HGC BlizzCon 2018 Interview - HeroesHearth Esports' McIntyre

With BlizzCon 2018's major weekend right around the corner, there are a lot of good competitions leading up to it, including the Group Stage of the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC), which will culminate in the Finals at BlizzCon 2018. One of the notable teams taking wins and performing well are HeroesHearth Esports who are competing heavily with Team Dignitas for the top spots in Group A that will get them to the big showdown.

Assisting heavily in the success of HeroesHearth Esports success is Stafford McIntyre, who plays Flex on the team, utilizing heroes like Kerrigan and Zeratul to deal out some heavy punishment to opposing teams. McIntyle took the time from his team's confident run to speak to Twin Galaxies about the current state of Heroes of the Storm's meta, his thoughts on opposing teams at BlizzCon, and what he'd like to see come to the game in the future.

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Twin Galaxies: Before we get into the HGC, how do you feel about the current meta of Heroes of the Storm?

McIntyre: It’s interesting how the meta of HotS has evolved over the few changes that happened. We have these very heavy supports where a lot of things don’t die. Because of that, people started picking these heroes with really high kill pressure and turned it into a meta where it seems like everyone is trying to one-shot a specific target, which was often the tank. Now we’ve wrapped back around to a support-defensive team comp and posture. I think it’s interesting though because each region has their own way that they look at the game. For instance, Korea tends to like to play a sort of double-threat where they have two ranged or two threatening heroes, and if one gets attacked, the other presses forward. North America is more of a heavy front line, with a lot of support behind the frontline. Meanwhile, Europe seems to love a single-threat comp that’s similar to NA, but also different in key ways. It’s been interesting this year and a lot of things have changed. I do think it’s cool that Blizzard has been able to edit one or two things in Heroes of the Storm and change up a lot in the meta.

TG: Absolutely. Only a year ago there was the double healer meta as well, but new opportunities might come up. With a new director coming into Heroes of the Storm is there any changes you’d like to see in the meta?

McIntyre: I don’t think there’s anything too specific for me. I’ve always liked heroes like Kerrigan and Zeratul. Heroes that are capable of making the big plays or making something happen have always been really important for me as a player. I don’t really have a direction I’d like to go. That said, introduction of heroes that are a bit more flashy where it’s easy to see how a play can be made are something I’d like to see as a player. For example, in our recent match with LeftOvers, I was able to use Zeratul’s Void Prison to catch their E.T.C., Deckard Cain, and Blaze away from the Graymane, it was easy to see how that set us up to kill their Greymane. I made a play and it was easy to see. I think things like that are very cool and allow players to show their skill and talent at the highest level and I’d like for there to be more of that.

TG: On one of your matches against Team Dignitas, you used a Solo Heal Aba comp, which isn’t quite an expected comp to see. Do you think these less meta comps to get the upper hand at BlizzCon against the Korean and European teams?

McIntyre: I don’t necessarily know if it’s that type of comp that will get the upper hand over them. I think that if anything you always have high-variance compositions compared to low-variance. An Abathur Solo Support is sort of high-variance, where if your plan to play goes well, you have a better chance of winning with that comp, but if it goes poorly, then your chance to equal out the game becomes harder. There are definitely comps where you take that risk, and if you explode off the beginning of the game, you can take that lead to the victory. I don’t think that’s exactly what it will take to beat these teams, but I do think it is okay when you’re at a big event like BlizzCon to take those risks at times. In the match against Dignitas, we almost just wanted to test where we were at as a team and use that a learning experience. If we focus up on making it out of groups, there will be a chance at a redemption match if we continue to win and move forward. It was a high-variance comp we tried and it didn’t end up successful, and I think that’s fine. I think if we end up playing against them again, we’ll be looking for a lower-variance comp to beat them.

TG: We have seen some teams come in like your Solo Xul Tank comp and kind of try to surprise opponents. And obviously HeroesHearth is favored to make it out of Group Stage alongside Dignitas, but do you feel those kind of teams can consistently catch opponents by surprise or is this a testing phase to see what direction to go once you get to Anaheim?

McIntyre: I would say that using some of these compositions against the better teams is a good way to figure out if practice or scrim with a comp was valuable. Maybe you’ve had a lot of success with it in certain rounds and you want to try it against a better team to see if it works. I think Group Stage is a good time for that. With that said, looking towards BlizzCon, I think that if we keep trying to throw right hooks, get teams thinking we can throw right hooks, and then throw an uppercut, that’s kind of what using that Xul Comp is like. They’re not used to it. They’re not ready for it. They haven’t prepared for it, and at times you can catch them off guard with something like that. It is something to think about and something that I think teams do to get the upper hand.

