Now that HGG Week 5 has concluded, nine teams have qualified for the top 16 playoffs. The unusual occurrence for this week is that a lot of the matches ended with a 3-0 score. This HGG Week 5 Recap will go over just why all these good teams got swept off the board.
The undefeated Ukraine took on the three win Taiwan. Taiwan took the set 3-0 very quickly. Ukraine wasn’t playing for anything, but that wasn’t the reason why they lost.
Ukraine played three somewhat slow decks against the fast lineup of Taiwan, which, with the exception of the last game, were bad matchups for Ukraine. Taiwan got the nice early draws and ended the games usually before 10 mana could be reached. Luo “Roger” Shengyuan clutched out the victory in game three, and Taiwan now joins Ukraine in the playoff rounds.
The United States took down Denmark 3-0 in a set that actually took a little while. Muzahidul “Muzzy” Islam piloted his Token Druid over the Hoej brothers’ Odd Paladin. Simon “Crane333” Raunholst tried Denmark’s interesting Tempo Shudderwock Shaman to no success against Control Priest. Then Terrence “TerrenceM” Miller stuck a Stargazer Luna in the final game to burn down Denmark for the win. The US will have to win yet again next week to advance.
A very happy Muzzy in the post-match interview.
The Czech Republic has lost two weeks in a row now after Germany swept them this week. Germany was able to establish an early board in each one of their games to take away the win. Even surprisingly, they won the board against Zoolock with their Inner Fire Priest, making an un-killable Radiant Elemental.
The Czech Republic has gone from undefeated to one loss away from not qualifying in two weeks. The reigning world champions will have to look to find a way to win next week just so that they can make it to the round of 16.
Through five weeks, only one team remains undefeated, and that’s Brazil. They showed that they are the team to beat in the tournament now after defeating China 3-1 this week. Lucas “Rase” Guerra even showed off his APM Combo Priest skills to defeat China in the last game through two Annoy-o-Trons.
Will anyone be able to defeat Brazil?
The United Kingdom are out to show that their loss to Finland in Week 1 was just a fluke and have now won four weeks in a row. This time they took down one of the top competitors in South Korea. It was a hard fought battle with a match score of 3-2. It came down to South Korea’s Shudderwock Shaman versus Odd Paladin in the last game, but South Korea couldn’t find their removal when it mattered.
Switzerland has now done the same after losing to Spain in Week 1. This week they beat Hong Kong in a hard fought 3-2 set to earn their fourth win. They fought back from down 2-1, and finished off Hong Kong’s Shudderwock Shaman with Control Priest in the final game.
Not enough healing in the Shaman to outlast the Priest burst.
16 teams will battle it out for the remaining six spots in playoffs at the conclusion of group play in HGG Week 6. You can find the bracket with the current standings on battlefy.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via the PlayHearthstone Twitch channel.
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