Interview with Strelok

WGTour: Strelok, can you introduce yourself to anyone who may not know you? And a fun fact about yourself.
Strelok: Eugin "Strelok" Oparyshev. I often changed nicknames before and they were all from books I read but then I stopped at Strelok,. Even though it was a literature personage it is also a good nickname.

WGTour: How'd you first get introduced to StarCraft and what made you decide to play it competitively?
Strelok: I think everything was usual as for other people. First 3v3, 4v4 at internet cafes. Then I got free internet so I could play 1v1 at home.

WGTour: You're one of the best Terran players in Europe right now. Why and how did you pick Terran?
Strelok: It was the hardest and most interesting race. Right now I think I could reach more success with Protoss, because I'm a dreamer much more than a machine. But what is done is done.

WGTour: After joining Excello, it seems as if your skill skyrocketed. Was it because you were practicing more, something just clicked, or did Excello play a direct role in that?
Strelok: All together. First of all, I always have good ends of year, it's not the first time i do good in this period of the year. Second thing is that I won some tournaments which upped my confidence and at last Excello did everything they promised in the financial plan so I could concentrate on gaming without thinking about how to receive money from them, which was an issue in some previous teams.

WGTour: The improvement shows. At GosuGamers, you jumped up five places to third. Do you believe that of the current players right now that this is accurate?
Strelok: Yeah, heh, I could be even second if that Qcup loss from Haypro was deleted. And about this ranking, it's rather subjective as any other ranking. I do understand that for example Legendary and PJ are better then me, but anyway it's always good to be high in it.

WGTour: Bartar is one of the more controversial team managers in the community. Does this have any impact on how you perform wearing the Excello tag and do you think his reputation is an accurate portrayal of him?
Strelok: Well there is such a Russian expression like "Do not judge and you won't be judged." I do not want to judge Bartar, but during last time I often didn't agree with his management decisions.

WGTour: In the way of how he handled various clan wars or with his own members or something else?
Strelok: In both situations but he is the manager and is investing his money, so he decides.

WGTour: Staying on the subject of Excello for a little bit. The team participates in four team leagues (WGTCL, ICCupCL, BWCL, BWML) and various other tournaments. How do you manage your personal life with such a busy SC schedule?
Strelok: I always come for WGTCL, ICCUP CL. First of all because we have the strongest opponents there and second of all because they are scheduled for normal time to come for Europeans. For other leagues i come only when i have time.

WGTour: As you mentioned receiving money ealier, do you get any assistance from Excello to travel to different tournaments, such as ASUS or DreamHack?
Strelok: If I received, I would go to those tournaments.

WGTour: Unfortunate to hear. Excello now has six Chinese players. Will this have an impact on how many clan wars you play in or will things pretty much stay the same?
Strelok: They will go without me, because i'm going to leave Excello in the nearest future. The game against ToT in Saturday ICC-CL will probably become my last clanwar in Excello. I'm still not 100% sure which team will be my new one, but as i said Excello will continue without me.

WGTour: Surprising news. What exactly caused you to leave the team or was it various reasons?
Strelok: The main reason was new motivation searching, but as far as for now I'm still xLo, I'd rather not talk about this topic.

WGTour: Understandably. You've always come so close at WCG Ukraine. Will we finally see you in Cologne this year?
Strelok: Three years in a row I was one single game away from qualifying, even though I felt I can qualify and had enough skill to do it. Hopefully I'll also get some luck which is always needed in theses events.

WGTour: This could be the last year SC is at WCG with the release of SC2 coming closer. Do you have any plans on playing SC2 on a competitive level?
Strelok: i will switch to SC2 immediately , but plan to play it maximally 1-2 years, because 22 years is already some age and I need to think about future life plans.

WGTour: Do you believe that your experience with SC will give you an upper hand in the beginning stages of SC2?
Strelok: I'm absolutely sure in that

WGTour: Thanks for the interview Eugin. Any last words?
Strelok: Not this time.