Welcome DisK and Raze to the ROOT family!

Published on by Topher Doll

Today we'd like to offically introduce Alex "DisK" Corriveau and Jay "Raze" Whipple as the newest member of ROOT. These two prominent members of the NA community are going to be a welcome addition to the team. These two Protoss players have the fact they were both Terrans who swapped races in common. Both are also familiar faces for those who are fans of the NA scene as they are regulars in tournaments such as NA Apprentice, the WCS NA qualifiers, Cheeseadelphia and the multitude of online cups. When they joined the team I had the chance to interview them a bit and learn a little more about them.





*Interviews edited slightly for spelling and clarity*





DisK Interview





So can you give me a quick background on yourself and how you got into SC2?





So I've been playing blizzard games since I was a little kid like diablo 2 warcraft 1/2/3 starcraft 1 WoW and so on. I played wow for a long time but at one point I got sick of it because I *achieved* what I wanted from it and I started to play starcraft 2 near the end of wings of liberty as a complete casual/noob trying to figure out and enjoy the game as much as possible. At the release of Heart of the swarm expension thats where I took the game more seriously like watching tournements , watching youtube vods , just trying to get as much info as possible. I Started as a silver player and it took me about a year to achieve my first grand master ever. I started as protoss then switch to terran (yeah I got my first GM with terran) and then switch back to protoss in lotv because I felt that terran changed to much from the transition of hots to lotv and protoss felt more like my style in LotV.

You've played Terran and then switched to Protoss, what made you choose Terran to start and then what was the cause of your switch to Protoss?



I though terran was pretty cool since that if you were obviously able to pull it out you could out multi task people really well with the mobility of it , like droping left and right while having a push going somewhere else and just being really fast right... but then in LotV the so called *tankivac* mechanic kicked in and I HATED that so much like it didnt feel like I was playing terran anymore or atleast the type of terran that I knew from hots. I've always had a hard time choosing between terran and protoss in the first place but whenever that kicked in, it was a clear choice for me as I was having more fun with protoss anyways.

So you've been a big part of the NA and online scene for a while now, do you have a favorite tournament you've played in or won?



I was able to achieve Challenger twice this year (winter & spring) which im quite happy about so I would say that wcs overall is a fun tournement to me and also I won the NA apprentice season 3 aswell so definitly a nice and fun tournement that I enjoyed alot and still do.

Is there someone on ladder or in the scene you consider a rival or someone you get excited when you face them?



Whenever I play either a pro korean or just a pro player EU/NA its definitly fun and exciting to me like im going full tryhard mode to get some nice games going. I'm not sure if I have any rival right now or atleast its coming into my mind as we speak.

Is there someone you have tried to model your game after or who you love watching them play to try and learn something new?





In HotS , I've always look after SKT Rain and pretty much copied his playstyle as much as possible but since he left sc2 to sc1 I had to find someone else and I went with Classic. I enjoy and like how stats plays aswell but I'm definitly more of a Classic fan

Raze Interview





So can you give me a quick background on yourself and how you got into SC2?





I had a few friends that played brood war casually, so I bought SC2 when it released. They had all stopped playing by then, but I loved it and spent most of my free time on it. I started at the bottom of bronze, and slowly worked my way up to GM over the course of five or six years.

You've played Terran and then switched to Protoss, what made you choose Terran to start and then what was the cause of your switch to Protoss?





Up until I got masters, I would switch races every few months or so from tilt (In total I probably have more Protoss games than Terran or Zerg). I went from Diamond to GM pretty quickly with Terran, so I stuck with it for awhile, but would still offrace all the time. I played a ton of Protoss in 2016, but then dropped it after patch 4.0 because I didn't want to learn to play it without the mothership core. After the patch where stalkers could 3-shot marines and SCVs, I lost to a 5.3k Protoss in a macro game and decided it was time to jump ship.

So you've been a part of the NA and online scene for a while now, do you have a favorite tournament you've played in or won?





Every tournament is different. Nothing in North America really compares to the scope and prestige of a Dreamhack, but things like Cheeseadelphia can be fun and laid back while still cultivating the same competitive atmosphere within the games themselves. My personal favorite is probably the second Cheeseadelphia, in very early LotV. I played very well for my skill level at the time, and even after losing I got to watch Kelazhur (who I don't think was well known at the time) play his heart out to to beat Huk in the finals. The only other time I felt as inspired watching someone play was Byun at the end of 2016, it gave me passion for at least a week.

Is there someone on ladder or in the scene you consider a rival or someone you get excited when you face them?





I wouldn't say I have a rival. I consider myself more or less alone in a weird spot between what most people consider 'pro' and 'semipro'. I'm usually very consistent and rarely lose to people below me, but I struggle to get upset wins over big names. I think the player that I have the most interesting dynamic with is Future, because when he first started competing I helped mentor him a bit, and now he's pretty solidly the best American player after Neeb. I've always focused way more on series planning and mindgames than most people, and I've helped him with prep countless times. He adopted a similar approach and I can say very confidently that he's the best preparation player that I know. We've remained very close the entire time, and it would feel wrong to call him a rival, even a friendly one.

Is there someone you have tried to model your game after or who you love watching them play to try and learn something new? You mentioned watching ByuN before, were there other players who have made you pumped to get back into ladder or watch a tournament?





I try to take insight from as many players as I can. Compared to most people I don't really have a set playstyle, and whether I'm playing textbook standard or doing weird all ins every game (or something from the massive area in between) varies by the month, so if I see something intriguing I'm always excited to try it out. Taeja was my favorite player throughout HotS, and Byun in early legacy. I haven't really found a Protoss player to idolize yet, but I have a ton of respect for Harstem and Drogo. Both of them view the game in a very technical way, and have made outstanding guides for builds and styles that cover all the bases.

I'd like to thank both players for the interview and we are glad to welcome these two staples of the scene to our roster and look forward to 2020 and what they can accomplish. Give both of these new members a follow on Twitter (DisK and Raze) and on Twitch (DisK and Raze).