https://goodgame.ru/news/32014/ has recently done an interview with FlaSh. With the permission of GoodGame I have translated it to English. Huge thanks to Kirill “Rus_Brain” Patyrykin for arranging the interview and to Alexey Tishschenko for the translation from Korean to Russian and vice versa.
Q. Do you have a wife / kids or girlfriend? A: In the past I have talked about my significant other and made it public, but it had a negative effect and we broke up. Now taught by bitter experience, if I meet the one I want to marry, I will talk about it only after I legalize my relationship. But not before. Please understand and accept my decision.
Q:Do you have a university degree or doctorate? What are your future plans? A: I’m still studying at the university. I’m getting a gaming education (game making or marketing) and I’m not sure if this is going to be my future job. Due to the fact that I have disappointed my viewers and fans with the participation in the recent crypto scandal, I have no thoughts and plans in this regard. At the moment I’m away from the community and I’m focused on finishing my military service.
Do you consider yourself the best in the RTS genre? If not, who could be the best? Who was the best in the period 2010-2012? A: At least in StarCraft I consider myself the best. However, not all RTS games are created equal. There are players who hold leading positions in their disciplines. Also, if I’m going to play WarCraft or StarCraft 2, I don’t think I’ll be as good as the top players. I won’t dare to name the best player in general, but when it comes to StarCraft 1 - I’m the best here. As for the period 2010-2012 the SC1 and SC2 were combined in season 2012, so I would not take it into account as a full-fledged one. But if you look at the KeSPA ranking you will see that it was me who ranked first.
Q: The most significant and memorable match in your career? A: I remember every final that I played. I am the record holder for the number of victories in tournaments, but this doesn’t dull my emotions from the next championships. I remember the finals against EffOrt the most. I lost to him on both OSL and ASL. I hope there will be an opportunity to play him in the final again when he will be in his best form. I want revenge
Q: Do you have cats or dogs? A: I don’t have any pets.
Q:How is your hand? Was the operation expensive? A: To be honest everything is bad. In addition to injuries to my wrist, I have also been diagnosed with a symptom called radial nerve entrapment syndrome. An operation was performed. The doctor told me that the injuries I received were comparable to those of the baseball players. I don’t know the cost of the operation as it was done under insurance. It wasn’t the cost that worried me more, but the pain that the injury caused me. Most of the StarCraft players in Korea play this game with overwhelming pain.
Q: Are you often recognized on the street? A: In the past when I was a professional player, many people recognized me. At the moment I don’t leave the house that often, so it’s hard to tell. But after the pro scene was eliminated along with star league, I think my fame has faded a lot.
Q: In the last ASL you played random. What do you think of it? In the foreign community there is a perception that protoss is the easiest race to play. What do you think? A: The reason why I played random at ASL is simple - just for fun. And it’s true that protoss is relatively easy to play, but that’s only at a low level. This however doesn’t work on strong B ranks and A to S ranks. This also applies to the professional scene - skill is everything, not the race.
Q: League of Legends is very popular in South Korea. Many SC2 players are now managers or coaches of the teams for this game. Have you received any invites from the LoL teams? A: I wasn’t interested in the position of a coach in the LoL team, I rather wanted to be the owner. I had an opportunity to acquire a professional team. I saw myself as a club owner, not a manager or a coach. A close friend of mine once owned a LoL team. I told him: “Let me know if you decide to sell the team”. But he sold it to someone else without telling me.
What can you say about your level playing random? A:I have been playing StarCraft 8-10 hours every day for over 10 years. I wouldn't say that it’s easier to win against me when I play random. I have a high skill of playing for all races.
Q: What’s your schedule? How much time do you spend on analyzing replays, or is it no longer required? What do you think about the distribution of tasks when working in a team e.g. one is playing, the second is working with timings, the third is watching replays? A: This question was relevant when Proleague existed. In the days of the professional scene all preparation took place before the start of the game. The players sat on the bench, cheered for the team and waited for their turn. Immediately before the match, 10 minutes were given to set up the devices.
Have you ever regretted dedicating your life to esports?
A: Never. StarCraft is the game that made me who I am today. I have never regretted becoming a StarCraft player.
What do you think about the development of the RTS genre in the future?
