EPTThis season I am back with DRG, who qualified for the Ro8 after 6 years!
I haven't proofread it so apologies in advance for potential typos ~_~
I hope you enjoy the interview!
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Hello DRG
Hello~
Congratulations for your qualification to the Ro8! It’s been 6 years, tell us how it feels!
Well, in fact I think I should have been here earlier. I feel bad that it took that long since my comeback from the army [to reach the Ro8]. But well, I made it now so I think it will be easier next time!
It’s still quite impressive! There are other players who came back from the army but you are the first one to make it that far.
That’s what I heard ^^
Well, let’s start from the group nomination. TY swapped you and Stats at the end and you are all from the same team, Afreeca Freecs. Did you plan that beforehand?
A lot of players were trying to have me in their group so TY told me, “hey hyung, if it’s too hard you can come in my group and we can take 1st and 2nd place” as he knew I’d rather play ZvZ [than ZvP]. But when I got picked in group D, it wasn’t too bad after all. So we were gonna leave it like this but Special didn’t do as TY planned so things got a bit complicated and I ended up in group A to qualify with TY in the next round.
Indeed, you both qualified hand in hand but you took the first place of the group! Did you expect that?
I don’t know what people were expecting but I knew I could do it as I was confident in my ZvT. I thought I had a good chance of winning even against TY, after I beat Special as long as I didn't lose to weird builds.
Wow you are confident in your ZvT while everybody is complaining that Terrans are too strong right now. And in fact, you will face INnovation in the next round, a player that you already faced in the Ro8, 6 years ago. When you saw the brackets, were you aware that you could possibly play against him?
While I was playing, not really. But once I qualified by topping my group, I looked at group B and I wondered who I’d rather face. I watched the games on Saturday [the interview has been conducted on Sunday] and I was just hoping “please not Parting” because I’d rather play ZvT than ZvP. I didn’t mind if it was INno or Bunny but I was just wishing to avoid Parting. So it’s rather a relief that I am facing INno.
Do you remember your match 6 years ago?
I do…I lost 0-3 and even the games themselves were very one-sided and I lost miserably. I remember myself going home alone after losing the series quickly. I hope it won’t be the same this time!
I am looking forward to it! Is there anything you would like to tell him?
Hey INno, let’s play 5 maps, would ya? At least for the viewers… be gentle ^o^
I’ll let him know! Haha.
It’s been 2 years now you are back from the army. Foreigners can be unfamiliar with the Korean military service, so they have a lot of questions. Can we watch games there?
Well if you want to, you can in the rooms called “Sa-ji-bang” [literally Cyber knowledge information room]. They are these rooms with PCs but the infrastructure is really bad and the internet super slow. It takes a minute to open the welcome page of Naver [most popular Korean portal site]. Once I got used to the army, I watched from time to time, one game or two and the results to catch up with the scene.
During your service, were you planning on returning as a pro player?
In fact since I began my service until 2, 3months before the discharge I wasn’t thinking of returning at all. I left for the army when I had no regrets left for SC2 but once there, I watched some of my past games and I couldn’t help but thinking “if I would have played it that way, it would have been better”. Once I got a higher grade at the army as sergeant, I thought, if I had the opportunity, if I could recover my skills, I might wanna return as a player.
I guess it wasn’t an easy decision to make. If you hadn’t returned as a pro player, what would you have liked to do?
I wanted to go back to study! I was interested in programming, coding but you know, each year you delay makes it even harder to return so I judged that I had to do what was urgent first: playing. That’s why I choose the game.
Wow, so you decide to return and here we are, 2018, Serral-con! How did you experience that?
So once I returned and started watching all the games, there was this weird foreigner beating all Koreans and winning all the tournaments. I thought, “What the..? Who is this?” When I was in the army, I hadn’t seen him at all, I was not playing either so I was lost. But his plays were out of the ordinary. I saw there were many things I could learn from this player. His plays were ultimately close to the ideal I had in mind before the army. I was undoubtedly impressed.
What did you want to learn from Serral?
In almost every game I watched, there was something to learn. When he was playing, I would put everything else behind me and watch the game. From the early build, the way he moves the army, he builds the late game, I would watch everything to try to make it mine but it’s not something you can achieve overnight.
I wish you will face each other soon!
Since you returned, you actually haven’t performed that well. Was that the most difficult part from returning?
It’s true that my results were the biggest issues. I am not that young anymore as a pro player and each day added the pressure of the reality. I couldn’t keep trying forever and even if I kept trying hard, the results were absent so the despondency I was feeling was the hardest part.
In these hard times, which players were supportive?
After I just returned I played in a team tournament with aLive and KeeN and they told me I was talented enough and if I kept believing in myself and trying, I would succeed.
They are both at the army now, right? There are other players actually who will return soon. Do you think one of you could win a major tournament in the foreseeable future?
This is something I felt recently, I don’t think going to the army and returning totally interrupts your career. With enough practice and a little bit of talent, depending on the player’s effort, I believe that you can perform well!
Indeed and I’m sure you practiced really hard to be where you are now. How would you compare the “old” and the “new” DongRaeGu?
Before, I was improvising, rather playing instinctively but now I try to keep it rational and find the best play to win. I became more composed, I think I improved in that sense.
Is that what age and experience gave you?
Indeed and what years of experience teach you matters a lot.
You said earlier that you’d feel some kind of pressure of reality. Did the 3-years-ESL SC2 esports plan announcement affect you in a way or another?
It did for sure. Before we had to wait every year for the following year's announcement at Blizzcon but now, for a player who is hesitating about his career, he knows that as long as he can perform, he will be able to participate in tournaments and win prizes etc.
