[Interview] Tossgirl on Turn

20120228 Seo Ji Soo’s (ToSsGirL) Medic Date -TurN Part 1.
Change Races-Aggressive Play-Mental Breaker and similar topics included

Hello. This is STX SouL’s progamer ToSsGirL.

Last week on Medic Date we interviewed the Kim Tae Hyung (Kim Carry) on the popular show “I am the Carry” that gets much attention in search engines on Mondays/Fridays. Really when I interviewed him we had lots of article worthy talk. We could only post up 30% of the content, I am sad we could not put up more of the interview. If I get a chance I will try and use another venue of communication to tell you more, so hope you can expect more in the future.

This week’s interviewee is a recent rising star, within the team Samsung KHAN, Park Dae Ho (TurN). STX’s Bogus, KT’s Stats after beating them in an impressive fashion, TurN also received the Season One Round 2 MVP and is garnering lots of attention. Also he received the Round 3 1st week MVP award as and it feels like its Turn golden age as a progamer.

Why do fans go wild when TurN plays? It is probably because he does not conform to the monotonous gameplay, and does unique unexpected play that surprises the audience. Even though he’s not a Zerg, as a Terran it feels like he is channeling Hong Jin Ho’s (YellOw) ‘Storm’ with his crazy aggression, it is obvious why he is getting attention from the fans.

I was also had a deep impression of TurN’s game. When he played against our team’s Bogus, and unleashed his aggressiveness I was sad but the game was truly entertaining. Also TurN’s game against Stats ‘How can he play like that?’ was surprised watching his game. If it was me, I would be nervous and would not move out at those moments. Looking at his games, I was really curious on what kind of player he was.

If it was on broadcast or pictures, I thought he would have a familiar/cute image but actually seeing him, he was manly. I was shocked when he talked with a semi-deep voice. Despite his young appearance, his speech and his thoughts showed maturity. It made me change my first impression a lot.



TG – I was really surprised with your macho qualities. On the screen you come out like a highs school student (laugh). I contemplated that it would turn into a ‘A meeting with an aunt and her nephew’. (laugh)



Turn – Lots of people say that (laugh). On camera or pictures, maybe it’s because I’m short and have a familiar appearance. Meeting in person, people get surprised hearing my thick voice and decisive personality. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing (laugh).

TG – We are 7 years apart right? If that’s true I’m glad I’m not an aunt (laugh).

Turn – I have a 4 year older sister and a 5 year older brother (laugh). I think I can just call you noona (laugh). I was a late child, so I think I give off a lot of maknae appearances. But seeing me in person, I’m like a guy right? (laugh)
[T/N – Noona is a way for younger guys to address girls who are older than them and, Maknae is word usually describing youngest of a group, in this case a family]

TG – I was worried the atmosphere would be awkward. It is tough interviewing a player you’ve meeting for the first time.

Turn – My mind was fluttering (laugh). Since I started progaming at a young age, I did not have many chances to meet girls (laugh). After hearing about it I thought a lot about what clothes I will wear (laugh). My teammates picked on me saying ‘Ohh you’re going on a date’ (laugh). I was really nervous. How I should talk first of all. Maybe it’s because I have an older sister, it is my first time meeting you but it’s not that awkward.

TG – I’m very thankful your teammates even thinking of me as a date pair (laugh). This is really fortunate (laugh). Thank you for this time.

Turn – Me too (laugh).

TG – You are receiving lots of attention lately. On NATE you are being called ‘dae sae’ at the moment, how do you feel? Are you feeling the popularity at the moment?
[T/N: Dae sae – Someone who’s like a rising trend, with a really good pace]

Turn – No I’m not realizing the popularity yet. But in recent articles about me, I saw many comments on it. After my games with Bogus and Stats, I think the attention on me increased a lot. This is the first time I’ve had this kind of spotlight, so it feels weird. Also looking at NATE’s e-Sports has a special page with a huge picture a me, it surprised me.

TS – Why do you think you’re ‘dae sae’?

