[deck linked style=float:right;margin-left:15px;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right30px;]598[/deck]The run of Amaz on top of the NESL hierarchy continues with him adding yet another successful title defense to his resume. For the third time the player from Hong Kong was able to defend the throne - in his second reign as king.
The NESL curse of kings has infected every ruler thus far, except Amaz, who seems to be totally immune to that. For the second time the player from Hong Kong sits comfortably on the throne and for the third time he has secured his title again. Everything counted up and added together, this is the sixth successful win on the NESL King of the Hill stage - therefore his fourth successful defense.
Before the king would even get in on the action on the delayed King of the Hill event, that was pushed from Tuesday to Thursday this week, two other great competitors were battling it out for the challenging rights. Ignite from MeetYourMakers got invited to the dance and Hyped had secured his spot in the prelim match through his NESL Preseason Cup #23 title on Sunday. In a tightly contested and gripping bout both contestants slug it out and pushed each other to the absolute brink - until the Portuguese Ignite got the better of the exchange in the fifth match.
Up until that point both had traded blows evenly with Hyped winning on his aggro Hunter and breaking through the heavy Warrior control armor with his Miracle Rogue. Ignite countered those victories with his Warrior control and Handlock - the latter emerged as the MVP deck in the process. As a matter of fact Handlock was the only deck in the entire series that could secure two wins, barely edging out Hyped's last deck, which was the Control Warrior.
The classic matchup of Handlock against Warrior  was probably one of the most gripping matches of the entire evening with Hyped finding a way to deal with all the Drakes, both Mountain Giants and even a Faceless Manipulator that turned into a third Mountain Giant - in the end though the answers for big creatures ran out. So it was Ignite getting into the clash with Amaz, not only his first time to the dance, but also carrying the European flag into the crowning match for the first time.Â
Unfortunately for the Portuguese the milestone of reaching the actual match was all he could accomplish today. Europe is waiting longer at their first king in this competition, as Amaz took control of Ignite in a four game series. Coming out swinging with his mid-range Hunter deck he also had success with the last NESL KotH series and over in Bucharest, Amaz once again showed how good that deck actually is. Ignite's Druid had no answers for a second Savannah Highmane and was dead just two turns after.
Ignite managed to rally back though with a Hunter deck of his own, bringing out the more aggressive site of that class - which then ran into it's master of Priest the next match. For the first time in two weeks, Amaz was actually going into the competition with his beloved Priest deck. A wise decision as it turned out. Not only took Anduin care of business against the aggressive version of Hunter, but it was also perfectly countering the heavy control Warrior that was left at Ignite's disposal. Three wins, two with Priest and another title defense for the Asian player making him truly the King of the National ESL.Â
What happens now with this series is not yet announced, with the Preseason cups coming to an end. With no Sunday cup winner, one participation option for this cup is gone for now - but no word is out on the exact follow-up plan.
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