brobocop

Interview by Jon Lowery

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.

Application Video

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.

nepts2

Interview by Jordan Schultz

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.

Application Video

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.

 XxElitexX

Interview by Nathan Zamora

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.

Application Video

That’s quite a video…err… song.  Have you always been musically inclined?

I’ve always been easily hooked onto anything someone can achieve anything and feel a good sensation… I guess that’s anything really. With that said, music is one of the subjects that I more consistently enjoyed and thus tried to express myself in the best way I can.

When you first started playing games, was it simply a hobby or did you feel the desire to get better from the get go?

With regards to my previous answer, I like to “over-achieve.” I saw that I could make something out of SC2 and from the start wanted to do just that. Watching “pro” games, I felt I could perform at that level, if not better, and entertain many in the process as well.

What exactly about Terran makes you play them over the others?

I played Zerg as my main and Protoss as my alt in Broodwar, and I would be doing the same right now if my computer allowed for the situation. I feel that with Terran I have the best chance of ending the game before a 200/200 situation occurs, due to the race’s flexibility and their overall early/mid game options. With that said, I consider myself a macro player as I simply cannot play late-game with my given conditions, where micro becomes critical in a big battle. I’m banking on compLexity to help me change this.

What are your best and worst matchups?  Why?

My best matchup is currently TvT, as I feel that I understand the Terran race and the importance of small details, such as placement of buildings, scans, reaction to opponent moves, etc. Currently, my worst matchup is TvP as I have a very difficult time dealing with protoss all-in’s, as I often get greedy and try to fast expand. The punishment for a terran that takes early damage is mentally crippling and can result in a quick loss depending on how well the protoss player understands how to capitalize (hold counter-aggression with forcefields, safe teching to colossus/templars).

What asset of your SC2 game do you feel helps you overcome adversity when you get surprised or are at a disadvantage?

I think my overall ability to keep calm under pressure definitely helps me in an uphill battle. I am not very often surprised, though I do not give the best reactions to certain things I know coming (2 barracks vs 6 gateway all in and losing)

Is there anything you do outside of the game that you feel helps you when you set foot onto the virtual battlefield?

I AM A VIRGIN NERD AND ALL I DO IS PLAY GAMES [sic].

Where do you see yourself a few years down the road?  Will you be releasing any new songs?

Heh, music has always been a hobby and I may go back and forth with it depending on a few things, but I really do hope I can make something out of Starcraft 2. With the right equipment, I think I have what it takes to work my way up.

Any final comments or shout outs?

shoutout to my 5 man fanbase, allen nowang, Benjamin Smith, samson nowang, some brown people, nick schlong, my financial broker mike Amaju, some chinees nerds i dunk on in ball everyday, my former gaming community nadota, and most of all the keyboard warriors, !confirm