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MLG's Galen Andress has interviewed TeamLiquid's TheLittleOne ahead of MLG Dallas this weekend. With a new sponsorship from Sony Ericsson, TLO is under more pressure than ever to perform at the highest level. He gives some insight heading into Dallas, including a possible decision to stick with one particular race.
An excerpt:
MLG: You’ve experimented with different players more than just about anyone on the SC2 pro scene, moving from Terran, to Random, to Zerg, to Random and Terran. Have you decided on a race to play fulltime?
Liquid TLO: Oh well, I don't really wanna comment on that. I have been switching races and everything so many times now. Let's just say I will simply play what I feel most comfortable with.
MLG: So what race should we be expecting you to play in Dallas?
TLO: Terran.
MLG: After staying in Korea to train for the GSL for several months, you moved back to Europe. Is this a permanent change?
TLO: I decided to move back shortly after the last MLG Dallas. The injury definitely played a big role; I needed to take it easier for a while. Also I didn't feel that comfortable living in Korea. It is a very hard environment. Nobody speaks English and it's a very different culture. I think I am more happy than [when I was] living in Korea full-time, but I would definitely go there to play tournaments and visit for shorter times again.
MLG: The SC2 scene is growing at a tremendous rate in the west, with leagues and tournaments popping up everywhere. Not only is it more popular, but top-level foreigners are taking down top Koreans in notable tournaments such as the TSL and GSL World Championships. Do you think StarCraft 2 has a chance to become as competitive and popular in Europe and America as it is in Korea?
TLO: I think we are reaching a similar level and eventually we will even have a bigger and stronger scene in the West than in Korea. Korea is a very isolated country, far away from Europe and America, and—especially in StarCraft—there is not too much interaction with other countries.
Head over to MLG to read the full interview.
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I hope he will still play zerg sometimes.
But he put the better games with terran, obviously.
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Nice to hear. TLO's best race has always been terran imo.
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Let's just say I will simply play what I feel most comfortable with.
MLG: So what race should we be expecting you to play in Dallas?
TLO: Terran.
I am not sure why I obnoxiously laughed so hard while reading this in class.
gogo TLO!
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Aww I was hoping he would stay random 
I really hope that someday we will get a random progamer. I understand why it's hard to pull off but I just feel like they would be so badass.
Maybe when Day[9] graduates he'll be the first :D
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Very disappointing, though very understandable.
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Glad he's picking a race. Random is exciting and all but I think he'll really take it to the next level by focusing on 1 race.
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well, i hope if he trains terran more he will be in his old shape again ( he certainly performs not as good as he did coming fresh out of korea)
but i am always rooting for my favourite terran/random player; your autograph is hanging right above me - getting inspiration to play from it since gamescom 2010!
go tlo you can do it!
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Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
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Out of round 1 :D
He hasn't been performing well, and without consistent builds he wont perform well in the future.
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I doubt that he will stay Terran forever, I'm pretty sure he will play other races too
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Ugh, did he have to bring up the IEM thing?
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On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
Blanket statements FTW!
I disagree. There are tons of awesome things that P and Z can do, they just haven't been made viable yet (ie incorporated into a decent strategy). Ghosts with Nukes wouldn't have been considered viable in TvT just a couple of months ago, and now they are. The same thing could go with P and Z. Some examples: Mass Queens, mass Overseer, constant Warp Prism, Nydus awesomeness, fast Carrier etc.
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T v T is the best matchup in the game. I cannot agree more!
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i read "Terran is up" the first time and raged. :D
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TLO always entertains while he plays Terran, I'm glad he will continue doing that in MLG. I wish him the best of luck!
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On March 30 2011 06:15 SeaSwift wrote:Show nested quote +On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity. Blanket statements FTW! I disagree. There are tons of awesome things that P and Z can do, they just haven't been made viable yet (ie incorporated into a decent strategy). Ghosts with Nukes wouldn't have been considered viable in TvT just a couple of months ago, and now they are. The same thing could go with P and Z. Some examples: Mass Queens, mass Overseer, constant Warp Prism, Nydus awesomeness, fast Carrier etc.
I feel like you just took those from the Day9 dailies. The point is those only work in the lower leagues. Even though they may work a tiny bit in masters, they are extremely easy to counter and people will counter it. The only strategies that would be fantastic in a pro game would be the overseer usage and the nydus play. Besides that you cant do too much crazy shit in pro tournaments because people will counter it instantly before you can use the strategy
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IMHO your best race was always Terran. If you are deciding to play Terran then I am proud of you! Terranitup TLO!
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TLO trained very very hard lately, i count him to the top 3 at MLG. You will see!
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On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
There's a replay of TLO killing white-ra with mass raven somewhere out there (Day9 # I forget). Ravens with HSM are viable actually, especially against zerg. The not-viable unit is pure medivac with the energy upgrade. Then again, you could do SCV drops...
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On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
I take it you didn't see the game where TLO beat White-Ra with essentially mass raven/viking?
Edit: dammit, probably should have read the whole thread before posting.. :x
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I love his play style. Even his loss against oGs.Nada show some very surprising but solid strategies. He deserves to win a big tournament.
