viPro: I practise six to ten hours a day

escene.de: Hi Rasmus, thank you for accepting this interview. You are a part of compLexity Gaming for about two months now. Could you tell us a little bit about what has changed after joining coL? Do you like it so far?
Rasmus ‚viPro‘ Östersjö: Hey! After Karont3 SC2 disbanded I was obviously once again without a team, so being picked up by coL so quickly changes everything regarding both attending events, exposure, motivation and a lot of other things. But comparing it to my time in Karont3, not to much has changed, other than that coL is a much bigger and more established organization. I already knew pretty much everyone in coL since the past, so it was like teaming up with your family and I like it a lot here so far! And I still have a very good relationship with the Duráns, who I like a lot, so I have really nothing to complain about.

You are the only European player in your team right now. Is that a problem?
Correct! Hmm not really. So far, there have not been any issues. Morning/mid day EU can play with KR customs via NA, if they would like, and evening/night EU can play with NA and vice versa, so in regard of practise, that is not an issue. We have one more Swedish guy though in coL, who is staff and maybe in any other game, I have no idea about that. So if there were to be any issues for me with time zones for communication, he could help me out as well, so there is really no problem!

How does your practice look like? Do you have a schedule and do you prefer to play ladder or against team mates or practice partners?
I don’t have a schedule, but normally I practice 3-4 hours in a row, then take a little bit of a break, then I go again, take a little break and then go again and usually depending on how much other things I need to do that particular day, such as work out or other duties I practise 6-10 hours a day. In general I prefer playing custom games, but that goes in waves and I think it’s important to both ladder and play customs to get a good variety on your training. On top of that watching replays or televised matches that are interesting.

Are you playing full time at the moment? And if not, is that an option for you in the future?
Yes, I’ve been full time since I joined Karont3, so it’s half a year. But I am actually about to start University very soon at 26th August. For those who are interested, it’s in Swedish called „Civilingenjör, inriktning Industriell Ekonomi“, and I think the English equivalent is something like Master degree in Science, with a orientation in industrial economics. But don’t worry guys, I will still continue play a lot of StarCraft. Taking a pause in my studies in the future is an option as well, if I would like that, so no doors have been closed just yet! 🙂

Recently you started with analyzing replays on Youtube. Will there be more episodes in the future?
Yes, defiantly. A lot more to come, I enjoyed doing it.

Do you have any tips about how to analyze your own replays correctly to become a better player? And how important is it to analyze your own replays in general.
It’s important to analyze your own repays, if you don’t know what you did wrong or what you did right, in order to either lose or win the game. You analyze replays to understand the game better, so when you are in the next game, you can use the knowledge you got upon watching your previous games to be able to make more correct decisions. What you are looking for when you watch a replay is very hard to give a general tips though. It depends so much on what level of play you are on exactly and what you should be focusing on, or rather I should say what you need to be focusing on. But for myself I don’t watch my own replays for much other than refining my own builds or when I wasn’t sure yet why I lose the game. The majority of the replays I watch are from other players.

Who do you think is the most entertaining player to watch at the moment and what is your favorite matchup to watch?
Hmm I’d probably go with Rain. Not because he has „crazy entertaining play“, but because he is the player that I learn the most from which makes it entertaining for me.

A few weeks you attended the ASUS ROG Summer event in Finland. You nearly managed to beat HyuN in the group stage and you came up victorious against TargA. How satisfied are you with your performance?
Obviously I am not satisfied with not passing the group, if I were then it’s probably time to quit professional gaming, if you don’t have any desire to win. My PvZ’s were OK, and normally my PvP is really good but there were circumstances that crushed me in the 2nd place decider against Welmu. With a good condition my chances to beat welmu are ~50/50 at worse, so it was very disappointing getting crushed really hard 3:0, doing almost nothing right. Don’t get me wrong though, Welmu played great, so don’t take anything away from him. The whole experience for me though at ASUS ROG was still great and I could still practise 12 hours each day there for two more days so my offline experience leveled up by a lot. So with all factors taken in considerations, the whole event was great for me, even though I wish I could have done better in the actual tournament – which was the reason I was there in the first place. 

What are your goals for the rest of year?
Well, just continue practice, try do well at offline events and not only in online matches. Next thing on the agenda is probably to qualify for Swedish Championships, which are existing of 8 offline qualifiers spread around in Sweden over the next 10 months, starting quite soon I would guess. Other than that maybe some more events if that works out with University schedule, doing some new casting/analyzing videos, streaming, more practice etc!

Thank you very much for taking the time.The last words are up to you!
VAMOS A LA PLAYA! Thank you coL for picking me up when Karont3 disbanded, I’m having a great time in the team so far! Keep cheering guys and I will try to bring you both, good content and good results in the future 🙂 Also shout out to all kind persons out there that are making my SC2 experience what it is, both players and the community. Also I’ve messed up so many times in the end of interviews not giving NaNiwa a shout out, so shout out to him too! And since I know what you are thinking now, why haven’t this cute adorable Swede plugged his twitter, I want to follow him! The kind Swede I am, I try to give you what you want: I’m @coL_viPro. Also check out www.complexitygaming.com/ @compLexityLive ! Thanks see you around!