|
4 Posts
Last weekend at HomeStory Cup XVIII, our Editor in Chief, Olli, got to chat with a triumphant  Serral after the Grand Finals, talking about his ambitions and plans going forward, who to trust for secret practice games, the new balance patch and much more.
Olli: Hi Serral, nice talking to you after you just won HomeStory Cup. The first question I have for you is: 2018 is done in terms of tournaments and you won pretty much everything… what’s next?
Serral: Well, I didn’t win any IEM tournaments, so getting one of those trophies wouldn’t be too bad, and obviously I want to chase the same titles for next year as well and I am going to try to repeat the same I did this year, but I think it’s going to be very hard.
Olli: There’s a phenomenon in sports and maybe esports as well where, if someone wins a season or a very big title, they can find it very difficult to keep up their motivation. All year long you have not had that problem. But now, for the first time in a while, there’s a bit of a break between this tournament and whenever the next one is, so how do you keep that fire burning in the meantime?
Serral: I don’t think there’s any special way of actually staying motivated, it just needs to kind of come naturally and I don’t feel any lack of motivation right now. I just want to keep going since it’s going well now and I just get motivation from tournaments if I win them or even if I lose. I always get the motivation. But at the same time I am probably going to chill a bit more for the rest of this year, I am going to relax a bit more, because I want to start with full batteries next year again.
Olli: So winning and doing well is what motivates you in general?
Serral: Well, I have always loved competition and I think that’s one of the things that drives me on and makes me go forward all the time, and every time you get success you kind of want to get it even more, and I feel you kind of get used to it at some point, so you never really want it to drop down.
Olli: So you're saying you’ve gotten used to winning tournaments?
Serral: *laughs* Yeah, I mean… I would say I know what my expectations are nowadays and I want to win, I guess that means I have kind of gotten used to winning events now and it’s not really that big of a thing for me anymore, but obviously it’s still pretty great.
Olli: Last year everyone I talked to told me you were one of the best players in the world, but it wasn’t really showing in tournaments the way it did this year. So if you look back to 2017, what has changed for you since then that now makes you win tournaments instead of just placing highly?
Serral: Well, back then I was really inconsistent I feel like and my playstyle was really stale. Actually, I would say my playstyle is still pretty stale, but I do mix in a bit more stuff nowadays, so that has helped me. You know, just kind of getting the consistency somehow. I don’t really know how you actually get it, but that’s what other people struggle with I feel like, and I have managed to get to that point. I think what also helped me is that this year I actually prepared for every match I played very well and I pretty much always had one build for each map, if I had the time to actually do that thinking.
Olli: That sounds like it was just a bit of tournament inexperience in the latter stages of tournaments that held you back last year?
Serral: I don’t think I can say it was inexperience, I have been playing for such a long time, also playing in LANs. It feels like I played very bad... I mean not very bad, but I played in various tournaments when I hadn’t practiced back then and now this cannot happen. But there wasn’t really any big change, it just kind of happened.
Olli: So since you mentioned mixing it up a little now, do you play differently in tournaments than you do in practice? Because a lot of players for example would always do the same thing when laddering and then get blind countered in tournaments.
Serral: Obviously on ladder I mostly practice my main, standard styles and of course I am going to use those in tournament play. When I think I am the better player it’s normally just fine to go for the standard games, but maybe do a couple mix-ups. If I do use some stranger builds of my own making then normally I just practice them in custom games and not really show them to anyone except for people I actually trust. So yeah, it’s mainly the same standard plays in ladder and tournaments, but then I have some builds that are not shown on ladder as well.
Olli: Who are those people that you trust?
Serral: From Zerg, I would say Namshar is the one I normally try my builds with.
Olli: Right, he’s a trustworthy guy.
Serral: Yeah! As for Terran, there isn’t too many *cheeky smile* but  souL, I trust souL.
Olli: Why don’t you trust any Terrans?
Serral: Well, there aren’t so many… I would trust uThermal, but I never practice with him too much. Like once every two months I play custom games with him. So I would say souL, and from Protoss pretty much everyone.
Olli: Are you saying that every Protoss is trustworthy?
Serral: *laughs* Well, yeah I think so.
Olli: Really?
Serral: Yeah I don’t know, they feel like they are very trustworthy.
Olli: You’re the first person ever to say that.
Serral: *laughs* Yeah man,  Harstem I trust, DnS I trust, ShaDoWn I trust...
