Ben "Automated_Button" Pomeroy is a fourth-year computer science major and pilot for Northeastern's Red Hearthstone Varsity team. He is also the Hearthstone Club Sports Game Chair and was willing to answer a few questions about himself and his esports in our second ever player spotlight.
Q. What's your standard day like as a Northeastern Student and Varsity Player?
A. Depends on the day of the week really. On weekdays on co-op I'm up at 7 so I can get to work by 9. I get back to my apartment at around 5:30. On Mondays and Thursdays we have a match, so I grab dinner with the team and head to the Esports Room at 7:00 to finish our prep for the match at 8. After the match, I typically head back to my apartment and begin to wind down my day. Any other weekday I typically do some combination or opposition research or prep for the coming match and I try to make it to the gym if I have time. Weekends are a lot less planned out, aside from practice on Sunday from 3-5, though I usually stay late.
Q. Other than esports, what are some things you enjoy doing?
A. I enjoy playing and watching more traditional sports, especially soccer. Outside of that I try to work out regularly to keep myself vaguely in shape, and I enjoy playing a variety of other games, most recently I've been playing a lot of Football Manager.
Q. How did you get into esports, either at a college level or even before that?
A. I was introduced to Hearthstone by a friend in freshman year of high school, and played the game off and on until I came to Northeastern. Early in my freshman year here I ran into someone wearing a Hearthstone shirt in Chicken Lou's and I introduced myself to him. It turns out he was part of the Hearthstone club here and he introduced me to a few of the members. I joined the club and ended up playing a few hours with one of the club's best players. Apparently I impressed him and when Northeastern decided to make a four person Varsity Hearthstone team the next year I tried out and became the 4th person on the inaugural team. Since then I've been trying to prove them right for taking a chance on me.
Q. What keeps you motivated to keep playing Hearthstone, especially at a competitive level
A. This is going to sound a bit corny, but honestly its my teammates. My teammates as an underclassman were the first social group I really settled into at Northeastern, and so I try to give that environment to the new guys around the club & team. Part of that to me is trying to be as good of a player as I can be so I can help everyone around get better.
Q. Have you ever considered switching games? If so, what would you switch to?
A. I play loads of other games, but none of them have an established collegiate competitive scene so I've never seriously considered switching.
Q. What are some of your favorite moments on your team or with your teammates?
A. I can do one of each. As far as in game goes, last fall we had a pretty magical run from a poor start to the season to being one draw from securing top-8 (which was the best possible place in that particular tournament). That was a really great month from the team and I think that was when we proved to ourselves that we could consistently be more than the sum of our parts, since the consensus around the scene was that the level of individual talent NEU had to offer that season had decreased from the previous season. Out of game, I think my favorite moments are when we have a prematch meal. Its always nice to clear our heads and have a meal with the team.
Q. Do you plan on continuing esports after college?
A. I don't think so. I'll probably still play Hearthstone casually, but I definitely don't think its a viable career path for me.
Q. What's a change you'd like to see in Hearthstone or esports in general?
A. Specifically in collegiate Hearthstone I'd like to see a more spread out schedule. Every semester for the past couple years we play 8 matches and then if we do well we make playoffs. My issue is that our whole regular season is crammed into a month and usually the playoffs are crammed into either a weekend or 4 days. This just leads to this weird feeling where for half of each semester I'm either just done with collegiate esports for the semester or feel like I don't have much to do for Collegiate Hearthstone.
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