Hey guys, as a resident of sunny South Australia we don't get a whole lot of eSports coming into town. However, this weekend we've got some of the most amazing talent SEA has to offer flying down for Frequency's $1000 Arena LAN tourney! And residents like me who love the scene are pretty excited about it.
My buddy, Cameron "EdgE" Murrin thought it would be a great idea to do some interviews with a handful of players that're heading down to SA's biggest ever SC2 tournament (and first ACL qualifier), and I agreed! I did all the interviews last night. For alot of the interstate players this will be their first time in Adelaide, and it's a great little town when you have time to look around and see local sights... But who has time for that? These nerd bosses have a tournament to win!!
Maynarde: How long have you been with FXO and how long have you been running tournies? Frequency: Arena stuff isnt related to FXO just fyi ^^ I've been doing online tournament stuff for like 2 years maybe? Like, properly. I started as an admin for MYM Prime Defending in like 2007 or 2008, eventually did some other dota stuff then war3, and when sc2 came out deL kinda asked me to help him with some stuff and then we both joined FXO together.
Maynarde: Cool, so when did you start running LANs and for which games? Was it Dota + War3 exclusively? Frequency: Nah all my dota/war3 stuff was online for MYM or the local scene. As far as running LANs goes my first one was the first arena sc2 LAN and I've ran 5 or 6 other things since then.
Maynarde: Oh nice, what made you pick Arena for the venue? Did you know Thanh or was it the only place that said yes or ... ? Frequency: I'm a regular there :P and thanh and johnny (the owners) wanted to do some tournaments. Since I'd been doing lots of online stuff and since they had a track record of saying they were gonna hold a tournament and then nothing actually happening, I just said "let me do everything", and here we are :P
Maynarde: Hahaha, have you been happy with the tournaments that you've run in Adelaide so far? Do you see our town having potential to be a regular stop for something like a national SC2 circuit? Frequency: I've been pretty happy with it, bit surprised it's actually died down instead of grow since the first tournament but other than that i think it's been not too bad, given the circumstances... and no I don't see that happening. Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are much better.
Maynarde: Mainly due to lack of players / people or venues? Frequency: Well I think Melb/Syd/Brisbane have better everything than Adelaide :P
Maynarde: Fair enough :P Speaking of national circuit, how do you feel about ACL and it's system? Frequency: I'm a bit skeptical, I haven't looked super closely at the details of it all, but i think it's sort of an australian attempt at MLG. I've spoken to some people and it looks like it's going in the right direction but we'll have to wait and see I guess.
Maynarde:Who do you think is gonna win the whole thing on Sat? Or a top three? Frequency: Hm, really not sure. There's 4 or 5 guys that I think could take it; edge, tgun, pig, iaguz are probably my top guys but I think bielsko, satu, champi, hooh and plenty of others can challenge them.
Maynarde: Nice to see home town talent in that list :P any last words to the SC2sea community or thoughts? Frequency: Hmmm, nothing specific ^^ please watch the tournament, support the local scene and all that good stuff. Find me at twitter.com/marconofrio and my angry (almost daily) blog at marconofrio.wordpress.com
Maynarde: You win pretty much every Adelaide event, even in the 2s, this is obviously going to be a little bit tougher. Who are you most afraid of and why? EdgE: Well I'll admit openly that my worst matchup is ZvT, so iaguz and Fight are gonna be big threats, but on SEA zergs rule and tgun and PiG are extraordinary zergs and no matter how much I practice it's going to be so tough. I would say I am most afraid of tgun overall though.
Maynarde: How do you feel about the ACL system, and are you excited to be a part of it? EdgE: I am indeed excited! ACL is going to be big hopefully, and I believe flying is on the cards for me now more than it was before, so if i get 1st (somehow) i will be looking to go to Gold Coast. 2nd or 3rd i will still be looking to be a part of it, but the extra $1000 makes it a much more tempting trip :P!
Maynarde: I remember you didn't go to the WCG qualifier in Adelaide, was it because travelling wasn't an option for you back then? EdgE: Yeah, travelling was just really awkward. My parents are quite strict and I (and they) wanted me to get through this year of schooling successfully, which i did. I also will admit I have anxiety problems and it just puts pressure on to have to travel in the middle of assignments.
