ClouD vs G5 Results and Interview

Interview with Winner

Congratulations! How do you feel?

I feel good. I prepared a lot for my match. After I won, I got up and let all of my frustration out and felt extremely relieved. I have prepared for tournaments (such as WCG) like this before but I haven't prepared for a single match up and single player like that in a very long time. I am very happy.

Describe what happened in each game and what you were thinking at critical moments.

Game 1, I started with a safe / macro oriented build. I was relieved he didn't proxy gate simply because I scouted a little later than I usually do because Cloud is a solid player and I didn't expect proxies. We both went into macro oriented builds but where it differed, I cut probes throughout the game strategically to ensure that I would win the first decisive battle, wether it be him attacking me or me attacking him.

Time passed long enough that I had to engage or I would lose due to his probe count. So I pushed at his third (which I didn't know he had) and simply 1a2a3a4a when I was in a good position and won the battle like I planned. Him taking a third so early ensured it as a victory for me, if he didn't it woulda been closer.

And Game Two?

Game 2, I started with essentially the same build order as Game 1. Fast expo off into probe cut to get my robo / 2nd and 3rd gateway up faster to stop any aggressive attacks. He actually attacked me off two gateways and micro'd better than me to force all my units back into my main as he was killing my nat. I had to use probes to stop his attack, at which point I thought I would probably lose. He miss-micro'd and I got to screw up his goons AI with my probes a bit / hold my nat which is the only reason I was still in the game.

After that I had NO idea wtf he was doing and basically made as many units as fast as I could thinking a 3 gate goon or something was about to run me over. When my first ob got out I saw he did 2 gate reaver and I basically played the best I could / adapted to whatever he was doing to try and hold on. There was about 3 points in this game I thought I lost.

His final attack he attacked me with a bigger army and I was basically like "f*ck" and he ended up pulling back for whatever reason (scared of reavers or something I think) and I just 1a2a3a'd into his base / brought along my straggling reavers. I got to chip away waaaay too much during his retreat and pushed into his nat ftw. This game we traded armies a bunch and with my probe cutting I felt like I was on the edge all game and behind in eco the entire time. I would be surprised if I was ever up in supply the entire game. I was just fortunate to have fought in pretty good positionings in almost every battle.

What do you think about flaf? How is your PvZ? You will be facing two tough Zergs in the upcoming weeks.

I still don't know much about FlaF. I have been told a few things from friends about him but nothing worth noting. He qualified for TSL so he obviously isn't someone you can take lightly, and I won't. My PvZ right now is the best it has ever been. I have been fortunate for many years that I have so many friends who are some of the fiercest players outside of Korea. I will definitively be calling on them for advice / practice in the upcoming days / weeks to prepare for my matches vs FlaF and possibly Ret.

Are you doing anything to celebrate?

I celebrated after the match with a nice little victory cigarette. And now it's back to preparing for my next match / living normal life.

Who helped you practice for this match? Any shout-outs?

I want to thank White-Ra, NonY and iNfeRnaL for their help with practice / theorycrafting for this match. Especially White-rA who theorycrafted with me quite a bit over a span of a week or two and helped me to understand the match up a lot more.

Thanks for the interview and good luck next round!

Thanks for supporting me. I will be bringing my A-GAME every match I play throughout this tournament. If I lose it won't be because I was unprepared. <3 All~ G'Night~