[Int] GSTL Week 2 MVPs

PuMa
‘There is no problem with our team’s atmosphere.’

- You secured your team’s victory with 3 kills. How do you feel?
I feel good and I am especially happy that I could beat such big name value players of sc2.

- You beat both Optimus (Polt) and Marineking. Did you know you would be facing these two as you were sent out?
I practiced focusing on my TvT. I was confident.

- But you were sent out against BboongBboong?
PRIME’s zerg and protoss players are weak compared to their terrans so I didn’t think I would lose if I came out. I also had a lot of confidence against zergs on Xel’Naga caverns.

- Your play focused a lot on using hellions.
I hope I can make that my trademark, but as I use them a lot during practice, they naturally came out today during broadcast.

- I hear your vulture control in SCBW was also phenomenal.
I think they are used in similar fashion as both a distraction and to strain their mental state.

- Were you confident that you would beat Marineking before you faced him?
I knew I was at a disadvantage, but I was feeling good so I thought to myself just one more good game.

- Was your secret 1-o-clock base something you had in mind?
After the early game marine pressure I needed to set myself up for the late game. And since Marineking is very aggressive it just turned out that way.

- How about before facing Optimus (Polt)?
I felt like I had already won.

- You must be proud of yourself.
When I first started sc2 I felt like I could produce results very quickly. But as time went on I lost confidence and many more players who were better kept on entering the scene. I think I gained some more confidence through today’s match.

- Your reason for losing in the preliminaries?
I think I fell because the other players are so good.

- What do you think about your team’s current rebuilding stage?
Overall, our team atmosphere is good. The older players seem to work even harder to make up for the missing chairs. I also feel like I have to perform better.

- You will be going to play in the NASL (**he won the open tournament). What is your goal and how do you feel?
I am looking to win the whole thing. I think it will be very possible for me. I am also a bit nervous.

- You only really have to focus on GSTL for now. How many more wins will you add in the future?
Amongst all the terrans I hope to get the most kills.

- Why did you change your ID? (**I believe he is called TSL_Gentleman now…)
People kept talking about raising a team brand recognition, so I just used an ID they recommended. I don’t think I like it too much.

- Any last comments?
Our team got together and practiced extremely hard. I think any one of our 7 has the skills to beat any ace of other teams. You better watch out for us.
+ Show Spoiler +

Hack
‘We will beat IM and get to the playoffs.’

- You just got an all-kill. How do you feel?
I feel extremely good. I thought I would let my teammates play after getting 2 or 3 kills but I guess I just went all the way.

- Your opponent was FXO, a foreign team. What did you think?
Since they are foreign and this is their first Korean tournament, I wanted to show them the terror that Korean players can be.

- Did you have any matches that were particularly hard or easy?
The most difficult game was the 1st one. I was nervous especially because my first opponent was a famous player. The easiest game was the 3rd set, because I noticed that foreign players have a hard time stopping that strategy.

- The coolest part was your strategy on Tal’Darim. Did you have that in mind going in?
Personally, I am not that good at using them in late game. And I thought to myself I would use nukes if I was behind. But I got ahead and was in a good position, so I ended up using it anyways. It was exciting. I have never gotten so many units in a broadcasted match.

- After your wins in GSTL Feb, we haven’t seen you again, (until now).
I think I wasn’t putting my best effort into gaming since then. My body wasn’t feeling good so I took a break and soon I was losing against players who were up and coming. Recently, I have been learning many new strategies and playstyles and putting forth my best effort.

- How did you feel when your coach told you to go out first?
After I heard that I thought to myself that these kinds of chances only come once, so I practiced hard to make the most of it.

- Are the foreign players different from Korean players? If so, how?
They tend to think differently than my predictions. In close by air positions, I thought I would be attacked by mutas. But after scouting, I saw that he had an infestor pit at the natural. After that, I thought, ah they think differently than us. .

- What kind of results do you want to show in the GSTL?
Rather than pure results, I want my ID to be known enough so that people will give it some credit when they face me.

- People say ZeNEX is a weaker team in comparison to the others, what do you think?
I don’t think we are all that different from the other teams online. But I think we usually can’t show our best form during broadcast. But recently, my teammates have been getting good results (in individual leagues) and our team atmosphere is getting better so I hope we can get some good results in the team league as well.

- Your goal in the GSTL season 1?
I hope we can at least make the playoffs.

- Any particular challenges or a team you want to face the most?
I want to beat IM. We have lost to IM twice in the past GSTLs.

- Any last comments?
Issue on my team really helped me with my practice. I want to send my greatest gratitude. ZeNEX (we) will try our best to get to the playoffs so I hope you can keep cheering us on.

+ Show Spoiler +

Sage
‘I didn’t predict an all-kill.’

- You just got an all-kill. How do you feel?
I was in shock after each and every game. I still don’t feel like that was real. But I am really happy that we could beat fOu.

- This is NSHoSeo’s first entry to the GSTL. Did the team overall prepare a lot for today?
Our coach worked tirelessly to get us ready. And we focused on how we could snipe fOu’s team members and prepared accordingly.

- Your initial player lost. Were you already set to go out 2nd?
Whether or not he had lost, I was ready to face a zerg because I am confident in that matchup. I was thankful that Leenock was the last player.

- Did you think you would get an all-kill?
I try my best to think positively all the time. Whether it be an all-kill, getting through the individual preliminaries, or just winning, I like to think in my mind that I can. But I didn’t think it would actually happen today.

- Your play style was very unpredictable.
Any strength can become a weakness. But if you continue to do one thing, and our opponent decides to do something safe you can quickly fall behind. So I like to have many different builds as well as regular builds so that it can become a source of strength. .

- Your game against Sirius on Tal’Darim was a classic. Was that a match you enjoyed?
It was a game where after being aggressive, I was able to win through defense so it was very fun. Just recently I believe Choya decided to use the warp prism strategy against Check, which was something I taught him previously. And after using it he took credit as the originator because he used it first on broadcast. So against fOu, I wanted to show him something new.

- Were you pressured before your match against sC?
As I said before, I came out to beat a zerg so after that I wasn’t that worried afterwards. But I will say I was a bit nervous for my game against asd because I have lost to him a lot on the ladder. But after that match, we had a terran sniping card left on our team so I was able to play without worry. I used a build that Twilight has used in the past and it worked out for me.

- Your DTs really worked well. When do you feel like you can use that against zerg?
I don’t have a particular mantra of trying to get ahead in the beginning. But in the past, I have seen MC being very aggressive in the beginning of the match to get ahead. I have tried to incorporate that into my play. I have watched all the replays of the other Korean protoss players. This build was something that MC has used before in foreign tournaments. San didn’t tell me to use this build specifically but I thought it would be good so I used it.

- You have experience in the open seasons but not too much after that.
I have lost to terrans a lot in the past so I believe that is due to my lack of skills. My thought is to coldly come to the conclusion that ‘I lost due to the lack of skills, so I must try my best to improve.’

- NSHoSeo is relatively unknown. What do you predict for this season?
My team may have another goal but personally speaking I want to win without losing a single match against another team in the group and advance as 1st.

- Your personal goals?
I have not thought much about it. But I want to raise the GSTL trophy as this team’s captain.

- Any last comments?
My teammates wanted to come out and perform on broadcasted games but because of my all-kill they were not able to come out. I am sorry. Recently protosses have been having a hard time, so I don’t know why I was able to win all the games.
+ Show Spoiler +