I can't really fathom IEM's Korean invitation policy. After holding so many rigorous preliminaries in NA/EU to make sure only the most deserving players make it to the Global Challenges, Koreans seem to be drawn out of a hat. Obviously, there are significant logistical difficulties in holding an extensive qualifier in South Korea, so it's probably the most reasonable solution IEM has to ensure even international participation. Even so, the circumstances have fallen into place so that I have to give IEM Global Challenge New York an unfortunate alternate title:


I'm not ignoring IEM Guangzhou or IPL3, but we have to be objective about the situation here. Foreigners* still haven't won a tournament against top class Korean professionals. The best foreigners have been able to beat Koreans for quite a while; it's just that the very best Koreans form a nigh impenetrable wall in front of the medal podium. The guys at Guangzhou and Atlantic City were pretty good, but they weren't exactly top ten players. (Though if Stephano had run into MMA on his path, then that would have been quite interesting...)

DongRaeGu and TOP represent the elite flight of Korean players who have been destroying the Korean scene in the past few months. DRG is coming off a victory at DH Valencia, and is the consensus best-ZvT-in-the-world. The entry for "carried" in the dictionary is simply his portrait. TOP's recent string of GSL finishes reads as follows: RO8, RO4, RO16, FINALIST, and RO32 (the GSL silver medalist curse got to him). In terms of playing the abusive-as-hell macro oriented Terran style, he's probably only behind MVP.

I'm not saying the four Europeans + TSL_Killer don't stand a chance. Heck, even the nine other guys I didn't name have a chance! But that's only because everyone technically has some kind of chance. The truth is, basic pattern recognition tells me what's much more likely to happen: Elite Koreans will own 'white dudes.'

With that said.

I'm going to be anxiously sitting in the audience, preparing myself to yell "SUCK IT KOREA!" should occasion arise. Nothing's better than winning when it should be impossible. We love you guys, all twelve of you. Let's do this.




*More specifically, "non-Korea trained foreigners," since a oGs-TL house residing HuK did win HSC3 and DH Summer. Anyway, HuK should just be considered a Korean.

Just ahead of IEM, Carmac invited us on down to see the the IEM area at Comic-Con as it was being constructed. After showing us around for a bit, he graced us with an interview. Carmac has a reputation for giving both insightful and entertaining interviews, and he knocked this one out of the ballpark in his usual style.

Defending the pride of the host city is Pokebunny, the only player from NYC who managed to make it through the qualifiers. We talked to the sixteen year old pro about balancing school and gaming, his thoughts on the SC2 scene in NYC, and how he might perform in the upcoming tournament.


First off, could you introduce yourself to the fans? Like quite a few of the NA players competing at IEM New York, you're a relatively unknown player.

Unknown?! Don't be silly kidding hahaha. I'm a 16 year old Terran player hailing from New York, I actually live in Manhattan, so the IEM venue is very close by for me. I stream on TL.net and play as much as I can while going to high school

You're known to be one of the best players in New York City, facing very little competition in the local tournament scene. What's up with the lack of worthy challengers?

Well, the biggest "challengers" I've seen in the city have been FXOmOoNaN and FXOSLoG - both of which have been traveling a lot, with SLoG staying in Korea for an extended period of time. Honestly, I'm not really sure - even in SC1, there weren't many top players from around here. A lot of top players seem to be further out west.

WCG hosted a $2000 LAN in the city a few months ago, and honestly, I was surprised at the lack of true challengers - I won the LAN without dropping a game til the finals, which is pretty unexpected considering the large prize pool and large population of the local area... I have no idea, really.

Right, the Cybercraft LAN tournaments are affectionately known as the "Pokebunny monthly allowance cups." inside NYC circles. Do you appreciate the donations?

Rofl. Yeah, actually, aside from the money though, I really do have a great time playing at the LANs and hanging out with the local New York crowd. While it's nice to win 75% of the local LANs including the ones I couldn't go to, the money is just an added benefit - it's a great community here.

Let's talk a little bit more about the NYC community. They're a pretty small group considering the size of the city, but they're very tight knit. What kind of stuff do you guys do?

Well, every month, as you mentioned, we've got our local Cybercraft LAN in Flushing - it's been a great way for people to get together and compete, and we definitely see a bit of competitiveness too. It's great seeing local players rise up through the ranks throughout the tournaments - I distinctly remember a Platinum player from the first LANs a year ago rising up to a high master level player now, who I've made friends with. We toyed with the idea of having weekly community dinners/lunches, but that kinda died out after a couple weeks. Other than that, we've got Barcrafts for every MLG from now on, and people obviously attend all bigger events that come to town such as the WCG LAN a few months ago and now IEM New York.

In general, the local community has really transcended friendship beyond the boundaries of Starcraft. I know of a lot of people that meet up with LAN friends outside our scheduled events, and have good friends here (including myself). I was even lucky enough to find a great, Starcraft-supportive girlfriend from local events, keke.

As a fan of Brood War, you know that girlfriends are pretty bad for being good at pro-gaming. What do you think about your situation, and do you think it has affected your performance?

Well, I guess it just depends on a lot of things. You could say it cuts into your practice time, but actually in my case, my girlfriend has kept me really motivated to do well and has supported me in a lot of events, even coming down to MLG Raleigh with me. She pushes me to play more and do better sometimes when I'm being lazy and playing too much HoN, so I actually think for me it's been great. Also, it keeps me happy and interested in the game to have someone close to share it with, haha. It's really nice

You're a full time student at the same time as being a pro-gamer. How do you balance your responsibilities between those two rather different worlds?

