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We return with our fan interviews with one of each race of the most successful American Koreans. Jaedong, Polt and HerO all have achieved significant success after joining EG, CM Storm and TL respectively. While Polt and HerO have taken away all the WCS AM titles between them, Jaedong has been left without a Premier win for his entire SC2 career. Coming into Blizzcon, Polt and HerO will be looking at expanding their trophy collections, while Jaedong will be battling for his first SC2 one.
Hey, ffadicted/LittleChimp. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us! First off, give us a small introduction about yourself, and how you became a Jaedong fan.
ffa: If you were watching WCS Season 3 finals, I was one of those guys that kept screaming Jaedong at completely inappropriate times before, and quite a while after, JD had been eliminated. I am not sorry for ruining your viewing experience (I'm looking at you, guy that kept giving me dirty looks). I'm not ashamed to say I'm a new age JD fan, someone who has fallen in love with his play despite not watching a single live game from his BW days. I am the living proof that despite his rocky start and without his BW fame, the king JD is still bring in many loyal fans and admirers alike. I mean, for crying out loud, who else could make me enjoy EG? EG!@!#!
LittleChimp: On the other hand, I was a BW junkie... I was one of those guys watching VLC streams back in the day, reading pimpest plays, and playing on ICCUP (D+ oh damn). My first view of Jaedong was in the GOMTV Star Invitational. I heard big things about him, so I looked up his championship vods. His 3-1 vs. Stork in the OSL finals, and him crying in his mom's arms after winning made me a big fan. The guy has the talent, the work rate, and the charisma to go with it. Him and a select few take eSports to the next level and make it better.
It's hard to talk about Jaedong without mentioning his BW career. What were the biggest moments and stories there?
ffa: Brood War huh... yaaaa... about that lol...
LittleChimp: With his first OSL win already mentioned, off the top of my head, his match vs Lomo in the GOM Classic was something else. Jaedong's lurker fun house, his double muta groups vs. Upmagic, and his muta/wraith wars with Light. His 3 hatch spire into 5 hatch was the ZvP build I blatantly copied for months, to far less success.
ffa: Oh ya I've seen some Muta micro... sick nerd baller JD #bwnoob
Jaedong is one of the more successful KeSPA players to switch. Why is this so?
ffa: The three P's: Practice, Passion and Perseverance. Nobody can achieve the level JD achieved in Brood War without the level of practice he puts forth. And it's not just the amount of practice; I could sit in a room and play Starcraft for 8+ hours a day and I'd still suck. It's how he practices: his intelligence, his game sense, his preparation and his mindset. Developed through years of hard work, they give him an advantage over others before, during and after matches.
His passion is beyond normal as well. JD loves SC, he loves his fans, he loves the competition, and above all, he loves winning. It's what drives him forward, and drives him to the best of the best.
Lastly, his perseverance. When JD started SC2, let's be honest, he was kind of a joke. He came in as a poster child of the soon-to-be KeSPA dominance, only to later turn into the go-to target for all wants to say "I told you that was a ridiculous article" to the Elephant supporters. But embarrassing loss after loss (0-1 against Lure in Code A? 0-2 against theognis in WCS Challenger? THEOGNIS?!) was not enough to stall the Tyrant, and he continue on with his training and his will to compete, eventually turning from laughing stock to Championship caliber Zerg; one of the best in the world. These are the things that have made JD as successful as he is, and the things that have made me fall in love with both his person and his play.
LittleChimp: Jaedong is a natural work horse. He's a nice guy but I'm pretty sure he wants to literally murder his opponents while he's in that booth. The guy sweats and frowns with every loss, and won't settle for less. I believe the guy would be great to excellent at anything he had real passion for.
ffa: Oh, and he's DAMN handsome too. That probably had something to do with it... definitely had something to do with it.
What do you think has been Jaedong's most memorable game in WCS this year?
ffa: Getting revenge on Naniwalk in the Season 3 finals after losing to him in both MLG Spring Championship (0-2 in the Ro8) and Dreamhack: Stockholm (1-2 in the Semis). Sweet revenge, sweet & delicious Nani tears were had. Too bad we can't look back at it and say "hah! that's why you didn't make it to blizzcon!" (lol I'm just kidding, gogo naniwa, foreigner power unite!)
Hopefully this weekend will surpass that by a mile.... 100,000 miles to be exact...
Jaedong's first match is a big one - he's up against Mvp. How do you think this series will play out?
ffa: I think one would be hard-pressed to give Mvp the advantage here. Despite being well known for career comebacks and his live BoX planning ability, JD has just been the superior player since WCS Season 2 in every way. And if there's anybody that can rival Mvp's level of preparation here, it's the Dong. Jaedong should "outplay" him, and while Mvp is known for "outsmarting" his opponents, do you really want to put your faith in outsmarting the Tyrant of StarCraft? Didn't think so. 3-1 Jaedong.
