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Los Angeles, January 16th, 2012 - Today, Infinity Seven is proud to announce the addition of Richard "Thundertoss" Johnson to its team as StarCraft 2 coach.
Thundertoss' responsibilities will entail the coaching of Infinity Seven's rising StarCraft 2 team players, such as CrazyMoviNG, Maker, jEcho, Mentalist, as well as Insur and Pyre from the new youth team division.
"Having known Richard for a while now, it is with great pleasure that I welcome him to the Infinity Seven family. I have always been in awe of his passion for StarCraft 2 and the scene in general. Richard's addition to our organization further adds to our continued growth and I look forward to working with him and our players.”
- Zhang "zemotion" Jingna, Team Owner, Infinity Seven
"I've always respected Infinity Seven and considered them a team with great potential and fantastic management. I'm excited to start putting all my skills to use and just based on the attitude of the team and the improvements we've already made in this short time, I predict some impressive performances as we strive to make it to the top."
- Richard "Thundertoss" Johnson, Coach, Infinity Seven
We sat down with Thundertoss to ask him a couple of questions about himself, the game and the scene in general.
What will your responsibilities be as coach?
I will be more of a Korean style coach, much different than what you see streamers doing with lower level players. This means I'll be going over things much more in depth (obviously professional players have a solid grasp on the basics). I'll be going over all aspects of everyone's playstyle and looking to improve their matchups, their micro, their decision making, etc... while also working on improving their mental game.
Furthermore, I'll also be helping them prepare for upcoming series in tournaments such as GSL's Code A and helping them develop strategies for the specific maps, matchups and opponents.
In a nutshell, I'll be doing everything, similar to the Korean teams. However, in the larger Korean teams, one coach is dedicated to studying the opponent and the other is dedicated on the individual player to improve his gameplay.
Why did you choose Infinity Seven and where do you hope to see this team going?
I actually scouted Infinity Seven before they scouted me. I had been looking to put together a new team to rival the current foreigner powerhouses. Infinity Seven is one of the only teams that has players in Code A that hasn't bought Korean players or is majorly funded Korean team.
But beyond the potential I saw in the players, I was really impressed by the management and Jingna. I think this team's priorities are more aligned with mine than that of other larger and more corporate teams.
I see this team having multiple members competing in the GSL, if not this season, then the next. Furthermore, I predict that Infinity Seven will do very well at this year's MLG stops.
How do you see the meta game changing into this new year? What do you expect to start seeing in terms of strategies?
Well there are number of predictions I've made a while ago about some new things I think people will eventually figure out, such as using hallucinations to force incorrect tech responses or abusing an opponent's lack of early detection.
I think we might see some of the Brood War strategies that took years to be fixed out, since we are starting to see more and more Brood War pros switching over. For example, a Protoss Bisu build with blink Stalkers and Dark Templars against Zerg or a Phoenix and Dark Templar style we've seen in PvP a few times.
Since we've already seen some of the Hellion drop play against fast expand builds in the GSL that draw from Vulture play in Brood War, perhaps someone will show us some fantasy-eque Mech play vs Protoss.
Oh and of course, my favorite one to cast; Zergs learning how to zone and delay better with burrowed Banelings (maybe we'll even see some ravens built!).
Read the rest of this interview on Infinity Seven's website
Infinity Seven Roster+ Show Spoiler + iSCrazyMoviNG iSEdgeiSjEchoiSMaker iSMentalistiSTimeAbout Infinity SevenInfinity Seven is one of the most promising new Esports brands from North America. In the short timespan since its formation, iS has already made great strides towards establishing itself as a recognizable name in the professional gaming industry. The team has seen its players participate in multiple Major League Gaming events, achieve top placements in numerous ZOTAC Cups and Playhem Opens, and qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge in New York City and Global StarCraft League in Seoul, Korea. Infinity Seven strives to continually push the limits of what it means to be a driven, competitive, and goal-oriented team. Proudly sponsored by companies such as SteelSeries, deviantART, and ScienceWerk, iS will only serve to further impress its fans by continuing to grow, and remaining determined to become the best that it can be. www.infinityseven.net Twitter Facebook
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great job, i really like his casting in top 200 koth
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great stuff! Now.. lets get some of these guys in our Rundown Invite Tournaments!
Good Luck Thundertoss! Contact me on Skype when you can!
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Great to hear Thundertoss is going up and up! I love the Top 200 KOTH <3
My one nitpick about the interview is that CrazymovING (iS's former Code A player) is in fact a Korean.
However, jEcho really impressed me during the recent NASTL Qualifiers! Best of luck to Thundertoss and iS!
-Slightly bitter I didn't get a fancy interview when I was hired,
Virgil
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Bad decision from my point of view, we played Infinity-Seven in the NASL qualifier and jEcho & Maker talked smack about almost all clanmembers and our clan itself without any reason (jEcho for the mostpart). They did this because they didint think anyone would see it because they wrote all the shittalking in their private team chat. jEcho streamed though and thats how we saw the bad manners.
I wish you good luck Thundertoss, I hope they are nicer to you!
