In a vlog posted yesterday, G2 Esports Hearthstone player and streamer Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy stated he would no longer be playing on the game’s ladder nor competing in the Hearthstone Championship Tour open circuit. This comes after Lifecoach and his practice partner Jan “SuperJJ” Jansen made early exits in the HCT Winter season, with whom Lifecoach airs his grievances about the game in the video.
In a meta dominated by huge power swing cards and low consistency, the German pro critiqued Blizzard’s game design as being too watered-down and casual friendly. Specifically, Lifecoach discusses Blizzard’s removal of complex cards from the meta, like Molten Giant, Blade Flurry and Grim Patron, only hurts the game’s potential skill ceiling. Furthermore, Lifecoach criticizes how cards with excessive RNG involvement and power-swing capabilities (like Patches and Kazakus) lower this skill cap even further. Lifecoach argues that, in Hearthstone, “if you play extremely well, you might have 65 percent, and [if you] really, really play bad Hearthstone that day, it doesn’t matter, you still have 50-55 percent.”
Lifecoach said he still enjoys formats like ESL’s nine deck Trinity Series, which allows for more “skill-heavy decks,” though he feels “just fed up” with Blizzard’s treatment of the game. Lifecoach said he would no longer be talking about Hearthstone unless the game’s meta underwent great changes, and that he would instead play CD Projekt’s Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, which he regarded as a game with a much higher skill ceiling and complex deck building.
Do you agree with Lifecoach’s assessment of the meta? Let us know by tweeting us @GAMURScom.
