Could you introduce yourself to us?

Socke: Hi. I'm Socke. I'm a 27 year old german SC2 Pro. I played broodwar on a high level from roughly 1999 to 2004 where I quit, then picked the mouse up again for SC2 in 2010.

So you were there from the very beginning. What made you pick up the game?

Socke: Around the time Starcraft came out we got proper internet at home. I really liked playing with other people at lans, and being able to just log into battle.net at home and play with other people was amazing. I also liked WC1 (played the demo version for hours) and WC2, so I was really looking forward to the release of SC.

That's interesting. What was your local scene like at the time?

Socke: Attended a couple of smaller private ones, but that was mostly before Starcraft I think. Among the bigger ones was a ~200 person one nearby called lancraft I think?

Aha. When did you start competing in the World Cyber Games Germany and how was that experience like?

Socke: I lost in the RO16 online matches for WCGC 2000 to M@ddi, who later turned out to be a maphacker I think. I attended the 2001-2004 offline finals. In 2001 I got like ~5th place because there was a raceswitcher vs raceswitcher war, and I got the wrong matchup twice in a row. Nevertheless, it was lots of fun to attend. In 2002 I got 2nd place and made it to korea, which was kind of surreal at the time. 2003 I got 4th losing narrowly to an opponent I feel I should've beaten at the time. Very depressing for me, so after that I kinda quit playing seriously. In 2004 I tried somewhat, but wasnt good enough to have a good shot at qualifying anymore. Overall WCG was very exciting to play in though, as the one big tournament of the year.

Let's talk a little bit more about 2002. Can you tell us how your first experience in Korea was?

Socke: I think I spent most of the time there playing starcraft and at the venue. I still had connections to some koreans who played with us at TAMM (the strongest German team at that point) prior, so meeting some of them out for food was great. It was also one of the rare occassions one was able to meet fellow players from around the world. I still remember the community practice rooms at the hotel, playing some UMSes and watching other people play. I recently read a post in a reddit thread talking about a practice game there between boxer and didi, and I could still recall that as well :D. So old.. The tournament went rather badly for me. I had a 5-2 mapscore, losing to Suker and Junwi aka Starsin.
Against Suker I felt I had a build order loss with Dark Templars vs 3 Fac vultures on Lost Temple. Against Starsin I screwed up my opening on jungle story. Semiwalled in cannon at main, zealot around to protect probes until it finished, but somehow the lings just went and killed my cannon while the zealot was idling far away. I was too nervous... so I didn't really get to execute the followups properly there but it was a korean, so it was okay. The way I lost the games though, not so much. Also in the other groups ppl with 5-2 all advanced or got to play tiebreaker I think, but at least L got an autograph from BoXeR!

Damn, that's an amazing story. Getting an autograph from the Emperor must've meant a lot to you. Let's go back a little more. Do you recall why you picked Protoss?

Socke: For the first year or so I mostly played 3v3 on wheels of war, close encounters, etc. I played zerg. Even after getting into 1v1 I played zerg for a while, but sometime early on I switched. I'm not exactly sure why or when, but it might've had to do with observing one of the at the times best Germans called Kosh was playing pvx one day and I wanted to copy that. In the times before replays existed, getting to observe a good player was something special :D.

I see. What's been your best memory in BW?

Socke: Getting second place in the German WCG probably since it meant qualifying for the global finals.

Makes sense. You ended up retiring in 2004 and picked up Starcraft II again in 2010. What made you retire and what made you interested in trying again with the release of the new game?

Socke: There wasn't going to be another big tournament for a year after WCG, and I didn't really enjoy bw if I didn't give it a lot of effort to play well, so I put my time into other things. I always had fond memories of playing and competing in broodwar though, so I got excited to try out sc2 the moment it was announced.

You've spent a little bit of time in Korea for SC2. Can you tell us about that experience?

Socke: I was there shortly for WCG and for IESF. A lot of time was spent playing there, but being mid 20s this time instead of fifteen I also got to enjoy some other things such as food and the nightlife there. Was great to be in the land of starcraft, but with a busy tournament schedule all the travelling got quite tiring to me as well.

I can understand that. A certain very unreliable source told me you went out to a teenage disco with a 40 year old esports manager dressed as a white rapper. What can you tell me about that?

Socke: Was a fun night!

Details!

Socke: No, sorry. Wasn't a teenage disco though I think. If I recall correctly, the guy djing looked a lot like Khaldor.

