English interview - For Is Here #10 - uThermal

A rapid rise

[M] TinkeR : I'd like to know how did you manage to get where you are now ? What was the first video game you've played competitively and how did you end up choosing StarCraft II ?

[AT] uThermal : I used to play lots of random games together with my brother, including some UMS (arcade) maps in StarCraft 1, when Wings of Liberty was released my brother decided to buy it for me and I started playing some 4v4 with my friends.

In every game I had played before that, I tried to become the best, so I started only playing 1v1 and I became kind of addicted to laddering. I ended up getting Master in my first season (I was still Protoss back then). I think I got to where I am now because I tend to play new games nonstop for a while. Back then I played much more than I do now.

The only other game I've played tournaments in was a small shooter game called GunZ, the other games either didn't have tournaments or I had no interest in participating in them.

So you started with Wings of Liberty, what was your first league placement back then? Did you get Master straight away?

Initially I was placed in Platinum, I was still messing around with races at the start and mostly played random. After I settled on Protoss I managed to get to Master fairly quickly haha.

What made you switch from Protoss to Terran ? I read that you actually switched DURING a tournament in WCS Netherlands 2012, how would you explain it ? Too "easy" to play ? :P

Haha well, that's actually a mistake on Liquipedia, I switched to Terran about three days before that tournament and felt pretty proud about beating the best Dutch Terran at the time in TvT after such a short period of practice.

Whenever I watched Korean streams or even old VODs of Brood War, I just liked Terran more, it seemed like a race in which I could stand out more. Protoss at the time was either all-in or do nothing ever, it doesn't fit my style. My style is mainly being hyper agressive in the midgame, which is only possible with Terran without being too all-in.

So Liquipedia can be wrong :o ! How long did it take you to reach Grandmaster when the league came out ? What was your reaction ?

I think it took me about six months from the moment I started playing 1v1, I was trying to get Grandmaster really hard and kept failing so I was really disappointed. One day I woke up early and decided to play one game of StarCraft II before I had to rush to school. I ended up winning with a 4-Gate and getting promoted to Grandmaster, it was kind of a disappointing moment since I didn't have any time to enjoy it.

It was very important for me to reach Grandmaster, it felt like I could only really start practicing after the burden of 'not being Grandmaster' was gone. It took me about six months again to get Grandmaster with Terran, after switching. After all, you realise achieving Grandmaster rank is not actually that important.

From frustration to explosion

You've been in AT Gaming team for more than a year now, how were you approached by them and how is it going so far ?

The first time they had contacted me was early on in 2013, but I had just joined a new team back then so I declined. Later in 2013, I was unhappy with the team I had at the time so I contacted AT Gaming to see if I could join their team. I think we made a deal fairly quickly and I ended up joining soon after.

Initially my results were quite bad and I was rather sad about performing below my own (and my teams) expectations. In 2014 is when I started doing really well. AT Gaming has helped me alot in my career, I've been able to attend many events and gain lots of experience. When I re-signed all my teammates were happy too, I think the team is kind of a family. It's really fun being able to attend events with my friends, I hope I can help my teammates get further in their careers too!

As you said, 2014 was indeed a very nice year for you. First with DreamHacks where you managed to beat jjakji once (before actually losing him), beating Snute at Dreamhack Summer and being first out of your group, qualifying for WCS, and so on (you know it better than me). How would you explain this success ? Did you change something in the way you were practicing or is it something else ?

In the beginning of the year, I attended a Dutch Invitational (DSCL) and got an absolutely terrible result. I had been top10 Grandmaster for a long time but my results were just not coming. I felt really ashamed not even placing top2 in this event. This event filled me with motivation to practice harder and especially more consistently.

After this event, I won all of the big events in the Netherlands and Belgium for the rest of the year, as well as reaching Premier League twice in a row and performing well in two DreamHacks. It sounds kind of strange but it seems like I've gotten better because of a loss. Also I used to have a terrible mindset, and some trouble performing under pressure, both issues that I have fixed over time. I do think I still have some mental issues that keep me from reaching a better level.

