[grumpy1377]

+ [About Matthew ‘grumpy’ Wu] +

Hi everyone in the SC2SEA community,

I just wanted to introduce myself and sign up to this website after reading the forums for about a year.

I’m a technology & eSporst journalist from Sydney, Australia and have been following the Starcraft II scene in Australia for a while.

Most of you don’t know me as I played COD4/5 competitively for Exile5 for a number of years and I’m not that good at Starcraft II (even though I’m Chinese :P). I’m usually over at CyberGamer.

I’ve met some of the top players from Australia at various local & national events like WCS Oceania and even smaller events like SGL in Sydney. I travelled to Singapore recently for IEM and finally met other Australian SC2 guys like inFeZa, Byrnsey, Kez and even nirvAnA IRL, all great dudes.

I had a quick chat with nirvAnA and loved his attitude towards this community so I decided that I would post some interviews on SC2SEA exclusively. I have a few short interviews with Immunity’s Mafia and deathdoG (BenQ Marketing Executive) and Lord Byrnsy.

On day one of IEM, BenQ hooked me up with IEM Singapore runner-up Grubby and I asked him a few questions about his role at BenQ, eSports history, IEM Singapore and the general Starcraft II scene overall.

I've posted the Grubby interview below and the interview with Mafia/deathdoG/Byrnsy in the next thread.

To those who know me, I say hello again and to those who don’t, I hope to meet some of you guys in the future ☺

Matthew ‘grumpy’ Wu. 

This interview was conducted after day one of IEM Singapore 2012 during dinner at a BenQ conference.

Biography taken from profile page on Liquipedia.

Grubby is a Dutch professional PC gamer. He has been competing in eSports in the real-time strategy games WarCraft III, WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. As an Orc player, Schenkhuizen has won more than 38 LAN tournaments, of which 6 are World Championships. Grubby has been known for being part of one of the most successful WC3 teams in history, namely the British 4Kings.

Later teams include the Danish MeetYourMakers and the North-American Evil Geniuses. Grubby enjoys a large fan base throughout the world and especially in China. He's sometimes characterized as being not one of the fastest players, but one that compensates with smart and effective play styles.


What’s your role as the BenQ ambassador?

I don’t really have a very specific role, I didn’t get any things I should tell the viewers or the audience or anything like that. Basically I started playing with BenQ monitors at MLG, Lone Star Clash and IEM. I figured this monitor is great, it’s the best I’ve ever played on and I want some at home.

First, I thought I should buy some, and then I thought... well.. I’m Grubby (we both are cackling with laughter at this point). I think they (BenQ) can give me some for free. So it kinda started like that. I asked BenQ for some monitors and they sent me a few, XL and RL and this allowed me to practice at home. It’s the best way to prepare for tournaments, to practice on the same monitor I’m going to have at the tournament.

That’s kind of how it started, and I thought we should take it one step further because now that I’m independent, I can choose my own sponsors basically. It’s not like I get a list of sponsors by the team and you have to use this and this. So when I already like a company, the process of being an ambassador for them is seamless and easy. All I’m doing is giving the opinion that I already have to people.

Your team history includes some prestigious names like 4Kings, MeetYourMakers and Evil Geniuses. What’s the main difference being solo and relying on your streams rather than an organisation backing you?

I feel like right now I have a lot of freedom. Freedom to choose who to work with, like people who I surround myself and also choosing which sponsors I want to work with. So I think people see my connection with sponsors are very authentic because I choose to be with the ones I like. TwitchTV, BenQ, these are the services that I think are the best.

So basically you’re not forced to like a product?

Exactly, ya.

As you’re now at IEM Singapore and just came from WCS in Shanghai, what was your practice regime like?

I had a lot of tournaments in a row. I was at MLG Dallas till November - for that I practiced for two weeks in Korea.

Did you stay in a house while you were in Korea?

