Interview with mTw.HoRRoR

Congratulations on qualifying! Were you confident about making the cut?

Thanks. I was suprised how the cut off raised again and again but with 9900 points I was sure that I will make it.

Some people might not know you even though you played in the last TSL. Introduce yourself!

Ok^^, "hi I'm HoRRoR, I play terran." In the past I was known for some tricky moves like building an off factory in every game and so on but my style changed since 1-2 years. I played in the last 2 WCGs (succeeded in groupstage in 2008, then lost to NonY, lost in groupstage 2009). My favorite progamer is BoxeR and will ever be. I do read TL.net as well as GG.net but I don't post so much.

What were your most memorable moments from the ladder?

Maybe getting cheesed by Sen or playing a fast 1-0 build without upgrading 1-0 :D.

What happened there?

I can't remember against whom I played but I wanted to play fast 1-0 bio with a wall but forgot to upgrade the 1-0. Kinda noob mistake I know but happens sometimes. I lost the match. Against Sen, he played some 2hatch allin with fast lurkers and mass speedlings. I didn't recognize it and did not have enough units to defend it, he just overwhelmed me with like 5 lurkers supported by ~24 lings against a wall and a bunker filled with marines. This happens when you are too lazy to scout!

In the Razer TSL you were given notice of your match very close to match time because someone dropped out. Are you glad for more practice days this time?

Of course. As you mentioned, it gives me extra time to train and prepare for my opponents. Furthermore I think that I'm a bit lucky with my group as long as IdrA beats NonY. NonY is no easy opponent at all but there are better players in the other groups. If I can't beat NonY then I definitly shouldn't be allowed to play in the TSL2 Top16 .

Do you feel the other players are treating this TSL differently? Is there a different atmosphere?

They definitely treat it differently. It is the biggest tournament for a long time and they also remember the great coverage from the last TSL. This is why they feel the hype for this TSL and they want to do great in it. You can see it by watching at the cut off. Everyone in the Top48 was A- with like 9600 points. If you compare it to the last TSL ladder, it's just amazing.

You mentioned how you feel you have a better chance against Nony than Idra, but what about Nemu and Kenzy? How is your TvZ?

I played both of them in the ladder stage and I'm pretty confident that I will be able beat them. No one is easy to beat for sure but compared to other players in this TSL, they are the weaker ones. Besides, I'll train as much as possible so my matchups will become better. With this good preparation, I feel that I'll beat them.

There are many Germans in the Ro48 and there seems to be good connections between all of them.

The key, why we are cheering for each other, is that we are in different groups. No one has to knock a German out to succeed in his group that is very important. I don't speak with GhosTa or
Kolll everyday but I also do cheer for all of my countrymen.

(Ok, I want iNfeRnaL to lose, but pssst! ).

Haha why Infernal?

Just to tease him :D.

What do you think of the other groups? Who are you cheering for and which ones are the strongest? Which player will surprise everyone with his performance?

I think that Group L is the hardest one or maybe Group K. GhosTa and iNfeRnaL will have a hard time. But as I'm cheering for Germany they will beat their opponents! In group A NonY or I will advance, Group B still the German one . Group C: CastrO by lagging his opponents to death. Group D: Strelok. Group E: CloseR, he is the one who will suprise people by beating guys like Drone or White-Ra! Group F: the arrogant Ret ;/. Group G. Fenix. Group H: Tarson. Group I: XiaOzi. Group J: Mondragon.

Thanks for the interview, and good luck.

Thanks, I hope you guys will enjoy my matches and cheer for me even though NonY is a well known TL user! I wish all of the Germans, especially the mTws, good luck and I hope they'll advance. Keep on the good work TSL admins .

Interview with Avi-Love

Congratulations! How confident were you about qualifying?

I felt pretty confident through most of the ladder stage, but I still got a bit nervous on the final day - the cutoff was rising quite rapidly.

Last time you didn't qualify -- what did you do different this time?

