DankShrine: Weekly SC2 Talk Show

On April 14 2017 02:12 [16thSq] Kuro wrote:

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0:48 Intro

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5:00 How confident were you going into the GSL final?

Stats prepared very hard but his winrate during the practice games wasn't good, so he was actually concerned going into the booth.

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6:32 Who was your practice partner?

There were several players who helped him out: teammate Solar, former kt teammates Leenock and Losira, and ByuL who was very keen in his championship and agreed to practice even on the day of the final. Stats does feel bad though that probably because of spending a lot of time practicing ZvP with him, ByuL didn't get to practice ZvZ and lost his VSL match.

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10:37 Where did the Stasis Ward idea come from?

That actually wasn't a thing among Protoss players up until the GSL final. The day before the match, Stats realized that the Zergs are getting so good at defending their Drones that no matter how much Oracle harass he did with the Beam, it wasn't getting enough kills to make a difference. So in the last practice session he decided to give it a shot. He would use 2 Oracles from different directions and put Stasis Wards in mineral lines and all of the sudden the results were incredible. His practice partners were messaging him saying "this is ridiculous, this is OP". So on the night before the final he realized that he can make that work.


16:33 Which expansion is your favorite? What is your favorite unit?

Stats enjoyed all 3 expansions but if he had to pick a favorite, it would be, of course, LotV because of winning the championships. As for favorite unit, it was the Colossus but when LotV started, it lost a lot of its usefulness. So then he found the Oracle and the Adept. Also, as a Protoss player, he like Probes.

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22:33 If you could make one balance change, what would it be?

Stats would bring the Colossus back to its HotS days.

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25:00 What is your favorite televised match that you've played, besides GSL?

IEM Katowice was a very pleasant memory for him because he himself couldn't believe how much confidence he had during the tournament. Of course, that was up until the finals when it turned into rather disappointing memory.

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27:30 How did you like Poland?

It was his first time visiting Poland and he had to be there early, from the first stage of the bracket, so he spent there quite a while. One funny memory he would like to share is when one day he was really hungry and decided to just go and get some food on his own. He walked up to the hotel lobby staff with a map and asked them to point him to the nearest McDonald's. They did help him out, so he went there but it turned out that the employee at the cash register didn't speak a word of English. He doesn't speak much English himself but she didn't at all. Stats thought that is pretty bad situation but he saw that there were pictures of burgers behind, so he just pointed at them and that's how he ordered food.

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31:40 kt/SKT shirt talk
Kind of a running joke of DankShrine, Toast wears kt hoodie for interviews with former kt members and Seeker has SKT shirt for those with former SKT members.

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34:14 Who was the best drinker in the kt house? Any drinking stories?

kt teamhouse members generally aren't good drinkers but there were two who stood out and those two were the youngest members: Trust and Leenock.

(Note: the second question changed into general favorite teamhouse story)
There was one really cold night in winter and they were practicing late. At that time the coaches weren't there, so together the players decided to jump into some League of Legends since they are not being supervised. But despite having a heater on, it was still freezing cold, so they bought another heater just for hands. But there was already a lot of electricity used in the practice room, so the moment they plugged in the heater, everything died. The next morning they explained everything to the coaches and apologized, but even though the supervisor is normally a calm person, he got furious and both him and coaches yelled at the players. Back then it was a sad story for Stats but now it's just funny.

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42:07 How can people improve their mentality to play longer each day without raging? Any tips on practicing?

Stats practice tips:
1) Definitely look up progamer VoDs, see what they do and try to copy the efficiency of it.
2) Take plenty of breaks. If you practice for an hour, take a 10 min break. If you practice for a longer time, add a longer break after that. It's important to find a balance between practice time and breaks, don't overdo it.
3) Study how other players play, not just progamers, see what they do, try to follow it through.

Two important tips about mentality:
1) If you're losing, getting frustrated with yourself, take a break. If you keep on grinding with that temper, you will just end up feeding it. Let yourself relax, let your body reset.
2) Remind yourself that it's just a game, it's just ladder, don't beat up yourself too much. It's just practice, have fun with it.

