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3s foreign
12s welcome to Hearthstone Legends where we
15s look back on some of the most iconic
17s moments and matches that make the
20s players we know today Legends on this
24s episode we watched the Journey of one of
26s the fastest players to ever be called
28s the best in the world Hunter race
32s the beginning of Hunter Ace's rapid rise
35s was in 2018 with the tour stop circuit
38s after taking a second place finish
40s earlier in the year in Toronto he found
42s himself in the finals of the tour stop
44s in Seoul versus Samuel Zhao let's see
47s how it went all right with uh the game
50s number one being odd power to mirror we
51s do want to make a passing comment that
53s we didn't really talk much about with
54s the bands both Druids have been banned
56s but they're not playing the same one
57s Hunter race with The malagos Druids even
59s without the token Druid and both tend to
61s do pretty well against the the field
64s here malagos Druid is just touted by
68s several people as potentially being one
69s of the meta Breakers of uh 11.2 and
73s onwards primarily because it's good
74s against aggro with so many good
76s defensive tools it's good against
77s control even has a lot of power against
79s those mid-range decks as well so you
82s know Hunter Ace
84s looks like the difference will just be
86s the even Shaman versus the mid-range
88s Hunter let's go ahead and talk about the
90s odd pad and mirror
92s uh same as how does not have double one
94s drop and he's kind of kind of have an
95s awkward hand here yeah and Hunt race has
97s diamole as well this is this is the nuts
100s opener when you're going first you get
102s that one three down and then over the
104s course of the next couple of turns you
105s get so much Equity out of that free
107s health just being able to incrementally
110s turn by turn you just essentially swing
113s one one of stats on the board and that
114s means over the course of the first three
116s turns you then get you know two two or
118s three three ahead on the board just
120s through the Merit of this one three
122s million right and you know the Saving
125s Grace of a lot of these Paladin decks or
128s sorry specifically with odd paladins is
129s that you often want to get that early
131s game board and hero power as much as you
133s can but you want to take that coin to
134s put out double one drop so you can get
137s ahead of your opponent that is the only
138s thing that you get an advantage going
140s second is uh getting a coin extra card
142s and Samus has already lost that ability
144s to capitalize yeah
146s now already it becomes a question of
149s card economy versus Tempo because the
151s Firefly plus the flame Elemental here
153s can test this board State a whole lot
155s better than just pressing hero power
157s does
163s so it's just going to take it slow for
165s now though yeah there's one thing that
166s has always been a big part ever since
169s Cobalts and catacombs drop is the Cobalt
171s is the quarter creeper board swing and I
173s think Samuel Tau can potentially utilize
176s that as a way to win the board
178s convincingly against Hunter race if
180s Hunter race isn't you know cement things
182s by turn five which is often the pivotal
184s turn right before odd Paladin
187s there you go see what we're talking
189s about the power of that one three a
191s squire goes down a one one goes down and
193s the mole is still hanging around to take
196s care of another set one ones on the
197s following turn the hunter Ace just lost
200s in the jungle hero power and he is fully
202s dominated this board before turn three
204s yeah and a lot of his tools are board
206s leverage tools level up raid leader
208s fungalmans are all kind of do similar
210s things in pushing damage or cementing an
212s existing board
213s Sandwich House only course of action to
216s fight back right now is quarter creeper
217s fireflies and his hero power
219s you can't do you can't really mix and
221s match them very cleanly
223s but it can save quarter creeper for say
226s a fungal man's return so there is a
229s little you know Solace and saying that's
230s how having opportunities to fill out his
232s Mana curve it's just that is it too slow
233s against 108 develops against him
245s really deep in the tank on this one you
248s see his eyes flicking around from left
250s to right
251s trying to imagine what scenario pulls
253s him back onto this board I think it's
255s fairly straightforward here there's a
258s there's a fair amount of fatigue that
259s also comes into play as well you know
260s seeing what's out did not really get
262s much time between the semi-finals and
264s the finals it's very true and you know
266s these have been long days some players
268s from the APAC groups finished their
271s matches you know like past midnight on
273s day number one so it's just kind of a
