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Afther the french wcg qualifier an interview was done wich has been published on the sk-gaming site today. It also contains all his replays from the french qualifier.
Click here!
And for the people not able to read it @ SK-Gaming because they can't log in 
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.
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."
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."
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
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Sweden33719 Posts
I HATE the SK-Gaming website - you can't click ANYWHERE without logging in --;
I have an id but I can't remember what it is so I end up checking all emails for pass -_-
Bah.
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Sweden33719 Posts
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United States37500 Posts
pff, how hard is it to remember an ID? =P
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Sweden33719 Posts
I have like 2-3 different IDs I use randomly, then I have 3-4 different passwords.. with various numbers tagged on to some of them ....... And I made this ages ago+visit it once every month 
Lame!
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just make a new one you can remember
i hope madfrog beats tod, not because i don't like tod, but i like madfrog more
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I hope Tod beats the hell out of frog ;o Human power!
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On October 22 2005 11:08 SoleSteeler wrote:just make a new one you can remember i hope madfrog beats tod, not because i don't like tod, but i like madfrog more
agreed
i actually wish they didn't have to face each other so early because i think it likely ToD will win but that would also mean madfrog eliminated first round
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is it? nice
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ohh i already forgot that
fucking awesome
wayy too many things are single elim IMO
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United States37500 Posts
BlizzCon sounds like it'll go well. With the exception of the lack of Koreans, I expect many good games.
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i say we should start making some predictions
#1 - Grubby
#2 - Zacard
#3 - ToD
#4 - 4K.Fury
#5 - Insomnia
#6 - MadFrog
#7 - Shortround
#8 - Wizard
[(grubby vs wizard) vs (fury vs insomnia)] vs [(zacard vs shortround) vs (tod vs madfrog)]
i think that is how the winners bracket will run, i won't bother writing out the losers bracket, i guess just assume whoever the winner of the winners bracket is will win the grand finals as well
edit:
actually come to think of it i suck at making predictions, people more knowledgeable about wc3 gogo =D
all i will predict is grubby getting #1
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United States37500 Posts
On October 22 2005 16:35 Locked wrote:
all i will predict is grubby getting #1
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Well with so few players of such great skill it is really too hard to predict anything besides Grubby winnin IMO.
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I hope frog rapes TOD. I hate TOD's style vs UD, he mass towers, tanks and gay BS shit to win. Frog on the other hand plays a much more entertaining game with lots of harassing ( he basically invented the stray ghoul harass expo thing ) and constant action. Frog FTW.
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I'd like to see either ToD OR Frog win personally... Frog more so I guess just because Frog used to be this legendary player who had this weird aura about him, and I guess by him doing well, it would bring back a very nostalgic sense.
I'd like to see both of them place high, honestly. My dream final would probably be Grubby vs Frog though, with Frog winning.
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United States37500 Posts
On October 22 2005 18:35 exkgb wrote:
I hope frog rapes TOD. I hate TOD's style vs UD, he mass towers, tanks and gay BS shit to win. Frog on the other hand plays a much more entertaining game with lots of harassing ( he basically invented the stray ghoul harass expo thing ) and constant action. Frog FTW.
ToD's capable of other styles as well. Why don't you go hating on UD too while you're at it for going destroyers in three out of the four matchups. In certain situations, players do whatever it takes to win, regardless how "lame" the strat. A victory is a victory.
Heh Orlandu, many of the SK players (and Korean players like DayFly and Swain) are only shadows of their former selves. FroG hasn't played to his utmost ability since coming back from Korea, sad to say. I still hope for good games from it. FroG vS ToD is probably going to be the closest game in the first round. I give 60:40 odds in favor of ToD.
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Sweden33719 Posts
On October 22 2005 22:13 Sadist wrote:
war3 nostalgia
rofl ;\
Well the game IS getting semi old 
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Yes he's capable of other styles, but all he does in important matches vs UD is gay tower crap. Why do I not hate UD? coz they are extremely underpowered compared to the other races. This is the reason why there aren't that many pro UD players outside of korea and even the korean UDs can't win vs the imbalanced orc race ( gostop, who is much more skilled than duck, lost to him ). Whats wrong with destroyers? they are magic immune like dryads and thats what makes them viable, They still get raped by orc mass bats and wyvs.
On October 22 2005 21:40 NeoIllusions wrote:Show nested quote +On October 22 2005 18:35 exkgb wrote:
I hope frog rapes TOD. I hate TOD's style vs UD, he mass towers, tanks and gay BS shit to win. Frog on the other hand plays a much more entertaining game with lots of harassing ( he basically invented the stray ghoul harass expo thing ) and constant action. Frog FTW. ToD's capable of other styles as well. Why don't you go hating on UD too while you're at it for going destroyers in three out of the four matchups. In certain situations, players do whatever it takes to win, regardless how "lame" the strat. A victory is a victory. Heh Orlandu, many of the SK players (and Korean players like DayFly and Swain) are only shadows of their former selves. FroG hasn't played to his utmost ability since coming back from Korea, sad to say. I still hope for good games from it. FroG vS ToD is probably going to be the closest game in the first round. I give 60:40 odds in favor of ToD.
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United States37500 Posts
I seriously question your bias if you can tell me with a straight face that you think UD is extremely underpowered compared to Hu. There is a reason why there are so little Hu players across the board (US, Europe and Korea) that qualify for tournaments. Same reason why it's a big deal when a player like HomeRunBall or Storm are able to beat a player like Spirit_Moon.
