Archiv der Kategorie: Interview

Sebastien 'Firecake' Lebbe

Interview with Firecake: „I leave every ZvT and ZvZ in ladder“

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In an all-Protoss group, Sebastien ‚Firecake‘ Lebbe is the lonely Zerg tonight in WCS Europe. But as he tells in our interview, he has specially prepared for this situation: „I leave every ZvT & ZvZ in ladder in order to play only Protoss.“

[playerbox_firecake] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
Well, I played a lot. Since I know my group, I leave every ZvT & ZvZ in ladder in order to play only Protoss and I have to thank my friends and my team to accept to train with me. I hope it will be enough.

How do you feel going into the matches?
It is going to be very tough. I believe I got the strongest group with three very high-level Protoss including two top Koreans. [babyknight] is a very dangerous Protoss, playing for the best French team. [first] has played for a long time for IM and [stardust] won a Dreamhack. I have so much respect for them and I wish them good luck. I will need to make a surprise. I am able to do it.

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
It is the third time i qualified for WCS Premier League Europe. This is a very high performance so i guess i am not so bad. I feel confident because i am able to deal with late game in ZvP. If i can deal with the 2 or 3 base all-ins, I will be fine.

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
I believe [stardust] has the strongest all-ins.

What are your goals for this season?
Advancing into Round of 16.

Marc 'uThemal' Schlappi Interview

Interview with uThermal: „I would be really embarrassed if I would lose every single map“

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In his first season of WCS Premier League, Marc ‚uThermal‘ Schlappi got three really tough opponents to beat. Therefore his goals are set very low, as he tells in this interview: „I just want to win one map.“ But the past days have shown that more is possible for dutch underdogs this season.

[playerbox_uthermal] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
I don’t really prepare for people, i don’t like playing custom games that much either, so i just play the same amount of ladder as usual.

How do you feel going into the matches?
Not very good, my shape in both TvT and TvP is really bad at the moment, I don’t really have any strategies i can win with either.

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
On a good day, maybe 1%? haha

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
[mvp] for sure, it seems really hard to beat people that are better than you in TvT. In TvP and TvZ it is alot easier to make upsets, beating [mvp] is probably close to impossible for me.

What are your goals for this season?
I just want to win one map. I think it looks really silly when people qualify and then lose 0-4. So i would be really embarrassed if I would lose every single map.

Kevin 'Harstem' de Koning - Starcraft

Interview with Harstem: „I played like 300 games against Terran in the past week“

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It’s the first time ever that Kevin ‚Harstem‘ de Koning plays in the Premier League of WCS Europe. The dutch is one of the youngest players in this season and thus acts overmodest if asked about his ambition: „I hope I can play as well here as I can play in practice“, he tells in our interview – but he trained hard to maybe even be succesful.

[playerbox_harstem] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
I played like 300 games against Terran in the past week.

How do you feel going into the matches?
If I play well I might win, on paper the other three players (Note: [jjakji], [bunny] and [yoda]) are better than me.

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
A realistic estimate would be 20 percent.

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
I think [jjakji] is the best player in the group. I only ever won one map against him on ladder. My total stats are like 1-22.

What are your goals for this season?
I hope i can play as well here as i can play in practice. I don’t really care about winning/losing as long as i can transfer the skill that i have in practice to tournaments.

Gerzegorz 'MaNa' Komincz

MaNa and BlinG in a double interview: „Snute is the best foreigner at the moment – and his play against Protoss is terrifying“

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They represent Protoss in tonights group of WCS Europe but neither Gerzegorz ‚MaNa‘ Komincz nor Samayan ‚BlinG‘ Kay feel like they are able to win the group. „Snute is the hardest opponent – for obvious reasons“, BlinG says. Yet both are confident to advance as second – if they get lucky when playing each other.

[playerbox_mana]
[playerbox_bling] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
Mana: I didn’t prepare somewhat specially. I came up with a couple of ideas and tried to make them work. We will see today if they do.
Bling: I prepared with ladder games mainly and custom games when I could find them.

How do you feel going into the matches?
Mana: I feel good. I’ve been playing good recently even though I didn’t have much good results. It’s time to finally get some results again.
Bling: To be honest I don’t feel too confident, but then again I never do so lets see!

