Translated from this summary posted here: http://www.inven.co.kr/board/overwatch/4538/5441854
Note 1. Crusty did not leave VODs for his stream — he usually doesn’t — so I can’t personally watch the VOD and confirm the summary content is 100% accurate. Please bear that in mind as you read.
Note 2. Crusty has a light-hearted streaming style with his chat, so don’t take everything he says here too seriously.
Note 3. Warning — this is long as hell.
Note 4. I skipped some questions because they weren’t to do with Overwatch — mostly Maple Story questions that required me to do extra research.
Q. Why didn’t you use Moth’s Brig? Was that something you prepped but was unable to use in-game?
A. Moth is a great Brig. But every player plays Brig differently, Brig needs to make split-second decisions and shotcall — I started out using Rascal and then I felt that Twilight was better, so I used Twilight.
Q. Hero pool you’d like to see from a new recruit?
A. We’re scouting to try and fill Sinatraa or Architect’s slot.
Q. What is the team doing during the break?
A. I just want them to not play Valorant… our team is screwed.
Q. Thoughts on the current Genji meta, if there’s a meta-changer?
A. Of course we knew Genji is strong. But we still thought we could win it out with Tracer. We just were unable to get a grip on the game tempo. If we’d gotten that I think even against a tough composition we could have won, but we didn’t. That part is a shame.
Q. How will you prepare for the regular season Genji meta?
A. I don’t know, we’re screwed.
Q. Can you do something about Super talking so much
A. He’s American and this is US culture, I’d like people to understand that. A lot of non-Korean players are jokey on stream, and Korean fans sometimes don’t understand. A lot of Korean fans criticize non-Korean players based on their own standards, like if you see what popular streamers like xQc say, it’s probably difficult to understand how they talk like that from a Korean POV. And sometimes things just need to stay on stream but people drag it off-stream and criticize it. There’s no end if you clip and drag out what famous streamers and players have said in jest. Super’s entire persona on-stream is kind of a narcissist. But if this irked you guys, I’m sorry, please try to understand. I’m close with Paris NineK and all those members. Even if I go to Super and say “Super, Koreans don’t like it when you say these things,” I don’t think Super is going to change. Super’s stream viewers are mostly NA people anyway, and if I’m to explain Korean culture to Super I have to start with the foundational stuff like Confucianism, and I really don’t think I can do that.
Q. What do you think about Striker’s Genji, 100% winrate in OWL?
A. Striker’s Genji is a secret weapon. This is a card that Striker uses when he really is confident in something, but I don’t know when he’ll use it.
Q. How many players will you pick, from where?
A. I prefer to pick Western players but honestly nothing is decided, I don’t know. Also don’t know how many we’ll pick.
Q. Are the players’ ok mental-wise?
A. Striker: (pops in) Mental is not ok
Q. Are you guys still unable to practice in one practice room?
A. That would have been ideal but the practice room was prepared late due to coronavirus (only completed recently). So the players do play from their own rooms. But it would have been nice to practice and scrim in the same space. Because when I give feedback, it’s hard to convey [if everyone’s in their own room]. It’s hard to coach. I don’t know what the players are doing. Violet literally watches Youtube when I give scrim feedback. I hear it through his mic. I ask, “Min-ki, what are you watching? Is it good?” and he’ll SEND ME THE YOUTUBE LINK. I want to go whoop them but I can’t because they’re all in their own rooms.
Q. Best Genji right now?
A. The winning team is the best one. Sp9rk1e was really good today.\
Q. How is Super’s Genji?
A. Super actually contacted me all the way up to the night before the Summer Showdown, saying he’s really practiced Genji and he wants to play. But I didn’t have the confidence to play a main tank as a flex DPS, and also I’d never used him in scrims. If I let Super play Genji, please assume he did well in scrims. If we lose, you can blame me.
Q. Super’s Sigma?
A. Super told me that he’s good at Sigma, and that I can trust him. But it’s always the players who say “trust me” who end up betraying me.
Q. Difference between Twilight-Bap and Violet-Bap?
A. Violet-Bap is a bit like having an extra DPS, he’s a DPS-style Bap who knows how to be individually valuable. Twilight-Bap is more focused on team care and support, he raises the value of the team.
