Since there are a lot of rumors about the german player ESC.Kolll I decided to translate an interview which was conducted on 21.07.2009 by a WCG Staff member.
Anton „Kolllsen“ Emmerich (ESC-Gaming) was able to qualify straight away in the first Dragon Cup for the WCG National Finals at the Games Convention Online in Leipzig. But that’s not all. Despite the fact that he is only 14 years old and hence not an active player from the very first day of starcraft, he left great players like Christoph „Mondragon“ Semke, Florian „aCe“ Adelmann and Dimitri „SL.tAsh“ Larin clearly behind on his way to victory.
Enough reasons for us to ask this young man for an interview which we would like to present to you now.
At first we’d like to ask you a question that is nowadays mandatory for every StarCraft player. How do you like StarCraft 2 so far and are you going to switch?
I haven‘t played Starcraft2 yet nor was I concerned with it, therefore I can’t say much about it but I’m not very excited about the new functions like MBS or Automining. Furthermore I think that too many units got implented or have been changed to the point that this game won’t resemble Starcraft when it gets released or that there will be 500 patches until the game is as „balanced“ as Starcraft.
If there won’t be any Starcraft tournaments any longer I’m of course going to switch to Starcraft 2 although the first impressions of the game do not look promising for me. Which race do you prefer in Starcraft?
Zerg because it’s the race that needs the most multitasking skills and I love to control Defiler/Lurker/Scourges in ZvT. Aside from that i like that there is no room for mistakes in ZvZ because you won’t have a chance in the rest of the match versus a good Zerg.
Whereas you are just 14 years old you’ve beaten one of the best german Starcraft player Christoph „Mondragon“ Semke twice. Have you prepared yourself particulary for the games against him and have you taken additional lessons?
By the time I have beaten Mondi in Dragon-Cup #1 I prepared of course with the games I played before in which I fortunately faced a strong ZvZ player (Florian „aCe“ Adelmann) who is in my oppinion.even better in ZvZ than Mondi. For the first mastermatch I didn’t prepare because I was told in the last minute that I have to play against Mondi.
And what was it like to beat a living legend in Starcraft and to save a spot fort he WCG National Final?
Of course It was a good feeling but I was more happy to have a WCG-Spot rather than beating Mondi because his ZvZ nowadays isn’t that good and he is too old / slow fort he matchup in my oppinion.
How long do you practice a day? Do you have special training methods?
The training fluctuates from day to day. On my vacations I play averagly 5 to 6 hours a day and on normal days I play 2 to 3 hours. But there are also many days where I don’t play at all. I play on every laddergame my standard BO’s (2-3 per matchup) and try to perfect them. Unfortunately there are no 2gate or 1gate player on the ladder which makes me feel unsafe against it.
What are your odds at the WCG National Final?
Since I’ve never been at an offline tournament I’m not sure if I can demonstrate my top gaming but realistically I should be able to reach top 3 easy, maybe I can even win without a single loss.
That’s a challenge for the competition! What are your expectations for the WCG Nationals Finals? And how do you picture yourself the Grand Final in China if you make it there?
I’m really looking forward to the Grand Finale but I don’t think I’ll come far. Realistically I should be able to reach Top 20 but like I mentioned before these are my first offline tournaments in which I have to play against player who have more expirience in playing offline. Since you are only 14 years old a legal guardian has to accompany you to the WCG National Finals in Leipzig. Have you talked about this with your parents? What would happen if you manage to qualify for China?
My mother is looking forward to be on vacation in Leipzig for two days for free but probably someone else has to accompany me to China because my mother has no time. That sounds like you are fully supported. But what are they generally thinking of your hobby with relation to the false pretences about games in the press?
Everyone in my family knows that allegations about „killergames“ and spree killers are completely bullshit. Besides my mother knows that Starcraft is harmless and boosts predictiv and strategic mentation. Thank you for the interview and good luck at the WCG National Finals!
Note: This Interview was held BEFORE the WCG Finals (as you probably found out by yourself) but other german players had some very controversial oppinions / debates when this was released becaus he seems to be very "self confident" (read: arrogant) calling himself top 3 and saying Mondragon is too old for ZvZ (he's 22) - but hey, he prove that he is one of the best players in germany (finished first place WCG like he predicted)
Well, this was my first translation, don't bash me too hard.
Maybe I'm going to translate a newspaper article later to support you with more informations about the new german guy =)
UPDATE:
LINK TO KOLLLSEN REPLAY PACK (15 Replays vs Strelok, Tarson, Oystein, Handy and other)
English Commentatory ret vs koll - Game 3 - Valor Tournament (amazing game!) watch if you haven't seen by now. There is also the replay in the replay section.
Haha the translation was fine, we get what he's saying. He comes off as confident which is good, but to say mondi is too old and slow....well... EDIT: I didn't want to say cocky...but yeeah
Only problem with him is his arrogance. Reminds me of BackHo and AnyTime. He refuses to learn the old ways, and practices 24/7 on his mechanics, which is a lot like IdrA.