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
Mana: I would say it’s close to 70 percent, just because it’s mostly PvP-action and anything can happen.
Bling: I’d say I have a pretty good chance to advance, just depends who gets lucky in the PvP I guess!

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
Mana: My hardest opponent will be [snute] because we’re both teammates and he’s probably the best foreigner at the moment and his ZvP is terrifying for a long time already.
Bling: [snute] for obvious reasons. He’s playing pretty well as of late and especially against Protoss.

What are your goals for this season?
Mana: I’d like to make it at least to Top8. I used to be capable of pressuring myself to take the wins from tournaments, but now I want to take it slowly. I would be happy with Top8.
Bling: If I get to the Ro16 again I’ll be happy, but of course I’d prefer to get further than that.

Vesa 'Welmu' Hovinen

Welmu: „I want to be in the Top4 this WCS-season!“

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Vesa ‚Welmu‘ Hovinen was one of the Top8 players of last WCS-season – for the second time in his career. So naturally the young Finn wants to improve this time. The first step is the Round of 32 today in which he faces comebackers Ilyes ‚Stephano‘ Satouri and Benjamin ‚DeMusliM‘ Baker and polish star Artur ‚Nerchio‘ Bloch – the task could be way easier, but Welmu is confident as he explains in our interview: „My chances are around 80 percent“.

[playerbox_welmu] How did you prepare for the Round of 32?
I mainly just played some ladder and some customs yesterday.

How do you feel going into the matches?
I’m quite confident against everyone in my group. My only concern is that I’ve been a little bit unmotivated as of late so i am a little scared that my play isn’t stable enough.

What are your chances to advance into Round of 16?
I would say around 80 percent.

Who will be your hardest opponent in the group and why?
[stephano], because I think he is the best player overall and he has a lot of experience too.

What are your goals for this season?
I want to improve a little bit from last season so Top4 this season!

Jo 'Patience' Ji Hyun

Patience: „I was nervous in the qualifier, but now i am confident to get into Premier League“

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He is so focused on Starcraft that he forgets to eat, especially after losses, and thinks he is a genius: Jo ‚Patience‘ Ji Hyun ist the last debutant of this season of WCS Europe. His first match in Challenger League will be against Mihaylo ‚Kas‘ Hayda tonight – and Patience knows that he failed in televised matches before

The Korean switched to Europe as part of the team of Alien Invasion along with [golden], who won his match against [slivko] yesterday and advanced into his first WCS Premier League, after having played Challenger League last year in Korea once.

What was the first time…

[playerbox_patience]
… you got nervous because you realized you are close to qualifying for WCS?
I was a little nervous throughout the whole qualifier.

… you evaluated your chances in the upcoming Challenger League?
Since i face [kas] and i think my PvT is pretty good i am confident to advance into Premier League.

… you forgot to eat because of playing Starcraft?
(laughing) All the time. I forgot it so often already.

… you smashed an (in-)animate object after losing a game?
I don’t break things! If I lose i just play more games!

… you did an embarrassing mistake in an important match?
I think i fail in so many tournaments 🙁

… you met a player you adore in real life?
My idol is [stork] and I met him at GSL Code B one year ago.

… you went clubbing?
The first time i went clubbing was at the Dreamhack After Party a few months ago.

… you got really drunk?
I don’t like alcohol 😀

… you played a video game?
The first videogame i played was StarCraft when i was six years old.

… you missed a flight?
No no never, i’m genius!!

… you asked someone for an autograph?
Hmm I never ask for an autograph but one time i asked [jaedong] for a picture.

… you failed an exam?
I have never failed an exam – as i said i am a genius! 😀

… you forgot the birthday of a family member?
Never!! I know all the birthdays of my family 🙂

Kristijonas "Krr" Barisas

Krr: „I could not prepare for Genius specifically, so i hope for the best“

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He doesn’t get nervous or angry, but not being able to prepare for his first WCS Challenger match ever bothers him: Kristijonas ‚Krr‘ Barisas debuts in the World Championship Series tonight in a best-of-five against Jung ‚Genius‘ Min Soo. The 24-year-old is the first Lithuanian in WCS and the only notable Starcraft-player of his home country. But Kristijonas had a lot more „first times“ he tells us about.

