For the Team Liquid Tournament 2, GosuGamers will keep you posted and updated on what's going on, what the players think and how the ladder is looking. First out we have one of Netherlands' finest - iD.ret!
Did you play in last season's TLTour? If so, what was your thoughts and impressions of that?
- Yes, I played in the last season TLTour, I thought it was a great tournament, every single good player participated in it, just like now. These things are one of the rare events one can get really excited about it nowadays regarding BW. I ended up getting 8th in the last one, or well 7th / 8th with rekrul =)
Do you think this tournament makes other players who stopped playing for a while to come back?
Nick:
iD.retName: Jos de KroonCountry:
NetherlandsRace:
ZergMember of Team NLD, Team.iD
and WCG representant 02 & 03
- Hmmm possibly, it's not as likely as with WCG though, the prize is great but the experience still can't compare to WCG, it's like the next best thing to come back for though, and there are definitly people who were semi-active for a while now, and who will now play a LOT cause of this event, FroZ is a good example I think. With the recent return of Nazgul, this should make for some nice old school influence in the tournament ;)
How active are you currently? You have now played a number of six TLT games, but how much do you play aside of that?
- I'm pretty active, with an average of like 5 games a day, things are going alright as far as my gaming is concerned ;) Plan to play a Lot in TLT too.
Have you prepared anything special for TLT? Any special strategy or tacticts you are meaning to try out and use to your advantage?
- Not really, I haven't taken a closer look at the maps, I will later on probably ( I should anyway ;) ). And even if I did have any special strategy's I wouldn't reveal them for obvious reasons. :P There is one thing though I guess, I've been playing TvZ only since I came back , that's like 4 months or so, and that's going decent atm.
Tell me, how did you pay the registration fee, or did someone do it for you?
- I paid myself since I have a credit card available to me and it was 10 seconds of work, so Instead of taking a paid spot by iD ( iD sponsored several members) I paid for myself...and hey 10$ is really cheap for the joy it brings me anyway. I also paid for iD.Squall and he will pay me back at the tournament of Madrid on 16 april hoho! ^^;
Ah, an offline tournament. How many of those have you been to, and do you think that offline experience increases anything on events like TLT?
- I've been to wcg 2002 for 2 seperate meetings, qualification and the final tournament, WCG 2003 NLD qualifications and WCG 2003 Korea final, and I think offline experience doesn't give you anything for online events like TLT, however playing in a competitive enviroment often, and dealing with the pressure can make you more comfortable when playing in important games, if you do it enough, you will get better at it. ;)
Which are your worst opponents; who are you intending to dodge to play in TLTour?
- I won't dodge anyone in the ladder season, I don't have any worst opponents. I just have certain weak spots in my gameplay which I cannot seem to overcome, this has been the same for 3 years and I will have to try really hard to fix my weak points. The player who can analyse my play and use my weak points to his advantadge is my worst opponent. I'm not gonna dodge anyone though!
Do you believe that someone will try to do a special move or action, like Smuft did in last season where he played Zerg all the way in the ladder and then won the playoffs showing a really impressive Protoss?
You shouldn't blind yourself on things like playing a different race though, people play a ton of fun games besides the ladder, and map-specific practise is needed anyway
”
- I don't consider such a move special or whatever, he was just messing around and not using his real race to play in the ladder season, this way he could hide strategies etc. Similar people might be fisheye who's probably gonna random, as well as Nazgul and maybe myself, I'm not sure yet ^^;
You shouldn't blind yourself on things like playing a different race though, people play a ton of fun games besides the ladder, and map-specific practise is needed anyway, cause the maps in the season arent the same as in the final tournament, so it matters very little which race u use ^^;
What result do you expect to see? How will the Top 5 look like?
- Hmm, I heard Mondragon won't play, so taking that into consideration I'd go for PJ, Legionnaire, FroZ, Fisheye and .. Nazgul! :D Also cause the maps aren't great for zerg. Protosses and Terrans should do relatively good =)
How well will Team.iD do?
- I think team iD has several top32 candidates, me, anon, artosis, sadist, keir, squall, weratul could all make top32 if they just play enough, and there's also an iD outsider, iD.Skaffi !! He is orginally a 2on2 player but is talented at 1on1 and he should take this oppurtunity to play a shitload and maybe make it into top32. =) Sadly, I don't see any iD taking #1, but top8 or so is possible for some members.
There are very few Koreans in this tournament, do you think it is only because they can't take part in the playoff or is there more reasons?
- Nope, it's only because they can't take part in the playoffs. Normally lots of Koreans would jump at an oppurtunity of lots of games + prize money.
Well good luck in the upcoming matches and throughout the whole tournament!
- Thanks a lot. I'll need it.
Links
gosugamers.net - Download PGTour Replay package of iD.ret
WGTour.com - TeamLiquidTour ladder