Today, we are talking with Noxious. The winner of the special charity Friday Night Swiss Tournament. I might also like to add it was the largest Swiss format tournament to date for ManaGrind as well as all of Hearthstone. You played an excellent round of play with many ups and downs, but you pushed through it and got the victory. Congratulations, sir!
Thank you. It was actually pretty tough, a lot tougher than I expected. I actually didn’t think I would make it that far. I had faith in my deck, but I never expected these results.
Now you’re well known in the Hearthstone community and other games as well. What other games are you playing these days?
I don’t really have too much time on my hands considering I make videos, and try to stream and what not. The implications are it’s a tradeoff. If I want to produce content, I can’t really stream that much or play other games. I do plan to play Heroes of the Storm when it comes out.
You are also the co-host of ManaGrind's ManaCast as well as being with ManaGrind since the beginning.
Yeah, I have. I have been around since the first episode. I was the technical guy.
Now we all know what happened at the invitational. Do you think this win today kind of evens that out some?
Well, the invitational was amusing in a way. My decks were doing really well against everyone in the ManaGrind community. The only difference was that the deck Artosis was running was a mid-range Paladin deck. It was the one archetype all my decks were weak against. I didn't expect to win if I went up against mid-range Paladin. Today, I was playing a Druid so I don’t know how relevant that would be.
In terms of the meta you brought decks that were based on the meta at that time, where he brought decks that were not in the meta at that time. In this tournament your deck was very relevant to the meta and you did very well with it.
This deck is probably good enough to run the ladder with. The thing is, if you want to run ladder you need to have time. A lot of the players I played in the tournaments were great players, but not everyone has the time it takes to make legendary. The deck I was running, I’m sure could go to legendary. This deck is solid like that. I don’t know if I will ever get there because that is just too much time dedicated to that.
Was there a special reason why you came out to play in this Friday night Swiss?
Initially, I entered because of the MS event. I felt it was a worthy cause and worth the investment of time it would take to play in it. I typically don’t have time to play in a tournament like that. I am curious to see if I can participate in other tournaments during the day.
You played a very interesting Druid deck. Could you explain why you were playing it and how it works?
The deck I was running was actually a deck I have been playing around with for months. I was actually playing it in the pre-beta. I would say token Druid wasn’t meta game breaking, but it was something people knew about. It never got the attention other Druid decks did, because the other decks were so powerful in comparison to this archetype to justify running it.
Ah yes! Those were the days when we banned Druids for being too overpowered.
Exactly, as it was too overpowered. I have been working on this deck for a couple of months now. I have a note pad that I have the deck on and I have been fiddling with it for a while. I’m kind of happy, because recently I saw a post on Reddit of a user who went to legendary with a Druid deck that was almost a copy paste of what I was using. So that’s kind of encouraging from a personal perspective. The only difference was one card, but this deck can be adapted depending on the meta.
Who was your hardest matchup in the tournament?
My hardest match up was Brad at the end. It caught me off guard a few times and I never expected any of the plays. The Druid is kind of a hard match up. If they get the Swipes you’re done, if they don’t, you have a chance. I was afraid of losing to a Shaman early on as my win rate with this deck against them is 35%. I was lucky and dodged all the Lightning Storms.
Now, I know you pretty well and we talk a lot. One of your biggest pet peeves about this game is the massive amount of RNG we have. For once, it seems the RNG was in your favor.
It’s the meta game. I was playing for fun. I could pile up the deck properly. I understand there is a lot of RNG involved in Hearthstone as it is a card game, but I still gave it a shot. As I said I’m kind of surprised I went up there and won. I will try to maybe not hate RNG as much and maybe just accept it.
What cards in your deck would you say were the most valuable to you winning today?
It’s so difficult because Druids have so many great tools. I probably say Defender of Argus. The other one is a tie between Swipe and Leeroy Jenkins.
Normally, I would ask which three neutral cards are best currently. Today, I’m going to change that to which cards you think need to be changed or removed from Hearthstone.
Wow...I don’t want to say Nat Pagle or Tinkmaster Overspark, because that’s on everyone’s mind. I do think it’s true; however, that’s really a tough one. Nat Pagle needs to be removed. Water Elemental needs to be toned down a bit to a 3/5. I don’t like Cairne Bloodhoof. I know it sounds stupid I just don’t like Cairne Bloodhoof, it’s like two Chillwind Yeti in one card and it feels just too valuable.
Now you’re streaming every day, plus ManaCast, and other projects. What is the next project for you?
I don't know to be honest. I would like to start casting Hearthstone matches. Casting Hearthstone is a very different experience then playing Hearthstone. I’m thinking about getting into that specific area of the game. We need observer mode. I personally cannot be bothered with the current interface limitations. If people send me recorded games I can always cast those. But it’s never quite the same experience as seeing both players hands and commenting on their plays.
Now, during the finals the entire ManaGrind tournament staff was sitting in one room on our TeamSpeak watching your stream. I cannot tell you how much excitement and how emotional we were getting watching it. It was just so back and forth that it was very exciting. It really went to prove Blizzard needs to get on the ball with observer mode.
