[Interview] Elazer, WCS Valencia champion

After his semifinal run at BlizzCon 2016, Elazer held the position of a progamer that everyone respected, but perhaps didn't truly fear. At WCS Valencia 2017, Elazer lifted the championship trophy and forced everyone to realize that he will be a force to be reckoned with at the 2017 Global Finals. TeamLiquid had a chance to sit down and talk to Elazer about achieving his dream of becoming a champion.

*This interview has been edited and condensed.



Wax: I’ll give you a really dumb question first. How do you feel?

Elazer: I’m feeling really great. It’s a dream come true.

Like, back then, top four at BlizzCon was already amazing because going to BlizzCon was my dream. Right now, the only thing that’s left for me pretty much is to farm other tournaments, and win many of them, and to win BlizzCon. Those are like the two other goals I have.

I feel like there’s a weird split with progamers. There’s like 80% of them, especially the Koreans, who don’t show much emotion after they win. And the others, who show that emotion immediately after they win.

Yeah, I think I’m trying to be a bit more emotional than the Koreans *laughs*—I mean, more than most of them. Most of the players.

You said in your interview with Smix that you were waiting for this result, that you finally got this thing you wanted for so long. When did start thinking, not just “I want to be a progamer” but “I want to be a championship class progamer?” When did that become a realistic thought in your head?

Realistic? I’m not sure. I always dreamed of being a champion in StarCraft II. I mean, always. Since I was, let’s say, in masters. Like, I was watching these tournaments and I was like, “Oh my god, I want to be there.”

But realistically, maybe… maybe… since I was like, like I got to mid-grandmaster or something, and I was improving faster than most of the players. At least that’s what I had a feeling of... that’s when I thought maybe I could get somewhere.

Was that like 2013? 2014?

Maybe 2015? 2014 was like, I was just trying hard. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna be a champion yet.

When you were watching and discovering StarCraft, was Snute one of those guys you watched as a fan?

Uhmmm. Probably? I don’t really remember. I remember a couple of players, I remember I was a big fan of Jaedong. I was a fan of Mana, Nerchio, because they are from Poland. Like, I was a fan of many people. For sure I was fan of Snute, just not … he wasn’t my favorite player or anything. Just one of the many that I watched.

Was it weird to beat him in a final after all that time? Or, I guess you’ve been a serious pro for a while, so maybe that feeling has already gone away.

Yeah, for sure. It’s not a feeling like “Oh god, I beat my idol” or something like that. Maybe, the first time I beat Nerchio, I had a feeling like “Yeah, finally I’m playing vs Nerchio,” this guy that I was watching when I was in platinum league. Back then I had a feeling like that. But right now, I don’t have it anymore. Maybe sometime when I play some legend. But I don’t play them very often.

I guess this was the biggest live stage you played on? Well, compared to BlizzCon, that stage is bigger, but you’re so far up there [points to nowhere] in a booth. Compared to here, where you’re so close and exposed to the crowd.

This was for sure, more fun than BlizzCon. The stage, just that emotional moment of winning. Because, like okay. I got some top eights, some top fours. Top four at BlizzCon is pretty much like—the prize pool was even bigger than winning anywhere else.

So you could maybe say, top four at BlizzCon is like, what, more important than this?

But it just doesn’t compare. I always wanted to be a champion. Being top four on the biggest stage is not as fun as being a top one at a small stage.

Does the crowd being so close and so loud make the nerves that much worse?

I mean the fun thing is... at BlizzCon after I got top four, I didn’t really have many pictures—maybe I signed a couple of autographs or something. But here, almost all the people came to me, took pictures, for like 15 minutes. So like, that was way better.

So you were more nervous playing this final than BlizzCon, maybe?

Ehhhhh…. yeah, but I also changed my mentality because at BlizzCon, I was already happy with top four. And this is when I got to play Dark, who was my idol, and it’s this feeling … this is when I … like, most like…

This is when I played my biggest idol in StarCraft II. Besides, maybe … one player that doesn’t play anymore.

You went to Korea for a short while. I remember Rogue really praising your ZvZ before GSL. Saying your other match-ups had bad win-rates, but that your ZvZ was insanely good. How was that experience for you?

It’s not like I improved my ZvZ. It was just that I think ZvZ in Europe is better than in Korea, surprisingly. I just got slapped around in ZvT. I had a 30% win ratio. Really, I was so sad about European Terran players, because I don’t understand what’s up with them, they are not practicing or what?

There, I would play vs retired Terran players that are better than any foreign Terran player. And yeah, it was just a fun experience. Versus Zerg I would pretty much beat anyone. Like, with very good win ratios.

So it’s not like you got better at ZvZ in Korea. You were already good because ZvZ in EU is so insane.

Yeah, I think I got worse in ZvZ being in Korea. For the two and a half weeks I was in Korea, I was only practicing ZvT, mostly focusing on it, just watching all the replays Scarlett gave me. Scarlett overall helped me a lot with ZvT. And yeah, just mostly, when we’re talking about going to Korea, I’m talking about learning ZvT.

When you watch other pros on stage giving winner interviews, have you ever thought ‘that guy f***ing sucks, I’m going to do something more interesting, say something more meaningful if I get the chance’?

Yeah, I’ve thought about that. This time, it was just too emotional to do anything funny or very meaningful. So I was, just, yeah, just trying to survive that moment, not cry.

You can give me that cool response now.

Nonono. The next tournament I win.

Any final comments? Any final comments to the guys on Netwars?

Oh yeah, big thanks to the Netwars guys. I was actually reading Netwars after every match—not every match—but after every series. Not after every match, because compared to Nerchio, I want to focus between games—

LAUGHS

—Nerchio is just reading Netwars between every match, saying “this guy all-ined me.” I want to focus in between games.

Okay, any final comments?

Yeah, just thanks, for everyone that watched me, cheered for me—

Any players you want to thank?

Yeah, thanks to Scarlett for teaching me ZvT, even though that didn’t help because I didn’t play Terrans this tournament. Thanks to Serral for playing some customs with me before the final—.

Vote for me?

Vote for me in the GSL vs World, well actually, Korea vs World—

Also, sponsor me? Pro teams?

Well, I’ve got offers… I got offers already.

Okay, thanks for the interview, man.

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You can follow Elazer on Twitter, and maybe give him a better offer before he puts pen to paper. You can also use Twitter to tell Wax that he sucks or that he left out an extremely obvious question like a dunce.