Photo: Adela Sznajder / DreamHack
With the help of his 5-0 mech mage and 6-1 midrange Paladin, Cong "StrifeCro" is the champion of the first post-GvG Hearthstone tournament, the Kinguin Invitational.
The three days of fighting are over and fans of StrifeCro can confidently shout that King Cong is back. In less than two weeks, the Cloud 9 spearhead climbed to back-to-back online invitational trophies, taking G2A Masters on December 4th and Kinguin Invitational last night, the latter won by his brand new GvG decks.
StrifeCro played the first rounds of the tournament with almost frightening domination. Running a [card]Muster for Battle[/card]-focused midrange paladin, he went 3-0 twice against Fnatic's Bertil "Frezzar" Fall and Liquid's Janne "Savjz" Mikkonen, loudly stating that Uther is back to stay in the post-GvG meta.
The first player to give StrifeCro some resistance was Archon's captain Jason "Amaz" Chan, who was also the first player to defeat the dreaded midrange paladin. Even with Uther dead, StrifeCro managed to get a sizeable 3-1 lead but Amaz's warrior persisted and forced the series into a seven game, which is where StrifeCro first showcased his mech mage deck, the one that would go on to become the hero of the evening.
On the other side of the bracket, tournament underdog Harald "Powder" Gimre from team IHU was making his way to the grand finals, also taking some notable heads. He started by ousting DreamHack Winter champion Aleksandr "Kolento" Malsh in round one, eliminated former DKMR team-mate Raphael "Hosty" Tsantili and then took the life of the world champion himself, Archon's James "Firebat" Kostesich. Putting StrifeCro to his knees would make for a perfect tournament for the young Swede.
The American, however, had different plans. He opened with the mech mage that defeated Amaz and never retired it until the end of the series. With a solid mid-range curve and godly rolls on his [card]Goblin Blastmage[/card] missiles, StrifeCro steamrolled to a 4-0 grand final score. With a great run at G2A Master last weekend, the Kinguin trophy and a semi final finish at DreamHack Winter, StrifeCro's hot streak also puts him on top of the GosuRankings for the time being.
Decklists
Amaz
Arfdota
Dtwo
Firebat
Frezzar
Gaara
Hosty
Hyped
Kitkatz
Kolento
Neirea
Powder
Savjz
StrifeCro
TidesofTime
Twixsen
