escene.de: Hello Phillip. The EPS finals will take place this upcoming weekend. How would you rate your chances? You played quite often against HasuObs in the past.
Phillip ‚Monchi‘ Simon: Hey! It’s hard to say, it depends on many things. Who has the better mood this day, how did my opponent practice and how he prepared for this match against me. Who will be in fortune’s favor of course and who picks the better tactics (especially in PvP very important).
How do you rate the ESL Pro Series?
I’m grateful that the ESL established something comparable to the Bundesliga for the german-speaking countries, but there are a lot of gaps and problems in my opinion. Anyway I’m joining the EPS tournaments with passion and I’m looking forward to the playoffs as well, as I enjoy playing offline and in front of fans.
How do you rate the ESL Pro Series?
I’m grateful that the ESL established something comparable to the
Bundesliga for the german-speaking countries, but there are a lot of
gaps and problems in my opinion. Anyway I’m joining the EPS tournaments
with passion and I’m looking forward to the playoffs as well, as I enjoy
playing offline and in front of fans.
It was not safe to
say, that you would continue your career after your motocross accident
last year. What did you think afterwards and how did it feel when you
heard you might continue playing StarCraft?
After the
accident my focus was on being able to move my arm normally ever again.
In addition I was in terrible pain for 2 months and I was hardly able to
sleep. I didn’t start my Pro-gamer career at this time.
You won your first big title by winning the IeSF. How did it feel, when NightEnD typed „gg“?
It was pure relief and joy at this moment. But I was aware that this tournament wouldn’t get any credit.
You were able to defeat Squirtle in the Quarterfinals. Would you say
that PvP is your strongest Matchup or do you think it’s too random?
I felt quite uncomfortable in PvT for a long time and PvZ is known to
be very hard, I think that PvP is my best Matchup. Unfortunatly it
requires a certain amount of luck in PvP, otherwise I would be even more
optimistic.
You were able to win your group at the DreamHack
Winter 2012 and later on, you were stopped by HerO. Are you satisfied
with your performance or do you think you could have done better against
another opponent in the Semifinals?
I think I didn’t realise
my success yet. I can be happy with the overall result of course but
the loss against TLO is still bugging me and I could have beaten HerO as
well.
You left ESC Gaming in September and signed a contract with XMG a few weeks later. What changes did you experience so far?
My real Pro-Gaming career started by signing the contract with XMG. I
haven’t been able to visit any events and proof myself in the last days
at ESC. Further I get on with the XMG employees nicely and also XlorD is
a nice guy.
After XlorD you are the second player who signed
a contract with XMG. Do you often practice together and how strong
would you rate XlorD at the moment?
Yes, we practice regulary. I think he progressed a lot in the past 1-2 months and he is going the right direction.
If you will win the EPS Finals against HasuObs and XlorD wins against
Socke, it will lead to Finals between teammates. How possible do you
think, this scenario will be and will it be in your or XlorD’s favor?
This definitly might be a possible scenario for sure, but it’s hard to
say how big chances are. It would be in favor of the spectators, because
i’m sure, we would do something funny.
What goals, regarding Heart of the Swarm, do you want to achieve in the upcoming months?
Participating in as many tournaments as possible and showing off good
results. I hopefully won’t disregard my training during the christmas
holidays.
We often see players, who are hardly play at
international tournaments anymore i.e. MorroW, focusing on the AddOn.
How big will your disadvantage be, once the AddOn is released? How much
time do you have left to prepare for Heart of the Swarm?
I’m
not worried about it. I think there will be a disadvantage only at the
beginning but not worth mentioning later on. I think I won’t have
trouble to adapt to the new Metagame. How much time I have got left is a
matter of how many tournaments will take place, before the AddOn is
released.
Thank you for the Interview Phillip, the last Words are yours of course!
Thanks to XMG, TakeTV and all the people that support me and eSports as well. Let’s hope for exciting finals!
The Interview was translated into english
Interview by chimp, translation by Jogi
Photo: liquipedia
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