Gather ‘round and listen in, it’s time for Tavern Talks, the series that highlights some of the amazing members of our fine tavern!
Kristal is an immensely kind and endearing Hearthstone player from Brazil who’s recently garnered a following as a streamer! Here, she talks about how she found her way to the Tavern, her approach to the game, and what it’s been like playing in front of an audience. So, pull up a chair, it’s time for Tavern Talks!
The following interview has been edited for readability and translated from Portuguese.
Question: Tell us about yourself!
My name is Berenice, I am a 74-year-old lady who is delighted with this new opportunity to be part of the Hearthstone community, which is opened a new world for me...really.
Since I was a child, I've always enjoyed playing cards with my friends, as well as riding bikes around town. At home, due to my mother's guidelines, I was always a quiet person and I dedicated myself a lot to reading, which brought me a passion for learning. As an adult, I taught piano lessons for a few years, worked as a public servant, and then I graduated in psychology, a profession I still practice today. And now I'm a Hearthstone streamer too!
I've always had a lot of friends in the physical world, and now I have a lot of friends in the virtual world as well, which I never thought could happen. I never imagined I would make such strong bonds in the virtual world, and yet today I do live streams almost daily because I miss that contact.
Q: How did you start playing Hearthstone and what did you enjoy about it?
When I was taking care of my mother in the hospital in 2015, I really missed interacting with my friends and playing cards as usual. It was then that my son – a huge Blizzard fan – showed me Hearthstone.
Despite resisting a lot in the beginning to play something by computer or tablet in the virtual world, at my son's insistence, I started playing Hearthstone and it was impossible not to fall in love. As a psychologist, I was quite curious about each hero's archetype, where each had a different personality, which is reflected in their base cards and even in their hero power. I also really like the narrative where the Priest class uses holy spells, and I question his reasons when he becomes a Shadow Priest.
Q: You have a very specific hero rotation strategy when you log into Hearthstone. Can you explain how that works?
When I saw ten distinct heroes, each with their unique hero power and characteristics, I was fascinated and decided that I wouldn't dedicate myself to just one, I wanted to play with them all. And each hero's art and their cards are also beautiful. I think Blizzard's illustrators are very talented.
My order of hero’s rotation is: Warrior, Shaman, Warlock, Druid, Mage, Rogue, Demon Hunter, Hunter, Paladin and Priest. To make sure everyone gets a chance to participate during my daily games, on odd days of the month I follow the list from first to last, and on even days from last to first.
Q: How do formulate your strategies for every expansion?
At first, I didn't know about the existence of a meta or sites that could recommend me the best deck lists, so I built my own decks looking for the synergies that made the most sense to me for each class.
I write a lot of information, learnings, and insights in a notebook, which I still use today. There I write which cards I changed from each hero and why, what is working and where I need to focus. As I finish my live streams with a friendly challenge against one of my followers, I also record when I lose and win. I’m now in the third notebook, and I intend to continue using process this to record all my experiences and progress there!
Despite knowing the meta today through my followers, I continue to build my own decks. It’s part of the fun of the game for me! The rule I made is that if a hero loses in two rotations, I open their deck and change 1-4 cards, to address whatever weaknesses I noted from my games. If I can’t reach my target rank on my own, then I start looking at fan sites for deck suggestions.
Q: When did you decide to become a live streamer? What has surprised you about this space?
Despite playing Hearthstone casually since 2015, after breaking my foot in August 2019 and being stuck at home during the recovery, I started playing daily. My son found it funny because I spoke out loud, giving commands to heroes and complained about the RNG (laughter). That's how his idea of creating a live stream channel for me was born.
I resisted a lot at first, as the digital space was out of my comfort zone. But through my son's persistence we made the first broadcast on July 22, 2020, and it was a great discovery for me in a new world.
With the pandemic, this virtual space became my biggest opportunity to interact with people. Today I stream daily, and I love this activity. To my followers I'm “Grandma Kristal” and they called themselves my “Little Crystals”.
One day, a member of the Brazilian Hearthstone community named Eduquesa discovered me while browsing the internet and meeting new Hearthstone streamers. He started sharing my channel through social media and suddenly there were 100 people watching me.
I remember being a little intimidated as some of these new visitors started asking my contact to do interviews on other live streams, and I called my son for help. When I told him what was going on, he said, “relax mom, you must be looking at the wrong number on the interface,” and when he found that it was true, he was very surprised too!
Since then, the community from all over Latin America has embraced me, and I have already been invited to participate in interviews on various channels with other members of the Hearthstone community!
Today my friends from the physical world demand more of my presence in their activities, and when I explain to them that I can't because I'm going to do a livestream, it becomes a very funny conversation, because they don't understand exactly what it is or how much it means to me.
Q: What did you do for your 1-year anniversary of streaming?
My followers have always asked me to play piano on streams, but I haven’t practiced for many years, so I preferred not to. As every musician knows, it takes a lot of study and practice to do it well. But they kept insisting and I accepted for the one-year anniversary stream. One of my followers played his violin in his own stream, and joined them so that we could play together, which for me was excellent.
Although I was a little rusty, my “Little Crystals” loved it and thanked me a lot for sharing this moment with them. Now it’s a memory that brings me great joy.
Q: Now that players from all over the world will get to know you, what message would you like to tell them?
I graciously open the doors of my stream channel to anyone who wants to know me and my Hearthstone content. My native language is Brazilian Portuguese, and I can communicate in Spanish well, but I don't take my chances with English and other languages. My dear “Little Crystals” often help me in this communication bridge when we have visitors from other countries.
I often hear from my followers that the good energies of my channel contribute so that they can overcome difficult times and that they are very grateful for being there with me. This is something very gratifying and it thrills me to think that I can reach people's hearts and minds in a playful and serene way. This was all thanks to Hearthstone, and I am so grateful for what the game has given me.
It will be a great joy to meet and interact with you all, and exchange good energies with players from around the world!
