In just a few short days the Hearthstone World Championship will commence, and players from all over the world will duel for a share of a $250,000 prize pool. The various regions are being represented by some of the most talented card-slingers around, and the Americas are no exception! We recently had the opportunity to talk to DTwo, Tarei, StrifeCro and Firebat, discussing the Road to BlizzCon, their most difficult opponents and, of course, favorite pizza flavors!
Tarei
Whirthun: Well met!
Tarei: Hello!
W: Tarei, I recently saw that you’ve joined a competitive Hearthstone team. Can you tell us more about it?
Tarei: The team is called Team MagicAmy. The team consists of me, Magic Amy, DengXu, Prodigy, Tomflr and VaNdALISM and we’re just kind of good friends on Hearthstone and all friends with Magic Amy, hence the team name. She’s been helping me improve a lot at Hearthstone in the past couple months and we became pretty good friends, so we decided to make this team to help me practice and prepare for BlizzCon and maybe get bigger in the future if we’re able to do more stuff. Hopefully we can grow if I do well at BlizzCon, or win the tournament.
W: Do you all practice together a lot?
Tarei: Yes, we practice a lot on ladder. I basically have two or three decks which I’m sure I’m going to use and another two or three that I’m unsure about. I’ve kind of just been cycling through decks on ladder, trying them out and seeing how successful they are in certain matchups. Hopefully I’ll be able to be confident about all of the decks I select for BlizzCon.
W: Nice! So you mentioned having a bunch of different decks. What’s your favorite class to play in Hearthstone?
Tarei: My favorite class is Rogue, and that’s because of Miracle Rogue. The reason I got into Hearthstone and got to the competitive level is because I played months and months of Miracle Rogue. The deck was just really fun for me. While I was playing that deck I was learning other decks and matchups, and then I started playing those for fun, sometimes. It really all started with Miracle Rogue for me.
W: Awesome. Okay, super tough question here. How do you enjoy your pizza?
Tarei: Usually I like my pizza with lots of mushrooms… and pepperoni, but mostly mushrooms. Oh, and spinach.
W: Wow. I did not see that coming. Anything you’d like to say to your fans?
Tarei: I’m thankful for all the support I can get and I want to thank my team and Magic Amy for all their help and support for preparing me for BlizzCon and I’m pretty sure I’ll do well. I hope I can do well.
Tarei's not doing the Twitter thing just yet, but he says he might after the Hearthstone World Championship!
DTwo
Whirthun: Well met!
DTwo: Greetings. There are so many Hearthstone greetings. I don’t know which one to use.
W: There are a lot of really good ones. Congratulations on making it this far! You’re getting ready to head to BlizzCon and face off against some of the best players from the Americas, Europe, China, Taiwan and Korea. You’re actually living in Japan, aren’t you?
DTwo: Yes, I am.
W: But you weren’t born in Japan?
DTwo: I was born in New York but I grew up in Southern California. The Americas Championship was the first time I’d been back to New York since I was born. I really didn’t know much about New York at all, other than what I’d seen in movies. I grew up in California, in Yorba Linda. It’s right next to Anaheim, which is where BlizzCon will be at. Basically, I’m going back to my old stomping grounds to play at BlizzCon.
W: That’s awesome! You’re going to go to BlizzCon and rep the hometown pride! Okay, so. You’ve faced some pretty tough opponents thus far. Who would you say is the most difficult person you’ve played on the Road to BlizzCon?
DTwo: On the Road to BlizzCon? So, everyone I’ve played?
W: Yup!
DTwo: It’s hard to say. Hearthstone is a game where sometimes luck can play a factor, so you can be a 40% underdog and go into a game and still win, obviously. I got crushed 3 – 0 in one of the series in the round of 128, but then that guy didn’t make it to BlizzCon, so I’m not sure I could call him one of the best players I’ve faced. On the other hand, I played Chakki and beat him. I also beat Dengxu, who a lot of players look up to. Overall, I would have to say Chakki. That was a pretty tough series, and he had some good decks coming in. I really had to play my best in order to win that one.
W: Nice, nice. Okay! Going to switch gears a bit and talk about some stuff the community wanted to know. What’s your favorite type of pizza?
DTwo: Favorite type of pizza? Oh god. I would say … chicken and mushrooms?
W: What is it with the mushrooms? Tarei said mushrooms too. I don’t understand this.
DTwo: It might be an Asian thing. I think chicken might also be one of the most underrated pizza toppings. People don’t think you’re supposed to put it on pizza, like, you’re supposed to use pepperoni. I’ll eat any kind of pizza though.
W: Did you grab some of the world famous New York pizza during the Americas Championship?
DTwo: I definitely did! I don’t know if I went to the best places for them, but the places I went were pretty good.
W: Next question! You’re stranded on a desert island with one movie. Which one is it?
DTwo: Shawshank Redemption is really re-watchable, I guess.
W: That’s a really classy answer. Anything you’d like to say to your fans before we wrap up?
DTwo: Thanks for watching, thanks for rooting me on. I will do my best to represent both the Americas region and Japan. I’m kind a hometown guy, since I grew up near Anaheim. So, root for me for that reason!
Check out one of DTwo’s regular streams, and also catch him talking Hearthstone on Twitter!