Interview by: Blitzcrank Bot V2
Introduction
The winner of Tuesday Night Hype #62 was Koroneko! He brought a fascinating lineup of Dragon Priest, the thought-to-be-extinct Midrange Paladin, and Brann Demon Handlock Today, we get a chance to speak with him about his lineup and how he got into Hearthstone.
The Interview
BCBV2: Hello Koroneko! You are a well known Japanese player for Team Mobcast, and the grand champion for Tuesday Night Hype #62! Tell us a bit about yourself, and how did you get into Hearthstone?
Koroneko: My first entry into competitive gaming was in Call of Duty 4, then I moved to League of Legends due to many people leaving the COD4 scene. However, COD4 players can’t play team battle games so I had to figure out what I should go in next, and it kind of went a little like this:
Hmmm what game I should play next….
Koro: What is your best rated game?
Friend: There’s this new game called hearthstone!
Koro: Ok I will play!
BCBV2: A great, and hilarious story! I find it great that you started off your Esports career in FPS games, although the skills required for Hearthstone is far different. It’s also very interesting the lineup you brought today to TNH. Dragon Priest, Midrange Paladin, and Demonlock, one of my favorite decks! What made you bring each deck, and I’ve been trying to make Brann Demonlock work, so tell me your thoughts on it!
Koroneko: Nowadays, there are so many people using Warrior (either Patron or Control Warrior). So, I decided to target warrior with my line up and kill it 😀 I used Dragon priest, with NO HOLY NOVA and 1 Zombie Chow. In my Midrange Paladin I use Justicar Trueheart to grind out games, since Justicar’d Paladin power makes it a good fatigue battle against Control Warrior. And in fact, my 10:0 matchup against Patron
BCBV2: Wow, that’s impressive! Wouldn’t the Patron matchup with mid Paladin be a little difficult due to the Patrons or were you always able to deal with them effectively? But I do love taking advantage of the conquest format by targeting certain classes with the lineup, and that plan rewarded you greatly today!
Koroneko: My Mid Paladin runs 2 equalities. The 2 equalities give it a good matchup versus Patron and improves its matchup vs Druid. I always banned any opponent’s Paladin, but, if my opponent didn’t have paladin, I banned Mage, because I don’t want to see Freeze Mage!
BCBV2: That is true! Got to make sure you save those equalities for when you need them! And dodging Secret Paladin and Freeze Mage is important, as Freeze is especially potent versus your lineup. How has your success been in the Blizzcon Winter Preliminaries?
Koroneko: I will try my best!! Please wait for me in California but today’s lineup is good, I really think so.
BCBV2: Oh, your lineup today was great! I’m just hoping to see you at Blizzcon! I’ll definitely be waiting and looking forward to see you here in California! Thank you for taking the time to speak to us, where can people find you online?
Koroneko: You can find me on twitch.tv/koronekoHS and @koronekoHS on Twitter! My pleasure anytime, thank you!
Concluding Remarks
I really enjoyed Koroneko’s lineup that he used to win the tournament with, and I approve of his strategy in general. In Conquest format, since every deck has to win at least once, targeting a specific deck with your lineup to ensure it does not get a win is a great strategy, provided the deck you’re targeting is commonly used. In Koroneko’s case, his strategy paid out in dividends, and I recommend you to try it out yourself!