Maynarde: How do you feel about your chances for a top 3 finish? EdgE: Pretty good. I feel like one of the contenders - myself, Bielsko and Fight have the home ground advantage. I personally know what to expect - i know the atmosphere, I'm used to the desk height etc. and I also feel less pressured as I am not the favourite to win finally haha! I'll be going in just hoping to play the best mentally, and if I do I believe top 3 is definitely in order.
Maynarde: Arena in my opinion is a really top venue, such high quality pcs and gear. But do you think Adelaide has much of a chance of becoming a regular stop for big tournies and big named players? EdgE: I think Arena is a bit small but has it's own quaint charm; it has 2 nice rooms and even upstairs computers for use if needed. I believe that an ACL stop here would work out very well, and Adelaide does have some advantages, although they are limited. Big props to Thanh, the owner of Arena for running these tourneys so well, and accumulating great prizes. I think Adelaide has it's place for a tournament.
Maynarde: You and I go to every single Arena event run by our very own local tourney king FXOfrequency and it's always a great experience Who do you think will win the whole tournament this Saturday? EdgE: My heart hopes for myself to get the $1000 as it would really, really help me but my head says PiG is due for a win, then again tgun still has a big LAN to win. I also predict iaguz to get 4th, but he won't be mad as he has to be nice the whole day as per my request.
Maynarde: Any last words to SC2sea community / other players / fans? EdgE: Shoutout to Archaic MSI and the sponsors such as Sound Blaster, as well as a shoutout to TA and all the GREAT (yes, great. They are actaully people not trolls!) people in it. Also a shoutout to the SC2SEA community, the chat box is very nice to just relax on and the forum is very useful. Props to nirvAnA and co. for running it, SEA needs it. Also thanks to Marc/Thanh for running Arena and Maynarde for being sexy and interviewing me!
Maynarde: Is this your first LAN event in Adelaide? tgun: Yes.
Maynarde: Do you feel like there are many players there that are a threat to you? If so / if not, care to elaborate? tgun: Any zerg player, because ZvZ at the highest level can really go either way. It's easily the matchup that I'm least confident in; the only other player worth nothing would be xgKing.iaguz, but I've gotten the best of him in previous encounters and right now my ZvT is easily my best matchup, as I'm practicing heavily with DDE and STX. However, coming into this lan, I did steal ViBE for 3 days straight starting from when he got back from MLG, so my ZvZ has definately got some new spice to it.
Maynarde: How do you feel about the ACL and it's current format? tgun: I feel the ACL is a step in the right direction for Australian eSports, but I myself have no idea of how the qualification format works, apart from only your highest placing at an ACL qualifier being counted.
Maynarde: I saw that you were playing in Playhem today, nice run by the way. How did you feel you played? tgun: I feel I played well until the start of Game 2 vs a friend of mine, DaisyPrime. I just crumbled mentally. I went into the game planning to do a roach bust, as I knew he would do a very greedy forge fe, and then did a very, very bad baneling bust. The second game I knew his exact game plan, as every protoss at the moment is doing the same sort of robo play, that is; forge expand -> +1 4gate pressure -> 2colossus -> expand to 3rd. I was thinking about the game in my head, and figured playing on metalopolis and opening roaches into 4base 5hatch muta would just demolish his build. When the game started, I took a quick gold, but didn't bother scouting my half of the map with lings, and missed his proxy pylon. I held the gold, but lost ~6 drones. I then threw away my plan and tried to fight colossus archon with mass ling baneling. I essentially threw away a won game, because I just collapsed mentally.
I then played coLRyze in the consolation games, knew he would 15hatch very greedily and failed to punish it the first game, and mentally checked out for the second game. Overall, I feel leading up to playing DaisyPrime I was playing well, (for reference, check out my game vs RGNArtist) but it just shows how much losing your mental standing can affect how you play.
