Interview with Huyahanachan!

Zehua “Huyahanachan” Zao is a professional player from China, a GWENT Open regular, and the winner of GWENT Open #4. A strong opponent, known for his brilliant plays. Zehua is always calm and concentrated. He got his reputation for a good reason — his games seem to be perfect.  After GWENT Open, the new champion kindly agreed to answer some questions, so that our readers could get to know him a little bit better. Let’s get to it!

Natalia: Please, tell us about yourself. What do you do besides GWENT? 

Huyahanachan: Actually, I do play GWENT “full time”.  

N: Are you familiar with the Witcher lore by books or games? How popular are they in China? Do you have any like-minded friends? 

H: Of course, I know both the books and the games. I’m not sure what the sentiment towards the series is in China, but when I introduce people to the series, many of them are really interested in the universe.

N: How and when have you started to play GWENT? Why this particular game? 

H: I’ve been playing GWENT since March 2017. A friend recommended it to me.  

H: When I started playing GWENT, it was just for fun. Then, gradually, it turned into a professional career. 

N: As we know, you don’t stream GWENT on Twitch. Any plans for it? 

H: As I speak in Chinese, I stream GWENT on a Chinese platform — Huya.com. I think Twitch is more targeted to English-speaking audience.

N: You’ve participated in all of the GWENT Open tournaments. Can you please tell us how you feel about this journey, and whether your sentiment has changed since the beginning? 

H: I definitely think that this time I was much calmer.  

N: Have you managed to make friends with other participants? Are you staying in touch with someone out of tourneys? 

H: I don’t speak English quite well, so there’s not much communication. The language barrier is also why I can’t keep in touch with players after the tournaments. 

H: Usually everything goes pretty smoothly. CD PROJEKT RED bears the entirety of the expense, my job is only to apply for a visa. This is always a big journey for me but I’m honored to be invited to these events. 

N: The Chinese version of GWENT varies a bit from European. Are there any issues involved since you play cards that might look a bit different in between versions, or do you just not pay attention on it? 

H: There is some differences between game versions, but it doesn’t really affect the gameplay. 

N: We’ve heard you’re a part of a professional esports team. How do you guys practise before important games? Does it take much time? 

H: I don’t really spend much time preparing. My method is to discuss strategy with friends, and then play against each other. 

N: Why did you choose this particular line-up you’ll be playing? 

H: I just picked four decks, which, in my opinion, were the strongest. One of my initial choices was Skellige and their warships, but I felt that it was harder for them to defeat the Monster faction, so ultimately, I decided on another deck. 

N: How do you feel about your chances in GWENT Challenger? 

H: For now, I’m quite relaxed and confident. I don’t really think about winning — other players are also very strong. We’ll see how it goes!

N: What are your further plans for the conquest of esports peaks? Do you play anything else besides GWENT? 

H: I’ve been playing DOTA 2 and PUBG. I also used to play Hearthstone, as well as World of Warcraft. 

H: The most important thing is to take each and every single one of your games seriously and learn from mistakes — not only yours, but also your opponents’.

H: Old Speartip from closed beta. The effect after transformation was really cool. 

N: Faction? 

H: Monsters. 

N: Archetype? 

H: Consume monsters. 

H: #TeamYen.