Dynasty Warriors! Yeah, Flash is totally Lubu, and Jangbi is Zhang Fei. Didn't really bother matching the others. This took me way longer than I expected :O Look below for an interview with Katsuge and Wala
With the conclusion of first series and the second soon to be upon us, I've gone ahead and sought the views from two fans regarding what has taken place, and most importantly, what we can expect from day two. Read on to find out!
1. What did you think of your team's performance on today?
Katsuge: I expected a really close game today, and boy I'm not disappointed. To be honest KT did pretty well today considering the fact that Khan would be very prepared to take down the KTzergs who tore through CJ last match, and then leave Jangbi/Stork to take on the Flash/Stats combo. Unsurprisingly Chintoss came out on Ace Match, and then proceeded to take down stork like the boss he is
Wala.Revolution: Pretty average. Some players showed convincing wins while others played pretty average games or even mediocre. Stork played well first game, then floundered in ace match; Grape was stellar, and Roro too, despite losing from BO. Reality was doing quite well until he made blunders that cost him the game. Shine was able to come back due to capitalizing on his opponent's mistake, and Jangbi... was quite lackluster, if not just mediocre.
2. After what transpired, what can be learned from today's match-ups to aid tomorrow's efforts?
Katsuge: I believe both teams had their fair share of racial match-ups that they wanted, but I believe KT will still stick to roughly the same players for each map in the set. Khan on the other hand will try to switch the match-ups around a little, so I expect tons of ZvP tomorrow, with tosses like brave coming out to take on the zergs from KT side, and some sacrificial lambs from both teams here and there in the middle.
Wala.Revolution: Well KT set lineups a little better, especially in that they got two ZvZs early on, which was I'm sure quite a surprise to January. Grape got the match he wanted, and others were probably even in terms of matchup-wise. Other than the fact that some players were faced unexpected openings, there really isn't much Khan players can do other than to practice more and and study the opponents more.
3. If today's series goes to the Ace match [on Ground Zero], which player are you expecting from the other side, and who should your team send out? Why?
Katsuge: Looking at the stats on the map, Khan will definitely send out Stork/Jangbi with a prepared build to try and take on Flash. Zergs will most definitely not work on this map, so I predict Flash will nevertheless come out for KT, and I expect drop play from him if it gets there.
Wala.Revolution: Ground Zero? Definitely Flash. It's a good map for Terran; I'm sure Flash remedied his weakness vs Toss on it, and against Terran or Zerg Flash should be confident.
On a side note, to elaborate on Flash's TvP on Ground Zero and in general, even if he did not cancel turrets vs Dear I will say that he probably would've lost. Dear indeed studied Flash's style quite well and exploited a weakness, which was only more exposed by Flash's greedy play. To beat Flash on this map the opponent will need to play just as well as Flash, in terms of preparation, game-reading, and execution or have a specially prepared build that decides the game the moment its execution is seen by Flash. He has far too good game-sense which allows him to adapt quickly and win with often spotless follow-up. Hence, I expect Stork or Jangbi to play head-on and play some of the greatest PvTs we have yet to see, or a sniping build executed by Roro, Turn, or any of the two aforementioned Protoss players.
My guess is on Jangbi vs Flash, and of course, plenty of jangbanging.
4. Recently we've seen Flash lose to a string of Protoss players, his game play can be exploited. Can we expect Khan's Protoss-heavy lineup to do something similar? If you were January, what would be the best course of action to deal with Flash?
Katsuge: It's true that Flash's recent TvP have been looking not-so GODlike, with tosses doing some kind of mid game timing pushes or ninja cheese shenanigans that worked against Flash's greedy econ approach to TvP. January would probably be thinking about doing something similar to Flash, but Flash IS Flash, you can expect him to pull some kind of maphack to see all these.
Wala.Revolution: Well I pretty much answered my question above. Like M18M said, Flash plays well and adapts well, which is precisely why the sniping builds of Dear and M18M worked. With the time the Flash had to prepare on Ground Zero I doubt there are many builds that Flash cannot or will not expect in TvP. Straight up matches is best I believe.
