Interview with Cong ‘Strifecro’ Shu: “Miracle Rogue is probably the strongest deck right now”

Cong 'Strifecro' Shu is a player who will need little introduction the majority of Hearthstone players. Widely renowned as one of the best players in the world, the King of Druid among many other titles, Strifecro has always been at the top of the professional Hearthstone scene in terms of deckbuilding and gameplay. Today onGamers talks to him about the state of Druid in the current meta, his thoughts on the nerf to Unleash the Hounds and more.

First things first, congratulations on reclaiming the #1 spot on the NA ladder!

Thanks, its good to be back at #1. I started playing again late last season and wasn’t able to get top 16 at the end, so it’s good to be able to hit #1 again. I actually hit #2 last season but lost too many after that and wasn’t able to hold one of the top 16 spots at the end.

How do you think the metagame has changed? We know you took a break to study for a few months, but do you prefer the current metagame to how it was or were you more of a fan of the previous metagame?

I didn’t take a break to study, I was just playing other games, mostly Path of Exile. The metagame has gotten a lot more varied since a couple of months ago before the Tinkmaster and Nat Pagle nerfs. It is a lot better now and I feel the matchups are closer and the play is a lot more technical now. One big point that makes the game feel a lot better now is that most top players now feel a lot more strongly about technical play which means the skill level is advancing steadily. Even a couple of months ago, many top players had the impression that deck building was almost all there was to Hearthstone and that they were all playing pretty much perfectly (which is obviously very far from the truth).

What deck do you think is currently the best in this metagame? We’ve seen more and more Shamans, Handlocks and more after the nerf to Unleash the Hounds, but do you think there is one best deck in the current meta?

Miracle rogue is probably the best deck overall in the metagame as far as climbing the ladder and winning tournaments. It is a bit inconsistent, but it ultimately has the highest win rates across the board. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have weak matchups, but rather just overall it is the strongest I think.

Everybody knows you as the king of Druid, but what do you think the Druid’s spot in the current metagame is? We’re slowly starting to see less and less of them on the ladder due to the prevalence of Handlock and Shaman, but do you think they are as strong as they always were in the tournament scene?

Druid is still one of the stronger classes, but obviously isn’t the best class anymore. Druid was very strong in an aggressive metagame because it needs to sacrifice very little to deal with the aggressive burn decks but with those decks becoming less popular, Druid loses some of it’s edge. I do feel that Unleash the Hounds was the biggest reason why Druid fell off from the top spots, and with the nerf I think Druid will get better again.

What was your opinion on the Unleash the Hounds nerf? Do you think it was warranted, or do you think that Hunter should have been changed in a different way than Unleash, such as nerfing Starving Buzzard?

The Unleash the Hounds nerf was definitely warranted. I think picking this card was fine, it is kind of one of those toxic cards where the more creatures the opponent has, the stronger it gets. There are obviously other cards like this such as any AoE, but combined with Buzzard, UtH double dips on this concept in a way that makes opponents very frustrated. Some types of Druid were hurt a lot with Unleash being so strong, but Druid wasn’t even the worst one affected by such a strong card. Paladin and Shaman saw almost no play during the period where Unleash was 2 mana because their hero power is summoning a creature. At least Druid had different styles like Ramp that was popular during this time.

There is a lot of discussion currently over cards like Starving Buzzard and Gadgetzan Auctioneer which “draw a card when X is played” limiting new cards, as it limits the amount of cheap Beasts and spells which can be introduced. Do you think these cards should be reworked or they are fine as they are?

There is always a cost of making a deck that is all cheap beasts or spells so I’m not sure if anything is intrinsically wrong with this concept. Buzzard is good, but without Unleash at 2 mana, Hunter isn’t that popular again. Rogue has too many good low cost spells and combined with Preparation and Conceal, Miracle Rogue can feel unstoppable with the right draws. I think the bigger problem with Miracle is that it is hard to interact with it, due to the fact that they can play so many cards on one turn and the potential Conceal. Gadgetzan at 6 mana could be an option, but it would kill this card in any other deck probably and nerfing mana costs have always been extremely big changes.

From the cards we’ve seen currently out of the Curse of Naxxramas expansion, which do you think will be the biggest impact on the metagame and why?

I haven’t really seen all the cards and it is hard to say. I don’t really see any of the cards having a big impact, but some will find their way into existing decks as a slightly better option probably. The Nerubian Egg card might be the biggest deck enabler though.

What do you think Paladin needs to revert it to a viable class again? In LiquidHearth’s May Power Rankings, a large majority of players positioned Paladin as the bottom class in the game. Do you think that the class cards need reworking or is it that just someone hasn’t come up with a viable deck in the current meta?

Paladin is too stale. By that I mean Paladin has few options every turn and many of its cards seem to take a long time to take effect. I think the main problem is that Paladin has very weak moves before turn 4 and with Hearthstone being a game of tempo so much, it is hard for Paladin to take control of the game.

You’re currently playing for Team Dogehouse in the TakeTV Gentlemen Cup. Do you think the team-league format we see from ESGN Fight Night and the Gentlemen Cup will be the tournament format of choice going forward, or are we still going to see the majority of tournaments being individual tournaments?

I think there will be both. Ultimately Hearthstone is a 1v1 game, so most tournaments will probably be individual but people do like some variety as well.

How does playing with Team Dogehouse differ from playing with the Liquid Value guys that you used to play with? Does playing with a different set of players change your viewpoint on certain decks or playstyles that you may not have thought about previously?

Because Hearthstone is a 1v1 game, it isn’t actually any different. It isn’t like joining another League of Legends or 2v2 team in Starcraft. How I play doesn't change at all. Information about certain decks or playstyles usually just flows from the ladder changing.

Are there currently any players you think don’t get the recognition they deserve in the scene? For instance, Hyped had two accounts in the Top 16 of NA server last season and has finally been given a tournament invite to the next PVPLive Tavern Takeover. Do you think there are more players like him that haven’t been given their big break yet?

I know there are other players who are consistently strong ladder players.

How do you prepare mentally for tournaments? Different players have different superstitions, but is there anything different you do apart from thinking about your opponent and what decks he may play? Do you do a lot of homework on your opponents before each game?

I mostly just play ladder and try to get my focus into the game. For more, preparing for tournaments has more to do with keeping interest in the game. Sometimes I will think about Hearthstone a lot throughout the day, even when I’m not playing and it is during those times that I do the best.

Any last words or shoutouts?

Shoutout to all the Goblin Hunters.

You can find Strifecro's stream over on beta.azubu.tv/Strifecro and his Twitter at @Strifecro.