Nerchio: “I don't need to be the best foreigner<br>as long as I am at the top”

IEM Katowice Coverage Hub

Although the line-up for the upcoming IEM is stacked to bursting even before the open brackets are finished, it's easy for Nerchio to stand out despite the challenge of his group that sees prominent players like Stephano and YoDa. Last time he attended the event, the Polish zerg walked out with the silver and with all his success in the second half of 2012 there's no place for doubt: he might very well have another astounding run!

Last time we talked was actually way back at DHW ‘11 and you told us then you have very high goals for 2012. Looking back to the year that passed, would you say that the mission was accomplished?

I think yes, I must say I am satisfied with my results in 2012 but I'd like to achieve at least the same in 2013. I think Homestory Cup V and Dreamhack Bucharest were the biggest tournaments for me.

You’re starting 2013 as one of the highest rated foreigners in SC2. Do you feel that definition is true? Where would you place yourself in the foreign and worldwide rankings at the moment?

It's very hard to say because after Christmas time everybody is off their real skill level and it was the same for me. I played really well in mid 2012 but from December my skill went down a little bit and now I am trying to catch up to how I was playing before. I think it's the same for other players from what I saw in my ladder games versus the best Europeans.

Your first half of 2012 was a bit low on results (excluding several top eights at DreamHack and HomeStory) and, as you said, it was not until HSC V that you truly rose to power. What onset this sharp increase in performance?

Maybe a little bit of luck in the brackets in those tournaments but also because I spent a lot more time practicing in the end of 2012 like September/November and so my best results were at the end of the year.

Lots of zergs also saw success around that time of the year and many were labeled “patch zergs” by the community. Were you ever worried that such label might also be thrown your way, too?

I don't think people should use such a term and there is no reason to use it to describe me as I am playing SC2 from the very beginning and I was doing quite well since my first games as random. The game is developing very slowly right now and people were blaming the imbalances instead of actually changing or improving their game. We can see that the best of the best like Parting or MVP are still absolutely destroying zergs left and right.

Following your successes at HSC V, IEM Cologne and DH Bucharest, many expected you to do amazingly at the WCS but such was not the case and both WCS Europe and BWC brought disappointing results. Furthermore, your losses came after ZvZ and ZvP games, match-ups you’re usually quite versed in. What happened there?

I think all my match-ups are quite well rounded and I do very similarly in all of them. At WCS Europe my bracket was probably one of the hardest and my first match was vs SortOf, who, at that time was at his skill level peak and the match was really close. Then I lost to Grubby in games I should've won but I was too slow on making important decisions which made me lose games.

I still qualified for BWC so it was not as disappointing for me as for other players that didn't qualify. In BWC I had probably the hardest group of all considering that Creator ended up a finalist of the tournament and Scarlett only lost to the champion, Parting.

e4fabe7be3a374cccabfb46e02a95190375fed9972c7bbb17c08e87bc9.jpg

IEM Katowice is on the horizon as the first premier event for 2013 and you’re placed in what looks like another very tough to beat group with Stephano, YoDa and JookTo. Are you worried about the competition?

I think groups B, C and D are hard and A is a little bit easier so I wouldn’t want to say that my group is the hardest, especially if we consider that Stephano is doing a little bit worse lately. But as we all know, Stephano likes to surprise so I imagine he could come to Katowice and stomp everyone as he usually does in offline tournaments. I am not sure how good are Yoda and JookTo so I don't want to underestimate them and I will do my best.

Although there aren’t too many notable instances where you and Stephano had met each other (last time it was at DH Summer if I recall correctly), I feel that, in community’s eyes, there’s some sort of “who’s the best foreigner” rivalry between you. So far, he seems to be a step ahead in both direct encounters and in terms of popularity. Are you eager about playing him on home turf next week?

There might be some rivalry for the best foreigner title between us but until now Stephano has been easily beating me in that regard. Nevertheless, I don't feel like this is necessary a problem because I don't feel the need to be the best foreigner as long as I am at the top and I can compete with him. I will still consider him as any other opponent I have to face.

It also probably won't matter if I win more than him because community will consider him the best for a long time after his time passes. Unfortunately, that's how SC2 community works and there are too many fanboys rather than people who can objectively judge one’s results and skill level.

With IEM Katowice so heavy on zergs, many eyes are naturally set on Parting, considering his many triumphs in the match-up recently. Is he the favorite in your eyes or do you think his dreaded immortal pushes are very much beatable?

