[x5.Crescendo]

Behind the Username is an interview series where I ask some questions of regular players I meet in and around SC2SEA and our tournaments.

Today I have a chat with Naohiro 'PSiArc' Nishimura, a strong Terran player from Japan who has been making a big splash in the SEA scene. He recently showed his skill with a deep run in the WCS SEA Qualifiers, and even more recently by winning SEACraft Melee #4 (where he bested Chasu, Crimson, Law, and Wally).

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I'd like to start by asking: how long have you been playing Starcraft 2, and have you always played Terran?

I first started playing Starcraft2 since its release. (didn't play Beta)
At the beginning of 2013 I quit playing for over a year because my hands and eyes were sick.
And in early 2014 I started playing again.(I still have some problems with them though) I used to play Random for some month at first, then I switched to Terran and my main race has been Terran since then


I had wondered why I hadn't seen your name in 2013 events after your positive results in 2012. It's good that you are back, and I hope things improve in that regard! How did you decide upon your username?

Well, PSiArc sounds "saiaku" in japanese, which has a meaning like "worst" "terrible" and sounds funny.

I actually named it after a manga character named "saia-ku" in a parody joke comic Swordmaster Yamato, where he's supposed to be a formidable enemy but actually dies of just one light stab.
all I thought naming it was, "if I get strongest among players with a name which feels weakest It should be cool"


I was able to watch replays of your games against Team DetonatioN's CriMsoN in the finals of DayCraft Season 6, where you showed some incredible TvP ranging from insane non-stop drop aggression on King Sejong Station to a powerful Marauder/Viking composition against phoenix/collossus/archon on Nimbus. After that, during the recent WCS SEA Qualifers you gained a reputation here for your incredible and aggressive bio play alongside some great marine splitting. When you work on your build orders and game strategies, are there any progamers or builds from which you draw your inspiration? Are there particular build orders you like the most?

Well, I check most pro terran games because It doesn't damage my hands' health lol, but I'd say I love to learn mindset/decision making from Taeja, perfect mechanics examples from InnoVation. I used to love Bomber's buids back in WoL but these days he plays so much no-scout style I can't keep up with his builds anymore haha.

Actually I love efficient macro builds like 3OC double-Ebay vsZ, 4'05Ebay vsP more than aggressive ones, because the way resources are spent in those builds is beautiful and when you macro perfectly your army gets incredibly strong in midgame.
As for TvT I find being capable of executing various bulids important and I change builds very often, so not in particular i guess.


Describe your playstyle in ten words or less.

do anything that works


I like it! Your run in the WCS qualifiers was quite impressive: you defeated [TtSYF] NaMeK, [ETL] Soundwave, and [Fray] Crimson before falling out of the upper bracket to NXZ. You continued your killing spree in the lower bracket by taking out Frustration and [Fray] Wally before NXZ stopped your run. You successfully qualified for the Ro16 where you defeated [SLCN] Law before finally falling to [x5] PiG. How did you find the WCS experience overall, and did you make any special preparations for the qualifiers?

I didn't expect good results at first, nor know SEA people are so warm-hearted, that was a fantastic experience.
Actually it was just some days before the WCS qualifier when I got to know japanese are allowed to join WCS SEA, and I was even thinking about becoming more and more inactive if not retiring at that time, but my friend Albion(who constantly gets in NAGM) told me "you should try! you can do it!"
so I hastily ladder again for a few days just focusing on mechanics and decision making( most reliable things when I play vs a lot of people I don't know about)


Please pass on our thanks to Albion As a relative newcomer to SC2SEA.com and our OSC/Oceanic Starcraft Championship events, how have you been finding the scene here? Are you enjoying the events on offer, and is there anything you'd like to see more of (or less of)?

I definitely love the scene and its atmosphere. There are already so many tournaments that I can't join all of them, so I'm satisfied with the way it is for now.

Btw what I found great the first time I see the site was that chat on the index page of SC2SEA.com. it is so smart, encouraging players to communicate with each other and keeping new blog/forum posts noticeable at the same time.
I've never seen something like that on other sites, I was very impressed.


Many of us in SEA haven't had much opportunity to learn about the Japanese Starcraft scene, and I am hoping you can help us get to know it a bit better. Please tell us a bit about Starcraft 2 in Japan, the well-known players there, and about the availability of tournaments there (such as DayCraft).

