I probably shouldn't have to say this, but I will. All of the following ratings and rankings and blurbs on the following 17 Hearthstone streamers are my opinion of them. Your mileage will vary with each streamer. People I can barely stand to watch, you may love to watch. That's okay. The great thing about Hearthstone is that the streaming landscape is very populated and varied, which means that we all have somebody that we connect with while watching them play our favourite (or one of our favourite) video games.
Just because I don't much enjoy a particular stream doesn't mean that you're wrong if you do enjoy that stream. Go ahead, keep liking them. But, if you're new to Hearthstone and you think you'd like to start watching some streams, but don't know quite where to begin, then perhaps the following list will help you out. And, if I didn't list your favourite streamer, feel free to mention them in the comments. I can't watch everybody, but I have watched my fair share of Hearthstone streams.
So I'll rank each streamer on four criteria: personality, education, engagement, and skill level. From one to five stars. Again, it's all subjective to my own personal tastes. How much I enjoy a streamer's personality will dictate their rating. Education is a measure of how much I feel I've learned about Hearthstone from watching them. And engagement is a measure of how positive I feel their engagement is with their audience (me being a member of that audience).
The order I've listed the streamers is the order that I prefer them. They all offer something different, but it's a general gauge of how much time I spend watching a particular stream, or whether I would leave one stream to go watch another when it comes online. For instance, I will tend to watch Kripparrian over Trump; or Reynad over apDrop, even though I think apDrop runs a better stream. So the order is not a ranking of the streamers, per se. I watch different streamers for different reasons. Reynad for the education. Revenge for the entertainment. Kripp when I want to chill and relax with some arena.
I'll first say that Kripparrian is my favourite streamer, by far. I simply enjoy his laid back attitude towards gaming. He's as amused by losing in big ways as he is winning in big ways. His stream is a scaled back affair. He has nothing in the way of an overlay. He gives no announcements to either subs or donations. He plays games the way he enjoys playing them. If you enjoy what he does then he appreciates your views, if you don't then so be it. He doesn't engage in any sort of song and dance trying to retain viewers.
I think his personality is stellar, but I can see the argument that some make that he is quiet, and not often overly talkative. He does joke around on occasion, but it's a dry wit he has. He does have his MumbleBros, online friends who engage him in conversation on stream. He will answer questions from his stream chat occasionally, but his chat is such a hoary mess that it's understandable that he cannot realistically keep up with any of it. (Some proper chabot management could probably clean a lot of it, but at the same time he doesn't believe in a lot of censorship.)
Kripp currently plays Hearthstone about 70% of the time (the other 30% is taken up with MMOs and ARPGs), and of his Hearthstone play 90% of it is arena. He is very good at arena. Though he doesn't offer an ongoing thought process on his plays and choices, he will answer questions as they come up and he will explain his less obvious plays. If you're new to Hearthstone you probably won't get a lot out of his stream, but if you're an intermediate at the game, there is a lot of glean from his play.
You'll likely notice a trend that I prefer streamers who don't engage in a lot of song and dance. I do prefer streamers that keep the focus on the game play, keeping the silly things like sub goals and donation announcements to a bare minimum.
Otter is another soft-spoken guy who is very good at Hearthstone. He came to prominence as the fellow who brought Freeze Mage back into the metagame in a big way, making it into the qualification tournament for the 2014 Hearthstone World Championship with the deck. He has a pleasant low-key personality. He doesn't get overly excited, but neither does he get tilted at losses. He takes the game as it comes. Fortunately for him, he is very good at the game.
He keeps his stream bare bones. No fancy overlays. No distracting announcements of subs and donations. He's another Hearthstone player who focuses almost entirely on the gameplay. In terms of learning from his play, while he doesn't talk his way through each play, he will explain his decision-making when asked in chat. He is very responsive to his audience, and for now it helps that his audience is usually in the 200-500 range.
He has the best moustache among Hearthstone streamers, and top three hair.
I respect the heck out of Hafu and her stream. I respect her gameplay, firstly. And secondly, I respect that she's not using sexuality as currency. The focus of her stream is on the gameplay. She is, first and foremost, a very good gamer. She is very good at Hearthstone. That is how she is selling her stream, through her gaming, not through low-cut t-shirts and sub goal dance parties.
She has a high level of engagement with her viewers. She often talks through her plays. She divides her play time between constructed and arena. She's top ten in the world at constructed play. And, in my opinion, she's the best arena player in Hearthstone (certainly better than both Trump and Kripparrian, who are great arena players in their own rights).