Q. Which player do you covet the most?
A. None right now
Q. How about ANS’s Genji?
A. ANS is in the top-130 Genjis.
Q. What are you going to do about the Genji meta?
A. I don’t know we’re screwed
Q. The secret to Striker’s insane Tracer performance, which almost beat out the Genji meta?
A. He eats all three meals really well, look at his tummy — Tracer performance correlates directly with weight class. The bigger you get the better you aim. Striker eats McDonalds all the time so right now he’s in good shape. I looked at him and I think wow we don’t even need a Genji.
Q. In the latter-half of the match, when Xzi went on McCree, Striker got shut down a lot
A. I should have made him practice alternating Ashe and Tracer, because Ashe is played head-on, Tracer is played as a flanker. That’s something I should have talked to him about, it was my mistake. We’re considering Shock internal scrims at the moment.
Q. Do you think you would have won more easily (vs. Justice) if it weren’t for the Genji on Justice?
A. Genji is so OP right now. I wonder if we could give Doomfist healpacks… maybe we’d need Sinatraa for that.
Q. Who is Sinatraa
A. Rascal: (pops in) Let me just say this. I really did not get to practice Genji much for this tournament. For real.
Q. Who do you personally want for your team on flex DPS, and why?
A. I really haven’t thought about anyone specific, to be honest.
Q. Any thoughts on ANS’s Ashe?
A. ANS still lacks experience. Today, when Xzi flanked to the back and got kills — that kind of play comes from experience. ANS just needs more. ANS’s Ashe still feels like it’s playing catch-up. Sometimes he doesn’t think that the enemy will flank around, and he dies. So right now I’m working to train him into a player who can read those kinds of plays.
Q. Did you watch the Shanghai match? How did it feel, as a Shock team coach who is disadvantaged when it comes to Genjis?
A. Wow Shanghai’s Genji is good
Q. Is Reaper-Doomfist not viable in this current meta?
A. We might use that like next season.
Q. How do you think the APAC teams would do in NA?
A. APAC teams are good. But in my opinion, while the APAC teams all have different styles, NA teams really have very different styles. It comes down to whether or not I can form a counter to that team’s style and composition. Of course, there are a variety of teams in APAC but I think NA teams have more different, unique styles. And there are teams who capitalize on those individual styles and suddenly get really good.
Q. What’s the situation at Shock right now? Is it a salary-cap? Is the org not giving you money?
A. This isn’t something I can answer, and also right now with the pandemic everything’s just tricky. It’s not a salary cap though.
Q. How is Justice nowadays?
A. They’re better now, with the Genji. This meta suits them. It definitely feels like they’re trying to do things. And you can tell they prepared a lot. But their problem is that, if they diverge from plays they prepped, they get rolled. This is common for new teams, their performance will improve and they’ll catch an upswing.
Q. What do you think about Whoru?
A. Whoru is a good Genji.
Q. How are you going to overcome the fact that you don’t have a Genji specialist? Any plans to bring in players from other teams in OWL, Contenders, etc?
A. Right now we’re looking at a variety of options, like open trials, but we’re not just looking for a Genji, we want a good all-round player
Q. Best Tracer right now?
A. We’re the team that used Tracer all the way to the end. Striker.
Q. Pick a rival coach on another team
A. I lost to NineK so now it’s NineK.
Q. Will the Brig nerf bring down Genji’s viability?
A. Genji may not receive as much support as before, but his power as a hero is still going to be strong.
Q. Will the Dva buff affect the August meta?
A. Dva got really buffed so I think it’s going to have a significant impact.
Q. What did it feel like when Super called you a fucking bitch?
A. Um… I respect it… I did wonder if it was time for me to step down as coach
Q. On escort maps, is it possible to use a really different comp, with big ult cycles? Like Genji-Sombra-Hammond-Zarya?
A. That’s too reliant on ults. I thought Paris was really good on everything except their Sombra strategy. In double shield, the pressure from hitscans is immense. Even if you get hacks, in the meantime there’s still a loss with regards to how much damage you’re putting out. If you use Sombra, you’re far too reliant on her ultimate. So you have to be even better.
