EPT
Many Swedish players will represent their country at WCS Jönköping, but only 
Namshar has the honor of qualifying through the brutal European Challenger tournament. In this surprisingly Blizzard approved™ interview, I talked to Namshar about World of WarCraft, finding inspiration, and his journey to becoming a top player in one of StarCraft's traditional powerhouse nations.
*This interview has been edited and condensed.
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/commons/images/thumb/2/25/Namshar_HSC11.jpg/320px-Namshar_HSC11.jpg)
Photo: R1CH
Wax: To begin, could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where you're from, how you got into StarCraft, stuff like that.
Namshar: I grew up in a city called Halmstad on the south-west coast of Sweden. I've always loved playing games of all sorts since I was little. I actually played World of Warcraft for many years in my teen years.
At some point one of my arena partners who I played with a lot convinced me over some time to go and pick up Wings of Liberty and play with him on there. I gave it a go and at first I played it very casually on the side, and it just kept growing on me since I've always been very competitive. I started enjoying it more and more as I advanced in the 1v1 leagues!
How'd you end up choosing your current ID? Does it have anything to do with WarCraft?
It does... My ID used to be Namash, and the creative 12-year old me was sitting down with my friends, creating my first WoW character. We started reading words backwards to try to discover something new and amazing. The class I created was a Shaman, so Namash is basically Shaman backwards if you switch places with the S and H. At some point I was transferring to a different realm in WoW to gather up with more friends, and Namash to my disbelief was already taken. So then I tried to brainstorm some similar-ish names to Namash, and eventually came up with Namshar. I thought it sounded fittingly fierce and cool for a big and dangerous Orc Shaman.
Were you one of those guys that went enhance and prayed for windfury RNG, or were you a skillfull and helpful restoration player?
For the longest time I was actually a dedicated and faithful Elemental Shaman, standing in the back and throwing Lightning Bolts. I used to always have the biggest prejudice about Enhancement players being nubs since they were always so annoying to play against when I wanted to freely cast my spells.
In the last expansion I played I didn't like some of the changes they did to Elemental, so I finally betrayed my conviction and played Resto in that one ^^
How do you feel about the watchability of high level Arena WoW? Every BlizzCon I end up catching some of it, but I can never make any sense of it. I know it must take a ton of skill, but it's so hard to understand.
Yeah... back when I was playing a lot, I was of course trying to catch most of it, trying to pick things up from the players. But even being a somewhat decent player myself I always thought it was a pretty big mess to follow. It's been a while since I've watched it last, but thinking back it kind of reminds me of Overwatch, which for me personally is pretty tough and stressful to spectate as well.
You think any of the specific skills you picked up in WoW translated to you being good at StarCraft?
To some degree yeah maybe... hotkey efficiency and mindset about hotkeys is something I was always very thorough about in WoW, anything to help me improve my game in the slightest. Maybe mindset about details would be a better way to put it. To not have anything hold back your game even if it's something small.
Maybe the biggest trait that I feel WoW helped me develop was to actively criticize myself and my play. To recognize things I'm doing wrong or need to do better. Another thing that is also very important in Starcraft is to take inspiration from others, which is something I was always very diligent about in WoW. Really analyzing other players in detail will help you find flaws in your play that you didn't even know was there.
Well, I was wondering how that might tie in to how you currently play SC2. I feel like one of the reasons your series against ShoWTimE at WCS Austin got such a good response wasn't just because it was close, but because you played an exciting style. Is that something you picked up from observation/study, or something else?
Hmm, yeah. I actually got a lot of comments afterwards about my tendency towards Roaches. And although I did go for a big commitment with Roaches and Ravagers on Newkirk v.s ShoWTimE, after the game I instantly asked myself "what the hell am I doing?" It wasn't something that I was planning to do in my series at all, so I was pretty disappointed with myself about that.
I think my lack of stage appearances made me doubt myself enough for me to change up my gameplan like that. Thankfully I was able to put my mind in the right place after that game. Roaches is more my way of trying to be extra safe vs all the different kind of adept attacks or all-ins Protoss can hit you with. If I think I'm getting all-in'd I'll make more, if I scout otherwise I'll make a lot less. Statistically I get a lot of wins by managing to defend big attacks well early on.
My play vs Protoss is basically about my love for Hydras. I feel like the potential they have with army movement and strategy in the mid-game really suits me. After their health got buffed it encouraged me to practice a lot more hydra-based play again.
I'm sure many have seen a lot of similarities in the way I use them and lurkers vs Protoss with what Nerchio used to do for a long time. With drops and so on. And there's definitely a lot to it. I implemented many aspects of his mid-game play in the hydra-lurker "era" to my own. As well as small things from other players that I have spotted and liked over time, combined with some preferences of my own. So a lot of my success with that playstyle definitely comes from inspiration from others!
