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With the completion of the quarter final round, the semi finals of the most stacked Hearthstone tournament to date are around the corner, with Lifecoach against ThijsNL in the first game and StrifeCro and Kolento in a Cloud 9 team kill in the next.
It was a hunter parade in quarter final number one between Faramir and Lifecoach, both hailing from Germany. Lifecoach took set one with his druid in a tough match-up against Faramir’s Shaman and this is where hunter took over. Faramir tied the score in game two, which only prompted Lifecoach to bring out his own Rexxar deck, a class he’s been specializing in since the start of his career.
The series evolved into a shambles as Lifecoach hunter shot perfectly. A few misplays by Faramir aided the former poker player on his quest and four games into the series, Lifecoach was a semi finalist.
In the second quarter final, reigning DreamHack champion ThijsNL took on an enormous challenge in world champion Firebat. Opening with rogue cost the American the first game as he never found his [card]Gadgetzan Auctioneer[/card] and Thijs’ warrior had more than enough time to finish him off.
Out came the druid that brought Firebat the world championship and that almost became Thijs’ end. After losing his warrior, Thijs went for handlock, which was considered a weird choice against the druid. As Gul’Dan fell, Thijs was one game away from elimination.
As history has shown in the past, however, the Dutchman is never to be counted out as long as he has his trusted druid. The Malfurion mirror went to Thijs and a fifth game was to be played, with Firebat down to his hunter – a deck that had brought him a lot of success in tournaments, just not today. Barely escaping death, ThijsNL advanced to meet Lifecoach in the semi finals.
Quarter final number three also developed into a thriller as StrifeCro went against tournament underdog Cipher. Opening with mage – a deck he would later describe as a “very good mediocre” one – StrifeCro snatched a difficult set one victory, bringing Cipher’s handlock down to fatigue and finishing him from there.
Just like in the Firebat/Thijs series, Druid came to save the day and Cipher took the next two sets, turning the score around, reducing StrifeCro to his final deck, also a Druid. Playing some of the safest, most conservative turns – moves that were criticized by the casting desk for bordering misplays especially having combo in hand – StrifeCro nevertheless tied the series and faced Cipher’s priest in game five. A turn one taunted [card]Druid of the Claw[/card] gave StrifeCro a major tempo swing and although Cipher did manage to stabilize the board in the mid game, the patient play of the American ultimately prevailed and the Cloud 9’er moved on as the only non-European to survive the quarter finals.
A very quick match concluded the quarter final round in the Ukrainian mirror between Kolento and Neirea. Opening on priest, Kolento sprinted to a two game lead, having an especially brutal game two against Neirea’s warrior by getting early [card]Circle of Healing[/card] plus [card]Northshire Cleric[/card] combo to get double the cards his opponent had. The new Liquid recruit managed to return one game on his hunter and almost tied the score in game four as well, but a very slow hand with no 1-drops was just what Kolento’s control warrior wanted to see. A Cloud 9 team-kill between the HouseCup champion and StrifeCro was inbound.
