Hearthstone

HCT Fall Championship’s First Finalists Identified

HCT Fall Championship’s First Finalists Identified

We’ve seen two days of epic back-and-forth here at the Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT) Fall Championship—and, as the dust begins to settle, four of the world’s most talented Hearthstone players are heading into Sunday’s single elimination playoff bracket.

Whether you’ve been with us all the way along or are just catching up, here’s a quick recap of how our first four finalists carved their way through the group stage.

bloodyface

Day one on Thursday was a resounding success for Brian “bloodyface” Eason, who sailed through Group A undefeated. His match against Thomas “Sintolol” Zimmer went the distance, but bloodyface was able to eke out three game wins against a struggling Even Warlock from Sintolol.

After his first match, bloodyface said he felt even more nervous having won and coming back off stage than he did going into the tournament, but his nerves certainly weren’t showing during these matches. Tight play and solid decision-making were on display as he made his way through his group. As the lone advocate of Secret Hunter in the tournament, bloodyface has also piloted his secret weapon to a 2-0 record thus far.

bloodyface’s Secret Hunter

justsaiyan

One of the clear fan favorites heading into the Fall Championship, David “justsaiyan” Shan shows no signs of his form slipping, and has lost only a single game up to this point in the tournament. His 3-0 victory over Jan “Moyen” Moy in the Group B Winner’s Match was about as decisive as they come, and justsaiyan is now one short match away from cementing his place as arguably the best competitive Hearthstone player out there right now with a ticket to the HCT World Championship—and has broken the “one pack curse!”

Bloodtrail

We’ve seen Wu “BloodTrail” Zong-Chang at two consecutive seasonal championships this year, but at the Fall Championship, Bloodtrail has seen substantially more success. His self-described anti-control lineup allowed him to defeat Mihai “lnguagehackr” Dragulin’s Deathrattle Hunter three times, then turn around and 3-0 Eden “Hatul” Zamir.

After his match against Hatul, Bloodtrail once again noted his surprise at Hatul’s lineup. “I feel his combination [of decks] is a little weird—especially his Priest,” Bloodtrail said. He’s excited to have improved upon his Summer Championship placement and is looking forward to his next matchup. “I’d prefer to face someone with control decks, but there aren’t really any left,” he joked. “I don’t want to go against anyone who has mission thief!” (He means Quest Rogue, but mission thief is an equally good or even better name!)

RENMEN

Roman “RENMEN” Kudriavstev had possibly the most challenging run through the winner’s bracket coming out of Group D, but his combo-heavy deck lineup pulled through in the end. While his record was the same as bloodyface’s, the games themselves told a different story, with RENMEN’s Cube Warlock almost ending up getting reverse swept.

With the pure combo setup he’s running, RENMEN has some potentially difficult matches ahead of him in the playoff bracket—but it will only take one for him to punch his ticket to the HCT World Championship in 2019.

standardFormat_divider_LW_600x100.png

Don’t go anywhere! Even more HCT Fall Championship action is coming at you over the weekend. Tune back in on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel tomorrow to see which four players will advance alongside these group winners for Sunday’s top eight playoffs, and join the conversation on social media using #HCTFall.

Next Article

Featured News