[Interview] WCS WR3 Winners

Source: This Is Game

Tell us how you feel about making it to the semi finals of the winners' round.

I analyzed Polt for this match up but as expected I really didn't have an answer for him. So I just practiced without preparing anything special. I decided to practice as best as I could in order to be able to respond to any kind of situation. I kept my senses alive and put in a lot of force to make sure I blocked whatever Polt threw at me.

You are the first representative for Korea.

I feel so good. I got seeded in to the WCS from my GSL ranking so I was already feeling good from that. I feel so happy that I became a representative for Korea without desecrating the integrity of a seeded player. It's not over yet so I'm going to prepare really hard for my next games as well. I promise to do well in the WCS Asia tournament.

You won game one pretty easily without any troubles.

My build order was specifically planned to destroy my opponent's expansion but Polt seemed to be saving up his scans. I think he realized I was planning a Dark Templar build after he saw my natural. But I was ready to harass with a warp prism and I had a lot of probes so my upgrades were coming in really well as well. Polt didn't do any damage to my army number so I knew that I would win even if my expansion was late.

In game two, Polt did an all in. When did you realize this?

I was originally planning on attacking his natural. I predicted that Polt was trying to snipe my observer with a raven so I turned my observer around. There are Terran players out there who play that kind of style. I saw that he had no expansion with my observer so I started building cannons and summoned sentries and readied myself for his all in.

You next opponent is the winner of PartinG vs Curious. Who do you want to face?

It doesn't matter who makes it because they're both really good players. Whoever come sup, it's not going to be easy to beat him and it'll be scary. If PartinG makes it, we have a pact that we won't do any kind of aggressive ceremony on each other. Whether internally or externally, we promised not to do any ceremonies. I really hope PartinG keeps this promise. He has a tendency to do a ceremony in the heat of the moment so I'm a little worried.

It seems you've gained a lot of confidence ever since coming back from the Haeundae beach.

I already had a lot of confidence from a long time ago. But for some reason I could never get through any preliminaries. So I told myself that I would be fine as long as I can get through the preliminaries. I'm doing well like I thought I would so I am content. Truth be told, I won too easily because I was ahead thanks to build orders back in haeundae so I didn't feel like I won because I was the better player. The secret in order to keep on winning is that it is important to keep on practicing with that kind of mindset.

If you get in as rank one, you are exempted from the representative tryouts and advance straight in to the grand finals. You must want that.

I would be lying if I said I didn't. I really didn't know the specifics about this tournament when I entered. I had been really busy these days so I just said yes because I received a seed. I didn't even get to prepare all that much so I wasn't expecting anything big, but I made it all the way to the Ro4 like this so I feel really glad. I want to be ale to comfortably prepare for the rest of my games. I will focus on showing my usual performances.

Anything else you would like to say?

I want to thank First and dreamertt hyung for coming with me today. I want to tell the coach, YongHwa, NesTea hyung, and Mvp a job well done for their efforts in Germany. I want to thank the coach and his wife for always working so hard and I also want to thank my family and friends for always cheering for me. Lastly, I want to thanks our sponsors LG, Steelseries, Googims, Coca-Cola, and Nvidia.

Source: This Is Game

You successfully made it in to the Ro4 of the winners' bracket.

As far as I know, today's victory ensured my placement as a representative for Korea. I feel good about winning but I feel really good about becoming a representative.

In game one, when did you realize your opponent was going for blink stalkers? Your observer snipe was especially good.

As my observer was passing through the middle of the map, I saw his army and realized what he was doing. So I prepared to defend right away. I was also aiming to snipe my opponent's observer. I thought he would send his observer in to a certain direction so I stationed three stalkers there. And the ceremony I did in game one was a ceremony I did just because I had some money left over but right now I'm regretting it.

In game two, you couldn't get anything done with your phoenixes but you won through a macro game.

I had confidence in my phoenix play so I picked it. Originally during my practices, I would win with my phoenixes in a dominating fashion so today, the same result occurred. I built a mothership because I saw that he had no army at his expansion so I wanted to try to bait him.

Your next opponent is the winner of Squirtle vs RorO. Who do you want to face?

Regardless of who makes it, I will practice really hard and prepare for him. If RorO makes it, it would be nice to see if I can beat a KeSPA player and if Squirtle makes it, I am confident since it'll be a PvP. I'm just going to wait to see what the results are going to be.

Are you feeling the greed to become the rank one player and advance in to the grand finals?

I feel greedy for the championship. Since the KeSPA players are rising, if they win this tournament then there's going to be a lot of issues. That's why I feel this greedy.

Next week is the Up/Downs. Do you feel confident that you'll make it to Code S?

