Day 1 of the R3 qualifiers started off with casts of two epic matchups: the rising Mexican star GosI[Terran] took on perennial favorite mTw.iNfeRnaL in a nail-biting TvP, while German wonder-boy mouz.Kolll fought with TSL Ladder #2 eX-v1o)MorroW. [Pan]CaStrO and mouz.MaNa slugged it out in a bloody series featuring thousands of Zerglings, a multitude of Psi Storms, and no shortage of general carnage.
Who would earn a spot their spot in the PokerStrategy.com TSL, and who would merely be yet another to fall in the qualifiers? Find out below! (VODs of the cast by Tasteless and Artosis to come)
Winning today grants the winner a spot in the PokerStrategy.com TSL, which begins with the round of 16 starting on January 30th. Additionally, each player who won today is guaranteed at least $250. Check out the brackets here!
eX-v1o)MorroW vs mouz.Kolll: Download Torrent
GosI[Terran] mTw.iNfeRnaL: Download Torrent
Please note that the qualifiers today are the last round that will have replays released. For the actual PokerStrategy.com TSL itself, only VODs will be released. Today's VODs have the replays released because the non-casted games of their peers are being released.
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mTw.iNfeRnaL | < Fighting Spirit > | GosI[Terran] |
mTw.iNfeRnaL | < Outsider > | GosI[Terran] |
mTw.iNfeRnaL | < Destination > | GosI[Terran] |
mTw.iNfeRnaL | < Andromeda > | GosI[Terran] |
GosI[Terran] advances 3 - 1 to the PokerStrategy.com TSL!
[Pan]CaStrO | < Fighting Spirit > | mouz.MaNa |
[Pan]CaStrO | < Outsider > | mouz.MaNa |
[Pan]CaStrO | < Destination > | mouz.MaNa |
[Pan]CaStrO advances 3 - 0 to the PokerStrategy.com TSL!
eX-v1o)MorroW | < Fighting Spirit > | mouz.Kolll |
eX-v1o)MorroW | < Outsider > | mouz.Kolll |
eX-v1o)MorroW | < Destination > | mouz.Kolll |
eX-v1o)MorroW | < Andromeda > | mouz.Kolll |
mouz.Kolll advances 3 - 1 to the PokerStrategy.com TSL!
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PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Congratulations on qualifying for the TSL! How do you feel now?
mouz.Kolll:
I feel great since I can win at least 250$ now.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
You dropped the first game to Morrow. Did that set you back mentally? Were you worried?
mouz.Kolll:
It didn't set me back because I've been losing a lot of series where I won the first game. So I thought it was a good sign for me to win the series since I lost the first game, if that makes any sense lol
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Quite like Jaedong :-) How did the other games go from your point of view?
mouz.Kolll:
The second game he tried to sunken-bust allin me but because I knew it was coming I could prepare myself accordingly, so I was quite confident I would win.
The 3rd game I was very worried when that huge army goliath/m&m army came out of his main, but I was able to stall the push quite a lot until I had high tech units.
The 4th game was a normal 3hatch into 4gas lategame game and since I practice that a lot I was confident I would win the game
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Did you expect a rush on Andromeda? You went for an unusual build for ZvT on that map: an overpool
mouz.Kolll:
A lot of terrans like to bunker rush on Andromeda because the map is so big and the zerg doesn’t expect this, and a lot of terrans think the zerg is gonna 12 hatch because of the map. So the most unpredictable strat is overpool, and it counters bunker rush perfectly.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
You will play the winner of mouz.Fenix vs iG.Casper. What is your prediction for the match and what do you think about the players? (Fenix plays TvZ TvP PvT)
mouz.Kolll:
I don’t know who casper is so I can’t say much vs him. But Fenix is a strong TvZ player and he likes to play stuff I’m weak against. So I hope casper wins the series so that I don’t have to play vs fenix. But I think fenix wins the series although I don’t know who casper is.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How did you practice for the match today?
mouz.Kolll:
I partly played with my smurf vs Korean terrans and partly played vs clanmates/friends. And fortunately morrow uploaded his repack on TL, so I was able to research what he does on each map, so I had a lot of information about his playstyle before I played him.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Haha so I guess we won’t see your repack for a while. You will have 2 weeks now until the TSL starts. Are you going to prepare similarly?
mouz.Kolll:
Since it is 2 weeks I won’t play ONLY vs my next opponents race, but of course I will play a lot of games to get far in the tournament and try to get reps of my opponents and study them.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Alright then, thank you very much for the interview and good luck in the TSL, kolll!
mouz.Kolll:
Thanks
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PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Congrats on beating Infernal and qualifying for the TSL! how do you feel?
GosI[Terran]:
I feel good since I played almost as high skill play as I could
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Can you describe what happened in each game a bit, and how you felt at the critical moments in them?
GosI[Terran]:
In the first game on Fighting Spirit it was a reallly dynamic game since I went for a timing push and he went for fast Arb, so it was a really high action game, but I lost due some bad control when I was in Protoss natural. In the 2nd game on Outsider I just did a totally good build against what he did and won pretty easily.
I just abused the map to the max on 3rd game on Destination lol so good game. We both did mistakes but it was really good game I think
And in the 4th game i just did a good timing push against what he was doing
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How did you prepare for this match? Who were your practice partners?
GosI[Terran]:
None. I was gonna play GosI[Flying] and GosI[SeCret], but they were busy so I just practiced against computer(build order,build placement) on each map and spot and than just laddered.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Infernal has a bit of a reputation as choking in important games... did you feel he choked in these, or were you just a better player?
GosI[Terran]:
No, he didn’t choke. He played solid and strong… didnt feel like he was playing bad or anything, I guess I just played more solid than him.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
You've been compared to IdrA[Media], stylistically. Do you feel it's an apt comparison? How would you describe the way you play?
GosI[Terran]:
Well Idra and I like to go to macro games, but I don’t really play like him. He actually does a lot of timing pushes. I rarely play that; I like to sit all game or till 200/200. Idra does too but he does that less(i think). That’s in tvp though
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
I see. As you know, Idra, mouz.IefNaij, Draco, and RoX.Kis.BRAT_OK are already in the RO16 with you. How would you rate your chances vs each of those players if you happen to meet them?
GosI[Terran]:
Well I just will practice to play whoever I gotta play. I don’t wanna go into details about each one; they are all strong so I gotta play stronger.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Since you're a bit unknown to the foreigner scene, can you rank your matchups relatively?
GosI[Terran]:
To be honest, all my matchups are equal since I play all of them a lot, so I don’t feel I have one weaker or one stronger, but all around same skill.
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Are you going to do anything to celebrate your victory today?
GosI[Terran]:
No, just practice
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
You’ve mentioned wanting to be a progamer, right? What are your plans for that? Do you plan to win the TSL and then head to Korea, or what?
GosI[Terran]:
Gonna play my best for TSL and keep practicing hard to be a progamer. I don’t really know anything about it
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Do you have a favorite progaming team? ^^
GosI[Terran]:
Yea if I could pick one to join I would pick Woongjing Stars
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Why is that?
GosI[Terran]:
I don’t know, I just like that team, got no idea why :X
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Well OK then! Do you have any final messages for your fans? Any shoutouts etc.?
GosI[Terran]:
Yes i would like to thank:
Idra(My Father) Artosis(My Mother) and KingDino(My Brother) for helping me out
Thx
Oh yea suddenattack owns
PokerStrategy.com TSL:
haha, thanks for the interview and good luck against IefNaij and any future opponents!
GosI[Terran]:
thx
bb
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