EPT
Shortly thereafter Scarlett also confirmed her participation.
Scarlett last went to Korea as part of the partnership between Acer and Axiom, from January to August of 2013. During that time she participated in the GSTL, earning a record of 3-4 and most notably defeating
Mvp on her debut match.Peanuts also e-sat down for an interview with Scarlett about her plans, the future and a variety of other, slightly less related things.
Q: When did you decide that you were going to play in SSL? Was it as soon as they announced you could participate in it and WCS simultaneously? Or did you make the decision more recently?
A: So, SpoTV actually contacted me a few weeks ago and asked me if I was interested. They’re the ones who arranged for my flight out and are arranging a place for me to stay. I mean, yeah, I had though about it for a while and when they announced that you would be able to play in WCS without being in country, then I decided that yeah, I would go.
Q: Do you find yourself more excited about playing in SSL or in the unified Premier League?
A: Well, the two are so different. SSL is in Korea, it’s much harder. It’ll be a nice change to play in that. It’s basically another GSL, so it’ll be really nice to play in but… it’s probably better for me to play in WCS. I’m probably more excited for SSL right now just because it’s different. I’ve already played in WCS NA which is fairly similar to what next year’s WCS will be like. And also, I’m really excited about going back to Korea. I really enjoyed it there my last few times.
Q: The last time you were in Korea, you trained at the Axiom house. Will you be returning there for practice this time as well?
A: No, unfortunately. TRUE and State are living there now, so there’s no room for me. SpoTV are looking for a teamhouse for me to stay in. They haven’t confirmed which one yet but I’ll let you know when I find out, and you can update the piece. Should be before this all gets announced. [THANKS KOREA] But I’m definitely staying at a teamhouse, I just don’t know which one yet. But just not Axiom.
Q: So, are there any practice partners in particular that you’re looking forward to working with?
A: Well, since the format is just a single elimination Bo5, just like Challenger last year, it’s going to be a bit dependent on my first opponent. Once I know who I’m playing first round, that’s when I’ll choose my practice partner, just to focus on that race at the start. I think I should know who my opponent will be before I get to Korea, so it really is just dependent on their race. If its Terran, I’ll definitely be going with MMA again. Zerg… I don’t know too many Zerg players in Korea, but I’m sure I can find some. I can probably rely on the people at the teamhouse I stay at. Besides the race dependent practice, I’m going to focus on playing a lot of ladder. I really like laddering, especially on Korea.
Q: So on that subject, are there any particular players that you’re looking forward to playing against in SSL?
A: Hmmm… Well, [off the top of my head]… I’d like to play Mvp actually. We played in some King of the Hill show matches earlier this year in Korea. I barely lost 4-5 to him in a really close series, so I definitely want revenge for that. Who else… Maybe HyuN? I like playing against HyuN in tournaments. We’re friends and all, but I like playing against him. We’ve played a few matches recently and I’ve won most of them. In terms of Protoss… sOs. I played against him at Redbull New York last year, lost in the semi finals. I was up 2-0 also! But then I got reverse swept after losing to him on Protoss Kingdom. I was so confident I could win that game also! Then I walked a bunch of hydras up into archons and storms. I got super on tilt and lost the next two games. I’d definitely like to play him again to get back. Maybe PartinG too, because he beats me most of the time. I beat him at RedBull DC, but it was pretty cheesy. I’d love to play him again. So yeah, those 4 are the players I’d most like to play against in SSL.
Q: Is there anyone from your GSTL days that you’d like to play? You mentioned Mvp, and you played him in your GSTL opener.
