Recently, NADS' own roving reporter/resident gamer Jake "Radi" Emmrich got a chance to chat with the one and only Fat Panda Commander, GDT's Taku. From an early support role to now captain of one of North America's most consistent and respected DotA squads, Taku has made a name for himself as a well-rounded player and personality.
Radi: First off, thanks for the interview. Please introduce yourself and tell us what role you play for GDT.
GDT|Taku: Sup! My name is Rob “GDT|Taku” Dyche. I am the captain of team GDT and am kind of a jack of all trades. I play support, ganker and semi carry (though not so much support these days).
Radi: Why are you known as the Fat Panda Commander?
GDT|Taku: PooDrav (MadMortigan) and myself were co-guild leaders for a server top guild in WoW several years back. Everyone called me the Fat Pander there especially after one of my guild mates made my sig which shows me as a big fat panda leading an army of penguins to kill my hated enemies the sharks. Someday I will make that picture a reality…
Taku's current forum signature.
Radi: You are quite famous for your Bat Rider in the NA scene. How did you get your play for that certain hero to be so strong?
GDT|
: =^.^= I started by playing it all the time in THR 3’s (when they were active) with Fry33. Eventually it transitioned into scrims and didn’t do so well at the start but practice makes perfect. More I did it the more I worked out the kinks on the hero and mastered how to play it. It works beautifully in our line ups most of the time these days and it seems that teams still don’t quite know how to play against it so we’ll keep on thrown it in to the game now and then.
Radi: Why the name Taku?
GDT|Taku: When I first started online gaming… I was shadier then people think Sam is. I refused to tell anyone my name, age, anything at all about me. Eventually one of my mates that I played with a lot got fed up and he made a profile for me. Basically he said “Your name is Taku Seshou, you are 23 – Asian and a bad ass.” I stuck to it for a long time and eventually I stopped caring about keeping my life a secret -- stopped being a srs shady mofo and instead became a goofball -- but the name “Taku” stuck to me. I think more people call me Taku now than my real name (Rob).
Radi: Who is your favorite person to lane with on your team?
GDT|Taku: Laning / Roaming or doing anything together with Sojji is amazing -- we make robot voice sex together and own shit hard. We’re the perfect united duo.
Radi: GDT has picked up a few new recruits, can you tell us how you guys met and why you felt they were good additions to your team?
GDT|Taku: GDT|Fatties was very hungry and we offered him a bun -- the rest is as they say history.
We’ve known Kount for a long time and during mid December through Early January – Unlearning (GDT|EhOhhEss/Jamal) was absent on vacation -- Kount stepped up and played as our 5th for the duration. Upon Unlearning’s return Kount became our 6th man and has always been there for us in scrims and matches if need be.
As for GDT|Huf– I met him in an inhouse league and he ended up being on our vent all the time and next thing you know he started scrimming with us and it’s worked out well. He’s progressed a lot as a player over the time he’s been with us and has a bright future if he will BUY A MOUSE (HE PLAYS THROUGH LAPTOP TOUCHPAD WTF???) srs no jk he’s insane.
Radi: GDT has played strong, but had a disappointing first round loss to RG in the first round in SECS 1.6. Care to share your thought about that game? After a loss such as the game vs. RG, how does GDT plan to improve the next time around?
GDT|Taku: Well… we didn’t have Remy (owntalluez) or Sojji for the match and had to use both of our benchers – one (Huf) of which we hadn’t scrimmed with in literally 3 weeks due to him being on vacation. Also, I was severely sick for a couple weeks and wasn’t coping with it very well which was during the last two secs. So we’re not really too bummed about the recent games. As far as improvements -- Could just be playing with our starting lineup and/or Rotating everyone into scrims more (especially upon returning from a period of inactivity) so that we don’t have awkward games with one of our player’s.
Radi: What is something unique about your team?
GDT|Taku: We have a black person and he does our picks. – SRS though – I’d say we’re probably the only team that refuses to do some of the current popular line ups catering to hero’s like dusa etc.
Radi: Is GDT planning on attending any LANs in the future?
GDT|Taku: We might go to the Toronto Lan this May and we are planning on attending Milkfat’s first House of Game Lan tournament when it comes round.
Radi: Any updates on the tournament GDT plans to host?
GDT|Taku: Basically I got really sick and my mate Chris started University so it got pushed back. I’ve been to a doctor a week for the past month and have only narrowed the problem to some sort of inflamed stomach problem myself --- the Doctors still have no real answer to my problem. But I’m getting accustomed to my situation and Chris has settled in Uni so we plan on getting the preparation underway (final touches on the website etc.) so that we can start this tournament in early April. There will be a large cash prize pool but it will also be a pay to enter tournament similar to Cevo. There will also be anti-maphack software that will have to be run by all individuals playing during matches.
Radi: If you could change one thing in DotA right now, what would it be?
GDT|Taku: I would nerf skill-less heroes (in my opinion) like Phantom Lancer and Medusa.
Radi: What would you like to see more coverage on in the DotA community?
GDT|Taku: Honestly think that the community is doing great and that there is a lot of coverage going on. Probably the only thing I would want more of is more in depth coverage of tournaments. It felt like past events such as Cevo Playoff’s and Throne it Finals, as well as the current Storm the Front tournament aren’t being followed much.
Radi: Thanks for the interview, any shoutouts?
GDT|Taku: PooDrav (Mad Mortigan), Chris (Auz), Krowen, Remy, Sojji, Unlearning, Kount, Hoofie, Fry, Slice, Seph, Milkfat, Evred, Radi, Murs, Blitz, Zombie, Travis, Spit-wad, Ephraim, desRow, Rezzy, Lord Curticus, and www.house-of-game.com.
NADS wishes team GDT the best of luck in all their future endeavors!
Comments
meet me on bnet soon, i need some good ideas rofl