Another generally quiet guy. One of the top five Hearthstone players in the world. Unfortunately he streams very irregularly. I think most people know of Firebat, not from his stream, but from the coaching he's given other top players.
He'll answer questions about his deck and his play as they come through his stream. So the engagement level is there, if not a constant stream of educational content. Most of the chatter on his stream is usually between himself and a couple of Skype friends he has on at the same time.
I like the guy. I think he deserves more exposure and a larger audience, but given his irregular streaming schedule, he's not likely to grow that audience very quickly.
Revenge isn't the best at the game. He's not terrible. He's above average, certainly. What he is, though, is entertaining. He's a decent dude who knows how to run a fun and engaging stream. And along with Otter (and, arguably, Reynad), has the best hair in Hearthstone streaming.
Revenge does have the potential to go down the Amaz path (see my thoughts below), becoming unintentionally self-parody — becoming overly goofy because that's what his audience wants. Hopefully he realizes he can remain himself while not becoming cringe-worthy in the process.
I just started watching Lifecoach recently. Unfortunately he doesn't stream as regularly as most of the others on this list, or for as long. And being German, he's not in the sweet spot of my stream viewing schedule. That said, when he is streaming in my preferred time period, I do try to drop in.
Lifecoach is a German with a sharp penetrating wit. He's excellent at the game. He has as a mission statement to pass knowledge on to his viewers, thus from an educational standpoint he is an excellent streamer to watch. It also doesn't hurt that he's kick-ass at Hearthstone.
I like RDU. He's a pretty good player who has a great attitude about the game. He's personable and positive on stream. He engages with his viewers. And he's educational; he talks through his turns and answers questions from chat frequently. He's also thick-skinned enough to avoid and ignore all the trolling he gets from the fans of certain other drama-oriented streamers.
I don't have a tonne to say about RDU. I've only started watching him recently, but of what I've seen so far I can speak highly of.
I don't recall Gaara being so damned salty. Lately, though, he complains about nearly every loss. I don't know if Reynad has rubbed off on him, or if being salty is a Tempo Storm requirement. He's a great player, one of the very best, so it's sad to see him act in a way unbecoming of a top player. Being competitive doesn't mean acting out the sore loser. I used to watch him more frequently, but the saltiness has been rubbing me the wrong way.
Gaara is the type of streamer you have to watch closely if you want to learn anything. You have to already have a good understanding of Hearthstone to get anything out of his stream. He doesn't engage much with his viewers. Nor does he spend much time talking about his play.
Trump streams Hearthstone about 80% of the time. He'll reserve some evenings for other games. But he's mostly known for his Hearthstone play, nowadays, and he sticks to that during his prime hours. He's a very good player. He excels at arena, not quite as good as Hafu, but a bit better than Kripparrian. In terms of constructed play, he's not top ten, but definitely somewhere in the top fifty.
For awhile his stream became insufferable with the donation and subscription whoring. I tune in to watch streamers play Hearthstone, not sing or hug teddy bears or eat cookies. Thankfully some criticism from other streamers had Trump reconsider the state of his stream and he's toned down on the barrage of sub goals his stream had become.
Educationally he's one of the top streams for sure. He won a Blizzard streaming award for educational content. It was well warranted. He talks through all of his plays as they occur. You can definitely learn a lot through watching Trump play.
In terms of engagement, he's pretty good, but bear in mind that he only engages with those who have paid for a stream subscription. His chat is always in subscription-only mode. So, if you want to ask him a question, you are going to have to pay for that privilege. (I don't buy the argument that Trump has to use sub-only mode to keep his chat from becoming an anarchic mess, because great moderators plus a properly configured chat bot can do that job for you. See Hafu's stream as an example of open chat that is very well-behaved.)
He doesn't stream as often has he should, but he's definitely worth tuning into when he is online. He runs a solid stream from start to finish. If you like streamers who take their losses the same way they take their wins, then Puffin is the kind of guy you'll enjoy watching.
Again, he's not the most chatty guy, but there are lots of educational opportunities here. Puffin plays a variety of decks. And he's an excellent player.
Another member of Tempo Storm, another salty stream.
There's not a lot of positive to recommend this stream. Tides barely speaks, he can go several turns barely saying a single word. He rarely engages much with his audience. He can get salty as hell at times.
About the only reason I do tune in is just to see him play. He's a great player. Plus, he's also a great deck technician and he can build successful decks that do well in the current meta. So, sometimes I just tune in to see what he is currently playing.
In terms of entertainment, Tides does not know how to deliver an enjoyable viewing experience.