TLO fighting
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I've always liked his Terran best, in terms what's most fun to watch. Which is odd because I usually root for Zergs, but the race just doesn't fit him like Terran does.
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I read "Terran is up". Expected some nice imbalance whine.
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Hmm, finally choosing Terran as what he's most comfortable with? Most people have said that before, but I think that it's interesting that he's starting to be more active with that choice. I don't expect him to go back to Terran full-time or anything, but it is certainly an option in the future.
What I'm actually hoping for is for him to pick and choose what race he plays based on his matches. Considering his normal creativity, that has a ridiculous amount of potential and would make him an even stronger player.
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On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
Couldn't disagree more!
Raven is very viable. :p
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GOOD LUCK IN THE TOURNEY!!! and i hope team liquid can do alot better and i hope that tyler will be joining them in the lineup...having the leader on the field is a great way to motivate!!
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On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
You've never actually seen mass raven have you? Like seriously, why did you pick out the raven? It's got amazing abilities all around... and all units for all races are "viable." Otherwise they would be eliminated from the game. I'm wondering when terran players will start to realize that the reaper can still be used in the game...
Terran fits his playstyle more, but I did like the way he was playing Zerg. It was refreshing to see, even if it wasn't as solid as the other better Zergs.
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I think TLO made the right choice with Terran, he has been practicing a lot with Terran, and I personally think one defined race is better than random.
Hope he likes it!
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On March 30 2011 07:01 Bobster wrote:Show nested quote +On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity. Couldn't disagree more! Raven is very viable. :p
I just had a tvz where he was hitting my muta ball with hunter seeker lol + it protects against burrowed banes and denies creep spread (in that matchup anyway).
I'm glad TLO is playing terran, clearly his best race as everyone has said.
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On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
the raven is a very good unit in TvP and TvT.. don't know if its good in TvZ though.. don't see it as much in that matchup 
(i'm playing zerg)
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I love watching TLO play.. Which is why I like seeing him win.. because it means he remains in the competition longer and I get to see him play more.
I do hope he remains competitively playing long enough for all the expansions to come out as I am pretty sure that adding more units to the game can only make games he plays even more interesting.
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On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity.
Yeah, a mobile detection unit which can disable enemy ranged units AND deal some DPS through the turret certainly is not viable :x
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United States7483 Posts
TLO should play Protoss IMO.
I loved his 1-1-1 style against Drewbie a while back.
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United States7483 Posts
On March 30 2011 08:18 dani` wrote:Show nested quote +On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity. Yeah, a mobile detection unit which can disable enemy ranged units AND deal some DPS through the turret certainly is not viable :x
Seeker missile is actually AWESOME in late game. 2-3 ravens can do massive damage to a ball of units, and you can launch them at important units to make them run away instead of attack during the big fight.
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TLO is an awesome guy, and I think settling down on a race would be extremely beneficial to his play (although i kinda like his zerg more).
The bottom line for me is: as long as he doesnt settle down on protoss (i feel like there are piles upon piles of protoss, myself included) il be watching his stream and his play whenever i can:D
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Good to hear he wants to stay settled down with one race, race picking or random just becomes too much of a liability at such high skill level (and while some spectators might like it, many find it difficult to get behind the player doing it.). GL @ MLG TLO
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[QUOTE]On March 30 2011 05:43 Slasher wrote:
[quote]MLG: You’ve experimented with different players more than just about anyone on the SC2 pro scene, moving from Terran, to Random, to Zerg, to Random and Terran. Have you decided on a race to play fulltime?
Liquid TLO: Oh well, I don't really wanna comment on that. I have been switching races and everything so many times now. Let's just say I will simply play what I feel most comfortable with.
MLG: So what race should we be expecting you to play in Dallas?
TLO: Terran.
[/QUOTE]
I don't see this as a clear decision for TLO to play Terran throughout the tourney. What should the players expect? Terran! What is everybody trying at MLG? Do something that's not expected!
The question should be: "what do you want us to expect at MLG?"
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On March 30 2011 06:15 SeaSwift wrote:Show nested quote +On March 30 2011 06:11 Jermstuddog wrote:
Terran honestly fits his play more anyway.
Zerg, and to a lesser extent Protoss, don't have the flexibility to do crazy shit every game.
Pretty much every unit in the Terran army is viable, except perhaps the Raven. Giving somebody like TLO room for creativity. Blanket statements FTW! I disagree. There are tons of awesome things that P and Z can do, they just haven't been made viable yet (ie incorporated into a decent strategy). Ghosts with Nukes wouldn't have been considered viable in TvT just a couple of months ago, and now they are. The same thing could go with P and Z. Some examples: Mass Queens, mass Overseer, constant Warp Prism, Nydus awesomeness, fast Carrier etc.
If you just look at the issue from a logical and numerical point of view, terrans just have more buttons to play with.
The quantity of ingredients is key to creativity ( believe me i work in the field ). The more narrow is the corridor ( in this case, mobility options, units, buildings, addons, upgrades, ect) the less room there is in the creativity department.