Olli: They might be good people inside, but they’re still Protoss.
Serral: Yeah, that’s true.
Olli: So, since you mentioned something before about being the better player before: In game 7 against INnoVation you rallied your overlords on both paths on Blueshift and did a drone scout in front of the natural…
Serral: *laughs* Actually about that man, I sent my drone too early (E/N: to expand?), so I figured I would just scout, but it’s very rare that there are barracks just on top of the ramp, normally they are down, but yeah that wasn’t intentional. But obviously the overlord paths are supposed to see the proxy barracks.
Olli: I was going to ask whether you feel like you were the better player in a standard game.
Serral: Yeah, to be honest I kind of felt like that even though on the first map I lost a long standard game. But I went mutas that game and I am not that experienced with mutas. I think he had some experience playing against them with a widow mine style, I think that’s how he won games all the time a couple years ago, so he kind of played that better, but otherwise I just lost to proxy barracks and won pretty much all the macro games pretty confidently, so in the last game I was pretty confident I’d win a macro game.
Olli: Speaking of mutas, Blizzard representatives recently said in an interview that they want to bring back muta/ling/bane. What do you think they have to do to make that viable again as a 'mainstream' playstyle?
Serral: Hmm, I think it’s pretty viable right now. I think it’s actually in a very good spot and I think we are going to see now that we actually get down to practice the new patch. I think we'll see a pretty healthy mixture of hydras and mutas coming out and not just ling bane as well. I don’t think they need to do that much right now, just taking a bit of the splash from the thor and taking one armor off helped a lot with the muta play already. Even before the patch you could play that style, hydras are just a bit better, but now that the thor is a bit nerfed and mutas got buffed that way it might be different and I think we’re going to see it more often.
Olli: Your opponents in this tournament had the best success against you by just proxying you. Should they proxy you more often?
Serral: Well… that’s what they think. But against souL I opened pool first with six lings twice and he didn’t proxy rax me once, but if he would have… (at this point we had a short interruption, as Serral started coughing and needed some water, so we found some and wonder if it’s drugged and how that would affect the interview; you know, normal HomeStory Cup stuff). Proxy barracks are a very good build, but I still like the pool first opening, so it won't always win. It’s obviously good though, they should do it to mix it up, but it’s not going to win you a whole series.
Olli: How difficult is it to respond correctly to a three rax when you scouted a two rax, like you did against INnoVation?
Serral: Against two rax you would normally like to get the roach warren or just build a spine, but when I saw the double barracks I actually skipped the spine and went for double queen instead. You kind of want to see all the barracks, but if you only see two barracks you can obviously make one queen and one spine and that’s fine against everything pretty much. I’d say it’s very doable, the hard part is actually to micro the drones and lings and not losing too much to the first three marines.
Olli: Is that what happened then on Cerulean Fall, where he did three rax again, did the first three marines do too much damage?
Serral: Yeah, in this game I chased him a little bit too much and lost too many drones, I probably lost like nine drones because I chased him a bit much even though my spine was already 90% ready when he went on the ramp, so that wasn’t too good by me and I pretty much realized instantly it wasn't a good move. I actually don’t have too much experience against proxy rax because no one uses them in practice... I guess I need to ask souL to do some against me.
Olli: Some people at this tournament have said that Terran is pretty strong right after this patch, do you think that’s true?
Serral: It’s stronger for sure, but I don’t think it’s overpowered by any means, I think they just got more options. Now it’s not only tanks, you can play widow mines as well and uThermal already said there are some kinds of mech style, though I am not really sure how viable they are yet. Maybe if you give him some more time he can make it a very nice mech style. So yeah, it’s just more options for Terran I feel like, which is good.
Olli: uThermal does that hellbat build with armor upgrades into very fast battlecruisers, he played that against you I think…
Serral: Nah, it’s not a battlecruiser build really, it’s mainly banshees, but he has one battlecruiser variation as well, but… *laughs* that’s not good in my opinion. But mainly it’s cyclone banshee with armor upgrades, it worked against Reynor pretty nicely, I kind of saw those games and then played against him, but I can't say much about the build from those games because I won mostly due to the early games.
Olli: TaeJa actually gave you a really good series, were you surprised at all by that? His MMR is still 'only' around 6,6k and he just started playing again three months ago.
