Calm: "I will become a player that never gives up!"
"I will continue with my spirited play in the next season."
"I will continue with my spirited play in the next season."
-How do you feel about capturing your first title in an individual league?
▲It has always been my dream to ascend onto the stage for the finals. I am thrilled at having my dream turned into reality and to actually win this tournament. Although there were many hardships along the way, since I never thought of giving up and since I had an enjoyable time, I was able to obtain the title. I am really happy!
-What were your first thoughts after you won?
▲The first thing I thought of was myself, holding that trophy. After that, I thought of my family.
-You debuted as a gamer with your older brother, ToSky.
▲At first,I had no thoughts of becoming a gamer, but my brother took me to a tournament. I guess he thought he would be lonely if he went alone. But I found that Starcraft was fun, so I started practicing and I was able to get my progamer's license. So my career as a progamer is mostly due to my older brother's influence.
-It seems that you had an even stronger sense of responsibility, since your brother retired.
▲I really would have liked it if my brother (hyung) had been successful as a gamer as well. Since he wasn't, I feel that I have to play twice as well, for both his sake and for mine.
-This can be seen as the first time that a 2v2 player has won a starleague.
▲At the time, I was the only player on my team that could play 2v2, so I had to make a sacrifice. But after 2v2 was removed from the proleague, there was a condition that I would be able to concentrate on the individual leagues. Even when I was playing 2v2, my manager and my coach helped me a lot and I never gave up my individual goals. Although I was playing for my team, since I kept being ambitious, I was able to win a tournament like this.
-It seems that your victory over Jaedong in the round of 4 also contributed greatly to preparing you for the finals.
▲Most people thought that I would lose and even I thought that I would have to practice very hard just to make the probability for victory a 50/50 chance. But after I beat Jaedong, I became very confident and was able to change my mindset.
-In this FA, your salary went up drastically, did that help you win?
▲My team raised my pay like that because that's how much they think I'm worth. So for each game I play, I think about my salary and that I have to play at the level that they deserve. With this in mind, I have to practice even harder whenever I am scheduled to play a game.
-Jaedong had an interview where he said that he wanted you to win as well.
▲Well, I am the player that knocked him out of the tournament and he used to be the only one dragging the Zerg race behind him. He probably said he wanted me to win so that he could share the heavy burden that he's been carrying all this time (laughs).
-Now you have some time to relax before proleague starts up again. How will you spend your extra time?
▲Although they call it vacation, they only give us a little time before we have to start practicing for the new maps again. Although we were only able to reach 3rd place in the last season, both my teammates and I will practice hard so that we can win in the finals.
-How will you spend your prize money?
▲There have been many people that have helped me, so I will treat them to a nice meal and save the rest of it.
-How will you prepare for the next season?
▲The proleague is always number one in priority. Our team has never been able to win in the proleague before so this season, we will focus completely on it. However, I think that we will be able to have a decent showing in the individual leagues, even if we have to prepare in our spare time.
-Do you have any last words that you would like to share?
▲I would like to thank both by.hero and Modesty from my team, as well as ZerO from woongjin and 815 from KT who helped me practice like it was their job. My presence at the finals can also be attributed to my coaching staff, whose faith in me was a huge help. I also want to thank the fans that have always supported me and I would like to tell my family that I love them.
Source: Calm's Original Interview on Fomos