It is unfair to say that Muzahidul "Muzzy" Islam was an unknown entity heading into the Americas playoffs for HCT Spring, but he definitely flew under most people's radar. The 20 year-old from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania has won a variety of minor events in the past and has numerous high ranking ladder finishes to his name. But for anyone who just tunes in to see major tournaments on Twitch, his unbeaten run through the Americas Spring Playoffs must have been quite a surprise. All of a sudden, he is the number one ranked player in America and number three in the world. As you will see, though, Muzzy remains humble about his accomplishment. Humble, but suitably confident looking ahead.
HCT Americas Spring Playoffs went perfectly for you, with zero losses against your name, what do you think was the key to that performance?
A lot of the success that I had at the can be dedicated to the lineup I brought to the tournament. I was able to read the meta properly beforehand and develop a lineup that allowed me to have the best possible chance against the field.
On GosuGamers, you are currently the number one ranked player in America and number three in the world. Does that affect your mindset moving forward?
GosuGamers ranking does not affect my mindset at all. Not a lot of things actually affect my mindset or cause me to get too nervous. When I was playing my top eight match to qualify for Shanghai I actually did not feel much pressure on me at all. I don't know if that had to do with the setting I was in (The Cave in Fairfax, Virginia), where I had played multiple prelims in the past, or just how I am. I'll have to see if being in China has any effect on me.
Is your preparation for Spring Championships any different from what you did for the qualifier?
My preparation for Spring Championships has been a bit different from what I did for playoffs. For playoffs I brought a risky lineup that could have been exploited by certain classes. However, that did not happen as I went 10-0. For Championships, you only need to win three matches to qualify for Worlds. Also, you are aware of the field a bit more since it's only 16 players. So I feel going for a less risky strategy and bringing overall powerful decks in the meta is a better way to go.
How do you rate your chances going into the tournament? Who do you think will be your strongest opponent?
With the current knowledge I have with the decks I submitted I feel I have a very good chance of doing well. My skill level with the game is there so it's up to my opponents and my decks on how I do. I am not too afraid of facing a single person over others in the tournament as all the players have accomplished a lot just to qualify. However, the European players might be considered stronger than the other regions. From what I've seen, Neirea in my opinion has played the best in their playoffs so I could see him doing well.
You recently said that miracle rogue is the best deck in the game. Is that still true, and why?
I did say miracle rogue was the best deck in the game a bit ago, but as the meta has shifted I don't think it's currently the best deck in the game. There are a lot less people playing paladin and a lot more people playing mage so rogue has declined in strength.
In the past you’ve said that you are happy to just play the dest decks. Are there any you enjoy playing more than others?
To me Hearthstone is an enjoyable game when I do well on ladder. Doing well on ladder means you are winning a lot which correlates to playing the stronger decks. Recently I've been playing Gunther Mage a bit and enjoy the deck more than others. There is a lot of card generation in the deck, so every game isn't the same and your gameplan can change a whole lot. This creates a lot of different scenarios for the deck and you don't get that a whole lot with a lot of Hearthstone decks. I would say Gunther Mage is my favorite deck to play at the moment.
You’ve spoken before about the difficulty with getting invitations to bigger tournaments. Do you think that will change after your breakout performance?
Getting into the elite scene of Hearthstone where you receive a lot of invites is very hard to do. You mostly see large streamers getting the invites to increase viewership for the tournaments. I think me doing well might influence a small amount of invites in the future, however I don't think it'll result in me starting to play in every tournament you see on Twitch.
You seem to have a grinder’s mentality towards Hearthstone. Do you think people underestimate the importance of putting in the reps?
I definitely had a grinder's mentality towards Hearthstone last year, but this year it's changed slightly. Last year I finished number one in points in North America to be able to secure a spot in the Last Call Tournament. However, the end result of that was me receiving nothing. I play the game a lot less now and have seen results. I think people might overestimate that doing well on ladder is a result of playing the game as much as possible. It will lead to burnout and hating the game.
Skill vs RNG in Hearthstone has been back in the news lately. How do you feel about it as a successful player? Does it undermine your accomplishments?
I don't think this skill vs RNG argument diminishes my accomplishment this time too much. There are a lot of decks in the current meta that are difficult to pilot in certain matchups. I'm saying this in terms of the current tournament scene. Most of the players you see doing well could be considered better players of the region and the ones you might not have heard of as much got there through bringing the best decks for that tournament meta.
Hearthstone was your first card game, I believe, and your first esport. How did you get into the game originally?
I started playing the game way back in Beta. At the time I was playing other games like Binding of Isaac and Terraria and watched a Youtuber called Northernlion play those games. One day he started playing Hearthstone and was really bad at it but it seemed like something I'd be interested in. Immediately I tried to get my hands on a beta key. It took a while but I was able to get one through Reddit and never stopped playing since.
Was there a specific point in time where you decided to try and become a professional or was it a natural progression of doing well?
I don't think there ever was an outright moment I decided to become a professional. The first year or so I didn't really try to involve myself in tournaments being held by ESL. Eventually I saw myself doing well on ladder and involved myself a bit more in tournaments ad gaining more respect from players. This led me to seeking out teams that could support me and naturally progressed to a "pro", I guess.
Follow the Spring Championship in its entirety here on Gosu Gamers.
