Davai Lama interview at TI 2025: ”Nobody can make a living in NA playing Dota”

We had the opportunity for a quick chat with Cedric "Davai Lama" Deckmyn at The International 2025 and see what were the highlights for him.

While he was at TI this year as a spectator, Davai Lama spoke to us about his plans for the next season, saying that he would prefer to return to compete through the European region. “I hope I can just play in Europe,” Davai Lama said. ”Europe is the most competitive region. I want to be competitive. I feel very confident in myself, so I hope I can compete in the best region.”

We talked with him about NA Dota and what, if anything, can be done to revitalise that region, but we also spoke about China’s resurgence at The International 2025. About the latter, Davai Lama had a different angle than the majority of the fans who cheered for Xtreme Gaming and Tidebound last week in Hamburg, Germany. He pointed out that CN Dota is still struggling to find and nurture a new generation of players, while the success they had this year is still built on the old guard coming together for what could be a last dance on the TI stage.

We also touched on the Helm of the Dominator meta at TI 2025, what makes the item so appealing now and what could be changed to tone it down a notch. Find all these and more in the video below.

More Interviews from TI 2025

• Unpacking China Dota history at TI with Bkop
• Mangusu: "Even when we weren't in a team together, we continued to build and grow as a group, helping each other”
• Boxi: “You can tell we're not playing our best, and you can't blame that on a patch or some item”
• Stormstormer talks TI 2025 format, storylines, and Helm of the Dominator meta
• Omar: “If we play to our level, we will beat anyone”
• KJ: “Yuma and I were eating tacos and talking about how we are going to win TI”
• Eva Elfie talks Stop Motherf*cking campaign