Photo: Blizzard
Despite their star anchors, these two nations will need a miracle if they want to make the top three.
Romania and Kazakhstan each recorded their third loss in a row in the Hearthstone Global Games and are almost certain to miss the second stage of the $300,000 league, meaning the tournament will likely not see much of esteemed champions Radu “Rdu” Dima and Ole “Naiman” Batyrbekov moving forward.
Romania desperately needed a victory after dropping two in a row, but the schedule paired them with group leaders United States for their third match, who had dropped just two maps in their previous two series. Surprisingly, this was the closest series both teams played, coming down to the ace match between Will “Amnesiac” Barton and Stefan “Moody” Marinescu. Amnesiac, who had lost to Andrei “Hanniballz2” Militaru earlier in the series once again delivered when his team counted on him and wrapped up the series for USA.
A few groups away, Kazakhstan also struggled to get on the board, recording a 1-3 loss to France. In spite of putting Naiman in the first match, Kazakhstan dropped the opening pair of games, which put France on match point early in the series. Kazakhstan’s victory in game three only delayed the loss as ARMATEAM’s Jeremie “Torlk” Amzallag put a full stop with his Druid.
A couple of upsets marked the second day of week four, most notably Sweden losing to Bulgaria in five games. Represented by the entire team Alliance alongside Liquid’s Jeffrey “Sjow” Brusi, Sweden was coming off a three-week break in the Global Games and were expected to deal Bulgaria’s second loss in the tournament. Instead, the series ping-ponged from start to end, before “SilentStorm” and Momchil “MorGalad” Kiryakov finished the Vikings with a one-two punch in the final maps. Currently in the lead in Group A, Bulgaria is scheduled to play another tournament favorite in China on May 9.
Israel got an upset of their own, defeating Norway 3-2. Hatul and Glaser were the ones who turned around a 1-2 deficit and stabilized Israel’s record at 1-1. Norway, on the other hand, will have some climbing to do, currently down 1-2 in the group and they’ll be looking for a victory against Chile in week seven.