Maynarde: Does that happen often to you in tourneys? tgun: I feel my worst quality right now is my ability to compose myself mentally in a tournament; at MLG Anaheim, I played GoSuwbc (now my teammate) in the first round championship bracket and lost 0-2. Coming into the event, I hadn't lost to him, and after the event, I beat him on ladder. I just had pressure crack me. It's been a recurring thing for me, and something I've been working to overcome; in practice, I play far and above much better than I do when I'm playing in tournaments, which obviously, effects my overall standing.
Maynarde: Who do you think will win? tgun: Me.
Maynarde: Anything else you wanna say to SEA community / players / fans to finish up? tgun: Riichard is a boss, and I hope that I can provide you all with some interesting games.
Tt eSports' latest and most handsome acquisition with the big thumbs up for the camera.
Maynarde: You haven't been to Adelaide before are you excited for this LAN and why? PiG: Always happy to explore my homeland! I think alot of people live in Australia and assume it's all the same but I know that it varies hugely just from suburb to suburb let alone from city to city! Unfortunately won't have much time to explore but will be nice to get a feel for the city and of course looking forward to meeting up with all the good mates and cool people I've been meeting through Starcraft in recent months. Also my last non-korean tournament for a month so I have a good shot at the money.
Maynarde: Speaking of the line up, who are you the most afraid of playing and why? PiG: tgun always scares the crap out of me, ZvZ is a horrible matchup as I have been training my macro for a while now... I guess you could compare to Idra forr 6 months after release. I play long games, I don't cheese, I want to macro. I want to make better decisions in the late-game and have flawless mechanics. Unfortunately this makes me abuseable by people who know my style and who are very creative, tgun is both of these things. ZvZ is the least maco-oriented matchup and I refuse to train it as much as I used to as my ZvP and ZvT are more my focus at the moment. That being said, I beat him at CityHunter 2-1 and the game I lost was due to obvious errors so that boosted my confidence.
Maynarde: So you mention that you're practicing certain match ups, why those specific match ups and how often are you practicing right now? PiG: This week has been a bit better then last. Coaching is pretty full-on as always but I've been laddering a good point maintaining my NA account aswell as my korean one and even a bit of SEA. My ZvP at the moment I would say is the best it has ever been, I've been consistently beating and high GM Protoss on KR lately when I play properly. Most of my losses are focus-related and I tend to know exactly what I'm doing right and wrong. ZvZ has been a bit meh but I'm definitely trying to focus on getting into the macro game in it as SEA tourneys are so zerg focused it's still something I've been doing some decent practice for.
Maynarde: Having recently joined Tt, how is your new team treating you? PiG: I think the whole progression of events going from just being a competitive player who wanted to make their living from coaching to a top competitor in the SEA scene has been very exciting. I'm very glad Tt saw my potential and are essentially allowing me to get to all the big tournaments in the region with the sponsorship they give me. They also are running a whole host of events in the community so I'm really happy with the committment they are showing to eSports in general. I've warmed up really well to my new equipment with them, Meka G1 keyboard and Black gaming mouse are making me really happy. I feel like my mouse accuracy and speed is very very good at the moment. VERY happy with that.
Maynarde: Awesome Yeah I love shiney new gear and also know they're supplying prizes for Arena on Sat and that Mayo is a complete baller. So who do you see winning / making the top three this weekend? PiG: Iaguz is someone who I respect and find incredibly hard to deal with. I think given a good terran practice partner or two he will start being the no.2 player in SEA again. I feel he was the closest to Glade for a LONG time but has been struggling with his TvZ. I think if he keeps a lid on his temper and stays introspective about his losses this may be the big win he's been waiting for since he picked up his big $1000 at NRG.
I don't see Rossi or deth on the list so I guess its EdgE or tgun. Depending on brackets, myself and iaguz top 2 and tgun / EdgE close in for 3rd but really its gonna be so close with all these guys I'm mentioning being quite evenly matched. I think Bielsko can upset some players, his builds are ridiculous, I'm actually staying with konrad while im down there. When I say ridiculous I mean HOW THE **** DO YOU BEAT THE ECON 4 GATE. I tend to win games against him by barely breaking him while on 1 base with 14 drones after being minced by his aggression. I think he can upset alot of players but isn't fully tested enough to be a favourite.
