China's chances at winning the Ferrari are looking good
Six weeks into the qualification process, the western team is yet to find the heavy hitter to lead the charge against China.
More and more up and coming players flow into the European team for the second CN vs EU clash, coming to streams next month. Spanish player Screenager and Hawkeye from Greece are the two new additions to the squad that will represent the west in Hangzhou between March 19th and 22nd. Thus, two weeks before the qualifications are closed, Europe's team is, in its larger part, poor on big stage experience.
The two names which shape out as west's biggest hopefuls are Magic: The Gathering powerhouse and Pro Tour champion Stanislav Cifka as well as DreamHack Bucharest top 8 finisher Max "Max" Simpson, though both lack major championships under their belt. Their team-mates, at the same time, are big question marks. Even though they survived gruelling 1024-man brackets, EntryFee, Skylink, Screenager and Hawkeye are unknown to the large Hearthstone community and this will be their first ever televised event.
This brings questions how will the western octate fair against China. The host country's team selected their representatives from the $50,000 Gold Series grand finals, the highest paying Hearthstone tournament of 2015 and one of the most stacked in terms of attendance. Names like Blizzcon and WCA runner-up Wang "TiddlerCelestial" Xieyu, two-times CN vs KR grand finalist Zeng "MagicWind" Guoyi, Gold Series champion Chicken and runner-up Yu "Xyuan" Jianfei will be leading the Chinese team, having an actual Ferrari as an incentive to win against Europe.
Europe has two more qualifiers over the next two days to find its spearhead. The seventh qualifier starts today, while the eighth commences on February 19th.
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