The following has been transcribed from a brief audio interview that I was able to conduct with Ence Serral following his Round of 8 victory over Dark in the 2018 WCS Global Finals.

(edited for brevity)

Cyan: That was quite the victory! With Dark sounding so confident as he was heading into the series, do you think that it was just bravado? Was he unrealistic in his prediction? And how did you feel heading into that series?

Serral: I was actually feeling really confident heading into that series. I already had all my maps planned out beforehand, and I thought my plan was pretty good. I’m going to say I was extremely confident actually, like I was expecting to win that one. But Dark actually put a good fight against me and I feel I made multiple mistakes and I played a bit too carefully.

Cyan: So now you’ll face Rogue, in another ZvZ. You just mentioned you had planned your match vs Dark very clearly. Do you feel any less confident now thinking ahead to another ZvZ? Do you think you may have shown enough for Rogue to have figured you out maybe?

Serral: I do feel a bit sad that I don’t actually have the time to prepare. Only this evening and tomorrow morning but, he has the same time and I can also take advantage of watching my games now and maybe play a bit differently. We’ll see.

Cyna: This tournament format is very different from the WCS Circuit tournaments where you asserted your dominance throughout 2018. How different is it to play in the Global Finals where you compete over the course of a week or more, compared to one of the WCS Circuit weekend tournaments?

Serral: Like I said, there’s a bit more preparation time. I would say that’s helped me in a way but at the same time I think that there are people who are better at preparation tournaments than I am.

Cyan: You’ve become such an icon of the SC2 scene now, alongside Maru. With sOs defeating Maru, many feel that you’re the favourite to win the whole tournament. How does that feel for you, is it a weight on your shoulders?

Serral: Actually I don’t really think about it at all. It doesn’t give me any pressure. Its nice that people have trust in me that I can take the Koreans down and win, but I don’t think about that too much. I just play my own game and concentrate on what I know how to do.

Cyan: Of the players who remain, do you think that you can succeed in winning the global finals? Who is the one player you would most like to avoid if it were possible?

Serral: Well right now, I would say if I can beat Rogue, I’m very happy and I think I can win the whole thing. I’m very confident in my ZvP. I already played against sOs and I won 2–0, so I think that adds to my confidence. I’ve already played Stats in GSL vs The World and I won that event though I made multiple mistakes so I feel confident against him as well. I guess Rogue is the hardest to beat out of those three, and he’s my next opponent so we’ll see.

Cyan: How long can you keep this up as not just the best Zerg in the WCS Circuit, not just the best player in WCS Circuit, but perhaps the best Zerg in the world?

Serral: I mean, the plan is to keep it up for five years but (laughing) I don’t know that it works that way so I’ll just try to keep it going as long as I can.