275s very grueling tournament for some of
276s these players
277s hope Santa can kind of stay focused but
280s this is looking
282s very bad for our Taiwanese player
286s yeah it's unfortunate because plus
288s attack in this spot for Hunter Ace is
291s actually potentially the weakest Mall
292s outside of uh the taunt one because
295s still really does have to think about
297s respecting these one ones and if he does
299s that yeah his plus attack is doing very
300s little in comparison to uh Divine Shield
303s or summoning two additional one ones
305s alongside some of the other options he
306s could have had
308s just forget
309s it oh man Corner creeper is free Daniel
312s tries to fight back and it's not really
315s again about the attack like you said
316s it's really about how you're just
318s basically at the mercy of the attacker's
320s advantage yeah double fungalmancer hold
325s on
329s so one fungal mats are certainly coming
332s down
333s and I guess we just cleared our
335s opponent's board
339s does it have to be a fungal monster turn
342s you can go really wide still just
344s glacial sharp the corridor creeper and
346s deal with it on the next hand
351s I guess there's no harm in it
353s I I always like in in this mirror it's
356s an alarm Bell goes off in my head when
358s you're not making like the widest play
360s that you possibly can On Any Given turn
362s because that's very often the correct
364s one but yeah still four minions to zero
366s you get to Value trade everything it's
369s extremely hard to turn that one down and
372s Samuel South says yeah fair enough let's
375s not keep everyone weighing any longer
377s you got me on that one Paladin mirror
379s goes to Hunter race yeah and you know it
381s came down to a couple of things being on
383s the play being able to you know make
384s sure he keeps up his momentum and seeing
386s it sound not really having any
388s opportunity to swing the board even if
389s he had quarter creeper just didn't do
390s anything the one chance he had was that
392s turn two turn two he could have gone
394s Firefly flame Elemental and had one twos
396s on the board contesting one ones instead
399s he chose to just press hero power and
401s just get seeded full initiative over to
403s Hunter Hayes uh as it turns out Hunter a
406s still would have answered that play
407s potentially with them all to be able to
409s take care of the fireflies but because
411s it was just plus Attack Mode that wasn't
413s a very good development from him it
415s might have been a different story have
417s we seen Samuel Sal go for those
418s fireflies early on yeah that's right
421s um and with these aggro matchups I think
423s it's very easy to gloss over some of
425s those smaller details and think that
426s they're insignificant that you know on
429s the contrary instead of having any
430s agency you might feel like you've just
431s gotten unlucky yeah but that's what
433s aggro matches tend to boil down to one
436s or two points of damage one or two extra
438s tokens one or two extra turns
442s and that's what caused Samuel Sal
446s going into game number two we'll find
448s out uh if Hunter race is Hunter can
450s actually get over the you know the hump
452s of this series I feel like mid-range
455s Hunter
456s is just really underrated you know a lot
458s of people look at Hunter's um spell
460s build do they look at the recruit build
462s they look at you know other builds of
464s Hunter and they just kind of think of
465s those as the fun one The Flash ones to
467s play but sometimes you know houndmaster
469s kill command gets the job done
473s yeah if you can combine the spellstone
476s package with the old school just Beast
478s plus how Master package sometimes you're
480s gonna pick up some wins especially
482s against some slower control lead X we'll
485s see if Hunter Hayes can go over the line
486s game number two now finals HTC Seoul and
490s Samuel cell
493s Hunter versus odd Paladin is um you know
496s not a good matchup on paper for the
498s hunter considering that you can't really
500s do ings traditionally as well as a lot
503s of the other decks but Alicia hounds is
504s one of those cars that you can utilize
507s so Hunter is just the full keep wants to
510s keep tracking so that he could maybe
512s look for the car to bust spellstone like
513s explosive traps and then has unleash the
516s house to answer a whiteboard and it's
518s going to be pretty much all in on the
519s spellstone right from turn five onwards
523s as you saw him as we joined uh his
525s player cam he was just head down
527s essentially on the desk really trying to
529s think through that Mulligan process and
531s there's so many reasons why that's such
533s a tough decision I was gonna say the big
536s reason why that three keep is scary is
539s because you have dire mole in your deck
541s and you saw what Diamond did in the
