What went through your head when you first found out about TSL2?

I was excited of course, especially when I found out about the prize pool. TSL is by far the best run foreigner tournament I've ever played in.

How so?

The admins actually put a lot of thought and hard work into everything and make intelligent decisions on a case by case basis. Its nothing special, the people running it are just competent. There's a real lack of that among other tournament organizers. Though Xeris and Artosis are good as well.

What do you think of the open ladder format?

Well it gets kind of tedious with multiple tournaments running that format, since it takes a decent amount of time to play up through the ladder. I wouldn't mind seeing qualifier tournaments. But on the other hand I think ladders nearly guarantee anyone who deserves to qualify will, and also gives everyone a chance to compete, even if they would normally be knocked out in the early rounds of a tournament.

Thanks to your time in Korea, you're one of the favourites in this TSL. What things have changed since your first TSL experience, and how do you see them affecting your chances in this tournament?

Mainly just an increase in skill and experience. In the first TSL I had just gotten to Korea and wasn't fully adjusted yet, I hadn't really started to improve at all. Obviously now that I've been here over a year and a half I've improved drastically and have competed in a lot more big matches. I definitely think that improves my chances alot.

Though you're probably the best you've ever been, there are no doubt people you're still wary of. Who do you think you are most likely to meet in the qualifiers, and who are you going to prepare for the most?

I don't prepare for foreigners. It's near impossible to anticipate what they'll do as half the time they'll choose bad strategies simply for the surprise effect. I've found I have much better results when I go into a match with an open mind and play reactively. Practicing often gets me into a rut, strategically. White-ra is probably most likely to beat me, ret is the next best player in the tournament but I'm more wary of an aggressive protoss player. If pj ends up going outside China to play or something he's obviously a threat too.

Speaking of threats, I have to ask this one now - what happened with koll at WCG, and what are your thoughts on that series?

He played better than me that match and deserved to win, but I definitely hope we'll play again in TSL or some other tournament soon.

If you had to comment on his style of play from the little you know of koll, what would you say?

I think he actually plays a more korean style than even ret. His muta micro is quite good too. I think his weakness is he depends on a very low unit count mid game while rushing to swarm turtle, and if his muta micro doesn't buy him enough time early game he'll die to a strong timing rush.

Speaking of new kids on the block, you're now easily one of the more senior players on the scene. Since you've been active in the foreign scene as well during your time in Korea and based on what you've seen since the last TSL, which rookies should fans be watching out for?

Not Mana. To be honest I don't really follow the foreigner scene beyond the tournaments I play in and the only new player who seems to be doing anything in tournaments and has a fair amount of skill would be kolll. Inka has improved alot recently as well.

Finally, let's talk about your life in Korea. With practice taking up so much of your day already, how will you go about preparing for the TSL? What about laddering, how will that work?

There's no starleague qualifiers coming up so except when a proleaguer asks for help preparing for a match we mostly have free practice right now, and we can play iccup during that time, so I shouldn't have a problem there.

That's great. OK, time to call down the thunder! Let's bring out the trash talk. Who are you going to take down in this TSL, and who better get outta your way?

There's no one really worth calling out. Ret deserves second but I do not think I'll lose to him, just given his style, and the fact that hes dealing with a bunch of drama right now and hasn't even really begun settling in to progaming yet. I always feel like White-Ra is likely to beat me but I've won the last 5 or 6 matches we've played so I guess i shouldn't really worry about him either. Draco's pretty good at proxy gating but I think theres a bunch of big macro maps in TSL so hopefully he wont be able to win a bo5 off of it. No one else really comes to mind.

OK Idra, thanks for talking to us. Hope to see you out on the ladder soon, and till then glhf!

Thanks.

Hi ret! I guess you need no introduction. How have you been?

I've been pretty good! Had a great time at IEF hanging out with all the foreigners who came over for the tournament and the people already living here. For now I'm living with Artosis and trying to play some SC in the numerous PC bangs across the city of Seoul, getting back in shape and ready for TSL2!

You're one of the community's favourites to win TSL2. What are your personal expectations and hopes?

I hope to win. I think it will be between me and IdrA and I think I can beat him. That's about as straight forward as I can be . My only concern is ZvZ on some of the 4 player maps, there is some luck involved in that. So I hope I can avoid Zerg opponents. Overall I think it will be an awesome tournament - better than TSL1. The organisation behind it is awesome, as are the casters and the format.
It will be a feast for SC fans and players alike.