I have confidence. But I'm going to have to see who's in my group. There are a lot of really good players in the Up/Downs for this season so even though I'm confident I'm going to need to know who I'll be facing.

Anything else you would like to say?

I want to thank FXOTear for helping me with practice. Recently, we acquired a new player named Jo Ji Hyun. He's a year older than me but I wish him the best of luck since he's with Prime now. Lastly, I want to thank our sponsors Ttesports, Summer Take, and OCZ.

Source: This Is Game

You made it to the Ro4 and ensured your representation for Korea.

After I beat aLive hyung, I said I was going to do a ceremony after beating Curious hyung. I thought I would feel really happy after defeating him but I'm not. I think I will finally feel happy once Curious hyung becomes a representative for Korea as well. Right now I don't feel good about my win. I really thought I'd feel happy but as it turns out, this what a team kill does to a player. At first, I didn't really know what Squirtle hyung was talking about. I thought it didn't matter if your opponent was a teammate or not, but I was dead wrong. A teammates is someone you live with and consider family so you don't feel good when you get the win.

In game one, your warp prism timing attack you showed us was phenomenal.

It was what it was. Unless it's a complete noob playing it's something anyone can do. If you practice it a lot, microing your units by picking them up and dropping them becomes a basic. It's not that much different than original Protoss attack timings. I think Curious hyung ruled out this build so I used it. I expected a situation like this to occur someday so it was a build order I had saved up for a team kill situation.

In game two, you blocked a six pool.

I thought of my last game against YugiOh during last season's Code S Ro32. I realized that I was in the exact same situation. But as I was playing the game my hands froze up so I couldn't micro properly and I felt like my mouse was malfunctioning. Thankfully I was able to get back my senses towards the end of the game.

In the Ro4 of the winner's bracket, you have a pact with Seed not do any ceremonies.

I'm aiming for the ceremony award. I saw AcE hyung win it last seasons so I started doing a lot of ceremonies so that I could win it this season. But then Seed hyung starting doing a lot of ceremonies so I began to feel threatened. I was originally planning on beating Seed hyung in order to do a ceremony but then Seed hyung offered a pact to me while we were waiting in the waiting room so I complied. Truth be told, my body is just aching to do a ceremony though (laughs). Since Seed hyung is known as the honey bee toss, I was planning on getting a picture of a honey bee and then dressing up like a honey gatherer and pretend to drink some honey but, oh well.

Tomorrow is the OSL Ro16 group nominations.

If BaBy reads this interview, I hope he keeps his word. If I get the opportunity to pick him I will so he better do the same for me. Originally I wasn't planning on picking BaBy. I was going to pick a GSL player. But then he called me out in his interview so I'm going to teach him a lesson. Since a KesPA player called me out I'm going to to my best to show something great.

You aren't getting a lot of chances to play again KeSPA players.

I want to play against them. As I watched the WCS games and saw that the GSL players lost to the KeSPA players I got a drying feeling. I'm going to clear my mind and know that I am going to lose to them someday. I plan on enjoying my games without putting the burden of losses on my shoulders. I'm going to provoke the other players and wish that they lose their games. But I am enjoying my interest in them. I don't care if I lose. I'm just going to play against them as if I was playing against a GSL player.

Is there a difference between KeSPA players' supposed skills and their actual skills?

Truth be told, I think the top of top players are going to catch up instantly. After watching their gaming senses, I thought that they were going to catch up this much. They claim that they've only been practicing for three months but I know that they've practiced for longer than that. GSL players also didn't practice for three months so I hope they don't feel any burdens. Clearly the players who've made it this far in the WCS tournament are at the level of Up/Down players.

Anything else you would like to say?

I want to thank Pet, Zero, Life, SoN, YugiOh, Monster, and Sniper for helping me with practice. I want to thank our sponsors Red Bull, ZOWIER Gear, Joy Gear, and BenQ. I visit SC2 sites sometimes and people have labeled me as a (붉은 수세미의 곡예사? This literally translates in to red sponge contortionist). I want to thank whoever game me this name. It's a fun name so I really like it. I know that it's related to washing dishes. I am really good at washing dishes. And starting from tomorrow, I'm going to be living in the team house so my coach told me that I've entered the gates of hell. I really hope this is not so. For me, as long as July hyung doesn't torture me, I should have a heavenly team house experience.

Source: This Is Game

You became a representative for Korea and made it to the Ro4.

I think I won the most burdening game of this tournament. I think my mind will be at east from here on out. I had a lot of burden on me today. Rather than becoming a representative for Korea, winning the championship is my goal I don't feel that happy yet.

In game one, you won pretty easily with a warp prism drop.