Serral: Hmm, yeah he was playing pretty well, but I felt like I was making mistakes as well and was distracting myself a bit. I think he’s probably already in the top 10 of Korean Terrans, but I don’t think he’s quite there with the really top Terrans just yet. I think what I did wrong was that I gave him a bit too much freedom, because he likes the kind of game where he has control on the map and can move around to play the long game. I should have played a little more aggressively, that would have been the way to kill him. And that’s actually how I won it with the mutalisks, because he was struggling a bit with defending against them.
Olli: Are you going to Korea for a GSL next year?
Serral: *laughs* … What?
Olli: Are you going to Korea for a GSL next year?
Serral: GSL vs. the World you mean? *laughs*
Olli: No, no the normal GSL seasons!
Serral: *gives us a big smile* Enough of this!
Olli: Damn, you dodged that question like a pro. But if you didn’t have to stay in Korea for so long, would you do it?
Serral: To be honest I feel like it’s dumb in the first place that we can play the tournament, but that’s not the reason why I won’t go… yeah, I’d probably go once if it was a shorter event, I just kind of don’t want to be there for two months. One month would be the max I would want to be there.
Olli: Do you think the heavy preparation based format would be something that suits you?
Serral: Hmm, I don’t think the very heavy preparation style is necessarily good for me. I am not sure. I think I’ve never played in such a tournament. Obviously BlizzCon had a group stage I had a pretty long time to prepare for and that went pretty well. I would say maybe heavy preparation for just one opponent might not be the best for me.
Olli: Do you want to say something to your fans?
Serral: I want to thank my fans for all their support and tune into my next stream, I guess… *laughs*
Olli: Oh, when will that be?
Serral: No one knows that actually. *laughs* Nah, it’s going to be at the end of the month.
Olli: Last question! Now that the tournaments are all done, how are you planning to spend Christmas?
Serral: We always spend Christmas the same way, every second year we go to our aunt’s house and every second year we stay home, so this year we are going to go to our aunt’s house to just spend it there, be with the family, nothing super special.
|
Finland931 Posts
On November 29 2018 05:46 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote:
Olli: Do you want to say something to your fans?
Serral: I want to thank my fans for all their support and tune into my next stream, I guess… *laughs*
Olli: Oh, when will that be?
Serral: No one knows that actually. *laughs* Nah, it’s going to be at the end of the month.
AHEM!
|
Olli: Damn, you dodged that question like a pro. But if you didn’t have to stay in Korea for so long, would you do it?
Serral: To be honest I feel like it’s dumb in the first place that we can play the tournament,
Thanks Serral to tell the truth !
Good interview.
|
|
|
Olli: Damn, you dodged that question like a pro. But if you didn’t have to stay in Korea for so long, would you do it?
Serral: To be honest I feel like it’s dumb in the first place that we can play the tournament
Shots fired at regionlock, take note Blizzard.
|
As much of a serral/foreigner fanboy that I am, I agree with serral about going to GSL. The first time it happened it was cute and I was hyped but then it started to not feel so good. If Serral goes there and actually wins, wouldn't that be like kicking the scene that is already down? I'd rather we closed GSL for outsiders and organized more global events, maybe even something more long form over a few season I dunno.
|
That transcribed laughter fools me to think Serral as a fellow human being (instead of a machine, or something divine).
I think the length of a regular GSL tournament is a valid excuse for not attending. Still would be cool to see him play more with the people close to his level.
|
What a memer.
Thanks for the great interview Olli and Serral!
|
Wow, he is even getting very good at this interview game now :D
|
Hmmm, I'm both slightly disappointed and a little worried.
I'd have loved to see Serral play in Korea instead of him destroying WCS once again(another 4/4 may or may not be possible, that's tied to Serral's condition and Reynor's growth, imho); moreover, with Terran being so strong this patch i fear training in EU could not be enough to prepare for the likes of Maru and TY.
It would be amazing for him to win the titles he still misses such as IEM and WESG.
|
Really nice interview. Totally understandable that he doesn't want to waste 2 months in korea for 1 tournament. It will be interesting to see will Serral's dominance continue in 2019.
|
On November 29 2018 07:08 Weavel wrote:
Really nice interview. Totally understandable that he doesn't want to waste 2 months in korea for 1 tournament. It will be interesting to see will Serral's dominance continue in 2019.
Not just one, there is Super Tournament(and WESG definitely closer to Korea xd).
