SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

MaruMarine · Fri, 6th-Dec-2013, 7:01 PM

Hey guys, back with another interview and this time it is with Root Gaming's newest pickup Petraeus.

Photo by Kavik, taken from the Root official announcement.

Q: Hi, please give a brief introduction of yourself for those who may not be familiar with who you are.

A: My name is Mack Smith, more commonly known as Petraeus and I am a professional SC2 player representing ROOT Gaming. I was born in New Zealand and lived there until recently when I moved to California.

Q: So you are best known as the best SC2 player in New Zealand, what is the scene like there in general for SC2?

A: I hope that is not the case! The 'best player in NZ' is not really an achievement in my opinion as the scene is extremely small and I think I'm the only player that competes at a high level in SEA, no offense to any other NZers. In 2012 there were a decent amount of LANs and WCS was huge so that was nice but not really sustainable because of the low player base and lack of interest. So this year we have had nothing and I honestly don't see the scene going anywhere for the next 3-5 years at least. It's sad but that's what happens with something like eSports in a small country like NZ.

Q: Did you have any problems balancing high school and StarCraft? People seem to have the notion that high school is the best time to start getting serious into gaming because it is not necessarily that time consuming compared to university.

A: I never really had any issues with high school and Starcraft. I definitely could have done better if I hadn't spent so much time practicing but the more time I spent playing the more I realised school really wasn't important to me and a higher grade wouldn't help me at all. I still managed to pass the three years I spent there with decent grades though. I know there are a lot of university courses that are more time consuming that high school but in my experience overall the two have fairly similar hours. The difference is that you choose to be at uni so you're likely going to put in more time and effort than the bare minimum that many put into high school. I don't really feel there is a lot to gain from high school so for me it was just a place to be until I could make a living off of gaming.

Q: What did your parents think/ say when you started to get serious about competing at the higher level? What do they think now that you got picked up by an internationally known pro team?

A: In 2012 I travelled to Tokyo, Australia and France within a couple of months so I think that was when they realised how serious it was. From then on I put more and more time into the game so when I said I wanted to leave school and go full time my parents weren't really surprised I don't think and were very supportive. I had already explained that I would be looking to move overseas and join an international team so I don't think joining ROOT was a huge surprise either.

Q: You were picked up by Root Gaming recently to be on their pro gaming roster. Did you approach them, or did they approach you? How did the negotiation process go between you and Root.

A: The negotiation process involved CatZ asking me in a ladder game if I wanted to join and move to the team house and me saying yes so that was pretty funny. It was pretty awesome because I had been really wanting to join ROOT already but didn't think I was good enough.

Q: Will your practice schedule change at all now that you are in the Root house? Are there any specific rules for how much you have to practice each day? What kind of practice schedule works best for you?

A: There is no set practice schedule for anyone in the house so I could pretty much play LoL all day if I wanted to. But being in a team house is really motivating so it’s a lot easier to play games 12 hours a day than it is to when alone at home. It’s also really easy to get advice from other Zerg's in the house. For me playing all day every day works otherwise known as #dedication.

Q: As an Oceania player, do you think that trying to get on a team outside of the region is the best choice for all players at the moment? Do you see this ever changing, and if so what would have to change within the Oceania scene?

A: I don't think that eSports will ever be a viable career path in a region that doesn't have team houses. There is nowhere near enough money in eSports to support large amounts of players on their own so for anyone not at a high international level it’s either a team house or your parent’s house with the latter obviously being more efficient and reliable. I think the Australian scene is nearly at that point but at the moment you have to move overseas in my opinion.

Q: How do you feel about the 2014 WCS changes Blizzard announced? How will they affect you personally?

A: I am pretty happy with the WCS changes for 2014. With SEA only slots it means I will have a really good shot at getting premier league which is nice obviously.

Q: What is your plan for 2014 as a whole? Do you have any specific goals in mind?

A: For a lot of 2014 I'll be in the ROOT house so my plans are just to practice as hard as I can there and hopefully get some good tournament results while in the US. After my visa expires I'm not sure what will happen so my goal is to continue competing in eSports and living overseas.

Q: What advice would you give to any Oceania amateur players who are thinking about trying to going pro?

A: If you're willing to work hard at something and you're passionate about it then you're wasting your life doing anything else.

Q: Any shout outs?

A: Thanks for the interview! Shoutout to my team ROOT Gaming and their sponsors Tt esports, twitch, V3 Gaming PC's and das keyboard.