No, I stayed in a small apartment hotel. BenQ Korea actually lent me a monitor so I bought my laptop, set it up on a table and just played there, just sectioned myself off. After that I had four days to prepare for BWC, but no days to prepare for IEM Singapore. So all of the training I had was mental training, in the aeroplane. I was actually on the aeroplane with Socke after BWC and we talked a lot and I hope to bring all that to the table tomorrow.

In Australia, although we have the disadvantage of lag, we have the ability to play on the Korean ladder. From MLG to BWC, do you have to adapt to different types of play styles of the various competitors?

It’s always wise to prepare against whatever player you’re playing against. But if you don’t have the time or if you cannot find the study material on a specific player, then you’ll go into stage two and think about the region they’re from. This region is categorised by more or less by this style. It’s a bit hit and miss, but the approach is a bit more accurate rather than knowing nothing about them at all.

I compared and contrasted about the CS 1.6 play styles from Europe (defensive), America (aggressive) & China (‘random’) and asked if this was similar in Starcraft II.

Europeans in Starcraft are also very defensive, is that the same as FPS players?

Yeah, yeah. I find that European FPS players are very strategic.

Why is that? I find that Europeans are very passive-defensive and Americans can be a bit crazy sometimes - it’s how they play. Koreans are VERY aggressive, like from the very start.

You went to Korea to train in the oGS house right?

Yeah, I think ‘fusion practice’ is good, combining different cultural styles and getting familiar with the players from the region. That’s why Koreans are playing European leagues, why they like to play in the MVP Invitational and that’s why a lot of Europeans go to Korea but at the same time, I don’t shit on European practice or skill either - I don’t say Koreans are tons better than Europeans. Europeans are very on-the-bar, it’s good to practice with both regions.

We were discussing TargA just before. He went to Korea to train and now he’s playing in Europe. So he has three regions of practice under his belt.

So what you see coming from that is that, you told me about the effects that he’s had in the Australian scene and just the general style and metagame. Then we get to IEM Cologne and he takes out Oz, Ace. It wasn’t a seamless play but he takes the most effective style that will work against them.

Have you previously played with any of the Australians that’s qualified so far? PiG, Mafia, Ninja?

I’ve played PiG & Mafia on ladder before, I think they’re good, but I think they’re not as good as some of the other Zergs I’ve faced. But I know PiG has been playing in the PRIME house in Korea and I think it’s going to be his best tournament yet. I give a lot of respect to my opponents and never underestimate them. Mafia qualified for the lower bracket, it’s not easy to cut LucifroN two-nil, so I think there’s definitely … I think it’s time for Australian eSports now and they’re here to show it.

You saw the Aussies; Nv Dox, Glade, Rossi and the whole team at MLG including the Immunity guys.

Yeah, if there’s any time for Australian eSports, it’s now.

Are you coming to Australia anytime soon?

I would love to, invite me for a tournament *laughs*. I’ve heard a lot of stories from Cassandra, as she’s been before.

What is Cassandra’s role as your manager?

Basically she gives me anything I need. She helps me with social media and she helps me with my mindset. Mental balance is one of the most important things to achieve and it’s an ongoing process.

So how does it feel to be in Singapore and play in Cassandra’s home country?

I wanted so bad to qualify for this event, and I just made it. I’m very happy and very excited to come back here. I had an amazing time at WCG and a lot of players quoted the tournament as one of their most favourite ones ever and it’s the same for me.

Was that when you won Warcraft III?

Nah, I came third for that one. I won the previous year’s one. I was the title defender!

How can Australians follow Grubby and his progress?

You can follow me on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/followgrubby
TwitchTV: www.twitch.tv/followgrubby
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FollowGrubby
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/FollowGrubby - I uploaded a lot of VODs recently so go check it out.

Grubby will be co-casting IPL5 Starcraft II matches this weekend at Las Vegas, you can watch him here: http://www.twitch.tv/ignproleague

Picture of me & Manuel: