Amid the Korean infestation of WCS America stands a rare sight. "Emigrating" from Norway to compete in the American circuit is Jens "Snute" Aasgaard, one of Team Liquid's best Zergs and one of the two foreigners still left in WCS America premier league.

Snute's run through the WCS probably did not make him America's favorite player as he gave a helping hand for the elimination of last year's USA champion Vibe as well as ROOT's TheOgnis in the Ro32. From there, Snute evolved and started killing Koreans, defeating MLG finalist Alicia and ending multiple times GSL winner NesTea to advance to the Round of 8 as one of only two foreigners. With a mirror match against Revival incoming to give start to his playoffs run, we approached the Norwegian to hear what he has to say.

Read what Snute thinks of the WCS format, why did he choose America and not Europe, what are his expectations for the Revival match and the weekend as a whole and who has the best ZvZ in the entire world. We also talk baneling deaths.

The interview was conducted by e-mail on May 28th by Radoslav "Nydra" Kolev.

So I have to start with the obvious question and the one I wanted to ask since day one of WCS: Why choose North America before Europe?

NA is the region that allows you to travel and play online with too many latency issues, EU was not an option to me because I would be living in Korea most of the time and KR-EU lag is too much.

Was your decision dictated by the overall level of competition and do you regret the choice seeing how it’s basically “GSL: The spin-off” already?

I think WCS NA was the best choice for me, preferrably I would’ve liked to play in the old GSL but I think from a progamer perspective it wouldn’t make sense for me to choose WCS KR right now.

There’s also this moment where WCS Europe’s production gets a way better outreach compared to America’s, the finals particularly broke the 100K mark if I recall correctly. Is sacrificing such exposure worth it?

It’s too early to say how the finals of WCS America will be, but to me WCS EU wasn’t an option because of the travelling. I don’t think anyone would pick a region just because it has more viewers, it’s one of the less important things to consider.



​ Photo: Carlton Beener

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"I really liked the local approach of last year's WCS"

While we’re on WCS topic, what’s your take on the whole non-residency thing? Not many fans (or players for that matter) seem to like it.

I preferred the old format but on the other hand it would’ve caused problems for me now that I wanted to live in Korea. So personally I’m happy since it’s working out well for me, but I really liked the local approach of last year’s WCS.

When we talked to Strelok earlier this month, he suggested one particular thing that I think made quite a lot of sense: people who choose to compete in a region should also compete in its ladder as to help its development and not just come in and steal away the money. Do you concur?

It’s a good thought but awkward to enforce. Pro-gamers are free to do what’s best for them and there is no way to stop players from ‘coming in and stealing the money’ with the current ruleset.

Reflecting back on WCS Europe (won by Mvp) and looking back at the WCS NA group stage, do you spot anything that hurts competition and needs to be changed in the near future?

No, competition wise I think it’s all good. There are many opportunities to get into Premier League and the competition there is great across all regions. There are lots of opportunities to succeed and win prize money.

Now that you’re part of EG-TL’s roster for the Proleague, you’ve been traveling between Korea and America. How tiresome is this for you and how much time do you have left for practice?

Travelling is a bit tiresome, my shape goes down a bit but I do have a lot of time left for practice since I’m playing full time. I’m not particularily concerned.

You’re playing Revival in the Ro8 this weekend. Having beaten many a good Zerg player in the past (him included), are your spirits high for this particular match?

Yes, I think that I have a fair chance to advance into the semifinals.

Said ZvZ record actually includes victories over ridiculously renowned names and masters of the mirror like NesTea and Life. What does a player learn after overcoming such an obstacle?

Anything is possible with enough work and practice.

Who do you study ZvZ from? Any particular player which you think understands the match-up in HotS on a different level from everybody else?

I think JD has the best ZvZ in the world right now. Life and Leenock are also very strong. Apart from that I follow my own way for the most part.

Overall, how are you liking the new ZvZ? Last time we talked to you (at IEM World Championship) you weren’t particularly fond of it.

Since the spore buff I think that ZvZ is better than in WoL. I do wish that Queens had slightly better anti-air, though.





Photo: TeamLiquid

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"I think Jaedong has the best ZvZ in the world right now"

In this same interview you mentioned how you have the bad habit of falling victim of your emotions. This weekend, the stage and the stake are really high. Are you afraid nervousness might affect you? Overall, did you improve towards being better composed at important tournaments?

I might be nervous during tournaments but I’m not particularily concerned about the stakes of my match vs. RevivaL. I’ve already done very well in WCS NA and I’m feeling quite good about it. I haven’t worked specifically towards being more composed at tournaments but I’ve spent some time thinking about it and it has helped.

The Koreans are known for flourishing in tournaments which allow for long preparation periods between rounds. Do you think this puts every foreigner in WCS automatically in the disadvantage? What about you specifically?

No, I think foreigners are very good at preparing for their opponents, but don’t really get the chance to show it all that often. I know how to prepare for my opponents, but it’s also dangerous to make too many assumptions.

There’re are players like your teammate HerO, the Axiom boys Crank and Ryung, Moonglade and Alive in the bracket. Who’s the biggest threat among them?

HerO is the biggest threat, the other players are also very strong.

Your overall projections for the weekend?

HerO will make it to the finals, apart from that it can go many ways. The skill level is very close amongst the remaining participants.

Now this last question is very important for all the statistics freaks and GosuBet enthusiasts - how many banelings need to die and how many mutalisks must be produced before you can beat Revival?

Haha :D I think we’ll see at least 50 banelings and 30 mutalisk in our series. But as you know the spore patch has changed ZvZ a lot. We’ll see what happens.

If you have anyone else to address as we wrap this up - the floor is yours.

Huge shoutouts to TeamLiquid and our sponsors ShinyThings, Razer, Twitch and Barracuda Networks. I’m very thankful for them giving me the opportunity to travel and practice in Korea. I’ll do my best for WCS NA and hope for enjoyable games!