The German Starcraft community has quite a tradition as being one of the most accomplished in Europe. With legends like Fredrik “FiSheYe” Keitel, the 2nd place finisher at WCG 2003 in South Korea, not many countries could even compete with Germany.

Now when one thinks of Germany, really only a small handful of players come to mind as the new greats. Of course if you know anything about competitive Starcraft then the living legend himself Christoph “ToT)Mondragon(” Semke should ring a bell. He has proven himself as one of the most successful Europeans to play the game. His domination this year at WCG Germany should not have come as a surprise.

Several German organizations have taken interest in forming Starcraft teams. However, not many have lasted quite as long as the Starcraft team of DkH. One of their key players, Sasha “DkH.GOody” Lupp was just this year able to earn a ticket to Seattle.

Out of the three German players competing, two of them have managed to advance past the group stages. This is quite an achievement that is only consistently matched by South Korea.

When speaking to them, I was curious myself to know what they thought their chances were in advancing from group play.

Mondragon: About 33%. As we all know with Starcraft anything can happen especially in Zerg versus Zerg. Both Testie and Reason are very good players and it is very possible for them to advance as well.

Prior to coming to Seattle, they had to compete in what is sometimes called one of the most difficult preliminaries in Europe.

Goody: I was confident in myself, but was not entirely sure that I would be able to qualify for the grand finals. At WCG Germany I felt that I had a good day and played well.

Some players feel the need to play hundreds of games prior to WCG to prepare. However, some do not alter their practice schedule to prepare for a big event.

Mondragon: The amount that I have practiced has not really increased. I have been playing around the same amount that I have played in the past.

Trying to gain a little more insight on their style of play, I was interested in knowing if having a very unique style increases your chances in winning.

Goody: I feel that Terran versus Protoss is very good for turtling and I liked playing defensively. In my games versus iNcontroL I played defensively and waited for him to come to me and I was able to win that game.

Since both of them were able to advance from the groups, I was interested in knowing what they thought their chances were in bracket play.

Goody: Brackets are very random and if I get an easy player then I will have a chance to win. If I get one of the Koreans though I will most likely lose.

Several gamers have said that they are planning to go inactive once the WCG Grand Finals are complete. However, others have said they still plan on continuing to play competitively.

Mondragon: Yes, but like most people I will of course slow down in the amount I play. I play poker a lot, so I will probably continue doing that and focusing on school.

Both of these German representatives will be moving on to the top sixteen. The matches ahead of them will not be easy, but I am sure that both are up to the task.