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ESL interview with Nerchio post Valencia

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Creager
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany1893 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-07-19 21:41:08
July 19 2016 21:40 GMT
#1
Apollo has posted this link on reddit and since I couldn't find it around here, yet, I thought I'd share it:

Original link: http://www.eslgaming.com/article/after-winning-tournament-i-get-more-hungry-interview-euronics-gaming-s-nerchio-3103

“After winning a tournament I get more hungry”: an interview with Euronics Gaming’s Nerchio
Hans Oelschlägel
Editor / Content Manager


After his amazing performance at DreamHack Valencia, Euronics Gaming’s Artur “Nerchio” Bloch is setting his sights on Intel Extreme Masters Shanghai. We sat down with the freshly crowned champion to discuss his recent play, budding rivalries and his expectations ahead of Shanghai.


ESL: Congratulations on winning DreamHack Valencia. How relieved are you to finally win a tournament after having had so many high place finishes in LotV.

Artur ‘Nerchio’ Bloch: I certainly wasn't disappointed with my results so far in LotV because my goal in Starcraft II was always to be consistent. I think it's better to be at the top all the time which means consistently getting top eight and higher results as opposed to winning a tournament once and then being remembered forever as a one-time champion. Having said that, being able to win championships is also an important characteristic if you truly want to be considered the best.


ESL: A lot of people have been saying that this tournament win was a long time coming. Your results recently are resembling those of 2012, what has changed in the last nine months?

Nerchio: I was finishing my studies during Heart of the Swarm and since my motivation to play the game was lower at that point I just didn't practice enough to deliver good results. When Legacy of the Void came out I realised that I like the game much more than before and I could focus on it full time.
I was thinking about continuing my studies but there were too many tournaments to attend which would interfere with the courses. So these days I only focus on StarCraft II which obviously helps a lot. I can practice a lot more and also I believe that the meta game suits me much better since Zerg was always about defending but now we also have more aggressive options.


ESL: What was your preparation coming into the tournament? How much did the recent Queen change impact your tournament?

Nerchio: Preparing for Dreamhack Valencia was really tricky because only a few days before the tournament I got the information that it will be played on the new maps. As you probably know, I usually focus on laddering, but the problem was that the season with the new maps only went live the day before the tournament. I had to change up my preparation from what I usually do and went for a couple of custom games against each race on each map, as well as studying the maps alone and thinking how the games might play out.
I think the Queen change helped the most against Terran so maybe I had an easier time in the finals than I normally would have, but overall it was far from a deciding factor in my success.


ESL: You are pretty safe to qualifying for the Global Playoffs at the end of the year. How do you think you will shape up against the best Korean players? A lot of the community do not believe the Europeans and North Americans can even put up a fight.

Nerchio: I am a little bit sad that most of the community doesn't really believe in the foreigners and still think that we are playing on a low level compared to Koreans, so I have to disagree obviously. It's hard to predict how I am going to do against Korean players at Blizzcon but I can assure that I am going to put up a good fight. I think most of the foreign players are practicing more and our skill level is higher than ever before so we can do much better against Koreans.


ESL: How are you feeling going into Intel Extreme Masters Shanghai? Does winning Valencia give you more confidence or does it create added pressure to do well?

Nerchio: It adds a little bit more pressure because having a terrible result after winning a tournament would feel very disappointing. I also feel that after winning a tournament I get more hungry for even more championships so it's definitely going to be hard to satisfy that. But I believe I can win again. I need to break my curse of bad results in Asia because I've been there like three times already and the best result I had was top eight as far as I remember.


ESL: Do you have any thoughts on this budding rivalry with Showtime and the prospect of playing against each other again in the grand finals in Shanghai?

Nerchio: I consider Showtime to be the best Protoss player in the foreign scene, so playing against him is always a challenge I look forward to. We both had great wins and tough losses against each other so I think there is quite a bit of story to this rivalry. Of course I would prefer to meet in the grand finals every time but it's not always possible.
I think that it is very likely that we meet in the grand finals in Shanghai as long as I can fix my ZvZ this week.


ESL: Nobody knows what really to expect from an opponent like Cyan, how are you approaching this matchup? Are you concerned that you could be surprised, considering the Chinese style of Protoss play typically is aggressive?

Nerchio: I can't exactly describe how I am going to prepare for Cyan in case he is reading this interview but I am definitely not afraid of aggression from Protoss players because we already had to learn how to defend all types of aggression in Europe.
I think that it's easier to play against players that you know are not the strongest at macro game because you can always cut back on your economy a little bit and still be good in case you go into a macro game. I think it's hard to be surprised in a Bo5. Bo3 it can happen but anything above that is really tough for the underdog.


