English interview - For Is Here #25 - Ret

A long time passion

[M]TinkeR : You started playing Brood War at the age of 16 if I'm correct, 13 years ago. What brought you into videogames first, and then into competitive gaming?

Liquid_Ret : I used to play Command & Conquer single player missions with friends when I was really young and some other single player games like Civilization II. Then, when the internet got upgraded and we got a new PC at home, I started by playing Command & Conquer : Tiberian Sun ladder online. It was a whole new experience trying to become number 1.

That's when I became competitive ... After I accomplished my goals in that game I needed a new one and that's when I found StarCraft : Brood War, when it was already out like 5 years I started.

 

Were you aware of the eSports phenomena at the very beginning of your first steps in Brood War (or even end of Command & Conquer maybe)? What made you think « OK, that's what I want to do »?

Hmm no I wasn't aware of eSports at first, but both games had numerous ladders, and after a few months of playing StarCraft, I got better and started talking to established Dutch players and that's when I found out about the Korean pro-scene for it, and soon after WCG and stuff.

It was awesome to follow but for me I just wanted to try to be as good as possible, nothing more. The fact that there were tournaments and everything was a bonus, but not the most important. I would say that online reputation and skills mattered more to me. And that's all I needed to keep going.

 

How did the switch from Brood War to StarCraft II go for you? (like when the Beta came out, did you already thought about the fact that you'd be eventually switching, as a natural process I'd say).

And a question that goes with that: Did you - at some point - feared that the game would have been too different (compared to the previous one) to start thinking that you may not be able to reach the same level in StarCraft II that you had in Brood War, or that didn't even cross your mind?

Well, actually I took a break from StarCraft for about a year during the entire beta of StarCraft II pretty much. I had just spend a lot of time in Korea trying to be a progamer there but there were a lot of hardships and challenges and when I came home StarCraft was the last thing on my mind for a while.

But all of my friends started playing and tournaments started popping up all over the place so at the time it felt like a shame to not give it a try, so I did. To be honest it was very obvious that the game was very different from Brood War, but I never thought it would hinder me from reaching the level I wanted to.

 

Ups and Downs

We're getting closer to the present time: you won your first and last « Premier » tournament  back in 2011 with SteelSeries StarCraft II Challenge/Assembly, then we've seen you quite often in different events here and there, always managing to reach the top level.

Though in 2013/2014, you've gone through a difficult period in terms of results. Could you tell us a bit more about this kind of slump time, and what happened to you?

Well first of all, I would say that the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational was also a Premier tournament! But yeah, I've had strong results at the beginning of StarCraft and mostly in Wings of Liberty. ever since Heart of the Swarm, things have been pretty tough with a few upswings here and there, overall my play and results have been very mediocre.

I think it has to do with my own motivation the most. I've been playing this game for almost 15 years now, and I often go through phases where I just really don't like the game all that much and as a result don't really play much at all. I've never really changed my mindset from when I started out, there are times when I get really into the game and the only thing on my mind is to get better and I'll play a lot.

The thing is though, since my only goal is to get better at the game I would often just play the same boring macro-reactive style and just try to perfect my mechanics and improve as a player overall. I would also take this mindset into tournaments and play a very predictable game, because I was essentially trying to be the perfect player.

I think this kind of playstyle is just not very suited for StarCraft II overall, where things snowball out of control so fast that actual skill level is often way less important than opening build orders. Part of the reason why it's a lot harder for me to enjoy this game as much as Brood War. Lately I've played a bit more poker with my build orders and openings, and it makes me a lot more relaxed actually going into tournaments. I'll just put my faith into gimmicks and count on the StarCraft II snowball effect to carry me through it, where I either hit jackpot or I'm SOL.

 

 

Back on track

I'd say that the beginning of your recent « resurrection » started at DreamHack Stockholm, with you taking the upper hand of your group, beating Welmu and HerO 2-0/2-0, and then finishing 3rd on group stage 3 only losing to herO and MaNa in decisive match (against whom you've won in the first match).

Back at this time, you were telling in an interview that you just tried to enjoy the game, more than anything else. Is that still your leitmotiv today? Does « playing poker » actually helps you enjoying it today more than before (and getting results), and putting aside the « trying to get better » part?

Yeah, it's enjoyable. If you lose games because you took a huge risk and get hard countered, you're not really as much to blame for the loss yourself. So it makes things easier on yourself in a way I guess.

 

Back to the WCS, you've qualified again for Premier League for the first time since 2013 Season 2. You've also went with a very good run in « Hell, It's Aboot Time » qualification.

