Western Wolves SortOf is flying to South Korea today, for a 3 month stay with New Star Hoseo for some solid Korean practice with the release of HOTS, as well as a chance to compete in GSTL as part of a partnership between New Star Hoseo and Western Wolves. SortOf travelled to South Korea for a short 3 week stint in October 2012, and has decided he would like to go back, meet his friends in New Star Hoseo once again and live in the mecca of esports. The purpose of this trip, is not just practice, and to expect a huge growth in skill overnight. The trip is designed to help SortOf develop as a player, as well as a person by experiencing living away from home in a team house for a long period of time, and being able to immerse himself fully in a new culture and a strong practice environment.
MadCatz and WesternWolves promise to keep our fans up-to-date with some neat features, including media coverage of the tournaments they attend. To start out, we've prepared a small interview below:
Interview with WWMCZ.SortOf
Thanks for taking the time to do an interview SortOf! Could you provide our readers with a small introduction first?
WW.MCZ SortOf: Hey! My name is Rickard Bergman, you may know me as SortOf and I'm a 19 year old Zerg player from Sweden.
You'll be leaving today, did you get everything packed?
WW.MCZ SortOf: Yeah, I started packing a few days back, got almost everything ready now so I cant wait to go!
When it comes to professional gamers moving/travelling abroad, their number one obstacle is convincing families and friends. What's their view on your trip to Korea? Are they supportive?
WW.MCZ SortOf: My family and friends have been very supportive of me, cheering me on, watching the tournaments I participate in etc and I'm very thankful for that, its been helping me alot.
Could you name one thing you're expecting to miss the most while being away from home? WW.MCZ SortOf: Being away from my family and friends is gonna be the hardest, but I'm very happy to be going back to Korea.
What're you're really looking forward to see/do while being in Korea?
WW.MCZ SortOf: I really miss the food in korea, so getting back to that is going to be great. Besides that I'm looking forward to see the gomstudio.
If you compare the Korean to the European scene in terms of StarCraft II, what's the biggest difference gameplay-wise?
WW.MCZ SortOf: First of all, there is a huge diffrence in the amount of high level players there are, Korea have so many more talented highskilled players compared to Europe and America. Gameplay-wise, Europeans and Americans are alot more greedy compared to the Koreans, who play a much more solid, wellrounded style.
Are there any Korean players/teams you're looking forward to meet?
WW.MCZ SortOf: I'm really looking forward to meeting all the NSHS guys again, it's gonna be so great! As well as my team mate Sting of course!
When will our fans be able to see you play? Which events will you attend?
WW.MCZ SortOf: Next up the fans can see me at PAXeast. Sadly I will no longer be attending IPL6, as it has been cancelled. I've also been invited to join forces with the NSH team and play for them in the GSTL. Can't wait!
How long will you be staying there? WW.MCZ SortOf: I'll be staying there until mid-March, and I'm going on a trip to the US for PAXeast, after that I'm going back to Korea again until mid-May/early June.
Again, thank you for the interview. Any last shout-outs?
WW.MCZ SortOf: Shoutouts to WesternWolves and all our Sponsors, MadCatz, Sapphire, AMD and Cyborg for making this possible.
For more updates on SortOf's journey, make sure you like our Official Facebook SC2 Fanpage.
Maybe he needs to connect with the other foreigners in Korea so he won't feel so isolated. Start a facebook group! I hope he will be playing in some of the team leagues.
Hope to see some magic from him in GSTL. Haven't seen a foreigner pull their own weight since HuK went out as ace for oGs. qxc's all-kill was good too, but HuK's is the more memorable for me.
Good luck! NSH roster is small enough there is definitely a good chance we might be seeing SortOf a couple of times in the GSTL although bo7 instead of bo9 kind of sucks for seeing more players
I think if sortof worked hard on hots he can find himself as the 4/5 rotation for hoseo. Jjakji and tassadar go without saying they're as guaranteed for hoseo as flash for KT rolster. Then most likely their 3rd would be brave and 4th could be potentially him, ssanae or salvation.
On March 06 2013 04:06 Gamegene wrote: so does this mean Sting in GSTL? o:
It's being worked on and is a possibility, but you have to remember he left New Star Hoseo to join a foreign team, and as soon as he did so he had success in Singapore, so they might not to be too keen on having him play for them this season
On March 06 2013 04:06 Gamegene wrote: so does this mean Sting in GSTL? o:
It's being worked on and is a possibility, but you have to remember he left New Star Hoseo to join a foreign team, and as soon as he did so he had success in Singapore, so they might not to be too keen on having him play for them this season
That'll be kind of weird to just have SortOf be an addition to a team league. Unless the mercenary rule is still in effect.
They're desperately short handed on good players anyways.
On March 06 2013 04:06 Gamegene wrote: so does this mean Sting in GSTL? o:
It's being worked on and is a possibility, but you have to remember he left New Star Hoseo to join a foreign team, and as soon as he did so he had success in Singapore, so they might not to be too keen on having him play for them this season
That'll be kind of weird to just have SortOf be an addition to a team league. Unless the mercenary rule is still in effect.
They're desperately short handed on good players anyways.
I speak pure speculation (Feel free to shut me down Tidus Mino) but perhaps hoseo and sting's parting of ways wasn't the most amicable.
On March 06 2013 03:25 Tidus Mino wrote: WW.MCZ SortOf: Gameplay-wise, Europeans and Americans are alot more greedy compared to the Koreans, who play a much more solid, wellrounded style.
I always thought exactly the other way round.
Good Luck in Korea. Show them the result of the Swedish e-sport conspiracy !
On March 06 2013 03:32 garlicface wrote: Hope to see some magic from him in GSTL. Haven't seen a foreigner pull their own weight since HuK went out as ace for oGs. qxc's all-kill was good too, but HuK's is the more memorable for me.
qxc might not be the best player, but that all kill vs IM might be more significant then a GSL win. Considering there strength at that time.
Good luck Sortof! Always seeking to improve, I am eager to see what he can do in Hots . Also nice to see that the players people dared to call patch zergs, keep proving that they are just the hardest working and most dedicated players around.
He is, in my mind, the epitome of patch zergs, no disrespect intended. Let's see if he can keep his "sick up&coming zerg player" status in a different game.
I think it's good that they say that they don't expect huge overnight improvments in his skill level but that they rather see him develop as a player and a person in the long run from this trip!
This is awesome.. I've enjoyed what I've seen out of him so far and he has definitely shown the ability to improve and to compete with Koreans.. so if he takes himself to a next level it will really be significant. I'm excited to think of where he could be if he really improved from here. Pretty under-discovered Zerg still despite the splashes he has made recently.
And it's always awesome to see foreigners in the GSL or GSTL. Nice to see yet another ESF team opening themselves to this kind of foreigner integration/inclusion in the GSTL.
Western Wolves is really starting to look like one of those well-run e-sports organizations. Media events at PAX, flexibility for their players. It's nice to see.
I think this might be a very good step for him, he kind of reminds me of Naniwa in this regard. One of these confident guys, who's will is strong enough that sacrificing social life and stuff like this, doesn't even matter to them that much. As far as his actual skill, I'm not sure, but I guess anyone who practices hard enough will make the cut.
On March 06 2013 13:54 Arceus wrote: the good thing about this is that no seed is given
We don't know that. I'm not saying he will or should get one but gom often makes those decisions fairly quickly and he's staying there for months. It could happen, especially if he manages to win a couple of games in the gstl.
Good luck! If you work hard, keep your passion and do your best I think you will have a bright future. It will be interesting to see how you develop as a player over there.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/rInHvSL.jpg)
