So this is your first big win in Hearthstone, or at least in GosuCup SEA. How does it feel to open the new season with a good chunk of money and HCT points?
This is indeed my biggest win in terms of prize money, and it feels great to be the first winner of the new GosuCup season! I have always wanted to represent India in the SEA cups by winning it, and I finally did it.
You are a veteran of the game, actually, but not many of our readers know you?. Who is Gcttirth in and out of Hearthstone?
I have been playing since ?eta and have participated in Hearthstone weekly cups since then. I have many high finishes in weekly cups, notably I have placed 1st in the ESL Pre-season Cup finals and 2nd in the ESL Legendary Series Season 2 Week 1. I also contribute as a Priest expert in the TempoStorm Meta Snapshot. Outside of Hearthstone, I am a student who loves programming and game development.
What made you fall in love with Priest? Is it the gimmicky, stealing aspect of it?
I have a soft spot for a class considered weak in the meta. Pre-TGT I used to main Midrange Shaman and Control Priest (both considered the weakest deck/class) and I used them to place 2nd in the Legendary Series week 1. I love the reactive playstyle of Priest and its ability to adapt based on the matchup.
Also making flashy plays with [card]Wild Pyromancer[/card] feels amazing.
You brought control Priest to GosuCup SEA as well and it paid off big time. Do you think the class is in good place right now?
Priest is really good in the meta if teched properly. I played Chessdude123's list that he used to qualify for Winter Prelims as it can perform well against both archetypes of Warrior, which was the class I predicted to be swarming the cup. [card]Entomb[/card], [card]Flash Heal[/card], [card]Justicar Trueheart[/card] and [card]Museum Curator[/card] all helped Priest a lot.
I guess Entomb is especially powerful since you can basically skip putting in your own threats and just take theirs, right?
Yes, Entomb gave Priest a much needed tool to answer threats with deathrattle such as Sylvanas, Tirion and Highmane.
You also played RenoLock, considered possibly the strongest build for Warlock. Where do you put it yourself, compared to, say, Zoo, DemonLocks, etc?
I don't think RenoLock is stronger than Zoo Warlock on the ladder, but in a tournament that changes. In tournaments, especially in early rounds, many players prefer aggro decks and Renolock performs better against that than Zoo. I don't think both decks can be compared with each other, as they are both different and choosing which to play is based entirely on the lineup you want to counter.
You mentioned you used to patron Midrange Shaman and that build still isn't really good after so many years. When we interviewed Impact in Katowice, he had faith that it will become prominent in standard, but others have made the adequate remark that we can't know for sure until we see the new cards. From your point of view, what does Shaman need to get for its midrange build to be strong? Or is it more the case of "other classes not getting better stuff again"?
I think its the latter, currently there is no reason to play Midrange Shaman as you can pick almost any other deck from other class that will perform better against the decks you want to counter. Shaman got amazing tools in TGT in the form of both [card]Tunnel Trogg[/card] and [card]Totem Golem[/card], so with the introduction of new expansion I have high hopes that it will become good once again. Hopefully it will find its place in the standard meta. I can't wait to [card]Earth Shock[/card] [card]Twilight Drake[/card]s!
Speaking of the new expansion, it's probably just around the corner, since Spring is Coming. What do you hope to get out of it, in terms of cards, mechanics, theme...
I just hope that the new expansion will be as good as League of Explorers and will introduce many different archetypes. Hopefully no new decks like Murloc Paladin though. I am hoping for more cards that can be used as the center of the deck such as [card]Reno Jackson[/card] and [card]Elise Starseeker[/card]. Thankfully, Blizzard seems to have the same point of view based on an interview. I can't wait to test out decks in the Standard
Going back to GosuCup SEA quickly before we close: What was the tensest, or most interesting, or most intriguing moment or player you encountered? Describe us your run through the cup in a few sentences.
The first series I was in trouble was the Quarterfinals against Neilyo. First matchup was Oil Rogue vs his Freeze Mage. He should have won that game, but he didn't get lethal damage (over 66% chance) so I somehow won that game. Then I lost to his other two decks so I had to reverse sweep his Freeze Mage with my RenoLock and Control Priest. The RenoLock had Kezan so that was basically an auto-win, but Priest would have trouble against Freeze Mage. Fortunately I got good draws and enough pressure on the board to steal that win.
The next series was against aly33sida, who beat Staz on his way, so I was a bit afraid. He was running Freeze Mage too and I was able to beat his Freeze Mage with Priest. The finals were relatively easy as Lojom was running aggro lineup which lined-up against my anti-aggro lineup. Fortunately I didn't have to face many Druids so that helped.
Final question. Imagine the new expansion has something to do with the Old Gods, as people speculate. Design a legendary with new mechanic for it.
I am not familiar with WoW lore (HS is my first Blizzard game). So sadly I can't make one based on the Old Gods. But here is a general one: Neutral 3 mana legendary, 2/3, put a copy of a recently cast spell in your hand.
That doesnt have a new mechanic though.
Hmm I can't think of a new mechanic *laughs*. It will be interesting to see what Blizzard comes up with that's balanced and sees play. The only mechanic I can think of is something like "Float: Gain +atk/health based on amount of mana remaining".
