To see the top decks from the 11/23/13 tournament click here. First off let me congratulate you on a very well fought victory. You fought some pretty tough opponents.
Well actually it was a really hard tournament. In the past few ManaGrind tournaments I got bounced out early due to some random stuff like a Mana Wyrm and Arcane Missiles combo’s and I felt like I got cheated because people were running some bad cards. This week they all had really good decks, but I just somehow manage to win.
Yeah I was watching your stream and some of them it seemed like you just barely got that victory.
Well every round I think I lost one game. They were all pretty close.
Still you did really well in this tournament, but what other games do you play, competitively and casually?
Well the game I played the most was Guild Wars and I used to PvP and was a top 20 player. After that I played StarCraft 2 and just couldn’t put in the time for it but still made it into the Master League. Then I played some random games like Path of Exile and Diablo.
Now you said you were top 20 in PvP in guild wars. Were there any other competitive things you did in games?
I was on a team in Guild Wars and we were top 8 or top 16 consistently.
Would you say that experience helped you out here?
Oh definitely. The one thing with a tournament is you always second guess your build or play. Many times you do that and it back fires, when doing what you were planning would have worked much better. Because you’re psyching yourself out rather than your opponent doing it.
Speaking of second guess, you had a moment in the tournament where you had a few low drop minions on the board and your opponent had a Sylvanas Windrunner. We all were talking about the proper play and you did something that most said “WHAT!!” What was that about?
The thing with Sylvanas you have to make a snap decision that affects the whole game. You either go all in to the opponents face or you sack all your minions to kill her. I had to deal with her earlier in the tournament and I sacked all my minions to killer her, but it was just a judgment call on the situation and what you have left in the deck and what they have in their deck and you base your decision off of that. But in that situation I had a bunch of low cost minions and nothing that did over 4 damage so she would have had to attack them twice in order to do anything and even if he played a Leeroy Jenkins with a power overwhelming I still had enough life to win.
Yes you took a calculated a risk and raced him down rather then play it safe.
The thing is Warlocks will drop two cards a turn in that situation and they will drown you out with card advantage.
That makes a lot of sense. Now many people come to these tournaments to get a higher level of competition and to test their decks. What was your driving force to play in them?
Well I play this game all day anyway and I want to be the best at it. And to be the best you have to beat everyone else so.
That’s awesome. Moving on but what was the best part of the tournament.
I really enjoyed being able to change cards in between games and talk to my friends and see what they would do. A lot of tournaments you cannot side deck and I like those too, but I think there should be more tournaments with different rule sets.
Like I said I was watching your stream and it sounded like you had your own coaching staff there with you.
Yeah I had people complaining in my stream chat that I was taking too long. ::Both Laugh::
Now I know you knew a lot of people, like Curi, Sylas and a few other good players but were there any players you saw that you didn’t want to face off against?
I didn’t recognize any of the players who I faced off against, but there were some big names in the tournament. Like Savages, Specialist, and some other people that were big names. They got eliminated early so I never had to face them. Oh and of course Curi and Sylas. I actually had to face Sylas. He is one of my teammates and that was probably one of my most interesting matches.
Would you say Sylas was your toughest opponent?
No, I knew what he was playing because we play together so I just straight up countered him. That was the most interesting, but I think it was the Semifinal. All the games kind of blur together. The final was hard because I dropped game one.
You dropped your first game in like every round.
Yeah I dropped game one in like every match then did some side decking and came back and swept the series. There was one guy who ran Scarlet Crusader and Argent Squire and I put in a Blood Knight. And I coined turn 2 a 6/6 Blood Knightand that was the game right there.
Now you are coming back for another chance at the top right?
Yeah. I play every week unless I wake up late, which happened once.
I remember that. You came on our TeamSpeak and said, “Did I miss it?” I felt so bad telling you, “Yep”. So now you won you final match what went through your mind.
I was sitting there going “Ok the tournament is over now.” Because the whole tournament I was like next opponent and then after the last guy I was like, “What do I do now?”
Let’s talk a little bit about your decks. You did play two classes in the tourney while still abiding by the rules, but what would have been the biggest threat.
Mage. Outright Mage. It’s the scariest. All the really strong decks right now are all about board control: Rogue, Warlock, and Shaman stuff. All of these are weak to pyroblast.
