A good Italian player isn't what we could call a common thing, especially in a European StarCraft scene dominated by "the North". So imagine an Italian player that reaches Grandmaster rank at the age of twelve, and you've got yourself a rare find, which is probably less rare in South Korea, but hey, we're not there!

Riccardo took time out for a little interview with us. Let's focus on his journey, already well-filled for his age.

From one Blizzard game to another (bis)

[M] TinkeR : I'd like to know how did you fall into esports ? What was the first videogame you've played competitively and how did you end up playing SC2 ?



[mYi]Reynor : My first video game was Diablo II. I played it with my father when I was like 7. Then I get bored of Diablo so I asked my father "Hey daddy, can you buy me another game?" and he said yes! We were at the video game shop and I saw StarCraft II. I asked my father if we could buy it and he said yes. But he wasn't sure about that because he knew that this game was so hard ! That's how I get into StarCraft II.

When did you start playing StarCraft II, at the beginning of Wings of Liberty or later ?

I started playing StarCraft II in 2010, at the beggining of Wings of Liberty

Did you father have a background on Brood War or did he just heard that StarCraft was a hard game ?

He Just heard it from a friend.

What was your first league placement ? What was your reaction when you reached Grandmaster ?

My first league placement was Silver and then I got into Bronze. When I reached Grandmaster, I was in the gaming house, it was like 3 AM. I was so happy when I got it that I called my father and my mother, they were so scared because I called them at 3 AM :D

How does that feel being the youngest player ever reaching Grandmaster ?

I was very happy :D

His life with StarCraft II



How do your parents feel about you playing at a so high level, travelling to tournaments, etc ?

They are so happy for me, I think they like to travel with me and go to the tournaments, they really like that :D

What about your friends ? Do they share the same passion as you for StarCraft II ? What do they think about it ?

My friends don't share my StarCraft II passion because they don't understand.

How do you deal with school and practice ? What does a typical day looks like for you ?

I come back from school at 2 PM, then I usually watch a movie. And at 4 PM I do my homeworks and then I go to practice until dinner. And after dinner I go to bed.

So it's like 2 hours a day on a week you have school ?

Yes it is.

You've joined mYinsanity last year, how is it going with your teammates so far ? Do you practice with them sometimes ?

My teammates are so amazing and they are so funny ! But I rarely practice with them.

How did you get approach by mYinsanity ? How did it happen ?

It was because my mentor was Evaner, he was in mYinsanity so PengWin asked Evaner to see with me if I could be interested. Evaner has stopped playing now :(

How often do you go to the mYinsanity gaming house ? Since you're living in Italy, and Switzerland is a border country, how far are you from there ?

I usually go to the gaming house twice a year, and it's 7 hours by car from Italy to Switzerland.

We don't know much about the Italian eSports scene, and especially for StarCraft II. Recently, Vasa has announced Vasacast disbandment. How is it going overall ?

The StarCraft II eSports scene in Italy isn't going very well, there's not many people who plays StarCraft II.

You first went to international tournaments not long ago (DreamHack), how would you describe your experience ?

It's been amazing ! I love to go to DreamHacks, it's so funny ! Because I like to talk with my clanmates and with all my friends. Sometimes I'm a bit nervous before I play...

Are you planning to do it again next year ?

Yes, I will go to DreamHack France for sure, but I don't think I will go to Bucharest.

StarCraft II globally



Back at when you started, were you cheering for a player in particular or a team ? What about now ?

When I was at my first DreamHack, I was cheering for Life, but I was teamless. Now I cheer for all my team and all my friends !

Do you manage to have some time to watch GSL or Proleague whenever you can ?

GSL starts in the morning, so it's when I go to school :( And yeah, sometimes I watch Proleague, but rarely.

Legacy of the Void has been introduced at BlizzCon, along with the new features/units and economy changes. What do you think about them ?

I thinks it's too early to talk about balance, but I'm so excited! I think economic changes will be cool against all-ins

Who would you consider the best Zerg player right now? and among the foreigner ?

Today, I think the best Zerg player is Life. And the best foreigner, mmh, I don't know, I think it's Snute.

Future, and bonus questions



Where do you see yourself in 5 years ?

I hope I will be at the same level as Koreans, but it's just a hope !

Let's say you have to do a bootcamp and you have to choose one Zerg player, one Protoss and one Terran for a whole month to play with. Who would you choose and why?

I'd like to play against the best Zerg in the world so I can learn everything. And for bootcamp I dont know who should I choose :D. For Zerg, I'd pick Sacsri (now that he is one of my best friends), then as a Protoss, Stardust; and as a Terran, jjakji.

Do you have a favorite music artist ?

Mmh, at the moment I don't have any favorite artist, but I really like rap.

Any favorite movie ?

I like Gladiator :D

What's your favorite country, and which one would you want to go and never went to?

I really like Switzerland and I'd like to go to the USA

Well thank you very much for your time, it was really nice to have few words with you :) Do you have any thanks or shoutout to make before we wrap up ?

Really thanks to you for making this interview, I'd like to thank my team and sorry everyone for my bad english !

No problem, actually your english is pretty good, at your age I couldn't even speak correctly my native language ahah. Thanks again !



OK thank you ! Goodbye !