Turn – Can’t see regularly, entertaining games should be the reason. You can’t see these kind of games lately (laugh). Honestly even when I look at the games I think ‘How did it turn out like this?’ (laugh). The games recently are monotone so if you stand out a little bit I think it is easy to get this kind of attention.

TG – In a viewer’s standpoint, a back and forth games is much more fun to watch. In the past I enjoyed watching Byun Hyung Tae’s (Iris) or Lim Yo Hwan’s (BoxeR) games, recently I think I’m seeing those kind of entertaining play again (laugh). An even more aggressive style player appearing now (laugh). It has been a little over 10 years since my debut, I think you are the most attack minded player I’ve seen.

Turn – Wow, it’s been 10 years since your debut already? I didn’t know it was that long. I feel like I’m being interviewed by someone legendary (laugh). Because of my play style I could get an interview like this, suddenly I feel proud of my game play (laugh).

TG – I think its issue worthy that such an entertaining progamer has arrived. From that meaning, I hope Turn can influence the e-Sports history in the future.

Turn – I am always thinking I will do even better so I won’t be just a flash in a pan getting attention wise. I have to keep a good record to keep this kind of spotlight.



TG – Where do you think this aggressiveness came from? For me I am also aggressive in the early game so I was punished a lot by the coaches. Now I fixed a lot of it, but I can’t get rid of it so I always get criticized (laugh).

Turn – That’s interesting (laugh). I never thought that Tossgirl-noona would have an aggressive play style. Looking at past games I thought BoxeR, Iris, and Hwasin’s games were the most enjoyable. I think I modeled myself on the games I liked watching the most.

The origin of my aggressiveness is probably from my personality. My personality is a bit impatient (laugh). When choosing from A or B, I think you have to answer quickly. In whatever I like deciding fast. I don’t like getting stuck in the middle of things. For example, when I pick something from the menu I have no reservations picking. If you just remove the things you don’t like, it’s easy to pick. I choose menus faster than your average player.



TG – I also hear from others that I have an impatient personality (laugh). Even when the ramen is not fully cooked I just eat it, and when exercising walking is a bit suffocating so I either run or do jump ropes.

Turn – Me too (laugh). I have a tendency to try and end things shortly. I also ate ramen not fully cooked many times (laugh). It’s a bit surprising that Tossgirl-noona is also like that.

TG – While talking about your aggressive tendencies, suddenly we ended up talking about personalities (laugh). Let’s go back to the main topic. When playing an aggressive play style, what is the most important point you have to keep in mind?

Turn – You need to be good at control. If you’re not confident in your control it is hard to play that aggressive in the early game.

TG – This question may be simple (laugh). What do you need to focus on when you control?

Turn – Firstly it is concentration. If you lose concentration for one moment you will make a mistake. You lose the game right away if you do. Also as you control your army, you have to macro and build stuff, a variety of stuff. So, multitasking would be the most important.

TG – So multitasking is important everywhere.

Turn – There aren’t many progamers who have bad control. If they have a chance, they can show awesome control. The problem is while controlling, you have to do other things while controlling to win the game. While you control you tend to bank some resources, and if you can’t multitask you will not macro out your army and have a shortage, and also end up missing your expansion timing. All three steps have to work in succession to have a successful aggressive play style and win.

TG – The end result is.. that Turn is good at multitasking (laugh).



Turn – That is definitely not the case (laugh). If I was better at multitasking I think I would be in a higher place. I still have lots of work to do. I need to put more effort in.

TG – If you’re that aggressive, normally those kinds of players choose Zerg. Is there a reason you chose Terran?

Turn – I was originally Zerg (laugh). But weirdly I could not beat Protoss. When I dreamed of becoming a progamer, NaDa, iloveoov, lots of strong Terrans appeared. Nada and Oov and other legendary terran players had excellent TvP, looking at those games I thought that I could beat Protoss by switching to Terran. Isn’t that ironic? Trying to beat Protoss with Terran?

TG – I was originally Protoss and since beating Zerg was tough I changed to Terran (laugh). It seems you had a peculiar reason to switch races.

