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Interview with a champion, Jon Herr! |
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Written by Scott Gaines
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Sunday, 16 November 2008 |
UFS peeps, what's going on? Interview time with none-other than mr control himself, Jon Herr. So sit back, get a snack and enjoy this interview from a few weeks back on aim!
Scott Gaines: So Jon, you have had amazing success it seems from the time you jumped into ufs back in the day in block one, what do you believe is the reason for that?
Jon Herr: Well, I was very much a casual player to start. Back when I started, it was because I really liked Ivy from Soul Calibur and Matt wanted me to play this game with him, so he built me an Ivy deck.
Jon Herr: I played that for a while to the point where it was a decently competitive deck, but it was all still "living room" type games.
Jon Herr: My first tournament was Worlds 06 where I played another of my fan boy characters, Blanka.
Scott Gaines: Nice, how did you do?
Jon Herr: I came in 13th I believe, but it wasn't until after that tournament, when Matt won his card, that we started playing really competitively.
Scott Gaines: Yeah the drive came in so to speak?
Jon Herr: Really, the start of my competitive UFS came about because Matt could trade his character cards for the power pieces we needed. After we got the cards, our skill just came to the top and we haven't looked back since
Scott Gaines: Sounds like a good plan.
Scott Gaines: So moving onto more current times this year, you have had crazy runs with your decks
Scott Gaines: From winning your own card, to 2nd at nationals, top 16 at worlds, topping in team events everywhere, etc.
Scott Gaines: what was your favorite moment?
Jon Herr: That's a tough question. I really enjoy all competitive play, so it's all very fun for me. I have moments I like from each of the tournaments. At CanNats for example, I was playing my Teammate Paul in the finals, and I was able to kill him with probably the most ridiculous card pool ever. I think it went something like Chain Throw, 3 or so foundations, Infiltrating action side, Suzaku, Suzaku for game. That was a great moment to end the finals with.
Scott Gaines: Yeah I remember seeing the pictures of that, EPIC to say the least.
Jon Herr: At US Nats I loved that I got so far with a deck I just made in the car on the way there. The whole scene there when people would find out the story behind the deck was really fun as well.
Scott Gaines: yeah lol
Scott Gaines: ONE ADDES
Jon Herr: Yeah, we were pushing for Paul to win US Nats so he could finish out the trifecta, and we had a limited number of addes, so we let him have a full playset. I had just won a card, and I wanted Matt to have a good chance at another card, so he got his pick (he took 3), so I ran the rest, aka one addes...
Scott Gaines: nice that is so cool, having a great team of beasts to help out with your building, practicing etc has to be such a tremendous asset! How do Matt and Paul affect you as a player?
Jon Herr: Here's how I typically describe our deck building styles and how we help each other.
Jon Herr: Matt is a sniper deck builder. He thinks up a deck idea and has it so well refined by the time he builds it, that it typically is beastly right from the start. He likes the extremes of the spectrum: Either full on NPE, shoot yourself decks (like his Matt Kohls Fruit Fucker or Sophitia lockdown deck, or Matt Kohls Infiltrating) or full on aggro (To the Bone Hanzo, Matt Kohls Fireball, 6 Check Feline Spike decks, etc.)
Scott Gaines: yeah that is def matt, DAMN THE KY AOP ^_^
Jon Herr: Paul is the crazy guy of our group. He makes these off the wall concept decks where you're not exactly sure what he's doing, and then you're dead. He's an unorthodox deck builder and it sometimes confuses Matt and I hardcore, but that's a valuable asset to have in a group, someone who can think up strange concepts that you might not catch yourself.
Scott Gaines: yeah it really prepares you for rogue decks, etc
Jon Herr: Finally, I'm more of a shotgun style deck builder. I think up lots of different abilities, make them all, some are garbage and some are good. I just hope one sticks, you know?
Scott Gaines: nice breakdown, def seems super valuable to your entire group, not just you.
Jon Herr: That's how my Void Dhalsim deck came about, I was just building a ton of decks in prep for Worlds and it turned out that this dumb Void deck was too beastly to pass up
Scott Gaines: Haha, yeah I know that deck as do we all
Scott Gaines (9:02:31 AM): I really like how you guys are dif, but all help each other
Jon Herr: yeah, it's a good environment to grow as a player
Scott Gaines: I would imagine so, It's def healthy with ufs beastage all around, also I know that you guys have moved to entirely block 3
Scott Gaines: how has that been going?
Jon Herr: It's been going well. I know that a lot of people don't like the idea of switching so early, but it works for us. By switching early we were able to sell off a lot of our good cards from Block 2 to help finance more UFS spendage.
Scott Gaines: and do you feel this gives you guys an edge heading into next season taking the plunge so early?
