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An Interview with SaSe
2013 is well under way, and esports is only getting bigger, so I sat down with Kim 'SaSe' Hammar to talk about the past, the present and the future of his Starcraft 2 career. Pleasantly surprised by how down to earth and sheer nice he is, we talked about the recent demise of Quantic Gaming, his stay with StarTale, and a host of other things.
Hello and thanks for taking the time to talk to us, as we move into a new year of eSports, what would you say your highlights of 2012 were?
SaSe: MLG Anaheim is the first event that comes to my mind. It was probably the only event I felt really exhausted playing since I started in Open Bracket round one and played pretty much for three days straight. I got so much support during this time from fans, friends and my team. It was a great event with alot of fans. It was also great to finally win a big tournament in China. I had never really won anything big before so winning that was awesome but I would have to say MLG Anaheim was a better feeling.
You've been a foreigner hope against Korean players for some time now, MLG Anaheim alone saw you beat several top caliber koreans, will we be seeing you in GSL again soon?
SaSe: I will probably not play the first and second GSL in HoTS. I wanna try to improve as much as possible before going back to Korea again (I will stay in Taiwan now and play on the Korean server). Last time I played in the GSL I was pretty new to these kinds of tournaments and I made a lot of mistakes. But now I have stayed with StarTale for a long time and I have learnt a lot from them about how to prepare for tournaments like GSL and such.
Speaking of StarTale, as a player who's spent time in Korean team houses, how do you find the Korean enviroment when you're over there?
SaSe: StarTale has always been super nice to me and I feel like I owe them big time. They really are like a family, even after Parting and Squirtle left. Mr.Won is the nicest team owner I ever met and he takes very good care of his players. Of course there was times I felt lonely in Korea but I never really felt sad in StarTale. Sound and Hack are such happy guys and they somehow will put a smile on your face every day. All the other players are awesome aswell. I was kinda scared of Curious when I came there at first but even he opened up trying to speak alot of English. Once he told me 'Me good people'. It's probably the cutest thing I ever heard a korean progamer say :D
It was not really hard for me to get used to the enviroment in Korea since I have been there before alot of times when playing wc3. So for me it was easy but I believe for other people it's harder. It's not really about Korea itself though. I would say for anyone going to a totally different culture no matter where it is it's hard. The hardest thing for me was to follow their practise schedule which I didn't do very often. Practise 12 hours a day is no problem for me. But sleeping at same time every day is. I felt bad I couldn't follow it as I think it would improve me alot more :(
Korean food is great though, I will miss it!
That is great about Curious, I won't be able to forget that when I next watch him. Recently we've seen a lot more foreigners make their mark in Proleague, with EG-TL entering, and Major going on to Team 8. Is this something that interests you?
SaSe: Sure it would be awesome to play PL but right now I don't think I would be the right person to participate in a teamleague. I really like practise on my own and I think that is my way of playing StarCraft. I know if I got no distraction I will be able to perform well. I hope my practise pays off and maybe some team wanna recruit me in the near future. Hardest part for me as I said is to follow a practise schedule. I always flip my days and nights no matter how hard I try to keep it same every day.
For well over a year you were a core player for Quantic Gaming, how was the disbanding of the team for you? Had you seen it coming or was it unexpected?
SaSe: It's kinda sad I got to know on twitter. I would like a month or so to prepare for it. Of course it's hard for me since I don't get any salary now but I can't really do much about it. I just try to stream and practise as much as possible until a team picks me up :)
It can't have been great finding out about it like that. On the topic of you being an ex Warcraft 3 player, you've been around progaming for some time. Despite the loss of Quantic, is the growth of it as vast as it seems?
SaSe: StarCraft is way more professional thanWC3 ever was. I am happy I made the decision to stop playing poker and give SC2 a try. It's awesome to have so many big tournaments and the fanbase is huge awell! Really makes me happy to read all the good comments.
As a prominent streamer, do you think this helps develop yourself as a player?
SaSe: The best part about streaming is that I never play extreamly sloppy when people are watching. I always try harder and harder. It's like a win win situation for me. I pressure myself to play better from streaming. Of course money and exposure is good aswell!
You mentioned you've planning to sit out the first two GSL's in HotS while you prepare. Are you focusing primarily on HotS now?
SaSe: I'm not totally sure with GSL, time will tell. Right now I will practise myself in Taiwan. I like it here. Nice weather and nice people. I will soon get my own room so it will make practise alot easier for me and that will make me practise more.
I stopped playing WoL and I don't really see any reason playing it anymore. So yes, I am totally focused on playing HotS now.
What are your impressions of HotS so far? Have you had to make any adaptations to your rather unique style of play?
SaSe: HotS seems very nice though Blizzard got alot of work to do. I think it will be harder for players who didn't practise much before to keep up and that's a good thing for me. I already made alot of changes to my play and hotkeys.
And lastly, any messages for your fans, or anyone else?
SaSe: Once again, thank you everyone in StarTale for being so nice. I will miss you guys. Thank you Gamabears for helping me out in Taiwan. Of course thanks to all of my fans as well whether you follow me or not on twitter. It's really fun chatting with you guys when I stream and you usually makes me happy! Thank you! ^_^
And thanks to you for talking to us and I wish you the absolute best luck in 2013!