Photo: SLTV
The former MtG maestro delivered the first LAN gold to his team Luminosity Gaming after a 4-1 against Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk.
Kiev gave host to the first LAN finals of StarLadder’s Hearthstone circuit. The conclusion of the tournament that started in early September had brought six players to Ukraine’s capital, consisting of a lot of Europe’s finest names and Americas’ sole hope David “Dog” Caero.
A round robin group stage opened the LAN finals and ThijsNL alongside Jon “Orange” Westberg took decisive leads, taking the top spots with 4-1 records. The other two spots had to be decided with tie-breaker matches as Dog, Cifka and Aleksandr “Kolento” Malsh all shared a 2-3 scoreboard. Said tie-breaker was the end of the only American in the tournament and the elimination bracket of StarLadder became an all-European affair.
True to his recent unstoppable form, ThijsNL cruised through the winners bracket with 3-2 against Kolento and 3-0 against Orange. On his way to the grand final, the Dutch also managed to break another GosuRankings record, becoming the first player to ever cross the 1,400 mark, setting a new highest peak in history at 1,424, more than 100 points ahead of TiddlerCelestial’s second highest peak at 1,317.
Although he was looking like the favorite to grab yet another LAN title after his victory in Prague at the EU regionals, ThijsNL and his dreams were shut down by LG’s StanCifka. The Czech player lost 1-3 to Orange in WBR1 but had little trouble beating the lower bracket, eliminating Kolento 3-0 and then Orange 3-1. He maintained the same dominant form in the grand finals as well, and Thijs and viewers alike had troubles believing it ended 4-1 in Cifka’s favor, who showed absolute control throughout the series.
By winning StarLadder Season 1, StanCifka is among the few players to have won multiple offline titles this year, adding a second one to his PGL Tavern Tales gold which he won in April at DreamHack Bucharest.
