Q: You are the defending champion. What do you remember most fondly about your TSL2 winning experience? What are your goals for this tournament?

I remember the preparation for each match the most. I loved seeing who my next opponent was and then brainstorming how I was going to approach the match, spending a lot of time working on builds, then practicing the builds against real opponents. It was a scramble to bring out a finished product in time and it was exciting going into each match to see how my plans would work and how well I could execute my builds when the pressure was on.

Q: What do you think are your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a player?

My greatest strength is my vision. I can always see how to do things better, both strategically and mechanically. While other players are content with being masters at the current level of play, I'm always looking to be the first to make the next improvement. My greatest weakness is my practice routine. If I were locked away in a room where I could only eat, sleep, and practice StarCraft, I'd be a much better player. Of course this is something I'm constantly working on and improving and I admire the folks who have amazing practice routines, even if it comes naturally to them.

Q: If you had to introduce yourself to our fans who never met you, how would you describe yourself? Write a few sentences about your personality.

I'm very competitive but I get more pleasure from playing the game well than from defeating players and winning tournaments. I love interacting with the community.

Q: Your opponent is Strelok, who was a former SC:BW player like yourself. What are your thoughts about him? Are you confident you can win?

I respect Strelok. He was a great SC:BW player and he's a great SC2 player. But I think I will win. I'm very comfortable strategically in PvT. I think the games will be decided on mechanics and my mechanics are really good right now!

Q: Which other matches are you interested in? Who do you believe will win?

I'm mostly interested in the games not involving Koreans. Matches like Ret vs Naniwa, Jinro vs Morrow, and Huk vs Hasuobs, are all matches that could easily be the semifinals or finals of a major tournament. I'm of course cheering for my teammates and think they will win all their matches. I'm also looking forward to some really refined strategies and plans since players have a lot of time to prepare for a specific player, matchup and map set.

Q: Many fans are predicting the Koreans to dominate this tournament. Which player do you believe will be "upset" first?

I don't think Boxer will make it to the Ro16. TLO may upset NaDa but it's going to be a very tough match.

Q: Your road to the finals is a hard one -- you could face up to 3 GSL champions. Other than yourself, who would you predict to make the finals?

I think MC and Nestea are the favorites for the finals.

Q: Do you have anything to say to your fans and supporters before the Round of 32?

Thanks so much for the videos, the fan art and the comments. Not only will I win in the Round of 32, I will show everyone that I have what it takes to win the whole thing.

Q: You were the last player to qualify, winning 3-0 over Select. How did you feel about the qualifiers?

I played very bad in the qualifiers and shouldn't have qualified. But someone somewhere decided that I deserved a chance and gave me a tie-break. So I was motivated to prove that I deserved it, and I am very happy to qualify for the main event.

Q: Your first round opponent is last season's champion, Liquid`Tyler. At Assembly you went 1-2 against Tyler. Are you feeling more prepared this time? How do you feel about him and are you confident you can win?

In Finland after the first day of LAN-event, I went shopping and got flu. The second day it was really hard to play vs Tyler, I was even happy that I lost and didn't need to play more. However, this time it will be different.

Q: Three mouz players made it in -- Morrow, HasuObs, and yourself. All three of you are playing Liquid` players. How do feel your team will do?

From the spectator's view, we all are underdogs with almost the same chance. 40 to 60. Everything else will depend on preparation.

Q: How do you think the international players will do against the Koreans and other invites? Which of the Korean invites do you feel is likely to be "upset" first?

First of all I want to say I really don't like the invites system of TSL. They invited everyone: previous winner in SC:BW, Koreans, non-Korean guys who live in Korea. It's good that at least some spots left for qualifiers (sarcasm). I really feel that they shouldn't invite Koreans and make it like the last TSLs: an event for non-Asian community, or they should invite only true Koreans and let the foreigners in Korea qualify themselves.

Sixteen invites for the TSL 32-man tournament -- it is really way too many. Socke, Mana, Sjow, Tarson just to mention few who deserve to be there, but couldn't qualify because of a very hard system of qualifications. And so many people got it simply for free.

Now to answer your question: I am sure Nightend will win against Boxer. For me it's not an upset, but I am pretty sure for the majority of community it will be. Also I am absolutely sure that Kas will beat Haypro. In other matches invitees have at least 50% or better chances. Generally, Koreans will do very well and the only reason why they won't make Top 4 is that the right part of grid has only one good Korean, while the left part has four. Sorry, Boxer fans. I do love Boxer, but my pick is NightEnd.

And also I think that success of Koreans is pretty bad for TSL, because for example I, as spectator, really prefer to watch very nicely prepared non-Koreans against each rather than watching the usual games of Koreans, many who don't care about this tournament. If I want to watch Koreans play, I'd go to GomTV.net.

Q: If you had to introduce yourself to our fans who never met you, how would you describe yourself? Write a few sentences about your personality.

Lazy hardworker. And yes i know that those things are quite opposite =). I know that laziness is my main problem, but if I am interested in something - I will work 24/7 to succeed in it.

Q: What do you think are your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a player?

I depend on mood a lot. That is why I struggle to play one-play-per-a-day tournament, because I can't be in a good mood all the time. When I have the right mood -- I can easily play very well.

Q: Which other matches are you interested in? Who do you believe will win?

