[Baldie]

Hello StarCrafters my name is Baldie and joining me today is none other than the SEA casting archon of Zepphnarde! Thanks for allowing me to interview you both!

Maynarde: Hello StarCraft family I've missed you all.

Zepph: Hi friends.


First question: Who would win in a fight between a Stalker and a Marauder if they could only use their physical attributes?

Maynarde: This first question wow. Do you mean like in a fist fight or something?


Yes, presuming the stalker can generate sufficient force with its legs to put up a fair fight.

Maynarde: Well the maruader doesn't really have hands so unless he gets a good run up and can head but through the stalker then the stalker wins.

Zepph: I think the marauder would win. Those dudes look heavy..stalkers look kinda flimsy to me. All he would have to do is put his weight behind a punch or.. whatever you call a punch if you have no hands.

Maynarde: I'd call it a "whabayum".

Zepph: Seems fitting.


So Maynarde for Stalker and Zepph for Marauder looks like we have a tie. Only thing left to do now is a sudden death fight between you two.. right?

So before we go too far into these challenging questions how about you each give a bit of background on yourselves. What’s your gamertag, how did you come up with it, how long have you been casting etc.

Maynarde: My gamer tag is Maynarde, it's in honour of my favourite singer in the whole world I've had it for so long I don't even remember when I got it, but I do remember that when I first made it "Maynard" was taken so I added an e, character codes didn't exist back then! Been casting since early 2011 I think, maybe late 2010 I honestly don't remember.

Zepph: I've been casting since about mid 2011. My gamer tag is Zepph which was initially Zephian - a character name my friend came up for me when we used to write stories together. When I started playing WoW I tried to use "Zephian" and several other shortened versions of it but they were already taken, so Zepph was what I ended up with and it stuck ever since.

Maynarde: MAYNARD WAS TAKEN IN WOW AND I HAD TO CHANGE IT IN WOW TOO WE ARE THE SAME PERSON!

Zepph: FURTHER CONFIRMATION THAT WE ARE INDEED ONE!

Maynarde: LITERALLY FATE/10


Haha! So WCS. It’s back in our region in 2014, for all three seasons. Not bad at all. So you guys commentated the entirety of Season 1 Qualifiers. What are your thoughts? Would you have picked PiG, KingKong and EnDerr as our top 3?

Maynarde: Enderr was the surprise for me in Season 1, I thought that iaguz or perhaps Blysk would've been in the top 3. Kingkong and PiG definitely WASN'T a surprise to get through, with only two spots I'm hopings SOME BUGS GET SLAIN ON THE WEEKEND and we get two different races getting through. I'm picking PiG to be the other one that advances still for Season 2 lol.

Zepph: I'll agree with Maynarde - Enderr was a pleasant surprise. Pig and Kingkong are always favourites too, but I thought that maybe some of our Protoss players might have been able to squeeze into the top 3. There's a lot of good new Protossian blood coming up in our little corner of the world.


Speaking of Protossian blood. Maynarde I know you became a fan of FIGHTO after his strong performance in Season 1 (who unfortunately is not playing this season). Who are the players to watch this weekend based on what you’ve seen in Season 1?

Maynarde: As far as protoss goes, definitely Probe and Blysk hard to argue that they're not the best right now.

Zepph: Aside from our usual suspects, I'll definitely be keeping my eyes on Enderr and the Singaporeans - Revenant and Blysk. They can be absolutely deadly when they're in form. I'm expecting good things from MightyKiwi as well. I'm thinking he has a good chance of causing some upsets!

Maynarde: I believe Guz / PiG to go through but wouldn't be shocked if it was Pet / PiG.

Maynarde: Players to watch, I echo what Zepph said and definitely will want to watch the Singaporean Blysk and the Pinoy Enderr.


It feels like we are at the point where a new generation of players are emerging. Last year saw a lot of the players we grew to know and love retire leaving a big gap to fill. What are your thoughts firstly on the topic of the amount of high quality players retiring in 2013 and secondly are you confident that gap will be filled, if not already?

Maynarde: Obviously sad to see a lot of those guys who retired in 2013 and even still in 2012 go, Rossi, deth, hut, glade, all huge names who will be missed sorely.

Maynarde: I don't believe the gap has been filled YET, and I think it will be very hard to fill again with the current player base but it's kind of wierd. If you look at SC2 back in 2012 vs today, the best back then are no where near the best right now.

Maynarde: So technically I think the skill gap will be filled in time, but without the amount of experience and perseverance the old pros had they won't be able to, I'll cheer em on if they're going for it though!

Maynarde: Also as a final note, I don't believe anyone TRULY leaves SC2 especially in this country they always came back and there's been some rumbles on the downlow behind the curtain of some big names that might be returning with the announcement of ACL Bris

Zepph: Yeah, it always sucks to lose the players that were around for a long time. A lot of those guys were fan favourites too, so it will be interesting to see which of the new guys become popular next. From what I've seen, the players that gain fans early on often tend to stay motivated more easily until they can finally have that breakout performance where they make a name for themselves.

Zepph: Again I'll agree with narde in that the skill gap hasn't been closed yet and it will take a long time for that to happen. The old generation of SEA pros were around since beta or release of Wings - that's a hell of a lot experience and practice to catch up to. All in good time I suppose!


Yeah good point about people not truly retiring. Prime example mOOnGLaDe is playing WCS this weekend from Korea!

So down to the big question (which has somewhat been answered in previous questions). Who’s going to advance to Challenger in Season 2?

Zepph: I'm going to say Iaguz and Pig or Petraeus. Not sure which one of those Zergs is in better shape right now.

Maynarde: Yeah 2 out of those 3. Not sure which 2, hard to say.


Thank you both for your time. I always look forward to seeing you cast and we have the pleasure of hearing your voices once again on Sunday for Round of 16. Any final words of wisdom for our competitors?

Maynarde: Good luck, enjoy yourselves and spread the word! Nothin makes me happier than a fresh new SC2 fan.

Zepph: ^ Nothing more to add

For more details on WCS America: Season 2 Oceania/SEA Qualifiers go to

www.wcs2014.aclpro.com.au


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[|Erasmus|]

wow pls... marauders suits have arms. The guns are built into the arms sure, but they could still swing those big ass guns around pretty hard im sure...