[BLOG] Hearthstone World Championships 2015 at #BlizzCon2015

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PredictedCyborg
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[BLOG] Hearthstone World Championships 2015 at #BlizzCon2015

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These last two days have seen those final 8 who made it through the group stages last week fighting on the stage at Blizzcon for the title of Hearthstone World Champion of 2015. Asia-Pacific was the region with the strongest showing, having 3 players to Europe and China who had 2 players each and the Americas sole remaining player.



The Friday saw the players matched in single elimination best of 5 matches,  with the first match-up seeing Kranich of Asia-Pacific, the only player to have made it to the final stages of the World Championship this year and last being knocked out by Thijs of the Europe team in a hard fought match that had all 5 rounds played as both players fought against elimination. His fellow European player Ostkaka was up next against the self-proclaimed Shaman Master Pinpingho also of Asia-Pacific; and won a convincing 3-1 victory against them.



Next saw a Chinese player fighting the third Asia-Pacific player as DieMeng was matched against Kno. Despite winning the first match against Kno, DieMeng was eventually beaten 3-1 as Kno won 3 games in a row to make it to the semis. The final quarter-final match saw HotForm of the Americas region facing off against Zoro of China and it was once again a hard fought battle that needed all 5 rounds to be resolved. Although at once point he went down 2 games to 1, HotForm eventually won two games back-to-back to advance and keep the Americas region in the tournament while also eliminating the last player for China from the tournament.



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Saturday came and brought with it the semi-finals and the final match itself for the title. The semis consisted of both the European players, Thijs and Ostkaka being matched against each other which meant Europe was guaranteed to get to the finals no matter who won; and Kno and HotForm fighting to keep their region in contention for the title. Both semi-final matches were 3-2 results, every player fighting their hardest and using as much of the timer rope as possible to choose their moves carefully.



At some points during the matches between Thijs and Ostkaka both players were playing right down to fatigue (the point where there are no more cards to draw so players take increasing damage each turn instead), but in the end Ostkaka won the last game although Thijs did well to come back from a 2-0 to equalise the score and his performance was excellent.



The match between Kno and HotForm was more back and forth, with first Kno, then HotForm taking the lead at certain points before they went 2-2 and played their final game. Both players were on top at certain points during the game, but eventually HotForm was able to find purchase and managed to defeat the sole Asia-Pacific player to take the Americas region into the finals.



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After a little pause for a breather the final match was finally on: Ostkaka of Europe verses HotForm of the Americas. Both players had seen tough matches to get this far, although Ostkaka had gotten to the final 8 through winning more of his first matches with HotForm having gotten in by winning matches in the lower brackets having lost some of his original first matches. Both players played hard and used their time wisely, with games constantly tilting back and forth in each player's favour; but in the end each time Ostkaka with his thought to board placement managed to emerge on top. Ostkaka took the title of World Champion of 2015 with a 3-0 victory over HotForm.



Congrats to the new World Champion Ostkaka! Well played!



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