ESL and IEM have solidified their position in StarCraft 2 as being a premiere league for the up and coming and the best to show off their talent. In the most recent European Qualifier for IEM, a relative unknown to many came out on top. Though, some of you may be wondering who he is.
- My full name is Laurynas Kisielius, and I play as Nbs.
Were you originally a Broodwar player, or did you come from another game or even genre for StarCraft 2?
- I came from Warcraft 3:The frozen throne. I did play it for quite a bit, but at a casual-semipro level. Did enjoy following the scene and playing myself for quite a bit, but never felt like taking it to the next level, just didn't feel like my game. So I decided to wait for SC2 to come out, and here I am :).
Do you find that from playing WC3 with controlling your hero(s) and going after creeps that, like many WC3 pros have stated is giving them a bit of a leg up against even many former Broodwar players?
- Well, i do feel that ex-WC3 player got a small edge over ex-BW players in micro, so they are a bit stronger in the early game, while the armies are smaller while ex-BW players are more comfortable with macro in longer games.You managed to beat out 63 other gamers, for the chance to play in the IEM International tournament. What are your plans to prepare for all of this? Do you have a team to help you practice?
- Timing for the next qualifying round is perfect. It's just a few days after a Lithuanian LAN tournament where I'm going to play as well. So you can say i'm practising for 2 events at the same time. And yes - i do have a team, shortly after winning IEM international qualifiers I got offered a spot in uPro clan, which is known from WC3 scene. Joined them 30 minutes ago, so I didn't have time to practise with them yet.
Walk us quickly through a few moments in the tournament, was there one of those "OH MY GOD" moments where you barely made it past someone.. or do you feel it was smooth sailing?
- Well, i was worried about meeting Arew in 2nd round since he was probably the strongest player in that tournament, but he couldn't attend so I got a free win. My 2nd concern was Damnosaurus, quite a good hungarian terran player, which I met in the finals. I won 3-0, but all 3 games were really close. Other than that, other fights went pretty smoothly :)
Well, we wish you all the best in the IEM International Tournament and with your new team. Hopefully we're able to see even more of you in the future!
- Thank you, was a pleasure talking with you. Shoutouts to everyone who tries to make SC2 community bigger and better, including you GGnet guys :) Cheers!
Links
ESL.eu - Finals Replays
ESL.eu - Tournament Brackets
myupro.com - His new team