On Ohana, Protoss players like to do a three immortal sentry rush a lot of times. RorO hyung decided on a zergling/mutalisk build. If I had decided on a immortal build I would've love. So I was aiming for that and did a +1 zealot and warp prism attack. In the battle of build orders, I was the victor.

Was the all in in game two a prepared build or an improvised build?

Originally I was planning on using that strategy on Cloud Kingdom but RorO hyung got rid of the map. I wanted to play macro game for game three but I felt the urge to try to end it early so I went for my all in. Unfortunately, I messed up my micro a lot.

In game three, your expansion was destroyed so you were in a dangerous situation. But what was the secret to your comeback?

I think it was because of the upgrade differences. I waited to attack until +3 was ready. RorO hyung killed my nexus but in order to do that he built too many roaches. His unit composition was weaker than mine so I was in a winning situation.

You were with RorO in WeMade and you even had meals together.

He was a really nice hyung. When I was struggling as a BW pro gamer RorO hyung would take care of all the time. He would buy meals for me and hangout with me often. I felt so good because I was able to meet him like this for WCS.

You face Creator in the Ro4.

Out of all our encounters, I have never lost to Creator. But he's gotten a lot better recently. But I still think I'm going to win.

A lot of Protoss players are alive right now. You're good at PvPs so you must be happy about that.

It's really good news for me. I think I have a very good chance of grabbing first place this time.

How do you feel after evaluating the KeSPA players?

Since they are players with as much potential as us, it seems they understand everything now. Truth be told, I don't think there's that much of a gap anymore. Even after playing today, I can see that, aside from lack of experience, they are really good with build orders and playing macro games.

Anything else you would like to say?

I want to thank my Zerg teammates for practicing with me. The day before my match, I wrote on my twitter that I was getting sick with a cold. Because of that, people are saying that I was getting ready to make an excuse in case I lost. It seems I'm going to have to be careful of the things that I tweet. Thanks to that, I got even more nervous. I was worried that people were going to think that I was trying to make excuses. Lastly, I want to thank our sponsors BenQ, Red Bull, ZOWER Gear, and Joy Gear.

Source: This Is Game

You grabbed Jaedong and stayed alive. How do you feel?

As far as I know, I now have two chances left in order to get get picked to be a representative for Korea. I think with today's victory I can take a breather. I felt bad for participating in an individual league because this is an important time for our team, but I am so relieved that I made it past like this.

With today's victory against Jaedong, you are on a four match winning streak again him. Feels like he's your nemesis.

I can't really say for sure. I think I have to win a couple more times before we call each other nemesis's. I think Jaedong's condition wasn't in the best today because of ProLeague. I felt really bad that I had to force him to play our match a day earlier because of my OSL group nomination tomorrow.

In game one, you had a real nice defense with immortals and force fields.

In game one, since I had a real nice defense, I felt like I had the game won. Originally I was planning on attacking first but then he attacked first so I played defensively. From there, I caught a lot of infestors and saw that his response was slow so I knew I had won.

In game two you were at a disadvantage because your dark templar build got blocked. But in the end, it was thanks to your dark templars that you won.

I was supposed to do a lot of damage with my first dark templar but I couldn't do anything with it so I thought I had lost. I played the rest of the game with a mindset that I had lost, but then I blocked the Zerg's attack and then I engaged with my dark templars so I think that's how I won.

In the next round, you have to face Curious, who is responsible for you dropping to the losers' bracket in the first place.

It's gonna be hard for me since I have to play another PvZ. I am now running out of builds I can use. I think I'm going to have to go back to the basics. Last time we faced each other I lost embarrassingly but this time I think I can put up a really good fight.

It seem the KeSPA bomb has finally stopped turning.

My opponent was Jaedong so I was okay but I think the other KeSPA player are going to be feeling the burden. The other KeSPA players have to face the GSL players so it's going to be a lot of pressure on them. I also have to face a GSL player but a KeSPA player has already dropped (Soulkey) and there's not more KeSPA winning streak so I no longer feel that much burden.

You have two more matches to go but you only need to win one to become a representative for Korea. You must be feeling greedy.

Now I am starting to get greedy. I only need to win one more match but if take it too easy then I will end up falling. I'm going to try not to focus on that much and just focus on my game.

If you get the opportunity to pick a GSL player for the group nomination tomorrow, will you take it?

If I get the chance I want to choose a GSL player. I'm not great at PvPs so I might pick one of the Zergs.

Anything else you would like to say?

The chair at the gaming studio was uncomfortable so I brought my own chair from the team house. I want to thank coach Kwon for bringing that chair. There's OSL group nomination tomorrow so I am hoping a lot of people will tune in for that. Also, SKT T1 also needs to win one more ProLeague match and then we're in the postseason. I hope our team works hard to win this season's championship.