If you haven't checked out the VOD of ElakeDuck vS GoStop, I would suggest you do so. On a typical day, I, as well as most other people, would pick GoStop over Duck, but in that one game Duck did play better than GoStop. It has nothing to do with imbalance.
And at high level play, you rarely see wyv/bats vS dests, two beast air unit isn't that viable. Grunt, raider, dual hero is a more solid choice.
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On October 22 2005 21:40 NeoIllusions wrote:
Heh Orlandu, many of the SK players (and Korean players like DayFly and Swain) are only shadows of their former selves. FroG hasn't played to his utmost ability since coming back from Korea, sad to say. I still hope for good games from it. FroG vS ToD is probably going to be the closest game in the first round. I give 60:40 odds in favor of ToD.
That's true, which is why I think it would be very nice for Frog to win. Realistically though, I don't see ToD losing.
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frog lost 0-2 to fury in WCG sweden :/ don't think he'll be able to beat tod... unless race imbalance helps him out :/
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imbalance??? go watch the incup replay of FoV vs TMH.Storm  he did the TOD thing and made 2 billion towers every game and its impossible to stop it. I encounter this kinda BS on ladder all the time and it just takes the fun out of the game, HU towers are bugged, they are not like cannons/sunkens in SC where units can overrun them, towers attack super fast are extremely cost effective for dmg/price. HU towers are also medium armour which means you can't siege them out. This is why noob players on lorderon like Plomoh can get to level 40+ by doing nothing but mass tower invis mortar strat every game which require no micro whatsoever
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human towers are bullshit no doubt... whenever i play FFA's il ose to some newb who masses like 400 of them over 3 expos and stays in no upkeep... then masses air or something :/ very annoying
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On October 23 2005 14:52 exkgb wrote:imbalance??? go watch the incup replay of FoV vs TMH.Storm he did the TOD thing and made 2 billion towers every game and its impossible to stop it. I encounter this kinda BS on ladder all the time and it just takes the fun out of the game, HU towers are bugged, they are not like cannons/sunkens in SC where units can overrun them, towers attack super fast are extremely cost effective for dmg/price. HU towers are also medium armour which means you can't siege them out. This is why noob players on lorderon like Plomoh can get to level 40+ by doing nothing but mass tower invis mortar strat every game which require no micro whatsoever
HU towers have heavy armour, not medium (which doesn't change the fact that siege doesn't work well vs them). And I know which games you speak of. When I watched it I just wanted to cry and I pitied FoV a lot (I'm UD player myself so I know how you feel when you meet mass towers -> air or tanks, it's like no matter what you'll do you can't win). FoV was superior in everything this games: micro, harrasement (killing off 14 peasants while losing only 2 ghouls during HU's fe try on LT is quite an achievement imo), creativity etc. etc. He owned him in every single battle until he just couldn't keep up with the huge economic advantage Storm had and that Storm's defences were unpenetrable while FoV didn't even make any zigs at his exps (useless due to dhawks anyway). Things like that suck a lot :/
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i usually feel UD is weaker than HU anyways, mainly because i was a human player for so long and it's mucher more micro intensive for a UD to win than it is for HU... i think i have a 0% win ratio on ladder right now as rUD vs HU ;/
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Don't worry Sole, I'm just working on a UD strat that will possibly rape HU's fe -> towers
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k well plz tell it to madfrog so he can beat tod in blizzcon! :O
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Well, first I need to check it out somehow but I really don't feel like playing for the next 12 hours or something like that (don't want to play right now and got classes for 10hrs straight starting in the next 2hrs). And I don't know on what maps they're going to play, the strat I'm working on requires the goblin laboratory (which is present on most hum favoured maps).
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share the strat with us! I've tried almost everything.
1, Fiend necro+wagon timing rush, fiends works better vs towers and air, this strat works if he has around 4-5 towers at his expo or 1-2 towers at his main, anything more than that, it gets raped. Main problem is that the HU can call millitia from the main to help and once there are too many towers, its just rapes all the skeles since they attack so fast.
2, Fiend + Wagon statue sieging, I've used this successfully vs Plomoh many times and won, but vs bettr HU players who bother to expand and mass more towers and air, it doesn't work as well, Wagons are just too fragile and slow and they get raped easy.
3, Fast destro, This seems to be what some koreans did a couple month back, I think Lucifer successfully used it vs TOD, again the success of this strat dependds on the amount of towers he build in his expo and main, 3-4 is ok, but most good HU mass like 8-10 and destros get raped.
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what about beetle first with dual crypt + skeleton wand? sell your TP and do or die own his main...
i bet it'd work in some situations
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dark ranger+ dual crypt ghouls / sell tp mass wands aswell GG
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Well, I was thinking on a couple of things:
1. Dropping 2 wagons and 4 necros deep in his main with zep (wagons with exhume ofc) while simultanousely attacking his exp with heroes and ghouls or fiends to soak up tower hits and 3+ goblin sappers
2. DR or Lich first + dual crypt ghouls and go own his main
3. CL + fiends + beetles + skelly wand -> tower rush (just like with orc) but this wouldn't work I guess
4. On tavern maps: ghoul/garg/wagon with dark ranger second or third (silence stops aerial shackles)
I didn't get to test this strats yet because whenever I play as UD I only get orc, ne or random oponents (random ones usually leave at start or play as ne). Anyway I wouldn't fear to try some "do or die" strats since playing as UD vs HU is usually "die" strat that you're using some standard things.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://s.sk-gaming.com/img/features/604/closing40.jpg)
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