ClarityShuttle Interview: WCS EU Qualification

Congratulations on making it into WCS EU Premier League! You’ve finally earned your spot after four long qualifiers! How do you feel about your performance today?

I am extremely ecstatic because this is the first ever qualifier that I was able to win since the start of my Starcraft II progaming career.

First off, you are a Korean progamer living and practicing in North America, and yet you’re participating in WCS Europe. What made you choose EU over NA or KR?

I was originally planning to choose NA as my region because of my current living situation. However, due to the sudden increase in competition in NA due to the influx of Korean progamers, I decided that choosing EU would be a better fit for me.


You had to go through all four qualifiers before you finally earned your seed. What’s your opinion on having best-of-one (Bo1) series in such an important qualifier like WCS? Were you nervous going into the final day?

It is so easy to lose and feel empty afterwards in a best-of-one series because you only get one chance. I was not particularly nervous during the games. The only time that I ever felt nervous was towards the end of the game against TargA due to the excitement from the fact that I was so close to winning the qualifier.

You came extremely close in the 3rd WCS EU Qualifier losing out 2-0 to KrasS in the Semi-Finals. Was that a series you were expecting to win? How did you feel after the series being so close to grabbing a spot in the Premier League?

I met KrasS multiple times on ladder and I have never lost to him, so I was very upset with myself because I lost to the all-in strategies both games. I was even more stressed out by the fact that there was now only one qualifier left after that.

You showed a dominating series of performances today, finishing off all of your opponents 2-0. You are now the first and only Korean to make it through the qualifiers for WCS EU Season 1. Was the competition harder than you expected? Did you predict anyone would make it through that didn’t?

It was not the competition but the latency that was the problem since I was playing from Clarity Gaming team house in NA. If I had lived in EU without any latency, I think I would have won a qualifier earlier. Even though a lot of people expected the Korean players to qualify, I thought that they would have a hard time qualifying due to the latency.

The WCS has undergone several changes since last year which have been subject to considerable heated discussion. What are your thoughts on Blizzard’s new approach to WCS, is there anything you particularly like or dislike?

I did not care about the system or rule changes because I only had one goal in my mind: to get through the qualifier. I am a strong believer that as long as I try hard and practice, good things (results) will follow. So I only practiced. My only dislike about the changes is the decrease in the prize pool for the winners and the runner-ups. I also personally think that foreigners would be extremely disappointed at the participation of the Koreans at their regional qualifiers.

Now that you’ve qualified, what are your goals for this season of WCS?

I will work and practice hard to show good results.

Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me this evening and congratulations again on earning your seed in the Premier League for WCS EU! Do you have any shout-outs/thank-you’s to make or want to say anything to your fans?

First of all, I would like to thank my Skype family for being supportive of each other. I also want to thank my team, Clarity Gaming, my teammates, and especially Brandon for helping me focus on the game. I want to give a huge shout-out to a friend Young-Hoon Jo, who has always believed in my potential since I started my progaming career. I also want to thank all the fans for the support and the love.