Dmitri "hooch" Bogdanov is one of five russian bears playing for probably russias best Counter-Strike at the moment, Virtus.pro. hooch, who just recently attended WEG Masters, is currently playing with the team in the online tournament NGL-One. This article covers everything from his performance at WEG Masters, social life, gaming career and his role in Virtus.pro.

 

 

- Hey! My name is Dmitri Bogdanov , also known as hooch, i am 19 years old and a student from Moscow, who is playing counter-strike for best the russian team at the moment, Virtus.pro

Over a month has passed since the WEG Masters, do you still remember much from this event, and how does it feel?

 

- Yeah, that was a great event with many great teams attending, we had a opportunity to play with best the teams, also i remember lots of fans and horrible food :). Plus this event gave us a lot of nice time and a good experience !

Tell us a brief summary of your past clans and which one that has meant the most to you!

 

- I've played for elation, e-m8z , flashback , m5team , r095us , Begrip and my last clan before i joined Virtus was CSKA. Well i think i should give m5team some credit, we won CPL Belgrade 2004, winning against virtus, adrenaline and 64amd, that was a great time we had a really a great team that time, but like most of russian teams it disbanded because of lack sponsors and losing teamspirit.

What would you say hides under the nickname hooch?

 

- HOOCHIEMAMA ?!:D

Where will we see Virtus.pro in the near future and over the summer, any big events planned?

 

- We Are going to Perm Period (a big russian lan with 22.500$ prizes), right after that we are going to Paris to attend ESWC, then we have a big russian league (if u win a single match u gain 1000$ and 800000$ for 4 teams lan finals) and then UKraine Cyber Cup which gonna take place in Kiev at august.

 

 

- It is becoming bigger and bigger, many new skilled teams are born, but the problem is that teams in russia still have no stable sponsors which enables them to attend european events. Most of players are very skilled individually but have bad teamplay, but I really think its just a "question of time".

What do you prefer, playing online from your home or competing on LAN, and why?

 

- LAN ! Even though we are always attending lans and never play from home. We have our own apartment in Moscow where we can pracc and sleep. But still i dont like to play online because many people cheat online and its really annoying to play against such peeps. And in my opinion you can prove ur skills only on LAN , thats why i choose LAN !;D

Do you often watch demos in order to gain experience, if so, do you have a favorite player/team you look at more then others?

 

- Hmm i dont watch demos a lot , but i do if there is a really great match between great rivals(who can miss Nip versus SK ?:D) I do watch some POV to gain some experience from great players.

As always, I'm going to ask who is most overrated player in the world at the moment?

 

- elemeNt.

He used to be one of the best players when he played in Gameonline , eoL, SK and NoA, but now he play he doesn't play as good as he used to play before, but he still being invited to best teams and play on high level.

Unfortunately, many people feel that you didn't perfom or maintained the same level as your fellow team mates at WEG Masters. Would like to explain why?

 

- Well my teammates have 1 vision of this problem, fans again have other opinions. I dont wanna whine and blame it all on various problems which made me not perform, lets just say that it wasnt my event. But i am sure i wont dissapoint my team and my fans in the upcomming ESWC.

 

 

- Well , i have a kinda important role in my team, because on most maps i take the b2 spot alone :) I used to be one of AWP's in our team and i am kind of a "cheerleader" in our team , i scream a lot and stuff during the games :D.

As far as I know, you have been to many events, who do you think is best event organizators?

 

- I have been to CPL, CPL Europe, WEG, WCG, but i have never been to ESWC, allthough i always dreamed of going to France to attend ESWC, and i really hope that this ESWC is gonna be the best tournament ever !

In your opinion, how is, for example the swedish CS scene, different from the Russian one?

 

- Swedish teams have better conditions to play on then russian teams has, this includes ping, better pcs and sponsors. There is more lan teams in russia then in sweden, for some people its advantage and for others its a disadvantage. But we have a simular styles of playing.

How does a ordinary day for Dimitri look like?

 

- Hmm, my day depends pretty much on the virtus schedule.
1) If we have a big lan soon: I wake up at our praccplace, take a shower, breakfast, start playing csdm or with bots, then pracc with team, after that i play some dota or watch movie/series.

2) If we dont have a big lan coming up: I wake up at my home, take a shower, breakfast, university and then go to the cinema or some cafe, pracc with my team and then go home :D.

Who is your favorite counter-strike player of all time?

 

- Gameonline-VicoN-

 

- Yeah, we havent lost AT nuke for a long time now, but that doesnt mean that is our best map :p

Whats your opinion about Pentagram after the NGL-one match?

 

- Well, i have known Pentagram for a long time and these boys are really nice players and persons in real life.

We played 2 servers where both teams had +20 ping advantage. As i already said i dont care about internet and i cant say my opinion about this team at online, but i am pretty sure that they are REALLY strong on LAN.

 

- Shoutouts go out to 1g, hiGhtime and ebl0myas mates! Thanks goes out to my parents and all fans that support us. Also thanks to our sponsors Oklick (www.oklick.ru) AVE (www.ave.ru) and Belinea (www.belinea.ru). And thank you for a nice interview!