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The Dutchmen did it again. After eight rounds in what was the biggest Hearthstone cup to date - in the 10th official edition of the tournament - it was Saeb who prevailed over the large pool of sign-ups. Saeb also brings Netherlands' second championship in a row after Wildcard's Gradefor triumphed last week.
Second came Polish player WybityBark who is Poland's third GosuCup runner-up after Cavariel and Shev in editions #7 and #6, respectively. Scandinavians occupied the last two spots in the top 4 as Coolhwip from Sweden 3-0'd Norway's Kjeks.
GosuCup #10 standings
1. 
Saeb
2. 
Wybitybark
3. 
Coolhwip
4. 
Kjeks
5-8. C4variel
5-8. Promil
5-8. 
D0L1X
5-8. 
Ordi
At this point, something really bad must happen to Dutch players for Netherlands to lose the first spot. The tulips are leading good 11 points to the runner-ups from Germany who for a third week in a row can't manage to get a representative of theirs in the top 8.
Apart from that, the top 4 is barely changed compared to last week: Netherlands, Germany, Russia and Denmark maintain their spots, only welcoming two new members - Sweden and Poland - who are now tied with the Danes at fourth place. Both countries climbed big this week with big applause going to the Poles who not tutored a runner-up but also got two more representatives in the top 8.
Nation standings (Top 10)
1. Netherlands - 26 points (-)
2. 
Germany - 15 points (-)
3. 
Russia - 14 points (-)
4. 
Denmark - 13 points (-)
4. Sweden - 13 points (+3)
4. Poland - 13 points (+6)
7. 
Portugal - 12 points (-2)
8. 
Italy - 11 points (-2)
9. Norway - 10 points (-)
9. 
Greece - 10 points (-3)
Starting this Sunday, several adjustments will be made to GosuCup tournaments in order to create a - hopefully - more enjoyable and fair tournament experience.
1. Quarter finals are now Bo5 instead of Bo3
We believe that the close a tournament is to its end, the more chances the players should be given to prove their worth. Seeing how competition in top 8 is tangibly more fierce than in previous rounds, we're extending the quarter final sets to Bo5 from Bo3. This should open more room for figuring out ways to beat your opponent and create more chances to come back once a player is behind, which in many situations is simply a result of bad draws and not necessarily incorrect plays.
2. Previous champions and high finishers will be seeded
It is always unpleasant when two prominent players and/or champions meet in the very first round and one of them has to go. Many sports tournaments abide by the idea that those who regularly perform on a higher level within a tournament circuit should be in some way separated from the newcomers. We want to follow this principle as well, especially in a game like Hearthstone which is by nature way more volatile than other eSports. This is why, starting GosuCup #11, several players will be seeded high to assure they will not meet in the early rounds and that they're spread evenly across the bracket.
A total of 16 players will be seeded every cup:
The top 8 from the previous tournament will get seeds 1-8
The top 2 from the four more cups back in time will be given seeds 9-16 with more recent champions/runner-ups receiving higher seeds.
Let us give you an example for who will be seeded in GosuCup #11:
#1: Saeb (GosuCup #10 champion)
#2: Wybitybark (GosuCup #10 runner-up)
#3: Coolhwip (GosuCup #10 3rd place)
#4: Kjeks (GosuCup #10 4th place)
#5-8 (at random): C4variel, Promil, D0L1X, Ordi (GosuCup #10 top 8)
#9: Gradefor (GosuCup #9 champion)
#10: Daxt (GosuCup #9 runner-up)
#11: Lalah (GosuCup #8 champion)
#12: 
BreizhPunisher (GosuCup #8 runner-up)
#13: 
Modernleper (GosuCup #7 champion)
#14: Lothar (GosuCup #7 3rd place since runner-up is already seeded higher)
#15: andu305 (GosuCup #6 champion)
#16: Shev (GosuCup #6 runner-up)
As you see, if a player is already seeded higher, the next in line in the tournament with less relevance will be given the spot. If anyone in the top 16 is not signed up, the list will be cut shorter. Seeding will close 10 minutes before tournament's start so if a player who's eligible for a seed doesn't register in time, his seeding will be lost and he will be seeded randomly as all other sign-ups.
What does "seeding" give actually?
Seeding gives two benefits. Players who are seeded higher are more likely to get a "bye" in the first round if such are available. For example, if sign-ups are at 248/256, there are 8 bye's to be given and those will go to the top 8 seeded players.
Additionally, seeded players are guaranteed to not face each other in early rounds to avoid champions ousting each other before the cup is well underway.
3. Limited cups discontinued until further notice
When we started GosuCups, we wanted to give everyone a fighting chance. That is why we alternated between regular and Limited cups, the latter intended for those of you with poorer card collections.
At first, the Limited cups were a huge success. Lots of people flocked to them and they always received more attention than regular cups simply because everyone was on equal footing and you didn't need to craft 6 legendaries to make your deck work.
As the meta gradually changed, however, the Limited tournaments lost their charm. Hunter and Warlock Zoo decks won every cup. People stopped trying to come out with new ways to build on a budget and just brought one of these decks. The stagnation became evident and at one point we decided we don't want a tournament where everyone is playing the same thing and getting a better draw means that much more.
That is why the Limited GosuCups will be discontinued for the time being and will likely return after Curse of Naxxramas. And now that we've announced all these changes, time to turn heads to the most recent GosuCup and see what was played there.
