Interview with ex-v1o)Morrow
Congratulations on qualifying! Were you ever worried about getting into the TSL?

Well at first I assumed that it was going to be very hard considering the prize pool. But as I laddered I noticed that I was going to qualify and I never really fell into any slump or loss streak so I never felt like I won't get Top 48.

You almost overtook IdrA for the top spot at the very end of the ladder. Tell us about your plan to get #1.

Haha well the last day was fun at first some people were telling me, "You should try for #1" and i said "Yeah sure haha" just as a joke. But later on in the day I realized that Idra would go to sleep before me and that would be my big chance to climb. About 1k points were needed if I remember correctly, in about 6 hours. It almost worked but unfortunately the clock ended at 4:00 CET and Idra even woke up during the end, so then I just gave up.

You finished #2. Did you ever expect to finish this high?

I actually expected more people to try harder. Most people in the Top 12 realized Idra will be #1, accepted it, and settled down. It wasn't so competitive inside the Top 12, I think if these good gamers like Ret tried to get above me, they probably could. So no I didn't expect to become #2 but I definitely expected to finish Top 12.

Since you are a new face, many people doubt your position. Are you eager to show them that you deserve such a spot?

Well there has been a lot of talk about me and my rank on the forum, plus there have been a lot of people on ICCup who have opinions and are not afraid of holding back. They tell me what they think of me, but then again, it has always been like this since I started playing 1x1, people have always flamed me and have had low expectations of me so I'm getting pretty used to it.

I'm looking forward to playing my TSL games and proving to people that I'm not just a noob who only got in by cheesing. But I'm also eager to see how far I can get. One of the biggest reasons I play tournaments is just to test myself and find out how good I really am, since laddering is just practice and rank doesn't really proove anything

You made some very funny images during the ladder. Do you have any good BM stories? Any particularly memorable incidents?

Haha actually I don't remember most of my stories. But I have had a good number of flame wars with many people. These people who BM me in the ladder are just angry they lost so I make fun of them. I wouldn't consider myself a BM gamer, I'm just a person who is not afraid to speak my mind and there are a lot of players who push me to do that. I try to just ignore it but its hard sometimes.

Most recently would be the whole iNcontroL stuff. I asked for 3 games then he said OK, then after 2 games (I think) I said I have to go. Then he thought I was lying and dodging, so he started flaming me and brought it up on TL. Then I flamed him back and overreacted quite a bit. The next day I played him more, humiliated him in a game, BM'd him, and posted the replay on TL.net. I'm not proud of this incident and I hope we can forgive and forget, just like many other incidents I've had with various gamers during my days of competitive gaming.

Anyone else you want to clear the air with? Our community certainly loves its player drama.

Well actually I have apologized and cleared the air with pretty much everyone who I regret BMing. For example the Swedish gamers who I suspected of cheating last Dreamhack. I said sorry to them and they forgave me. Another example would be like TT1 or Shad. I mean, almost all top foreigners I can think of at some point hated each other but now we can help each other with strategies. Then there are people MistrZZZ, CaStrO, and IdrA or whoever that I can still make fun of because they don't put any effort into saying sorry. I have tried to talk to them to clear the air with certain gamers, but they have just rejected me.

Most recently during TSL I thought I was cool with Mondragon when we had some good TSL games but a day or two ago he banned me from Op ToT again, and still has not told me why ^.^ I think there is a lot happening behind my back that I have no idea about. I feel like some people are happy with me some days and other days dislike me. I just like almost everyone and I'm always ready to forgive and forget.

Maybe you can ask Mondragon to unban you from the channel if you play him in the TSL.

If he makes that far to face me though. XD 8D

What do you think of your group? What are your chances against OctZerg, Kolll, and Naugrim? All of your possible opponents are Zerg, and your TvZ is your best match up right?

OctZerg I feel very confident against, as he is one of those gamers that once you figure him out and beat him, you won't lose to again. Just play safe and I should win that easy. Kolll i played recently in ESL and won 2-1 and he was telling me about that he has been slumping lately and I could also notice in his performance that he wasn't really on top of his game. I think its hard to tell if I would win against Kolll but if he plays like he did last time, I should probably win. Naugrim I played at Dreamhack and lost 0-3, but I feel like I have a 50%+ chance to win against him if I face him.

TvZ is my best match up that's right, but to be fair it's really close with my TvP. This map pool is fairly good, not one of those map pools where you can complain for any race really. Considering all of them have to ZvZ with each other while I can focus on TvZ is gonna give me the practice edge, on top of that it's winter vacation for like 3 weeks where I can nerd out hardcore style. So I'd give myself a 60% chance of advancing, but I understand if most think thats too high.

Well, 60% is not unreasonable for a self-prediction, since you only have to beat one player in a Bo5.

Yea exactly, finishing #2 in the ladder stage was very rewarding.

Did you look at the other groups? Who do you want to advance and which group do you think is the hardest?

I'm happy OctZerg manged to get into R2. To be honest, I dont think my "friends" should advance, I'm a gamer in this tournament too so its every man for himself. I won't help my friends with their games because I want the very worst gamers to advance For example, normally in a clan war I could help Gamtja by telling him how to stop this Terran build, but in a tournament like this I'd prefer a lesser Terran to cheese him and knock him out because that will make it easier for me. Maybe that sounds selfish, but it's an individual tournament after all.

So do the ex-v1o players practice with each other a lot?

Well we don't have any set times to practice with each other or anything like that, but we are friendly to each other and open to helping each other with all kinds of problems. I actually practiced and helped Mana quite a bit because he joined ex-v1o, but then when he left for ESC. That kinda bugged me because I spent a lot of time to help him with TvP and when he left I stopped practicing with him. But I did practice quite a lot with ex-v1o)Predator during the TSL, and I've also practiced with ex-v1o)Enivid which helped me too. I think that's why a clan is good, that you have people that you can count on to help you when you have an important game coming up.

Have you looked at the other groups? Which group do you think is the hardest?

Each group seems to have one "lesser" gamer at least. HayprO has been slumping a lot lately and Sawyer is pretty inactive, but I think if both of them were in top shape, I think that could possibly be the hardest group. I have a lot of respect for all the gamers in that group. But Group G and F are really high level too. It's hard to say which group is hardest, because it's hard to know how much these gamers are going to practice.

Personally I would never want to be in a group with a Terran gamer, so I'm very happy to be in my group even though I might face arguably two top notch ZvT players. If I could be #1 in the ladder and be where NonY and Idra are, that would make me happy, even though there is a Terran in that group (HoRRoR) but that's the only position I'd prefer to be in over mine.

You made quite a few fans with your honest and interesting interviews -- do you have anything to say to them?

Well thanks for all the support, it's a really nice to hear some boosting for once. Mostly I just get idiots who flame me and I have no idea who they are. But lately I've gotten more support than hate^^

Thank you, and good luck!
Thanks. I hope you guys enjoy my TSL replay pack