[Int] GSL July Code S Semifinals

NesTea
‘I will create a career that no one else will be able to match.’

- This will be your 3rd (GSL) finals. How do you feel?
This will be the second time around for code S. I believe this will make me the first consecutive finalist in code S, so I feel extremely happy. I am also glad that I will be given a chance to take my 3rd championship.

- Like you said, this makes you the first previous code S winner to be back in the finals. Also you are on a 14 win streak. How do you feel?
I don’t have much interest in keeping track of my match history so I did not know that. But I think I was able to get good results because I put forth my best effort in each and every game.

- It looked like you were basically playing around with your protoss opponent.
I have seen Hongun’s games in the past and this was the first time he got colossus so early in the game. Usually, I have seen him get those later in the game. Actually, I was only really prepared for his habitual strategies of taking an expansion, then either stargate, blink, or DTs.

- Who do you want to face in the finals?
Both players are great. LosirA has grown a lot as a player and Byun plays solid and patient game against zerg. I don’t really care who advances. If LosirA advances, it’s good because he is my teammate, and if Byun advances, it will be a more fun match so that will be good too.

- You have a chance now to take the first 3 time championship and the 200 million won (~$200,000) prize money title (This is for his cumulative winnings).
Rather than the prize money, I am more interested in collecting the title. I think prize money will come naturally as I pile on more and more titles. Until I retire, I want to create a career that no one will be able to match.

- You will be able to get a lot of things if you win this season.
Yes, this win will allow me to be in better standings for Blizzcon and the Blizzard Cup. Every finals is important but this one even more so. I have not been outside the country yet so I hope to take this opportunity to cement my status at doing so.

- Your team just got all-killed at the GSTL.
The players that went out for our team in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd matches did not have very much experience in broadcasted matches. We knew that they had a chance at losing. But we are pretty friendly with some of the guys on the other team so we weren’t that worried. I mean, as long as we take this chance to win the rest of the games, this one won’t matter.

- If LosirA advances, will that make it difficult for you guys to practice?
I think I will have to scare him a couple of times. I usually practice on my own so that’s not that big of a problem but I may have to call him over.

- Any last comments?
There are so many people who helped me out for today’s match. San, Trickster, Tandongho, MinSeOK, YoungHwa, Seed, and Ready are just some of the few who helped me. I want to thank everyone who helped me practice, and I will buy them all something tasty after I win this championship. I also want to thank our sponsors the Googims company and Coca Cola.
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LosirA
‘It’s not time to be happy yet.’

- You just made your first code S finals. How do you feel?
I am really happy that I was able to make it to the finals. I will try my best to hold the winning trophy in my hands.

- How do you feel about your finals opponent being NesTea?
I believe that he is the top zerg player in the world. But this is an opportunity for me and it being the finals, I will put forth my best effort to show great games.

- If you were to describe each other’s styles?
NesTea likes to macro and play defensive, and I like to be aggressive. But in a ZvZ, both of those go out the window so that won’t have much meaning.

- You will won the 1st set after your gold expansion was found out.
It didn’t really matter if it was found. The usual frontal expansion and that are no different really in a macro situation so it didn’t really factor into the match.

- In the 2nd set, you still won after fighting off the 11-11 strategy.
After I stopped his 11-11 strategy I was able to be aggressive and had a good idea of my opponent’s army size. And with that, I was able to surge ahead with macro and take the lead.

- Were you determined to all-in for the 3rd set?
It was improvised. But I wasn’t sure that I would break through the front. I did it in response to his quick expansion before barracks.

- This was your first entry to the code S finals, but you didn’t show any special ceremony or anything.
In my mind, even if you get to the finals, if you can’t finish that with a win, then it doesn’t hold any meaning. I don’t think it’s time to be happy just yet.

- This is the first ZvZ finals, and it will be a best of 7. How do you think this will affect the match?
Before, I thought that SC2 ZvZ was similar to SCBW but after playing a lot, I believe that it is completely different. The games will play out completely according to whatever strategies we decide to prepare.

- There are a lot of strategies you could use. But, will you create anything new?.
There is that chance. But I think we will be using a lot of the already standard strategies.

- This will also be the first finals with two teammates. Do you think you will have any problems preparing for this because he is your teammate?
I don’t really know. I will first have to talk to the coach at the teamhouse about it.

- It could be a good experience for you as the challenger.
I think I could be a bit scared during the finals, but at the same time, it could be a lot of fun. I think the challenger always has the greater potential to show off his skills and so I will prepare to show my best stuff for the finals.

- Any last comments?
Clide really helped me out for today. In both SCBW and SC2 he has really helped me out continuously so I want to thank him a lot. Even the build in the 1st set was suggested to me by Clide. I hope that in the future he will call on me to help him prepare for his match. I want to thank IMHappy, Yoda, and TSL’s Heart for helping me practice. True also helped me by off-racing. I also want to say sorry to MVP that I didn’t mention him last time when he helped me practice. And I also want to thank Bomber for helping me practice all night. Thank you. Finally I want to thank the coach and his wife and I want to say that I will repay their kindness with my play in the finals.

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