Talking about WCS Austin again, were you surprised with your final placement? You've been around the scene for a while, but the results only really started picking up in LotV, so I don't know what you expect from yourself.
Well I have high goals for myself overall as a player, but I tried to go into the tournament with the goal to just play to the best of my ability. Because I knew that I'm able to beat anyone at that tournament if I play my A-game. So I didn't really put any expectations on myself to get a particular placing in the tournament. I just try to focus on always moving forward and always improving myself. If you just keep improving then the results will eventually follow. I had a pretty good vibe about Austin since I got to the Ro8 there last year, and even though my run ended in the Ro16 this time around I felt all right since I felt like I was able to show a lot of people what I can do.
Is there an interesting story behind becoming a better player in LotV, like a particular moment that got you over the hump? Or is it just slow improvement over the years, and we just haven't noticed until now?
It has been a slow and steady improvement over the years, but I think Legacy might have flipped a switch in me, simply because I really enjoy playing the game. More-so than any previous version of Starcraft 2. It's more fast-paced and action-packed, which I really like. And I think passion and enjoyment for a game is really key if you want to reach the top level. You need to put in a lot of hours and I think enjoyment really improves your practice and rate of improvement.
Do you feel like speed and good mechanics are your biggest strengths? Or are the fast-paced games simply what you enjoy the most at a personal level? I'm reminded of former Brood War pro Hiya who was terrible at bio TvZ, but said he would always use it simply because it was the most fun way to play.
I'd like to think that my speed and mechanics are at a good level, hopefully a bit better than Hiya then xD, but I'm not sure that it would be something that sets me apart from some other players. I just like when there's stuff happening and not too much downtime. If I think about strengths of mine then maybe it would be more about army movements and decision-making in the mid-game. I also always really enjoyed micro, but I'm not sure where I would rate myself there, seems like dangerous territory.
So looking ahead to Jönköping, what do you have to work on? You said the lack of experience in that kind of live setting was a problem vs ShoWTimE. Will mentality be the key for you there?
Naturally there's always things in-game that I want to address, but yeah I think mentality and confidence in myself has definitely held me back a bit overall and in certain matches. It's something that I've always strove to work on in different ways. For sure more experience in big tournaments is helping me in fixing that. Believing in yourself at all times is a very underrated skill I think.
What do you think of the Namshar face from Austin? On one hand it's funny, but on the other hand I like to think it really reflects how tense that series was for you. Unless you're always like that.
Hahaha, yeah I truly couldn't believe I would look the way I did so that really caught me off guard xD. Was a big "oh no..." kind of moment. But yea I got insanely amped up when I was finally able to show what I'd practiced and started to bring it back. Was an important moment for me in the tournament. And then I was like f***, I need to get my s*** together and focus on the next map. It can always be dangerous if you get too excited and shaky. Definitely was tense for me so I tried to lower my heartrate a bit.
Bit of a funny side-note that not everyone might know, is that there is also an emote on Basetrade TV's channel of me doing the same face. This was added back when I wasn't at the level I am now and I was also streaming a lot. I knew that I loved talking about StarCraft so I wanted to try out some casting and approached BTTV and casted with them for a while! Was fun every time and it was great how open and friendly Rifkin was to it, but eventually I felt like it was taking too much energy away from my real dreams and goals as a player. I think casting for several hours is actually a lot more exhausting than people might think it is.
So at Jönköping, you might end up being the Swedish hope. Do you think that's kinda crazy, given the kind of players who were in that position in the past, like NaNiwa and ThorZain?
It does actually feel pretty strange sometimes to see how far I've come, considering for how long I was watching and looking up to those players in the past. Of course Sweden has many good Zergs with Zanster and SortOf both being really strong. I hope we can all perform for the Swedish fans in Jönköping. But certainly being the top Swede has always been a big goal of mine, so I hope I can live up to that in Jönköping!
Alright you've taken given so many serious answers, so I'll just throw in the pirate question to end. If your loved ones were kidnapped by pirates, and you could recruit three progamers to take with you on a rescue mission, who would you take and why?
Hmm. Definitely TLO to devise a (creative?) masterplan... Big biceps ShoWTimE as well to deal with the buff pirates. My third recruit would probably be Harstem for high morale and top banter.
Alright, any last comments, shoutouts, things you wanna say?
Shoutout to you, these interviews are great even if my reponces were dull and heavy. Also to my family and my girlfriend who are always cheering me on. And to Dead Pixels, they're lovely. Thanks!
Make sure to check out Namshar's match vs ShoWTimE from WCS Austin to see what kind of play he's capable of showing in high-stakes matches.
You can follow Namshar on Twitter at @dPixNamshar, and you can find his competitive statistics on Aligulac.
You can read more interviews with the WCS Challengers who will compete at WCS Jönköping during June 17-19!