Turn – Nonetheless with my reason to change races, it’s similar to you noona (laugh).

TG – I’m feeling these recently, but after you played a game it feels like my sanity breaks down. They call it a mental breakdown.

Turn – Even for me when I see my games, it feels like my opponents they don’t regain their senses until the end of the game (laugh). If you lose your will power once, it is hard to regain the game’s pace again. And that leads to not being able to playing your style, and end up knocked out.

TG – Our team’s Bogus is also struggling hard, and KT’s Stats is in a losing streak at the moment too.

Turn – That was not intentional (laugh). My team thinks that I wrecked their game play (laugh). It seems they fall in a hole when they lose to me (laugh).

TG – I think that’s similar to me as well (laugh).



Turn – When I think about, it does feel the same (laugh). In the past there were small talks that if you lose to Tossgirl-noona that you have to retire. Weirdly enough most players that lost to you are retired (laugh). I think the player that lasted the longest was Hong Jin Ho (YellOw) (laugh).

TG – So does that mean that we are players that break our opponent’s minds? (laugh)

Turn – Really I didn’t think we would have that kind of similar quality (laugh). If you look carefully, don’t you think we might be brother-sister separated at birth? (laugh)

20120308 Tossgirl’s Medic Date - Turn Part 2.



Hello. This is STX SouL’s progamer Seo Ji Soo (ToSsGirL).

Recently I met Park Dae Ho (Turn) on a medic date, thank you for your attention. I thought it might be awkward interviewing someone I’ve never seen before but it became more comfortable as it continued. It must’ve been hard interviewing with someone close to an aunt’s (?) age, but I thank TurN for giving me good mature answers.

[Interview recap of how he got his aggressive attack style from Iris/Boxer, and how this one will be more personal outside of progaming]



TG – Before the interview I researched on portal sites to study up and really there was a variety of results. The most noticeable one was ‘Rabies Terran’ that really surprised me. Really his play style is unique that he could get that level of a nickname but as a progamer I think you won’t like this kind of nickname very much.

Turn – When I first heard the nickname ‘Rabies Terran’ I did not know it’s meaning. I also searched and found out what it meant (laugh). The ‘Rabies’ part meant ‘Crazy Dog’ and after finding about it, I felt 'meh'. It’s not a really satisfying nickname (laugh). But honestly I do understand the viewpoints of the fans and organizers. Since all the usable nicknames have already been used.

‘Faultless Commander’, ‘Ultimate Weapon, ‘Almighty’ those kinds of nicknames are already taken by many progamers, and for a aggressive player like me the names are already taken such as ‘Storm’, ‘Typhoon’, ‘Sonic’. There was no fitting nickname left for me. The fans must have been frustrated as well.

Honestly, ‘Rabies Terran’ thinking about it, it’s a funny nickname. Our team’s Lim Tae Gyu (Brave) has a nickname ‘Macho Toss’ and that explains him well (laugh). Recently Lee Jae Dong (Jaedong) earned himself another nickname ‘Lee Jae Dong Maek Kyung Hwa’. The recent trend is entertaining nicknames I think. So it’s obvious that my nickname will have to follow, ‘Rabies Terran’ doesn’t seem like a terrible nickname’

[Turn, that is a terrible nickname :<
T/N - 이제동맥경화 - Lee Jae Dong Maek Kyung Hwa’ uses the Dong in Jaedong’s name to create the phrase Dong Maek Kyung Hwa, which means ‘hardening of the arteries’ so, 'High Blood Pressure Zerg'? I like 'Savings Account Zerg' too.]



TG – I want to know why ‘Breakthrough, break’ comes up in the related searches.

Turn – In recent Proleague, when a player enters there is a personal background music. Ongamenet receives the requests by the players, my teammate (Joo) Young Dal-eeHyung (oDin) told me ‘I’ll find a song that expresses your aggressiveness’. Odin-hyung has a broad knowledge on music so I trusted him. And one day he clapped his hands and said, ‘I found the best music for you’.

