The first long-running league of 2016 is under way with $60,000 on the line, and Europe went against China in the opening day.
For Team Celestial’s Breath, his first match in the Celestial Invitational NSL league was an important one. The Chinese, who is slated to play at the Blizzcon finals later this month, is in dire need of playtesting against the west, as his playing career has mostly been contained to local tournaments, the French Hearthstone Festival being the only exception.
Thus, on the first day of NSL, Breath got paired with the best player in the world, ex-Na`Vi’s Sebastian “Xixo” Bentert, and almost took him down.
NSL’s unorthodox format forces players to use all nine classes in a single match and thus play a best of 17 series, and the opening show gave a taste of what’s to come. Xixo and Breath both went the full distance as Xixo’s Discard Zoo outclasses Breath’s Miracle in the final game.
Although defeated, this is a strong showing for China, giving hope its players can do well against west’s finest. The region has a total of five representatives in the league, including Eloise, ZhangBo, Lovelychook, Breath and JasonZhou – the latter two of which are Blizzcon finalists – and represent almost half of the 12-player line-up. Should NLS end with a Chinese triumph, it will mean back-to-back wins for the region against the west after Lovelychook took the Ferrari in China vs Europe Season 3.
Find the full VOD of the Bo17 here, and the decklists below. Full coverage of NSL is available in our event coverage hub.
Xixo
Breath
