Interview with 2015 IeSF StarCraft II Champion: Joona “Serral” Sotala

Nathan 'StatiC' Anderson congratulating 2015 IESF StarCraft II Champion: Joona “Serral” Sotala

Q1: What do you think of the event so far?

Joona “Serral” Sotala: “It has been a lot of fun meeting new players and it feels really good to win. It is my first international victory at an event like this so I’m happy that I could make my country proud.”

Q2: Which players have stood out for you in the tournament and why?
Joona “Serral” Sotala: “In the group stage I played against “Elroy” from Romania who really impressed me. I think the Chinese player I played in the final was also really good. I think he could maybe have won but he used one build too much which made it easier for me to counter his strategy.”

Q3: How did you get in to StarCraft II?
Joona “Serral” Sotala: “My brother was playing StarCraft I Brood War since Beta so he introduced me to the game. It looked really fun so I decided to play and I played StarCraft II since Beta release.”

Q4: What tournaments will you be participating in in the future?
Joona “Serral” Sotala: “I have played every DreamHack the last few years so the next tournament will probably be DreamHack, maybe with the Copenhagen Wolves.”

Q5: What tips do you have for new players or players who want to get better at StarCraft II?
Joona “Serral” Sotala: “Obviously you have to practice a lot but not too much that you get tired of the game. I also think players should look at their replays especially the ones they lose to see why they lost so they can improve that way.”

MWEB Protea eSports Team Member, Nathan “Static” Anderson got to play against the new world champion “Serral” in an exhibition match and we caught up with him at the award ceremony:

Q: What was it like to play the world champion? 

Nathan 'StatiC' Anderson: “It was really exciting and a great opportunity to put my skills to the test, I was a little nervous to be honest but I think I played well. Key things I learned was that he expanded very quickly across the map and made excellent use of early game zergling harassment. He also played the terrain very good to his advantage making use of good creep spread placement. I noticed that the second game of the final he used a similar build that he used against me which proved to be very effective. I look forward to playing him in the future again and wish him the best of luck for future tournaments.”

Legacy of the Void® levels the playing-field!

Nathan 'StatiC' Anderson - one of SA's most 'capped' cyber-athletes!

The IeSF's 7^th World championships to be held in Seoul from the 2^nd to the 5^th of November 2015 will be the first major championship in which StarCraft™: Legacy of the Void® will be played.

The title Legacy of the Void® was only released in November 2015 by BLIZZARD.

Thus with the new tactics and stratagems that will need to be used to take the new units into account, MSSA is confident that even though the field at the IeSF's 7^th World championships is full of some of the best gamers, MWEB Protea eSports Team member, Nathan Anderson should do well.

Silviu 'NightEnd' Lazar, of Romania, who consistently finishes in the medals at the World

Silviu Lazar in South Africa

Championships, will again be present and will be just one of the players to beat. Silvui too is the only top international player who has visited South Africa. Silvui attended a test match in 2013 between Romania (Silvui 'NightEnd' Lazar) and South Africa (Robert 'PandaTank' Botha) in which Romania won two games to one!

This is the third time that Nathan will officially represent South Africa in international competition, and Nathan has a proven record of being able to adapt to new situations and perform under stress.

Nathan, like MSSA, feels that the new version has levelled the playing-field more than ever before.

Mind Sports South Africa is thus quite excited about Nathan's chances.

The list of StarCraft™ players at the IeSF's 7^th World championships are:

COUNTRY	NAME	TEAM	NICKNAME	BIRTH
Azerbaijan	Pavel, Osipov	Team Azerbaijan	Pavel	1988
Belgium	Broddin, Wouter	AT Gaming	Gannicus	1992
China	Jiajun, Hu	Team China	n/a	1995
Chinese Taipei	Yu-Feng, Ko	Starcraft 2	Has	1997
Finland	Joona, Sotala	myInsanity	Serral	1998
Georgia	Tsotne, Chogovadze	Protos	Tsotne	2000
Iran	mohammadali, anari	kouroshe kabir	mohammadali	1992
Israel	Neta, Corem	Team Israel	Zanubis	1988
Korea (South)	Ga Young, Kim	Team Korea	Aphrodite	1988
Mongolia	RADNAATSEREN, Bayarmaa	Team Mongolia	Radnaa	1985
Philippines	Caviar Napoleon, Acampado	PSISTORM Gaming	EnDerr	1992
Romania	Silviu, Lazar	NRS	NightEnD	1988
Russia	Andrei, Mikheev	Empire	hobot	1989
Serbia	Aleksandar, Krstic	Team Extreme Supremacy	Beastyqt	1990
South Africa	Nathan, Anderson	MSSA	StatiC	1994
Sweden	Anton, Dahlström	Team Property	Zanster	1996
Switzerland	Eloi, Quach	Dead Pixels	Elroye	1996