

A regular on the foreign scene, the Protoss player coming from Finland has only rarely disappointed his fans. Always ranked among the top Western players, Welmu is a top 16 (and more) collector in Premier Tournaments: DreamHack, WCS or even ASUS ROG. Through a short interview, learn to know a bit more about one the most consistent player around the StarCraft II pro-scene.

- RAGE.eSports - eXelon Gaming - Empire - Eclypsia - NewRoSoft

Early involvement



[M]TinkeR : You've started gaming with Brood War, you said it actually helped you with StarCraft II later. Many people claim that those games are quite different though, in what extent did this experience helped you? Was it a natural step for you to switch from Brood War to StarCraft II?

[imG]Welmu : I only started Brood War a couple of months before StarCraft II came out so I wasn't very good in Brood War before it. It was a very natural step for me since StarCraft II was an exciting new chance for me, so I switched immediatly when I got my beta key.

It helped me to understand RTS concepts, though you are right they are completely different games in actual gameplay. Most important things I got out of it were mechanics and understanding BOs. My ingame decision making was pretty limited since I had problems just keeping up doing everything ^^

So I assume you already picked Protoss in Brood War? What made you choose them instead of Zerg or Terran?

I was actually playing Terran for first, but I switched to Protoss since I read that it was the easiest race for beginners and I liked it more than Terran, so I just stuck with it.

Welmu today



You managed to qualify again for Challenger League. You've been in Premier League from 2013 until this year and your match in Challenger League against Ret in Season 2. What do you think was missing back then from you to beat him? In what extent did that loss affect you, if it did?

I think it was part of me having a three-month break before Season 1 and I was still lacking in solid game-wise, so I felt like that break was still affecting me. Also I didn't get to prepare much for games against Ret so I made some very bad BO choices. It didn't affect me much since I knew what was wrong with the games, even though after the match I was really disappointed about my game strategy in there, it was really lacking.

So as I said you're qualified for Challenger League: even if the qualifications aren't completely done yet [editor's note: at the time of the interview], is there any opponent that you would prefer not to play against or not so much? What are your expectations for this season?

Hmm not really, everyone is fine for me though Bunny and Lilbow have been doing very good lately, so I guess I would want to avoid them the most. I just want to make it to Premier League now and make sure I won't lose my Challenger match. It will be the last season on Heart of the Swarm before Legacy of the Void comes out, so I would like to show that I'm capable of winning big tournaments, but well, at the same time I don't have any expectations set up for me.

What are your thoughts about the current WCS format? It'll be the last season for 2015, if you could compare to the past three years, what was the best (or the « least bad ») of all of them and why?

I like the fact that we also get to compete against NA/China/etc. players in Premier League this year. The only real bad thing is that one Bo5 decides who gets to play in Premier League, which adds a lot of randomness to it. The past years though, many people didn't like the fact that Koreans were playing in Premier League and I was also against it at first, but I actually started to enjoy getting tougher competition and being able to face Koreans too.

2012 season was, I think, the nations competiting against each other, which was a cool idea though maybe not the best suitable format for WCS. I wish there would be a similar tournament with the best players from each nation in a different tournament form than WCS. Overall, the only bad thing about WCS for me is the Challenger League format.

Yes 2012 was with Nationals WCS.

You've went for the first time to the HomeStory Cup last week. How was your experience there overall? (tournament wise, atmosphere, to feel like being in an oven for few days, etc.)

Haha yeah it was really damn hot there, it was pretty difficult to sleep since there was no air conditioning at the hotel :P. I really liked the atmosphere, getting to talk to everyone and just hanging around, having fun downstairs. I was happy I made it to WCS in the first qualifier so I didn't have to stress about it.

I didn't expect much out of the tournament and I had a really hard time focusing on stage since it was so hot, but in the players room there was cool air so it was much better there. It was fun, I would definitely go there again if I get the chance :)

StarCraft II in general



You said earlier that many people didn't like playing against Koreans back when there was no region-lock. In what extent do you think the move of Koreans back to Korea changed the level or the metagame in Europe?

European ladder is much worse without Koreans grinding it here. It is hard to get good practice in EU now without any Koreans playing. I feel like it demotivates many players and lowers skill in EU.

The game seems quite balanced nowadays compared to some periods we've known in the past. What are your personal thoughts about it, and obviously especially for Protoss?

I feel too that the game is more balanced right now, the only match-up that I feel like it might have some problems is PvZ that is maybe slightly too good for Protoss, but that's hard to say also since there hasn't been too much time since the Swarm Host nerf. About for Protoss, I kinda dislike that the current maps encourage to do more all-ins and making it hard to play macro-games.

Let's talk a bit more about you now. You've been in NewRoSoft for about two years, what made you think « ok, it's time to change now » and how did Imaginary Gaming approach you?

There isn't anything special about it, NewRoSoft just didn't have budget anymore to offer a contract so I had to look out for other teams, and I saw the CEO of Imaginary gaming in WCS Season 1 finals. We previously had some talks, but before making a contract he wanted to see me in person first. After that, I gave it more thought and the offer was pretty good so I decided to join the team and so far it has been very good inside the team.

As far as I remember you were studying computer science, maybe I'm not up to date at all regarding this now, is that still the case? And if not, are you planning to go full-time?

Yeah it's still the case, I'm doing it a bit slower speed than usual and I haven't really thought of going full-time. My motivation for playing drops nowadays easily if I play too much, so I don't think I would enjoy playing full-time. I have to see how things go in Legacy of the Void and decide what to do.

Regarding Legacy of the Void, not so many WCS players actually played it a lot since you guys obviously have to practice, but do you have any opinion on it so far anyway? Especially as a Protoss?

To be honest I only played a little bit when it came out and I don't know how things have gone since then. One thing I was a bit worried back then was the opening variance since it seemed like Nexus first was too good of a choice because there was nothing to punish that. I might play some qualfiers for Red Bull Archon Tournament, maybe I'll see then how things have changed.

Any idea with whom you'd pair with in Archon mode if you qualify?

NightEnD asked me to play and he apparently has a lot of experience playing Legacy of the Void so I think we would have a good chance to qualify.

Who wants some more?



OK! Looking forward to see that :) « Additionnal » questions remaining :

Do you think you'll still be around eSports in five years from now?

Hmmm, it's so difficult to predict :D. I wish I'll be somehow still involved then, so let's say yes!

If tomorrow you'd be asked to play another race, which one would you pick and why?

Terran, since I'm pretty decent with it like a low-Grandmaster level. Also you could do all kind of fun stuff like mass dropping, Widow mines and SCV pulls ;)

That's a pretty good transition for the next one: what unit from another race would you exchange with a Protoss unit (which one)?

Warp prism with Medivacs, I want to be able to boost my Warp prism out of the trouble as well!

Ahah OK yeah I understand :p Last one: in a world where StarCraft II would not exist, in which game could you have been a progamer: CS:GO, PassionStone, LoL or Dota2?

Dota 2 most likely, I used to play some DotA a long time ago so that would have been the most natural. I also used to be pretty good in beta of PassionStone, but I never was really passionate about playing it competitively.

We're reaching the end of the interview, thank you very much for your time, it was a pleasure to have you! If you have any thing to add, or any shoutout please do so.

No problems, just thanks for Imaginary gaming, my fans, friends and my family for the support. Oh and also thanks for the interview!

Thanks and good luck for future, bye!

See you