Note: As group's winners are required to use the same decks in the cycle playoffs as well, we cannot reveal them just yet. Expect a full feature covering them after the playoffs are done next week.
Group E: Derikku's Coup
The first week of the eHL was dominated by the city state in Southeast Asia with all participants marching through to the playoffs coming from Singapore. The city continued to produce playoff caliber players as Derikku toyed with his opposition and reached the final eight with ease to open week two of eHL. It was one of the more decisive marches the eHL had witnessed in these weeks: The youngster only dropped one map, showed versatility by using two decks with equal success and left his third class hidden coming into the playoffs.
Derikku mostly rode his Shaman and it was only against AweNoProb that he was forced to pull out a second class. AweNoProb caught him off guard with a Bloodlust Shaman deck featuring [card]Onyxia[/card], but was without a chance once Derikku brought his Druid to the table.
Overall, Group E's decks were variations of the cookie cutter builds seen on the ladder. [card]Onyxia[/card] was pretty much the only legendary which usually sits on the sideline observing the battle but which was used here. Other than that it was standard throughout, even though Bing brought one of his Murlocs into a Miracle Rogue deck, playing the [card]Coldlight Oracle[/card] for more card draw. Completely away from a miracle was AweNoProb's version of the Rogue, predominantly trying to establish a full board with plenty of creatures in it.
That wasn't the only interesting deck coming from the Singaporean, who also had some sort of Budget Priest deck with [card]Mass Dispel[/card], zero legendaries or epics and [card]Silver Hand Knight[/card],[card]Temple Enforcer[/card] and [card]Lightspawn[/card] in it. He may not have been the most successful player in the entire eHL, but he was one of the more craftier ones.
Click on schedule and then the match to watch the VODs and see attached decklists
| [deck linked]84[/deck] | [deck linked]88[/deck] | [deck linked]86[/deck] |
Group F: Allura slumping no more
The pressure was on Allura to perform in the sixth group of the eHL, with him being the most recognizable face of the four through his stints in both Hearthstone Alley tournaments. Although he didn't enjoy the most flashy of results in those, the pressure on Allura to perform came from the low profiles of his opponents, of which Clutch didn't even show up to play.
In the end all the pressure didn't really get to the member of ManaSurge, who was able to focus on his game, play his opponents and get the better end of almost every match. Similar to Derikku in Group E, Allura was only defeated once - in the clutch match against Philippines hope Persona.
That match saw Allura back against the wall, facing a variation of a budget Mage with [card]Emperor Cobra[/card], [card]Shieldbearer[/card], [card]Mirror Image[/card], [card]Arcane Explosion[/card] and straight from the costal city of Stranglethorn a [card]Booty Bay Bodyguard[/card]. These heavy taunts and unorthodox cards that Persona threw at his opponent caught the veteran off guard, leaving Thrall without a Doomhammer and HP for that matter. Malfurion picked up the slack for Allura though and not only clawed through the taunts, but also ousted the Warrior deck Persona had prepared.
Said Warrior deck was probably not as crazy as the Mage deck, but with features like [card]Abomination[/card],[card]Gurubashi Berserker[/card], [card]Windfury Harpy[/card] or the simple fact that pretty much every card in the deck was only used in one quantity, the deck definitely stood out. Third member in the group, BcdGavin, was also not completely on the standard side with some of his decks, bringing a more aggressive and angry Malfurion with him. Featuring stuff like [card]Young Priestess[/card], [card]Leper Gnome[/card], [card]Bite[/card] and [card]Kobold Geomancer[/card] he tried to bring the fury early to his opponents - with limited success.
Click on schedule and then the match to watch the VODs and see attached decklists
Group G: On the budget
Although the season is still young, the tournament might well have witnessed its biggest upset yet. The favorite to not only go to the playoffs, but also break the drought of non-Singaporeans was coldznap from the Philippines. An easy victory was expected from coldznap as his adversaries were not really known but Filipino's journey through the group finished with a twist.
The deciding match was between Singapore's very own Bojangy, who "znap"ed the dreams of the Filipino. The interesting thing here was not really the result per se but rather the way the group reached this result. Although we're not to reveal the decks of groups' winners, we can safely underline the fact that Bojangy's decks were featuring no legendaries, barely any epics and were mostly assembled from the existing pieces of every man's collection. The fact that the Singaporean could make it through the group with that is a testament to his skill and understanding of the game.
Haunting group's winner coldznap for a long time will be the Warrior of Bojangy, that axe'd him down in a clean and clear sweep to win the group and advance to the playoffs. No matter what coldznap tried to play, the Warrior always came out ahead. Shaman couldn't get the right challenges for it and neither was coldznap's own Warrior. Now Bojangy's journey in the eHL has been extended for at least two more games, in which his budget decks are giving hope to everyone out there without a full portfolio of shiny cards.