Q. Thoughts on Rascal today?
A. Honestly I knew Rascal had a good Genji. I knew Genji would be tricky to go up against on King’s Row so when I talked to the players, we agreed we should use Genji. Our Plan B was to use Genji on first point, and Mei on points two and three. So we had that Plan B but we still tried to make Plan A work, and stayed on Genji, and it didn’t work out.
Q. Rank Sigmas in OWL
A. I’ll exclude Hyobin from this. I think Hanbin, Gargoyle, and Void — these three have the most impact. Fury is good too. I haven’t watched the Guangzhou game yet because we were prepping for the matches.
Q. How is Paris right now?
A. Paris has a fast tempo.
Q. Thoughts on Rush?
A. He has his unique style, he likes to use Sombra… but I think he’s achieved a balance working with NineK.
Q. How does it feel to watch Valorant-Sinatraa, and Architect on Hangzhou?
A. Valorant Sinatraa? Ah… be happy… (sigh)
Q. You said you’d change teams after three titles, you meant three Grand Final wins right?
A. Oop.
Q. They say NYXL is underperforming, what do you think?
A. I think NYXL will find their style more and more. I think they’re trying out a bunch of things. The reason they’re not using the mainstream meta is maybe because it didn’t work in scrims?
Q. Supposedly NYXL doesn’t even have a teamhouse…
A. We didn’t have a practice room either so we barely see each other outside of meals. Striker likes McDonalds so he doesn’t even come out for meals. It’s hard to see people.
Q. Is there a big difference between having a teamhouse and not?
A. I mean honestly, we have a teamhouse but we don’t meet up very much. Though having a teamhouse is better than not.
Q. What do you think is the reason NYXl got routed?
A. Routed…? I don’t know about that. All the teams know what the best compositions are, we know Genji is the best. But maybe it didn’t work in scrims.
Q. Is Super bad at Orisa or does he just not play it?
A. Super’s Orisa has its own style, and that style doesn’t suit this meta. Super is aggressive and he’s constantly looking for kills; Smurf is more decisive in when to go after something and not.
Q. Will Houston ever get a title T_T
A. I don’t know when OWL will end but it might be possible
Q. What meta do you miss the most, as coach?
A. When we made finals with Orisa-Sigma
Q. Meta that gave you the biggest headaches?
A. I didn’t like GOATS. And also when we played Rein-Zarya-Doomfist-McCree.
Q. Do you think Washington has potential?
A. Definitely. Buy your Washington stonks, I feel like they’re about to do something.
Q. Thoughts on London?
A. I think they have a lot of potential for growth. But they’re going to have a hard growth phase, they really picked raw players who were first timers in OWL, so it’s gonna be difficult to make them gel as a team, but once they do, they’ll be solid.
Q. Can you counter Genji with Torb?
A. I don’t think you can counter Genji, I think you could counter Tracer.
Q. What’s your level in Maple Story?
A. 252
Q. How much do you miss Architect
A. I miss him, I think of him when I look at the stars in the night sky… You left us but I think you’re better where you are, without pain… be happy in Korea, where there is no pain
Q. Brig doesn’t have cookies (armor packs) anymore, will that make it easier to deal with Genji?
A. Genji may not be able to be as aggressive as before, but as a hero he’s still strong
Q. Why did you trade Architect?
A. This is grown-up business. Don’t do this to me.
Q. What do you think about Twilight’s overall play?
A. Twilight is good. A lot of people bring up the fact that I didn’t pick him for OWWC last year, and if I’m being honest, it was because he didn’t do well in scrims. If he had done, I would have picked him. I didn’t want to say he was bad in scrims, so I tried to say he didn’t fit my coaching style, and that landed badly. But now that I’ve met him in person he’s really smart about the game and he’s a good shotcaller too.
Q. Why Twilight over Moth for Brig?
A. Moth is great at doing his job, but we needed a Brig who can shape the entire teamfight, so we went with Twilight.
Q. Could you beat Guangzhou right now?
A. How could you compare a 4th place team (Shock) with a 1st place team (Charge)? They’re the best team in the world right now… Shock would totally lose, Eileen’s the best Chinese Genji. Without Genji, though? We could take Guangzhou and we could take Paris.
