[Spoilers] eSTRO vs Hwaseung Interviews

eSTRO's hyvaa defeated Hwaseung's Jaedong, helping his team to take the eventual win.

The following is the interview with Hyvaa.

- You defeated Jaedong, the strongest ZvZ player.
▲ I played horribly against zergs in the start of the season. I had no confidence during practice, but when I started winning in broadcasted matches, I slowly gained confidence, and right now, ZvZ is the most comfortable match up for me. I wanted to play against Jaedong when we were going to Hwaseung. When the entries were announced, both Jaedong and I were on a winning streak against Zergs, so I wanted to play an exciting game. And I feel good because today's game went smoothly for me.

- Both you and your team were slumping...
▲ I am sensitive about my condition. When the entries were announced, I chose to play in the first set, and it was very tough for me because there were a lot of matches going on early in the day. That was why this time round, I woke up early in the morning and warmed myself up by practicing on Battle.net, and I think that has been a great help.

- Your team does not seem to be in a good mood.
▲ We were very angry at ourselves for losing many games so stupidly. We started losing continuously, and our morale starting dropping as well. I hate such moods.

- The OSL preliminaries are getting closer.
▲ When I found out that the MSL preliminaries were in the morning shift, I did not have a good feeling about it, and as I expected, my games did not play out so well. This time, it is in the afternoon, so I have confidence in playing well. Strangely enough, I got to play against Boxer in very competitive groups, and I will make sure that I win and qualify this time.

- You are the one responsible for your team's zerg line up. Do you feel pressured?
▲ I don't feel that there is anything specially hard. Magma had a different play style from mine, but I always watched his games and learnt a lot from them. Haran joined our team recently, and because of that he's been a great help.

- Any final words?
▲ eSTRO fighting!

eSTRO's SangHo defeated Hwaseung's Killer and contributed to his team's win over Hwaseung.

The following is the interview with Sangho.

- Your thoughts on your victory.
▲ I did not even dream that my winning rate will become 50%. The moment my record hit 17 wins 17 losses, I realised, "Ah, my winning rate is finally 50%". When I realised that, I was filled with lots of regrets and disappointment. After great made a comeback and won the game, I played today with the thought that I must win in order to make my winning rate 50%, and then start anew. I think that that turned out well.

- You lost to many of your opponents' comeback.
▲ I was once first in overall winning rate, and there were also times where I would win all the games I played. But right now, my record is 18 wins 18 losses. I won a lot in the past, so I became too complacent. I concluded that my recent matches turned out badly because I let my guard down too much.

- You allowed Zerglings to get into your base early game.
▲ I faced such scenarios many times during practice. When my opponents see my zealots leaving (to attack), they should pull out their zerglings, but there were some who chose to attack instead. The reinforcement zealot should have spawned and prevented the cannon from being destroyed, but my timing was slightly off, so the cannon was destroyed. But it was a manageable situation, so I did not worry too much.

- Your opponent seemed very nervous.
▲ I felt that when I saw his zergling movements during my speedlot attack. He could have fought but he didn't, and that was when I noticed that he was nervous. I think that it was something that he could not help, being a newcomer and all. That is something that only experience can solve.

- You experienced losses after your opponents made a comeback in many of the recent games.
▲ There were so many games where I almost won and then blew it, so it was tough for me in many ways. I lost games which I could have won, so i felt sorry for my teammates. But I knew that I could do well, and I had many experiences of undergoing losing streaks, so I felt that I could definitely recover from it. I need to start learning how to win more from now on.

- After the formation of eSTRO, your team has never went on a 4-game winning streak before.
▲ We want to go on a 4-game winning streak. Who our opponents are is not important. I don't think that we (his team and the opponents) have such a big difference in terms of skills, so we can definitely achieve it if we work hard. I will say more regarding that in the interview after we achieve our 4-game winning streak.

- You are the only Protoss in your team.
▲ Somehow, that fact benefits me greatly. That is because regardless of our team's condition, I will still be able to play. But if that happens, I might get lazy and my game quality will start to deteriorate. Hence, I consistently tell my Protoss juniors to work hard and compete against each other. I hope that there will be a day where our Protoss line-up gets strong enough that we will have to compete to play on stage. That is why I am currently teaching my Protoss juniors all my know-hows. It may seem as though it will do us more harm than good, but it's more of everyone improving together and competing straight up against each other.

- The OSL prelims are getting closer.
▲ Actually, I lack practice on the new maps such as God's Garden and Return of the King. I will practice hard with the remainder of time I have left to produce good results.

- Any final words?
▲ The weather is very nice. I hope everyone can go on outings, enjoy the scent of flowers and have a great time, instead of just staying at home.

eSTRO's UpMaGiC defeated Hwaseung's BackHo, sealing his team's victory.

The following is the interview with Upmagic.

- Your thoughts on ending your 7-game losing streak.
▲ Both my team and I did not feel that great recently, but after ending my 7-game losing streak today, I feel happy. I am happier than usual today.

- You used a very peculiar strategy.
▲ There's nothing different. There was another game where they started off like me and then went bionic, so I played mindgames with my opponent. Deciding to expand at the backyard expo quickly was something I decided on after scouting my opponent's main.

- You took your second expansion without even building a tank.
▲ My opponent did not confirm my build. That is also why I only built two marines before getting an expansion.

- Did you expect an easy victory?
▲ Even if I played standard, I had confidence that I could win as long as I did not receive any damage (from harassment). I thought of many mindgames to play on my opponent. I like to use the dropship, so his defense against dropship play was inevitable, and even building medics was to play mindgames with my opponent and make him think more. But I built the medics slightly late due to the lack fo gas.

- You built a medic.
▲ If the game went on to late game, I planned to use many of the medic's spells. But the game ended quickly, so I was unable to show it.

- Your TvP is noted for being weak.
▲ Because I am weak against Protoss, I practiced hard. I learnt a lot from watching Really's game against Samsung('s JangBi). Through that, I worked on my flaws.

- Do you want to play on Battle Royal again?
▲ There are quite a few strategies that I have thought up. I want to give it a shot, but I do not know how it will turn out. I do not know if I will be sent out.

- The next team you'll be facing is ACE.
▲ Our desire of not wanting to go on a losing streak again is greater than our desire to go on a winning streak. It will be very hard on us if we start going on a losing streak again. Our team is feeling down, which is affecting our daily life, so even if practicing is hard, we do not want to go on a losing streak again.

- Any final words?
▲ eSTRO fighting!