"I was random" - community interview with Lucifron
Curious russian community from GoodGame.ru talked to Lucifron about different aspects of his progamer's life. Pedro was very polit and gave us comprehensive answers to all questions.
Have a nice read!
1vsALL: What age did you begin to play wc3? What game did you play first?
I started playing WC3 at the age of 14, around September 2006, my first game ... I don't really remember the first one, but I know I was around 4 years old when I played it... the first one I remember is Final Fantasy VII.
1vsALL: When did you understand that wc3 is your mission and that you can be a successful professional gamer?
Hm... I don't think it's something you realize or not, you just enjoy the game and play a lot until you have a chance to prove yourself on LAN, if you perform good on LAN then I guess you realize you can play WC3 on a high level.
predA: What race did you begin to play with? Why did you choose Orcs? Do you think they have any advantages over other races? Name please a couple of pro et contra of this race.
I was random, didn't know which race to choose but I wanted to choose one, so I picked random once more and decided that the race I had in that game would be the race I'd play with from then on (which was orc).
I think orc has advantadge against undead on certain maps and specially online, I think it's hard to play Orc vs Elf and I'm not sure about Orc vs Human ^^.
The pros are that maps with health fountains favour you alot, and that it has a strong tier2. The contras I'd say that it's really hard to turnaround a game against Human or Elf, and that it's a weak race against casters.
predA: Tell us the top 3 of orcs in the world.
Fly100/DK.Lyn/Grubby, wouldn't know how to put them from 1st to 3rd, depends on the day shape in my opinion.
Inno: How did your e-sport carrer begin? How did you become from a usual ladder-player to a successful professional?
My "e-Sport career"(I wouldn't call it like that yet as I'm still studying ^^) began last year , when I had the chance to attend my first international LAN event (European BlizzCon Qualifiers), and that's the same answer for second question aswell, as for me LAN results are the only ones that matter.
ExeLanD: Why did you choose this nickname? What was your first e-sport salary size?
I played World of Warcraft for some months, like 3 or 4, and I didn't know which nickname to use so I decided to use LucifroN (LucifroN is the first boss in Molten Core).
About my first salary... I think it was 100 or 150 € / month.
SiOL!IAMDJ: What do you think about abuse strats? Do you like to use some of them?
hmm, I think that a player must play in the way he believes he has the highest chances of winning, I don't think it's wrong to use "abuse" strats.
I used to do them a lot on mirror and against night elf, but lately I'm trying to play standard.
RP.Asmodeus: What are the most important moments in the game when you play versus talons?
I think it's really important to avoid his DH rush at the start and being able to creep atlest till 350 xp before he gets his BeastMaster, if you manage to get lvl3 it's really helpful to stop his building harras. Then once he has cyclone it's usually good to creep a lot with your TC and annoy with the BM, you have to avoid fighting before your TC is lvl3.If he doesn't spend money on invul pots, health pots nor tps then you must focus heroes as else his army is way too big and he'll probably beat you in a "standard" fight.
VeryB1gman.: Your best match up is versus Undead. I think you can beat any undead-player in the world. Does it help to have a brother, playing Undead? You managed to advance from the average level right to the top very fast. What helped you?
Yes, around 70% of my practice against UD is against my brother VortiX, he's also the UD with the best win % against me!
I think that the pro-ladder was what helped me the most to improve as a player, as I was forced to play 200 games a week to get into the top6 and almost half of those games were against top european players.
VeryB1gman.: You have been playing ladder for half a year. Is it a way to the top for all players?
Yes, I think that playing ladder is a must for any player that is starting and wants to become a better player.
sidandnancy: It is necessary to fix BM? What race is the weakest at the present moment?
I don't think it's really necessary to fix the BM, aslong as there are players from all races winning tournaments I don't think you can say which race is better or worse, just which player was on shape that day.
KalmIIR: Do you play fast t3? What hero is the best for that? Do you use t3 strategies on tournaments and clanwars often?
Only against undead, as I think the orb is necessary so the Blademaster can attack his destroyers/wyrms. I think either BM + SH or BM + TC is good for playing that strategy, I prefer the shadowhunter as it's easier to avoid herofocus whereas with two melee heroes it's rather hard as you'd need 2 invul pots and so on.
Palaten4eGG: Why have you stoped borrow-rushing?
The main reason is that I'm not playing on TS against elf anymore, as now it has been deleted from the WC3L-pool and I can veto it on the other leagues, on the old NGL some elves chose TS against me so I could play BurrowRush... now if I don't veto TS the elf already knows what am I going to play.
Areah: What annoys you the most when you play against Human?
