▲ Left to right: Neko, Striker, and Gamsu

With the help of InvenGlobal translators, I was able to ask Se-hyeon "Neko" Park, Young-jin "Gamsu" Noh and Nam-joo "Striker" Kwon questions directly after their win against LA Gladiators during the Stage 2 Playoffs. While they themselves were already out of playoff contention, their victory denied Gladiators a playoff chance and I first wanted to know how they felt about that:





How confident were you against LA Gladiators?

Neko: We were really confident. We knew that LA Gladiators was a really good team so we kept our guard on for the whole time, but we still thought that we were going to win.

How is it like playing in Boston Uprising?

Striker: The environment is much better than Korea in which allows us to practice and live in a better condition. All team members are taking care of one another, including the coach who takes care of all of us. It’s really good.

What is the biggest difficulty you have playing in US?

Neko: Language barrier without a doubt. I’m trying my best to overcome this by practicing with teammates as much as possible. I often think of Korean foods as well, like Kimchi stew, soybean stew, and whatnot.



What do you think the team needs to improve for Stage 3?

Gamsu: The most important thing we consider in every new Stage is the balance patch. We need to consider how we are going to change our playstyle depending on the patch and adopt that strategy. We will focus on finding the best playstyle for the team.





Do you feel bad at all knowing you denied Gladiator's playoff chance?

Neko: I personally like Fissure, so I felt a bit sorry for that.

Gamsu: It is common in pro scenes that you do your best for victory. I had to focus on winning, so I didn’t have any time to be sorry about it.

Striker: The moment of us losing against Houston in Stage 1 came up in my mind, so I felt sorry then.

Who do you think is the Boston Uprising MVP for Stage 2?

Neko: Oh, it’s me. We focused more on the frontline in the early League, but I did everything I could regardless of that situation, and I believe that I served my role perfectly (laugh). Like you watched today, I suppose I’ll be able to carry the team if my teammates care a little bit more about me (laugh).





Gamsu: I think he’s into carrying the team too much nowadays (laugh).





Striker: DreamKazper. I would like to give an applause to his Widowmaker. He showed good moments in 1v1, and he contributed to many kills as well. Not only that, he was also capable of reading the map for the team.





Gamsu: Striker, because he has a playstyle with no ups and downs and also does a good amount of damage as DPS.

"In my opinion, I think my Zenyatta is the best in the world"

Who do you think is the player that improved significantly in the team?

Neko: We say DreamKazper. His performances are becoming so good that he can even be considered as an ideal representation of an NA player. We think that he will become a solid player after a few more experiences.



Gamsu and Striker both agree.





What was your most memorable happening in Stage 2?

Gamsu: We always do our best in every game, so every moment of matches are memorable. However, if I have to pick, it’s today’s match. We had a series of 3:2 scores for all three matches, and this helped us learn a lot. Although we tended to become quite nervous in 2:2 situation, but I think we are certainly adapted to that.



We were able to shake off the tension in the match. It is true that we are mentally and physically exhausted after the 3:2 match, but the result was good and I think this will surely strengthen us much more.

▲ Gamsu

Any words for your fans?

Striker: Even though we failed in every Playoffs of the Stage, we’ll do our best to make it to the next Playoffs in Stage 3.





Gamsu: I believe that the experiences from Stage 1 and 2 have benefited us quite much. We’ll show a good performance with a solid team management from the early Stage 3 and 4 to the end of the League.





Neko: Since these two talked about the team, I’ll speak about a personal story. In my opinion, I think my Zenyatta is the best in the world



(laugh; Gamsu and Striker seem visibly embarrassed after hearing his boasting).



I think the observer strangely catches other moments whenever I am doing really good. I wish that the Blizzard observer focuses on my play a bit more (laugh). I’ll do my best to show a better of myself in upcoming games.



▲ Striker



All photos inside the Blizzard Arena stadium taken by Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment and subsequently released by Blizzard for publication.

