At press time, Archon’s finest warrior is just one point below StarLadder champion Stanislav Cifka.
Although world’s top three hasn’t changed since our last GosuRankings report, one particular player is set on making it back there. James “Firebat” Kostesich, 2014 world champion and back-to-back Gfinity winner, made a climb through the rankings this weekend as he finished second at the €25,000 GameGune invitational.
Despite being one of the most decorated players in Hearthstone, Firebat has been struggling to make the finals of a big tournament for some time. The Archon marquee had a low on activity October with just four televised games on record and made a Ro16 exit at SeatStory Cup IV, finishing last in his group after losses to Dima “Rdu” Radu and Stanislav Cifka.
The viewers of GameGune saw a very different Firebat, however, one who’s back in his championship shape. The American crushed through the group stage and bracket of the Spanish tournament, beating Nuno “Ignite” Pinho, Jan “Ekop” Palys, Mikulas “Pokrovac” Dio and Esteban “AKAWonder” Serrano to make it to his first grand final since his championship run at StarLadder Kick-Off season in July. Although Firebat would ultimately lose to local Spaniard Jacobo “Jac0b0” Sanchez, his run won him 45 points in total and put him back in the top 5 in the world.
Now, Firebat is looking forward to regaining his spot among the very best in the world. He will play in the $25,000 Hearthstone Champions League on Tuesday, November 24, and is expected to make an appearance at the $40,000 DreamHack Winter at the end of the month. At the time of this publication, Firebat is just one point behind Stanislav Cifka and 20 behind reigning world champion Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall.
