EPT
YGosu caught up with retired SC1 pro IntoTheRainbow for an interview. Kim Sung Jae has been retired from BW for a while now, after an illustrious career full of incredibly reaver micro and getting confused for a woman. Now he's playing the SC2 beta for fun, and doing fairly well at that.
YGosu: Hi, it’s YGosu. A brief introduction if you please.
Rainbow: Hi, I’m Kim Sung Jae, former pro-gamer and now a common slave-to-the-wage.
YGosu: Very simple introduction there. Anyway, it’s been a long time since we’ve had news about you, so what have you been up to?
Rainbow: Eh, just working. I haven’t been able to play that much SC II because of work, but it’s a fun game and I play it whenever I have time.
YGosu: Are other retired SC1 pros playing SC II as well?
Rainbow: I know quite a few retired pros, and you can say that pretty much all of them are playing SC II now. We’re a little bit old now, but it’s not like our hands can’t keep up with our minds. Also, the SC II interface is just easier overall, so while it doesn’t really feel quite as right SC 1, it doesn’t push you with high APM requirements. I’m not so old that my head can’t keep up with these things.
YGosu: Oh, so you’ve still got that bounce in your step. You’re widely known as a gosu, befitting your level of confidence. Who do you think is the most gosu of the retired SC1 pros?
Rainbow: I can’t really say who’s the best, I think everyone is about the same. It’s a still a young game right now so no one has played the game at a deep level. Anyone who used to be good is doing well right now.
YGosu: You mean people who were pro-gamers?
Rainbow: Well the highly ranked players are mostly progamers, so if we want to use ladder points as yardstick, yes.
YGosu: So do you have any interest in returning as a progamer?
Rainbow: I gotta go to the army, and I’m old, so I don’t have any interest in it. If there are any tournaments before I go to the army, I’ll try to compete in those. But I dunno if there will be any in time.
YGosu: Well Blizzard will hold their own tournaments, and YGosu is thinking about holding some of its own, and there will probably be a lot of miscellaneous tournaments outside that so I think we’ll be able to see you play.
So as someone who’s enjoying SC2 right now, what do you think of the state of balance at the moment? People are saying it’s bad for Protoss now.
Rainbow: Well, I think Zerg is the strongest race at the moment. Too strong, it seems. Their basic units are so strong… As for Protoss, they used to be the best, but it’s turning into SC1 as time goes by.
Warpgates are great at giving them better mobility, but it’s similar to SC1 in that you have to put together a deathball and maintain it, or else you become clumsy and slow. So that’s why I think Protoss isn’t doing so well right now. Zerg was always good at beating Protoss, and a variety of terran cheese rushes (SCV + Marine, proxy barracks) makes it hard for them to start off with their standard 1 gate core build, which messes up their mid-late game. Without a patch, I think protoss will continue to suffer.
But anyway, I’m not a protoss player, I play Terran now. I picked Terran at first because they were the weakest at that time, with hardly anyone playing them, and I was playing for fun and not to be a pro or anything. From there, Terran just kept getting stronger, especially their all-in builds.
YGosu: I see. If we think about it that way, then it really resembles the early phases of Starcraft 1, where protoss was the very definition of “hopeless.” How is it compared to then?
Rainbow: It’s still a lot better for Protoss compared to then.
YGosu: Incomparable to the legendary dark ages of versions 1.04~1.08?
Rainbow: Let me tell you how bad Protoss was back then. When I was trying to start out as a pro, our coach wouldn’t even recruit Protoss players. Because they couldn’t win a damn tournament. It’s a lot better than those times.
YGosu: What do you think is in the most need of patching at the moment?
Rainbow: I think the AI is too smart. I’d like if it they dumbed it down a bit. With the AI being as smart as it is, it’s taken some of the fine micro and fun out of handling the game.
YGosu: If you do that, won’t the gap between good and bad players widen?
Rainbow: And that’s exactly why they should do it. A game where the difference in skill is noticeable is a good game.
Also when you play SC2, you can’t really tell if units are focus firing on something or not. It’s just more difficult to read the game overall.
Queens can inject larva, but I think they create too many larva. If you give zerg just a tiny bit of breathing room, he can go into unbeatable mode. In particular, it’s hard for protoss to beat even the simplest unit combination of Hydra/roach. Even if you’re just determined to defend and only defend, zerg can crush you easily.
