Photo by: ESL
James "Firebat" Kostesich will be going to the Deck Wars S3 finals. The World Champion rode his control warrior to a 4-2 victory over reigning Deck Wars winner Dima "Rdu" Radu.
Held just a day after GvG's official release, the first episode of Deck Wars S3 was a great chance ot see what pro players are building with the new cards. With Rdu going against Firebat in a Bo7 - two of the most prominent Hearthstone players on the scene at the moment - the episode was slated to be a GvG spectacle.
A druid mirror opened the series with Rdu going more for a standard build while Firebat went for an updated version of Hyped's [card]Ancient Watcher[/card] build. The Romanian prevailed in the Malfurion faceoff and the world champion resorted to his [card]Call Pet[/card] plus [card]Gahz'rilla[/card] hunter.
Firebat didn't even need his beastly legendary. Early pressure halved Rdu's life points and a massive [card]Unleash the Hound[/card] cleared his board. A single [card]Timber Wolf[/card] came to buff whatever beasts Firebat had and the American swung for lethal.
With the score tied, Rdu took out what could very well become a popular paladin archetype with the new GvG cards - a weenie deck, running cards like [card]Muster for Battle[/card], [card]Scarlet Purifier[/card] and [card]Quartermaster[/card]. The holy punches soon brought Rexxar to his knees and Rdu was up by a game.
This would be the last game for Rdu in this series as Firebat displayed the power of the new school control warrior. Featuring double [card]Explosive Sheep[/card] and [card]Bomblobber[/card] for removal, double [card]Shieldmaiden[/card] for life gain as well as the powerful [card]Troggzor the Earthinator[/card], Archons spearhead won three in a row against Rdu's paladin, priest and handlock.
Decklists:
Firebat: Watcher Druid • Gahz'rilla Hunter • Control Warrior
Rdu: Midrange Druid • Paladin Weenie • Control Priest • Handlock