When they save their low hp heroes with invisibility, specially when they do it with the MK and start bolting and doing invisible again, it's really annoying... Also when they towerrush while I am creeping.
wit4er: How do you make up your mind before some important match? What music do you listen while playing?
Before a match I don't do anything special, just drink a lot of water. I only listen to music when playing trainning matches, never important ones. I listen to either Dream Theater or Metallica.
BLBL: Do you keep on developing extraordinary strategies? Standard strategies are better, aren’t they?
Standard strategies are better, for sure... but sometimes a worse strategy can work better than standard if your opponent has no clue about how to stop it. For example I don't think burrowrush is better than standard but as long as elves don't exactly know how to counter it, the strategy can work.
Dsn.: What race it is the most difficult to play against? What major tactic you prefer: attack or defense?
As Orc I think elf is the hardest race to play against, I always prefer being offensive as it's really hard to have a good fight position in your base, I prefer fighting the opponent elsewhere.
paper_dragon: What do you think about Orc-Undead-match-up? Is it necessary to balance it? If it is, then what should be changed?
I think that it's really hard for an undead to win an orc online, as it's much harder to focus orc heroes online than offline... however I don't think that the imbalance is THAT big offline, maybe undead casters should be buffed, I don't really know what should be changed in this matchup as it'd affect to the others aswell.
--: How many time do you practice a day? What does your practice consist of?
Between 1 and 4 hours a day, depending most on studies and if there's any big tournament incoming or not. My practice normally consists on playing custom games, I also watch some replays.
elezarkun_KI-TAI: What occassion did make you the top wc3 player of the world (we know about brothers and constant opposition between you but it was always). May be you broke up with you girlfriend? Or you acquired with third hand? Or maybe Grubby gave a little of his blood to you? Or maybe Moon took you to his UFO and made some experiments on you? What variant is more probable?
I changed my mouse and now i use auto-rightclick! =)
k1v1_ukraine: I've heard that you replays give a lot of experience and that you never make mistakes? How can I reach the same level? What should I focus on?
Watching replays definitely helps a lot, as in a given situation there are always different choices and knowing what's the best one will make you win or lose a game... when watching replays you notice other ways of reacting to a situation and that makes you understand better the game..
I do a lot of mistakes but I'm trying to spot them and fix them, the most important thing is to realize which was the mistake and to find a solution to it, for that you should focus on what you did and what you could've done.
Kenanda: Do you think you first WCG was successful? What thing at wcg did you remember best of all?
Well, I finished top5-8 at WCG, I had a hard group so I'm glad I didn't drop on the groupstage, however I'm not really happy with that result as I played bad against HoT. It was my first WCG and I was really impressed about the expectation WC3 had, I think it was the star game of the event and that was something really funny , watching the finals live was awesome.
iSa.ahhha: Do you used to invent tactics at insomnia hours?
Not really ^^, I normally only think about WC3 when I'm playing or watching replays.
iSa.ahhha: Do you think its possible that some guy can become top player if he really wants to be? Or you need some talent?
Talent is needed, if you ask me its 50% talent and 50% practice. one without the other isn't worth anything.
Mackavelly: Tell us about your best game in your carrer and about the most disappointing loss?
The best in terms of useful was the one against ToD on European Blizzcon Qualifier as it was the one that made me go to USA, although the bo3 I have the best thought about was the one against Happy on USA as I didn't expect to beat him. The most disappointing loss was probably against HoT on WCG or Lyn on BlizzCon grand finals.
LvTM.Vivi: Is it worth to make yourself to play when you don't wanna play but wanna keep the shape? Or practices will be useless if you stopped to enjoy the game?
Well, at certain times one is really tired for practicing, but if his goal is worth it then I think he should keep practicing, each one has to choose that, If you no longer enjoy the game (not that you're tired at a certain time, but that you won't like to play anymore), then I think quitting is the best option as I don't think that you can perform good while disliking to play, and there's no point playing if you won't have a good time nor win anything.
AmoreuX: What thing is more compicated: to reach a high level or to keep playing at that level for a long period of time?
Keep playing at that level for a long period of time, definitely.
XakepOk: What thing is the most difficult in progamer's life?
I don't know ^^, I don't consider myself a progammer yet as I'm still studying and I'm not fully dedicated to WC3 (atleast yet), but I guess that giving up most of the other life aspects is the hardest thing.
oops: What hardware do you play with?
SteelSeries 6g keyboard, razer copperhead mouse & razer mantis mousepad. Headset... I don't know xD AKG K240 studio 55 ohms - all I can read here^^ Power supply from FSP Group and graphic card from Sparkle Computer.
Medzhit: Will you participate in the ladder battle for the StarCraft2 beta key? Are you going to try Diablo3?
Yes I'll try to get one of the ladder betas, and no I won't try Diablo3.
