I started watching Reynad27, Andrey Yanyuk, a couple months ago, back when he was barely getting 200 viewers per stream. Times have changed and people have discovered him. Now he is consistently pulling 7000 viewers per session.
Andrey came to Hearthstone as a professional Magic: The Gathering player. How professional, I'm not quite sure. My own cursory Google searches of his career locate him as mostly a regional midwest player, highly ranked and active on the tours in his area of the United States. He has a few appearances at national MtG tournaments. Not sure if he ever played internationally. At any rate, he was (or is) an accomplished TCG player.
He quit Magic and moved to Hearthstone after being given a six month competition ban by Wizards of the Coast. Apparently for cheating. There are two sides to any story. Andrey has his side. WotC have their side. I'm not invested in either. He's playing Hearthstone now, a game at which cheating is nigh impossible. All I care about is that he is a very good Hearthstone player and runs a very good stream.
Pros
He runs the exact type of Hearthstone stream I like. He's chatty and instructive. He talks through his every play. He walks viewers through his decision-making. And that, in my opinion, makes for a stream worth watching. I am nowhere near the caliber of player that he is, but I know that my game has improved just watching him. I play much differently now than I did two months ago. I'm certainly more patient now, especially in the opening four turns. And I see plays now that I didn't previously.
What I also like is that he focuses almost solely on constructed play. There are more than enough Hearthstone arena streams, so to have really good constructed streams is important. Reynad27 is one of the best streams available if you are interested in constructed play.
When Andrey is in a good mood (which is not all the time; see the cons list below), he has a friendly personality and he's quite enjoyable to watch.
Cons
On his bads days, and they're not uncommon, Reynad27 can be frustrating and aggravating to watch. Not so much his play as his personality. If it wasn't for the instruction and insight he does offer, I'd have likely stopped watching him long ago.
He has an overly high opinion of himself, to the point of often not respecting his opponent's skill and abilities. When he loses, the blame lies not with Andrey, but with elements outside of his control. Or so he'll tell his audience. He lost because he was stream sniped. He lost because his opponent got lucky. He lost because someone was using his deck. He lost because he's tired. He lost because the meta is bad. Rarely is it because Andrey was beaten fair and square. This can be off-putting, and much moreso when he's in a grumpy mood.
He's easily tilted by losses and by his chat. Especially when he's in a poor mood, he's quite easy to troll, and his audience will troll him relentlessly when they know he's easy bait. This, of course, only worsens his mood. He probably needs to filter the chat he reads to only his subscribers; the theory being that the people spending money likely have no interest in trolling him.
He runs late at night during the North American timezones. Usually bleeding into European late morning. This can make his stream difficult to watch for a North American audience (of which I am one.) He does this to avoid Kripparrian. If Reynad27 is streaming alongside Kripp, he pulls between 1500 to 2500 viewers. If he streams after Kripp has gone offline, his audience will balloon to between 7500 to 10000 viewers. It makes sense to try to capture as large an audience as possible, but the times can be inconvenient for a North American audience.
Notes
Concerning the subject of this article. It's something Andrey said yesterday on his stream. Hearthstone is not a pay to win game. And Andrey is proving it. A few days ago he created a fresh account, with the aim of getting to the legendary ranks without spending a dime. The last I saw he was at Rank 4. An accomplishment playing a deck with only commons and rares. The same sort of deck available to any other new player after only a few days of play time.
This has really been an interesting experience. Whereas I knew that Hearthstone was not pay to win, to what extent I did not know. I've since learned that it is possible to be competitive on your very first day loading up Hearthstone.
Reynad was in rare form yesterday. Aggravating as hell.
Apparently everyone has stolen his non-legendary, rares & commons Warrior deck and was playing it against him. (Not true, but this is how Reynad's egotism works.) Because everybody at rank 5 and higher wants to play a non-legendary deck. I think he also figures he's the only person in the game who has ever created a Warrior aggro deck.
He also figures the meta follows his every move. He put forth the idea that if he stopped playing his F2P account for a couple of days, the meta would shift back to whatever he was playing on his main account (likely Warlock Rush.)
There's no denying he is a good player, but the delusion is strong with Reynad. He honestly thinks the entire Hearthstone gaming community follows his every move.
He's definitely my favorite streamer for the reasons you listed. He's skilled and vocal.
That being said he has an ego.
Its getting better though from what I've seen.
He has definitely been improving lately. Though he still has a penchant for thinking everyone is running his decks, even when those decks are quite dissimilar. For instance, aggro warrior decks (no matter how built) are apparently a Reynad27 creation. Nobody thought of it before him.
I haven't really found a streamer I like, Many of them take the game a little too serious for my liking always blaming stupid things like the meta etc.
I guess I still need to search for someone who streams and enjoys himself while playing and laughs even when he looses .
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Soulbound Deckbuilding Team Owner Hearthstone Freelance Writer
Don't like Reynad for the reasons you listed. I enjoy watching Trump. I don't catch his stream but always watch his youtube videos. I like his personality and his game mirrors my own. Kripp is good too but he doesn't mesh as well with me. As far as arena goes, that is the poor man's atm. If you get good at arena you never have to spend a dime. I spent some money during the beta (5 arena runs purchased) and have not spent a dime since. I am sitting on 2000 gold and about 2000 dust as well. I'm definately not a professional player but have definately progressed in skill from watching trump.
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I started watching Reynad27, Andrey Yanyuk, a couple months ago, back when he was barely getting 200 viewers per stream. Times have changed and people have discovered him. Now he is consistently pulling 7000 viewers per session.
