[BLOG] #BlizzCon2016: Hearthstone World Championships 2016 Quarter-Finals!

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PredictedCyborg
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[BLOG] #BlizzCon2016: Hearthstone World Championships 2016 Quarter-Finals!

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Having seen much competition over the last year since Ostkaka took the title of World Champion at BlizzCon 2015, the eight remaining players still in competition for the title met on stage at BlizzCon 2016 to see which of them would be making it to the semi-finals played the next day.



Still in the running for the title, all four world groups were still represented. The Americas region had the most players still in the competition with 3 players (Amnesiac, HotMEOWTH and Cydonia), both Europe (Pavel and DrHippi) and China (Hamster and JasonZhou) had 2 players remaining, which left the one remaining spot to be filled by the only player from Asia-Pacific to make it through, che0nsu.







The first quarter-final was between both the China players, with Hamster being known for trying out new decks (such as his C'Thun/Anyfin Paladin) that he hoped would catch on while JasonZhou tended towards some of the most typical decks considered to be good in the current meta (such as Zoo Warlock and Dragon Warrior). Although they were both sad to be drawn against each other in the first bracket, they were glad that China would at least be able to make it to the semi-finals because of it. The matches started with Hamster pulling off a nice win using a Token Druid deck, but then JasonZhou went on a rampage, taking 3 games with a Shaman, Zoolock and Malygos Druid in sequence. Hamster managed to claw back a second win using his C'Thun/Anyfin Paladin but he was still in trouble of elimination and the sixth match saw JasonZhou take the forth victory needed to proceed in the competition to the semi-finals.



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The second quarter-final would determine his opponent and was a showdown between America and Europe, with Amnesiac taking on Pavel, who had won an amazing 3-4 comeback victory to make it here. Amnesiac started off the set in fantastic fashion with a Mid-Range Hunter, with the deciding turn coming down to a one in three chance of a lucky RNG shot, which he made taking game one. The Americas player than went on take two more games using first a Tempo Mage, then Zoolock, to place Pavel in the same position he had found himself before, 3-0 down. The question on everyone's lips was could Pavel perform the same comeback again? The answer turned out to be yes, as the Russian first gained a foothold by taking game 4 with a C'Thun Warrior, then utilised his Druid and own Tempo Mage to draw level. He then took the final game with a Rogue deck, pushing the quarter-final to a full seven game set and going on to face JasonZhou the next day.



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After a short break for Challengestone exhibition matches, the third quarter-final started with che0nsu carrying the last hope of the Asia-Pacific region against the second American player on-stage, Cydonia. Both players showed great skills at reading possible plays by their opponent, with the first match being especially close and ending up being taken by Cydonia with a strong showing of his Control Warrior deck. Che0nsu answered in game two with his Zoolock deck that let him take the game verses Cydonia's Tempo Mage. Cydonia then used his Secrets Hunter for the rest of the games, but each time found himself no match for che0nsu's decks of Tempo Mage, Arcane Giant Druid and finally Dragon Warrior, meaning the Asia-Pacific player took the round 4-1 and eliminated the second American from the tournament.



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The final quarter-final match-up of the day was between the remaining two players, another Europe vs Americas match as DrHippi took on HotMEOWTH for the final spot to face che0nsu the next day. A lot was riding on HotMEOWTH as the final American player still in the running for the title, and especially because the player ran with a Patron Blood Warrior deck modified after both the Warsong Commander and Execute changes and wanted to prove the deck was still relevant in the current meta. DrHippi took the first two games against him and his Warrior deck, leaving him with ground to make up. The third match DrHippi's Shaman was up against the Patron Blood Warrior deck and HotMEOWTH came within one turn of being able to flip the tables on his opponent, just losing out because DrHippi had the amount of damage needed. 3-0 down the Americans player couldn't make the up ground and DrHippi took the match-up in a clean 4-0 sweep, putting both European players into the semis and finishing off America's hopes of getting the World Championship title this year.



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So the semi-finals will be as follows - JasonZhou against Pavel and che0nsu against DrHippi with the winner of each going on to face each other in the grand final match to see who will take the title this year. Could either Pavel or DrHippi let Europe retain the title, or will China or Asia-Pacific take the championship title home with them? Tune in to the BlizzCon livestream feed today from 10:30am PDT/ 5:30pm GMT to discover who it will be!
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