Esports News: The Amsterdam Conference Center in Holland was the focus of the Hearthstone world, as Tom60229 claimed first place at this year’s Hearthstone World Championships.
Conservative decks set up victory
Joining a majority of players, Tom60229 used a deck lineup consisting of Warlock, Priest, Druid and Rogue, the four most popular classes at the event. However, one key thing to note for Tom60229 was his overall lack of aggressive choices, as he ran Cube Warlock, Razakus Priest, Jade Druid, with his lone aggressive deck being his Tempo Rogue. This was a divergent from the norm of the tournament, as many players had a more aggressive version of the same decks, typically running the pirate package while Tom60229 tended to favour control variants.
The tournament format involved each player banning one deck from their opponent, giving them three decks to work with. After winning with a deck, that player was no longer allowed to use that deck, meaning to win the entire series one win must be earned with each unbanned deck.
Poor early draw dooms SamuelTsao
Tom60229 opened the round of sixteen against SamuelTsao, initially using his Jade Druid deck against SamuelTsao’s Aggro Druid. This game was a brilliant display of Tom60229’s abilities, as he expertly played around both of SamuelTsao’s Living Mana, giving himself just enough health in order to secure the victory. Tom60229 went on to win the Priest mirror matchup (both play Razakus), before finally falling with his Tempo Rogue against SamuelTsao’s Aggro Druid. The next match, a Tempo Rogue mirror, was completely one-sided, as unfortunately for SamuelTsao, he drew all of his expensive cards early on while Tom60229 drew quality early game plays, giving the Taiwanese player the easy victory and a spot in the semifinals against Surrender.
The initial matchup of Tom60229’s Jade Druid and Surrender’s Tempo Rogue took an odd turn when Surrender was able to get Malfurion off of his Swashburgler, giving him a late-game edge that he typically would not have. Eventually, the infinite scaling of Jade Druid won out for Tom60229, giving him the first win of the series. Surrender was able to even the series at 1-1 off the back of an incredibly aggressive opening with his Aggro Druid, including being able to outpace Tom60229’s perfect topdeck of Hellfire, which prolonged the game.
The third game of the set came down to one health, as Tom60229 narrowly avoided death before being able to use the combination of Voidlord and Carniverous Cube in order to defend himself with endless taunts, sealing the victory and the 2-1 lead. The fourth match would once again be the final game of the series, with Tom60229 having the perfect opener with Keleseth and Shadowstep in hand. Surrender was never able to recover, and Tom60229 moved on to play Fr0Zen in the finals.
Fr0Zen jumps into early lead
The first match of the finals was one of the best of the tournament, with Tom60229 looking to be in a commanding position with his Jade Druid deck. It was all undone on one draw, however, as one turn before death, Fr0Zen found the only card in his deck that could save him: Arcane Artificer. This completely flipped the game on its head, giving Fr0Zen the win out of nowhere. Fr0Zen continued his momentum into the second game, where he dominated from the get-go with his Razakus Priest against Tom60229’s Tempo Rogue, giving Fr0Zen the 2-0 lead and only a win on his Jade Druid deck necessary for the title.
Tom60229 mounted his comeback initially on the back of Razakus Priest, eventually exhausting out Fr0Zen’s resources in the long-fought victory. Tom60229 then got the dream opener while playing his Tempo Rogue deck, playing a 10/10 VanCleef on turn three, giving him an enormous amount of pressure. Tom60229 cruised to victory on turn five, evening up the series at 2-2, with a Jade Druid mirror as the final match. Tom60229 completely controlled the final match, establishing an early board presence and quickly transitioning into a mana crystal advantage. Tom60229 drew both Ultimate Infestations, allowing him to continually have card advantage as he swarmed the board, dominating Fr0Zen in the final match for the 3-2 series win and the championship.
Tom60229’s ability to pull off three wins in a row against Fr0Zen in the finals was an incredible display of skill, with a hint of luck assisting him on the way. Tom60229 has long been a top-tier player, but this win has cemented his legacy among the game’s elite.
