Household names of the NA Hearthstone like TidesofTime, StrifeCro, Hyped, Firebat and more scene prepare for the last round of preliminaries before the flight to BlizzCon.
Yesterday, the first round of group stage matches advanced Hyped, StrifeCro and tournament underdogs Tarei and Deerjason straigh to the quarter finals as the quartet topped their respective groups. Four more players including known names likek ThatsAdmirable and Twisted were in turn eliminated and eight other players were left to battle for the coveted quarter final spots.
In group A, Stunner's brutal Zoolock ripped apart Ant in a 3-0 blitzkrieg, leaving the American almost no fightning chance. In Group B, the action slowed down a bit as DeathstarV3 and Firebat went all the way to five games before the Warlock of the Copenhagen Wolve could win two back-to-back games and oust Deathstar from the competition.
Another five-game thriller closed Group C as pool favorites Chakki and DTwo were thrown in the pit of the deciding match. The two went set for set, going down to a Handlock vs Shaman final match, which Dtwo barely snatched to show the aggro master the door.
In Group D, JAB took an early lead against Tempo Storm powerhouse and #2 GosuRanked player TidesofTime but the WEC champion would not go down without a fight. Pulling out his control Priest, Tides went on a killing spree, winning three in a row and advancing as the last quarterfinal participant, ready to meet Group C winner Tarei.
The tournament is thus four series away from completion as the playoffs are already under way. The four winners will earn their tickets to BlizzCon while for the others it's the long flight home.
