English interview - For Is Here #4 - Adonminus

If there's one country that wouldn't come to our mind in terms of eSport, that would be Israel (well, and maybe Burundi). Far away from our usual Nordic countries we've seen before (Denmark, Finland, Sweden), we managed to talk to a player who deftly mixes work and discretion.

For few minutes, let's have a stop to a land where daily Tanks and Mines are closer from being part of reality than being virtual.

Fed on Blizzard milk

 

[M] TinkeR : I'd like to know how did you get into eSport : what was the first game you've ever played, even competitively, and how did you end up choosing Starcraft 2 ?

[cSc]Adonminus : I started playing games when I was really young, so I don't remember exactly. But I remember having games like Might and Magic, Abe's Oddysee, Diablo. Eventually I also got StarCraft Brood War, however I started playing Brood War's multiplayer I believe 7 years ago when I was 12.

I think I played only about 500 games of 1v1, then I started playing the UMS games more, it's similar to the StarCraft II arcade mode. And when I heard StarCraft II was in development I was very excited. I even got a beta key when the Wings of Liberty beta was out and that's when I ended up playing StarCraft II.

What was your first league placement back then? How long did it take you to reach Grandmaster and what was your reaction then ?

I placed Diamond after a few games upon StarCraft II's release, the practice from beta helped me of course. Back then it was the highest league but I wasn't near the top of the ladder, more like mid-Diamond so didn't face any pros. I got more into playing StarCraft II ladder around the time Master league was released, and I was able to reach it.

Since then I was slowly climbing the ladder but I only hit Grandmaster by the end of Wings of Liberty. I wasn't that excited of hitting Grandmaster as I've been rank 1 Master for many seasons before that, so I felt more like I deserved it and it should have been earlier. I can add that it wasn't only about hitting Grandmaster, I wanted to go further. It's also the time I started participating in online cups.

 

Like for many, Brood War was one of the first love of Adonminus

Have you been playing Protoss since the beginning of StarCraft II or did you switch at first ?

I played Zerg in Brood War and half of the Wings of Liberty beta. Then I switched to Protoss, I think it fits my style more. Also when I played Zerg I liked using mutalisks, so now as a Protoss I like using a similar unit that is the phoenix.

Were you following the eSport scene at the beginning ? And were you cheering for some player/team or not at all, just focusing on playing and getting better ?

No I wasn't. I didn't know that much about the eSport scene at that time, maybe for the first year of Wings of Liberty or a little bit more not sure. I think one of the problems back then was the lack of chat channels where people could gather, which limited the amount of interaction you had with other people. But then, yeah, I started watching almost all of the tournaments around, and still do. I usually cheer for the Protoss players, as I want to learn something from their play. I haven't cheered for someone in particular.

 

From Cascade to DreamHack

So eventually, you managed to get some good level, and get recruited by Cascade, how have you been approached by them? Or did you approach them ? How is the atmosphere there ?

They approached me, I was rank ~90 Grandmaster back then. I really like the team so far, they have a really friendly atmosphere and are very professional. Also Cascade is a very stable team, you probably have seen that every once in a while a new team gets created, they promise lots of money, recruits tons of good players and then they disappear.

On the other hand Cascade has always been paying me salary every month and in the rare case it was delayed they would notify me beforehand. Even though it's not the richest team it's solid, friendly and professional and I have no plans of leaving it. Unless I get approached by one of the most top foreign teams.

Any preference on top foreigns team you'd like to go if that happens someday ?

Well, you know the top teams like Liquid, Acer, EG and I don't know... I rather not say anything before the "happen someday" becomes never. *laughs*

Regarding this, how would you describe your run during the last Dreamhack, reaching Ro16 and losing to Patience. I'm sure you could have beat him, maybe you had pressure, or something ? I wasn't able to see the games.

My run at DreamHack was satisfying. I said to myself that I want at least Ro16 and I got it. However you shouldn't underestimate Patience, he's a really good player, and after he reached the quarterfinals in Moscow, he also got the same result at Stockholm with a much more stacked bracket. He is definitely an opponent that is hard to defeat.

 

StarCraft II : inside and outside

I'd like to know more about the Israel esport scene globally, how does it go at the moment ? You said in an interview with TL.net that it was kind of dying, how it is right now ?

It got better this year, there were several online tournaments and the level of the players has increased a lot. The prizepools are fairly small though.

What do your friends and family think about your hobby? Do they support and cheer for you or they kind of don't really care much ?

My family supports me and cheer for me. I don't have any IRL friends who share my hobby though, but I have a really good friend from Brood War with which I discuss StarCraft II a lot, watch replays, talk about my games.

Are you playing full time or studying currently ?

I'm playing full time at the moment, which as you see allowed my results to become better and better. We'll see how it goes in the future and if I continue being fulltime.

When did you stop your studies? This year ?

Yes.

OK, how do you basically practice ? What's your ladder/custom games ratio ? What changed about the way you're training now that you're full time, is that only about the amount of time you're passing on it ?

I ladder mostly, have several accounts for it. I am practicing a lot more being full time however sometimes I'm just not in the mood for it, that's why I play a bit of other games to stay refreshed with ideas and not get bored only playing StarCraft.

I'm trying a lot of strategies on ladder and analysing my mistakes, so I consider it good practice even though I don't play that many customs. I also have clan wars with my team and participate in online tournaments from time to time so that makes me stay in shape and have motivation.

