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Hi TL, it seems I'm at my 2000th post so I thought I'd do something a little bit special. I won't bore you with the usual 'my time in TL' speech, but instead thought I'd just do what I do and give you guys the opportunity to see some of the Australian StarCraft 2 talent in action with a showmatch.
  Legionnaire is a man who needs no introduction on TeamLiquid and has featured in many TL events, known for his successful stint as a Korean progamer, his incredible reaver use and his laid back, approachable personality. Peter is often considered Australia's most accomplished StarCraft player.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.png) ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tsld/images/flags/au.png) GLaDe has made a reputation for himself in the SC2 Beta as being a high level Zerg player, consistently reaching and holding #1 Platinum ranking in his divisions. He is an ex-WC3 player with some SC:BW experience and has represented Australia at WCG in WarCraft 3, where he won over some notable names including Korea's WhO and Dutch Orc Grubby. Night Elf-playing mOOn-GLaDe was considered the best Australian WarCraft 3 player.
The two players competed in a punishing Best-of-Seven series on the maps  Lost Temple, Steppes of War, Desert Oasis, Blistering Sands, Metalopolis, Scrap Station and Kulas Ravine.
The good news for you guys is that the games were be broadcast from replays by gosucoaching.com's Rise, on his livesteam, at the following times:
[url blocked] [url blocked]
Thanks to frequency for thinking of one of the Leg questions when I had a mental block.
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GLaDe: Hello, I am GLaDe, known as mOOn-GLaDe from Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos, where I began competitive gaming and have been competing (mostly in War3) ever since. I’ve always loved to play Zerg in SC1, on ICCUP and before, so I decided to stick with them in SC2, as they just came more naturally and are very fun.
What are your initial thoughts on SC2? Good or bad for e-sports?
GLaDe: I’m really enjoying SC2, I think it’s a great game and surprised how polished the BETA is. I think SC2 is great for e-sports, with War3 getting stale and slowly dying, it’s definitely the future of RTS.
How many players from SC:BW do you think will make up the short-term and long-term population of SC2 fans and players?
GLaDe: I’m sure there are a lot of skeptical SC1 players, who are used to a primitive interface with single select buildings, but for War3 players I think they will generally all migrate over eventually, as the mechanics aren’t as hardcore as SC1, so it won’t be as difficult to adapt.
Are you currently playing in the beta for fun or to play competitively? How often do you watch replays?
GLaDe: Currently mostly playing for fun, and learning the game. I’m not too worried about competitive play until the game is actually released.
Who are the current top players in each respective race in your view, and what is it that sets them apart?
GLaDe: I can’t say I’ve really experienced any players outside of the USA server so I’ll give my thoughts on them  . For Protoss I’d say Smuft is the best, he has some really nice innovative strategies and solid mechanical skills. For Terran I think I would give it to CauthonLuck, he seems very innovative and generally beats me down. For Zerg I think from my recent experience Slush and IdrA. When I played SLush it felt like he had a really good understanding of Zerg mirror compared to IdrA who just fast expands and macros, but IdrA is solid.
Have you had any really memorable games yet?
GLaDe: None that have really stuck in my mind. 
Graphically, in terms of units and interface, how do you feel about SC2? Which overall style do you prefer out of SC2, SC:BW and WC3?
GLaDe: There are some things from War3 that I wish were in SC2, like the share resources and share control interface compared to War3’s is way smaller and harder to use in SC2. Plus you cannot view your allies resources by clicking on buildings, which is silly. Units look great and have cool animations.
How do you see the current situation in game balance, and how does this and the previous question influence SC2 as a spectacle?
GLaDe: I think the game is reasonably balanced, from a Zerg user’s point of view , though not a fan of colossus, I find there’s little a Zerg ground army can do if the protoss decides to go mass colossus, so it’s generally switch to air. I think mirror matches are quite bad at the moment, ZvZ is a complete borefest with mass roach wars, terrible for watching.
