EPT
Astrea made a major splash in the EPT 2021/22 season, winning a DHM: North America championship and narrowly missing out on the playoffs at IEM Katowice 2021.TL.net talked to the rising Protoss star ahead of IEM Katowice 2022, discussing the perils of the RO36 bracket, his fandom of Zest (and Zest's "kill your opponent with a big brick" style), and thoughts on returning to Korea for training.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
TL.net (Waxangel): How do you feel ahead of Katowice?
Astrea: I'm not sure, I feel so-so right now. Gameplay wise, I'm feeling okay. I think I was playing really well a couple of weeks ago, now I'm just playing alright [note: This interview was conducted on February 10th.
I really want to get back into my A-game leading up to Katowice, so I think I can do that. I guess to answer your question, I'm feeling okay.
Q: What's the practice been like? Has it been harder to practice due to being based in North America with only two other Katowice participants in Scarlett and Neeb?
Practice wise, my goal is just to get a ladder session and a custom game session in every day, or two custom games sessions in, either one.
Like today, a little bit earlier, I practiced with one of the European Zergs and hopefully later tonight I'll practice with one of the Korean players when they wake up. I don't know—that and watching a few of my replays to see what I'm doing adds up to like 4 hours a day? So I'm actually playing about the same amount as I usually do, but just trying to focus more on customs and deciding exactly what builds I want to have ready for Katowice.
Q: Some players swear by increasing the raw number of hours as the best way to improve, while others seem to experience heavy diminishing returns if they play too many games. How is it for you?
It definitely varies from player to player, but for me, it's based on how long I practice, and how long I can enjoy the practice, and how long I can focus for. So, like you said, the diminishing return point for me is around 4 to 5 hours of practice a day. And that's what I've been doing for the past year honestly, that's how much I've been practicing every single day.
So my practice idea is to just not miss a single day unless I'm like traveling or something; I never miss a day of practice. But I'm at the consistent four-ish hour mark. Maybe an hour more these days, leading up to Katowice, but not much more than that.
Q: Is it tricky to book custom game partners ahead of Katowice?
It's not too difficult, I just mass ask people. I dunno, I just ask five or six different people and usually at least one of them says yes.
There's some times when it's hard to find custom games when I just fail to ask people far enough ahead, or I ask them last minute and they can't really do stuff, but for the most part I can get the custom games in. You just ask people, and even if you don't necessarily expect them to say yes, if you ask enough people one of them will say yes and then you're good *laughs*.
I mean I just ask people in the group stage. Like if I'm asking a Zerg player, I can ask any Zerg player from the group stage who has an opponent who is a Protoss and they'll usually be happy to play. Which in this case is all of them, because there's a Protoss in each group. So, I dunno, for the most part practicing with me wouldn't be a waste of time for them *laughs*, to put it that way.
Q: How do you feel about going to a live environment again?
To be honest I'm not particularly excited or not excited, I'm kind of neutral. I like playing from the comfort of my room; there are pros and cons. I enjoy practicing with, seeing the other players in person. So that'll be cool.
But I'm not really looking forward to flying 16 hours; Poland is super far for me being on the west coast of the US. And also, there's like strict lockdown measures as a player when we get there. Like pretty strict, so I won't be able to do a lot there. It's not like I'm going to Poland to site-see or anything, so ionno, to be honest, I like playing from home *laughs*.
Q: What's the biggest live event you played prior to this? What about a stage match?
Well, I played Katowice 2020, I believe. And then I played WCS Montreal; I got a single stage game vs Hellraiser.
Q: Besides the overall inconvenience, is there any extra nervousness in playing in a live environment?
I think it definitely feels different, but I don't know how I'm going to respond to it yet because it's been so long. Cause, it's possible for any of three outcomes. Like, you play worse because of the pressure, you play about the same, or you play better because you thrive in it. It's been so long so I don't really know how it's going to go for me. I'm not nervous yet, I think I'll be nervous a couple days ahead of flying.
Q: Players like you and Clem had most of their major successes in the online era. Is it going to be difficult transitioning back to live events?
I think that's true for almost every player, even the ones who have lots of experience—well, maybe less so for the ones who have tons of offline experience. But I mean, the two year break from any offline events is pretty big. Except, I think the Koreans have an advantage there because they're still playing GSL and Super Tournament and stuff.
Q: You got three third-place finishes in DHM: North America during the 2021/22 EPT season. From the outside, that felt your first real slump after continued improvement in previous years. What do you think happened?
