Hearthpwn

November 3rd, 2013 was another amazing European tournament to that really came down to the wire!  The tournament officially began at 7PM CET and there were 176 participants hungry for some Hearthstone.  In the end it came down to Darkwonyx and p0rn In the end, however, only one could be declared the winner and p0rn beat out Darkwonyx 3-2.

After the cards were picked up and put back into their cases Thechiv and Moon had a chance to sit down and discuss how p0rn won and what he believed made his deck the top deck of the night.

Name:  Mark Shokh
Age:  23
Location: Outside Stuttgart, Germany

pr0n US 11/03/13 Unknown Deck by Auhdit - Dec 7, 2013 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (24) 1x Bloodmage Thalnos 1x Edwin VanCleef 2x Argent Commander 2x Azure Drake 2x Defender of Argus 2x SI:7 Agent 2x Defias Ringleader 2x Harvest Golem 2x Dark Iron Dwarf 2x Loot Hoarder 2x Gnomish Inventor 2x Novice Engineer 2x Shattered Sun Cleric	Ability (6) 2x Backstab 2x Deadly Poison 2x Eviscerate
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To see the remaining top decks for the 11/03/13 tournament click here.

Previous Games:  

Heroes of Nazareth and then a lot of StarCraft 2. I played a lot of local LAN tournaments and won a few

What made you want to participate in the MLG/ManaGrind European Hearthstone Tournament?   

I just wanted to play Hearthstone and try my deck. It’s always fun to get a little more competitive and get the mind games behind it. You can play more than one round against a mate and you get to use your sideboard and react to stuff.

This week we featured a new type of format from last week. Last week the winner had to keep their class and the loser could swap out a new class and or deck. This week is was one class per round with sideboard. What did you think of that?  

I thought until today that I could still play several classes and then I read the rules and was shocked. That’s when I made the rogue deck – well more like stole it, (chuckle). I. But you will always get the win one game lose one game as you can always counter if you know what you’re doing.

Some classes have a real advantage in competitive play in that regards. Do you agree?  

Yeah, Mages.

What was your favorite part of the tournament?  

The finals and winning. Mostly the finals though because it was the only real competition. I did face one spell heavy druid deck, but the rest was pretty standard.

Would you say the spell heavy druid was your toughest or was it Darkwonyx, the Rogue, you faced in the final?  

I would say Darkwonyx in the final was the toughest. The druid would be a second.

What made the final so difficult? 

Well it was very close as it went 3 – 2. I started out with two wins and felt confident after that, but he adapted really well. He countered my deck in the third and fourth game so hard. He did a really great job.

You had a good experience?

Yeah, I did.

Since your experience was so good do you think you will be come back again and try your luck?  

Yeah, of course.

Some people think doing well in these could lead to more recognition and later on the possibility of sponsors. Do you think that is true?

It can help, but I don’t think it’s really that competitive of a field right now. You’re going to have to wait a little bit for the community to grow.

The Twitch.TV statistics say Hearthstone is in the top 5 streamed games behind League of Legends, DOTA and Path of Exile. Does that surprise you?

Well kind of, but it’s a Blizzard game and it’s obvious they will get a lot of players because every game from blizzard is awesome.

Many gamers have a routine or things they do before a competition. Like check out the competition, watch some streams, or just meditate or some other thing. Did you do any of that for this tournament?

I did a lot of tweaking trying to find that right build to counter Mages.

Preparation can be a great key to success. You prepared for mage but what class and archetype would you say was the biggest threat to your deck and why?

That’s a really great question. I would have to say I feared the Hunter decks mostly. I played against an OTK deck in the second round. It’s really annoying to play against, because if you don’t have a lot of taunts to counter that deck you will really struggle and the problem is if you don’t know what class your opponent is going to play you will suffer for it. If my opponent goes Hunter I’m pretty much screwed by it and I would lose the first game and the second one would be hard as well. It’s really strong.

Yeah it is, but do you think it should be nerfed or banned?  

Probably the first thing I can think is remove the beast type from Young Dragonhawk or something like that. They need to reduce the one mana cost units and the best way would be the Young Dragonhawk.

Wouldn’t that kill its effectiveness?

Not really. It would move it more too standard deck and less of the surprise that most run.

What cards brought you the most utility in your main deck?

Well I went Rogue so Backstab, Deadly Poison, Eviscerate, any of the spells that combo with the minions really well.

Do you think the nerf to Backstab really affected rogues all that much?  

I don’t think so. I think two damage for zero mana is still pretty awesome. It’s too bad I can’t use it against a Faerie Dragon. I faced against that with a hunter in the tournament.

This tournament was different because it really forced you to run sideboards to be able to counter your opponent. So what was your side board like?  

Obviously the Ooze against weapons is good. Against the rogue in the finals I subbed in Betrayal, because if you lose the board control your pretty much get owned. I used Betrayal in the first game of the finals which allowed me to clear the board and win the game.

Betrayal is one of those cards you don’t see main decked these days.

Yeah, I took it out the next game.

Nice way to throw your opponent off. So what else did you use in the sideboard?  

Well there was the most needed. Against opponents who had lots of late game minions I would take one Sap.

Really? That is really strange. Most rogues seem to always main deck Sap, were you running one then adding a second?  

