It's been a while since Malaysia sat on the GosuCup throne but during GosuCup #11 Justing "Chongger" Chong finally brought gold to his country. Although a long-time Hearthstone player, Chongger was rarely seen in the late stages of tournaments until now so we sat down with him to find out what's up with that.
As we always do with every interview - props for becoming the new GosuCup champion! How does it feel?
I feel really surprised and yet happy at the same time, due to my average and inconsistent performance these past few months.
I know you to be a Hearthstone old-timer, so I was pleasantly surprised to see you that far in the tournament. Why do you think you've been inconsistent? Real life getting in the way?
Well I have been doing well against the top players but after the second round I lose to lesser known players due to poor deck choices in the past few GosuCups. However, this time I picked up my game and choose more consistent and balanced decks.
?h, so it was line-up issue then? How did you construct the line-up for this cup?
I have been practicing a lot in ranked games picking more stable decks like Warrior, Hunter and Warlock. I also practiced Patron Warrior as it is quite a new deck to me. I played that non stop for one week making me confident to bring it to GosuCup.
You're Malaysia's first champion for this season. Does that make you feel extra proud? Were the spirits in the Malaysian community lifted?
I felt more excited than proud because the Malaysian community is very hyped about Hearthstone and many were very glad that we finally ended our winless draught.
How big is the community in Malaysia compared to the rest of the SEA region? I know that countries like Philippines and Singapore take Hearthstone quite seriously competition-wise as well.
The community in Malaysia is still growing compared to other SEA regions. There are a lot people creating FSG events and online tourneys to boost the interest in newcomers as well as existing members. We may not be as big as Singapore or Philippines but we are certainly getting there.
Who are the current best players in the country? I know about AkiSera, Lalasong, you, but not much beyond that.
Actually out of that list you did not mention my teammate FIzdarth. He is somewhat unknown in Gosucup because he is unable to join tournaments on Saturdays. But he recently entered into Nvidia tournament and won against Tempo Storm Hyp3d. He is also a malaysian qualiffier blizzcon representative last year.
So what do you do besides winning GosuCups and being good at Hearthstone? Who's Justin Chong when he’s not playing games?
Just completed my degree last month. That's why I have more time to practice in Hearthstone. Maybe a bit too much that my girl friend complains that I spend more time on this game than with her. But other than Hearthstone I like to play basketball .
What degree did you complete?
Business administration.
Nice! Are you leaving Hearthstone for that in the future, or are you shooting for the progaming dream?
Im not sure about that yet L ets see how I’m performing in the Hearthstone scene later. Might consider become a full time professional gamer if I am doing well.
Most of the players I interviewed last year said it’s hard to be pro in sea because the scene is small. Is it growing in 2015?
It is growing, although the SEA scene does not seem to grow as fast compared to the other regions but we definitely are growing at our own pace, hopefully Blizzard will be able to notice the existence of pro players in the SEA scene. We are not in any form weaker than the other regions.
SEA world champ 2015?
Yeah there are few names who can do it like PHONETAP. Or maybe me, hehe, just kidding.
Lets wrap it up! Closing words ?
Shout out to my team Patient Assassin Gaming and my practice teammates Fizdarth and Lalasong. Hopefully Malaysia will do better in the upcoming GosuCup and also thanks to Nydra and GosuGamers for hosting this.
