EPT![[image loading]](http://claritygaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Immortal.png)
Brian “SaroVati” Zhao Imitating his Favorite Unit, the “Immortal”
Clarity Gaming’s own Brian “SaroVati” Zhao has secured his spot in the first season of the Challenger League for WCS America, earning himself a minimum of $600 and the opportunity to gain Premier League status.
![[image loading]](http://claritygaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/clarovati.png)
With a bye in the first round, Brian was met in the following round by his teammate and good friend Alex “Shew” Raymond. Using some creative builds, most notably a cannon rush on Yeonsu, SaroVati was able to take the series 2-1. In round three, he was able to defeat top Mexican player JimRising in a very close deciding game three. Brian was also able to make quick work of Pluto, a Grandmaster Zerg representing Deimos, in a very convincing 2-0. His fifth round opponent, a former Clarity Gaming player now representing SEED, was Myles “Bones” Donald. Once again, Brian showed dominance in his PvP, a matchup he practices frequently on the North American Grandmaster ladder.
Another 2-0 vs Bones meant that Brian had made it to the Round of 8, which also happened to be the deciding match. He met the macro-oriented Terran representing Gravity known as Semper, an up and comer that surprised many by making it that far. All three games were great demonstrations of high level macro PvT on both sides, however Brian was able to take the series 2-1.
This means he will now have to wait to see who his opponent is in Challenger League, and a victory in a single best of 5 match will decide whether he qualifies for Premier League, or must re-qualify for Challenger in Season 2.
We conducted an interview with Brian directly following his match.
Q: You have officially been seeded into WCS America’s Challenger League for the upcoming season. Off the bat, how does it feel to have come out on top of the first qualifier?
A: To be honest this is the first qualifier I’ve actually participated in, since finals and midterms have stopped me from participating in previous ones. As a result, I’m pretty happy I have a 100% success rate in qualifiers. I just have to prepare hard now for that best of 5 coming up!
Q: For those who may not know you as well, give us a little information about yourself. Your race, playstyle, what you like to do outside of StarCraft, school, etc.
A: I play Protoss, specifically a rather unorthodox way of playing Protoss. I mix in builds that I feel are strong, which could mean unit compositions like void ray colossus in PvT, or certain timings and all ins that attempt to fully exploit the strengths of each unit. Outside of StarCraft, most of my time is spent at university (University of Alberta), studying, spending time with friends, and anything else a normal 19 year old would do.
Q: What may be unknown to others is that with so many other things going on in your life, you usually don’t have time to play in tournaments or even practice much. Were you available to play the other two qualifiers, assuming you hadn’t won today?
A: I would have been able to play in one (although school would have started already), which is Saturday I believe? Qualifying today definitely takes a load off my chest in terms of planning out my weeks. School is starting in two days and I have to sort some things out, so another event to qualify would have made my schedule quite hectic!
Q: How difficult of a bracket would you say you had today? You had a close 2-1 victory vs teammate Shew, were there any other matches specifically that were a challenge for you?
A: I would say I had arguably the easiest bracket to the round of 4. I didn’t look very deeply into the other ones, but I feel my bracket seemed quite easy compared to what I expected. That being said, I had quite a few 2-1 victories, and actually, my 3rd game vs JimRising was especially close, and I worried I had thrown the game really hard, but ended up winning.
Q:What was your mentality going into the deciding match? Since it was not casted live, did you feel less nervous, or are casted games not a source of nerves for you anymore?
A: I actually felt rather calm. Although I think I’m a bit out of practice, as I got back home 24 hours before this qualifier happened from vacation, I felt I could win my deciding match pretty handily. I knew my mistake in game two, and just adjusted accordingly and won. Live casted matches don’t make me feel very nervous actually. Over the past three years, I’ve played in multiple casted matches and ace matches in team leagues.
Q: Now that you have qualified, what steps are you going to take to prepare yourself for the actual WCS America Challenger League?
A: I’m going to play whenever I have time and prepare for my upcoming matches. Since there are new maps that no one is really familiar with, I’ll try to use some map specific builds for people to see!
Q: For many that know you personally, the question sometimes arises about how much potential you have in becoming a full time professional StarCraft player. Do you see yourself ever becoming a full time StarCraft player in the future, or is the plan just to stay in school?
