WCS KR WR1 D4 Winners' Interview

Q: How does it feel making it to the round of 16 of the winners' bracket?
A: I thought that it was easy to play against my opponent. Even though I lost in the first game, it was relatively easy to make it to the next round.

Q: This is your first broadcasted game after joining Slayers.
A: The uniform's really good (laughs). I haven't been to the hostel yet so I'm not too sure about that. When I was at MVP, I was quite envious of the LG-IM uniforms by Googims. But the Slayers uniform is not bad too. I like it.
[T/N: Heh lolol. Real reason for Genius leaving the team ]

Q: Now that you've joined a new team, your mindset seems to have changed too.
A: I don't know yet (laughs).

Q; Your void ray all-in failed in game 1.
A: I played Dreamertt in the WCG Preliminaries and realised that he just prepared some strategies tailored against me, and didn't really like to scout. That's why I chose to use a void ray all-in to end the game, but it failed.

Q: The second game was really standard.
A: I guessed that the Terran will choose to do a timing attack rather than expand. When I guessed that, he chose to attack at that time. When I saw that my opponent actually had ghosts, it made me panic a bit. Good thing he didn't dodge my storms. That's why I was able to defend the attack easily.

Q: The third game was a switch to 4-gate after expanding.
A: I just wanted to use that tactic. On ladder, my opponents hold it 90% of the time, but today was the 10%.

Q; WCS is a tournament organised by Blizzard. Weren't you the winner of the first tournament which Blizzard organised after Starcraft 2 was released?
A: Whenever Blizzard personnel introduce me, they always call me the first generation champion. To be honest, it's quite embarassing. But I really really want to win this tournament. First of all, I want to come in first in this Nationals and get the guaranteed spot to go to China.

Q: Your next opponent is either Squirtle or Bboong.
A: If Squirtle advances, I think I might be dropping into the lower brackets, but I can accept losing to him and dropping to the lower brackets. When I meet him while laddering, I've basically never ever won.
[T/N: Hmmz... Oh well then. All the best Genius.]

Q: Are you hoping to have the chance to play against Kespa players in this tournament?
A: I never got to play against them in WCG either, so I'm kind of sad. I hope to get the chance to play against them soon. If I get the chance, I will gladly defeat them for my own advancement in the tournament. I think we are much stronger than them up to now. For this tournament, I hope to be able to go up against Reality.

Q: Any last things to add?
A: I want to thank MVP_Bang for practising with me. I also want to thank our sponsors Donga-Otsuka [T/N: Makers of Pocari Sweat], Scelido, Troy, Waren Story.

How do you feel about advancing in to the round of 16?

Not really feeling anything. I had a feeling that I was going to definitely win.

It seems we haven't seen you in a televised match in a while.

Aside from the GSL Code A round 3, everyone else fell so it felt like I hadn't played in a while. That's why I got a little nervous today.

In game one, you showed us great warp prism and immortal control.

I only got to do about ten practice games. But for some reason, my micro went really well today. I even picked out the immortals that had no health with my eyes. Luck was also on my side.

Seems like this is your first time doing these kinds of plays.

I've done three immortal all ins before but doing it like an arcade was the first time for me. PartinG recommended that build to me. He told me I would win for sure with that build. But he recommend only three immortals. The warp prism addition was all on my own.

In game 2 you showed us an amazing dark templar play.

I also didn't think I would put up results like this. BBoong is also really good at mentally maintaining himself. But his zerglings just all died in the beginning. I think I was so successful because because my opponent was so nervous.

Your next opponent is SlayerS_Genius. He stated that he thinks he would lose if he faced you.

Genius hyung always makes comments like that. He's also a really hard worker. I don't believe that he'll lose to me. I will also have to practice really hard.

Genius says he loses most of his encounters against you on ladder.

Other players know most of my IDs. But I don't know Genius hyung's smurf ID. So I don't really know how accurate that is. It's the first time I've heard of this.

This tournament is to determine who will represent Korea. You failed to be a representative for WCG.

The only tournament left for me is the WCS. For the entire month of August, I am really free. Since I can focus well I think I'll play really well. I want to be picked as the rank one representative for Korea.

Have you overcome the 11-11 weakness?

I've completely overcome this. If Terrans use this against me I can block it with ease. I'll actually thank them for using that build against me.

Anything else you would like to say?

I want to thank Curious, Pet, SoN, and Azubu's viOLet for helping me with practice. I also want to thank our sponsors Red Bull, BenQ, and ZOWIE Gear.

Q: How does it feel to get into the round of 16 of the winners' bracket?
A: Even though Kespa players haven't been having good results, I am personally quite confident. Even though it was ZvT, I had the confidence that I would win.

Q: Reality made it into the round of 16 as well in yesterday's games.
A: His TvZ has always been really strong, and so I thought that he had a chance of qualifying for the next round even before the games. Watching him advance really gave me motivation to play well. I thought that I should be able to win as long as I don't make any mistakes which are too huge.

