Text: Lemminks
Formatting: Cute + xpaperclip

In the lead up to Oceania's Biggest RTS event ever, the WCS Starcraft 2 Oceania Finals - the SC2SEA article writing team "Writer's Block" have been hard at work putting together a series of hype articles for your viewing pleasure! Fresh content will be added daily until the explosive $25,000 finals begin this Saturday... cast by none other than Tastosis!

SC2 SEA WCS Oceania Coverage
WCS Tickets & Information
Monday - WCS Hype Part 1: An Introduction by Tek Kez
Tuesday - WCS Hype Part 2: Player Interviews by Lemminks
Wednesday - WCS Hype Part 3: Player Interviews by Lemminks
Thursday - WCS Hype Part 4: Player Interviews by Lemminks
Friday - WCS Hype Part 5: Final Wrapup by Cute

Interviews in this piece:
(Click to jump)
iaguz
PiG
EdgE
BiGbiRd
Frustration

Venue: Australian Technology Park - Bay 4 & Dining Room

The Australian Technology Park is located approximately 5km from Sydney's central business district, 8km from Sydney Airport and within 200m of Redfern Station on Sydney’s rail network.

Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/aclprosc2

Catch all the action FREE featuring casting by Tastosis, HDStarcraft, Painuser & Maynarde

Schedule:

Watch online from Friday - 10th August 2012

This event has a fully booked out live audience on Saturday & Sunday, but do note that the WCS Australia games commence on Friday. You can watch from the comfort of your home on ACL's TwitchTV Channel at http://www.twitch.tv/aclprosc2 at 11:00am.

Saturday, 11th August 2012

11:00 — 12:00: Doors Open! Ticket holders have express entry through to the viewing area.
12:00 — 13:00: Loser Bracket ...
21:00 — 21:55: Australia Nationals Grand Final
22:00 — 23:00: Australia Tournament Finals Presentation

Sunday, 12th August 2012

11:00 — 12:00 Doors open for Oceania Finals!
20:00 — 20:30 Oceania Finals Presentation

Brackets
For more information or ticket enquires kindly visit the ACL WCS Oceania landing page here.
A Warp up of all the Barcrafts covering the event can be found here.

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iaguz

Lemminks: Firstly congratulations on qualifying for WCS Australia. How are your preparations going so far?

iaguz: Shitloads of practice and study each day, plus preparation for specific opponents. Pretty much been consuming all my time the last month or so.

Lemminks: Considering a lot of your practice partners are participating in WCS Australia, what other methods are you employing to prepare?

iaguz: Mostly ladder. I've still played a few customs with some of the Zergs but it's been mostly ladder. I don't have a lot of practice partners outside of Australia so it's hard to do that sort of thing.

Lemminks: In your opinion, who do you think will take top 3 in WCS Oceania? How would you describe their style? Do they have any particular weaknesses that you’re willing to share with us?

iaguz: Me.

Lemminks: This will be the first time an Australian Starcraft 2 event will be casted by Tastosis and watched by the world, has this changed the way you approach the event in any way?

iaguz: I did try and mess around with ghosts in TvZ for a showy (and effective!) strategy, but then I found that ghosts are actually completely ******* terrible at everything. So maybe I'll make ravens instead haven't decided yet. My rule for tournaments is if you're not going to win at least make entertaining games. People seem to like those.

Lemminks: What do you think about your first round opponent iM.Light?

iaguz: Confident. Ray's PvT is ok but I think I can handle it.

Lemminks: Lastly who in WCS Australia would you describe as the dark horse?

iaguz: All the non Zergs.

But mostly Frustration and Legionnaire. They're new (well, technically for Pete's sake) and they're untested in major Australian tournaments unlike everyone else. KnightLighT will be interesting to watch too seeing as nobody knows anything about him at all.

Lemminks: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, any final shoutouts?

iaguz: Shoutouts to my new team. It might not have been announced by the time of this posting so I can't really talk about it at all but it's a new team for me so... yea. Also shoutout to my brother Josh for deciding to come to WCS and watch me play.

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Tt.Pig

Lemminks: Firstly congratulations on qualifying for WCS Australia. How are your preparations going so far?

Tt.Pig: Aloha! Not bad at all. I'm also preparing for IEM so I perhaps haven't focused on ZvZ as much as I should have but there's still a few days left so hopefully I should be ready in time. I've been practicing a lot more then I'm used to and mostly on Korean ladder so I'm looking in decent shape.

