[SPOILERS] Survivor Group 5 & 6 Winners Interviews

UpMaGiC has successfully qualified for his 5th consecutive MSL.

He defeated KTF's 815 and CJ's Iris in Group 5 of 2009 MSL Survivor Tournament Season 1, held on the 23rd of April, 1400KST at the MunRaeDong LOOX MBC Hero Center.

The following is the interview with UpMaGiC.

- Your thoughts on your 5th consecutive MSL qualification.
▲ All along during all the MSLs, I did not perform that well, but at least I managed to qualify consistently, so I am content with that for now.

- You chose to go bionic instead of mech in your first game.
▲ I watched the three recent matches (T/L note: TvZs, of course) on Byzantium, and it seems that bionic is a more favorable option. I just continued the trend that started all the way from Byzantium 1. I thought of Byzantium as a map that favored bionic play from the moment the map was released.

- You won relatively easily with bionic.
▲ I did not play as well as A rank players, but after the Winner's League, I practiced bionic a lot more than mech play. I think that it is why my recent games have been getting better, and I'm slowly building up more confidence.

- The game dragged until mid-late game during the Winner's match.
▲ After practicing on Carthage, I came to a conclusion that TvTs will always end up in a Battlecruiser match. I concluded that even if I was on a lower expansion count, as long as we were mining from the same number of geysers, I would still have a chance. I have a lot of confidence in battlercruiser fights, and as long as one defends well and turtles, it will end up as a battlecruiser match. Even if I was at a disadvantage, I tried to make up for that by getting the same number of gas expansions as my opponent.

- Your thoughts on your comeback.
▲ After my opponent destroyed my center expansion, I consistently harassed him and that was how I finally managed to win.

- Your thoughts on the changed Survivor format/
▲ It is true that for the old format, busy players will have a difficult time preparing for Survivor. But this format means that you play a maximum of just two matches, which means you have more time to prepare. I think it suits my style.

- Any goals like "I must aim for so-and-so this MSL"?
▲ I am well-prepared for this MSL. I was always satisfied by the results I produced until the previous MSL. But now I think that I have to produce better matches, because I believe that I have gotten better. I do not want to go through the Survivor Tournament anymore, and I want to remain in the MSL (through seeding).

- Then what is your exact target this MSL?
▲ My minimum target is to get into the quarterfinals and get seeded, but I hope to at least get into the semifinals, and hopefully even win.

- Any final words?
▲ I heard that Iris' grandmother got hurt, and was called back to visit her. It must have been difficult to play under such a situation, and I wish to console him. I also pray for his grandmother's quick recovery.
Many people around me are worried for me. I had recently gotten a girlfriend, so I focused less when it came to playing (Starcraft), and that got them even more worried. But I am fine, and I am confident that I will do better, so I hope they will stop worrying. I am confident that I will produce results good enough so that they will stop worrying.

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MBCGame Hero's Sea[Shield] has successfully qualified for his 7th consecutive MSL.

He defeated Samsung Khan's Juni and Hwaseung Oz's HiyA in Group 6 of 2009 MSL Survivor Tournament Season 1, held on the 23rd of April, 1400KST at the MunRaeDong LOOX MBC Hero Center.

The following is the interview with Sea.

- Your thoughts on your 7th consecutive MSL qualfiication.
▲ I always felt most nervous during the group stages of each MSL I qualified. On the surface, I managed to qualify 7 times consecutively, but if you look into my profile, I always lost in the Round of 16 or in the Round of 32. I lacked many things back then, but through my recent losses, I felt many things and because of that, my mindset is now different.

- What did you feel?
▲ First things first, I felt a lot of stress. And because I kept losing, it was the first time in my life I felt that way. Up til now in my life, in everything I did, including gaming, I was at least of average skill, but this time my standard dropped a lot, and because of that, I went through a lot of difficulties and hardship. But it is still halfway through the season, so I am not at a stage where I can easily give up.

- It seems like you are slowly recovering from your slump.
▲ I am in the process of recovery. It is because there is still Proleague and the OSL preliminaries left. I think that the OSL preliminaries will be very important (in helping me recover from my slump).

- You have shown a lot of strategic plays recently. Are you trying to change your play style?
▲ I don't think so. I am just using favorable builds on the appropriate maps. It was a strategy that I had planned long ago to use on both Byzantium and Carthage.

- You need to show that you are not the 'Round of 16 Terran' anymore.
▲ My performance had dropped so much recently that I'm not the 'Round of 16 Terran' anymore, and instead, I am now the 'Round of 32 Terran' (laughs). Every time I qualified for an individual league, I had confidence that I will make it into the quarterfinals, and even beyond. But I will show everyone a different me this time. I am confident in making past the Round of 36, and I think I will make it beyond the Round of 8. (T/L note: What's the difference =.="?)

- With your recent slump, your team's performance has dropped too.
▲ I lost so much that I felt sorry towards my teammates and coaching staff. Because of that, I lost a lot, and so did my team. I need to work hard from now on to turn things around and make sure our team gets into the Round of 6 (of Proleague).

- Anything you wish to specially say?
▲ Peace will be playing shortly. I wish him all the best.