Simple question: how do you feel about going to Toronto at least twice this year? I understood it's a special place for you there.

Yeah I really like Toronto. I've been there twice so far in my life and it's always been a really good experience. Canada is a lot more like Europe than the US. People are always friendly and polite, it's really enjoyable.

I also had a great run in NASL season 3 in Toronto so I have very fond StarCraft-related memories of the place. I'm really glad I managed to qualify for the BaseTradeTV event as well. Since it's a purely community driven event, it's a blast to be a part of it.

 

You'll play this week-end your WCS Ro16 group, with your first match being against one of the favorites for the whole thing: StarDust (the other players consisting of Jaedong and Petraeus.)

How did you prepare (ladder/custom games, ...) and how confident are you for your group, and for the tournament?

I think my group is pretty hard. All three of them are strong players, but that's to be expected at this stage. I mostly played ladder leading up to this event. Trying to keep my mind relaxed so I can make the best decisions when I need to. I think any 2 can make it out of our group. Protoss is super strong right now so StarDust will be tough to deal with. I mostly have to make sure things snowball my way when it comes to it. After all, it's only a couple of Bo3's, anything can happen.

As for the whole tournament, running into someone like Hydra or Polt would be insanely difficult to overcome so I think the chance is pretty low for me to win it all and it's definitely not something I've given much thought. Just making it out of the group would be awesome to start with.

 

StarCraft ... and the rest

Let's talk a bit more about StarCraft in general. You're on course in Rocket Beans Archon Cup along with your teammate TLO (you still haven't play yet though if I'm correct).

What are your thoughts about this mode specifically, and Legacy of the Void in general?

I think Archon Mode is a fun little extra added to the game which would be a great way to relax with friends if they added a ladder for it or something like that. It's also great for new players who are not ready yet to take on the ladder by themselves to ease in to this game. It's great something like this has been added!

Overall I've not played Legacy of the Void much yet so I can't say too much about it. I do wish they would change Protoss a lot more than they are currently doing. It'd be great if Protoss had less instant-win conditions and became more of a brawler race like Zerg and Terran.

 

In 2013, you said that you would need to be steadier in your play to even start thinking about going back to Korea. Do you still have this idea somewhere in your mind? Is that a possibility for you to go back there in the near future?

I think it's highly unlikely, I'm almost 30 years old, what would I do there? The food is great and all but ... I'm not sure they would even want me to play in Proleague :P

 

Hey why not you know! We'll go back to that in few minutes.

I managed to find YouTube videos of Brood War replay-commentating from you back in 2008. Even today we still see you casting live events, with a very good feedback from the community.

In what extent do you like this exercise? Do you think about doing that more often (or as an actual job) after (and if) your progamer's career eventually stops?

I'm always open to casting tournaments. It's a competitive market however, and there are lots of progamers dibbling into casting that receive lots of positive feedback. I hope to keep doing it and improving at it as well. Just need more opportunities to do so =)

 

I find a post in reddit you made like two years ago, about you wanting to quit smoking, start living healthy, and all. I think that in 2013 you even had a coach helping you out on that and some scheduling issues you could have had.

If I'm right, you're not a smoker anymore today (congrats, might need some help here myself). How does that go for you right now? Did you reach your goal, and if not, what are the next steps?

Well, I did quit smoking, caffeine and a bunch of other unhealthy habits. Sadly, it resulted in me gaining a shit ton of weight so I have a lot to work on still to become a person that one could consider healthy overall. It's a work in progress and I'm sure I'll manage to get rid of the extra weight at some point. I'd say that overall though I'm a lot healthier than I was 2-3 years ago.

 

Extra time

Good! We'll wrap up the interview with bonus questions now. Let's say tomorrow you'll indeed have to go to Korea (here we are), which players (name three) would you like to come with you? (no teammates allowed!).

DeMusliM, Stephano & BlinG, since I have no business in Korea right now I might as well just have a great time, and these boys know how to party.

 

Name one Terran or Protoss unit you LOVE to hear dying ingame.

Marine, Oracle. I would say Warp prism but it never dies.

 

And if you could remove one unit from each race which one would it be and why?

Raven, Sentry, they're both boring energy units that are OP as fuck.

 

Fine! That concludes this interview, thank you very much for your time! I'll wish you the best for this week-end! If you have anything to add, any last words, shoutouts, please do so.

Ah, thanks for interviewing me, and thanks to the people who support me =) See you !

 

Bye !