If you love watching Druid play, then StrifeCro is the premier Druid deck builder in Hearthstone. If you see a Druid deck on ladder, nine times out of ten it is a StrifeCro deck you're playing against.
Strife runs a good stream. He's laid back. He's quiet, but he has enough audience engagement to make the viewing experience enjoyable enough. He does make attempts at educating his viewers too.
Strife is the type of guy I tune in to when I need to bone up on my control deck theory.
It may be a cliché, but the easiest way to describe Forsen is along the lines of the angry German trope. Although, Forsen does it with a good dose of sarcasm, which differs from someone like ek0p, who is angry just for the sake of being angry; Forsen is mostly angry for the lols.
If you love watching expert Miracle Rogue play, then Forsen is definitely a streamer to watch. He's not overly chatty about his play though, except in the opening mulligans, when he'll talk through how to determine your opponent's deck and how to mulligan as a response.
I started watching Reynad back when he first started streaming, when he would barely get 200 viewers. He was always a bit of a salty personality, but it never affected him for much more than a single game. But as his popularity grew, and as he began realizing that what he did, that the decks he created, were having a large impact on the Hearthstone meta game, it seemed to go to his head. He went from someone who was looking for respect as a Hearthstone player to someone who demanded respect as a Hearthstone player.
His stream devolved from simple enjoyment of the game to one that became a steady stream of community drama. Name the top five pieces of Hearthstone community drama over the last few months, and Reynad is at the heart of most of them, and usually the cause of them. Celebrities who implode because they can't handle their fame, that is what Reynad has become. The drama that he attracts is overtaking a lot of the dialogue on his show. From drunken rants, to reading some of the most disgusting comments from his viewers on air. He's actually earning money by fueling the drama. Donate any amount to him, and he'll read your comment on air, no matter the content. He's become the Jerry Springer of Hearthstone. He'll let his viewers drag anybody through the mud for a buck. Since he's accepting those donations and reading those comments on-air, he's equally culpable in their behaviour.
Reynad's stream has always been high on educational content. He often talks through his plays and explains his thought process to his viewers. He still does have his moments, where his stream is like the Reynad of old, back when he was just trying to get better at the game, pass on some knowledge, and develop an audience.
Reynad is definitely a great player. He's contributed a lot of great decks to the metagame. But he's someone who has lost his moral compass along the way.
If watching a train wreck about the happen in your thing, if watching bad reality television is your thing, then you'll be right at home on Reynad's stream.
I used to tune into Amaz quite often, but lately I find his whole stream persona to be off-putting. He came into the scene with a certain amount of hyperactivity and excitement that was fresh and new. Having learned that excitement is what his audience likes most about him, he has put that into overdrive. In my opinion he's become a caricature of himself. Amaz is now a heightened version of the original Amaz.
My other problem is that his stream is far too focused on gaining donations and subs and he often interrupts his gaming to thank all his followers personally, which leads to more subs and donations. Good on him for making a living, but his stream's focus has become about earning that living.
My other issue is that Priest has become what he's known for and he plays it almost to the exclusion of all other classes. In this way, his stream has become like a bad sitcom, where the producers figure out what few things the audience loves most about the show, and then proceed to drive those things into the ground, until they're no longer funny or endearing. He now plays more to audience expectations than just being himself.
I used to watch apDrop quite frequently. Hell, I even subbed to his stream for a month. After my sub expired he took a break from Hearthstone, started playing some other games I had no interest in. I never returned even after he returned to Hearthstone.
I have no real issues with his stream at all. He doesn't go overboard with the donation and subscription whoring. He's about on par with most other streamers in that respect. He seems like a decent human being. His skill level is above average and he makes it to the legend ranks each season, even if he doesn't do much better than top 500 once he's there. His engagement with his audience is quite good, and he's responsive to questions about his play.
Simcopter's stream is like a bad parody of Mister Roger's Neighbourhood, except that he doesn't mean it to be. He seems sincere enough in all his "be excellent to one another" statements, but it comes across as oh so grating.
There is a strong educational aspect to the stream, if you can get past the overload of wholesomeness. He mainly plays arena and steps through the entire process of choosing a deck in quite a bit of detail. As he plays out his arena runs, he talks through each and every play.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the stream is his engagement with his audience. He engages far too much. He feels the need to trade general pleasantries with every stream viewer, often interrupting gameplay for long stretches with these asides. It can be a frustrating experience when you just want to see him choose his next card or make his next play and he goes off on some long-winded tangent asking "Bob" about his day. And, of course, all these conversations are punctuated with Twitch's 30 second delay.
