[NDG.Stitch]

Interview with Brian "pokerface" Yoon

(xGKingPokerface on the right hand side)

Hi Pokerface! First things first, I'd like to congratulate you on behalf of your former clan, Team Supreme and the rest of SEA on making Team Xeria Gaming, noticeably the top team of SEA at the moment! For those who don't know who you are, would you mind giving a brief introduction about yourself?

Hey there, my name's Brian Yoon (aka pokerface) and I'm a high school student trying to play Starcraft II competitively.

What games have you played before Starcraft 2?

I played mostly RTS games but not at a competitive level as I did in Starcraft II. They're mainly blizzard games such as Brood War and Warcraft III. I also played a bit of Dota as well.

Why in the end did you choose to stick with Starcraft 2?

Because I saw potential in Starcraft II as a game that can represent e-sports as a whole, and see it as an opportunity to make a living through all these tournaments that the community has spent time to allow players such as myself to really shine and receive some money as well.

Named as one of the possible up and coming players of SEA, you have grown exceptionally well starting from Season 4 on Ladder and in numerous competitions. What do you think lead you to your success?

Basically a lot of practice in ladder and with friends/teammates. However as a consequence, I have faltered slightly in my studies as a result while not accomplishing nearly as much as I would have hoped. I will try to improve more in the future while at the same time keeping up with my studies.

Haha, yeah, studies are still really important! What were some challenges that you had to face besides academics as you were improving in Starcraft? Were there any times where you wanted to give up?

As of late, my parents have become increasingly mad and dissapointed at me for playing more Starcraft instead of studying. One time, while I was playing in one of the qualifiers for IEM Kiev, I was playing way over the time my parents expected me to finish. As a result, my mother came to me and slapped me in the face multiple times during the final game. It hurt like hell but I never thought about giving up as my passion for Starcraft is unbreakable.

Wow... It must be really hard to keep up with this much. I'm sure after hearing that, none of us can ever doubt your passion for SC2! On the other hand, before playing Zerg, you played Random. Many would ask, why did you stick with Zerg?

At first I played zerg, but somewhere along the line I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could win a tournament playing random?" So I decided to play random for a bit, but never achieved anything substantial in tournaments. The real icing in the cake was when I was playing a PvP in one of the Masters Cup and lost against a dt rush against a no-name player while it was being casted live. I was so humiliated that I decided to switch back to zerg lol. However, I did gain some information about the other races, which help me understand some timings alot better as a result.

Before joining Xeria, you had to take on Xeria Gaming’s experienced players such as MaFia and Jazbas in a lot of tournaments. You did quite an amazing job against them and proved to be able to be at their calibre as them at City Hunter and the Masters Cup, what do you think gave you that confidence at that time?

To be honest, I wasn't that confident against them at the time. My games against Light and iaguz ended up with me winning in a close set 2-1, so its not like I had an easy time against them. All I did was to try my best and it worked out in the end. It was unfortunate though that I couldn't finish my bo3 with jazbas on the masters cup on that day as I had to rush to the train station to catch the last train to get back home.

Haha, that's really cool! It shows that trying our best at times where we don't have much confidence is the best way to find our own strengths! Were you surprised when you were invited to join Team Xeria Gaming?


Yes, I was very surprised when Benji talked to me all of a sudden about forming a xeria b-team, and that he wanted me to be part of it. I was excited as it was an oppurtunity for me to make myself more known and perhaps travel around and participate in major tournaments which I could not have entered if I hadn't got the support of an amazing team. I also hope that I do well in winning games for xeria gaming in team leagues in the future.

Speaking of Team League's, the upcoming SEACL will be one of your first experiences of playing with your new teamates in a Team-based competition. What are your thoughts about this tournament? Are you looking forward to it yourself?

First of all, I'd like to thank Nirvana and everyone who helped making this clan league possible despite some of the negative influences generated by some people from the community. I am looking forward to this event and hope that we can win this clan league as a new and upcoming team, especially with such a strong line-up.

Thank you for your input on the SEACL! Do you have any short-term goals and long-term goals that you might want to share with us?

For short term, win as much as I can. As for the longer term, I hope to one day be able to get into a situation where I can focus on Starcraft II fully and travel abroad to major foreign tournaments.

We all hope to see you focus fully on Starcraft 2 as well Brian! Lastly, is there anyone you want to give a shoutout to in this interview?

Sure, shoutout to everyone in SPR, friends, Benji for forming a great team, Chris for being awesome and of course to all the Xeria members, Mafia, iaguz, JazBas, Light, Bielsko and Myuu.

Thank you for the time to answer these questions Brian! Once again, I'd like to say a big congratulations on making Xeria! I hope everyone enjoys reading more about you just as much as I do.

Thanks ^^

Interviewed by Stitch

Quick Comments

	Maynarde:	Awesome
	Eddie:
	Dox:	Wonderful
	TAEdgE:
	Nemo:	Wonderful, thanks !