Théo "PtitDrogo" Freydière is the first champion of a premier event in 2016, and of the first in the new WCS Circuit. Playing for mYinsanity, the French Protoss defeated TLO, uThermal and finally Bly to claim victory at DreamHack Leipzig.
Following his win, theScore eSports was able to talk to PtitDrogo about his tournament win, his thoughts on the new WCS system and the state of Legacy of the Void.
Firstly, congrats on your win at DreamHack Leipzig. This is your first premier tournament win, how does that make you feel and how does it set the tone for the year going forward?
It feels great obviously and makes me hopeful for this year of WCS. This year is going to be very volatile since a lot of top foreigners have a similar skill level but I hope I'll be able to stand above the rest.
You had a couple of very tough series leading up to the finals. Were you confident going into the match against Bly? What was your strategy and thinking going in, and did you adapt mid-series?
I had a lot of information on Bly, while I was able to mix a lot of different strategies on my way to the finals. So I was hoping to have an edge build order-wise, since he wouldn't be able to predict what I was going to do with 100 percent certainty, which often happen with me and my predictable playstyle. In the actual matches it didn't quite go according to plan, especially in Game 2 and Game 3. The fact that I was able to win Game 3 after being really behind was massive, it gave me a lot of momentum and the next two games kind of went as expected (run-by of Zerglings on Ulrena and massive Zergling aggression on Ruins of Seras).
What would you say is your biggest strength as a player? And what is maybe one weakness you have?
It's hard to say, I think I'm the most comfortable when I can just follow my build order and pressure my opponent. I never really try to outplay my opponent, but rather follow the gameplan perfectly and play it better than him. This can be a strength and a weakness at the same time.
The rest of the foreign scene is, I think, a bit jealous of the French community right now. French players have been doing particularly well from 2015 onwards. Why do you think this is, and will it continue to be like this?
Simply put we have the strongest community in Europe, in my opinion. Even when you don't look at the top players, there is a strong pool of mid-tier grandmaster players that are practicing a lot to one day become the new top French player. The competition is really high within the French community and it shows on the European scene.
So it's competition between French players that makes them so successful when put up against others?
The competition and the support from the community, yes.
DreamHack Leipzig was our first look at the new WCS system and it sparked a lot of controversy. Would you like to comment on the new system?
It's obviously a very controversial topic in my opinion and it's hard not to be biased in my position. I think it's a step in the right direction, some people prefer to watch an higher level of play with top Koreans at DreamHack, for them I apologize and I'll practice to hard to bring a level similar to them for the next event. I know that a lot of people prefer the tournaments with players from their country that they can relate too. It's hard to please everyone.
Where do the remaining Koreans (Polt, Hydra, viOLet) fit into the skill level in WCS? They did well at Leipzig but Bly was able to beat both of them.
They definitely feel beatable at the moment, but they will still always be the favorites at every event they attend.
How do you feel about the Protoss match-ups right now? You can comment on balance (and considering the upcoming balance patch) and/or just how the matches have changed from Heart of the Swarm to Legacy of the Void.
I'm gonna be really honest here. After the patch (especially the Pylon nerf), Protoss is going to be the weakest race. Especially in PvZ it's going to be literally impossible to win, you'll play perfect and still lose. It will be 100 percent wins for Zerg on 4/7 maps of the map pool.
Design-wise, in the transition from HotS to LotV, PvP is better overall, PvZ is way better and PvT kind of sucks because of all the turtling, but this might all change with the new patch, so I don't really know.
Is there any one thing that you would like changed that hasn’t been so far? Balance, maps etc.
Change the damn maps, this map pool is a giant joke.
Just as a quick question, have you played the GSL maps?
GSL just changed 2 maps if I recall correctly, I never played on them since it's kind of a waste of time if they're not in the map pool.
Do you have anything else to comment on? Words for your fans?
I want to thank all of my fans for the incredible support I received at DreamHack Leipzig. The coming weeks are going be very hard with the maps and the balance but I will train hard and do my best to provide some amazing gaming for my fans.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Christian Paas-Lang is an eSports journalist from Toronto lifting a baguette in solidarity. Navneet Randhawa is drowning in chocolate croissants. Follow Christian and Navneet on Twitter.
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