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Hearthstone9 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

Hearthstone World Championship Group Stages Day 2 LIVE - RunAndGun knocks out FrozenIce

Join us for full live coverage of the first phase of the Hearthstone World Championships live from Burbank, California. Sixteen players will battle it out to advance through their groups, with eight matches played today.

 

(All times CET)

2009 - ChinaTiddlerCelestial defeats United StatesDTwo 3-2

In game 1, DTwo's Priest deck cleared TiddlerCelestial's [card]Shade of Naxxramas[/card] and [card]Haunted Creeper[/card] with [card]Wild Pyromancer[/card] + [card]Circle of Healing[/card] combo. On turn 4, the Druid player was already down to two cards while DTwo had a full hand basically the entire game. DTwo didn't play around [card]Force of Nature[/card] + [card]Savage Roar[/card] combo, but Tiddler didn't have it and that was his only chance at stealing a win in a game where he was always behind.

The players buckled down for a Priest mirror for game 2, but both players exhibited a very different Priest style. DTwo passed for four turns, building card advantage, while Tiddler went for aggressive board control. After stealing DTwo's [card]Ysera[/card] with [card]Sylvanas Windrunner[/card] + [card]Shadow Word: Death[/card], Tiddler drew Ysera Awakens from the legendary and assembled surprise lethal with the dream card plus [card]Auchenai Soulpriest[/card].

DTwo chose Handlock for game 3, and drew an atypical aggressive hand. He curved out perfectly with coin + [card]Ancient Watcher[/card], [card]Ironbeak Owl[/card], and [card]Earthen Ring Farseer[/card] for maximum pressure. A topdecked turn 6 [card]Mountain Giant[/card] was the nail in the coffin and the players moved on to game 4.

Tiddler's last deck was Hunter, which did exactly what Hunter does against Handlock, swiftly killing DTwo with huge chunks of damage and sending our first match of the day to game 5.

The pressure mounted as DTwo queued up his control Warrior for the final game. A critical [card]Freezing Trap[/card] on DTwo's [card]Loatheb[/card] put Tiddler in the driver's seat, as the Warrior couldn't find time to armor up in the early turns and dropped precariously low. DTwo couldn't draw a way to gain life and TiddlerCelestial advances to the top 8.

 

2144 - ItalyKaor beats ChinaNicolas 3-2

The second match of the day began with a more traditional control Priest mirror, with both players answering each other's threats until the late game. Nicolas made a fatal misstep when he used [card]Mind Control[/card] on a [card]Cabal Shadow Priest[/card], which Kaor answered with a much more threatening [card]Ysera[/card]. Despite being immediately silenced, Nicolas had no way to deal the leftover 4/12 body and Kaor rode the dragon to victory. By the time Nicolas dealth with Ysera, some ten turns later, the game had gone to fatique and that gave Kaor exact lethal.

After the epic game 1, Nicolas won two straight games with his [card]Malygos[/card] Rogue, eliminating Kaor's control Priest and Warrior. Kaor then countered the Chinese player's miracle Rogue with his Hunter to send it to yet another exciting game 5 situation.

In game 5, the casters were excited to finally see the rare Paladin class represented in this tournament. Despite a valiant effort by Nicolas, Kaor prevailed and joins TiddlerCelestial in the top 8, while Nicolas will play the winner of the Group B losers' bracket.

 

2244 -  South KoreaKranich reverse all-kills United StatesFirebat with Hunter

Interestingly, both players 3-0'd yesterday and banned each others' winning decks, so neither player knew had any prior knowledge of his opponents' decks for day 2.

Firebat started game 1 with Hunter against Kranich's Handlock. The Hunter played a [card]Snake Trap[/card], but Kranich thought it was [card]Freezing Trap[/card] and missed two [card]Twilight Drake[/card] attacks playing around it. This cost him the game as Firebat had several beasts and double [card]Kill Command[/card] for the win. Firebat then earned a 7/10 BM rating by finishing the game with an unnecessary [card]Ironbeak Owl[/card].

The Korean player picked his hybrid control/enrage Warrior to counter Firebat's Hunter for game 2, but was forced to concede very early after completely running out of resources. The quick victory gave Firebat in a dominating 2-0 lead.

Game 3 was a Hunter vs. Hunter, in which Kranich easily won with [card]Loatheb[/card] into double [card]Sludge Belcher[/card]. Firebat had no answer for the massive damage on board and Kranich added the cherry on top by emoting "Thanks" as he won the game.

Game 4 was all drama. Firebat tried to end the series by selecting his Zoo Warlock, and had an explosive start with quadruple 1-drops, followed by an enormous 8/5 [card]Void Terror[/card] on turn 3. The huge minion was protected by numerous small taunt minions, but Kranich was able to survive on the backs of his [card]Silverback Patriarch[/card] and Misha. Firebat had many outs to just win the game, but drew dead card after dead card. Kranich had lethal on board soon after but amazingly missed it, giving Firebat an opportunity to win the game by playing two [card]Knife Juggler[/card]s and hoping for some lucky juggles. Unfortunately for Firebat, none of his knives hit Kranich's face and the Hunter won the following turn with just one life point remaining.

