A couple of upsets put some of the most esteemed westerners one loss away from elimination.
The biggest international competition in Hearthstone has begun. From now until November 7th, sixteen players from around the world are in the fray for the $250,000 prize pool and the crown of the 2015 world champion.
Besides the money and the title, a lot of regional pride was also on the line. Europe and the Americas hailed as arguably the most developed and experienced regions, having vibrant tournament scenes and some of the biggest esports organizations investing in teams. China, on the other hand, wanted to prove that it’s fed up of losing to the west and that BlizzCon will be the gathering that elevates the red flags beyond all. Finally, there was the Asia-Pacific lot, gathered from four different countries and threading in as the ultimate underdogs with nothing to lose.
Europe drew first blood as European champion Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk bulldozed through Yu “NoTomorrow” Jian. The Dutchman was the talk of the community even before the start of the World Championship not only because of his insane win streak but because of the Druid-less line-up for BlizzCon, featuring Patron Warrior, Dragon Priest and Freeze Mage. While weird on paper, Thijs’ deck choices proved smart and after day one he’s the only player with a flawless score.
In Group B, Hak-Jun “Kranich” Baek defeated Thijs’ team-mate Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy in four games. The Korean had lined up aggressive midrange decks with Hunter, Zoo and Druid and drilled through Lifecoach’s own Druid and Warrior, ending the series with a snowballing Malfurion mirror.
Group C opened with a second edition of the Europe/China rivalry. Piloting a somewhat unorthodox but solid line-up, the one of only three rogue players Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall punished every single one of the decks of Chinese champion LoveCX for a 3-1 victory. The Yolo Miracle player only won the Druid versus Rogue face-off in game two, casting a brief shadow of a doubt at Ostkaka’s choice of Oil Rogue, but the Swede showed nothing less than confidence in Valeera as she helped him close the final of the set.
Lastly, Americas’ champion Ryan “Purple” Root suffered an unlikely defeat at the hands of Kow-Ping “Pinpingho” Ho. “I am Shaman itself,” chanted the Taiwanese during his pre-game interviews, confident in his signature class and as the series went down to a deciding Shaman versus Freeze Mage, he had to summon all his skill in Thrall to exit victorious. Considered by many to be a prime candidate for the championship, Purple’s 1-3 loss to the group’s underdog is arguably the biggest upset of the opening day and the Canadian has his 0-3 Freeze Mage to blame for the fall.
Eight more matches will be played today, including the second half of the opening games and the elimination series of each group.
Schedule (click on a match to place your bets):
17:00 CEST – Kno vs Jab
18:00 CEST – Zoro vs Nias
19:00 CEST – Hotform vs Neilyo
20:00 CEST – Neirea vs DieMeng
Front page photo: Carlton Beener / Blizzard