More interviews are coming soon™
Namshar has the honor of qualifying through the brutal European Challenger tournament. In this surprisingly Blizzard approved™ interview, I talked to Namshar about World of WarCraft, finding inspiration, and his journey to becoming a top player in one of StarCraft's traditional powerhouse nations.*This interview has been edited and condensed.
Photo: R1CH
Wax: To begin, could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where you're from, how you got into StarCraft, stuff like that.
Namshar: I grew up in a city called Halmstad on the south-west coast of Sweden. I've always loved playing games of all sorts since I was little. I actually played World of Warcraft for many years in my teen years.
At some point one of my arena partners who I played with a lot convinced me over some time to go and pick up Wings of Liberty and play with him on there. I gave it a go and at first I played it very casually on the side, and it just kept growing on me since I've always been very competitive. I started enjoying it more and more as I advanced in the 1v1 leagues!
How'd you end up choosing your current ID? Does it have anything to do with WarCraft?
It does... My ID used to be Namash, and the creative 12-year old me was sitting down with my friends, creating my first WoW character. We started reading words backwards to try to discover something new and amazing. The class I created was a Shaman, so Namash is basically Shaman backwards if you switch places with the S and H. At some point I was transferring to a different realm in WoW to gather up with more friends, and Namash to my disbelief was already taken. So then I tried to brainstorm some similar-ish names to Namash, and eventually came up with Namshar. I thought it sounded fittingly fierce and cool for a big and dangerous Orc Shaman.
Were you one of those guys that went enhance and prayed for windfury RNG, or were you a skillfull and helpful restoration player?
For the longest time I was actually a dedicated and faithful Elemental Shaman, standing in the back and throwing Lightning Bolts. I used to always have the biggest prejudice about Enhancement players being nubs since they were always so annoying to play against when I wanted to freely cast my spells.
In the last expansion I played I didn't like some of the changes they did to Elemental, so I finally betrayed my conviction and played Resto in that one ^^
How do you feel about the watchability of high level Arena WoW? Every BlizzCon I end up catching some of it, but I can never make any sense of it. I know it must take a ton of skill, but it's so hard to understand.
Yeah... back when I was playing a lot, I was of course trying to catch most of it, trying to pick things up from the players. But even being a somewhat decent player myself I always thought it was a pretty big mess to follow. It's been a while since I've watched it last, but thinking back it kind of reminds me of Overwatch, which for me personally is pretty tough and stressful to spectate as well.
You think any of the specific skills you picked up in WoW translated to you being good at StarCraft?
To some degree yeah maybe... hotkey efficiency and mindset about hotkeys is something I was always very thorough about in WoW, anything to help me improve my game in the slightest. Maybe mindset about details would be a better way to put it. To not have anything hold back your game even if it's something small.
Maybe the biggest trait that I feel WoW helped me develop was to actively criticize myself and my play. To recognize things I'm doing wrong or need to do better. Another thing that is also very important in Starcraft is to take inspiration from others, which is something I was always very diligent about in WoW. Really analyzing other players in detail will help you find flaws in your play that you didn't even know was there.
Well, I was wondering how that might tie in to how you currently play SC2. I feel like one of the reasons your series against ShoWTimE at WCS Austin got such a good response wasn't just because it was close, but because you played an exciting style. Is that something you picked up from observation/study, or something else?
Hmm, yeah. I actually got a lot of comments afterwards about my tendency towards Roaches. And although I did go for a big commitment with Roaches and Ravagers on Newkirk v.s ShoWTimE, after the game I instantly asked myself "what the hell am I doing?" It wasn't something that I was planning to do in my series at all, so I was pretty disappointed with myself about that.
I think my lack of stage appearances made me doubt myself enough for me to change up my gameplan like that. Thankfully I was able to put my mind in the right place after that game. Roaches is more my way of trying to be extra safe vs all the different kind of adept attacks or all-ins Protoss can hit you with. If I think I'm getting all-in'd I'll make more, if I scout otherwise I'll make a lot less. Statistically I get a lot of wins by managing to defend big attacks well early on.
My play vs Protoss is basically about my love for Hydras. I feel like the potential they have with army movement and strategy in the mid-game really suits me. After their health got buffed it encouraged me to practice a lot more hydra-based play again.
I'm sure many have seen a lot of similarities in the way I use them and lurkers vs Protoss with what Nerchio used to do for a long time. With drops and so on. And there's definitely a lot to it. I implemented many aspects of his mid-game play in the hydra-lurker "era" to my own. As well as small things from other players that I have spotted and liked over time, combined with some preferences of my own. So a lot of my success with that playstyle definitely comes from inspiration from others!
Talking about WCS Austin again, were you surprised with your final placement? You've been around the scene for a while, but the results only really started picking up in LotV, so I don't know what you expect from yourself.