Speaking of staying refreshed, do you have any other hobby than StarCraft II? What are the other games you're playing to keep your mind fresh ?

I also play DotA 2 and Hearthstone. Hearthstone because it's a Blizzard game and I played most Blizzard games except for World of Warcraft. And DotA 2 because I actually played DotA 1 for a bit less than a year before I started playing StarCraft II. And sometimes, I still even play a game or two of Brood War with my friends from there. I guess aside from gaming I don't really have any hobbies.

Blizzard has announced some changes for the upcoming WCS in 2015, and especially the region lock, what are your thoughts about this, and do you think it will clearly change something ?

I think you heard a lot of people saying it won't affect EU much because most Koreans that are playing in EU are also living here, I agree with that. For GSL changes, I also agree that they should award more points. NA on the other hand, I'm quite jealous that the WCS there is going to become so easy with the Koreans gone.

Most probably Blizzard will release some news about Legacy of the Void at BlizzCon, what are your expectations ? For example what would you change in the game right now ?

I think I'm gonna get excited no matter what about Legacy of the Void. New units would be great, I think I'm a player who can adapt to new strategies quickly and make up build orders myself so when an expansion comes out it's a great opportunity to start getting innovative.

I can't expect of Blizzard to redesign the whole game or bring same major changes as I hear some people asking to. However I would like to see them making changes to the old units too, just like they did in Heart of the Swarm beta, I think Swarmhost is one of the problematic units that could use some changes.

But usually I'm a player who stays away from game balance, and just tries to improve so I don't think a lot about changing units.

I also hope the Arcade might be improved a bit more, I used to play Arcade much but I stopped doing so nowadays because no one plays new games on the arcade, it's always the same popular game on top of the list for 4 years now and it got quite boring.

Speaking about arcade, and by extension Battle.net, what would you think about a new  interface as well? Many complained about it not being "social-friendly" enough as it could have been in the past for example with WarCraft III, do you think it would improve the communication between the players, and help the StarCraft II community quite a bit somehow ?

The interface isn't that bad, it's the chat channels or groups that need to be improved. Maybe only slightly interface wise, like making them take larger part of the screen and making the text more visible. But they should be improved more with features like:
People who login into StarCraft II automaticaly join general chat like it was back in WarCraft III and Brood War. I'm always logged into general chat on EU when I enter Battle.net but there's like only 30-40 people there at best. On Battle.net itself, that's kind of impossible to meet anyone outside of ladder.
Groups should have more options, maybe even allow bots who can provide different services. For example, back in Brood War, I even installed a Trivia bot and used it to have fun with people in general chat.

Chat channels and groups could definitely use improvements, it should be so that people could just login to interact with people in chat channels even if they don't want to play a game. It really brings a feeling of a dead game when I join a group and there's like no people in it or most of them afk.

Yes, that's exactly what I (and many others) feel as well, and what I implied by "interface".

OK, without transition, where do you see yourself in 5 years ? Still in eSport ?

Unlikely unless I become the best foreigner ever. I'll see how it goes maybe for a year more, then decide if to continue my studies or stay in eSport for a little longer.

Who would you consider the best Protoss player in the world right now ?

Zest.

I know you've already answer to this question but for those who don't know, can you explain where does your nickname come from ?

It's simple. Adon + Dominus = Adonminus. "Adon" is like "sir" or "mister" in hebrew and "dominus" is like "dominator" by making it fancy latin. And it's not a minus at the end of my name, it's not even spelled like "minus", the "i" is spelled like "ee".

So I spell it correctly as it's like the french "i" :)

Bonus time !

What kind of music do you listen to ? Do you have any specific artist in mind ?

Well, I'm not really that knowledgeable in music or follow any artists. I just listen to anything nice I can find during my ladder sessions.

Do you any specific movies or TV shows that you really like ?

I don't watch much movies nowadays. However I watch anime, some of my favorite ones are Steins;Gate and Code Geass.

What's your favorite food or meal ?

I don't have anything specific I consider my favorite food. As long as it tastes good it's fine for me. Afterall there's many kinds of delicious food here in Israel.

Could you name one that is not so famous and we ALL should taste at least once in our life ?

For example pita with hummus and some falafels is quite delicious.

What's your favorite country ? What about a country you’d like to go and never went to ?

Israel of course, that's where I lived most of my life afterall and it's a great country. As for the second question, I think Korea might be one of them for obvious reasons as you probably guess.

Yes I think I guess :) Last but not least, any fun/unusual story that happened to you ingame or IRL that you’d like to share ?

Some weeks ago I was playing in SC2Improve individual league, and I was matched against Ansopedi in the decider game to advance in the group. After basetrading against Mutalisks, I had 3 sentries and a stalker left against 6 mutas, obviously the Mutalisks can win easily but then I hallucinate 4 stalkers and he ggs out. It was so hilarious. [ndlr : bonusception, link of the VOD]

OK then, interview is over, thank you VERY much for your time, it was really interesting to know a bit more about you. Do you have any words to our french readers and some shoutout to make ?

Thanks for reading, I know the interview is very long and I might not be the most interesting personality but I still hope my answers were enjoyable to read and you learnt a bit thing or two about me and my progamming career. And shoutout to friends, family and of course my team Cascade 1xbet.

Thanks again !