Jason Chan (born April 12, 1991), better known as Amaz, is a Hong Kong-Canadian professional

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

player best known for

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a 2014 Online game, online digital collectible card game, digital collectible card video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment, released under the free-to-play model. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthsto ...

'' on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

. Chan now plays for NRG, having left the ''Hearthstone'' team he created, Team Archon. He was

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. They signed their first professional players with the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. In 2012, Team Liquid acq ...

's first ''Hearthstone'' streamer as well as a commentator for the ''Hearthstone'' World Championship.

Early life

Chan was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

on April 12, 1991. He later moved to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

with his mother when he was in fourth grade, leaving his father behind. There he quickly learned English in his

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

(ESL) classes and was introduced to computer games by his cousin. After playing ''

Warcraft III ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' is a high fantasy real-time strategy computer video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment released in July 2002. It is the second sequel to '' Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'', after '' Warcraft II: Ti ...

'' and ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

'', he became a self-described "

Blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

fanboy A fan or fanatic, sometimes also termed an aficionado or enthusiast, is a person who exhibits strong interest or admiration for something or somebody, such as a celebrity, a sport, a sports team, a genre, a politician, a book, a movie, a video ...

". During

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, Chan and his mother moved back to Hong Kong to live with his father. He had to attend

international school International schools are private schools that promote education in an international environment or framework. Although there is no uniform definition or criteria, international schools are usually characterised by a multinational student body an ...

due to losing most of his

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

knowledge during his time in Canada. He later attended

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

where he studied

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. In 2011, his mother died from

intestinal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

, after which he put his studies on hold to move back with his family.

Career

In 2013, Chan started an office job his uncle introduced him to in Hong Kong. After deeming it "boring," he earned his diploma and soon after tutored children in

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

. He also worked on the board game Scribe's Arena, which he conceptualized in high school. Chan started to

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

on Twitch in late 2013 after a friend suggested him to. He considers himself lucky to have queued many of his games into fellow ''Hearthstone'' streamer,

Artosis Daniel Ray Stemkoski (born April 6, 1983), better known by his nickname Artosis, is an American professional esports commentator and Twitch streamer. Stemkoski moved to Seoul, South Korea to commentate competitive '' Starcraft'' games in English ...

. This drew Chan a high of 20,000 concurring viewers.

''Hearthstone''

Chan was the first member of

's ''Hearthstone'' division. In the Blizzard 2014 Stream Awards, Chan won the "Best Hearthstone Streamer in 2014" award in the poll categories. He came in second place for "Most Active Chat" and fifth place for "Highest Mean Viewership" for overall

games on Twitch. In November 2014, Chan formed Team Archon after leaving

. He immediately signed the Blizzcon 2014 November ''Hearthstone'' world champion James "Firebat" Kostesich. Amaz commentated the 2015 ''Hearthstone'' World Championship along with his colleagues Kripparrian and Frodan. Chan

voice acted The human voice consists of sound Voice production, made by a human being using the vocal tract, including Speech, talking, singing, Laughter, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically ...

some of the ''Blackrock Mountain''

expansion cards In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus sl ...

for ''

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

and Taiwanese languages. On September 6, 2016, Amaz left Team Archon, which he created, and joined

NRG eSports NRG Esports (or simply NRG) is an American esports organization based in Los Angeles, California. It has rosters in ''League of Legends'', ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'', ''Rocket League'', ''Valorant'', ''Counter-Strike 2'', ''Apex Legen ...

. Amaz produced the Amaz Team League Championships (ATLC), later called "the most successful third-party tournament in ''Hearthstone''." On October 31, 2016, Amaz started a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

for ATLC 2, but cancelled it after two weeks due to insufficient funding.

''Magic: The Gathering''

Other than ''Hearthstone'', he is also an occasional player and streamer of '' Magic: The Gathering'' (and its digital counterparts '' Magic: The Gathering Online'' and '' Magic: The Gathering Arena''). In June 2016, he was given a special invitation by

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...

to play in Pro Tour Kyoto 2017. A year later, he was again invited to Pro Tour Minneapolis 2018, also being invited playing an exhibition match celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the game. His team achieved a Top 32 finish in the main event. While he managed to get into the finals of the exhibition match, only losing to 2017 ''Hearthstone'' Global Games winning member Stanislav Cifka (who is also the winner of Pro Tour Seattle 2012) After the two special invitations in 2017 and 2018, he had been actively participating on both paper and digital ''Magic'' events, including two Grand Prix top 8 finishes in the 2018–19 season (as of May 1, 2019). Currently, he is sponsored by ChannelFireball as a regular streamer and video producer for ''Magic: The Gathering Arena''.

Tournament results

Other games

Amaz was invited by tournament host

Pokimane Imane Anys (; Arabic: إِيمَان أَنِيس, born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Pokimane ( or ), is a Canadian online streamer, YouTuber and influencer. She is best known for gameplay and commentary livestreams on Twitch, most no ...

to "TFT Thursday", a ''

Teamfight Tactics ''Teamfight Tactics'' (''TFT'') is an auto battler game developed and published by Riot Games. The game is a spinoff of ''League of Legends'' and is based on '' Dota Auto Chess'', where players compete online against seven other opponents by bu ...

'' tournament held on July 4, 2019.

References

External links

* * {{Hearthstone Living people Canadian people of Hong Kong descent Canadian people of Chinese descent University of Waterloo alumni Sportspeople from Vancouver Hearthstone players Canadian esports players Hong Kong esports players Hong Kong YouTubers 1991 births Team Liquid players NRG Esports players Canadian Twitch (service) streamers Hong Kong LGBTQ sportspeople Canadian LGBTQ sportspeople 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Hong Kong LGBTQ people YouTubers from Vancouver