reis agreed to answer our questions with professionalism and humor.
[M] BigCrook : Hello reis! Thank you very much for granting Millenium this interview. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself in IRL and about your career in eSports?
[SK] reis :Hi, my name is Min-Sik Ko better known as « reis » and I am 30 years old. I have a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and I work in eSports for almost 8 years starting with WarCraft III. I started in teams such as NiP and World Elite after I got scouted by SK Gaming and work here since end of 2007.
What would Min Sik Ko do today if electronic sports did not exist?
Never thought of anything else than working in eSports. When I started to work with SK and grew into the whole eSportsenviorement I realised that eSports will be a very important part of my future. I never put much effort into anything else than eSports so its very hard to say but I guess I would built my own business somehow not sure which direction it might be a little bar or something fashion related.
« reis » in German means « rice » in English. Reading your messages on your Facebook and Twitter accounts, I noticed there's a lot of pictures of food. Are you a good cook?
First of all my nickname comes from the german word « reiskorn » which means « rice grain » and cause reiskorn was to long to use so I used reis only, which kinda fits me well because I like to eat « rice ».
About my cooking skills, lets say I have a good imagination of how something should look like when I want to cook something but sadly the result at the end doesnt look and taste like I hoped :D
I love to eat and people who know me from the early days of eSports can see that I gained a « bit » of weight over the years ;)
What French culinary specialty do you like... or dislike? Do you taste snails or frogs' legs?Sadly I am not a fan of French culinary specialty so I never tried any of those but well I wouldn't order it but I would give it a try if I could taste it.
You describe yourself as a "Korean guy born in Germany" and you're passionate about soccer. When there is a match with Die Nationalmannschaft against The Taegeuk Warriors, which team you support?
Before I got very active in eSports I loved to go out and play soccer. I never had talent in soccer so I needed to make it up by training every day. I played several years in a football club and stopped cause I got lazy. Now I play once in a while and if Germany would play South Korea I am for South Korea cause they are the underdogs its more fun :D
MC (its BVB) vs reis (FC Barcelona) - Credit: @minsikko
Despite the distance from South Korea, your parents are very proud of you and your job in eSports. Do you often go back there to see your family and your old friends?
My parents live in Germany in Düsseldorf and I live in Cologne which is very close. My dad is very busy so I don’t see him that often my mom I visit once in a while when I go to meet some friends from the university.
My relatives all live in korea and most of them in the south of Korea so I see them very rarely because if I go to Korea I am in Seoul and don’t have the time to travel to the south. I have a few friends in Korea which I met during my time overseas in San Diego, CA. those people I meet as much as I can when I am in Seoul.
In terms of music, you particularly appreciate and recommend the mixes produced by DJ Frizzo who lives in Düsseldorf like you. In addition of being a big fan of electronic sports, are you also a big fan of electronic music?
DJ Frizzo is a very close friend of mine and a very ambitious and talented DJ. I support his music and like to listen to it. My favorites are his Black Music mixtapes cause I like to listen to RnB and Soul.
In my freetime I listen more to Soul and a bit of Korean music.
Many eSports fans saw you the first time as translator during the interviews of MC or other Korean pro gamers. As far as I know, you are trilingual: Korean, German, English. What's else?
Just those three ;) German, English I can write and speak fluently, Korean I can speak “fluently” but cant write it very well. I would love to learn another language but I have to see if I can put the time into it.
You're stuck in eSports since more than a decade. What is your best memory as a player and as a manager? And what were the most difficult moments ?
Best memories are the offline tournament itself and the cities that I visited during these years and the people that I met. I was at almost every big tournament in the last few years and saw how they got better and better. The players that I managed won almost every major tournaments and its just an amazing feeling if you work and support the players and win Trophies with them.
The recognition that I get from the community for my work is very appreciated and gives me strength.
Guess the most difficult moments as a manager is when you loose a final or get knocked out early and than look into your players eyes and see them down.
Refferring to your own and long experience all over the world, how do you analyze the fast-growth of eSports during the last years on a global scale?
A few years back Korea was the No.1 eSports country and everyone was referring to Korea but no one really knew how it really is in Korea. With League of Legends and Starcraft II it got more global and people are closer to the Korean scene.
I guess with tournaments such as MLG, IPL, IEM, … it helped eSports a lot and a huge impact are the streaming possibilities. In the past you couldn’t just follow a tournament just by opening a stream it got so much easier now to follow tournaments or your favorite player.
