Get to Know your WCS NA Challenger Player is back! Though we had a brief break (mostly due to zero foreigners qualifying during season 2), we now have a whole host of new interviews ready for you. Three relative newcomers to the scene qualified for Challenger league for season three. First off is Petraeus, an oddly named fellow from way down under.
Petraeus
Please introduce yourself! Hi I am Petraeus, a 17 year old Zerg player from New Zealand!
Artist's interpretation.
Petraeus, huh? Are you just a fan of disgraced American generals? No, but I am a fan of amusing names heard on the radio.
Was it something about General Petraeus? Perhaps his illicit affiar? Yes, before he was involved in the scandal though.
Yea, that scandal only happened this year i think. So how long have you been playing sc2? And any interesting stories to share? I started playing about 6 months after release. Interesting stories about how I started? or just in general I once saw a squirrel.
So you're like Doug? (from up) Not the most flattering comparison but yeah sure
It's ok, he's awesome, probably my favorite pixar character. What about sc2 stories? Either online or at w/e lans you've been to. Hmm my most interesting sc2 experience would probably be my trip to Japan for the Tokyo Games Show tournament. It was my first time in Asia and my first time overseas by myself so it was a very surreal experience.
I imagine tokyo must be very different from new zealand. It's probably not a great example of what the rest of the world is like though. Yes very, everywhere you go there is a sea of asian people. its terrifying.
Aren't there lots of Asian people in New Zealand? Like people who can't get into universities anywhere else so they go to New Zealand. Yeah, in comparison to our population. But you can actually get some breathing room outside in nz.
yea, i can imagine there's a lot more space And sheep. Don't forget the sheep
Do you have a best sheep friend? Yes his name is David Gore
I just googled that and it seems like this is a reference to an american teen actor turned murderer. Anything you wanna tell me? Nah i would rather it remain as an inside joke.
We'll let the audience decide what that means. Speaking of googling though, wikipedia describes the stereotypical New Zealand male as follows:
The stereotypical New Zealand male is essentially a pioneer type: he is perceived to be rural, unintellectual, strong, unemotional, democratic, has little time for high culture, good with animals (particularly horses) and machines, and is able to turn his hand to nearly anything. This type of man is often assumed to be a unique product of New Zealand's colonial period but he shares many similarities with the stereotypical American frontiersman and Australian bushman. New Zealand men are supposed to still have many of these qualities, even though most New Zealanders have lived in urban areas since the late nineteenth century. This has not prevented New Zealanders seeing themselves (and being seen) as essentially country people and good at the tasks which country life requires.
Does that accurately describe you? Yes, incredibly accurately. When I'm not cranking out ladder games on my dial up internet, I will always be found amoungst the lush forests of Auckland's CBD.
What's a CBD? central business district
Oh cool. Slightly off topic but are you a fan of lorde? I wouldn't call myself a fan but I do enjoy a couple of her songs.
New Zealand boys of your age aren't all flocking to be with her? Just like how i imagine every guy of your age in America dreams of being with taylor swift No, she wears far too many clothes for that level of attraction.
Ok, i can see that. So on your liquipedia page, i see you like oranges. What's that about and orange you glad i asked about this? Oranges are more than just an enjoyment, they are a way of life. Without them there would be no #dedication.
On a serious note, I eat an orange before every event. For a while I didn't know if it was any good but TLO mentioned in his grillied interview that eating/drinking the same things before you sit down to play can remind the brain of what to do.
Did you eat an orange before you played the WCS NA qualifier? No, usually with online events I don't bother. Clearly orange remains were still being digested however or the outcome of the qualifier would have been very different.
Maybe that's some good sage advice to any aspiring WCS NA players. Speaking of which, how were those qualifiers? Any difficult in particular? WCS qualifiers are always extremely difficult for SEA players as they are always very early in the morning. For me this meant waking up at 6am. Thankfully the bracket was fairly easy (no koreans) so sleep deprivation was the biggest hurdle for me.
Any particularly memorable or interesting games for you? I played some American Terran called "Revenge" who I didn't expect to be any good but I barely managed to beat him 2-1 so that was memorable and depressing at the same time.
Side note, liquipedia says he's Zerg. lol, that should get changed Maybe its a Korean Terran smurf and I'm actually really good at this game
You also beat Guitarcheese, a Zerg player who knocked out your down under buddy, PiG. Was there any added satisfaction from avenging another southern hemisphere Zerg? Not really, its every man for himself in the WCS qualifiers. Sucks that PiG didn't make it though, he deserves it!
So there's a Zerg cabal in the united states. Is there anything similar for Australia/New Zealand? ca·bal /kəˈbäl/ Noun A secret political clique or faction: "a cabal of dissidents". wtf, speak english pls.
Iono, they label themsevles as a cabal you mean the NA zerg chat? Ah right. We have that but we don't use it at all. The SEA scene is really small and therefore we play each other all the time in tournaments so we don't like to discuss strategies with each other. That sort of talk belongs in team chats.
Oh, how's your team btw? What's that like? First of all, what team are you on and will your team be mad at you for not mentioning them at the beginning of the interview? I'm on Frenetic Array (Fray) which is an Australian team sponsored by Razer and some other companies which you should purchase products from. And no I don't think so. Its nothing compared to Iaguz not wearing his team shirt during an IEM Shanghai interview.