Also, roaches have too much HP. Because of that, ZvZ is a roachfest, and from Terran’s standpoint they’re forced to make 3+ marauders to stop even 4~5 roaches. Zerg can just make the Roach Warren as a threat and force Terran to prepare for roaches while going mutas, or they can pressure with a quick 5 roaches if they think Terran is skimping on defense… …it’s sort of weird. Roaches are so cheap and strong too.
YGosu: So the root of all evil is inject larva and strong roaches then?
Rainbow: Yes, exactly.
YGosu: In my opinion, there are too many All-in rushes in SC II, and a lot of games are decided by one major battle. What do you think about this?
Rainbow: These days when top ranked players face each other, there’s way too much proxy barracks, proxy gates, zerg+baneling allins, etc. If you want to use an ordinary build, it’s become standard play to send out a scout as you start your first supply depot to check for any hidden buildings. In the past, I think Blizzard said all or nothing builds like the SC1 4-pool wouldn’t work in SC II, but it’s even worse than that right now.
For example, people have given me so much shit for doing the marine + mass SCV cheese rush, which means they’ve had to deal with it constantly, against many other opponents. It goes to show how strong that build is, if it keeps getting so much use. Even if you stop this all-in, it changes your late game considerably. I really haven’t gotten the chance to play many late management games.
YGosu: They say around 8 in 10 games are an all-in, and only the remaining 2 are a proper standard game. Does that seem correct to you?
Rainbow: Yeah. These days my strategy focuses on finding hidden buildings. Since my opponent’s use those strategies so much. Just now I played two games against a top terran player, and he was making hidden buildings in both those games.
YGosu: So all-ins are the major trend. Do you think they should fix that? If they do fix it, any specific way they should fix it?
Rainbow: I think All-ins can be one of many strategies, but they’re just way more powerful than I thought. It’s a problem when they become the standard strategy. It’s still a beta test, and not enough games have been played yet, so it’s hard to come to a conclusion. I think the incredibly good AI makes these all-in style rushes so powerful.
YGosu: So, some questions outside gaming. So how going to deal with the bane of 20’s males, the curse from heaven: military service?
Rainbow: I’ll probably enlist late this year, or early next year.
YGosu: You’re relatively old, you must be worried about it.
Rainbow: ……..
YGosu: ….You’re at a lost for words, I see.
Rainbow: If you can’t avoid it, might as well enjoy it. I already feel…. Bah, I don’t know.
YGosu: We can feel the despair in your words. What are you going to do before you enlist then?
Rainbow: Work hard at my job, and enjoy my free time. After I retired from being a progamer, I definitely have a lot more free time. After I get my affairs in order, I’m going to try to spend time with the people I neglected while I was a pro. I’m not sure if it will work out.
YGosu: Anyone you want to spend time with in particular?
Rainbow: Boxer was always concerned about my welfare, and I’ve never been able to contact him first. We used to meet up a good amount right after I retired, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen him now. I want to see him first, once I get my stuff together. Also, I didn’t even tell my fanclub manager when I retired, and he/she had to read the news through an article somewhere. I want to talk about it.
YGosu: Well I hope things work out for you.
When you think about Kim Sung Jae, you can’t leave out his dashing good looks. How do you take care of yourself to keep looking so good?
Rainbow: I shower once every 3 days, and wash my face once every 2 days. If you wash too much, it can ruin a man.
YGosu: … Shower every 3 days, wash your face every 2 days is the secret. I think if some female fans read this, they’re would be pretty disappointed. Is that really your secret?
Rainbow: Maybe it’s because I’m old, but I stopped using moisturizer too.
YGosu: So the best way to take care of your looks is to not take care of them?
Rainbow: I’m old now, people who meet me for the first time in a while tell me I’ve expired.
YGosu: That’s unfortunate. You’re known to be an avid YGosu reader, how much of a fan are you?
Rainbow: I check the site everyday, to read the funny+etc forum. Please stop uploading macho-man though (I dunno, I don’t read the forum). I had my speakers on high early in the morning, and I jumped out of my seat. I don’t know where the heck people find those things.
YGosu: Do you read any of the other forums?
Rainbow: I check the SC II community forum, and the YG laboratory. I was caught off guard to see how badly brood lords crushed thors.
YGosu: So you’re a hardcore YGosuer who reads the site all-around.
Rainbow: Yup.
YGosu: A word for the other YGosuers out there?
Rainbow: I’m disappointed that people use the same background music constantly on the humor forum. For example, stuff like “my hand slipped” or the “I have no dick” song, or some sad song. Please upload some funny material.
YGosu: Any final remarks?
Rainbow: Always have fun, make sure to exercise before summer, and I hope you guys can see me in tournaments. Stay healthy till then!
