We'd like to represent you an interview with Tobias 'ShoWTimE' Sieber, one of the best EU players according to the World Championship Series from Blizzard. In this interview German Protoss told us about his training routine and shared his views on StarCraft 2.



Q: Hi! Thanks for sharing your time with GoodGame.ru! At the beginning, please tell a few words about yourself.

Hey, I'm Tobias 'ShoWTimE' Sieber, I'm 21 years old and currently a fulltime SC2 player for Team Alternate.

Q: You are one of the Top4 European players, but people don't know much about you. Let's start from the very beginning. Why did you become interested in games?

Honestly I dont really know where it started. My parents used to play video games quite regulary when I was younger so I just got into it that way. At the beginning I was only watching them play I think but when I got a bit older I started playing myself a lot.


Q: And why did you choose StarCraft 2, but not some MOBA game, for example?

I played some sc1 when I was around 10 or so(mostly campaign) and I just always really liked this type of game. So when sc2 was released I started playing it because I
remembered how much fun sc1 was.

Q: You use to be a member of a Russian team “Vega”. Tell us a few words about that period and tell us about your new team.

Vega was my first team and I kinda got into progaming through them. I was only part of the team for a couple of months so I can't really say too much about it but it was basically where my sc2 career started. Right now I'm part of Team Alternate since 6-7 months. Sadly I'm the only member of their team after Knowme Lambo, Ares and Kaup had to leave but I still like being in the team. It's a nice atmosphere overall and I appreciate their support.

Q: Recently you results have been greatly improved. How do you think why? Has

something changed in you training process or in your mindset?

I think it is just a result of a lot of practice. I used to have some issues with my wrists and couldnt play as much as I wanted to but these days it is much better so I try to practice as much as possible. Also I got better at playing tournaments and handling my nerves in general after learning some stuff about sport psychology and getting some more experience at events.

Q: Fans would like to know more about your everyday training process. Whom do you usually play with and what is your daily routine?

For practice I play mostly ladder and only occasionally some custom games when I have to prepare for a specific race or opponent in a tournament. I usually try to practice around 8-9 hours a day which can consist of just playing the game or watching replays/vods. On top of that I like to do around 45 minutes of sport every day to stay healthy.

Q: Does a coach play an important role in a training process in SC2? In your opinion, what advantages and disadvantages does the European training process have, in comparison with Korean one?

I'm not really sure how helpful a coach in sc2 can be since they dont really play at the same level as progamers do. I think they are mostly helpful to keep you
motivated and maybe improve your mindset. I think the biggest disadvantage for foreigner is that you live alone and have to figure out the game on your own while koreans live in a big house with 5-10 other very good players that can help you out. I think the only advantage for foreigner is that you can make your own schedule and only play if you want to while koreans have to follow the schedule of their team every day.

Q: In your opinion, what are the strong and weak points in your play (play-style)?

I think my strenghts are that I know a lot of different builds and can play very aggressive but also very passive for example. I cant really think of any weaknesses right now. Usually when I feel like I'm weak at certain things I try to focus all my attention on it until it becomes one of my strenghts.


Q: If you could create your own team for playing in Proleague, what 5 players would you take into your dream-team and explane in short why?

I think just having the strongest players from each race would be the best team. So for Protoss I would choose Parting and Zest. Parting is really good with his control and Zest is just very solid overall. For Zerg I would pick Life. He is by far the strongest Zerg at the moment and for Terran Innovation and Maru. Innovation is similiar to Zest just a very solid macro player and Maru is a micro god :D So yea I think this team would be unbeatable.

Q How do you set up your mind before the match? Do you do something special before playing with Koreans?

I think the most important thing is to always stay positive and never tell yourself that you will lose or something like that. Also taking some deep breaths before the match helps me to calm down and focus better.


Q: What are your future goals? You won't limit yourself to Top 4, right?

My main goal is to be within the top 16 in the WCS ranking and make it to Blizzcon. Top 4 this season was amazing for me but of course I want to get even further and win one WCS season. It will be very difficult though so I'm practicing a lot right now to be prepared for next season.

Q: What else do you prefer except Sc2? Do you have any hobby? May be music, books, movies, sports?

As I said earlier I like to do some sport every day so I workout 4-5 a week to stay healthy. Also when I'm not practicing sc2 I really like to play or watch darts and since I've been traveling a lot recently I started to get into reading books. Something I could have never imagined when I was younger.

Q: Girl from our site asks: Do u have a girlfriend?

No. You just dont meet a lot of girls when you are playing 8-9 hours of sc2 on most

Full version of the interview u can read HERE.