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Hearthstone Championship Tour day three recap: Quick early sweeps give us time to savour some epic quarterfinals

The event hall at the Hearthstone Championship Tour in Amsterdam. (Photo: Helena Kristiansson / Blizzard Entertainment)
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20th January, 2018
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The business end of the Hearthstone Championship Tour started at record pace in Amsterdam, with three straight 3-0 sweeps threatening to give the crowd the afternoon off. But some crazy comebacks and incredible turnarounds made the rest of the day a thriller.

After the end of day two saw some mammoth matches in excess of 30 minutes, fans who arrived late to the venue on day three almost missed half the day – with three 3-0 sweeps in the first three series putting the day three hours ahead of schedule at one point.

The day started with decider matches, taking place between the players who lost the winner’s matches and the victors of the elimination matches in the same group.

Questions as to whether Jon “Orange” Westberg’s lone Hunter deck would go undefeated at the tournament were answered in the very first round, after the aggro approach saw him run out of threats very quickly against Chen “tom60229” Wei Lin’s Highlander Priest.

Orange made the rare move of conceding at full HP in that match – and it didn’t get any better for him from there.

A Psychic Scream was undone by a crazy combination of Spiritsinger Umbra and Possessed Lackey giving tom60229 a Voidlord and three Voidwalkers for peanuts, before the trademark Warlock play of destroying and resummoning the Doomguard with Carnivorous Cube made it 2-0.

A dream result from Army of the Dead in the third round turned that game around, giving tom60229 a very quick 3-0 win and a ticket to the quarterfinals.

Next up was tournament favourite Muzahudil “muzzy” Islam against Jason “JasonZhou” Zhou in a rematch of the group match muzzy won on day one.

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If Zhou was genuinely out for revenge – he made it clear in the first round, with some masterful Aggro Druid play seeing him wrap up the win on turn five. The second match didn’t take very long either, with a Shadowstep on a Bonemare allowing for massive damage before a crucial Leeroy Jenkings draw justified the risky decision to leave Prophet Velen alive.

It looked like muzzy was a chance to get back into the series in round three after Zhou’s Dirty Rat put Prophet Velen on the board, but a fantastic Hellfire-Defile combo cleared a tricky board and gave Zhou the 3-0 win.

The breakneck speed continued in the third decider match, with Aleksey “ShtanUdachi” Barsukov and John “Purple” Murphy-Root’s clash almost an exact mirror of the previous series.

ShtanUdachi took the first game after punishing Purple’s use of Living Mana as an offensive tool with a strong Spreading Plague, before another strong combination of Hellfire and Defile set up a Doomguard-Faceless Manipulator combo for a second-round win too.

Hearthstone player Aleksey "ShtanUdachi" Barsukov considers his options in a match at the Championship Tour event in Amsterdam.

ShtanUdachi considers his options. (Photo: Helena Kristiansson / Blizzard Entertainment)

Purple’s championship hopes unravelled before his eyes in the third game, with a favourable Tempo Rogue draw helping ShtanUdachi pick the Highlander Priest deck apart with ease for the third straight 3-0 result.

The fans finally got the gripping competition they were after in the last decider match, however, with Zheng “OmegaZero” Lin and Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang needing the full five games in their series.

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It looked like we were on pace for another sprint in the first round, after OmegaZero’s Murloc Paladin tore through Fr0zen’s Mage deck – with smart buffs keeping the normally spell-susceptible deck viable.

Constant poor draw looked to have Fr0zen’s Highlander Priest doomed, but he was able to stave off death with a clutch Priest of the Feast draw with one HP left. Later on, fans and commentators were unsure why he was taking so long to make an assumed defensive play, but it turned out he had a lethal Voidform combo cooking in his mind.

An astounding 32 damage in one turn had everyone in disbelief – and more importantly, tied the series 1-1.

Fr0zen’s Control Mage saw success in the third round, with Frost Lich Jaina proving insurmountable and forcing OmegaZero to concede rather than lose a fatigue race, but OmegaZero was able to tie the series after overcoming back-to-back Spreading Plagues with back-to-back Savage Roars.

The final match of the series saw yet another instance of Shadowreaper Anduin staying buried in a Highlander Priest deck, with the absurd amount of armour generated by Malfurion the Pestilent enough to see Fr0zen through to the quarters with the 3-2 win.

But where the decider matches may have been littered with anticlimaxes, the quarter finals really saw the rubber hit the road.

The first quarter final pit the competition’s fairytale – Canadian part-time player Julien “DocPwn” Bachand – against JasonZhou, who was looking to make the semi-finals for a second straight year.

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DocPwn got the better start, dropping Malfurion the Pestilent as a hard punish to Zhou’s Aggro Druid to force an early concede and earn the 1-0 lead.

His miraculous rise to the top looked set to continue in the second round too, after superior board building in an all-Priest mirror match helped him survive the Shadowreaper Anduin duel and go 2-0 up.

Julien "DocPwn" Bachand, of Canada, salutes the crowd at the Hearthstone Championship Tour in Amsterdam.

