The Hearthstone Americas Championship Qualifier Tournament is fast approaching, and qualified card-slingers will soon be dueling for the chance to head to the Hearthstone World Championship at BlizzCon 2014, where they’ll compete for glory and a $250,000 prize pool.
The players who will be competing in the Championship Qualifier have earned their spots in a variety of ways, such as winning invitational tournaments, conquering community tournaments, or exhibiting excellence in ranked play.
All of these worthy competitors have victory on their minds, but each of them also brings their own unique spark to the journey! Join us as we get to know the people behind the decks: their stories, their favorite cards, how they convince Ragnaros to hit their intended target, and more!
PUFFIN
Puffin is one of the more easily recognized Hearthstone players on the scene thanks in large part to his signature mascot, the majestic puffin. Puffin’s more than just a bird lover, however. He’s also a deck builder and avid teacher! When he’s not competing against the best of the best, Puffin enjoys offering advice to his viewers. He can often be found tinkering with new decks, combining cards to see what works, and bouncing ideas off his audience. On top of that, the signature puffin song he leads play sessions with makes his stream a great place to hang out and talk Hearthstone!
What is your favorite deck to play?
There are a lot of decks I enjoy playing, but my two favorite would have to be Tempo Rogue and Mid-range Shaman.
What’s your favorite/craziest play you’ve ever made in Hearthstone?
It's hard to pinpoint a favorite/crazy play since there have been so many. I think my favorite Hearthstone moment was winning the series to beat the Chinese team in the NA vs CN 2P Tournament. This was the first big Hearthstone tournament after BlizzCon and it was casted by Trump and Kripp. Just being able to win it for NA was a great feeling, especially doing it with Shaman, which wasn't a much-played class at the time.
What’s your process for testing decks? When does a deck officially become a success?
I generally just have an idea and I test it out on the ladder or with a practice partner. When testing on the ladder, I just play it and see things that I feel are missing and try to adjust it to the current meta, which can shift rapidly. When testing with a practice partner, we'll usually do directed testing vs. established strong decks in the meta and play out a series and then just iterate on the deck until it works. A deck is officially a success when it can reliably win, or win a specific matchup that it's created for. Decks for the ladder have to be more generic and catered towards the ladder meta, whereas, decks for tournaments can be more specific and geared towards the tournament format and specific matchups.
If you could design a card, what would it be?
I would want a card with spell taunt, probably a neutral rare five mana cost 3/7 with spell taunt.
Are there any players you’re looking forward to or nervous about playing against?
So many great players have qualified, so I'm just going to focus on my own game and try to play the best I can. I don't think I'll be nervous playing against any particular player since I've played against a lot of the best players already, but playing in a live environment is a bit nerve-racking even though I have some experience with that already. I think I’ll be more prepared this time if it comes to that.
If you could make Polymorph turn a minion into something other than a sheep, what would it be?
A puffin, of course.
How does one go about making a deal with Ragnaros?
I used to have a pretty good deal with Ragnaros, but Amaz seems to have one-upped everyone for the right to Ragnaros’s favor.
What are you passionate about outside of Hearthstone and other games?
I'm passionate about good food, sports, and spending time with friends and family.
Puffin can be spotted playing Hearthstone on Twitch. He can also be found on Twitter!