Q. What tier team is Shock?
A. We’re in 4th place, we’re always the underdog, we’re Tier 2.
Q. Would you go to another team for double the pay?
A. Hm… Call me ^^
Q. Can you rank the top 5 OWL teams?
A. Shock is definitely Number 4. Guangzhou and Paris are first.
Q. Best Genji?
A. First place? Ttuba. Second place I’ll give to Architect.
Q. Best flex support?
A. In my heart, it’s between ryujehong and Gido.
Q. What if you picked an OWWC team right now?
A. Crusty as OWWC team coach? No chance.
Q. What kind of balance patch is needed for double shield to end?
A. Please Blizzard give us new heroes… I think they’re just cycling metas until OW2 comes out. But I want them to give us new heroes, not new patches to ruin heroes…
Q. When do you love your players the most?
A. Honestly it’s when they’re sleeping, I want them to sleep forever
Q. What do you think of your nickname “nook-nook”? (Translator’s note: It means “soggy,” which is what KR fans call Crusty when they’re being mean.)
A. Yeah... I was soggy… it’s a bad nickname
Q. Players that left the deepest impression on you, outside of Shock players?
A. Gido, ryujehong, leetaejun. (Translator’s note: I knew Crusty is a massive Lunatic-Hai stan but I didn’t quite think he was this intense)
Q. What do you think about playing other games during the season?
A. Um, personally, as someone who doesn’t play other games during the season… it’s a bit… yeah. I wish our players wouldn’t… yeah.
Q. Why did Marve1 become an off-tank, he’s playing Dva Zarya Hog
A. I think he’s a good Sigma, and that difference made him an off-tank
Q. What if your current roster played GOATS right now?
A. GOATS? Striker Zarya, Rascal Brig… that’s just despair
Q. What baseball team do you support?
A. Hanhwa. (Translator’s note: Hanhwa is the worst team in the Korean Baseball league.)
Q. Would you have won with Architect’s Genji?
A. Oh Architect…
[Sp9rk1e enters the chat]
A. The Genji I respect the most after Ttuba. But why didn’t you play Tracer, man-to-man? I saw you play Tracer a lot on stream.
Q. Super likes Libero a lot, why is that?
A. Uh… I think we need to respect and understand everyone. I don’t know if Super likes Libero as a player or romantically, but I respect his choices and I support their relationship.
Q. Do you think Gladiators have a chance?
A. Gladiators always have a chance.
Q. Do you feel like Violet-Twilight have the synergy you imagined?
A. Synergy? Um… Well I thought Twilight can lead and Violet can deal damage. Twilight has been good at leading so their synergy is good.
Q. What player did you want most from Contenders last season? Any players you gave up on because of visa issues?
A. No one specific.
Q. Are you hiding choihyobin’s Genji because he’s secretly the strongest in this universe?
A. Yes, I’m saving him for the boss fight
Q. Best Ana right now?
A. Paris beat us so it’s Fielder, right? Fielder’s 200 ping Ana.
Q. When watching Paris vs. Philly, did you feel you could beat Philly?
A. We’re just lowly semi-finalists, we could not hope to beat Philly
Q. Excluding Rascal, rank the Genjis on Shock
A. This makes no sense. All the Shock players will raise their hands if you ask them if they have confidence in their Genji. Super showed me clips to show me how good he was. If we’d had more time, we might have tried it out, maybe Super has the best Genji, who knows. I do want to give him a scrim slot but he told me the day before the matches so we couldn’t even scrim. Super has a lot of titles to his name, he has more than Haksal. His Genji could just beat up other Genjis with his titles. But the world may not accept Super’s Genji, so I had to restrain him.
Q. Rascal plays a lot of Valorant, please whoop him
A. Hm… Rascal has been playing a lot of Jett. I told him to practice Mei, and he said I’d rather punch the wall playing Sage than punch the wall playing Mei. So… yeah.
Q. What do you look for when picking players?
A. I want to pick human beings. I don’t want to pick animals anymore. Also I would see if they’re good looking.
Q. There’s a rumor about a trade with NYXL? Is this real?
A. No.
Q. Have you ever wanted to whoop Super’s ass when he runs his mouth?
A. Whew… yeah I want to kill him
Q. Please buy Decay
A. Yes please buy me Decay
Q. Do you think ANS has a chance at ROTY?
A. No chance, it’s gonna be Sp9rk1e. Honestly do you think a player who hides in the back shooting guns is going to get that? It’s gonna be Real Man Genji Ttuba or Sp9rk1e.