As Riot Games with League of Legends, Blizzard decided to invest more in eSports with the StarCraft II World Championship Series: that's one small step for Blizzard, one giant leap for eSport ?
Till now we had only the GSL Code A/S in Korea which the community liked to watch a lot. I think it’s the right step into the future of SC2 to make a league such as WCS in NA and EU. If it’s a giant leap or just a small step will have to be decided after this year. For such projects such as WCS and LCS it always matter what the next step is.
SK Gaming is one of the most successful organization in the world of electronic sports. What is the hallmark signature of SK Gaming?
I think our trademark is that we try to be very professional. The players and teams that we got are capable of winning tournaments and have proven it already.
Since 2007, you've become a key person in the SK staff. What is your work exactly?
My job is player management. I am the person who manage all the players and teams in SK. I travel to all the tournaments with SK players/teams and support them.
If there are new talents on the market I scout them and try to bring them to sk. I do negotiations with players and work very closely with sponsors and our players.
I prepare players for their next tournament and tell them how they have to behave. There is always a distance between players and me because at the end I am still their manager and have to make calls which I have to do and they might not like it.
Your players are among the best pro gamers in the world. Between MC and ocelote, who is the craziest? Joking aside, what are the main qualities required for a top player according to you?
MC is definitely the crazy one that guy has some weird thinking sometimes.
The main qualities to become a top player is to have discipline and willing to listen to advices. Its not just important to be good in a game you have to have social skills aswell and know how to behave.
ocelote is one of the best examples how someone became a star by pushing himself and taking care of social media and his fans.
In an interview with Jan "Yan[skY]" Leverenz for Fragster in 2011, you explained that your philosophy in life is: "Carpe Diem". Enjoying everyday life is something you communicate your players to put them in the best conditions. But how do you proceed to solve a problem in a team?
Well with the SK LoL team living in Cologne for a few months already it was sometimes very frustrating. Most of the players never lived alone and now they live with as 5 men in one apartment which is not easy obviously. There were some miscommunications that had to be solved and its obvious that things are rough if you are not living with your mother who took care of everything.
Communication within the team and between player and manager are they key to be successful.
reis with the SK LoL team - Crédit : Ina.
How do you keep balance between your personal epicurian way of living one day at a time and your job as manager that must be able to anticipate situations and plan strategies to achieve long-term goals?
In my freetime I try to meet friends and do something for my health. I should be more active and go to the gym more moften because everytime I go I feel so energetic which helps a lot for my work.
Its very important that you take your time off so that you don’t get tilt and to keep the focus.
For one year, you participated in several events in France: Tales of the Lane, Numericable M-House Cup, Iron Squid 1 & 2. Did you enjoy the French Touch in eSports ?I think the first tournament I attented in France was the Iron Squid 1 and when I got contacted by Fred Gau if I would work with them and help with the Koreans I wasn’t sure what to expect. But after some talks and the professional way of handling things I was very impressed. When I saw the huge event that they put up and the French community going nuts it was very impressive.
The way the French tournaments are organized are very professional and its always a pleasure to take part on it.
You are "the guy behinf the Korean Starcraft II League". Will there be a new edition in 2013?
There is nothing planed yet and with the WCS and LCS I doubt that I will have time for it ;)
What are the upcoming events you will go?My next event will be DreamHack Summer which I will attend with my LoL team and work with DreamHack to take care of Koreans and help with interviews. After that I am not sure yet but I am looking forward for any upcoming event, I like to travel :D
Currently, what’s your game?
If I play a game lately its League of Legends, its not like starcraft that you need to focus the whole time, in LoL you can chill and relax if you don’t take it that seirous and start raging ^^
Before concluding, a little question « It's by doing anything that one becomes anyone ». You know the French humorist Rémi Gaillard. Of all his videos, which made you laugh the most?
Hahahahaha the snail on the road. That is the most hilarious thing that I have seen by far :D
Thank you so much for this interview. Do you have closing words, shout outs or anything to say… perhaps in French?
[in French] Merci à Millenium pour cette interview, je suis très honoré et je remercie la communauté française d'être aussi géniale, vous êtes la principale raison du développement de l'Esport en Europe.
Thanks to millenium for doing the interview with me I feel very honored and thanks to the France community for being so awesome, you guys are one of the reasons that esports is growing in Europe.
aLive, MMA, reis, Symbol & NesTea devant la Tour Eiffel lors de l'Iron Squid I - Mai 2012.
