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IdrA: "Nothing else can compare"
Following his performance as the top American at WCG, but not making it into the semi-finals, we were given the chance to have an interview with StarCraft player Gregory 'IdrA' Fields.
By Samuel 'DarthBotto' Horton
Nov 19, 2009 04:15
Following his performance as the top American at WCG, but not making it into the semi-finals, we were given the chance to have an interview with StarCraft player Gregory 'IdrA' Fields.During this previous WCG 2009 StarCraft tournament, there were many players vying for supremacy with the nationality pool fairly balanced. All the South Korean players managed to reach the semi-finals. However, one American name that stood out was Gregory 'IdrA' Fields from CJ Entus , which is South Korean in name and body, with the exception of him. He tried to reach the semi-finals, but he was at odds with Anton 'Kolll' Emmerich, who managed to defeat him in both rounds.
After returning from China, he was willing to spare some time for us as a top American in the StarCraft scene. In the following interview, he discusses his playing experience, the determining factors from WCG and the potential future of the StarCraft II eSport scene.
First off, you're one of the younger StarCraft prodigies who is from my own generation. How long have you been playing StarCraft?
I was originally playing it casually, just money maps and UMS' at the start, since I was twelve, which was around eight years ago now. I switched over to low money maps around five years ago and started playing competitively four years ago or so.
Yes, sixth grade is the time to learn.
So how exactly did you gain contract with the professional South Korean team CJ Entus?
Two years ago, the Korean team eSTRO hosted a tournament for all the top North American players and one of the prizes was an invitation to join their team. I won the tournament and took the invitation. After around six months in eSTRO, I was traded to CJ. I don't really know any details about the trade since players don't really have any rights here, but I've been told CJ went to eSTRO and asked if they were going to be getting a new foreign player and if so if they would be willing to trade me.
That's an interesting way to spring board into the professional scene. So, how does it feel to be the American player on a Korean StarCraft team? Is it easy to work with?
There are difficulties of course; the language barrier is a constant problem as are some other small cultural differences. Overall, it's not bad though. We can all communicate in very simple English and hopefully I'm going to start taking Korean classes soon. All that aside, pro-gaming easily makes up for any little problems. Nothing else can compare to the quality and professionalism of Korean eSports, so it’s well worthwhile being here.
As far as WCG 2009 is concerned, there were many players. 31 documented players already existing in the archives of SK Gaming. You emerged as the top American StarCraft player at the world championship. How did you feel about your overall performance?
Well, I'm happy I won my group and made it to the eighth round, obviously, but I'm disappointed I lost there. I didn't play well, which is disappointing in itself, and I really expected to make it to the semi finals.
What factor do you think was in Kolllsen's favor that he managed to defeat you in both maps?
He won both games off of his mutalisk control. My control was really bad and against mutalisks, just one or two misclicks can lose you the game.
So it was a very delicate situation that you unfortunately did not play efficiently?
Yes.
Alright, thank you for the insight. Now, a subject that people have been discussing since May of 2007 is the monster sequel to StarCraft headed our way. From what you have seen, do you think players will have to alter their strategies much or is StarCraft II going to be easy to adapt to?
Well, obviously strategies will have to change a lot with all the new units and various buffs and nerfs. Terrans in particular are going to change a lot, with the much stronger bio units and weaker mech. TvP seems like it'll be bio focused now, with everything depending on EMP vs Psi Storm. Protoss aren’t going to change much. Make a lot of strong units and abuse spells. No clue what’s going to happen with the Zerg. But new strategies and styles won't make it particularly hard to adapt to. StarCraft players will transition pretty easily, I think, just because StarCraft is so much harder than all the other games and a big part of the skill set will still be useful.
Well, I think that is all the insight we needed. I'd like to thank Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski for helping us arrange this interview and of course, thank you, IdrA, for taking the time to help us with our StarCraft coverage.
No problem, thank you.
Photograph credits to CJ Entus and Photobucket user chosen1322.
After returning from China, he was willing to spare some time for us as a top American in the StarCraft scene. In the following interview, he discusses his playing experience, the determining factors from WCG and the potential future of the StarCraft II eSport scene.
"Nothing else can compare to the quality and professionalism of Korean eSports."
First off, you're one of the younger StarCraft prodigies who is from my own generation. How long have you been playing StarCraft?
I was originally playing it casually, just money maps and UMS' at the start, since I was twelve, which was around eight years ago now. I switched over to low money maps around five years ago and started playing competitively four years ago or so.
Yes, sixth grade is the time to learn.
So how exactly did you gain contract with the professional South Korean team CJ Entus?
Two years ago, the Korean team eSTRO hosted a tournament for all the top North American players and one of the prizes was an invitation to join their team. I won the tournament and took the invitation. After around six months in eSTRO, I was traded to CJ. I don't really know any details about the trade since players don't really have any rights here, but I've been told CJ went to eSTRO and asked if they were going to be getting a new foreign player and if so if they would be willing to trade me.