A: I think the RTS games that will last for a long time are SC2 and WC3, because they have an influx of new players in both the Korean and foreign scenes. The same cannot be said about SC1. Both the Korean and foreign scenes need support to attract new players and extend their lives.
A: No, I’ve never tried it. I assume that this dish is not familiar to Koreans.
Do you remember the game against Jangbi which ended in a draw?
A: Yes, it was a really fun game, one of few games that ended in a draw. Haha. It made no sense for me to attack in that situation, Jangbi was also not sure about the success of his attack. Since we both were dry and were not going to attack each other, it was decided to replay this match.
Any last words for your overseas fans?
A: Thank you for your support and your love, and if anything, please understand and forgive (Note from translator: it seems to be about crypto scandal)
Thanks to v1 for translating the interview from Russian to English and Rus_Brain for granting us permission to post it here on TL.
What do you think about the development of the RTS genre in the future?
A: I think the RTS games that will last for a long time are SC2 and WC3, because they have an influx of new players in both the Korean and foreign scenes. The same cannot be said about SC1. Both the Korean and foreign scenes need support to attract new players and extend their lives.
I know that BW isn't so popular with younger people, but I'm really surprised that FlaSh thinks that WC3 is doing better in this regard. Is WC3 doing well in Korea now?
I was under the impression Sc2 wasn't getting new Korean players. I'm glad to hear that Flash is just as passionate about BW and will likely be back to take revenge!
On January 07 2022 01:23 Magic Powers wrote: Nice interview, I think the answer he gave to the question about his relationship status is especially insightful. Thanks for posting!
PS: subtle dig at Artosis, maybe Flash has seen some of his emotional "protoss imba" rants
I doubt FlaSh watches or cares about Artosis. If anything, his comment just goes to show that Artosis' mentality is typical of ladder players at those ranks.
Cool interview. But some pretty odd questions asked of him.
How could Flash possibly have a university (assuming the interviewer meant an undergraduate or Master's?) degree, let alone a doctorate of philosophy which takes a minimum of ten years of full-time study to obtain? He's been a full-time gamer for most, if not all, of his adult life.
A few other questions seemed to be irrelevant or just plain "filler" questions which is too bad given how important and exclusive this opportunity to interview Flash was and the small number of questions posed. For example, the ones asking him about pets or carrots.
Some of the other questions were quite good, fortunately, though I wish Flash was prodded a little bit more to stick around longer to answer more questions or to elaborate.
It would be much more cool (to me at least) to read interviews with foreigners. Sorry for committing blasphemy but I never cared too much about the pro-gamer scene. It is a one sided relationship meaning there is no community or individual there to engage back with you and so not my cup of tea as I enjoy human contact and reciprocity. I would volunteer to interview foreigners of course but I think my name appears on this forum a bit too much as it is. I will if no one else steps up to the job.
Thanks for the interview transcript and hopefully my feedback did not come across as too harsh.
On January 07 2022 04:11 ox.tQ wrote: Cool interview. But some pretty odd questions asked of him.
How could Flash possibly have a university (assuming the interviewer meant an undergraduate or Master's?) degree, let alone a doctorate of philosophy which takes a minimum of ten years of full-time study to obtain? He's been a full-time gamer for most, if not all, of his adult life.
A few other questions seemed to be irrelevant or just plain "filler" questions which is too bad given how important and exclusive this opportunity to interview Flash was and the small number of questions posed. For example, the ones asking him about pets or carrots.
Some of the other questions were quite good, fortunately, though I wish Flash was prodded a little bit more to stick around longer to answer more questions or to elaborate.
It would be much more cool (to me at least) to read interviews with foreigners. Sorry for committing blasphemy but I never cared too much about the pro-gamer scene. It is a one sided relationship meaning there is no community or individual there to engage back with you and so not my cup of tea as I enjoy human contact and reciprocity. I would volunteer to interview foreigners of course but I think my name appears on this forum a bit too much as it is. I will if no one else steps up to the job.
Thanks for the interview transcript and hopefully my feedback did not come across as too harsh.
There are actually quite a few interviews of foreigners already on the site; they just don't attract as much attention, usually, so they get pushed down the sidebar pretty quickly IMO.
What do you think about the development of the RTS genre in the future?
