Cloud9's Captain Rasumus "MISERY" Filipsen chats with AFK Gaming about Dota 2

After a long break from the Dota 2 scene, one of the most accomplished Dota 2 players in the world Rasmus "MISERY" Filipsen is finally back. He has returned to the forefront with Cloud9, featuring some of South East Asia's most gifted cores, backed up by experienced western veterans as the supporting cast.

In an exclusive interview with AFK Gaming, MISERY gave us his thoughts on how this team came together, the strength of the different Dota 2 regions and how he wishes that there was a True Sight of TI6 among other things.

Q. Hello Misery, congrats on your return to pro Dota with Cloud9. Can you tell us a little bit about how this roster came together? How did you zero in on your SEA cores?

Misery: Hello and thank you! I spoke with PieLieDie about playing together again and I had been in touch with Vtfaded for a bit since we used to play together in Chaos. I also spoke with Skem before TI9 qualifiers about him coming to Europe and playing with us, but the VISA situation made it impossible. So I was already kind of familiar with the cores from before. 

Flee was a player I always thought was underrated, and having played in lower-tier teams before, giving him a chance made a lot of sense.

Q. Why did you decide to debut in SEA and then move to North America later in the season? If you can reveal it, when is that move happening?

Misery: It was always the plan to be NA based because of Cloud9, but the short notice and VISAs made it really difficult. So we decided to play in SEA at the start and then look into getting the VISAs set up, for the future qualifiers. I suspect that the move will happen as soon as the next round of qualifiers.

Q. Things didn’t go according to plan in the Open Qualifiers in the match against Trust Gaming. If you had another chance to replay it, what would you change?

Misery: I don't know if there's anything specific about that game I would like to change. I would have liked to have more practice and time together before playing the qualifier.

Q. What are your thoughts on the rumoured Dota Pro Circuit changes, next season?

Misery: I didn't read the rumours myself, but I was told some things and I think it sounds interesting. It should help the tier 2-3 scene a lot, giving a lot more teams, a realistic chance to prove themselves.

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Q. You were also a part of the TI5 Cloud9 Roster. What has changed since then, within the org?

Misery: Having played in quite a few organisations, Cloud9 is the most professional one by far. A lot of things have improved and changed through the years since then, and Cloud9 has only moved forward with it.

Q. There has been a lot of discussion on the Major/Minor slot allocation for different regions recently. What is your take on it? 

Misery: I think that the only region, that stands out as stronger than the others, is Europe. The other regions are very even. I think it's mostly fair that the results from previous majors determine the number of slots per region.

Q. Unfortunately, True Sight only launched at TI7. So we couldn’t get to see your perspective of the TI6 Grand Finals. Could you tell us a little bit about Digital Chaos’ atmosphere in the player booth?

Misery: True Sight for our run would have been amazing for sure. I felt very burned out in the Grand Finals in particular. The Loser Bracket match against EG took a lot of energy, so it was hard to think clearly during the finals. We didn't play as well as we had in the rest of the tournament, and things didn't really feel natural. But either way, I would have loved to see a true sight of it. 

Q. We recently found out that you are the only Pro Dota 2 player who has played competitively in five of the six Dota 2 regions in the world? Can you describe each region with a single word/phrase?

Misery: Okay, I didn't think about that haha. The regions used to have a big difference back in the day, nowadays it's just Dota, and I don't think the difference lies within the regions, but more within specific teams.

• North America: Few Teams
• South America: Caralho (Author's Note: Don't google it)
• China: Random Draft
• Europe: Best
• Southeast Asia: Annoying pubs

Q. Does this tempt you to play in CIS before hanging up your mouse?

Misery: Nah probably not. It was never really the intent to end up playing in all the regions. Unless I get an offer to play for a CIS team that I can't refuse (later in my career), I wouldn't force it.

Q. Do you have a wishlist for the next patch?

Misery: It feels as if the removal of shrines and the addition of outposts is a bit random and doesn't make too much sense yet. I hope they keep on working on that aspect of the game.

Q. Finally, what do you do when you are not playing Dota 2?

Misery: Right now, I just bought a new apartment in Copenhagen that needs some renovating, so I am primarily spending time there. Other than that, I go to the gym and when I get a bit more time I would like to get into Poker.