So this is ESL and mostly non-Korean tournaments. What do you think about the Korean SC2 scene?
It’s mainly “stagnant water” [Korean idiom to designate “Oldbees”, players who’ve been around forever and will become rotten water, ed.note]. Abroad you keep seeing young players, born in 2002. They are young but still giving a chance to SC2, we don’t have that at all in Korea. Such a shame…New faces make a league more vibrant and even from the viewers’ perspective, it makes things more interesting.
Is there anything we could do to change that and encourage new players?
Well you need a bigger pie, but from the organizers’ point of view, you can’t invest too much given the SC2 market impact. When you advise a young aspiring pro player you’d rather tell him to play League of Legends, not SC2. I don’t think it’s a problem you can fix just with one solution.
Yeah...do you think SC3 will ever happen? Blizzard, are you listening to us?
Haha, that’d be the best yeah!
SC2 is 10 years old like GSL this year. Your career is almost as long as the game and when I asked the community to share some questions they had, many mentioned your famous ceremonies. Before there were various and provocative ceremonies. Do you miss them? Do you wish they were back again?
Of course! It was really fun, before every game I wondered how they would taunt me this time. You know, before not just in team leagues but even in individual leagues, you would see manner mules, people spamming scans or make the units dance, proxy hatch or nexus. Now I think the players are too timid.
Can we expect some ceremonies in the Ro8?
With a player I’m close to, I would totally do it but I am not that close to INnovation so it might hurt his feelings. I’m a bit shy..
Don’t worry about that, I’m sure he is totally okay with that and he would even taunt you back.
I would love my opponents to do that to me, even if we are not close. They can forget my age, it entertains me, it fires me up. I wish to see more ceremonies between players.
I will let INnovation know for sure. What is the most memorable ceremony you did and somebody has done to you?
Haha so for what somebody did to me... I think it was MC who hit my booth to taunt me during GSTL. It had the biggest impact on me and for something I did, after winning the finals against Genius, I put on him the military uniform telling him to go to the army, that’s what I remember the most.
youtu.be
I’ve seen that too! When it was your turn to go to the army, did you remember that moment?
That hurt me for real, “ah...Genius must have felt this way…”
I wish players would act like that again! It must have been so fun, there were a lot right? Especially during team leagues.
During the pro leagues we were told not to be too provocative as it was still serious with the association and everything. So we couldn’t go too far..
Like taking off your shirt?
Aha I don’t know about that but now that it’s not the same anymore, I think it would be okay to bring the ceremonies back.
I am looking forward to it! Okay, let’s get to the next part of the interview. Who is DongRaeGu? 4 simple questions about you, let’s go! First question, why did you pick zerg?
When I started SC2 for the first time, Zerg was really weak but hey, doesn’t it look cool if you are able to perform with the weaker race only with your skills? That’s why I picked Zerg.
Did you have any role models?
When I was an aspiring pro-player during BW there was this player, July. His play style was very straightforward. He was my role model.
Now your ID: where does it come from?
*laugh* I tend to be very cautious when choosing my ID, not only for Starcraft but in other games like RPGs, etc too. I was even more careful for SC2 but I couldn’t find an ID that I liked. So I thought, why not use the name of the district I’m living in to promote this place?
I saw on Reddit that an OW map actually used this place.
I didn’t know that at all! I’ll have to check that or even play the game. It’s fascinating!
It is indeed haha. So last question, how would you describe yourself as a player in one sentence?
A perfect Zerg who knows to defend when you have to defend and attack when you have to attack. *laugh* A Zerg who wants to be that perfect Zerg.
Perfect Zerg huh! Would you like to face Serral?
Since I returned, I’ve been looking forward to it! All the players after playing him, told me they couldn’t even breathe. I also want to feel this kind of pressure. But I was not playing that well so I didn’t have the opportunity to face him at all.
Now there is the War Chest Team League! It will eventually happen. I am looking forward to it.
You are in Benny and the Boyz with TY, Zest and Hurricane. How do you like your team?
Before the draft, I wasn’t sure that somebody would actually pick me up. I’m thankful that I got picked and TY, Zest and Hurricane are all players who performed well recently so it’s doable.
I really hope to see you teaching a lesson to Serral during the Team League!
Haha I don’t know if I can teach him a lesson but I want to face him for sure.
As in the old days, you used to be the ace of your team, I am looking forward to that Team League! Any last words to your fans in English?
“Hmm..Hello guys it’s DRG from Korea, it’s been a while and I want to show you guys great games in league, soon, so...just… keep cheering for me? Thank you!”
Wait, your English is so good! You are like, among the best after Solar.
I just picked it up over-the-shoulder.
Does that mean we can do our next interview in English?
If my English improves yeah haha
Okay. Any other last words in Korean to all of your fans?
I’ve been performing pretty well recently, I’m satisfied and it gives me strength to picture my fans who missed me keep cheering for me and watch me win. I wish in the foreseeable future to be able to meet my fans offline and keep performing well! Thank you
Can we expect to see your zergling impression again if you make it to the finals this season?
I did that when I was so young...Don’t you think people would call me silly if I’d do that?
I’m sure people would love to see that!
Aha maybe if I’m carried away by the atmosphere~
Thank you so much for your time and good luck in the Ro8!
![[image loading]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/583640774881574948/734967683178823690/ezgif.com-video-to-gif.gif)
I hope you enjoyed it as much I enjoyed doing it, you can find him on Twitter and me here: Twitter and IG
I will upload the video on my Youtube (but it has to be edited first so it will take a while).
DRG hwaiting~ I will try to do an interview with INno or Parting, let me know in the comments if you have any questions for them!