That is very true. So let’s get to the Top 3 Neutral cards.
Yeah they do. They make playing control decks impossible.
Now you talked about your team and other competitions, but what did you do to prepare for this tournament?
I got a whole lot of friends who are really good at this game. We have Skype conversations where we talk and throw around ideas. We play around and have a google doc with decks and their win % and stuff. We all are Team Liquid writers. There is Curi, Monk, Sylas, Strifeco, Trump, ChanmanV, Kithros, and we got Kayce, who was a Magic: The Gathering player before and he is pretty good at Hearthstone too.
That’s a lot of big names. It sounds like you had a really good group of coaches helping you out.
They came on Skype after they lost and we were helping each other out.
Do you think that gave you an unfair advantage?
Not really. The deck kind of plays itself out, and most of the time there is an obvious choice.
So you have the group of friends who are great Hearthstone players, but what do you think it takes to be a good Hearthstone player?
Being able to evaluate your deck in terms of its mana curve besides decision making.
Mana curve is a huge part of this game. Now let’s get to the MVP of your deck. What card shined brighter than any other card in your deck?
I think the Kodo. It’s a recent thing I started using because everyone is using these low drops to get the early advantage. It’s a drop that kills something then they have to spend 2 more guys to kill it because it has so much health. It’s a pretty nice card. It’s the one I was running that no one else was running.
You know a lot of us here in ManaGrind have been talking about how to counter the aggro and Kodo has been brought up a few times along with Wild Pyromancer and a few others.
Now you play around a lot and you do see all the decks and see what winning. How do you feel about the current meta?
I feel like, to be honest I don’t like it along. I feel like every class is being filtered into this one type of archetype they have to play or they lose. Except for Mage, they are the only one that has other options. But yeah that early minion buff them up to kill stuff for free aggro decks.
Mages are one of those classes that just can hurt you no matter what you do. I had a chance to play against ChanmanV and he just BURNED ME SO HARD. The deck had like 4 minions and all of them were draw mechanic cards.
ChanmanV comes up with some pretty unique decks. He doesn’t talk that much in Skype but when he does he throws up these weird decks that work pretty well.
Yeah I have seen a lot of his decks, like what he took to the TL tourney. They are interesting but they do work.
Yeah ChanmanV is a lot like you representing that Hunter OTK… :::Both Laugh::::
I keep forgetting that’s how I met you, I posted a list and you wanted to face it and yeah.
Yeah. I think you were playing that concept before most were. You and ChanmanV were in a class of your own there.
Yes I believe it’s affectionately referred to as Huntard. Now you took a Shaman to 1st. That’s something we have not seen in a bit.
Yeah, the funny thing is that wasn’t even our best deck. I knew I was going to come across some Warlock aggro decks the further along I got in the tournament brackets, so I decided to change things up. I choose Shaman because I thought it had a better chance for me than slugging through mirror match after mirror match with the Warlock deck. I got a lot of luck draws. RNG worked a lot in my favor. Cards like Lightning Storm got a lot of kills on targets that if they didn’t die I would have been in trouble. But at the end of the day you have to rely on the “Heart of the Cards”.
Oh god not the Yu-Gi-Oh catchphrase! This is Hearthstone; it’s all about the RNGESUS.
::::Laughing:::: RNGESUS and the “Heart of the Cards” clearly work as one.
Now Blizzard sent out a survey asking about some stuff and one of the things asked was options you would like to see?
Well I don’t really care so much about things like rewards card backs and other cosmetic stuff like that. I would like to see different mechanics. Maybe some new features like spell-taunt or maybe graveyard mechanics. Anything that adds variety to the card pool is a good thing. A really good spectator mode would be good cause then you wouldn’t have to use stream and just use your client.
I’m kind of hoping we see a built in stream clients like Path of Exile.
That’s a good idea, but I think the most important changes would be seeing where you actually are on the ladder and spectator mode. I have another suggestion, but it’s for ManaGrind and not Blizzard. You should have team vs. team tournament.
That’s a pretty good idea; maybe in the future we can get something like that. At the least would be worth looking into.