Q. Play Baptiste at 200 Ping for 9 hours vs. Play 9 hours of Orisa
A. I would turn off the game and play TFT.
Q. If London went to NA, who do you think they would rival?
A. London has so much potential so it’s hard to say. We’re just semifinalists after all.
Q. Is there a reason why players who are good at everything else (like Carpe) are bad at Reaper?
A. I’m sorry, please don’t ask a semi-finalist coach to rate finalist players. There are two levels between us. Also he’s a good Reaper?
Q. Seoul is also a forever semi-finalist, do you think Seoul = Shock?
A. Difficult question. I think they’re better.
Q. What dish are you good at making?
A. Recently I’ve been learning to cook Western food. I’ve been paying attention to how you plate food.
Q. Which player eats well when you cook for them?
A. Well Striker doesn’t even come even if I make food. But when he does, he’s like a vacuum.
Q. We joke about Super Genji and Choihyobin Genji, but that kind of role swap is probably tricky with role-lock right?
A. Role swap? We could do it. We’re SF Shock, we’ve put Rascal on support, we’ve put Architect on support… Anything is possible, this is SF Shock and Crusty with Myungjang Disease. (Translator’s note: Myungjang is a word meaning accomplished, shrewd commander, used for military figures who are particularly good strategists. When Crusty has made questionable choices in the past, the KR community will joke that he has “Myungjang Disease,” meaning he thinks himself a Myungjang who can pull off these dramatic strategies.)
Q. Most disobedient player in Shock?
A. I honestly want to whoop all their asses during scrims, if only they were in front of me
Q. Is there a player you really wanted but couldn’t get because of money?
A. I’d buy all of them if I had money
Q. Did you want to buy Haksal?
A. Uh well.. Haksal’s doing well.
Q. If you could pick a future son from your current players, who would you pick?
A. I just won’t get married.
Q. If Genji meta continues, would you train Rascal or would you buy a new player, and if so, who?
A. Ttuba.
Q. Top 5 words you’ve searched on the DC Webforum?
A. Crusty, Crispy, Soggy, Shock
Q. What was your worst “I’m so fucked” moment?
A. Overwatch World Cup
Q. Who’s crispier, you or Kuki?
A. LOLOLOL uh I’ll give this to Kuki, I think he’s crispier
Q. If you had to take one Shock player to a deserted island?
A. Hmm I’d take Striker, and tie him up with a rope. Then when wild animals come and try to eat him, I’ll hunt them down.
Q. Have you ever cried because of the players?
A. They make me cry all the time, I’ve cried a lot.
Q. Who was the player who was most disobedient on Boston?
A. Striker
Q. On average, how often do you visit the Shock webforum on DC? (Translator’s note: DC is like… Reddit but older and worse and everyone’s a troll. There’s forums for everything.)
A. Once when I win. On days I lose, I try not to look, and then I take a look at 3 am and I regret it and I sleep.
Q. Seoul forum vs Houston forum (on DC)?
A. Seoul, it has more posts.
Rascal, after his King’s Row Genji today, said that he would now work harder and also do the dishes.
Q. Best meal while on Boston?
A. Panda Express Teriyaki chicken
Q. Best Tracer when you were on Boston?
A. Profit
Q. There’s people who say Shock has the best team cohesion but not the best individual performances or mechanical skills, what do you think?
A. It’s true that players do sacrifice for the team in their individual roles.
Q. Coach Arachne, Rascal, and Twilight are the same age, what do they call each other?
A. We call players by their names, coaches are all coach-nim, and then coaches all address each other respectfully. (Translator’s note: “nim” is something you add for respect. There are multiple levels of casual and respectful tone in Korean.)
Q. When did you get most infuriated as head coach?
A. There’s a lot of hard times, I might have something different in mind from what the players think, and in those instances I have to make a decision, and it’s difficult to reconcile opinions in those moments — that’s probably when we have the most disagreements.
Q. How often do you scrim a week?
A. We scrim 2–3 times a day.