A: I think the RTS games that will last for a long time are SC2 and WC3, because they have an influx of new players in both the Korean and foreign scenes. The same cannot be said about SC1. Both the Korean and foreign scenes need support to attract new players and extend their lives.
I know that BW isn't so popular with younger people, but I'm really surprised that FlaSh thinks that WC3 is doing better in this regard. Is WC3 doing well in Korea now?
Not sure about Korea but WC3 has an extremely strong scene in China which might be what Flash is referring to.
What do you think about the development of the RTS genre in the future?
A: I think the RTS games that will last for a long time are SC2 and WC3, because they have an influx of new players in both the Korean and foreign scenes. The same cannot be said about SC1. Both the Korean and foreign scenes need support to attract new players and extend their lives.
I know that BW isn't so popular with younger people, but I'm really surprised that FlaSh thinks that WC3 is doing better in this regard. Is WC3 doing well in Korea now?
it's doing decently well, afreecaTV is hosting at least 2-3 big tournaments a year for pro players. dunno about the amateur aspect but it seems to be doing okay. idk if it's bigger than the BW player pool though.. doubt it, tbh.
On January 07 2022 04:11 ox.tQ wrote: Cool interview. But some pretty odd questions asked of him.
How could Flash possibly have a university (assuming the interviewer meant an undergraduate or Master's?) degree, let alone a doctorate of philosophy which takes a minimum of ten years of full-time study to obtain? He's been a full-time gamer for most, if not all, of his adult life.
A few other questions seemed to be irrelevant or just plain "filler" questions which is too bad given how important and exclusive this opportunity to interview Flash was and the small number of questions posed. For example, the ones asking him about pets or carrots.
Some of the other questions were quite good, fortunately, though I wish Flash was prodded a little bit more to stick around longer to answer more questions or to elaborate.
It would be much more cool (to me at least) to read interviews with foreigners. Sorry for committing blasphemy but I never cared too much about the pro-gamer scene. It is a one sided relationship meaning there is no community or individual there to engage back with you and so not my cup of tea as I enjoy human contact and reciprocity. I would volunteer to interview foreigners of course but I think my name appears on this forum a bit too much as it is. I will if no one else steps up to the job.
Thanks for the interview transcript and hopefully my feedback did not come across as too harsh.
There are actually quite a few interviews of foreigners already on the site; they just don't attract as much attention, usually, so they get pushed down the sidebar pretty quickly IMO.
Thank you for the link. Some of these I did not know about. I will check them out before bed
I'm sure we could interview some more people. They deserve it and if they were to disappear, it would be a shame not to archive and celebrate their stature. The foreign community is very, very special indeed
What do you think about the development of the RTS genre in the future?
A: I think the RTS games that will last for a long time are SC2 and WC3, because they have an influx of new players in both the Korean and foreign scenes. The same cannot be said about SC1. Both the Korean and foreign scenes need support to attract new players and extend their lives.
I know that BW isn't so popular with younger people, but I'm really surprised that FlaSh thinks that WC3 is doing better in this regard. Is WC3 doing well in Korea now?
it's doing decently well, afreecaTV is hosting at least 2-3 big tournaments a year for pro players. dunno about the amateur aspect but it seems to be doing okay. idk if it's bigger than the BW player pool though.. doubt it, tbh.
All of the money that Afreeca puts into the SC2 events are Blizzard's money.
With no Blizzard involvement there is no SC2 content on that platform.
It would be much more cool (to me at least) to read interviews with foreigners. Sorry for committing blasphemy but I never cared too much about the pro-gamer scene. It is a one sided relationship meaning there is no community or individual there to engage back with you and so not my cup of tea as I enjoy human contact and reciprocity. I would volunteer to interview foreigners of course but I think my name appears on this forum a bit too much as it is. I will if no one else steps up to the job.
Thanks for the interview transcript and hopefully my feedback did not come across as too harsh.
There are actually quite a few interviews of foreigners already on the site; they just don't attract as much attention, usually, so they get pushed down the sidebar pretty quickly IMO.
The analogy here is if ESPN all of sudden started being obsessed with G-League teams over the stars in the NBA, because of some random trait like charisma etc..
BW is a skill-game. The most skilled will get all the attention. Even its most notorious troll (Larva) is a an all-time beast of a player FIRST.
