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4 Posts
![[image loading]](https://www.teamliquid.net/staff/hexhaven/HSC18/HSC18JaaskelainenPlayers4137.jpg) Our editor in chief, Olli, sat down with Team Liquid’s very own  TaeJa at HomeStory Cup XVIII to catch up with him on returning to professional StarCraft II and Team Liquid, the new balance patch, and his plans going into 2019. Special thanks to Hajinsun who sacrificed even more of her already strained voice to translate TaeJa’s answers!
Olli: HomeStory Cup XVIII was your first big tournament since coming back to the international stage. How do you feel about your performance, and what were your expectations going into the tournament?
TaeJa: Coming into this tournament, my goal was to reach the Round of 8 and I did that, so I am pretty happy about that, but I am still a bit disappointed to have lost. But since this is my first tournament after coming back from military service, I am satisfied with my performance at this HomeStory Cup overall.
Olli: How high would you say your skill is right now? For example, you played  Serral in the Winners' Bracket, how far do you think you’re away from him and the very, very top right now?
TaeJa: It is true that right now there is a gap between me and the top players. I ended my military service on the ninth of August, so it’s been a little bit over three months that I have been practicing again. But I think by next year I am going to be back to my performance from before and be among the top players.
Olli: A lot of people are surprised by how quickly you’ve gone back to a very good level. How have you been practicing these last three months? Have you changed anything about your practice compared to before your military service, or do you still practice the same way?
TaeJa: I practice like before, although you know there has been this new big balance patch so I couldn’t really practice on the ladder like I usually do. But we have a really close group of friends with  PartinG, Patience, FanTaSy, and me and we practice together, and that’s why I think I am doing well in this new patch.
Olli: Speaking of the new patch, where do you see the strengths of Terran right now? Because a lot of people in this tournament are saying Terran is pretty good right now, do you think that’s true?
TaeJa: *laughs*
Olli: You can balance whine all you like, that’s completely fine!
TaeJa: Actually I think overall Terran has been nerfed, like the cyclones aren’t as good as before.
Olli: Do you think it’s an advantage for you that a lot of other players have still been playing the old patch because they were competing at BlizzCon, while you’ve had time to practice the new patch?
TaeJa: I don’t think that I had a particular advantage, I just practiced like the other players.
Olli: Who would you say are players whose skill you want to rival, like the best players of every race? And what do you have to do to reach their level now?
TaeJa: I’ll have to work really hard and I’ll really have to understand the game again. The best Terran I think is INnoVation, the best Zerg of course is Serral, there is no discussion about that, and for Protoss it’s either Zest or Stats.
Olli: Were you surprised that Team Liquid came to recruit you again? They hadn’t picked up a StarCraft II player in a long time.
TaeJa: Actually, I am the one who messaged Victor (E/N:  Nazgul) in July, so near the end of my military service, and he asked me ‘will you be a casual player, or will you play competitively?’ and of course I said ‘competitively’ and that my goal was to win a GSL next year. Then he put me in contact with Dario (E/N: TLO, now SCII team manager at Team Liquid) and we discussed everything.
Olli: So you will definitely stay in Korea next year? You haven’t thought about maybe going to Europe or America to play in WCS at all?
TaeJa: There hasn’t been any official announcement from Blizzard yet about WCS, but so far I think I am just going to stay in Korea.
Olli: From a personal standpoint, what does it mean to you to play for Team Liquid again?
TaeJa: Team Liquid changed a lot from what it used to be before, because now it’s a really big company that’s well organized, so I think I’ll have to work really hard to bring them very good results.
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I like this interview. He's got a goal, he's got means to achieve that goal and the answers seem to be just matter of fact.
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Excellent. I was hoping he'd get an interview even though he didn't win HSC as I would say his series against Serral was the best part of the tournament. I modestly thought he'd only take one game but he came very close to beating Serral 3-1. His progress is looking good so in about 2 seasons we might just see the day of Taeja holding a GSL trophy.
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On December 01 2018 20:46 Charoisaur wrote:
Inno>Maru
At the moment, by recent results, possibly yes.
