tOfu at BLAST Slam 6 Malta: “I’m the most upset when we lose because I feel responsible for it”

BLAST Slam 6 is about to kick off its final stretch, with the rest of the tournament happening in front of a live audience in Malta.

I had the privilege to speak with Erik “tOfu” Engel ahead of the playoffs about him joining Team Liquid, their rocky start to the new season, and what he thinks about Largo as a hero.

Patrick Bonifacio: You now play for Team Liquid, which just so happens to be the same organization that you had such a fierce rivalry with back when you were still playing for Gaimin Gladiators.

When you were signed by Liquid, was it them who approached you, or did you hit Ace up after Insania retired and SabeRLight- got benched?

Patrick: Were you like, you know, “maybe we can join Liquid since there’s spots now?”

tOfu: Around the International shuffle, there was a lot of back and forth, and everyone was trying to see what were their potential options, what was possible, and what other teams were doing. I first got approached over half a year ago, or maybe before the actual shuffle, just as a potential option.

After over a decade of competition, @iNsan1a has stepped away from pro Dota. And over the weekend, we’ll be sharing a series of special tributes as a small way to say thank you and goodbye to a captain who’s given so much to this community.

We reached out to TL staff,… pic.twitter.com/lnoM5vocSw

— Team Liquid Dota (@teamliquiddota) November 13, 2025

Like, Blitz was contacting me, “how long my contract was running?”, and if there was any possibility of [me signing with Liquid]. But he asked around, asking many different players as potential options, because Insania was playing with the thought of retiring. As in, he had thought of retiring a year before that, I think. But also at the time I already had a good team, so back then joining Liquid wasn’t much of an option. But, Liquid approached me in the past even before the shuffle.

Patrick: So what was it that eventually convinced you to join Liquid even though they weren’t a super solid option back then like you said?

tOfu: I mean, first of all, I didn’t have a team anymore. We didn’t compete at TI14. So I did have a couple of options, but I definitely needed to find a new organization. So given what I had, there were two very good options. And with Liquid, because we had such a long standing history or rivalry, I knew their players better than those from other teams. I know I would get along with them as well. So they were definitely one of my preferred options.

Patrick: Speaking of Ace, of course, you two are a legendary lane duo as soft support and offlaner.

When you two joined Liquid, what was the thought process in splitting you two up as a duo, knowing that Boxi was still there?

tOfu: We had some discussions as a team about what would be the best moving forward and how we would transition. There were even thoughts of miCKe playing offlane with Boxi together, and even if a different roster was possible or would have happened naturally in this case if I just played with Ace in the offlane anyway. There was also talks of Boxi moving to position 5, because one of us would have had to adjust either way.

Me sticking with Ace would have probably made the most sense. It’s still something that we sometimes talk about, though, and sometimes we switch lanes depending on hero matchups. Boxi, though, is naturally more suited to play position 4 than 5, I personally don’t mind as much switching roles. I also like a lot of the heroes at position 5, whereas Boxi dislikes some of them — so he didn’t feel as confident making the switch. And there’s also the issue with people having new lane partners and, like, a new team environment where everyone has to put in a lot of work to adjust.

Patrick: You guys haven’t exactly gotten off to the start you might have wanted this year.

You have improved quite a bit since joining Liquid, but internally speaking, what do you still need to work on as a squad to get to where you want to be?

tOfu: Over the last few months, we’ve had a lot of ups and downs. I think we’ve shown a lot of progress when it matters a lot, but we’ve had some tough losses or setbacks. [There was a time] where we had steady progress, until we had one bad result in a tournament this year which then lead to sixth place, fourth place, third place and so on. We also missed a qualifier, and it was bad. We’ve got better footing now, and we also made it here to BLAST Slam 6, with some good progress again.

WE'RE IN THE PLAYOFFS!! We'll be back on the 13th in Malta to take on @FalconsEsport!

ggs @GamerLegion 🤝#TLWIN pic.twitter.com/8zzhIAPAUb

— Team Liquid Dota (@teamliquiddota) February 8, 2026

For me, it’s also because I’m the captain and drafter for the team, I take some responsibility. I’ve had to learn a lot of things and get used to a lot of things like drafting decisions, where I didn’t have to do that before. I think this team overall, though, is all about how we communicate and get used to each other.

What heroes do people play? Are they comfortable with them? What should we try to avoid? I think over time, everything just naturally gets better, and I think we’re starting to get on a page where everyone’s happy, content, and the atmosphere is good overall. It’s just that consistency in game is something.

Was there any point in the group stage where you finished a particular best-of-one and said to each other, “Okay, whatever we’re doing is starting to work out”?

tOfu: I don’t remember a specific game, but I remember losses mostly. I remember the emotions because that’s usually when we identify what the actual problem was. I think personally I’m the most upset when we lose, or like I take it harder maybe, because I also feel more responsible for it. But honestly, I felt like we could win any game, but we kind of just lost to ourselves a lot.

Patrick: So now, there’s the potential of you having to play three straight best-of-five matches just to win the tournament.

What are your thoughts on the format? Does it create an exciting atmosphere or do you think it’s a little too much?

tOfu: I think coming in with a few days’ break in between the group stage and the play-in is interesting, because there’s a lot of time to prepare yourself mentally for the next matchup. But then, if you actually make the run all the way to the finals, you’re playing a Bo5 into the first day, another Bo5 into the next, and another for the grand finals. I think it’s too much. It’s mentally stressful and exhausting, and I don’t even know if it’s as entertaining.

It might be for the actual gameplay. But I don’t know, even with the possibility of a 3-0 or a 3-1, if you have to go play five games each day for three days straight, I feel like it’s too much.

Patrick: I wanted to hear your thoughts about Largo now that he’s been added to Captains Mode.

What do you personally think is Largo’s best position, and the best way to maximize his kit?

tOfu: Personally, I think the hero is really interesting and fun to play. I wasn’t sure of this at first, but they added him to Captains Mode rather quickly, so I had to give it a go. A lot of pro teams were just first picking him in scrims when he was released in Captains Mode just to see what’s up, like how strong he is and all. I was also spamming him a bit, and I’m still at a 100 percent win rate on him after seven games.

So he’s definitely overtuned. His mana costs, his cooldowns, his damage numbers — it’s like they’re all a bit too high. I think people have started figuring him out a little already though, which is reflected in his win rate. I think he fell off of the support role because he really likes brawling and fighting early on, and skirmishing with a lot of heroes and playing in a lot of teamfights so he can maximize his healing and support kit.

But right now, offlane seems really strong for him, where his scaling just goes really hard — and if you don’t have enough damage or burst in a teamfight, he can single-handedly turn it around. He does need some time to get online [from the offlane], which is not the easiest thing in the metagame right now, because people play with a lot of aura items like Guardian Greaves, Crimson Guard, and Pipe of Insight, and he’s just a very greedy offlaner that needs to rush Aghanim’s Scepter.

Patrick: Has Ace told you any of his thoughts about picking up Largo as an offlane hero? Like is it too much outside his comfort zone or is he willing to play the hero?

tOfu: I’m not sure if being in his comfort zone or not. He’s played the hero some, and he likes it. I’m not sure we’ve already played him in official matches or if it was just in some scrims, but we’ve definitely played around with the hero some. We just don’t prioritize him as much right now.