Interview with Bakery On Mid-Season Brawl and Support Meta

After a strong showing in the Mid-Season Brawl, Team Dignitas is back at it in the HGC League where a new patch sees changes to several of the Support Heroes. We sat down with team captain James "Bakery" Baker and asked him about recent events and the Support meta.

The first of two World Championships this year has concluded. How do you feel walking away having beaten both the Korean teams but not winning the tournament?

Bakery: We definitely have some mixed feelings about how the Mid-Season Brawl went. If someone had told us that we were going to make it to the final then we would have been really excited, but then they also told us that we would be 1 kill away from winning it all, I'm sure we would then have been pretty sad. If someone told us that we would convincingly beat both Korean teams across 4 different series then we almost wouldn't have believed you, but if they then also told us we would finish behind Fnatic then we would be pretty sad. We're proud of our tournament performance, and we're so happy that we showed how good we can be as a team when we play at our full potential, but we're sad that we weren't able to win it all.

Looking back at the Grand Finals against Fnatic, what was it about their compositions that made it such a difficult series? You both looked so evenly matched it felt like it could’ve been anyone’s series.

Bakery: I don't think it was as much the compositions that they had, but a combination of our own draft staples and how well they played in the game itself. I definitely agree that the series could have gone either way.

After what we witnessed at the Mid-Season Brawl, would you consider EU the strongest Heroes of the Storm region in the world right now?

Bakery: I think it would be hard to argue that right now Europe is not the strongest region. I do think that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, and we shouldn't be calling Europe the overlords just yet, but hopefully, if we can repeat the same level of performance at the next World Championship then we can truly say that Europe dominates.

At the Western Clash in Katowice earlier this year you said that the team only played to 60% of their potential. Did we see the full potential of Team Dignitas at the Mid-Season Brawl?

Bakery: I think that in a lot of games you did see our full potential, but in others, you saw us struggle. On average I would say we played this tournament at around 80% of our full potential, and we're really looking forward to polishing the final few rough edges we have.

Zaelia seems to fit in with the team more and more for each tournament to the point where he is becoming a regular playmaker. How do you see the future for the current roster halfway through the season?

Bakery: When we made the roster swap we had high expectations for Zaelia, despite him being relatively new to both the game and the competitive scene and also his roleswap. He has definitely lived up to those exceptions, and I think he'll continue to improve and be making the game even more about him moving forward into Phase 2.

Let’s leave the past in the past and look forward. With the most recent patches we have seen changes to many of the popular Support Heroes. How do you like the current state of the Support Heroes overall?

Bakery: I'm definitely not a fan of the current state of Supports. I don't like the changes that they have been making directly to Supports, and the way that the meta has indirectly changed the role is even worse. I have faith that Blizzard is going to fix a lot of these issues eventually, and I think Stukov shows a great understanding of the core problems the role currently has, but I really hope its sooner rather than later.

With the recent changes to Malfurion where he lost Cleanse, Bolt of the Storm and Mana Regen on Twilight Dream, Do you think that puts him on the same level as the majority of the other Support Heroes? Or has he fallen out of the meta completely?

Bakery: It's tough to say since we didn't have too much time to scrim with him, but I think he currently sits in the 'A bit too situational tier' with a good number of other Supports.

Uther has been involved in all the competitive games in HGC EU in phase 2 so far. Why is Uther the top tier support at the moment?

Bakery: Uther is the only healer right now who has it all. He has tools to save his teammates, tools to save himself, good enough sustain to play the game properly, enough damage to be a consideration, and good utility. No other healer can do anywhere near as much as Uther right now, since Malfurion's mana nerfs and Cleanse removal.

Auriel was the only Support Hero with a decent sample size to come out of week 1 of HGC EU with a winrate above 50%, often paired with a second Support. Are you for or against double-support metas?

Bakery: I personally am against Double Support metas. I think it takes a large amount of in-game skill out of the esport, and moves it much more towards the drafting phase. It limits the potential for top players to make plays, and means that players can make far too many mistakes without allowing them to be punished. I feel that there's a common misconception that people dislike Double Support because it slows down the teamfighting or the game, but that isn't the case - I've always preferred playing in slower metas than fast ones and Double Support is by far my least favourite.

We saw Fnatic play a lot of Brightwing in the Mid-Season Brawl. She recently got some buffs to her Pixie Dust, do you think we will see more of the Fairy Dragon in the next few weeks of HGC?

Bakery: I think we'll definitely see some more of her. The buff isn't too significant, but it helps her out just enough to place her into that 'A bit too situational tier' I spoke about earlier.

What do you want in a support hero? Do you think it’s difficult to balance what pros want in a support character versus what works well for the rest of the Heroes community?

Bakery: My ideal Healer has a few things; The potential to make plays, healing that is hard to perform optimally, and the ability to save my teammates. I think a reasonable number of players would want to swap that third point for "has damage", but that's not something that I personally value. I think some aspects of the Support role make it hard to please everyone (such as Cleanse) but I think every Support that is liked by pro players is also liked by most of the Heroes community.

Thank you for taking you time to answer our questions. Do you have any shoutouts for your sponsors and fans?

Bakery: Huge shoutout to all the fans who cheered us on at the Mid Season Brawl, especially those who came to say hi or got a picture with us. Shoutout to my team, and of course Team Dignitas and its sponsors as well. If you want to follow me, you can catch me on Twitter @BakeryHeroes. Thanks for the interview!