Today’s deciding Group Stage face-offs will be between Hearthstone ladder stars, a national Chess champion and the competition’s only Latin American representative.
Despite emerging undefeated in the preliminaries, Team Dignitas’ Hearthstone veteran Keaton “Chakki” Gil was unable to overcome his Group Stage opponents in the Americas Winter Championship. Instead Nostam, a player known for his unorthodox decks and plays, has emerged as the winner of Group A, with 15-year old ladder king William “Amnesiac” Barton to rematch Canadian newcomer Fred “Talion” Yu for the second slot.
On the other side of the bracket, full time streaming extraordinaire Tianying "Wtybill" Wu ended his admittedly pretty close matchups in defeat, with unknown fellow Chinese opponent AlSkyHigh advancing. The last face-off for Group B should prove very interesting, with the aptly named Chessdude123 trying his luck one more time against Argentinean Tavern Hero Santiago “Snail” Bigatti.
If there was a consistent theme to the Group playoffs, it was weapon destruction. [card]Harrison Jones[/card] and [card]Acidic Swamp Ooze[/card] each got to close out a game, though not necessarily for the player dropping them - by taking [card]Lord Jaraxxus[/card]'s mitts to the museum, Wytbill actually overextended his reach and burnt out his single [card]Force of Nature[/card] combo. During day 2, we saw the stunning upset that sent Chakki home: after missing out on the opening one & two-drops that would have made his Aggro Shaman unstoppable, he meekly invested multiple [card]Feral Spirit[/card] into an ultimately fruitless defense, allowing Talion to topdeck his [card]Doomguard[/card] and complete his 3-2 reverse sweep.
You can catch the conclusion of the Americas Winter Championship Group stage from 6pm CET on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel. Full coverage of the event will be available on our coverage hub, including schedule, decklists, VODs, results and more.