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Infinity Seven has been a very competitive team since Season 2. Jingna does really well at building her team. Thundertoss will help out so much. Best of Luck!
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whooop! awesome news! Really eager to see what will come out of this.
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Ravens tvz? mech tvp? pipe dreams. gl nonetheless.
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Sweet, I love thundertoss. Grats to iS and TT
<3 :D
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho & Maker talked smack about almost all clanmembers and our clan itself without any reason (jEcho for the mostpart). They did this because they didint think anyone would see it because they wrote all the shittalking in their private team chat
What's wrong if it's in the private team chat? Why would anyone bother with being politically correct to teammates.
On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho streamed though and thats how we saw the bad manners.
It's not bad manner if he didn't say it in front of you.
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On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
Bad decision from my point of view, we played Infinity-Seven in the NASL qualifier and jEcho & Maker talked smack about almost all clanmembers and our clan itself without any reason (jEcho for the mostpart). They did this because they didint think anyone would see it because they wrote all the shittalking in their private team chat. jEcho streamed though and thats how we saw the bad manners.
I wish you good luck Thundertoss, I hope they are nicer to you!
That would be jEcho for you.
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On January 17 2012 02:52 T.O.P. wrote:Show nested quote +On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho & Maker talked smack about almost all clanmembers and our clan itself without any reason (jEcho for the mostpart). They did this because they didint think anyone would see it because they wrote all the shittalking in their private team chat What's wrong if it's in the private team chat? Why would anyone bother with being politically correct to teammates. Show nested quote +On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho streamed though and thats how we saw the bad manners. It's not bad manner if he didn't say it in front of you.
I think its quite sad if they sit and say our players are gay and retarded and saying our team is shit and were so fucking bad while streaming.
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On January 17 2012 02:58 Fade1 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 17 2012 02:52 T.O.P. wrote:On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho & Maker talked smack about almost all clanmembers and our clan itself without any reason (jEcho for the mostpart). They did this because they didint think anyone would see it because they wrote all the shittalking in their private team chat What's wrong if it's in the private team chat? Why would anyone bother with being politically correct to teammates. On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho streamed though and thats how we saw the bad manners. It's not bad manner if he didn't say it in front of you. I think its quite sad if they sit and say our players are gay and retarded and saying our team is shit and were so fucking bad while streaming.
Freedom of Speech is part of our First Amendment. They can express their thoughts about anyone. As long as they are not expressing those comments during games, it should not be considered bad manner.
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On January 17 2012 03:42 VPFaith wrote:Show nested quote +On January 17 2012 02:58 Fade1 wrote:On January 17 2012 02:52 T.O.P. wrote:On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho & Maker talked smack about almost all clanmembers and our clan itself without any reason (jEcho for the mostpart). They did this because they didint think anyone would see it because they wrote all the shittalking in their private team chat What's wrong if it's in the private team chat? Why would anyone bother with being politically correct to teammates. On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho streamed though and thats how we saw the bad manners. It's not bad manner if he didn't say it in front of you. I think its quite sad if they sit and say our players are gay and retarded and saying our team is shit and were so fucking bad while streaming. Freedom of Speech is part of our First Amendment. They can express their thoughts about anyone. As long as they are not expressing those comments during games, it should not be considered bad manner.
Ok, really? #_# Obviously we have 'freedom of speech,' but expressing freedom of speech has nothing to do with manners.
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
a great team just got better imo
thundertoss is at/around all events and has good info on all players with the activities he runs and the passion he has. Hope it makes a difference!
GL to iS ! ! !
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On January 17 2012 03:43 Xeris wrote:Show nested quote +On January 17 2012 03:42 VPFaith wrote:On January 17 2012 02:58 Fade1 wrote:On January 17 2012 02:52 T.O.P. wrote:On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho & Maker talked smack about almost all clanmembers and our clan itself without any reason (jEcho for the mostpart). They did this because they didint think anyone would see it because they wrote all the shittalking in their private team chat What's wrong if it's in the private team chat? Why would anyone bother with being politically correct to teammates. On January 17 2012 02:40 Fade1 wrote:
jEcho streamed though and thats how we saw the bad manners. It's not bad manner if he didn't say it in front of you. I think its quite sad if they sit and say our players are gay and retarded and saying our team is shit and were so fucking bad while streaming. Freedom of Speech is part of our First Amendment. They can express their thoughts about anyone. As long as they are not expressing those comments during games, it should not be considered bad manner. Ok, really? #_# Obviously we have 'freedom of speech,' but expressing freedom of speech has nothing to do with manners.
Uhm so you're saying they can't talk within themselves about other players? It's their private chat, they shouldn't have to worry if they're manner or not.
Congrats to iS and TT, excited to see what's next.
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I caught thundertoss coaching destiny back in the day, and he did a wonderful job
so i'm sure he will do great here !
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This dude is a pleasure to watch cast and talk to.
I've been a dummy for some of his students and super nice guys. Good pickup by team *scrolls up*......iS!!!!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://files.enjin.com/76979/images/tl-banner3.jpg)
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