543s previous game against all Paladin but
545s that is the best of both worlds for
547s Hunter race he got to keep an explosive
549s hand as you described how that could
551s play out and then Nails Hans moleman off
555s the top he only has two one Mana minions
558s and they're both dire moles so he's like
560s well the odds are that I'm not gonna be
561s able to get it ends up keeping tracking
563s guest iron Maul off and you saw his
565s reaction visibly in the camera as well
567s he was owing a long rest of the crowd at
569s casters
570s and Samuel's out of course not happy to
572s see that but he's got uh some um sticky
575s minions here with the Divine Shields
577s and as the odd pound you often look at
579s an opportunity to coin hero power or
581s sorry coin um one double one into hero
584s power so this seems to be a very solid
586s play and responsible
588s oh are you serious
594s is this the tavern brawl where you just
596s draw every Mana curve play possible turn
600s one you get the Mana worm turn two you
602s get the arkanologist turn three you get
604s the Kieran tour mage
605s what attacking first here yeah there's
609s no impact that you can get from uh from
612s attacking second plus attack doesn't
613s matter plus one plus one doesn't matter
615s so this wind Fury is still fine this
617s gives you better stealth gives you
618s better Divine shield and it looks like
620s yeah just a plus one plus one is gonna
623s be the answer here
624s for Hunter Ace wow I I don't know man
628s every every time I've seen Hunter Hayes
630s play this Hunter deck
632s it's just it has a connection perhaps
635s it's the fact that he's being rewarded
637s for the medical perhaps the fact that
638s his name includes the class that he's
640s playing right now yeah but some way
643s somehow it keeps throwing dire mode
644s clocking laser ball
646s and there's nothing to be ashamed about
648s that you know you just let it rip all
649s right yeah I think I finally deciphered
651s the name it's when he plays Hunter he
653s has his Aces hidden off his sleeve
655s that's that's what the name means
660s well you just say for that can you
661s decipher what me and TJ have been
663s theorizing as what this name of this
665s deck is called besides midridge Hunter
666s because he's DJ's convinced that it's
668s called spell Hunter with a few minions
669s it's spell Hunter with minions yeah so I
671s call it minion spell Hunter right minion
673s spell sure yeah we'll go with that but
674s then TJ started mocking me he's like oh
675s so his minion spell the minion spell
678s weapon death knight Hunter and I'm like
680s well yeah so when we post declares it's
682s Hunter races minion spell weapon death
685s knight Hunter deck yeah yeah makes
688s perfect sense you agree no I'm on board
689s really let's do it
691s coming soon to a net deck site near you
694s a URL too long to copy paste that's
697s right the decode won't fit the title of
700s the deck appropriately
705s unleash the hounds get some ahead on
708s board even though it's not for the
710s maximum value 100 starting from turn
712s five onwards is not going to be caring
713s about responding to the board he's going
715s to be caring about pressing in for
716s damage oh
718s that
720s um is someone down there just already
722s carving Hunter Ace's name into this
724s trophy because
725s everything yeah is coming up Milhouse
728s right now story of missed connections
731s for Samuel cell
739s all right so how does Samuel navigate
741s around something like this he has
744s righteous protector to kind of soften up
746s the board a little bit
749s lost in the jungle plus hero power's
752s maximum damage I was opponent using
753s Legion hounds which is actually nice
754s Insurance to go wider on the board again
756s yeah and the big thing that he's
758s focusing on is his own level five level
760s up there'll be a level up versus the
762s spellstone kind of battle
768s I like it so set up recruits now might
770s just protect you to protect your one
772s ones
773s into level up
777s tracking comes out here and now if a
779s secret is offered which it is um The
782s Dilemma of board development with the
783s secret oh sorry ball development with
785s the bear shark versus future board
787s development with the secret would have
789s been a tough one because getting an
790s extra minion down on board now would be
792s very valuable
793s nothing here really looks too appealing
796s how Master you're just about to lose
799s your grip on the board so how Master is
801s the weakest it's been at any point
804s kill command likewise spellstone you
806s already have one copy unbuffed in your
808s hands so how long will it be until you
810s play two of these copies out of your
812s hand even if you get the spellstone
814s you're most likely just summoning two
816s three threes right both ways because
818s those are your best plays on the board
