LaLuSh & KleeneX join Millenium

Hello LaLuSh, and welcome in Millenium ! First of all could you shortly introduce yourself to our readers ?

Hello. My name is Faton. I'm originally from Kosovo, although I've lived most of my life in Sweden. I just recently started studying mathematics at a technical faculty in a university in Gothenburg. In my free time I play the guitar, write for a swedish e-sports site (www.rakaka.se), and of course play SC2.

Let's start with a personal question, why did you chose to call yourself LaLuSh ?

It was a nickname given to me by my cousin who first introduced me to Starcraft in 1999. Lalush is albanian slang for clown/idiot. When it became time to choose a nickname for myself, I thought lalush was fitting as an inside joke.

How did you get in touch with StarCraft ?

I touched on it in the previous question. What I didn't mention was that when my cousin first introduced me to Starcraft, I told him: "This game sucks", and proceeded to quit
playing for a few months.To this date, everytime I claim a game which he has recommended sucks, he reminds me: "Remember what you said about Starcraft?". It's an irrefutable argument, I get owned every time.

Could you tell us a bit about your gaming past in Brood War ?

I was a huge noob up until maybe 2001-2002. In fact I think I stuck to vanilla Starcraft until 2001 because I used to think broodwar sucked. It all culminated with me going to
the Swedish regional WCG-qualifiers in 2003, where I got owned. After that I sort of lost interest in playing Starcraft, and I basically quit between 2003 and 2006. In 2007 I started playing again casually on iccup. I went from D+/C- to A- in 2-3 years.
I always regarded the game as a hobby during that period though. For that reason I never tried or considered joining a team. The only time when I stepped up my gametime a
substantial amount was before and during the TSL2 qualifiers. While chasing the inflated ladder cut off (due to abusers), I ended up hitting a losing streak and not making it.

What was your impression the first time you launched a SC II game ?

I was surprised that it felt like Starcraft when I first split my workers and started select spamming. Then I was disappointed because workers would glide and act stupidly when
you were harassing other enemy workers.
I also remember being disappointed Blizzard still hadn't fixed air units handling like oil tankers, so I started writing a huge thread about moving shot (or animation cancelling).
After which Blizzard "fixed" the phoenix and left everything else as it were.
I have to say I don't agree with the length of Blizzard's betas. I know 3-6 months is how they've always been doing it. But I feel the better and more modern way of developing
the game would be following S2 Games (Heroes of Newerth) lead, and do more developing based on actual play testing.
This way they'd have more time to make bigger (required) changes without compromising deadlines. As for graphics, I always play on low so I can't really judge aspect that fairly.

Anything you miss from Brood War that is not incorporated in SC II ?

Apart from the micro issues, I miss being able to tell between an all-in and a normal strategy. I miss the day where succesfully scouting a 4gate in time would mean you were
95%+ likely to win vs a similarly skilled opponent.
The strength of the macro mechanics have sped up gameplay in SC2 to such a degree that scouting information has lost a lot of its value. Also I miss being able to do cute tech
strategies like fast reaver drop or dt rush (without your ramp being overrun by 50 units by the 7th game minute).

You won the first ESL tournament at the beginning of the beta and took the 2nd/3rd place at some tn's after but since then we haven't seen you competing actively around. Is it because you prefer focusing on ladder or are you just waiting for the game release ?

No, I didn't really stop competing. After those initial tournaments I pretty much became a quarterfinals choker in every tournament I entered. Also, as soon as I played a terran
I pretty much got auto-eliminated. And somehow I was always matched up against terrans in the quarters of every tournament.
During the entire beta I had no idea what to do vs Terran. If you look at my ZvT stats from the beta (from TLPD), they're like 2-12, and they're all from quarterfinals in ESL
and Zotac . Since release I have only entered one or two tournaments. I got eliminated vs dimaga in the IEM qualifiers (in the quarterfinals ).
I've been hard at work trying to figure out ZvT before competing again.

Are you more of an agressive player or would you rather play secure ?

I am definitely more of a secure player, who likes to incorporate lots of harass when he can.

A lot of Terrans are on top of many rankings. Do you really think there's anything wrong about the imbalance ? Or is it just players who can't stop whining ?

