He's back !! LaLuSh resumes competition on Heart of the Swarm, more motivated than ever but conscious of his own limits. Let's see how the more moustached Zerg in StarCraft's history approaches this new impulse in his progaming career.
[M] Nazca : Hey LaLuSh ! So I hear you lost a bet against MaddeLisk ?! Nobody ever told you not to bet against a woman ?
[M] LaLuSh : Nobody told me. Now I had to learn the hard way. Where were all my bros when I needed them ? I lost and now MaddeLisk never lets me forget about it. There is no way I am getting out of this.So I made a bet with MaddeLisk at HotS launch party in Gothenburg that I would go full time if I lost to her in a showmatch on stage (she was playing showmatches). But battle.net went down, and we instead played a few days later on Millenium's stream. MaddeLisk won.
So does that mean we're going to see you more often now ?
You are going to see me more often for sure. Since sometimes is more often than never =). I still go to University, so I am not full fulltime. But I'm playing a fair amount again.
That's really cool to hear !! But tell us, what have you been doing during this long silence ?
For the spring of 2011, I took a break from studies and later changed my program in school. It was probably my most succesful period as a gamer. But after the summer I had to split the time again between study and gaming. I still tried to be a top player, but when time passed I shifted my focus to not neglect my studies. That is basically it. I had no joy from the game when I could not compete at the absolute top, so I stopped making a half-assed effort like I was making before.
Oh, I see... It must've been taugh to make that call :(. But so now you are putting a hold on your studies or is it that you validated your diploma (what do you study by the way ?) ?
No I am still continuing. I have one more year remaining. Putting a hold to studies one year is an option, but I have not decided for that option as of yet.
I study a blend of informatics and business now.
I do not think, unfortunately, that I will be taking a year off unless I qualify for WCS or manage to produce some substantial result during the summer.
Which brings us to my next question, awesome ! So you're planning to try and qualify for WCS in Europe, how is your training going ?
At first when I started playing again it felt really bad. I almost regretted picking it up again. I could not win against good players. But luckily (or unluckily depending on how you view it) SC2 isn't like Brood War, and you can quickly regain your shape. Now I am taking games off of everyone again and looking positive in ZvZ and ZvT. As for ZvP, you have to have a special type of brain or psyche to enjoy such sodomy. Unfortunately I do not possess such a psyche.
So business as usual I guess. I refuse to practice with 50 spines and spores with swarm hosts, vipers, hydras, corruptors and wait 1 hour every game for the toss to come to me. ^^
I guess you've been following the details about WCS format. What do you think about it all ?
Honestly I never liked invite based type of stuff. So I don't like that part. It will surely be a great tournament, but not necessarily because the format is great and that portion of the arrangement. My short opinion (which could be made longer) is that Blizzard are just generally out of touch, and trying to catch up with the competition, but doing a sloppy job at it with a rushed arrangement.
In the list of invited players, you've seen that almost all the top EU scene is present as well as some Koreans. Who do you fear most ?
Assuming I qualify, all of them. The list of Europeans is formidable. There is no push-over or easy opponent there. I am not saying this as a generic politically correct answer. I really believe they will all prepare thoroughly and that always worries me.
And who do you think is most likely to win the whole WCS EU ?
I think MMA, personal opinion.
Other than WCS, you qualified for a Swedish cup, the E-sport SM, can you tell us more about it ?
E-sport SM is the Swedish championship, arranged by DreamHack. 150 000 SEK total prize at finals I think. They tour around the country to host 8 LAN qualifiers, and to each LAN qualifier they also have online qualifiers.
I'm qualified for one of the qualifiers to E-sport SM but it's a bit selfish of me to play there, because I will not be able to participate in the finals at DreamHack Summer even if I qualify. But it's always nice to beat players like Thorzain and SaSe and sabotage the qualification process a bit.
I will be attending a cousin's wedding at those dates. You would think they would reschedule when I told them it clashed with my DreamHack appearance, right ? I am outraged. They are so inconsiderable.
Totally agree with you there :D. And what about the forthcoming DreamHack ?
I didn't sign up in time. Hadn't really started playing again when Millenium signed up players for it. I signed up after the news of the first batch of players were posted. If some players cancel their participation maybe I get in as a reserve and will be able to participate.
So, last question but not least ! What do you think of HotS and do you agree with Goswser that Zerg is the weakest race right now ? Also I'd like to know your favourite new unit (among all races).
I think HotS is better than WoL. But as the people reading the interview may or may not know, I have for a long time advocated the position that SC2 is broken in its game design. I believe the economic system is flawed because it doesn't allow for players to keep expanding in order to gain more mineral income past ~3 bases. Goswser agrees with me on this issue and anyone who ever played Brood War will agree. I won't explain in depth here as it would take too much space.
In SC2, whatever race that happens to have the strongest late game composition in the current state of balance tends to be slightly favored due to the reasons mentioned in paragraph above. And Zerg probably has the least cost efficient lategame army right now so I'm inclined to agree with Goswser, even though I don't think it's a huge factor at our level (below the Koreans). A nerf to either hellbat, mine or voidray could change everything really quickly, so there's no point in discussing it I think.
So whatever race can camp the best lategame always has a slight favor. That's why SC2 lategames are so much more boring to watch than its midgames.
My favorite unit is Viper. I also think the mine is a good unit which should not be nerfed. Hellbats should ! And I end there before this turns into a book.
Thank you for the interview <3. Do you have any final words for your fans ?
Thank you as always. The french stand up for me always when I am randomly shit-talked =). I appreciate it. I don't want to promise too much this time around, as my continued involvement in the game hinges on my success in the near future.
I appreciate Millenium as a team and a community. I thank them for allowing me to remain in the team as an inactive player. I hope I can repay their generosity and trust, and I hope I can give the fans a reason to cheer.
Thank you !
We thank LaLuSh for this interview, don't forget to follow him Twitter !