5. KT Zerg seem to be on another level when it comes to playoffs, as we've seen in the CJ series. Are they still a large threat to Khan? Any thoughts on why they seem to do so well on the playoffs?
Katsuge: They looked to be on a tear from the sets with CJ, but this is Khan we are talking about. As much of a KT fan that I am, Khan tosses will not be easy to get by. I think it is more of Action and CH acclimating to the conditions in the KT playhouse. They have gotten much more solid since the days when they just entered the team, and with Hoejja to lead them, they are JUST starting to show their potential.
Wala.Revolution: KT zergs were indeed on a roll against CJ, with only Crazy-Hydra dropping a game due to a very, very tiny but fatal mistake . However, while they are combined 8-2 so far, many of their wins are from slight to major build order advatanges or the opponent giving up advantages. I will say that Hoejja indeed played an impressive ZvT vs Leta, but that was because Leta really failed midgame because he did not capitalize on his advantage and instead squandered it away, giving a chance for Hoejja to shine. Action won using a specially prepared ZvP build, which any zerg could have executed against all, if not most Protosses.
Hoejja, Action, and Crazy-Hydra are all at least competent (during the playoffs), and at times, impressive. However assuming that there are no major BO advantages such as that of Hoejja vs Roro yesterday, Khan can handle them handidly as Grape demonstrated or just win in a typical, lackluster fasion like Shine did against Action.
6. What two players would you most like to see go head-to-head in tomorrow's series. And which two would you like to see the least?
Katsuge: Hoejja vs. Stork. I am really interested to see what kind of strategy he has prepared to take on the tosses. Probably some kind of insane eco-trickery build.
Wala.Revolution: Head to head, most people would say Stork or Jangbi vs Flash, except Jangbi needs to not play like yesterday and Stork likewise against Stats. Jangbi/Stork vs Flash/Stats always have potential to be great matches, and apart from those players' special matchups like Grape's PvZ or Actions (lategame) can all be worth watching.
Least... just no more giant BO wins. They make the game more boring from a neutral point of view and bad for the side who lost with the disadvantage being insurmountable.
7. We didn't see Barracks or Turn play in day one. What do you think they bring to the team and if you were to send them out, where would you place them?
Katsuge: I dont think both teams will be considering sending out Turn or Barracks. But if I were to send them, it would be on Ground Zero, so there is a likelihood of a TvT tomorrow.
Wala.Revolution: Turn is fun to watch mostly, unless he fails miserably like he did vs Effort. He'll attack with vultures, tanks, goliaths, or stick and stones. He of course brings more than the usual excitement, as his aggressiveness is something rarely seen nowadays, and probably only exceeded by July. For the team Turn brings in unexpected wins like ones against Bogus and Stats. I cannot really comment for Barracks because I don't remember any of his games off my head. Even seeing the TLPD I can't remember his games although I did not watch his game vs Speed.
Having more cometent players of course means a deeper lineup. This is particularly important in playoffs as having more options means harder time for opponents to prepare, especially since Samsung had more time while KT was facing CJ. Hopefully today's matchup luck is reversed and Samsung gets more favorable ones tomorrow.
Turn should be the more solid player of the two, and his style can be utilized unexpectedly against KT like on Neo Outlier. Barracks I expect will be the more traditional sniper, using specially prepared builds on a target map/matchup.
Wala.Revolution: It's far too difficult for me to actually put a lineup which I will stand behind. It gives me far too much an headache; it should for managers January and Lee Ji-Hoon as well.
Wala.Revolution: Expect great games, a decisive 4-0 victory for Khan tomorrow. And thank you to you Hyde for making brillint OPs, players for great games, and viewers for being great fans! Let's see some jangbangs!
A special thanks to Katsuge and Wala.Revolution for taking some time out of their busy schedule to answer my questions. Hope you enjoyed it, get hyped for day two!
EPT
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