He sounds fine to me I think you maybe missed a word in the translation of the first answer though. What he says would make a lot more sense if it was that he's not very excited about the stuff, not that he's very excited about MBS and things like that.
Yeah original says he does not like MBS and automining.
Last part is about German media and politicians portraying computer games as the cause for a recent school shooting that had happened just before the interview was done.
I didn't find what he said to be all that arrogant,sounds like he's just very self-confident, a very good quality to have if you have the skills to back it up (which he clearly has).
On August 18 2009 10:48 HnR)Insane wrote: He sounds fine to me I think you maybe missed a word in the translation of the first answer though. What he says would make a lot more sense if it was that he's not very excited about the stuff, not that he's very excited about MBS and things like that.
fixed, thanks.
In my opinion there would have been no discussion about self confidence / arrogance if this interview was made AFTER the finals in Leipizig. But it was made before and to this date he had nothing to show except his ICCup Rank. He was a stranger and some people even made fun of him. Now imagine there is some unknown 14 year old guy who says that Mondragon is too old for a specific matchup and that he can win the finals without a single loss ... well, that MAY sound a little bit arrogant.
But since he actually won the whole shit he has no reason to be not selfconfident, does he?
If you look into some older threads you'll realize that many ppl on TL made fun of him just because it seems to be so uneblievable:
ORIGINAL POST FROM KOLLL
On October 13 2008 22:35 Kolll wrote: it's very bad. for example me.. i play sc for 5months and reached in my first season iccup b- and im c+ right now so it's gotta be pretty bad to be at d+ lvl after 1year
ANSWERS TO THIS
On October 13 2008 23:00 KrAzYfoOL wrote: What does it matter as long as you're having fun right ?
Also please ignore Kolll, he's clearly full of shit.
On October 13 2008 23:09 Nitrogen wrote: i play 1 day i get a+ u suk
but anyways, how often do you play jmave?
On October 13 2008 23:15 Boblion wrote: OMG you SO nub i pWn u ez u Stone AGe noob. I'm in GosU clan [ROxOR-L33t] @ EAST and I'm A+ ICCUP in 2 Days. Kill' UrSELF nub !
On October 13 2008 23:51 dream-_- wrote: Some people have been playing this game for 5-10 years and cant get past c- so dont feel so bad.
and ya, kolll is just trolling.
On October 14 2008 00:58 ScarFace wrote: So...I'm going to call bs on that LOL
On October 14 2008 01:01 clazziquai wrote: youre very bad. for example me..i play sc for 5 hours and reached in my first season iccup A+ and im A right now so it's gotta be pretty bad to be b- lvl after 5 months.
NOOB
On October 14 2008 03:45 404.TooEz wrote:
1. Troll 2. Rejection of COMPLETE social life 3. All of the above
Hmmmmmmmm....
On December 31 2008 07:34 [DUF]MethodMan wrote: he is always talking shit about being 13, playing for just 7 months blablabla. if you watch his replays, you can see some oldschool elements of play, which he would never execute if he learned bw in the past 7 months. he asked some things about IP and so on, clans he could never know.
also some of his mates in ash asked him about aka which he refused to reveal. its just obvious, but i dont care at all lol. his level isnt rly high, just all in, losing to anyone who is prepared for that kind of play.
but i wont say he got the talent to be good one day. especially when massing games like that. but i doubt he really learns from all those games, cause he, like already mentioned, only plays 1 or maybe 2 builds per matchup and never ever adapts.
he reminds me a lot of draco, wasn't that great strategically but managed to get their mechanics up to a level where they could compete with the best by doing nothing but playing ladder.
have you seen koll's 2 hatch muta? fucking amazing.
On August 18 2009 19:11 GTR wrote: he reminds me a lot of draco, wasn't that great strategically but managed to get their mechanics up to a level where they could compete with the best by doing nothing but playing ladder.
have you seen koll's 2 hatch muta? fucking amazing.
i've seen it. he must practice muta micro maps a lot or just that build all the time. Why do you think he isn't great strategically?
if hes 14 he obviously didnt play as long as most other top foreigners, you dont notice it on tl.net, but most *top foreigners* were really cocky at first in their own national community, when they just were up and coming. hes just really talented and i personally like him much more than other top foreigners, who post their late season reppack going 47-2 omgz. next to white ra hes probably the only notable foreigner who plays the season from beginning to end on 1 account.
also watch his 2 games vs ret, their somewhere in tl.net database, he is really fucking good, and has the highest foreigner eapm ive ever seen
EPT![[image loading]](http://media.planetlan.com/images/PictureBoxPlugin/8e4e0610.jpg)
But thats probably just because he's 14.
![[image loading]](http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u73/ohiok/funnypictures/cats/serious-cat.jpg)