On January 07 2022 07:36 DreamOen wrote: Awesome interview, I've been out of the loop for a while , can anyone update on the crpyto scandal he is reffering to?
What do you think about the development of the RTS genre in the future?
A: I think the RTS games that will last for a long time are SC2 and WC3, because they have an influx of new players in both the Korean and foreign scenes. The same cannot be said about SC1. Both the Korean and foreign scenes need support to attract new players and extend their lives.
I know that BW isn't so popular with younger people, but I'm really surprised that FlaSh thinks that WC3 is doing better in this regard. Is WC3 doing well in Korea now?
it's doing decently well, afreecaTV is hosting at least 2-3 big tournaments a year for pro players. dunno about the amateur aspect but it seems to be doing okay. idk if it's bigger than the BW player pool though.. doubt it, tbh.
All of the money that Afreeca puts into the SC2 events are Blizzard's money.
With no Blizzard involvement there is no SC2 content on that platform.
i find his comments on sc2 strange, because the korean scene for sc2 is pretty much dead. it's so dead in fact that koreans have started playing on NA. i couldn't even get a game on KR as a diamond player last time i tried it. meanwhile, brood war is supposedly making a huge comeback and the online user count reflects this second wave.
am i misinformed?
and yeah.. i'd like to know what he has to say about the crypto scandal other than that he's sorry, but oh well. thanks for the translation.
On January 07 2022 06:58 oxKnu wrote: All of the money that Afreeca puts into the SC2 events are Blizzard's money.
With no Blizzard involvement there is no SC2 content on that platform.
Source?
There is no official one, no reason to why those details would be public. However it's something that everyone that has been around for awhile knows about. Artosis has talked about it and it comes up whenever Blizzard gives the impression that they might pull out of SC2 completely, like before that ESL deal was put into place 1-2 years ago, about the same time when KSL was cancelled.
Blizzard sponsors the prize-pool and "partners" with Afreeca to host and organize the tournament.
Conversely, everything Broodwar, like ASL is 100% paid by Afreeca, sometimes -around the Remastered launch- even being taxed by Blizzard with tournament fees (that actually exceeded the total prizepool of the tournaments back then). There's a TL thread that talks about it too.
I know Afreeca managed to get some side sponsorships for the SC2 events too, but those are rather infrequent and come and go a lot of the time.
On January 07 2022 08:27 lost dedicated wrote: i find his comments on sc2 strange, because the korean scene for sc2 is pretty much dead. it's so dead in fact that koreans have started playing on NA. i couldn't even get a game on KR as a diamond player last time i tried it. meanwhile, brood war is supposedly making a huge comeback and the online user count reflects this second wave.
am i misinformed?
and yeah.. i'd like to know what he has to say about the crypto scandal other than that he's sorry, but oh well. thanks for the translation.
I think I might have an explanation on his thoughts on that matter.
I believe he's mostly talking about it from the point of view of the pros. Not the actual playing population/audience. He's basically saying that SC2 pros could sustain themselves playing that game as long as there are events, they don't depend on streaming much.
Blizzard has artificially sustained that scene for a long time. Obviously in the early days there was A LOT of money flying around in SC2, and the vast majority of players that are at the top from Korea right now are dinosaurs from that era that have events that they can play in year-round. (plus team sponsorships etc).
Even SC2 fans though, kind of know that the game has been dead in Korea for a couple of years now. But there is enough support coming from elsewhere that sustains those pros, and the security blanket that comes with ESL/Blizzard announcing 2-year long partnerships is something that is meaningful in the grand scheme of things.
nice interview, tho i concur with a previous poster that its a tad too impersonal. like the first question is rather rude fishing if u followed the scene and know he has broken up not too long ago.
when was this interview conducted? pretty bland interview tbh. hes been involved in a massive scandal recently and his future in streaming is uncertain at the moment yet the interview only asks the typical generic stuff weve probably already seen from his past interviews.
On January 07 2022 05:11 [sc1f]eonzerg wrote: Damn they should have asked FlaSh about Age of Empires IV. I hear sc2 progamers are switching to that game.
