GosuCup #7 winner interviewed: "It's my dream to play Hearthstone professionally"

Junyi "Wufflerman" Ho had a tough GosuCup run this weekend. Lacking previous competitive experience outside the GosuCups, the Singaporean entered the seventh edition of the tournament, only to find himself having to play both GosuCup #6 grand finalists, WaningMoon and Pompi.

What happened was that neither of the established Filipinos could even take a game away from Wufflerman. After seven rounds of competition, he ended up with a score of 17-2, a check for $100 and the coveted spot for the February grand finals.

Today, we sit with Wufflerman to talk about his run to the trophy: from his games against the best players in the region and his choice of Priest and Handlock to his dream of playing Hearthstone professionally full time.

First of all, congratulations about the victory are in order! How was the GosuCup experience for you and where are you investing the $100 prize?

Thank you GosuGamers for organizing the tournament! The GosuCup series were great, I had loads of fun and met new people. No prize for guessing but the $100 is probably going into GvG packs.

You actually had a very tough run. You played and won against both of last week's finalists, the runner up Pompi and the winner WaningMoon. How did those series go? Were you nervous playing already established names?

I read most of GosuGamers articles so I know who Pompi and WaningMoon were. The games with WaningMoon were quite funny. I won the first game as Handlock against his Shaman, then he picked a more aggressive Shaman thinking that I will switch to Zoolock but I stuck with Handlock. So I could say it was a lucky win for me.

Initially I was very nervous playing the first few editions of GosuCup but after joining more tournaments I realized it can be anybody's game. I just focused on making the right plays, and more importantly to have fun! It can be very rewarding to discuss hands after a game even when you lose.

"I was very nervous playing the first few editions of GosuCup but after joining more tournaments I realized it can be anybody's game."

I get that you don't have a competitive experience prior to GosuCups? How did you decide to enter those tournaments?

I was in Europe for exchange in the first half of the year. When I came back there were very few local Hearthstone tournaments. So when I first saw GosuGamers organizing the GosuCup series I was over the moon.

You went for Priest and Handlock in this tournament. Why? Which deck did you rely on the most?

I think Priest and Handlock are strong in the current meta, together with control Warrior. My strategy was to fight aggro with Priest and control with Handlock.

You barely used any GvG cards in your Handlock, though, why? Most people go for Dr Boom and/or Troggzor the Annihilator, but you don't, not even that Healbot thing.

I made a mistake in the deck builder, hehe. I sub one [card]Earthen Ring Farseer[/card] for an [card]Antique Healbot[/card]. I would love to experiment with Dr. Boom and Troggzor though, but I don’t have the cards.

I think the Healbot is awesome. It saved me out of a lot of sticky situations. I see some pros like Strifecro running two but I feel that it will prevent you from playing [card]Molten Giant[/card]s, and has no synergy with [card]Lord Jaraxxus[/card].

GosuCups, what else are you playing with now that GvG is out. I see lots of Paladins and Mages as the class experience a resurgence with the new cards.

Yea I've been climbing on ladder with the mech mage deck, it seems like a fun deck to play with. Paladin is definitely back in the meta! The recent Kinguin cup had many Paladins crushing their opponents.

"Paladin is definitely back in the meta!"

You certainly seem to follow the competitive scene a lot! Any particular player you look to for deckbuilding inspirations?

I do watch a lot of streams! For deck building who else do you look to? Of course it's Godlento (Kolento), he's the best! I try and understand Savjz, Strifecro too. If I'm looking for fun and laughter I'll just watch Amaz, haha.

You're going to the grand finals in February now, being a GosuCup winner. Are you going to do special preparations, research the players maybe?

I'll probably scrim with players I've met along the way in the GosuCup! Players like WaningMoon, Pompi, SnowAce or Chongger are good players that I wouldn't have met if I didn't play GosuCup. I have them on my friendlist and we talk about the decks sometimes. It's awesome that this regional tournament is able to bring players from SEA together.

Singapore has some strong players too like xNVx or Silfer (known as the legend killer). I would love to practise with them also.

Are you going to pursue Hearthstone more seriously now that you've banked a tournament win? I know players like WaningMoon want to turn this into a full time job so what about you?

It's actually my dream to play Hearthstone professionally. Before Hearthstone, I was considering playing poker full time but decided against it due to the social stigma. E-sports is not that big in Singapore, except for Dota. If there's an offer that comes I'll definitely grab it. But at the moment I'll probably graduate and find a job.

"It's my dream to play Hearthstone professionally."

What are you studying? What kind of job are you going for?

I’m studying Business Management at Singapore Management University. It's probably in the finance sector, and something related to trading. I think there's a reason why I love Hearthstone, poker and trading.

It sounds like a job that earns well? Why would you ever want to go for playing Hearthstone over, say, becoming a financist?

Because it's the passion! I have friends who got burnt out from working in the finance sector because it's not something that they like. While I do like trading, the traditional type of trading is a sunset industry and getting overtaken by machines with algorithm.

Hopefully, sponsors will notice the good players in the region and make it a viable career choice. Tournaments like GosuCup are the first step to making that happen.

"Tournaments like GosuCup are the first step to sponsors noticing the good players in the region."

What should be the next step for SEA Hearthstone then? What must come next, after the GosuCups have paved the floor?

The biggest setback for SEA region was Staz and Chalk having their visa denied despite qualifying for Blizzcon.

Maybe more tournaments in the future? That would generate hype for the players in the region. Also, interviews like this help the community a lot in getting to know the players better. Also, I'm involved in a small project called Hearthstone Alley. We are trying to promote the scene and hopefully we can grow with the community as well.

Any final words before we wrap this up?

I'd like to thank GosuGamers for organizing this tournament, and my mates at Hearthstone Alley who have been working very hard for the Hearthstone community

Also, I would like to thank my fans for their support. I will continue to work hard and show them nice games. (HAHA! I know I have no fans but it's too funny reading this sentence whenever you have a Korean Starcraft interview, just thought it might be my last interview and I just wanna do it! ^^ )

So how does GosuCup SEA and the Asia rankings look after Wufflerman's victory? 15 out of 32 players are already known with Philippines leading in the numbers with a total of four representatives.