Ro16 Week 2 Interviews!

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Congrats on your great 3-1 victory today over RoX.KIS.BRAT_OK! How are you feeling?

ToT)Mondragon(:
I'm feeling great. I didn't expect to win like that.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
What do you mean "like that"?

ToT)Mondragon(:
In my opinion I played really really good in this series and I was excited everything worked out like I wanted it to work out

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How much and how did you practice?

ToT)Mondragon(:
I didnt practice too much in general, but when I played, I only played zvt and nothing else. Since I'm very busy with studies and with personal stuff I don't have too much time to practice, but therefore I did it intensely when I did.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Did you have any particular practice partners?

ToT)Mondragon(:
ToT)DaZe( and ToT)Hayder( - thanks to you both! =)

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Did the games go mostly how you expected them to go? How did BRAT compare to how you expected him to be?

ToT)Mondragon(:
To be honest, I only found very old replays of him and since I saw they were several months old, I didn't even bother to check for any particular strategies or so and I just practiced ZvT in general without trying to figure out a special strategy vs BRAT

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
On the whole you showed a focus on fast-hive strategies. Was there any particular reason for this? What about your infested CC in game 1?

ToT)Mondragon(:
I don't really prepare any special timing or so, I just play what my feeling tells me to do in each particular game, so it seems that a rather quick hive was the right decision in the one or other game this series. I just like to infest CCs because a queen is cheap to build and killing a CC isnt that easy, but damaging it to infest it is nice

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
BRAT used a lot of dropship play on Outsider to wear you down; how was your state of mind after losing that game?

ToT)Mondragon(:
The first dropship was earlier than I expected and it totally caught me off guard, and from there on the game just went worse and worse and I only kept defending somehow until I ran out of minerals. He played really well there and I started to be worried a bit because after the first two games which I dominated in my opinion I got pretty badly beat there. But luckily I had a $500 strategy ready for Destination

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
You showed a revolutionary hatchery in BRAT's mineral only expansion on Destination, following up with Lurkers and mining out a portion of his expansion. Did you come up with this strategy yourself? Are you sad that everyone will be checking for this now?

ToT)Mondragon(:
I've been using this strategy a few times already, though only in friendly games and I've been waiting for the right occasion to use it in an important game. Since BRAT went for Vultures Goliaths and Tanks it was the perfect spot to use it. I haven't lost with it before, and this time it didn't let me down either. But this strategy won't work in the future against teching Terran unfortunately GG strategy!
It was a $500 strategy, now I need a $1000 dollar strategy for the next round :D

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
There were so many Germans at the start of Q3 and you are the only one left... do you feel more pressure to represent your country?

ToT)Mondragon(:
I'm happy that I came so far and that I'm the last German standing on the battlefield, although I was not the favorite German to come that far. This gives me less pressure since the top German favorite dropped out, so I can only win more respect back!

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Are you saying fans thought Kolll was the "favorite" German? Will you be fighting now to avenge him?

ToT)Mondragon(:
Kolll was considered the best German by most of the people I think, and he definitely deserved it because he played amazing at WCG. Everyone thought he would make it far and achieve a top place in this tournament. I am not playing this tournament to avenge kolll, I'm playing to achieve the most possible for me

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Your next match is against the Peruvian race-picker mouz.Fenix, who will be facing you in TvZ after just defeating your countrymate. How do you feel about Fenix and your chances in this match?

ToT)Mondragon(:
The only positive thing about ZvT lately is that all my matches were ZvT so I could focus on only practicing ZvT, and thus I think I am pretty well-prepared for this matchup. Though Fenix showed a really good performance against mouz.Kolll and this definitely proves his amazing skill. I have huge respect for his performance and I'll take this series serious.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How do you predict the ro8 matchups will go?

ToT)Mondragon(:
Let me see...
<div style='padding-left: 30px;'>
mouz.IefNaij vs mouz.White-Ra: PvP, awesome series, this will be a nail-biter - impossible to predict!

CJ_IdrA[Media] vs Liquid`NonY: IdrA is the huge favorite, but NonY's PvT is really strong and he might come up with surprising strategies and give us exciting games. I'd say 80% IdrA wins.

mouz.Fenix vs Me: Fenix showed a great performance vs kolll and proved his TvZ is top notch. Considering kolll is said to be the best ZvT in Europe, I don't think I have much of a chance.