This could be one of the better streams for new players, but Simcopter really needs to learn how to pace his stream and to move interruptions to appropriate spots between games and arena runs, rather than during the games.
I recommend watching dog. He's probably the most skilled hearthstone player I've seen. He explains his plays every turn and knows what his opponent will do a lot of the time. Definitely has the best understanding of the game out of all the streamers I've watched.
I second BDSorcerer's recommendation of Realz (http://www.twitch.tv/realz_). He's engaging, articulate. He's pretty low-key and even, and I've really been enjoying watching him lately.
"(I don't buy the argument that Trump has to use sub-only mode to keep his chat from becoming an anarchic mess, because great moderators plus a properly configured chat bot can do that job for you. See Hafu's stream as an example of open chat that is very well-behaved.)"
You really think letting 28000 people speak at the same time, in Twitch chat's generally disorganized circumstance of all things, is even remotely feasible? Hafu also has sub mode on a lot of the time when she gets above some x thousand viewers.
And thanks for the overview; there were a few I didn't know about in here I'll check out. I also second the votes for Kolento and Noxious, though they are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
Thanks for the words everyone, even if you do not agree with my evaluations.
Concerning skill level. I weight the ability to place high on the seasonal ladder much higher than the ability to win best-of-five tournaments. Tournaments, in my opinion, are too beholden to random chance. Whereas during ladder play, hundreds and hundreds of games tend to diminish randomness in favour of skill over time.
I watch way more streams than I probably should. I enjoy Reynad, though sometimes I'm not sure why. He definitely helps you learn the game a lot better. Personally, the best education comes from watching players (Otter and Hafu do this often) streaming their coaching sessions with someone else. If you want to improve your ability to play those are the streams to watch. Also, http://www.twitch.tv/lumiyathehunter Lumiya is an extremely under rated, under the radar streamer who you can definitely learn a lot from if you're up when he's on.
I watch way more streams than I probably should. I enjoy Reynad, though sometimes I'm not sure why. He definitely helps you learn the game a lot better.
It is why I give him 5 stars on Education, even if he fails miserably on personality. :)
I watch way more streams than I probably should. I enjoy Reynad, though sometimes I'm not sure why. He definitely helps you learn the game a lot better.
It is why I give him 5 stars on Education, even if he fails miserably on personality. :)
I really like his personality. You can always count on having a good laugh when you watch his stream.
Your evaluation on Reynad is absolutely hilarious. I find Reynad especially entertaining, not because of the "drama" but because what he says is usually pretty accurate and blunt and the donation comments are hilarious. Also, why Isn't noxious in the list?
for me, Forsen = Lifecoach >>> all (i really like Lifecoach, but since i started playing miracle, i watch Forsen more) I really want to see Lifecoach at Blizzcon's Tournament.
What happened to Kolento, Realz, Ekop, Sjow, Athene, Freegold, LegendaryLea and many other highly popular streamers - evaluate more please, interested in seeing what you think :D
I probably shouldn't have to say this, but I will. All of the following ratings and rankings and blurbs on the following 17 Hearthstone streamers are my opinion of them. Your mileage will vary with each streamer. People I can barely stand to watch, you may love to watch. That's okay. The great thing about Hearthstone is that the streaming landscape is very populated and varied, which means that we all have somebody that we connect with while watching them play our favourite (or one of our favourite) video games.
Just because I don't much enjoy a particular stream doesn't mean that you're wrong if you do enjoy that stream. Go ahead, keep liking them. But, if you're new to Hearthstone and you think you'd like to start watching some streams, but don't know quite where to begin, then perhaps the following list will help you out. And, if I didn't list your favourite streamer, feel free to mention them in the comments. I can't watch everybody, but I have watched my fair share of Hearthstone streams.
So I'll rank each streamer on four criteria: personality, education, engagement, and skill level. From one to five stars. Again, it's all subjective to my own personal tastes. How much I enjoy a streamer's personality will dictate their rating. Education is a measure of how much I feel I've learned about Hearthstone from watching them. And engagement is a measure of how positive I feel their engagement is with their audience (me being a member of that audience).
The order I've listed the streamers is the order that I prefer them. They all offer something different, but it's a general gauge of how much time I spend watching a particular stream, or whether I would leave one stream to go watch another when it comes online. For instance, I will tend to watch Kripparrian over Trump; or Reynad over apDrop, even though I think apDrop runs a better stream. So the order is not a ranking of the streamers, per se. I watch different streamers for different reasons. Reynad for the education. Revenge for the entertainment. Kripp when I want to chill and relax with some arena.
