I'm back. Today's guest is that one guy that always streams on TeamLiquid. You know, that one guy named Steven Bonnell II, but some of you might know him as Destiny.

He's accumulated over 21 million views on his stream. The majority of people recognize him as being one of the most outgoing members of the ROOT-Gaming team, which is now disbanded.

With his unique personality and humor that he shows through and through on his stream which he does daily, the Starcraft 2 community have grown to love him. Showing funny games, coaching of newbies, showmatches with friends, or just laddering for fun while talking about life's adventures, he's rising to the top faster than most realize. Read on to see what he had to say about all of this.


Steven it's great to have you here at Cadred. So what have you been up to aside from streaming? Anything going on behind the scenes that you'd say is interesting?

Not really! All I do is play games, pretty much!

When we spoke a few days ago you mentioned that you don't really have any intentions of joining a team, but rather building up your own brand. Give us some information on what we can be looking forward to seeing in the near and distant future.

I'm contemplating traveling to Korea for a few months. I really missed my child during the month I spent with Catz, though, so I'm not entirely sure if I'll be making that trip. Otherwise, I simply hope to continue to play and continue to improve throughout the coming months!

So how did you get into streaming in the first place? What made you want to start showing people how you play?

It was actually pretty random. I noticed there were people starting to stream SC2, and I had just been unemployed at around the same time I got into the Beta, so I'd figure I'd give it a shot!

The man needs GSL money, give him a break.

Some don't stream because they feel like after a while they can be anti-stratted and basically be very vulnerable to opposition at tournaments and what have you. How do you feel about this, having shown your build orders and style of gameplay over the past year or so on live stream?

I seek to play a style that is "un-metagamable"; what I mean is that I would hope that my play is solid enough that I am able to respond to and counter-act people who try to metagame the builds I do. I'm known for infestor-heavy play, but I have ways to counter-act certain plays that attempt to blind-counter what I do, as seen in my games at MLG Anaheim against TT1.

You were in ROOT which transferred to .coL (Complexity Gaming). There were many rumors flying around that basically you weren't professional enough in behaviour. Some say you were asked to leave, others say you were kicked. If you could, give us some insight as to what exactly happened.

It's not very complicated. I felt like I wouldn't be a good match for the team, and, after having discussions with Jason Lake, it seemed obvious that I was better on my own. I believe we separated on mutual terms; though my leaving was technically a violation of contract, it was definitely in the best interest for both parties.

Edward interviewing Destiny at an MLG event.

Reddit and the like sometimes throw jokes out that you quit your job to get insanely good at Starcraft 2, but as E-sports is growing in today's world and professional gaming is becoming more accepted (streamer or competitor), it seems as though said joke is becoming more accepted and less shunned by society. What's your take on how gaming is accepted at both a casual and professional level in regards to "society's view"?

I think gaming is still marginalized by the average person and will continue to be for quite a while, but hopefully that will change in time. People will begin to take it more seriously as more money becomes involved in the scene!

As people watch your stream, they sort of get attached to the people that are always on, one of the most obvious being Kyle, the one you both love and hate at times. Do you think that attachment to both the streamer and the stream's content is important to be a success in the Starcraft 2 scene, opposed to someone that's very skilled but doesn't have personality in their streams?

It's very important that people get attached to the figures/drama that surround ANY high-profile figure because that kind of stuff generates a lot of interest/pageviews. Take a look at SCReddit or Teamliquid any time some kind of drama-filled event or news statement is released. I don't believe you -need- to have a great personality to be well-received in the SC2 scene, but there are countless examples of skilled players who are known for their personality, such as Sheth, Whitera, Dragon, Huk, and even Idra, just to name a few.

So how exactly did you start gaming in the first place? Take us on a tour of how Mr. Bonnell was introduced to gaming.

I've played games ever since I was young. I had Contra and Super Mario World on the Gameboy, then graduated to the Nintendo scroller/shooter games, then upgraded to Sega games via the Sega channel, finally got into "epic" games on the Playstation (Final Fantasy VII being the first long game I'd ever completed), and then finally into Starcraft: BroodWar on the PC.

Balance in the game is a really tough issue to tackle, as some say that it's as balanced as it'll ever be, and others say that [x] race is imba against race [y] and [z]. As you've argued in videos before with Kyle, you proclaim that Terran is a bit cheap in the way that you can quickly recover from MULE drops. Recently, David Kim was interviewed stating that the infestor/broodlord combo in late-game play is an issue that needs to be resolved in the near future. Being one of the most dominant infestor players, what's your take on the unit? What issues do you see in the game that are a bit faulty, if any, and how would you resolve them?

