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Hearthstone
Kolento Wins Challengestone 2
Challengestone returned this past weekend with many wondering how the tournament would fare following the release of Blizzard's Tavern Brawls. In short, it didn't affect anything at all other than this format growing in popularity.
True Highlander was this week's rule, with players challenged to build three decks of the same class without using a card more than once throughout all three decks. Yeah, it wasn't easy. As a result players were given 35 minutes, up from the 20 allocated last time. Even so, there were still many mistakes, including that of the tournament organizers who were hand checking for mistakes and missed a few duplicate cards until after competition was completed.
In this challenge, you can only use one copy of each card to build 3 decks of the same class. If you use this copy in a deck, you cannot use it in another deck. The format is conquest, so you have to beat the opponent once with each one of the three decks you make.
The format of this event is Conquest: in order to win, you have to beat your opponent once with EACH ONE of your decks. Therefore, after each game, the winner MUST pick another one of their decks, the loser can keep the same deck or pick another one of their decks.
Penalties were light this time around with , , , , and as the first five replacements. No one exceeded these but the entire list can be found on the
Tempo Storm
website.
Hearthstone
Three Must Watch Matches from Vulcun Deckmasters Week 1
Sjow vs. Surrender - W1D1
Jung-Soo Kim, known as Surrender, is a relatively unknown player for those of us in North America and Europe. The Team Golden Coin member first appeared in the China vs. Korea Masters Season 1 and in only his second event claimed second at the World E-sport Championships in 2014. He's currently competing in the second season of OGN's Hearthstone Masters Korea and has already made it to the finals for that event. As such the hype around him has been growing rapidly and this match against Sjow is the first we've seen of him in a major Eastern tournament.
GosuGamers currently ranks him as the 16th best player in the world and he's already off to a 2-0 (4-1 overall) start. We can't wait for the group stage to be over and see how he'll fare against the likes of Strifecro and Kolento.
While there aren't any huge moments in this particular match, Surrender is someone you should familiarize yourself with as he's likely not going anywhere anytime soon.
Hearthstone
Tavern Brawl Week #2 - Banana Brawl Deck Spotlight
We recently added the ability to create Tavern Brawl decks, which is
here
if you missed that. But with only two days left, let's take a look at some of the decks
our community
has made and examine exactly why they work well in this banana profuse game mode.
Hyjinx
does a good job of breaking down the win conditions for this Mage deck centered around generating and casting bananas.
Mulligan for and . They provide so many bananas when you make a lot of early trades. is serviceable too. The s can't kill stuff, but they will slow your opponent and give you 2 bananas.
You'll find the usual s, to make your bananas free to play, s, to deal out lots of pings, s, which will continually grow stronger, and s, to truly snowball your lead.
Hyjinx also goes as far as to include , s, and s. The latter of which should be significantly discounted due to the size of your hand.
Mage is probably the safest way to tackle this week's challenge as I've also seen a good deal of success with my version of this deck: .
Hearthstone
Difficult Decks: Grim Patron Warrior
During his monthly grind to Legendary, Trump is finally attempting to learn the intricacies of Grim Patron Warrior. Long known for his Handlock play, Trump swore off the Warrior deck, swearing that he could earn success without it. After a disappointing performance at Viagame House Cup 3, he finally gave in.
Trump is familiar with the levels of mastery that must be achieved to truly be good at the more difficult decks in Hearthstone. That said, he's had a bumpy ride thus far, even going as far as to employ the help of
Th3Rat
as a coach during one of his streams. It's a tremendously difficult deck to play, one many say is the hardest ever made. Just recently he spent more than thirty minutes following one of his matches trying to figure out if he missed 32 points of lethal damage. With the help of his Twitch viewers and
Reddit
, it was discovered that through about 15 steps in one turn, Trump could have claimed victory.
Those kind of calculations must be done every turn when part of the combo is in your hand. But to even get there you need to have a critical understanding of how to approach each and every class archetype out there.