KRIPPARRIAN
Personality: ★★★★★
Education: ★★★★☆
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★☆
I'll first say that Kripparrian is my favourite streamer, by far. I simply enjoy his laid back attitude towards gaming. He's as amused by losing in big ways as he is winning in big ways. His stream is a scaled back affair. He has nothing in the way of an overlay. He gives no announcements to either subs or donations. He plays games the way he enjoys playing them. If you enjoy what he does then he appreciates your views, if you don't then so be it. He doesn't engage in any sort of song and dance trying to retain viewers.
I think his personality is stellar, but I can see the argument that some make that he is quiet, and not often overly talkative. He does joke around on occasion, but it's a dry wit he has. He does have his MumbleBros, online friends who engage him in conversation on stream. He will answer questions from his stream chat occasionally, but his chat is such a hoary mess that it's understandable that he cannot realistically keep up with any of it. (Some proper chabot management could probably clean a lot of it, but at the same time he doesn't believe in a lot of censorship.)
Kripp currently plays Hearthstone about 70% of the time (the other 30% is taken up with MMOs and ARPGs), and of his Hearthstone play 90% of it is arena. He is very good at arena. Though he doesn't offer an ongoing thought process on his plays and choices, he will answer questions as they come up and he will explain his less obvious plays. If you're new to Hearthstone you probably won't get a lot out of his stream, but if you're an intermediate at the game, there is a lot of glean from his play.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/nl_kripp
OTTER
Personality: ★★★★☆
Education: ★★★★☆
Engagement: ★★★★☆
Skill Level: ★★★★☆
You'll likely notice a trend that I prefer streamers who don't engage in a lot of song and dance. I do prefer streamers that keep the focus on the game play, keeping the silly things like sub goals and donation announcements to a bare minimum.
Otter is another soft-spoken guy who is very good at Hearthstone. He came to prominence as the fellow who brought Freeze Mage back into the metagame in a big way, making it into the qualification tournament for the 2014 Hearthstone World Championship with the deck. He has a pleasant low-key personality. He doesn't get overly excited, but neither does he get tilted at losses. He takes the game as it comes. Fortunately for him, he is very good at the game.
He keeps his stream bare bones. No fancy overlays. No distracting announcements of subs and donations. He's another Hearthstone player who focuses almost entirely on the gameplay. In terms of learning from his play, while he doesn't talk his way through each play, he will explain his decision-making when asked in chat. He is very responsive to his audience, and for now it helps that his audience is usually in the 200-500 range.
He has the best moustache among Hearthstone streamers, and top three hair.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/itsotter
HAFU
Personality: ★★★★★
Education: ★★★★☆
Engagement: ★★★★☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
I respect the heck out of Hafu and her stream. I respect her gameplay, firstly. And secondly, I respect that she's not using sexuality as currency. The focus of her stream is on the gameplay. She is, first and foremost, a very good gamer. She is very good at Hearthstone. That is how she is selling her stream, through her gaming, not through low-cut t-shirts and sub goal dance parties.
She has a high level of engagement with her viewers. She often talks through her plays. She divides her play time between constructed and arena. She's top ten in the world at constructed play. And, in my opinion, she's the best arena player in Hearthstone (certainly better than both Trump and Kripparrian, who are great arena players in their own rights).
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/itshafu
FIREBAT
Personality: ★★★★☆
Education: ★★★☆☆
Engagement: ★★★★☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
Another generally quiet guy. One of the top five Hearthstone players in the world. Unfortunately he streams very irregularly. I think most people know of Firebat, not from his stream, but from the coaching he's given other top players.
He'll answer questions about his deck and his play as they come through his stream. So the engagement level is there, if not a constant stream of educational content. Most of the chatter on his stream is usually between himself and a couple of Skype friends he has on at the same time.
I like the guy. I think he deserves more exposure and a larger audience, but given his irregular streaming schedule, he's not likely to grow that audience very quickly.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/hero_firebat
REVENGE
Personality: ★★★★★
Education: ★★★☆☆
Engagement: ★★★★★
Skill Level: ★★★☆☆
Revenge isn't the best at the game. He's not terrible. He's above average, certainly. What he is, though, is entertaining. He's a decent dude who knows how to run a fun and engaging stream. And along with Otter (and, arguably, Reynad), has the best hair in Hearthstone streaming.
Revenge does have the potential to go down the Amaz path (see my thoughts below), becoming unintentionally self-parody — becoming overly goofy because that's what his audience wants. Hopefully he realizes he can remain himself while not becoming cringe-worthy in the process.