You'll have to answer to the readers for that. Alright, how would you estimate your chances in the tournament? What's your goal?

Socke: My chances are very bad I guess. My goal is to win a map. If that works, maybe another one. I quit way earlier than the others, so I've been away longer from bw. Also the level wasnt as high when I still played. I never played the maps in the pool, and all my bw knowledge has been overwritten by sc2 knowledge by now, so...

You did have a great preparation for the German KOTH tournament though. Is there anyone you'd really like to beat?

Socke: I ended up going 0-4 in maps there. Although the 2 PvRZ's don't count and the pvps didn't look that bad...

Revenge on GoOdy perhaps?

Socke: Probably the people I still recall playing in bw. So the other 2 Germans for pride. Also Eradior, cause it was fun to play him and if I recall correctly I lost more than I won. payback time!

That makes sense. Let's move on to the more interesting questions. GoOdy has invited you to play in a band. Do you accept?

Socke: Okay, I'm up for it.

What would you play?

Socke: Guitar, drums, singing, I don't care! :D

Do you have experience with any of them?

Socke: Yes, all of them. I'd say as far as being bad in them, from worst to least worst its like this: drums, singing, guitar.

Alright. What's some of your favourite bands?

Socke: Too many to name. Machine Head, Tower of Power, Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails are a few of my favourites.

Okay, you get to go on a boat trip to sunbathe shirtless with GoOdy or you get to make sand castles with TT1. Which would you choose?

Socke: I think I'm not only better at but I'd also enjoy laying on a boatdeck in the sun much more than building sandcastles, so first option, easy question.

I'm sure that TT1 would be very disappointed. Any last words before we close out the interview?

Socke: Thanks for organizing all of this. Hope I can show some exciting games. Also, shameless self-promotion, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch.tv, etc.

Could you introduce yourself to us?

MaNa: My name is Grzegorz Komincz, I am a Starcraft 2 progamer currently playing for Team Liquid. I am 20 years old and I am from Poland.

Alright. What got you into Starcraft?

MaNa: The game itself was very fun to play, it had great graphics, was very dynamic and you could play LAN games so I quickly fell in love with it. I played the shareware version from a Polish game magazine and fortunately, my cousin had a full version so we installed it asap. I don't remember the exact date, maybe that was around 14 years ago? We got it from the Polish magazine as mentioned before.

So you already played since around 2000? I wasn't aware of that. The Polish scene in BW was always very big, with lots of competition. How did you like it?

MaNa: I wasn't playing very much back then of course, but that was my first contact with the game. I was like 7 years at that time. Indeed the Polish scene was big, and very good at the game too. I remember the times where POL-A and POL-B teams were at the top of gosugamers ranking. It was a pleasure to represent my nation when I finally got to a level of skill to do that. It's funny, because the entire Polish community in SC:BW was basically www.netwars.pl and they're still here for SC2 and that's something special. Big greetings to the community there for all the suport throughout these years.

That's heartwarming to hear. What's been your best experience in BW overall?

MaNa: My whole time playing BW and practicing to be a better player, to compete with the best from zero is something to remember. I don't have anything in particular, I am very happy that I've started to play. I loved the time of iCCup where you could practice a lot with the koreans at the -A+ level, as well as all the TSL/Spirit/those types of ladder tournaments race. Such a great time back then.

You've moved on to SC2 since then, where you had a lot of success particularly in 2012, winning the Electronic Sports World Cup and the Dreamhack Open Summer. What's been the most memorable in that regard?

MaNa: Winning Dreamhack right after final exams at school and going to Korea to compete in GSL. I've always wanted to win a big tournament and be in Korea to play in the Korean league. Unfortunately I didn't do well in there but at least I competed.

Speaking of Korea, can you explain what it's like for someone that's played Starcraft for this long to be in the heart of its competition?

MaNa: Brood war was all about Korea, there were nearly no tournaments beside WCG and all you could do is watch Korean progamers compete at the highest level possible and looking at the profits of their daily practice. Every player admired them and some wanted to become a progamer. Nowadays it's not the same, as e-Sports has grown world wide and a lot of people are calling themselves "progamers" where in the past it really had a meaning (at least in BW).

That's the history, but I was wondering if you could expand on how you felt being there.

MaNa: It's hard to explain in words, you have to experience that to understand. But if I have to try, it felt AWESOME.

Did you spend most of your time practicing or did you walk the famous "Path of night"?

