The second day of DreamHack Winter is underway, with Groups C & D being decided today. Who will join Firebat, Faramir, StrifeCro and Kolento in the play-offs tomorrow? We will have full coverage of eliminations and write-ups of streamed matches.
23:15 CET - Thijs fills the last qualifier spot
In the last match of the day, Thijs met Numberguy in the Group D losers bracket final. The Dutch opened on his trademark druid and took a very defensive posture to outlast Numberguy’s hunter and force a druid mirror in game two. SK Gaming’s new recruit got an explosive start with double [card]Echoing Ooze[/card] into [card]Shade of Naxxramas[/card] and chewed away Thijs’ health, dropping him to 19 by T4. As the board was never stabilized by MYM’s played, the series got tied on the back of a FoN/SR combo.
What happened next was an example of why people ban hunter in tournaments. Game three was a close one and Numberguy almost stabilized against the steady shots of Thijs by healing up with [card]Ancient of Lore[/card] but a timely [card]Eaglehorn Bow[/card] chipped in for the win.
Game four was marginally less thrilling. Thijs mulliganned into double [card]Undertaker[/card] and had a perfect curve featuring [card]Haunted Creeper[/card] and [card]Knife Juggler[/card], topping it all off with a [card]Loatheb[/card] just before Numberguy could [card]Holy Nova[/card] the board. On the back of a 3-1 series, Thijs became the eighth and final DHW quarter finalist.
21:40 CET - Miracle druid sends Lifecoach to playoffs
In a battle for one of the last playoff spots, Dog met Lifecoach in the LB final of Group C. In a surprising move, the American opened with paladin – the first one we’ve seen on stream all weekend – and prepared himself to face Lifecoach’s miracle druid. By turn 4, Lifecoach’s hand was almost empty but Dog’s was somehow even worse. Without [card]Equality[/card] plus [card]Consecration[/card] or [card]Wild Pyromancer[/card], Dog couldn’t remove the [card]Violet Teacher[/card] and the growing [card]Shade of Naxxramas[/card] and the German was suddenly one game up.
Ramp went against miracle druid in game two and although Dog held a great hand with [card]Innervate[/card], [card]Wild Growth[/card] and double [card]Ancient of War[/card], luck was on Lifecoach’s side more. Double [card]Keeper of the Grove[/card] into [card]Swipe[/card] were drawn by the German, eliminating the big taunts of Dog and putting the score to 2-0.
Dog was reduced only to his rogue and a miracle battle ensued. Getting two [card]Shade of Naxxramas[/card] helped Lifecoach set up his lethal while the American continued to dig for his [card]Gadgetzan Auctioneer[/card] but in vain. When Dog finally found his draw engine, he was down to just 4 health, enough for a [card]Swipe[/card] to finish him off.
Complexity's Dog is on a tear in the lower bracket, eliminating Tides, Savjz and Reynad and palying Lifecoach next
20:30 CET - Neirea makes top eight, Reynad & Hyped out
Neirea got an unfavorable match-up as a starter, going Druid against Lifecoach’s Hunter but Malfurion managed to stabilize and the German had to pull out his Priest deck for game two. Running the [card]Undertaker[/card] build, Lifecoach established early board control and taunt but minion trades allowed Neirea to level the playing field.
As late game ensued, the Ukrainian flourished. Consecutive [card]Ancient of Lore[/card] draws refilled his hand while holding to his double [card]Shade of Naxxramas[/card] provided more punch power after the [card]Holy Nova[/card] arrived. The 2-0 lead wasn’t far behind.
It was another Druid mirror in the third game of the series, marked by barely any activity until the later turns. With Lifecoach running Miracle Druid, however, the two players had different goals. For Neirea it was about finishing his opponent quickly, for Lifecoach, it was about staying alive until he could Gadgetzan through his deck.
Thus, the late turns were all about who could stay away from other person’s combo. Having superior board control and dropping [card]Loatheb[/card] at the right moment, Liquid’s new recruit pressured Lifecoach into submission, finishing him off with a FoN/SR combo before the big Gadgetzan turn.
Off stream, it was a slaughter of Tempo Storm members as team captain Reynad was slapped out of DreamHack by Dog in four games. In Group D, a TPS team-kill between Gaara and Hyped sent the American home and the two-times DreamHack grand finalist is now to play Numberguy who ended Kaldi’s run.
19:18 CET - Cipher to playoffs, Savjz and Mirrari eliminated
Cipher got a very anti-War Axe hand with double [card]Webspinner[/card], one of which gave him the powerful [card]King Krush[/card]. It turned out Cipher didn’t even need the huge dinosaur as his Hunter rushed down Thijs’ Warrior pretty hard, [card]Freezing Trap[/card]ping his [card]Armorsmith[/card] away to delay armor stacks and punching away for victory. [card]Alexstrasza[/card] was literally Thijs’ only chance of survival but his deck wouldn’t give it to him.
Game two ended up a Hunter mirror and once again Thijs started on the backfoot. Double [card]Houndmaster[/card] draws gave Cipher a lot of board presence early on. Even though the Dutchman was happy to drop a [card]Savannah Highmane[/card] on T7 as his first big minion, a [card]Freezing Trap[/card] from Cipher denied it easily. The damage race was decisively into Cipher’s favor and the score went to 2-0 for the Brit.
Reduced only to his Druid deck, Thijs was up against the rope against Cipher’s godly Hunter draws. Despite the class being statistically unfavored against Hunter in tournaments, Thijs made it work as he kept most of Hunter’s damage away from his face, giving him the time to play his own minions, outrace Cipher and return one game.
