Cloud 9’s Strifecro dispatched Liquid Amaz 4-0 with Hunter in CoolerMaster’s Best of 7 Showmatch.
It was a titanic battle between players ranked #1 and #3 in the world. While Strifecro predictably banned Amaz’s Hunter, Amaz banned the American’s Mage deck. Admirable, co-casting the event with Frodan, immediately saw the danger, declaring Strifecro a “huuuuuuuuuge” favorite to win after the ban stage.
Strifecro won all four games with a fast start and constant pressure, knocking out first a Paladin, then a Zoolock, then Amaz’s signature Priest before eking out victory against Shaman. Game 1 was the biggest hurdle, as he had to play Leeroy a turn before lethal to get damage in before taunts came down. The gamble paid off as he was able to finish off Amaz with burn the following turn.
From there it was academic. Amaz was relying on his Paladin to defeat the Hunter, but after dropping the first game had no answer for the dominant class. With both players low on life in Game 4, Amaz found Feral Spirit to protect himself but was forced to trade Loathebs to stay alive, giving up his own lethal the following turn. The play only delayed the inevitable and Strifecro ended the match with Kill Command and Steady Shot.
Perhaps more interesting than the match itself was the post-match interview. Strifecro addressed his very interesting Mage deck that never saw the light of day due to Amaz’s ban. “It has a 10% win rate against Hunter but is strong against the rest of the field,” Strifecro estimated, having spent all week playing the deck on ladder. Although Flare renders secret Mage nearly unplayable, he felt comfortable bringing Mage to the showmatch because his plan was to ban Hunter. This ban also allowed him to cut Flare from his own Hunter, replacing it with Tracking.
When Frodan asked the winner about his favorite Naxx card, Duplicate was the answer. “You can’t lose fatigue wars if you Duplicate the right minions,” he explained. Webspinner earned honorable mention, since it “opens Hunter to midrange possibilities.”
The impressive win earned Strifecro 5 rating points and $700.
Strifecro
Amaz