Hearthstone
Understanding Hybrid Hunter
Hunter was previously a very binary class. Either you were going face 100 percent of the time or you were developing your board and prioritizing value with a more Midrange focused deck. And this was the status quo for what seemed like an eternity. Everyone knew that Midrange Hunter was very solid but lost out to its faster paced brother. Then along came this little invention called Hybrid Hunter which merged the two and completely changed everything we thought we knew.
Because of this invention, matches against the Hunter have gotten significantly more difficult. You used to be able to know within the first two turns exactly what your opponent's win conditions were. But Hybrid Hunter slotted s alongside mid game juggernauts like . By doing so it allowed the deck to survive a ton of early game pressure that Midrange was unable to, but it also gave Face a way to stay alive whilst making some trades.
But surely something that merges many strengths also assumes many weaknesses?
Well not exactly.
can beat pretty much any deck it matches up against and that’s partially what makes it so appealing. But while it doesn’t have any inherent Achilles heel, it doesn’t come with as many free wins that its brethren receive.
Hearthstone
The Decks of ESL's Hearthstone Legendary Season 2 LAN Finals
After an entire season of competition, the ESL Legendary Series came to a conclusion Sunday as Phonetap claimed victory over Reynad. And while we saw a lot of the usual decks out of the pros, this tournament continued to emphasize the importance of teching cards into your deck. So let’s take a look at what got these two to the finals and gave them a chance at $10,000.
Reynad's ESL Legendary Season 2 LAN Finals
Midrange Hunter
We’ve talked about how Hybrid Hunter and Midrange Hunter have grown remarkably close. The main difference remains the presence of minions with Charge in Hybrid while the Midrange has adopted some of the early game board presences like and .
Reynad has an interesting take on this, opting out of a second and altogether, instead seeking to balance some of the late game. Two s, two s, and a Loatheb would lead you to believe that this is a more late game oriented deck but you’d be incorrect.
It’s interesting to see where innovation has come from as decks evolve.
Phonetap's ESL Legendary Season 2 LAN Finals
Midrange Hunter
Phonetap also brought his own take on Midrange Hunter, preferring a more traditional deck list. In it you’ll see the usual s and s. He did however make the decision to tech in , a move we saw out of many competitors.
Reynad's ESL Legendary Season 2 LAN Finals
Tempo Mage
Continuing on to the rest of Reynad’s decks, we see his aggressive version of Tempo Mage. Centered around , this deck seeks to get those crucial minions behind taunts and protect them with other spells while they continually pump out damage.
Interestingly enough he chose not to run . In its wake he put in s and a single for the Spare Part synergy.
It feels like a more aggressive version of the deck that has a meaty mid-game but keep and in pocket to seal the deal when the turns run up.
Hearthstone
Viagame House Cup #3 Gives us a Look at Hearthstone's Class Diversity
We've got to hand it to Viagame. Their pick and ban phase requires that each player bring one deck per class, something relatively unheard of outside of this specific format. Because of this, and the fact that the deck lists were made public, we know exactly what archetypes the pros think are the strongest for each class.
With 16 competitors, and nine classes each, that's 144 decks split evenly across each hero. Let’s take a look at how things shook up and see exactly how much diversity there actually is in Hearthstone right now.
Rogue
It’s really no surprised that we only saw players bring Oil Rogue to the table as there really isn’t any other archetype out there that’s highly competitive. Gone are the old Combo Rogue days with .
Overall, Rogue had a record of 8-10 making it the third lowest win rate in the tournament.
Blackrock Mountain did little to help the diversity of the class and that’s very clearly reflected here. Hopefully Blizzard has something in the works to switch things up. As it stands if you see a Rogue you 100% know their win conditions before the match even starts.
Hearthstone
Blizzard Teases New Hearthstone Hero, Heroes of the Storm Cardback Now Available
Good news Hearthstone fans, looks like we might have a new hero inbound!
Blizzard has released a new Innkeeper's Tale titled "
A Mysterious Person
".
Blizzard
It was a busy night like any other as groups of adventurers and heroes huddled around a heated game of Hearthstone in the Inn’s common room. There was an air of tension as the game in progress began to go into its final rounds, both opponents staring into their hand of cards with intense focus. Spectators wrung their hands and watched each play with baited breath, hoping their favored player would emerge victorious.
