Apollo: „My initial goal was to be a player“

escene.de: Hello Shaun. As a player yourself, you were very successful in playing Command and Conquer, for example winning the WCG 2007. Have you ever considered playing StarCraft II as a professional or was casting your main focus?

Shaun „Apollo“ Clark: My initial goal going into SC2 on its release was to be a player, I wanted to do some commentating on the side so that I could support myself a little better but eventually there was this slow transition where I had more and more casting offers and it started to take priority simply because I do not like doing something half hearted so I spent a lot of time improving my casting over playing.

Your first event was the IEM Global Challenge in Cologne in 2010. Are there any events you have especially positive in your mind?

I love doing anything Dreamhack related, I have casted at every single one of their tournaments in SC2 and I always go into with a great positive mind and always come out the same way knowing that I gave everything and so did Dreamhack and together we created a great product.

By now you have casted many events, is there any moment or game that is stuck to your head?

I think Dreamhack Winter 2011 was amazing, the crowd and atmosphere, the way that they chanted Hero was nothing I had experienced before and something that should be remembered by everything. There is nothing better than that, even though I didn’t get the chance to commentate it, I hope that I get that opportunity this year so that I can further be involved in such a prestige finals. I think coming in at a close 2nd was Thorzains win at Dreamhack Summer 2012, this time I did commentate the finals and it just adds so much.

Whats your preperation for events? Is there any special preparation?

I play the game as much as I can so I can give a players perspective on situations, I also do player notes on their specific styles, recent results/tournament finishings and watch a lot of tournaments to understand where exactly the metagame is at the moment so I can give the best possible commentary available.

What are your hopes for Heart of the Swarm and what changes do you hope Blizzard will do? Especially related to the Metagame?

It will change everything, I hope that the game can become as good as Wings of Liberty and over take to become the ultimate game to play and watch. I don’t hope too much from Blizzard, I trust them to work as hard as they can.

Do you think Heart of the Swarm will offer newer players the opportunity to catch up to the world class players in a short period of time?

Yeah it does but not as much as the start of SC2 did simply because the mechanics of good SC2 players will adjust perfectly to the new game but there is a chance for everyone to win tournaments especially because the game would be so fresh, strategies not worked out yet and no proper reactions to situations set up so if you understand the game faster than others, you will naturally win.

With the WCS Qualifier in Great Britain players like JonnyREcco or Ziktomini called attention to themselves. Do you think the Event was beneficial for the eSport in Great Britain? What do you expect from the british players in the future?

I think the event helped the UK a lot but just one tournament doesn’t mean a lot, there should be more tournaments, more sponsors and more opportunities for future tournaments in the UK otherwise it will be slowly fall back to where it was before WCS. There are not that many British SC2 players but I hope that Jonnyreeco and Ziktomini can inspire other players to try and work their socks off to get to a good level.

We often see you casting together with TLO, is there any special relationship? And is there any other caster you would like to work with the most?

I have only commentated with him twice, once at his apartment to cover an IEM and this past weekend at ASUS ROG tournament. We are good friends that both love SC2 so we just naturally do well together, we have fun! I actually don’t really mind who I commentate with, I like Totalbiscuit and djwheat a lot as they are very strong casters, entertaining and very good at their job!

You’re living in the GD Studio at the moment, on the streams it often looks like a hell of fun working together with 2GD. How can we imagine a „normal” day in the GD Studio?

It depends on what we are doing, a usual day is just everyone playing their respective games and working and then we get together for the shows, nothing special, pretty standard actually!

What are your next tournaments and when can we see you on stream again?

I am not actually sure of all the tournaments I will be attending but I am positive you can find me at all Dreamhack tournaments and most MLG ones! I plan to stream as much as I can in my free time but I am usually pretty exhausted from live events and working on other projects and improving myself!

Any shoutouts for the community?

Sure, thank you all for supporting me and continue to do so. I will strive to give you the best commentary and continue to work as hard as possible as I understand the position I am in is a special one!! (smiles)

Thanks a lot for the interview, Shaun.