Dongzhong (left) faced off with Team Liquid's Savjz in the current NEL season.
Team YOLO Miracle are now a fixture of the Chinese Hearthstone scene, but team founder Dongzhong is struggling to compete with the teams that have larger financial backing. As he gets set to move on to a new team after the current NEL season, he spoken to GosuGamers about the YOLO Miracle journey and his view of the Chinese Hearthstone scene.
Read on and learn about 500 player open tournaments, single deck sideboarding formats, and his love of the Goldshire Footman.
Interview by Radolslav 'Nydra' Kolev, transcribed by Callum 'BeardyFace' Leslie.
How did YOLO Miracle come together? How did the idea come about, how did you recruit the players and how did you prepare for your first tournament appearance in NEL?
The team was created by me, and another player. We wanted to have a team to play with for practice, and for some kind of group to hang out with and play together. The team players most came from our friends, and some players from tournaments who had done well without teams.
Where did the name come from?
We all voted for the team name, and the name YOLO Miracle came out of that. I think the name has worked out fine, and we like it very much.
How does the team structure function? Do you have dedicated deckbuilders and testers?
Well we have our manager, and he gives us strict orders on what to do! Most of the time we are playing by ourselves, but sometimes we come together at my house to practice and test together.
You have one of the strongest player on the Chinese scene, Fuoliver, and Xiaosoul has been doing very well. Do you consider them the players who are leading the team?
Actually, I consider myself the one leading the team! I've been doing very well in tournaments and I've been playing Magic: The Gathering for fifteen years. I also have experience in the WoW TCG. I also played poker professionally until Hearthstone came out.
You went 4-0 in the group stages in NEL, but lost out in the playoffs. What happened between those two stages?
We had so many tournaments to play and were so busy at the time, and the players didn't have much time to practice together and talk to each other. That was kind of my problem because I didn't bring the team together. We thought the playoffs wouldn't be hard, but that was arrogant. We didn't understand our opponents fully. Everyone is on the same page - we can do much better.
"We thought the playoffs wouldn't be hard, but that was arrogant. We didn't understand our opponents fully. Everyone is on the same page - we can do much better."
?After such a strong season, are you being approached with commercial opportunities and partnerships?
?We are waiting for that. We were hoping to get some kind of endorsement but we haven't got any yet. One of our players left to go a team that pays, but I can't blame him for that. I myself got a deal with a team but didn't sign the contract yet - I am going to them next season.
?So will YOLO Miracle come to an end when you move on?
?We can still hang out, we are still friends. They are good players but they just don't have the chance. There are so many people in China trying to play and it's hard for good players to get noticed. I could name a thousand players that haven't won any tournaments but are good players...we are so much better than the WCA players. The players there are from the biggest teams, but they are not the best players. Thirteen players got invited and half of them are the best, but the other half are not but get invited because they are in a good team.
There are lots of big brands like Vici and IEG getting involved in the Chinese Hearthstone scene right now. Is Hearthstone the new big game now, is everyone getting on the bandwagon?
?I think so. I didn't expect it. I didn't really think we would have so many players right now that love it so much. In my experience, a card game wouldn't be the most popular game ever - people like playing Dota, LoL, Starcraft, something like that but people say card games are boring. But people love it! I think China has the most players. There are more than sixty teams in NEL but only the top six teams can play in the top division.
??Hearthstone is not like the traditional eSports. The most important thing is that it won't be a problem if you are older, there are so many people over 30 playing Hearthstone like myself and that is a pretty old age for eSports.
"Liquid, they don't know our players, they couldn't recognise us. That's a problem for them. They can't really get research on us"
?At present, it's hard for Western fans and sites to follow the Chinese Hearthstone scene due to the language barrier. Do you think integrating Western teams into the Chinese scene, like Team Liquid in NEL, is a good way of breaking down these barriers? How do you think they will do in NEL?
?China has so many good players but the West doesn't really know them and can't watch their streams - streaming is really a pain for us! The internet is so bad so Chinese players can't get online to stream on Twitch. With Team Liquid joining we will definitely get more attention.
Liquid, they don't know our players, they couldn't recognise us. That's a problem for them. They can't really get research on us, but I still think they will do great.
?China had big tournaments this year, WEC and WCA, but they were mostly promotional tournaments for the organisers' brands. Obviously those involved a lot of money there, but is the same amount of money being invested in players and teams?
?They didn't spend much before, but after WEC and WCA the teams are spending more on it. Players are getting paid more as the business is growing. Players are being paid so much more than they were even three or four months ago, and that will make people want to play professionally more. YOLO Miracle still doesn't pay, and that's a problem for us! The bigger teams are paying players well, and more if they are streaming.
"LiBo was one of the worst Chinese players at WCA, he's not even close to one of the best."
?In Europe and America there are online events almost every week, and offline events almost once a month. How big is the tournament scene in China right now?
?The problem in China is quite complicated. There are so many people and companies wanting to organise events, and we have so many players that events are just inviting the players that they like - they don't really have a system to invite the best players. The tournament scene is fine, we have big open tournaments and that's a way for new players to play in tournaments but it's so hard to win those with over 500 players. We have a lot of websites trying to do tournaments, and they always have hundreds of players as well. We also have ECL as well as NEL running seasons with smaller player pools.
I think LiBo was one of the worst Chinese players at WCA, he's not even close to one of the best. Some of the others are really good though! I didn't play in the Blizzcon qualifiers, only 32 players were invited and to get invited you had to get right at the top of the ladder and people were cheating to get to get to the top of ladder. We had about thirty people banned for cheating on ladder. I didn't even bother trying.
What's the weirdest thing you've seen Chinese players try and make work in tournaments?
?Well, the open Golden Hearthstone tournaments are played under different rules. You bring one deck, and can change your deck between games in a BO3 - so obviously that leads to a lot of weird changes! After the first game you can see decks completely change. I used to play Goldshire Footman in the first tournaments, back when we didn't have Naxx cards, and it helped against faster decks.
?