Several AoE players go back to AoE2 so AoE IV probably won't do too well when the new effect wears off Barely any sc2 progamers are switching to AoE4, in EU the most notable is MarineLord but he was not the most active sc2 pro even before the release of AoE4. Other than that would be streamer/caster Demuslim but he has not been a sc2 progamer for years. In Korea one of the only players I see from sc2 is Leenock, but he was not very successful in sc2 nowadays
Don't mean to trigger a civil war, but I'm curious whether the BW or SC2 ecosystem in Korea is more self-sustaining?
It's sad that Flash's legacy will be scarred by the crypto scandal. I don't know enough of the details, much has been covered in the previous thread. But I do hope the fans forgive him once he returns to military. There are much more egregious sins (match-fixing) that truly warrant exile.
“And it’s true that protoss is relatively easy to play, but that’s only at a low level. This however doesn’t work on strong B ranks and A to S ranks. This also applies to the professional scene - skill is everything, not the race.“
:D im gonna spam this in every disgustingly stupid terran balance whine thread that pops up on TL once in a while. Pure Gold from your god himself. And yes, he knows much better than all chatcrafters here if thats actually true for B Ranks and A Ranks. He is God after all, riiiiight? Really made my day.
On January 07 2022 21:06 RKC wrote: Don't mean to trigger a civil war, but I'm curious whether the BW or SC2 ecosystem in Korea is more self-sustaining?
It's sad that Flash's legacy will be scarred by the crypto scandal. I don't know enough of the details, much has been covered in the previous thread. But I do hope the fans forgive him once he returns to military. There are much more egregious sins (match-fixing) that truly warrant exile.
neither games have much new blood incoming. sc2 is basically on life support from Bl1zz and has a smaller playerbase. BW has plenty of boomers playing and the scene is essentially funded by Afreeca. i guess the scene will be selfsustaining as long as the expros continue to stream BW with sizable viewership
i pretty sure flash will get to stream after military. tho im just basing it on hwasin a more grievous sinner who got a chance to stream on Afreeca some time back but got booted out only because of recalcitrance
да флэш просто суший макро терран я не понемаю зачем он вызвался за ничю приемушество было у него на стороне он мог бы просто полететь половиной зданий и поехать войсками в атаку под зданиями зделать сиеге и просто тупо убить тосса у которого был 1 чтормер и пачка кареров с пачкой гунов протев террановского лимита это смешно просто смешно в любом случае у него стояло столько турелей что даже если бы он не смог убить всех кареров то он мог бы просто порубить их интрецепторов, а если бы даже не добил то всё равно кареры бы их слили на его туретках которых там было чтук 20
флеш крипто мошенник мне больше по душе что он просто суший макро крипто терран я не понемаю зачем он вызвался за ничю приемушество было у него на стороне он мог бы просто полететь половиной зданий и поехать войсками в атаку под зданиями зделать сиеге и просто тупо убить тосса у которого был 1 чтормер и пачка кареров с пачкой гунов протев террановского лимита это смешно просто смешно в любом случае у него стояло столько турелей что даже если бы он не смог убить всех кареров то он мог бы просто порубить их интрецепторов, а если бы даже не добил то всё равно кареры бы их слили на его туретках которых там было чтук 20
On January 07 2022 23:56 Rus_Brain wrote: да флэш просто суший макро терран я не понемаю зачем он вызвался за ничю приемушество было у него на стороне он мог бы просто полететь половиной зданий и поехать войсками в атаку под зданиями зделать сиеге и просто тупо убить тосса у которого был 1 чтормер и пачка кареров с пачкой гунов протев террановского лимита это смешно просто смешно в любом случае у него стояло столько турелей что даже если бы он не смог убить всех кареров то он мог бы просто порубить их интрецепторов, а если бы даже не добил то всё равно кареры бы их слили на его туретках которых там было чтук 20
"Flash is just a basic macro Terran I don't understand why he asked for a tie the advantage was on his side he could have simply fly with half of his buildings and drive his forces to attack under the buildings go Siege mode and just stupidly kill the Protoss who had 1 High Templar and a pack of Carriers and a pack of Dragoons against maxed Terran this is funny just funny in any case he had so many Turrets that even if he could not kill all the Carriers then he would be able to simply cut down their Interceptors, and if even if he could not beat all of them then either way Carriers would lose them all on his Turrets which there were like 20 of"
Golden comments from Russian BW community; I believe this was in response to Flash vs. Jangbi on Blue Storm.