Saeb brought a total of give decks this Sunday. Although he mostly relied on his Handlock, he also had Ramp Druid as another stable control deck, a Zoo, a tempo Rogue against Hunters and Shaman for Shaman mirrors.
| [deck linked]628[/deck] | [deck linked]625[/deck] | [deck linked]623[/deck] |
| [deck linked]630[/deck] | [deck linked]627[/deck] | |
Tempo Rogue and Shaman were also in WybityBark's pool as these builds have really been gaining a lot of popularity around the gradually changing Hunter meta. In addition, we also see a Miracle Rogue - largely considered as the strongest spec nowadays - and a good old Wurloc aggro. Mrglrlrl.
| [deck linked]622[/deck] | [deck linked]624[/deck] | [deck linked]626[/deck] | |
| [deck linked]629[/deck] | |||
"I would've changed Starving Buzzard and not UtH"
OK, first of all, gratz on taking the GosuCup throne and winning the $100. How does it feel and what are you spending them on?
It feels great to win. I didn't expect it at all, because it was the first time competing in the GosuCup. I think I am going to spend a bit on Hearthstone and the rest I am going to save for later.
You're a player who continues the "Curse of GosuCup" where known names ultimately lose to young and upcoming players. How did you prepare for the tournament?
Just by playing the game and looking if I had an answer to every deck I knew. After Hunter was nerfed I expected a lot of Rogues and Druids, so I always opened with Handlock. If I won the first game I would use Zoo for the second game most of the time.
The only deck I didn't had an answer to was Shaman, but I used my own Shaman deck against that and didnt lose a single mirror match as Shaman vs Shaman.
As you mentioned, Hunters have been losing some popularity nowadays due to the UtH nerf. First of all, do you agree with the changes? Was that the right way to fix the class or something more/else needs to be done?
I agree that something had to be changed about Hunters, however I would have done it by changing Buzzard to only draw cards when beasts die. With the mana cost to 3 Blizzard limited the combo's hunters can do and the problem that hunters can draw a lot of cards by using 2 cards is still not fixed by increasing it to 3 mana.
So I guess we'll see another full rotation of the meta now - Shamans will be re-appearing now with the threat of Hunters gone and Handlocks will again be in the limelight to counter Rogues and Druids. Is this the fate of Hearthstone till Naxx? Rotate and rotate again until the new cards come or is there a space to grow and invent new decks still?
I think Hearthstone is a lot more balanced now though, however I don't think there will be much new decks as there is only so much you can do with the cards that are available right now. There is more variety now. The nerf of Hunters also didn't ruin Hunters. I still play face Hunter with success on the ladder. Midrange Hunter was hurt more though.
Some classes still feel kind of overlooked though. Paladins are barely seen anywhere, Mages and Priests are rare too and aggro Warriors are almost nonexistent. Can something be done in that direction to improve the deck variety even more?
Paladins need new cards to be viable. Everything a Paladin can do a Druid can do better and more consistently. Priest is already used by some people, but I never play it so I don't really know how viable it is. To make Mage viable I would revert/lessen some of the earlier nerfs.
Do you believe the old frost Mage would be balanced in current meta? I mean, before the nerfs it was annoying but in no way unbeatable and now there is a slew of archetypes that have been figured out to their maximum potential.
Blizzard mainly nerfed frost Mages, because it was annoying to play against. In the current meta I think the old frost Mages would be worse than they used to be. Miracle Rogue especially would beat the old frost Mage.
Speaking of that, other builds were also targeted by Blizzard in the past. We saw the OTK warriors and hunters go, then the frost mage... They've been advocates of the minion-based Hearthstone forever but players now are pointing a finger towards the Miracle Rogue as a flaw in this philosophy as it barely interacts with the board. Do you agree with Blizzard's vision for Hearthstone should be played? Shouldn't the Miracle Rogue be targeted the same way said OTK decks were in the past?
I disagree with Blizzard’s vision. I like more variety in decks and playstyles. I do understand why they nerfed it. For new players nothing is more frustrating than thinking that your going to win only to see the opponent play all his cards in one turn and deal 20+damage. If Blizzard wants to keep this philosophy they should nerf miracle too, because miracle Rogue can draw a lot of cards and deal a lot of damage without the enemy being able to do anything about it.
You can't stop OTK decks from happening though, I feel. As long as a card like Leeroy is in the game, each class will be able to explode with massive damage in later turns, regardless if its build for OTK, aggro or control...
Maybe Leeroy will be nerfed in the future instead of rogues then.
Let's step away from the current metagame and talk about the future. Naxx is coming this Summer so the natural question is - do you like where it is going so far?
I like the new weapon for the Warrior the most. The other class cards don't seem so good to me, while Paladin really needed a good class card. The neutral cards seem to favor Warlock zoo. In my opinion Zoo doesn't need an extra edge over other decks so I hope there are some unrevealed cards for other archetypes.
You kind of follow my personal line of thinking to some extent. I really felt this needed to be more class-specific expansion rather than one with 21 neutral cards...
And only 30 cards after so long also seems too few to me.
Do you think they should look up to how MtG does it? Release 100+ cards every few months to keep the meta fresh or that's too much?
100+ is a bit too much in my opinion. I like that in Hearthstone the meta gets time to evolve. Some decks fall out of favor even without being nerfed. The best solution would be a something between MtG and Blizzard’s current policy.
Alright. We're approaching the wrap-up here so tell me, what's next for you in terms of competitive Hearthstone? Are you planning to enter more tournaments? Look for a team maybe?
For now I will attend the GosuCup tournaments only. I don't really have enough time to play in more tournaments. I will not actively look for a team and I don't plan on joining one. However this can always change in the future.
Final words before we close this and I let you be?
I just want to thank the mods of the GosuCup that they helped me fast when there was an issue and wish all the other players that participate in the next cup good luck.
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