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51:14 How has it been being on Splyce? Do they contact you often or are they more hands off?

Stats is very grateful to Splyce for taking him in after KeSPA teams disbanded. They are treating him well so far. He talks to the manager Michael "Swizz" Butterworth on Skype almost daily, in Stats' opinion he's a great person.

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54:14 What do you miss the most about the teamhouse environment?

Now that he's living on his own, he has to feed himself and that's really hard. He also really misses the family-like environment - now there's no teammates to eat with, practice with, talk to and have fun together.

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58:40 How did you feel when you saw the fans cheering for you with your Twitch emote in the crowd?

The fans actually had one extra sign which they gave to Stats to let him show it on stream, so he does present it on stream sometimes.

+ Show Spoiler [the signs in question] +

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1:02:25 If you could fuse with another player, who would it be?

For Zerg, Stats would fuse with Dark and they would become the ultimate player, even though they are currently rivals. For Terran, he would fuse with INnoVation. For Protoss, it would be either herO or Classic because Stats is good at mid/late game but he could use someone for early game. Zest would be a good choice as well because he's very meticulous, like a robot (people in Korea call him Ju-phaGo, from AlphaGo) and Stats feels like he's similar, so probability of them making a mistake would be very low.

Suggested after-fusion names: Darts, Stark, StaVation (starvation??), Static


1:12:07 What do you do to pass the time when you travel?

During flight he sleeps or watches movies. Outside of flights, he usually spends the time talking to other players who are traveling with him.

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1:15:46 Are you taking English classes?

Stats has been taking private tutoring lessons to practice his English. Though recently it's been difficult due to playing in many tournaments. (SSL, GSL, VSL...)

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1:17:23 Are you planning to get a trophy case now? For all the future trophies coming in.

Stats thinks that it's a little too early for that. If he wins few more trophies, he will think about it. If he does get a trophy case, he will probably move to a bigger place because his current flat is quite small.

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1:21:53 Will Splyce sign any new players?

+ Show Spoiler [Twitch Clip] +

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1:23:42 Do you think you're the best Protoss player in the world?

Looking at the results, Stats understands why people would call him the best Protoss right now. But personally he feels that there's no such thing as constantly best player, it doesn't last forever, so that title isn't something he focuses on. He became a progamer to win championships and have fun. If he did focus on a particular title, keeping it could become too much pressure.

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1:28:32 Why did you make your ID "Stats"?

In original StarCraft typing /stats would show your statistics. Stats thought that it's cool and people generally don't use it as an ID, so he picked it as his name.

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1:30:20 If you could change your ID what would it be?

Stats thinks that his ID feels a bit bland but for example "Dark" has a power behind it, a sense of fear. So he would like to change it to something powerful. But it's too late to do so in this lifetime, maybe in the next one.

Toast suggested that it should be "POWER!". Stats found that name a bit aggressive at first but after second thought he actually liked it.

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1:35:56 What was your dream job as a kid?

Stats' parents wanted him to be a teacher but he always wanted to be a progamer.

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1:37:50 Which players would you pick for your VSL team?

Stats' dream team would have a representation for each race and would consist of "invincible" players: Solar, ByuN, herO.

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1:40:45 Can you tell us about the time when you were known as the "Troublemaker of kt"?

Back in the Brood War days, Stats joined the kt teamhouse as the youngest member. He was trying to get used to the new environment and everyone was older than him, so he behaved like he normally does with his family, older brothers. He usually joked a lot with his relatives and messed around with them but when he did that with people at the teamhouse, they considered it wrong and would reprimand him. Looking at it now Stats can laugh about it but it was a very sad part of his life. Back then he would lock himself in the bathroom and cry.

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1:44:54 If you were stranded on an island, which 3 progamers would you have with you and why?

