A Discussion with Empire|Beastyqt

Leading into last week, there had been four all-kills in the IPL Team Arena Challenge 3. Three by zergs, one by a protoss. All by Koreans. But last week, Empire's Beastyqt came out first against Eastern European rivals FXO.CIS, and he never left, taking out all who came against him to notch the first foreigner all-kill and first terran all-kill of the tournament. We sat down with Beastyqt to discuss the all-kill, as well as Empire's prospects in the rest of the IPL TAC, Beasty's progress in the Razer House, and—of course—a little bit about balance!

Thanks for speaking with us!

Empire|Beastyqt: No problemo



You just came off an all-kill of FXO.CIS, how did it feel to pull off a feat like that?

Beastyqt: FXO is our biggest rival since both Empire and FXO are from eastern Europe. They managed to defeat us 5-3 in Russian team league and I wanted revenge for my team, I was glad to be able to do an all-kill..with style



Did you feel it coming before hand? As the first game was loading, did you feel that something special could happen?

Beastyqt: Every time I play in IPL or any other all-kill team league system , if I go first for my team my aim is always all-killing other team. I knew I improved a lot in the Razer house and I wanted to show that to everyone. After winning vs Lowely and Bratok I knew my chances of all-killing are pretty high at that point



You didn't play in Empire's defeat at the hands of SlayerS, perhaps a series that was a little more onesided against Empire than it should've been. Was that in your mind as well?

Beastyqt: No Beasty, no win :D

I think Mista was close to winning early in clan war in PvP but if I recall correctly he messed up, that could have change the whole series, but I guess we will never know now I expected more from that clan war, at least 5-3 (if we lose), but sometimes things just dont go your way and Slayers played better on that day. I think community overall expected Empire to do much better in that clan war since we are one of best foreigner teams, but no worries! I promise we will do better in future



What were your thoughts going into the match against FXO.CIS? Who were you worried about, who did you expect to come out first?

Beastyqt: Empire does a lot of research before clan wars on every player best and worst matchup, their prefered maps and play styles. Since it was Tal'darim we knew there is high chance of zerg playing on it and our bet was Lowely on it since its big map and he likes doing roach pressure early on which is good map for that type of play.



...and that was exactly what happened...

Beastyqt: Then there is always factor that many people dont know which is how players feel like playing vs certain players, if player A is better than player B he might not necessarily win vs him, because he is on "tilt" vs that player from games in the past, so we also take that in consideration as well. Even if TvZ is not my best matchup, I went out first because I was more confident vs Lowely than other players from my team which plays big role in competative play.



After LoWeLy, you proxy marauder rushed BRAT.OK on Antiga. Did you expect him to go CC first?

Beastyqt: I got pretty lucky vs Bratok, I expected either gas opener or standard 1 rax expand, but I got better end of build orders which helped me to get big lead on start of the game and after that I just did follow up with 2 base allin for the win!



After BRAT.OK was out, FXO.CIS was pretty much out of their two most prominant players. Did you feel like victory was assured for Empire after those two wins?

Beastyqt: For me personally hardest were Strelok and Bratok to play versus in the past. After I managed to beat Bratok I knew that FXO will send Elbegast and Happyzerg and save Strelok for last which just gave me confidence boost to keep playing good. Once you get 4 kills in team leagues you feel invincible and last game feels the easiest because you are motivated to complete the all-kill and you just play a lot faster and better overall. First time when I felt I will do all-kill is after winning vs Bratok in game 2, but if I did lose in 3rd game I still think we would manage to win, but it wouldnt be easy, FXO is very good and underrated team.



Around game three, a pattern became clear about how you were ending the games.... any backstory behind your manner CC spree?

Beastyqt: Haha, a lot of people in sc2 community take some stuff too serious and I've been getting some negative feedback because making those CC's, but it's okay I love my haters anyway.

FXO like I said before is our biggest rival and doing stuff like making cc's in their bases and letting them leave games on their own without pushing for win is just taunting your enemies and playing mind games with them for next game and for future clan wars. It was fun for me and being able to make CC's in their bases before fight even starts just showed my confidence in those games and gave me even more confidence boost after winning game after game while doing that. I'm sorry if anyone took it in offensive way, I respect FXO because all of their players are very good and underrated like I said before

This will only allow games between FXO and Empire being even better in future because im sure their desire to win will be even greater after that series.



You really never was in trouble at any point in the entire series. Perhaps against Elbegast if your push had come a second later, but overall you never seemed to be in a disadvantageous position. Just luck? Preparation?

Beastyqt: All games went pretty easy for me due to preparation before and in between games since I discussed with Kas and Happy and I'm familiar with all of their play styles except for Elbegast. Kas, Happy and Mista described me his play style, safe expanding into blink, 1-2 forge and going slowly to colossus and getting 3rd base later. Even though that build is safe its weak versus ghost push if terran plays correctly because timing hits right before colossus pops out. I killed the first observer on my natural before it scouted ghosts, which is very important part of doing ghost push.

Against Lowely roaches were expected, vs Bratok like I said I got better end of build orders, Happyzerg hates mech, team mates helped me with game vs Elbegast and Strelok tends to do gas builds or at least versus me so I just played safe vs him and was prepared for everything.



The final game ended with what the Koreans might call a 'cool gg' from Strelok. Your defense was too tight, and he just left after being down a base. Maybe trying to thwart a manner CC? ^^

Beastyqt: Haha! :D

After he scanned my army I think I had something like 3 or 4 siege tanks with bunker, raven and 3-4 vikings which is pretty much what he had too, but I had defensive position which gave me the upper hand and since I was on 2 base and he was on one he couldnt do anything at that point. I actually sent SCV around in that last game to scout if he expanded and when I saw there is no expo I wanted to make CC on his natural, but he killed my SCV. Maybe next time haha.