I kinda agree with that. I mean, it's rough because you base my slump off my matches against
basically Scarlett and Neeb in NA, and those are the only two players I get judged against because those are the two players I lost to. Whereas, my Aligulac has actually gone up like 100 points or so and I'm like top 20 or 21 right now, which is higher than I've ever been.
So I don't know, maybe for whatever reason I just happen to do poorly in the three or four specific matches that made me lose, that made me get top 3 instead of top 1 or 2 in NA in the three seasons? So it's kind of tough to say, cause I don't know, I feel like I'm playing better than before actually, even though my results haven't been up to snuff this year.
Maybe Neeb and Scarlett just got my number a bit more this season or whatever. Versus international opponents, I feel like I'm playing better than in 2020/21.
Q: I guess that's a good way to look at it. There's a lot of variance in those 5 or 6 DHM: North American matches that decide your final standing.
Yeah, and you have to keep in mind a lot of those matches were 2-3 losses for me. Some of them I would consider throws, unfortunately *laughs*. Yeah, it's really not much, it's not much of a difference. Like, if I had done one thing different in a couple of matches, you would be 'oh, Astrea is still doing great' so I don't know.
Q: How come you played so few World Team League matches this year? I feel like that's where you built up your reputation by playing well against Korean players.
Yeah, so... First of all, we picked up another really solid player. Before it was me Zoun, and RagnaroK, and now it's Zoun, RagnaroK, Classic, and I. We just had... since the matches are at 4AM it's kinda rough for me to play, and I think Zoun, RagnaroK, Classic and I are all pretty similarly skilled.
So, I think all things set aside, it makes more sense for them to play than me, throughout the regular season. Just cause, I obviously will not play 100% at 4AM; I don't think anyone will except maybe like Clem who's used to that.
Q: It does seem like there's some stylistic overlap between you and Classic.
I think we were just looking for a player that… I think my manager actually had me in mind when they picked up Classic so I wouldn't have to play at 4AM every week. If I were in Korea, if there was no COVID and I was in Korea this season, I think we wouldn't have picked up Classic and I would have just played like normal. It would have been me, Zoun, RagnaroK for the whole season. But, I think my team had me in mind for this pick-up.
Q: You said you feel like you're playing better. Is there any specific area where you've improved? Or is it just general, all around improvement?
I think it's just general improvement all around. I mean, I think my process has gotten a bit more focused on some small details in my play. Throughout the year I've been trying to fix small thing after small thing, so I'm hoping it all adds up to pretty reasonable improvement. So I wouldn't point to any one thing in particular.
Except that maybe I was more focused on general mechanics this year than before. So there's like the strategy aspect and mechanical aspect, and I think my mechanical aspect has improved, whereas before I primarily just focused on the strategic part of the game.
Q: How did you feel about your performance at the last IEM Katowice? Were you happy to get the 2-3 result in the group stage, or disappointed to barely miss out on the playoffs?
It was obvious a whole year ago, but I think…. Actually I thought I was playing pretty bad that group stage. I wasn't really happy with my play and compared to how I played I thought my result was actually surprisingly good. Like, the way I was playing, I thought I should go 0-5 or 1-4.
Results to gameplay wise, I thought I actually did really well, but I wish I was just playing better *laughs*. Maybe I would have gotten through the group stage then. So I guess I was unhappy with my play, but was fine with the results, would be the answer.
Q: You beat Zest and Trap in that group, probably the two best PvP players in the world at the time. Were you surprised?
I was pretty confident against Trap but not much vs Zest actually. As soon as, I mean, before the series, I don't remember what my expectations were, but as soon as Trap went Nexus first in game one *laughs* I was like 'okay, this guy is gonna die,' to my build I had ready if anyone went nexus first. I don't know, it was definitely a surprise to beat them both but not too big a surprise. That's when I placed the Nexus in his base and recalled the Probes and Zealots and built the Cannons.
Q: Do you think you have an advantage due to having a peculiar style? Or do you think scouting advantages don't really exist anymore.
I think if anyone wants to figure out how I play, I really don't think it would be that hard for them. I mean, minus new builds I have ready coming into IEM, but for the most part I think everyone will know how I play.
Q: Is coming up with new builds a big part of your practice?
It's kind of tricky to say because when I come up with new builds, it's not like my goal is to come up with new builds. I'm just watching replays or whatever or just playing for fun and going like 'oh maybe this is a good idea.' But if I make the purpose of my practice to come up with a new build, it usually doesn't turn out well. I would say the purpose of my play is never to come up with something new; it just comes up from watching replays when I have a spark of inspiration or whatever.