A collective gasp and hearty applause accompanied the epic final plays by both opponents, followed by excited chatter and the sound of mugs clinking together in celebration. The winner boasted merrily to the gathered crowd while his opponent ponderously mulled over his plays, unsure as to where he went wrong. The innkeeper grinned broadly to himself, as he wiped down the bar; this night, like every night before it, was just the start to another rousing story these patrons would later regale to their friends.
Eyes flickered over to the door of the inn as it swung open, heads absently nodding in greeting to the visitor. Some gazes held at the door, and ever so slowly, the excited chatter that filled the inn with a buzzing din hushed to a whispering murmur. The innkeeper looked up; curious as to what could possibly calm the raucous energy that had previous filled the air.
An imposing, broad shouldered figure lingered at the door. Patrons squinted, their eyes adjusting to the light as they tried to make out the newcomer. Hesitation brought with it a mild tension as for a brief moment, no one moved or spoke.
The innkeeper’s warm, hearty laugh echoed throughout the common room as he gestured the newcomer inside, breaking the sudden silence. The patrons laughed along with his infectious guffaw. Mugs were hefted high, and cries of challenge were shouted, clamoring to be heard.
Oh, the stories that would be told tonight!
Heroes of the Storm Cardback Now Available
The Heroes of the Storm Cardback
mentioned yesterday
is now available for use in Hearthstone. You can unlock this Cardback by reaching Player 12 in Heroes of the Storm.
There is currently an
XP Bonus Event
for a 25% XP Boost.
Playing with friends will grant an additional 50% XP Boost.
If you want to reach level 12 even faster, you can buy a Stimpack which will increase experience gains by 100%.
If you are Player Level 12, upon logging into Heroes of the Storm, you will be notified that you have earned the Hero of the Storm Cardback in Hearthstone.
And logging into Hearthstone will then grant you your Cardback to enjoy!
Hearthstone
Vulcun Deckmasters Announced - One of the Largest Hearthstone Prize Pools Ever
Vulcun, the esports fantasy league website and sponsor of ex-NA LCS Team Vulcun, has announced Vulcun Deckmasters. A two season event, Deckmasters will begin on June 8 with open qualifiers restricted to those who have reached the Legendary rank in Hearthstone or must have earned more than $1,000 in World Championship point giving events. 12 players that make it through the qualifiers will join eight invited professionals including: Jeffery ‘Trump’ Shih, Alexander ‘Kolento’ Malsh, Cong ‘Strifecro’ Shu, Brian ‘Kibler’ Kibler, and Sebastian ‘Forsen’ Fors.
In accordance with Blizzard World Championship rules, points will be given out based on respective finishing positions during the two seasons. 100 points for first, 50 for second, 20 for those that make it to the semifinals, and 10 for those in the quarterfinals.
League play officially begins on June 22 and will last three weeks. $50,000 will be given out each season, making this the seventh largest prize pool in the
history
of competitive Hearthstone.
Hearthstone
Challengestone 2 Announced - Trump & Kibler Invited, Kripp to Host
The first Challengestone, now more than two weeks behind us, brought some fresh air to the Hearthstone community. As we've described it before, the tournament adds the factor of deck building to the competition. Where others simply test how well you play what is in the meta, Challengestone instead rewards those that not only play well, but formulate their decks well.
The website does well to describe what it's all about:
The goal of this tournament series is to put to the test not only the playing/execution ability of the participants, but also their deck building skills. The players compete in 2 steps:
Step 1 -
the deck building challenge: each player has to build 3 decks of different classes, complying with a given challenge, in a short timed period. If the players fail to build decks according to the challenge, there are penalties!
Step 2 -
competing: Bo5 matches, single elimination. The Finals are Bo7 with one revived deck. Only the finalists will be allowed to modify their decks.
If you missed it and don't have time to
watch
everything that happened, make sure to read
our recap
.
Hearthstone
Handlock Surges Back Thanks to Grim Patron Warrior
Break out your giants everyone.