I used to think there was something fundamentally wrong with the matchup. I could not for the life of me win any games of ZvT in the beta (unless my opponents were really
passive). But recently I've found effective ways of surviving early game, and suddenly you realise 95% of all terrans are incredibly bad. Their mechanics crumble and fall apart as soon as the opponent gains some level of control of the game and can harass them back.
Personally I think the matchup is fairly balanced right now, but Blizzard needs to give zerg more ways of disrupting a terran's concentration. More ways for a zerg to counter-harass. Or just somehow make it harder for them to macro. It is easy for terrans because they are in the driver seat the entire game.



So in way, yes, there's something wrong with the matchup; but at the same time you can say there isn't. I think it will take a substantial amount of time for zerg players to acquire
the sort of wall like Jaedong-mentality (where everything they throw at you just bounces back) that is required to be good at ZvT right now.

What do you expect for the next patch ?

I think Blizzard will nerf bunker salvage somehow. I think they'll either lower the range of the thor or the viking. They might increase barracks build time, but I doubt it.
Personally I think gateway build time is more in need of an increase than barracks (2gate into expansion is too strong), but it'll take a couple of more patches before
Blizzard notices these trends permeate from the top to the lower ranks.

I like it when I'm allowed to go mutas. But the problem is that I need to be allowed. I feel like I can make my opponent's lose their concentration and throw off their game plan
once I get them. But unlike in BW, I cannot base a strategy on a certain unit and rely on micro to carry me through. In SC2 zerg are too reactionary for it to work.
There are too many "hard counters" as opposed to micro counters.

With MorroW, Naniwa, and HayprO, you're one of the best swedish players, and probably in the top european players. How can you define the swedish SCII community ?
I bet it migh be huge.

Sweden has always had skilled RTS players. We tend to dominate during the first few years following the release of a new game, but then for some reason everyone drops off
the radar. I think Sweden might have the highest average skill amongst its players, and the highest ratio of hardcore to casual players.
But all in all the player base is smaller than most other "big" RTS countries'. And that's probably why the various swedish scenes tend to fall into steady decline after a few years
when interest for the game starts fading. I do not consider myself at the same skill level as the players mentioned though (except naniwa, cuz he's bad (need to spice up the
drama in the swedish scene)), because as opposed to them I haven't won anything of worth.

Which player do you admire the most ?

I like Sen because he plays like a beast. He has that Jaedong like wall ability where he blocks everything his opponents throws at him, and then makes it bounce back twice as
hard. He is the only player I've been wow:ed by in the beta.
He is such a beast that "TvZ imbalance" didn't affect him, he just brute forces it. Although imo he played like 10 times better than his opponents and still had to struggle
(which is wrong).

Which 3 players do you think are the best in the French scene ?

Well MoMaN is obviously one of them. I faced him alot early in the beta, and he has always been a formidable opponent. I like Sarens too, because I think he has solid fundamentals while alot of other french players are cheesers.
And lastly Kenzy. No surprises I think. These are solid players, and for some reason I don't like french protosses

Some days ago we heard that TeamLiquid players will go to korea. If you had the opportunity, would like to live there only to play StarCraft ?

Yes I'd definitely like to try it out if given the chance.

You may have got many offers from international teams, why did you chose to join Millenium in particular ?

I stated the goal for myself to only join a reputable organisation which I knew I could trust. I was approached by a few which I considered to meet those standards, but none of the talks resulted in anything. Aside from that I was contacted by about a million organisations run by genuine "esports heroes" (self proclaimed ones). They all promised alot, and they were probably all full of it (shit).
What struck me when talking to Llewellys from millenium, was how realistic and honest his promises and expectations seemed. Plus, I know that millenium has a big community
behind it, and that increases their credibility alot.
I really like and admire the way Llewellys is building the team. While other organisations are rushing it and taking chances left and right, he is taking his time and carefully picking
out the players he wants.

How did you get in touch with the Millenium guys ?

I've played against/with MoMaN a lot during the beta. Probably played vs him more than anyone else in tournaments. Same with HuK, although it was MoMan who introduced
me to Llewellys, and pushed and persuaded me to join

What are your goals with Millenium ?

Hopefully be able to travel and represent them in tournaments. This is the first time I've been in a real team. I usually go solo and figure things out for myself, but now my practice will be alot more focused and I think that'll be a real benefit for my future skill.

Do you like your nails ? (I made a mistake, actually the correct word was supposed to be "snail", but the answer is awesome haha)

I both like and dislike my nails. How'd you know and what kind of trick question is this? I play classical guitar and i have fairly LONG NAILS on my right hand while they're as
short as can be on the left! You know oddly enough it helps with the claw grip on the mouse, while my left hand can hammer away on the keyboard like a pianist's -- unobstructed.