SOTE #8 Special - WC Grand Finalists 'Interviews'

[Atomzed]

The State of The Era Podcast (SOTE) team will be discussing the WC Grand Finals in SOTE#8!

As part of the podcast, we will be sending out interview questions to all the finalists. So for those who has been confirmed to be in the top 32, please check your inbox for the following message:-

Hi XXX,

Congrats on getting into top 32 for WC Grand Finals!

The next State of the Era podcast will be featuring the WC Grand Finals. I am helping the SOTE team to 'interview' all the finalists.

Below is a series of questions that will be posed to all Grand Finalists. Please keep your responses to less than 50 words per question. Feel free to skip the questions if you feel that your opponent may gain an advantage over you. Or you might even want to play mind games with your opponent by giving fake answers!

Everyone's responses will be submitted in the SE forum. But the top 4 players info will be specially read and discussed in the SOTE #8 podcast!

1) Nationality
2) How long have you been playing SE?
3) Who are your favorite SE Heroes?
4) What is your favorite playing style?
5) Besides yourself, who do you think is the most likely person to win the Grand Finals?
6) Give us your favorite battle chant/ quote.
7) Any special comments to the SOTE team?

Yours Sincerely,
Atomzed

[Atomzed]

This are the people who has been confirmed to be in top 32. Pms have been sent to them.

Barcanfan95 (response received)
Jacqui (response received)
Ogausp (response received)
Portgaz D Ace (response received)
Mzaazm (response received)
Hatts (response received)
Rayzie (response received)
Nickey293 (response received)
Sisyphos (Response received)
Raphael Majere (response received)
Bluejet24 (response received)
Dollmaster (response received)
B0hater (response received)
Finneri (response received)
FarqtheOrc (response received)
Iclipse (response received)
Holynoob (response received)
Busti (response received)
A1 otto7 (response received)
Dai (response received)
Wreon (response received)
Ninjaducky (response received)
Fou DeLie (response received)
RVD (PP Star) (response received)
Greymouser (response received)
Youanthe (response received)
Larus (response received)
vAct (response received)
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For these grand finalists, please check your inbox!

Redpuma
KA Jeff

[Atomzed]

Submitted in order of their response speed

MZAAZM (IGN: AA1 Booboochicken)
Guild: AA1
1) USA National by birth, Pakistani Background
2) Late January 2012
3) Baduruu...j/k. Lance, Maji, Zal, and Moon
4) I enjoy playing a control style game.
5) Everyone has the chance to do well, they made it this far. I think that unless it is rigged to have all A1 and AA1 players play each other early and knock us all out. I expect that an A1 or AA1 member will win it.
6) Duck Soup for life!!! (lol)
7) Good job and good luck, always great to listen to and learn from players who go the extra mile to improve the game and the players.

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Portgaz D Ace (IGN: TJ Ace)
Guild: TJ
1) Irish
2) Almost 2 years
3) Personal favourite = Jericho
4) Mage ally-rush style (Eladwen v1.3)
5) Nickey, barcafan95 or Sisyphos
6) If you can't reach the top alone, go and get someone to go with you!
7) Keep up the good works guys! Even though so far I only manage to listen to SOTE 2, but I heard the other episodes are awesome as well.

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Barcafan95 (IGN: TJ Barcafan95)
Guild: TJ
1.) German
2.) Started playing back when Aeon was super protector and 4/8, then lost interest since I didn´t know there was PVP got back in with 1.27 and thanks to sooth´s Priest guide and Raph´s Zal Mega rush, I got into PVP and had great fun again.
3.) Zhanna for winning me the most important game I have had and being awesome in 1.29. Jericho since he was my first hero and was so good back then. Zaladar first tournament success with him and so good.
4.) Aggro-control is something I can live with if needed, but don´t like it too much. Pure control sadly is not viable enough and more goes into stall in this version. Combo sadly impossible atm, but I like it fairly a lot. Superdraw is my favorite in SE, e.g. TO,HD and Staff in one deck hahaha. Overall I would say control of more or less any sort is the way I roll.
5.) Haha I wish I would be likely to win. Otherwise my highest bet is on Sisyphos followed by Portgaz.
6.) YES OH MY GOSH! (Skrillex, I love listening to it for my matches)
7.) Keep it up! Highlight of every other weekend!