As soon as the music turned on the entire team could not control their laughter (laugh). The title is ‘Breakthrough, break’ (뚫어요, 뚫어 – by Kim Heung Guk (김흥국). My teammates that practice with me daily was saying ‘He’s breaking through again’ and yell that out loud when practicing (laugh). It’s a song that fits me perfectly.

Song -

Before the games start, it must be fun for the fans as well. Receiving the energy from that, I thought that I would play well. Maybe it’s the effect from the music, but I could win by breaking my opponent’s defense line.

TG – I didn’t know it started out like that. At first I thought it was from your attack oriented play style, but there was a fun story attached. ‘Beehive Terran’ seems like another fun nickname?

Turn – When I first heard it I thought, why ‘Beehive Terran’? A beehive other than it’s dense structure, I thought there was nothing special about it. But after hearing the commentators talk, that ‘If you mess with it, you die’. After hearing the reason, I thought the nickname was catchy. Because if you mess with a beehive you’re in big trouble (laugh). To the other progamers, if this kind of image is implanted in their heads, I think it’s a good situation for me.

[Beehive Terran so much better :>]

TG – In the related searches, there’s Lee Young Ho (Flash) as well.

Turn – Right now Flash’s all-win streak is broken, but during that time Flash looked like he was unstoppable and will really earn that achievement. I was picked as one of the players that could break the streak. Since I play unpredictably often, there was a chance that Flash could’ve been surprised by my play. Fans and the experts said a lot ‘If it’s Turn he really has a chance to beat Flash’.



I really wanted to do something like that. At the end of Round 2 our last game and first game of Round 3 was against KT, and if we won both games we would have risen up to 1st place. I prayed that I would have a chance to play against Flash. There was a possibility that I could play Flash, beat him and raise our team to 1st place, and that would have given me more confidence for the rest of the season. It’s kind of like killing two birds with one stone; I was disappointed I could not play him. I really wanted to play him.



TG – Even for Turn had a winning streak last season and got some attention. Afterwards you still had a decent record but the spotlight was focused on your teammate Kim Ki Hyun (Reality). You might have been sad a bit.

Turn – Back then Reality beat really tough opponents. Jung Myung Hoon (Fantasy), Flash, and in the Round of 8 he played against Jaedong. (Bigfile MSL) On the other side I was good in the beginning but was slowing falling out, so I just remained calm.

Still it was tough to take in. Thinking that I lost my chance to receive attention, I felt disappointed at myself. Seeing Reality play I was like, ‘I could play like that too’ and those kinds of thoughts made me upset. It was tough in those times.

Also back then Reality and Jung Yoon Jong (By.Sun aka Rain) was fighting for the rookie of the year award, if I played before the 3rd set I could have battled them for the title. Even more is that I included in the three, I had the most wins and best win rate. But last season, in excess of just one game I had 4 games the previous season. I feel like I missed my chance. I still regret it today.

[Thank you mwry! : Rookie of the year award is only for who didn't play more than 3 games in last season. turn played 4 games in 2009-2010, so he was not qualified for rookie of the year 2011. ]

TG – But right now situations are different. Isn’t Turn getting a lot more attention this season, a reversed situation from last season?

Turn – Right now Reality is jealous of me. Although in practice rooms Reality’s skill have not changed at all. I think it can change anytime. I’m glad that we have a nice synergy effect. I hope next season we can be known as Khan’s one-two punch Terran together.

TG – Kim Ga Eul (January) coach is known famous for being a strict coach. Do you get punished if you don’t follow through with the game plan and play your own attack oriented style? After hearing about it, I heard that in your game with Stats that bio-mech wasn’t planned and after the manner pylon harassment, you got angry and changed the strategy. In other teams, they are punished severely I hear.

Turn – I haven’t been punished even once, but if I lose a game where I was ahead, Choi Woo Bum coach scolds me a lot. Our coach trusts the judgments and strategies we make in the game. (Referring to January)

If the game play wasn’t good and we still won, sometimes the coach’s expression isn’t that bright. Luckily in my match with Stats, the coach was smiling. The good point of being in Samsung KHAN is that after you are given a strategy, you are not forced to use that strategy and tell us details about the opponents. Of course there is a responsibility on the strategy or the build one chooses.