DocPwn salutes the crowd at the HCT in Amsterdam. (Photo: Helena Kristiansson / Blizzard Entertainment)

But in a day of sweeps, it was JasonZhou’s turn to provide one of the reverse variety.

He survived an almost perfect mulligan for DocPwn of Prince Keleseth, Corridor Creeper and Southsea Captain, coming back with the usual Highlander Priest weapons of Dragonfire Potion and a well-thought out combo that allowed him to use Voidform eight times in one turn.

He tied the series at 2-2 quickly after too, ripping through DocPwn’s Rogue deck with some masterful Aggro Druid synergy, before a pair of free Corridor Creepers with Cobalt Scalebane on one turn allowed Leeroy Jenkins to join in next, putting 24 damage to the face and earning Zhou the thrilling 3-2 win.

Next up was an all-Taiwanese affair between SamuelTsao and tom60229, with Tsao’s Aggro Druid looking the better with an early draw of Enchanted Raven, Mark of Y’Shaarj and Southsea Captain.

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But, once again, Living Mana – usually the Aggro Druid’s finisher – proved to be the downfall after it got derailed by Spreading Plague allowing tom60229 to claw back the first-up win.

The Priest mirror match next also went tom’s way, after a timely arrival by Kazakus allowed him to go on the offensive and hurl Prophet Velen-buffed Voidforms all over the board, but a nightmare of a mulligan in the next game saw his Tempo Rogue ripped to shreds by Tsao’s Aggro Druid.

SamuelTsao took a big risk leaving The Lich King in his mulligan for the fourth game – and it proved his undoing. He wasn’t able to put any pressure on the board at all, whereas tom60229 was able to play a free Corridor Creeper and an 8/8 Edwin VanCleef on turn five to book his ticket to the semis.

Fr0zen was back on stage against, playing the person he said he wanted to avoid at all costs in Tom “Sintolol” Zimmer, and it looked early on as if Fr0zen’s fears would be justified.

The anti-Priest capabilities of Sintolol’s Mage deck were on full show in round one, with Fr0zen forced to use a Kazakus potion he was saving for Dragoncaller Alanna just to stay alive.

Of course, Sintolol then drew Dragoncaller Alanna on the very next turn to take the first round decisively.

The Jade Druid mirror match followed, with both players enjoying a laugh after back-to-back Ultimate Infestations made for a mind-bending turnaround. A second Ultimate Infestation proved to be the difference maker for Fr0zen though, with Sintolol conceding despite having Spreading Plague available.

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Hearthstone players Frakn "Fr0zen" Zhang and Tom "Sintolol" Zimmer shake hands after their quarterfinal at the Hearthstone Championship Tour event in Amsterdam.

Fr0zen and Sintolol shake hands after their epic quarterfinal. (Photo: Helena Kristiansson / Blizzard Entertainment)

Fr0zen looked to be on top in the third round after a Dragon’s Fury and Flamestrike combo cleared a tough board, but Sintolol’s Jade Golems got on a serious roll to steal the victory, although Fr0zen was able to force a decider after his Polymorph of Malygos completely defused Sintolol’s threat.

The decider, however, had more turning points than some entire series. Sintolol’s Priest looked to be in control early after building some strong board presence, but Fr0zen was able to generate some devastating board clear after scoring seven damage with Dragon’s Fury twice.

On death’s door, Fr0zen cleverly saved himself with a Flamestrike, generating 14 armour from the two Arcane Artificers he’d just put down, but the true gobsmacking moment of the game came when Sintolol’s Drakonid Operative discovered him Frost Lich Jaina.

Fr0zen dropped his Frost Lich down soon after, with the next several turns an incredibly tense experience as both players did whatever they could to press the advantage without leaving any minions on one HP.

Fr0zen was eventually able to persevere and claim victory in arguably the match of the tournament so far.

With a lot to live up to, the last quarterfinal between ShtanUdachi and Kim “Surrender” Jung-soo looked to be something of a non-event early, with Surrender’s Tempo Rogue tripping up ShtanUdachi’s Jade Druid quite easily in the first game.

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The second match looked to be going the way of the first, with Surrender’s Aggro Druid well on top, before a timely Priest of the Feast saved ShtanUdachi. Living Mana was played to potentially finish the game off, but ShtanUdachi pulled the Psychic Scream on curve – to the crowd’s utter delirium – to flip the script completely and tie the series.

Surrender went 2-1 up in the third round, with a timely Ultimate Infestation helping him keep the pressure up after his Aggro Druid looked to be running out of threats, before he took the series 3-1 in an epic fourth game that saw more incredible Shadowreaper Anduin combos wear away Malfurion the Pestilent’s mass of armour.

The fourth match actually took longer than ShtanUdachi’s entire series with Purple earlier in the day, but with the high quality of play nobody in the crowd was bored at all.

The Hearthstone Championship Tour wraps up tomorrow, with the semi finals putting tom60229 against Surrender and JasonZhou against Fr0zen, before the grand final will see the 2017-18 season’s winner finally crowned.

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