Quinn at BLAST Slam 4: “My biggest advice to me at the start of my career would be to just shut up”

Quinn “Quinn” Callahan is a certified Dota 2 legend, having won several tier 1 tournaments between 2023 and 2024. He recently retired from professional play, and is now focused on dropping mad knowledge as a desk analyst. We had the privilege of sitting down and having a chat with him after the games on day 2 of the playoffs at BLAST Slam 4 in Singapore.

How are you doing?

Quinn: Good, good. I’m a little sleepy, and it’s been a long day, but overall I’m good.

Patrick Bonifacio: Good to hear. First of all, congratulations on an extremely successful career, and on your retirement.

I know it’s barely been two months, but how’s life away from being an active player treating you so far?

Quinn: It’s much more peaceful. There’s some housekeeping things that I think you don’t think about. Like, I didn’t own a suit, so I had to go buy clothes for this event.

Patrick: Did you get them here?

Quinn: No, no, I bought them. I bought them where I was and then flew with them. I also had to learn how to pack a suit; never done that before. So, you know, there’s like random little odds and ends, but it’s nice. It’s nice to try something new, and it’s nice to not be stressed all the time.

Patrick: And speaking of it being barely two months, talk to me about how BLAST tapped you for talent work so soon after your retirement announcement.

Did you kind of just want to dive right in, or did you maybe consider taking some more time off in between your announcement and taking your place at the analysis desk?

Quinn: No, I was reaching out to organizers before I retired in the middle of last year because I knew I was for, like, over a year. And so I had already reached out to them, and I was already confirmed to be working BLAST, like, before announcing my retirement.

Patrick: Right, right. That makes sense. You did say in your retirement video that you had already known, right? That you wanted to quit this year. So talking about BLAST Slam 4 itself:

Who has been your favorite team of the tournament so far and why?

Quinn: I’ve really enjoyed watching MOUZ. I think it’s a lot of new players, well not new, but rather players who are new to success, and some old faces that had taken breaks or had some off periods. So I think it’s just a fun roster overall. I didn’t expect them to win the tournament, and they’re not going to since they’re out [now], but I do think they were fun to watch. I had a good time watching them.

Patrick: Extending that question to the competitive scene at large, which team do you think won the post-TI14 shuffle the hardest?

Quinn: Maybe Team Falcons, by not changing anything.

Patrick: Just gotta keep doing what they’re doing, right?

Quinn: Yeah. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Patrick: That’s true. You are undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever produced by the North American scene, and the results from the last few years in particular speak volumes about your greatness.

What sort of emotions did you feel between 2023 and 2024, when you began to realize that everything was really clicking into place and the success started coming in?

Quinn: I tried to be very grateful, because I knew it wouldn’t last, because it just doesn’t. That’s not how success works. I think it’s very cool because I was a very mediocre player and in very mediocre teams for most of my career. And then I was very fortunate to get on a very good team near the end. So yeah, honestly, just grateful that I got to experience that, and that my legacy wasn’t that I was some washed up bot from NA for the entire time.

Do you personally think that there’s still hope for NA in terms of getting back to competing at the highest level?

Patrick: I mean, Apex Genesis, or Wildcard as they were known then, did better at TI14 than what I’m sure most people expected. So would you say they have the potential to inspire a new generation in the region?

Quinn: Unfortunately, no. I think NA is completely hopeless. The player base is just not there for it. And without a player base, I think it’s just too hard. Not to mention that the cost of living in North America is very high, so sponsoring a North American team [and/or] getting sponsored there is very difficult.

Also, a lot of money [in the Dota scene] comes from gambling sponsors; like they’re the kinds of sponsors that sponsor Dota events. Esports betting sites are not the kinds of sites that are popular in North America, and North American eyes don’t use those sites. They use the “football” type sites. So this money just isn’t there. And because the money’s not there and the cost of living is high, people can’t sustain it. There’s very little [in the way of] social nets.

There’s a whole bunch of reasons, between socioeconomic stuff and the player base, but yeah, I think NA is doomed.

Patrick: Sad to hear, but yeah, I guess it’s just an issue of it not being a very viable career path there long term.

Quinn: No. It’s very, very difficult to make more than minimum wage.

Patrick: Oh, it’s that bad?

Quinn: Yeah, I mean if you’re showing up to tournaments and you’re getting 12th place or whatever, and then you’re getting a fifth of that, then maybe your org’s taking a cut, if you even have an org… and then you’re just getting that and paying taxes on it. You do that six or seven times, and you’re not making that much.

Patrick: And you’re paying for it out of your own pocket, like flying to events.

Quinn: Well, no, the tournaments pay for that. 

Patrick: Well, [there’s that] at least. Sorry, NA, you heard the man. You mentioned in your retirement video that you wanted to not only get into analysis and casting like you’re doing now, but also making educational Dota content.

Aside from the fact that it’s going to be from the perspective of a multi-time premier LAN winner, what are the niches or holes that you want to fill in this regard?

Quinn: I think there’s a lot of information that is just not public about how the game works, because there are not many people qualified or who have that information. [Things like] how mid game works, about what’s really important in Dota, about how laning really works, about the true fundamentals of Dota and also about the high level nitty gritty stuff.

There’s not really a format or a place to talk about that apart from making an in-depth guide. It’s going to take me a little bit of time to figure out the kinks on how I actually put it together and stuff like that, record it, how it all gets done. But I think it’s sort of a waste for me to have all this information and just let it go to waste. And so I want to make it all public, and maybe it helps people get better at the game.

Patrick: Well, I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s waiting with bated breath for that.

Have you yet considered becoming a coach in the future?

Quinn: I mean, I’ve considered sort of like “it’s a possibility”, but I don’t think I will. It’s not something that particularly interests me. I think if I were going to coach and spend all that time once again going to tournaments competing, I would just play instead, and to be frank, make more money. 

And also I just think it’s… if you can play, you just tend to play. I think if you can play, then you don’t coach. I think I may try it on a more individual or personal level, but  being the official coach for a team, I don’t think so.

Patrick: And it comes with all the caveats, right? All the traveling, the sleepless nights…

Quinn: Yeah.

Aside from not winning it all at The International, do you have any regrets in your career? Is there anything that you would consider taking back throughout your time as a pro player in order to change something or do something different about it?

Quinn: I mean, before even winning TI, I think my biggest advice to me at the start of my career would be to just shut up. I think not talking would have done me a lot of good, but for whatever reason, I just could not stop talking. But, yeah, it is what it is. I suppose the past is in the past, and I just have to live with that.