MaSa: I wish to compete in WCS at the age of 40

Maru "MaSa" Kim is a Canadian Terran player from team OSC Elite with Korean heritage. He has been a fierce opponent in the NA scene for many years with occasional deep runs in the international tournaments.

Today, MaSa is a force to be reckoned with in any region, and it’s hard to imagine a WCS Circuit event without his games and attractive personality.

WePlay!: Maru, you came to the event off the back of strong online performance. You won the Online Qualifiers, and since that also took the first place at your Kings of The North group. Does that give you a boost of confidence coming here?

MaSa: Yes.

Last year I was pretty uncomfortable with my performance. I was really not in the zone. But this year, I feel I’m starting to gain my confidence back so, hopefully it will show in the good result.

So, you expect to go further than Group Stage #3 were you are now.

Correct.

Your fans should be happy to hear that!

What do you think about StarCraft 2 in general throughout 2018 and 2019? Do you find that it grows?

You see, last year was kind of a dark year for me, at least, cause I wasn’t finding the game interesting anymore, but, I feel like I’m past that stage, and now I want to do better. It’s not like a job where I feel pressured to do something. I feel like I want to do better.

Do you feel like something happened to you, or was it just a state of mind that clicked and turned you into a dedicated and focused player again?

I think something did click in my mind, and that’s what I want to do now.

Would you recommend this approach for others? If the passion level has lowered, just wait for it to come back up? 

I didn’t do anything special to turn my mindset back, I don’t know if I want to recommend this approach :).

Tournament results can be a factor in this. My winter performance (MaSa took 3rd place at WCS Winter Americas - WePlay!) I decided that I want to do better. A Good result may just end the dark age.

Our main reoccurring question throughout this event. TotalBiscuit was a true hero of StarCraft 2 who probably did more for this community than anyone else ever will. Do you feel that StarCraft 2 needs another hero like him?

Definitely.

I don’t know much about the European tournaments, but I assume TotalBiscuit was a lot more impactful for the NA players because we had a lot of events like ShoutCraft. That’s where I myself got popular in the NA scene.

You mean that TB helped you personally become a professional StarCraft 2 player?

Yes.

And so I think we need more people like him.

Do you think that we have people approaching the status of StarCraft 2 heroes? Even if they are not as big or impactful of TB.

At least from my point of view, whoever is running NA scene tournaments, are heroes. I can point out the following people:

• Joe LoGuidice (@Joe_LoGuidice) from N3rd Street Gamers;
• DrekkSama (@ESChamp) from ESChamp
• and Fearragon (@feardragon64)

StarCraft 2 has been sustaining you for a long time. And you’ve said before that you want to stick with it for at least some time. Do you have anything that you want or plan to do later in your life? Any exit strategy in mind?

I’m in fourth year at my University starting September. But I don’t know that I ever want to quit and get a real job.

So we may one day observe a 40-year-old MaSa competing at WCS, right?

(Laughing) I think it is definitely possible. I can only tell for sure that right now, my passion is not in studying. It’s just an exit strategy like you said yourself.

I really hope this thing with StarCraft 2 goes on.

Last question. Let’s say I have a 12-year-old brother who enjoys Fortnite. What should I tell to persuade him to give StarCraft 2 a try?

I think you need to want to play 1v1 games. In a lot of the games, you play in a team now. StarCraft 2 takes a lot of energy and effort to become good at. It could be said about other games too, but StarCraft is a special case.

I get it. I need to throw him a challenge.

MaSa, thank you very much for your time! I wish you to have a good run at 2019 WCS Spring, and enjoy Kiev!

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