Artosis on what to expect in the TSL quarter finals

We've seen ret in many ZvZs lately, while we haven't seen much of SEn's game against Zerg. What speaks for ret to advance?

ret's ZvZ has just gotten sickly better recently. His Mutalisk micro is very strong, I'd consider it top 2 foreigner with Kolll, and his overall understanding of the matchup is quite good. SEn on the other hand, while being a great player, has always had problems with ZvZ. He, like ret, has had stints of off-racing vs Zerg. The difference is, he didn't spend a whole month in Korea practicing ZvZ every day like ret did.

What did you think of ret's ZvZ series against CaStrO? Did it turn out the way you thought it would?

Yeah, I thought ret should 3-1 CaStrO. As far as it went though, ret played really really REALLY far below what he is capable of in ZvZ. He just returned to the Netherlands a week or so before, and didn't really practice at all for the match, and admittedly, he didn't play very well. Despite that it was still good by foreigner standards, and he advanced. I'm sure he will practice all week, and get his ZvZ to a much more beautiful level than we saw vs CaStrO.

The next matchup is Fenix against Mondragon. I believe many were in awe when they saw Mondragon's play against BRAT_OK. Do you think he can continue up with an even better game against Fenix? What are his chances here?

I tell you, I was in awe as well. I know this guy is a legend for a reason, I've seen his games and played vs him for years, but this was something else. I was completely impressed by his strategic and solid play. His decisions were absolutely top-tier in every way (except maybe his strategy choice in game 3). Mondragon is just an impressive beast, and he certainly has strong chances vs Fenix.

But, BratOK didn't play an overly impressive TvZ game, he did nothing spectacular or, in fact, anything that made me think "damn this guy is so good". I think Fenix will bring a more fresh approach, with at least some impressive moves against Mondragon. Fenix is quite good, but I have to give the edge to Mondragon still. I'm excited to see the match either way.

Some say Mondragon has a bit of a sloppy play, not macroing enough, but still ends up winning. How good do you think he COULD be if he had the mechanics of, say, kolll?

Mondragon is someone who has always had the potential to become a top-tiered progamer if he wanted to put in the time and effort in Korea. Of course, he's been happy to just be a top player outside of Korea instead, but I think it would be ignorant to say that he couldn't be an OSL champion if he had followed that path at some point earlier in his career.

And what do you think of White-Ra's chances to take down the reigning champ JF?

White-Ra is, of course, capable of beating anyone in this tournament (except maybe ret). Unfortunately for him though, I think the worst matchup for him in the entire tournament might be vs JF. I see them both as "micro" players (of course, they both have amazingly complete games, but I'm talking about their strongest point, their style so to speak). The thing is, JF's strongest micro-management skill is with Reavers. As we saw at the finals of the last TSL, he 3-0ed even an in-shape Draco with his Reavers. And after watching JF beat GosI[Terran], it is quite clear that JF is in very good shape at the moment. I really think he will beat White-Ra.

Last, but definitely not least, we have IdrA against NonY, a rematch of the fourth seed match. Is there anything that speaks for NonY in this series?

Yeah, of course. NonY is confident in himself for this match. This means a LOT. NonY never displays fake confidence. If he thinks he can win, its definitely not outside the realm of possibility. In addition, Andromeda is the first map. For anyone who saw the first great series, after just 1 week of practice, NonY still won this map. Starting out with this map in the first game could give NonY some strong tempo going in if he wins convincingly.

IdrA used to tilt horribly and lose lots more games after losing a game 1 in the past, but he has gotten better at not letting that affect him. IdrA has to be the favorite, but I think this match is going to be absolutely AWESOME.

You've had the ability to study IdrA up close being in Korea, what does he have in his gameplay that other foreigners do not?

IdrA gained completely solid macro management through never giving up on his style. He can certainly out-produce everyone in the tournament, even NonY, ret, and SEn, the other known macro players. In addition, he has by far the best builds, and possibly the best understanding of the game, just from playing nonstop with Koreans all day every day.