On the off-chance you are flipping through the dictionary on a given day and stumble across the term “professional Hearthstone player,” an image of Radu “Rdu” Dima will appear. His appearance, demeanor, and way of thinking radiates an aura of an individual who has dedicated their life to honing a craft they love.

From his fit physique to his vast knowledge of the top meta decks being played at the moment, it’s impressive. His choice of words, calculated. His perspective on his growth within the professional scene, insightful. How he views the world around him, articulate.  

From the moment he walks into a room to the second he leaves after speaking with me at DreamHack Summer in Sweden last month, you can tell his mind was racing from the day before. Over the weekend, he participated in a Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT) stop and didn’t perform up to his expectations, which caused him to vent a bit on Twitter about needing to re-evaluate his practice regimen.

In better spirits the following day, Rdu sat down to talk about what it takes to dedicate your life to a game in this day and age, how Blizzard can improve the professional scene and how time stops while at a tournament.      

How would you describe the lifestyle of a Hearthstone pro player in 2018?

It’s very hectic. I feel like the biggest downside is that I don’t have much free time. I have to put all of my energy into Hearthstone because I want to stream as much as I can and I want to attend events as much as I can and that doesn’t really leave space for anything else but I like it. I still really enjoy the game and card games overall. It’s a nice lifestyle to live, at least while I’m this young.

How much of your day revolves around Hearthstone in terms of hours?

I try to stay consistent when it comes to streaming so if I didn’t stream and only tried to compete,  I could even have days off but because I do both and try to do too many things, I sometimes put in more than eight hours per day. I do have days where I try to be more chill and only stream for five hours and that’s the only Hearthstone I play for the day. On those days I sometimes go out with friends or do a physical exercise to try and keep myself in shape and eat healthily.  

"Like, even if you’re the number one point earner in the world you’re still not going to do well in 50% of your tournaments on average so in those tournaments you barely get streamed at all and that can be very bad for your brand because people at home may be like, 'Did he even go to that tournament? I didn’t see him.'”

How important is your physical health tied to your performance as a pro player?

I like the feeling of when I’m fit but I have better results in tournaments when I wasn’t working out at all and I was more fat than I am now [Laughs]. Now that I do physical exercise and take care of my body and eat better I feel better like I can keep going at events but results-wise it doesn’t really matter in my opinion. You can still win even if you’re in poor shape.

How often do you travel to events around the world?

On average, two times per month I will travel outside of my country (Romania) for events.

Is the process exhausting as you need to adjust to different time zones, food and the fatigue that comes with flying?

It is. I have gotten used to it, I have gotten better at it and I got better at handling planes. I now know what to do so I don’t get super exhausted and sick. For example, I’m not very good at handling the air conditioning on the planes. It feels like I’m in a freezer so now I dress very heavily to protect myself from the temperatures. It does take a toll on you though. If you don’t go to events for one or two months, you really crave going to events and if there are three or four of them coming up you think, “I’ll go to all of them, I can do it,” then after you go to three of them your body is like, “Argh, I can’t really handle another one.”

I’m trying to prioritize events because when you go to an event, the time kind of stops meta-wise in Hearthstone. You want to prepare up until deck submission is over and you want to make sure you have the best or one of the best lineups until that time. Afterward, the meta keeps advancing but you don’t really care. Once the tournament ends, you have to catch up to what the meta was doing while you were competing. If you have two tournaments in a row, it’s a very high likelihood that you’re going to do way worse in the second tournament. We see that all the time. The only way you can do good in two tournaments in a row is if you have some people at home that you trust and are really good that are playing the ladder and are feeding you information of decks you should play.

How do you prevent burnout as your entire professional career has been revolving around one game for x-amount of years?

I don’t know. I’d like to know that personally because, right now, I’m kind of burnt out on tournaments. I still enjoy streaming a lot and am not burnt out in that area as I feel like I can still stream a lot. I love talking with people and playing ladder. You can see the results faster than with tournaments because in tournaments you can have really good preparation and then you travel to another part of the world and you can still very easily lose and then you don’t play any games on stream and nobody sees your preparation and your hard work. It’s such a bad feeling.

On ladder, if you put in hard work for one or two days and you stream it, people can see it instantly and you have the gratification that your work is worth it. I’m still struggling a little on how to approach tournaments even after playing in so many of them because times are changing and I don’t know the best way to personally approach it.  

Do you think the professional Hearthstone scene is currently healthy and supports pro players well to where it’s for your liking?

Hmm, it’s not really in a way that I like it. There is quite a bit of grind and you’re not really getting rewarded for going through all the grind in a way. It feels like you have to play most of the tournaments and if you get a bit more unlucky than another top player than you’re a bit behind.

When you say a “grind” do you mean you have to grind to make it work financially, accruing pro points, etc?

Not financially or points. Points matter the most as everyone is going for a lot of points to make playoffs. I feel it could be a bit better for the players but it’s fine. Blizzard is putting in all of their effort to make it better and better every year but I don’t know if it fits me exactly. There’s too much traveling involved and I have to sacrifice my streaming and I enjoy streaming a little more than attending these tour stops. I also feel like these tour stops don’t really have much of a prize pool.

I remember in the past when I was going to a tournament it felt like, “Man, if I win this tournament it can be almost life-changing.” These tour stops have such a low prize pool that it’s all about grinding these tour stops and low prize pools and getting the points and using the points in playoffs and championships. I don’t like that playoffs and championships have so much more prize money than tour stops. Even when I went to playoffs it felt exactly like a tour stop because the venue was a bit loud, we played for two days and the feeling wasn’t much different than here at DreamHack.

For example, if you get a bit more fortunate in the playoffs it’s better than playing, like, five DreamHack’s perfectly. I don’t like the aspect of tournaments not mattering that much, basically. That’s what I feel like now opposed to the past. There are more tournaments now but they matter less individually. I want to prepare for big events that really matter. High-stakes Hearthstone is what I want but I understand if it’s not sustainable for Blizzard or other players. I do feel like the audience wants high-stakes Hearthstone events more.

I’ve certainly heard this argument from other players within the scene as well as they would rather build and focus on their streaming content as the payoff for that is higher than a low-prize pool tour stop for them.

I don’t think you get much publicity if you don’t do well. Like, even if you’re the number one point earner in the world you’re still not going to do well in 50% of your tournaments on average so in those tournaments you barely get streamed at all and that can be very bad for your brand because people at home may be like, “Did he even go to that tournament? I didn’t see him.”  It’s very rough in a way because the amount of people at these tour stops and the amount of work you have to put in to get an edge and do well is way too much for the amount of prize pool involved. I think it’s a good lifestyle for some people but I understand it’s not for everyone.

What do you think your future holds long-term within the world of Hearthstone?

I want to focus on streaming but at the same time, I want to make every playoffs. I’ll focus on making playoffs because that’s the best tournament but I’ll probably stop going to these smaller tour stops. I might go to one DreamHack here or there but I feel like it’s too much work for the low prize pool. What I know for sure is that I love to stream and I want to grow that.