[UK&Ire]First British & Irish Open Grand Finals

First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself and your gaming history.

I'm 17 (almost 18) from the UK (obviously) been gaming my whole life. Most recently had a little bit of success in dow2 with the team I played for picking up 2nd place in EMS IV

Oh so you were actually a DoW2 player? Awesome. Was EMS live?

Well I played loads of games but the most recent competitive one would be dow2, I’ve done games such as tf2 rol ra3 and many others before. I can't remember to be honest with you, I don't think we had streamers though so I guess not.

Okee doke, so you qualified in week 1 after beating Ourk. How did you feel about the matches and the first week?

It felt great to win, it is my first tournament win in sc2. I felt the matches up until the b.net shut down on that Thursday were really good. However, the games played after that I don't feel reflected the quality of the first game.

I've noticed you're generally getting quite far in other Weekly tournaments such as ZOTAC and that so after playing other top players in these events, how do you feel about your chances in this event?

Well, DeMusliM is the obvious favourite and to be honest I would be surprised if he didn't win the event. I was hoping to face him in the final, although due to the brackets it looks like 3rd place would be a more realistic aim. I've met and lost to/beaten quite a few top terrans in other tournaments, however, I don't think any of the terrans I’ve beaten are as good as DeMusliM.

Do you think there will be a point in the future where you can be a top player with international success too?

Well to me there would be not point in playing a game competitively if I didn't think I could reach the top. However, I’m really quite unhappy with the current state of sc2 and if it is like this at launch I will have no interest in pursuing the game competitively until issues have been fixed.

Do you feel anyone else missing deserves to be in this final?

Well I'm a bit surprised Ourk didn't qualify, but to be honest I don't really know what's happening in the UK scene. I hadn't heard of any other UK players aside from DeMusliM before the qualifiers started. Oh and tSlayer? Is that his name lol? He’s pretty good as well

Yeah, the UK scene has been like this for a while, especially with Brood War. Hopefully this event will help people recognise who our best are =). So how did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play?

Well I only took part in the first qualifier. Aside from problems cause by battle net it was ran very smoothly. Yes it was fun to play.

OK, so any words to any fans (if you have any) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors?

zzz? ^^

I hope that means something to someone. Thanks for doing the interview and good luck on Thursday!

Thank you =-D

First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself and your gaming history.

Hi, thanks. I'm Benjamin Baker - former Warcraft 3 player also known as DeMusliM.
I’m 20 years old, been playing to a pretty high level since I was 15.

So one thing I must know, what's with the ID?

Made the nick because it looked cool, and at the time I saw Muslims as boxers such as Muhammad Ali - I was very young, the ladder name stuck - I do plan on changing it, dunno what to - as I have been invited to events with the demand to change it, or excluded entirely because of it.

Wow, that's quite ridiculous =p Anyway, you qualified in week 4 after joining last minute and beating Ourk. How did you feel about the matches and other players?

Hmm, I’m not really sure - was all a bit rushed, I felt everyone who played vs. me was nervous so made more mistakes than normal, so I can't really judge them just based off that day. My main impression is a few players seem quite bad-mannered from the UK, and are under the impression they are better than they actually are - but I won't hold a grudge, was first time impressions so ^^.

So most people would agree that you’re the best player in the UK/Ireland. How do you feel about the UK scene in general and do you see yourself as someone who can lead the other players to an international level?

The UK scene has the potential to do well, it's just mainly down to finding the players motivated enough to be the best. We have a pretty diverse group of people - we have some young talented guys new to the RTS scene, and some much wiser guys who are very experienced - I believe if we combined the 2 groups and laboured away at some of the flaws we have in our game play we could be a big competitor in national events

So do you feel confident about your chances in this event? Don't worry if you sound arrogant.

Hmm, I’ve read interviews that these guys are all preparing to beat me - that makes me feel quite careful, but overall I feel pretty confident yeh. I believe I can handle the pressure better than my opponents at the moment, and my play is getting better day by day. I know what to watch out for, I won't go in too cocky - I think my chances are pretty good.

So mannered, the continentals must love you. Are you surprised that any certain players didn't make it to this final?

I'm surprised Apollo didn't make it, he practiced a lot and was in 2 of the qualifiers and there was a lot of talk about him early on. - Besides him other names such as KwarK and Ourk are also pretty good - But overall no, not really surprised - I’m not too familiar with who’s the best in the UK, but I do believe the top 4 in this grand final are a pretty accurate representation so far.

How did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play?

Hmm, yes it was fun to kinda show some UK guys who’s boss, as quite a few of the UK guys don't actually know what's what in the UK scene. Besides proving some guys wrong, I found it overall a positive experience. Playing guys of the same nationality is always a bit of a grudge match - I come from a game where national competition wasn't too fierce and so the amount of people that showed up was a pleasant change. Besides that - as I said earlier, a few players are quite Ill-mannered and that's something that embarrasses me. - That’s the only bad thing I have to say about it.

OK, so any words to any fans ( you actually have some) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors?

Well, I’d like to say thanks to the sponsor of MYM! - Razer, PUMA and Cheiftec - I’d like to say hi to the fans - and hope you support MYM! Peace

Awesome, thanks a bunch. See you tomorrow =P

toodle pip

First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself.
Well, I'm a protoss player from SC1, now unsure of my race in SC2 but I seem to be a zerg player. I graduated last summer with a degree in mathematics, I'm currently playing poker for an income but also applying for a few "real" jobs

One of the better protoss too, no modesty allowed!
Well in the UK, yes, but that’s not saying much I was pretty much the only decent toss - who is kwark?