LittleChimp: Mvp is a guy that always surprises me in big match situations. Jaedong should be fine but I think it will be close. I'm going to say 3-2 Jaedong, in a surprisingly close series.
What do you think of jaedong's chances in the tournament after his opening match? Is this Jaedong's tournament?
ffa: I could sit here and tell you that Jaedong had a tough draw in his bracket, but let's be real, EVERYBODY had a tough draw in their brackets, this is the finals of the finals (of the finals...??) of WCS. A win against friggin Mvp would reward Jaedong with a matchup between either TaeJa or Dear... TAEJA OR DEAR. That's enough to make any fan sweat, and it doesn't even get easier from there. There is also a high possibility JD will ONLY play terrans all the way to the finals of blizzcon (Mvp -> Taeja -> Maru/INnoVation), which makes me even more worried about his chances. But I'm willing to believe and cheer. JD will have a tough RO8, but if he makes it through there... the sky is the limit really, he becomes an insta-favorite if he's in that kind of shape. It will be his signal to the world that the Dong came here to play, and he's hungry for a title.
LittleChimp: I'm going to predict that Dear busts through TaeJa. With that in mind, I'd say JD's toughest match will be his second one, by far. INnoVation and duckdeok aren't pushovers either. I think the further he gets, the better his chances. The second place curse is just BS, Dong won't be held back by superstition, he's just too good.
Tell us one thing, or a story, about jaedong that we might not know!
ffa: I almost got kicked out of WCS S3 for taking this picture after being told a trillion times in lineup for signings that there were NO PICTURES ALLOWED AT ALL WITH JD (srsly, what's up with that NASL...)
LittleChimp: I have a flask with Jaedong's signature on it from WCS Toronto. What a mad baller. I also at least hope most people know about this
ffa: I also told him I loved him and I was sorry he fell so early, and he (through his translator) said that it was ok, that the crowd support and love revitalized him to keep trying his hardest, and to watch for him at blizzcon! CANADA SAVED ESPORTS!
If you could tell Jaedong one thing before his match at Blizzcon, what would it be?
LittleChimp: That he still has tons of fans out there that sit with excitement at his matches. I have a feeling a lot of Brood War players are sad/complacent they don't get cheered like they used to, and that needs to change.
ffa: I would show him this masterpiece I drew for him during WCS: http://i.imgur.com/S66FBn5.jpg
LittleChimp: Then this one... http://i.imgur.com/SR4iJKV.jpg
wow JD so skill much handsome very entertain certain victory such majestic
Any last words or shoutouts?
LittleChimp: Shout out to ffadicted for letting me get in on this, I'm super excited for the games. Shout out to Memento as well, a guy that needs his SC2 #passion restored. Thanks for the questions
ffa: I've been working on re-designing the JD fan club and bringing it back to life. PLZ come support it! I'd love to add some older materials (such as interviews, articles, historic games, pictures, fan material, etc). Come contribute and support the great pimp of all pimps!
Hey, FrvPssn. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us! First off, give us a small introduction about yourself, and how you became a Polt fan.
Hi, I'm FrvPssn, currently living and working in Singapore. I'm a gold league scrub who started playing SC2 about 5 or 6 months ago. After finding out about the pro scene, I've been following and watching every match in every premier tournaments this year, LIVE! + Show Spoiler +well that's a lie, not all, but almost...
I'm a new player, so naturally I play Terran. I was getting facerolled pretty much every game, so I started digging around for strategies and builds. Then I found a list of dominating Terran programers, with their replays. And I chose Polt! Because of a rather illogical reason: I felt that Polt has some kind of aura of a smart person around him, "he's smart, so he must be good!"
Polt didn't let me down, thankfully. He's not much of a strategist, but his decision making is undeniably scary, a tactical genius. His games were interesting to watch, helpful for me to keep following. So I immediately became a fan.
Polt's had a long, distinguished career. He was initially called out by Jinro, and lost to him shortly after. However, the Super Tournament was the first major title that Polt won. What did you think of his progress in 2011, and how has he progressed since?
I know about this incident while lurking around reddit and TeamLiquid lol. He was like the villian, a bad personality who was hated by lot of foreign fans. But if we put it into nowadays perspective, it's just some kind of pregame trashtalking. Nothing serious.
During 2010-2011, Polt's performance while he's in Prime was quite impressive: 1st place in GSL ST and Ro4 finisher in GSL August. He even beat BoxeR and MC once during that time. But after he joined SCV Life, he struggled quite a bit in Korean scence. He managed to perform very well in foreign tourneys however.
