English interview - Interview de GreenSheep - Octobre 2014

[M] Kosh : Hi Greensheep, how are you? Can you introduce yourself for our readers who might not know you?

[DIG] GreenSheep : Hi my name is James Luo but most of you know me as ‘GreenSheep’, I'm a 16 year old student from the UK who just recently qualified for Blizzcon and I play for Team Dignitas

What’s the origin of your nickname?

There is actually no origin to my nickname, I just came up with it randomly when I was making a new League of Legends account since all the popular names had been taken up so I just went with random colour and animal combinations and somehow GreenSheep was produced.

What’s the first game you played when you were younger? Thanks to which competitive game did you discover "eSports"?

I played lots of MMO’s when I was younger such as Runescape and Adventurequest but the game that got me really interested in esports was League of Legends, where I followed the scene intentively and still do though I don’t play the game nearly as much as I used to.

Why did you choose Hearthstone among all games?

Lots of my friends were playing Hearthstone and had been talked about it soon after they started releasing beta keys. I soon got very interested and managed to get a code off a giveaway on reddit, since I used to play Pokemon TCG alot it didn’t take me long to pick up the game and i’ve been addicted ever since.

How many time did you need to be legendary on HearthStone?

I have been legend rank every season in Europe and sometimes in North America when I have extra time.

How did you get to play competitively to Hearthstone?

I started playing in weekly tournaments such as Zotac cups and ESL cups after winning a few of these, I started going to local LAN's and even went to dreamhack summer although I lost quite early on there.

You are now a professional player of "Team Dignitas". How did they recruit you? Can you explain why did you choose to play professionally?

I met a guy named CookMySock on ladder and decided to add him since he was a good player, we started talking and I sooned learned that he too came from the UK. After a few months he said to me that Dignitas might be making a hearthstone team and if I was interested in joining and gave me ODEE’s skype. I presented myself to him and said I was very interested in joining and here I am. I wanted to play professionally since it’s always been a dream of mine to play video games all day and now I have a chance to make that come true.

Can you describe how you train in your team? Are you training often together? Are you preparing your tournaments with your mates, or on your own side?

The training we do as a team is mostly game theory and sharing and improving decklists especially before tournaments where we discuss what decks we should pick and ban and scout out what our opponents are playing or what they are likely to play.

We know that you’re now qualified for the BlizzCon, however I know that you should not play the qualifying tournament "Road to Blizzcon". Finally you participated to this one, because "Theude" could not come in Stockholm. How did you feel as one of the outsider of the competition? Were you confident?

Although I am sad that Theude couldn’t make it to the event due to health reasons, I’m thankful that I have a second chance to prove how good I really am and a global scale and after learning that I would be playing ThijsNL again, after he beat me in round 7 which kocked me out of Phase 1, I was rearing to get my revenge.

After defeating "ThijsNL" and our french "Lowelo" during the group stage, you qualified for the final bracket. How did you feel before the games?

I was really nervous in both these games since I knew that alot of people were watching me live and on stream and especially nervous since in both these series, I went 2-1 down in beginning but I managed to pull it back and win 3-2 both times. After knowing I had qualified for the final bracket I felt relieved but also nervous again since I would be playing on stage and if I lost, it would all be over.

The next day, you won against "TheFishou" on a severe score : 3-0. In your opinion, what were the differences between you and the others players you faced during the tournament? Especially during the last game.

I think "Lowelo" in particular was very nervous therefore I dont think he played his best during our match but both "ThijsNL" and "TheFishou" kept their cool and kept level headed. During the first two macthes I was also very nervous but in the final match I zoned out the crowd and just focused on the game itself and on my opponent.

It was the first (offline)HearthStone tournament organized by Blizzard itself, what did you think about the organization of this one and the atmosphere in general?

I felt it was a great event and all the dreamhack and Blizzard staff I met were awesome especially Mike who helped us in any way he could to make sure we had the best experience we could.

Do you think some improvements are needed for the next tournaments? For example, people spoke a lot about how to reduce the time between each round (it seems to be a bit long for the commentators)?

The days were quite long since there was only one stream and all games were streamed but I think this was good since it got to showcase all the players and great for the viewers since there were so many games although tough work for the casters. A second stream would probably be better for next time though.

How do you feel, just before Blizzcon?

I feel really good and confident that I can perform well but I still have alot of preparation to do.

Back on the game itself now. What do you think about the fun and the balance of Hearthstone at the moment? Especially after the nerf of the buzzard and Leeroy?

Although buzzard was nerfed and Leeroy was nerfed, you would think that hunter and miracle rogue was see less play but they are still really strong in the current meta, deathratte hunter is really good and violet teacher/shade miracle is good too. I think that although these decks are still strong other decks we see more play since the patch did make the game more balanced.

What is your opinion about the new cards from Naxxramas patch?

I think that naxxramas really shook up the meta and allowed for alot of new decks to be played and made more classes more viable such as priest which is now a deck which is played alot whereas before hardly anyone played it.

What’s your favorite card?

Demolisher since it is like a mini ragnaro.

What's your favorite class?

Rogue, because of combo's cards.

In your opinion, who is the best player right now?

At the momment, I think that "Kolento" is the best player since he is on a giant winstreak after winning VGVN #3, Prismata cup #2, qualifying for Blizzcon and also winning the Viagame house cup...

If you agree, I’ll ask some questions more about your personal life. What do your family and your friend think about your life and esports? Are they with you in all your choices, or on contrary do they disagree with your decision to play professionally?

At first my family was very opposed to me playing games all day but after they’ve seen my achievements and how good I am at the game, they are coming to terms with it and beggining to show interest. My friends on the otherhand have always supported me from the start and they think it’s amazing that I get to travel to so many events.

Can you confirm that you stopped your studies in order to play to Hearthstone full time?

I am still a student and will continue my studies. I try to do all my homework first then play hearthstone but it is indeed quite hard to balance both.

How do you imagine your life in 5 years? Always in esports?

In 5 years I will be 21 so still pretty young so hopefully I will still be playing if not Hearthstone then another game or id like to have a job in the esports sector.

What kind of music do you like to listen to? Maybe you have a favorite singer, or a band?

I like listening to mostly pop music, my favourite artists are Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Carly Rae Jepson.

What’s your favorite movie or TV show?

I favourite series of movies are Lord of the Rings.

What’s your favorite meal?

Fish and Chips!

Do you like a country more than others? What about a country would you like to visit and never went to ?

The place I would really want to go to is Seoul in South Korea since it is like the mecca of esports.

Do you have any fun/unusual story that happened to you ingame or IRL that you’d like to share ?

I've played a murloc deck of every class and actually once got legend with murloc shaman !

OK then, this interview is over, thank you very much for your time, it was really interesting to know a bit more about you.
Despite the fact that French people are now used to call you “the French killer”, after you defeated “Lowelo” and “TheFishou” during the “Road to Blizzcon”, do you have any words to our French readers or anything else?

I don’t really know if I should be glad that I'm known as that to the French community but I hope to play against more of you in the future since the games vs Lowelo and TheFishou were really close,intense and more importantly fun!

Thanks !