Starcraft 2

We had the chance to talk with Stefan 'MorroW' Andersson shortly after his win in the biggest StarCraft 2 tournament to date, Intel Extreme Masters Cologne.

We had the chance to talk with Stefan 'MorroW' Andersson shortly after his win in the biggest StarCraft 2 tournament to date, Intel Extreme Masters Cologne.

Hello MorroW. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi my name is stefan andersson and im 18 years old living in sweden. I have been playing sc1 for a really long time and when the beta came out i switched and right now I'm fully focused on sc2 and my last year in school. My goal is to become/stay one of the best terrans in the world for a longer period of time.

You attended IEM Cologne as a replacement for Pavel ‘BratOK’ Kuznetsov  who was unable to attend. You left the event with the 1st place in the first major LAN competition for StarCraft II. What were your expectations  before the event and when did you realize you could actually win it?

Before I went my goal was to get through the groupstage to prove myself worthy of the invite. Once beat dimaga I knew that I'd have a really good chance of taking it all down.

You have faced some heavy competition by beating players like mTw’s DIMAGA and TeamLiquid’s TheLittleOne on your way to victory. What was the more challenging match and why?

TLO wasn't that difficult, he got quite lucky sometimes and got ahead but it was for sure to be expected that I would win because I am more solid in TvT. DIMAGA was the hardest opponent in the tournament because he's according to me the best ZvT user I've ever faced in this game.

The StarCraft scene has always been divided in “Foreign” and “Korean”. The Korean scene has been the strongest with major televised leagues and, naturally, the Korean players have been on top of the game by a big margin. With SCII having tournaments around the globe, and even Korean events open for international gamers (GSL, by GomTV) do you think that gap will not happen in StarCraft II? Are the people out of Korea ready to claim StarCraft’s thrown?

Right now I'm not sure how good the koreans are but I'm very sure that they will become the best in the future but if you're a top foreigner player like these ppl on IEM you got a good chanse of staying up there as long as you put in as much effort as they do/will.
I don't believe the foreigners will be very successful in the GomTV tournament for several reasons but speaking of skill people like TLO may very well be one of the best players in korea, i dont know since i havent played or seen them much.

StarCraft II is supposed to unite the StarCraft and WarCraft scenes and we have already seen examples of players crossing over from WC3 like DemusliM and LucifroN among others. Do you feel like the people with the SCBW background have any edge over these new players or that you are all in ground zero in this new game?

The sc1 players are doing alot better and that was expected, sc1 requires more skill, dedication, practice - you name it so obviously they would get the edge over the others in this new game. but being a top player in wc3 is also not gonna be bad by any means, its just that coming from sc background gave us more practice and hard work to do which is rewarding us in sc2. I have alot of respect for DeMusliM and LucifroN as gamers but other than those wc3 players there arent alot of them on the top compared to lets say sc1.

TheLittleOne comes from a small RTS scene and has achieved some good results and praise for his innovative tactics. Is StarCraft II a game that can be played on a high level by players with with a not-so-impressive background with big games like StarCraft or Warcraft or do you think that a case like TheLittleOne’s is a one-off?

In a year or 2 I think the absolute majority of sc2 progamers will come from a sc1 background, right now the game isn't very evolved so these mechanics or macro abilities aren't that apparent but later on sc1 gamers will really get this for free. TLO reached a- on iccup as far as I know which is just as impressive as being one of the best players in the world besides sc1, if u didn't actually play that game on this high level you will find it hard to believe yourself but yes it was very hard to be succesful in sc1 so smaller achievements would be more precious and give u more experience now coming in to new challenges with sc2.

You were not in the top of the StarCraft: Brood War scene and you came on top of the first StarCraft II major event. What has changed? Does SC2 simply suit you more or is it a matter of motivation and practice?

