This Saturday, Aaron "ArronKoh" Koh became the eighth champion of GosuCup SEA 2015, but that's not a new feeling for him. Back in November, the Singaporean player won GosuCup 2014 #5 and later finished third in that season's grand finals. After coming very close to a championship in the inaugural tournament for this year's circuit - and striking out in the top 16 in a few other editions - Aaron finally did it. In a nerve-wrecking five-game grand final against Filipino veteran Chalk, Aaron walked away $300 and 20 World Championship points richer.
Below is our interview with the new GosuCup champion.
So, congratulations on getting yourself another GosuCup championship! It's been a long time since the 2014 season!
Thanks. It's been awhile indeed!
What have you been doing between the last time we spoke and today?
I've been participating in every GosuCup since then, but it's really hard to go on a good consistent run and win a tournament. I guess I'm starting to get lucky again. I have been doing pretty badly in the past month or two with tourneys.
Is it luck only, or are you also not feeling in form? Maybe it's getting used to the new meta?
I think a big part of it is luck, because I've been doing quite well on ladder with several different decks. With card games there’re always upswings and downswings, I just kept at it thinking I’m going through a downswing. But the ladder meta does change a lot, and tournament meta can be different sometimes, I have to admit.
What have you been playing on ladder then? Anything new and cool? Please say it's something new and cool!
Haha, not really, I think I’m actually quite pragmatic, I don't really try or experiment too much cool stuff on ladder. I've mostly been practicing with several strong decks on the NA ladder and practicing some of my weaker classes on EU at a lower rank in ladder. Earlier in the season I did try out some dragon decks, and they all seemed horrible.
You're not on board for the Malygos Warlock? So many players consider it cool, and actually viable.
I've seen many streamers play it, but none of them were able to achieve high ladder ranks with it. I’ve been watching Lifecoach’s stream quite a bit, he did an in-depth analysis of Malygos Warlock one or two weeks ago. He came to a conclusion that it isn't good enough and he's probably one of the best Warlock players. It just seemed like a really inconsistent deck.
What seems the deck to go for on ladder, then? Except the obvious Hunter and Grim Patron answers, though that maybe eliminates 80% of the ladder meta...
I think control Warrior might be a top tier deck, too.
Is it because it destroys Patrons and Face Hunters?
Yes, I've seen Jasonzhou have great success with it, I've been spectating and watching him stream quite a bit lately. Oil rogue and Handlock also seem to be really good decks on ladder right now.
On to the actual GosuCup: You won the finals against Chalk, one of Philippines best, a player who was supposed to compete in last year's Blizzcon NA final qualifiers but couldn't go because of visa issues. Have you played him before? How much did you know about his style and deck preferences before that?
I've played him before in a few online tournaments, he was already on my friend list from before. But with the meta changing so much I wasn't sure what exactly he would play, I only knew that he played quite a bit of control Warrior on ladder. He also played control Warrior against me in another tournament before this.
I think he was maybe at a disadvantage as he had prepared only three decks in his deck collection for this GosuCup. He was playing in two tourneys at the same time, and the other tourney only allowed three fixed decks. I heard from some of the players from Philippines that there was a big LAN tournament held there that day. But I’m glad that we both made it this far this time, I know he’s been doing pretty badly in tournaments lately too, haha.
Yeah, he and Staz were playing them simultaneously.
He made it to Top 4 in that tournament, whilst getting to the final in GosuCup, playing both simultaneously, quite a feat!
Indeed, and he came very close to a GosuCup championship, he gave you quite a sweat. Full five games, amazing matches!
I was just focused on my next opponent, taking it one game at a time. Was very surprised to see Chalk was in the other semi after I finished my semi-final game. I thought all the Philippines would be too busy to play in GosuCup this week.
You brought a Hunter/Druid/Warlock line-up to the finals. Walk me through the thought process during the pick phase.
I brought decks that worked very well for me on ladder, and made the decision to go with Druid because he picked Warrior, Hunter and Druid. I felt that my Druid would be very strong against that line-up of classes he had, I have very good win rates against those three classes. I just wasn't sure if he was playing Patron or Control, I feel that Patron is favored even against ramp Druid with taunts despite what most people think.
I think my line-up was very strong against Druid, so I was hoping to win that way.
What I've been seeing in GosuCups this season is that Singapore is doing way better than previous season. There are new faces like Pewpewurface, Amaze, WTH76 doing well... Would you say competition has picked up in Singapore and the region overall since last time we spoke?
Indeed I've been meeting a lot of good players in GosuCup from Singapore as well this season. For sure we have to thank Nydra and GosuGamers for this wonderful opportunity to compete in HS every week.
Speaking of the local Hearthstone scene, is there a rivalry between the regions? We're tracking countries' progress in points each week which creates an interesting race to follow but is there the actual motivation and urge to be better than Vietnam, or the Philippines?
I don't think there’s any rivalry between the regions, at least not for me. But I guess tracking country progress in points makes things interesting perhaps, but I don’t feel any extra motivation or urge, I just focus on myself and try my best to win
Fair enough! We can bring this to a wrap then. The mic is yours for closing words.
Umm, thanks for the interview! And keep up the good work Nydra!