ESL: What are your thoughts on ZvT at the moment? On stage right before playing Marinelord, you said it's your best matchup. A lot of Terran players in Europe/NA say it's unwinnable but Terrans are dominating in Korea? What is your stance?

Nerchio: It's really hard to describe the match-up at the moment. I think in Europe, Terrans are definitely struggling but I think there is plenty of timings that Terran can do that are really hard to stop. The problem for them right now is that I have the match-up almost figured out, so it's hard to surprise me. I am confident at all stages in the game and I know what to do depending on what happens in the game. It goes back to my Wings of Liberty days where I had the same feeling in most of the match-ups.


ESL: Being a player who has been capable to compete with top level Koreans over the years, what is your opinion on the WCS 2016 changes?

Nerchio: I definitely like the changes but I believe a little bit more competition against Koreans would be healthier for the scene. I think foreigners in the past didn't have a chance to spread their wings and we were starved before we could fight back. I think giving us more breathing room to improve our skill definitely helped the foreign scene and I consider foreigners to be better at the game than they ever were before.


ESL: With the year drawing to a close already, what are your goals for the remains of 2016? Especially in Global Playoffs.

Nerchio: I want to stay consistent for the rest of the year, so getting results like top eight and higher would be satisfying. But I will also try to win another championship if I can. Of course I will be trying to win Blizzcon, but I do better when I consider myself to be the underdog so I avoid hyping myself too much. I hope my result at Global Playoffs will be a nice surprise.


ESL: Recently, both Solar and Byun spoke about how impressed they were with Snute. Byun went on to make a comment about you as well. What are your thoughts about his comment?

Nerchio: I am glad to hear that Koreans are starting to respect the skill of foreigners because it didn't happen very often in the past. On the other hand, I don't like to be hyped so much because then there is a lot of pressure when you play competitive matches against Koreans and everybody is expecting you to perform well.


... einmal mit Profis spielen!
Jett.Jack.Alvir
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Canada2250 Posts
July 19 2016 23:46 GMT
#2
Great article! Nerchio's answers are solid
ShoCkeyy
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
7815 Posts
July 20 2016 00:18 GMT
#3
Nice, was hoping for a good interview. The one on stage sounded so bland trying to maintain a simple interview. Great results so far, hoping for more.
Life?
Ace1123
Profile Joined September 2011
Philippines1187 Posts
July 20 2016 00:33 GMT
#4
Nice i hope more sc2!!! Go foreigners
ForGG, Mvp, MMA, MarineKing, BoxeR,
polpot
Profile Joined April 2012
3002 Posts
July 20 2016 00:36 GMT
#5
Nice interview, hope to see more solid performances from Nerchio
Jett.Jack.Alvir
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
Canada2250 Posts
July 20 2016 01:08 GMT
#6
Hey guys out of respect for intellectual property, can we just quote a few questions/answers and link to the full article next time? Or TLers can you at least visit the original source?
Bareleon
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
371 Posts
July 20 2016 01:39 GMT
#7
So I guess ESL decided not to broadcast on TV? Oh well.
Qwyn
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States2779 Posts
July 20 2016 04:36 GMT
#8
On July 20 2016 10:08 Jett.Jack.Alvir wrote:
Hey guys out of respect for intellectual property, can we just quote a few questions/answers and link to the full article next time? Or TLers can you at least visit the original source?


I second this. Let's not rob ESL of a page-view for this great interview.
"Think of the hysteria following the realization that they consciously consume babies and raise the dead people from their graves" - N0
Creager
Profile Joined February 2011
Germany1893 Posts
July 20 2016 08:37 GMT
#9
Link to original source is provided and I included the author, although I can see the problem with this. Sorry, didn't want to upset people
... einmal mit Profis spielen!
OtherWorld
Profile Blog Joined October 2013
France17333 Posts
July 20 2016 08:43 GMT
#10
I'm sorry Nerchio but I'd be willing to bet on foreigners taking less than 3 maps from Koreans at BlizzCon
Used Sigs - New Sigs - Cheap Sigs - Buy the Best Cheap Sig near You at www.cheapsigforsale.com
evolsiefil
Profile Joined October 2015
143 Posts
July 20 2016 09:03 GMT
#11
On July 20 2016 17:43 OtherWorld wrote:
I'm sorry Nerchio but I'd be willing to bet on foreigners taking less than 3 maps from Koreans at BlizzCon