For a player like me that likes peculiar strategies, if someone tries to measure me up they are bound to lose skill, and from that meaning I feel that I’m lucky that I met Samsung Electronics. With Reality as my teammate, I believe Samsung Khan is the driving force to my growth.



TG – Especially for you Turn, let’s pick an ideal from girl groups. From Girl’s Generation, Secret, Kara, and T-ara please pick one person from each group.

Turn – I think it’s nice that I get to choose the nominees (laugh). From Girl’s Generation I pick Taeyeon. In Secret Song Ji Eun, Kara’s Goo Ha Ra, and I like T-ara’s Eunjung. Picking like this they don’t share many similar qualities (laugh). This makes me look like someone without consistency (laugh).

[Picture Reference]
Goo Hara: + Show Spoiler +
Ham Eun Jung: + Show Spoiler +
Song Ji Eun: + Show Spoiler +
Kim Tae Yeon: + Show Spoiler +



TG – I agree with you (laugh). Who would you pick from Taeyeon and Song Ji Eun?

Turn – I like Taeyeon better. At first I liked her after hearing her voice, but after seeing her appearance that won more points.

TG – Picking from Eunjung and Goo Hara?

Turn – Eunjung. Really I don’t have a style I prefer. But if I had to pick from the two of them, I like Eunjung better.

TG – It’s already the finals. From Taeyeon and Eunjung, who do you like?

Turn – This is a tough question (laugh). Not like I can evaluate anyone (laugh). I feel like Taeyeon is closer to my ideal girl. Personally I like shorter people rather than tall people. Rather than picking an ideal person, I think it’s better that when I meet them that we have chemistry. I was slightly worried when I looked at the previous articles and saw you did these ideal girls world cups before. Also my teammates also said this, originally you will meet someone opposite of your ideal girl. So that’s why I don’t want to make anyone ‘ideal’

[Coincidentally March 9th is Taeyeon's birthday]



TG – I think in the current e-sports scene they want a star. Meanwhile there have been no players to break the stronghold name of ‘Taek Bang Lee Ssang’. You are named as one of these possible future stars, are you confident to make a name for yourself?

Turn – ‘Taek Bang Lee Ssang’ I think I’m not a level to even think about it, since they are all in such a higher place. For a player who’s never won an individual league title, I cannot begin to start commenting on ‘Taek Bang Lee Ssang’. This kind of question is a really tough to answer because for a player like me that is not on their level, has no chance of going above them yet.

Rather than exceeding them, I will do my best to keep this kind of attention, and show all the things I can do and that is the most I can say in my placement. After doing more things, I will try my best to exceed them.

TG – For the last answer, please tell us about Turn’s dream.

Turn – I think I still have not become a successful progamer. Personally unless you’re not considered as the team’s ace I think you can almost call yourself a success, for me to reach that I have to do much better. Looking at it objectively, I think each team’s ace gets a salary of 100 million won [Approx. $ 89150.40 USD]. If I get a salary of 100 million won, that should make me the team’s ace right?

TG – So you’re telling me your dream is a 100 million won salary.

Turn – Looking at the past Medic Dates, they all have a goal for their life. But for me I still haven’t decided on one yet. I don’t know what will happen in the future, and right now I have endless potential at the moment. I’m still a passionate youth, I don’t want to decide on something prematurely.

Right now I want to make the dream in front of me come true first, and after that I want to dream on more. Even afterwards I want to continue to be a dreaming youth.



TG – It was a pleasure meeting you today. I thought I would be nervous interviewing someone I meet for the first time, thanks for being comfortable to talk to. I hope you become a greater player in the future

Turn – At first hearing that Tossgirl-noona was going to interview, I was very excited. Since I have older sisters, I think the interview was comfortable and enjoyable. I hope I can see you more in the game studios.