Behind the Username is an interview series where I ask some questions of the people I meet in and around the SEA region and local tournaments.
Today I have a chat with Charlie '[eCKo] Satu' Potter, creator of troll SC2 Arcade maps and terror of Adelaide LANs
---
To kick things off, how long have you been involved with Starcraft, and have you always played Zerg?
Competitive sc2 I started late 2010 after watching some videos on husky’s channel. As for starcraft as a game, my first experience with it was broodwar on the N64. I played it with a friend when I was still in primary school, and almost immediately bought the cartridge from him. I still have it.
I’ve always been a zerg player, I’ve thought of raceswitching but I never go through with it and likely never will in the future either.
How did you decide upon your username?
I was originally called zergtastic when I started. But then I joined a clan called SPR and "ZergtasticSPR" is a 13 char username. The game has a 12 character limit, so I had to change. Other than that, there's no special story behind the username, I just thought it sounded cool at the time. A lot of sc2 pros go by pretty short usernames that are easily memorable, and I guess I wanted something similar.
I suppose we'll have to be Satusfied with the many chances for puns that change has wrought.
Please describe your playstyle in ten words or less.
Find what's annoying, do it continuously
Actually that sounds more like my mindset? Hard to answer under ten words haha
No, no, I think that works nicely =D
With that in mind, are there particular progamers from whom you derive inspiration when it comes to choosing or creating builds and strategies?
To be honest its dependant on who's doing well at the time. If a zerg wins a dreamhack, I usually watch the vods, study the games, and use what I saw.
The player I've taken the most from is DEFINITELY Solar, although I usually don't go out of my way to watch him play. When I do watch him play, it doesn't take long before I decide to start writing things down.
Is there a particular series or VOD from Solar that you'd recommend?
I liked his games from the last dreamhack tournament. Particularly his games vs Snute and Hyun were good. In the Hyun series, he didn't make a single roach, which is unusual at that level of play.
This is one of the styles I copied pretty soon after watching. I'm not afraid of saying exactly where I got it from now, as HotS is ending and 2base muta styles are really weak in LotV.
Solar vs Snute
Solar vs HyuN
A lot of us, whether in tournaments or on ladder, have games which stick in our memory as being more fun or entertaining than others. Do you have a war story or favourite match you'd like to share or brag about?
One that sticks in my mind was a crazy long swarmhost game vs waning (Philippines protoss that I haven't seen in a fair while). I only remember the ending however, where he got the upper hand in a basetrade scenario. He had a large amount of voidrays parked over his last few pylons, and I only had like 5 swarmhosts left. He had a building or two left in a very close location, and I managed to draw his units out of position for a tiny wave of locusts to attack. He came back to defend it, and it only barely got me the victory. I remember that as one of my closest games, and it was in an early bo1 stage of some weekly tournament.
I think that story is a better one than me trying to do a sick brag on beating some top player.
I agree that games which come down to the wire are some of the most exciting to watch as well as play.
You've recently started playing a lot more frequently in tournaments and team leagues. With all the games you've played, who would you consider your greatest rival at the present time?
Definitely Rize, we're going back and forth a bit as to who is the best player in Adelaide. I think at the moment it can still go either way, his style has been really good vs me in hots. However, I think regardless of what race he plays in lotv, his style is going to initially have some issues.
Its a friendly rivalry though, and I tell him if I think he's playing well.
It's definitely fun to watch Jessie rize to the occasion as a protoss in such a zerg dominated region.
For a bit of fun, would you two consider a showmatch if the conditions were right?
Yeah, it'd probably have to be a Bo69 for the title of best in the worst state (in starcraft)
But yeah, I'm always up for showmatches
Now, a Bo69 would need decent map variety, and I know that map editing is something you take an interest in. Apart from your own twisted creations, which are the weirdest non-standard 1v1 maps you'd consider including in a Bo69?
Sorry, the bo69 comment was sarcasm, I don't think I'd last that long. As for weird maps, I like maps that have the smallest map setting possible, where the entire map is about one screen distance in length. Its really a battle of who gets the first high range unit out, its quite fun.
I really do like maps that have weird win conditions, but its hard to make ones without completely breaking the game to the point of it being either boring or not fun.
Which are your favourite unorthodox maps, and why?
Debris field is a personal favourite. I have fond memories of an RvR a long time ago vs Pinder. Apparently this was an actual thing for TA guys at the time, just invite someone to debris field, give no explanation, and instantly start the game when they join, as random.