A: Yeah, I played him on Whirlwind. 1/1 speedling and speed banes against blue flame. Hmmm… Supernova might be playing, but he’s the only GSTL player that really comes to mind as a possibility. He’s the only match in GSTL that I’m really disappointed that I lost. I beat BboongBbong, then Ganzi and then I had to play Supernova on… Bel’Shir Vestige. He proxied rax behind my natural at the start of the game. I scouted it and assumed it was too late to send drones to stop it, but it wasn’t! I completely messed up that match and I’m still disappointed about it. I probably would have been able to all-kill if I hadn’t screwed up that one game in the series. I don’t think he’s playing SSL, but if he is, I would love to play him again. He was playing NA ladder a few weeks ago and we played a lot on there and it was fun.
Q: You’re going to be the first foreigner, or at least Western foreigner, to play in a Korean individual league since Stephano in 2013 GSL Season 1. Does that put more stress on you? Does it give you more drive to perform?
A: It’s definitely more stress I think. You know, a lot of people will say say “Sure you can do well in foreign tournaments, but it you go to Korea you’re just gonna get wrecked in the first round.” They said that about Stephano, of course they say it about me, they said it about Nerchio or anyone who’s done well. So that obviously puts more stress on me. If I lose early in the tournament, then people will say “Oh, you’re not really a good player. You just do well in tournaments because of… whatever.” So that’s a bit more stress as well. But I think I can do ok. I did decently in GSTL last year. I think if i put in the time to prepare for a specific match? Yeah, I think I definitely I have a good shot. I want to do well! There’s definitely pressure to do well though.
Q: So does pressure in general help you or hurt you? In terms of tournament performance?
A: [Long Pause] I’d say… hurts me. Thinking back, I usually kind of do better in tournaments that people aren’t expecting me to win. Like in 2012, the first WCS? WCS Canada and WCS NA, no one really expected me to win as an up-and-coming player, and I easily won that. This year, at RedBull North America, everyone thought Polt would win, and well… I crushed him. The next day, I have to play him at MLG and I lose to him, because all of a sudden, everyone is saying that I’m going to beat him. In Challenger this year, I lost to Hendralisk 3-0, which was kind of a surprise to me, in addition to most people. And then, I’ll play a harder player like PartinG. Everyone is expecting me to lose, but I’ll end up beating him. I play Taeja at HSC, I beat him. I play MMA, I beat him. So I feel like, a lot of the times in tournaments, I play better when I’m the underdog and there’s less pressure on me. So I think pressure hurts me.
Q: So is your plan to pull a Stephano, claim you haven’t played in 4 months, everyone will doubt you, and then you win all of SSL?
A: Aaahhh, I can’t do that! I haven’t played a tournament in two months, if I say that, people might believe me and be like “Ah, you’re not taking this seriously!” I think there’d be pressure on me even then though! I don’t think it’d necessarily be from the average viewers, but from my fans. I read my fan club a lot and I like to see what people say there. So even if its not the general consensus, my fans want me to do well.
Q: On a scale of 1-10, how distraught are you to leave glorious USE for SEA and play Pinoy Dota again?
A: It’s pretty low actually. I kinda like that! Maybe… 2. I just started playing Dota a week ago, starting up again. I played on SEA a lot in Korea, but not much Dota at all since then, maybe 5 months. I think the games are, in general, better over there on SEA. But I’ve been on US East… it’s just… like, I’ve been talking to you the past few days while playing Dota and just telling you how horrible the games are. You know what I mean. So I do enjoy SEA Dota.
Q: How do you think that playing in SSL will help you with your play in WCS?
A: It’ll probably help me in preparing for matches more. In the past, I haven’t really been as good about preparation. Specifically, if I did prepare for one match… the most ever would have been my match against Heart in the Ro8 this year. And that was the worst I’ve ever played in a tournament. Just funny, how I do so poorly in the one match I prepare the most for. So hopefully, I can rethink how I go about preparing and hopefully improve that process. It’ll be really good in the WCS where I know my matches a week or two in advance. So that’s the main thing I hope to get out of it. Just preparing better, working with practice partners and focusing on specific strategies, rather than just ladder.
Q: So, going forward, if you continue to qualify for the next few season of SSL, do you think you would prioritize SSL or WCS?
