Asia vs Europe StarLeague: The best players meet with money and pride at risk

GosuGamers in co-operation with Sc2.178.com are hosting a major event where Europe meets Asia to fight for both money and pride. The games will be streamed and casted by none other than Sean "Day[9]" Plott and Andre "Gretorp" Hengchua.

Eight players from Europe, and eight players from Asia will be fighting each other with $200 at stake every week, and the team that in the end stands as the champions with the most wins will be taking home an extra $400 which will be split among the players.

Every Saturday and Sunday, starting this upcoming weekend, four players from each team will meet each other in a best of five. The winner takes home $50 for winning, and every player will play two matches each. Two matches will be played on Saturdays, and two more on Sundays, starting at 15:00 CET. The games will be casted by Gretorp and Day[9].


GosuGamers spoke with the first two announced players of the European lineup, the Swedish players HayprO and ZpuX.




Are you excited about the event?

ZpuX: Oh yes I am! Will be really fun to compete with the very best of the Asia server!

HayprO: Yeah it's going to be really nice to see how the Asians are playing SC2. I'm not looking forward to playing on the US server though because of the huge delay, but overall it's going to be an interesting event.


From what you've seen, what do you think of Asian SC2?

ZpuX: I have to admit, I haven't seen very much of it yet, but judging from the StarsWar Reborn event I have mixed feelings. I thought the Korea and China would dominate a lot more than they did. But knowing their mentality they have probably improved tenfold since then.

HayprO: I haven't seen much at all, I've just heard and read that the Asian Zerg players seems to be dominating because the Asian Terrans and Protosses are bad.


What do you think of the level of the European SC2 compared to the rest of the world at the moment?

ZpuX: It is really hard to say because of the latency issue when playing on the other servers. But I do feel the Europeans are way ahead of the Americans. They have maybe one or two players who are able to compete with the Europeans, but that's about it. Regarding Euro/Asia, well I will let the showmatch answer that question!

HayprO: well I can only compare the US and EU servers, and from what I've seen there seems to be more good players on the EU server. However I might be wrong since I haven't really checked much replays of US players, just watched streams.


How does it feel to be a part of the European team for the Asia vs Europe StarLeague event?

ZpuX: I feel honored to be considered on of the top Europeans. It is always fun to represent something, whether it be a team, a nation or, in this case, a whole continent.

HayprO: It's nice to be a part of this team with that many great players.


How do you think that the fact it's a continent and not a nation fighting will affect the team spirit?

ZpuX: Playing for your country is always something special and it's hard to compare the two. But we, in team Euro, have played each other so many times in tournaments and events, so I think we know each other pretty well by now. And everyone wants to win which boosts the team spirit by quite a lot.

HayprO: I don't think there will be a huge difference since most of the players are big well-known guys that have played in multinational clans for a long time. I've also known some of the players for many years and even met them once or twice.


How are you going to prepare your matches, any partners you practice more with than others?

ZpuX: It will depend on who I'm playing. I always tend to play worse when I prepare for something. So we will see, a lot of things in school has come to an end now, so I'm able to focus more on my game, which will hopefully fix a few imperfections in my play.

HayprO: I'll just keep on laddering even though it doesn't help much other than getting familiarized with all the possible cheeses. I'll also play with my teammates from mouz.


What are you predictions for the event? Who will win and by what margin?

ZpuX: I expect Euro to win! By what margin? that's harder to tell, but knowing the potential of the team I wouldn't be surprised if we won with 10-6 or something along the lines.

HayprO: Ah, that's too hard to predict, but I believe that Europe has good enough players to take this down.


Do you have any shoutouts?

ZpuX: Yep! to the guys on ventrilo, hayder, tuffer, jimpo, merz, naugrim and habit! Also a big thanks to unique of course! And to Maria for her support ^_^

HayprO: Nope, not this time.