[Interview] MSL Ro8 Day 1

Your feelings on winning the first game?
Even though map is hard for Zerg, I resolved to give my best for this round of 8 while practicing. I didn't have much time to analyze the map because it is fairly new, but I focused well enough to show some good play.

You faced Stats in the round of 32 before as well.
I hardly knew him before our first match. It's pretty amazing how he made it to the round of 8 as a newcomer. He must have been very confident with his momentum. I find having a battle of momentum very fun and it makes the games exciting for me. However, I haven't played him that much so I haven't given much thought to his play.

Your resolve for the Round of 8 must be very strong.
I actually said that I'd catch two rabbits at the beginning of the season. Since I'm down to only one rabbit, I will seize this chance. I will relieve all my regret about the OSL in the MSL, and win an MSL title for a change.

There are no tosses who have beaten you in a bo5 in the MSL
Even when my vP record wasn't that good, I said that I was very confident with that matchup. Nothing big has changed, but I'm able to make decisions much more calmly now on TV. That I think is a big plus to my play. I think that's why my vP games have been good so far and that change has been very beneficial to me.

Until the 9th, you'll only have the proleague. How will you prepare?
I actually don't want to blame anything on maps. I'll practice as much as I can and show my best game, even if I end up losing. I'm not satisfied with just a ro8 or ro4 appearance. To me, the semifinals are just a stepping stone from victory.

The year 2009 to you was?
Even though it wasn't all good, I think I had a lot of fortune this year. The results reflected my effort and I have no regrets. Because time flows so fast, I never really had the time to reflect on the year. Now that I think about it, I remember a lot of important things that happened this year. I want to repeat this for the year 2010 so that when I'm reflecting then, I can feel satisfied again.

Any last words?
A lot of fans have cheered me, so I feel bad for my recent losses. The fan's neverending support really helped sustain my motivation. I'm grateful for everyone who cheered for me in 2009 and I won't disappoint in 2010. Therefore I hope people continue to show their support in 2010.
Since it is New year's Eve, I wish good fortune to my parents and I wish everyone can have a good year.

Your thoughts on winning the first game?
Practicing for the games was really hard, and I really felt sorry because he is older than me. At first I thought there wouldn't be much problem but it turned out to be a lot harder than I had expected.

I heard you almost didn't practice at all
I had the proleague to worry about, and plus I sit really close to Hwasin. As a result, we decided not to practice for the match. Hwasin hyung normally plays better than he did today, and I'm sad that he didn't play as well. I apologize to the fans, but we probably won't practice for next week's games either. We will focus on the proleague instead.

Did you think the game turned out well?
I didn't micro that well but Hwasin made a lot of mistakes. As a result, it looked like the game was easy for me.

What did you think when you saw Hwasin not sieging his tanks?
At first, I only wanted to kill the vultures and pull back, but Hwasin's siege wasn't upgraded. I knew he was making mistakes and it didn't feel that great for me.

The new maps are rated to be Toss-friendly
I don't really know because I haven't played that much on them, but I think they were made to revive the Terrans. I think the maps are a little more favorable for T. Best worried because of the unfavorable maps for me but I think I did ok.

Do you think you can go further into the semifinal or even the finals?
There's a lot of pressure and burden on me but I want to advance further.

What did you say to Hwasin when you came out of the booth?
What else could I have said? I said "good game", but that short phrase also meant a lot of things like me being sorry.

Any goals for 2010?
Winning an individual league will only make me happy so I want to win the proleague so that the whole team is happy.

Any other words?
I don't have any. ^_^

Your feelings on winning the first game?
It was only the first game so I'm trying to focus about the next games. I tried using the build I used today and it had good results. I have a cold right now so I'm not feeling too well.

Are you aiming for a back to back MSL final appearance?
That would be sweet but it's only the round of 8 so far. This interview right now is not for winning the series but only the first game. All I can think about is the next games.

Today is the last day of 2009.
Personally I don't think holidays are that special except for the week of rest that we get. Because everyone around is excited I feel a little bit of holiday spirit but besides that, there's really nothing special.

How was the year 2009 to you?
I lost almost all my games near the end of 2008. As it became 2009, I progressed further in individual leagues and the number appearances in the proleague increased. I think I improved a lot as a player.

Any goals for the upcoming 2010?
Obviously, I want to win the proleague and the individual league.

Any other words?
Today was only the first game, and Light may win the next week's games and do this interview so I hope my teammates can help me a bit more.

Your feelings on getting closer to the Round of 4?
I had a lot of time pressure so I was practicing til the last minute. Thankfully Best went for a strategy that I predicted. The build I used wasn't specifically to counter Best, but was fit to counter this build that Best tended to use a lot against me.

How did you prepare this specific strategy?
Something that I felt about a lot of protoss players is that they practice extra hard when they're facing me. I saw that Best didn't build a single high templar in his recent VODs, but when he played against me he did. Using this, I made the build with my coach and thankfully it worked!

Your vP stats are relatively low compared to your other matchups.
Because I didn't play many vP matches, I lost my feel for it over time. I used to be really good at the matchup, but my understanding of the race fell because I almost had no vP games at all. But I am still confident. I will practice even more thoroughly for next week's games and win.

You are to play your OSL ro4 tomorrow.
I put everything on the line and practiced for the entire week. Through the coach's kindness, I didn't prepare for the proleague at all and focused on the OSL. I prepared extremely hard so you can all look forward to it.

Before you go off to practice, any last words?
There must have been a lot of fans worrying about my game today, and I'm happy I relieved them of that stress. I will now return to practice so I can show you an epic game tomorrow.