Yes, they should.
If you look at the tournament scene for Hearthstone there are like two dozen tournaments a week now, ESL is taking a serious approach to Hearthstone. Where do you see Hearthstone in the next six months?
Honestly, I’m not sure. We have seen so many things in regards to their plans that at this point I don’t know. I just know they have to implement an observer mode, that’s not even question. They have to do it, and once that’s done that will open up a lot of competitive play. I also want to see some co-op PvE content, quite frankly, this card game, although simple to grasp it does have a high learning curve. It’s a really big deal for new players and it’s not that obvious.
The current system is kind of punishing to the new player who doesn’t have a dime to spend on the game. If you’re not dropping fifty dollars on day one you’re going to struggle.
You will. Look at Trump making a free deck and taking it to legendary. Give that same deck to 99% of new players; they will not pilot it nearly as well.
I know it’s early in the year, but do you have any plans to go back to BlizzCon and what game do you think you will be representing?
If I go back to BlizzCon? I might go if I’m invited because I don’t have the funds to go myself. I don’t know yet which game; I want to see how Heroes of the Storm will develop. I’m sure it will be a solid game, but I want to see it all before I decide.
Before we wrap this up, are there any people or groups you want to make a shout out to?
Well a shout out to ManaGrind as a community for one. To the tournament organizers for running these things. It must get tedious trying to organize the number of people who participate.
Congratulations on winning the special charity Friday Night Swiss tournament, which had 107 total players playing. You came out for charity and fought the good fight. You sir, are a champion among champions!
I knew this was gonna happen...Ok the NA MLG got canceled due to Blizzard's tech difficulties. As such we would be missing content. As I had Noxious available on the Teamspeak I went and interviewed him to make up for this...That and the Almighty power that be Fluxflashor Demanded a single interview from the charity. So Eu was covered in the MLG one so NA got the Swiss.
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The Player
Name: Noxious
Age: 24
Location: Montreal, Canada
Association: ManaGrind
Stream: Noxious
The Deck
The Interview
Today, we are talking with Noxious. The winner of the special charity Friday Night Swiss Tournament. I might also like to add it was the largest Swiss format tournament to date for ManaGrind as well as all of Hearthstone. You played an excellent round of play with many ups and downs, but you pushed through it and got the victory. Congratulations, sir!
Now you’re well known in the Hearthstone community and other games as well. What other games are you playing these days?
You are also the co-host of ManaGrind's ManaCast as well as being with ManaGrind since the beginning.
Now we all know what happened at the invitational. Do you think this win today kind of evens that out some?
In terms of the meta you brought decks that were based on the meta at that time, where he brought decks that were not in the meta at that time. In this tournament your deck was very relevant to the meta and you did very well with it.
Was there a special reason why you came out to play in this Friday night Swiss?
You played a very interesting Druid deck. Could you explain why you were playing it and how it works?
Ah yes! Those were the days when we banned Druids for being too overpowered.
Who was your hardest matchup in the tournament?
Now, I know you pretty well and we talk a lot. One of your biggest pet peeves about this game is the massive amount of RNG we have. For once, it seems the RNG was in your favor.
What cards in your deck would you say were the most valuable to you winning today?
Normally, I would ask which three neutral cards are best currently. Today, I’m going to change that to which cards you think need to be changed or removed from Hearthstone.
Now you’re streaming every day, plus ManaCast, and other projects. What is the next project for you?
Now, during the finals the entire ManaGrind tournament staff was sitting in one room on our TeamSpeak watching your stream. I cannot tell you how much excitement and how emotional we were getting watching it. It was just so back and forth that it was very exciting. It really went to prove Blizzard needs to get on the ball with observer mode.
If you look at the tournament scene for Hearthstone there are like two dozen tournaments a week now, ESL is taking a serious approach to Hearthstone. Where do you see Hearthstone in the next six months?
The current system is kind of punishing to the new player who doesn’t have a dime to spend on the game. If you’re not dropping fifty dollars on day one you’re going to struggle.
I know it’s early in the year, but do you have any plans to go back to BlizzCon and what game do you think you will be representing?
Before we wrap this up, are there any people or groups you want to make a shout out to?
Congratulations on winning the special charity Friday Night Swiss tournament, which had 107 total players playing. You came out for charity and fought the good fight. You sir, are a champion among champions!
Interview by Thechiv, Edited by Homebrewed, Formatting by Whale_Cancer
Congratz again, Noxious. It's cool to see tournaments run for charities, and I hope to see more of them in the future.
JJ bitches
Jay Jay!
http://www.hearthpwn.com/managrind
actually its probably the cheapest druid deck doing anything right now so...Im not sure your point..Other then Druids are OP which everyone knows
I knew this was gonna happen...Ok the NA MLG got canceled due to Blizzard's tech difficulties. As such we would be missing content. As I had Noxious available on the Teamspeak I went and interviewed him to make up for this...That and the Almighty power that be Fluxflashor Demanded a single interview from the charity. So Eu was covered in the MLG one so NA got the Swiss.