Wildcard player Francis "RCY" Fundemera gave an interview to Players correspondent Sofiia Pikhalo after The International 2025.
People call you the new star of NA. Do you feel this as a pressure or as an opportunity to prove yourself?
I would say just a little bit of pressure, but it's also a motivation for me, that I can meet their expectation by being a rising star, yes.
Do you feel some pressure from your viewers, your supporters, like followers or inside of the team as well?
Yes, like some on my team, I want to keep improving. I want to show them that, there are some pro players in general who still doubt that I'm good at all.
Do you have these doubts from the internet or like in personal space?
It's mostly just pub games, it's like still I don't feel the respect, which makes sense, they don't really know me much, I want to show them.
Were you inspired by any pro players when you started?
My biggest inspiration is from Quinn, which he retired from now, which is pretty sad for me, so I want to keep playing against him, I think it was one of my biggest motivation to get better than him, I still don't feel like I'm at this level yet, I want to keep going.
How do you find this inspiration for yourself after watching some games or interviews of some stars?
It's mostly from their tournament games, like playing against tier 1 teams, showing how they win from their skills, it's mostly from games.
As a young player who moved from the Philippines to the US, how difficult was it for you to adapt?
I didn't have any trouble adapting, I'm already familiar with how Americans live, so I guess I just fit in well, I adapted fast.
Did you have any difficulties to find a team and players to play before Wildcard?
Yeah, I think it's like when NA started fading away and people started playing groups, it was a bit hard to get on teams, it's mostly from Tier-2 players that I played with. I didn't play much EU games at that time, so it's mostly just NA games, NA players.
And you found someone who supported you and showed you the road to Wildcard? Or like you have some agent who found you?
I'm trying to remember, I think at that time I got offered to play on Apex Genesis, which is the Wildcard now, but I didn't really want to play because I was so focused on school. And after school, my high school end, they reached out to me asking if I wanted to play and I just played. And I think it was from the previous coach, just9th, that messaged me about if I wanted to play on their roster and I just went for it.
The NA region is often criticized for being weak. Do you feel that this makes it harder for you to grow because there are fewer strong opponents?
In NA?
Yes. So it's like fewer teams to play against in some practices or to be competitive.
Yeah. I mean, there are downsides to playing from NA. Like the schedule, you need to adapt. I think it's not that bad, but I mean, some people can react differently. I mean, there's also like ping issue. I don't know if I need to get used to it, but I feel the difference. Especially when playing with like 1 ping compared to like 120. It's a big difference.
For a lot of players this is a big difference. Do you feel like you have less professionals who play online at the same time, so you can learn something from them, like comparing to other regions? Like, for example, you are in Europe right now, and probably you also get some online games before your training or in the middle of the training. So, did you find some differences between regions in finding opponents?
There's not a big difference in having a schedule with European time. You can have more time to do something for yourself, like comparing to NA time, which is like you wake up and just have to play.
About Inspiration and other players, who did you find interesting? Are there any midlaners you were particularly looking forward to playing against? Like who was the biggest challenge for you at The International?
I didn't play against him, but I wanted to play against bzm. I feel like he's my other inspiration. He's like young and like I think he's like one of the best mids right now. And I want to keep learning from him and keep playing against him.
As I was speaking to your coach, he was mentioning that in some nervous situations you like you as a team weren't feeling yourself like in the other games. So, probably you had some problems in communication or anything like in confidence why you ended up losing to pvision.
I remember, I mean, I wouldn't say I was that nervous. I think it all comes down to the teamwork in the end. That's how we lose games. Most games we lose to just having better teamwork. I don't think I was that nervous at all or pressured.
Did you have a lot of work on psychology and like mental state to use some gut feelings while making some decisions?
I think the player that I am right now is a feeling player. I just play on what I feel natural. There are some moments where I have to decide, but I want to keep playing with my feelings and not on a direct pattern on how the game is played. I just want to do what's natural for me.
