After the WC3L Finals in China finished, replays.net picked up MYM]Grubby for an interview to basically talk about that event and some of the issues that happened there. myMYM.com translated it for you from Chinese to English!

Firstly congratulations on winning the WC3L season 13 championship.

Thank you.

This is your first time playing a tournmanet in Chang Sha, China. What's your impression and how do you feel about the place?

I felt Chang Sha is less densely populated than other cities I have visited - WuHan, XiAn and Beijing. Yet, the stadium was quite full. I heard some fans fly from other Chinese cities to come to Chang Sha. That's wonderful.

This is the first time China is hosting the WC3L offline finals, what do you think about the organization of the tournament?

There were some things I was really happy about:

1. Inside the gaming box on the stage, there was a very good airconditioning. With power of level 1 to level 9, you could reach the perfect temperature. I think it's the best airconditioning I've ever had in a box!
2. There were flatscreens and CRT monitors both, and both were fine. Also, I didn't have any PC problems myself.
3. There was a resting room for players, which gives people some relaxation when necessary.
4. The staff was very helpful when we wanted to order food or walk around.
5. There was not much delay.

I believe there were some serious problems which should be fixed if WC3L finals will be held in China again. These bad points are:

1. Virus and worm on every PC greatly increase set-up time and infects all USB Sticks, disabling their use.
2. Disconnects and power outages are some of the worst thing which can happen. It should be prevented.
3. Sometimes it was hard to discuss things about the progress of the tournament, because there are many referees and there was not 1 clear head-referee where you could discuss any problems.
4. The shoutcast was audible in the boxes. I know some Chinese words, like the names for Gargoyle, Blademaster, Frost Wyrm, and when I was in the box I could hear some of these when I wouldn't be wearing my headset or have very low sound. But, I used headset from SteelSeries and it is very good for me. I couldn't hear anything when I used it.
   

How did you feel when you represented MYM in WC3L and won the season?

When I was hired by MYM, I expressed in some interviews that I hoped I could show good results in WC3L and NGL for MYM.

WC3L is a very important event to me because it's played with the whole team. It increases good feelings in the team and it's important to increase stability in the team. It's also really exciting to watch team-members play their matches.

When we won, it was amazing, because it was a real team performance. Everyone played their crucial role, in line-up discussion, in choosing what's best for the team, in practicing and in their performance and results.

To criticism about Lucifer or Susiria, I wish to say they should consider what maps Lucifer & Susi played. They played against incredibly strong Fly and ToD, on maps like LT (vs orc) and TS (vs hum). They had no complaint about it, because they wished to win as a team. Perhaps if I was stronger against Orc, I would be able to play Fly on LT.


How did all of you celebrate after winning the WC3L season 13?

We finished at 1 AM in the night. We didn't eat a normal meal the whole day. Starting at 9 AM in the morning, we eat only what groceries Cassandra did for the team (she wakes up earlier and took care of the team). We had banana's, apples, chips, raisins, chocolates, cookies, paprika's, coca cola, energy drinks, bapaos (bread buns with meat or vegetable).

So, at 1 AM we went to eat something. At 3:30 AM we were at home. We had to wake up and pack our bags at 5 AM, because our flight was at 8:20 AM. Some of us slept, some of us stayed awake. There was no time to celebrate.


For all the matches in the finals , which one is most memorable to you?

The most memorable series was Moon vs Hasuobs Series 1 (TM & TR). First game was 1 hour 6 minutes, and in the second game Moon was incredibly aggressive on close position Turtle Rock.

The other most memorable game was Lucifer and Susiria playing vs ReMinD game 3. Susiria had a long game vs Remind on TM, and Remind had a secret expansion. Lucifer was playing 12+ gargs, but in every fight he didn't use them, so Remind had no use of his hippogryphs.

Which player has given you a great impression during the finals?

I personally thought Fly and ToD did very well winning almost all their matches, and also ReiGn in beating InFi 2:0.


How do you feel about the Orc players in China? Such as xiaOt, LiKe and Fly100%.

I've always liked xiaOt, he is one of the "old players" together with me. LikE and FLY are more new talents. I love watching their replays, too. They play in a different style, and I try to learn their style as well. If I have to characterize them, I would say:

xiaOt - oldschool player, tricky player with great ideas. Master strategist.

LikE - pushes every unit to its limit, and concentrates on playing 1 style per match-up. Very aggressive.

Fly - very good micro, terrifying blademaster. Sometimes plays illogical. Fighter-style player, specializes in fights.

In the final match against mouz, the 2v2 game against them was the key to victory. How do you feel about that and what is the difference between teaming up with Moon and Tod?

