[Interview] Ruby and Darkelf joining ACE

MBCGame's RuBy will be joining Air Force ACE after going through the air force's e-Sports division's (Air Force ACE) selection tests.

Ruby showed great happiness, saying that "it is an honor that (he) is able to join Air Force ACE", and added that "(he) wants to start playing as soon as possible", when asked about his successful entry into the Air Force.

Ruby, who has been confirmed to be joining ACE, will first be receiving military training at a military training academy located at Gyungsamnamdo, Jinju from 25th of May onwards. He will then officially start playing for ACE after his training ends.

The following is the interview with Ruby.

- Your thoughts on your entry to ACE.
▲ It is an honor for me to be able to join the Air Force ACE, and I would like to play for ACE and contribute to improving their results as soon as possible.

- Your reason for joining the air force at such a young age?
▲ It felt very good when I was active in MBCGame as I was getting paid as well as having the privilege to practice as and when I pleased. However, I think that by joining ACE and pushing aside all these privileges, I will be able to focus better on the game, which I think is also a good thing. That is why I decided to enlist myself.

- What was the reaction by the people around you after the results were released?
▲ There were many who thought that I made a hasty decision when my progaming career wasn't even that long. But after the results were released, everyone congratulated me.

- What do you want to achieve in ACE?
▲ I have confidence that I will be able to play as well as the well-performing Terrans when I join ACE, that is why my aim is to produce good results and be one of the key performing members of ACE. I want to join the ACE team as soon as possible and produce good results.

- There is only one month left before your day of enlistment.
▲ There is the OSL preliminaries on the 1st of May, and the Survivor Tournament on the 10th of May. I will do my best and practice hard until then so that I will show good results. Even if I get eliminated, I will not let it affect me, and practice even harder so that I will be of help to ACE when I join them.

- A word to your fans.
▲ The army is something that everyone must go to, as long as you are a Korean Man. (T/L: lol). I will do my best in my military training, and practice hard so that I will produce even better results than when i was in MBCGame, and repay my fans for their support. I hope that you will stay with me right until the end.

CJ's DarkElf will be joining Air Force ACE after going through the air force's e-Sports division's (Air Force ACE) selection tests.

Darkelf said that "(he) is glad to serve in the air force while continuing his gaming career", and swore that "(he) will do his best so that (he) will show results that will even exceed (his) brief period of peak performance."

Darkelf, who has been confirmed to be joining ACE, will first be receiving military training at a military training academy located at Gyungsamnamdo, Jinju from 25th of May onwards. He will then officially start playing for ACE after his training ends.

The following is the interview with Darkelf.

- Your thoughts on your entry to ACE.
▲ I am glad that I am able to serve in the Air Force while continuing my gaming career. I would like to thank the people who chose me.

- Your reason for applying for a spot in the ACE team?
▲ Basically I wanted to continue gaming. I think that through joining ACE, I will be able to play (on stage) much more. And because I am not that old, if I solve the military service issue by joining the ACE team and continue my gaming career, then I will be able to have a long gaming career through Starcraft, as well as the soon-to-be-released Starcraft 2.

- It was hard to see you playing in official matches.
▲ My skills were lacking so I did not have the chance to play (on stage). I slumped as I began producing results that I did not expect, and because the new players like sKyHigh, EffOrt and Movie were performing so well, I lost my chance to play.

- What was the reaction by the people around you after the results were released?
▲ I only got to know of the results today (24th April 2009). I have yet to inform my parents, and I first informed by elder sister and my brother-in-law (upon hearing the results). They told me that they were glad that I am able to continue what I like doing best - gaming.

- What kind of results do you think you will produce in ACE?
▲ As far as I know, other teams think that losing to ACE is more than just a simple loss. That is why I noticed that recently, teams have been sending good players against ACE. When I join the ACE team, I do not want to think too much on my results, and instead, I want to defeat strong players that the opposing team sends out, one-by-one. The OSL is still at the PC-bang preliminary stage, but in Proleague, you can always play against strong players. I will not let such a chance slip through my hands, and I want to exceed the performance that I showed during the end of 2007.

- You will get to meet your former team seniors, OversKy and XellOs.
▲ Oversky hyung will be discharged soon after I join, so I don't think we can get to spend much time with each other. Xellos hyung spent a lot of time with me in the past, so we might get bored of each other (laughs). I am more looking forward to meeting the other players.

- You will be joining the team with Ruby.
▲ I was surprised when I heard that Ruby will be joining. I even got worried that I might get pushed back by Ruby when articles about him started appearing. But now, I am glad. We have never met before, but we got slightly closer when we met each other during the interviews. We will be joining at the same time, and we will be teammates, so I want to have a good relation with him.

- What do you want to achieve in ACE?
▲ Together with the higher-ranked players, same-ranked players as well as the lower-ranked players that will be joining us in the near future, my dream is to have the title 'Air Force's First' (t/l note: rank as in military ranks. Also, I have no idea what Darkelf is talking about when he said 'Air Force's First'.). In order to achieve that, I will have to take things step-by-step. If I were to use an individual league as an example, it will be like slowly climbing up from the Round of 16 to the Round of 8, etc.

- How do you plan to spend your time before your enlistment starts?
▲ I want to rest, but I have to have a strong mind. I personally want to go on a travel, but there is the OSL preliminaries on the 1st of May, so I will have to plan my schedule once again. For now, I will practice hard so that I will be prepared for the OSL preliminaries, and I will then set my targets according to the outcome of the OSL preliminaries.

- A word to your fans.
▲ I am very sorry towards my fans, as I was unable to play on stage recently. When I enter ACE, I will do my best so that I can brush aside all my previous poor performance, and show performance that exceeds any peak performance I once had.