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B0hater (IGN: TJ B0hater)
Guild: TJ
1) I'm from the south of Spain. Here we always have good time, sun, wonderful beachs and beautiful women
2) My Join Date is 07-12-2011, but I started playing about a month before.
3) I started playing with Boris (if I remember right in 1.26) and loved his Hulk Smash style. I love to play warriors, but can play almost any hero.
4) I like all styles, the only think I don't like is boring matches.
5) Not sure about who can win, everyone is very strong this year in WC Grand Finals but I will enjoy all my games and try to learn all I can. The only thing I'm sure is that the self proclaimed "best in the world" PP Star won't be the champ lol.
6) I am the Dragon. And you call me insane. You are privy to a great becoming, but you recognize nothing. To me, you are a slug in the sun. You are an ant in the afterbirth. It is your nature to do one thing correctly. Before me, you rightly tremble. But, fear is not what you owe me. You owe me awe.
7) Thanks for your Podcast guys, keep up the good work!

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Dollmaster (IGN: A1 Dollmaster)
Guild: A1
1) China
2) 1.24 -1.25 for 2-3 month, 1.29 one week, 1.5 from the first day to now.
3) Elad.
4) I like rush, but 80% of the games I could only play a control style...
5) Another A1/AA1 member.
6) Simple is the best.
7) U r doing an amazing job. I do think Wulven should give u big rewards.

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Jacqui (IGN: Jacqui2)
Guild: AA1
1) American
2) 6-7 months
3) Amber because I always draw blood frenzy two games in a row.
4) Bum rushing opponent with card advantage, Amber style.
5) Duck Duck Soup!
6) Alright chums let's do this. LEEERRROOOYYYYY JEEEEEEENNNNKKKIIIIIINNNNSSSSSSSSS!!!
7) Soup is sexy.

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Bluejet24 (IGN: TJ Bluejet24)
Guild: TJ
1) Filipino/American
2) Since 1.25 (I think)
3) I play them all.
4) Mill, rush and control
5) I like Barca, Sisy, Ace and Raph's chances.
6) "they can take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" Braveheart
7) Nil.

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Hatts (IGN: A1 Hatts)
Guild: A1
1) Canadian
2) 16 months
3) I try not to get too attached to heroes from version to version, but I have always had a soft spot for Gwen. Her capacity for massive damage means you can pivot from a control ally based approach to a death race when needed.
4) My favourite playing style falls somewhere between rush and control depending on the meta. I tend to rely on a lot of allies, I find mill decks boring and solo weapon decks fragile.
5) It's so hard to predict having not seen the final brackets and hero choices, but I'd have to go with Sisyphos. Without a doubt he's the person I least want to run in to in the grand finals. He is very good at picking decks to best deal with the meta, and he is very polished when playing them.
6) This one stumped me for a bit until I remembered the chant of my local football team when I was growing up:
Oskie Wee Wee
Oskie Waa Waa
Holy Mackinaw
Tiger Cats... Eat 'em RAW!!
It's best not to ask any questions.
7) I've given specific feedback and suggestions elsewhere so I will just say keep up the good work!

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FarqTheOrc (IGN:TJ FarqTheOrc)
Guild: TJ
1) I'm Aussie but living on the far side of the world in Oslo, Norway.
2) Only a few months, but long enough to see that it's a great game with an awesome community.
3) Anyone except the "cookie-cutter" tier 1 heros. Solo Ter Adum is always unexpected. Baduruu is pure fun. And elementalis is my long time favourite (feedback bombs ftw). However Serena and Zhanna have really done well for me lately, including in the WC rounds - I guess I'm just good with women...
4) Winning.
5) Whoever has worked at it the hardest - don't tell me you're ready to win this thing if you haven't spent 50 games tuning your finals deck to perfection against every meta and anti-meta deck you can think of.
6) No soup for you!
7) See number (6).

