Exclusive inteview with Nemiga offlaner - Miksa
14K MMR Serbian offlaner MikSa` from Nemiga Gaming took his time to speak to us in an interview. We spoke about himself and his origins, matchmaking, relocation of organizations to Serbia, the now-abolished DPC system, and his expectations for the upcoming IESF championship, the "World Dota Championship" where he will represent his country.
Can you tell us about yourself?
- I was born in Paracin, a small town in Serbia. In my home town I played football on semi-pro level until I was 15. I played in the 3rd best team at that time, and I was a goalkeeper.
How did you start playing Dota?
- I started playing Dota in 2016 and calibrated at 1.7k MMR. Back then, I usually played Mid-lane and Carry. However, three years ago, I realized that all my favorite heroes were Offlaners, and I personally prefer the Offlane playstyle.
Tell the history of your nickname.
- It's a really funny story. We had a football match where I was on fire, making a lot of saves. After the game my coach said something like, "Good job, Miksa," and from that moment, everyone started calling me Miksa. That’s how I’m known in my hometown.
How did you get into Nemiga? tell us how it was.
- In February, Edward, the Nemiga Gaming Dota 2 manager, contacted me and showed interest in trying me out for the team. Being Serbian, I understood most Russian words and I have experience playing in Russian-speaking teams, so my teammates understand me clearly.
You guys didn't had a bootcamp on TI qualifiers, do you think it affected your performance?
- We had a bootcamp in april in Minsk, it kinda helped us improve, but after it ended, we didn't want to come again. After that, we won RES Regional Series: EU #1, but in RES Regional Series: EU #2 we ended up in last place, our results weren’t the greatest. I dont think not having a bootcamp was the reason why we played awful in these qualifiers. In my opinion, we just didn't prepare properly
About bootcamp in Minsk, is it your first time in a russian-speaking country?
- I really liked Minsk. It's not my first time in a Russian-speaking country - I also visited Moscow two years ago to compete in a student LAN tournament, where we got 2nd place.
What you think after DPC was removed
- It's worse for T2 players. Before, everyone used to fight for Majors and TI, but now players are just fighting for money. There are also a lot of qualifiers and tournaments and you need to focus on all of them, which makes you tired very quickly.
What you think about pubs quality right now
- The biggest problem right now is that in almost every game, you win more MMR than someone loses. For example, if I’m against my friend and he loses 24 MMR, I might gain 26. So, with a 50% win rate, you should still be in the plus. Also I really like the Immortal Draft change, you can form a lot of friendships and teamwork from it.
With who you like to play in pubs?
- I like to play with miracle. I would always first-pick that guy and win.
What do you think about wintraders?
- Yeah, there are probably a lot of wintraders, but no one is going to do it forever. I think if your goal is to become a professional player at high MMR, being known as a wintrader or stream sniper will prevent you from joining a good team. So, I don't understand why they do it.
Currently you are rank 16, how’d you achieve this?
- After we won RES #1 I received money and bought myself a new PC. It really helped me improve. I used to restart Dota a lot, but now I don’t have to. After I got my PC, I got super motivated and everything started to run smoothly.
Can you give advice for people that are trying to get this high mmr
- Don't tilt, just focus on your game and lane. Watch pro players' replays and look at how they play, as you can copy a lot of stuff. You can use dota2protracker to look for meta heroes and play on them.
Soon there will be an IESF. What do you think about this tournament?
- I’m playing for team Serbia. I also played IESF World Championship 2023. Currently this is the biggest country-teams tournament with a pretty huge prize-pool so I hope we qualify.
What countries are the strongest on IESF?
- Belarus looks decent, Bulgaria is worse than last year. Greece, Turkey and Ukraine look fine.
Are there a lot of local dota tournaments in Serbia?
- Yeah, there is usually a tournament in December, it's really fun to go there and play with friends. Everyone knows each other and when we go to Belgrade, it's cool to chill together. But unfortunately, Serbia is not a dota country and this happens only once in a year.
What you think about that recently a lot of orgs migrated to Serbia?
- Everyone is having a bootcamp because its cheaper there and almost no language barrier, I see it in a positive way, it might increase the popularity of Dota in Serbia
Is there a Serbian pro player community, do you guys talk with each other
- Yeah, there is a community and we all communicate with each other often. LeBron helped me a lot last year by inviting me to stand in for Ancient Tribe. There, I met Alex, which is how my professional career started. Chodex is also a good friend of mine, he’s rank 100, and bbz is a good guy, he’s rank 800.
On January 31st of this year MikSa` gained 11k MMR, and already on June 13th he reached 13k MMR. At the moment he's 16th place on the European ladder and he's among the top 5 offlaners in Dota, above him only ATF, MieRo``, Collapse and Wisper.
On April 7th MikSa` joined Nemiga GamingThe best result of the team was the championship on RES Regional Series: EU #11. Unfortunately, the team failed to qualify for any other Tier-1 tournaments.
In his free time, MikSa` broadcasts live on Twitch, where he plays high MMR pubs.