Everyone now wants to see Serral vs top koreans; we don't risk another 2013/2014, OPEN THE GATES BLIZZARD!
|
France12796 Posts
On November 29 2018 07:07 Xain0n wrote:
Hmmm, I'm both slightly disappointed and a little worried.
I'd have loved to see Serral play in Korea instead of him destroying WCS once again(another 4/4 may or may not be possible, that's tied to Serral's condition and Reynor's growth, imho); moreover, with Terran being so strong this patch i fear training in EU could not be enough to prepare for the likes of Maru and TY.
It would be amazing for him to win the titles he still misses such as IEM and WESG.
So koreans beating foreigner at HSC on old maps is now terran so strong?
|
On November 29 2018 07:20 Poopi wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 07:07 Xain0n wrote:
Hmmm, I'm both slightly disappointed and a little worried.
I'd have loved to see Serral play in Korea instead of him destroying WCS once again(another 4/4 may or may not be possible, that's tied to Serral's condition and Reynor's growth, imho); moreover, with Terran being so strong this patch i fear training in EU could not be enough to prepare for the likes of Maru and TY.
It would be amazing for him to win the titles he still misses such as IEM and WESG. So koreans beating foreigner at HSC on old maps is now terran so strong?
Uthermal beating Raynor, Bunny suddenly becoming super strong, Zest randomly dropping maps to Terran while every Zerg but Serral(and Bly, given his usual level) severely underperformed it's not just koreans beating foreigners.
That doesn't mean that Terran are op(just stronger) and Zerg are weak(just probably weaker) this patch, as we need time to properly assess the new patch.
From Serral's(and every top Zerg's) perspective, WCS is a weaker field to train when Terran become stronger than before and Zerg do the opposite whereas Korea should be a better environment given these conditions.
|
On November 29 2018 05:53 DieuCure wrote:Show nested quote +Olli: Damn, you dodged that question like a pro. But if you didn’t have to stay in Korea for so long, would you do it?
Serral: To be honest I feel like it’s dumb in the first place that we can play the tournament, Thanks Serral to tell the truth ! Good interview.
Yes I thought the same
|
Canada8989 Posts
On November 29 2018 06:56 fronkschnonk wrote:
Wow, he is even getting very good at this interview game now :D
I'm getting worried, soon he won't be faceless anymore, his SC2 magic may go away.
Just remember what happen to Neeb went he changed his name to something else than a fire truck and started to sometime say he wasn't an awful player, he still has not recover.
|
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure.
|
On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure.
No.
My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it.
A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents.
|
So the disrespect is saying that Taeja still isn't one of the top Terran? Or that Serral was confident he could beat Inno in macro games losing the first due to him playing bad with mutas?
|
On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents.
No.
Your only problem is that a foreigner is beating Koreans. You'll always find something bad to say about foreigners because you're biased. You're so biased, in fact, that when Serral says the exact thing you've been preaching, that it's stupid that foreigners can play the GSL but Koreans can't play in the WCS, all you can do is call him arrogant because he doesn't live up to some imaginary standard you've just invented.
|
Canada8989 Posts
On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents.
Man I know your trolling, but still the narrative of Serral as being arrogant is really funny.
|
Great interview! The right questions were asked, and Serral is actually a pretty sensible guy.
I stand by my sig.
|
Bisutopia19231 Posts
It's been a long time since multi-year dominance. Even if he loses 1 or 2 I hope he still delivers top form. Great interview!
|
to paraphrase - "yes I'd like another half million dollars next year as well for beasting people in this computer game" lol - totally dude
|
Nice interview. it's nice to see more personality from him; it felt to me like the best foreigners (him and Neeb) lacked personality tbh. While I understand it's a really long tournament, it's still a bit of a shame that Serral doesn't really want to play in GSL but I do hope he reconsiders or at least goes to Super Tournament.. Also, I was a pretty surprised that he said he thought it was silly that Circuit players could play in GSL I do have to admit, it does feel a bit unfair so I kind of agree. I would like to see the region lock softened slightly (mid level Korean players given more opportunities to play outside of Korea) but not completely so the scene could look a bit more like in HotS, with more tournaments overall. I think that is definitely possible considering how much the SC2 scene has grown this year. .
|
On November 29 2018 07:37 Xain0n wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 07:20 Poopi wrote:On November 29 2018 07:07 Xain0n wrote:
Hmmm, I'm both slightly disappointed and a little worried.
