SaSe talks Code A, practice regime, China and GamesCom

SaSe at Intel Extreme Masters GamesCom. Photo by: GosuGamers.net

In a 30-minute-long interview on the Swedish eSport show "Rakt på med Rakaka", Kim "SaSe" Hammar gave the viewers an insight of the Korean life, his thoughts on StarCraft 2 in China, his GSL and GamesCom experiences.

The following quotes from SaSe is from SaSe's interview with Rakaka.se conducted in Swedish
After having won the Logitech sponsored "Road to Korea" tournament, the Swedish Protoss was awarded a trip to Korea as well as living accommodation at the "GOMTV foreigner house". After spending four years as a WarCraft 3 progamer in China, SaSe returned to Asia, the place-to-be for RTS gaming.

- "It feels like the Koreans play so much and they excel more and more in skill level so I don't think it's possible to live in Europe and still be able to win against the best players. And I guess it's already been proven with MLG and Code S in mind," said SaSe.

Tough debut in Code A
But his first performance in the GOMTV competition did not go so well. A 0-2 loss against MVP player Kwon Tae "Sniper" Hoon presumably meant he would have to enter next season's preliminaries.

In fact, neither of the Swedish players went passed the first round of Code A. While SaSe said he wasn't that heartbroken about it, he commented on how the other players reacted.

- "Thorzain did not seem that sad, while JinrO looked a bit more angry but that was understandable." He added, "Naniwa laughed at us because Europe had fallen so far behind."

- "I wasn't that sad, I had only played on the Korean server for three days. I know I don't deserve the Code A spot but I can't really say no to it either," said SaSe. "I did as good as I could, I couldn't have done better at that point. I had not practiced under the same conditions as they [Koreans] had."

- "But maybe it could have gone better," said SaSe and laughed.

But due to his second place in the Chinese event Cyberathlete Super Stars Invitational he achieved a free spot in October's Code A tournament. There, SaSe and the three other non-Korean players "NaNiwa", "SjoW" and "SeleCT" will have a go against renowned Koreans such as "HerO", "FruitDealer" and "Maka".

Playing in Europe
SaSe's tournament appearances at GamesCom was roller coaster-like. While winning the second season of the XMG Series over "GoOdY" to win a laptop worth €2,000, he ended up dead last in his Intel Extreme Masters group after a 0-3 score sheet.

- "What bothered me the most was that my mousepad was lost at the airport, so I had to play on a 20 by 20 centimeter mousepad against PuMa. If you've seen the replay you'll see that I had a crazy advantage that I fucked up," said SaSe.

So while losing at IEM, he did not experience at GamesCom experience as a waste after having defeated "Kas" in a SK-Gaming organized showmatch event event to win another $700 USD.

No stress over being a "free agent"
SaSe has still not joined an organization after leaving MeetYourMakers in July. Being outside of an organization is not something he seem to put much stress into.

- "I have been talking to a couple of teams but I haven't decided upon anything yet. Today [Wednesday, September 7] I would say I'm not close to having decided either," said SaSe.

Western organization for money or in a Korean top team
- "I have to take both," said SaSe and laughed. "You have to stay in Korea if you want to become good at this game. If I can't stay in Korea I won't sign for a Western team unless it's a million deal."

On StarCraft 2 in China: "Won't be as dominant as Koreans"
- "I don't think that they [Chinese players] will become as dominant as the Koreans are right now. But they do have a lot of great players that most don't even know about and I think they're an upcoming country since StarCraft 2 has only been around for 4-5 months in China."

SaSe puts in as many hours as he can into the game. He says he believes in getting as many hours of the game into his system rather than thinking of the meta-game.

- "I feel I've developed a lot but I still feel I'm way way behind the best in Korea and it's not just a little, it's extremely far behind." He added, "I just try to play as much as possible and I think I am one of those who play the most and I gladly continue doing so til I can spot if it's possible to get good or not."