RhythmHearth: What do you think about falling popularity of WC3?
I don't think WC3 popularity is falling, for example on WCG 2008 it was the star game and I don't think it'll be different on Chengdu 2009!
ExeLanD: Will WC3 die after SCII appear?
I don't think so, but all we can do is wait.
grizin: Are you going to pass from WC3 to SC II?
I don't know yet, if the game is very popular in Spain and I like it as much as I like WC3 then yes, why not ^^
grizin: What do you think about Happy's games?
I think he has an outstanding micro which makes him a really dangerous opponent to any player.
Born_: What player is the most difficult opponent for you?
Don't know yet, there's still much people I haven't played against... but so far I'd say HoT is the player who has won me the most times.
just_Casus: Do you think fnatic.Moon is worth that salary that he was offered by WMF?
Yes, he's the player who has won the most prize money on tournaments and that's something that proves he's an exceptional player.
k1v1_ukraine: You and Check won Grubby & Empire.Happy a couple of days ago and you pair is consedered to be the best. Do you and chack practice a lot together? Or you won MYM thanks to your solo experience only?
We don't practice 2:2 a lot, I think we just played better on the 2:2 and won.
SammyK: You and your brother K3.Vortix are yang and you appeared at wc3 scene not long ago but at the same time your elder brother K3.Ryo is 22 years old. So, there are my questions:
1. Why you play different races?
Don't know, guess that we wanted to avoid any kind of trouble, a lot of people wouldn't believe we are different persons if we played the same race, specially when we were only known in the spanish scene.
2. Yanger brothers infected elder bro with Warcraft or on the contrary he influesed you in this game?
K3.Ryo was the first playing WC3.
3. How three of you can practice and have a good shape: I and my brother always trying to kick out each other of computer. Or you have three computers at home?
We have 3 computers so we avoid that kind of troubles.
4. I know that you and Rio often play AT. How you, brothers, play 3x3 games?
hmm, some years ago we used to play 3:3 AT & tournaments, I remember we won around 2 or 3 BNet touirnaments gargfeeding xD
Tulio: Don't your brothers annoy you asking to practice with them?
No, I'd say it's the other way around haha, I'm often asking K3.Vortix to practice.
dead-st[i]ng: What do you want to reach in the life? How does the game help you?
Wow, really hard question. I've always been competitive and gaming helps me a lot in that way, as any player has to work hard to improve and when you achieve something it feels really good... About what do I want to reach in life... xD, I don't have any goal, I guess doing at each moment what I think I have to do.
iSa.ahhha: Do you think Warcraft develops some abilities like reaction, inventiveness, tranquillity etc.?
I think it's the other way around, in my opinion you are born with those abilities (talent) and they are required (or useful) when playing Warcraft.
noobs!3aratustra: What interests do you have except Warcraft? How long are you going to play this game?
I don't know for how long I'll be playing WC3, I guess until I either stop enjoying the game or the game dies on a competitive level... about other interests, I've always been interested on studies and so on, acquiring knowledge and that stuff.
delAY.tP: Is it difficult to combine the study and wc3?
It's not hard before university, but it's impossible once university starts.
What profession would you choose to study in University?
Some Engineering, dunno which.
art3m0n: How is «e-sport in Spain» doing? Have you ever been to Russia?
I haven't been to Russia (yet!) and e-Sports in Spain are way behind any other country, but I believe they're slowly, slowly improving ^^
Tw1ster: Atletico de Madrid or Real Madrid?
I'm a fan of Barcelona, if I had to choose between those 2 I guess Atletico de Madrid.
sidandnancy: What is your favorite football player?
Iniesta.
It's a surprise from russian student studying spanish, I think:
Wildstyle: Hola, Lucifron. Contra tu dia de trabaja, por favor? No se ponga triste!
Thanks!
What is it about? =)))
Don't fully understand, but he said to me not to be sad ^^
Izzy-: It is very nice to see you among world-best players, your games are very interesting to watch! How do you feel in a real life? Don’t you have a feeling real Life goes away through the fingers?
Nah, I never thought spending time on "real" life or "virtual" life matters, I've always believed that it must be each one who chooses what is he going to spend his time on
1o1man: Do you have a girlfriend? What is her name? What girls are really attracts you?
I don't have a gf at the moment, and almost all girls seem atractive to me!
HSE.Akemi: Can you advice a place to have a good time in Spain?
Yessssss, Barcelona is a really nice place! Nice beaches and nice city!
Say something at final.
I'd like to thank all my supporters, hope you enjoy this looong interview and that you have a nice time, you are the best! I would like to thank our head sponsor FSP Group, main sponsor Sparkle Computer and outfitter PUMA allesraubkatze.de for their great support.