I'd have loved to see Serral play in Korea instead of him destroying WCS once again(another 4/4 may or may not be possible, that's tied to Serral's condition and Reynor's growth, imho); moreover, with Terran being so strong this patch i fear training in EU could not be enough to prepare for the likes of Maru and TY.
It would be amazing for him to win the titles he still misses such as IEM and WESG. So koreans beating foreigner at HSC on old maps is now terran so strong? Uthermal beating Raynor, Bunny suddenly becoming super strong, Zest randomly dropping maps to Terran while every Zerg but Serral(and Bly, given his usual level) severely underperformed it's not just koreans beating foreigners. That doesn't mean that Terran are op(just stronger) and Zerg are weak(just probably weaker) this patch, as we need time to properly assess the new patch. From Serral's(and every top Zerg's) perspective, WCS is a weaker field to train when Terran become stronger than before and Zerg do the opposite whereas Korea should be a better environment given these conditions.
uthermal is having 8-5 score vs reynor and very close with serral too, why the fuck it's a surprise that he beat reynor at hsc, with style that reynor haven't even played against yet.
|
For the haters telling him to go compete in the GSL: Go and find the funds to sponsor him and his support team (yes, the support team is very important) for 2 months and then we'll talk
|
|
|
Russian Federation40190 Posts
On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents.
And he owns it by saying openly he was messing up in concise manner any observer can verify and witness. He does not state he would win if he did not mess up, just that he would have better shot at it.
P. S. While Serral has a point about GSL, he basically states why it happens personally: vastly different format and heavy commitment required. That said, Blizz should really open the WCS gates as well.
|
Olli: "They might be good people inside, but they’re still Protoss."
Serral: "Yeah, that’s true." 
|
Russian Federation143 Posts
To be honest I feel like it’s dumb in the first place that we can play the tournament
How about Koreans attending all WCS events. Even Serral admits it
|
Thanks, Olli! Was a great interview!
|
I'm kinda suprised he doen't mention that he mentioned Lambo for Zergs he trusts. I mean didn't he spoke to him about his builds in the Blizzconfinal?
|
United States33362 Posts
It's official: winning is better than losing
|
Finally got an answer to the "Serral go GSL?!" question.
|
Completely understand him not wanting to go to Korea for 2 month. I wouldn't want to do it either, but Koreans really should have a shot at the WCS Circuit if they want.
|
On November 29 2018 05:53 DieuCure wrote:Show nested quote +Olli: Damn, you dodged that question like a pro. But if you didn’t have to stay in Korea for so long, would you do it?
Serral: To be honest I feel like it’s dumb in the first place that we can play the tournament, Thanks Serral to tell the truth ! Good interview.
Yeah lots of respect for saying that.
|
On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents.
I think it’s pretty questionable that he comes off as arrogant at all, but even if he does... don’t you think he’s earned that at this point? Besides, nothing he said in the interview struck me as unprofessional in the slightest :/ I’m a bit confused by your take on this tbh
|
Serral is product of region-lock, unlocked regions will ruin everything hard builded for years.I agree korean scene need some buff, maby Blizz can back Code A locked for koreans only.
|
On November 29 2018 22:07 Kikirik1 wrote:
Serral is product of region-lock, unlocked regions will ruin everything hard builded for years.I agree korean scene need some buff, maby Blizz can back Code A locked for koreans only.
Hm, yes and no. Region lock was absolutely necessary as foreigner scene was much weaker than korean's; now the best foreigners(except Serral) are still behind, but close enough so that they could benefit of harder competition instead of being hopelessly trampled, in my opinion. I'd love to see Serral vs Koreans way more often; we could wait another year for the unlock, but at least more global competitions are needed.
|
On November 29 2018 22:07 Kikirik1 wrote:
Serral is product of region-lock, unlocked regions will ruin everything hard builded for years.I agree korean scene need some buff, maby Blizz can back Code A locked for koreans only.
you say that like it's a bad thing.
|
Nice interview, I just hope Serral doesn't follow Neeb 2017 and goes into his first tournament 2019 as the same beast he is now.
|
On November 30 2018 00:55 HolydaKing wrote:
Nice interview, I just hope Serral doesn't follow Neeb 2017 and goes into his first tournament 2019 as the same beast he is now.