It's mostly just me focusing on builds I already know I want to bring to Katowice. And if I happen to come up with anything new along the way, that's great.
Q: What do you think about the RO36 bracket? It seems like you've been drawn into the more difficult half.
I would agree with that for the most part, except I don't have ByuN on this side of the bracket. Which is nice because ByuN usually does quite well versus me; he's just a really really strong player.
But I... I mean, there's still a lot of strong players on my side of the bracket, like herO, DRG, and I forget the others, but those are the ones I'm most afraid of. But, I mean regardless, I don't think it's that bad, I think I can get through. Even if I'm maybe not the favorite, I'm still feeling pretty confident that I can do it.
Q: What are your goals for the event?
I want to get, this is a very lofty goal, but I want to try to get top 12 in the tournament, and that would be through the group stage. The reason for that goal is cause I was in the group stage last time, and I just almost got out, you know, but I didn't so I want to do a little better than last year.
Realistically, that will be quite hard, because I'm starting from the bracket stage so I have
more to do, but I'm still going to set that as my goal. I think it's good to be lofty sometimes.
Q: If you could detach yourself from your competitor status for a second, are you looking forward to seeing anything as a fan?
Yeah actually, there is. I really want to see Zest do well as it's his final tournament and how hard he's been playing throughout the year. And cause I'm a fan of Zest also. And he kicks my ass every week in ESL, so *laughs*.
Q: Can you explain why Zest is so good to us ordinary people?
CAN I explain it to ordinary people? His mechanics and his builds, his builds and strategy are really strong, and his execution and micro are really strong. And occasionally he does float a lot of money, I admit, but that's usually at a point where it doesn't matter, as strange as that sounds.
Cause like, he goes for these big attacks, and he focuses everything on just microing and attacking and controlling his units, so he'll tend to float at that moment in the game. Where, at that moment in the game, if he's floating a lot of money, then he's usually already killed his opponent or it was important to focus on the attack anyway so the macro is not too important. Although obviously it would be better if he did, though maybe his micro would be worse.
So I dunno, he's just really good, man, I don't know what else to say.
Q: I would say his micro is a bit hit or miss…
*laughs* That might be true. I will say that he is very decisive, so if he if he decides to do something, he's just gonna do it and not give a shit *laughs*. Which is something I don't always do, he's never wishy washy. So I have to give him that.
Q: How come more people don't try to play like him? Optimize everything for that 8-minute A-move.
I don't really know. Well, actually to be fair, I don't try to play like Zest, I don't like to think in that way. I like to think more long term strategy wise, I dunno, maybe people just don't want to play like Zest.
Cause, it is kind of like they are just 'trying to kill your opponent with a big brick' style of play, which I don't fun personally. So that's why I don't play like Zest, even though I think it's really effective.
Q: You alluded to this before, but you'd want to go back to Korea if circumstances allowed?
Yeah, I think so. When there's a bunch of live events, if you qualify for them, they pay for your ticket to fly to places, so I like to take advantage of that when I go to Korea. Like, I could have asked them to take my flight from San Diego to Katowice, then to Korea after the event was over, but there's still COVID restrictions so I didn't want to do it.
But yeah, the answer is yes I guess, my plan would have been to go to Korea, I dunno maybe 6-8 months out of last year? Because I like being home also. Maybe half or two-thirds of the year in Korea, and depending on the tournament situation and stuff just use them to fly back home also.
Q: What's up with NoRegreT? I think he's working full-time outside of esports now?
He's actually in Korea, also.
Q: Is he going to run the house again on the side?
That was his plan actually; he has no visitors right now though, he's by himself. I'd be interested in moving there.
Q: What's your prediction for the IEM Katowice tournament winner?
Like I said, I really want Zest to win, I don't know if I'd actually predict him to win, but I do think he'll do quite well. I mean, to be boring, I would say Maru or Serral, probably.
Q: You don't favor Zergs to win yet another Katowice, considering the map pool?
Yeah I think Maru has a chance, just because how he's been so insane this year, he's #1 on Aligulac now, topping the EU Zergs and I feel like his play is just perfect man, it's so good.
It's so nice, so crisp, so sweet. The guy doesn't make mistakes.
Q: Any final comments or shoutouts?
Ionno, just shoutout to my team, that's pretty much it. Shoutout to my mom I guess. Shoutout to Waxangel, what a guy.
Q: Not your dad?
*Laughs* Oh yeah shoutout to my dad, I should prolly keep that balanced if I'm going to say one of them.
You can follow Astrea on Twitch at Twitch.tv/zastrea and on Twitter at @SCAstrea.