StarCraft II more globally

Do you usually watch GSL/Proleague ? Which player is there/were you following the most, if there is any ?

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Korean StarCraft II, I always watch GSL, Proleague, Hot6ix Cup etc. For some reason I'm always a fan of the Zergs : soO, Soulkey or Rogue for example. As for Terrans, I'm a big fan of players that have their own style. I really love Maru or Bomber, while I'm not as big of a fan of INnoVation or TaeJa.

My style also differs much from the other European Terrans, I like to create my own builds and strategies. I also like most of the Korean Terran underdogs, like Bbyong and sKyHigh.

Who do you think is the best Terran player in the world right now ? And among the foreigners ?

Best Terran in the world is honestly quite hard to say, GSL/BlizzCon and Hot6ix cup had completely different Terrans finishing high in the tournament. I think you could make a good case for INnoVation being the best currently, but personally I feel like Maru is still the best Terran. The best foreign terran is still Bunny, followed by MarineLorD.

I would assume Maru is maybe your "favorite" player ? Do you actually have one and who would it be ?

Haha, of course Maru is my favorite player, my ingame name is MaruThermal after all. I just think his mechanical skills and micro are amazing, his strengths are the same as my strengths and our weaknesses are the same as well.

When he was doing well and I could see him playing in Proleague, GSL Semi-finals, BlizzCon, those were the most exciting times for me to watch StarCraft, all his games are really exciting to me and I love watching him. I try to copy him as well but I'm not always successful in that haha. Also the fact that he was the only hope for Terran in a big part of 2013 and 2014 was obviously very inspiring.

Legacy of the Void has been introduced at BlizzCon recently. What are your thoughts on it globally ? Is there something specific that you are looking forward ?

Everything that was announced at BlizzCon seemed really cool, I like the changes they are going to make such as the Automated Tournaments. Also the new game seems really cool, I hope they manage to balance everything out without having to remove the new units.

Personally I'm very bad at adapting to a new game, so I'm hoping they release it around November so there are not many tournaments and I have time to adapt. When Heart of the Swarm was released, I went from Top 16 Grandmaster player to just a mid/low Grandmaster. For some reason I always struggle with new games, even though I'm super excited to test it out.

Myself I'm a fan of fast games and I believe if the ressource changes turn out the way I imagine them to, I should be able to show more of my skills in Legacy of the Void than in Heart of the Swarm. I was the least excited about the Terran units but I really like the Zerg units. One of my biggest problems with watching tournaments in Heart of the Swarm at the moment is that I really hate PvZ. It seems that all people do is all-ins or play Swarmhosts.

I just can't stand the matchup. If the changes to Swarmhosts and addition of Lurkers and Ravagers can make PvZ more enjoyable for me to watch, I think StarCraft II will become an even greater game! For my own games I think it will help my TvZ and TvP a lot, usually in my losses I end up being too aggressive because I overestimate my advantage, if players are now forced to take more bases quicker I can really use that to my advantage and it plays into my style quite well.

By curiosity, did you try the Legacy of the Void fan mod made by JaKaTaK ?

Nope, I haven't tried. I don't think it's useful to play the Legacy of the Void mod now, it won't look anything like that when the game is actually released, I prefer just practicing Heart of the Swarm and wait for the actual game to be released.

WCS 2015 will be a "real" region lock this time, do you see it as a good thing overall or not because with all those Koreans going back home, it will lower down the "foreign" level ?

I think it's great, honestly I have no interest in watching Koreans vs Koreans unless it's GSL or Proleague. DreamHack Winter was of great skill level but one of the most boring events to watch because it was just random Koreans playing each other.

I only watched Snute's games and the finals from that. In case of skill level it doesn't matter, the foreigners that are ambitious and want to beat Koreans in events that are not WCS will step up and practice as much as they need. I think the argument people use saying region lock is stupid because Koreans are the better players and shouldn't be locked out of WCS Europe/America is a bad argument, it is a European and American league.

For me personally I don't mind playing against Koreans, my winrate against Koreans has always been ok, I don't struggle more against them than I do against top-foreigners, just viewer-wise I think it's way better.