Coming from a strong WC3 background (Aus rep at WCG) with a lot of SC:BW experience (achieving B- rank on iCCup), which skills transfer best from both original games to the current state of SC2?
GLaDe: Well the Wc3 interface is a lot more similar to the SC2 interface, which I think helped a lot. But I think the mechanical skills for macroing you would learn in SC1 would help a lot too after you are used to multi building select.
You would be quite familiar with the top WC3 players at least from not too long ago, are there any WC3 players who you think will excel in SC2 if they haven't already? Or any that are not in beta yet that you think could take the game by storm?
GLaDe: I’ve ran into a lot of old school US War3 players on the ladder and they do seem to be doing well, also I’ve seen Lucifron and Demuslim doing well in Zotac and other tournaments. Also ive heard of some of the Korean War3 progamers doing well on the Asia server. There are a lot of players who could do well in this game from War3, if they decide to put in the effort to practice it.
There's a lot of comments thrown around about the complete lack of micro, the ease of macro, etc. but coming from both SC and WC backgrounds how do you feel the game weighs up in these aspects? Is micro really non-existent, harder to see, or less important?
GLaDe: There is definitely less micro, especially with unit formations apart from early game skirmishes compared to SC1 and War3. Macro is also easier but it’s still really the core of the game play, and requires the player to be very good at it and on the ball.
As Starcraft II, just a month old, has been subject to hardcore theorycrafting and testing do you see it turning into Warcraft III in a sense, where there was only 1 or 2 build orders for every matchup, and most of the game was making less mistakes rather than creating new strategies/builds?
GLaDe: I think the game is still evolving so I can’t say just yet, I really hope it doesn’t end up like War3 with limited strategies. It might have to rely on creative and new maps to keep the game play interesting, but only time will tell.
Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, I hope the fans can get something out of it as I did. Any last comments or shoutouts?
GLaDe: I hope the Australian scene is as big as War3 was when it first came out! And we have a lot of fun and competitions.
Leg: I'm Leg. I played StarCraft in Korea for a little under 3 years. I played protoss in sc1. I don't like mass range units, which rules out terran. And protoss has a number of cooler options like the sentry's wall, warp prisms, warping in units, teleporting goons etc. My favourite unit is the little orbs that shoot land and air from cybernetics core.
What are your initial thoughts on SC2? Good or bad for e-sports?
Leg: Good for esports short term, starcraft is too old to maintain world interest (ie outside of korea) and warcraft 3 was a terrible esports game (more fun to play rather than watch). Blizzard have sort of found a happy medium between the two, although its unknown whether that will work as a spectator sport.
How many players from SC:BW do you think will make up the short-term and long-term population of SC2 fans and players?
Leg: Most (elite) starcraft players won't move across to starcraft 2 except if they start losing. If they have a name for themselves, and are already making a decent living why would they switch to an unknown at which they might not be as good? All of the 2nd tier gamers will switch to sc2 as that’s where they can make a name for themselves.
Are you currently playing in the beta for fun or to play competitively? How often do you watch replays?
Leg: Fun. I watched reps when I lost. I play maybe 3 games a day after work. Mainly waiting for the game to get more mature.
Who are the current top players in each respective race in your view, and what is it that sets them apart?
Leg: Smuft. Naz. They think and analyze the game.
Have you had any really memorable games yet?
Leg: Had some fun ones, like running a colossus into their main while blocking the ramp with a dropped sentry etc.
Most of my fun games have been when I do something stupid to see what will happen. Although I normally end up losing those
At the moment i'm just trying to go non normal strats, ie I refuse to go colossus unless it’s in PvP.
Graphically, in terms of units and interface, how do you feel about SC2? Which overall style do you prefer out of SC2, SC:BW and WC3?
Leg: I miss goon vs vulture, zeal vs tank warfares. Terran in Sc2 is boring.
What's the current state of balance as you see it and how does this and the previous question influence SC2 as a spectacle?