He has great engagement with his viewers.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/revengeistsweet
LIFECOACH
Personality: ★★★★☆
Education: ★★★★★
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
I just started watching Lifecoach recently. Unfortunately he doesn't stream as regularly as most of the others on this list, or for as long. And being German, he's not in the sweet spot of my stream viewing schedule. That said, when he is streaming in my preferred time period, I do try to drop in.
Lifecoach is a German with a sharp penetrating wit. He's excellent at the game. He has as a mission statement to pass knowledge on to his viewers, thus from an educational standpoint he is an excellent streamer to watch. It also doesn't hurt that he's kick-ass at Hearthstone.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/lifecoach1981
RDU
Personality: ★★★★☆
Education: ★★★★★
Engagement: ★★★★☆
Skill Level: ★★★★☆
I like RDU. He's a pretty good player who has a great attitude about the game. He's personable and positive on stream. He engages with his viewers. And he's educational; he talks through his turns and answers questions from chat frequently. He's also thick-skinned enough to avoid and ignore all the trolling he gets from the fans of certain other drama-oriented streamers.
I don't have a tonne to say about RDU. I've only started watching him recently, but of what I've seen so far I can speak highly of.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/radu_hs
GAARA
Personality: ★★★★☆
Education: ★★★☆☆
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
I don't recall Gaara being so damned salty. Lately, though, he complains about nearly every loss. I don't know if Reynad has rubbed off on him, or if being salty is a Tempo Storm requirement. He's a great player, one of the very best, so it's sad to see him act in a way unbecoming of a top player. Being competitive doesn't mean acting out the sore loser. I used to watch him more frequently, but the saltiness has been rubbing me the wrong way.
Gaara is the type of streamer you have to watch closely if you want to learn anything. You have to already have a good understanding of Hearthstone to get anything out of his stream. He doesn't engage much with his viewers. Nor does he spend much time talking about his play.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/gaarabestshaman
TRUMP
Personality: ★★★☆☆
Education: ★★★★★
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★☆
Trump streams Hearthstone about 80% of the time. He'll reserve some evenings for other games. But he's mostly known for his Hearthstone play, nowadays, and he sticks to that during his prime hours. He's a very good player. He excels at arena, not quite as good as Hafu, but a bit better than Kripparrian. In terms of constructed play, he's not top ten, but definitely somewhere in the top fifty.
For awhile his stream became insufferable with the donation and subscription whoring. I tune in to watch streamers play Hearthstone, not sing or hug teddy bears or eat cookies. Thankfully some criticism from other streamers had Trump reconsider the state of his stream and he's toned down on the barrage of sub goals his stream had become.
Educationally he's one of the top streams for sure. He won a Blizzard streaming award for educational content. It was well warranted. He talks through all of his plays as they occur. You can definitely learn a lot through watching Trump play.
In terms of engagement, he's pretty good, but bear in mind that he only engages with those who have paid for a stream subscription. His chat is always in subscription-only mode. So, if you want to ask him a question, you are going to have to pay for that privilege. (I don't buy the argument that Trump has to use sub-only mode to keep his chat from becoming an anarchic mess, because great moderators plus a properly configured chat bot can do that job for you. See Hafu's stream as an example of open chat that is very well-behaved.)
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/trumpsc
PUFFIN
Personality: ★★★☆☆
Education: ★★★★☆
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
He doesn't stream as often has he should, but he's definitely worth tuning into when he is online. He runs a solid stream from start to finish. If you like streamers who take their losses the same way they take their wins, then Puffin is the kind of guy you'll enjoy watching.
Again, he's not the most chatty guy, but there are lots of educational opportunities here. Puffin plays a variety of decks. And he's an excellent player.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/puffinplays
TIDES OF TIME
Personality: ★★★☆☆
Education: ★★★☆☆
Engagement: ★☆☆☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
Another member of Tempo Storm, another salty stream.
There's not a lot of positive to recommend this stream. Tides barely speaks, he can go several turns barely saying a single word. He rarely engages much with his audience. He can get salty as hell at times.
About the only reason I do tune in is just to see him play. He's a great player. Plus, he's also a great deck technician and he can build successful decks that do well in the current meta. So, sometimes I just tune in to see what he is currently playing.
In terms of entertainment, Tides does not know how to deliver an enjoyable viewing experience.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/tidesoftime
STRIFECRO
Personality: ★★★☆☆
Education: ★★★☆☆
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
If you love watching Druid play, then StrifeCro is the premier Druid deck builder in Hearthstone. If you see a Druid deck on ladder, nine times out of ten it is a StrifeCro deck you're playing against.
