[Winner's Int] SSL Group Ro8 - Day 2

[Itembay] Park Jun Oh (Killer), "I was surprised by Seomoon Jihoon's (ZeLoT) strategy".



      As the winner of the last Sonic Starleague, Killer met everyone expectations and moved on to the Round of 4. Killer who mentioned he was confident verses ZeLot after the Round of 8 matches were determined, Killer said he was surprised during the proxy hatchery/colony rush. Still he was Jaedong's disciple in the past and recovering his game sense from the past A-Team zerg for Hwaseung and Team 8 days, Killer is attempting to take the gold two seasons in a row.

Q. Your thoughts on reaching the Round of 4 again.
Killer - After seeing the matchups made for the Round of 8, I knew I would pass on easily. I predicted it and I feel happy reaching it like this.

Q. ZeLoT used creative strategies today. Were you surprised.
Killer - I was surprised in the 1st set. I haven't played a game against ZeLoT before so I didn't know his style of playing, after the 1st game I figured out how to play against him and thought I could win the games afterwards.

Q. How did you prepare for this match?
Killer - I wanted to play safe today. I didn't practice many games, only thinking about games.

Q. Did you expect a center hatchery strategy in the 1st set?
Killer - I was very surprised and felt like I couldn't defend against this. When ZeLoT's spore colony in his base was almost taken down, if I took that out I knew victory was in reach. It was extremely close.

Q. In the 2nd set, it feels like the control/management you had during your progamer days came back to life.
Killer - ZeLoT is an amateur, and during my progamer days I liked ZvZ and enjoyed practicing that matchup, so in terms of control I'm confident I can beat anyone.

Q. In the 3rd set you lost a few mutalisks in some spots and created a dangerous situation.
Killer - Builds are builds, also I was scouted first so it the game was favored 2(me):8(ZeLoT), it was a bad start for me. I made some mistakes in the early game, but as the game went on I regained control.

Q. Did you feel you were ever in danger in the 3rd set?
Killer - After I blocked those zerglings, when ZeLoT's mutalisks came to counter attack my mutalisks were all taken out so it was an awkward situation. I still played it out to the end and did my best.

Q. From Jo Il Jang (hero) and Choi Ho Sun (sSak) who already moved on, who do you want to meet?
Killer - From now on they're all great players so whoever I meet will be tough and enjoyable. It's not fully set yet, but I would like to meet Park Soo Bum (Tyson).

Q. Only past progamers are left. Are you confident to win the SSL?
Killer - I am confident. There hasn't been a consecutive SSL winner yet so I will try becoming one.

Q. Last words?
Killer - Chun Jayeon, Kim Jungrok, these two hyungs are helping me a lot outside of the game. I want to say thanks to them.

[Itembay] Goo Sung Hoon (HiyA), "Against Park Soo Bum (Tyson), my original strategy was..."



      Hiya defeated protoss Tyson with a 3:2 set score and became the last entrant to the Itembay Sonic Starleague Round of 4. In his games against Tyson, Hiya attempted to use timing/contain strategies and used a singular strategy pattern. Before entering the game, Hiya mentioned he prepared upgraded mech strategies against Tyson, but responding against Tyson's aggressive stances in all 5 sets Hiya attempted a timing rush and took the victory flag.

      In the coming May 11th, Hiya will play against By.Hero in the Round of 4, Hiya says "I'm so glad I'm not playing against Killer, also Hero and I both prefer doing big army battles so I'll do my best to show fun games to the viewers."

Q. You got on the last train into the Round of 4.
Hiya - I felt like passing the Round of 8 will be a huge obstacle, I'm glad I could move on. It was a tough battle reaching here, I will do my best to reach the finals also.

Q. You played close games against Tyson.
Hiya - I think Tyson did lots of research about my playstyle. If we played in an online setting I could've lost, but I felt like I won since it was an offline setting.

Q. What was your plan for today's games.
Hiya - My original plan was to use upgrade focused mechanic for all games, but when I gained an advantage in the early game, so I did an unpredictable timing attack once, and in the 4th set it was a hard map to do an upgrade mech strategy and aimed for another timing, but sadly it was blocked.

Q. Up to the 4th set you kept doing timing contains. You planned for upgraded mech, why did you continue to use timed attacks?
Hiya - The situation just transitioned that way. Tyson also brought some timed strategic play so after blocking his attempt, I felt it was proper to plan a timing afterwards.

Q. The 4th set was a gem to behold. Tyson's defense and your offense was the highlight of this match. After losing, did you have any regret?
Hiya - I was very sad. With cross map position spawns, doing a timing attack was risky. After losing so much army to just one shuttle, I lost in the close quarter combat. I made more mistakes so I lost that game.

Q. New Heartbreak Ridge is not an easy map for terrans. How did you approach this game?
Hiya - In the 5th set as well I prepared an upgraded mech strategy, but Tyson chose an observer-dragoon strategy. I saw the observer on top of my first factories. So outside of the observer sight range I produced 3 more factories, my strategy worked.

Q. You're up against hero in the Round of 4, are you confident?
Hiya - First of all Hero is an easier opponent to deal with than Killer. I'm not saying he's an easy player to beat, but he likes big army battles so it's more comfortable for me.

Q. Any last words?
Hiya - This is my first Round of 4, and I'm confident in my TvZ. I will definitely reach the finals and win the SSL.