Neirea is Top 4 EU Once Again

May 25 2017


Neirea, this is the second time you've qualified for the season championships this year. That's 2/2 so far! You must be on top of the world.
FeelsGoodMan. After I won versus INER, I felt a bit of a relief. I don't know even why


You mentioned on stream that you just brought the four decks you were most comfortable with this season. Did you think that was the best strategy? And how confident were you this season with such a strategy rather than utilizing the targeting strategies many other pro players came up with?
After I saw the lineups from the other players, I thought I wouldn’t go far with this kind of lineup, because there was so many aggro lineups! I have Taunt Warrior that always gets banned by aggro, so I am left with Quest Rogue, Jade Druid, and Gunther Mage. Mage is decent versus aggressive decks, but Druid and especially Quest Rogue can struggle against them.

That said, I did tech Druid and Rogue to have a better chance by adding Hungry Crab to Druid and a few extra Taunts to Rogue.

I had to hope to not hit aggro in the swiss portion and it happened! I only played one and was able to sweep it.





In your opinion, do you think these four decks that you brought are the strongest decks in the metagame?
I can't really tell what the best decks are but the decks I chose were very consistent at what they do.


You've had a lot of success in the official Hearthstone circuit, especially compared to unofficial tournaments like Dreamhack. Do you attribute that to anything in particular or is it all RNG?
I think I’ve just played more official tournaments than unofficial ones so I prepared for them better.


You started your Hearthstone journey about three years ago. Are you satisfied with how far you've gotten since then?
I am not satisfied because I haven't gotten any major titles yet; but in level of play, I progressed a lot since the beginning.


What are some examples of things you're doing better now compared to before?
It's mostly about deck preparation for tournaments and evaluating plays based on percentage.


Last season, you were one match away from qualifying from the world championships. What lessons have you learned from that experience?
I learned that I should at least test decks before submission

Warlock was the only deck I didn't play before with certain techs. In the last game vs Priest, a card like Sylvannas —
instead of MCTech — would be really good in one of the turns where I just Tapped and played Sunfury. I tested that Warlock after I submitted my decks and it did pretty poorly vs Dragon Priest, because I (for some reason) wanted to have better matchups against Shaman and Rogue. This is why I chose Felfire Potion over Shadowflame and it hurt in the Dragon Priest matchup too.


Are you looking forward to go to China in particular?
I was in China this year already for WESG, so it's my second time. I am excited to see what Blizzard prepared for us this time and most importantly, this is another big opportunity to win a title or at least qualify for Worlds.


Finally, anything you want to say to your fans?
Thanks for supporting me! It improves my attitude a lot when I see positive comments!






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Writer // Neirea
Photography // Mike Stillwell
Graphics // Shiroiusagi