MaNa: I spend most of my time practicing, I didn't want to waste the short time (2 months) I was there.

That's very understandable. Looking at the tournament, how do you see your chances and is there anyone you'd really like to beat?

MaNa: I don't think I have any chance of doing well in the tournament. I haven't touched brood war in years and I don't think I will have time to remember any of my previous skill. I have no one that I'd like to beat, I will be playing purely for fun.

If you need any tips, Socke has provided a video of how to remember your skill.

MaNa: I thought the reaver is going to die under the tank shot or because of burrowed mines

Socke is much too good for that. He knew there weren't any mines or tanks there.

MaNa: I think it was a D- level game, just like he is now. Could expect no mines there.

Haha, shots fired. You've been on more than a few plane trips. Which player would you most like to sit next to on a long plane trip?

MaNa: From the current playlist it'd be probably Socke or TT1 just because I know them from SC2. If I could pick anyone I wouldn't mind the company of Grubby. It's always a pleasure to talk to him. However I'd probably fall asleep anyway so it doesn't matter who would be sitting next to me, as long as they're not stealing my space.

A good answer. You can force anyone from the playerlist to listen to one album for an entire day. Who would you pick and what would he have to listen to?

MaNa: Oh god, I suck at music, I don't even know if I know any album of any artist. I'd force Cloud to listen to some Miley Cyrus, he would love that I am sure.

Let's see if we can make it happen. Cats or dogs?

MaNa: Dogs. Dogs. Dogs. Yea, Dogs.

Excellent choice. What kind of dog is your favourite?

MaNa: I have 3 german shepards at home and I love them very much. German shepards and labrador retrievers are my favourite kinds.

That's awesome. Do you have any words of wisdom for the readers?

MaNa: Usually I'd try to write something funny in a serious way but I can't think of what it would be about. So maybe some seriousy stuff. It doesn't matter how many times you fall, what counts is how many times you can get up.

I like it. Any last words before we close it out?

MaNa: Thanks for the invite to the tournament and for the interview, I am looking forward to bringing some of the shittiest games of Brood War by me ever.

Could you introduce yourself to us?

G5: My name is Eric Rothmuller and I'm from Northern California, USA. When I played SC:BW, I played Protoss and went under the ID G5.

When and how did you start playing Starcraft?

G5: I don't remember exactly when I started playing Starcraft but I know it was before Broodwar came out. I was at some friends house and they were playing it and I fell in love with the game.

Damn, that must've been in middle 1998 at the latest then. What attracted you to the game?

G5: It was definitely the first RTS I've ever seen and it was different from any other game I'd played previously. I enjoyed the flow of the game and the strategic mind-set you have to have for it. The competitive scene fueled my passion for the game and I became engrossed in it.

How did you come into contact with the competitive scene?

G5: Well, my first exposure to it was watching Boxer, Chojja, [NC]...YellOw, Skelton, Grrrr..., and all of the early pro players. My first real contact with it though was playing in local tournaments in the San Francisco Bay Area and playing against gamers like Froz, Yosh, and Evade. I surprisingly did well in those local lan tournaments and decided to start playing in online tournaments. The biggest step was making the WCG USA Finals for the first time (forget which year) and becoming really good friends with Artosis, Tasteless, Nyoken, and a few others. We all came together and started playing on ventrillo every night until we passed out. It was me, Artosis, Tasteless, IdrA, Skew, Nyoken, Machine, LzGaMeR, iNcontroL, Assem, and occasionally a few people like Nony and Ret. We did this pretty much every day for litterally years and it vastly improved all of us.

That must've been an amazing experience. How did the whole thing materialize? How did you work on improving your game together?

G5: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. We just rotated games and everyone else observed and criticized. Whoever was playing would go into a different vent channel so that the rest of us could talk about the game. There was a lot of back and forth theory-crafting (along with a lot of jokes and trash talking) and it improved us all because we learned how everyone else perceived the game. I actually think a lot of professional teams screw up (especially ones where they all live in the same house) because they don't do enough engaging with each other and theory-crafting. We all understood the game pretty well. The average session would usually end with Grandpa Artosis going to bed or IdrA / me rage quitting. The real thing that was so weird about the entire experience was WCG USA Finals because 90% of the competition was from our group every year and we all knew how each other played on every map and in every match up. So it was just all mind-games.

Haha. Did you ever think up of a few things you intentionally kept hidden from them for WCG games?