Firebat was forced to use his Druid for the final game, in which Kranich's [card]Flare[/card] enabled the Hunter to remove a stealthed [card]Shade of Naxxramas[/card]. Firebat chose a super aggressive route, playing back to back [card]Druid of the Claw[/card]s in cat form, but Kranich had the perfect counter with [card]Unleash the Hounds[/card] + [card]Hunter's Mark[/card]. The game crazily swung back and forth, and then Kranich topdecked [card]Defender of Argus[/card] to foil Firebat's game-winning combo aspirations. The Korean player had exact lethal the following turn with [card]Eaglehorn Bow[/card] + Kill Command, locking up a spot in the top 8.

 

1230 - United StatesStrifeCro triumphs over UkraineKolento 3-2

The most anticipated match of the day started with Warlock vs. Warlock, with StrifeCro playing Zoo and Kolento Handlock. StrifeCro Coined into double [card]Flame Imp[/card], but didn't have much other early game to support it. On a critical turn, Kolento played [card]Sludge Belcher[/card] instead of clearing with [card]Shadowflame[/card], and StrifeCro took game 1 with [card]Ironbeak Owl[/card].

After a break for technical difficulties (and Artosis tickling Ben Brode), game 2 commenced with Kolento trying to steal a win with his Priest. StrifeCro tragically didn't play around [card]Auchenai Soulpriest[/card] + [card]Circle of Healing[/card], and lost his entire board and the game.

For game 3 the American chose his miracle Rogue to capitalize on the Priest's passivity. Kolento giggled as he played back-to-back Circle of Healing + [card]Injured Blademaster[/card] combos, but StrifeCro had back-to-back [card]Sap[/card]s in response. A Thoughtstolen [card]Cold Blood[/card] allowed Kolento to easily dispatch StrifeCro's [card]Gadgetzan Auctioneer[/card]. The draws just didn't go StrifeCro's way and Kolento did his best "miracle Priest" impression by using a stolen [card]Preparation[/card] to lethal with [card]Holy Fire[/card].

Going into game 4 with a 2-1 lead, Kolento's Priest had an extremely favorable matchup against StrifeCro's Shaman. After a back-and-forth early game, Kolento stole Wrath of Air Totem with [card]Cabal Shadow Priest[/card], using the spellpower boost to kill StrifeCro's [card]Azure Drake[/card] with [card]Lightning Bolt. StrifeCro rebuilt his board, but Kolento had another board clear by stealing [card]Bloodmage Thalnos[/card] with [card]Shadow Madness[/card] to pump up his [card]Holy Nova[/card]. It didn't matter as StrifeCro defied the odds to send it to game 5 by dealing a ton of burst damage with [card]Rockbiter Weapon[/card] + [card]Doomhammer[/card] combos.

It all came down to game 5 between the Cloud 9 teammates, and it was Druid versus Shaman. StrifeCro dictated the pace of the early game, avoiding taking any damage at all for the first 7 turns while fighting for the board. He eliminated double Haunted Creeper with Azure Drake + double [card]Earth Shock[/card], while Kolento tried to assemble double [card]Force of Nature[/card] combo to try to steal a win. However, StrifeCro's spellpower allowed him to win with Lightning Bolt and [card]Lava Burst[/card], advancing to the top 8 with a nice comeback.

 

0132 - DenmarkNumberguy sweeps TaiwanTom60229 with Hunter

Numberguy's Hunter easily eliminated Tom's Shaman in game 1, dealing huge chunks of damage with his beasts and finishing off the Taiwanese player with [card]Eaglehorn Bow[/card].

Numberguy had the exact same opening hand for game 2, this time against Tom's Priest. Numberguy drew very well and went all in with minions, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead when Tom6(0-2)29 couldn't deal with all of the threats.

A win wasn't in the cards for Tom, as despite playing well with his control Warrior, Numberguy's all-in plays and good draws were too much to deal with. Numberguy sweeps with his Hunter and Tom60229 is our first contestant to go home.

 

0219 - United StatesTarei sweeps South KoreaRenieHouR with Freeze Mage

Tarei eliminated RenieHouR's Shaman in game 1 with his Freeze Mage, and the Korean player thought Priest was his best chance to snatch game 2 from his formidable opponent.

In game 2, RenieHouR got [card]Archmage Antonidas[/card] from [card]Thoughtsteal[/card] and drew two [card]Fireball[/card]s from it, one from casting [card]Silence[/card] on his frozen [card]Injured Blademaster[/card]. Tarei showed his mastery of freeze Mage, navigating some very complicated turns and coming out with a win by chaining burn spells and freezing RenieHouR's [card]Auchenai Soulpriest[/card] to deny healing.