Lemminks: Considering a lot of your practice partners are participating in WCS Australia, what other methods are you employing to prepare?

Tt.Pig: Luckily I have a pretty good range of American and Korean Terrans I train with so my ZvT practice is doing fine. I don't have so many ZvP or ZvZ partners but Light being the only super strong Protoss in the competition hopefully I won't have to play any. Also I've been training with ninja and Iaguz a bit as we're clanmates and don't mind showing builds TOO much as we tend to all just metagame in tournaments anyway.

Lemminks: In your opinion, who do you think will take top 3 in WCS Oceania? How would you describe their style? Do they have any particular weaknesses that you’re willing to share with us?

Tt.Pig: If I'm counting myself then I would hope for me being in there, but the other top 3 contenders would be Mafia, Glade and Tgun. With close followers Ninja, Iaguz and Light. I'd rather not share any weaknesses until after I win my share of that $25K

Lemminks: This will be the first time an Australian Starcraft 2 event will be casted by Tastosis and watched by the world, has this changed the way you approach the event in any way?

Tt.Pig: It'll make it a bit more nerve-wracking. But I have played on an international stage at IEM in China so I know that hard practice is a good remedy for nerves. And I have been practicing hard so I think I should do ok. I guess there's also a part of me that really wants to impress Tastosis and especially Artosis as his commentating from season 1 of GSL actually is responsible for my understanding of the game. Without his descriptions of how to properly train and prepare and how builds operated I don't know if I would be a progamer today. So I definitely want to be able to go back and watch the VOD in a few weeks and hear some praise for my play. That being said I will just be focused on playing my game and beating my opponents. There's enough money on the line for this event to be momentous in all of our careers and we're all determined as players to not let this opportunity pass.

Lemminks: What do you think about your first round opponent cR.Ninja?

Tt.Pig: He's a close friend, practice partner and clanmate so whoever wins it'll suck. We'll most likely both be metagaming quite a lot but we'll see how it goes.

Lemminks: Lastly who in WCS Australia would you describe as the dark horse?

Tt.Pig: Frustration from MI recently formed into X5 is the dark horse. He is unknown on the Australian pro circuit probably because he lives in Perth on the other side of the country. We don't know a lot about him but he could be the next Bielsko. Bielsko was unknown going into WCG 2011 back when he was beating players like Idra on ladder and he showed he had some amazing builds. So you never know what he might bring to the table

Lemminks: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, any final shoutouts?

Tt.Pig: Thanks for having me Lemminks! Shoutout to Tt eSports, Gigabyte Notebooks, Mwave.com.au, AVerMedia and my lovely coach/manager Dot!

Lemminks: Good Luck!

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cR.EdgE

Lemminks: Firstly congratulations on qualifying for WCS Australia. How are your preparations going so far?

cR.EdgE: Thanks very much! My preparations have been going pretty well. I've had ups and downs with confidence, slumps in my play and my overall outlook on SC2 but I've stabilized and I feel I've prepared very well compared to past tournaments.

Lemminks: Considering a lot of your practice partners are participating in WCS Australia, what other methods are you employing to prepare?

cR.EdgE: Well I am actually playing with a few in WCS still, mainly a few Zergs because a lot of my ZvZ's between them come down to the opening build and the form we are in on the day, and any info I can gather on the other players from them is invaluable too. I am also playing with my Team members (Carnage), and my primary games come from Korean Ladder.

Lemminks: In your opinion, who do you think will take top 3 in WCS Oceania? How would you describe their style? Do they have any particular weaknesses that you’re willing to share with us?

cR.EdgE: Zergs have dominated SEA for a long time and that was only made worse by recent patch changes, but I think the SEA Terrans are as imposing as ever, and the Protoss players always have tricks up their sleeve... so it could go any way but it will still most likely be at least 2 zergs -

1. Mafia
2. mOOnGLaDe
3. Ninja or tgun

Everyone has their own style and their own weaknesses I've picked up just like I do, but I won't openly reveal them yet... .

Lemminks: This will be the first time an Australian Starcraft 2 event will be casted by Tastosis and watched by the world, has this changed the way you approach the event in any way?

cR.EdgE: This has indeed changed the event. It will be only my 2nd big interstate LAN, and my 3rd big LAN overall... and to have Tastosis cast it to a huge stream audience, a huge live audience and with Australia ready to show it's talent... It's going to be an amazing event as nerve wracking as it is for me. Hopefully I can at least put on a good show, but I'm aiming to remind all of SEA why I've been a top player for 2 years going strong.

