FireCake nous parle du dernier patch

As the winner of Gamers Assembly 2015, along with a top 12 finish in WCS Premier League Season 1, the Zerg FireCake is unarguably the French player with the best results in recent history. Since many players have been left to wonder how they can possibly beat mech-based Terran armies, or even late game Protoss deathballs, we went to FireCake to hear what he had to say on the matter. 

 

 

FireCake talks to us about the recent patch

 

Team-aAa.com : Hi FireCake, and congratulations on your excellent performance in WCS, Fragbite, and Gamers Assembly ! We saw you have a lot of difficulty against Happy’s mech play in the Fragbite Masters Season 4 Semifinals, and you had even tried some different strategies. Do you think there is currently a viable way to defeat mech or is some kind of patch to the game required yet again ?

FireCake : Even before the change to the swarmhost, mech could already be unkillable in the hyper-late game. It was very difficult, since we had to hunt down this air based composition of ravens, battlecruisers, and vikings. Why an air army ? To totally avoid the menace of the locusts. Now, with the change to the swarmhost, the Terran no longer has a need to make an air army. Thors and ravens alone suffice to completely destroy the Zerg. This army composition, in contrast to skyterran, is very easy to obtain and is devastatingly strong. We had a good look at it yesterday: I can attack the army on creep with a good concave, with ultralisks, hydralisks, blinding cloud, it just isn’t enough. After my second loss vs Happy, I asked for a pause to ask around for some help. The response from Ret was to “just forfeit or nydus allin.” At this point in time, only David Kim can truly beat Terran mech.

 

What do you think about the buff to the viper to possibly compensate for the swarmhost nerf ? Does it seem usable to you ?

The buff has zero interest to me, already because the grab is important, but especially since the blinding cloud must be casted before attacking with our main army to even be effective. The problem is that it implies that you have to send the vipers in before the rest of your army to throw down blinding clouds, and then attack with your army. Except that the vipers have such small vision as it is, that increasing the range of the spell will actually do nothing in practicality.

 

The invincible army

 

What is your feeling about Protoss ? Are you having the same difficulties in the late game ?

It’s the same exact problem. For two years, even since the beginning of HotS, Zergs haven’t really had a real solution to fight against void ray-based compositions. We adapted by using swarmhost-based armies just to be able to win. Now that it’s been nerfed, we return to the exact same spot we were in two years ago, fighting the same problems. Yesterday, Lilbow and Ptitdrogo told me they’re not entirely sure how Zergs are supposed to beat Protoss now. When a Protoss says that the day after a patch, there’s something very wrong. 

 

What do you think of the new swarmhost, will it be able to find its own place in the metagame with time ?

No, it will have absolutely no use. I explained that to David Kim directly but he insists on making a harass unit, which is not what the Zerg race needs at all. We need an army that can actually do something against that of our Protoss and Terran adversaries. We had almost a “cheating” army, since in lieu of a “real” army, we had one with free units that would progressively chip away at the opposing one. Now we actually have to gradually chip away with units that cost real resources, except that the Zerg runs out of money before we can take down the opposing army.

 

If you could change something about the balance of the game, what would you do ?

There’s so many things, so it’s difficult to respond with one thing in particular since they’re all interconnected. I would just like for Zerg to be able to win in the late game (that’s saying something besides a three or four-base all-in). Just that, at the least, to be able to macro…

 

FireCake fighting MaNa at Gamers Assembly 2015

 

Have you tried testing a bit of Legacy of the Void ? What attracts you the most right now ?

No, I haven’t tested Legacy of the Void. I have pretty limited time with my job, and having seen the state of the expansion so far, it doesn’t really make me itching to play. There’s some evidently bad game design (cyclone hum hum..) that has been present even since it premiered at BlizzCon. It doesn’t really give me any desire to contribute to the beta since the beta hardly serves to improve the game, but to build hype for release.

 

Will we see you at any tournament before WCS Season 2 ? What are your objectives right now ?

I might go to Dreamhack Tours, and probably play some qualifiers for other online tournaments. Of course I’ll also represent my team for clan wars. After my defeat versus Polt in WCS, I was very motivated to come back stronger and do my best to win other tournaments. Unfortunately though, the swarmhost change has completely demotivated me, so I’ll have to find strength but currently I just want to stop playing. I always play swarmhost, but it was the only way to stop my adversaries from winning with otherwise unkillable armies. Henceforth, the game is just a huge joke in my eyes, and I hope they change it quickly.

 

FireCake after his victory against MaNa in WCS 2015 Season 1

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply to our questions, FireCake ! I leave you with the final words.

I want to thank all my fans, and those in particular that I had the pleasure of seeing at Gamers Assembly or at Meltdown. A big thanks to my team, Punchline, and my managers Stabillo and Smaug. I hope that I can overcome the ordeal caused by David Kim and can win another tournament in front of the French crowd, who were exceptional during WCS.

 

 

Thanks to Padre for the translation. You can find out more about FireCake on his own Twitter or on his team's Twitter.