RenieHouR's final deck, Handlock, played a ton of huge minions and used [card]Ironbeak Owl[/card] to silence his frozen [card]Mountain Giant[/card] to put maximum pressure on Tarei. The Mage, however, drew a ton of burn and used [card]Frost Nova[/card] + Fireball to set up inevitable lethal the following turn. RenieHouR will go home thanks to Tarei's impressive freeze Mage skills.

 

0306 - ChinaQiruo knocks out United KingdomGreenSheep 3-1

16-year old phenom GreenSheep unfortunately lead off with Handlock against Qiruo's Hunter, generally considered a tough matchup for the Warlock. A timely [card]Ironbeak Owl[/card] helped Qiruo push through GreenSheep's large taunts, but the Warlock topdecked [card]Hellfire[/card] the following turn to wipe seven minions off the Hunter's side of the field. [card]Lord Jaraxxus[/card] + [card]Soulfire[/card] combined to kill the Hunter the following turn, showing again that this matchup isn't as one-sided as we used to think.

Qiruo chose [card]Malygos[/card] Rogue for game 2 since its spellpower damage can bypass the large taunt minions that Handlock amasses. GreenSheep didn't draw very well while Qiruo had the typical miracle draw of Auctioneer + tons of cheap spells to assemble a surprisingly quick lethal.

GreenSheep went with Shaman next, but Qiruo had a miraculous opening hand with a turn 5 [card]Conceal[/card]ed [card]Gadgetzan Auctioneer[/card] plus a pair of [card]Preparation[/card]s, drawing about seven cards in one turn. His only chance to win was a [card]Doomhammer[/card], but the bad news was that the Rogue player had [card]Acidic Swamp Ooze[/card] in addition to a full hand of damage to take game 3.

GreenSheep's last deck was Warrior, which made Qiruo's choice to mulligan away [card]Harrison Jones[/card] quite surprising. The miracle Rogue again had a big Gadgetzan + Conceal turn, and GreenSheep's only hope was to Coin out [card]Ragnaros the Firelord[/card] and hope to snipe the stealthed goblin. Ragnaros missed and Qiruo kept his tournament hopes alive by playing Malygos for the win, sending GreenSheep home.

 

0446 - ChinaRunAndGun eliminates TaiwanFrozenIce 3-2

RunAndGun led off with Zoo against FrozenIce's control Warrior, and the Warlock built a huge minion advantage early on that put FrozenIce in a [card]Brawl[/card]-or-bust situation. He drew the Brawl a turn late and [card]Loatheb[/card] from RunAndGun cemented Zoo's victory.

FrozenIce chose Shaman to counter Zoo, hoping to draw early removal such as [card]Lightning Storm[/card] but instead drawing an opening hand of expensive cards. The Taiwanese player never drew Lightning Storm and RunAndGun's typical flood-the-board Zoo draw gave him a commanding 2-0 lead.

FrozenIce turned around game 3 after falling way behind thanks to double [card]Molten Giant[/card]s. In a situation where both players were in topdeck mode, RunAndGun couldn't draw lethal and FrozenIce won with just 2 life left, keeping his (and Taiwan's) tournament hopes alive.

RunAndGun selected his Paladin for game 4. FrozenIce played around [card]The Black Knight[/card] but the Paladin still had [card]Big Game Hunter[/card] to remove one Giant. The Chinese player continued to draw answers, removing another Giant with [card]Stampeding Kodo[/card] + [card]Humility[/card]. Despite all of RunAndGun's answers, FrozenIce's [card]Lord Jaraxxus[/card] put the Handlock player in a dominating position. However, the best topdeck of the tournament so far blew the game wide open: [card]Harrison Jones[/card] destroyed Jaraxxus' weapon and drew 6 cards! Despite the huge swing, FrozenIce's army of taunted Infernals sent the match to game 5 just as fatigue set in.

For the final game of the day, RunAndGun chose Priest and had a nice opening with [card]Dark Cultist[/card] and [card]Silence[/card] for his opponent's [card]Twilight Drake[/card]. The Black Knight caused a big swing for RunAndGun, but the Priest played very cautiously, continually removing minions instead of going for the jugular because he feared Molten Giants and/or Lord Jaraxxus. Ironically, this gave FrozenIce way too much time to draw the very cards RunAndGun was playing around. FrozenIce topdecked Molten Giant and combined it with [card]Shadowflame[/card] to clear RunAndGun's board. The Priest tried to find answers with [card]Thoughtsteal[/card] but only drew multiple 20-cost Molten Giants. FrozenIce finally played Lord Jaraxxus and RunAndGun responded with Harrison Jones yet again, putting the weapon in a museum and drawing his last five cards! Both players went into fatigue and the Priest's stolen Molten Giants actually ended winning this insane game 5 for RunAndGun, knocking FrozenIce out of the tournament.

 

Tune in next weekend for the main event: Blizzcon's top 8 Hearthstone players!

 

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