Thomas “Thefishou” Guedj
If you’re relatively new to competitive Hearthstone, the name Thefishou will not ring any bells. This is despite him being a true game veteran and a member of one of France’s most prolific gaming organizations, sharing a team house with DreamHack champion Purple.
Those who were around 2014, however, should remember the name. As he gathered speed towards the end of the year and exited the cozy shell of his local scene, Thefishou went on to win Numericable HouseCup, beating Gnimsh, Amaz and Savjz along the way. A few months prior, he came within one series of qualifying for the World Championship. His gutting aggro Mage was the death of Lifecoach and almost cost Kolento his tournament life, too.
As it often happens in Hearthstone, though, fading into obscurity is a real threat and upon his return to France, Thefishou disappeared from the public eye. Which only means you should follow him very closely as he rips apart unfortunate folks at PGL this weekend.
Simon “Crane” Raunholst
If I have to just look at numbers and stats, it will be really difficult to sell you on Crane. The Dane’s career has been one of near misses, whether you want to talk DreamHack Summer (two wins off of playoffs), DreamHack Winter (one win off of playoffs, Assembly Summer (one win off of playoffs) or the recent G2 Class Legends (one win off of finals). All the pieces for a great break-out story were there, but never fell into place. Yet Crane’s peers devotedly believe in his potential, which is often more important than numbers. Hearthstone is a game where both world champions have literally been break-out stories, which is enough of a reason to forget raw data when talking about the strength of a player.
Now, I am not saying Crane has what it takes to be the next world champion – it’s too early in the year to say that – or that he’s the most deserving or favored for the PGL championship (he’s probably not). But I’ve learned to heed the voices of the competitive circles. They spoke of Firebat’s ascension way before it happened, were hyping Ostkaka when reddit was asking “who”, and praised Purple before he ever got to hoist a trophy.
So, yeah, screw numbers. Watch Crane play.
Jesper “Freakeh” Eriksson and Harald “Powder” Gimre
It would be faulty not to acknowledge how far SK Gaming’s Hearthstone division has come. The team was in a dark place after they lost most of their players to inactivity or retirement between the end of 2014 and the first half of 2015 and weren’t really on the map of top teams. To be honest, they weren’t even on the map of teams with potential.
Then someone somewhere in the SK offices figured it out. To revive the roster and bring it to new glories, they needed to attract a strong core that works together. They found it in a quartet of Swedes in Freakeh, Spo, Airbrushed and MartinCreek and added a fifth one in Powder at the end of last year. Suddenly, on the back of smart signings, boot camping in a team house and AKAWonder’s rise to power, the SK logo started climbing rankings and currently sits under #9 in our own.
This weekend, SK is sending Powder and Freakeh to PGL to hopefully show the true power of this old esport brand. A lot is on the Swedes’ shoulders: This is the first event to award major HCT points coming into the Spring season and having missed the Winter Championship across the board, it’s a good opportunity to get ahead in the rankings race.
Remi “Tars” Roesch
In 2015, a couple of players started their careers following back-to-back qualifications for major tournaments. Very shortly, one of them in Jon “Orange” Westberg became the hottest young prospect on the scene, went on to sign with Archon and get a GosuAward “Breakout Player of the Year” nomination. Nobody knew him or spoke of him before that.
Same is the story of Tars. Coming from the closed French scene, nobody paid attention when he won DreamHack Tours in May because, let’s be honest, nobody should have. But now – now the pro players fear him. He made his way through the PGL qualifiers, spam-emoting household names like Dima “Rdu” Radu and Jan “Ekop” Palys while curving with Secrets Paladin like a boss. Less than a week later, he punched a ticket to the $80,000 HCT European Championship while the pro community swam in rivers of salt and jealousy.
So no, Tars is not going to Bucharest as everyone’s favorite person, but if he’s going to cause any more upsets, I want to be on the front rows.
Petar “Gaara” Stevanovic
To the “naked” eye, it would seem Gaara isn’t a consistent player anymore, as others have taken the limited places in the Hearthstone spotlight. The renown of a tournament favorite isn’t really following him as it did during his golden days of 2014 when he would show up and enemies would tremble at the prospect of facing him.
What speaks more about Gaara’s prowess, however, is the fact that two years after his first major championship, he’s still here, still relevant, still kicking ass. 2015 might’ve not been as fruitful for him as the year before, but that should read as instead of making it to four grand finals he “only” had two and then three more top four finishes, and that’s in times when Hearthstone has become more competitive than ever. He's arguably the hardest working player in Tempo Storm and any attempts to devaluate him as a relevant force should be immediately dismissed.
To take it even further: To not consider Gaara as a prime candidate for the top 16 would be folly and elimination in the swiss round would count as a major upset. Frankly, the only other name more fit for a PGL championship is…
Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk
Before this text transcends to a ThijsNL praise piece, here’s some insight into 2015 Player of the Year that’s not really a common knowledge. For all his skill in piloting Hearthstone decks, Thijs is notoriously inconsistent in the periods of big metagame changes. He struggled when Last Hero Standing was changed to Conquest, and he was in the worst shape of his career in the first weeks of League of Explorers. He’s a player that needs time to acclimate before he can start reaping championships.
But you know what? It’s not a new metagame anymore. Four months have passed since LoE has been released and every single build has been figured out. If November and December were god’s gift to innovative deckbuilders, now is the time where the flawless pilots rule all. While I am writing this, ThijsNL is boarding his flight to Amsterdam, warming up his hands with the $14,000 he won at Curse Trials and HCL the last week and feeling more than confident about taking a fifth gold medal by the end of this weekend.
As my colleagues from our podcast “The Innevated” said: “To have ThijsNL in a tournament and not automatically consider him the favorite is foolish.” And I don’t assume there are many fools around.