G5: Nope. In fact, I never go into a game with a game plan. Every time I started a game, I'd decide what I'd do within the first few minutes. Usually what runs through my mind is "It's X map, hes playing X race, if I were him I'd do X, so I'm just going to blind counter that". When I played vs them, it would go along the lines of "It's X map, it's Idra, he's a robot, he always does X, time to blind counter that shit".

Hm, an interesting approach. What's been your most memorable BW experience?

G5: Honestly, it's not any games or tournament wins. My most memorable experiences are just the awesome people I met, the friends I made, and the good times I had with them. There are so many. For example, just in Korea I can think of Artosis getting his foot ran over by a car (yes folks, it was a hit and run), IdrA becoming super social (this was a proud moment), iNcontroL carrying the Canadian flag and representing Canada in IEF's opening ceremony because the Canadian players missed a flight, Rekrul falling asleep in the middle of the IEF audience and later paying for awesome $1,000 a night suites in downtown Seoul for us to stay in, Machine randomly yelling out he's "The Ownage" and then losing to a Japanese players' Hydra / Plague build ZvZ who was studying the build on a Liquipedia print-out, Ret and I being dragged down random alleyways in Suwon by some crazy cab driver, Gretorp proposing to Machine in the streets of Korea with Stork's 3rd place flowers he received in the prize ceremony, Tasteless taking us all to an awesome hookah bar, White-Ra and Dimaga showing up the hotel and instantly pulling out Ukranian Vodka and getting shit-faced, wandering into the VIP lounge of the tournament with SLoG4 only to find Boxer, Stork, Bisu, and EffOrt sitting there (apparently the "VIP Room" just meant "Korean Room"), desperately wandering Suwon trying to find cereal with iNferNaL, showing up to the IEF opening ceremony to thousands of screaming people and thinking I was hot shit only to realize the crowd was there for the Wonder Girls and couldn't care less about us.

This was all within a week as well. So when I say there are no certain events or memories, I truly mean it. It's everything man.

Alright, that should give people a good view of the US scene. Now to take it back to you; why did you pick Protoss?

G5: I didn't initially. I played Terran for about 3-4 years, then I played Zerg for a year, and finally I ended on Protoss. I think the main reason I decided on Protoss was because it fit my game the best and a really good Protoss was the most scary player to me. So I decided I would try to become one.

I gotcha. Looking forward to the tournament, who do you most want to beat?

G5: Whoever's put in my path.

The US and EU scenes were quite separated in Starcraft: Brood War. How did you experience that and how do you relate to the European scene?

G5: Well, there was division because there were no real big sponsors or anything in SC:BW. Korea had great sponsors and tournaments but Europe and America had none. The Europeans would play tournaments in Europe and the Americans would play tournaments in America. The tournaments outside of Korea were pointless and didn't have any sort of media or prize pool that would ever attract a Korean team to send a player. WCG was the only exception. Thus, outside of the once-a-year WCG, American, European, and Korean players never really got to meet each other and develop in-person relationships. There were some exceptions of course, for example I absolutely love Ret, White-Ra, InferNaL, and others but a lot of this was due to meeting them at international tournaments (which were very rare) and becoming friends that way.

Yeah, that's true. Let's move on to the.. other category of questions. Cats or dogs?

G5: Both.

You have to pick.

G5: Denied.

Alright, there's a cat and a dog in separate baskets. If you don't choose, both will be terminated by lethal injection. You can only save one or none.

G5: I'd choose based on which one was younger and less sickly looking. By the way, I worked at an Animal Shelter for over 3 years. I litterally have no preference on one over the other.

Oh damn. So it would suffice to say you have an affinity for animals. What's the most remarkable thing you've experienced there?

G5: Dunno what the most remarkable thing was. Some of the most rewarding experiences of my career as an Animal Control Officer were taking animals away from people who were committing Animal Cruelty.

Hm. I can imagine such situations affect your eating habits. Are you a vegetarian?

G5: No. I eat anything that'd eat me if it were possible / had the chance.

I see. There goes my Artosis-related theory. I thought I was onto something. What's your favourite hobby outside of games?

G5: Well, I don't really play video games anymore. I wouldn't even consider it a hobby anymore to be honest. I'm just too busy. But... I guess my biggest hobby is tennis. I play it whenever I have a chance.

Ah. Who's your favourite player?

G5: Federer, because he's a great player and extremely classy.

I can totally understand that. Any last words before we close out the interview?

G5: Nope. Just thank you for the interview and I hope everyone enjoys the tournament.