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4K^ToD: I Will Do My Best
Last week, Yoan 'ToD' Merlo - one of the best WC3 players in the world - won the French WCG Qualifier in Paris, France. In addition to the WCG Global Finals that will take place in Singapore, we have also recently heard that ToD will attend the Blizzcon Invitational WC3 tournament at the Anahelm Convention Center in California. Although he is one on the favourites to win all the events he will attend, the French superstar is modest and he keeps his feet firmly on the ground. "I will just try to do my best and I hope to go as far as possible," ToD says.
Written by Keni
As everyone might know, ToD took part in the last two seasons of the World E-sports games (WEG). Although he would have probably qualified for Season 3, ToD decided not to attend the European qualifier and chose the French WCG qualifier instead. "I have already attended WEG twice, and for me WCG is a better tournament," he explains.
Yoan has really dominated the qualifiers, finished first without losing a single map through the whole tournament. He found the gaming conditions quite good, apart from the single elimination system after the group stage. This time, France got only one spot for WCG instead of three last year. That means he will be the only French representative in Singapore. "The tournament went well and besides the single elimination system after the group stage, it was perfect. I am obviously disappointed because I think Wolf deserved to fly with me to represent France."
ToD will not only represent France at WCG, but also the 'weakest' race of WC3: the Human race. "Hmm, I'll try to relativize, and I hope to do my best there and get as far as possible." When we ask him about his toughest opponents in the Grand Finals, he mentions "SK.Deadman, SK.HoT, WE.SuhO, 4K^FoV and of course 4K^Grubby". Three Night Elf players out of five in this list, so we can come to the conclusion that Night Elf vs Human is his toughest matchup.
"It's the toughest matchup of all the players that do not play as Night Elf, I think. However, it's the matchup I train the most and somehow I could say that it's also my best, as I think I play it well. But most of the time, playing well is not enough versus Elf, unfortunately."
Zeus, FoV, and Grubby already managed to qualify for WCG, and FuRy has good chances to qualify this weekend in Stockholm. That means all ToD's teamates will be competing in the same tournament as him. He does not have any particular way to handle this situation, he will just do his best there. "I just think that if I lose against one of them, it will be easier to accept than if I lose against someone else," ToD says.
![[image loading]](http://s.sk-gaming.com/img/features/604/closing40.jpg)
The WCG groups were announced a few days ago and although ToD will probably finish first of his group and is a big favorite to win the WCG, the French player remains modest. "After the announcement of group stage, I tried to guess who I could eventually meet after the group stage, and the two courses seemed rather tough. Thus I think it will be hard but I can make it".
Yoan has already started his preparation for the global finals, and he will continue until the event's kickoff. "I play a lot of custom games, ladder, I watch replays, and I discuss about strategies with the other 4K players," he explains. Talking about strategies, he finds the 1.20 patch even worse for the Human race. "Tree of life building time increased by 10 secs and Human's buildings armor divided by 2.. I let you do the comparison...".
Before going to the WCG global finals, ToD will fly to California to attend the Blizzcon Invitational WC3 tournament. All the players going there have been announced, and his first opponent will be none other than Fredrik "SK.MaDFroG" Johansson. The last matches between them have ended in ToD's favour, so he is trustful for the first round at least. "Yeah, I'm trustful and I think I managed to guess his smurf account on ladder, and I already beat him more than once."
![[image loading]](http://s.sk-gaming.com/img/features/604/s1109576678.jpg)
If he manages to beat MaDFroG, Yoan will face off against either Zacard or Shortround. "As I already said, I'm quite trustful for my match against MaDFroG, and if I win I will be up against Zad or Shortround. Hmm, it looks promising; If someone asked me before the tournament who I'd have liked to play, I'd have said those ones. As long as I do not meet Grubby or FuRy too early, it's good for me =)".
ToD has been playing for a long time now and he travelled through the world to attend a lot of WC3 events. Of course what he likes the most is the competition itself, but visiting new countries and the opportunity to do some tourism is also great. "I like the competition and meetings with players from all over the world. Moreover, the fact that I am able to visit new countries is not negligible. The countries where I got best memories are South Korea and United States."
![[image loading]](http://s.sk-gaming.com/img/features/604/IMG_1989.jpg)
While we have seen many top players quitting the game, Yoan has always found the motivation to keep playing the game, and he kept improving over the past few years, staying among the world's best players. "I think I'm still motivated because there are many tournaments and also because a lot of friends are playing too. I will keep playing until I get definitively bored."
With that we come to an end of this interview, but before we go, ToD would like to add this: "Big shoutout to Grubby, Zeus, FuRy, FoV, and bun! I'd also like to thank INTEL our main sponsor."
Thanks ToD for your time, and we wish you success in many more tournaments to come, especially for Blizzcon and WCG 2005! A replay pack from WCG France Finals of his has been added which can be accessed on the last page of this interview.
And I uploaded the Replay Packfor people who want the pack but can't/won't log in
