After Europe took their first shot at Boomsday decks during HCT Germany this past weekend, now its the Americas’ turn at the upcoming HCT Buenos Aires. In this HCT Buenos Aires Preview, we will go over what to expect from the decks to be played in the second tour stop of Season 3.
Tournament action will take place August 16-19, and can be watched on the CopaAmerica twitch channel. With a first place prize of $5000 and 15 HCT points, the players will feel the pressure to win on their backs.
What to Expect
One thing we know for sure will be true at HCT Buenos Aires is that there will be a lot of Druid.
Every player brought a Druid list to HCT Germany and there is no reason to expect anything different here. The Malygos lists got all that more consistent with the addition of Flobbidinous Floop. The strength of the class usually forces a lot of players to simply ban Druid when playing in tournament format.
Another class that is very strong right now, and gained strength with Boomsday Project cards, is Warlock.
Heal Zoolock was made popular during the last meta, and is here to stay with the new tools it has received. Playing Prince Keleseth on turn two makes big minions, and big minions win games. Now pair that with Soul Infusion and Doubling Imp then zoo decks can make even more big minions. The Soularium effectively draws three cards for one mana, and in a deck running plenty of mana-cheap cards, that’s fantastic value.
The Even and Control Warlocks finally got the card they needed to win against combo decks. Demonic Project can simply end a player’s chance of winning should it transform a Malygos or Shudderwock.
On the other end of the spectrum, aggressive Odd Rogues and Paladins are sure to still maintain their place in the meta. Odd Rogues found themselves struggling as they ran out of resources in the later stages of the game. However, Myra’s Unstable Element now solves that problem by filling the Rogue’s hand when digging for lethal.
Odd Paladins can now beef up their minions a bit by running a Mech package. This addition makes Odd Paladin more of a threat in the mid-game and less susceptible to small AOE spells.
Players to Watch
We have an idea of what decks we will see, though it will be exciting to see what curve-ball the players throw at us.
One of the first names to look out for is Muzahidul “Muzzy” Islam, the player for Tempo Storm. Muzzy tied with Casper “Hunterace” Notto in Season 2 for first place in total HCT points, a man who has been winning tournaments left and right. Unlike Hunterace, Muzzy hasn’t been winning tour stops but consistently makes top ladder finishes.
Muzzy’s team mate William “Amnesiac” Barton will also be in attendance. He is one of the youngest Hearthstone professional players, and an amazing talent at that. Amnesiac won HCT Austin earlier this year and looks to continue his tournament success.
Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher is a big name for Canadian Hearthstone. A player who has a knack for reaching rank one Legend, Monsanto hasn’t made many tournament appearances this year. One of the veterans of the Hearthstone scene, he could bring something unique to Buenos Aires.
Lucas “Rase” Guerra had a shot for a seat at the World Championship during the Summer Championship last month. He missed that opportunity, but will approach Season 3 looking for that second chance, and is a top contender in Buenos Aires.
Sure to be the hometown favorite, Francisco “PNC” Leimontas is a pro player native to Argentina. A representative of the ever so prevalent Team Genji, this Hearthstone veteran would love nothing more than to win on his home turf.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via their official website.
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