Photo: Helena Kristiansson / DreamHack
About half of the Hearthstone Pro League matches have been played, and the leaders are starting to take shape.
PVPLive’s HPL is shaping up as one of the longest, most taxing tournaments in Hearthstone to date. A round robin group of 16 players means that each contender has to play 15 Bo5’s over the course of the regular season. With the league allowing deck sideboarding between matches and staying away from traditional conquest format, it all becomes a test of adaptability and deckbuilding. Those who are to rule HPL must show consistency in a format that allows literally everything.
After many games played, a couple of players has floated to the top. Hearthlytic’s Justin “JAB” Black has played nine of his fifteen matches and has dropped only three. The 6-3 score brings him on the top of the table, at least points-wise. However, there are many others looking to overthrow him.
Liquid’s Jeffrey “Sjow” Brusi is one such player. With three matches less, Sjow is only one point behind JAB and there’s more than enough potential for the Swede to overtake the rankings. Same goes for Archon’s Ryan “Purple” Murphy-Root and Complexity’s David “Dog” Caero. Both are at 5-2, meaning they have two matches to catch up to JAB’s 6 points.
When scrolling towards the bottom of the table, things become a bit more surprising. One of 2014’s best players Jan “Ekop” Palys is stranded on 14th place with 1-5 record. The German is currently in a four-game losing streak and will need to find a way to spring back. Same goes for SeatStory Cup III runner-up and ROOT spearhead Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall after losses to Sjow, Kaldi, Kranich and Purple.
There is more than one month left till the end of the regular season as the last games are scheduled for August 13th.
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