Last weekend saw the emergence of dark horse WE.Pepsi.Like coming out on top of the national qualifiers of WCG China. Along the way, the Orc-player defeated the likes of mouz.Fly100%, WE.Pepsi.Infi and wNv.Sai to net himself a total prize money of 2,800Euros.

The 20-year-old has grown from a mere status of an amateur player to a level much similar to other top-tier Orc players. With his breakthrough at WCG2008 China, myMYM.com decided to catch up with the new star player.

Q: Congrats with your victory in achieving first place at WCG 2008 China Grand Finals, as one the of the best orc player in China, is this your first title?

A: Yes , if you don’t consider my DreamCup victories...

Q: How did you celebrate your remarkable victory ?

A: Actually, I’m turning 20 on the 31st this month, last year I spent the day of my birthday in the airport, this year winning WCG2008 China would be counted as my birthday present and I will celebrate this with my teammates on my birthday.

Q: How far did you expect yourself to go in the tournament?

A: Actually I never thought of anything else, my goal for every tournament is to qualify. For an example, there are two qualifying spots (first and second place) for ESWC China this year, but I came in third, I was disappointed but not disheartened.

For WCG there’s three spots, and I was the champion this time, to be honest, I was a little surprised. You get what you should get through working and training hard, I will work even harder now to be ready for the Grand Finals in Germany.

Q: What does achieving first place in WCG2008 China mean to you?

A: This is my first title in my life, I believe it could be a turning point in my career.

Q: Lots of fans and people on RN (replays.net) say that you’re a great player in which your ability and skill in Warcraft3 exceeds your fame, because you didn’t have any remarkable performances, do you think hard practice got you the title or do you think you were always ready for it? How do you see it?

A: It doesn’t really matter actually whether way, winning this tournament will only motivate me to improve myself even more now, now there’s more challenges waiting for me, cause I want to win more.

LiKe - "Now there are more challenges for me, because I want to win more"

Q: Your teammate SKY, as a two time WCG champion and one time runner-up, didn’t make it to the grand finals this year, how do you view this situation?

A: Actually, Ted,Infi and Sky were in the same group, and they know each other well because they are teammates and practice together real often, so no matter who wins between them is normal, and plus, Sky just came back from Korea (attended E-Stars 2008) so maybe he wasn’t in his best form. I hope he does better next year.

Q: You faced wNv.Sai in the championship match who you actually played earlier on in group match, and in the winners-bracket, were you confident in playing him again?

A: Well, it was a complete situation now because I have already qualified for the grand finals, this match only decides who is first and second and like I said before, I only wanted to qualify, because of this, I was really relaxed when I played him on stage just like normal practice, maybe it was because of this which made me play even better.

Q: Can you tell us about your final match?
A: The map was secret valley, I knew he would go cyclone and take Keeper of the Groove as his second hero choice, because we practice a lot online normally , so we know each other’s tactics really well, because of this I changed my own tactic to counter his, I upgraded to tier 2 after only placing 1 orc burrow, so I got my second hero Shadow Hunter really quickly, so when he got his second hero and tried to harass me , I wasn’t worried at all.

A buoyant LiKe at the prize presentation ceremony

Q: As we know cyclone is great effective strategy against Orcs, many Orcers see it as a nightmare cause its really hard to counter, but these days , Orcers seem to find a better counter to it, what changes have been made?

A: Well , now Orcers tend to go for the heroes first. Because these strategy is about three heroes giving cover to the talons, so if you can take down the heroes then there is a high chance of winning, this is my opinion.

Q: In many games, lots of Orcers use Shadow Hunter as the second hero choice to counter cyclone instead of Tauren Chieftan, is this counted as a new strategy or what?

A: Actually I’ve used this a long time ago, but after using it too many times , a lot of Night elf players have found an excellent counter to it, so I wouldn’t say it is a new strategy but it’s a pretty good strategy sometimes because it can surprise your opponent.

But I think Tauren Chieften as your second hero is a better choice because this strategy is more stable but if your opponent has perfect timing and everything it would be hard to play the game, so sometimes changing strategies is a good choice.

Q: Human players these days have been using tier2 tower rushes against Orcs a lot lesser now and have started to use Mountain King as first hero, expand and go tier-three mass gryphon riders, these strategy is real effective these days, how do you see it?

A: This strategy is hard to counter not only in 1.21 but also now in 1.22, I still haven’t found an effective way to fight it, I hope through the changes in tower repair time in 1.22 will lead us to a new way of countering it , like early rushes. No matter what, you need lots of practice to make a new strategy work out.

LiKe - The new Chinese Orc hero

Q: What are your goals for the WCG World Grand Finals?

A: Qualifying from my group, and play on round by round, this the first time for me, so I wouldn’t think too much yet.

Q: How will you arrange your time before the World Grand Finals?

A: I haven’t made myself any schedules yet, I’ll give myself a training schedule after my birthday and try my best to finish everything within it.

Q: Thanks, anything you want to say to your fans and everyone?

A: Thanks for all the support, without you guys I wouldn’t be here today. I’ll keep training hard to improve myself even more!