Curiosity of the tournament: Marco "Turna" Casti with his Camel Hunter
A Camel Hunter is not exactly something people get excited about these days. However, Turna's own version seems a little weird, as he just left out the single card that makes [card]Desert Camel[/card] good in the first place: [card]Injured Kvaldir[/card]. All that the Camels can pull out of Turna's deck are the two copies of [card]Fiery Bat[/card] he's running - to me, this just doesn't seem too exciting in a metagame with a ton of Hunters, Zoolocks and Shaman decks of all varations (but all of them using [card]Tunnel Trogg[/card]) running around, but maybe that's just me and Turna's decision will prove me short-sighted.
Tech of the tournament #5: Georgec's Anyfin Paladin
Just a couple weeks ago, a Paladin deck which uses [card]Anyfin Can Happen[/card] as a finisher in Standard would've seemed crazy. But now that Lovelychook won CN vs. EU #3 and went undefeated (!) with a deck very similar to Georgec's, I'm not so sure anymore. Compared to the more commonly seen N'Zoth Paladin, the deck swaps most of its late-game bombs out for Murlocs and with double Anyfin it guarantees to be able to kill its opponent prior to fatigue with a sheer swarm of fishiness.
Tech of the tournament #4: Mateusz "Loyan" Roszkowski's Control Line-Up
Of the five decks Loyan brings to HCT EU, his Midrange Hunter is probably already the fastest - and it's not even a fast version, including double [card]Savannah Highmane[/card] and all the fat stuff. Apart from that, he brings Renolock over Zoo (pretty slow), N'Zoth Paladin (even slower) and Control Warrior (probably beyond slow). One interesting observation about his Control Warrior: It's the only one in the field which doesn't run [card]Elise Starseeker[/card]. Instead, it includes [card]Chillmaw[/card] alongside [card]N'Zoth, the Corruptor[/card] as the finisher of choice.
"But what about the fifth deck?" - well, it's Shaman, of course. And it's not aggro, not even the usually seen midrange variant, but features double [card]Thunder Bluff Valiant[/card] as well as - long time no see! - [card]Al'Akir the Windlord[/card]. Take that, Harrison! So, the takeaway here is that Loyan likes control, I guess?
Tech of the tournament #3: Esteban "AKAWonder" Serrano's triple C'Thun threat
AKAWonder is a faithful believer of [card]C'Thun[/card] and thus far the Old God has rewarded his servant with at least a top eight finish at HCT EU. Staying firm and strong in his belief, the Spaniard has once again brought three C'Thun decks out of his five. His C'Thun Warrior can whip out power-turns like [card]Brann Bronzebeard[/card] plus [card]Ancient Shieldbearer[/card] to gain a massive chunk of armor in the later stages of the game. It also includes a copy of [card]Doomcaller[/card] to bring the Old God back in case he's been dealt with.
The C'Thun Druid deck-building has gone through quite a few changes since the expansion hit - as it turned out, it wasn't as easy to build as most people predicted. Do you go for ramp? Do you go for early game minions? Or even both? Most builds these days cut [card]Beckoner of Evil[/card] in favor of [card]Wild Growth[/card]s, but AKAWonder chose to go the opposite direction with minions over ramp. The deck is also relatively top heavy with [card]Ragnaros the Firelord[/card] and [card]Cenarius[/card] alongside C'Thun.
Last but not least, there's Renolock with a personal spin on it: six C'Thun Support cards (among them another Doomcaller and a [card]Crazed Worshipper[/card]) as well as the Old God itself. Of course, all the C'Thun decks also feature [card]Twin Emperor Vek'lor[/card].
Tech of the tournament #2: Simon "Crane333" Raunholst and ALL OF THE TECH CHOICES
When one takes a closer look at Crane's decks, it's hard to point out that one particular tech choice which outshines the other ones - simply because he made so many different ones. First of, his Zoolock includes a single [card]Crazed Alchemist[/card] to counter all the [card]Doomsayer[/card]s running rampant. The deck also comes with double [card]Doomguard[/card] instead of [card]Sea Giant[/card]s/[card]Leeroy Jenkins[/card], which are probably more common these days. Not excited yet? Let's continue: Instead of Tempo Warrior, the Dane brings Patron Warrior. I mean, it's Crane, the Patron god himself, so this probably doesn't come as too much of a surprise, either.
How about this, then? The Midrange Hunter comes without Highmanes and instead with double [card]Stranglethorn Tiger[/card], a card which is much, much better when played against Rogues (because of [card]Sap[/card]) or slower Shaman builds (because of [card]Hex[/card]). He also runs [card]Dreadscale[/card]. Next up, Crane teched a single [card]Lightning Storm[/card] in his otherwise all-out Aggro Shaman, probably to strengthen the match-up versus Zoo. Last but definitely not least, the Dane's Freeze Mage comes with a copy of [card]Mirror Image[/card], which has multiple implications. Apart from being an obvious wall and thus helping to protect your [card]Ice Block[/card] for an additional turn, it can most of the time guarantee that played alongside a Doomsayer the latter can go off without being killed.
Tech of the tournament #1: Georgec's Tinkmaster
Georgec runs a [card]Tinkmaster Overspark[/card] in his Control Warrior. Yup, he does. I'll just let you marvel at that for a while.
Everything digested? Awesome. To be clear, the last time Tinkmaster was seen in competitive play was back when Zoo with [card]Imp-losion[/card] was the new hottness, because all you had on board were a bunch of 1/1s anyway and Tinkmaster pretty much always was either amazing or a 3/3 for three Mana. What does the little gnome do in a Control Warrior though? Well, if you give it some thought, he can help dealing with some for Warrior really annoying minions, for example Stranglethorn Tiger, Savannah Highmane or - probably most importantly - stealthed [card]Gadgetzan Auctioneer[/card]s.
Regardless of how this tech choice works out, I'm beyond excited to see it all play out alongside the other interesting choices. The HCT EU Spring Championships starts tomorrow at 18:00 CEST on twitch.tv/playhearthstone.