Do you find it easy to base your play on your feelings?
Yeah, it's like how I've been playing most of my Dota career is playing on feelings. I mean, it's still fun to learn and play in some direction, but I just want to do what's natural for me.
How does it feel in general to participate in The International at your age?
Yeah, I didn't really expect to play TI this fast. I thought it would take much longer but it's nice to just have this experience and know that I can compete against these players. I don't think there's a much bigger skill difference now. It's like anyone can just beat any teams and I want to be on the team that's beating other teams.
So did you have the boost in confidence after that? After TI?
Yeah. Yeah, it gave me a lot of boost that I can compete against these players. On the same level? Yeah.
Do you think if you played in Europe, you would be stronger? Like to be in the European roster?
In roster? I can't really say but I think you can grind more if you have better ping. Because I felt the difference between bootcamping and playing in Europe compared to where I am right now. It's like a big difference.
Usually it's connected to like ping or also to players?
It's ping and like your equipment.
If you had to describe yourself as a mid laner in one word, what would you choose?
I would say I'm stable.
Why is that?
Because I don't lose much in my lane. It's like either it's a stable lane or I win the lane. That's how I feel.
So like guys can rely on you.
Yeah. I mean just like some games where I get camped.
You had a great connection with your guys in the team. Like to rely on each other that much. You probably had some team-building session or something else like that. What tactics do you usually use to build the team and to become better in this connection?
We just talk about like ideas about how we watch a replay of it. And we just talk about the idea of playing and how we can learn from them. Just from our scrims or games where we point out mistakes that are crucial in games. Which gave the reason why we're losing or winning. We're just talking about Dota most of the time.
You mentioned also school before you were invited to the team. If it weren't for Dota, where would you be now? So if something else happened, what path would you choose?
I would say probably be in like college or something.
In which direction?
Like some science field or computer science.
Like programming?
Yeah.
Do you still feel you can go to that college and in this direction later? Or you will be stick into this Dota path till the end?
As much as possible. I wanna keep seeing how far I can go with Dota. And I guess I can decide from that point what to do with my life.
What plans and what your future in the Wildcard for the next season? How can you describe it or imagine?
I would imagine it being chaotic, I would say. As we have this problem with playing at all. It's like you have to go back to the basics again, I would say. Compared to playing in like bootcamp where everyone is more chill.
Do you expect in the next few months to have bootcamp again?
I can't say. I don't know.
Okay. But you would like to have bootcamp rather than just online?
Yeah. I think bootcamp is more fun for me. And playing at all.
What did you learn for yourself after this International?
I wouldn't say I learned much. It's about my mindset on these teams and these players. That they're beatable. It's not that hard to beat them.
Was it worth it for you to choose this Dota path? Because some young adults who are 18+ are still choosing between going to college or university, and sticking to something that they like. So was it worth it for you? Are you happy with what you have right now?
Yeah. I'm definitely happy. Playing Dota is what I love the most since I was young. And I want to keep going.
What can you tell people who are the same age as you or a little bit younger? What advice can you give them?
I would say do what you love the most. What you're passionate about. You should do it. I don't think you should care about what others say. Do what you think is right.
Do you feel in your region, your original region, do you have a lot of academic roster for young people to join Dota and build their steps inside? Or it still not enough?
I don't think there's any of that in my region.
Do you want to build something in the future for them?
I don't know.
Some people after seeing that their region is lacking something, became a new light for the young generation. And start to become a person who builds something and leads them into this.
Yeah. Maybe. I hope so. I hope so.
Because to develop each region you need to have a lot of experience but passion as well.
Or maybe you thought about staying in NA region longer.
Yeah, if I get more experience on doing that stuff, maybe I can think about doing it.
Thank you very much. I wish you wins, wins and wins. Thank you very much for your time. I really hope your development and future will be bright to develop your region and yourself in anything you want.