Lemminks: What do you think about your first round opponent iM.yang?

cR.EdgE: I think i've grown a bit of a rivalry with yang now - mainly because I normally get the better of him in tournaments and yet in practice he takes me down. I'm confident but I'm not going to get ahead of myself, yang is a tough tough opponent and i don't know how hard he's been practicing.

Lemminks: Lastly who in WCS Australia would you describe as the dark horse?

cR.EdgE: There are a few players (mainly the Protosses) that are more unknown than the rest, but the dark horse to me is YoonYJ. He is an insane player and since he's got strong practice in finally I believe if any non-Zerg can turn heads it's him.

Lemminks: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, any final shoutouts?

cR.EdgE: Shoutout to my mum and dad for supporting me, also shoutouts to my Team Carnage for being a great team in so many ways, to Terror Australis for being a second to none community and finally to the whole SEA community for making these 2 years of my life of gaming incredible.

Lemminks: Good Luck!

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Tek.BiGbiRd

Lemminks: Firstly congratulations on qualifying for WCS Australia. How are your preparations going so far?

Tek.BiGbiRd: Ahhh my preparations have not gone so well to be honest, I had no internet at home so have been staying with my friend/team-mate Champi the last 5-6 weeks but didn't have my PC. I used his computer whenever I could but have not played anywhere near as much as i would have liked unfortunately. I was able to watch some streams and replays using his laptop but couldn't get the games under my belt that I really wanted too. I went home last week and spent 3-4 days unable to play at all .

Lemminks: Considering a lot of your practice partners are participating in WCS Australia, what other methods are you employing to prepare?

Tek.BiGbiRd: As you said almost all the top players are playing in WCS so it was harder to find good practice partners (When i could play) but i managed to have a good practice session with ToRPox about two weeks ago which helped a lot. Apart from that it was just ladder whenever i could on either NA or Korea.

Lemminks: In your opinion, who do you think will take top 3 in WCS Oceania? How would you describe their style? Do they have any particular weaknesses that you’re willing to share with us?

Tek.BiGbiRd: I think the favourites for this tournament will be the same as every other tournament in Aus: Zerg, Zerg, Zerg hahaha. But personally i think it is hard to go past mOOnGLaDe. No matter what his form is or is suppose to be in comparison to everyone else he seems to draw from live events and just play at a completely different level. His biggest challengers will be Mafia who has looked extremely strong lately and PiG. Almost everyone in WCS has a shot if they play well enough on the day but I think those three are the favourites. I think my weakness is simply the fact that until two months ago i was working full-time and played very little compared to everyone else. I also live in rural South Australia and often had access to either Mobile broadband using a netstick with very bad coverage or no internet at all so it was hard to keep up consistent practice and thus skill level but I will try my best .

Lemminks: This will be the first time an Australian Starcraft 2 event will be casted by Tastosis and watched by the world, has this changed the way you approach the event in any way?

Tek.BiGbiRd: Having the best of the best international casters that cast the very best in the world every week actually added quite a bit of pressure. I will have to focus 100% and play my very best for fear of being humiliated in front of thousands of viewers :\ it didn't really change the way i approach this though as this is my first chance playing in a high-level competition so will just play to the best of my ability.

Lemminks: What do you think about your first round opponent GoSu.tgun?

Tek.BiGbiRd: Tgun is in my opinion one of the top contenders in both the Australian and Oceania WCS and is a very difficult opponent, especially having chalked up some tournament wins recently giving him the winning edge. All I can do is focus on my own play and hopefully cause an upset!!! .

Lemminks: Lastly who in WCS Australia would you describe as the dark horse?

Tek.BiGbiRd: There are a couple of dark-horses in my eyes simply because they haven't had the best results lately but have the talent for upsets. Rossi has been extremely strong in the past as well as his teammates YoonYJ and deth and they will be very eager to show some Terran skills. Light has the ability to shake up the Zergs choke-hold on Australian events and so does yang.

Lemminks: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, any final shoutouts?

Tek.BiGbiRd: Shoutout to my team Teknicity eSports, my team-mate and good friend Champi for letting me stay at his house the last few weeks and to Australian Starcraft/ACL/Blizzard for making this amazing event possible!!!

