After an explosive start to the Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT) World Championship, groups A and B had a day of rest on Friday. In a far less stormy Amsterdam, it was now up to groups C and D not only to enthrall the crowd, but also to fight for a spot in the playoffs.

The bar was set high immediately, as Anthony “Ant” Trevino and Alexey “ShtanUdachi” Barsukov opened the day. Though the first game went in ShtanUdachi’s favour, Ant’s teammate on Spacestation Gaming, Devin “DrJikininki” Garthright, had faith in his friend: “Don’t worry, he’ll definitely make it through,” he said. “You’ve got to give your opponents some kind of hope, right?” The crowd roared as Ant played Prince Keleseth three times in one turn, but ShtanUdachi navigated the match expertly, and ultimately was crowned the victor.

Group C’s second match featured Ryan “Purple” Murphy-Root and Thomas “Sintolol” Zimmer. Cleverly using a copy of Sintolol’s Inner Fire, Purple denied his opponent’s Dragon Combo Priest an opportunity to burst him down with a buffed Twilight Drake. Though initially distraught, Sintolol formulated a new plan—and a few turns later a 44/44 Kabal Talonpriest trampled Purple’s strategy.

Not letting the initial defeat keep him down, Purple rose to the occasion against Ant in the elimination match. The Canadian wrought havoc on Ant’s aggressive line-up, removing the early pressure efficiently whilst slowly turning defense into offense. A burst of passion erupted from the crowd as fans who had traveled from France to see Purple play celebrated the flawless victory.

But Group C’s most jaw-dropping turn occurred during the match between ShtanUdachi and Sintolol. Facing ShtanUdachi’s ever-growing Jade Druid deck, Sintolol was desperately looking for his Priest’s combo pieces. Using his Twilight Acolyte and Potion of Madness, he took over the Druid’s Fandral Staghelm, allowing him to activate both effects from a Nourish obtained earlier.

When asked if he had thought of the play when he obtained the Nourish many turns prior, Sintolol responded in the negative: “I just picked Nourish earlier because I needed draw,” he said. “When I saw the opportunity to take Fandral too, I knew I had to.”

Over in group D, the calm Chinese veteran Zheng “OmegaZero” Lin took on a nervous looking Jung-Soo “Surrender” Kim, whose nerves were shared with a breathless audience in a nail-biting game between OmegaZero’s Aggro Druid and Surrender’s Cube Warlock. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Surrender shook off his nerves at the end of the series, as he locked down the first win in his group.

Following the clash of Eastern players, two Westerners—Yevgeniy “Neirea” Shumilin and Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang—sat down for their test of strength. Both players took near maximum time per turn to decide their lines of play, slowly revealing that Fr0zen’s decks and strategies outmatched Neirea’s. Neirea’s Tempo Rogue deck rained down massive damage, but Fr0zen turned the game in his favor in just two turns.

By the time the elimination match against OmegaZero came around, Neirea had regained his fighting spirit, and a tug-of-war ensued in the opening Highlander Priest mirror match. OmegaZero went through his entire deck, but to no avail. Brushing away the initial game loss, he went on to eliminate Neirea from the tournament.

The most exciting series of group D was Fr0zen vs. Surrender, and it had the audience on the edges of their seats. Fr0zen lead with his Jade Druid against Surrender’s Highlander Priest. Recognizing the Druid would gain too much armor if the game dragged on, Surrender went all-in. A Forbidden Shaping summoned Deathwing on Surrender’s side, eventually clearing the path to victory.

With a huge weight off his shoulders, Surrender thought long about the opponents he could face in the playoffs: “I think my line-up works best against ShtanUdachi, so I would love to face him,” he reasoned. “I’m scared of Sintolol though, since he runs the Big Spell Mage—which against Fr0zen was problematic for me.”

As the second day wrapped up, an energetic crowd left longing for more action. A group of four Dutch enthusiasts described their experience: “It adds a new level of gameplay experience when you face your opponent directly,” one of them said. “Everyone is just so friendly here, and meeting people from all over the world with the same passion is indescribable. We all cheer together.”

With two of the four days already in the books, the road to crowning a new Hearthstone World Champion continues Saturday. Be sure to tune in as all four groups identify their second playoff competitor, followed by the quarterfinals!