After yesterdays Road to Blizzcon games we had a talk with main HotS caster in CIS region, Svyatoslav 'HappyZerg' Vlasyuk. We talked about new patch, new trends and upcoming events.
Hey! I know you played Starcraft before, but How long have you been playing and casting HotS?
Yes, I was a Starcraft 2 professional player before. I have been playing HotS since last Autumn. I realized that there is a little chance that Starcraft will stay as popular as e-sports discipline. So I decided to transition to MOBAs. First I tried Dota 2, then my friends from Starcraft invited me to try Heroes.
You cast HotS a lot, so can you tell the trends of HotS pro scene?
The meta is changing from patch to patch and it is a problem for many teams. The strongest are the teams that can adapt fast and find effective strategies. A lot of teams disband, others chose different strange names. It is hard for people to stay informed about teams and players. That is why people know a few top teams and don’t know other teams that good. But I hope it will change soon.
Do you think there will be more strong teams in CIS region?
In CIS region we have the same problem. There are players who form teams but disband very soon or there are frequent reshuffles so they don’t really have much time to show good results. I hope this trend will change soon and we will have more than Virtus.Pro.
Well, Virtus.Pro was a serious and strong team from the Arthas's time...
Yes, they have a professional attitude. They have schedule, high requirements to each other. They work very hard. And since their formation they set really high goals and had serious plans on HotS pro scene.
What can you say about new patch?
Each patch is something new and meta will get changed, but I’m not sure how, maybe auto attackers will get more popular, maybe 2 supports will be viable, maybe it will remain the same with some small adjustments. But I think that any changes are for the good, because players and viewers get bored at seeing the same heroes being picked and banned over and over again.
The first picks/bans are Zerathul, Leoric, Jaina, Zagara, Johanna, Uther almost in every game in Europe. So among tanks there are Muradin, Leoric, Johanna, Tyrael, Anub’arak with Arthas and E.T.C. in very special cases. There are 3 top supports: Uther, Rehgar and Malfurion and players chose it depending on what type of heal they need, if you get unlucky with draft, you get Lili.
Among damage dealers it’s Jaina, Zeratul, Valla, Kaelthas, some pro teams base their gameplay around melee carries like Illidan, Kerrigan or Butcher, when top heroes are banned, Tychus and Falstad get picked. Regarding specialists Zagara is a true queen, Abathur is very popular, Sylvanas in rare cases and I guess it’s only Team Liquid who pick The Lost Vikings.
Do you have any favorite heroes in new patch?
There are 3 top damage dealers in new patch - Kael'thas, Jaina, Zeratul. 4 top tanks - Johanna, Muradin, Tirael, Anubarak. 3 top supports - Uther, Rehgar, malfurion. But we have now more good specialists, not only Sylvanas and Zagara who were top specialists before but also Nazeebo, Azmodan, Abathur. All this heroes you can see in professional games. I like most of all melee assasins. My favorite are Illidan, Zeratul, Sylvanas.
Which events do you wish to visit this year? Can you recommend some to our readers?
All of them (laugh)! Blizzcon is the best HotS event, no doubt, maybe European region finals in Prague before that. But there are many cool events: Intel Extreme Masters, WCA, DreamHack, MSI MGA and I hope that there will be even more in future!
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