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.
In your application you showed extreme confidence that you would one day be a professional gamer. Why do you have such a strong conviction that one day you will become a pro gamer? What do you believe you have that others lack that will put you over the top on your way to becoming a professional gamer?
Well, when I set my mind to something I get it done and I do it right (in this case to become a pro gamer in SC2). Usually the problem for me is “setting my mind” to do something, however, when it comes to computer gaming, it isn’t too hard for me to set my mind to anything. I have an intense drive to succeed and win in all aspects of life so naturally I want to do the same in computer games, and achieving anything less for me isn’t enough. Gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 11 years old, and I know through hard work and determination that I can accomplish anything I want and that is what I feel others lack in some parts of the gaming community. This drive is what will allow me to become a pro gamer.
What do you believe your strengths and weakness are? What do you believe you need to work on to help you get through the upcoming Complexity Academy Tournament, and from that, securing one of the spots for the opportunity to go to the next MLG?
One of my strengths in ZvZ and ZvP is at a given point in time I can accurately estimate their tech without needing a full scout, however, in ZvT it is harder for me to do this mainly because of mules skewing their resources thus the rate at which they can tech is changed. Furthermore, stopping early “cheese” from zergs and protoss isn’t even close to a problem for me. In stark contrast, ZvT cheese, whether 2 early raxs or proxies have been difficult consistently over time. One terran cheese in specific is the “1 reactor factory, 2 rax marauder” cheese on close positions on shattered/meta, however, that isn’t a problem for tournaments. So, my overall strengths/weakness one could say are ZvP/ZvZ and ZvT respectively, however, I feel with time I can bring my ZvT up to par with my other 2 matchups.
What is your ultimate goal as a professional gamer?
To win a large LAN tournament such as MLG, NASL, or possibly even a local one that has ~50 players. Then, be able to give back to all the people who supported me, such as coaching fans on my stream or something of the sort and then be able to represent my team at events in foreign countries in the future.
On your application you say that you have a hard time with early game aggression by Terran. What do you believe you could do better to guarantee that you could get to the mid/late game?
When I did my video interview I typically would leave in anger when I saw 11/11ish~ rax builds (especially on close position maps), however, earlier this week I talked with an irl buddy vileHawk, and he helped me and lately I’ve been doing really well vs early raxs. Maybe the people executing them aren’t doing it too well, but I held and smashed 5 out of 5 yesterday on ladder. Its amazing what a slight change in build order, and knowing “drone to rine/scv ratios” does. So overall, to continue to improve vs early raxs, acting more calmly in the situations, and a slight change in build-order.
What were your early experiences in playing Starcraft, and have you always played Zerg? In addition, why do you play Zerg now?
Well the only thing I could say is that Broodwar taught me how rts games work and definitely lessened the learning curve of sc2 so to speak. When I started Starcraft 2 in mid-June of last year, I dabbled around in 1s but mainly played team games and “Battlecraft”. My initial goal was to be good at zerg and protoss, however, being naive, I didn’t really understand how difficult it is to be good at one race, let alone 2. So I stuck with zerg through thick and thin and have adapted to the changes in the shifting meta-game. For the most part I have only played zerg, however, on occasion I off-race protoss on my other account when I’m bored, which is usually what I use for trying/developing new strategies I have, as it is easier to execute on slightly lower level players than it is on the top of the ladder. I play Zerg now because I don’t think it is a good use of my time to re-learn a whole new race to try and get back to where I am now. I like spreading creep (within my first 50 energy on both queens I plop a tumor), but only on non-topographical maps LOL. I hate having to send an ol/ling/queen up a ramp to make a tumor.Then when my senior year started, I learned I had a buddy in one of my classes that played sc2 in a serious sense (4kingsBinski) and began playing with him and we LAN/practice/go to tourneys together.
What is your favorite unit, flavor of ice cream, video game, and movie? What about your least favorites?
My favorites: raven(s), because that unit gets no love. Here in Dallas we got a place called “marble slab creamery” or something along those lines and I’m gonna have to say coffee ice cream + rum ice cream + lots of heath bar…I mean lots. For favorite game, it’d be a toss up between Lineage 2, Starcraft 2, and CS 1.6. For movies, The Prestige and Donnie Darko are pretty cool and I can’t decide between those. As for least favorite: Sentries, because they make force fields :X. It’s ice cream, who doesn’t like it? However, if I had to choose I’m not too big of a fan of pure chocolate ice cream. World of Warcraft, or any game that is relatively “easy”. I don’t really watch a lot of movies, I’m more of a T.V. show guy, so this one is kinda hard since I don’t watch many movies.