Mid Laner of the 9 Pandas Dota 2 team Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov in an interview with Telecomasia.net talked about the team's preparation for The International 12 (2023).
According to the cyber sportsman, 9 Pandas did not work effectively at the boot camp:
I can't say that the bootcamp was productive, because of some circumstances. There were some conflicts and misunderstandings in the team at that time. It was impossible to work efficiently at the boot camp. So we did not feel the meta, did not get into it, and also the patch was not the right one for our team. My main heroes and MieRo's main heroes were not in-meta. That's why I think our shape for TI12 was far from perfect.
Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov
Zyryanov suggested that the members of 9 Pandas should have been less stressed and worried in order to show a better result:
It's actually hard to say [whether we could have prepared the way we did for ESL One Berlin Major 2023], it's different for everyone. Maybe we really needed to be more relaxed and we overexerted ourselves and put too much importance on this tournament, even though it's just another tournament. Perhaps because of this we had misunderstandings and conflicts. It's different for all teams, some can skip practice and stll win. I know that in Gaimin Gladiators the players are not forced to play matchmaking. They play it themselves if they feel that their form has slumped.
Gleb "kiyotaka" Zyryanov
9 Pandas finished 9-12 at The International 12, crashing out after losing to Gaimin Gladiators in the lower bracket of the playoffs. Kiyotaka's team earned $67,500 in prize money.
Earlier, 9 Pandas officially confirmed the lineup for the ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023 championship.