Examining the trends of the most recent professional Hearthstone tournament, the
HTC Invitational
, we noticed a large increase in the number of players running Handlock. Almost half of all Warlocks fell under this archetype and it's undoubtedly in large part due to the drastic increase of aggressive decks. Though meta changes are usually notoriously slow, with Blackrock Mountain now behind us, it still gently shifts as everyone figures out what is going to stay and what will fade from memory. (Sorry Dragon Paladin)
Handlock has an extremely favorable matchup against Grim Patron Warriors and Midrange Demon Zoo, both staples of the current meta. But it also has even odds against decks you'll very feasibly run into: Control Warrior, Midrange Druid, Mech Shaman, Mech Mage, Tempo Mage, and itself of course.
Its main weaknesses? Midrange Hunter, Face Hunter, and Midrange Paladin. The former two made up only a third of all Hunters played with the new Hybrid Hunter emerging. Sadly for fans of Handlock, Hybrid Hunter is a combination of Midrange and Face Hunter, taking strengths and eliminating weaknesses from both. It probably isn't something that Handlock will do well against. However, it appears as if Paladin has taken a back seat, at least for the moment, so there's that.
Let's take a look at some numbers from the Invitational:
Warlock: 13
Warrior: 11
Hunter: 9
Druid: 4
Mage: 4
Paladin: 2
Rogue: 2
Shaman: 2
Hearthstone
HTC Invitational Recap: Forsen Wins First Major Tournament
Phone manufacturer HTC hosted a single elimination Hearthstone tournament over this past weekend. With $5,000 up for grabs, the turnout for the 16 player invitational was higher than expected. Hosted on TSM Trump's Twitch channel, the event took place over two days and featured the likes of Kolento, Hyped, Strifecro, Savjz, and more. Each match was a best-of-five played utilizing the Conquest format where the winner must claim victory with all three decks prepared for the tournament.
While Forsen, the only free agent at the event, would claim victory, there was a series of very entertaining matchups prior to that.
Hearthstone
Recap: Challengestone Brings Much Needed Freshness to Competitive Hearthstone
Fans of competitive Hearthstone got a very exciting treat over the weekend. Most tournaments involve players bringing multiple decks prepared in advance and playing in a bracket format. This is fine except for that fact that nearly every league plays this way, emphasizing the way you utilize in the meta decks rather than your ability to build a superior version. Weeks ago, Kripparian came up with the idea of a tournament played with different deck building criteria each time it takes place. Participants are given 20 minutes to formulate and build three competitive and viable decks following the rule set. For the inaugural challenge the participants were given the following challenge:
Minions have to have an ODD attack value (1, 3, 5, 7, etc.)
Spells have to be an EVEN mana cost (0, 2, 4, 6, etc.)
Unlike the Kinguin Pro League, Challengestone follows a Last Hero Standing format in which each player chooses a for the first game in a match, and the winner of the game will continue to use this deck until they suffer a defeat. The loser is will no longer be able to use the class and deck for the remainder of the match. Quarterfinals and Semifinals are played in a Best of 5 while the Finals are Best of 7.
More on the decks built and how the matches proceeded follow the link.
Hearthstone
Kolento Wins Inaugural Kinguin Pro League Season
The first ever Kinguin Pro League season came to a conclusion Friday as playoffs began rather tame but ended with a close battle to the finish.
With Strifecro and Lifecoach advancing straight through to the semifinals with the first place seeds, the two received the rather large advantage of spectating the previous rounds. Each player was allowed to bring four decks to the event so with each match being a Best of 7 format, the victor would need to defeat their opponent with all four of their decks. Thus the tournament was played utilizing Conquest rules and perhaps the best way to explain this is straight out of the rule book.
When a player wins a game, the deck used by the winning player cannot be used for the remainder of the match.
The losing player can keep the same deck used or switch to a different one of their choice.
Players will be told what classes their opponent has available, but they won’t know which class is picked until both players have picked.
Join us as we break down exactly how each match played out and how Kolento claimed victory.
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