Or like ByuN. He deserves a break from the game to recharge a bit, but I hope he goes back to hitting the game hard before the next event happens. I'd hate to see him taper off like so many champions before him who took breaks at the end of the year
|
On November 29 2018 23:54 RadgeRayden wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 22:07 Kikirik1 wrote:
Serral is product of region-lock, unlocked regions will ruin everything hard builded for years.I agree korean scene need some buff, maby Blizz can back Code A locked for koreans only. you say that like it's a bad thing.
LOL dude, yes unlock is bad idea for me right now, but i like foreigeners in GSL its alot of FUN!
|
On November 29 2018 07:08 Weavel wrote:
Everyone now wants to see Serral vs top koreans; we don't risk another 2013/2014, OPEN THE GATES BLIZZARD!
wat.
i love how everyone twists serral's statement that it is dumb that foreigners can compete in gsl like this into abandoning the region lock for wcs. at least half the ro16 of any wcs event would still get destroyed by any capable korean and with wcs being weekend events, it would be pretty easy to participate in those additionally to gsl like some foreigners are currently doing. the very top foreigners would probably still do fine, but its that 2nd tier that would suffer the most from going back to the system that already failed miserably in the past. cant believe that people actually want that abomination back.
they got rid of code a because of a lack of participation and it was probably not worth the cost either, but a korean only version of challenger (online tournament with studio cast) or something like that maybe with some warchest money would definitely help the korean player base.
i dont think that excluding foreigners from code s would be the best thing for the tournament as it actually brings a lot of excitement and attention to it. considering the generally low interest in sc2 in korea compared to sc1 that could be more hurtful than helpful in the long run and a seperate korean only tournament is a more costly but also better and probably necessary solution
|
What do you have against protoss Olli? :D
|
On November 30 2018 02:31 Executer08 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 07:08 Weavel wrote:
Everyone now wants to see Serral vs top koreans; we don't risk another 2013/2014, OPEN THE GATES BLIZZARD!
wat. i love how everyone twists serral's statement that it is dumb that foreigners can compete in gsl like this into abandoning the region lock for wcs. at least half the ro16 of any wcs event would still get destroyed by any capable korean and with wcs being weekend events, it would be pretty easy to participate in those additionally to gsl like some foreigners are currently doing. the very top foreigners would probably still do fine, but its that 2nd tier that would suffer the most from going back to the system that already failed miserably in the past. cant believe that people actually want that abomination back. they got rid of code a because of a lack of participation and it was probably not worth the cost either, but a korean only version of challenger (online tournament with studio cast) or something like that maybe with some warchest money would definitely help the korean player base. i dont think that excluding foreigners from code s would be the best thing for the tournament as it actually brings a lot of excitement and attention to it. considering the generally low interest in sc2 in korea compared to sc1 that could be more hurtful than helpful in the long run and a seperate korean only tournament is a more costly but also better and probably necessary solution
I don't know how you did this since I was the one you quoted, not Weavel as it appears xd.
Serral said nothing about region unlock, actually he seemed to indicate the lock should be perfected removing the possibility for foreigners to participate in GSL.
I was asking to remove or soften up the region unlock since everyone wants to see Serral against top koreans; it could be detrimental to mid-tier foreigners at first but the gap is much closer than it was in the past so I think(I could be wrong, obviously) it would actually help them in the long run.
Alternatively, keep the lock and give us many more global events; something should be done to help mid-low korean scene as well.
|
On November 29 2018 20:50 Immaterial wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents. I think it’s pretty questionable that he comes off as arrogant at all, but even if he does... don’t you think he’s earned that at this point? Besides, nothing he said in the interview struck me as unprofessional in the slightest :/ I’m a bit confused by your take on this tbh
I don't think what he says is arrogant at all but I kinda see his point. When Serral loses or has a close series he always says something like "the games were close because I did x and x wrong" (implying if he didn't do those mistakes he'd have easily won).
When someone like Flash or JD lose or have a close series they never make excuses but only praise their opponent and say they only barely edged it out because of some small details.
I'd attribute this more just on Serral's inexperience with interviews though - Flash and JD (and most other koreans) are doing this for over a decade.
