Jukes on You, JoY for short, sailed through the first ever Defense of the Ancients qualifiers for USA. They managed to emerge as the winners despite tough competition such as Shakens and Team EG. The team will represent the United States for the upcoming ESWC Grand Finals in San Jose, California. Johnson Kan, JoY's team leader, shares some insight about their team and how they managed to pull off the win.

Introduce your team, your teammates, the role they play and the heroes they play best.

Johnson Kan (AMXZaku) – I play the anything depending on the heroes we have, my role is support-ganker or support-warding. The heroes I play best are Shadow Priest, Warlock and Necrolyte.

Mohamaed Naser (mO-) : He’s been playing the carry lately but his support game is awesome as well. The heroes he plays best are Shadow Fiend, Centaur Warchief and Leshrac.

Putthivath Chea (XsK_Samurai): He’s our beefy hero player that likes to rip our people late game and yell on vent. The heroes he plays best are Sven, Magnataur and Skeleton King.

Filip Boguszewski (Fanat1c): He’s our awesome solo player. The heroes he plays best are Queen of Pain, Mirana and Spectre.

Nick Laney (MiRRoR.): He’s our support player that likes to do anything we put him on. The heroes he plays best are Lina, Witch Doctor and Twin Head Dragon.

How did you and your mates form your first real team? How did you meet and how did you realize that you wanted to start a DotA team?

Our first real team was started 2 to 3 years ago with ene and xLo. mO- was leading and I joined an all Canadian roster. We disbanded later because only a few cared about the team. mO- joined XsK and became really good friends with Miky and Fanny. mO- and I still played a lot of IHCS together and I met Miky and Fanny. XsK disbanded because they lost to VP in a PriDe tournament. mO- and I wanted to work together again and realized Miky and Fanny would help make the core of our team. I met our last player in the Fire n’ Ice LAN, MiRRoR, who is the best player on trns at the time. I recruited him for our last starter spot.

Where and when do you guys practice? Do you practice in-house with other teams, or sometimes play public games?

We used to scrim every day after around 4:00pm EST but all our opponents were mediocre so it was mostly waste of time. We mainly play together in IHCS and other in-house leagues.

How do you (and the rest of your team) feel after emerging as the winners of ESWC USA qualifiers?

We all feel pumped and excited being winners of ESWC USA, it’s an awesome feeling to go undefeated in a tournament. Finally, our team can meet each other in real life.

Prior to playing the matches, did you expect to make it this far? As the team leader, how far did you expect your team to go? Or did you know that you will be able to beat the top favorites (MYM, EG, etc.) very early on?

We joined ESWC USA with the mindset to get the first place spot. As a team leader, I expected my team to at least be top 2. We never had a chance to play against MYM because they were knocked out of the upper bracket early, I knew we were able to beat EG because we understand their play style really well.

Which team was the most difficult to defeat during the qualifiers?

Coming into the competition I knew the tough teams would be MYM, x6, Shakens and EG. The most difficult team in the qualifiers were Shakens. They had control of the game early and midgame but we were able to pull through to win it.

What do you think is your edge against other teams? What are the strengths/weaknesses  of JoY?

The edge my team has on others is that we like to pick and ban heroes against differently teams and we are all very versatile. Our strength is that we have great teamwork and chemistry and everyone respects each other a lot. Our main weakness is lack of practice sometimes.

Which team did you expect to be better but faltered in the game?

I expected MYM to do better but I realized the team is totally different without all five Europeans playing.

What were your most memorable in-game moments?

The most memorable must be during the final game when I confirmed the deal with EG.whisper that whoever wins this game also wins $20. I got him to agree to pay up in the replay as my proof.

How are you going to prepare now for the ESWC Finals? Do you feel you have a shot in winning it all, against the international teams?

It will be really hard against international teams, but playing at the LAN would be totally different. Most of the time we play online tournaments against international teams and there is delay even with neutral host. It’ll be tough and it is more than 2 months away. We are holding off the scrims to practice for now until we know if they will use 6.52c or 6.48 because the two maps are totally different.