Player Spotlight: Harry ‘Massan’ Cheong

 

Author: iNVader - Twitter | Twitch.TV | Facebook

Harry “MaSsan” Cheong is a former professional Starcraft 2 player in addition to being a part of the global invitational winning team, H20m in Combat Arms. During the closed beta however, he switched to Hearthstone as a main focus. He started out playing Hearthstone after his roommate received a second beta key. At first MaSsan declined the offer for the key, but soon decided that he could play it when he needed a break from Starcraft 2.

His goal now is to become a leader in the competitive scene and a master of theorycrafting. “I understand that there is a skill level cap as for playing same deck and hand, and I hope to learn things beyond that.“ I interviewed MaSsan to help us get a good idea of who he is and what he thinks of Hearthstone’s recent success.

Why did you switch from SC2?

“I actually never planned to switch from SC2. My monitor was broken only a month after I bought a new one and I had to plug a TV into my computer to play games. Unfortunately, the delay was big enough that I decided not to play SC2 until new monitor was arrived and that opened the opportunity to play Hearthstone and stay intact with my viewers . Somehow, now I stream Hearthstone mainly.”

What would you consider to be your play style?

“My playing style relies on controlling the board early on to get card advantage so I have mid to late game winning conditions on board by using my life as resource early on. However, I find my style sometimes relies too heavily on card advantage since there are many other factors in the game other than that. On Arena, this seem to work the best as I have 10.5 wins per 3 arena losses with rogue over past 200 games. I do think that other heroes need to be played differently and I’m still learning those styles.”

Which deck would you say is best for your play style and why?

“I think rogue and druid benefit the most with my playing style. Rogue in particular because they’re able to use life as resource most fluently out of all heroes. Druid works as well, because of their ability to fit into different situations and control the board with their ability to adapt.”

What do you think of the current meta?

“ Players are playing all decks from rush deck to control deck. To cover and be able to react to all of them, mid range decks seem to prevail overall in ladder. Obviously as mid range decks prevail, control decks will rise. The meta is shifting day by day and I’m enjoying its change, but maybe it’s changing too fast for me to catch up. I think other players who pay attention to the game will figure this out better than I do, and I’ll learn from them. “

What do you like and dislike about the recent patch?

“ I mainly played rogue in both arena and constructed. Unfortunately the mid range beat down deck I was playing had very bad winrates versus mages. This gave me difficulties since mage was one of 3 most played heroes in Heartstone. So I was very happy when Pyroblast mana cost went up from 8 to 10. I’m thinking I’ll be able to play rogue again at a high level. Then I realized that hunter became the new mage playing style-wise, giving me very little answers. As for balance between heroes, I have nothing to talk about since I’m just learning about the competitive scene.”

What do you think should be changed for the next patch?

“I don’t think the game has been played enough after this patch to talk about what should be changed as far as content of the game goes. As for visuals and information of the game, some user interface could change, as well as fixing bugs.”

What new features would you like to see added to the game?

“I’d like Hearthstone to have spectator mode to appeal to other people, as well as re-work on some of card special effects. Besides that, I believe in Blizzard will do magic that I’m not even thinking of.”

What is your favorite card currently and why?

“My favorite card since the beginning of my first competitive effort has been Edwin VanCleef. It synergizes with other card so well and he can be effectively used at any stage of the game, even on turn two. I like reactive cards that have multiple purposes and Edwin VanCleef is the definition of that in my opinion.”

What upcoming events/tournaments are you participating in/excited for?

As for Hearthstone, there aren’t that many major leagues yet. In fact, only tournaments that are popular are ones that popular streamers are invited and participating. As the game just went into open beta, I’m just excited for more spotlights and plans happening for Hearthstone, but nothing solid yet.

How will you prepare for tournaments?

“ I always try to practice in same environment. If I were to participate in a tournament, which I have no plans yet since there aren’t any open tournaments, I’ll definitely do the same thing with perhaps an extra dagger behind my hand for surprises. “

What would you like to say to your fans?

Thank you for supporting me and my stream. I’m very grateful that you are watching me over other streamers out there. Please continue to support me, my channel, my work, and my team and sponsors in future!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’d like to give a shout-out to my team IvD as well as their sponsors, MSi, Coolermaster, and Natverk Teknik.

If you’d like to learn more about MaSsan and keep up with his progress in Hearthstone, you can watch his stream at www.twitch.tv/MaSsanSC or follow him on twitter at @MaSsanSC for updates on his stream or other plans.