Congratulations! This is our first foreigner special interview with you, and it's starting off on a good note. How did you feel after the match?

Felt really good, at worst now I can play in Code A again.

Is it a relief to finally get a GSL broadcast win under your belt?

Of course, especially since now at worst I get to play Code A again next season, but yes huge relief. Hopefully the next matches I won't be so nervous.

Why were you nervous?

It's weird, I dont really get nervous about that to much but anything Starcraft and I'm screwed. I don't know what it is really, just SC2 is really chancy sometimes and if I don't win I feel like I disappointed so many people, including myself. I just want to play my best and post results to match my skill.

Did the games go as you expected? You said you met Curious on the ladder and that the series was not going to be easy.

First game definitely did not. Second game was what I hoped and expected. I was really really really nervous first game though, after the win though I calmed down a bit.

Take us through the first game then. What were your thoughts as it went on?

Well, I had practiced this forge build to all-in if he didn't cheese or hatch first. I saw he took gas really early so I was very nervous about defending baneling bust / nydus / ling / roach all-ins. But afterwards my plan was to push with 6-8 gateways and try to finish it off 2 base, in practice games it always worked. Then it failed horribly and I basically just tried to play from behind, luckily with some nice DT play and his mistakes, I came back in.

There was a point in the game where he had five or six overlords filled with banelings and you killed them all barely losing any units. Is this a common new strategy? We haven't seen it much in big tournaments yet, and both Zerg players did it in their matches today.

All oGs use it quite commonly, I figured as much that they had banelings in them; at least hoped lol. It's really strong but if expected you just have to spread well and it's not that effective, especially with a more stalker heavy ball compared to a mass zealot/sentry ball.

In the second game you went for a relatively safe 3-gate sentry expand, but you managed to kill him with a low gate count.

My plan from a lot of discussion with Hayder was to all-in with those positions for numerous reasons on the map, his style, my style, and odds. But after he lost some lings early on I figured there was a timing. Basically I just counted on his small mistakes and waited for my pylon near his nat to finish to get a round of stalkers vs his roaches and it was gg after that. Even if he held I think I would of done enough damage to win most games from there on.

You've been in Korea for several months now, but this is your first televised match. You mentioned before about feeling pressure to show results, can you elaborate on that more?

Because the way Korea works I dont play many tournaments anymore. I hate cross server lag and don't travel that much since a lot of things like MLG are on their off season right now, so when I do play in something I want to win it always. Other then that i just want to do my best and impress as many as I can.

Are you superstitious? You are now 2-0 in GSL with no trademark hoodie or pillow.

I don't know if I would say I'm superstitious, but I do believe in some things lol, as weird as that sounds. Gotta rock the TL shirt and the lady put so much effort into my hair I would feel bad to ruin it with my hoody. I forgot my pillow but my oGs jacket faired okay.

You stated that PvZ was your best matchup now. It was your worst before. What caused this change?

Just safe builds like 3-gate expo I guess. I don't have a ton of variation in my play, but I think my control is decent and I don't mind playing anyone in macro games so. Just expereience of korean ladder I guess.

You will play another Zerg in the next round - Revival, who looked pretty good in his series versus ButterflyEffect. Any thoughts on him? When will you start preparing for the next round?

I've heard hes really good and practices a lot and hard. As soon as I know the maps I guess I will start practicing specifcally for that. I'll probably play some tonight or tomorrow morning, no days off for progamers ;o .

Did the oGs or Liquid guys have anything special to say to you before or after the matches?

Everyone pretty much said GL or fighting or whatever and then congratulated me afterward. But I talked most with Hayder so a special shoutout to him for helping me.

Hayder has something to prove in his match later this week as well. Are you planning on watching your teammates play?

Yes, I am planning to as long as nothing comes up and my mind set stays the same. I hope the best for Hayder, but his opponent is extremely tough. I predicted Ganzi before the matchups to be one of the best of all Code A.



You did a ceremony at the end of the match. What did it mean?

Basically people need to stop talking so much shit. It's funny now as I'm doing this interview, I'm reading up on TL about some immature jokes, or people complaining about a commentator who probably knows more about the game then 90% of the other commentators out there. I don't know, maybe its just me but I really hate fake people who just like to talk shit or play games.

What is your goal for this season?

To win Code A.

You certainly seem very focused. Good luck! Any last words for your fans?

Thank you all for supporting me so much you have no idea how much I appreciate it all and will do my best to represent you all well. Thanks to all my friends, family, and teammates as well. <333 all of you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH.