INTERVIEWS
In pool play, they’re sharks in the duck pond; in a round-robin, they’re hawks among fledglings; on the ladder, they’re a rung wrapped in barbed wire, slick with the blood of every nerd who dared attempt to climb over them.
TSL’s players are among the brightest and baddest sons of StarCraft to ever stomp across the scene—and they’re also some of the most polite, friendly and positive guys you’ll ever meet. When they aren’t battling for money and glory in front of thousands of awestruck onlookers, they’re training in TSL’s team house in Kimpo, South Korea, where they rest between collecting goldplated souvenirs from around the world. HyuN, you went to your first foreign tournaments lately, and Polt, you’ve been destroying the international competition for a while now. How does it compare to playing in Korea? What are your favorite parts of going to a foreign tournament? Your least favorite parts? hyun: I think the biggest difference is that the amount of cheering in foreign tournaments. I think I can enjoy games more in foreign tournaments but the hardest part is taking the airplane. polt: The difference is that in Korean tournaments, fans only come to the finals whereas in foreign tournaments, fans come to watch every match. Also, Korean matches are longer than foreign matches. Playing outside of Korea makes it possible to meet many fans but the matches are packed so closely together that maintaining good condition is difficult. What qualities about you, or the way you train, make you the top player that you are today? hyun: I don’t think I practice too much. I think about my build a lot more. polt: I’m not sure about compared to other players, but I try to practice efficiently and image training helps a lot.
What does a normal day look like for you? hyun: Neither the team nor practice schedule is rigid. To put it easily, it feels like the weekend. polt: I’m not sure about this question. Most days, I just wake up, eat, practice, and sleep. With whom do you practice the most? Do you ever off-race against each other? hyun: I don’t practice particularly with a team member. I play on the ladder a lot more. I do not off-race since playing Zerg is hard enough for me!! polt: I practice the most with TSLShine. I never play off-race games. How do you come up with a new build or strategy? Where does the inspiration for a new build come from? hyun: New builds naturally form after discussing builds with zerg players on the team. I really like it when that happens. I rest during weekends. polt: I try to come up with new builds by thinking about how I can magnify the strengths of an existing build while minimizing its weaknesses. What originally drew you to SC2 and what drives you to keep practicing? hyun: I started StarCraft 2 since the team I was on for StarCraft 1 disbanded and I wasn’t picked for any other teams. I think it was a good decision in the end. I don’t think I have long practice hours! polt: At first, I thought about only playing the campaign but continued to play since it was so fun. The reason I practice the most is because I want to win often.
GLHFMAG.COM
WHAT IS TEAM SCV LIFE? Team SCV Life (TSL) is a top Korean StarCraft 2 team. It was founded by former MBC Heroes coach Woon Jae. In 2011, TSL became the first professional StarCraft 2 team to have salaries for its players. With an annual salary of roughly 30,000 USD, FruitDealer was the highest paid player at this time. On August 4th 2011 TSL became embroiled in controversy when the team was expelled from SC2Con following accusations that Coach Lee had stopped paying wages without any warning. The accusations were overturned a few days later after being proven false and based on misinformation and misunderstanding.
END OF SUMMER ISSUE
2012
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