You can also argue if you even want every player giving super generic professional answers.
|
On November 30 2018 04:24 Charoisaur wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 20:50 Immaterial wrote:On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents. I think it’s pretty questionable that he comes off as arrogant at all, but even if he does... don’t you think he’s earned that at this point? Besides, nothing he said in the interview struck me as unprofessional in the slightest :/ I’m a bit confused by your take on this tbh I don't think what he says is arrogant at all but I kinda see his point. When Serral loses or has a close series he always says something like "the games were close because I did x and x wrong" (implying if he didn't do those mistakes he'd have easily won). When someone like Flash or JD lose or have a close series they never make excuses but only praise their opponent and say they only barely edged it out because of some small details. I'd attribute this more just on Serral's inexperience with interviews though - Flash and JD (and most other koreans) are doing this for over a decade. You can also argue if you even want every player giving super generic professional answers.
I don't think it's a common thing for Serral to belittle his opponent's performances even when he criticizes his own play. This time was a bit different though, but I think it's just because Serral genuinely feels that the close series gave a wrong impression about Taeja's current level compared to top terrans.
|
|
|
On November 30 2018 02:02 Kikirik1 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 23:54 RadgeRayden wrote:On November 29 2018 22:07 Kikirik1 wrote:
Serral is product of region-lock, unlocked regions will ruin everything hard builded for years.I agree korean scene need some buff, maby Blizz can back Code A locked for koreans only. you say that like it's a bad thing. LOL dude, yes unlock is bad idea for me right now, but i like foreigeners in GSL its alot of FUN!
oops I totally misread your post as saying "serral winning bad if we didn't region lock the koreans would still be winning reee" but I read it again lol
|
Rooting for Serral to become the first SC2 millionaire next year. Can he do it before Maru ?
|
On November 30 2018 19:20 MyLovelyLurker wrote:
Rooting for Serral to become the first SC2 millionaire next year. Can he do it before Maru ?
They both need to have an extremely good year, not sure if they can in 2019.
|
I took an extremely long break from SC2 (thanks, Dota) for perhaps 2.5 years so I did not know of his dominance until 2 weeks ago, and I immediately got nerd chills when Serral won HSC. The buildup to the tournament was amazing to experience, even after the fact. I got to watch some of the more recent matches and finals to see what kind of play to expect.
GG gratz Serral!
|
On November 30 2018 19:53 Xain0n wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2018 19:20 MyLovelyLurker wrote:
Rooting for Serral to become the first SC2 millionaire next year. Can he do it before Maru ? They both need to have an extremely good year, not sure if they can in 2019.
IEM 150K
WESG 200K
Winning both puts Maru above $1mln or Serral above $900K already in March
OFC its going to be hard for either of these two to win both together.
|
On November 30 2018 23:39 fLyiNgDroNe wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2018 19:53 Xain0n wrote:On November 30 2018 19:20 MyLovelyLurker wrote:
Rooting for Serral to become the first SC2 millionaire next year. Can he do it before Maru ? They both need to have an extremely good year, not sure if they can in 2019. IEM 150K WESG 200K Winning both puts Maru above $1mln or Serral above $900K already in March OFC its going to be hard for either of these two to win both together.
WESG is 150k next year. Multiple tournaments and/or BlizzCon would do the trick, still it's not THAT easy xd
|
On November 30 2018 23:39 fLyiNgDroNe wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2018 19:53 Xain0n wrote:On November 30 2018 19:20 MyLovelyLurker wrote:
Rooting for Serral to become the first SC2 millionaire next year. Can he do it before Maru ? They both need to have an extremely good year, not sure if they can in 2019. IEM 150K WESG 200K Winning both puts Maru above $1mln or Serral above $900K already in March OFC its going to be hard for either of these two to win both together.
WESG is only 150k. IEM could be more though because of Warchest.
|
On November 30 2018 04:24 Charoisaur wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2018 20:50 Immaterial wrote:On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents. I think it’s pretty questionable that he comes off as arrogant at all, but even if he does... don’t you think he’s earned that at this point? Besides, nothing he said in the interview struck me as unprofessional in the slightest :/ I’m a bit confused by your take on this tbh I don't think what he says is arrogant at all but I kinda see his point. When Serral loses or has a close series he always says something like "the games were close because I did x and x wrong" (implying if he didn't do those mistakes he'd have easily won). When someone like Flash or JD lose or have a close series they never make excuses but only praise their opponent and say they only barely edged it out because of some small details. I'd attribute this more just on Serral's inexperience with interviews though - Flash and JD (and most other koreans) are doing this for over a decade. You can also argue if you even want every player giving super generic professional answers.