Andrey came to Hearthstone as a professional Magic: The Gathering player. How professional, I'm not quite sure. My own cursory Google searches of his career locate him as mostly a regional midwest player, highly ranked and active on the tours in his area of the United States. He has a few appearances at national MtG tournaments. Not sure if he ever played internationally. At any rate, he was (or is) an accomplished TCG player.
He quit Magic and moved to Hearthstone after being given a six month competition ban by Wizards of the Coast. Apparently for cheating. There are two sides to any story. Andrey has his side. WotC have their side. I'm not invested in either. He's playing Hearthstone now, a game at which cheating is nigh impossible. All I care about is that he is a very good Hearthstone player and runs a very good stream.
Pros
He runs the exact type of Hearthstone stream I like. He's chatty and instructive. He talks through his every play. He walks viewers through his decision-making. And that, in my opinion, makes for a stream worth watching. I am nowhere near the caliber of player that he is, but I know that my game has improved just watching him. I play much differently now than I did two months ago. I'm certainly more patient now, especially in the opening four turns. And I see plays now that I didn't previously.
What I also like is that he focuses almost solely on constructed play. There are more than enough Hearthstone arena streams, so to have really good constructed streams is important. Reynad27 is one of the best streams available if you are interested in constructed play.
When Andrey is in a good mood (which is not all the time; see the cons list below), he has a friendly personality and he's quite enjoyable to watch.
Cons
On his bads days, and they're not uncommon, Reynad27 can be frustrating and aggravating to watch. Not so much his play as his personality. If it wasn't for the instruction and insight he does offer, I'd have likely stopped watching him long ago.
He has an overly high opinion of himself, to the point of often not respecting his opponent's skill and abilities. When he loses, the blame lies not with Andrey, but with elements outside of his control. Or so he'll tell his audience. He lost because he was stream sniped. He lost because his opponent got lucky. He lost because someone was using his deck. He lost because he's tired. He lost because the meta is bad. Rarely is it because Andrey was beaten fair and square. This can be off-putting, and much moreso when he's in a grumpy mood.
He's easily tilted by losses and by his chat. Especially when he's in a poor mood, he's quite easy to troll, and his audience will troll him relentlessly when they know he's easy bait. This, of course, only worsens his mood. He probably needs to filter the chat he reads to only his subscribers; the theory being that the people spending money likely have no interest in trolling him.
He runs late at night during the North American timezones. Usually bleeding into European late morning. This can make his stream difficult to watch for a North American audience (of which I am one.) He does this to avoid Kripparrian. If Reynad27 is streaming alongside Kripp, he pulls between 1500 to 2500 viewers. If he streams after Kripp has gone offline, his audience will balloon to between 7500 to 10000 viewers. It makes sense to try to capture as large an audience as possible, but the times can be inconvenient for a North American audience.
Notes
Concerning the subject of this article. It's something Andrey said yesterday on his stream. Hearthstone is not a pay to win game. And Andrey is proving it. A few days ago he created a fresh account, with the aim of getting to the legendary ranks without spending a dime. The last I saw he was at Rank 4. An accomplishment playing a deck with only commons and rares. The same sort of deck available to any other new player after only a few days of play time.
This has really been an interesting experience. Whereas I knew that Hearthstone was not pay to win, to what extent I did not know. I've since learned that it is possible to be competitive on your very first day loading up Hearthstone.
You can find Reynad27 on Twitch.tv.
-------------------
I will be covering other streamers over the next couple of weeks. Some names to look out for. Kripparrian. Trump. apDrop. Savjz.
(original article)
Poetic.
Reynad was in rare form yesterday. Aggravating as hell.
Apparently everyone has stolen his non-legendary, rares & commons Warrior deck and was playing it against him. (Not true, but this is how Reynad's egotism works.) Because everybody at rank 5 and higher wants to play a non-legendary deck. I think he also figures he's the only person in the game who has ever created a Warrior aggro deck.
He also figures the meta follows his every move. He put forth the idea that if he stopped playing his F2P account for a couple of days, the meta would shift back to whatever he was playing on his main account (likely Warlock Rush.)
There's no denying he is a good player, but the delusion is strong with Reynad. He honestly thinks the entire Hearthstone gaming community follows his every move.
Poetic.
He has definitely been improving lately. Though he still has a penchant for thinking everyone is running his decks, even when those decks are quite dissimilar. For instance, aggro warrior decks (no matter how built) are apparently a Reynad27 creation. Nobody thought of it before him.
Poetic.
This was an interesting read, it was fun to read your oppinion about the streamer i like to watch. I've been watching him for a month.
And yeah i agree with most stuff you said. And i don't mind his whining too much, i kinda find it entertaining :D
I also like Savjz, he's informative and plays constructed, he's kinda similar to reynad, he can start getting frustrated by RNG and all that.
Veev is fun also, man can he rage.
Agreed with Grim, Very Interesting piece.
I haven't really found a streamer I like, Many of them take the game a little too serious for my liking always blaming stupid things like the meta etc.
I guess I still need to search for someone who streams and enjoys himself while playing and laughs even when he looses .
Soulbound Deckbuilding Team Owner
Hearthstone Freelance Writer
That would be Kripparrian (http://www.twitch.tv/nl_kripp). But he spends 95% of his time just doing arena.
Poetic.
I knew this guy in high school too. Even back then he was arrogant, egotistical, really smart, and fun to troll.
Don't like Reynad for the reasons you listed. I enjoy watching Trump. I don't catch his stream but always watch his youtube videos. I like his personality and his game mirrors my own. Kripp is good too but he doesn't mesh as well with me. As far as arena goes, that is the poor man's atm. If you get good at arena you never have to spend a dime. I spent some money during the beta (5 arena runs purchased) and have not spent a dime since. I am sitting on 2000 gold and about 2000 dust as well. I'm definately not a professional player but have definately progressed in skill from watching trump.