Inno went 4-3 against Serral in the HSC18 finals, the most recent big tournament with high level Koreans and Serral. Inno also made the finals of both WESG Korea qualifiers, winning the second one. By results, Inno has the best Terran result since Blizzcon. We've not seen Maru play at all since his Blizzcon fumble.
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France12883 Posts
Why would INno be better than Maru lol.
Let’s wait for GSL to settle that, we didn’t see Maru play yet
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On December 01 2018 21:45 Poopi wrote:
Why would INno be better than Maru lol.
Let’s wait for GSL to settle that, we didn’t see Maru play yet
INno at HSC was good but not close to Maru from the 2018 GSLs (or INno from 2017). But Maru hasn't played in the last month and some people make that a requirement to be ranked highly.
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All I know is Innovation is not as good as Maru from earlier this year. Maybe in better form right now if Maru is out of shape.
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If Maru didn't bop out to $O$ at Blizzcon then he would be consideredthe best Terran player.
To get back on topic, Taeja fighting!
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Anyway, it would be awesome to see him win a GSL
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So happy the pirate Terran is back!
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INno has really showed good games recently, so I don't think it's completely unreasonable to say he's the best Terran right now, but I guess GSL will show Maru's form again. There's actually a possibility for 4 GSLs in a row for him, but everyone kind of forgot him after getting smacked by sOs at BlizzCon.
At the same time I'm excited for TaeJa to show a good performance in GSL 2019, the man looked really good at HSC.
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Taeja looked in great form at HSC. The Taeja-Serral games were superb.
I’m looking forward to deep runs in tourneys and another Summer of Taeja.
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I'm champing at the bit to see him in GSL next year, and hopefully FanTaSy too although I'm not sure if he will be part of the WCS circuit instead.
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Were I NoRegreT, I'd offer to eat a shoe if Taeja would win a GSL. Never going to happen.
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On December 02 2018 07:04 mierin wrote:
Were I NoRegreT, I'd offer to eat a shoe if Taeja would win a GSL. Never going to happen.
i don't think anyone expected pigbaby to win WCS or Yoda to win IEM or Serral to become better than every Korean either. since he's already proven he's at least good enough to qualify for GSL and compete, why be so extreme in your assessment?
you could make a very cogent argument based on age and other factors why you don't think he will win GSL, and i don't particularly project him to win it either. but saying you'll eat a shoe and it will never happen seems like baiting for an argument more than an honest comment. even the smartest person on TL isn't clairvoyant enough to justify such a final statement 
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Not a favourite sc2 player, but ofc i welcome him back to the scene!
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On December 02 2018 07:04 mierin wrote:
Were I NoRegreT, I'd offer to eat a shoe if Taeja would win a GSL. Never going to happen.
I'm shocked anyone can think this at this point. Especially considering there were a lot of people who thought the same of Maru prior to this year.
Taeja almost made back to back ro8s in the GSL when he was semi-retired in LotV. Not to mention, before leaving for WCS in HotS he was doing good in GSL and during a tougher era too.
Combined with the diminished scene in Korea, I'd eat a shoe if Taeja doesn't win a GSL.
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On December 02 2018 08:13 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:Show nested quote +On December 02 2018 07:04 mierin wrote:
Were I NoRegreT, I'd offer to eat a shoe if Taeja would win a GSL. Never going to happen. I'm shocked anyone can think this at this point. Especially considering there were a lot of people who thought the same of Maru prior to this year. Taeja almost made back to back ro8s in the GSL when he was semi-retired in LotV. Not to mention, before leaving for WCS in HotS he was doing good in GSL and during a tougher era too. Combined with the diminished scene in Korea, I'd eat a shoe if Taeja doesn't win a GSL.
Taeja didn't even win wcs na when he was winning weekenders left and right, he isn't that great at prep tournaments.
Also even if you think he would be around the top favorites to win any gsl, it would still be rather unlikely to win one if there are only 3 per year.