Stats thought about it for a while and said that he wants to pick someone from kt because he has lived with them but all kt people would be so useless because they're lazy. Eventually, he picked:
1) Leenock because he's the youngest, so Stats can boss him around. Stats doesn't even have to tell him what to do, Leenock just knows.
2) Zest for the manpower.
3) Headcoach H.O.T-Forever because he's very wise, so he can get them out of tough spots. They call him King Salomon.


1:51:59 Can you turn this picture into an emote? + Show Spoiler +

Stats understands that people would love it as an emote but from his point of view he has to think about it because it's quite embarrassing photo.
Stats also confirmed that he really was knocked out drunk on that photo and not just sleeping.


1:55:50 What's your favorite animal?

+ Show Spoiler [Twitch Clips] +

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1:57:15 What's your favorite Korean and American food?

For Korean food, it's 삼겹살 (sliced pork belly). For American, In-N-Out hamburgers.


2:00:30 Will you be setting up a Discord server for your foreign fans?

He thinks it's a cool idea but he doesn't really know how to do so, so he will need help.
(Note: don't worry, guys, we will take care of that )

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2:03:22 How do you feel about the potential rematch against TY in the upcoming Super Tournament?

Stats already forgot about the IEM and he is very busy with other tournaments so he didn't really have the time to think about it. But he doesn't want to go into the tournament with a mindset focused on revenge.

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2:05:34 Why did the police get called during the BaseTradeTV teamhouse 24h stream?

They were having fun but they were pretty loud and it was late at night, so the downstairs neighbors were unhappy and complained to the front office. The front door man called them, Major picked up and when he realized that something's going on, asked one of the Koreans to come over and talk to them. They let everyone know that they have to be quiet but it didn't work. So since it was still loud, eventually the neighbors called the police. People were freaked out when the police walked in. They explained that they're progamers and are doing a 24h stream and are catching up with each other. The police said that streaming is fine but they still shouldn't be this loud late at night and foreigners should abide by Korean laws as well when they are in Korea. So the progamers apologized, the police left and thankfully, it ended at that.

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2:13:45 Do you think KeSPA had validity in restricting player streams? Would you have streamed back then if you could?

Back then the progamers had Proleague to prepare for, so their daily schedule was really busy, they didn't have the time to think about streaming. But Flash was contracted with Razer and he was the first kt player to stream. When Stats saw him stream, he thought that it's really cool and he wanted to do that too. He also doesn't think streaming makes your skills deteriorate because it's fun and when you're having fun, you perform better. In Stats' opinion streaming back then could actually have a positive effect because they could have approached the game with more enjoying mindset.

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2:18:30 How do you feel about the upcoming map pool?

Stats understands that there are new maps coming but he was too busy to check them out. He thinks though that it's actually fine because he's used to adapting, so even if he doesn't look at the maps before the season starts, he will be able to figure it out.

Taking a quick look at the maps, Stats thinks it should be a good map pool, he likes that there is a lot of variety. He recognizes some of the maps (Odyssey/Windwaker, Ascension to Aiur) because he had a chance to try them in the BaseTradeTV Map Test Tournament that he won. He never played on the other 3 new maps (Sequencer, Defender's Landing, Blood Boil) but he thinks that they look interesting, so we should just wait and see what happens.

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2:26:44 Do you think you could be a pro in another game?

In Stats' opinion, he would be able to translate his SC2 skills to another game because he has the mindset and the experience, he knows what it's like to practice hard to get good at a game. If he did play another game professionally, it would be League of Legends, but on a second thought, he could try DotA 2 as well. He heard that DotA 2 prize money is insane and it made him realize that maybe he became a pro in the wrong game.

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2:37:24 If you could trade places with David Kim, what would you change?

If David Kim played Protoss, Stats would nerf Adepts and increase the Shade cooldown by 20s. He would also nerf Guardian Shield on Sentries and make Oracles slow.

If David Kim played Terran, the range of Widow Mines would shrink a lot and Liberator zone would be right under the unit (no range). The Medivacs would have no boost but the button would stay there just so David can click on it but nothing would happen.