And apart from StarCraft II ?

Besides StarCraft II, do you have any other hobby ?

I enjoy working out and travelling. I also play other games quite often, out of my original gaming buddies I was the only one starting on StarCraft II. Now and then I like to play old games with them, the games I used to play 5-10 years ago.

Few examples ?

I had been playing some GunZ again even though it's even deader than it used to be :P Now and then I try some MapleStory, I've played that game for way too long haha.

Most of my old gaming friends play Counter-Strike, so I play that with them quite often, I follow the scene too! It's my favorite game besides StarCraft II. Sometimes they ask me to play small random Steam games, which I sometimes agree to ^^

Are you playing full-time right now ? What do your family and friends think about your passion ?

I have been playing full-time for about 1.5 years now, at first my parents were really skeptical, especially my father. I wasn't earning any money back then and he just thought it was a waste of time. Nowadays I fly to many events in different countries and gather a lot of experience and money too, so they are completely fine with it. Most of my friends think it's really cool I do this as a job and are quite jealous haha.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years ? Still in esports somehow or not at all ?

Actually it's hard to say, everyone starts their career with big dreams, winning GSL, winning WCS, etc. but I've come to the point where I realise those dreams are not realistic at all. I don't know if I would like to continue being a progamer if all I achieve is average results. I have a strong spirit to win, and I really just want to become the best.

If I do make it to the top, I can see myself having a really long career, I'm good at enjoying practice so I won't burn out that fast. Outside of a progaming career, I probably won't be in eSports, casting is not really my thing. I could probably do some streaming but not full-time, maybe I would take on a small management role for another team.

I've seen in a interview where your nickname comes from, but for those who don't know, could you explain a bit ?

The letter 'u' is just a letter me and my friends put in front of our names when we started playing StarCraft II, it's like a clan you could say. Actually they all quit StarCraft II so I'm the lone survivor haha. The name Thermal is just something I stole from another game ... Actually I believe that guy was called Terminal and I changed it a bit :P

Bonus questions

If you had to make a bootcamp for a whole month with three players : one Protoss, one Zerg, and one Terran, who would you choose and why?

I think it would be better to bootcamp with friends and teammates, it would probably give me more motivation. Though I'd have to choose someone outside of my team, because my teammates are so passionless :D. I would choose one of the Zergs in my team (Jona/Elazer) and a good foreign Protoss/Terran like Lilbow and Bunny or so ^^.

Do you have any TV show/movie that you enjoy to watch ? Or aren't you much into that.

Hmm I don't really follow shows or anything like that, now and then I watch The Walking Dead with my brother and I've watched a few episodes of Luther but that's it ^^.

What's your favorite country ? And where would you want to go and never went to ?

Actually I'm not sure what my favorite country is, I have so many places to go to haha, I would like to travel to China and Singapore one day! Of course going to Korea is on my list too, but that's purely for StarCraft II purposes. I think I deserve a nice vacation in Hawaii as well :P. Countries in Europe are all really similar to each other, I don't think there is a country in Europe I particularly like.

And last question, do you have any fun/unusual story that you'd like to share that happened to you IRL or ingame ?

A long time ago there used to be a mid-Master protoss player attending Dutch LANs I would always lose to, I had to play him for a clanwar and was feeling quite anxious and decided to play Zerg. I ended up winning 2-0 breaking my mental block against him, I think I should have switched to Zerg instead of Terran :P.

Well thank you very much for your time, it was really nice to have you :) Do you have any last words for the readers, and shoutout to make before we close this interview ?

Thanks for the interview! I also want to thank everyone who has supported me throughout 2014, this year has been very enjoyable for me and I've reached a new level in my career. Currently I'm in good shape and it seems 2015 will be an even better year!

Please continue to support me, I always do my best! Of course thanks to my team AT Gaming and the sponsors Cooler master, HyperX, Eizo, Spam and AverMedia for supporting me in every way possible! :)

Thanks again, and have a good end of year ! Bye !

Thanks :)