Although he was by far and away the popular choice for becoming the new world champion, Thijs "ThijsNL" Molendijk ended his HCT 2016 run in the group stages. Despite feeling disappointed in himself initially, the Dutch household name found it in himself the strength to recover and tackle the new challenges that competitive Hearthstone presents him.
In a much better mood around the excitation of Blizzcon, the G2 marquee player caught up with Tom "Matthieist" Matthiesen and the two talk a lot about Thijs' transition to active streaming schedule and how that has affected his competitive career, as well as Lifecoach's influence on his life.
I am joined by Thijs at Blizzcon! How are you doing man?
I am doing good, enjoying Blizzcon.
How do you feel about the group stages? You were pretty upset at the outcome, understandably.
For three days I was really upset, I think I disappointed a little, I didn't play my best and could have done better. But now I feel that at some point you have to get over it and now I am just motivated to do that all over again.
The community has been very supportive of you, that must mean a lot.
It does. I do a lot for the community but it does feel amazing to get so much support. Sometimes, it even feels overwhelming. I am quite the positive person myself, so it's cool to see so much positivity from the community, too.
As you said, you stream a lot, you've got quite the follower base. It's quite different than last year, when you didn't stream as much.
I streamed before but it wasn't that big for me. What I focused on that year was becoming Europe champion, that was the big thing. We won ATLC with the team and I played at Blizzcon, so these three results gave me a super big boost.
How has this year been different for you?
After Blizzcon, I took a little bit of break because I wasn't home much, not even one week in a twelve-week period. I really needed a break and then I started the year by streaming already and I really enjoyed it. As a competitive player, I put a lot of pressure on myself and with streaming it's a little bit easier but I still want to compete in tournaments.
Compared to the year before, this year you haven't appeared as ofter in big tournaments. Do you think streaming has influenced that?
Yes, you have streaming and competing and you cannot do two things 100%. You can combine them to some extent but not excel at both so one takes a toll on the other one. I still try to compete a lot when I can and if I compete I want to be prepared, focus on it fully.
Looking at how HCT went last year for me, I think it was unrealistic to expect the same result, it's not how it works. This year, EU Spring championship and playing here again are the highlights, of course, and there were some other tournaments where I did well like Curse Trials and SeatStory Cup. It's not as beautiful as last year, but I'm still satisfied with how it went now.
You have a huge viewer base on your stream. How does it feel to have such a following, do you feel responsible?
Yes, in some ways I do feel responsible and also sometimes when I think some things in the game aren't as they should be I feel a little bit responsible to point it out. Not everybody has a voice that can be heard, and mine is taken seriously. It's quite cool, it's a little bit rough sometimes because you carry a lot of weight on your shoulders and I am someone that already encumbers himself a lot.
I love Hearthstone and every time I say something about it it's because I care and not just to criticize for the sake of it. I also comment when things are good. If you point out mistakes from time to time and do it well, that's good for the game.
Do you think the way Blizzard responds to feedback of players is handled well?
It's a little bit hard to see from the outside how things are handled. I know they take criticism quite seriously, but it's not like they can be open about it all the time. You have to be careful with criticism also: Some things are not always correct, or there are two sides of the story. I don't know exactly, but I think they do a better job than people might think.
Blizzard, on few occasions, invited players over to give feedback. What's some of the feedback that you've given?
Some of the feedback I've given is always about the big picture and more about game concepts. Hearthstone has a competitive and casual side, and the latter is way bigger but competitive also draws a lot of casual viewership and we carry some of the game. And some designs I feel are a little bit scary. I love some of the Portals released in Karazhan, but if you have that mechanic too much it's really dangerous.
I was also a little bit bored about how spells were going. Older spells could swing games around, like [card]Lightbomb[/card]. Now, the minions are overpowering the spells so much that it's not worth playing spells anymore, it's best to just play the best minions on curve and that was boring me. Then again, I like having different metas from time to time.
On Twitter you also said that Hearthstone used to be playing with your cards and now it's just playing your cards. Is that something you still notice?
Yes, it's more regarding what other people say about Curvestone. When I played the Europe Championship last year where I played Patron, Handlock and Combo Druid, with Handlock, for example, every turn was a big decision. Sometimes you didn't play your mana, sometimes you saved your cards, sometimes you were setting up stuff, your opponent had to respect your heal but he had to go aggressive, too. There were so many things for you and your opponent going into the game and now sometimes you just have 5 mana and want to spend it all.
Now, you don't want to have Handlock in the meta for three years in a row but I kind of liked these more strategic decks.
The latest expansion was recently announced and we've seen new Priest cards announced already. There's [card]kabal talonpriest[/card], for example. Do you hope that Priest once again becomes viable class?
I really hope that. Priest has always been the #8 or #9 class of the game. It's always been a class that counters specific decks but it will always be countered by Rogue or Freeze Mage. It can never be as strong as Shaman is now. I think Priest needs a lot. It's not that one or two cards will make them viable, it's a reactive class that will lack proactive minions. You will need quite a lot to make it strong.
From what I've seen now, there are some good cards coming in for Priest, so I have good hopes.
You're still on G2, you've been with them for a long time now and the team is still very successful. Is G2's success ever going to slow down?
It depends how other teams approach the game. We are G2, we still hold the competitive part in high regard and we just practice against each other and while that might not be on a daily basis we have constant calls about how we're going to approach the next tournament.
Some teams are underestimating the power of how much organized practice helps. Yes, you can play ladder, but ladder doesn't help as much compared to testing with a competitor as good as I am. I hope there will be more teams doing that.
You and Rdu both have said in the past that Lifecoach is like a guru for you guys. How has that influenced your approach to the game?
Lifecoach has always been quite a big inspiration for me, with his background and everything. We're really close friends. I love understanding his way of thinking about the game, but also about life... He's an actual life coach.
Then again, often he's an all-or-nothing guy and sometimes I just try to find balance in things. He's a true competitor.
You say that but we don't see him in as many tournaments as you or Rdu.
That's because some tournaments aren't worth competing in. We're playing so many tournaments - I can be in one every week - but then I cannot give my best and I want to do that.
Lifecoach prefers doing two tournaments a month and play the best he can. It's like in sports. You cannot perform if you can play every day. You have to take care of yourself.
What would be your one tip to semi-pro or casual players to get into competitive and perform well?
It's always important to find your own motivation. The first thing is to love the game and not have too high goals. Start and try to get better and if you do - do it again. There is always room to improve. I've played Hearthstone for three years and I don't think I've ever played a perfect series.