Hakjun “Kranich” Baek was one of the South Korean representatives at the Blizzcon World Championship for Hearthstone, surprising fans everywhere with an incredibly strong showing, including taking out European Favorite Kolento 3-2. I asked him about his road to Blizzcon, his showing there, and the South Korean Hearthstone scene.

Is is true you learned English through Twitch Chat?

Kranich: Seriously, it was just a joke. I had to study English hard since I attended college which makes their students use English in the lecture. Actually Twitch tv helped me a bit because I learned how people talk in daily conversation from it. Before this I was much more familiar with my lecture books and some words in it. By the way, I do not believe that someone can learn English from Twitch Chat.

Growing up in South Korea, did you have aspirations to be a professional gamer?

Kranich: Yes I did. South Korea have been a leading region for E-sports, producing some great players. Starcraft and Warcraft3 players were my idol and I also dreamed to be a professional gamer once in my life.

How were you introduced to Hearthstone?

Kranich: I love to play Blizzard games. When I heard about a card game from Blizzard, I could not give up once I started to play it. As a pro-player, the first tournament I played was Goblin cup- which is the most popular weekly event in South Korea. I won the 10th Goblin cup with my pirate hunter deck and this brought me into the Hearthstone scene.

Can you share the decklist for the Pirate Hunter Deck?

Kranich: http://imgur.com/1h6Mks2. It was before Naxx though, and it relied heavily on 2 mana Starving Buzzard. I don't think it's relevant anymore.

People have joked you can control an opponent’s draw using your mind, how did you manage to learn that?

Kranich: Haha, I have never learned it and it must be the natural ability inside myself. To be honest, I might be one of the luckiest player in the world. My opponent usually get terrible hands at the very first draw of the game and that is why some korean fans believe the rumor I guess.

You’ve been called the “Amaz of Korea,” what are your thoughts on that?

Kranich: People might call me Amaz since we are from similar region. However I believe that we have different characteristics from each other. I am a bit introversive person and not good at interview or show. What I truly respect Amaz is that his great ability in entertainment which I did not have.

You’re currently on Golden Coin, who most westerners know as Doa, the OGN caster’s team. How did you join them?

Kranich: Actually I made Golden Coin with RenieHour and Yongkachu. We were the top players in South Korea and wanted to make a team to practice. There was no Hearthstone team at that moment in South Korea and Golden Coin was the very first one.

At Blizzcon, did you manage to play the new Goblins vs Gnomes Expansion? What are your thoughts on the cards?

Kranich: Yes I tried them. Most of the cards are super cool even though they have some RNG effects. I believe RNG is the most important key for E-sports because it is funny and it makes players think much more.

How did you qualify for Blizzcon?

Kranich: I qualified for CN vs KR masters season 2, which is the only chance to be qualified for Blizzcon. Since 7 of 8 Korean player lost against Chinese players at round of 16, I had a chance to compete with them to get a wildcard for the only one spot. I got second place in the final qualifier and finally got my ticket to Blizzcon.
(English stream can be found here.)

How do you think you performed at Blizzcon?

Kranich: Blizzcon semifinalist must be a fantastic result for me and I am proud of it. The thing which make me the most proud was showing my unique style to the world Hearthstone fans.

How did you primarily do research on opponents going into the tournament? Did you feel Asian players or unpopular Western players had an advantage due to not streaming?

Kranich: I definitely think that streaming could be huge disadvantage. All of the top 4 players in Blizzcon were actually not famous or did not stream much. The opponent of a popular streamer would get enough information from their stream to beat him.

Your first stage in groups was against Greensheep, who you promptly 3-0’d with Shaman, were you expecting such a strong start for the group stage?

Kranich: To be honest, I did not expect 3-0 score for that match. I had no idea whether I would win or lose since I never compete with players from other regions. However I was pretty confident with my shaman deck to beat all of the Greensheep’s decks.

After that you played against Firebat, and after an exciting, albeit sloppy game where you were down to 2hp, you mounted a huge comeback with Hunter for the reverse all-kill. What happened, and were you surprised to see him go on to win the tournament after defeating him?

Kranich: It was a tough match against Firebat. I realized that my hunter deck would be countered by Firebat’s zoo deck before the match and all I could do was just to wish for some luck. He was a bit unfortunate since he did not get any additional 2 damage to finish for several turns, but such thing sometimes happen when you play aggro-decks. By the way the result of some of the match would be decided by what kind of decks both players choose to brought. That is the reason why me, Tiddler, and Firebat all won against each other so I was not that surprised.

Following was the Kolento series in the quarterfinal. What went through your mind when you learned he had Loatheb in hand afterwards? Do you think he made the right decision to play around Brawl?

Kranich: Many people said that not playing Loatheb must be a huge mistake for Kolento, but I do not think so. Generally Brawl is the most threatening card to Kolento’s Druid deck and that is why he was thinking about it. However my warrior deck was a bit abnormal and it must be difficult to Kolento to figure out what was going on. People usually say something to pro-players since they can know the both players’ hand but the real match is totally different.

In an interview with Greensheep a while ago, he mentioned that Asian players often run Raging Worgen as a standard 3 drop, where a Western player might play Harvest Golem. Is Raging Worgen a popular card in Asia, and is that what influenced you to put it in your Warrior Deck?

Kranich: Asian players also do not run Raging Worgen as a standard 3 drop. It is a finisher with bunch of buff cards. Actually the concept of my warrior deck was invented by Uzra who is a player from Taiwan. His idea was that putting Worgen combo inside the control warrior deck would guarantee a much stronger finish. In this case, the entire deck will lose a little bit of its power but unexpected finish must be a fascinating option. I wanted to bring somewhat unexpected decks so I decided to use it.

Your Hunter Deck also had some unique additions, mainly a cult master and defender of Argus, which no one else did at the tournament. What was the thought process behind this - have you ran Cult Master in Hunter ever since the Buzzard nerf?

Kranich: Cult master would be a good substitution of Buzzard. Deathrattle Hunter deck usually put their minions in turn 1 to turn 3 to build strong board which is impossible to clear in a single turn, and it makes turn 4 Cult master to be insane. Also it has synergy with Unleash the hounds too.
Defender of Argus is somewhat similar minion to Houndmaster. It gives one more taunts than Houndmaster which is helpful to trigger Snake trap. Furthermore, it is hard to find a target for Houndmaster since deathrattle hunter deck use not many beast minions while the opponent trying to avoid Houndmaster buff and clearing all beasts as much as he can. In case of defender of Argus you can just put it between the tokens which is easily generated from deathrattle hunter deck.

In addition, your Handlock still runs Leeroy Jenkins, one of the only decks at Blizzcon to do so. Why the addition after the nerfs?

Kranich: We can still use Leeroy/Power overwhelming/Soulfire as a decent burst combo. It helps to win against hunter/handlock/paladin if the opponent forget about the possible surprising burst.

What happened in the semifinal against Tiddler Celestial?

Kranich: The style of my decks were a bit aggressive, finding possible lethal range of the opponent. Tiddler knew it by watching my games and decided to play much safer I guess. It was a great strategy for Tiddler.

Now that you’re one of the best Hearthstone players in the world, what is your next move for your career?

Kranich: I have been preparing for Korean team tournaments for 2 months and now the final match is left. My team Golden Coin will win this. Then I will start streaming on www.twitch.tv/kranichhs, trying to introduce myself to global fans much more. The final goal is to participate in international tournaments as much as possible.

Congratulations on such a strong showing at Blizzcon! Any plugs or shoutouts?

Kranich: Kranich Kappa Kappa Pogchamp! I love twitch tv :)
Please follow me on twitter! @KranichHS