He had really improved during 2012-2013, and gained alot of fame and fans during this period. Then he came to WCS AM. Being able to use fluent English to interact with fans help him becomes a fan-favorite. Everyone seems to forget the past incident haha.
TL;DR: Polt has improved a lot since then and become a prominent programer, both in term of skill and PR. He looks carefree but confident in his own skill.
Polt's won many tournaments. Which one of those has been your favourite to follow?
Like I said, I only started playing and watching tourneys when HotS had been released for a while, so I'm not really knowledgeable of prior events. I did watch some vods here and there, one of them is GSL ST. I think it's my fav tournament following Polt progress (I knew beforehand that he won it though, haha). It's so nice seeing him beating LosirA, HuK, Alicia, TOP and MMA and won it all. I'm not very fond of WoL but that tournament was so nice to watch.
What do you think of Polt's move to WCS AM?
It's perfectly fine IMO. I'm not a fan of region locking. Furthermore, Polt is not only a progamer but also a student. Moving to WCS AM helps him to pursue both of his goal, so why not? People normally says WCS AM is WCS KR Tier2. I don't think so. IMO, in term of game quality, from Ro16, WCS AM is not behind WCS KR at all. Competing with players like Jaedong, Taeja, HerO etc. will keep Polt staying relevant in the top tier SC2 programer.
On the side note, I found it pretty silly when fans call him the American hero, haha.
What do you think has been Polt's most memorable game in WCS this year?
Two most memorable game actually: Polt vs Taeja WCS AM S2 Ro4 Game 2 on Akilon Wastes Polt vs Byul WCS AM S3 Final Game 4 on Derelict Watcher
First game: tactical genius in its finest moment, awesome decision making. His siege tank positioning and marine movement are top notch. Second game: incredible map awareness and multi-tasking. That game was so awesome I think it's his best vZ this year.
Polt's first match this tournament is against aLive, who surprising has the H2H lead against Polt. How do you think this match will play out?
Actually, in HotS,Polt only met aLive once, where he lost 1-2 (WCS AM S1). One series is not really enough to say that aLive is stronger H2H. And again, in HotS, aLive hasn't performed particularly well, 12-17 in games and 7-9 in matches vs Korean Terran, while Polt has 33-22 in games and 11-6 in matches vs Korean Terran. So if the match plays out normally, Polt will win for sure. No one can beat Polt in a Bio-Tank tug of war.
Having said that, however, even though he's an "invisible Terran", aLive is still a very strong Terran. And Polt's build is predictable, his banshee play is not very outstanding. Therefore if aLive pulls some stunts in a row, like mass reaper then proxy 2rax, upset might happen. I hope not though. We all know that when Polt's behind, he'll win. Let's hope that Polt can demonstrate his tactical genius and win convincingly.
What do you think of Polt's chances in the tournament after his opening match?
Polt's bracket quarter is hard, especially for him. After aLive, he'll have to play sOs/HerO, and after that, probably Soulkey. Like I said, Polt's build is predictable. He might die from early aggression. And Protoss has many kind of early aggression, so it will be tough for him. Hell, I even remember he lost a map to HyuN during IEM Shanghai because of a proxy hatch. But it's not like he has no chance. If Polt defends well, it will be another story. When he's on form, his map awareness is incredible, he just won't die in mid or late game.
During WCS S3 Final, his map awareness disappeared, you could clearly see it in his match vs Soulkey, and in the 3rd map vs Hack. I hope that won't happen again, and he can concentrate and perform at his best this weekend.
TL;DR: it will be very tough, but feasible. Go Polt!
Tell us one thing, or a story, about Polt that we might not know!
Probably not something you don't know, but something you didn't notice: like most of Asians who use English as a second language, Polt uses many adverbs to begin his sentences: "actually, I...."; "however, I...". Now go find his interviews and watch again hehehe.
If you could tell Polt one thing before his match at Blizzcon, what would it be?
Play it safe and play it cool. First match is in your bag.
Any last words or shoutouts? The Terrans will win this tournament. Any resistance will be futile!
Hey, Wombat_NI. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us! First off, give us a small introduction about yourself, and how you became a HerO fan.
No problem, I don’t need much invitation to wax lyrical on HerO’s handsomeness or multitasking chops. I am Wombat_NI, a 24 year old terrible Starcraft player from Northern Ireland. Not much else of interest going on with my life atm. I have a small project going on that may spark new life into the foreign pro scene, but that’ll be a while in reaching fruition so I will instead leave it as an obnoxious bit of airy hype in the interim.
