MYM.Raven: We read at Broodwar.de that you decided to leave GER-A team, with lack of motivation and different point of view on Selector's case than the national team management being pointed out as main reasons to make this decision. If you were in command to make roster changes in GER-A (f.e. adding Selector), can you see yourself still being interested to play for the national team in the future? Or, are there more important reasons for you for lack of motivation?

 ToT)Mondragon(: If I were to make roster changes in Germany-A Team, I would add Flo of course. Besides I would bring back Schniblor and Goody as long as they want to play again. I do not want to discuss about Flo's matter because it would be an endless discussion with most of the guys. (There is no need to discuss about Flo, either you believe in him being a good and mannered player nowadays or you stick with your old opinions, it's impossible to convince anyone at this issue.) They showed that they are better than most of the current GER-A players in the Showmatch GerAllStars against GER-A without being active. I would have gladly continued to play for the German Team, but I just do not want to support their behaviour - especially the behaviour of broodwar.de's admins. I did not want to let anyone down, but I am not a player who is satisfied with losing each nationwar. Besides of that my motivation isnt as big as it had been. I am more interested in ToT's clanwars and not that much in GER-A Nationwars nowadays.

 MYM.Raven: In the past, Germany was undoubtly the best nation in the non-korean Starcraft community. Can you see GER-A team coming back to its best performance, with no oldschool stars (like Fisheye, Breakdown), currently active? Also, whats the future of Germany national team in your opinion?

 ToT)Mondragon(: Yes, Germany was the best StarCraft nation next to Korea quite a while ago, but I can't see it coming any close to the old level with players like Breakdown, Fisheye, Schniblor (active), Dashwriter, Mondragon, etc...

 MYM.Raven: Are there some new promising players in Germany nowadays?

 ToT)Mondragon(: I do not know much about German newcomers, tho iG.infernal seems to be really capable and willing to rise to the top if he keeps practicing a lot. I had some promising games against him. As well as infernal I heard that DkH.Ghost is quite good, tho I don't have any clue ;p

 MYM.Raven: Do you think that's because of SC:BW loosing interest in Germany or is it more like a lack of skills/understanding of the game of new generation playing Starcraft? 

 ToT)Mondragon(: It does not seem that the German Community decreases drastically, many old names quit and many new ones arise. I don't know why we don't have that much top players anymore as we used to do. Maybe we can blame Korn[pG] for opening his pokersite and persuading BroodWar players to play poker! ;P  Besides that there are no real big tournaments in Germany anymore. Giga was sold to ESL and quit their GIGA League, while ESL did not invite BroodWar to their Premier League anymore either.

 MYM.Raven: Let's talk about game itself now. People tend to call Protoss an "imbalanced race" more and more lately. With only 2 of 24 players playing Protoss in another OSL and only 3 Protoss players in top20 KeSPA ranking (8 in top30 though) for December - you have to admit something's wrong indeed. Is it lack of new ideas in Protoss gameplay, new maps for korean leagues, spreaded then all around the world to be used in non-korean events - or maybe something else for the main reason? Whats your thoughts?

Since I really play Protoss myself, especially Protoss vs Zerg, I might be able to answer it. In my opinion a Protoss player needs to be more creative than a terran or zerg user. Terran and Zerg players often repeat their strategy (as I do mostly in ZvP too) while P has to change their strategies very often. They need to read the game a lot better than Terran or Zerg and play according to their anticipations what the opponent is gonna make. It's probably the most sophisticated race in BroodWar, but probably still the best if you are really capable of using them 100%.

 MYM.Raven: Do you think ZvP favours Zerg players at pro-level or is it only noob's whining? What are the main advantages of Zerg over Protoss in your opinion, and do you think is some Protoss advantage at this matchup underused nowadays?

 ToT)Mondragon(: It's not imbalanced at all, I play PvZ very very much with ToTs, especially Nick, and it's not that I lose every game or that I get owned badly. You just have to have a special feeling for PvZ and its very very hard for 'new' players. Since I know the matchup from Protoss' and Zerg's view I often know what the opponent is going to do and can adjust my play to it. This matchup is totally balanced in my opinion.

 MYM.Raven: Any ideas about how could Blizzard make this matchup better balanced, if another patch ever comes?

 ToT)Mondragon(: Don't change anything please ;p

 MYM.Raven: Thousands players are trying and only few of them are able to achieve top level. How to reach the 'gosu' level, what defines best of the best, when you are playing with Zerg?

