by David Wise (@WiseLingSC2)Over
this past weekend, sixteen of the best Hearthstone players in the world
competed in the online WellPlayed Cup as well as the Numericable
Millenium House Cup 4 in Marseille, France. Below, we have a recap of
some of the best games from both tournaments.
Winners Round 1 Match 3 Game 2 (~11:45)
Trump (Zoo Warlock) vs ThijsNL (Miracle Rogue)
This
game was interesting in that it proved that Zoo can still work even
versus Miracle Rogue. ThijsNL seemed to be on the ropes against Trump’s
Zoo Warlock right until he top decked a
Gadgetzan Auctioneer on turn seven. Trump’s buffed
Doomguard dropped ThijsNL to seven Health. Luckily for ThijsNL, he found a
Cold Blood on turn eight, drew into an
Azure Drake, which subsequently brought out
Preparation. With all this however, ThijsNL could not answer both the
Doomguard and the rest of Trump’s board and conceded the game.
Another important note on this game is Trump's use of
Lorewalker Cho.
Not only is it a neat tech card, Cho alone gave him board control from
the majority of his games and allowed him to convincingly counter
Miracle Rogue and Freeze Mage.
Winners Round 1 Match 4 Game 2 (~15:00)
Reynad (Shaman) vs Darkwonyx (Control Warrior)
In the early stages, Reynad rendered Darkwonyx’s Acolytes of Pain useless with a double
Earth Shock
play. Both players traded spells and minions until Darkwonyx dropped
Alextraza to break the Health parity. Even with the huge lead in Health,
Darkwonyx never regained board control. Even a timely
Brawl could not give Darkwonyx the board presence he required to finish off Reynad. A questionable choice by Darkwonyx to drop
Ragnaros resulted in eight damage to a
Wrath of Air Totem before Reynad
Hexed the Rag. Darkwonyx dropped a
Grommash Hellscream /
Cruel Taskmaster combo to bring Reynad to three Health but Reynad countered with the power of Taunts as he played
Defender of Argus on two totems as well as
Feral Spirit. The Taunts bought Reynad the time to stall until he could draw
Doomhammer,
Al’Akir the Windlord, and
Flametongue Totem. These key pieces enabled Reynad to turn the game around and eliminate Darkwonyx’s Control Warrior deck.
Losers Round 2 Match 2 Game 2
Reynad (Miracle Rogue) vs TidesofTime (Aggro Hunter)
Reynad almost escapes again. TidesofTime successfully applied early game pressure with Zoo cards such as
Abusive Sergeant and
Argent Squire in order to drop Reynad to 19 Health. What made this game so interesting is TidesofTime’s use of Stealth minions
Jungle Panther
and Stranglehorn Tiger in the mid game to keep up the pressure. Reynad,
however, would not throw in the towel and succeeded in clawing his way
back into the game with a Miracle arsenal of combo spells.
Unfortunately, for Reynad, he was unable to draw the requisite cards to
finish off TidesofTime and the Stealth Hunter Aggro deck reigned supreme
in both the game and the series.
Winners Final Game 3 (~8:00)
RDU (Druid) vs Darkwonyx (Miracle Rogue)
Azure Drake steals the game, which is something you don’t hear too often. RDU’s early
Innervate into
Azure Drake play proved too much for Darkwonyx. RDU’s
Azure Drake allowed him to remove Darkwonyx’s Edwin van Cleef with a Spellpower-buffed
Wrath and the game snowballed from there. Unable to deal with the
Azure Drake, Darkwonyx kept taking damage until RDU had the win with a Force of Nature/Savage Roar combo.
Losers Final Game 2 (~1:00:00)
Darkwonyx (Hand Warlock) vs TidesofTime (Druid)
A
very close game overall which demonstrates the raw power of today's
Druid decks. A double Savage Roar/Force of Nature wins it for Tides:
once to clear the board and again to Finish off Darkwonyx.
Losers Final Game 5 (~1:29:10)
Darkwonyx (Miracle Rogue) vs TidesofTime (Shaman)
TidesofTime’s
Mana Tide Totem performed its duty before exiting the board as Tides transitioned by throwing down consecutive
Flametongue Totems as well as an
Azure Drake. On the next turn, he placed
Al’Akir the Windlord between his two
Flametongue Totems
to produce a 7/5 charge minion. Darkwonyx could not cleanly clear the
board and Tides finished off Darkwonyx with his Flametoungue Totems to
clinch the Losers Finals.