Well I have high goals for myself overall as a player, but I tried to go into the tournament with the goal to just play to the best of my ability. Because I knew that I'm able to beat anyone at that tournament if I play my A-game. So I didn't really put any expectations on myself to get a particular placing in the tournament. I just try to focus on always moving forward and always improving myself. If you just keep improving then the results will eventually follow. I had a pretty good vibe about Austin since I got to the Ro8 there last year, and even though my run ended in the Ro16 this time around I felt all right since I felt like I was able to show a lot of people what I can do.
Is there an interesting story behind becoming a better player in LotV, like a particular moment that got you over the hump? Or is it just slow improvement over the years, and we just haven't noticed until now?
It has been a slow and steady improvement over the years, but I think Legacy might have flipped a switch in me, simply because I really enjoy playing the game. More-so than any previous version of Starcraft 2. It's more fast-paced and action-packed, which I really like. And I think passion and enjoyment for a game is really key if you want to reach the top level. You need to put in a lot of hours and I think enjoyment really improves your practice and rate of improvement.
Do you feel like speed and good mechanics are your biggest strengths? Or are the fast-paced games simply what you enjoy the most at a personal level? I'm reminded of former Brood War pro Hiya who was terrible at bio TvZ, but said he would always use it simply because it was the most fun way to play.
I'd like to think that my speed and mechanics are at a good level, hopefully a bit better than Hiya then xD, but I'm not sure that it would be something that sets me apart from some other players. I just like when there's stuff happening and not too much downtime. If I think about strengths of mine then maybe it would be more about army movements and decision-making in the mid-game. I also always really enjoyed micro, but I'm not sure where I would rate myself there, seems like dangerous territory.
So looking ahead to Jönköping, what do you have to work on? You said the lack of experience in that kind of live setting was a problem vs ShoWTimE. Will mentality be the key for you there?
Naturally there's always things in-game that I want to address, but yeah I think mentality and confidence in myself has definitely held me back a bit overall and in certain matches. It's something that I've always strove to work on in different ways. For sure more experience in big tournaments is helping me in fixing that. Believing in yourself at all times is a very underrated skill I think.
What do you think of the Namshar face from Austin? On one hand it's funny, but on the other hand I like to think it really reflects how tense that series was for you. Unless you're always like that.
Hahaha, yeah I truly couldn't believe I would look the way I did so that really caught me off guard xD. Was a big "oh no..." kind of moment. But yea I got insanely amped up when I was finally able to show what I'd practiced and started to bring it back. Was an important moment for me in the tournament. And then I was like f***, I need to get my s*** together and focus on the next map. It can always be dangerous if you get too excited and shaky. Definitely was tense for me so I tried to lower my heartrate a bit.
Bit of a funny side-note that not everyone might know, is that there is also an emote on Basetrade TV's channel of me doing the same face. This was added back when I wasn't at the level I am now and I was also streaming a lot. I knew that I loved talking about StarCraft so I wanted to try out some casting and approached BTTV and casted with them for a while! Was fun every time and it was great how open and friendly Rifkin was to it, but eventually I felt like it was taking too much energy away from my real dreams and goals as a player. I think casting for several hours is actually a lot more exhausting than people might think it is.
So at Jönköping, you might end up being the Swedish hope. Do you think that's kinda crazy, given the kind of players who were in that position in the past, like NaNiwa and ThorZain?
It does actually feel pretty strange sometimes to see how far I've come, considering for how long I was watching and looking up to those players in the past. Of course Sweden has many good Zergs with Zanster and SortOf both being really strong. I hope we can all perform for the Swedish fans in Jönköping. But certainly being the top Swede has always been a big goal of mine, so I hope I can live up to that in Jönköping!
Alright you've taken given so many serious answers, so I'll just throw in the pirate question to end. If your loved ones were kidnapped by pirates, and you could recruit three progamers to take with you on a rescue mission, who would you take and why?
Hmm. Definitely TLO to devise a (creative?) masterplan... Big biceps ShoWTimE as well to deal with the buff pirates. My third recruit would probably be Harstem for high morale and top banter.
Alright, any last comments, shoutouts, things you wanna say?
Shoutout to you, these interviews are great even if my reponces were dull and heavy. Also to my family and my girlfriend who are always cheering me on. And to Dead Pixels, they're lovely. Thanks!
Make sure to check out Namshar's match vs ShoWTimE from WCS Austin to see what kind of play he's capable of showing in high-stakes matches.
You can follow Namshar on Twitter at @dPixNamshar, and you can find his competitive statistics on Aligulac.
You can read more interviews with the WCS Challengers who will compete at WCS Jönköping during June 17-19!
More interviews are coming soon™
. Good interview! Will there be TL-staff on site to cover the event? Can we expect some sweet juicy video interviews? 
