Interview with GreenSheep about qualifying for Blizzcon World Championship: "I'm going to win of course"

Coming out of the Road to Blizzcon Qualifiers as one of the best four players in Europe, James 'Greensheep' Luo is preparing to head to Los Angeles in November for a chance to prove himself as one of the best players in the world. Before that however, I had a chance to ask him questions about the qualifiers and his preperation.

In your AMA, you answered that you used to play the Pokemon TCG. Were you at an actual professional level for that game, and do you think it helped you perform well in Hearthstone?

GreenSheep: I would like to class myself as a professional since I went to all major tournaments and placed high in most of them including a few world championships. I think that having past tcg experience it helped me get a grasp of the game faster but all cards games are different and you have to play to improve your play.

 

What was your attitude going into Qualifiers when you didn’t qualify in the same way that the rest of the players did?

GreenSheep: I felt sorry that both theude and Noisyboy couldn't go since they both worked so hard to qualify but I'm happy that I got another opportunity to prove myself on a world stage.

 

Over the course of Dreamhack, your teammate Blackout was very vocal on twitter about the insane amount of preparation you two did for each match. How crucial was having this support system in getting you to the round of 4?

GreenSheep: Before and during the tournament me and Blackout did a lot of deck testing and strategizing about what decks I might face and which decks I should ban and which decks to pick for certain matchups, a night after my games we also rewatched all the matches of my possible opponents and tried to find out their lists and predict what they would ban and play. I think that all this prep greatly improved my chances to win and I think that it is very important that you have people to test and theorise with.

 

Similarly, what do you think the direction of Hearthstone e-sports is in terms of support staffs, team houses, and dedicated practice slots like how the directions of other e-sports have gone?

GreenSheep: In terms of growth I think hearthstone has been one of the fastest growing esports ever and will continue to grow, I think it is important to have something like a manager like Frodan is for tempostorm but i don’t think that hearthstone will be an esport than requires a team house as much as other games but it could be good. I think having like a scheduled team theory session would also be useful.

 

This was your first major international LAN event. How was it competing in a foreign country with a large crowd?

GreenSheep: I am fine with being in a foreign country since I have been to alot of countries around the world but it was my first time playing in front of a large live audience and being streamed around the world so I was pretty nervous but the atmosphere was amazing, it was probably one of the best experiences i've had in my life.

 

How are you looking to prepare for Blizzcon?

GreenSheep: I will test alot of new decks on ladder to try and find something that will be unique and dominate and ofcourse i will theorycraft with my friends and teammates.

 

Why was Druid almost permanently banned away from you? Did your opponents know the exact deck you were running or did they just ban it away because Thijs did?

GreenSheep: I think that druid was one of my strongest decks and therefore it lead to Thijs banning it and since everyone saw all my decks except the druid so it is natural to ban the deck you dont have any info on.

 

What went through your mind after topdecking the Rockbiter in game 3 against ThefishOU?

GreenSheep: What just happened???? I was amazed I won the game let alone 3-0 knowing that thefishou was a very skilled player.

 

You were one of the few players using Shaman at Dreamhack. What are your thoughts on the class and how it currently fits into the metagame?

GreenSheep: I really like playing shaman since it seems like an aggro deck to me and they are what I like playing, it's due to the high amount of burst I can do with doomhammer and al’akir. I feel like should be really good in this metagame due to the popularity of handlock.

 

Going into Blizzcon, do you feel most players will stick with the current strong decks such as Handlock and Ramp Druid, or will we see lots of surprise decks like ThefishOU’s aggro mage, or Reynad’s Deathrattle Rogue?

GreenSheep: I think due to there being players from all regions, there will be some weird and unique decks but also some of the norm. I’ve seen some asian players run Raging Worgens in decks as though it were a harvest golem so im expecting something extra unusual from them.

 

Being only 16 and still a student, does getting a free trip to LA for a $100,000 tournament prove to any friends or family that you could make a living off of video games?

GreenSheep: All my friends are really excited and happy for me however my family is less enthusiastic since they don’t see any value in playing video games but they are beginning to realise the actual scale of esports.

 

Finally, how do you realistically think you’ll do at Blizzcon?

GreenSheep: Im going to win ofcourse.

 

Thanks for the interview, any shoutouts?

GreenSheep: Shoutouts to my teamates Blackout and Cookmysock for helping me prepare, my family and firends for their support and ofcourse everyone in team dignitas for being awesome and of course all our amazing sponsors.

Follow greensheep on @greensheephs and twitch.tv/greensheephs.