Bunnyhoppor Interview – Winning the Summer Championship, Matchup Discussion

Skiffington also got a chance to talk with Bunnyhoppor who was the winner of the HCT Summer Championship! He discussed some plays from his matchups, as well as his plans for the future! Check out his interview with Che Chou in case you missed it!

Can you walk us through your emotions during the Mage versus Priest match? It was clear that whoever drew the Death Knight first would probably win and he kept Psychic Screaming stuff into your deck. How do you stay fresh mentally during something like that?

The matchup was unfavored. I practiced it because I was preparing to play Rugal the day before so I played against a friend of mind and I think in ten matches he had his Death Knight eight times and I really felt like I wanted to throw my laptop away. Obviously, I didn’t because that’s stupid, but yeah. The matchup is bad so I feel like in the matchup where you aren’t supposed to win it’s easier to be okay with taking a bad beat.

You could obviously see it on his face. He was way more dissatisfied with not having his DK. I was basically thinking, “Well, he Screams this once, this is fine, I’ll take a few cards in my deck.” But he never Shadow Visions-ed for another Psychic Scream so I played Alanna. He’s drawn 20 cards so there’s a chance he doesn’t have it and just dies. But then he Screams Alanna so then I’m thinking that I have two cards in my deck which wins me the game. He can never answer Alanna unless he draws his DK and then I pretty much just lose anyway. Or I get my own Death Knight. So he screams stuff in my deck but my deck does more without the DK than his deck does without the DK. I can still play minions, he can’t.

If you’re in a bad matchup and it’s not going well it usually doesn’t make you as upset as if you’re in a good matchup and things just aren’t going well at all because you feel like you’re supposed to win. If you feel like you’re supposed to lose, you’re supposed to lose, it’s okay.

I’d actually like to ask about the Cubelock matchup. You looked to have that game in hand with the top decked Ooze that took out the Skull of Man’ari, but the outcome was unexpected with Lord Godfrey with that outcome and how do you avoid getting tilted in a situation like that?

I knew exactly what was going to happen. I had just removed all of his threats and at some point, he was going to go Doomguard + Cube and then I just lose. If I don’t have my second Polymorph I just lose. The game’s over. Otherwise, I’d probably win.

The turn that he plays it I draw Frost Lich Jaina which of course, in the long run, is the way better play but I knew he had two Faceless in his deck and he also has Prince Taldaram. So there’s no way he doesn’t copy that Cube. So I went for the Raven to high roll my Polymorph into his Defile which is basically my only out to win the game at that point. Obviously, I don’t get it so I played Blizzard and basically resigned the game in my head. Not because I don’t want to win but because that’s what his deck does and when it does it well I don’t have a chance to beat that.

I don’t know if I could have kept the Polymorph that I used at the start. I was a bit too afraid. Using it early on the Doomguard was probably not entirely correct. I’ll have to go rewatch that. That didn’t help it. I felt my odds in the series just got a lot worse because I can not go with my Evenlock into his Cubelock with Evenlock being my weakest deck in the series. Doesn’t feel great, but you know it’s coming.

As the first seasonal champion of the year you have quite a long time until worlds. So what’s the plan until then? You going right back to grinding or taking a break for a mental reset?

Next up is HCT Italy which is in a week. So I’ll play in that. After that there’s probably not going to be any ladder for the rest of the month and for August as well. Like you heard in the media pieces I have to finish up a PhD thesis and I want to do this properly. I want to do this in a good manner. I don’t want to half-ass it at all. I’m going to have to focus on that for a while and let Hearthstone rest a bit. That’s a choice I’m very happy to make.

Just being able to get this milestone in front of a crowd. First off, what’s different about having those people out there watching you when you’re coming our, during the game, during interviews, and how did it change the winning moment for you as well? Hearing those cheers and seeing those people out there.

A crowd is always great in between matches. It feels nice to be able to play in front such a crowd. Also I really like to speak my mind about games in between the matches. When you’re playing you have so many things going through your mind and you’re like, “Could have done this, could have done this, could have done…” You just really want to talk about it. That’s why most Hearthstone players when they get done with their matches they just explode. They just talk so, so much…like I’m doing right now.

The crowd is always nice. During the games there’s not really any pressure from the crowd. I feel the pressure from what’s on the line. Really I had moments where I was like, “I don’t want to play Hearthstone for these odds. I don’t want to do this.” And then I’m like, “Well, this is pretty much exactly why I’m doing this so stop being stupid.” You have these moments where there’s so much pressure.

Did you have a personal favorite opponent during this tournament? Somebody that you enjoyed fighting against and what was it about that match that made you enjoy it?

I loved playing against Viper because the pressure was off. I’m okay with him winning the series as well. I don’t know if you could see that but between games one, two, and four we were goofing with each other a little bit. That felt like the most relaxed series.

I think the best moment of this tournament…the best moment I had during the tournament was probably the top decked Ooze against X. It’s the third Skull of Man’ari I get to puke with the Ooze this tournament. It just feels great. It makes me internally happy a little bit to be able to not concede on the spot. I don’t win that match regardless but it still feels good if you topdeck Ooze for Skull of Man’ari. I think everybody who’s ever played Hearthstone against a Cubelock knows that feeling.