Jon Herr: It was a little rough at first, games were a LOT slower. Kill conditions are hard to come by, and some symbols that were good lose strength while others gain strength
Jon Herr: But once we really settled into it and explored the available characters, games were a lot of fun. It was just nice to have a change of card pool after the same stuff for so long.
Scott Gaines: yeah I def know what you mean about slowing it down some, but a new set is coming out soon and will boost it up, I guess the question on most everyone's mind is what is ufs house thinking of wrecking face with as far as early predictions can tell in block 3
Jon Herr: Air, All, Evil, and Order all seem to be the best bets nowadays. I have an Evil Zi Mei deck that has been working really well for me, an Order Guy deck that can only be described as unfair a lot of times, and an Air Yoshitora deck that is good, but not necessarily dominating.
Jon Herr: Water and Chaos both seem like they could be good (they share a lot of the cards from the other power symbols) but just seem to be lacking a bit in the power department
Scott Gaines: yeah especially water, olcadan’s is so unfair to it
Jon Herr: Matt has been trying really hard to build a viable Block 3 version of his character, but it has been slow going, especially because so many of the cards in Block 3 have blocks. I mean, in Evil, the only playable card that doesn't have a block is Detached. Think about that for a second...
Scott Gaines: HAHA
Scott Gaines: yeah evil is an amazing symbol for blocks now
Scott Gaines: back in the day not so much, like +4, +3. Now it’s all +1 mid.
Jon Herr: Paul has been working on some of his huge decks like an Order Juni and his Bishamon deck. He hasn't been as involved as he was during the Summer cause the University started back up again
Scott Gaines: yeah true true.
Scott Gaines: well it seems you guys are alive and well and playing
Scott Gaines: what cards are you guys looking at in b3 as potential trouble?
Jon Herr: Assets in general in Block 3 are really hard to deal with. Typical ways to deal with them, like committing them simply don't work. Stuff like Refusal of Power and Program Malfunction, etc only affect foundations, so dealing with any assets can be hard.
Scott Gaines: infinity cards too powerful? or just right?
Jon Herr: the fact that Olcadan's is in every deck is annoying, but that's to be expected. We haven't been playing with Seal of Cessation much, so I can't really comment on that one
Scott Gaines: yeah i agree, rev's calling will be huge in b3
Jon Herr: Yeah, we only recently started playing with Rev's Calling, and I have no idea why we haven't been playing with it more in Block 2.
Scott Gaines: Yeah I'm the same way actually lol
Jon Herr: Chester's Backing is annoying, but there's a ton of ways to deal with it right now, so it doesn't worry me too much right now.
Scott Gaines: Oh yeah, and rev’s calling is so good to get rid of multiple copies of shooting cap, gorg team, etc
Scott Gaines: how do you guys feel about family heirloom, forethought and defender, the newer power cards in the eyes of the forums
Jon Herr: Forethought is definitely something to keep an eye on. You can definitely play around it, but sometimes you can hit a bad break and just get shut out of games. It makes you play differently, and I know a lot of people don't like it when cards make you play totally differently, but I kind of enjoy that aspect, so it hasn't pissed me off too much yet.
Jon Herr: Family Heirloom is only a "power card" because it can deal with assets in Block 3, something that is hard to do. It's needed and I like it.
Scott Gaines: hehe, yeah forethought can be a deal sealer, especially with anti k back up
Jon Herr: Defender, I'm not sold on.
Scott Gaines: I agree
Scott Gaines: it neeeds momentum
Scott Gaines: and has to deal damage
Jon Herr: I know that there's loops you can do with it, but they aren't any more powerful than the loops of old, so that aspect I have no problem with.
Scott Gaines: yeah it seems like the boards are all peeing their pants over it
Scott Gaines: but top tier play means you have to tech against the tier one decks
Jon Herr: Using it defensively to recur Rejections and other stuff? Well, any deck worth anything should be able to deal with Rejections anyway, and really, what deck doesn't pack some way to deal with stuff like this... Spinta = Cures all your pains.
Scott Gaines: thanks Jon, what I and many more seasoned players have been saying all along
Scott Gaines: I complettely agree
Jon Herr: Yeah, I mean, you have to be able to deal with your opponent's strategies. You can't just let them do whatever they want
Scott Gaines: that is good advice right there ladies and gents, read it, learn it, love it
Jon Herr: This can be done by controlling them, it can be done by putting early pressure on them making them play more defensively, etc., but if you just let your opponent do whatever they want, you are going to lose, plain and simple
Scott Gaines: and this is why Ufs house, MI, NY etc are so great at this game
Scott Gaines: I think this is one of the major reasons the same guys are in tops a lot.
Scott Gaines: do you feel this is one of the main reasons your group and the others are always there at the end of the big ones?