^ this

they will get stomped right back to charityland and i will enjoy every second of it.
egrimm
Profile Joined September 2011
Poland1199 Posts
July 20 2016 09:45 GMT
#12
On July 20 2016 17:43 OtherWorld wrote:
I'm sorry Nerchio but I'd be willing to bet on foreigners taking less than 3 maps from Koreans at BlizzCon

It is actually really hard to say without any evidence as I don't even remember when was last time foreigner met Korean in important tourney. I have at least some confidence in Nerchio, Snute, ShowTime and Neeb that they will be able to steal a couple of games from Koreans. The rest of foreigners however... it will be hard.
sOs TY PartinG
Nerchio
Profile Joined October 2009
Poland2633 Posts
July 20 2016 10:06 GMT
#13
On July 20 2016 17:43 OtherWorld wrote:
I'm sorry Nerchio but I'd be willing to bet on foreigners taking less than 3 maps from Koreans at BlizzCon

3 maps for all foreigners? So wrong :D
Progamer"I am the best" - Nerchio , 2017.
evolsiefil
Profile Joined October 2015
143 Posts
July 20 2016 10:09 GMT
#14
On July 20 2016 19:06 Nerchio wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 20 2016 17:43 OtherWorld wrote:
I'm sorry Nerchio but I'd be willing to bet on foreigners taking less than 3 maps from Koreans at BlizzCon

3 maps for all foreigners? So wrong :D



so delusional :D
TargA
Profile Joined December 2010
Norway204 Posts
July 20 2016 10:30 GMT
#15
All hail our mighty God Arthur Nerchio
ProgamerOn October 26 2013 00:10 Nerchio wrote: Shoutout to Targa, best zerg in europe || http://twitter.com/#!/TargA01
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24193 Posts
July 20 2016 10:38 GMT
#16
Nice interview and solid answers.

I think the foreigners will deliver a solid performance in Blizzcon as well. And I do agree that next year a bit more KR/foreigner competition would be healthy.
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12793 Posts
July 20 2016 11:17 GMT
#17
Foreigners will do fine, plus statistically even if all koreans were favorite against their counterpart (even tho they are not) we should have at least 2 foreigners and more advancing.
Nice interview
WriterMaru
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55511 Posts
July 20 2016 11:35 GMT
#18
On July 20 2016 20:17 Poopi wrote:
Foreigners will do fine, plus statistically even if all koreans were favorite against their counterpart (even tho they are not) we should have at least 2 foreigners and more advancing.

What statistics did you use to get that result?
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
Poopi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France12793 Posts
July 20 2016 12:11 GMT
#19
                  Top 2      1er       2e       3e       4e    
---------------------------------------------------------------
Classic 69.87% 39.78% 30.09% 17.30% 12.83%
Snute 49.57% 23.30% 26.27% 25.91% 24.52%
Polt 48.12% 23.22% 24.90% 26.51% 25.37%
Patience 32.44% 13.70% 18.74% 30.28% 37.28%

Estimé par Aligulac. Modifier.

1 foreigner

                     1        2        3        4    
-----------------------------------------------------
Hydra 35.78% 27.72% 21.39% 15.11%
Nerchio 30.56% 28.00% 23.43% 18.02%
Cure 20.43% 24.67% 27.76% 27.14%
Solar 13.23% 19.61% 27.43% 39.73%

Estimé par Aligulac. Modifier.

2 foreigners

                      1        2        3        4    
------------------------------------------------------
Stats 33.18% 27.15% 22.40% 17.27%
Neeb 29.95% 27.34% 23.59% 19.12%
TY 21.46% 24.47% 26.69% 27.37%
ShoWTimE 15.41% 21.04% 27.32% 36.24%

Estimé par Aligulac. Modifier.

1 foreigner

                       1        2        3        4    
-------------------------------------------------------
Dark 42.16% 27.22% 18.66% 11.95%
Zest 30.21% 31.19% 24.12% 14.48%
Elazer 16.84% 23.02% 27.78% 32.37%
PtitDrogo 10.79% 18.57% 29.44% 41.20%

Estimé par Aligulac. Modifier.

0 foreigner

These are not the final standing, and the Global Playoff will be Dual Tournament, which I guess is GSL format, plus I don't know how the groups will be drawn, but even taking into account the fact that foreign players have inflated ELO on aligulac, at least 2 qualifying seems reasonable.
WriterMaru
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24193 Posts
July 20 2016 12:15 GMT
#20
aligulac overestimates foreign skill a lot though. In your examples, Nerchio over Cure and Neeb over TY seem pretty ambitious to me.
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