Ok, now's about the time where i ask you random stuff. great
Who's your favorite player that you look up to? I would say Snute because of his #dedication.
At this point, i'm not even sure if #dedication means dedication, but I guess snute is very dedicated yes
If you had to form a team with 5 other players, who would that include? scarlett, snute, TLO, DRG, Life
Oh so you'd like to be on acer pre-mma and innovation wat
They were an all Zerg team Oh right. Yeah of course, the more zerg the more I can learn.
Pokemon x and y are coming out in 2 weeks. What's your favorite Pokemon? Whichever one plays the most starcraft.
Are you trying to hide the fact that you've never played Pokemon and thus can't name an obscure one to show off your Pokemon knowledge? I played it quite a bit when I was really young so I know snorlax squirtle pikachu venosaur yeah thats about it
Wow you even spelled venusaur wrong I try not to store useless information in my brain
You're going to get lots of anti-fans because of that statement. yeah but I only want dedication fans
At this point, i'm so angry with you that i think it's time to end the interview. Any final shoutouts or anything you want to say at all? Shoutout to my team Frenetic Array and their sponsors: Razer, Patriot Memory, Gametraders and Micis Consulting. Shoutout to the NZ Sc2 community, Spook, and Cam's mum.
You can follow and find out more about Petraeus here:
as a(n) 'merican who was a fan of the general before the scandal, I can't say i'm too happy about this player's choice of game ID. that said, i'm glad he heard the name from before the scandal, and best of luck in WCS NA
As a fellow SEA player I thought I might give a little insight on some of pet's little comments made in the interview.
David Gore is a New Zealand zerg player who is a year old than petraeus, he is GM on the NA Server last I ckecked. His ID Is MightyKiwi.
For the Zerg chat we used to have a pretty active one, however, certain players stopped complaining about Terran and so it is basically dead now.
Lastly, #dedication is a hashtag used by fray players as a sort of degrading thing to someone who isn't playing sc2. For example, "OMG I JUST GOT LEVEL 30 IN LEAGUE" "wow get some #dedication". From there it's pretty much just what you say in the sea scene. Petraeus is largely the main reason it's popular due to his immense #dedication.
Oh and Cam is a "retired" Zerg player from australia who's Mum is famous amongst sc players. As a sea player your bread and butter shoutouts are sponsors, team, specific people and Cam's Mum.
As anti-militarism as I usually am, I don't think it's all that accurate to refer to Petraeus as "disgraced". I mean, his military career is usually regarded as highly competent and free of any serious controversy, with the possible exception of when some policymakers used his military-media campaign information as if it were not intended for military purposes. The sex scandal didn't really say anything about his job, it just made it unlikely for him to ever be able to enter politics.
Great interview, btw. You did a good job of trying to bring out the best responses from Petraeus, although it didn't always work.
there was an article on this kidin a big paper a while back the mobey thy quoted that he cuold make was retarded but GL i ned a new down under star to cheer for
You need to do these interviews WAY more often with the english-speaking players at least. Or translated versions from other languages. This had me cracking up, I'm gonna try to catch his games now...
Also, is the title a spoof on Colbert's "Better know a District" segment?
Great interview, has been amazing to see you grow as a player Petraeus!
#Dedication #Oranges #SheepNamedDavidGore.
On October 01 2013 08:32 aLtNXZ wrote:
Lastly, #dedication is a hashtag used by fray players as a sort of degrading thing to someone who isn't playing sc2.
It's something we use to push each other to greater levels in SC2 and I think has been a driving factor to why fray is one of the best SC2 teams in SEA.
On October 01 2013 08:32 aLtNXZ wrote: Oh and Cam is a "retired" Zerg player from australia who's Mum is famous amongst sc players. As a sea player your bread and butter shoutouts are sponsors, team, specific people and Cam's Mum.
Cam is the Frenetic Array SC2 coach. Taught Petraeus everything he knows.
Lastly, #dedication is a hashtag used by fray players as a sort of degrading thing to someone who isn't playing sc2.
It's something we use to push each other to greater levels in SC2 and I think has been a driving factor to why fray is one of the best SC2 teams in SEA.
On October 01 2013 08:32 aLtNXZ wrote: Oh and Cam is a "retired" Zerg player from australia who's Mum is famous amongst sc players. As a sea player your bread and butter shoutouts are sponsors, team, specific people and Cam's Mum.
Cam is the Frenetic Array SC2 coach. Taught Petraeus everything he knows.
He sure is an interesting and often misunderstood kid. People tend to single him out as being bad manner, yet in reality he is actually incredibly funny. His stream is becoming rather popular too and he has come a long way from the shy 15 year old I accosted at an internet cafe to a dedicated, commentating, GM on three server player.
On October 01 2013 09:32 ObliviousNA wrote: You need to do these interviews WAY more often with the english-speaking players at least. Or translated versions from other languages. This had me cracking up, I'm gonna try to catch his games now...
Also, is the title a spoof on Colbert's "Better know a District" segment?
I wonder what he liked at TGS Tokyo, Japan, the TGS exhibition itself, the tournament or is he like the japanese nerds, mostly enjoying the companion girls <3
By the way was Petraeus affair really illicit ? From a french (living in Japan) point of view, being disgraced for having an affair feels a bit awkward... Unless this really compromises his functions.