Yet on the other hand in all forms of sport you have players say the exact same thing as serral after matches. “ we lost because we didn’t execute our game plan well enough “, “ I made critical mistakes at the wrong time” etc etc.
Nothing in it at all, not even inexperience...it’s just nitpicking.
|
On November 30 2018 23:47 sneakyfox wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2018 23:39 fLyiNgDroNe wrote:On November 30 2018 19:53 Xain0n wrote:On November 30 2018 19:20 MyLovelyLurker wrote:
Rooting for Serral to become the first SC2 millionaire next year. Can he do it before Maru ? They both need to have an extremely good year, not sure if they can in 2019. IEM 150K WESG 200K Winning both puts Maru above $1mln or Serral above $900K already in March OFC its going to be hard for either of these two to win both together. WESG is only 150k. IEM could be more though because of Warchest.
I kinda hope that the IEM winner's purse stays 100k so that the true God of Starcraft sOs will come and claim another one once again.
|
On December 01 2018 05:30 CaptainBurnTurn wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2018 23:47 sneakyfox wrote:On November 30 2018 23:39 fLyiNgDroNe wrote:On November 30 2018 19:53 Xain0n wrote:On November 30 2018 19:20 MyLovelyLurker wrote:
Rooting for Serral to become the first SC2 millionaire next year. Can he do it before Maru ? They both need to have an extremely good year, not sure if they can in 2019. IEM 150K WESG 200K Winning both puts Maru above $1mln or Serral above $900K already in March OFC its going to be hard for either of these two to win both together. WESG is only 150k. IEM could be more though because of Warchest. I kinda hope that the IEM winner's purse stays 100k so that the true God of Starcraft sOs will come and claim another one once again.
Yea top form $o$ is the best protoss ever
|
On December 01 2018 04:59 AxionSteel wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2018 04:24 Charoisaur wrote:On November 29 2018 20:50 Immaterial wrote:On November 29 2018 08:25 Rodya wrote:On November 29 2018 07:51 kajtarp wrote:
In one thing i agree. GSL is unnecessary too long. 1 month just for Ro32, where it could have been over in 2 weeks. Then almost 2 weeks nothing, 2 weeks for Ro16, and then again almost 2week break. Then after Ro8 again almost 2 weeks of a break. The whole thing could be done in 3 or 4 weeks less for sure. No. My only problem is he sounds arrogant talking about Taeja and Inno. When you lose games you should own it. Prime example is when Flash lost to EffOrt in ASL 6. He trash talked before the match, predicting a 3-0. When he lost, he was very humble and had only respectful things to say toward his opponent. When FlaSh barely won 3-2 vs Snute at some IEM, he didnt discredit his opponents skill. I remember when JD won 2-1 against Scarlett one time early in her career he had an interview where he praised her skill and said it was a difficult match because of it. A champion should be graceful and respect his opponents. Just my two cents. I think it’s pretty questionable that he comes off as arrogant at all, but even if he does... don’t you think he’s earned that at this point? Besides, nothing he said in the interview struck me as unprofessional in the slightest :/ I’m a bit confused by your take on this tbh I don't think what he says is arrogant at all but I kinda see his point. When Serral loses or has a close series he always says something like "the games were close because I did x and x wrong" (implying if he didn't do those mistakes he'd have easily won). When someone like Flash or JD lose or have a close series they never make excuses but only praise their opponent and say they only barely edged it out because of some small details. I'd attribute this more just on Serral's inexperience with interviews though - Flash and JD (and most other koreans) are doing this for over a decade. You can also argue if you even want every player giving super generic professional answers. Yet on the other hand in all forms of sport you have players say the exact same thing as serral after matches. “ we lost because we didn’t execute our game plan well enough “, “ I made critical mistakes at the wrong time” etc etc. Nothing in it at all, not even inexperience...it’s just nitpicking.
Yeah I don't think it's a problem at all - it's just something most koreans don't do.
|
awesome interview 
|
Great interview. Thanks for the content.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT![[image loading]](https://www.teamliquid.net/staff/hexhaven/HSC18/HSC18JaaskelainenPlayers3780.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://www.teamliquid.net/staff/hexhaven/HSC18/HSC18JaaskelainenPlayers4642.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/Ay3u5IT.png)
