To see the top decks from the 11/30/13 tournament click here.
Welcome and congrats on a well fought victory. I was following the bracket and you faced off against some really stiff competition. You faced off against a few previous tournament winners and some known name players.
Thank you. They were some pretty tough players.
Now are you a competitive player and if so what games?
Yeah I’m pretty competitive, I was pretty highly ranked in Magic, Diamond in League of Legends, and I won a StarCraft tournament.
Yeah I would say that makes you a serious competitor. Still what made you decide to come out and play in the ManaGrind/MLG tournament?
I got into the beta about a month ago. I felt I was at the level to take part in these tournaments. I got enough cards. So yeah felt I was ready for this and the 2p.com tournament.
That’s right you’re in that as well.
Yeah.
Interesting side note two of the people you faced off against are also in that 2p.com tournament as well as some others who competed today.
The 2p tournament is the who’s who of Hearthstone.
Ok back to us now. What to you was the best part of the tournament?
It was pretty satisfying to play Leeroy Jenkins. It pretty much wins it every time.
Yes thank you for that. When I first saw the warlock aggro deck list I thought this is strong, but Leeroy Jenkins would make it better. So thank you for that.
You could actually for 5 mana deal 14 damage with Leeroy, Power Overwhelming, and Soulfire. I think in round 2 I actually pulled 22 damage out of my hand in one turn.
When you won what was going through your mind.
Well Kisstafer and I had some really intense mind games in the final.
Yes I was there for that and the debate over the legitimacy of the Sacrificial Pact being allowed, because it’s not allowed in other tournaments.
It came out game 2 and I kind of forgot it existed because you don’t see it in ladder and a lot of tournaments it’s banned. It cost me a game. But I think we both nearly sided out all our demons so our decks were completely changed. Then he also had the double Blood Knight, that steals divine shield, so it was always nerve racking playing out the Argent Squire.
Which archetype do you feel would have been the biggest threat and why?
Well what I like about this deck is because it consistently kills before turn 8, it’s faster than Mage, and there really is no hard counter to it. You got things like Jotto’s deck which was a midrange Druid designed to counter this, but I was just too fast for him.
Yeah I got the play by play of that match.
Druid can stabilize but they are going to take some damage till they can and they are vulnerable to burn. Paladin would have been an issue but I didn’t see a single Paladin.
Now Warlock aggro has been pretty dominant in the meta. Any thoughts on what’s to come next?
I don’t know but I think we are going to see a lot of new decks in the 2p.com tournament that may shift the meta.
Maybe, but my concern is you’re going to see meta decks face off against non meta decks and meta is going to storm through it which then when the NA faces off against CN we may get a massive miss match.
I think the meta is starting to make a comeback to what we saw in the invitational, like Chillwind Yeti. I have been watching a lot of the top Chinese streamers and they love Sen’jin Shieldmasta. They got two in almost every deck. He is strong against everything else.
Well in the early days of Hearthstone Sen’jin was king. Then players decided to just silence him and by pass creating super aggro decks. Do you think our fast pace meta will be an issue for the Chinese.
Yes. They run a lot of tool box builds with one offs in a deck. Those builds are less consistent which really matters in the first few turns.
Now let’s look at your deck you brought to the tournament. You ran almost a standard of what we see in Warlock aggro decks. There were some differences though. You had the Leeroy Jenkins, Sylvanas in there, and you had no draw mechanic cards.
Well a lot of Warlocks have been dropping spells but a turn 2 Demonfire is really powerful as is Power Overwhelming. When I added the Leeroy to this deck I began shifting it less to board control and more to burning my opponent out and having a Leeroy as a finisher is just amazing. As my focus shifted things like Leper Gnome became more viable and I did some testing and most of the time I was using Elven Archer to ping for 1 so yeah cut that to a single copy.
Now what were some of your sideboard choices?
Well I brought in Jaraxxus. The potential life gain was really helpful. Sen’jin Shieldmasta came in quite frequently. Against the more control mages I brought in the Darkscale Healer . Void Terror was in there because of freeze Mages. Frozen creatures are useless so you suck them up into a Void Terror.
Now, why no other draw mechanic cards?
Well with Warlock as long as you have board control you really don’t need them they kind of slow you down.
Who was your toughest opponent in the tournament?
The finals were really tough. Jotto’s Druid deck was quite strong; he was on the edge of stabilizing ever match we had.
Yeah they are both really solid players. What was your deck’s MVP of the tournament?
Leeroy Jenkins is amazing at closing out a game. Second best was Voidwalker; it answers everything on round 1.
Now you played Magic the Gathering and you did really well there. What do you think it takes to be a good Hearthstone player?
The good opponents will be able to read you. Against LuigeZZ he had a good Soulfire read on me. I could just really tell they were thinking about my hands more than in the early rounds of competition.
How did you prep for this tournament?
I have been laddering with this deck. My goal is to win 30 in a row and leave it at that to get in top 50.
Yeah I ran a similar deck in ranked and it has about 80-85% win rate, so I can see it happening for you.
What’s really important is the burst damage you can put out in the end.
Now we are coming up on open beta for Hearthstone. What advice do you have for these new players?
