Welcome to the Wolf Pack!

Hi Haypro, and thanks for joining us today for a chat. I heard you have some big news for your fans?

Yes indeed, pretty big actually. I just joined Liquid` and im pretty excited about it!

Right on! Would you mind telling us a little about what prompted this decision?

I joined Mouz during the beta but when it ended I was free and was then approached by Nazgul, who asked if I was interested in joining liquid. I was interested and wanted to join, but it wasn't an easy choice because Mouz is a great team with many good players and thanks to them I made new friends like Morrow and Whitera, players whom I didn't talk much to before. However, I finally decided to join Liquid and we agreed that Dreamhack would be the last event I play for Mouz.

Yes! You're just coming out of a stellar weekend with a win at Dreamhack - your 3rd title. Congratulations on that! How was the event overall?

Thanks! Dreamhack is as always a really nice event and this tournament was actually hosted together with PlayDH, who are going to keep hosting similar events as soon as sc2 gets out. There were 4 qualifiers where morrow, zpux, saafen and me advanced to play at dreamhack
In my semis I played vs zpux. The games were really close, but I finally won 2-1. In the finals it was me vs morrow where I won 2-0, with the first game on Destination being a really close on.

Alright. Speaking of teams, you've been on your fair share of them as a player. If there is one thing you've learned from practicing with so many different people, what would it be?

I think that it wouldn't be as different as one might think. Sure there are some players that wanna practice some strats and stuff but most players just wanna play and react to what the opponent does and not to predetermined strats.

OK, let's talk about strategy and gameplay. The beta has been down for quite some time now. How have you been keeping yourself busy?

The first days I went back to playing Dota, but the last week I've been playing BW again, not laddering but with friends.

Oh, that sounds like fun! Since you brought it up, do you see yourself playing Broodwar for fun even as you become more and more competitive with SC2? Where do you think the original will fit into your future Starcraft experience?

No I don't think ill be playing BW for fun when SC2 is here, because SC2 is fun!. The reason I went back to BW now was only because of Dreamhack. Of course every now and then ill be playing SCBW just for old times' sake, but other than that I think its a closed chapter for me now.

OK. You seem to love SC2! Tell us exactly what is so awesome about it.

Sure I like SC2 and the reason behind that isn't only the game itself but the community behind it, which consists of wc3 players, others and the old BW players moving on to sc2. That's what I like about SC2, the same players still at the top but at another game.

Yeah, it's been an interesting mix of WC3 and SCBW players, especially in the beta. Since we're talking about them, why not tell us a bit about the ones you admire or look up to?

Right now there are lots of good players where a thing like daily shape can decide the outcome between them. Still there are some players that I like and its Dimaga because he plays his own style and is successful with it. Also TLO for the same reason, for using his own strats and getting to a lot of finals. Of course I cant forget White-ra, who always gets to the finals of every tour he plays in. He is so consistent.

Let's talk a little about TLO, your new teammate. Do you have any favourite plays of his? In particular, what do you like about how he playz Zerg?

To be honest I haven't seen much of TLO as zerg - I've mostly watched his Terran play. I do however know that he likes to play ling/infestor vs Terran, something which I like to do as well.
What I like most is his Viking play on Kulas Ravine, it seems really effective.

Let's talk a bit about style. If you had to describe your approach to playing Zerg, how would you do it?

My style is simple, it's a reactionary style. I scout and see what my opponent is doing and then I counter his strat.

So you hardly ever go in to a game with a build planned?

In SC2 I feel that is hard to do. It seems like each player I play has a different playstyle and different timings which makes it hard to follow a plan. Of course, you can go "allin" mode and in that way control the game but as a Zerg player that isn't really possible.

OK, let's look to the future a little. What are you goals for the next few years, both in terms of SC2 and IRL?

I don't like making long term plans, but hopefully still being one of the best sc2 player around and maybe working somewhere.

OK Hayder, thanks for talking to us. If there was one piece of advice you'd give to someone who wants to be a top SC2 player, what would it be?

Right now it's all about just playing as much as you can and watching vods and reps. There is no other way, I think. I've heard about the coaching option, but it's still all up to the player to do the things I stated above, and that's what the coach will tell you as well. Thank you for the chat!

It was our pleasure. Thanks again for your time, and good luck playing for Liquid!

Thanks! It's gonna be fun!