A: I don’t know if I’ll stay in Korea past this season of SSL. I don’t know if it’ll overlap with WCS, since I don’t really know when WCS starts up again this year and Season 1 started pretty late this year though. But if I somehow do well in both, I’d probably prioritize SSL. It’s pretty similar in terms of money, though there is a bit more in WCS. That said, I do definitely want to do well in Korea and show that I can hold my own. So, for the first season at least, I’ll be prioritizing that. And if I play more? WCS would probably be more important after a few seasons.
Q: In a similar vein, do you think you’ll attend more tournaments in general next year? You didn’t hit as many events this year as you have previously.
A: Yeah… I went to maybe 8 this year. But that’s including team leagues. I’ll probably go to more individual leagues next year. But then, there’s more regular travel, with WCS Ro32 being LAN now, so there’s a lot more flying for that. I’ll probably go to at least a few more LANs to make up for teamleagues, since there’s no more ATC. We always got to the finals for that, so I have to take up that slot. All in all, I’d like to hit 10 LANs this year. Not like, HyuN style of event-event-event, just weekend after weekend. I can’t manage that much travel for so many weeks in a row. I tried that last year and I just get incredibly exhausted, even though it seems I still did fine after several events. When I got 4th place at MLG, that was my 4th event in a row. I just went HSC, DH, RedBull and then MLG. The year before that, I did HSC, IEM Singapore, RedBull NYC, ASUS and ATC. I ended up getting 2nd at ASUS, 3rd at RedBull and 1st at… oh what’s it called… I’m getting confused, my game of Dota started. I’ll hopefully be a bit more spread out this year.
Q: Dammit, did you random again?
A: Yeah. Axe. Guess I’m jungling now.
Q: What’s your favorite city that you’ve been to? And it’s totally New York right?
A: Ummm… Actually I have to say my favorite city that I’ve been to for a tournament is probably Los Angeles. I don’t know if that’s blasphemy, but I really like it. [I’m from New York] I think a big part of it is just that I’ve been there for so many events. I go every few months for WCS, I’ve been there for MLG and RedBull also. I go there a lot and I have friends there that show me around to a lot of neat places. It’s a really nice city, other than the fact that you have to drive everywhere. I just like it in general. New York, I didn’t really get to see much of unfortunately. Oh, I almost died to neutrals. Whoops. And I really do love being able to see the areas I go to. Seoul is perfect for that, because the subway is so nice.
Q: How hype are you for Fate Reforged?
A: I actually don’t know anything about the new set. Haven’t been able to play Magic in a while
Q: Wow, I really failed with that one. Uh, quick recovery, what do you think of balance going into SSL?
A: I think that Terran is a bit too strong. Zerg can still win, but you have to beat them through some mind games and cheese. Straight up games are pretty difficult. In terms of ZvP? It’s quite honestly fine. Some people have been arguing that the issue with TvZ is just the maps, but i think there’s more to it than that. Oh well. We’ll see over time. I hope they at least see what happens at SSL, and put out a balance patch before WCS starts up again.
Q: Do you think you’ll stream again when you get to Korea?
A: Probably. I mean, definitely not before my matches. But after my initial matches, I’ll probably stream. No promises though! I’ve been bad about keeping promises in the past in regards to streaming. But if I win a match and don’t have one in the near future, then yeah, I’ll try to stream. I do have to check with the team house first though. I know that some teams aren’t thrilled with streaming, so I’ll double check with whoever I end up staying with. I do think I’ll start streaming some Dota though. I think it could be fun, I want to see how it goes. With Starcraft, streaming kind of interferes with your practice, and since I play Starcraft primarily to practice for matches… streaming is kind of counterintuitive to the purpose. But if I play a fun game like Dota, then I think streaming that would just be relaxing. And I might even stream from Canada, not Korea. AH! 17hp, almost died to neutrals again.