819s if you draw a secret you just don't have
821s the man to play it right
824s under race feels like this is gonna be a
826s fight for board dominance
833s bear shark is definitely a little bit of
836s a force to be reckoned with
840s Paladin scoff at the idea of you know a
843s 4-3 challenging anything especially in
846s the the eyes of sun fairy protector
851s this is a corridor crepa plus a hero
854s power this time if that's what Samuel
855s style wants
857s has the ability to hero power and play
859s the righteous protector as well if he
860s trades in the other silver hand recruit
863s on board sure
865s foreign
892s shows this is just a really really bad
895s matchup for the hunter because even with
898s that perfect star the hunter race got
899s and even even with a hand that he three
901s kept which didn't include any of those
904s cards that we're calling a perfect start
905s it's still not looking like it was good
907s enough really just because he whiffed on
909s a secret from the from the tracking that
911s could be the big difference he he can
914s actually answer though uh if it was out
917s revs the level up and just go ahead and
920s ghost face and race will stabilize yeah
923s and then Samuel says best plan the
925s following turn is quarter creeper hero
927s power
927s this double Vine Cleaver is pretty
929s redundant and actually a terrible draw
931s for saying it's out in the media might
933s be great if he ends up being able to use
935s all six charges but I think the game
937s will be determined by them
944s the only way that this is a punish is if
947s your opponent has Hound master
949s and Samuel Town knows where the place is
956s two attacks are going face then four are
958s going crazy the only Merit I see is to
961s clearing all three of them and then even
962s then I'm really just not on board
966s I don't get it oh he wants to play
968s quarter Creeper sure
970s if that he is completely bare the next
973s turn
977s actually this is good because it stops
980s um his opponent from being able to
981s weapon and develop behind it
984s oh
987s single copy one of them was tracked over
989s as well the how Master right but not
992s enough Mana
997s I actually really like that quarter
998s creeper play because I recognized that
999s turn six is going to be pretty dead
1001s anyway so he wants to front load his
1003s pressure as much as he can and then kind
1006s of like hope that he draws something
1007s pretty well and if not then
1009s not play quarter creeper reactively
1011s where opponent can answer it as opposed
1013s to him getting to dictate to trades
1015s thank you
1021s there's three viable options this time I
1024s think bow flanking strike and how master
1026s all have their own relative merits in
1028s the spot I mean you can even make a case
1030s for uh spells down yeah no yeah you're
1033s not wrong actually they were all viable
1035s viable but I think the upside of drawing
1038s a secret is too good to pass up Hacker's
1041s veteran kissing the trade
1046s well it's pretty bad all things
1047s considering this was a very weak turret
1049s from single Tau it was down
1051s oh now we're talking
1055s and wandering monster has some very
1058s spicy targets that can be created
1060s there's a lot of meaty three drops we're
1062s talking about King mookly and your blade
1064s master and there's also one ones with
1066s giant rats
1078s so how does that secret change things
1080s Hunter Ace has
1083s he has explosive traps which is the one
1086s he's most scared of freezing trap Venom
1088s strike trap and then wandering monsters
1091s the freezing and the Venom strike are
1093s one of so the most common ones were
1095s wandering monsters and explosive traps
1096s right
1098s and it was uh you know top decked
1103s freezing just really isn't a big deal
1105s here it's essentially a non-factor into
1107s your considerations aside from just
1110s attacking with something that will cost
1111s you one
1112s so then you just have to consider the
1115s implications of uh Venom strike versus
1117s the implications of wandering monster
1118s because explosive trap really really
1121s really really really sucks here if
1124s you're Samuel's out
1126s I don't think you emphasized that enough
1128s okay
1129s one more really sucks ah gotcha I feel
1133s like I got a good feeling on that now
1135s you uh activate the Trap or you just
1138s hold I think you just have to wait it
1140s out yeah oh man
1143s and Venom strike trap comes with the
1145s hand Hunter ACE also has this ability to
1148s just bow and maybe be aggressive because
1150s eventually the pound has to attack
1152s and acorn both Secrets has been carrying
1154s mid-range Hunters since 2013 in the beta
1158s when we broadcast some tournaments is it
1160s gonna have be here for Hunter Ace for
1162s game number two
1166s yeah
1167s I'm scared for Samuel Sal as I said
