BOOM Esports' Skem on Team Spirit: We don't care what they think, the pressure is on them

One of the most highly-anticipated matches of the first day of the Main Event at Dota 2's The International 11 (TI11) will be the best-of-one elimination match between Southeast Asian hopefuls BOOM Esports and TI10 champions Team Spirit in the first round of the lower bracket.

Not only are the defending champions in danger of an early exit, they will be facing arguably the best team in Southeast Asia with their home crowd behind them.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Esports SEA ahead of their match versus Team Spirit, BOOM Esports' Andrei "Skem" Ong said he doesn't care what Yatoro thinks about his team and only wishes his opponents good luck.

"We don't care what other people think or say about our team," said Skem.

"I just wish [Team Spirit] good luck in our match later. The pressure is on them because they have all the expectations."

There's a bit of beef between the two squads too, or at least between Illya "Yatoro" Mulyarchuk and fans of BOOM Esports and Southeast Asian Dota in general.

During the ESL One Stockholm Major in May, Yatoro said in an interview that BOOM Esports' players were "mediocre".

“I guess the most exciting games will be against Fnatic and T1. BOOM? Who are they? They don't seem like great players to me. I feel they are mediocre,” said Yatoro.

BOOM no strangers to pressure

Skem and BOOM are very familiar with the pressure of expectations, for it has plagued them all throughout TI11.

The team entered the tournament as Southeast Asia's strongest representative and were the region's biggest hopes for claiming its first-ever Aegis of Champions.

However, BOOM did not live up to expectations through the first three days of the Group Stage.

The team only managed a 5-13 record ahead of the final day of the stage and were in danger of getting eliminated before they could even play in front of their home crowd.

In order to make it to the Main Event, BOOM needed to score a 2-0 victory in their last Group Stage match against North American juggernauts Evil Geniuses (EG), one of the strongest teams at TI11 that went on to finish atop the standings of Group A.

Not only that, the Southeast Asian squad then had to win tiebreakers against the other bottom teams in their group. It was a grueling gauntlet, one that lesser teams would have succumbed to.

But somehow, BOOM managed to sweep EG and force a three-way tiebreaker between them, North America's Soniqs Esports, and Eastern Europe's BetBoom Team. They then defeated Soniqs and BetBoom in turn to secure a place in TI11's Main Event.

Skem said the key to their turnaround in the final day of the Group Stage was that a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

"The difference was that there was no more pressure on us [in Day 4 of the Group Stage]. We play better with no pressure," said Skem.

Perhaps a bit of magic helped too.

Shortly after BOOM qualified for the Main Event, the team's official Twitter account posted a picture of Skem and BOOM CEO Gary "Natshuba" Ongko with their heads shaved while teammate Timothy "Tims" Randrup held up a shaver.

Skem said it was a fulfillment of a promise he made to BOOM's CEO and a bit of a lighthearted event before the team prepared for TI11's Main Event.

"I was smoking with the BOOM CEO and I promised him I'd shave my head if we qualified for the Main Event," said Skem.

"Tims was happy because he was the one who did the shaving, but everyone else was just okay with it."

Having been told what was the key for BOOM's turnaround at TI11, Skem shaving his head looked like an interesting bit of symbolism. In the same way that Skem shaved off all his hair, BOOM shed all the pressure of expectations they previously had as they headed towards their biggest tournament yet as a team.

Interestingly enough, Yatoro also famously shaved his head back in TI10, and Team Spirit emerged with the Aegis of Champions in their hands.

Skem doesn't think much of that parallel, nor did he express any excitement to face Yatoro and Team Spirit. To him, it was just another game they needed to win. And if BOOM does manage to win, Skem believes he and his team can go all the way.

"[Our coach Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung] wants our team's emotions to always just be the same, no matter what game we are playing or opponent we are facing," said Skem.

"If we beat Spirit, I'm confident we can make it to the final day."

Skem and BOOM will face Spirit in the second match of the first round of the lower bracket, scheduled for 5PM Singapore Time.

The winner of that match will survive the treacherous best-of-one gauntlet and play best-of-three matches the rest of the way. But that doesn't mean the road to the Aegis gets any easier, the winner of the BOOM-Spirit match will face either Team Secret or PSG.LGD, two of the strongest teams at TI11.

TI11 will be hosted in Singapore from 15 to 30 October and features a revamped format and a longer schedule.

The tournament will begin with a Group Stage from 15 to 18 October, where 20 teams will fight to become among the 16 squads to advance to the Main Event.

TI11's Main Event will be a double-elimination bracket and is split into two phases, the first being held from 20 to 23 October while the second will take place from 29 to 30 October.

For everything you need to know about TI11, check here.

BOOM Esports roster:

1. Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong

2. Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer

3. Saieful "Fbz" Ilham

4. Timothy "Tims" Randrup

5. Andrei "skem" Ong

6. Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung (coach)

7. Khoo "Ohaiyo" Chong Xin (analyst)

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