Q: Hello, Dmitry Vovk. Thank you for accepting the interview. Formerly, Monte was a formidable team. Your team made it to the playoffs of last year's BLAST Paris Major and won the championship at the end of the year in ECL Yanxue Ping Station. However, after that, the team's performance plummeted, and there were major changes in the lineup. Volodymyr Veletniuk | Woro2k recently left the team, and Viktor Orudzhev | sdy parted ways with the team a few months ago. What is the reason behind this?
a : It is very unfortunate. Former Monte was a top team. We often participated in various top-level competitions. However, now we cannot even get invitations to low-level competitions, and the team's roster is still incomplete.sdy's departure is the beginning of the team's crisis. We feel sad about his departure. Without him, Monte is no longer the same. The current results are embarrassing.
Q: So what happened to Woro2K leaving the team? He was also a key player in the original Monte .
a : It was a result of our mutual agreement. He told us that he was tired and needed a break, so we decided to part ways with him. He will find a new team, and we hope he can succeed, just like he did in Monte, and prove his value again in the new team.
Q: Previously, you announced the formation of a youth training team to nurture talents for the main team. Why is Monte still recruiting more players from outside instead? Hasn't this promotion channel been opened yet?
a : We have also been trying. After all, the youth training teams of Astralis and Mouz have cultivated many outstanding talents. But from our situation, young players have poor resilience. They are good in terms of technical skills, but they often rush to achieve success and are very fragile mentally. They easily give up at the slightest obstacle, which then affects the team's performance. So, we will continue to observe.
Q: After the departure of sdy and Woro2k , there is no longer a commander in Monte . Will you promote a player from the existing lineup as the commander, such as Sergiy Demchenko | DemQQ , or will you find a player from outside who can serve as the commander?
a : There are no suitable command candidates available in the transfer market now. Even if there are, they belong to lower-level teams. Good commanders are hard to come by. This is a difficult problem that many top clubs are facing. The new commander of Monte will not be DemQQ . I'm already in negotiations, and it will be announced when the time is right.
Q: What about Vladyslav Korol | kvem ? Many people consider him a rising star from Ukraine. Why didn't you sign him?
a : We tried to contact his mother team and discuss the possibility of buying out his contract, but their asking price was too high, so we had to back out. For clubs like ours, every wrong step in terms of finance could lead to a deep abyss, so we cannot take risks. In fact, for most esports clubs, it is very difficult to maintain financial health. Many esports clubs are in deficit and rely heavily on investment. So, for players like kvem , if the asking price is too high, we will not consider it. We prefer to exchange time for space, through tempering, and hope that young players can grow. This may be a more practical choice.
Q: But some people say that your team's peripherals are too expensive, with the price of a team uniform much higher than other clubs.
a : The high price of the team uniform is determined by its craftsmanship. Our team uniform is embroidered, not simply printed. In addition, the fabric is also very exquisite. So we hope to raise funds through the support of fans to get through this difficult period. I also did the math. Based on the current profit and sales of our merchandise, if we were to purchase one kvem , we would need to sell merchandise for 106252 days (291 years) to gather that amount of money.