Q: You defeated a strong opponent.
A: I had very little information about my opponent. My feeling is that my opponent is a more experienced player than I am, so I thought that I just had to be careful in the early to mid game and it'd be ok. While winning, I also got to see some strategies which I never saw or thought of before, and I learnt a lot.

Q: You were harassed really badly in the first game.
A: I wanted to use the strategy that I was most confident in, but I was harassed so much by my opponent in the early game. Even though I tried really hard, it was still one-sided.

Q: You were harassed really badly by his hellions in the second game too. That put you in a pretty bad shape in early game.
A: The early game for the second game was really tough too. However, I did not think I was in that bad a shape while I was playing in the game. I was confident of dragging the game into the mid-late game and defeat my opponent based on mechanics, and so I was working hard to readjust my mentality.

Q: The third game saw both of you playing really standard.
A: The more a ZvT drags into late game, the more confident I become. As long as I can drag it into the late game, I have the chance of defeating my opponent. It was a good thing my opponent was playing really passively too, and as such I was able to win more easily.

Q: You are the only Kespa seeded player who made it to the round of 16 of the winners' bracket.
A: Getting the seed actually makes me more stressed. I didn't play in the preliminaries, and I also almost never won in SPL. It made me quite ashamed to see myself get the seed. I would have had to find a hole to hide in out of embarrassment if I had performed badly today. Fortunately I managed to win.

Q: The players from Samsung team seem to be performing quite well in WCS.
A: That's the case too in SPL. Our skill level in Starcraft 2 is improving at a fast rate in SPL, but recent defeats have led to a loss of confidence. But from what we can tell from the inside, our improvements have been really good. Currently, Reality is playing the best. As for me, I think I'm on a similar level as him (laughs).

Q; Your next opponent is either MC or Leenock.
A: Looking at the brackets, I feel that even if I had made it past the winners' brackets games today, it'd still be very hard for me. But I feel that it'd be better to play against Leenock than MC. Recently, ZvP has been really hard. But my record in recent SPL against Zerg is also that of straight losses, so I don't really dare to say too much.

Q: Do you think Kespa players will begin to do better and better?
A: I think that as long as we can live past the early-mid game, our ability in the late game is roughly the same as them. We are still mainly losing because we are not experienced enough, and the players in this tournament are all really experienced players. That's why I believe that it'll be better in the future.

Q: Any last things to add?
A: I talked quite a lot regarding SPL in this interview. I'm losing a lot recently, and it makes me really upset. But I'm still confident in my abilities, and I hope everyone can believe in me. Everyone in our team is really working very hard.

Q: How does it feel making it into the round of 16 of the winners' bracket?
A: I've recently been eliminated from all the individual leagues, and it puts me in a bad mood. I am very glad to be able to use today's win and advancement to make myself happy.

Q: Your opponent was the mighty MC. What were your thoughts after seeing the brackets?
A: I thought that the games would be really difficult. My opponent in the first round was actually going to be the Protoss President, and I was lamenting my bad luck in the draw. It reminded me of the past, when my luck in draws was always terrible, even though it's been not too bad recently.

Q; How did you pass the break after winning GSTL?
A: I went home and spent a lot of time with my parents. When there was free time, I would just go down to the hostel to practise a bit.

Q: Gumiho got the all-kill in the GSTL finals.
A: I was really really happy at that point. But on the way back to Seoul, I started feeling very disappointed. It felt like I went to Busan just to tour and look around (laughs).

Q: MC's defense was really strong in the second game.
A: It's really hard to fight in these huge battles against Protoss players who can control their large armies really well. That's how it was today too. Fortunately, I was able to gain some advantage in the mid-game and that lead to winning the game. He's really good.

Q: Your strategy was really successful in the third game. You demonstrated your strength in playing mind games.
A: To be honest, I wanted to use that strategy in the second game. I kept thinking during the games if I should play that way. My coach told me beforehand to play using the strategy that I wanted to use. Fortunately the strategy worked.

Q: Your next opponent is Roro.
A: I came earlier to the studio to watch his games, and he really played quite well. The styles and strategies he used is very similar to a Zerg that used to be on our team. It really surprised me. Moreover, it's a mirror matchup, and the games are going to be played tomorrow. It makes me really nervous.

Q: Now's a good chance for you to put all your focus on WCS.
A: This is the only individual league that I am still in. I have to go to MLG in between, but WCS is really such a large tournament. It's an international tournament. I really hope to be able to win in the tournament.

Q: They say they might be nerfing the Zerg creep.
A: Recently, looking at tournaments, it's very hard for Zergs to win. It's like what's been said last time, we've just been strong for one month. I knew this would happen. Nestea hyung said previously that the odds were finally even for Zerg playing against other races, and now they're actually going to nerf it again. They need to stop the nerfing. Protoss is really strong in many of the tournaments now, and Terrans are doing pretty well too. It seems like Blizzard does not really watch these tournaments (laughs). I hope they don't go ahead with the creep nerf.

Q: Any last things to add?
A: I want to thank Weekend and Tear for practising with me. I also want to thank the fans who have been cheering for me. Finally, I also want to thank the sponsors of our FXO team, Razer, FXO, Gomtv.