More WEC interviews:
Ignite - Where we talk about why the WEC format decreases the skill ceiling
Darkwonyx - Where the Swede discusses his rivalry with Rdu and the EU vs NA vs Asia topic
TidesofTime - Where he talks why WEC is the only tournament he ever practiced for and why a return to Dota is unlikely
How are you doing?
Ah, I had a pretty rough start and finish of the tournament but other than that the trip has gone well.
Tell me about the games.
The format was a little different than I thought. I prepared a 4-deck set to play through the whole tournament and when I got here I found out that’s not how it is at all. I was a bit surprised, but the matches were alright. I felt a few things could’ve gone in my favor but they didn’t.
Would knowing the format beforehand have made a huge difference?
It definitely would’ve made a difference. I spent so much time preparing for what I thought it was which could’ve been spent otherwise. It was like this: you have four classes but then you get to ban a class. After a class is banned, you can make up to nine decks for the other three classes. Every single person can counter every single other deck. Whoever wins the first game is probably going to win the series because they counter you, you counter back and in the end you win.
Am I correct when I’m saying you probably don’t like the format, because that’s how it sounds?
Yeah, I don’t like it because you don’t have any weaknesses. No matter what deck is being played, the other player will have a hard-counter or a deck with very favorable match-up. The weird things happen – I had a deck with double [card]Big Game Hunter[/card] or double [card]Shadow Word: Death[/card] just because someone randomly played Handlock. But you can’t do that in traditional formats.
I guess this format was introduced to sort of replace the sideboarding in traditional card games.
Yeah, I still like the traditional 4-classes-1-ban format where you can’t change your decks the most. But overall, traditional sideboarding where you have a set number of cards you can change is preferable to what WEC used.
"Traditional sideboarding where you have a set number of cards you can change is preferable to what WEC used."
WEC is one of the few West vs East clashes. There have been some already but all of them online. Is there a regional pride here, to win this tournament for the West or for America even?
Yeah, a little bit I guess, and it’s nice if Europe or North America win over Asia.
It’s only you and Darkwonyx on Team Curse where other teams have much more members. Do you think that’s a disadvantage in any way?
As far as the game goes, with practicing, we’re in disadvantage, because we don’t even practice together as we play in different regions and our playstyles are pretty different, so we both have separate practice partners. Whereas Rdu from MYM, he practices with everyone on his team, he always has someone available to help him think things through.
The only reason we have two players is originally we had Savjz and Kitkatz and we were going to be on the next edition of Fight Night and then the whole ESGN happened and then they left. And since there are no team leagues happening, there’s no reason to have more than two players. I guess it’s good that Darkwonyx and I are getting much more attention from Curse itself – when we need something it’s usually immediate.
Let’s talk a bit about the meta. Right now, it’s gotten slow and controlish, would you say that suits you or do you prefer a more aggressive one?
I can pretty much play anything. I don’t really have a preference as far as meta’s concerned.
Naxxramas was sort of recently released and they did it on a weekly basis. What do you think about this gated approach? Is it good because it influences the meta over a certain time or would you’ve preferred they released all cards at once?
For non-competitive players, it was pretty cool because you have something to look forward to each week and play the adventure mode but for competitive players it’s kind of annoying, because there were tournament happening before all wings were released. So there were certain decks you really need to figure out and there were windows where a card is way better than it would be if something else is released. The WEC EU qualifiers, for example, happened without a wing that we had for NA, so you can’t even look at their qualifiers and get ideas because a week later everything changes.
I would prefer they just dumped all the cards but for other players I guess it’s different.
"[card]Reincarnate[/card] is a card that has potential and will get better every time new cards get released."
What cards – besides [card]Loatheb[/card] obviously which is in almost every deck – are really strong? Or can be surprise picks for future decks that people don’t have on their radar yet?
The [card]Nerubian Egg[/card] and [card]Sludge Belcher[/card] are obviously very good. [card]Spectral Knight[/card] was a card people expected to see a lot of play – and it has some – but not as much as people anticipated. I know some players run [card]Spectral Knight[/card] in their Warrior decks, though, and have been doing really well. One of the Koreans 3-0’d his opponent by running it.
So that’s a card I think will see more play, and it’s kind of the opposite to [card]Sludge Belcher[/card]. For it, people were like “Yeah, it’s good” but then it started showing up everywhere.
Other than those, [card]Reincarnate[/card] has potential, I guess, especially when new cards get released. It’s one of those cards that every time something new is released it gets better and better. And I don’t think [card]Posion Seeds[/card] is good, ever.
Going back to the tournament – have you been falling the Eastern scene much? Are you surprised about how well their players are doing?
That was the one disadvantage I think I had on my side of the bracket – it was all Asian players and I had no clue what they’re playing. I tried watching some VODs but there’s no YouTube here so that didn’t really work.
I had no idea what they’re playing but they themselves seem aware of us – I saw them play the StrifeCro or Kolento Druids, they play Miracle, all the Hunter decks. They know which decks are good. And they’re fine players.
"The Asians themselves are aware of what we play - I saw them play the StrifeCro and Kolento Druids, Miracle, all the Hunter decks. They know which decks are good and they're fine players."
Going to you personally – how did you get into Hearthstone and the competitive scene specifically?
I played Magic: The Gathering and then I moved from NYC to New Jersey. In New York, I had all my MtG friends and we’d travel to tournaments but now I didn’t live near them so I was playing online and I saw Hearthstone come out and I decided to try it out.
That was when beta keys were given slowly so I had my wife and three of my friends all apply on this Facebook page to get a key and my friend got one and sent it to me. I started playing, I got in touch with DKMR players and that’s where it started.
Do you have any plans for Hearthstone? Do you see yourself sticking or it’s just a hobby for now?
Right now, I don’t know if it’ll stay that way, but most tournaments in Hearthstone are invitationals. So if I keep getting invited to tournaments I’ll keep playing. I take tournaments seriously but I play the game to have fun, it’s a hobby as well, and I don’t rely on Hearthstone to make a living, I have a part-time job as well.
What do you do?
I work online for a medical supply company from home so it’s pretty sweet deal.
So you can basically do both jobs and nobody can tell?
Yeah man, I have three monitors, a laptop and iPad, all at the same time!
Do you try to stream a lot? Because all of the online tournaments tend to send invitations to big streamers.
Yeah, the active streamers and popular streamers are always invited. I’m not saying they’re good or bad, but they guarantee viewers so it makes sense to invite them. As far as me streaming – I stream on Azubu but it’s really sporadic. Sometimes I’ll stream for ten hours and then not stream for two weeks.
What would you recommend to aspiring players wanting to get into Hearthstone?
You have two options at this point – you can either start streaming, put a lot of effort and build your name, or you can start at the local events like ESL, that’s how I did it. Say, you win a couple of ESL events, than you get invited to King of the Hill, then you do good there and get invited to some events. Once you start getting invited, you need to continue to do well – it is a lot of work and effort but once you’re on the invitational list, it’s pretty nice.