A: Unfortunately I don’t think I could bring myself to play full time. As nice as it sounds, I’m currently enrolled in the co-op program for my specific type of engineering. It’s extremely hard to cut the program short and re-enroll in it later, so for the next four years I’ll be in school or working for all 12 months. Potentially after I get my degree, if things fit perfectly I might, but I doubt it.
Q: Lastly, how confident do you feel in regards to achieving Premier League status?
A: It depends on the opponent I face, and the amount of time I have to prepare beforehand. I feel if I was in top shape and didn’t get a top contender, I’d be pretty confident in achieving premier league status. I have a sneaking suspicion that school will get busy and I’ll get a tough opponent though, so we’ll see how things pan out.
A: To be honest this is the first qualifier I’ve actually participated in, since finals and midterms have stopped me from participating in previous ones. As a result, I’m pretty happy I have a 100% success rate in qualifiers. I just have to prepare hard now for that best of 5 coming up!
Q: For those who may not know you as well, give us a little information about yourself. Your race, playstyle, what you like to do outside of StarCraft, school, etc.
A: I play Protoss, specifically a rather unorthodox way of playing Protoss. I mix in builds that I feel are strong, which could mean unit compositions like void ray colossus in PvT, or certain timings and all ins that attempt to fully exploit the strengths of each unit. Outside of StarCraft, most of my time is spent at university (University of Alberta), studying, spending time with friends, and anything else a normal 19 year old would do.
Q: What may be unknown to others is that with so many other things going on in your life, you usually don’t have time to play in tournaments or even practice much. Were you available to play the other two qualifiers, assuming you hadn’t won today?
A: I would have been able to play in one (although school would have started already), which is Saturday I believe? Qualifying today definitely takes a load off my chest in terms of planning out my weeks. School is starting in two days and I have to sort some things out, so another event to qualify would have made my schedule quite hectic!
Q: How difficult of a bracket would you say you had today? You had a close 2-1 victory vs teammate Shew, were there any other matches specifically that were a challenge for you?
A: I would say I had arguably the easiest bracket to the round of 4. I didn’t look very deeply into the other ones, but I feel my bracket seemed quite easy compared to what I expected. That being said, I had quite a few 2-1 victories, and actually, my 3rd game vs JimRising was especially close, and I worried I had thrown the game really hard, but ended up winning.
Q:What was your mentality going into the deciding match? Since it was not casted live, did you feel less nervous, or are casted games not a source of nerves for you anymore?
A: I actually felt rather calm. Although I think I’m a bit out of practice, as I got back home 24 hours before this qualifier happened from vacation, I felt I could win my deciding match pretty handily. I knew my mistake in game two, and just adjusted accordingly and won. Live casted matches don’t make me feel very nervous actually. Over the past three years, I’ve played in multiple casted matches and ace matches in team leagues.
Q: Now that you have qualified, what steps are you going to take to prepare yourself for the actual WCS America Challenger League?
A: I’m going to play whenever I have time and prepare for my upcoming matches. Since there are new maps that no one is really familiar with, I’ll try to use some map specific builds for people to see!
Q: For many that know you personally, the question sometimes arises about how much potential you have in becoming a full time professional StarCraft player. Do you see yourself ever becoming a full time StarCraft player in the future, or is the plan just to stay in school?
A: Unfortunately I don’t think I could bring myself to play full time. As nice as it sounds, I’m currently enrolled in the co-op program for my specific type of engineering. It’s extremely hard to cut the program short and re-enroll in it later, so for the next four years I’ll be in school or working for all 12 months. Potentially after I get my degree, if things fit perfectly I might, but I doubt it.
Q: Lastly, how confident do you feel in regards to achieving Premier League status?
A: It depends on the opponent I face, and the amount of time I have to prepare beforehand. I feel if I was in top shape and didn’t get a top contender, I’d be pretty confident in achieving premier league status. I have a sneaking suspicion that school will get busy and I’ll get a tough opponent though, so we’ll see how things pan out.
For those curious to see how this unorthodox Protoss was able to crush his way through the competition first-hand, Brian was kind enough to hand over the replays from all matches, which can be downloaded below.
Click here to download the Replay Pack!
About the Writer
This interview was conducted by Clay Finney
Make sure to follow him at https://twitter.com/Finn_Finn_Finn
Follow SaroVati!
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cSaroVati
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/sarovati
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NFpRTgl.png)
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