Gumiho: "My nervousness is my biggest weakness"

NAME: Koh "Gumiho" Byung Jae 
COUNTRY: South Korea
RACE: Terran
WCS RESULTS: Korea Season 1 Ro16
 

?For a player who speaks good English, you rarely give interviews for the foreign media so I want to go back a few years. Not many people will remember but you were originally a random player. In fact, you were the one you tried to pioneer sky toss back in 2010. Why did you decide to go random in a highly competitive game like StarCraft 2?

When I first started Starcraft, I thought I'd understand the game faster if I played random and as I played I thought I had a good chance playing competitive with random.

As of today, you are the first and only random player to compete in the GSL? Do you gold that achievement proudly?

I don't feel anything special since I didn't get results when I randomed.

A few weeks later, you switched to Terran full time. What was the reasoning behind picking this race before the other?

It was either Terran or Zerg, but I was more familiar with Terran since I've played it since Brood War.

In 2011, you were mostly under the radar until the last few months of the year - also known as the GomTvT era - when you gradually started scoring results. How much did the GSL metagame at that time help you climb the rankings and later reach your first major success, or was that mostly due to personal improvement?

I was confident with myself since I prepared heavily for GSL, so I knew I would be coming home with results.

Said major success was a top four in 2012 Code S Season 1. There you were stopped by DongRaeGy who was in his prime at that time and eventually went on to become champion. Would you say you would've had bigger chances if you were in the other half of the bracket, having to play Genius or Alive?

The results would have been similar. The loss to DongRaeGu was due to a blunder I made so it wouldn't have mattered.
 

After the Code S top four, you went back to slaloming between Code S and Code A. How hard is such a drop in performance on a player's mental state?

 

Me slaloming between Code S and Code A was due to my lack of skill and I knew that more than anyone so I just focused on improving.

While your results in individual leagues were not the best, it wasn't the case with your games in team leagues, particularly one GSTL final which saw the 5-0 that destroyed SlayerS. A year later, what do you feel and remember about that moment?

It felt like a dream at that time, but after time has passed I feel that moment was the highlight of my gaming career.

What would you say makes you a better team league than individual league player?

I think I'm stronger in Bo1s rather than Bo3s since I am fairly weaker at psychological warfare.

Compared to the dominance in the grand finals, the rest of the FXO games in that tournament were very close ones. In fact, when you almost lost to NS HoSeo in the group stage, there were expectations that you would easily fall against MVP in the playoffs. Was the team worried that you won't be able to make the step to the grand finals?

We were a bit worried so we prepared ourselves by practicing as much as it was needed.

At that time, fans were already noticing your excellence in multitasking and overall mechanical prowess. Would you consider that your biggest strength?

Yes, definitely, plus a lot of diverse strategies that I can choose from.

If you have to reflect back on yourself as a player, what would you say stops you from achieving more high finishes?

It would be my nervousness in tournaments. Even though it has been some time since I became a professional player, I still don't play to my full potential because I get stage fright.

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Do you think HotS was overall more or less helpful towards your playstyle and level of play?

HotS had more features that I can put my multitasking skills to full potential so in my opinion it did help me a lot.

Four months after the release of the expansion, what are your thoughts on the state of Terran and the game in general?

I think Terran right now fits well with my playstyle and is a lot fun to play. I think the game is pretty balanced overall.

There was quite a lot of talk about the power of hellbats, both before and after the recent patch. Do you think their nerf was justified or their dominance was a product of players not having found an adequate response?

I think Blizzard made a right decision in nerfing hellbats, they're still good if you use them properly.

On to more recent events. You beat soO to return to Code S after KangHo send you to challenger from the Ro16. Expectations for the new season? 

I'm confident enough to see myself playing in the grand finals this season.

Do you crave the blood of KangHo and every IM player that helped him prepare for you? :)

Not really, I have no feelings towards any of them.

The first semi final was determined on Tuesday. What does Maru need to do to beat Innovation?

Maru is not weaker than Innovation, so as long as he doesn't get nervous he will do fine.

Will eSF ever reclaim what was theirs from the hands of the KeSPA players?

I will reclaim it myself!

Are you the least worried about all the new players flowing into the StarCraft 2 scene?

Not really.

Final question before we wrap up. You have to choose one BroodWar or StarCraft 2 player (in his prime) to play you in the ultimate multitasking match. Who's that and why?

I want to play against Innovation the most, he is very good at multitasking so I think it will be a fun match if I play him.

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