As the top 16 players in foreign competition prepare to gather in Toronto, Canada, theScore eSports was able to talk to four contenders, one from each group. Bringing together the Ro16 is mYinsanity's Petraeus, who discusses his preparations for WCS and his mindset going into the finals. This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.

Congratulations on your spot in the Ro16. How do you feel about heading to Toronto at the end of the month?

Thanks. They asked me the same thing right after I made it through my Ro32 group and I didn't really know what to say because I didn't feel much at the time. I'm not the most emotional guy in the world but in this past, wins like this have meant everything to me. I'm excited for the potential to go further in this season of WCS. I think I have very good odds of getting out of my group. Right now as it stands, I don't really feel any sense of accomplishment from the result, though it certainly exceeded expectations.

Let's talk a little bit about your group, and the Ro16 in general. You've drawn two Zergs in Jaedong and Ret, and a Protoss in StarDust. When you're preparing, will you be practicing those matchups, or studying the players, or both?

Well my first match of the group will be against Jaedong and he's also in my opinion the favorite of the group so that will be where most of my practice and study will be focused. As for Stardust and Ret, I already feel quite confident against them so I haven't really decided on an approach yet or if one is even needed.

Are you worried about having two Koreans in your group, or are you approaching the games the same way you do any other match?

As far as I'm concerned, the only Korean in WCS right now is Hydra. The rest of them are pretty much foreigners at this point.

Would you consider Hydra the favorite to win the tournament, then? If not, who would be your best guess?

Yeah for sure Hydra. Although, Polt won the last season and both of them came second in their Ro32 groups this season so who really knows anymore.

I wanted to ask what you think of the weekend format that is being used this year. Is that better or worse for you personally?

I don't really have any strong opinions on tournament formats. I'm not a fan of travelling though and have never relied heavily on 'prepared builds' so I'm all for efficiency.

How do you feel about playing in front of the big Toronto crowd? How does that affect you when you're in the booth?

Not too sure, my brain works in mysterious ways. I'll almost always get nervous and sometimes that makes me really focused and I perform well. Other times I'm completely out of it. I think mastering consistency is infinitely more useful in tournaments than skill or preparation. I really don't care too much about the crowd, its more the stakes of the tournament.

Is that the reason that you practice/ladder so much? You've of course acquired a reputation for dedication.

Well, no. I'm sure there are better ways to improve one's mental form than grinding games. For me, even performing at my best I'm not capable of winning a tournament like WCS. That's why I've been playing so much ladder.

So when you're laddering, are you generally trying out new strategies or ideas, or nailing down old ones and working on your mechanics?

Bit of both really. Sometimes I'll be trying out something I saw in a tournament or heard was good, sometimes I'll be pissing about and try to work with what I end up with. Seeing as I don't all-in a whole lot and in general feel uncomfortable taking risks, most games are a pretty consistent style or build that I try to perfect and personalize.

Do you work with teammates a lot as well as practice on the ladder?

I'm on a foreign team so that's simply out of the question. I'll play a few customs with people not on my team every now and then, especially in preparation for a tournament.

I see. Do players on foreign teams have the same level of cooperation as we see in teams in Korea?

Cooperation is probably not the right word for it. Biggest factor is the infrastructure. But I think in general, foreigners are more reluctant to stray from ladder. Not necessarily a bad thing, certainly not to the extent to which most people perceive it to be.

Could you say something about your progress as a progamer so far this year? Do you have any goals for the remainder of 2015?

Sure. I think it's safe to say that it was off to a fairly miserable start. Having moved to the mYi house at the end of last year, 2015 was supposed to be the transition to Europe for me. Not qualifying for the first season of WCS was hugely disappointing, but honestly the last 6 months that I spent in Switzerland were not at all enjoyable. Even with my recent WCS run I don't really think it changes much for me. My situation is still the same and I still feel extremely dissatisfied about progaming. Making a living off playing SC2 is bloody hard and Europe was not really the other side of the rainbow that I thought it'd be. So right now I don't really have any goals other than making it through my Ro16 group. I'll be going back to New Zealand after Toronto and playing the next season of WCS through the SEA qualifiers. Not sure where that'll take me. My only goal for that period is just to do something I can enjoy. Whether that'll still be progaming remains to be seen.

Do you want to comment on the state of the meta now, or the general balance of the game? Is there anything you might like improved? If you want to focus specifically on Zerg, that's more than welcome.

I've never really cared much about balance honestly, I think for the most part it can be worked around (queue Protoss whine). In the past, Swarm Hosts in ZvZ have really bothered me but obviously that's not an issue anymore. Right now I think ZvP is very difficult and limiting as a Zerg but even that's not so bad. At the very least it inspires new playstyles. I'm more than happy to let the developers control my fate.

If you could take one mechanic from another race and give it to Zerg, what would it be? This question is even better since you don't pay too much mind to balance.

Warp-ins wherever you have creep sounds pretty good to me.

If you were in the StarCraft universe, which unit would you want to be and why?

An Overlord. Not a huge amount of stress in their lives and probably not enough brains to have a horrible death.

Finally, is there one unit you would take out of the game, or add into it, for balance or design purposes?

I'd remove the Swarm Host so that new players don't have to make it that one time before they learn to never make it again.

Is there anything else you would like to add or say to your fans?

Yeah thanks to my team, mYinsanity, and their sponsors. As for my fans, you're alright.

Christian Paas-Lang is an eSports journalist from Toronto interested in good fun, lively competition, and the supremacy of Zerg. You can follow him on Twitter.