Strelok on WCS: 'I don't like how people can compete in a region without moving to it'
NAME: Ievgen "Strelok" Oparyshev
COUNTRY: Ukraine
RACE: Terran
?WCS EU POSITION: Round of 16
GosuGamers: OK, so we catch you shortly after your first win in WCS Premier League and I assume you're quite excited! Did you expect to go 4-0 against such accomplished players?
Strelok: No I didn't expect to go 4-0, because my opponents are good in skill and famous players. However, I knew I was capable of qualifying so I wasn't surprized that I did that.
The biggest accent in your play was how you stuck to mech in both TvZ and TvT and handled it extremely good. Why go mech when so many more players prefer to go bio? Do you feel it has grown stronger nowadays?
It's not about being stronger or weaker, it's more about suiting my style of play. And I am really tired of the MMM of WoL.
What about mech in TvP? As we know, hellbats were partly introduced to give mech an answer to chargelots (at least that was Blizzard's intention) but still it's not widely used against Protoss, Goody being one of the very few people actually playing it. Do you see it as a viable tech, should it be a choice of playstyle once again, or bio is still the better option regardless?
With faster medivacs, bio has very strong potential because you can always escape from the battle, but mech is also an option. Furthermore, not so many players use it and that’s why not many Protoss users know how to play against it.
?"Playing Terran nowadays is not just about perfect spread but also decision making. And so non-Koreans started winning."
Do you forsee it ever becoming a mainstream option or at least a bit more popular?
I can't foresee that, due to one factor in SC balance. It is called David Kim and his team. Sometimes his "movements" are really strange and unpredictable. How long for example did it take to cut infestors power? Even though everyone complained... So every zerg player who played infestors style got huge boost in results and other zerg players didn't. I can't predict DK, so I really don't know.
Speaking of Terran stuff, we see European Terrans doing quite well not only in WCS but overall, which is partially kind of surprising knowing how they were almost extinct by the end of WoL and were not having that great a success. What has prompted this resurgence do you think? Is there any particular reason or it's simply a lucky break?
The problem at the end of WoL lied in fact that Terrans could be competitive only if they got huge multitasking and micro, while other races didn't require so much of that. Thus, none of the non-Korean Terrans could win anything. Now, it's not just about the perfect spread, but about decision making. And so non-Korean Terrans started winning.
You were also one of those Terrans that fell off the radar for a while but is making a return to the limelight now. Would you attribute your recent rise to the very same thing you pointed out, i.e. Terran becoming more of a decision making race instead of being just a question of mechanical ceiling?
Nope, the reasons lie elsewhere but it's rather personal and I would like not to talk about that *smiles*.
Fair enough! You also recently played in DreamHack Stockholm and went through some rather dramatic events. I am talking, of course, about the double tie-breaker with Lucifron and YuGiOh which had to be eventually decided by a coin flip. What goes through a player's head in those coin-flipping moments?
After the double tie-breaker I was so tired that my head was absolutely empty. The only thing I thought about was how I would like to loose based on my skill, not on coin flipping.
You won the coin-flip, though, but ended up losing the next group pretty hard (and so did YuGiOh, by the way). Do you think some sort of compromise should have been made from DreamHack's part to accomodate this special case somehow like giving you more time to rest / delay it till the morning? Because as far as I know, you were immediately launched into the next group stage.
Yes, I told Lucifron before tie-breaks, that if it lasts for too long - there won't be winners at all, because we’ll lose the next stage anyways. I think GSL system is the most fair and not having to play three matches for each one group. Then it will be way faster and without tiebreaks...
I want to go away from the tournament questions for a while and talk about you recent transfer from FXO to Na`Vi. Has this been for the better overall for you personally? What changed in terms of management, practice schedule, etc, with the switch?
I am very happy to be in Na'Vi for many reasons. They got very powerfull media-structure, cool training house in Kiev and every person in their management is very professional in what he does. But the full changes will be felt some months later, not right now!
"For me professionalism of people is way more important than their country of residence or nationality."
I guess there's also the compatriotism that helps, you joining an Ukrainian organization and all?
For me professionalism of people is way more important than their country of residence or nationality, but yes, for Ukrainian people it's easier to understand each other!
Na`Vi as organization is most renowned for the successes of their Dota and CS divisions. Do you feel there's an extra pressure on the SC2 roster to reach same levels of popularity and performance?
Yes, there was a lot of comments about SC squad being not that powerful as Dota and CS, so from my side I try to do everything to prove they’re wrong.
OK, before we wrap this interview up, I want to briefly go back to the WCS. What are your thoughts on how the tournament is structured? Do you feel that a regional segregation was much needed in StarCraft 2?
I think idea with different regions is great, I am fully fine that people can participate in different regions, no matter of their nationality. But I really don't like the fact that people can do that without moving to this region itself. Really, for me, EPS system is better. If you live in Germany - you can participate.
You bring me straight into my next question. Seeing how you think the "no residency" rule is doing WCS harm (and we have WCS NA as an example of that in some way), should something be done between seasons to prevent non-region players permanently overtaking a certain circuit? What other major improvements does WCS need to become a more adequate competition?
People who compete in the region must play in that region not only for the tournament, but also in ladder games. So if they are top-level they will help the development of top players of that region. And if they only play in the tournament - they simply steal money from top-players of that region, but don't help its development.
"If players only compete in the region for [WCS only and not the ladder], they simply steal money from top players of that region but don't help its development."
Good point. Are you afraid that at some point EU might become plagued the same way as NA has (at the moment of this interview, there are no NA players to have beaten the first round), or the region is pretty much safe for the moment?
The only reason why EU is more safe is because of the worse ping and the bigger distance to cover for travel. But sooner or later it will be the same if Blizzard don’t implement things I talked about before. It's impossible to compete with Koreans because we don't have such good training and coaching resources, as they do in Korea. And to make for a fair competition - everyone has to have the same conditions. Look at ForGG - he is very good, but he is beatable, because he practices in Europe, we know his style, he practices with the same players as we do and he doesn't have special coach and training conditions.
I see. One very last final question: When are we going to see a Strelok vs Dendi SC2 showmatch!
I think when SC2 Dota arrives ^^
Great! We'll be waiting! Well, I guess that's that, Strelok. Thanks so much for taking the time so if you have anything to say using our tribune - it's all yours.
I would like to say thanks to those people who cheered for me even when I did bad, so now, when I am doing better I know, they are really happy! Special thanks goes to my parents and my girlfriend who are my number one fans, thank you, for such a great support, it's very important for me!
Photos by: Na`Vi, ESL
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