I was quite busy during the last TSL, so I never had the time to fully commit; so I guess I simply had more time available to me, it must also be mentioned that having quit WoW for good helped my SC:BW activity loads

You are not as well known as some of the other players -- can you introduce yourself?

Sure, I'm Avi-Love and I'm from the glorious country of Denmark. I play Zerg although I have been known to play TvZ from time to time, I started playing starcraft back in 99 I think, I eventually quit in order to play mmorpgs (first Everquest, then later on World of Warcraft). I haven't been really active in the foreign community the last few years, my lack of a team/clan means that I haven't played BWCL, WGTour, or ICC and such, which I guess is what makes foreigners "known".

I've been browsing TL.net for many years, my first account got banned though, and after that I decided to not post as much. I love watching progaming, always have - I'm a huge fan of Jaedong and Julyzerg!

How would you describe your play style?

I play pretty straight forward normally, but being an experienced player I have quite a few tricky builds up my sleeve!

What does your ID mean?

My ID is terrible, I'm really tired of it, basically I had a crush on a girl back in 8th grade called Avi.. and well yeah, 9? years later I'm still haunted by it.

Pics please.

I don't even have one

You are also a coach for CPL now correct?

I am indeed. But honestly I've been a bit disappointed with my team's activity, I have only really spoken to and helped one person, but I really like the whole idea of the CPL.

Well maybe you need some new students then! I'm sure there are plenty of newbies that would love to be trained by a TSL Top 48 player.

I think most are afraid of approaching me, they should feel free to do so if I'm on my CPL account - or they can just pm me on TL.net with any questions/replays they want analyzed, and I'll try to do my best to help with the time I have available!

What is your TL account?

Well I got my Avi-Love account unbanned by Plexa the other day, I could resume using it I guess. Although to be fair, I did definitely deserve the original ban.

You will play two matches in one weekend against Datoby and Kabal, and if you advance, you will play a Bo5 against Strelok. Are you confident?

Honestly I think that Strelok is definitely better than me, so I wouldn't say that I'm in anyway confident, but I'll practice and do my best - win or lose, as long as I feel like I performed my best I'll be content.

What about the other groups? Who are you cheering for (friends?) and which groups do you think are the toughest? Which player will surprise everyone with his performance?

I'm cheering for all the oldschool guys really, in particular I hope that Mondragon and
Sen will get far, they are both amazing players. Honestly I think that Group B is the hardest, I'm tired of all the Americans hyping mediocre players such as GosI[Terran]. I don't think there's anyone that will pull huge upsets, most of the players in the top 48 are already somewhat known, and those that aren't won't get further anyway.

Do you have any opinions on the TSL drama that unfolded?

Well honestly I was surprised that there weren't more people sharing their negative opinions about MorroW, seeing his interview and people going "Yeah Morrow, you're awesome I'm your fan now" felt quite sickening to me personally. The biggest issue isn't that he dodged or cheesed during the TSL ladder to get where he is, it's his attitude and having to deal with the way he acts.

I'll happily share an example - back when I had to play him in the ESL qualifiers, (early in the tournament) he joined the game, then left saying it was the incorrect map four times. Upon consulting the admin, he was told that it was indeed the correct map, and agreed to play. After losing, he thought it'd be a good time to go afk and "study" the replay of the game while I was sitting in the channel waiting. I've seen and heard of him doing this crap even when he wins games, I can only imagine how frustrating that must have been.

I think that when you treat people poorly you get treated poorly in return, unfortunately the majority of people following events never participate in them, so they don't really understand. It's a bit like the drama in the MistrZZZ stream thread. People aren't really considering how annoying it is to play against people such as him.

You spoke about unfounded "American hype." Artosis and Idra have very strong opinions about players.