TG: During Group Stage, you guys have only lost to Dignitas in the Group Stage, but are there any other teams you’re concerned with during this Stage?

McIntyre: I would say our next big opponent is Tempest. Playing against Korean teams in general is a lot of fun where you get to play a different type of style. They’re much more aggressive, but also tighter on their cooldowns and the rotation of their team. They’re the next big challenge for us and I think it will be interesting to see how our style of game compares to theirs.

TG: How do you feel about the Korean teams? Dignitas has been dominant during a lot of this season, but there hasn’t been a lot of interaction with the Korean teams, who have won more than their fair share of BlizzCon. How do you feel like the NA and European scene will fair against the Korean teams this year?

McIntyre: I think it’s interesting. It comes up every year - how well does our meta compare to theirs. They’re obviously very confident in what they play and very strong as a region, so it’s fun to have BlizzCon where the NA and EU can take what they know and what they practice and put it up against the skill of the Korean teams. I think that there’s a better chance this year and that the other regions are continuing to improve. Obviously for our team it’s still very new and we’ve only been in the HGC for a year, but we’ve had a ton of success. A lot of these games are still learning experiences, and even then we’ve only competed against Korean teams twice. We still have a lot to learn and we’ll continue to play, learn, and test what we know and what we’ve practiced against them.

(HeroesHearth would eventually go up against Tempest and take the match impressively. You can see the entirety of it below.)

TG: When you guys are practicing for events like BlizzCon, what are you doing to prepare for some of these teams like Dignitas or Tempest? It must be difficult to practice without being able to actively play against a team of that level. How do you approach it?

McIntyre: Within our own region, there is only so much we can do, but we do practice against teams within our region regularly. A lot of it comes out to prepping. If they have a certain playstyle we want to prepare for, be it aggressive or defensive, then we try to figure out how you exploit and take games off of that. We think of that as a team. Obviously when we get to tournaments like this, we have a better chance of practicing against them, but for us and our team, it’s also important to be confident in what we’ve practiced and not let what’s going on at a tournament or scrim make us doubt what we believe in and what we know. More than anything, it’s just a prep thing, doing our best to figure out what they’re going to play, and playing what we think is best against that.

TG: In the HGC, it can be difficult for Heroes of the Storm players to practice at that competitive level, given how different the Hero League can be from actual HGC play. Do you have any advice for Grandmaster players who are trying to better their skills and have a shot at a place in the HGC?

McIntyre: I would say for myself, for how I came up in the scene, I was on since the beginning. It came down to finding four like-minded competitors who I could play with all the time. I got to know how they played. I also got to know how I played within a team environment. That allowed me to discover my strengths and know where I would fit in on a team. From that, I was able to build a very good base for myself and even get sponsored, but more importantly, I learned how I functioned best for teams going forward as a teammate and under high pressure in events and tournaments. Back in those days, we were playing for pizza money, but that’s what got me to where I am now in front of the lights and on the stage. It’s definitely a gradual growth and I think a lot of players expect that if they’re good at Hero League, then suddenly they’re going to be good in a competitive environment, and I don’t think that’s always true. If there was advice I could give, it’s take the time to learn how to be a team member, and then slowly build that competitive experience dealing with high pressure. Hero League is not everything and I think it definitely comes down to time.

TG: Are there any Heroes in the Blizzard universe that have yet to be included that you’d like to see come to Heroes of the Storm?

McIntyre: The one that I think I’d like to see most because I like the game is from Hearthstone. I think the Inn Keeper would be very cool. I do think that having tavern-type abilities could be cool and Blizzard also needs a main tank. Maybe he drinks certain mead that gives him a buff or gets card abilities that do different things like equip armor or add attack. If you molded that into a primary tank character, I think that’d be very interesting to the game and bring something very cool to Heroes of the Storm. More than anything, I think a new tanky character that makes for a new kind of initiation would be a good addition to the game.

TG: Are there any shoutouts you want to give?

McIntyre: For sure, HeroesHearth.com for one. They’re great sponsors and do a lot of great content like builds, guides, and tier lists for Heroes of the Storm. Of course, shoutouts to my team mates, Khroen, BBJ, ishb00, and Homicidal as well. And finally, a shout out to my wife Michelle.

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Sitting close to Team Dignitas with a number of solid wins under their belt. HeroesHearth looks poised to strike at the Finals come BlizzCon. You can the team on Twitter, as well as McIntyre himself.

Want to catch the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Finals where teams will compete this coming weekend? Be sure to check out our viewing guide for where to watch BlizzCon 2018!

(Featured Image by Robert Paul/DreamHack)