Prior to the first expulsion tournament to take place on Saturday, June 25th, we are taking this time to sit down with as many of our cadets as possible in order to introduce them to you, the fans. Below you’ll find their application video as well as a short interview about themselves.
When you found out you had been accepted into the CompLexity Academy final 20 tournament, what was your initial reaction?
Even though I was confident that I would be making to the 20 person tournament, I felt rather relieved when I found out that I have been accepted. I did, however, feel quite nervous at the same time.
Is your practice schedule going to become more rigorous in the coming weeks leading up to the tournament?
I will be practicing as much as I can, so that I can be fully prepared and play at my best.
In your application video you said that you enjoy creating your own builds. First of all, what do you consider to be your most standard “go to” build? Second, can we expect to see you reveal any new creative builds in the tournament?
I don’t have a set build that I play with, even though I prepare a build that I am going to use before the game. I’d much rather improvise the builds, especially against the opponents who I definitely would out-play me. Through that way, I have a higher chance of winning because it’s not as predictable as one would typically see on the ladder. However, for most of my matches, I prefer doing builds that enable me to play aggressively.
Since this is a very imporatant matchup for me, I will be watching pro replays and develop some builds from those.
An interesting point that you brought up in the application video was your view on professionalism. You defined it as “enjoyment and uptightness” and suggested that it and manner are two different words. What did you mean by enjoyment and uptightness? Do you believe that a strong competitor and a professional can be separated by just an attitude? Why or why not?
I believe professionalism can be consisted of two major aspects: bringing enjoyment to the audience and retaining a strict standard of manner.
Two players meet, greet each other, say “GL HF” before the game, say “GG” after the game, shake their hands, and walk away from each other. Imagine if every matchup you watch is like that. Of course, you can find enjoyment out of the actual gameplay, but additional enjoyment can be attained from the tension and rivalry formed among the players and drama created in the scene. All of these things add up to make the games more exciting and add more value to the outcome. For example, at MLG Columbus, MC did a throat cutting gesture to Idra, then Idra snaps MC off. Without MC doing that kind of action, their matches might have been a series of bland matches. However, tension built up and the audience got hyped as they were waiting for their match as they viewed MC’s action as a direct challenge toward Idra. Thus, it is one of the professional’s job’s to bring this kind of enjoyment. However, they have to be backed up with a strong skill, unless they want to be viewed as some rude noob and receive all the hatred dumped onto them by the audience.
Even though a strong competitor and professional are viewed differently, one common factor is that they are both competiting in the professinoal scene. Whenever you are on the professional scene, a competitor must show utmost respect and maintain the same level of attitude as the professionals. It is not just a respect toward each other, but it is targeted toward the audience as well. Therefore, it is frivolous to separate a strong competitor and a professional just by an attitude.
Now to get a bit more personal: What was the first game you had ever played? What was the game that you think put your foot in the door and got you to begin gaming competitively? Finally, what made you start playing starcraft?
My first game experience was playing the first Red Alert, which I played on DOS. Although I am not fond of playing video games, Starcraft has gained my interest for its competitive aspect. From watching the games played by the progamers to ranking amongst my friends who play Starcraft, I slowly became attached to playing SC and it eventually became one of my priorities to stay on the top.
What drives you to be a top tier player in Starcraft 2? Who are your role models in Starcraft 2 today? What player do you most shape your play after?
The reason is simple, it is just natural for me to have the desire to become the best in whatever I have an interest in, and SC2 just became one of those. I only recently became aware of the progamers in the SC2 scene, but July and Nada are my role models in SC2 ever since I started watching them in BW.
For all of the lower league players out there who aspire to rank up the ladder, what tips can you give them?
Don’t get frustrated when you lose. Instead, just proceed to the next game. There are more things you can learn from losing your game than winning a game. Rather than blaming others for your loss, watch the replay and analyze why you have lost and what could you have done instead. Through that way, you won’t make the same mistake again and you will improve.
Thank you for your time and best of luck to you in the tournament. Hopefully we will have more interviews with you in the future.