On January 08 2022 00:02 Max Payne wrote: флеш крипто мошенник мне больше по душе что он просто суший макро крипто терран я не понемаю зачем он вызвался за ничю приемушество было у него на стороне он мог бы просто полететь половиной зданий и поехать войсками в атаку под зданиями зделать сиеге и просто тупо убить тосса у которого был 1 чтормер и пачка кареров с пачкой гунов протев террановского лимита это смешно просто смешно в любом случае у него стояло столько турелей что даже если бы он не смог убить всех кареров то он мог бы просто порубить их интрецепторов, а если бы даже не добил то всё равно кареры бы их слили на его туретках которых там было чтук 20
"Flash crypto gangster I feel more in my soul that he is just a basic macro crypto Terran...." rest is same :'D I'm loling.
On January 08 2022 01:18 evilfatsh1t wrote: are they meant to be serious comments or trolling? cant tell
The original comment was someone's genuine reaction to the game; it became a sort of copy pasta meme in the community, so in this context they are just for lulz.
да флэш просто суший макро терран я не понемаю зачем он вызвался за ничю приемушество было у него на стороне он мог бы просто полететь половиной зданий и поехать войсками в атаку под зданиями зделать сиеге и просто тупо убить тосса у которого был 1 чтормер и пачка кареров с пачкой гунов протев террановского лимита это смешно просто смешно в любом случае у него стояло столько турелей что даже если бы он не смог убить всех кареров то он мог бы просто порубить их интрецепторов, а если бы даже не добил то всё равно кареры бы их слили на его туретках которых там было чтук 20
да флэш просто суший макро терран я не понемаю зачем он вызвался за ничю приемушество было у него на стороне он мог бы просто полететь половиной зданий и поехать войсками в атаку под зданиями зделать сиеге и просто тупо убить тосса у которого был 1 чтормер и пачка кареров с пачкой гунов протев террановского лимита это смешно просто смешно в любом случае у него стояло столько турелей что даже если бы он не смог убить всех кареров то он мог бы просто порубить их интрецепторов, а если бы даже не добил то всё равно кареры бы их слили на его туретках которых там было чтук 20
On January 07 2022 21:06 RKC wrote: Don't mean to trigger a civil war, but I'm curious whether the BW or SC2 ecosystem in Korea is more self-sustaining?
The truth is neither are self-sustaining. BW is more popular overall but not popular enough to generate many new pro players long-term.
The vast majority of the Under-21 crowd in Korea that want to become esports pros are laser-focused on League of Legends. They have little interest in the StarCraft franchise as a whole.
да флэш просто суший макро терран я не понемаю зачем он вызвался за ничю приемушество было у него на стороне он мог бы просто полететь половиной зданий и поехать войсками в атаку под зданиями зделать сиеге и просто тупо убить тосса у которого был 1 чтормер и пачка кареров с пачкой гунов протев террановского лимита это смешно просто смешно в любом случае у него стояло столько турелей что даже если бы он не смог убить всех кареров то он мог бы просто порубить их интрецепторов, а если бы даже не добил то всё равно кареры бы их слили на его туретках которых там было чтук 20
What can you say about your level playing random? A:I have been playing StarCraft 8-10 hours every day for over 10 years. I would say that it’s easier to win against me when I play random. I have a high skill of playing for all races.
It should be "I wouldn't say that it’s easier to win against me". Right now this sentence is completely opposite of its original meaning
What can you say about your level playing random? A:I have been playing StarCraft 8-10 hours every day for over 10 years. I would say that it’s easier to win against me when I play random. I have a high skill of playing for all races.
It should be "I wouldn't say that it’s easier to win against me". Right now this sentence is completely opposite of its original meaning
You are right! Sorry, I misread that sentence in Russian
What can you say about your level playing random? A:I have been playing StarCraft 8-10 hours every day for over 10 years. I would say that it’s easier to win against me when I play random. I have a high skill of playing for all races.
It should be "I wouldn't say that it’s easier to win against me". Right now this sentence is completely opposite of its original meaning
You are right! Sorry, I misread that sentence in Russian
If you need any help with Russian translation in the future, please let me know I am glad to help in that regard.
EPT
Great interview, huge thanks!
