Meet the Teams: Team Genji

Welcome back to Meet the Teams! You’ve already had a chance to get to know Red Reserve and Intrepid Fox—this month, learn more about Team Genji, who recently finished in fourth place overall in the Pro Team Standings for Season 2. Give It Up for Team Genji A double threat in the Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT) Pro Team Standings, Team Genji fields two rosters. Their current lineups feature the following players: Team Genji Blue Jérôme “Monsanto” Faucher Joffrey “Swidz” Cunat Linh “Seiko” Nguyen Team Genji Red Francisco “PNC” Leimontas Thomas “Sintolol” Zimmer Jamal “Kycoo” El Moutaoikil The Season 2 roster for Team Genji Blue featured Sintolol, Seiko, and PNC, who took fourth place with a whopping 161 combined points. Speaking to the entire crew, we got some great perspective on their attitude and aptitude as a unified force. Across this roster, there’s a lot of competitive Hearthstone experience. “I started competing in early 2016,” Sintolol says. He was inspired to push harder after seeing Philipp “Nicslay” Hehn make the 2016 HCT Europe Winter Championship. PNC made it to Spring Playoffs around the same time. “I wasn’t very good back then,” PNC says, laughing. “If you play a lot, you don’t even have to be that good,” Sintolol shoots back. Monsanto thinks there’s some wisdom to that, however. “I just played more and more progressively until I became semi-pro,” he says. “Play a lot, and then you get good!” Sintolol suggests that the time investment is often as important as—if not more important than—straight skill level. Great Minds Ten people are smarter than one. Sintolol You get the sense there’s chemistry and camaraderie among the team as they chirp each other back and forth. Speaking on playing as part of a team, Sintolol says, “It’s not only us. We’re part of larger practice groups. We talk to the other teams—Tempo Storm or F2K, for example—about decks and lineups. You don’t have time to play a ton of games when you have to travel, so we theorycraft together. Ten people are smarter than one.” Team Genji are especially excited to be playing in the new Boomsday meta. Discussing how to play and test in the early days after a new set launches, Monsanto says, “I just play thousands of games.” His advice to anyone looking to figure out a new set is just to play as much as possible. Sintolol also likes to just jam lots of games: “I usually wait for my friends and teammates to come up with something,” he jokes. Their fourth-place finish is phenomenal, but Team Genji isn’t resting on their laurels. “I think we’re really good—probably among the best,” Monsanto says. “The best teams right now are F2K and Tempo Storm.” Asked if they could pass them, Monsanto added: “I think it’s possible.” The team hopes to get both of their three-person teams into the Pro Team Standings leaderboard in Season 3. The Best Around I think we’re really good—probably among the best. Monsanto Overall, the team says they’re excited about the field. Their joint belief is that the dialogue with the other teams—all of whom love Hearthstone—gives everyone a sense of being a part of something bigger. Congratulations to Team Genji on their success in Season 2, and best of luck in Season 3! These are players you can be sure you’ll see in tournaments throughout the remainder of the 2018 Hearthstone Championship Tour. Who’s your favorite Team Genji player? Which team would you like to learn about next? Let us know in the comments!