Jon Herr: I don't want to pat myself on the back really. Mostly I think we continue to do well because we play against a lot of different people. Though our local group is rather small, we make it a point to travel to lots of different places. Every single time I go to a tournament in another state, I come out with an idea I didn't have before that I could integrate into my own designs. I didn't fully realize the power of Cutting Edge and Reverse Flayer until I traveled to the MWCC. You have to play a lot of games and play against a lot of different people to really become skillful at this game.
Scott Gaines: yes that is so true, I can personally vouch for this myself. After travelling a lot I learned so much that I can use in ufs.
Jon Herr: By doing all this travel and practicing, you will build those deck building/meta-reading skills you need to do well.
Scott Gaines: I 100% agree
Scott Gaines: i really think traveling is so key to this game and getting to that top level if you really want it, you have to travel, like you said it gives you these great ideas.
Scott Gaines: what are some of the lighter things of ufs you enjoy?
Scott Gaines: like the hanging out, travel stories etc, you would like to share?
Jon Herr: I FUDGING love reversals.
Scott Gaines: hehe
Jon Herr: oh wait, that's not what you were talking about, lol
Scott Gaines: that is good stuff though
Scott Gaines: QUOATABLE
Scott Gaines: but talk about the game as well, go ahead, you have the floor!
Jon Herr: I actually don't enjoy all that much playing in the tournaments. They can be long and grueling and I only really start loving it in top cuts when each play becomes really really important. The reason I keep going to tournaments is because they are just so damn fun. It's nice to hang out with all these people from different parts of US and Canada that you wouldn't be able to hang out with otherwise.
Scott Gaines: yeah i think we all love that too, any memorable moments/people from last season you want to share?
Scott Gaines: any chubbs horror stories? hehe j/k.
Jon Herr: I try to stay away from Chubbs as much as possible, lol
Scott Gaines: Chubbs is awesome he lightens the mood alot
Jon Herr: The most fun I've had in a game recently was facing Ben Shoemaker (Nfxon). I sit across from him at US Nats and it's just this crazy guy with a stuffed lizard who spastically twitches while playing you.
Scott Gaines: HAHA
Scott Gaines: yes very true story
Scott Gaines: the curse of yon hair?
Jon Herr: Very odd to play against him, but even though it was like, the second to last round of swiss, we were still very light hearted and joking around. It was just a pleasant change of pace after so many long, grueling rounds.
Scott Gaines: yeah that is what him and other players of his nature are great for, very skilled and very funny and they keep the crunk oh meter at a high level.
Jon Herr: It also helps that he has that "sexy smoker voice"
Scott Gaines: WHOA
Scott Gaines: love is in the air, the smoke filled air
Scott Gaines: Ivey might get jealous, watch out
Scott Gaines: Ben told me he enjoyed hanging with you guys as we all did, at the ram. The birthplace of orange card blue card, the huiltzul stories, Paul Bittner almost choking on his food laughing at us, etc. good times
Jon Herr: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It also helps that every time I face Ben I destroy him...
Scott Gaines: THE CURSE OF YON HAIR! (yon hair =’s Jon Herr)
Jon Herr: indeed
Scott Gaines: hehe this is what we all love about ufs
Scott Gaines: great competition, great people
Scott Gaines: Jon anything you want to tell us about your character card that is coming out soon?
Scott Gaines: any sneek peaks of info?
Jon Herr: Well, I'm not really sure what's ok to talk about, but I've been working with James Hata on the design of the abilities. My abilities are a bit less complicated than some of the previous winners' cards, but my two abilities will have some nice synergy between them. I'm going for a 7HS mostly cause I really don't like 6HS and less characters, so that means pretty low life.
Scott Gaines: I’m sure you'll be worth it
Jon Herr: I'm going with All/Evil/Water. Evil because it's the symbol I won with, All because that's paul's favorite symbol and I beat him in the finals, and Water just cause it's a fun symbol that I've liked since the beginning. It's not one of the top tier symbols right now, but I'm hoping that it gets more love in the future. And did I mention how I FUDGING love reversals?
Scott Gaines: yes you did sir, I love them too. I must say I like those symbols and thanks for giving us "all" some info, pun intended
Scott Gaines: HERR YOU ROCK
Scott Gaines: thanks so much man
Jon Herr: no prob, pleasure to do it
Scott Gaines: AMAZING Symbols on your guy
Scott Gaines: omg
Scott Gaines: i love it
Scott Gaines: all 3 match Chester’s Backing. Lol, hmmm?
Jon Herr: lol, yeah
Jon Herr: not a coincidence
Scott Gaines: I can't wait to trade for him dood
Scott Gaines: people are going to love that bit of info
Scott Gaines: I would really like to thank you for this interview Jon, you are an amazing player and all around cool guy, any parting words for the people out there?
Jon Herr: Not really, just continue playing and having fun. And trade heavily for my character card. It's gonna be awesome!
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 November 2008 )
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