October 26th, 2013 was the official kick off of the MLG & ManaGrind competitive tournament scene. We had 114 people officially check in and compete in what was soon to be an epic showdown between Sukoshi & muffinsssss. The battle of whits went down to the very bitter end as muffinsssss took away the competition in a stunning 3-2 victory over Sukoshi.
After the tournament we had the privilege of sitting down with this up and coming competitor and asked him some questions regarding his past experience and his opinions on the tournament.
Name: Ryan Shackelford Age: 25 Location: Michigan, United States
To see the remaining top decks for the 10/26/13 tournament click here.
Previous Games:
When he played Defense of the Ages (DOTA) he was a part of eMg (which later became EG – Evil Geniuses).
Previous Wins at Other Competitive Tournaments:
Fire and Ice in Chicago in 2007. Various other LAN competitions but more notably one in NY where they received first in Web 2 LAN Event.
What made you decide to get into the competitive scene and enter the MLG/ManaGrind Tournament?
I just wanted to compete – I wanted to play in the Team Liquid tournament but I didn’t have a chance. I had an itch to play competitively so i joined this one.
Have you participated in past tournaments for Hearthstone and/or ManaGrind?
I have not, this is my first.
What was your favorite part about the tournament itself?
Just competing again in a video game felt great, it’s been a while for me. I was hoping to play a bigger variety of decks – it seemed like I mostly played against Mages and Paladins, but it was a great time always. Obviously winning felt good as well. :D
Who was your toughest opponent?
Sukosh in the finals. It was a very tense, back and forth series. Although my favorite match was round 2 when I was still under the impression that you had to switch decks if you lost. I lost the first round with my Paladin, then busted out a more experimental deck and ended up taking the next 2 games. It felt nice to have my secondary deck step up when my first one failed.
Was there anyone you were glad you didn’t have to face?
No. I kind of wanted to face Trump in the finals since the match would get more exposure. I didn’t really recognize anyone outside of a few I remember seeing from Team Liquid’s tournament.
Will you be joining any future MLG tournaments?
I’d like to, yeah. It definitely took a chunk of time, but I’d definitely like to.
What went through your mind when you won the tournament?
I cant wait to tell my roommate! He’s a very good player but is out of town at the moment. Most of the testing of my Paladin deck was with him, so I’m sure he’ll appreciate that it did well. I’m sure he’ll want to play in one of these events in the future.
What Archetype was/wouldve been the biggets threat to your main deck and why?
I have the most problems with very aggressive mage decks. My deck functions around controlling the board pretty much the entire game. I don’t kill the enemy all that fast. Once a mage gets in that early damage, they can sometimes outrace me in player damage with Pyroblasts and Fireballs.
What neutral cards do you favor and why?
I think Harvest Golem is a great card. It gives you agreat board control for its cost. It’s not a huge threat, but it is very hard to remove. So for decks that want continuous board presence it’s great . Spellbreaker is a another great card – i think most people know that. Other then that I love both Acidic Swamp Ooze and Faerie Dragon. I think if Mages became more of an issue I’d swap an Acidic Swamp Ooze out for a Faerie Dragon because the immunity and three damage just makes it a very reliable 2-drop.. Argent Commander is probably one of the best cards in the game – I think most people found that out already though. Ragnaros is by far the best legendary in the game.
If you have board control for one turn its an immediate eight damage to the face. Either that or you usually remove a relevant minion instantly and they still have to deal with it. They basically need unconditional removal (hex, polymorph, assassinate, etc), or just enough damage on the board. Silence doesn’t really do anything. Compared to other legendaries its just the most cost efficient by far. Ysera can be more powerful, but it’s one more mana and is much slower. Don’t get me wrong, Ysera is great – and can be better in some situations, but generally I prefer Ragnaros.
What makes someone be consistently good at Hearthstone?
That’s a pretty hard question, but I’ll do my best to answer it. It comes down to understanding how your deck ultimately wins the game. How much does your deck care about tempo vs card advantage? What cards does your deck need at the start of the game? Especially in constructed, the answer to questions like these will change based on the deck you’re playing, so it’s important to understand your deck. Then you just have the basic stuff: making good trades with your minions, using your mana efficiently, knowing when to hold onto a card, stuff like that. There is really no one thing that’s going to make you good at the game. It’s a lot of stuff.
How do you prepare for a tournament?
So, like previously mentioned this was the first Heartstone tournament I’ve competed in. For this I just played a lot of ladder matches. I would play with a deck until it was winning about 85% on ladder – that would tell me there were at least no glaring holes. I also played versus my roommate a lot and just fine-tuned it until I thought it was in a good place. Outside of that its just practicing and making sure the deck isn’t winning off of any gimmicks and making sure it’s well rounded.
What card brought you the most utility in your deck?
The single card that probably kind of enabled the deck to function was the Sword of Justice. Earlier I was talking mana efficiency over card efficiency. Sword of Justice enables my next few minions to be a lot more cost efficient than my opponents. The only downside to the card is it actually slows down your tempo, something I value very highly in this deck – this is where Southsea Deckhand kicks in. For 1 extra mana, I have a 3/2 charge on the board to remove a threat. The Deckhand greatly mitigates the tempo I lose from playing the Sword of Justice. I love those two cards together.
Any advice for people who are just getting into the game and want to improve?
I think the best thing to do when you are first getting into the game is just playing arena. That is where you learn the basics of what makes a card good. It’s more about understanding the cards individually and getting used to the feel of the game mechanics. Card advantage is way more important in arena, so you get a good understanding of that. It also teaches you to play lots of different classes. Even if you swear you’ll never build a Hunter deck for X reason, you need to know how they play differently, so you can play against them. Know your enemy and all that.
Thank you muffinsssss and everyone else for coming out and competing in MLG/ManaGrind’s North American Kick Off Tournament for Hearthstone. Please be sure to come back to see further announcements of when tournaments will be popping up.
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[MG]Wushtemme – 1st Place:
ReconRaccoon– 2nd Place:
Jinn – 3rd Place:
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October 26th, 2013 was the official kick off of the MLG & ManaGrind competitive tournament scene. We had 114 people officially check in and compete in what was soon to be an epic showdown between Sukoshi & muffinsssss. The battle of whits went down to the very bitter end as muffinsssss took away the competition in a stunning 3-2 victory over Sukoshi.
Name: Ryan Shackelford
Age: 25
Location: Michigan, United States
To see the remaining top decks for the 10/26/13 tournament click here.
Previous Games:
Thank you muffinsssss and everyone else for coming out and competing in MLG/ManaGrind’s North American Kick Off Tournament for Hearthstone. Please be sure to come back to see further announcements of when tournaments will be popping up.
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mufinsssss – 1st Place:
Sukoshi – 2nd Place:
[MG]spaJJ – 3rd Place:
For Burn:
1 x Holy Light
2 x Earthen Ring Farseer
For Paladin:
2 x Acidic Swamp Ooze
Fast with no weapons:
1 x Argent Commander
1 x Violet Teacher
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