LLL.ret vs DuskBin.Sen: ZvZ, coinflip at its best. Both of them are great ZvZ players and its completely 50/50.
</div>

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
There's that famous Mondragon modesty about your winning chances... but what do you really think?

ToT)Mondragon(:
Well, then you are wrong not to believe it! I proved it enough by losing so many games the past few months! Why do you still believe in me?? :D

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Congratulations and good luck! Any last messages or shoutouts?

ToT)Mondragon(:
Thanks to DaZe and Hayder for practicing ZvT with me and to everyone who supported me and cheered for me.
If I ever get to meet Jens and Hayder, I could definitely invite them for one or two beers =)

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Congrats on beating Gosi[Terran] today 3-1... how much did you know about him beforehand, and how did you prepare for the match?

mouz.IefNaij:
I hadn't really heard of him before TSL so at first I was happy to face him, but as time progressed and people started to praise him, it was then that I began to worry. In terms of preparation, I basically planned out the build order and what I was going to do on every map and practiced those builds on iccup.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How long ago did you start preparing for the match?

mouz.IefNaij:
One week ago.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Did you have any particular practice partners you used for this, or did you just purely grind out iccup games?

mouz.IefNaij:
No, since my inactivity I've lost connections to great practice partners. The only people I could trust were B/B+ kors.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
You're up next against the winner of mouz.White-Ra vs [Pan]KabaL(TT1) (this interview was done before that match had results released -ed): how do you think that match will go, and how do you feel your chances are vs the winner?

mouz.IefNaij:
I actually don't know, I haven't played with TT1 or White-Ra lately so I have absolutely no idea who will win. However, many people are underrating TT1, he is a really strong pvp player. And again, regardless of who I play in the next match, it will be hard to predict the winner because PvP is so BO oriented and luck plays a huge factor. Anyhow, I sort of have a little advantage since I will be able to see what shape they're in and their playing styles on these particular maps.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How did you come up with the builds you used?

mouz.IefNaij:
I tried using abnormal strategies to throw Terran offguard since he enjoys playing really solid games. Considering my inactivity lately, I knew playing straight up macro wars against Terran was a dead end, so I made little cute tricks every game so he'll be forced to be creative and play differently. I guess it worked!

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Were there any times during the series where you were worried that you might lose the series?

mouz.IefNaij:
Not really, even though I lost the game on Outsider I only needed to win one more game. Panicking is never good; I've learned to overcome 'thoughts of failure' because that would only lead to failure. The best thing to do is just focus on the current game you're playing and pretend it's just a regular iccup game.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
You were always known for having sublime reaver micro throughout the last TSL
How do you feel your Reaver micro today compared with that?

mouz.IefNaij:
I felt my Reaver micro was weak this series compared to the past, however, with practice I can get it back.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Are you going to practice more heavily for the next round?

mouz.IefNaij:
Well this week I won't have much time to practice because there are just so many quizzes/tests coming up. However, I have a week off for the following week because of 'reading week' so I'll be able to get alot of practice then.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Have you kept up at all with the foreigner scene during your inactivity? How do you feel about its state compared to when you were active? Are players on the whole stronger today, or is that a misconception?

mouz.IefNaij:
I've been watching the TSL matches and felt that skill levels did not improve that much. I was only inactive for several months, and I don't think the players' skills can improve drastically unless they're in Korea. So yes, it's a misconception.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Do you have any message for the doubters who felt that GosI[Terran] would 3-0 you?

mouz.IefNaij:
Artosis has deceived you!

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How do you think the final results of the TSL will be?

mouz.IefNaij:
Idra is the favourite but I certainly hope he doesnt win. Of course I want myself to win!! But we have to be realistic: Idra will win.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
How are you feeling in each of your various matchups confidence and skill wise?

mouz.IefNaij:
I think my skill level in every match up dropped a bit, but only because of my weak mechanics at the moment. As long as I can pick up the speed I should be fine because I have the knowledge.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
With SC2 coming up sometime, are you planning on making more of an impression in e-sports, or is TSL going to kind of be your last hurrah?

mouz.IefNaij:
TSL will probably be the last, I may play SC2 for fun but there is certainly no time to play it competitively as I did in BW.

PokerStrategy.com TSL:
Any last shoutouts or messages to fans?

mouz.IefNaij:
Thanks to those who cheered me on.
SHOUT OUT TO ALLAN, DEZ,LEON, JUSTIN !! <3 SFAF FIGHTING~