If David Kim played Zerg, Stats would get rid of the creep benefits like health regeneration, nerf Banelings and Ultralisks, and make Brood Lords even slower, so they can't get away.

(Note: AVEX actually created the "StatsCraft", so you can try it out yourself.) + Show Spoiler +

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2:45:53 Obligatory "David Kim Pls"

This time with A+ acting. + Show Spoiler [Twitch Clip] +

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2:48:16 Are you going to play StarCraft: Remastered? If so, are you going to try and compete?

Stats has no plans on switching to StarCraft: Remastered. He loves StarCraft 2 and will keep playing it until there is literally no tournaments left.

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2:49:16 Stats' comments

Stats expressed his gratitude that a show like this exists which makes it easier for Korean progamers to connect with foreign fans.

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2:51:25 Can you work on ceremonies?

Stats understands the importance of progamers doing ceremonies but it's hard because as a player, you're so focused on the match in front of you that after winning you just feel relief that the pressure is over, you don't really think about what ceremony to do. But he will try to think of one for the fans.

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2:54:00 Final words

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P.S. For whatever reason the Twitch clips don't want to embed :/

On April 17 2017 23:24 [16thSq] Kuro wrote:

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0:00 Intro

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1:42 LordCoreon Introduction

The top donor of March received the opportunity to be the guest host of the show as Toast was on his honeymoon.

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2:44 JJAKJI's 2011 GSL Trophy


4:30 Which version of StarCraft is your favorite? What is your favorite unit?

JJAKJI's favorite version is WoL, not necessarily just because of the championship, but because it felt the most fun to him, there was a lot of diversity. His favorite unit is the Marine.

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6:40 What's the difference between being on a KeSPA team and a foreign one?

Being on a KeSPA team was very simple, he ate when he wanted to eat, he played when he wanted to play and he showed up to tournaments. But being on a foreign team felt like having multiple jobs because he's a player but he also had to advertise for the team, stream for them, participate in showmatches.

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8:57 How has your practice regime changed?

While on a Korean team, it was kind of shared work - JJAKJI dedicated some time to himself and some to helping his teammates or other players. But on a foreign team, it's every man for himself.

In terms of tournaments, on a foreign team you can take a break when there are no matches coming up. But in a Korean team, you still have to keep it up even when there are no tournaments.

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11:48 What is your favorite televised match?

Excluding the GSL championship, JJAKJI picked the semifinals leading up to that match where he played against Oz. It went to game 5 with weird games - all-ins, rushes, basetrades - they were done with 4 games in an hour, which was not usual in WoL. JJAKJI lost game 4 and going into game 5 his heart was pounding, the momentum was on opponent's side, he wasn't sure if he can do it. He was so nervous that when he won the match, he was taken aback and didn't even feel it at first.

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17:04 Do you think you are a forgotten champion?

After winning the GSL, JJAKJI really thought that he would get more championships but it turned out differently. His legacy started to slowly disappear, he dreaded answering the question of being a forgotten champion. But by now he got used to it, it's just something he has to accept.

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20:35 You were so close to another championship - 2nd place at DreamHack...

JJAKJI explained that 2014 DreamHack Moscow was right before BlizzCon, so the battle for points was fierce. Every win meant more points and when JJAKJI reached the final, he had enough to qualify, so he thought that he can relax and approach the match with eased mindset. Unfortunately, it turned out to be wrong decision as he lost 1-3 to MMA.

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21:24 What inspired you to play competitively?

JJAKJI wasn't that interested in StarCraft or becoming a progamer but the 2008 Bacchus OSL final between Flash and Stork happened to be held at his hometown and his friends convinced him to go watch it together. He was impressed seeing Flash crush Stork and he decided that he wants to do that too.

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24:29 Do you work out?

(Zest was brought up in the conversation because from SPL Pinocchio we know that he mocks JJAKJI about it)
According to JJAKJI, Zest doesn't really work out either, he was just born with a good body.