The Warrior deck of coldznap might not have been good enough to beat out the Warrior of Bojangy, but it is still a very strong looking deck with a killer end-game featuring [card]Ysera[/card], [card]Grommash Hellscream[/card] and [card]Alexstrasza[/card]. The control is strong in that one, leading the Philippine player to the second place finish. Not quite as good was the finish for JEMsan, who could only win one game of his six attempts. His decks were still interesting to look at, like an aggressive Hunter using [card]Youthful Brewmaster[/card] to get even more out of charging units like [card]Leeroy Jenkins[/card] or [card]Wolfrider[/card] or his attempt of a Warrior deck going into the late-game swinging the big axe. Let's just be honest, all that was missing from that deck with [card]Captain's Parrot[/card], [card]Captain Greenskin[/card] and big weapons like [card]Gorehowl[/card] and [card]Arcanite Reaper[/card] was a bottle of rum. Even his last deck of the tournament, a mid-range Warlock, with [card]Bane of Doom[/card] was a very interesting mix up to the old schematics of how to play the classes.
Click on schedule and then the match to watch the VODs and see attached decklists
| [deck linked]123[/deck] | [deck linked]121[/deck] | [deck linked]120[/deck] |
Group H: No Singapore
It took the first cycle of eHL Season 1 a while see a non-Singaporean triumph in the groups but finally lemniscate from the Philippines got through to meet the plethora of Singaporeans in the playoffs. The script of the group couldn't have been more climactic and perfect, with the two favorites in the group meeting with everything on the line in the very last match.
Once again it was the control Warrior build that put everyone to their knees under the weight of his axes. The control mechanics ultimately proved to be too strong for Rhonn in the last showdown of the group. The DreamHack Summer 2013 participant for his team in HoN had no problems with the rest of the competition up until that point, even showcasing all of his decks. In every clash he started out with a new deck, beating fellow countrymen Attoken with his Rogue and Indonesian player deephurtz via Thrall's powers as a Shaman. The big Handlock with the usual components like [card]Mountain Giant[/card], [card]Molten Giant[/card] and obviously [card]Lord Jaraxxus[/card] was saved for the big showdown - a showdown in which his giants shrank to miniature size rather quickly.
Nevertheless it was an entertaining group with plenty of exciting matches and decks showcased by pretty much everyone. Rhonn's Rogue, for example, steered away Miracle version or any orther type of aggressive burn Valeera, and played a controlling, mid-range oriented game with the surprise damage of a [card]Cold Blood[/card]ed [card]Leeroy Jenkins[/card], but also with end-game factors like a [card]The Black Knight[/card] or [card]Ragnaros the Firelord[/card].
Also making a comeback to the active stage was [card]Gelbin Mekkatorque[/card] in this group, ironically in the same situation as in week one: as a part of a Preist deck of a winless player. Even more "out there" ,though blessed with a lot of success, was the Murloc deck of deephurtz, who combined the typical elements of an aggressive Murloc rush with taunts. What might sound bizarre in theory worked out pretty well in the actual match, when big taunts like [card]Mogu'shan Warden[/card] made their best Gandalf impression and let none of the prescious Murlocs be touched before the [card]Murloc Warleader[/card] showed up. Second on the "surprise" factor chart of deephurtz' decks was a Hunter with [card]Bestial Wrath[/card], [card]Houndmaster[/card], [card]Hogger[/card] and Arena staples like [card]Frostwolf Warlord[/card]. The beast mix couldn't muster up a win though, so the deck will only be remembered as a nice idea, not as a winning entity.
| [deck linked]133[/deck] | [deck linked]127[/deck] | [deck linked]128[/deck] |
What is next?
It's now time for the fun and important part. The eight best player of the first cycle are gathered and will clash for prestige, honor and a purse of around $165 USD as time comes for the eHL playoffs.
In the live drawings on EpicGamingTelevision a couple of intriguing pairings were created, unfortunately not with the big storylines every writer hopes for. With the departure of Rhonn in the group stage already, the highly anticipated fight between former iMpunity.HoN members Rhonn and Trinity is canceled. Trinity now solely carries the burden of iMp on his shoulders, as he will face off with budget king Bojangy in the first round. After that a meeting with either the strong ManaSurge member and Hearthstone Alley Tournament: Tough Cookie Champion Wensushi or Group A champ Crea awaits the HoN Tour veteran.
All HS eyes from the Philippines will likely not care about those meetings, since they are locked in on their local hero lemniscate who will face off with ManaSurge's very own Allura, who is desperately looking for a deep run into a tournament. A victory against the very strong Filipino might be the first step towards that goal. Yamafuda or Derikku will meet up with whoever wins here in the Upper Bracket Semis.
The field is stacked and the anticipation high. Every fan that will have the pleasure to witness the exciting rumble between the best of the best in SEA will walk out of that victorious as he watches history being made. Over the course of this week one out of eight hopefuls will become the first ever champion of an eHL cycle. Will Singaporea claim this title? Can lemniscate run the table and oust everyone? Is the journey for the HoN star continuing? Can budget beat out even more legendary decks? All the answers will be given on EpicGamingTelevision starting on Monday. Tune in and don't miss a beat of the action.