What was the first time…

[playerbox_krr]
… you got nervous because you realized you are close to qualify for WCS?
I don’t think i got nervous at all. This was only the first qualifier. I knew i had three more chances if this one was to fail. I don’t really get nervous at all. At least not that much that it would affect me.

… you evaluated your chances in the upcoming Challenger League?
It was after I saw my opponent in Challenger league, which is [genius]. But actually I can’t evaluate my chances against him, since I don’t know how active he is or how he plays. Haven’t seen him playing anywhere for a long time and can’t get any replays to analyze. So will just have to play and hope for the best without any specific preparation against him.

… you smashed an (in-)animate object after losing a game?
I’m not the kind of guy who does this. This has never happened to me. I don’t get angry or whatever.

… you traveled to an offline tournament?
First time I think was maybe Digifest in Estonia where I placed second. Don’t even remember how long ago it was. But its always fun to travel for me, no matter if with or without the game – I enjoy it.

… you ever played Starcraft II?
It was after i got the beta key. At first I thought broodwar was the better game, but I don’t think so anymore, this game is fast and entertaining.

… you shared a hotel room with another player?
Probably in Denmark, at Copenhagen games 2010 or 2011. We stayed at our teammates house, like five of us were there. Fun times.

… you went online?
Better would be to ask when i went offline 😀 Hm, i don’t know, somewhere in the childhood. Had no much interest in that at those times.

… you read a wise saying that really inspired you?
First to come to my mind is “never give up”. But that’s probably because i know only that one 😀

… you read a whole book in less than a week?
No idea. But if I read a book and like it, I usually finish it in a day or two. I’m not a reader though so that happens rarely.

Mathieu "MiNiMaTh" Perrus

MiNiMaTh: „Playing against ForGG is pretty terrible“

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He played Age of Empires at the age of 5, is pretty good at math and tries to fail better every time: Mathieu ‚MiNiMaTh‘ Perrus is one of three debutants in this season of WCS Europe. Before he faces Park ‚ForGG‘ Ji Soo tomorrow, he took the time to talk about some more of his „first times“

What was the first time…

[playerbox_minimath]
… you got nervous because you realized you are close to qualify for WCS?
I felt nervous playing against [adelscott] in the Ro16, because i know him very well and his playstyle is very annoying to me. I was not really nervous against [heromarine] one round earlier because I was the underdog in this match.

… you evaluated your chances in the upcoming Challenger League?
Well the upcoming day I started to look after my possible opponents. I was hoping for a Zerg or Protoss player but I got [forgg] so that’s pretty terrible.

… you read a wise saying that really inspired you?
Well I don’t know when about my first time, but this one really did: „Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.“

… you played a video game?
I was five years old in 1999 and I was playing Age of Empires. Best RTS game ever – after Starcraft of course 😀

… you traveled to an offline tournament?
Before going to Gamers Assembly 2011, i went to some little tournaments in an internet café named Cybernation in Paris. French guys will remember these good old times.

… you shared a hotel room with another player?
I think it was during the Gamers Assembly 2011. I was a member of the Sypher SC2 squad  – [feast] was the main player there back then.

… you read a whole book in less than a week?
I think it was harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when i was eight.

… you earned prize money in Starcraft 2?
I think it was in August 2011, I went to Marseille to train for a week in an internet café and I won a little tournament at the end of it and got 150 euro.

… you failed an exam?
At the age of 15 i failed a maths exam for the first time and this was a horrible feeling for me being good in maths 😀

… you really hated a specific race, unit or unit combination?
Protoss OP ! Back in Wings of Liberty, i hated sentries and forcefields, I thought it was too strong and i had been caught off guard so many times 😀

… you went online?
It was in 2000. We had internet very early at home so my big brother and me started playing Football manager games online.

… you beat a player that was allegedly much stronger than you?
Terrible question! I think it was [morrow] in a Craftcup, back when he was at the top. I beat [stephano] around the same time but he was not the beast we all know at that time.

… you left your home country?
I went to the United Kingdomat the age of 10 with my school. The trip was very cool but the food was disgusting. Sorry English people 😀