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On March 30 2011 09:29 Turbo.Tactics wrote:
I don't see this as a clear decision for TLO to play Terran throughout the tourney. What should the players expect? Terran! What is everybody trying at MLG? Do something that's not expected!
The question should be: "what do you want us to expect at MLG?"
And this is why a random top level progamer would rock... Or be like TLO and play endless mind games with opponents, fans, etc and keep them guessing what race he'll pick for which tourny, depending on who shows up...
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Pretty much what has been said.
I don't see TerranLO's comment as a cementification that he's moving back to playing Terran, but just an implication that at the highest level right now, his TvX is the best overall and something he wins most than others. Besides, it's something he's been obviously practicing quite a bit.
He can easily shift back to his good ol' Random or 'pick a race his opponent is weak against' trickery.
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On March 30 2011 06:18 deejY wrote:
i read "Terran is up" the first time and raged. :D
Seriously are there zerg out there who dont qq and cry
lets get the stats out again hmm zerg won more important tournements zvt ladder zerg has the bigger win rate yet we always cry cry cry and cry again cuz were unable to say hmm i gues si lost cuz zi made a mistake or im bad no we qq and blame the opponants race. God zerg players are whiners
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omg i miss read the title i though TLO said terran IS up xD. great interview
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I will be disappointed if TLO chooses a race permanently. He's pretty much the only notable random player and with his personal sponsorships money shouldn't be a problem so he can focus on being creative and entertaining rather than winning the most possible games.
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nice interview.. always hate to hear about wrist pain though.. I can relate, I don't even play games much anymore, but my wrists get painful after using the computer for too long. I blame Diablo 2 and Unreal Tournament 99 mostly.
hope the condition is mitigated as much as possible, gL TLO!
XD
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On March 30 2011 06:45 baeric wrote:
I love his play style. Even his loss against oGs.Nada show some very surprising but solid strategies. He deserves to win a big tournament.
TLO fighting
I thought the exact opposite about that serie. He showed surprising but not solid at all and gimmicky strategies. It is a personnal opinion but I don't like his current style at all.
I guess it is a good thing that he is focusing on terran tho, it is too hard to prepare for 9 matchups. I still hope he will do well in the future and prove me wrong about his style of play.
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On March 30 2011 14:17 red4ce wrote:
I will be disappointed if TLO chooses a race permanently. He's pretty much the only notable random player and with his personal sponsorships money shouldn't be a problem so he can focus on being creative and entertaining rather than winning the most possible games.
A competitive player role is to win, not to be entertaining. No one should go into an important match with the "I want to do what the crowd want" mentality (like HuK in the infamous mothership game).
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nice to see him picking T. So painful seeing him random toss and fail =/
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On March 30 2011 17:51 L3g3nd_ wrote:
nice to see him picking T. So painful seeing him random toss and fail =/
during his last random time, his P was out of this world
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Show us your wicked style TLO!
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On March 30 2011 05:47 Noocta wrote:
I hope he will still play zerg sometimes.
But he put the better games with terran, obviously.
Who knows what TLO could do with the new Infestors ... but then the Battlecruiser has been made somewhat useful as well ...
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Why does it matter which race he plays anyway?
As long as he shows good games an feels confident with his current race, he can switch whenever he wants imo...
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Reading the MLG rules you're allowed to switch races whenever you want.
They will do a blind race pick if there are 2 races pickers playing each other.
So TLO could choose to play whatever race he wants against each opponent.
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I, for one like that he is picking terran. I think its his strongest race and I really like his T play. Also, T v T is the best mirror match by far.
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Was hoping he could stay random i really love his play
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I would be happy to see top level player playing random, but i guess thats too much to ask from anyone, too much practice with no real advantage (only on really-really big maps with luck (opponent scouts the wrong way)).
So if he has to chose, im happy he sticks with terran, thats the most flexible race (you know in what sense, TLO-style), so the best for him and the most show we can get.
Thanks for the interview, i dont really scan all these pages, good that someone will bring them to TL sooner or later
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I think TLO will represent TL really well at MLG, I really look forward to his games! TLO fighting! thanks for posting the interview.
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Terran is definitely his race.
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Looking forward to see a 1 race only TLO, sure hope he can bring some good results
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Would be fun if there was a "coinflip" option where it randomed between 2 races you pick. I think he just knows no one wants to see protoss, they're a boring race to watch.
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On March 30 2011 05:55 genius_man16 wrote:Aww I was hoping he would stay random I really hope that someday we will get a random progamer. I understand why it's hard to pull off but I just feel like they would be so badass. Maybe when Day[9] graduates he'll be the first :D
you didn't watch the first gsl team league?
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TLO's best and most flexible play came from his Terran strats in my opinion, good choice for him to stick to Terran as it fits his style best!
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Glad to see you going Terran TLO, shows that you're starting to get a bit more serious and locking in your stronger race
You're awesome at Random, but you're waaaayyy better at Terran than Zerg and especially Protoss.
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NO TLO!!!!! Come back to the Swarm!!!
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EPT
