Interview with Furi Kuri's captain, Chinky

And finally the last team interview before the full action begins, and who else to finish it off but with the organiser himself, Chinky!

Player profile

Name: Fred Nguyen aka Chinky

Age: 38 (God damn!!)

Current Team: Furi Kuri

Headset: Steelseries Siberia Elite

Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Tournament Stealth Edition

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Gaming Mouse

Essential tournament food: Hello Panda Cookies, Pocky Stick, Green Grass Jelly Drink or Ramune

G’day Fred, mind introducing yourself to the Canberra DOTA2 scene?            Hey all I'm Fred aka Chinky, and am the organiser for this tournament as well as participating with my team Furi Kuri.

I've been gaming for quite some time and dabbled in Starcraft, Counter-Strike (CS 1.5, CZ, CS 1.6 then CS:GO) and World of Warcraft.  I had success with CS, having made it to the nationals but I definitely can’t compare to the likes of Venom from Rat Doto.  Also got the chance to travel overseas thanks to people I met through gaming.

I'm also Asian and popular to contrary belief, I'm actually a fantastic driver!  Shout out to that Queensland MP for noting the Asian people.

The glory days of CS for Chinky

Are you able to introduce your team mates as well and their roles in the team?
It’s probably best to go with a intro on each player so here goes:

LaosPowerHouse aka Steven Segal, he’s our carry out in the DOTA world and even though he is on Deadly Ground, he goes Out For Justice and has proven that he’s Hard To Kill.  He slashes through the jungle like The Glimmer Man and leaves Exit Wounds for his foes. People trying to catch him end up Half Past Dead as he makes the team feel Under Siege.

ShibataPlex aka Ol Faithful, you want You want calculated consistency? You want clockwork precision? You want no mistakes? You want really long shiny hair which questions your masculinity? Well then you want ShibataPlex in the game at all times. Like your granddaddy’s pocket watch Shibata’s always on time. Doing our draft and picking the right line-ups, coordinating attacks and telling us how good we look and how he’s noticed we've been lifting. I’d call him Mr Right if I was more comfortable with my own sexuality and didn't think it would sound super g@ybones.

Goldenboy aka Wunderkind is a malevolent 3. He puts on a clinic out there, shutting down team’s penetration and playing a great 3. He showed me that DOTA isn't played with the hands. It’s played with the body and the eyes. And the heart. And you have to use your mind of course to tell your body and eyes what to do. And obviously hands to an extent do come into play. And the arms they’re attached. And you can’t do those things with a head, which is where the aforementioned mind is. And a face. Anyhoos, long story short, GoldenBoy’s the whole package…….. ladiez.

Raxisus and myself are the ultimate odd couple out there. Complimenting each other perfectly. Raxisus healing the team at the right time, myself, warding the map for that sweet Intel. Raxisus making sure no one gets left behind, me covering the team in smoke like we were on the Chronic tour. Raxisus leaving his dishes on the couch, me cleaning them up. Raxisus leaving the toilet seat up, me putting it down.  You get the drift basically…..

Your probable reaction.

How long have you played together with your current team?We only got together when I started organising this tournament and we've only just managed to practice 2 days a week since Shibata has modelling commitments and doesn't get back until 10pm or so.  It’s been a fun ride so far and now that the tournament is here, I hope it continues and we’re not a one hit wonder like Trinidad James.

We’re bracing up for a pretty big solid tournament, what are you most looking forward to?I'm looking forward to creating a community from this and making this DOTA and other gaming scene grow in Canberra and hopefully Australia.  It’s nice to see everyone get out there and just have a go and afterwards have some light banter.  Most of all, FRIENDSHIP!  Because if there’s one thing to remember; it’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.

We have 3 interstate teams competing in this tournament, with the strongest one of the lot, being AVANT YMC.  Are you familiar with any of them and how do you fancy your chances against them?Being the organiser has given me a chance to familiarise myself with all the interstate teams so yeah I've gotten to know them and have a fair idea on how good they are.  I'm not gonna say how I rate our team against them but we’ll give it our best.

What are your thoughts on the Australian DOTA 2 scene?Pretty low, it’s not a good thing when our best DOTA 2 team can’t put up a fight against Tier 1 teams around the world.  The only time I really took note when was we had Absolute Legends and Natural 9 playing solid DOTA back then.
Nowadays, we've got a big hurdle ahead of us especially when you think about our infrastructure and how we’re not really close to any of our international neighbours (ping issues).  It would probably help if we had more National LAN tournaments like we did with Counter-Strike.  That I feel would help immensely in producing more talent in the DOTA 2 scene.

Oh, and people contributing to the community and not thinking about their own pockets as well.  Because there are times when people just are too greedy and that destroys the community as a result.

I haven’t really been pumped about the Australia gaming teams since the days of f-zer0 and iCHOR but we’ll see how things go from here.

Back to our own local scene in Canberra, is there any teams that you’re familiar with and respect?Every team that has registered through here, I am familiar with now.  I wasn’t really familiar before bar two teams, LoLCats and 4 + 1. I expect every team to be playing to their best abilities and respect them for coming out and playing in this tournament.  I've enjoyed the networking exercise because of this.

Will we see you in future Canberra DOTA 2 tournaments?No doubt and it helps that I run the show and have great fantastic people behind this.  I'm talking about every team, shoutcaster and the netcafes behind this.

Fred, thank you for your time, is there anything further that you’d like to add or any shoutouts? First of all, I’d like to thank our sponsors Tt-eSports and Redskins for their contributions, The Barracks and Sky Internet Café for hosting the tournament, and the 18 teams participating in this.  Because without you guys it wouldn't be possible, the shoutcasters and the followers/readers for taking the time to read this.