1169s coming into this he made some plays
1171s early on uh in the tournament in his his
1174s quarterfinal matches that just showed a
1177s little bit of a timid tendency but now
1180s this is much better from him he looks
1183s like he's able to get over the line here
1184s recognizes that the thread explosive
1186s trap actually not too bad in this spot
1188s he could immediately reload behind it
1190s he's just gonna give Hunter race a lot
1192s of damage on that eaglehorn bow and a
1195s lot of board presence as well with the
1198s uh the sequence of traps going off such
1200s a great combination wandering monster
1202s and Venom strike down at the same time
1204s yeah finish her Cobra or sorry vanish
1206s draft track is a secret that now people
1208s not many people talk about excuse me but
1212s you know in so many situations I feel
1214s like the trash from Hunter have been
1215s very inconvenient when you're taking
1216s that one up I've seen rat trap last week
1218s at dreamhack do a lot of work and then
1220s this weekend Venom strike trap has been
1223s impressive
1225s all right well
1227s unfortunately you don't get the luxury
1229s of just trying to go all face because
1231s you're staring at lethal yeah
1235s it's dead on the board that's a very
1237s very bad draw for Hunter race and yeah
1239s it's much like the previous game hunter
1241s race immediately recognizes that the
1244s game is unwinnable from that position
1245s Sam Sally's gonna Square it up but yeah
1248s even with the power of Hunter races draw
1251s everything went right for him in those
1252s early turns Diamond off the top on one
1255s razor more off the top on two and then
1257s right after he makes his Unleashed play
1260s with six minions dying on one turn the
1262s very next draw for Samuel Sal was
1264s Corridor creeper he couldn't have asked
1266s for anything more still wasn't able to
1268s get over the line in the matchup I guess
1270s the one thing he could have wanted was a
1272s secret for his spellstone a little bit
1274s earlier all right guess that's still
1276s corrects the pickup as well just a very
1277s sweet it's true that being said you know
1281s and out of the odd pounds out of the way
1284s we enter a more interesting path here
1286s how even Shaman and the mid-range Hunter
1289s interact with each other uh we all know
1291s that odd Rogue is pretty good at
1292s punishing um a little bit of the slower
1294s deck so 100 will have to overcome that
1296s Hill
1298s and also we'll see if any of those
1299s special tech cards end up coming into
1301s play too but I mean this is best of five
1303s and I feel like so many times we've been
1305s calling a favorite matchup this weekend
1307s it's just been going the opposite
1308s direction so I feel like I don't even
1310s know what to expect anymore
1313s as the nature of hearthstone is that
1315s even a favored matchup when we say that
1318s we're only talking about a factor of a
1319s few percent so there's always time for
1322s uh little Tech choices or just a little
1325s player Innovations in terms of how to
1327s play a match up to really swing that
1329s stuff on its head and I think Hunter
1330s race is cheap among the people who find
1333s those alternate routes to Victory oh
1335s look at that beautiful trophy subtle
1339s Fireside car back skin
1341s that's what it's all about as well
1343s Hunter race
1344s is the man looking for that trophy
1347s Samuel sour as well but hunter race has
1349s come so close to those trophies on two
1351s different occasions already two second
1353s places of tour starts under his belt he
1355s does not want to feel that trophy slip
1357s through his grasp and into the ever
1359s waiting hands of Samuel town
1364s now there is now says I was having
1366s cracking razor ma without uh any Beast
1369s guarantee he ends up pitching it's in
1371s what's out very aggressive hand
1372s opportunity here
1374s not sure uh
1377s uh if actually you can make a case for
1379s uh holding on to a lot of these cards
1381s but SI 7 agent also is very reactive I
1383s think I want a more proactive
1384s three-minute card vicious fledgling
1386s Hench Clan Thug but I'm not even upset
1389s about like you know Diamond Cold Blood
1391s of some capacity
1394s it's just that it doesn't light up
1395s really nicely
1397s ends up throwing the cold blood away
1402s Edwin Van Cleef on the coin never too
1404s side of sight especially those one drops
1407s and his hand and still plenty more
1408s available to draw
1410s a race term on tracks he knows what he
1412s wants spellstone
1415s does not get it
1416s has bear shark and eaglehorn bow as
1419s three meta plays after a Wandering
1421s monster or it could be very cheeky and
1423s play double wandering monster stop to
1426s attack keep his life total in check and
1427s summon a random minion
1429s yeah it probably makes sense I think you