For me the most interesting match is White-Ra against Loner. This is a game where great creativity plays against very strong standard play. I will watch Nightend vs Boxer for sure, but I fear it will be painful to watch, as always, when a legend loses. Also TLO vs Nada can be kind of interesting but only if TLO plays Terran.

Q: Do you have anything to say to your fans and supporters before the Round of 32?

I want to say huge thanks to people who helped me to prepare for Select. Special thanks goes to BratOK and Kas who really treated to this match as it is their own. And it will sound a-little-Korean-style but I will practice hard and do all I can to win against Tyler!

Q: You qualified by winning TSL Qualifier #5. What are your thoughts on the qualification process? Have you been practicing hard since then?

The qualification process was good, giving many players quite some time to prove themselves through the points system and still allowing for some "surprise-qualifiers" through the tournament winner system. When I qualified, I kept on practicing as usual. When I found out my opponent, I started to practice more in order to beat just that player. I’ve been playing a lot lately.

Q: Your first round opponent is the GSL Open Season 1 champion TSL_FruitDealer. What do you think of him as a player? How do you think your opponent will play?

FruitDealer is a GSL champion and obviously a great player. He has his ups and downs however and didn’t seem to play superbly well the last couple of GSLs. As a player I know that he is capable of playing a lot of different styles, from macro games to baneling busts to 6 pools, which makes it hard to prepare for him.

Q: How confident are you that you can win? Will you have something special prepared for FruitDealer?

I’m definitely the underdog, and rightfully so. In my practice games however, I’ve won like 90% of my games, so I feel pretty comfortable against Zerg atm. I hope to at least put up a fight! I have prepared, but I don’t know if it’s anything special per se.

Q: How do you think the international players will do against the Koreans and other invites? Which of the Korean invites do you feel is likely to be "upset" first?

If I got this question prior the the IEM World Championships in Cologne, I would have said that I think that the European and American players are pretty on par with the Koreans with just the slightest difference in skills. But now after that tournament I’m convinced that the Koreans are a bit more ahead of us than that, and it will be hard for foreigners to go far. But it's definitely not impossible.

Q: If you had to introduce yourself to our fans who never met you, how would you describe yourself?

I’m a friendly guy who strives to get better at everything I do, be it StarCraft II, school or sports. I like challenges and to prove people wrong ^^.

Q: What do you think are your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a player?

I’m a pretty well rounded player skill-wise. I have good micro, macro and strategic knowledge of the game. I think about my play A LOT. My weaknesses I think are that I’m not varying my style enough, and knowing when to attack and where in TvT. I also play too little .

Q: Which other matches are you interested in? Who do you believe will win?

I’m super hyped about the MorroW Vs. JinrO match. Both incredibly strong players, and both are Swedes. I guess that JinrO is the favourite but I would definitely not be surprised if MorroW was able to take this. I’m also excited about NesTea vs GoOdY. NesTea is a formidable player (best Zerg IMO), and GoOdY having his own playstyle. I’m interested in seeing how NesTea deals with it.

Q: Do you have anything to say to your fans and supporters before the Round of 32?

I just hope you tune in on the 19th and cheer for me! Be there or be square! ^_^

Korean Version: + Show Spoiler [Korean Version - 한국어 원문] +
Q: Welcome to the TSL3 tournament! Have you heard of TeamLiquid before? What made you decide to accept your invite? What are your goals for the TSL3?

I’ve played very poorly lately, and haven’t been able to show any my fans any good games. I decided to participate in the TSL because I wanted to try and repay my fans with some good tournament results, and I personally wanted an opportunity since I’ve been doing so poorly. I’ve known about TeamLiquid since very long ago. My goal for this tournament is a top four finish.

Q: What do you think of the international fans who watch GSL and follow Starcraft? Do you have anything to say to them?

I’m embarrassed because I’ve been doing so poorly, but I’m trying hard. I hope I can show people some good games soon.

Q: Do you think Korean Pro-gamers are more aware of international events? There are many big events like IEM and MLG with big prizes in America and Europe. Would you like to go to any of them in the future?

I’d like to compete in some overseas tournaments. My experience from Blizzcon makes me think very positively about foreign tournaments.

Q: Who do you feel are the best non-Korean players? Who have you heard of and who do you wish to play against?

I suppose it would have to be Jinro, who is competing in GSL. Of the foreign players, I’d like to face Morrow.

Q: Your opponent is Prae.Thorzain, a Terran from Sweden. Do you know anything about him? How will you prepare for him? Are you confident you will win?

I have no information about him whatsoever. Since a single mistake can cost you the game in ZvT, I’ll be focusing on preparing against my opponent’s strategic play. I think I can win.

Q: You won the first GSL and many fans have very pleasant memories about that. Since then however you have not had as much success. Is it bad luck? Is Code S becoming harder to win?

I think it’s all my fault. I’ll do my best to recover my old form in the TSL.

Q: If you had to introduce yourself to our fans who never met you, how would you describe yourself? Write a few sentences about your personality.

Hello, my name is Kim Won Ki and I am a Zerg player for the TSL team. I might not seem so important because I haven’t been doing so great lately, but if you keep an eye on me from now on, I’ll repay it with quality games.

Q: Who do you believe will win the TSL3? How do you feel the Koreans will do against the best international players?

I think I’ll win -_-

I think there will be two Koreans or more in the top four.