Strife runs a good stream. He's laid back. He's quiet, but he has enough audience engagement to make the viewing experience enjoyable enough. He does make attempts at educating his viewers too.
Strife is the type of guy I tune in to when I need to bone up on my control deck theory.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/strifecro
FORSEN
Personality: ★★★★☆
Education: ★★☆☆☆
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★★
It may be a cliché, but the easiest way to describe Forsen is along the lines of the angry German trope. Although, Forsen does it with a good dose of sarcasm, which differs from someone like ek0p, who is angry just for the sake of being angry; Forsen is mostly angry for the lols.
If you love watching expert Miracle Rogue play, then Forsen is definitely a streamer to watch. He's not overly chatty about his play though, except in the opening mulligans, when he'll talk through how to determine your opponent's deck and how to mulligan as a response.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/forsenlol
REYNAD
Personality: ★☆☆☆☆
Education: ★★★★★
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★☆
I started watching Reynad back when he first started streaming, when he would barely get 200 viewers. He was always a bit of a salty personality, but it never affected him for much more than a single game. But as his popularity grew, and as he began realizing that what he did, that the decks he created, were having a large impact on the Hearthstone meta game, it seemed to go to his head. He went from someone who was looking for respect as a Hearthstone player to someone who demanded respect as a Hearthstone player.
His stream devolved from simple enjoyment of the game to one that became a steady stream of community drama. Name the top five pieces of Hearthstone community drama over the last few months, and Reynad is at the heart of most of them, and usually the cause of them. Celebrities who implode because they can't handle their fame, that is what Reynad has become. The drama that he attracts is overtaking a lot of the dialogue on his show. From drunken rants, to reading some of the most disgusting comments from his viewers on air. He's actually earning money by fueling the drama. Donate any amount to him, and he'll read your comment on air, no matter the content. He's become the Jerry Springer of Hearthstone. He'll let his viewers drag anybody through the mud for a buck. Since he's accepting those donations and reading those comments on-air, he's equally culpable in their behaviour.
Reynad's stream has always been high on educational content. He often talks through his plays and explains his thought process to his viewers. He still does have his moments, where his stream is like the Reynad of old, back when he was just trying to get better at the game, pass on some knowledge, and develop an audience.
Reynad is definitely a great player. He's contributed a lot of great decks to the metagame. But he's someone who has lost his moral compass along the way.
If watching a train wreck about the happen in your thing, if watching bad reality television is your thing, then you'll be right at home on Reynad's stream.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/reynad27
AMAZ
Personality: ★★★☆☆
Education: ★★★★☆
Engagement: ★★★☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★★☆
I used to tune into Amaz quite often, but lately I find his whole stream persona to be off-putting. He came into the scene with a certain amount of hyperactivity and excitement that was fresh and new. Having learned that excitement is what his audience likes most about him, he has put that into overdrive. In my opinion he's become a caricature of himself. Amaz is now a heightened version of the original Amaz.
My other problem is that his stream is far too focused on gaining donations and subs and he often interrupts his gaming to thank all his followers personally, which leads to more subs and donations. Good on him for making a living, but his stream's focus has become about earning that living.
My other issue is that Priest has become what he's known for and he plays it almost to the exclusion of all other classes. In this way, his stream has become like a bad sitcom, where the producers figure out what few things the audience loves most about the show, and then proceed to drive those things into the ground, until they're no longer funny or endearing. He now plays more to audience expectations than just being himself.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/amazhs
APDROP
Personality: ★★★☆☆
Education: ★★★★☆
Engagement: ★★★★★
Skill Level: ★★★☆☆
I used to watch apDrop quite frequently. Hell, I even subbed to his stream for a month. After my sub expired he took a break from Hearthstone, started playing some other games I had no interest in. I never returned even after he returned to Hearthstone.
I have no real issues with his stream at all. He doesn't go overboard with the donation and subscription whoring. He's about on par with most other streamers in that respect. He seems like a decent human being. His skill level is above average and he makes it to the legend ranks each season, even if he doesn't do much better than top 500 once he's there. His engagement with his audience is quite good, and he's responsive to questions about his play.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/apdrop
SIMCOPTER1
Personality: ★★★☆☆
Education: ★★★★☆
Engagement: ★★☆☆☆
Skill Level: ★★★☆☆
Simcopter's stream is like a bad parody of Mister Roger's Neighbourhood, except that he doesn't mean it to be. He seems sincere enough in all his "be excellent to one another" statements, but it comes across as oh so grating.