Lemminks: Good Luck!

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x5.Frustration

Lemminks: Firstly congratulations on qualifying for WCS Australia. How are your preparations going so far?

x5.Frustration: My preparations at the moment for WCS have been average my computer hasn't been running properly so I haven't been able to practice as much as I want to, and I haven't been able to play without my computer freezing so its actually being really crap to try and practice with :/.

Lemminks: Unlike a number of the other participants, a lot of your practice partners aren't competing in this event. How much of an advantage do you consider that to be?

x5.Frustration: Hmm I consider my advantage to be a lot more then the other players in wcs only because I'm the newest player in the sc2sea scene and no one actually knows me or my builds so I think I have a good advantage in that part.

Lemminks: In your opinion, who do you think will take top 3 in WCS Oceania? How would you describe their style? Do they have any particular weaknesses that you’re willing to share with us?

x5.Frustration: I think the top 3 players for Oceania would be the players who play the best on the day and have the right mind set everyone going in there has a chance of getting top 3 but if i had to choose it would be , Pig , Moonglade , Mafia, I'm not willing to share weaknesses in their plays, I wish to have that for myself .

Lemminks: This will be the first time an Australian Starcraft 2 event will be casted by Tastosis and watched by the world, has this changed the way you approach the event in any way?

x5.Frustration: No it has not changed me in anyway shape or form in who's casting or where it is, it will still be the same for me as at RFLan just a bit bigger and across the country. Having Tastosis there and casting will be cool and i would want to show them good games but it wont change my play at all.

Lemminks: What do you think about your first round opponent Nv.YoonYJ?

x5.Frustration: I think it will be a tough match hes a very good terran player but i think i have a chance! .

Lemminks: Lastly who in WCS Australia would you describe as the dark horse?

x5.Frustration: I would probably say I'm the dark horse in WCS Australia since I'm the newest to the scene and no one actually knows about my play.

Lemminks: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, any final shoutouts?

x5.Frustration: Thank you , I would like to shoutout to my team Exile5 and all the people in exile5 especially bard who has helped me a tonne with my builds in all match ups and to our sponsors Western digital , Cm Storm , Cooler master, iinet and Nvidia Gaming and to all the fans who will cheer for me at WCS, Thank you!

Lemminks: Good Luck!

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Coming Up Next - Interviews Part 2 by TCPLemminks

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Brought to you by the SC2SEA Writing Team
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Quick Comments

	JiNxXx:	fantastic interviews!
	Mayo:	Awesome!

[TACeeSerps]

Come on SA boys!! Great interviews as always Lemminks!

[Cute]

Looking sexy, good stuff as usual Lemminks!

I don't even know who I'm cheering for in this

[nirvAnA]

The formatting is soooo awesome! And so are the interviews!

Quick Comments

Mayo:

^^^

[dippa]

Because I've had enough frustrating discussions on this topic:

THE EASIEST WAY TO GET TO ATP IS TO TRAIN IT TO REDFERN STATION AND WALK

Quick Comments

TACeeSerps:

What about at night? Are we in danger?

[TCPLemminks]

Originally Posted by dippa

Because I've had enough frustrating discussions on this topic:

THE EASIEST WAY TO GET TO ATP IS TO TRAIN IT TO REDFERN STATION AND WALK

Cheers Dippa, added to the OP and any subsequent previews

[syfMiley]

TheCSerps:
What about at night? Are we in danger?

Have no fear, just jump aboard the TA train and you will become the danger

[AxSGRiM]

Amazing previews so far! Keep it up!

Personally I particularly liked iaguz's and Edge's interviews because I feel like one of them will take the tournament ;D

[ToRSpartaz]

Wowow >< It gets better by the day. Only a couple of days left to the kick off guys Pretty psyched

[Baldie]

Shoutout to Cam's Dad

[Dox]

Originally Posted by ToRBaldie

Shoutout to Cam's Dad

What an unexpected twist

[Flamga]

Good read! Thanks for the awesome work and cant wait for the next part

[ACL VaNzR]

Just want to let you know that the landing page for this event has been updated to reflect new information. The schedule will be going live soon, but opening times and details have been formalised.

I would request that the authors modify their OP and any subsequent post to prevent incorrect information from circulating.

Cheers

http://www.aclpro.com.au/blizzard2012/

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

Will do :)