Up until last month JJAKJI actually was very active, going to the gym etc. but at some point his wrist started hurting and the doctor told him to stop working out. There are excercises which don't put strain on your wrists but JJAKJI said it's not for him.

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27:21 Can you take Zest in a fight?

In case of that, JJAKJI would jump into a Medivac and boost awaaaay~

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28:08 You're stranded on an island, which 3 progamers do you take with you?

1) Zest, obviously. In JJAKJI's opinion, he would be good at hunting and getting food.
2) TY, kind of a deadweight but they are close friends. If they're supposed to be on an abandoned island, he needs people he can get along with.
3) Stats... Actually no, Stats won't be any help and it's just an extra mouth to feed.

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32:28 If you could make one balance change, what would it be?

It would be the Adept. According to JJAKJI, if you ask any other Terran progamer about it, they would say the same thing. He was actually one of the last "victims" falling to Adepts in a tournament before they were nerfed, so he has a very bad memory about them. After the match JJAKJI was very angry and wanted to hunt down David Kim.

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37:03 Obligatory "David Kim Pls"

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38:22 If you had to date a progamer, who would it be?

JJAKJI was surprised by that question but everything became more clear when Seeker mentioned Dayshi. The two progamers met at IEM and got pretty close. Someone posted a photo (+ Show Spoiler [this one] +) of Dayshi offering him a flower and people started saying that they should get together. JJAKJI said that if he had to pick, he would be fine dating Dayshi, yep.



40:41 What are your thoughts on StarCraft: Remastered? Do you have any plans?

He thinks that it's a really positive thing, they're upgrading the graphics, microing is going to be smoother, Dragoons will be less stupid, it sounds cool. He himself doesn't really want to play it though. He did play a bit of BW after kt Rolster disbanded and he also was a semi-pro back before SC2. It's fun but he doesn't want to switch, both because he's heavily invested in SC2 and because of his age.

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44:53 Out of the countries you've gone to, which one is your favorite? Which do you want to visit?

In terms of how much fun he had, his favorite is Germany, it clearly felt like Europe as soon as he arrived. He also experienced a real culture shock when he saw that around 3-4am cars are still stopping on red light. In Korea, when it's really late at night, people don't really care about traffic lights.

In terms of aesthetics, it's Sweden, the scenery is very beautiful and serene.

As for country he'd like to visit, he wants to go to Switzerland again. He's already been there when he lived at the mYinsanity teamhouse but back then he was there to work, there wasn't really time for sightseeing. This time he would like to experience it properly as a tourist.

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51:10 How does it feel to rise up in the ranks again?

This question made JJAKJI sad because he actually doesn't feel like he's rising up in ranks. He assumes people say that because he's been doing better recently but does getting eliminated in Ro32/Ro16 really count as being good? He was a GSL champion before. It makes him sad but it also motivates him to work hard to actually show good results, so then people can say that he's rising up again.

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54:14 What are your thoughts on TvT meta?

There was a time in HotS when it was really hard for him because Terrans liked to play turtle mech and he's a rather aggressive player. He likes the way TvT is now with Ravens getting stronger and current meta.

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58:48 What are your thoughts on tankivacs?

The removal of tankivacs didn't affect him too much because he comes back from the WoL days, so it was quite easy for him to adapt back. His KeSPA teammates were struggling a lot though, because they came in late to SC2. According to JJAKJI, TY was going to hunt down David Kim.

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1:01:23 What are your plans after progaming?

JJAKJI would like to stay in esports, maybe even become a progamer in another game or maybe SC2 again. Another idea that he considered is becoming a headcoach for a team because he has the experience of what it's like to be a player. But with KeSPA teams disbanded, he probably won't be able to be a headcoach for an SC2 team, he will have to try another game. It may be an SC:R team if those are created. Seeker mentioned that maybe JJAKJI could revive his old team, New Star HoSeo, and he was ok with that idea but maybe it's been already forgotten after all this time and he was THE ace of the team anyway. He had to buy food for his teammates with the prize money he earned, take care of them, he kind of had the role of a headcoach without officially having the title.