You know, it's funny how you put that as two different worlds, as lately it really has felt like that to me. In one world I'm a professional who makes money and has obligations, in another I'm just a kid who whines about homework (and also has obligations lol). Balancing is tough - you really just have to get priorities straight and make the most of your time, getting work done quickly and playing whenever you get the chance. It's tough, but definitely doable at the level of play I'm at - however, it would be difficult to be really successful with my lifestyle.

Yeah, you're improving rapidly, but haven't quite made 'the leap' as of yet. Do you think you can get to that next level with your current level of effort in Starcraft II, and do you think you'll have to sacrifice other things to get there?

Hmm. This is hard topic for me to discuss, but I'll do my best. With how I live now, I think it is nearly impossible for me to move onto the truly international level of competition. At the end of the day, at this point, Starcraft is still not something I can really dedicate my life to - partially because of parents, and partially because I know it's just a bad idea to do so without a long-term plan for stable income. I'm not really the type who says "go to Korea, sacrifice everything, just to be the best" at this point in my life, especially due to school/parental restrictions. Basically, it's not really my choice, and even if it was my choice, it would be a tough decision - mostly, I just try to do as well as I can and really have fun with it. I think that's something a lot of players are missing, actually - just relaxing and have fun with playing a great competitive game.

So are you trying to focus equally on both right now, so you have viable futures in both pro-gaming and academics? And where do you see yourself down the line, say 1, 2, 3 years from now?

Yeah, pretty much. I'm not committing to one or the other as a career path... what I choose to do in a couple years is likely dependent on the state of the ESPORTS scene and my position in it. I will probably end up going to college.. most likely directly after high school but I have also considered taking a year off to pursue SC. If ESPORTS really takes off and it becomes possible, I'd love to pursue something like casting or a related job - I love to talk about Starcraft and just being around the scene is great. I guess I'll just continue my current lifestyle throughout the next few years, see where it takes me, and make decisions from there. The important thing is that I'm really trying to keep my options open as far as my life path - I recognize the great opportunity I have at this point in my Starcraft career and don't want to give it up, but ESPORTS is new and unpredictable and who knows if I'll be able to make a real living from it.

Alright, some questions about the tournament itself. What do you think about your group? Did you feel like pulling a HuK and tweeting "F*** IEM" after you saw Mana, TT1, and TOP in your group?

My group is definitely difficult - not an absolute worst-case scenario, but pretty bad.

MaNa - IMO the best of the Europeans coming, but I'm more confident vs Protoss than vs Terran, so I'd rather have him than SjoW or Strelok, but I still think he is on a higher level than me. I've been practicing a lot though and hoping I can at least show some good games in this match.

TT1 - He has really been in and out of form a lot lately, and seems like he's on his game headed into IEM. It's a tough match - another Protoss, but again, out of the NA players, he's among the better of the bunch. I'd definitely feel more comfortable against Axslav/Attero/Edge/StrifeCro in this spot. I definitely feel like I have a decent shot here though, it will depend a lot on the builds and I don't think it's super predictable.

TOP - Korean Terran with monster TvT and a lot of stage experience. Not happy about this one I feel more comfortable in my TvT than I have for a while, but it should be obvious to anyone that me and TOP aren't really comparable at this point.

Overall, it's a tough group, but I definitely feel like I can show some decent games.

If I'm correct, this will also be your first appearance on stage in front of a large live audience. Are you nervous?

Yeah, pretty much will be. Hmm.. not too nervous, but there definitely will be a lot of excitement. I'm not really the type to let pressure get to me - although it's obviously different being on an international stage, I've been a pitcher in baseball as well as playing chess throughout my younger years, and have been in my share of pressure situations, most of which I excel in. It's definitely a big experience, but I think I'll be able to show my best. Hopefully.

So, how do you think you will perform in this tournament? Do you think that if you make it out of the groups, you have a shot at making a run?

Mmm.. I'm going into it feeling pretty good, actually. I'm not too nervous and I don't feel a lot of pressure to perform super well. I think I could definitely have a decent showing if I play my best, but in reality I don't think I really have much of a chance against the best Korean players (TOP/DRG/maybe SangHo as well.) I'm realistically optimistic ^^

Okay thanks for the interview. Any comments or shout-outs?

Hmm.. there are definitely a few lol.

Shoutout to ItsGosu eSports for supporting me, and their sponsors NE-SE and Maxx Integration. We also have more plans coming up, so look out for us! ^^

Shoutout to all my old friends from the Amazon Basin, ICCup team mG... it's been a great ride finally making something of myself.

Shoutout to the old VT team, was a great way to get into the professional scene and I miss you guys.

Shoutout to the NY community, Lisa and Sterling for organizing the events, etc - it's been fantastic

Shoutout to my family for supporting me and allowing me to do all these great things. A couple weeks ago Day9 invited me out to the RedBull LAN in california on one day's notice, and my family helped pull it together and let me go even though I had never traveled alone before then.

Shoutout to all my fans and followers on my stream, twitter (@pokebunny), facebook ^^

And finally, shoutout to my amazingly cute and supportive girlfriend Sharon haha ^^ she really motivates me to play and do my best.

Thank you everyone wish me luck~! <3 teamliquid.

Okay, I may or may not buy you five dollars worth of food at the event.

... I'll be expecting my dumplings at some point throughout the weekend.