The Asian countries have always been known for their production quality in Hearthstone tournaments. This All-Star event was certainly no exception, with tons of entertainment in between sets. Not only was it entertaining, but there was lots of high level Hearthstone to be seen. Here are the 2018 Hearthstone Taiwan All-Stars Results.
Top 16 Full of Upsets
Starting from the top of the bracket, Chen “tom60229” Wei Lin was able to take out the Chinese representative Wu “XiaoT” Juwei in a 3-1 set.
The second set saw “Shaxy” maul Samuel “Sequinox” Chan in a 3-0 sweep. Sequinox’s decklists were countered by what Shaxy brought. Combine that with bad draws and maybe not clear lines of play from Sequinox, and he saw a short day.
Then Frederik “Hoej” Høj Nielsen was able to beat “MCweifu” after a long 3-2 set. Hoej’s aggressive lineup was able to push through that final speed bump.
Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk would also play a five game set against “Virtual” where Thijs would eventually win. Thijs’ board control oriented lineup was able to hold out against Virtual’s Even Paladin in the end.
Muzahidul “Muzzy” Islam was able to complete the clean sweep of Tsao “SamuealTsao” Tsu Lin 3-0. SamuelTsao cannot be happy about his performance, as he hasn’t had many opportunities this year to shine.
In what could be the upset of the tournament, Wu “BloodTrail” Zong-Chang beat Hunterace after five games 3-2. Hunterace was a game away from completing the reverse sweep against BloodTrail’s Even Paladin, but could not find the win with his OTK Paladin.
Kim “Surrender” Jung-soo would take the set against Luo “Roger” Shengyuan 3-1. Not too much can be said about the set, Roger won game one but it was all Surrender from there, with little retaliation.
Finally, at the bottom of the bracket, Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang would defeat Lo “kin0531” Tsz Kin in a game five final.
Road to the Finals
At the top of the top eight, tom60229 would defeat his former Global Games team mate Shaxy 3-1. This could possibly be some redemption for tom, as Shaxy was one of the two offending members for disqualifying Taiwan from the Global Games.
The Europeans Thijs and Hoej would battle it out, and Thijs would be victorious 3-1. Hoej’s much more aggressive lineup couldn’t take control of the board against Thijs’ lineup which was much more suited for control games.
In his second amazing upset of the tournament, BloodTrail would take down Muzzy after another grueling five game set 3-2. BloodTrail had to battle back down 2-0 and complete the reverse sweep against Muzzy’s Togwaggle Druid. The deck would be Muzzy’s undoing. Unusual to bring in the first place after Druid fell out of favor, it wasn’t suited to take on BloodTrail.
Surrender was able to handle business against Fr0zen, taking the set 3-1. Surrender went up 2-0, and took a game to get going with his Combo Priest. The Aggro Mage of Fr0zen was able to steal a game, but his Clone Priest could not control the board well enough to get another win.
Tom60229 would go on to beat Thijs 3-1 in the semi-final. It was a disappointing set for Thijs, where he wanted to come back from the 2-1 deficit by taking on the Evenlock mirror match, but couldn’t find his way into the lead on board and was eliminated from contention.
BloodTrail was on an inspirational run, and played his third consecutive five game set against Surrender. He would once again go on to win 3-2. He went up 2-0 early, but then struggled heavily to find that third win with his Deathrattle Hunter. BloodTrail eventually got the win against the Combo Priest of Surrender.
Final Showdown: Veteran vs. Newcomer
The last set was between BloodTrail and tom60229. Both are representatives of Taiwan, so no matter what happens the home town crowd will be happy. After a rap performance by artist “Kumachan” the final would get under way.
The first game would be tom60229’s Even Paladin up against the Even Warlock of BloodTrail. BloodTrail was unable to get any threats in the early game and tom took early control. BloodTrail would bounce back and take the game though.
Game two would see tom put his Spell Hunter up against BloodTrail’s Even Paladin. With the help of the all powerful Zul’Jin, tom would take game two quite easily.
Game three would then be the Even Paladin mirror match. It was a very back-and-forth battle for the board, resulting in both players being desperate for good draws. Tom would eventually lose out on card advantage and then the game.
Game four was BloodTrail’s Odd Rogue looking to close out the set against tom’s Even Paladin. After being dealt a mess of a horrible hand and some bad starting draws, tom had to battle back. He was as low as three health before finding that clutch Spikeridged Steed topdeck to win him the game.
The fifth and final game would be between the Odd Rogue and tom’s Even Warlock. BloodTrail would land a Vicious Fledgling on the board that would never be taken off. It was granted Windfury and then went face for most of tom’s health for the victory.
BloodTrail was victorious and makes his second big mark this year. He won an All-Star tournament having to play against the best players in the game, and is still playing the World Championship in a few months.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via the PlayHearthstone twitch channel.
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