Viper: “I always want to talk myself into thinking I am favored”

Two years ago Torben “Viper” Wahl, a relatively unknown German player, qualified for the Hearthstone Championship Tour European Summer Championship.

He wasn’t on a team, and he hadn’t appeared at a major event before—let alone performed well in one. But he went undefeated in prelim bracket and made it to the Championship in California. Things didn’t really work for him and he fell in the first round. Some might have chalked his appearance up to luck.

Viper has spent two years trying to get back to this point and prove those doubters wrong. Last year, he came agonizingly close to reaching a Championship again but missed out. He was Germany’s top HC points earner and anchor of the Hearthstone Global Games team, but internal issue meant that team crashed and burned.

With all that experience of missing out under his belt, Viper gets to the endpoint of his two-year journey in California this week—and he’s determined to make it count.

Viper spoke to the assembled press ahead of the event about lineup choices, joining Team Genji, and his expectations for the tournament. Outlets in attendance included Inven Global, Twin Galaxies, and Kicker Esports.

Who would you say right now is your biggest threat at the Championships?

Viper: I always want to talk myself into thinking I am favored, I don’t want to go into a game thinking I am disadvantaged. Generally I feel good going into my first game against Rase deck-wise. And then looking at the other two people I might face, XiaoT and Tansoku, I think both are a little less favored than against Rase. But I feel confident going into those as well, probably slightly above 50 percent or 50 to 60 percent against everyone in my group.

How does it feel to be back at a Summer Championships two years after your last appearance?

Actually it feels really good. Two years ago was the first Hearthstone tournament I’d basically ever played, and I made it Championships and then failed in getting to Blizzcon. So two years later I just want to get to Worlds. I feel good making it again, I feel good proving that it wasn’t just lucky last time, that I’m not just lucky playing Hearthstone. I just want to get there. I feel confident, I feel good about how I’m performing this month. I’m really looking forward to it, I’m really confident. It’s really nice to be back in LA and back at Blizzard.

Why has it taken two years for you to get back to this stage?

Between two years ago and this were three playoffs. You don’t always get there. So 2017 twice I just didn’t quite make it through playoffs, didn’t make the top four. Then I just failed to qualify once. I think 2017 was the story of a lot of people just missing out on one point because we weren’t used to the new system and [the points threshold] always raised itself because more people were playing and trying. Once I got one of the downswings of missing out on one point, that was awkward. That hyped me up even more to come back this year and come back and perform. 

You and Bunnyhoppor, who prepared together, are two of the three players not bringing Druid. What went into that decision?

We’re not bringing Druid because it’s one of the most popular classes right now. Thinking about Conquest going to the tournament, what’s everyone going to bring, it’s really difficult right now because there’s so many different decks and lineups. You can’t do something which is just straight up the best. But what you can say about the majority of people is they’re going to play Even Warlock, because it’s good against aggro and good against the majority of everything else—just on average a really good deck. So your decks should probably either ban it or be able to beat it.

If you don’t want to play entirely aggro, you probably don’t want to ban it and we didn’t want to go for the entire aggro lineup. So our decks have to be decent against Even Warlock, and by being good or decent against Even Warlock your decks are also good against Taunt Druid. That’s why bringing Taunt Druid felt bad because we expected most people to come to this conclusion. So there are a lot of Rogues, there are Recruit Hunters. We are not the only ones bringing Control Mage, there’s even a Combo Priest. There are a lot of decks good against those two [Even Warlock and Taunt Druid] because it’s just the obvious thing to bring. So we are really happy that we figured out the fourth deck that’s just straight up better than Taunt Druid. 

In the press kit you mentioned you wanted to face Turna, as you thought he was one of the weaker players. Could you tell us your reasoning for that?

I actually got asked this question so often the past few days. Basically when I was asked to make those statements I knew the four European guys. I knew Bunnyhoppor, A8, and Turna, and I just know Bunnyhoppor is always playing well, always on top of his game. I know A8 is always trying and not playing bad. He’s always thinking everything through. I didn’t know much about Turna, I just knew the games he played on stream at the HCT playoffs, the game he played against me, and it felt like he was nervous on stream and making small misplays. I’m not sure if he played fast, or if he actually thought about everything. He just didn’t play optimally, he brought some weird cards in his lineups. His lineup was a little weird.

So I just said I’d probably want to face off against the guy who brought the weakest lineup to qualify for playoffs or probably was nervous or just straight up made some little missteps on stream. This is even a bigger stage, so if he’s nervous he’s probably going to be nervous again, and that makes for not optimal plays.

What are your expectations for the tournament, how well do think you will do?

My expectations, obviously I want to get top four. I want to make Worlds, I guess that’s obvious. Expecting? I don’t know, it’s hard to answer, because everyone is kinda close. I myself think I’m favored to make it out of groups, but even thinking I’m favored to make it out of groups, if I was playing this tournament multiple times I wouldn’t make it to top four every time. Probably every third time? I think being above every fourth time is quite good. On average I probably make it out of groups, probably I only make top eight. It’s awkward to answer that because it’s just a percentage game and we are playing only one run. 

How did you end up on Team Genji?

How do you end up on a team? I guess you’re looking for a team, then you look who a good team and which team you want to represent, which teams your friends are playing in. Team Genji has Sintolol and Seiko, two of my best friends in the Hearthstone community. Representing the team your friends are already representing and the friends you’re talking to on a daily basis feels good. So when I was asked to join the second squad with Deathsie and Rosty, I know Deathsie as well. He’s a cool dude, we’re having fun whenever we meet up. There was no downside, obviously I want to join. It’s a great team, friends are there, we work well together. It’s not like joining a team to just go for the team standings, we can be friends and be together without stressing each other out.

How do you balance being a student and playing Hearthstone? How has it helped you?

Honestly being a student and playing Hearthstone there’s always times where it’s the end of the month and you have to grind ladder and have a tournament to prepare for. So being a student and being able to take some time off in a certain week, or do work early, that’s really great. It’s probably the best kind of job you can have apart form the job of playing Hearthstone. It’s obviously very time consuming, it’s kinda hard to have free time in between both, but it somehow works.