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Sisyphos (IGN: A1 Sisyphos)
Guild: A1
1) German
2) Little over a year now.
3) Majiya, Banebow and Ter Adun.
4) Not really thinking in terms of style and enjoy all-out offense as much as titanic slow rolls. Playing a mere stall game is about the only thing i don't like, which (for me) includes decks consisting of nothing but counter-cards.
5) youanthe
6) This is where i need to google sth witty, isn't it?
7) Love to listen to all the geek talk and hope you guys keep up the nice work!

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BDK16 (IGN: BDK16)
Guild: E2E/ETC
1) Nationality I am Canadian, my origin is Cambodian. I was born in Vancouver but I currently live in Laval (which is close to Montreal)
2) I started playing towards 1.23, I think that's in the end of February. I guess that makes it one year and four months
3) I currently like playing Serena and Amber. They are not my most competitive decks, but there fun to play with
4) The style that wins :P
5) I don't want to make anyone mad by answering this one, lol. Hmmm I would say Sisyphos
6) I guess "Aaaaah!!!!"
7) First I wanna say thank you to the SOTE team, these podcasts were super helpful and interesting. I hope you guys will continue doing this for a long time. I've listened to all your podcasts and I really enjoyed them, especially NinjaDucky's sexy voice Thanks to the SOTE team once again!
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Rayzie (IGN: TJ Rayzie)
Guild: TJ
1) Australian
2) March 2011
3) I've always had a soft spot for Gwen but ive been cheating on her a bit since her ability changed.
4) I suppose when I build a deck, I usually start with an aggro control style before heading in whatever direction, so I guess that.
5) I think historically here, people who get listed as favorites tend to underperform, so the people who I think will win it are: Barcanfan95 Jacqui Ogausp Portgaz D Ace Mzaazm Hatts Nickey293 Sisyphos Raphael Majere Bluejet24 Dollmaster B0hater Finneri FarqtheOrc Greymouser
6) MaZAAAAAAAMMMMM!
7) When are you doing that adults only special you promised me?

[Atomzed]

Nickey293 (IGN: TJ Nickey293)
Guild: TJ
1) Chinese Canadian
2) near the end of 1.26
3) I like to play the OP heroes and/or the flavor of the week
4) Rush with some control
5) Ace, Barcafan, and Sisyphos are the ones I hope I don't have to play against in the WC.
6) Hmm...don't have one and nothing really comes to mind.
7) Keep up the great work you guys are doing! I also like to extend a shoutout to GDC/Jet, I think I would have given up on this game if they didnt host their tourneys when they did to keep my interest in the game.

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Raphael Majere (IGN: Raphael Majere 3)
Guild: BP
1) Singapore
2) Since 1.25
3) Boris (1.27), Majiya (1.5) There's so many ways to play her (Majiya). Portal Maj, for example, can run with BM or MD. I prefer BM. Or Tracker/Control Maj deck, I won a WotBP internal tourney with it. With 4 Tomes/4 PB, Maj can be the Queen of Control. Or Suicide Maj, which I used in WC, is also one of my fav decks. 4 Sac lambs, 4 BS, no tome. I was 1st runner up with that deck in 1st ever 1.3/1.5 tourney. (KA Rapierlol won with Spelleater Lance)
4) Aggro
5) Sisyphos, his track record is excellent.
6) From Calmdown: "The single greatest skill in SE is knowing what to sac correctly on each turn."
7) Love your podcasts! Keep them c'ming!

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Finneri (IGN: A1 Finneri)
Guild: A1
1. Finland
2. I think I started around October, but the first month or two were very light.
3. I don't really have favourites, but if I've to name something, I'd say Lance and Zhanna.
4. Control by card-advantage.
5. I've my money on Ace, Youanthe and Sisyphos.
6. Though one, can't think of any.
7. Keep up the great work!

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OgAusp (IGN: OgAusp)
Guild: BP
Here are your responses:
1) Jamaican
2) 4 months
3) MS and Zhanna
4) None
5) Sisyphos
6) -
7). Sure, the show is innovative and overall informative, even though, I don't agree with half of the things said at times. Keep us entertained and keep up the good work.

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Bobwei (IGN: Bobwei)
Guild: ETC
1) Chinese
2) Since late 1.26
3) Priests
4) Control
5) Fou Delile
6) Just for fun
7) Currently no..