 ToT)Mondragon(: There is no panacea how to reach gosu level. It's mostly about playing a lot in the beginning and getting a deep understanding of the game itself. Later on you don't have to play much anymore to keep your level high. Defining the best players of a race is always about three reasons: Micro, Macro, Timing / Game Understanding.

 MYM.Raven: Since Starcraft was released, many new RTS games appeared. Did you try to play different RTS on competitive level? Why it is Starcraft you keep playing? How do you think, what could make RTS even better than SC (who knows, maybe Blizzard agents are going to use your ideas some day in the future? SC2, you know ^^)

 ToT)Mondragon(: I've never tried any other game competitively, except of WarCraft 3 in its beta period. But I got bored quite fast and kept playing StarCraft from there on. SC was the best game, is the best game, and will be the best game forever. Whatever you do, you can't improve SC anyway, so every RTS which will be published, no matter if its from Blizzard or some other company, it can't reach StarCraft's level. Developing StarCraft 2 can only be bad for Blizzard. They can't beat the status of StarCraft and therefore they can only lose when they decide to publish Starcraft 2. Thus no suggestions for another RTS.

 MYM.Raven: Do you remember your: longest game ever?

 ToT)Mondragon(: Probably some game against Testie, since it's the person I play the most with.

 MYM.Raven: Most stupid loss ever?

 ToT)Mondragon(: WCG 2004: Round of 16 against Advokate. I built a sunken on Martian Cross but cancelled it at like 250 hitpoints to make a better placement and did not see him going out with rines although I had an overlord and then I lost to 6 or 7 rines I guess :(

 MYM.Raven: First b.net game with Zerg?

 ToT)Mondragon(: Oh my fucking God ;D Yes I remember, It was some 2on2 game and i had 1 hatch and built 7 sunkens with gas and after building the 7th sunken I said: "I'm going to go for Mutas now". 10 Seconds later there were mutas in my base and I was like "wtf, how can he be so fast?!" :)

 MYM.Raven: Let's talk a little about foreigners in Korea. If you got nice ($) offer to move to Korea and play as a progamer, would you agree? What's your opinion on this way of living? Adventure from dreams or...?

 ToT)Mondragon(: not intending to go to Korea. IF I get an offer I would think about it to go there to check it out for 2-3 months or so, but I don't want to do it as a living for some years.

 MYM.Raven: Can you see yourself succeding if you tried it?

 ToT)Mondragon(: It's tough to say, in ZvP I would definitely succeed, but ZvT ... I don't think so.. maybe with a lot of practice. ZvZ would be like 50% I think.

 MYM.Raven: Do you think that there's a chance to see non-korean progamers (Pj, Lx, Draco) in KeSPA ranking in year 2007?

 ToT)Mondragon(: No chance.

 MYM.Raven: Are there any non-korean players that can make a hit in Korea if they tried it, in your opinion?

 ToT)Mondragon(: There are only 2 players who might do good in Korea: Testie and Sen. Both Testie and Sen are very incredible players and the best what the non-Korean scene can offer!

 MYM.Raven: Your personal top3 ranking for each race, nowadays! (to make it easier you CANNOT include yourself)

Non-korean (here come foreigners living in Korea if you mind them):
Zerg 1. Sen 2. Midian 3. Timothy
Protoss 1. Testie 2. Draco 3. Lx
Terran 1. Strelok 2. A2 3. Odin

Korean:
Zerg 1. Savior 2. JulyZerg 3. Yellow
Protoss 1. Reach 2. Ra 3. tester..[gm]
Terran 1. iloveoov 2. Nada 3. Boxer

(Mondragon's comment: I only named Testie once for Protoss because in my opinion its his best race.)

 MYM.Raven: Coming to the end, very last question: If Pentagram-Gshock invites you to a friendly showmatch against some polish star (your teammate Hullah maybe? do you have someone prefered for such a match?), can polish fans of german powerhouse see your Zerg in action again?:)

 ToT)Mondragon(: I am usually not so keen to play showmatches but I could make an exception for my little Hullah <3 Tho I would like to play pvz against him ;)

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Special Thanks to  MYM.Raven for this great feature, and also to  Colbi, who helped with the graphics work!

GosuGamers.net Database: Mondragon's Profile
Templars of Twilight Homepage: Mondragon's Team Site