Hahaha. How did you feel after the all-kill? How did your teammates react?

Beastyqt: I felt really good since its been 2 or 3 months since I did my last all-kill and all-kills are really motivating even after the series is over. I'm an emotional player and even though winning that clan war for my team I didnt win LAN event or didnt win any money directly from it, after the last game I high fived giX from Razer house and did Beasty roar, :D since I was really happy about winning for my team. Everyone from Empire (players) were happy for me doing it because they didnt need to play later haha, they are lazy sometimes. But they were happy for me winning, especially in match thats important for Russian community since our teams are rivals.



Tell us about the rivalry between all the eastern european teams, and the russian community. Was this a big result there as well?

Beastyqt: Empire is very strict about clan wars and we always use our best line-ups (unless someone is traveling) because clan wars for Empire are very important... can't really speak for other teams. Our sponsors always want us to win every clan war, but they dont mind us losing to "western" teams as long as we manage to do well vs RoX.KiS and FXO since its just more important. (Eastern Europe thing :D)



How about the Korean teams? Your all-kill wasn't the first of the IPL TAC, but it was the first all-kill performed by a foreigner.

Beastyqt: Even though I was only one to do it so far as foreigner, I feel like I need to do it versus Korean team for it to be "legit" (no disrespect to FXO). I was really sad last season where we played Empire vs Prime and I lost vs Creator after I won my first 3 games, but that just motivated me for next time and im really looking forward to play more Korean teams in future, but first we need to deal with Karont3.



Branching out a bit, tell us a bit about your living situation. You mentioned you felt you had improved a lot in the Razer house. How long have you been there?

Beastyqt: I've been here for almost 2 months and my time here has been really great, im just playing soooo much more than when I was at home and playing more Korean players is always good. Razer takes care of everything we need in the house which makes practicing a lot easier in general since we dont have to worry about anything. Guys in house I'm living with are all cool to hang out with and fun which plays big factor when you stay in gaming house for long periods of time, you need to get along with people inside of it so that your time in house isn't boring on your offdays or once you are done practicing.



How long do you plan to stay?

Beastyqt: I will be living here till September and will be attending MLG Raleigh and I'll try to qualify for MLG Summer arena. If I manage to qualify for NASL playoffs in Canada you'll be able to see me there too! [Editor's Note: Lost to Stephano in the Ro16] But in general I'll just try to go to as many events as possible while im here and hopefully do well on them.



Awesome. Any other Empire players coming to the house? Would you recommend it?

Beastyqt: Im not sure what the exact plan is with Razer house in future, but I would recommend it to everyone for sure Its great weather here in California, beaches, LA, Las Vegas are all close, we get everything we need and all we need to do is practice for 8+ hours a day and if you dont you get kicked out of the house.. kinda straight forward, its a pretty good deal if you ask me! and im really happy that im here. My original plan was staying here 3 months then going back to Serbia, but I decided to stay longer here and attend more tournaments.



Have to ask a very important question: have you been to In-N-Out Burger?

Beastyqt: No I eat healthy I don't wanna go chubster mode.



Ok, but you have to go to In-N-Out Burger at least once. It's an icon.

Beastyqt: lol



Oh, so tell us about your play in general? What's your favorite match-up atm, and what in particular has the razer house helped out with?

Beastyqt: Don't put those answers up, lol



What? I've gotta put the In-N-Out Burger answer up

Beastyqt: lol ok... I dont mind... :D



So tell me about your hobbies...

Beastyqt: My best matchup was always TvT due to playing A TON on EU ladder with Kas and Happy and it was always my favorite. (I played a lot of chess when I was younger!) Since I got into Razer house my TvP improved a ton, at one point I thought its maybe my best matchup, but..no its still my worst, altho I manage to win a lot more now. :D



You've never been so shy about your views on terran balance. How do you feel now? ^^

Beastyqt: Haha, I'm just saying what everyone is thinking but they are afraid to say it because of the feedback (hating) from the community. But I was raised to say what I think and be honest about it. Problems that I complained about 6 months ago with TvP and the problem with zealots and warpgate late game still exists, and as everyone knows terran had 3 top 4 finishers in last 10 tournaments and won 0.

After the recent patch Blizzard introduced new unit called Queendralisks which kills anything that terran has up to 10 minutes into game allowing zerg to get on 3 base and get 70-80 drones with no problem, which then allows zerg to get tier 3 units at 13-14 minute into game and most of the time terran is simply not being able to deal with it unless you manage to deal damage to zerg economy through defences of queendralisks. It's obviously possible for terran to win vs both P and Z, its just..really hard at this point.

What I would change is maybe give terran tier 3 units, nerf warpgate and make it only defensive ability so that protoss wouldnt be able to warp 30 zealots in middle of fights while attacking you and I would agree with new unit queendralisk staying in game as long as GGlord/ infestor composition would be nerfed.



Hahahahahahahah
So basically an "I told you so" moment. =D

Beastyqt: Yes :D



Alright, well that's all I have, anything you can think of?

Beastyqt: Hmmmmmmmm, noppp not really, you covered everything like a boss..



Shoutouts and yada yada yada?


Beastyqt: Shoutouts to my team; Empire, and our sponsors Razer, Adidas, Intel and Seagate. Shoutout to all my fans who are supporting me I appreciate it, to my family and special shoutout for Ben "Mr.Bitter" Nichol, and again big thanks to Razer for inviting me and having me in the Razer house, and last but not least shoutout to my boy Rotti for being awesome. <3

twitter.com/beastyqt
facebook.com/beastyqt
twitch.tv/beastyqt

THATS IT



Ba dum cha!

Beastyqt: BOOM DA BOOM