But I definitely think the way to move this forward is going to be team based environments. Because you could have me and Team Liquid vs. Artosis and his team or verse the ManaGrind people. I think that would be the most competitive way forward.
Now you and I, as well as a bunch of other big names in this game, will be taking part in the upcoming 2P.com Tournament. Are you looking forward to that?
I’m really looking forward to that tournament. It’s going to be so epic. Even if I don’t make it to the final 4 as long as someone from my team makes it to the end and you can root for North America then that’s going to be awesome.
Well that should do it for us here. On behalf of ManaGrind and myself congratulate you and hope to see you back here sometime soon.
Thank you.
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Interview with Kisstafer
Winner of the ManaGrind/MLG NA Open #5
Name: Kisstafer
Age: 22
Location: Toronto, Canada
Stream: Link
To see the top decks from the 11/23/13 tournament click here.
First off let me congratulate you on a very well fought victory. You fought some pretty tough opponents.
Yeah I was watching your stream and some of them it seemed like you just barely got that victory.
Still you did really well in this tournament, but what other games do you play, competitively and casually?
Now you said you were top 20 in PvP in guild wars. Were there any other competitive things you did in games?
Would you say that experience helped you out here?
Speaking of second guess, you had a moment in the tournament where you had a few low drop minions on the board and your opponent had a Sylvanas Windrunner. We all were talking about the proper play and you did something that most said “WHAT!!” What was that about?
Yes you took a calculated a risk and raced him down rather then play it safe.
That makes a lot of sense. Now many people come to these tournaments to get a higher level of competition and to test their decks. What was your driving force to play in them?
That’s awesome. Moving on but what was the best part of the tournament.
Like I said I was watching your stream and it sounded like you had your own coaching staff there with you.
Now I know you knew a lot of people, like Curi, Sylas and a few other good players but were there any players you saw that you didn’t want to face off against?
Would you say Sylas was your toughest opponent?
You dropped your first game in like every round.
Now you are coming back for another chance at the top right?
I remember that. You came on our TeamSpeak and said, “Did I miss it?” I felt so bad telling you, “Yep”. So now you won you final match what went through your mind.
Let’s talk a little bit about your decks. You did play two classes in the tourney while still abiding by the rules, but what would have been the biggest threat.
That is very true. So let’s get to the Top 3 Neutral cards.
Do you think they need a nerf?
Now you talked about your team and other competitions, but what did you do to prepare for this tournament?
That’s a lot of big names. It sounds like you had a really good group of coaches helping you out.
Do you think that gave you an unfair advantage?
So you have the group of friends who are great Hearthstone players, but what do you think it takes to be a good Hearthstone player?
Mana curve is a huge part of this game. Now let’s get to the MVP of your deck. What card shined brighter than any other card in your deck?
You know a lot of us here in ManaGrind have been talking about how to counter the aggro and Kodo has been brought up a few times along with Wild Pyromancer and a few others.
Now you play around a lot and you do see all the decks and see what winning. How do you feel about the current meta?
Mages are one of those classes that just can hurt you no matter what you do. I had a chance to play against ChanmanV and he just BURNED ME SO HARD. The deck had like 4 minions and all of them were draw mechanic cards.
Yeah I have seen a lot of his decks, like what he took to the TL tourney. They are interesting but they do work.
I keep forgetting that’s how I met you, I posted a list and you wanted to face it and yeah.
Yes I believe it’s affectionately referred to as Huntard. Now you took a Shaman to 1st. That’s something we have not seen in a bit.
Oh god not the Yu-Gi-Oh catchphrase! This is Hearthstone; it’s all about the RNGESUS.
Now Blizzard sent out a survey asking about some stuff and one of the things asked was options you would like to see?
I’m kind of hoping we see a built in stream clients like Path of Exile.
That’s a pretty good idea; maybe in the future we can get something like that. At the least would be worth looking into.
Now you and I, as well as a bunch of other big names in this game, will be taking part in the upcoming 2P.com Tournament. Are you looking forward to that?
I’m really looking forward to that tournament. It’s going to be so epic. Even if I don’t make it to the final 4 as long as someone from my team makes it to the end and you can root for North America then that’s going to be awesome.
Well that should do it for us here. On behalf of ManaGrind and myself congratulate you and hope to see you back here sometime soon.