I try not to discuss balance unless I'm given an opportunity to discuss it at length (several pages detailing different match-ups/maps/map-positions/playstyles) with other, equally knowledgeable players, as the answers and questions that arise from such discussion are incredibly complicated. In a short/sweet kind of way, I think the Infestor is fine where it's at right now. Ghosts are ridiculously effective against Infestors (and all T3) and High Templar, if microed correctly, can absolutely annihilate Infestors as well. I think people aren't used to having to micro so intensely against a Zerg, so it seems a bit frustrating when skills are suddenly called upon that you've never had to practice before.

Courtesy to GhostClaw for this picture.

Sort of reminiscent of BoxeR's bunker rush strategy, your infestor strategy is usually known to be coming, but rarely is countered properly. In a recently Day[9] Daily, you stated in a game vs. HuK that the prime counter to your unit makeup was HTs. Despite HuK countering this perfectly with many sentries in the mix as well, you still proceeded to become victorious by quite a large margin. Do you think that you've mastered the build so well that there isn't really a "solid/hard counter" to your style?

As long as you scout properly and react accordingly to what your enemy is doing, no solid style should be easily/decidedly hard-countered.

Everyone has a few games that they keep in their memory and say to themselves "WOW, that was an INSANELY sick game!" every now and then. What's yours?

There was a game I played back in the beta versus LZGamer. He was a bit of a beta-superstar, and he was the first high-level gamer I'd ever actually beaten. The game itself wasn't too remarkable, but the fact that I was able to actually take a game off of someone considered high-level really meant a lot to me.

You've played thousands of players both on ladder and in custom games. Out of said players, who would you say gives you the most challenging game when you play them and why?

Honestly any high ranking GM from NA or any highly rated Korean player would give me trouble now! There are still so many players who are still so much better than me, simply because of the time they can play and the environments they're able to play in!

Steering away from gaming and delving a bit into life outside of the screen, what's the one job that you always have wanted to have? Your dream job.

A musician, for sure! I play the alto saxophone and the piano.

What sort of music do you like listening to? I've heard everything from death metal to Nujabes.

I really listen to all types of music, from hip-hop to rap, from country to rock, from dubstep to prog-metal. I can appreciate any type of music as long as I feel it's crafted well and "interesting" to my ears.

So what's your average day consist of?

Pretty boring, really. I wake up, play games, play games, play games, then sleep! I really spend a lot of time playing this game, more than I'd like to think, heh. Milk and cookies to get you through the night.

How much do you like milk and cookies?

A ton, obviously. It's a major portion of my diet.

Doing what he does best.

Who has been your personal favorite guest on your stream (aside from the stream regular, Kyle)?

This is impossible to choose, but I'd probably have to go with Debo, if forced to. He's an incredibly interesting character.

The oh-so cliche E-sports question. Where do you want to see it in 5 years?

I have absolutely no idea. Maybe something in entertainment? I really haven't given this much thought, to be completely honest!

As we all know, our surroundings influence us through daily life. Who would you claim is your greatest influence and inspiration to have helped you where you've gotten today?

I'm an incredibly introverted kind of person. I like to think to myself a lot about certain topics/ideas. This isn't to say that some of who I am comes from early influences in my life (anime characters/video game people, mainly), but I'd like to think that a lot of my current ideology/personality comes from a lot of self-reflection on other people's ideas, whether or not I agreed with what they were saying.

What about in-game? What player have you been mentored by the most, or learned the most from?

Probably Catz, he helped me a lot when I was just starting to enter the world of high-level gaming. I still talk strategy with him from time to time.

It's truly been a pleasure, I hope that we see you continue to rise in the near and distant future. Is there anything else you'd like to express or someone you'd like to shout out?

I appreciate everyone who watches my stream and I appreciate Cloud Nine Labs for my website!

Another Starcraft 2 interview comes to a close. Destiny is nothing short of an exceptional example of a loveable bag of charisma. By showing people who he is and letting his true personality show through his stream, thousands of people love him for being a genuine gamer (and maybe a sick Zerg, too). With E-sports growing daily, who knows what's next? PEACE!

Related:
Destiny's Stream <---
Destiny's YouTube <---
Destiny's Twitter <---