Moon has an excellent grasp of 2v2, just like ToD. But Hasuobs, fly and Yumiko are less experienced 2v2 players. The teamwork will suffer. Moon and I had less communication problems because we played in LAN, and not on-line.

But, sometimes it was funny. Once, I asked him to give me "Gold", and he thought i said "Go!". So, he was going to attack without me! Haha.


In the game between Fly and Lucifer, do you think Fly bought the Troll Batrider because he heard the broadcast?

I don't know, I never said that he did. Fly scouted Lucifer's base and saw 2crypt - which means Gargoyles. It was not important whether or not Fly heard it. If he heard it, it is not Fly's mistake. It's the organisation's mistake. I warned various officials of the tournament several times that there is a possibility that the shoutcast is overheard in the Playing Box on stage.

Sometimes they turned the shoutcast down, but later they turned it on again. I am not accusing any players, like Fly, or other players. But I believe the shoutcasters are doing a dirty job. When Fly was playing Lucifer, the shoutcasters shouted very loudly what Lucifer was doing, or what Fly should be doing. They would say "Lucifer's Altar is almost finished reviving the DK! Kill it now, kill it!".

Or when Lucifer's tech appeared to be Gargs, they yelled "Tian huay" ('sky ghost' or?), which I know means "Gargoyles!" or "Bin long!" which is Frostwyrm (ice dragon). When ToD was playing Moon, they switched to English and said "Warden!! Warden!". It's not ToD's fault if he hears it, and I am not saying he heard it. The organisation should test the sound level in the box, this sort of mistake can't happen in WC3L. When HasuObs was playing Moon, they yelled "Surround! Surround!", in English.


I believe it's very unprofessional when this happens.

I heard from many people that the Chinese shoutcast can be unprofessional. They can be very annoying and bitchy.

Let me be clear: the shoutcaster has the following job:

1. Describe the action which is happening (hasuobs is going to the island)
2. Discuss possible strategies (this strategy is interesting - fov also played it in PGL)
3. Make the action exciting (oh my god hero survives with 7 HP!)
   

The shoutcaster should not:

1. Tell a player what to do, before he does it (kill the BM! Kill the BM!)
2. Show exaggerated favoritism. It's acceptable to support Chinese players when you are Chinese shoutcaster, but please keep it moderate. Be fair and objective and respect all players.
3. Yell constantly. Saying something louder doesn't make it more exciting. WC3 is already very interesting to watch. The loudness may increase in fights because it is exciting, but describe what players did well, don't say what they should be doing.
   

There was one problem where I went onto the stage to ask the commentators to reduce their volume to 0. When I asked other people, the result was that no action was taken several times.

Because of the inaction, I ran onto stage in anger. I was unaware the game of Luci/Fly was started. It was not the best way to deal with the problem, but it was the fastest way. In the future, I should discuss such problems before the event. But, despite assurances of shoutcast being inaudible, it often proves otherwise. This is quite regrettable.

So when I was on stage, I asked the shoutcasters to turn off their cast to the stage, because it can affect the players. They said they can reduce it a little. I don't know by how much they will reduce it, so to be sure, I asked them to turn it off completely.

I said there is a chance that Fly can overhear Lucifer's tech before he scouts it. Also, Lucifer can hear anything if he knows some Chinese words. I personally hate to hear the shoutcast when I'm playing, even if it could lend me an unfair advantage. So, I am always trying to make sure there is no soundlevel problem.

I also feel sorry for Fly and Yumiko that they might overhear the shoutcast while they are playing. If they can hear it, I am sure that they don't like it too.

TaiLong also took his freedom to write a blog full of lies. You must understand that TaiLong always compliments me, greets me happily and says he likes me a lot. Imagine my surprise when I heard the lies he is spreading.

He said that in his blog:

1. I said Fly is hearing the shoutcast and using the knowledge to unfairly cheat in the game.
2. I do not believe in the professionalism of the shoutcasters.
3. The boxes are 100% soundproof. He invited the Chinese fans to come onto stage and test the boxes for themselves if they don't believe it.

To the fans that were present at the WC3L live:

1. I said it's POSSIBLE, not that it happened. It means it's the organisations' mistake, not the player's mistake. It's also acceptable to make mistakes for the organisation, as long as it's fixed quickly.
2. It is true, I don't believe the shoutcasters are professional. Especially after what happened.
3. The boxes are not 100% soundproof. Why lie about it? Also, TaiLong must know that Chinese Fans can't come onto stage to test them out. It is a useless request - fans are not allowed onto the stage.

TaiLong and his friends continued to twist my words and tell lies about me to the public. I am glad I am able to tell my side of the story to you.

