WCS America Season 3 Challenger League

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia

Interviews by monk

Get to Know your WCS NA Challenger Player is back! Though we had a brief break (mostly due to zero foreigners qualifying during season 2), we now have a whole host of new interviews ready for you. Three relative newcomers to the scene qualified for Challenger league for season three. First off is Petraeus, an oddly named fellow from way down under.

Petraeus

Please introduce yourself!
Hi I am Petraeus, a 17 year old Zerg player from New Zealand!

Petraeus, huh? Are you just a fan of disgraced American generals?
No, but I am a fan of amusing names heard on the radio.

Was it something about General Petraeus? Perhaps his illicit affiar?
Yes, before he was involved in the scandal though.

Yea, that scandal only happened this year i think. So how long have you been playing sc2? And any interesting stories to share?
I started playing about 6 months after release. Interesting stories about how I started? or just in general I once saw a squirrel.

So you're like Doug? (from up)
Not the most flattering comparison but yeah sure

It's ok, he's awesome, probably my favorite pixar character. What about sc2 stories? Either online or at w/e lans you've been to.
Hmm my most interesting sc2 experience would probably be my trip to Japan for the Tokyo Games Show tournament. It was my first time in Asia and my first time overseas by myself so it was a very surreal experience.

I imagine tokyo must be very different from new zealand. It's probably not a great example of what the rest of the world is like though.
Yes very, everywhere you go there is a sea of asian people. its terrifying.

Aren't there lots of Asian people in New Zealand? Like people who can't get into universities anywhere else so they go to New Zealand.
Yeah, in comparison to our population. But you can actually get some breathing room outside in nz.

yea, i can imagine there's a lot more space
And sheep. Don't forget the sheep

Do you have a best sheep friend?
Yes his name is David Gore

I just googled that and it seems like this is a reference to an american teen actor turned murderer. Anything you wanna tell me?
Nah i would rather it remain as an inside joke.

We'll let the audience decide what that means. Speaking of googling though, wikipedia describes the stereotypical New Zealand male as follows:

The stereotypical New Zealand male is essentially a pioneer type: he is perceived to be rural, unintellectual, strong, unemotional, democratic, has little time for high culture, good with animals (particularly horses) and machines, and is able to turn his hand to nearly anything. This type of man is often assumed to be a unique product of New Zealand's colonial period but he shares many similarities with the stereotypical American frontiersman and Australian bushman. New Zealand men are supposed to still have many of these qualities, even though most New Zealanders have lived in urban areas since the late nineteenth century. This has not prevented New Zealanders seeing themselves (and being seen) as essentially country people and good at the tasks which country life requires.

Does that accurately describe you?
Yes, incredibly accurately. When I'm not cranking out ladder games on my dial up internet, I will always be found amoungst the lush forests of Auckland's CBD.

What's a CBD?
central business district

Oh cool. Slightly off topic but are you a fan of lorde?
I wouldn't call myself a fan but I do enjoy a couple of her songs.

New Zealand boys of your age aren't all flocking to be with her? Just like how i imagine every guy of your age in America dreams of being with taylor swift
No, she wears far too many clothes for that level of attraction.

Ok, i can see that. So on your liquipedia page, i see you like oranges. What's that about and orange you glad i asked about this?
Oranges are more than just an enjoyment, they are a way of life. Without them there would be no #dedication.

On a serious note, I eat an orange before every event. For a while I didn't know if it was any good but TLO mentioned in his grillied interview that eating/drinking the same things before you sit down to play can remind the brain of what to do.

Did you eat an orange before you played the WCS NA qualifier?
No, usually with online events I don't bother. Clearly orange remains were still being digested however or the outcome of the qualifier would have been very different.

Maybe that's some good sage advice to any aspiring WCS NA players. Speaking of which, how were those qualifiers? Any difficult in particular?
WCS qualifiers are always extremely difficult for SEA players as they are always very early in the morning. For me this meant waking up at 6am. Thankfully the bracket was fairly easy (no koreans) so sleep deprivation was the biggest hurdle for me.

Any particularly memorable or interesting games for you?
I played some American Terran called "Revenge" who I didn't expect to be any good but I barely managed to beat him 2-1 so that was memorable and depressing at the same time.

Side note, liquipedia says he's Zerg. lol, that should get changed
Maybe its a Korean Terran smurf and I'm actually really good at this game

You also beat Guitarcheese, a Zerg player who knocked out your down under buddy, PiG. Was there any added satisfaction from avenging another southern hemisphere Zerg?
Not really, its every man for himself in the WCS qualifiers. Sucks that PiG didn't make it though, he deserves it!

So there's a Zerg cabal in the united states. Is there anything similar for Australia/New Zealand?
ca·bal
/kəˈbäl/
Noun
A secret political clique or faction: "a cabal of dissidents".
wtf, speak english pls.

Iono, they label themsevles as a cabal
you mean the NA zerg chat? Ah right. We have that but we don't use it at all. The SEA scene is really small and therefore we play each other all the time in tournaments so we don't like to discuss strategies with each other. That sort of talk belongs in team chats.

Oh, how's your team btw? What's that like? First of all, what team are you on and will your team be mad at you for not mentioning them at the beginning of the interview?
I'm on Frenetic Array (Fray) which is an Australian team sponsored by Razer and some other companies which you should purchase products from. And no I don't think so. Its nothing compared to Iaguz not wearing his team shirt during an IEM Shanghai interview.

Ok, now's about the time where i ask you random stuff.
great

Who's your favorite player that you look up to?
I would say Snute because of his #dedication.

At this point, i'm not even sure if #dedication means dedication, but I guess snute is very dedicated
yes

If you had to form a team with 5 other players, who would that include?
scarlett, snute, TLO, DRG, Life

Oh so you'd like to be on acer pre-mma and innovation
wat

They were an all Zerg team
Oh right. Yeah of course, the more zerg the more I can learn.

Pokemon x and y are coming out in 2 weeks. What's your favorite Pokemon?
Whichever one plays the most starcraft.

Are you trying to hide the fact that you've never played Pokemon and thus can't name an obscure one to show off your Pokemon knowledge?
I played it quite a bit when I was really young so I know snorlax squirtle pikachu venosaur yeah thats about it

Wow you even spelled venusaur wrong
I try not to store useless information in my brain

You're going to get lots of anti-fans because of that statement.
yeah but I only want dedication fans

At this point, i'm so angry with you that i think it's time to end the interview. Any final shoutouts or anything you want to say at all?
Shoutout to my team Frenetic Array and their sponsors: Razer, Patriot Memory, Gametraders and Micis Consulting. Shoutout to the NZ Sc2 community, Spook, and Cam's mum.

You can follow and find out more about Petraeus here:

Interviews: monk