It was another mirror in game four, this time a Malfurion one. With no [card]Wild Growth[/card]s on either side, neither player gets a quick ramp advantage but Cipher eventually established tempo control and takes the health total lead. As Ragnaros came down for him and hits Thijs in the face, reducing him to 9, the Dutchman had a tough choice to make. Ignoring the Firelord is what he decided, hoping to make the health pools at least closer, but a [card]Cenarius[/card] follow-up saved Cipher’s ass and rocketed him to a 3-1 victory, right into the playoffs.
Meanwhile offstream, SeatStory Cup 2 grand finalists Savjz and Mirrari both had to pack their backs and say goodbye to DreamHack. The Team Liquid Finn suffered a 2-3 loss to Complexity’s Dog while Mirrari surrendered to Tempo Storm captain Reynad in four games.
Photo: Abraham Engelmark / DreamHack
18:00 CET - Lifecoach upsets Savjz in five game marathon, Tides & Lothar out
In one of the longest games in the tournament so far, Team Liquid's Savjz was upset by Lucky Draw's Lifecoach 3-2. Though the series featured a couple of particularly long games, it was Hunter which closed the series out for Lifecoach from being 1-2 down.
Both players opened up with Druid, but it was the unorthodox spell heavy variant of Lifecoach that came out on top. Running Gadgetzans and [card]Violet Teacher[/card]s alongside spells like [card]Claw[/card] and [card]Moonfire[/card], Lifecoach was able to keep up the pressure as Savjz's draws failed him. With two [card]Wild Growth[/card]s in hand on turn eight Savjz could do nothing to stem the tide of damage and a pair of [card]Savage Roar[/card]s closed out the game. Lifecoach established early board presence with a Shade in game two against Savjz's Warrior, but Savjz was able to fight back with [card]Gorehowl[/card] and a ballsy Grommash play that set him up for lethal using [card]Loatheb[/card] to block the Druid combo. After a very slow game Savjz was also able to sweep aside Lifecoach's Priest, and 2-1 up.
Lifecoach was left with his Hunter deck, which included an unsual Ragnaros, and in game four against the Warrior it curved almost perfectly. Getting out an [card]Undertaker[/card] and [card]Haunted Creeper[/card] early before curving into a turn six [card]Savannah Highmane[/card], even though Savjz was able to [card]Brawl[/card] Lifecoach refilled the board and overwhelmed him with pressure. In the deciding Hunter mirror match, Lifecoach just managed to edge him out thanks to some [card]Knife Juggler[/card] RNG and a Sludge Belcher. Savjz was forced to Leeroy into a Loatheb to survive but in doing so he traded away his win condition, putting the game out of reach.
Elsewhere players have begun to fall out of the tournament with TidesofTime and Lothar both dropping out with 0-2 records, the latter of the two posting a disappointing 0-6 record in games. Cipher has been the surprise package of the day, and after knocking off Gaara and Numberguy he will play Thijs in the Group D winner's final for a place in the top eight. Lifecoach and Neirea will then compete for the top spot in Group C.
Photo: Abraham Engelmark / DreamHack
16:00 CET - Reynad defeates ex-teammate Tides 3-2, Gaara upset by Cipher
In a thrilling five game series it was Reynad's Windspeaker Burst Shaman deck that sealed the series over his former Tempo Storm team mate TidesofTime in the latter's return to competitive Hearthstone for the first time since jumping to Cloud9. The most anticipated match of the opening round lived up to expectations swinging back and forth, and was the last match to be completed.
In an aggro match up Tides' Hunter deck was victorious over Reynad's Zoo as the Warlock failed to get the damage in early and, in typical Warlock fashion wore its own health down with life tap looking for answers. A pair of [card]Doomguard[/card]s came too late for Reynad, and Tides was able to win with 28 health remaining. Reynad switched to his Warrior and this time the Hunter drew very poorly, sitting with a pair of [card]Explosive Trap[/card]s and a [card]Kill Command[/card] in hand for much of the game.
The Hunter was able to top playable cards and work the Warrior down to nine life, but [card]Alexstrasza[/card] was able to get Reynad out of the hole. With no [card]Freezing Trap[/card]s coming out for Tides, the Warrior was able to press that advantage to level the series. Tides next played Handlock and got a good early board with [card]Sludge Belcher[/card], [card]Twilight Drake[/card] and [card]Defender of Argus[/card] to get rid of half the warrior's life. Reynad showed some Warrior tech that some might consider outdated, but his [card]Cairne Bloodhoof[/card] and [card]Gorehowl[/card] served him very well - however it was the Harrison Jones on Jaraxxus that really sealed the game and put the Warrior in control. Tides levelled the series with his Rogue in game four after some marginal calls from Reynad saw the game slip away from him.
In the final game, Reynad brought out his highly touted mystery deck - a Shaman deck equipped with [card]Abusive Sergeant[/card], [card]Shade of Naxxramas[/card] and [card]Windspeaker[/card]s for burst damage. Tides was doing reasonably well, dealing with the first [card]Fire Elemental[/card] and using [card]Cold Blood[/card]s to get his damage in, but was unable to draw the [card]Gadgetzan Auctioneer[/card] he needed to stay in the game. Though it was a win, this Shaman deck is still relatively unproven as Tides was really unlucky more than anything.
Reynad will face Neirea in the next round, while Tides will face Dog in the loser's bracket.
Elsewhere the big upset of the round was Cipher defeating Gaara 3-1. Gaara had been a favourite to advance from Group D, but will now have to take the harder route through the loser's bracket. Elsewhere favourites ThijsNL, Savjz and Hyped were all victorious.