Tailong's english is quite bad, so it's possible that he misunderstood me. Why he doesn't come to me personally to talk about something like that, I don't know. He would rather write a blog to publicly attack me.

ESL brought special headphones from Europe which block out sound very well, but none of the players used this headset. Everyone used their own headset, or in-ear pieces. TaiLong implied in his blog that the special ESL headphones were being used... which is not true.

TaiLong also lied about the replay incident of MYM / Mouz 2v2 game. I said I watched 2-3 minutes of the game. That doesn't mean in 8x Speed. It means Game Time. There is almost nothing to see. He said I watch 8 x speed for 2-3 minutes. With the game only being 10 minutes long, how is that possible? 2 - 3 x 8 = 16-24 minutes of gametime. Again, I don't understand why TaiLong is lying about it.

In the second BO5 game between MYM and mouz, the 2v2 played a crucial role in the team's victory again. When there were some problem with Fly's computer, he paused the game, but after the game was resumed, you and Moon managed to win the match.

But the manager of MOUZ claimed that you watched the replay of that match when the game was stopped as Fly's computer was having some problem, can you tell us more about what exactly happened?

Lie said that Lucifer, ReminD, Lyn and Reis were all very angry with me. This is not true. I am on good terms with everyone and they were not angry with me. It is hurtful that Lie will claim such things when it's not true.

I believe Mouz vs MYM 2v2 issue was a moral issue. Officially, it is not in the ESL rulebook that you may not watch the replay after the game is saved. I didn't break any rules. However, it is more of a moral issue. Morally, I felt it is wrong what I did in the game vs Fly & Yumiko. I am sorry for what I did and I apologised to Fly personally, and also to the WC3L staff. When something is morally wrong, usually a rule should be found to prevent such behaviour.

The rules in every kinds of sport are constantly being sharpened to make the game more honest. As the game evolves, there will of course be new rules. Look at cycling, where drugs test are now being performed. It is important to have fair rules, and to have clean rules. The rules should not be open to interpretation.

In comparison, in ROTK there was a different incident with TH000. The rules stated that it is not permitted to pause the game without requesting firstly. TH000 technically made a foul in pausing it firstly without asking, which could be considered cheating according to the rules. However, I could forgive him for this thing because he had a computer problem. Afterwards, he resumed the game when I wasn't looking.

Later TH000 said it was a mistake. I trust that he did not do it on purpose. However, a few seconds of game-time had passed during a battle. The referee stated that "although the rules indeed state what TH000 did is a foul, the form of punishment was not stated". It is not necessary to state what the consequence should be. Of course there should be a regame. I should not be punished for something I didn't do wrong.

Additionally, TH000 and wNv watched the whole replay together, before a decision was made. It was morally wrong and we were very angry about it too. Instead, the referees told me that we can continue the game without punishment for TH000 or I shall receive a default loss.

Furthermore, the ROTK referees should be knowledgeable about the rules and clear in their judgment. I can only hope that when eSports continues to grow, the referees can become more professional.

In the end there are only two things that matter. Ethics and rules. Rules should be followed, and when broken there should be a punishment. As for ethics, I admit that what I did against Mouz was unethical, and my state of mind at the time or reasons are irrelevant. For this, I can assure it will not happen again, and I apologise.

About my feelings: When Fly saved the game, our position in the game was good. I felt quite confident we were going to win. What Fly did was very noble. He knew he was going to drop, so he saved the game quickly - rescuing the game from becoming unplayable.

1. I didn't need to watch the replay to win the game - our position was already good and we could win without the help of the rep, even if the other team also watch it.
2. Fly never did anything bad to me - in fact I like him a lot.
3. WC3L is a very professional league, and it's not the same as ROTK - I should not hold one person's mistakes against another - and one organization's mistakes to another.
4. I should not throw away my principles because of anger or other injustice. I have never watched the replay of a save game before, even when I am at home playing an on-line game. I was very sorry that I did it, and that's why I quit after 2-3 minutes of gametime.
   

Despite of all this, I want to say that there had been no effect on the game at all by my mistake. Don't believe everything before you hear the whole story, and don't disparage Moon, Lucifer and Susiria's results by saying this incident somehow affected the outcome.

I will continue to have faith in the professionalism of all tournaments, and will try to follow a fair and righteous course in all my actions. I have made mistakes in the past, and I can't change my actions. I can only look at them, explain them, and try to do better in the future.

Thanks and really appreciate your time for the interview, once again congrats on winning WC3L season 13. Good luck and all the best for you and MYM.
- Thanks for reading, thank you for your congratulations. Sorry it became a bit long ^.^

Source: Replays.net