Stork has qualified for his first individual league since the final TVing Starleague of 2012. Stork was able to beat Woongjin’s Organ to qualify for WCS Season 3 Challenger league. This is Storks first individual league qualification whilst playing Starcraft 2.
Q. You’ve qualified for your first individual league in Starcraft 2.
A. Starcraft 2 has had a tumultuous atmosphere lately, and betwen that and the national holiday I’ve barely been able to practice. I had no expectations of making it through the qualifier, and I feel like I’ve surprised myself.
Q. This is your first qualification in 2 years for an individual league.
A. It’s been too long. I don’t know what to say.
Q. Why do you think you haven’t been able to show results?
A. I know people have that perception, but I think that my results have been good in their own way. That said, losing 11 straight after the introduction of HotS in to Proleague had a really strong impact on me. On top of that, with Jangbi and RorO playing so well it looked like I was playing poorly. I started to get less attention, and it took me a while to get used to getting pointed out in a way that I never experienced in BW.
Q. With the bad mood around Starcraft 2, there must have been some impact on you.
A. Every year, there are difficult events in e-sports. We’ve had fights over broadcast rights, match-fixing, the transition and the hybrid season. As time goes by, the importance of Starcraft 2 has fallen and the eSF players were able to go to foreign tournaments as part of their agreements. Because of this, many worried players decided to retire and it all came to a head at the end of this season. I thought a lot about retiring as well, but I thought that I would regret it like many of the other players who have done their military service, so I collected my thoughts.
Q. What are your goals for this tournament?
A. I think it’s meaningful that I’ve made it through the qualifiers. Actually, with the mood around Starcraft 2 being in such disarray, I don’t feel like I was in top form. When I was playing the Losers match, I bumped into SKT coach iloveoov. iloveoov said “I want you to come back and look like you did in the days where you’d beat me and then do a lap around the stadium”. Those words helped me. Coach Oh Sang Taeks advice was also a big help. I thought to myself that I had to do well, and I had a poisonous resolve to make it through the qualifier.
Q. Out of TaekBangLeeSsang, Jaedong stands out. Does this inspire you?
A. I went to read about it on the Internet, but I could only find articles about League of Legends. I don’t understand Korean tournaments that well, so I had no time to spend on foreign tournaments. I knew that my colleagues had gotten to the finals of foreign tournaments like Dreamhack, but it didn’t inspire me particularly.
Q. Who do you want to face in Challenger League?
A. To be honest, after transitioning to Starcraft 2 I was determined to not watch other player’s replays or VODs. Because of this, my play-style has become like the style of the foreigners. I won’t be dominated by any player in Challenger. I want to shake the perception that I’ve been withering in broadcast matches, which has been due to my poor play. Through competing in Challenger League, I hope to develop play that I satisfies me.
Q. Any Final Words?
A. If I win again, I will get the chance to do an interview. I will do everything to ensure victory.
It's not like Stork has to retire, I mean, he can play whatever he wants while being a starcraft pro He's probably playing both LoL and Dota 2 right now while still keeping up with the tablet games he's also pro at. + Show Spoiler +
On September 22 2013 23:13 NicksonReyes wrote: It's not like Stork has to retire, I mean, he can play whatever he wants while being a starcraft pro He's probably playing both LoL and Dota 2 right now while still keeping up with the tablet games he's also pro at. + Show Spoiler +
and BW ofc.
He's upgraded to tablets now? I thought he was cellphone game king
"A. To be honest, after transitioning to Starcraft 2 I was determined to not watch other player’s replays or VODs. Because of this, my play-style has become like the style of the foreigners."
On September 22 2013 23:13 NicksonReyes wrote: It's not like Stork has to retire, I mean, he can play whatever he wants while being a starcraft pro He's probably playing both LoL and Dota 2 right now while still keeping up with the tablet games he's also pro at. + Show Spoiler +
and BW ofc.
He's upgraded to tablets now? I thought he was cellphone game king
Idk, I remember reading some article before about samsung giving all their players tablets tho. I assume he did.
On September 22 2013 23:19 sacade wrote: "A. To be honest, after transitioning to Starcraft 2 I was determined to not watch other player’s replays or VODs. Because of this, my play-style has become like the style of the foreigners."
I thought a lot about retiring as well, but I thought that I would regret it like many of the other players who have done their military service, so I collected my thoughts.]
On September 22 2013 23:11 Darkdwarf wrote: Interesting to see that he wears the KHAN shirt and not the Galaxy shirt. Perhaps the sc2 team is still called Samsung KHAN, then?
Just today I had such a funny dream about being able to be at the prelims at yongsan years ago and actually met many BW pros in it. Since I'm back from korea I haven't moved the pictures for an inch and it was the right decision, they are still at the very same place. I'm so glad that this finally happened at least, most positive message for a long time for me and I hope it can impact other fans in a positive way...so glad...!! ----
I really hope this guy gets to code S. I wasn't around during broodwar but I just hate the amount of shit this guy gets from everybody. This is also a pretty unusual interview from a Korean, so much sass!
iloveoov said “I want you to come back and look like you did in the days where you’d beat me and then do a lap around the stadium”. lap around starts 15:30, FBH style
2007 year of Stork
My heart is pounding, Stork and Iloveoov, what a big, big players and personalities.
It's interesting to me that both Flash and Stork have been very descriptive about a bad mood surrounding SC2. Are they referring to the legends who have retired, or is there something else specific to the Korean scene (or even KeSPA?). SC2 seems about the same to me right now as it has been since it started so I'm a little confused.
On September 23 2013 04:24 alexanderzero wrote: It's interesting to me that both Flash and Stork have been very descriptive about a bad mood surrounding SC2. Are they referring to the legends who have retired, or is there something else specific to the Korean scene (or even KeSPA?). SC2 seems about the same to me right now as it has been since it started so I'm a little confused.
Both. Also, SC2 was never really big in Korea to begin with.
On September 23 2013 04:24 alexanderzero wrote: It's interesting to me that both Flash and Stork have been very descriptive about a bad mood surrounding SC2. Are they referring to the legends who have retired, or is there something else specific to the Korean scene (or even KeSPA?). SC2 seems about the same to me right now as it has been since it started so I'm a little confused.
It is more a Kespa is restructuring thing + contract run out. So the impacts of this horrible cataclysm that was meant to destroy all of Sc2 is rather focused on Kespa and partly on other korean teams that suddenly had so much competition in their country when Kespa decided to do that late transition. Kespa reaped what they sow, when they fought the Sc2 release. But maybe they planned this to destroy Sc2 and BW so they can leap on a big fat LoL cattle to milk.
Still sad that so many players quit, but that was easy to predict the moment WoL hit Korea.
He doesn't seem that determined to me, tbh. More like he just wants to avoid giving in to getting his military duty out of the way. I just get pretty dispassionate vibes, beyond the typical korean interview neutrality / format. I'd love to see him return to former glory, but is there really any expressed intention to do anything even half-way like that? Also.. the not watching anyone elses vods or replays just sounds like terrible training born out of sheer egoism.
Would love to see Stork do something in SC2, Maybe he will sweep Code A and move to Code S for next season. then... first SC2 Championship? My body is ready.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jXi8sDR.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/gWx8aZ9.jpg)