Talking about the only ace and New Star HoSeo reminded Seeker of a ceremony one team did in GSTL where the whole team pretended to leave the studio after defeating the ace of opposing team. It was actually NSHS who did that after they beat TSL's ace, Polt, in game 1.

1:09:42 Do you know any foreign languages?

Thanks to living in Switzerland in the past, JJAKJI knows one word in German and one word in French. Both mean "thank you". He learned those when he noticed people using them at a grocery store.

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1:12:58 Besides Dayshi, are you close with any other progamers?

He's closest with TY because in the kt Rolster teamhouse they shared a room. In terms of overseas players, it would be Snute and Harstem. According to JJAKJI, Snute is a nice kindhearted guy and Harstem is really funny. Nowadays he only meets Snute at tournaments but Harstem is a different story. When he was in Korea, JJAKJI taught him to use KakaoTalk and he keeps messaging him and sending him photos of himself.


1:19:24 What's your favorite food?

When he was in Switzerland, the Korean food he missed the most was 삼겹살 (sliced pork belly), Korean fried chicken and Korean rice.

As for foreign food, it's lasagna. It wasn't the famous In-N-Out Burgers this time, JJAKJI actually never had it

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1:25:58 Do you like dogs or cats?

JJAKJI has rised a dog but he never had a cat, so he can't say much about that. But from what he knows, with a cat, the animal is the one in charge, so he prefers dogs.

He has a male poodle named Odle (the name wasn't his idea).

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1:29:32 What other games do you play?

He likes playing League of Legends in his free time.

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1:31:27 What are your thoughts on TvP and TvZ?

TvP - JJAKJI hates it because of Adepts.

For TvZ, he's struggling at it but other pros seem to be doing well, so he knows that it's probably him and he just has to work harder.

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1:33:19 If you and David Kim switched roles, what would you do?

If David Kim would play Protoss, JJAKJI would nerf Adepts, Oracles and Warp Prisms.

If David Kim would play Zerg, JJAKJI would nerf Ravagers and Hydras.

If David Kim would play Terran, JJAKJI wouldn't change anything because he'd still want to play the game himself.

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1:37:31 JJAKJI's questions for DankShrine

When JJAKJI was invited to DankShrine, he asked Team RevolutioN's manager about it and he said that it's a great show and he should appear there. JJAKJI said he had fun with the questions and was very thankful for this opportunity to talk to foreign fans. He asked if the DankShrine does something else than talk shows as well and Seeker mentioned that they are trying to expand, work on community, get sponsors and maybe in the far future they would run a league.

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1:42:00 Who do you think will win the GSL Super Tournament?

In JJAKJI's opinion, if Protoss doesn't stop INnoVation, he will win. Because he's so good that it's not a matter of skill, it's a matter of race.

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1:43:35 Who do you think is the best player in each race? Who do you think is the best player on Team Revolution?

Zerg: ByuL, Terran: INnoVation, Protoss: Stats

Team RevolutioN: JJAKJI

As a follow up question Seeker asked about his Korean teammates. JJAKJI said that nowadays Korean players generally don't practice with each other, they get most of their practice on ladder.

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1:47:21 Are there any up and coming players we should keep an eye on?

He doesn't really have any up and coming player in mind but he's really scared of Stats because he doesn't seem to lose any matches recently.

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1:49:29 What's your favorite kpop group?

JJAKJI doesn't really follow the celebrities but his favorite artists he keeps an eye on are 볼빨간 사춘기 (Bolbbalgan4 - translated to "Blushing Youth" Seeker plz, Light_VIP OP).

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1:55:26 JJAKJI's final words

He feels bad because not long before the show there were qualifiers for Super Tournament and GSL Season 2 and he failed in both. He is sorry to the fans, he really hoped that he can make it. But there are still a lot of tournaments in front of him and he will do his best.

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1:57:17 Closing out the show & shoutouts