I was for sure one of the best players outside of korea when the beta came, there were just too many invitationals and tournaments I couldn't get in to show it. Only major thing I played was TSL [TeamLiquid Star League] where I did fairly good. I practiced harder in sc1 but i have just as much motivation now. The avarage top player of sc2 is so much worse than the avarage top player in sc1 so to switch game and put in about same effort claimed me to be one of the worlds best terrans just because like I said before, sc1 was very rewarding in giving u skill and experience rather than giving you efame or achievements. Switching game was a very easy task and suddenly all these new mechanics would grant me near "perfect macro" only after 1000 games unlike sc1 where I played 1x1 for 2 years to become top notch outside korea.
Another thing I would like to mention is that back in sc1 I used to sometimes get nervous on lans and get thrown off my a-game because of the lan experience while now on IEM I tackle it as good as its gonna get for a player. to simplyfi, it just takes some lans to get used to it.

We still have not seen a major team league for StarCraft II being announced. How important are team leagues for you? Are mousesports.SC2 looking forward to attend a league in a similar format to the now extinct WC3L by ESL?

Teamleagues are not personally so important for me but I obviously want to do the best I can for my clan with good results. There are not many team leagues out there and we only have 1 (i think) and ive played about 3 clan wars in sc2 thus far and won all of them. myself i look forward more to the big individual tournaments because they give me more as a player but team leagues is a fun thing to have on the side with honor and pride is the reward rather than money and fame.

TeamLiquid are sending most of their players to live and train in Korea. How big of an impact will that have in the players' performances? Would you consider doing something like that yourself and with your team, mousesports?

If they use the opportunity well and practice as hard as the sc1 progamers practice sc1 then they will be best in the world in no-time, they should be at least but realistically there will be other things holding them back for example adjusting to the new culture and life they will have in korea. I have big doubts these foreigners will pass the 7hour practice daily so i still think us other gamers will put up a good fight with them, but theoretically being on a pro team like that makes u improve at least 3 times faster i think. i need to finish school 1 year left and after that i would like to try it out (assuming sc2 becomes a big success) just because im one of those guys who are able to play 10 hours a day without losing any motivation or concentration. i think the progamer life would sound perfect for me while tons and tons of other ppl would just not see what you get out of it.

What players do you see competing for the top spot in the upcoming competitions?

Outside of korea - the players you saw at IEM minus a few here and there. The basic structure is still gonna be top players of sc1 and wc3 though. Some of the older players might quit and we might have a few up and coming stars without playing sc1 or wc3 but its gonna take a long time for anything of that to happen. So yea, the players you see on top of the brackets are gonna stay up there for at least a half year.
I'm not gonna mention any special names in here tho because predicting this is so hard because its all in the hands of the players how much effort they want to put into this game.

I definetely see myself  staying on the position I am today forward for at least a few months, or at least i really hope I can ^^ it will be hard because i have things beside sc2 while many players on the top right now is putting all their time into this game, we'll see.

What advice would you give to a newcomer that wants to attempt to make a living out of playing StarCraft II?

It's all about having a good attitude. Losing is good, winning is bad. constantly find better players to play against and always try to find edges in your play that you can cut. follow the pro scene watch the replays and vods and analyse them. you will need many hours a day and there is no magic trick to get to the top, all the players you see here put tons and tons of hours into practice, so at the end of the day it comes down to wether u can theoretically sit the entire weekend and practice 20 hours for 2 days. players in sc2 are on avarage really terrible compared to sc1 just because its a brand new game so it means if u wanna go to the top go for it now and dont wait 1 year and then go for it, because its gonna be alot harder then.

Don't expect to make a living out of a computer game, everything besides the money and fame should be what drives you forward but if you only wanna become on the top for the money and fame then you will never have a chance to make it

Thanks for the interview. Would you like to leave any shout outs?

shoutout to mousesports and its sponsors Razer, intel, GeiL and Home of Hardware. Thanks for the interview and to everyone who has been supporting me during my sc2 days. i hope to be able to deliver more achivements in the future :)