Honestly I like Artosis and thoroughly enjoy all the work he's putting into the foreign scene, but I think they tend to hype their friends when it's completely ridiculous. Before WCG they were all going on and on about how GosI[Terran] would surprise everyone - only to see him get slaughtered in the group stage. Then afterwards, they began hyping iNkA as some sort of resurrected Jesus. And despite playing 300+ games, he still failed to qualify for the TSL while players like
Gamtja succeeded. I think that says a fair bit.

Thanks for the interview and good luck. Any last words to the TL users?

I hope you guys appreciate the hard effort put forward by the people at TL.net and PokerStrategy, without them we wouldn't have a TSL2!

Interview with EG.Nyoken

Congratulations! Were you ever worried you wouldn't qualify?

I was worried on the last day because the points had gone up about 300 since I had gone to bed. I almost started playing but I decided not to since I figured even if I went to bottom 40s that I was still quite a bit ahead of 50s-60s and would safely qualify.

Good decision. Several players like ALF and Lzgamer were in the mid 9000s and continued to play, only to drop and fall out of the Top 48. What was your reaction when you found out you qualified?

I was obviously really happy to qualify. I was disappointed that LzGamer didn't qualify because we had been talking on vent whether he should play or not. I think the whole vent channel decided that his points were maybe borderline to qualify, which was true had there been no disqualifications, but unfortunately that was a bad decision and he ended up 49th.

Last time you did not qualify -- what was different this time?

The first TSL I was in my phase where I wasn't playing Starcraft. Every few months I end up going inactive by playing a different game such as Lineage II, poker, or most recently it was League of Legends. This time around I made sure I wasn't going to miss out on TSL since the prize pool was so big. I think in the past year I've improved a lot so that's why I was able to qualify.

Many old school players will recognize your name, but for newer fans and players, who are you?

My name is Daniel. I'm a Terran player and I've been playing seriously since Game-i which is I think 2000? That's when I changed to be a serious 1v1 player rather than a public 2v2 players. I used to be a Zerg player but changed at the 1.08 patch because it hit Zerg hard. My favorite player back then was Boxer because his micro was so good. Nowadays it's Jaedong because his multitask is amazing. I've been a WCG USA finalist since 2003 and made it to Grand Finals once where I didn't make it out of groups. That's about it.

How would you describe your style and your strengths and weaknesses?

Well, as everyone knows strategies since 2000 or even as late as 2005 have changed a ton. It's almost suicide to 1 base versus Zerg or use something like a 6 factory push versus Protoss. In general I would characterize my play as aggressive but micro-oriented in TvZ and TvT, and I've been trying to become more Flash-like in TvP. My strength is micro and my weakness is macro.

Are you close with the other American players?

Yes, I am close with just about everyone. I talk with the other EG players on ventrilo nearly everyday and also Artosis when he occasionally signs in. I am also good friends with people that have quit such as Skew.

American Terrans also have a reputation of being very combustible when they lose. Are you like that?

I don't get mad when I lose. I do get mad when I play poorly or when people don't give a rematch.

What do you think about your group and your chances to advance?

For qualifying, I hate my group. I've never beaten Dreiven on PGT, iCCup or WGT clan league. Fenix is also very good with protoss and that's my weakest match up. However, I have modernized and gotten a lot better at TvP by watching people like Flash and Fantasy. I hope to prove, at least to myself, that my TvP actually has become a lot better by at least making it to the finals against Fenix.

What about the other groups? Who are you rooting for to advance? Who do you think will surprise everyone?

I've looked at the other groups but don't really remember them that much. I want Ret and IdrA to advance because I think they are the highest skilled and would have a really good series wherever they meet (hopefully the finals). I would say KiLLeR will be the biggest surprise. I played him on ICCup and he is very good. I remember someone mentioning that Killer had beat White-Ra 4-1 or something that. So I would say look for Killer to snipe some big names.

Thanks and good luck. Any last words for TL or the fans?

A lot of you don't know me as I am pretty private about Starcraft. I hope after this tournament you will know me a lot better. I hope this tournament works out well for Teamliquid so we can see more in the future.