This week in Hearthstone was very exciting. We had an American domination of DreamHack Austin. We had another APAC vs EU showdown in Day 10 of Hearthstone Global Games. Let’s do a recap of what happened this week.
Let’s start it off with Dreamhack Austin. We have crowned a new champion. Congratulations to Shoop for winning the Grand Final in a convincing fashion. As I said earlier, the quarterfinals of DH Austin was dominated by American players.
TerrenceM and Trump played in the first match. Trump won the battle against last year’s runner up in a 3-2 rally. Next game was Dog and Shoop. Shoop put on a masterclass as he eliminated Dog 3-0. Next up, Catdestroyer and Reynad. Catdestroyer was destroyed by Reynad in a 3-0 sweep as well. The last match of the quarterfinals featured the only non-American, MrLego playing against Justsaiyan. MrLego destroyed Justsaiyan in a 3-0 sweep as well to secure the last spot in the semi finals.
On the semi final game, Shoop continued his dominance by beating Trump 3-0. MrLego and Reynad battled it out in the other semi final fight. The fight was so close, that they played it out till the last match of the BO5 format. MrLego came out victorious and secured a spot in the Grand Finals. Shoop would continue his dominance though, as he won the Grand Finals in an easy fashion. With the scoreline of 3-1, MrLego was the only one who gave Shoop his only loss in the Day 3 of DH Austin.
Now we move on to the Hearthstone Global Games. It is another Asia Pacific vs EU scenario. With 5 teams battling it out for their region’s pride. Sadly, we could not continue the South East Asian dominance that happened last week. This time, EU came back with a vengeance. Let’s do a recap of the action at the HGG this week.
First up is Italy against Japan. Japan was the favorites coming in this matchup. With players like b787, a lot of people expected them to win. Sadly, it was Italy who claimed the win in a 3-1 scoreline. This gave Italy their second win, and they are at the helm of their group with 2 wins and no losses. Japan currently sits 4th in Group E after this loss.
Malaysia played Belgium in the second game. This matchup led to being settled by the Ace Match, which was won by Malaysia. This matchup would be my pick of the week since we have seen a lot of misplays, a lot of awesome plays as well. Malaysia is now tied with Canada in their group, with 2 wins a piece and no losses yet. This drops down Belgium to the 5th spot of Group F though with 2 losses and no wins.
The third matchup was against the fully stacked team of Russia playing against Australia. It kicked off with an interview with Pavel, in which he proved that he is the World Champion. After the interview, he showed the world why he’s the World Champion by comfortably winning with his DragonPriest. ShtanUdachi and Silvername lost their next 2 matches which gave the players from Down Under a 2-1 lead.
Iner then finished the game with an Ashbringer to the face after an Equality + Primordial Dragon, which killed his Tyrion Fordring and gave him an Ashbringer to whack NaviOOT in the face. I’d give that combo style points if it were a thing. With the score up to 2-2, it ended up in an Ace Match where SilverName beat Jowen to secure the undefeated record of Russia. This retains Russia at the top of Group C while Australia was pushed down to the bottom of the group.
Next up was a heartbreaker. The Philippines has been swept by team Ukraine. We were countered beautifully by the Ukrainians. There has been a little bit of drama that erupted in Twitch chat though when NickChipperHS, BM’ed CaraCute. Twitch chat was furious, but NickChipperHS already apologized for the incident on Twitter.
Kolento, showed everyone in this game why he is still dominant in Hearthstone. His Tempo Paladin wrecked Staz’s Guenther Discover Mage. Neirea also reminded everyone that he belongs to the top ranks of Hearthstone players. His Caverns Rogue dispatched Chalk’s Taunt Warrior in 7 turns. Both teams are currently in the top half of their group, with Ukraine sitting at the helm with 2 wins, and Philippines in the third place with 1-1.
The last match of the EU vs APAC was between Thailand and Netherlands. The Dutchmen beat the Thais in a 3-1 scoreline, with anothersy being the sole match winner for Thailand. ThijsNL comfortably won with his Priest against makgimak. Then Tyler and Mitsuhide won their games as well to secure the win. This matchup resulted with both teams still in the top half of their group. The Dutchmen, currently sits second behind the USA. The Thais, sit third in Group B.
Next week will feature exciting matchups for China vs EU. This will be a solo tournament, so big name players from the EU and China battle it out. Let’s see who wins the whole tournament, bagging a huge prize and also the pride of their continent. And by the huge prize, I mean a Ferrari or $200,000 going to the champion. If that’s not awesome, then I don’t know what is.
Now let’s move on to some general Hearthstone news. I do have good news. Blizzard is giving away 3 Un’Goro card packs to everyone who will be logging in their characters in Hearthstone. New and old player alike gets 3 packs. This is a way of Blizzard saying thanks to the community because Hearthstone just hit the 70 million player milestone.
If you want to experience the HS, now would be a good start since you get awarded 3 bonus packs. This will continue up until the end of May. So join us, and see what this game is all about.
Hope to see you all soon, this is your boy Karmakeddon, and you lads always stay cheeky!
