Did you ever expect to end up playing on one of the most visible dota teams out there?

Well, when we started as Want a Cookie? in CAL season 1, we were one of the favorites (at least in our minds) right off the bat, and took 3rd, so we were expecting to be visible as one of the top teams. Of course, it's been a pleasant surprise to outlast every other top American team, and make a decent transition into international play.

Why do you think you were able to stay together?

I think to keep a team going it takes a strong core. Obviously we're a lot different from our first season of CAL...the only remaining players from that team are myself and King. But along the way we picked up Kaiser, and I feel that as long as you have 2-3 committed players you can keep a team going pretty much indefinitely. Now we have Remstar and Andre as well, who are both also very committed to the team.

King, Whisper, Andre, and Kaiser in one of their infamously-long pick discussions! (Photo courtesy of Brian Dunn)

All right, could you maybe explain the teamwork dynamic in EG a little? For example, what kind of decisions are democratic versus more leadership-based?

Everything is more or less democratic. We do hero picks together, although one person is usually in charge of finalizing them. We all do things for and within the team, people naturally just pick up things they want to do and the pieces have fit together. What's not democratic however, is who plays the map control technician (ward bitch) in matches. Actually, that may be democratic still, just outvoted. :-(

Map control technician, that's the euphemism for it?

Yes. Me and Pusher (MYM|Pusher-Street) representin'. P.S., since Pusher played TB in a match, I will play TB in an EG match.

You heard it here first, folks. People always ask favorites, but just to mix it up, what is your LEAST favorite hero and item?

Least favorite hero is Shadow Fiend because I have my item hotkeys rerouted to Z and X, so I can't Shadowraze properly. And I don't feel like taking the time to get used to remapped hotkeys.

Least favorite item is Null Talisman.

Really, why?!

Null is a scary word. It means zero in German.

So it's your least favorite item because, you are scared of it.

Yes.