[Baldie]

One of the top Protoss players in South East Asia, Blysk shares with us his thoughts leading into his first major StarCraft II tournament of 2014. Want to find out more about WCS in Oceania/South East Asia in 2014? For full details including registrations go to wcs2014.aclpro.com.au.

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Thanks for taking the time out of your day to speak with me. Happy New Year! Can you give us a brief rundown on who Bylsk is and what he's up to these days?
Thank you for having the interview with me, always a pleasure and Happy New Year to you and everyone too!. I'm Thomas 'BlysK' Kopankiewicz. German kid living in Singapore who has a passion for SC2 and esports lately its been my holidays so its been a lot of vacation-ing around and chilling with friends I usually dont have time to meet. For SC2 wise, I've been recently just started to start resuming a practice regiment!

Vacations are always good to have some time away from the everyday life! With your German heritage what made you move to Singapore?
Of course. Well it was split custody in my family. My mom came to Singapore to work as a musician so I followed her and my dad lives in Germany with my brother. Was here since 4years old though, so I’m very used to it here. Singapore's convenience is definitely my favourite thing about this place

Sorry to hear about the split but I'm glad to hear it's going well for you in Singapore! For those who have been following the SEA scene for a while may know you through the 2012 WCS system or perhaps more recently through IEM Singapore. It's fair to say you are one of the strongest Protoss in our region. Does this add any pressure to you or do you enjoy being at the top of the chain?
No worries I do feel like my gameplay has improved a lot, but I don't think it's concrete that I am the best protoss in SEA yet due to my inconsistency. That being said I don’t feel any pressure at all, right now I’m here to prove to myself what I'm capable of, and not so much playing to prove to others I’m the best. If that makes sense.

It sure does and I look forward to seeing you play! What do you think is missing in your gameplay which if you had would make you the best in SEA?
Consistency, and emotional control.

Is there anybody you would like to play. A rival perhaps?
I feel like everyone in SEA are like friends so I don’t feel like I have a rival, but if anyone then probably Petraeus? He's a good buddy of mine too but we've met enough times and he's really good. Actually maybe EnDerr too, he's eliminated me out of couple of tournaments now. >: (

Interesting you mention EnDerr. Both Fenner and Revenant mentioned enderr. He seems quite the hot topic. Is the the man to beat outside of ANZ?
He's just really unpredictable, can cheese and sometimes macro. Solid ZvZ too so that's a plus in SEA I guess.

Fair enough! Having been seeded straight into stage 2 what do you think are your chances of making it into WCS America?
I hate generic answers but I think I have a very good chance to make it through. I'll just have to hope my form and emotions are stable for that day and don't falter due to nervousness or individual map losses, though I’m hoping not to lose any of course.

With a week left to prepare what does this coming week look like for you? Daily practice or are you happy with your current form?
Ah... School starts and I have 2 projects to be handed in by Friday. Which means VERY busy schedule and tighter practice regime. So it's gonna be a tough week. On days I'm too tired I'll just watch more reps and streams. On other days I'll just grind games to perfect builds.

I'm never happy with my form, I always seek to keep improving myself and I hope everyone in SEA does too But I think my current form is decent enough to go into a tournament. Tomorrow's Master's cup will prove me right or wrong

Great attitude to have! Finally given WCS has opened its gates to the entirety of SEA, do you think there's merit in ACL doing the same? Would you be willing to fly to Australia if you qualified for a regional event?
I would love to fly to Australia anytime as long as the trip was covered by my team haha. I love travelling. And ACL and all the AUS/NZ Mates 10char are awesome, would be amazing to meet them in person as I have had with a few of them who came to IEM Singapore. We will see if the opportunity presents itself

Thanks for your time and all the best with both your studies and your tournament. Do you have any final comments?
Thanks for your time for the interview too Yea I want to shoutout to my friends and Team Flash for Supporting me. Shoutout to our sponsors too CM Storm Cooler master and gunnar optiks. I hope you guys will be rooting for me in WCS and I hope to show great games for everyone!
@helloblysk and https://www.facebook.com/FollowBlysk

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[SLCN.NXZ]

Gogo Thomas! x5 and friends fighting!

[x5.Stormz]

I believe in the power of Minahcles!

[Eddie]

Blysk one of the nicest guys in SEA

Impressive showing in yesterdays Masters Cup, so form looking good!

Hope we see you in more ACL events + Aus one day.

[x5_dot]

Nice interview. I didn't realise you were so busy already! On top of all that you've been playing a lot of the ESL TC!