Lizzuma has continued to dominate the academy by never losing a tournament. He has definitely proved his worth and his next big break through would be to place well at an MLG event. Here is an interview with Lizzuma after winning the MLG Raleigh compLexity Academy Qualifier.
You continue to dominate the compLexity Academy. You have not lost one tournament at this point in your time with the Academy. Why are the other Academy players having so much trouble taking you down?
I think the answer revolves around my style. I mostly play a huge macro style. My practice time is a lot more efficient, because in practice you usually end up playing macro games. I’m really confident in the late game in all 3 matchups. Lately, I have been practicing a lot on defending early cheese to make sure I always survive until later on. This gives me a huge advantage of some of the players who focus more on the early and mid games. I also think my ability to mix in all ins to my play makes my play really strong.
You faced Cheech in the finals, and he ended up taking a series off of you. You showed great resilience by taking the next series off of him and being crowned victor of the tournament. What was your thought process after dropping the first series?
I wasn’t too worried. After taking the first game pretty easily, I knew I could win the macro game. Game 2 I went for a 2 rax build which is pretty much a cheese. I had to transition into bio, which I never practice. Game 3 he just prepared a really strong aggressive build which I wasn’t ready for. He played well, but I decided to go back to playing safe and solid in the second series. Testbug also really helped to shut down his early reaper player, as there is only one place to jump into the main.
From the first tournament to this tournament, do you feel as if you have improved and developed as a player?
I always feel like I’m improving. I really hope to continue getting more practice time in though and always get better. I have really high goals.
In MLG Anaheim, your result seemed to actually be worse than your result in Columbus. Did you think the open bracket was harder than in Columbus or do you think it was a personal mistake? If it was your own mistake what are you going to do to fix it for MLG Raleigh?
The open bracket was harder. I ran into Inka, who can be very strong, and I wasn’t quite as comfortable in my TvP as I am right now. I also was really uncomfortable with the keyboard I brought, as I never really practice on it. My control suffered a lot from that. This time I’m going to be prepared with a better keyboard with way more practice on it, and I’m also going to spend a lot more time familiarizing myself with all 3 matchups.
What can the fans expect from you as far as results go in MLG Raleigh?
Expect much better results than I showed in Anaheim, and hopefully more like how I performed in Columbus =)
Do you have any shoutouts?
I’d like to thank compLexity for again giving me the opportunity to compete, and all my practice partners in coL and the Academy.
I would like to thank Lizzuma for taking the time to interview with me. He has shown that he is definitely a top prospect for NA Starcraft II, and is a forced to be reckoned with. Be sure to follow Lizzuma through MLG Raleigh and keep it locked to the compLexity website for your chance to join the compLexity Academy!
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