Skyweaver Interview Series 2: Cytus

1-) Firstly can you tell us a little about yourself?

Sure thing! My name is Cytus and I am about to turn 35. I have been playing Skyweaver for roughly a year and have played around 3,000 games. Aside from the game, I am a freelancer consultant for a couple of European and American gaming studios. On a usual day, I would spend several hours on strategy games like Chinese chess, Shogi, and of course Skyweaver. I also enjoy video games in other genres, such as Rocket League or Age of Empires II.

2-) What is your history with card games and what makes Skyweaver special for you?

My connection to card games began when I was around 9 years old and inherited a collection of Magic: the Gathering cards from my cousin. Since then, I have been playing card games with my younger brother and two nieces who are around my age. I have played almost all major card games since then, including Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, Gwent, Hearthstone, and more. I have also had experience commentating on international card game tournaments.

That being said, none of the titles mentioned above is focusing around singleton format, and Skyweaver is doing a fantastic job with this unique style, combined with the attachment interactions and conjure mechanic, it makes its way to become the best card game of 2022 in my heart.

3-) What is your favorite style of play and why?

My favorite style is definitely combo decks because I love the aspect of deckbuilding more than the gameplay itself. But in terms of power level, I’m probably best at piloting zoo decks.

4-) What are your favorite prism, card, and hero? Why did you choose them?

Since the devs were constantly releasing new expansions, my favorite prism can change from time to time, right now it’s WIS and my favorite hero will be Titus. Players who are familiar with me often joke that if a deck doesn’t maindeck Dreamcalling, then it’s not a Cytus deck, that card also happens to be my favorite one.

You can do a lot of interesting stuff with the combination of Wisdom prism, Eldritch Lore, and Dreamcalling, be it an early tempo swing from cheating a 4c Tortugan Cook, or the operational power spikes from Chromeosaur, card game matches are no fun if they didn’t mix some elements of randomness, right? 

5-) What are your general views on the state of the game and the meta?

The meta is constantly changing, sometimes we have a relatively monotonous meta, and sometimes it is so rich that it becomes a bit messy. Overall, the core system is quite mature, almost every time I want to play, I’m able to enjoy the great experience from at least a couple of matches.

6-) You recently started creating content for Skyweaver and you also share decks in Swl, what motivates you to create content for Skyweaver and to help players?

I’ve had a decent amount of my career coaching players in esports clubs, as well as lecturing in college and high school. Sharing knowledge is a joy for me, especially in a game I love.

7-)For what kind of games did you do coaching, and what are the challenges of being a coach?

I mainly coached on League of Legends and Hearthstone as a formal job, plus some private sessions in non-working hours on various games including Rocket League, MTGA, Albion Online, etc.

Most of the time you would be coaching players who are actually better than you in an esports club. You need to help them by gathering statistical data about their opponents, the meta-game they’re in, and also the players themselves. Communication and the way we convert complex stats into easily comprehensible form for players can be challenging tasks.

8- You are also streaming Skyweaver, do you have any goals as a Streamer, or do you plan to turn it into a career?

Recently, I spend less and less time playing ladders and conquests, shifting more time to organizing events or designing puzzles, which are probably not suitable for streaming. I do consider myself a very good commentator, so I am still looking forward to the opportunity to broadcast more tournament games in Chinese in the future.