HGG Week 4 Recap: Ukraine, China, and Brazil Above the Rest

With another week of the Hearthstone Global Games in the books, more teams have made their exit from play. Some teams have managed to hang on to their tournament lives for one more week, and only a few undefeated teams remain. We’re breaking down the matchups and looking at those who still remain in this HGG Week 4 recap.

Day One

HGG Week 4 Day One started out with an elimination match between Sweden and Finland. Sweden made very quick work of the match winning 3-0. The loss leaves Finland out of the tournament and Sweden lives to see another match.

Denmark also knocked Hungary out of the tournament in a close 3-2 set. Japan eliminated Austria after a set of three games to one, and Belgium advanced over Israel by a score of 3-1. Canada was able to hang on to their spot in the tournament, outlasting Slovakia 3-2.

Ukraine’s OldBoy in a dominating position as Odd Paladin versus Czech Republic’s Faeli.

Ukraine remain the undefeated big dogs, taking their match versus the Czech Republic 3-1. The Czech Republic had been performing well in their matches, partly because all of the players were together in person, creating a friendly setting and mood.

Aleksandr “Kolento” Malsh and crew came ready to play, winning coolly and calmly. Ukraine is now guaranteed a spot in the next round of play.

Day Two

Day Two’s first stream match started off big with Taiwan versus China. In a very close and hard fought battle, China was able to edge out Taiwan 3-2. The first match lasted over 30 minutes in a Warrior-versus-Warrior fatigue battle. Chen “tom60229” Wei Lin was able to walk away victorious in that match. “ahqShaxy” wasn’t able to pull through, however, losing his two games as part of Taiwan’s defeat.

Odd Rogue lost to fatigue against Control Warlock.

Elimination matches continued on the second day. Indonesia made quick work of Greece 3-0 and knocked them out of contention. The United States hang on to their tournament lives, defeating Kazakhstan 3-1. Portugal also eliminates France after a 3-1 set.

A frustrated AKAWonder after a run of bad draws.

Brazil and Spain closed out the stream. Spain went up early very quickly in the set with a 2-0 lead. However, Brazil played patiently and was able to complete the reverse sweep. The star for Spain, Esteban “AKAWonder” Serrano, was unable to win a game, falling in both games three and five. Brazil, China, and Ukraine are the only undefeated teams remaining.

Meta Changes

Looking at the matches between the undefeated teams, some lists that have already seen other Boomsday competition were also at play here.

Ukraine played a new Odd Paladin with mechs sprinkled in to a victory over the new Deathrattle Hunter. The Czech Republic used a very similar paladin list to beat a new Spell Damage mage list. The Czech Republic also used the revived Quest Rogue list, but it couldn’t beat Token Druid. The ability of the Token Druid to have boards that constantly need to be cleared without the risk of getting bursted down by the Rogue is key to winning the matchup.

The Czech Republic cheekily took an Odd Rogue list, but it couldn’t finish.

China was using the new Control Warlock list against Taiwan. The deck is considered more of an anti-fun deck than anything. It’s all about beating the opponents’ win conditions than it is about having a win condition itself. The goal of the deck is to have answers for everything the opponent can possibly do, play Bloodreaver Guldan, and out-sustain the opponent going into fatigue. China did exactly that against the Odd Rogue of Taiwan.

Brazil won a game against Spain using a Togwaggle Druid. The deck has the new addition of Dreampetal Florist so that the Twig of the World Tree is an unnecessary card to the combo. Before this expansion, the combo could be countered by a simple weapon destruction card. Now, you are guaranteed the combo from one hand, which can only be prevented by warlock’s Demonic Project.

HGG Week 5 will begin next week on August 28. You can find the bracket with the current standings on battlefy.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via their official website and PlayHearthstone Twitch channel.

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