No, I was just moving out the Gnomish Inventors to put in a Sap or two. If the enemy ran a lot of silence or control I would take out the Harvest Golems. They were not big changes because I feel you can normally do well with a lot of draw power.

What advice do you have for new players getting into this game?

Well it’s like any game – you have to understand what you’re doing. Watching some streams and seeing what they are doing is an easy way to learn. If you don’t know how to get the best out of your cards the deck doesn’t matter.

Do you think that the biggest mistake people can make when playing is rushing to make plays without thinking things through? 

Yes definitely. My first games I generally always play slow to feel out my opponent and make sure I don’t mess up.

And once you figure out how they play do you play a little faster and more confident?

Yeah. I try to play be efficient and play as much as I can with the mana I have to get the most out of it.

That’s really really smart thinking. Now, let’s look as Neutral cards. What are the three best neutral cards in the game?

Oh, I forgot, I also sideboard the Acolyte of Pain. It’s pretty strong especially in Mage Decks – You all know it. But the Acolyte is a great card if you can get 2 or 3 cards out of it. The Harvest Golems is another one that is great against anything that isn’t controlling with silence, in a rogue deck it’s nice because you have to kill it twice. I don’t really have another one. Obviously minions that buff others like Dark Iron Dwarf, Defender of Argus, and Shattered Sun Cleric are just awesome.

 Have you been seeing a lot of Argent Commander in the EU?

 Yeah, it’s a great to clear some Aggro early and mid-game. It is just a great counter to any early stuff.

Do you think the nerf to rogue was fair or a little heavy handed?

I think it was ok. I still think they should have done something with The Coin but the problem is that in a Rogue Mirror Match you need that coin combo.

So, you thought you could still use multiple classes like last week’s tournament – what decks did you have prepared?

I was planning about to run a mage deck, and you can probably guess the second one.

Hmmmm, let me think… a hunter?

You’re right; the third one was going to be a heavy spell power druid deck.

Spell heavy druid?

Yeah, it’s my favorite deck. It’s good against a lot, but not playable against mage.

I have to agree on that. Druids are one of those classes that are good all around, but in certain circumstances fall apart. i.e. MAGES.

Yeah I can adapt to them, but if you choose Druid first and you face a Mage, you will always lose first. I also prepared a Hunter deck I would run first and second I was going to run another Hunter deck that didn’t run the OTK combo. Kind of a late game Hunter just to troll the guys.

Really that’s kind of funny because Hunters are one of those classes that I could easily swap out and have completely different builds in this current tournament format. Like going from OTK to Beast Aggro to Control with out much of a problem.

That would be so OP. You could do that really well in tournaments right now..You should try that. If you’re no longer allowed to change to other classes that would be a great way to go.

So let’s talk about the second Rogue deck you ran in the finals that was not just a side board. 

Yeah, half the deck is different but it has a pattern.

Ok, let me take a look at your original deck list and we can do a comparison here. OMG. You played an Edwin VanCleef in your deck?

Yes.

Wow, a lot of people were upset with his Nerf.

It’s still a strong card. It’s a three drop that easily gets to six or eight attack and forces a Hex, Assassinate, or other hard removal. It’s a pretty good card for the cheap cost.

Walk me through how you changed your deck up for the finals.

First, it’s not my original or self-made deck, its weapon based: Assassins Blade with the Deadly Poison and Blade Fury, it can kill everything. It’s five damage to the hero and all of their minions – It’s really strong. Now, if you got weapons it’s always a good idea to have pirates. It had Bloodsail Raider and Dread Corsair in it. I had the Southsea Captain, the +1/+1 aura in it for a while, but no more. The weapons and the pirates pretty much are the difference. But what made me win the last match were Sap and Sprint. Since you don’t have much draw in it you really need the Sprint.

There is a combo I have been seeing with Rogues lately… It involves Leeroy Jenkins and Shadowstep with Cold Blood. Have you been seeing that lately?

No, I haven’t, but I think I will give it a try now.

Great I just ruined the European Meta!

***Laughing*** Wow, that is a really good idea; I’m going to have to play around with that. You will need a lot of different alternatives when you enter a tournament, but, yeah, that might be something good to add. Thanks a lot.

***Laughing*** You’re welcome. Have you spent a lot of money in this game or are you paying as you go?

I paid I guess……50 bucks or so. I got the 40 pack package at the start since it was really annoying with the basic cards. Then I went over to arena for the next 3 weeks to earn the rest.

Do you enjoy playing Arena more than constructed?

Not really. It’s fun to play against good decks, but at the start when you just get a hold of the game and learn the cards Arena is awesome. It’s still fun some times, but it gets really annoying when you play a Mage or something and you don’t get a Pyroblast.

What do you think are some of the strongest opening moves any player can make?

Well with Rogue, Defias Ringleader with Coin is still the strongest play. Otherwise, I feel the best way to open up is with a card draw. Loot Hoarder or Novice Engineer are great choices.

That’s really interesting. A lot of people think that Hearthstone has too many RNG elements in it. Do you agree with this or disagree?

I disagree. All my decks are built so you can avoid the RNG as good as possible. You just have to get the best expected value.

Ok well I think we will wrap this up here. Thank you for stopping by and chatting with us, p0rn. We hope to see you back here next week and wish you good luck in the next tournament.