I had never really felt a great attachment to any Protoss prior to him, with the exception of Grubby but in fairness that was more an affection for him as a human being as opposed to a player. HerO however was the first player I saw to really approach Protoss in a way I found aesthetically pleasing. His playstyle, especially his PvZ was not flashy for the sake of it, but fundamentally strong as well, especially his pioneering (along with JYP) warp prism-centric play. He found a way to maintain an aggressive posture more reliably throughout the mid-late game and not be so reliant (and constrained) by the need to hit timing attacks like MC. He’s got some of the better multitasking among all Protoss players even with the Kespa influx and anything that showcases a less death-ball centric style is OK by me!
I was also present at Dreamhack Winter 2011 when he took his first big tournament, and I feel actually being there in that hockey arena for his breakthrough really created an extra layer to my affection for the guy.
This was the game that really cemented my love of the guy’s play and the uni-directional love affair just blossomed from there. You’ve got to be a pretty good Protoss player for Idra not to talk smack at you! He really abused aspects of Metalopolis, especially the smoke vents when it came to warpins, but the way he split his armies and did things with small groups of units really caught the eye as exceptionally good play. Was something of a sneak preview of how he’d approach the matchup moving forward too, you can see the strands knitting together gradually over the next year or so from this early showing of his.
Before HerO joined Team Liquid, what did you think of him? Any memorable moments?
Weirdly enough, I (along with most other honest people) hadn’t really formed an opinion on him, or even knew much about him. Like many, for me Nazgul’s rather excellent write-up upon him signing was the source of much of our knowledge of him. You have to remember that HerO joining Liquid was in an era where the sheer depth of the Korean scene hadn’t quite been truly unveiled. It sounds strange looking back and no disrespect meant, but the question on the lips of many was ‘is HerO going to be an adequate replacement for Huk?’ which might seem odd to think now given how things have panned out. He was known for being talented, but prone to nerve issues. Luckily for us Liquid did their homework and it feels both the team and the player have mutually benefited from his pickup.
What do you think has been HerO's most epic, or important, game in WCS this year?
For sheer quality of play I think it was his series against Scarlett in the Ro16 from Season 1. She’s no slouch in that matchup but he really eviscerated her with precision, especially the Akilon game. If memory serves, he just outmaneuvered her for the entire game while she tried to get up the dreaded Swarmhost/static defense combination and made an extremely able player look silly in doing so.
His series against Alicia is worth a watch too, from the Quarterfinals of that season, he really just showed his overall class. The game that Alicia took had HerO so far behind in build choices and that he took it so close was a real showcase of his mechanical ability.
Aside from WCS, HerO’s had some excellent series internationally this season, I recall some epic PvZs vs Hyun and Jaedong at various foreign tournaments. Apologies my internet is too ropey to find them at the current time!
HerO opens this tournament with a PvP against sOs. He's recently shown some a bit of trouble in this matchup - will sOs prove a tough challenge? How will the series go?
It’s hard to really judge. HerO has rather ebbed and flowed in his proficiency in the matchup of late, indeed it’s something of a pattern of his. He’s been at various stages very good at PvZ, PvT and PvP, but rarely good in all three simultaneously for whatever reason. His reputation as a PvZ expert has tended to stick over and above his other two, but apparently his PvT peak has the highest value ever on Aligulac and his PvP was solid enough to take out the other hero a few times in PL! I think he can definitely beat sOs, but it depends how he approaches Blizzcon. If he puts all his eggs in practicing PvP, he’s definitely got the chops to take him out, but it might hamper his chances of advancing further.
HerO has an advantage in that it’s best-of-five, at least from where I’m sitting. sOs is a tricky customer and gains a lot from his build choices, but I believe HerO has the superior micro and fundamentals. In a Bo3 I feel sOs’ trademark wackiness might carry him to the victory, but with it elongated I think HerO will show his superior mechanical skillset and grind out a 3-2 victory.
Tell us one thing, or a story, about HerO that we might not know!
It’s relatively common knowledge, but HerO, like myself has a penchant for smoking fine tobacco products. I saw him quite a few times out being chaperoned by Ret at Dreamhack Winter 2011 as the two Liquidians enjoyed their smokes in the crisp winter air of Sweden. Word on the street is that it’s to deal with his oft-mentioned nerve issues, but I reckon it’s the much more prosaic coolness factor at work. There are a few example videos on the site somewhere but his English is also among the better of the Korean pros.
If you could tell HerO one thing before his match at Blizzcon, what would it be?
Just keep cool and let your skills do the talking. Even in the unlikely event of failure I and your many fans will still love you, and you can always return to Dreamhack Winter and take that home for the third time! Not a bad consolation prize for sure.
Any last words or shoutouts?
Cheers to opter for giving me a chance to unleash my inner fanboy! To DarkLordOli, perhaps a bigger fanboy even than I. To my ‘many’ fans worldwide and to the game of Starcraft and TeamLiquid: One of the few online communities that I don’t find insufferable in this day and age ☺
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