Hearthstone Grandmasters Season 2 Week 3 has established firm leaders for each division. One of the big stories of Week 3 is the Combo Priest mirror, as it came into play for most a large portion of sets. Let’s see who is in the lead at the three week mark.
Asia-Pacific Region
In Division A, Kim “che0nsu” Cheon Su has sole possession of first place with a 5-1 record. He went 2-0 this week with a lineup of Highlander Hunter, Control Warrior, Quest Druid, and Zoo Warlock.
Liu “Shaxy” Wei-Chieh pushed his way past Dasol “Ryvius” Sim with a 2:1 win over him. Both players are now 4-2, with Shaxy holding the tiebreaker for now. In their set, Ryvius went up in game one with his Quest Shaman over Shaxy’s Quest Druid. Shaxy came right back with the Druid in game two to beat OTK Paladin, then completed the reverse sweep with Zoo Warlock over the Paladin again.
Chen “tom60229” Wei Lin’s undefeated streak came to an end this week against last place Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung. Blitzchung was winless until this set, and stepped up his game being the player at highest risk of relegation.
Kenta “glory” Sato has moved back to a tie with tom after a 2-0 week. He won with a lineup of Control Warrior, Combo Priest, Quest Shaman, and Zoo Warlock. He really favors the Priest list, as he protected the deck in both of his matches.
At 5-1 tom still holds the tiebreaker, but glory claimed wins over third place Euneil “Staz” Javiñas and fourth place Jang “Dawn” Hyun. Glory’s only loss is to tom, so a second half rematch could be the determining match for first place in the division later on.
Europe Region
Casper “Hunterace” Notto continues to show his dominance in Division A of Europe. He hit the 6-0 mark this week, and is the only player still undefeated in Grandmasters. He didn’t drop a single game in either of his sets this week either. His lineup was OTK Paladin, Combo Priest, Quest Druid, and Control Warrior. Being the one to bring Combo Priest into the spotlight with Bwonsamdi the Dead, him protecting it in both matches is no surprise.
The only one who can contest Hunterace in Division A right now is Aleksandr “Kolento” Malsh at 5-1. The next three players after Kolento are all 3-3. Kolento’s only loss comes to Hunterace, so this is another division where a rematch can determine who finishes in first place.
Jaromír “Jarla” Vyskočil has broken away into standalone first place in Division B. He beat Raphael “Bunnyhoppor” Peltzer, who was tied for first with him last week, with a 2:0 sweep this week. Bunnyhoppor Tried to get a win with Quest Druid, but failed to twice. He first lost to an early aggressive start from Jarla’s Combo Priest, and then got outlasted by his OTK Paladin.
Pavel “Pavel” Beltukov was also 3-1 last week but slides all the way into sixth place after going 0-2 and dropping to 3-3. Taking his place in the top three at 4-2 is George “BoarControl” Webb with a 2-0 performance this week. Lastly, still continuing to struggle is Global Finalist Chris “Fenomeno” Tsakopoulos, who is now 0-6 on the season.
i'm really trying to figure out what could possibly be going that wrong but i got no clue. I'm gonna keep trying but it's not looking good at all :/
— Chris Tsako (@FenoHS) September 7, 2019
Americas Region
Staying atop Division A in the Americas is Facundo “Nalguidan” Pruzzo at 5-1. Edward “Gallon” Goodwin threw some banter at Nalguidan heading into their match, but Nalguidan did not let that phase him, as he won in a 2:0 sweep. With the loss, Gallon is 3-3, but still holds the fourth place spot by way of tiebreakers.
Eddie “Eddie” Lui and James “Firebat” Kostesich are 4-2 and just one game back of Nalguidan. Eddie lost a very close set to Nalguidan this weekend, and won his other match to go 1-1 for the week. It came down to a game three between Nalguidan’s Quest Shaman and Eddie’s Quest Druid in which Eddie just ran out of card draw and couldn’t remove Nalguidan’s board. Firebat simply burned through his opponents this week with a 4:0 game score.
Over in Division B, David “justsaiyan” Shan is standalone in first place with another 5-1 record. He beat Brian “bloodyface” Eason to create a one game separation between the two. Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher also righted the ship this week, going 2-0 to sit with bloodyface at the 4-2 mark.
Justsaiyan also showed no weaknesses this week, sweeping both of his opponents. He was another player who protected his Combo Priest in both match ups to reach the 2-0 mark, and feels that the mirror controls a lot of how most sets will go in Grandmasters. A similar lineup to most of the other winners, he also brought Quest Druid, Quest Shaman, and Zoo Warlock.
Next week marks the halfway point in Season 2 as the pressure of relegation becomes a more realistic prospect for those struggling.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via their official website and the PlayHearthstone Twitch channel.
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