Maynarde: You ripping the shirt off at the LAN or is that for on stream fans only? PiG: Hahaha, for tips sure!
Maynarde: Cool! So any last thoughts or anything you wanna share with the SC2sea community / players / fans to finish up? PiG: http://www.twitch.tv/ttpig watch my stream lol. Just that I'm crazy and that im leaving my house in 4-5 hours and havent packed a bit and instead am streaming a clanwar with a korean clan right now lol. COMMITMENT YO :P Follow @Tt_PiGSC2.
To hell with your camera, I'm mother-f*cking iaguz.
Maynarde: First time to Adelaide this weekend? iaguz: Yup.
Maynarde: How do you feel about your chances at the LAN, any one in particular you think you'll have issues with? iaguz: This LAN is looking pretty damn good for me not because of any favourable matchups in particular but because most of the really good players I thought would be going aren't. Deth, pinder, rossi, Targa all had to pull out. Glade isn't going either. Neither is Yoon.
This is good.
Recently my TvZ has been the reason I've been getting knocked out of most tournies and it's a real bastard that most of Australia, and indeed South East Asia, play bloody Zerg so I'm always trying to work really hard to figure out effective gameplans, knowledge and styles to beat Zerg. But I'll still probably end up losing to them anyway ><
Maynarde: Well PiG, tgun, EdgE are gonna be there, I suppose there's always that chance :P iaguz: Yup. The top 5, looking at the player list is like me, them and Bielsko representing protoss. Gonna be tough ><
Maynarde: How do you feel about the ACL and it's format? iaguz: lol I only found out that this was an ACL qualifier like 20 minutes ago. Anyway, about ACL in general; I don't know how the format works exactly. It does suck if you live in weird places like Perth (YAAAAAAAAAAANG!) and probably won't be able to attend a lan qualifier but at least there's an online one, right?
I do hope the main event is f*cking awesome. With this much buildup you'd assume so. It is helpful that it's an ACL qualifier too, seeing as I got like 7th/8th (I think) at cityhunter. Not too impressed with that.
Maynarde: Are you enjoying being a part of xGKing? Team been treating you well? iaguz: Yeah it's alright. Benji and Chris are never pushy or dicks to us or anything and the teammates are pretty cool. They are paying for the ticket down so that's pretty damn nifty.
Maynarde: What are your best match ups right now, and how much have you been practicing recently vs. before joining xGKing? iaguz: I quit my job like a month before WCG to practice which was roughly about when xGKing picked me up. I'm still to become employed again.
I'm not sure this was a wise decision.
As for best matchups, I'm very confident against SEA Protoss most of the time and I'm feeling pretty good about TvT. Zerg still remains the niggling bastard.
Maynarde: So you mentioned who you thought would be the top 5 earlier, who do you think will take the whole event? iaguz: Probably one of the Zergs. I know PiG and Tgun have been practicing really hard lately. I'm not sure about Bielsko and Edge because I think they have exams which would eat into their practice time hard.
Between the three zergs I cannot say whose ZvZ is best. Tgun beat PiG in WCG and PiG beat Tgun in Cityhunter. It's hard to draw a conclusion off of that.
Maynarde: Thanks for taking the time for the short chat man, just to finish up; any thought or anything you wanna say to the SC2sea community / players? iaguz: Nothing comes to mind. Thanks again to xGKing for sponsoring me to go to this event and thank you Marc Onofrio for running it.
So that's it! Big thanks to all the players that took the time to talk to me, can't wait to meet some of the interstate boys tomorrow. Special thanks of course to Frequency for running all the Arena LANs that are always good fun (even though a TA player will eliminate me EVERY TIME) and to EdgE for getting me in touch with everyone.
Coming down to the event? Feel free to say hello to Kalikah and myself this Saturday @ Arena LAN I believe it'll be streamed by FXO, so tune in if you want to watch from home!
EDIT: BIG thanks to Arena and dippa for the awesome player pics
Last edited by Maynarde; Fri, 25th-Nov-2011 at 3:41 PM.
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