Grand Finals Game 1 (~1:50:20)
TidesofTime (Freeze Mage) vs RDU (Miracle Rogue)
TidesofTime’s
Loot Hoarder put in work in the early rounds as RDU failed to deal with it until turn six. RDU played into TidesofTime’s
Flamestrike gambit by placing his
Gadgetzan Auctioneer alongside his
Azure Drake and 4/4 Edwin Van Cleef right before Tide’s seventh turn. RDU’s double
SI:7 Agent play ran into a road block in Tides’
Doomsayer which cleared the board. Tides immediately followed with an
Archmage Antonidas into Coin into
Ice Block, which filled his hand with a total of four
Fireballs. RDU attempted a Miracle OTK
Leeroy combo that ran headlong into Tides’
Ice Block. Tides’ finished off RDU’s Miracle Rogue with a double
Fireball and
Frostbolt, proving once again the potency of Freeze Mage.
Losers’ Round 1 Game 1
Gaara (Hand Warlock) vs Kolento (Hand Warlock)
This
game epitomizes Handlock’s late game potential. Well into the late
stages of the game Kolento and Gaara would not let the opposing player
retain board control as they traded minions and made liberal use of
Shadowflame,
Siphon Soul, and
Soulfire to clear taunted Drakes and Giants. The twenty-two minute stalemate finally ended after Kolento dropped
Power Overwhelming onto
Leeroy Jenkins and copied it with a
Faceless Manipulator to clinch the game.
Semifinals Game 1
Gnimsh (Druid) vs Gaara (Hand Warlock)
This game proved to be scrappy and intense. Gaara’s
Mountain Giant and
Twilight Drake into
Defender of Argus
forced a Savage Roar/Force of Nature board clear from Gnimsh; however,
that play also dropped Gaara’s Health to nine. Gaara threw down a
Siphon Soul and
Molten Giant to set himself up for a possible lethal next turn. Unfortunately for Gaara, Gnimsh top decked an
Azure Drake that in turn drew into a
Big Game Hunter. Both players traded for multiple turns until Gaara Life Tapped himself into Gnimsh’s lethal range. Gnimsh sacrificed his
Loot Hoarder to find him a
Savage Roar that secured him the game over Gaara.
Semifinals Game 1
Kolento (Druid) vs Amaz (Druid)
Amaz seemed to be on the verge of rolling over Kolento in this game. Amaz’s
Ragnaros uncharacteristically hit Kolento’s face instead of his
Ancient of War,
however, which allowed Kolento regain board control with three 5/5
creatures. Kolento turned the tables on Amaz as he dropped him to five
Health. Despite his dire situation, Amaz would not throw in the towel as
he top decked a
Keeper of the Grove to eliminate Kolento’s
Argent Commander and regain the board. Kolento could not remove the
Keeper of the Grove, which allowed Amaz the lethal follow up with
Swipe.
Winners’ Finals Game 3 (time: ~17:11)
Amaz (Priest) vs Gnimsh (Hunter)
Amaz took control in the mid game with a
Wild Pyromancer that cleared Gnimsh’s one Health minions. The tides turned in the mid game when Amaz played an Aucenai Soulpriest and a
Circle of Healing, which left his board susceptible to Gnimsh’s
Explosive Trap. WIth the board reset, Amaz put out
Ragnaros to drop Gnimsh’s Health down to five. Amaz took no chances on the next turn with Gnimsh’s Cold Light Oracle as he played a
Holy Nova to guarantee the 8 damage to Gnimsh’s face and the win.
Grand Finals Game 2 (time: ~8:43)
Amaz (Druid) vs Kolento (Miracle Rogue)
Amaz
and Kolento faced off again in the Grand Finals after Amaz knocked
Kolento down to the Losers’ Bracket in the semis. In Game two, Kolento
utilized the Miracle spell and combo arsenal to great effect against
Amaz’s mid-range minions and
Ragnaros. Amaz wouldn’t be able to control the board until he threw down
Cairne Bloodhoof. From that point on, Kolento could not answer the board or set up a OTK combo. Amaz hit Kolento in the face with a
Swipe, leaving his opponent with one Health left and allowing the fatigue to finish the game.