I see a lot of players who are afraid to use some one else’s deck list. It’s a really good starting point and you can make changes as you play with it.
Do you think net decking is too relevant in the meta and we are getting less originality?
I mean even if you’re no copying a deck you should be looking at them. The more net decking we see it allows for things like Forsen’s priest to come in a win.
Yes the one deck I get asked about more than anything else that he refused to share.
I’m pretty close to having it at this point.
Ok now in your opinion what are the best and worst classes in Hearthstone?
Warlock is strong; Paladin can be really strong because it can be built so many different ways. Warrior’s I don’t think you will see too much until Defender of Argus comes out because taunt is so powerful against them. Hunters I’m not to overly impressed with that class, I think there are one or two secret decks out there. Once they nerf the one turn kill decks, the rest of the cards are pretty much garbage. I think Priest is still in a good position to be a counter deck because no one puts out big minions like Priest.
Now where do you see this game going in the competitive play? Do you see it hitting League of legends levels?
Definitely, I think it’s a good game to watch. I think once they iron out the technical side. Look at BlizzCon, the game is still in beta and it beat out StarCraft in terms of viewers.
Are there any features you would like to see added to this game?
The ability of playing with my friends more would be nice or watching them play. A 2 player vs. a boss could be really fun.
What type of format do you prefer to play in when it comes to card games?
People always argue that the bigger tournaments are based on skill. This one was what 4-5 hours so I think that’s a better gauge. Even with single elimination you’re still going to get skilled players.
We get a lot of people chiming in on cards that need balancing, what are some cards you would like to see changed.
Well I think we can wrap it up here. Again, I would like to thank you for taking the time for to have this interview. Congrats on your victory and I hope to see you back here next week.
Thank you.
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Interview with Fjord
Winner of the ManaGrind/MLG NA Open #6
(Interview done by TheChiv1)
Name: Will Turner aka Fjord
Fjord US 11/30/13
Unknown Deck
by Auhdit - Dec 7, 2013
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Minion (25)
- 1x Leeroy Jenkins
- 1x Sylvanas Windrunner
- 2x Argent Commander
- 2x Defender of Argus
- 2x Knife Juggler
- 2x Blood Imp
- 2x Harvest Golem
- 2x Leper Gnome
- 2x Argent Squire
- 2x Dark Iron Dwarf
- 1x Elven Archer
- 2x Flame Imp
- 2x Voidwalker
- 2x Shattered Sun Cleric
Ability (5)
- 2x Demonfire
- 1x Power Overwhelming
- 2x Soulfire
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Age: 28
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
To see the top decks from the 11/30/13 tournament click here.
Welcome and congrats on a well fought victory. I was following the bracket and you faced off against some really stiff competition. You faced off against a few previous tournament winners and some known name players.
Now are you a competitive player and if so what games?
Yeah I would say that makes you a serious competitor. Still what made you decide to come out and play in the ManaGrind/MLG tournament?
That’s right you’re in that as well.
Interesting side note two of the people you faced off against are also in that 2p.com tournament as well as some others who competed today.
Ok back to us now. What to you was the best part of the tournament?
Yes thank you for that. When I first saw the warlock aggro deck list I thought this is strong, but Leeroy Jenkins would make it better. So thank you for that.
When you won what was going through your mind.
Yes I was there for that and the debate over the legitimacy of the Sacrificial Pact being allowed, because it’s not allowed in other tournaments.
Which archetype do you feel would have been the biggest threat and why?
Yeah I got the play by play of that match.
Now Warlock aggro has been pretty dominant in the meta. Any thoughts on what’s to come next?
Maybe, but my concern is you’re going to see meta decks face off against non meta decks and meta is going to storm through it which then when the NA faces off against CN we may get a massive miss match.
Well in the early days of Hearthstone Sen’jin was king. Then players decided to just silence him and by pass creating super aggro decks. Do you think our fast pace meta will be an issue for the Chinese.
Now let’s look at your deck you brought to the tournament. You ran almost a standard of what we see in Warlock aggro decks. There were some differences though. You had the Leeroy Jenkins, Sylvanas in there, and you had no draw mechanic cards.
Now what were some of your sideboard choices?
Now, why no other draw mechanic cards?
Who was your toughest opponent in the tournament?
Yeah they are both really solid players. What was your deck’s MVP of the tournament?
Now what are the top 4 neutral cards?
Now you played Magic the Gathering and you did really well there. What do you think it takes to be a good Hearthstone player?
How did you prep for this tournament?
Yeah I ran a similar deck in ranked and it has about 80-85% win rate, so I can see it happening for you.
Now we are coming up on open beta for Hearthstone. What advice do you have for these new players?
Do you think net decking is too relevant in the meta and we are getting less originality?
Yes the one deck I get asked about more than anything else that he refused to share.
Ok now in your opinion what are the best and worst classes in Hearthstone?
Now where do you see this game going in the competitive play? Do you see it hitting League of legends levels?
Are there any features you would like to see added to this game?
What type of format do you prefer to play in when it comes to card games?
We get a lot of people chiming in on cards that need balancing, what are some cards you would like to see changed.
Well I think we can wrap it up here. Again, I would like to thank you for taking the time for to have this interview. Congrats on your victory and I hope to see you back here next week.