EPTToday Karont3.VortiX became the newest member of the ever-exclusive TSL4 invite club, after taking out d.SeleCT in the semifinals and GoldenLight in the finals. He shared some thoughts with us after all was said and done.
#10: EU/NA Qualifier 7
Here is what the standings looked like at the end of play. Top 32 bracket on Liquipedia.
| 1st | K3.VortiX |
| 2nd | GoldenLighT |
| 3rd-4th | infsJRecco |
| 3rd-4th | d/SeleCT |
| 5th-8th | Helios685 |
| 5th-8th | RoX.TITAN |
| 5th-8th | mouz.HasuObs |
| 5th-8th | Fuzer |
Interview with K3.VortiX
Please introduce yourself for those who might not know you!
I'm Juan "VortiX" Moreno Durán also known as LucifroN's brother, I'm 18 years old zerg player from Barcelona, Spain. I've been playing competitively since 2008, starting with Warcraft 3. I started playing Starcraft II with the release of the beta, and right now I play for the Spanish team Karont3.
What does it mean to you to have qualified for TSL4?
Together with Dreamhack Valencia and WCS Europe it is the biggest tournament I'm gonna be playing soon, probably the first big tournament for me, I'm really excited.
You were one of the first players to make it into two TSL4 qualifier broadcasts. Did you feel confident that you would at least achieve enough points to make it into TSL4?
Well after my good run in the third qualifier I felt really confident, but I started to get a bit hopeless after getting knocked out in the last bo1 round a few times in a row, but I knew that once I reached bo3 I could go far in the tournament.
In your last broadcast, you played an insane series against SaSe, losing 0-2, but looking very impressive. We never got a chance to ask you about that series, especially the last game where SaSe came back with no nexii on the field. How did you feel about that opportunity?
I think my decision making in that series was horribly bad, I decided to go fast drop in a map where 2 base all-ins are pretty common, so I didn't have enough supply to stop his push in the first game, and in the second game I had a lot of minerals, could've just done a lot of spines and hold his last push, but I was a bit tired at that point and couldn't think properly.
Lets turn to happier times! You played SeleCT in the semi-finals here. Now SeleCT had also gotten to a broadcast, and two-raxed Ret out in the midst of a tournament of cheese. Were you aware of his reputation?
Nope, I didn't have any idea of what he played like, I had only played him once, on American ladder and he played standard so I was really surprised by his playstyle.
After game one you caught on pretty fast, heading straight to the 11/11 rax positions in the next two games. Do you feel confident against that build?
I'm good at stopping it I think, I've played a lot of times vs it in Ladder, so I'm used to it, in the first game though, he caught me off guard coming with a lot of scvs, which I didn't suspect, so I didn't have enough to stop it, but in the other games I managed to kill a lot of marines, so I got the advantage.
Now in the finals, you faced a ZvZ against GoldenLighT. Did you know anything about his playstyle? How did you feel about the finals match-up?
Well, some Spanish mates told me a bit about his playstyle, but I hadn't seem him play myself any time. I didn't feel too confident because ZvZ is probably my worst matchup, but I've improved it a bit lately, so I didn't feel very unconfident too.
Tell us about Game One. That uh... that went well for you.
Yeah, it surely did! I felt really confident all game long, I played no bane-nest but he didn't do any push, so I got 1-1 upgrades really fast and I managed to do a lot of damage both in his main base and in his third, he did surprise me with that nydus though, I thought I could lose in that push as I was going for ultralisks.
In Game Two, you went muta against infestor, but had an insanely clutch snipe on the infestation pit. Did you feel the importance of that moment?
That was really important, because that meant that his infestors would be really really late and I could play as greedy as I wanted, so I got huge eco while going for infestor-roach.
To win game two, you got off the fungal to end all fungals. Feel good?
It felt incredibly good, seeing so many units fungaled at the same time always feels good, specially if they are not your own units.
Alright, and then game three. Why the nine pool with drones?
He just went fast expansion in all the games, so being the third map Antiga I thought he would go fast expansion, and doing an early pool when you are heading 2-0 is always a good choice.
What was the moment you knew you had won?
I knew I had won when he canceled his expansion, the only thing that can save you in that situation is keeping your expansion going and somehow manage to get some lings out and try to fight in the expansion without my spine around, I was still afraid of a base trade, but he just kept walking with his drones around his base, so once I got the spine out I thought it was over.
How did you celebrate when Golden gg'd and you took the series?
Oh well, I just shouted a shy "yeah!!" , I was just really shocked by the tournament I had made knocking out 2-0 hasu, 2-0 socke, 2-0 lowely, 2-1 select and 3-0 golden, it felt really good.
You got in and your brother only has 33 points!
Yeah, but I have faith in him, he'll win one, believe me!
Only three left! ^^
Yes. :D
Alright, so tell us one thing about yourself that other people might not know
I'm a Real Madrid supporter, being from Barcelona, is that weird enough? xD
Yep! You won just a few days after Spain took the Eurocup! Coincidence?
Nah, not coincidence, we Spaniards are just going to dominate the world!
Three more NA/EU qualifiers, and still eight point positions yet to be decided Who would you like to see qualify?
I would like to see my Spanish mates LucifroN, AlaStOr, LoLvsxD, and ToXiC qualify, they are in really good shape, they have played most of the qualifiers, and they've done really good, I would like to see them in.
We've seen a lot of people qualify for the TSL by now, anyone you're hoping to play? And how do you think you could do in the TSL?
Any opponent will be hard, but i'll train hard for it, so I think I can do good if I have some luck, there isn't any certain person I'd like to play, I guess just as many Koreans as possible. :D
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