We have some extra spice in this years ESPORTSM. Naniwa is back and Demuslim moved to Sweden and decided to join the StarCraft 2 tournament. The second qualifier was played during the weekend and for those that didn’t watch (or understand the interviews) here is a summary :).

The match between Naniwa and Demuslim was more even than I had thought. With a bit of luck Naniwa managed to turn game 4 around and we went on to map 5 of 5. The game started in the most strange way on Secret Spring. They both sent a worker across the map to make a proxy. The workers met in the middle of the map. Me and my cocaster, Tom, were very interested in seeing how they would change their original plan after seeing this. But non of them saw it! It happens to the best. And as neither of them were watching the mini map they both built buildings in their opponents natural. It was close but Naniwa managed to buy enough time to get his mothership core out and won the game. In the finals Zanster was waiting after beating Winter in the other semi-final.

In the interview with Naniwa before the finals Tom talked about Naniwa’s next opponent, Zanster, the Swedish champion from 2014. When Zanster was referred to as the Swedish champion, Naniwa started laughing. I asked if he wants to reclaim the title, as he won the Swedish championship 2013. The answer was not too unexpected;

“I don’t think anyone but me deserves it.”

It is clear that Naniwa sees himself as the best player in Sweden already, after only being active for a few months again. And so he shows us in the finals that beating Zanster was an easy task. The result was 3-0 and Naniwa qualified for the next round of ESPORTSM that will be played in May.

In the winners interview Naniwa said he got lucky with the build orders in the finals. Our host Kim asked him if he has been training in secret but the answer is no. Naniwa told us how he loves to watch the game and that he has been following a lot of the big matches. He told us that while watching, he felt that “those players are not very good”, “I can play better than that”. And so he wanted to prove it. For now his plan is to play as much as he wants because it’s fun. He doesn’t want to force himself to play or win.

And so to the question many have been asking themselves. Does he even lift? I asked how strong he is at the moment and get a modest answer. “I don’t think I take as much as you two”. He says something very important. If he doesn’t work out he can’t play StarCraft 2. Without the training he gets pain in his shoulders and wrists. He is working out at a gym regularly. Mixing workouts and gaming is something that I think is very important and I was happy with his answer.

Vods can be found here.