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On December 02 2018 07:18 brickrd wrote:Show nested quote +On December 02 2018 07:04 mierin wrote:
Were I NoRegreT, I'd offer to eat a shoe if Taeja would win a GSL. Never going to happen. i don't think anyone expected pigbaby to win WCS or Yoda to win IEM or Serral to become better than every Korean either. since he's already proven he's at least good enough to qualify for GSL and compete, why be so extreme in your assessment? you could make a very cogent argument based on age and other factors why you don't think he will win GSL, and i don't particularly project him to win it either. but saying you'll eat a shoe and it will never happen seems like baiting for an argument more than an honest comment. even the smartest person on TL isn't clairvoyant enough to justify such a final statement
That's very fair! I retract my statement and replace it with "I would be very surprised were Tajea to win a GSL next year"
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Canada8989 Posts
On December 02 2018 08:13 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:Show nested quote +On December 02 2018 07:04 mierin wrote:
Were I NoRegreT, I'd offer to eat a shoe if Taeja would win a GSL. Never going to happen. I'm shocked anyone can think this at this point. Especially considering there were a lot of people who thought the same of Maru prior to this year. Taeja almost made back to back ro8s in the GSL when he was semi-retired in LotV. Not to mention, before leaving for WCS in HotS he was doing good in GSL and during a tougher era too. Combined with the diminished scene in Korea, I'd eat a shoe if Taeja doesn't win a GSL.
Hum, I would not go too quickly, his HSC run still was pretty for of being GSL worthy and yes he stopped playing competitive for 2 years, but it's already been like 4 months since he came back, it's hard to know how much he still have to "regain" or if he is already close to back to his old form. I expect good runs for him but he will need to up his play if he want to be a GSL contender, getting 3-0 by Cure isn't good enough.
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On December 02 2018 08:13 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:Show nested quote +On December 02 2018 07:04 mierin wrote:
Were I NoRegreT, I'd offer to eat a shoe if Taeja would win a GSL. Never going to happen. I'm shocked anyone can think this at this point. Especially considering there were a lot of people who thought the same of Maru prior to this year. Taeja almost made back to back ro8s in the GSL when he was semi-retired in LotV. Not to mention, before leaving for WCS in HotS he was doing good in GSL and during a tougher era too. Combined with the diminished scene in Korea, I'd eat a shoe if Taeja doesn't win a GSL.
You have to be kidding me. Okay, I guess.
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On December 02 2018 08:13 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:
I'd eat a shoe if Taeja doesn't win a GSL.
quoted for reference
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On December 02 2018 09:28 Ej_ wrote:Show nested quote +On December 02 2018 08:13 FrostedMiniWheats wrote:
I'd eat a shoe if Taeja doesn't win a GSL. quoted for reference
He didn't give a time period. You're gonna have to wait until GSL tournaments stop before holding him to that!
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If TeaJa wins GSL in 2019 I will be very, very surprised. But equally happy
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after a long time we will finally get a terran winning the GSL
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France12883 Posts
TaeJa is impressive but if it’s already 3 months he might not go much higher.
Time will tell but so far he is the most impressive returning player, only 3-2ed by Serral albeit playing worse than usual.
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On December 02 2018 20:33 Poopi wrote:
TaeJa is impressive but if it’s already 3 months he might not go much higher.
Time will tell but so far he is the most impressive returning player, only 3-2ed by Serral albeit playing worse than usual.
I disagree, it takes much longer than 3 months to reach your best play
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This makes me really HYPED! GOGOGOGOGO Taeja!
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I'd put him as 3rd deadliest Terran in the world coming out the gates - 1) Maru 2) Inno 3) Taeja 4) TY
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Wow taeja's back! I thought he retired. Hopefully he finds the form that made him one of the best (if not the best) terran years ago. He's still young so it's not out of the question. He's got some catching up to do though
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On December 02 2018 23:12 T-D-V-D wrote:
I'd put him as 3rd deadliest Terran in the world coming out the gates - 1) Maru 2) Inno 3) Taeja 4) TY
Agreed
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Canada8989 Posts
On December 02 2018 23:12 T-D-V-D wrote:
I'd put him as 3rd deadliest Terran in the world coming out the gates - 1) Maru 2) Inno 3) Taeja 4) TY
Bunny and Cure just placed in front of him at HSC...
Plus aLive is pretty good right now, and Gumiho is hard to rank.
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Nice to see TaeJa back in the game!
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EPT![[image loading]](https://www.teamliquid.net/staff/hexhaven/HSC18/HSC18JaaskelainenPlayers4192.jpg)