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Iclipse (IGN: A1 Iclipse)
Guild: A1
1) I'm from Belgium.
2) I started playing I think mid February, and joined the forum at the end of March.
3) Favorites? All time, or currently? All time favorites are Gwenneth and Jericho
Currently, I don't have any real favorite hero that sticks out. General ones I like now are Zaladar, Zhanna, Lance. Basically the ones that are fun to play through a control style deck.
4) Board control. I like to win my games because I simply have won the board, and only because of that I was able to reduce my enemy's hero to 0. I really dislike any playing style that ignores what's on the board and just does its own thing. I can play these styles, but that doesn't mean I like them.
5) I would bet on Sisyphos.
6) "To be the best, you have to beat the best."
7) Well done, iClipse!...... No, in all seriousness, I think it's a great initiative, and I hope it'll only grow in the future. Hopefully we get Kyle on there one day.

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Holynoob (IGN: A1 Holynoob)
Guild: A1
1. Finland
2. I started at October 2011
3. My favourite heroes atm are Zhanna, Jericho and Zaladar. Priests just are fun to play, and Zal has very few bad MUs, which is good for competitive play.
4. Control
5. I'm guessing it'll be someone from (a)a1, if I'd need to bet on someone, it'd be sisyphos.
6. Nil.
7. Great job with the vids! I've watched almost everyone of them till the end, you should just put them downloadable to itunes or somewhere where I can download it to my iPad, and listen while playing.

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Busti (IGN: A1 Busti)
Guild: A1
1) Belgian
2) Since 1.28
3) Banebow, Moonstalker
4) Mhh... Control?
5) Sisyphos, but i also have in mind barcafan95 and Dollmaster
6) No idea!
7) Keep the awesome work up!

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Dai (IGN: Daiboken)
No Guild
1) Spanish
2) Since November-December 2011
3) Nishaven (the one with i begin), Amber, Zaladar
4) Control
5) Barcafan95
6) "It's over NINE THOOOUUUUSAAAAAANNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD"
7) Keep doing that great job! I like to hear the SOTE altough i miss some speeches cause English is not my native language, but i think that the show is very interesting

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A1 Otto7 (IGN: A1 Otto7)
Guild: A1
1) Hellenic nationality
2) About 1.5 year. (from v1.23 or 1.24)
3) Pay with €€ and i answer
4) I like control style but i am flexible
5) Any A1-AA1 brother (numerical chances seem to favor my bet )
6) THIS IS SPARTAAAAAA!!!! (expected anything else?)
7) Please SOTE team, dont (EVER) make another episode without Otto7 like SOTE#8. We ,people, luv him!!

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KA Jeff (IGN: KA Jeff01)
Guild: KA
1) 当然是中国啦 (China of course!)
2)到今天玩SE刚好3个月 (3 months)
3)最喜欢的是女牧和男法 (Zhanna and Nishaven)
4)从选的英雄看的出是控场型 (Control)
5)赛前我认为SIS,我,DOLLMASTER,JACQUI,四个人很有可能,结果我悲催的遇到了唯一 能克我的4紫烟月狼。。。(b4 WC I expect Sisyphos, Dollmaster and jacqui to win)
6) Nil.
7)SOTE TEAM STANDS FOR?

[PP Star 4ever]

Send a PM to my PP Star account. I don't use my RVD account anymore

[Atomzed]

Send a PM to my PP Star account. I don't use my RVD account anymore

Noted PPstar. Once your place is confirmed, i will send you the PM.

Currently, you are at 26 pts, and based on what i have noted, the remaining slots will be determined by tierbreaker scores. Seeing how the tiebreaker scores can be changed quickly, i will not send those 26 pointers the PM until confirmation by GDC.

[Atomzed]

updated with response from 10 players.

[Sisyphos]

Jacqui (IGN: Jacqui2) [...] 3) Amber because I always draw blood frenzy two games in a row.

I see what you did there, lol.

Also, there's no topping Hatts' battle cry.

[BDK16]

Responded.

Lol at Hatts battle cry :P

[Hatts]

Responded.

Lol at Hatts battle cry :P

I take it you don't watch the CFL That's a shame, because the Allouettes are really good... Regardless, go Ti-cats!