There is a strong educational aspect to the stream, if you can get past the overload of wholesomeness. He mainly plays arena and steps through the entire process of choosing a deck in quite a bit of detail. As he plays out his arena runs, he talks through each and every play.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the stream is his engagement with his audience. He engages far too much. He feels the need to trade general pleasantries with every stream viewer, often interrupting gameplay for long stretches with these asides. It can be a frustrating experience when you just want to see him choose his next card or make his next play and he goes off on some long-winded tangent asking "Bob" about his day. And, of course, all these conversations are punctuated with Twitch's 30 second delay.
This could be one of the better streams for new players, but Simcopter really needs to learn how to pace his stream and to move interruptions to appropriate spots between games and arena runs, rather than during the games.
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/simcopter1
(original article: http://hearthpoe.blogspot.ca/2014/07/evaluating-17-hearthstone-streamers.html)
Poetic.
Great post Poe!
I highly recommend watching Realz. He's very articulate, explains his decision making, and engages frequently with his chat.
http://www.twitch.tv/realz_
I also enjoy watching Kolento's stream. He's always explaining his plays, and experimenting with different decks.
http://www.twitch.tv/kolento
I recommend watching dog. He's probably the most skilled hearthstone player I've seen. He explains his plays every turn and knows what his opponent will do a lot of the time. Definitely has the best understanding of the game out of all the streamers I've watched.
I second BDSorcerer's recommendation of Realz (http://www.twitch.tv/realz_). He's engaging, articulate. He's pretty low-key and even, and I've really been enjoying watching him lately.
Do deformed rabbit, that's my favourite.
"(I don't buy the argument that Trump has to use sub-only mode to keep his chat from becoming an anarchic mess, because great moderators plus a properly configured chat bot can do that job for you. See Hafu's stream as an example of open chat that is very well-behaved.)"
You really think letting 28000 people speak at the same time, in Twitch chat's generally disorganized circumstance of all things, is even remotely feasible? Hafu also has sub mode on a lot of the time when she gets above some x thousand viewers.
He said that several times in the introduction...
And thanks for the overview; there were a few I didn't know about in here I'll check out. I also second the votes for Kolento and Noxious, though they are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
Great list of streams, personly I also like Massans' stream. I like his personallity and the way he explains his
what he does.
http://www.massan.org/
Thanks. I'll try to catch both. Neither seems to be on often or during my timezone in particular.
As for Noxious, I can't stand the guy. But for those that do like him, keep on watching.
Poetic.
Thanks for the words everyone, even if you do not agree with my evaluations.
Concerning skill level. I weight the ability to place high on the seasonal ladder much higher than the ability to win best-of-five tournaments. Tournaments, in my opinion, are too beholden to random chance. Whereas during ladder play, hundreds and hundreds of games tend to diminish randomness in favour of skill over time.
Poetic.
I watch way more streams than I probably should. I enjoy Reynad, though sometimes I'm not sure why. He definitely helps you learn the game a lot better. Personally, the best education comes from watching players (Otter and Hafu do this often) streaming their coaching sessions with someone else. If you want to improve your ability to play those are the streams to watch. Also, http://www.twitch.tv/lumiyathehunter Lumiya is an extremely under rated, under the radar streamer who you can definitely learn a lot from if you're up when he's on.
It is why I give him 5 stars on Education, even if he fails miserably on personality. :)
Poetic.
I really like his personality. You can always count on having a good laugh when you watch his stream.
Your evaluation on Reynad is absolutely hilarious. I find Reynad especially entertaining, not because of the "drama" but because what he says is usually pretty accurate and blunt and the donation comments are hilarious.
Also, why Isn't noxious in the list?
Your analysis is terrible. It's pretty much opposite of how you present them.
Yea, his own personal opinion and interpretation must be wrong because it isn't yours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdd6_ZxX8c
Poetic.
Liked the article a lot!
Reynad, for me, is the best and has a great taste for music.
I guess it depends on personality which streamer someone would enoy the most :)
for me, Forsen = Lifecoach >>> all (i really like Lifecoach, but since i started playing miracle, i watch Forsen more) I really want to see Lifecoach at Blizzcon's Tournament.
What happened to Kolento, Realz, Ekop, Sjow, Athene, Freegold, LegendaryLea and many other highly popular streamers - evaluate more please, interested in seeing what you think :D
You know kids, whenever someone hints that the universe doesn't revolve around them, shit hits the fan :D