ESFI World

IEM 6 Kiev came and went, but not before establishing a new up-and-coming StarCraft 2 Protoss player that many will undoubtedly be watching as the IEM6 circuit arrives at its penultimate stop this week in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At only 18 years old, Jérémy 'Feast' Vansnick has become Belgium's brightest star in the StarCraft 2 scene. 

He made an impressive run at Kiev, where he advanced out of his group with DIMAGA after besting HerO 2-1. The Protoss player was able to make an impression on MMA in the first round of the playoffs, taking a map off of him in their best-of-5 series.

Feast now hopes to take his success one step further at IEM Sao Paulo (February 7-12). Sitting in Group B alongside DeMusliM, Tunico and XlorD, upon first glance Vansnick seems to be a lock to get into the top two and into the playoff stage. He'll have to battle DeMusliM for the top spot there, but German ex-WarCraft 3 pro XlorD could play spoiler.

After doing so well at IEM 6 Global Challenge Kiev, do you feel that you can break up to a top 3 finish at IEM Sao Paulo?

Lately, I'm not really confident versus Zerg and I know there will be lots of Zergs at Sao Paulo, so I hope I will achieve something big but I don't think it will happen.

What do you think about the IEM format in regards to qualifying for the events? It seems to be the best tournament that gives up-and-comers like yourself a chance to be in the spotlight.

I'm really glad I could qualify for the IEMs even though I was unknown to the international e-sport scene. It's nice to give a chance to new people wanting to achieve something that just haven't received the opportunity to prove what they're worth.

When you won that first game against MMA at Kiev, did you think you could take the series?

I thought I could but I was too stressed out to play my style (which is mostly late game) so I think I should have taken some kind of pause before continue playing.

What do you think was your weakness against MMA? If you could change any part of your gameplay in that series, what would it be?

My weakness versus MMA was that I wanted to end the games too early...when I had an advantage, I wanted to end it as soon as possible. In my head it was mostly "Ok now I won't let him come back" while it should've been "Ok, now I'm in a good position, let's take it to lategame, and push the advantage". And if I could change any part in those games : It would be on the Tal' Darim Altar game, to take a second base right when I saw the hellions. On Metalopolis, I should have made colossus off of 2 bases and then attacked. And for the fourth game on Shattered Temple, to not forget my warpgate research!

Group A

Dark.FoRce

Illusion

KiLLeR

SuperNoVa

Group B

DeMusliM

Feast

Tunico

XlorD

Group C

biGs

Potiguar

viOlet

ReaL

Group D

Fenix

Ret

sLivko

Snute

What changed at Kiev that let you really break out to a wider audience?

I think I'm really aggressive, so there's plenty of action in my games! I think it's the reason why people appreciated my games at Kiev.

How much did playing WarCraft 3 transfer over to your skills and work ethic in StarCraft 2?

To me, StarCraft 2 looks deeper than WarCraft 3 in terms of strategy so I think it mostly gave me the advantage of the microgestion, and just in general playing an RTS before playing another one really makes it easier.

How is your brother, Jonathan “Reave”  Vansnick? Do you guys still play together? Would you ever like to team with him again?

My brother is still playing StarCraft II, but he has plenty of things he has to do other than that while I have a lot more freetime which explains why right now he's not in a team anymore. I certainly would like to be able to team up with him again! And I think this might happen in the future if he decides to play more.

Feast (left) with HasuObs (Photo: ESL)

How does it feel to be so recognized in a such a small group of players hailing from Belgium?

Belgium is obviously pretty small but it's really nice to have comments from the Belgian supporters (smiles). I think that there are a lot of good players in Belgium, and I hope that the Belgian scene grows with these players at the forefront.

You have been with Millenium now since the end of October. How has that cooperation been going? How does it feel to play with such a culturally rooted team like Millenium?

I'm really satisfied with Millenium. Everything's going as smooth as it can be and it lets me focus completely on StarCraft 2. It's great to have players speaking my motherlanguage to discuss about strategies. 

How much further do you think you need to go to get to where you want to be, in terms of skill level? Do you think you can get there this year?

I think that for me, becoming a stronger player mostly relies on my build orders and strategies. I still need to train some of my mechanics but it's not the important thing I need to fix right now. Also, adding some rules to my macrogame and these things are mostly achieved by just thinking without playing.

Feast at IEM 6 Global Challenge Kiev (Photo: ESL)

You said in a previous interview that your weakest match-up is against Zergs. How have you prepared the last two weeks to strengthen that weakness?

I think the problem vs Zerg comes from me, but also from Protoss itself. Late game looks not only easy for a Zerg player to get to but also too favored for Zerg. I did train versus Zerg but I mostly lost.

What do you feel is the most important process in preparing for tournaments like Kiev and Sao Paulo?

I think being confident is probably the most important. If it's justified or not doesn't matter. For me, being confident is directly linked to if I believe in my build orders...if I know they're working or  not. It's like a playtest I need to do beforehand so that I have the tools to deal with everything coming at me. Of course, versus Zerg, it's a fantasy!

Any plans to attend North American events like MLGs, IPL, NASL this year?

I want to attend MLG events but I need to pass the qualifiers. As for the rest, I don't know yet.

Photos: ESL