My most recent creation is a suggestion from probe to make bridges between the islands on debris field. Makes for a much better economy while still favouring mass air unit play.
Not so much maps, but there's some really fun unorthodox extension mods out there too. Recently played a bunch with ecko guys, its fun having to make up strategies on the fly with units you have no idea how to use.
Are you referring by chance to the Xeyed and/or Dragon custom races?
Nah, we played a bunch of mods that just altered the current races. There was an age of empires mod that tried to mod the races to be AOE-like. It didn't really work, but was still fun.
There was also another mod we tried where static defence was overpowered and workers cost no supply. I split the map in half and my plan was to mass workers until everyone's games crashed. Probe eventually started doing the same. A few hundred workers on patrol command later, we had the game down to less than 1 FPS. It didn't crash, but it was painful trying to do anything.
Turning to your own abominations of science, I remember when you inflicted the 'Unplayable Melee Map [Maze]' on me. I've since used it to torture my friends.
(For future reference, let it be known that it's Satu's fault I don't have any left)
How long have you been making maps? What tends to inspire them?
I started making troll maps around the same time I was learning the map editor. I haven't made many troll maps, its just something that I do now and then when I feel like it. 99% of my time with starcraft is still dedicated to laddering and getting better for competitive play.
I had been learning the map editor to make myself a build order tester. I dislike having to create a custom game, then leave it each time I want to restart. There were a couple of good build order maps in wings of liberty, but they hadn't been updated for hots.
I currently have a working trigger library that I can port to any map that I want to practice build orders on. Since I finished it, I haven't used the map editor as much.
I'm by no means a master of the map editor, I only know the basics. Its surprising how much you can achieve without knowing much.
DID YOU KNOW: Satu once made a map where the game commenced with two hostile banelings in each mineral line?
Here he introduces the map to Probe:
Probe praises the map for its innovation
I'd like to throw in some questions about the Oseanic Starcraft 2 Championship series. Firstly, taking a look at the current rankings, what are your thoughts on them? Any favourites or early predictions for the grand finale this year?
The Koreans are obviously going to be crushing the competition again this year. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional, the only question is which of them will be getting the furthest.
Byun, Solar, True and soO would be the obvious favourites. Out of them its likely soO or Solar who would win, although I've been hearing Byun has been very strong as of late as well.
Out of the SEA players, PiG, iaguz, Petraeus and Probe should do the best.
Theres also Snute in the top 32, which will be exciting to follow.
As for how well players placed in OSC points overall this year, it seems to be mostly based on how many tournaments they played. Points aren't always comparable to skill level.
Of the various partnered OCS tournaments, which do you get a chance to keep up with/enjoy the most?
Masters cups are always enjoyable to watch. Its one of the few times you get to see Petraeus playing in online tournaments nowadays.
The more recent LotV leifeng cups have been good to watch when trying to learn good strategies. I really like watching Bly's stream when hes playing in leifeng cups.
On the topic of these events, what is your favourite Starcraft 2 tournament format to play in, and why? (i.e Daily Cups, Single/Double Elim, GSL/WCS style ongoing group stage, round robin, etcetera?)
The recent SSTL was extremely fun to play in. I devoted a huge amount of time to practicing for each week, preparing for opponents, etc. I think for SEA, SSTL fills a void in competition that needed to be filled for a long time.
Other than that, I just play whatever I feel like. I like playing weekly tournaments and masters cups. Regardless of format it usually comes down to how good the level of competition is. I don't mind if its a bad format if it means I get to vs good players and improve from it.
I am a big fan of the team league format, and am glad SSTL has been well received: I'd personally love to see the format continue into LotV!
Speaking of the new expansion, which will become available on 10 November, what are your thoughts on what you have seen of LoTV thus far?
I'm loving lotv to bits at the moment.
Gameplay wise, I think zerg got pushed in a great direction. They can now threaten any race at any point of the game that you want, making them pretty scary. I'm really loving how much greedier you can be in openers with zerg, while still staying very safe.
Just today there were also changes announced as to the ladder system. I'm looking forward to how more competitive the ladder is going to feel, and love that I'll have to defend my rank as GM constantly, at fear of dropping out at any time.
