EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RiSGxVN.jpg)
2014 GSL Season 1 Interviews:
Code A Qualifiers
Code A Week 1 Winners
Code A Week 2 Winners
Code S Ro32 Winners
Code S Ro16 Winners
Code S Ro8 Winners
Code S Ro4 Winners
2014 GSL Season 1 Grand Finals Winner
Day 1 Winners:
ZestDay 2 Winners:
soOKT Rolster Zest![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cX2rW2T.jpg)
Source: inven eSports
How do you feel about advancing to your first ever finals for an individual league?
I set my sights on that finals stage, so I practiced even during my break time. I had no idea it would feel this good. I want to hurry up and get over this good feeling so that I can win the championship at least a day earlier.
How did you prepare for your match against Rain?
Since I knew that Rain was a player who liked to play macro style games, I decided to correspond to that by practicing to always be one step ahead of Rain since I also had confidence in my macro games. But I struggled because Rain tried to be aggressive overall, and I think I put on a shaky performance.
You are taking down all the previous champions. Do you have the desire to face Life since he is also a previous champion?
I am working hard right now to create a good kind of jinx. I had no idea that I had actually taken down that many champions during my tournament run. Since I believe in jinxes, to be honest, a good jinx can actually help me feel calm. Since I also need to grab revenge against Life, I am hoping to see Life in the finals no matter what.
Now from T1’s perspective, you have become a player where they should feel threatened even at the sight of your name. How do you feel about soO?
I debuted through SC1, but I was never able to beat T1. Recently, I’ve had to take on a lot of SKT players and I’ve won all of them. Now that I’m in the finals, won’t I likely meet another SKT player? But regardless of who makes it through, I’ll be in a good situation because of that good jinx mentioned earlier. All those T1 players I faced have outstanding concept of the basics so they are good players, but for some strange reason, I beat them all.
It looks like you are finally showing everyone the results of your practices. What do you think?
Honestly, my skills skyrocketed during the last moments of the previous season. I was really looking forward to my performance for individual leagues but for some reason, I couldn’t get through the qualifiers. I had a feeling that I would be able to make it really far as long as I got through the qualifiers, and since I was able to make it to the finals once I finally got through, I am really feeling it now.
This is your first ever finals appearance. What kind of match do you think will occur?
This is my first time making it to a finals for an individual league, but since I’ve been to a finals before for a team league, I’ve felt that weighted pressure before. I think I’ll be able to easy take the championship as long as I prepare well.
It looks like you’ve completely mastered the art of PvP. Are your confident in your PvZ as well?
Thinking back to my results, I know that my win record for PvZ is just as high as my win record for PvP, and since I am confident during practices as well, as long as there are no Terrans then I should be able to win.
Since Rain evened up the score to 2-2 after you were ahead 2-0, wasn’t there pressure there for game five?
I saw that fifth game as the deciding factor. I felt that I wouldn’t be able to go the finals if I ended up losing that fifth game. I boldly went for an attack in game five but it turned out that Rain also did a three gate play. Whenever both players go for a three gate play, the player who takes the first initiative always falls to a disadvantage so I was pretty much screwed.
However, after Rain held me off with his photon overcharge, he then sent three stalkers to my base. I decided to attack after I blocked those three stalkers and that’s when I all of a sudden got lucky and remembered about sentries. So I made sentries, utilized force fields, and I think that’s how I was able to win.
It looks like your focus during critical situations is good. Is there a secret there?
I don’t know about other people, but for me, I have to lose the first match in order to feel less nervous like I do during practice, and then I can handle the next matches afterwards. I lost that first game in the final match for the Ro16 like I wanted to so that I could win in the end.
It looked like you had tears in your eyes during the televised interview. How come?
Since I knew that I had worked harder than anybody else, I was overflowing with feelings. But I want to suppress these feelings for now so that I can release them all after I’ve won the championship.
You are even performing well for Proleague. Wasn’t there some kind of playoffs trauma there for you at one point?
That trauma existed even during Proleague round one. But I was able to overcome that trauma after defeating Rain. It felt like I had torn off the seal. If you think about it, there is no pressure when you realize that you’ve lost against a good player. I think I was able to properly bring out my skills from practice.
It must not have been easy for you to practice for GSL since you’re so busy with Proleague. Was the supervisor lenient?
The remaining Proleague matches were all important ones, but the supervisor was lenient so I was able to practice for the GSL at the same time as I practiced for Proleague. I am happy that I was able to establish good results for both.
Anything else you would like to say?
I want to thank MyuNgSiK and Stats for helping me with practice. I even asked sOs for help after beating him in the quarter-finals. I didn’t ask for that much help though, maybe just one or two games. On top of that, I even asked herO to help me out after he lost to Rain. I am grateful that he accepted.
I want to thank my family for always cheering for me. I am glad that I was able to keep my promise to my fans since they told me they wanted to see me perform in the finals. Lastly, I want to thank the supervisor and the coaching staff.
SK Telecom T1 soO![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NeNuGcQ.jpg)
Source: inven eSports
How do you feel about taking down Life and advancing to a Code S finals twice in a row?
I still feel dazed because this was the most difficult match I ever had to endure. I think I’ll start feeling it once I go back to the team house.
Life’s ZvZ record was astounding, and yours was not necessarily the best. Weren’t you feeling anxious?
I’ve heard a lot about how good Life was, but I didn’t have any specific data on him. Earlier today, I saw that he had a 22-5 record and I honestly got scared. However, he’s a player with an excellent record for overseas tournaments rather than for ones in Korea so I wasn’t feeling that intimidated.
SK Telecom players should be on break right now. So how did you practice?
We have been on break ever since last Thursday. The Zerg players decided to stay but I felt bad that they were staying because of me. So I just practiced once per each set, and then KT Rolster’s Action and Sleep helped me out.
It looks like you were able to grab the pace of the match after you blocked Life’s spine crawler attack on game four.
Honestly, I thought that I was done for since that’s a build order you can’t win against. But somehow I was able to block it well. Afterwards, I felt confident that I was going to win game five but I ended up losing so I got flustered. But I think the remaining games went well.
How do you plan to prepare for the finals?
I plan to start legitimately training once my teammates return from their break.
This will be the first ever SC2 individual league rival match between SK Telecom and KT.
I knew that Zest was an excellent player from long ago. His current momentum is amazing. But personally, I am not scared. In fact, I was more scared of Rain. That’s why I’m not really worried.
What do you think the final score will be?
I can’t help but think that I’ll win by a score of around 4-2.
Anything else you would like to say?
First off, I want to let SK Telecom know that I will win no matter what. I want to thank my cousin for coming to cheer me on today. Lastly, I want to thank coach Hyuk for buying two pairs of earphones for me after mine broke today.
Methods to locating SC2 interviews!
- Go to the TL.net search bar and type in [Interview] and then search. You will find the most recent interviews at the top
- Go to the SC2 Interviews/Translation Archive
- Go to the liquipedia page for that player and look at the section titled "Interviews" http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/PartinG#Interviews
- Go to the liquipedia page for that specific tournament and find this icon:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wfoGKzI.png)
If you click on that icon, it will take you to the interview for that group's match winners
. Hoping for the Zest vs. Life final!
