unable to advance past.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: Yeah, talk about an easy group. You face VG first and then it's either Na'Vi or Sigma.int haha. It was fun though, I stole the first blood on Sylar so my weekend was great. Other than that, it was a great experience for all of us. First lan with our new carry Eeel as well. I'm still annoyed at our game against Sigma though, we were DDOS'd for an hour and remade that game like 3 times. I also messed up the game big time by being terrible. Hey, there's always next time.

onGamers: In terms of a tournament of this scale and with it being an offline event how valuable is this experience for you team.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: Incomparable. This is the big league for sure. Never been to a tourney with teams of this caliber before. Looking forward to qualifying legit to this to show people we have what it takes! It was a huge motivational boost for everyone.

onGamers: Is there any specific you took away from the tournament that will help you in the future as a team.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: We talked with a few friends in other pro teams, asked them some questions about the games, what we could have done or should have done better etc... All in all, we got some very valuable advice, specifically in terms of gameplan and organisation in the early levels. Looking forward to trying this out after the Christmas break.

onGamers: Looking towards the immediate future, what are your plans for the team, are you aiming to take part in as many online tournaments as possible or would you prefer to be travelling and attending LAN events.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: We are definitely looking forward to playing in as many competitions and tournaments, be it online or offline as possible. That's the sick aspect of having all 5 of us live together and do this full time, we can just do everything and travel if needed anywhere.

onGamers: Before we let you go is there anything you would like to thank/give shoutouts to.

Dimitri 'SpidaH' Killy: Sure, thanks! First of all, I'd like to give you a huge thank you for giving us some spotlight. It really is hard for up and coming guys to get their voice heard so we appreciate it a lot! Shoutout to team aAa and Roccat for the help! Shoutout to the French Dota2 community Dota2.fr! And finally, shoutout to based Adam 'Mr.Snibbles' Farrington for his motivational speech about eSports.

onGamers: Thank you Dimitri, we wish you the best of luck for the future.

You can find more information regarding the against All authority team via their official site: http://www.team-aaa.com/

And you can also follow them on their respective social media sites:

• http://www.twitter.com/aAaDota2
• http://www.twitter.com/aAaGaming
• https://www.facebook.com/teamaaa

Photo credits: eslphotos @ flickr