Related to that, we have seen an unprecedented level of interaction between Blizzard and the community. What are your thoughts on this and, if there was one thing you'd hope to see changed soon after full release, what would it be?
The ladder system changes was what I was wanting the most tbh, and it seems they are already on top of that.
The interaction between blizzard and the community is mainly due to people's concerns that blizzard wasn't listening. Say it enough times, and they'll change to adapt to what the community wants it seems. Hopefully it lasts past launch, unlike what happened with hots.
I would like to see blizzard producing interesting DLC and microtransactions post launch. It will keep more of the community around, generate interest in the game, pay for more starcraft production for the future. Its funny, I think starcraft is one of the only games where people have been begging for microtransactions. Luckily, some of this was announced today, I'm just here hoping that it will be maintained far into the future.
I am very hyped about the Abathur voice pack!
For a bit of fun, who would be your ideal Archon Mode partner, and which Archon team would you want to challenge to a Best-of-X series?
If I had a zerg practice partner I'd insert them here and claim how good of a player they are. But since I don't have one and just ladder instead for ZvZ practice, I'll say Probe. I understand how he thinks about the game, which helps me when playing with or against him. I think he understands me well too.
I really have no idea what archon teams would be good to challenge though, as teamwork takes skills that a lot of starcraft players have never had to train. Even if you match two really good players together as an archon, unless they've practiced it together, they will probably have trouble.
Shifting focus away from the game, would you share with us all a bit more about yourself outside of SC2? Favourite food, music, pastimes etc?
I'm a big fan of cookery, and have been learning how to cook as a chef (Much like kingkong). I love chicken and cook with it every single week in many different ways. I'm usually either cooking, sleeping or playing starcraft. Its pretty rare that I do anything else nowadays to be honest.
My teammates complain that when they ask for practice, I always say that I'm cooking dinner. Some say that I'm always cooking dinner.
What is your favourite recipe at present?
Roast beef w/ yorkshire puddings, gravy and roasted vegetables. I grew up eating a lot of roasts, and I think nowadays I do roasts better than my mum ever did.
I think I'd better change topic before I get hungry
On a more personal note, is there a moment in time which you consider particularly important or formative for who you are as a player and person now?
There were a bunch of moments in 2012 that defined me as a player. In 2010, I was bronze. In 2011, I hit GM. Mid 2012, I was taking games off players that people wouldn't have expected. I took games off players like PiG, Targa, Revenant and Mafia. But most important to me was after I joined xeria gaming, I got to play a bo3 vs Sen.
I was a big Sen fanboy, and had watched a lot of his games. Game one, he crushes me, as I expected. Game 2 however, I did a really strong zergling attack on belshir beach, and managed to win it. Game 3 I did a ling/bane rush, but morphed my banes in a bad position. If I morphed my banes further back, I think I would have easily won that game.
Almost defeating one of my idols at the time gave me confidence that I can beat anyone given the opportunity. I think its still true today that I can take games off of anybody, although beating some players in bo3s is pretty unlikely. However, I still love to cause upsets whenever possible.
I hope to see a few of those upsets when LotV is released!
Finally, please feel free to self-promote, give sponsors shout-outs, and drop some links here if you want folks to follow you on the various social media/streaming sites
Shoutout to azure for almost not being mentioned as a good teammate in this interview.
Thanks for taking the time to have a chat with me Satu
np, ty for interview
Now I can feel semi relevant to scene again
Hahaha, it was a pleasure!
---
On a related note, Satu mentioned he's happy to create bizarre/troll maps if someone comes up with an idea which inspires him to wrangle the map editor again in the name of mad science.
GLHF all!
~ x5.Crescendo
___________________________________ #WhyILoveSC2: Writing articles and interviews for the OSC and Exile5.
@x5_Crescendo - follow for SC2 info, interview alerts, and fanboy gleetweets.
Satu's a legend! Done a lot for the community via BSG Opens and coaching. At the same time is a really talented player, who still surprisingly flies under the radar a little bit.
I'd like to see a KingKong vs Satu showmatch! - In the Kitchen!
Apparently this was an actual thing for TA guys at the time, just invite someone to debris field, give no explanation, and instantly start the game when they join, as random.
Haha, we enjoyed throwing people into the Debris Field jungle. Test of survival.
Even the smallest donations help keep sc2sea running! All donations go towards helping our site run including our monthly server hosting fees and sc2sea sponsored community tournaments we host. Find out more here.