That's an interesting way to spring board into the professional scene. So, how does it feel to be the American player on a Korean StarCraft team? Is it easy to work with?
There are difficulties of course; the language barrier is a constant problem as are some other small cultural differences. Overall, it's not bad though. We can all communicate in very simple English and hopefully I'm going to start taking Korean classes soon. All that aside, pro-gaming easily makes up for any little problems. Nothing else can compare to the quality and professionalism of Korean eSports, so it’s well worthwhile being here.
"Just one or two misclicks can lose you the game."
As far as WCG 2009 is concerned, there were many players. 31 documented players already existing in the archives of SK Gaming. You emerged as the top American StarCraft player at the world championship. How did you feel about your overall performance?
Well, I'm happy I won my group and made it to the eighth round, obviously, but I'm disappointed I lost there. I didn't play well, which is disappointing in itself, and I really expected to make it to the semi finals.
What factor do you think was in Kolllsen's favor that he managed to defeat you in both maps?
He won both games off of his mutalisk control. My control was really bad and against mutalisks, just one or two misclicks can lose you the game.
So it was a very delicate situation that you unfortunately did not play efficiently?
Yes.
Alright, thank you for the insight. Now, a subject that people have been discussing since May of 2007 is the monster sequel to StarCraft headed our way. From what you have seen, do you think players will have to alter their strategies much or is StarCraft II going to be easy to adapt to?
Well, obviously strategies will have to change a lot with all the new units and various buffs and nerfs. Terrans in particular are going to change a lot, with the much stronger bio units and weaker mech. TvP seems like it'll be bio focused now, with everything depending on EMP vs Psi Storm. Protoss aren’t going to change much. Make a lot of strong units and abuse spells. No clue what’s going to happen with the Zerg. But new strategies and styles won't make it particularly hard to adapt to. StarCraft players will transition pretty easily, I think, just because StarCraft is so much harder than all the other games and a big part of the skill set will still be useful.
Well, I think that is all the insight we needed. I'd like to thank Dan 'Artosis' Stemkoski for helping us arrange this interview and of course, thank you, IdrA, for taking the time to help us with our StarCraft coverage.
No problem, thank you.
Photograph credits to CJ Entus and Photobucket user chosen1322.
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How biased can one be?Even if that were true,it's not his place to say such things...
starcraft>war3
and I think he wouldnt be stupid enough to compare strategy with lets say FPS...
I can assume you play SC, and practically know nothing about wc3?Or atleast,your knowledge of SC is far beyond your knowledge of WC3?
1)I have never played SC,at least not on a lvl high enough to be able to judge it
2)I rly don't see the point.
Some ppl love saying one of the 2 is harder even though they have played just one of them(and in most cases are very bad players),and that unfortunately is hard for me to ignore sometimes.
The lack of vitality in the map pool of wc3 does not make the ''meta-game strategic plays'' dissapear,but it does serve for the lack of versatility,which in return makes the game a little easier to master.
I might be wrong,since I've seen only a limited amount of SC proffesional games,but what I don't like is that there are parts in the game where units are completly static,which NEVER happens in WC3.Sure,you have to manage workers all the time which seems really hard(to me atleast).But most of the game consists of managing workers and producing buildings until a big fight brakes out.At that moment,I assume that all your attention is right there in the thick of things,rather than mining/building etc.
However, it's true to say that the most important aspect of SC is based around the players' economies, including unit production itself. This alone takes up a large amount of game time, though, due to the fast paced nature of the game, battles are constantly occurring making it a very interesting spectator sport. One thing should be clear, though. Any even half-decent player is multi-tasking both their economy and their unit micro at the same time. You don't just build up until battles occur and then focus on those - there are strict timing windows in every matchup where you can do significant damage depending on your unit numbers, production level, etc (so you want to force the action many times during every match). There is almost always constant production and expansion going, even when large battles are engaged.
I never said that static units meant no micro was required.Far from it.The sheer amount of units involved,low hp and the pace of the game are enough to make an observation,you don't need to be a SC expert.I was just pointing out the fact that at certain time windows as you call them,ur units are idle,which enables you to spend more time on the workers.In WC3 however,if you're army is not on a constant move,you're wasting time and gradually losing the game.Therefore,without auto-mining wc3 would be close to impossible.
I've also thought about the monotony in the map area of WC3.I believe that adapting to a new map in WC3 is more complicated than in SC.Again,I could be wrong,but it seems logical due to the absence of neutral units in the latter as well as some other factors.
Not to mention he is probably the biggest low mannered player in esport history.
There's more skill level difference between players in sc/bw than there is in wc3.
The gap between a pro in wc3 and a common player isnt that huge.
But the gap between a pro in sc/bw (korean) and a common player is HUGE.