[SSL] Ro32 Interviews

[SSL] Ro32 Interviews - Group E

Stratos

Czech Republic6104 Posts

January 02 2015 15:04 GMT

Daily eSports is back at SonicTV studio to give us more insightful interviews for the 10th Sonic Starleague. This time Nam Yoon Sung interviewed the winners of group E in the round of 32 featuring (Z)

hero,

Zeus,

Major and

GuemChi.

As always, the short introductions are not translations.

With the two oldschoolers in (P)

Zeus and

Major along with (P)

GuemChi in his group, the Protoss slayer (Z)

hero was the favorite to advance first and while he managed to do that by beating Zeus and GuemChi, it wasn't as smooth of a sailing as expected. At one point, he even thought he'd be eliminated. What does the first Zerg to advance to the round of 16 think of his chances in this Starleague?

You are the first Zerg to advance to round of 16.
Many good Zergs were unexpectedly eliminated in the round of 32. It was a bit of a burden but I was confident I would advance as long as I played my game.

In your game against Zeus you faced a deep crisis.
I thought Zeus sunbae would come with some tricks but he prepared well. Seeing his two gate strategy I thought he was all-in but instead he forced me to play all-in. I really thought I would lose.

What do you think of Zeus' style?
I expected a two gate opening on Sin Peaks of Baekdu but I didn't expect it to be perfectly executed. Zeus sunbae seemed really well prepared. I was taken a back and that's when the crisis came.

You dominated GuemChi by taking advantage of every possible opening in a flawless ZvP.
In the first game my hands weren't quite warmed up. In the winners' match I played confident I wouldn't lose and that allowed me to play comfortably.

You seem to have regained the ZvP skills of your prime. How about your ZvZ or ZvT?
I think I will be able to show better ZvT than before. As for ZvZ, it looks like it will be difficult to show that in this Starleague. Since many Zergs were eliminated I don't give the matchup a lot of thought. In the round of 16 I'll be facing a Terran and two Protoss players, if I'm right.

You will face two Protoss players in the next round as well.
Looking at the race distribution it seems ideal for me. Truthfully I wanted to go to group C so having drawn it is really great.

In the last season you finished second. Now that Bisu isn't playing, will first place be possible?
It's true that Bisu sunbae not participating means one less powerful rival to deal with. But since there are other very good players I can't become comfortable. I think I got into the finals of the 9th Sonic Starleague due to the groups drawing that played in my favor. This season I also want to show my utmost best play.

Final word?
Mini helped me with practice greatly. While I didn't contact him beforehand, he was on BattleNet and readily helped me when I asked. I am really thankful.

Source: DES

Former Woongjin Stars progamer (P)

GuemChi returned from the military to stream on Afreeca and ever since he has been proving he has what it takes to make some results in the SSL. But just how well would his performance translate to the offline setting? GuemChi did advance by beating (T)

Major twice but his lost game against (Z)

hero can be attributed to more than just bad luck as he himself admitted. Unsatisfied with his nickname, GuemChi also expressed a deep desire for a new haircuit.

It's been a long time since we've seen you play in official competition.
Since it's been a long time I felt quite nervous. I did end up advancing but made a lot of mistakes. I couldn't play as relaxed as in practice.

In your game against Major, you showed textbook PvT.
My build worked out well. Since Major works full-time he probably wasn't able to practice as much.

In the winners' match against hero you couldn't play as relaxed as you wanted.
Truthfully, I spent a lot of time preparing for hero. My goal was to advance from winners' match. I knew hero's build as well but I couldn't think straight and was unable to respond properly.

How is your life after military discharge?
I started streaming on Afreeca. It was sad not having a team to return to. It wasn't just Woongjin Stars, other teams disbanded too so I was really sad.

As a progamer you had the nickname OMEKIM but today it wasn't like that. Rather than that it was an eye-candy.
In the winners' match, I still showed some OMEKIM (laughs). At least in my two games against Major I didn't do that.

T/N: The nickname comes from Guemchi's 08-09 SPL game against firebathero where both players performed much below the level you'd expect from progamers and when GuemChi finally won, he performed an awkward dance ceremony. Netizens would then spam OME (Oh My Eyes!) on the boards to which eventually GuemChi's family name (Kim) was added.
GuemChi further solidified this image in his SPL game against Fantasy when he lost his proxying probe and finally, there was his STX Masters game against SangHo. After a passive opening, both armies went past each other and took over the enemy base to start their own nexus. The two armies then clashed, leaving GuemChi with only a reaver in a shuttle and SangHo with an extra dragoon to his name. What followed cannot be unseen. ~ wikipedia

Before participating, you announced you would shave your head if you didn't reach round of 8.
These days I don't have a work to go to besides streaming on Afreeca. I don't have to go out and show myself but I announced this to show my commitment to this Starleague and to push myself to practice even harder.

What do you think about group D?
There's still not a lot of people in group D so I don't have any particular thoughts.

Any words?
I want to thank (T)

PianO and

ZerO for helping me practise and I hope that (T)

Sharp and

free advance from their groups.

Source: DES

Original interviews by Daily eSports journalist Nam Yoon Sung - thenam@dailyesports.com

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