Interview: “PsyonicReaver” Brent Schultz

Living in the blue glow.

The blue glow of a computer monitor fixed on StarCraft 2 is pervasive. In a house full of gamers, the glow becomes downright ubiquitous and the sounds of keyboards, mice and voices are a 24/7 affair.

In Phoenix, Arizona, Bryce “Machine” Bates, Kelby “Inka” Williams, Dan “Nyoken” Edson and Brent “PsyonicReaver” Schultz live a home that is as close to a pro-house as you’ll get on this side of the Pacific. Most of these players are some of the best in the United States – Machine, Inka and Nyoken play for Evil Geniuses. EG is a team that also includes big names InControl, LzGamer and Louder. As far as American StarCraft goes, you’d be hard pressed to find a better six person lineup.

As his housemates regularly remind him, PsyonicReaver is not on par with these players. Instead, he is well known as one half of the Brent and Kenny duo and, most recently, a consistent StarCraft 2 beta streamer featured on TeamLiquid.net.

“Since beta has come out, I’ve only gotten four to five hours of sleep a night,” says Schultz. “I am currently a pizza delivery man for Mafia Mike’s Pizza. I’m also trying to get Machine a job there as well. It’s just minimum wage pay but people tip good out here and I only work five to seven hours a day. Leaves more time for gaming.”

The idea to live together was originally the brainchild of Artosis, the famous American Terran, commentator and Korean liaison for the foreign community. Since Artosis left for the promised land of professional gaming – a “paradise”, according to him -, the group now living in the house moved on with the idea.

Psyonic is originally from Bend, Oregon, Machine’s home is Buellton, California, Inka is from Austin, Texas and Nyoken grew up in Reston, Virginia.

“I’ve known about these guys since 2001 or 2002 but it wasn’t until 2007 that I got to meet them all in person via WCG and Blizzcon. I had done some commentating for some events beforehand like Yankee League and TSL and we had talked to each other before on Ventrilo but it was exciting to meet in person.

“As for living with gamers, we’re all friends so it’s not weird to us at all. We have to deal with normal issues of living with other people – sometimes there are arguments over who did the dishes last or dumb stuff like that but there are hardly any serious fights. Usually we joke around and have a good time, hence all the Tapatio [hot sauce] jokes we throw in our videos. We literally throw that stuff on all our cooking.”

As you might have guessed from the streams, the gaming is serious and constant.

“Before I found a job, I would wake up and play StarCraft with my CPL team which, sadly, has hardly seen me because of SC2. I would watch Kelby [Inka] and Bryce [Machine] play and try to learn from them on why they play the way they do so when I commentated I could throw in the added insights. We would stay up late or go to bed early. Somebody was always up or asleep except for in the afternoon, we’re all usually awake.”

Can he keep up that pace with a job?

“Now that I work, I work from 4 pm to 9 or 10pm. I usually play StarCraft 2 from when I get off work until 4 or 5 in the morning then I wake up at 11 or 12, play some more then get ready for work by 3.”

With so many games played (over 200 as of a few days ago, Gold Division 1) and so many sleepless nights, PsyonicReaver is understandably opinionated when it comes to StarCraft 2.

“Bryce with Zerg and Kelby with Protoss are the two best players in the house for sure. They are both ranked 1 in their respective Platinum divisions. It’s easy to harass with Reapers but so easy to stop. Protoss and Zerg have an instant way to teleport units across the map to defend and attack. Terran really has no option to do that at the moment – but I’m just raging.”

And Psyonic’s rage is prolific. The words most often uttered on his stream are “that’s not fair!”, normally followed by a frustrated grunt.

His housemates are usually nearby or on a Ventrillo server with him. After Psyonic screams about being persecuted, one of his mates might chime in: “You know what might help, Brent? Yelling a little louder.”

“This game makes no sense!”

“What was Blizzard thinking when they did this?!”

I wish I could more accurately put Psyonic’s frustrated guttural noises into English – “AGHHAHH!”

But let me give credit where credit is due: most easily frustrated players would give up and not play on, thus letting their emotions get the best of them. PsyonicReaver’s emotions are loud and rarely hidden on stream but he plays on, grinding and grinding, getting better and better.

Despite the problems he has with their mobility, Terran is his clear and away his favorite race.

“Although all the races are fun in their own way, Terrans just felt strongest to me. Granted, they still have their weaknesses (“This isn’t fair! AGH!“), they can still field a strong army to harass the enemy or gain map control. A lot of people are complaining they are the weakest right now but you just have to play them a lot to realize that MULEs are the way to go. I would say one MULE is worth 6 SCVs, so you can go gas a lot faster than what most people think.”

Living in house full of friendly but competitive gamers, it comes as no surprise when Psyonic says, “Everyone wants to go pro.”

But, he points out, specific plans beyond that are impossible to come by.

“I have no idea what Team EG has planned for StarCraft 2,” he says. “I know the entire StarCraft 1 team will be transferring to SC2 as soon as it’s released but we should see one more WCG SC1 out of everybody before that happens. I plan to commentate SC2 after I learn how the game works. I never was that good of a SC1 commentator because of my lack of game knowledge and play experience, so I hope to remedy that for SC2.”

As the game moves toward release, look forward to Brent Schultz’s voice becoming more and more familiar. Whether his strange annoyed grunts will make the journey toward retail has yet to be seen but my bet is an emphatic yes.