At the Dreamhack in Sweden, Rdu and Amaz fought their way to the finals. Both relied on rather unusual decks.
Freeze Mage and Priest decks are the stars of the tournament
While druid decks dominated the Dreamhack in numbers, Rdu swore by a Freeze Mage deck. And Amaz even used a Priest deck. Many players consider the Priest to currently be the weakest class.
However, experts saw exactly this as an advantage. Such “offbeat decks”, which are rarely played, present an unusual challenge for conventionally designed decks. Those who play such decks at a high level will often find themselves in situations where they play against the currently popular decks and can perfect their strategies against them. However, the other players will have little to no experience in how to assess the underdog decks. And at that level, knowledge about the opponent’s deck and preferred strategies is crucial. A classic case of: “I know that you know that I know what you think I know about your deck.”
Before the tournament, a Hearthstone site asked 30 experts what would be played at the Dreamhack. The overwhelming majority leaned towards Miracle Rogue and Handlock. The Freeze Mage came in a distant 6th place, and the Priest wasn’t even mentioned. Yet, it would be these decks that made headlines in the end.
Exciting Finale: Freeze Mage vs. Druid, Freeze Mage vs. Rush Hunter
In an exciting finale, Rdu won with a Freeze Mage deck against the slightly favored Amaz, who chose a Druid deck in the first round, which struggled to defend against constant fire and board control.
In the second round, Amaz countered with a Rush Hunter deck. A deck that aims for a quick victory through direct damage and is also seen as a counter against the widely played Charge Druid and Miracle Rogue decks. Amaz managed to build a lead of 29 to 15 health points with just 5 mana. But in the end, Amaz was missing just one point of damage in that round. Rdu’s Freeze Mage deck held strong and secured victory in the end burst.
Manipulation through chat messages?
At the end of the second round, a small scandal broke out, as Rdu received hints in Romanian through the in-game chat system from someone on his friend list about which cards Amaz held. The tournament organizers decided that these messages did not affect the outcome of the match. It had already been decided at the time the messages came. However, Rdu had to delete his friend list to prevent such incidents from recurring.
The very active subreddit for Hearthstone exploded with numerous threads about the supposed cheating. In the subreddit, Amaz’s supporters dominate, often elevating him to a card god.
The Dreamhack: The story of Amaz?
Amaz found himself restricted to his Priest deck in the third round, with which he had previously excelled in the Dreamhack tournament. He had to contend with the Freeze Mage deck, against which he had already lost twice.
Before the decisive rounds, the commentators joked that Amaz had only lost twice to lull Rdu into a false sense of security. In their eyes, the evening should end with a 3:2 victory for Amaz and more breathtaking matches.
However, at the beginning of the third round, things looked bleak for Amaz, as Rdu, thanks to optimal draws, assembled his burn hand. Amaz was able to fend off the first attack with a very agile Ragnaros and heal back up to a safe value. But Rdu drew the Pyroblast, and in the end, luck was on his side. Rdu took home $10,000 in prize money. His Freeze Mage deck (New Age Frost) featured key cards Alexstrasza, Iceblock, and plenty of damage, which is celebrated as a renaissance of Freeze Mage and proved effective against the currently popular decks, and it is set to dominate the next meta along with Amaz’s unusual Priest deck.
The future of Hearthstone as an e-sport
Amaz, who was regarded as a “favorite of fate” before the victory, because he played fantastic matches in the rounds leading up to that and had to have made a Faustian pact with the RNG gods, emphasized in an interview how much he appreciated Hearthstone. He believes the card game is on the brink of a golden age with the Naxxramas expansion.
The commentators from viagame – including the well-known Starcraft caster Artosis – also confirmed a rosy future for Hearthstone as an e-sport. Artosis stated he had often been asked what Hearthstone needed to become an e-sport. His standard response: “Why? It already is one.”
The port of the game to Android could, in the commentators’ eyes, provide a boost, placing the game on an even broader base. The professional broadcasting on viagame with lively commentators and the presentation at Dreamhack were certainly of top league quality.
Update on 06/18/2014: The video of the finals is now online, which we will present to you shortly.
The “scandal” surrounding the alleged cheater Rdu took an ugly turn immediately after the tournament ended. By defeating the beloved Amaz, the first 17-year-old Romanian Rdu now seems to be trapped in a rogue role and faces aggression and a shitstorm, as only public figures usually experience (though they are often much older, have a team of advisors around them, and are trained in media handling).
The caster of the event, Artosis, along with other Hearthstone “pros”, took the side of the 17-year-old. Even his opponent Amaz requested in a video to the fans to let it go. Rdu himself addressed the fans on reddit, lamenting that his triumph, which he had worked hard for, was now tainted by the behavior of a “retard” on his friend list.
This whole situation also takes on strange contours, as online gaming magazines report not about the tournament itself, but only about the alleged scandal.
All those involved wish Blizzard would provide an option to suppress chat messages during such tournaments.
