English interview - For Is Here #15 - Petraeus

Discovering eSports

[M] TinkeR : According to your interview with Acer, it seems that you've started competitive games with StarCraft II.

Were you aware of something called « eSports » before that or not at all ? If not, did you tell yourself « Yes, that's something I want to do » or it came to your mind later as the time passed ?

[mYi]Petraeus : No, I had no idea about eSports existence whatsoever. I started with a very casual approach to StarCraft II and only became aware of its highly competitive nature once I started to invest a lot of time into it and gradually became better. Becoming a StarCraft II pro was fairly « accidental » in that sense.

What was the very first league placement you had when you started playing ranked games ? How long did it take you to reach Grandmaster ?

Well with very little gaming experience and certainly none at a competitive level, naturally I placed in Bronze. I got my first computer at the same time I got StarCraft II (early 2011) so only started gaming a lot at that time.

It wasn't until February 2012 that I got Grandmaster on SEA and maybe another couple months before I made it on NA as well. So about a year. I really didn't put much time into it up until that point but it still took an awful long time.

Were you a Zerg player from the start, or did you switch races a bit at first ? Why eventually picking Zerg ?

Yeah I've always been Zerg. I was introduced to the game at an internet cafe by a friend and that was just the first race he showed me. I've never played any other race seriously although the same friend convinced me that you were more likely to get a promotion if you won games with other races so in the early days I played around with that a bit. God knows how I fell for that one.

From New-Zealand to Europe

You've been playing on SEA, NA and now EU servers. How would you describe the level gap (on ladder) between those regions ? It is widely agreed that KR>EU>NA> etc. As a professionnal gamer who went through of all of these servers already, what would you say about that ?

Hmm well it doesn't really take a genius to realise which region has stronger players than others at least at Master/Grandmaster level which is, I think, what people are referring to with such generalisations.

I can't speak for lower leagues but certainly in my experience KR is infinitely better than the other regions and will always be. I witnessed the gradual death of the SEA server first hand and honestly it seems like the same thing is happening with NA which is sad. EU is at least as active as KR but definitely at a big skill deficit.

You say you've witnessed the gradual death of the SEA server, is that why you decided to leave this region in order to compete « properly » at a pro level?

Do you think you could have live from progaming the way you wanted to if you have stayed in New-Zealand ?

No, I was able to play on the NA server and sometimes even the KR server from New-Zealand, although now I think the delay I had would be too much to bear for my spoiled taste. I left because it is not possible to make a living from progaming in New-Zealand.

I guess it depends what you define a « living » as ... Right now I wouldn't even call it a « living ». I've been staying in team houses for a year and a half and I'm still not in a financial position where I can move out of that environment. I certainly wouldn't have made it this far though if I remained in New-Zealand.

Server restrictions aside, there's no reason for an international team to have a player living in SEA. They cost too much to fly out, they provide very little exposure and often carry little following by themselves. I was very fortunate to get a spot on ROOT as early as I did. Without that, I don't know how I would be able to justify what I was doing or make any real progress as a player.

So you're now living in Europe at the mYinsanity team house, this is not the first time you've been in this situation (ROOT), how is it going on with your teammates and more globally, how is Switzerland ? Being so far from your homeland, how do you prevent suffering homesick when that happens ?

Yes, Europe was an inevitable move for me if I wanted to continue as a progamer as my US Visa ran out last November. I first moved to the mYi house still as a member of ROOT but recently joined the team itself.

The people come and go, in general the house is too populated for my liking but what are you gonna do. I'm not a big fan of Switzerland, it's too expensive and difficult to get by as an English speaker. Since most of my time is spent inside though, I can hardly complain.

Homesickness, much like jetlag, is a myth that I choose not to believe in. I do want to return home, but sadly it's probably not possible unless I want to set eSports aside. I don't think there's much prevention to be done in that regard, it's just a factor I have to deal with as long as I'm in this career.

You've been full-time for more than a year now if I understood ; looking back at the past year, do you feel that everything goes « according to your plan » for now ?

That's honestly hard to say as I had very little idea of what I was getting into if my « plan » was when I first decided to go full-time. Certainly at first it was going swell, I went straight from finishing my 2013 school year to the ROOT house.

My initial plan didn't really extend past that, other than that my stay in eSports would be eternal. This wasn't anything rushed either, I had both that plan and mindset for a lot of 2012 and all of 2013 so you can imagine I was happy to be on my way. It's only the last 3 months or so that I've begun to feel differently.

Failing to qualify for WCS this season was undoubtedly the biggest low of my career. I worked really hard for all of last year and now it seems all that has created are these expectations of myself that I can't quite fulfil. Obviously that's a very depressing outlook on the situation, outside of WCS I've actually done alright I feel. But this also seems like the culmination of a change of mind and a necessary one at that.

So now the plan has changed to keeping a very open mind in regards to seeking out another path, probably outside of eSports. I'm going to give it until June-ish this year so I don't rush anything but if much is the same by then I don't see myself sticking around at least in a full-time capacity.

General

What do your friends and family think about your progaming career? Are they supportive, like following your matches, etc. or they don't really care that much ?

My family have always been very supportive of what I do and to some extent my friends too. I haven't really converted anyone into a full blown StarCraft II fan yet.

My brother is probably the only one who understands StarCraft II. But I like to think the rest of them stand on the sidelines shouting « Woo! Pro-gaming! ». Perhaps not.

Do you have time to have any other hobby besides StarCraft II ?

No, not really... I definitely have time but I prefer just to practice. Living in a teamhouse in a tiny village in Switzerland also doesn't help a whole lot.

Let's talk a bit more about StarCraft II. Legacy of the Void will most probably be released later this year (it is said that a beta should be available quite soon).

What are your expectations for this last add-on ? Swarmhosts changes have already been implemented, what are your thoughts so far and do you think Legacy of the Void will be the « savior » of StarCraft II ?

I really don't have any strong opinions or much to say at all on these topics. I like StarCraft II and always have so I don't really care what happens. It'd be nice if the game got more popular though of course.

Do you have (or had) any « role model » among the Zerg players ? for example at the beginning, or even today someone you like to catch some games from ?

Not really anyone in particular, I'll watch any decent Korean Zerg's games. Never been big on idolisation.

Multiple choice

Now we'll conclude the interview with some two/three-choice questions. Quite simple: just answer the question without any explanation from you, ready?

Gogo.

ZvT or ZvP ?

ZvT.

Japan, California or Switzerland?

Japan !

Macro or micro ?

Macro.

SSL or GSL ?

GSL.

Ok! Well thank you very much for your time it was a real pleasure :) If you have anything to add for the readers, and any shoutouts to make, feel free to do so !

No problem, thank you. Shoutout to my team mYinsanity and their sponsors. You can follow me on twitter @mYiPetraeus.

Thanks again, bye !