The Hearthstone Global Games Final was completed at BlizzCon over the weekend. Team China came out victorious, a great success for a country that has been struggling with competitive Hearthstone as of late. Team China was top eight last year at the Global Games as well and defeated both of the top two favorites to win it all.
The stand-in Singapore team struggled heavily in the tournament. They got upset by Norway in their first set 3-2, and it was very deflating for them. Singapore were then beat up by Bulgaria 3-1. Bulgaria themselves were then blown up by Norway in the advancing match 3-1.
Brazil navigated their way through Group B rather easily. They clean swept Bulgaria then beat their biggest opponent Norway 3-1. Norway did make it out of the group though, squeezing by with a 7-6 game record.
Group A was way closer overall, with not a single sweep and only one 3-1 set. China beat New Zealand in the initial match 3-1 and barely defeated Hong Kong. Hong Kong was rather unlucky all day long, having to play in three five-game sets.
Hong Kong was able to prevail over Spain in their initial match 3-2. They then were one game away from advancing from the group against China, failing there. They were once again one game away against New Zealand, but were edged out once again 3-2.
New Zealand themselves were having a rough go of it with a 7-7 game score, but made it out of the group which is the only thing that mattered. Spain also had a hard time. They came very close but couldn’t close out their sets, losing 3-2 in both of them.
The first semifinal match was Norway versus China. China had a lot of momentum going into their match, and Norway had struggled to get to that point. It turned out that only three games would be played. China opted to have Zhang “YouLove“ Lichenanchor should the set go to a game four and five, while Norway had Eirik “ntR” Midtstue play in game one and five should it have gone that far.
The first match was very long and confusing, with China’s off-meta Exodia Mage taking the match in fatigue against Evenlock. Game two was the Shudderwock Shaman of China versus Odd Warrior. Norway couldn’t stop the Shudderwock from going infinite status and were forced to concede. Game three was hard fought by Norway’s OTK Priest, but China’s Zoolock won with a double Soulfire plus Leeroy Jenkins burst for lethal through 15 health.
With China advancing on the top side, the bottom side of the semi-final was Brazil versus New Zealand. New Zealand had a very hard time winning from their group, and Brazil was on the hottest roll of any team. It turned out that Brazil would continue that streak.
Brazil’s Odd Quest Warrior would take game one after hammering down on New Zealand’s Evenlock. Game two saw Brazil get Deathstalker Rexxar when they needed it most, and used his Zombeasts in order to take over the late game for the win. Game three for the sweep was Brazil’s Quest Rogue doing what that deck does, even after the nerf to Giggling Inventor. With a good draw against a slow deck like Shudderwock Shaman, they were able to take the game.
China and Brazil were both hot going into the final, winning their semi-final matches 3-0 each. Despite that, and the close matchups presented in the final, the final wouldn’t be too close in the box score.
Game one was a Deathrattle Hunter mirror match. Both teams got on to the board early with Devilsaurs, but China was just slightly more aggressive and able to push out the face damage for the win with a clutch Zilliax turn.
Game two was the Exodia Mage coming out once again versus the Quest Odd Warrior of Brazil. Brazil was unable to be aggressive enough to deal lethal damage, and China drew their combo for the clean endless fireball victory. No matter how much armor Brazil had, it didn’t matter with this version of Mage.
The third and final game was two aggro decks going at it, China’s Zoolock and Brazil’s Murloc Mage. The Zoolock got the Prince Keleseth on two and the game was pretty much a wrap from there. Once the Murloc Mage lost board control, it was all over, and China’s team became champions.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via the PlayHearthstone Twitch channel.
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