DarKFoRcE:"I will work even harder!" [translation]

aTn: Recently you were playing for Team ALTERNATE at the Homestory Cup 3 and at the NASL finals. Looking back, how do you rate your performance at these events?

DF: The Homestory Cup went extremely bad! I hardly slept and played very unfocused and made some completely idiotic mistakes against GoOdy, which ultimately made me go out of the tournament in the groupstage. Because of that, I was very unsatisfied.
The NASL finals went much better! I prepared for it for several weeks, I was well rested and not nervous. That's why I am pretty satisfied with my performance, even tho I could have gone further.


aTn: At the NASL finals, you lost against fnatic-player Sen, who also plays Zerg. How come that certain players have problems against their own race? How's your ZvZ?

DF: I actually cope quite well with ZvZ, but in the weeks before the NASL finals I only trained ZvT for my first match, and that's why I was less confident in playing a longer game and tried to end the games as early as possible, respectively didn't want to take any big risks. I had quite some luck with the build orders, but then I made some really stupid mistakes again, which is why I was kind of depressed for several days, since that doesn't happen to me often.


aTn: In the end, the Korean PuMa claimed the crown of the NASL. How do you rate the Koreans internationally?

DF: The Koreans are clearly, by a large margin, the best players, and there are only few foreigners who have a realistic chance of winning a best-of-3 against one of the top Koreans.




DarKFoRcE at Homestory 3


aTn: In search for a new challenge, many Europeans are thinking about moving to Korea, or even have done so already. What do you think about this, and would you personally consider a move to Korea?

DF: Permanently moving to Korea is out of the question. But I could imagine moving there for 1-2 months in order to train or for a tournament. This excites me at the moment, since currently it is quite difficult to find good training partners in Europe.


aTn: After the release of SC2, the Homestory Cup emerged as a cup series of a special nature. At the third episode, everything seemed to be friendly and familiarly. How, do you think, did the cup go from an administrative point of view?
Personal sidenote: TaKe is aTn's Manager On another personal sidenote, he, his team and anyone involved deserves a lot of praise for that fine cup series.

DF: The administration was surprisingly well. Overall I totally liked it there! Unfortunately I slept very bad in the hotel, and someone had a cold and infected everyone (including me -_-), which is why I didn't stay until the very end.


aTn: Which cups and tournaments will you attend in the near future, apart from the upcoming EPS season?

DF: Next week I'm off to Finland for the Assembly Summer, then there's Gamescom... I don't know yet what's up after that.


aTn: In group A, during the upcoming EPS Winter 2011 you will meet your teammate Delphi, along with AcRo and GoOdy. How strong, do you think, is your group, and who will manage to qualify for the Playoffs?

DF: I think I got the most inconvenient group, especially since GoOdy is in quite the good shape lately. I still consider myself as the favorite in all three matches, but that doesn't mean that I will surely advance. I don't give AcRo any chances to advance, but I can't tell that about Delphi, GoOdy or myself. Much is going to come down to luck and the shape you will be in that day, but, of course, I am hoping to advance


aTn: How do you judge your teammate's chances? (...in the upcoming EPS)

DF: Socke got a good group: ClouD hasn't practiced for a month due to an injury, and iNSoLeNCE is semi-inactive too. ReYoN isn't bad, but shouldn't be a problem, as well. I would be very surprised if Socke wouldn't finish in first place. Delphi, as I said, is much about your daily shape and luck. But since we are both playing the same race, we can exchange tips about how to play against GoOdy and AcRo.


aTn: How are you going to prepare for the next EPS season? Will the SC2 team be going to a bootcamp again?

DF: Since the map pool is still not public, a specific preparation is not yet possible. I hope that the ESL will catch up on this soon. Once this will be the case, I will try to find some regular training partners with which I will train the specific maps of which I think will be played. I don't know about a bootcamp yet, but that could be possible as well.


aTn: What's the state of communication within the team? Do you gather around and analyze matches, do you exchange tipps, or does everyone prepare on his own?

DF: Well, lately there have been so many events and tournaments, there was almost no time for that. But for the EPS season I will talk to Delphi and analyze replays with him.


aTn: Since the release of Starcraft 2 the community and the game itself changed quite a bit. How would you judge the development of Starcraft 2? Has it met your expectations?

DF: I am more of a pessimistic person in general, so the development was definitely better than I anticipated.


aTn: What, do you think, can we expect of Starcraft 2 in the future? Where will the development go?

DF: That's hard to say! I think there will be many online and offline tournaments in the future. I think/hope that, in addition to all the solo tournaments, a bigger clanleague with appropriate prize money will emerge - that's overdue, really.





aTn: And how will Jonathan "DarK.FoRcE" Belke develop?

DF: I will put my studies on hold for now, since I will miss too much/have missed too much already due to Homestory, NASL and Assembly. I will fully concentrate on Starcraft 2 and I think this will help me quite a bit. I am hoping to be able to play competetively for a few more years and to win a big tournament at some point.


aTn: Last words?

DF: Thanks to all fans, ALTERNATE and it's sponsors, for the great support. I hope I can show even better games in the future and will work even harder for that than I did before.