He'll be in the thread spamming UK#1 before you know it. So, you technically qualified twice by winning two competitions on the trot (out of three entered). How do you feel about these games? Were they fun, easy, hard?
For the first tourney, the signups were full and there were a lot of decent players but no DeMusliM, and as long as he's not in I feel I should be winning so losing in the second round there to Star was disappointing, however he is a decent player and losing to him in the bo1 stage is nothing to be ashamed of.
The second week went pretty smoothly, had a few "hiccup" games but fortunately these happened in the bo3 and bo5 last rounds so recovery was possible.
The third week the turnout seemed the weakest of the 3 weeks I played, and I got through without dropping a game, and had my revenge against Star in the finals which is always a nice thing 


So your first opponent is Star who has already played you 4 times in a tournament or streamed game. You're ahead at 3-1. He's a pretty aggressive player that can hurt your greedy style; you got some stuff planned for him?

Well I have played quite a bit with Star in the past, also in 2v2 so I have a good idea of his style and tendencies and also his weaknesses. I feel that he has the ability to take odd games off me especially since he will probably play random which can give you early build order leads, but in a best of 5 series I believe I should win 90% of the time.
Call it over-confidence or arrogance - I don't mind, but all the preparation I am doing for this final four tournament has been for a clash against DeMusliM in the finals.

What do you feel your chances are of winning this whole thing?
I have been practicing with Tarson who has a very strong TvZ, and he has shown he just how hard ZvT can be with top players. At the moment DeMusliM will be a clear favourite. I would put my chances around 25%.

Tarson is pretty good. Definitely a good option to be practicing with. So do you feel anyone else missing deserves to be in this final?

No - you only deserve to get into the final if you play and if you win

How did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play?
I found the tournaments great fun though and it was nice to meet a lot of the other UK players I didn't know and to be shown on a popular stream. So a lot of thanks to Flicky and Total Biscuit and all those others that made this event so great


OK, so any words to any fans (if you have any) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors?
Shout outs to Ryan, Adam, Kish, Nancy, Simon, Cam, Blub, Leo, Sean, Gary and all my team-mates and friends at RAGE Multigaming, check us out at http://www.esc-rage.com/?lang=1

Well thanks for the interview and good luck =)

No problem, thanks to you too

First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself.

Thanks Flicky~! Well I've been a pretty competitive gamer ever since goldeneye on the N64 that’s probably where it all started for myself, playing in a couple of locally run tournaments. I soon after got into PC's and became a huge blizzard fan with the first StarCraft, I then played in the first world cyber games going to Korea in 2000 for gbr which was exciting times. I later moved into Warcraft 3 and dabbled a little with WoW whilst attending university mixing it in with Dota and HoN for a few years until today with the awesome SC2 beta

Okee doke, you qualified in Week 3 sorta by default, how do you feel about your performance in that, and other events?

I felt my performance was pretty good in week 3, I decided to pick a race and stick to it (zerg), it evidently help to improve my game. Winning the Zerg vs. Terran v (Fargo) was a hard game, I found TvZ the hardest back then with the mech stuff they. As for the finals vs. randy, knowing I was through because he had won before and that I had beaten him too I felt very relaxed and decided to sit back and random it, unfortunately I got terran 3 times in a row and my mech build was sloppy so I went 0-3 but looking forward to the finals and seeing what happens there for real.

You seem to have an uncanny ability to put opponents on tilt. You have any comments on this?

The meta game is important, quite often battles are won before they are fought. Putting your opponent into a certain frame of mind makes him even more predictable and likely to lose a step in his play, besides seeing some nerd rage is also entertaining too ^^.

What do you feel your chances are of winning this whole thing?

Hmm that’s a tough one as everyone has a decent style of play, for my own chances, well in one simplistic view my odds are a 1 in 4 chance. Which is pretty good odds that I would certainly bet on but we will have to wait and see what happens on the day and who has the best performance as it could end up being unpredictable.


Were you surprised that any certain player didn't make it to the final?

I wanted to see a few players into the finals, Ourk had fought hard with his toss, KwarK, Fargo were also good player I wanted to see in the finals and and wingnut is also a pretty decent player (although I might just be saying that because he knows my style and beats me sometimes). But yea I think if Randy didn't beat Wingnut in week 3 and I had to play him in the finals it would've been rather an intense round

How did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play?

Yea the event was pretty awesome, getting the British/Irish players together to take part in the eSports scene was an excellent move. Hopefully that'll continue well into the release and we'll all continue to get together and become a little more organised and focused to take eSports to a new level for here. And of course the event went pretty smoothly except for the patch day on week 2.

OK, so any words to any fans (if you have any) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors?
Words to fans: play smart not hard and above all else stay in school to graduate. Shout outs go to all the teamliquid guys, clan TBP , Grax, Dan Mullineux, Callum, Aymeric, the Aris crew (sponsors), hyperion, Wingnut and to my loving wife Yini.

Thanks for the interview =D

I hope it all goes well on the day!

DeMusliM Lost Temple Jdanzi
DeMusliM Blistering Sands Jdanzi
DeMusliM Scrap Station Jdanzi
DeMusliM wins 3-0!

Star Lost Temple rANDY
StarBlistering Sands rANDY
Star Scrap Station rANDY
rANDY wins 3-0!

Star Lost Temple Jdanzi
Star Blistering Sands Jdanzi
Star Scrap Station Jdanzi
Star Steppes of War Jdanzi

Jdanzi wins 3-1!

DeMusliM Metalopolis rANDY
DeMusliM Desert Oasis rANDY
DeMusliM Steppes of War rANDY
DeMusliM Blistering Sands rANDY

DeMusliM wins 3-1!