Starcraft 2 in Japan isn't very big currently, although back in 2012 we had great tournaments like this. http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft...ports_Cup_2012
Nowadays we have just a couple of regular online tournaments, Japan Competitive Gaming Leagues(once in every 3-4 months), and Daycraft(Monthly). there are also user-sponsored tournaments and qualifiers for global events sometimes.

Most of the tournaments are exclusive to players in Japan or players who speak Japanese, but Daycraft plans to hold an international tournament around April.

Well-known players in Japan are:

DtN Vaisravana, the Zerg guy who made it to Day 2 of WCS SEA Qual. he even managed to 2-0 MacSed in a Leifeng Cup, taking a game off Armani, this guy's always got something in his arsenal.

DtN.CriMsoN, a protoss unlike fray's crimson. he loves macro games and he beat some KRGMs before with crazy Skytoss builds....
He's good at english and has constantly got english viewers on his stream. The problem is he loves Heroes of the Storm much more than Starcraft. I'm worried if the japanese starcraft scene gets even smaller.

Albion, an NAGM protoss dude who was the JPN representative for WCG2013. he watches a lot of pro games and gives good advice to me.

t1wec, an ex-NAGM Terran player who joined Integral Nation as you might know. kinda rusty at the moment but still has decent TvZ.

TMjpg, an NAGM Zerg player who loves crazy builds like proxy hat. I'd say he's a walking dictionary of extraordinary builds.

ENZA,　another Terran dude. he's an ex-War3 player and playing for a company CROOZ. he visited Axiom's Team House at the end of the last year, if you search "ENZA Crank" on Twitter you will see their photos.
I heard he reached KRGM this season but I haven't been given the details

horiken and nazomen are the best casters in Japan today. they cast almost all the tourneys in Japan. nazomen used to be a NAGM protoss player back in WoL, but after he's got a full-time job he's switched to be a caster. he still easily reaches kr-diamond though.


Thank you for helping us to know all these guys a bit better! On a humorous note, you told us your KR clan name - [tOneFC] 'tOneMing Fan Club' - is a reference to T1Wec (who you showed us looks a lot like Toodming) - have you tried convincing T1Wec to change his name to tOneMing? If so, what was his response?

Well, I haven't tried convincing him to change his name, but sometimes we treat him as if he were Toodming rofl.

He disliked it at first but after some time he even started pretending to be Toodming in response lol.


Brilliant! With all the games you've played, on ladder and in tournaments, who would you consider your greatest rival (or rivals) at the present time?

I'd say DemiLove, He knocked me out of WCS Qualifier and I knocked him out of ESCL.
I think he usually plays somewhat better than me so he's a good rival to overcome.
I don't want to face him in the early stages of tournaments cuz he's a nice guy though.


I look forward to seeing how that friendly rivalry develops A lot of us, whether in tournaments or on ladder, have games which stick in our memory as being more fun or entertaining than others. Do you have a war story or favourite match you'd like to brag about?

Hmmm the other day I played a TvZ on ladder. I was busy microing my marines and just had my mech units A-moving, but they somehow blocked a ramp to prevent banes from running into my Bio. that was hilarious...
https://twitter.com/sb_sth/status/565470785700372480


For a bit of fun: if there was anyone in the world you could challenge to a Best of Five match, who would it be, and why?

Of course INnoVation!! cuz I can get 3 more replays of his!!


Please tell us a bit about yourself outside of Starcraft: what you do, your hobbies, and your goals.

I love reading whodunit mystery novels. I have read exclusively those of Japanese writers so far but I'd love to start reading English puzzlers to get more vocabulary and have fun at the same time getting involved in the SEA scene made me want to improve more at English haha


Finally, feel free to self-promote and drop some links here if you want folks to follow you on the various social media/streaming sites

I'm very grateful to the SEA community for letting us play here. I'd like to show more good games to thank you guys! My stream and twitter https://twitter.com/sb_sth/
http://www.twitch.tv/psiarc/

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me today, it has been a pleasure!

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After this interview, PSiArc went on to achieve revenge against Vaisravana by defeating him in the finals of the latest JCG, won another SEAcraft Melee, and has made it out of the Eastern Starcraft League Season 1 group stage. He faces eMotion next in the quarter finals of that event, so please cheer him on!

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft...eague_Season_1 (You should also cheer on EnDerr and Azure, who likewise made it through!)

Get #PSyched4PSiArc!

GLHF!