How does it feel to be a top player that has to learn a new matchup? Do you already feel confident against the top foreign ZvZ players?

I feel I understood the matchup pretty quickly. Since I wasn't able to play much in Korea yet I think I did most of my learning process back in The Netherlands and the rest of it just happened in my head even when I wasn't playing. I don't think there's any foreigner zerg I wouldn't go at least 50% against right now in ZvZ.

The only reason I want to avoid Zerg players is the fact that 4 player maps really complicate things in that matchup and makes it very luck based, something I'm not comfortable with.

There were a lot of foreigner tournaments in the past year, and you participated in most of them. With your hands-on knowledge of the foreigner scene, give me a good prediction of what you think the top 16 would look like.

Well it's a ladder - top16 will differentiate greatly from what I think is the foreign Top16 in terms of raw skill. But I will try to make a list anyway:
IdrA, Mondragon, Dimaga, White-Ra, Kolll, Haypro, Fenix, Castro, DinOt, nyoken, Xiaozi, A2, aCe, G5, Naugrim , Dreiven.

But yeah, Brat_OK, Draco and JF are seeded, so scrap 3 from that list.

There's been some hype surrounding Kolll ever since he took 4th place in WCG. Any words on your young teammate's chances?

He's a really good, talented player. I played my first games with him well over a year ago and have played with him occasionally over the past year - he has constantly improved and his ZvZ and ZvT are definitely very top foreign level. Unfortunately I think his ZvP will hold him back, but if he avoids the strongest protosses or improves his ZvP, he has a really good chance at top3, at least.

Personally I hope a dirty Protoss gets rid of him for me.

You've accumulated a lot of fans over the past year, any shout outs to them as they get pumped to watch you destroy everyone?

I appreciate all my fans' support, and my loyal stream watchers who leave feedback for me. Playing this game has been much more fun since I've started streaming, sharing your games with whoever wants to watch is very nice. I hope everyone roots for me during the TSL and hopefully I can live up to your expectations. In the words of a very wise man 'I will continue to work hard.'

Alright, thanks for the interview. See you in the ladder stage!

Hi Draco! First off: what are your thoughts on the TSL2 announcement?

I’m really excited. The prizes are huge, everything seems to be professionally made and I know that there is nothing to worry about. This event is surely going to be the best online event ever and I’m happy to have a chance to be a part of it. Also due to my poor results during the last months TSL is the best place to show that even such an old school gamer like me still can own at this game.

You practiced very hard for the WCG Grand Finals, yet had disappointing results. What happened?

I’ve done everything to prepare myself as good as it was only possible and I was going for the WCG finals being in a good form. Although it seems to me like everything was against me at this year’s final. At the beginning the place where we played was really cold so I had to wear jacket during the first game against Louder. My hands were freezing. I made one single mistake and I lost to 4 goon dragon rush build. The second game was against Jaedong and I knew that the only chance to beat him was to win the game in the first attack. It didn’t work out and I lost. After that I won 2 games and went to play on the mini stage against Toodming. The conditions inside the gaming box were really bad and my performance was far away from what I expected and from what I could really play. Anyway I lost, my opponents adopted better to unfavorable circs or were simply better than me (lol what?).

Last TSL, you barely practiced for your games, besides playing the ladder qualifier. This time, you've been seeded in to the Top 16. How will you prepare?

The prize pool is really tasty and I bet that many players will try their best to grab the money. Winning TSL will be also very prestigious achievement so I will surely prepare myself as good as it will be possible. Nowadays ICCUP is probably the best place to practise for foreigners so I will play there as well.

Everyone thinks either Ret or IdrA will win this TSL. Do you agree, and how far do you expect yourself to get in the tournament?

Both of them have been playing really a lot for the last months or even years so there is nothing surprising that people consider them as favorites for the title. Although there are many ‘young’ players who could beat them and these who return to more active gaming just for the TSL. I know that my last results were far away from what I used to represent and many of you think that Draco is no more as dangerous as it was in the past but I will try to use it as my weapon.

What's your prediction for the final Top 16, besides you, Brat_OK and IefNaij?

Idra, Ret, White-Ra, XiaOzI and Dimaga will most probably qualify. I don’t know how about the rest. It’s hard to predict such players like for example Mondragon or Strelok because it depends on how much they try to make it.

Any last words to your fans?

I’ve not been doing very well for the last months but the ‘downswing’ needs to end someday and the time of The Draco dominance is close.