Leg: There are flaws in balance obviously. It’s still early in the beta stage so it’s not too big of an issue. The fundamental flaws that can destroy the game are outside of unit balance issues.
Obviously you have been a progamer in Korea, albeit a long time ago, so do you have any opinions on how the e-Sports scene in Korea will receive SC2?
Fans will watch whichever game is on tv. Tv will show whichever one has the most money/interest thrown at it. (short term). Long term it will only survive if the game is interesting enough to maintain the interest of fans.
One reason that warcraft3 wasn't as successful compared to starcraft was because it was harder to follow what was going on screen (pretty graphics... lightning going everywhere etc) and there was very little for commentators to talk about in between the final battles (due to creeping which isn't fun to watch).
You recently expressed your concerns and grudges with the SC2 Beta on the battle.net forums, how has the latest patch addressed these for you?
Leg: The main ones about the strategic depth of the game wasn't addressed at all. A few of the smaller balance issues were.
The micro in SC2 has been a topic of significant controversy – can you put to rest any claims right now judging how your renowned Reaver micro skills are aiding you in SC2 (despite the absence of reavers!)?
Leg: Micro is still important, most people just aren't doing it right. Although I hate how harass has been destroyed in sc2. There's nothing like shuttle / storm drop play like there used to be. There is other harass, but it’s not as fun to do.
Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, any last comments or shoutouts?
Leg: Hopefully I won't get too badly destroyed by glade! I am going to try and not do the same builds every game, so hopefully it will at least be entertaining.
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What time are the matches AEDT Leg?
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On April 01 2010 12:42 k!llua wrote:
What time are the matches AEDT Leg?
Wednesday 9AM for NSW, VIC
Wednesday 8AM for QLD
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Where will the replays be available agaIn? The gosucoaching website?
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On April 01 2010 13:25 Fruscainte wrote:
Where will the replays be available agaIn? The gosucoaching website?
They will be provided after the broadcast time.
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On April 01 2010 14:01 frequency wrote:
looking forward to it =)
You still don't get to obs.
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Woah awesome. Look forward to seeing this
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On April 01 2010 14:04 iCCup.deL wrote:You still don't get to obs.
I still don't know why this is at 8am for us... Why not have it like 4 hours later, surely 10pm/7pm for the USA wouldn't be unreasonable?
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On April 01 2010 14:32 frequency wrote:Show nested quote +On April 01 2010 14:04 iCCup.deL wrote:On April 01 2010 14:01 frequency wrote:
looking forward to it =) You still don't get to obs. I still don't know why this is at 8am for us... Why not have it like 4 hours later, surely 10pm/7pm for the USA wouldn't be unreasonable?
It goes for 7 games, and it's already late for Europeans. Even if you wake up at like 9AM it will probably still be on and then there are VODs.
Rise said the times he'd prefer and I agreed with them, I'll be waking up early but you can watch VODs if you think it's unreasonable. Not everyone wakes up after midday mate
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I'll watch.  Can't wait
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On April 01 2010 14:39 iCCup.deL wrote:Rise said the times he'd prefer and I agreed with them, I'll be waking up early but you can watch VODs if you think it's unreasonable. Not everyone wakes up after midday mate
Not everyone is unemployed either...
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wth, why are you making them play at 8:30am on a wednesday del... how did u even get them to do this on a workday, rofl.
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On April 01 2010 16:31 gravity wrote:Show nested quote +On April 01 2010 14:39 iCCup.deL wrote:Rise said the times he'd prefer and I agreed with them, I'll be waking up early but you can watch VODs if you think it's unreasonable. Not everyone wakes up after midday mate Not everyone is unemployed either...
Which is exactly why Rise has to do it when he can, and not when it's perfectly convenient for the 30 aussies who will watch
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This should be awesome.
Like Glade mentioned, I hope we're going to have a big Australian community for SC2. I guess this means when we have chat channels -_-. sc2live ftw?
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