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**x5_dot** · Wed, 15th-Jan-2014, 3:08 PM

+ [PiG's reaction to qualifying for Challenger League] +

Hi PiG, congratulations on qualifying for Challenger League! For the benefit of those who don’t know you well, tell us a little bit about yourself.

PiG: Hi, thanks! Well I like long walks on the beach and reading Shakespeare, also I'm a Sagittarius.

Thy name is "PiG", whereith its origin?

PiG: I once was hiking through the Andes doing some soul-searching, as my flask of souls was empty and I needed more mana, when I came across a wild-pig trail. Feeling the pangs of hunger in my stomach I immediately turned to stalk its beaten path. Within minutes I had found that the trail was wide and deep, as if used by dozens of the beasts. I stalked along that trail for 3 days, and at the end of it faced one of the largest boars I have ever beheld. It's totter to shoulder stood almost as tall as me, and it's breadth was as wide as an ox. A proud beast, it tried valiantly to defend its territory. At the end of the battle I was the victor, but it's tusks severely gored me and whilst I fed on the beast to heal myself, I could feel nothing but admiration for such a noble creature. As such, I named myself in it's honour, to forever remember such a fine beast.

What a fine story. You've started 2014 with a bang, how was your practice in the lead up to this tournament?

PiG: It's been a good start to the year and end of last year. Despite a disappointing IEM Singapore showing I won the SEA Championship Series, a few online tournaments and now this Qualifier in the last 6 weeks. So I'm feeling pretty good. As always the results are indicative of the training throughout the year. I did some of my best training last year and improved at many things, especially massing large numbers of games.

However, directly in the lead up to this tournament I was coming off a break around Christmas time and as I was getting back into it I was looking to optimise my practice as I felt I had stagnated. So the last few weeks I've been analysing more pro vods and replays each day, and spending shorter sessions practicing. This allows me to focus better on playing my best every game and I've also been seeking out a lot of practice partners amongst European players to discuss and practice my match ups.

Which European players do you practice with?

PiG: I'm still trying to get in the habit of recurring practice with players so we can come to trust each other with secrets/builds and communicate effectively, but a few players that have helped me a lot recently are SortOf and ToD. I also get some great practice with some American players like the Root guys, Puck and Xenocider. I am just really working hard on working around timezones and my own love of Korean ladder so it's more regular so that I can play customs more often.

How does it feel to have bragging rights over KingKong twice in a row now? (just kidding, KK is a sweetie)

PiG: It feels bloody good! He's a great player who's beaten me many times this year and denied me a LOT of prize money and high placings. It always feels good to get revenge on someone that has owned you many times. It makes me feel at least 20% less noob.

Have you looked at the list of potential players you’re versing in Challenger League? Who or what race are you most worried about?

PiG: Protoss worries me because their units don't like dying. Even when I'm way ahead against Protoss it's like the end of a horror movie where you shoot the bad guy, start hugging each other and celebrating when he stands up and starts coming at you with a knife again. So you knock him out with a baseball club, then curbstomp him. 20 seconds later mid-high-five and you have this maniac somehow charging at you again with a bloody cardboard cutter. So you tackle him, light him on fire-

Look they just don't die ok.

Luckily if you use mutalisks it guarantees you're the main character of the horror film and he will EVENTUALLY die.

Actually scratch that part and just do this:

light him on fire, stab him 27 times and throw him off a cliff. And then he's FINALLY dead.

I take it you're worried about Protoss somewhat. How about Koreans? Do you think you're the next foreign hope?

PiG: I'm actually working on some new styles for ZvP which should be ready by the time of my matches so I doubt the matchup itself will be that much of an issue. I'm not worried about Koreans in general as race doesn't make you good at a game. There are a lot of Koreans that have moved overseas or spend all their time competing in online cups and practicing at home and they have no advantages over foreign players. There's quite a few of these players in Challenger and quite a few I consider much easier picks than say Scarlett or Jim.

I'd like to be the best at Starcraft, and to get there you have to be the best "foreigner" first so yeah sure, I'd like to be that guy. If I keep improving maybe by the latter half of this year I'll get there but there's quite a few rungs on the ladder before I get there.

Okay last question. If you were stuck on a deserted island, which StarCraft unit would you want to have with you?

PiG: SCV, he'd have something good to smoke to pass the time.

Thanks for the answers. Any shoutouts?

PiG: As always shoutout to my team, Exile5, and our sponsors, Nvidia, CM Storm and Coolermaster, as well as my private sponsor parter, Gigabyte Notebooks, for allowing me to play as a pro player on our lonely Island. A big thanks to all the fans that lovingly follow the game and a special mention to Blizzard ANZ, Blizzard eSports and WCS America for involving our region in this tournament. Since the announcement of these qualifiers I've already seen a huge increase in activity on the SC2SEA forums and all over the SEA community. Thanks!