Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching the Hearthstone Masters Tour live at Esports Stadium Arlington. I couldn’t help myself and brought along a backpack with water, $2 worth of candy which security confiscated, and the good ol’ notepad.
Here’s what I found out:
Edwin “HotMEOWTH” Cook
HotMEOWTH is a professional who made it big in 2016, winning the HCT Americas Summer Championship that year. Two months later, he competed in the 2016 Hearthstone World Championship which he said was his favorite tournament of all time.
Although he didn’t bring it to Masters Tour Arlington, HotMEOWTH’s favorite deck of the set is Embiggen Druid. His favorite card of the set is Rising Winds, which is appropriate as he brought Quest Druid instead.
“I didn’t think it was that good,” HotMEOWTH said. “It felt like Novice Engineer, but better.”
He was later convinced through testing and a push from his friend, Eddie “Eddie” Lui, that the card was strong.
Casper “Hunterace” Notto
Hunterace is a Hearthstone Grandmaster best known for winning the Hearthstone World Championship in 2019. Although his favorite deck is Holy Wrath Paladin, he said his favorite card of the set is actually Dragonqueen Alexstraza because of how many one-of decks it can fit into.
“I just love Highlanders,” Hunterace said.
Brian “bloodyface” Eason
bloodyface is a storied Grandmaster who recently got second at the Grandmasters 2019 Global Finals, taking home $100,000.
He recently got picked up by Lazarus Esports shortly after competing in the last Hearthstone Grand Prix at
DreamHack Atlanta 2018. He also 3-0d me in that tournament and gave me some pointers on Zoolock, so I’m a fan.
He said he fondly remembers the 2018 HCT Fall Championship as that was the first time he “made the big stage.”
With the rise, or the descent I guess, of dragons, Highlander Hunter has been pushed over the edge according to bloodyface.
Although Hunter’s his favorite deck of the set, Kronx Dragonhoof makes his number one card spot because of its strength and versatility.
“It’s just busted,” bloodyface said.
Julien “Cydonia” Perrault
Cydonia is another veteran I’ve had the honor of playing against.
When I was a young lad and went to my first official LAN tournament, I met Cydonia in round three of DreamHack Austin 2018 at the Grand Prix.
I took him to game five and then I didn’t know that, as it turns out, protecting your Tar Creeper is more important than one damage. I learned that activating a secret early is not worth losing your minion as a control deck. This was useful information I used to reverse-sweep TerrenceM a day later, but that’s a story for another time.
Cydonia said his favorite card of the set is Shudderwock. I may have misheard this, but I believe he said Hagatha is riding Shudderwock in one of the trailers, but I cannot find any evidence of this. I’d like to live in a world where this actually happened, so I’m choosing to believe him.
His favorite deck is Galakron Warlock due to it’s ability to constantly wipe the opponent’s board.
“It’s the one deck where you can clear everything,” Cydonia said.
Edit: he was talking about Wail Of The Shudderwock. Thanks for the message Cydonia!
Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher
Monsanto is a fabled Grandmaster who popularized the old Highlander Priest, also known as Razakus Priest. My fun fact about him is despite being quite reserved, he likes blasting heavy metal music while playing in tournaments, at least during DreamHack.
He’s a fan of competing with players he knows as his favorite event was HCT Bangkok 2018 because it was well-run, and he got to attend with several friends.
He likes a slightly different flavor of Warlock, called by him as Handlock, Freezelock, or more commonly, Trashlock. His favorite card of the set, coincidentally also a Warlock card, is Nether Breath, because like all of us, he likes SMOrcing.
“I like spells that can hit face,” Monsanto said.
