Thanx go to coverage.su for taking this iview =)
http://coverage.su/youtube.php?url=qRHH07VBZqk

The last match versus strenx turned out to be unexpectedly tense, tell us about it.

Firstly, I should stress that it was expectedly tense, strenx is getting better and shows very good results. Besides, our matches are quite specific. But still, before the game I morally pressed him down, he was very scared of me and played sloppily, although it would've been better to be more aggressive.
About the first map, during the first minute I lost control, giving him the second RA, but soon caught him and killed him and took control back. So, the first half of the map I was in the lead, then he caught me at mega, killed me, and we had a very tense game, but despite that I bent the control to my side and started to play purely from it.
The second game was by far more tensed, because there was such a moment when I killed him at mega and I was barely alive. At that time RA was spawning, and he had a very lucky respawn. If we talk percentages, then there’s about 20% that he could respawn there in that situation. Because of that I started to curse strongly. That was really unpleasant. He took control, caught up with me fragwise, and we had overtimes, I think there were 3 of them.

Yes, there were three of them. Strenx’ hands were shaking sometimes, tell me how did you keep your calm, out of experience only or did you know that you were going to win?

I had a won map behind my back, it was his map, so I already felt more comfortable. Secondly, ztn was his weak map, I don’t know why he dropped his stronger map t9. At the moment it’s my best map, but he dropped it, although he plays it much better than ztn. And I should stress that at the moment he’s a bit weak at ztn, he knows basic handling of this map, but fine moments kind of pass him by. And besides, I have more experience concerning things like where you should fight, positioning, etc.

Do you make up any demoralizing tactics? For example, you told the French guy an unflattering thing after the overtimes, do you think it can influence him or not?

I said an unflattering thing not meaning it personally, but because of game moments. There were lots of game moments when he dealt me a lot of damage, although he was barely alive. And besides, there were 3 overtimes, there were like scales, sifting from one side to another. But then I caught him and punished him. But as a player I treat him normally, except rare cases, sometimes he behaves incorrectly due to his age, but there's nothing more to it.

Now people play 10 minutes instead of 15, how does it influence the game? Well, your game in particular?

Each moment can be the last. That was a reason I cursed when he respawned in a very good place, he could actually win the game because of that moment. Time limit of 10 punishes you a lot for making a single mistake.

Do you like it more than 15 or not?

Earlier I’d say less, but now after so many tournaments and matches I say that 10 minutes is more comfortable for me, I already developed habits and adapted to it, created specific tactics for the situations, so 10 minutes time limit is better now.

Your thoughts of Rapha?

Totally good thoughts! He’s very polite, respecting, always friendly and kind, he is always understanding. I have only good words for him.

Before ESWC you were preparing in Germany, you want to win the third ESWC title, tell me how you were practing in Germany and with whom.

In Moscow it’s difficult to practice, Internet connection is at fault, and Moscow is Moscow, it’s my native city and I can’t totally focus on quake in Moscow. So I made a decision to go to Germany a week before the event, and to practice there with all my might. I played about 40-50 games per day. One match is 10 minutes, so it’s about 9-10 hours per day. I didn’t expect to meet Rapha in Germany, but to my surprise when I arrive he was already there. But in spite of that, I don’t say that we practiced a lot with him, we played sometimes, but in between I played other strong players: strenx, av3k, cypher, noctis, fazz. I think it’s the best way to practice for me, because I was focused only on quake, and I really hope that I’ll be able to win one more ESWC, I really want that to happen a lot.

Does it happen that sometimes you’re too nervous during the matches? Does it influence your matches?

I think that of course it influences my game in a bad way rather than in a good way. But it’s necessary, I think it’s necessary to let out your emotions sometimes. I’ve been playing for a long time and learnt to control such situations well enough. What I mean is that even if I’m nervous and cursing, I still know how to be calm in the game and how to proceed to play the same way.

Thanx, good luck to you.