SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

deL · Sun, 1st-May-2011, 9:21 PM

Episode 2: David "InTime'TARossi" Rossi

The Italian Stallion

Name:	David "Rossi" Rossi
Country:	Australia
Race:	Terran
Clan:	iterror Terror Australis
Sponsor:	InTime Cybercafe

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In this article we can get to know the underrated, the up-and-coming or the unknown talent in the Southeast Asian and Oceanic SC2 scenes. Get to know the soon-to-be top players in SEA as we let the players talk about themselves and their StarCraft experiences in a short interview. This edition we meet inTime`TARossi, and while he is well known in the Australian LAN scene he is yet to have a break-out tournament online. He has a strong ladder performance and has improved dramatically over the past 2 months and ladders on SEA, NA and KR. Just last week he was instrumental to bringing his team victory in sc2sea's first KOF, going 6-1 and on the way all-killing aLtPiG's team and wish's team.

If you know a player who you consider up and coming (that is, you can see them getting top4 finishes in tournaments in a month or two) then suggest them here and they may get a feature!

DOWNLOAD SOME OF ROSSI'S FAVOURITE REPLAYS

Rossi you big pelican can you tell us a bit about your gaming history or other relevant information, like where you are from and what you do?
Hey mate, my name is David and my last name is my ID. I’m from Sydney, Australia.

Before sc2 I was a pretty competitive WoWer in the PvP scene playing my account and making cash on the side playing other accounts to Gladiator. Besides WoW i was a normal gamer but never really played any RTS. To be honest i though they were horrible games (RTS genre) until a friend got me
invited to sc2 Beta and I started watching HUSKY(hate him now) videos. When the game came out beating the campaign really set me up skill wise and I only improved from there. Other then gaming i study combined degree of Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of IT at uni, i work 2 jobs and i hit the gym when i can.

Although you probably don't consider yourself an up-and-coming player in the Australian scene, you don't have a big break-out tournament on SEA. Do you feel you can compete at the highest level of SEA tournaments, such as the SEA SL?
I definitely think I can compete and have been doing my best in order to do so. I feel i choke quite a bit in online tournaments though, especially bo1 format. However that does feel a bit contradictory considering my recent 7-1 in the SC2SEA KOF tourney. All in all i have been practicing as much as i can and hope i continue to progress.

Where do you see yourself in StarCraft 2 competitively? Are you content to continue to perform mainly at local LAN events or are you looking to take it to the next level?
LAN events are a pretty social event for me, i go there to see clan mates and meet new friends and put faces to voices. I do however go there with the intent of placing as high as possible and hopefully get some prizes out of it.

How would you describe your play style? What are your favourite builds and matchups at the moment?
I consider myself a pretty all round player. I mainly practice macro styles but i have the ability to throw in a cheese here and there. My favourite unit would be the banshee.

Besides that my favourite matchup is currently TvZ as i feel it’s the best match to play and watch and I have improved in it greatly due to practicing with the TAHocus and TAEdgE.

How and why did you pick Terran as your race of choice?
I was new to the game having never played brood war and picked and stuck to the first race i played.

Coming to SC2 without an RTS background you seemed to improve dramatically over a short period of time. What are your current practices to help you get better? Are you laddering a lot, having custom games with practice partners, or watching a lot of replays?
Yea basically all those things. I have been laddering pretty hardcore on NA lately and its felt very good being able to take games and compete with some of the popular NA pro’s. I also do like to custom and practice specific matchups or build orders which I will then iron out on ladder. In regards to replays I enjoy grabbing a pack of 20 of players i enjoy watching and pumping them out when i get tired of playing.

What were the hardest aspects to master coming from non-RTS games to a highly competitive RTS like StarCraft 2?
There is so much for me to improve on. Definitely the hardest RTS aspect is keeping up with the multitasking; I am still a fairly low apm player. Decision making and strategy is something i am doing my best to maintain and improve upon through mass gaming/ladder.

You mentioned the mechanics and multitasking, but how does keeping up with the latest trends or 'meta game' of builds and tactics differ in StarCraft 2 to other games you have played competitively?
As much as WoW talk will fly over most peoples heads here, when i played WoW at the top level there was significant amonut of theorycrafting, strategy and communication involved which can easily transfer to another game. The biggest factor offcourse is how much you put into and play the game. But there are similar traits including replay analysis and talking over arena matches, after every match you had to think about what you did wrong and how to do it better. Offcourse in WoW theres new race compositions, talent builds and strategies that come out and u need to be able to differ your playstyles and strategies in order to stay up with the latest meta games. Im sure people will give me shit about talking about WoW, but i havnt played it for ages, oh well.

Do you have any rival players online or on ladder? You must have some rivals that you enjoy beating more than others at LAN due to your many high placing, too.
I consider nGenLight a rival but only because i respect him as a player. I have both beaten and lost to him at Cityhunter LANs but do not consider myself at his level yet. It’s always fun to vs. him and I look forward to competing with him further.

You're in clan TA - how has this affected your practice and what has it taught you? You are also part of cybercafe InTime's player sponsorship. What does this mean for you as a player and how has it affected how seriously you take the game?
TA is awesome, the support they provide as well as the practice and discussion is very helpful. Not to mention the social aspects of the clan being its greatest component with having 75% of the clan on teamspeak everyday messing around and talking shit.

The Intime sponsorship is a great benefit as they are very supportive and willing to help myself and a few other TA Players (TAScarecrow, TASanchez, TALkori, TAKing, TAriiChard, nGenLight.). We will be getting some hopefully sick jumpers/shirts to wear at all the Sydney LANs out of it and will continue to present their cafe which is looking to expand and is doing the right thing by delving into e-sports. If you’re in Sydney make sure to check out InTime Cybercafe.

Thanks for you time!

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More Rising StarZ!

Episode 1: EscapisT

Protoss

Singapore

aLt

Organiser

Retired

Episode 2: Rossi

Terran

Australia

Nv

TA