Immortal pushes might be uneatable if protoss does them perfectly and if there is someone who can do a few of those in a row perfectly that's probably Parting. I still think it's possible to beat him although he would be one of the hardest opponents. I am glad that i don't have to face him in my first group stages.

Mr. Chae mentioned in September last year that you were offered a Code S seed in September last year but declined to focus on local tournaments. Was it solely the financial aspect what dictated your decision or were there other reasons too?

I don't remember being directly offered a code S seed but I'd decline in at that time anyway. If there is any time I'd be willing to go to Korea that is holidays and that's only two months in whole year.

Why is that? Aren’t you at all curious on how would you fare in GSL environment? It is still regarded as the highest level of competition, after all, so there’s always the huge amount of attention that players (and foreigners in particular) receive as well...

I am not interested in attention and I don't feel like traveling there just for the GSL you can literally lose in onr day and then for the rest of your stay there is nothing interesting for you to play. I can face Koreans in other offline events and I’d rather do it there instead of giving them time to prepare against me. I am better when I come up with things in a matter of seconds and Zerg is not the race that gets any benefits from preparing compared to Terran and Protoss.

50ede9d287c17f31d59f8a82a8d2aa13ffe764df0e36b9bd4c7d2b0a59.jpg

Speaking of Code S and foreigners, Stephano and HuK made it into the tournament. How far do you reckon they will go?

I am not really interested in GSL anymore as I was before so i can't really say. I don't even know their brackets but I think Huk will go out pretty fast and Stephano has a chance but in the long run I don't think he can go further than top four.

KeSPA players are also another curious clique when it comes to the Korean scene as they have been playing SC2 quite actively for a while now. Do you see in them the potential to surpass the current GSL/foreign players or what we see now in terms of competition is pretty much the roof?

I think Kespa players will not be that much better than anybody is right now but there will probably be a lot of them at the top. I am not that worried since they will probably focus more on Korean scene than coming to foreign tournaments so I don't think we will see a swarm of Koreans in the nearest future.

Heart of the Swarm is coming really soon so we’re counting the last days of WoL meta. Can things still change between now and March, is there more room for improvements?

I think we will have to wait for HotS release. The only change that Blizzard will bring to WoL will be Infestor nerf as they are quite eager to make zerg unplayable so I think that might come. There will be no changes in playstyle, though, unless we get some new maps from KeSPA introduced in foreign tournaments.

How highly do you value HotS overall? Is it a step forth or a step back? What are Blizzard doing right and what are they doing wrong?

I’d refrain from making any statements about HotS as I didn't play enough. HotS was a lot of fun for one week when it came out but we will have to see when everybody switches to HotS to see how the game will look.

Oversaturation of the scene has been a problem often discussed by the community. How much does such a busy tournament schedule affect you as a player?

It was tough during WCS/DH/IPL run with three tournaments in a row but in general it's not that hard if there is a tournament every month or every three weeks.

Do you undergo any special preparation when there's a high density of tournaments coming your way (such as that WCS/DH/IPL run you mentioned)?

Nothing special, just more time spent practicing than doing anything else. At the same time, it's more important to try and prevent yourself from being super tired when you're traveling a lot since it affects you more than the amount of practice you put in the game.

Cella and MMA joined Team Acer recently. What did they bring to the table? How impactful is Cella’s coaching knowledge to you?

I usually practice by myself but Cella gives advice here and there when we send him replays. MMA might be a good practice partner but as I said, I don't really fancy custom games so we didn't play a lot, just a few games. But it's good to have a person that will watch replays for you as you don’t have to spend time yourself doing that.

How much do you follow SC2 outside the tournaments you play? Any particular player you admire or try to mimic stylistically?

In the past, I was watching Stephano games in offline tournaments but not so much anymore, especially because there wasn’t much to watch in the past two months and I myself was playing in most of the tournaments.

Last question before we part ways: Where will Nerchio be by the end of 2013? Any premier tournaments you particularly crave to win?

It's hard to say, I usually enjoy DreamHacks the most so maybe that is the tournament to win for me but in general doing good is enough, I don't need to win a lot. The goal is always to be at the top of my shape and being one of the best foreigners.

Alright, thank you for taking all this time to talk to us and best of luck in Poland next weekend. If you have any parting words, the podium is yours!

Thanks to my team Acer and all the fans that will come to Katowice to cheer for me.

Interviewer: Radoslav "Nydra" Kolev
Photos by: Fragster.de, ESL

Author