Reynad (left) with Gnimsh at DreamHack Bucharest
Andrey "Reynad" Yanyuk packs his first Hearthstone tournament trophy by beating the opposition in the unprecedented Lord of the Arena tournament, slaying Amaz, TidesofTime, Trump and MaSsan.
The night of May 25th offered something the Hearthstone scene hadn't seen yet - a streamed arena tournament with a beefy prize pool. Organized by popular streamer Reynad, who had put the $3,000 purse himself, the Lord of the Arena event gathered six players - both constructed and arena masters - in a double elimination bracket for what would become the most watched tournament this month.
More than 50,000 viewers lined up to watch Reynad, TidesofTime, Trump, Massan, Amaz and Hafu build arena decks on stream and go against each other in Bo1 match-ups, fighting for the first place prize of $2,000. After a lengthy process of card picking, the game sbegan with tournament host Reynad going against Priest expert Amaz.
Though having drawn a powerful Paladin deck with double Truesilver Champion and an Equality/Consecration combo, Amaz couldn't quite pull the victory as he overcommitted his board only to see it perish under Flamestrike fires, which advanced Reynad to round two. He was soon followed by Hafu, whose Shaman exploded in the face of Massan's Mage, leaving him down in the lower bracket.
The UB action continued with Reynad scoring another win against TidesofTime. The Deck Wars S1 champion had drafted a double Soul of the Forest Druid but the power of replenishable minions too faded before Reynad's burn power. On the bottom half of the upper bracket, Arena mayor Trump squeezed a victory with his Druid over Hafu's Shaman and moved on to make for a fan-favorite Winners Final.
The tense match between Reynad and Trump eventually came down to a top-of-deck plays with Trump desperately needing a Starfire to melt down Reynad's last hit points but unlucky draw sent him down to the losers final. Guaranteed a top 2 finish, Reynad would at least got to keep a portion of the money he invested.
The Lower Bracket matches began with the swift elimination of Amaz and TidesofTime and also gave birth to MaSan's underdog story. Running what seemed like an inconsistent, secret-heavy Mage, MaSan edged out Reynad's team-mate in LB1, then Hafu's Shaman in LB2 and even Trump's solid Druid in the losers final, climbing up to meet Reynad in the grand finals.
Although Reynad's Mage was tangibly stronger, the match was closer than expected for the better part of the game. MaSsan even enjoyed a stronger board just before the late-game turns but a couple of trades turned this around. This is where Reynad's burn arsenal came to help him finish he game, awarding him with the $2,000 first place prize, leaving MaSan as second with $1,000.
