fragster: Hello qxc. You dropped out of the tournament without any wins. How do you feel about the three games you played on Friday?
Kevin 'qxc' Riley: Not particularly well. I watched all the replays later and I felt like they were okay for the most part, but there were some things I was doing that didn't make a lot of sense. I'll be able to do it better next time. I've learned some things and taken away some lessons here that will be useful.
You lost 0:2 to Feast. Would you have thought that he is capable of making it out of your group?
qxc: No, I didn't expect him to, but I also didn't expect me to lose to everyone.
Feast also managed to defeat HerO, who did not play that well either. Was it surprising for you that HerO appeared rather weak in the tournament?
qxc: I thought HerO would make it out of his group, but these things happen. LAN tournaments are different and everything doesn't always work out the way you plan it to.
DIMAGA just won in the semi-final against Kas and is going to play against the winner of MMA versus Zenio. [Editor's note: The interview occured during the IEM] Do you think Zenio will make it easy for MMA or does he actually stand a chance?
qxc: I think MMA is going to squeeze Zenio and then the finals should be interesting. I don't know how well DIMAGA is going to do against him.
There was some trouble surrounding NaNiwa on the first day. Did you get any impressions of the situation and what are your thoughts on it?
qxc: From what I understand he played some games and there was unplayable lag or frame rate loss, so he ended up losing because of that. He got really upset and wanted to drop out of the tournament, but RotterdaM convinced him to keep on playing. He did and in the end he was winning his group anyway. I don't know – that kind of stuff happens in Starcraft 2. As far as the frame rate drops are concerned, IEM/ESL probably should have done something to make sure that the computers were good. Computers degrade over time and the longer you have Windows installed the weaker becomes your PC, so checking that is theoretically good, but Starcraft 2 always has some weird latency lag spikes every tournament, so it happens.
You're the first time here in Kiev at the Intel Extreme Masters. What do you think about the organization of the tournament and the Cypersport Arena, where the event is taking place?
qxc: Well, it's awesome. This and Assembly Winter are easily my favorite tournaments that I've been too. The organization here has been good and they were mostly keeping to their schedules. When we're not playing, we have plenty of space and always got a computer to use. There's some degree of privacy, because there is some kind of tape marking off the area that we're in and there's also a kitchen where you can buy food, which is not that expensive and pretty good. I've had a really good time here compared to when I was at the World Finals last year in Germany, where I lost in groups as well. I didn't have a computer, I didn't have space and I didn't have any privacy. It was always loud and noisy. I actually really like this entire environment here.
Do you like it even better than MLG?
qxc: The only thing which is better at MLG than here is the crowd, because here it's just a fairly small venue. MLG has a lot more people, which is cool when you're playing on stage, but once you lose, you don't have a computer and you don't have space, you are in a big hotel and you might even not be able to go back to your room. In this tournament I feel like I don't ever need to go back to my room, because I have privacy here and that's really nice.
Two months ago you left FXOpen to join compLexity. Do you feel comfortable with your new team?
qxc: Yeah, they've had a good history with eSports and I haven't really been disappointed by them. They kept their promises, so it looks good.
Are there any offline events you are going to play at in the next months?
qxc: I qualified for IEM Sao Paulo in Brazil. I'll hopefully be also attending at MLGs and other North American events. I don't know if I'll be making it back off to Europe until I graduate school in May, but I hope to participate in a lot of American tournaments.
So that means no Assembly Winter for you this year?
qxc: I'd really like to go, but I don't know if I can make it work.
A last question: Who is currently the best American player in your opinion?
qxc: No comment.
Why?
qxc: Because I'm really arrogant and always answer these questions with myself.
And who is the best player in the world?
qxc: Same answer.
No chance for MMA?
qxc: He would be close.
What about MVP?
qxc: We all know how that turned out.
Alright, well, thank you very much for the interview!