1431s mentioned your opponent is going to be
1433s mulliganing looking for those vicious
1434s fledgling and punchline Thug Type plays
1437s eaglehornbo is your check to those so
1440s yeah and Samuel recognizes that you know
1443s the most important thing that he ends up
1445s wanting to do is to utilize his board he
1448s can't just be all in from the get-go
1450s Hunter does have decent removal tools
1452s with things like flanking strike and uh
1455s bows
1459s the wandering monster here
1462s it's not actually as uh
1464s it's not as consistent as you'd like it
1466s to be in terms of a three Health minion
1469s because wandering monsters average stat
1471s line is actually two attack
1474s five hours quickly
1479s yeah because of that I feel like I've
1480s said it every game so far but just die a
1482s mold just makes such a huge difference
1484s over every other one drop what we had
1486s this conversation last time we care side
1488s of just how Agri players haven't been
1489s getting much uh in the recent expansions
1491s definitely feel like to the past two
1494s matters that we've experienced from
1495s Cobalt and which would have been the
1496s slowest medicine history yeah
1498s um and aggro doesn't really have that
1500s many Tools in fact they've just been
1502s getting nerfed and dire more is just
1504s like one of the cars where people
1505s celebrate it's so plain and vanilla
1507s burns up being so valuable in many ways
1510s the way it pairs with things like cold
1511s blood and how it interacts with like
1513s Paladin hero power
1516s foreign
1521s oh yes Hunter Ace fans love to see that
1526s one
1530s you're a hard race man I am and I love
1533s to see that one all right
1539s all right well Henry doesn't have many
1541s much to do this turns up the bow past
1542s your opponent try to see if you can
1544s react what he does and the nice thing is
1547s that you should be able to address
1548s almost anything that comes out the worst
1550s case scenarios Hench Clan Thug
1553s because it's for health that is the
1556s break point
1562s oh what an optimist you are throw down
1565s the worst cases in Edwin van please
1568s that's a sex Health you're right you're
1570s right uh the Van Cleef now that look at
1572s it
1573s it's actually like from from Samsung's
1576s perspective though
1577s are you scared of the the the Edwin like
1580s for the same reason we're talking about
1581s it is worst case scenario because Hunter
1583s Ace has to take Max damage swinging into
1585s it with the Eagle hunbo right that's
1587s basically the break point but still the
1589s situation for Samuel Sao is the same you
1591s lose your Edwin to a flanking strike yes
1594s is that a situation you're happy with
1597s no you you you're you're a a deck that
1601s really loves to leverage the board you
1603s have fungal manster you have cold Bloods
1607s you'd much prefer to have his Edwin
1609s stick
1610s you're also behind on board so you have
1612s to use si-70 agent on a minion instead
1614s of being aggressive but I guess there
1616s wasn't really much play anyways given
1617s his hand yeah texture
1620s ah hand detection
1625s Adam I wanted to do the final so I
1627s figured yeah
1629s that's that's the admirable tribute act
1631s it's coming out
1634s he's giggling but it's because CJ made a
1636s joke he's not actually laughing along
1637s with us I think if any given point if
1639s admirable is giggling it's a pretty safe
1641s bet that it's because TJ made a joke
1647s so what's stopping us from playing SI
1650s Seven Nation here
1651s does he just not want to take the damage
1653s I think just that staring back just a
1656s 3-3 being developed into it it's just
1658s kind of such a scary proposition
1660s you know it's you know si7 is supposed
1663s to be one of your big Tempo swings and
1664s these kind of match-ups and you gain
1666s really zero Tempo from it because it
1668s just gets slapped immediately by that
1669s eagle horn yeah but if you use the
1672s like say you play with small Maze and
1674s use the weapon instead then Captain
1676s Green's kind of gets worse it's true
1680s he does both okay so he does both and
1683s now he's sitting up for Cobalt skill
1684s then makes sense why he plays arches
1685s Square
1689s interesting interesting finding strike
1692s number two versus explosive trap here
1695s explosive trap can uh really prevent a
1699s Cobalt scale man really having a big
1700s impact next turn because the minion hit
1702s Buffs really won't be able to uh attack
1704s very well even if it lands on The Squire
1706s at the end of the turn it's softened up
1708s then from unleash the hounds on the
1710s follow-up yeah but then your opponent
1711s played Argent Squire so you're most
1713s scared of fungal Manson that's true yeah
1717s fungal manster means that explosive trap
1720s will literally do nothing
1724s oh that's that's not true that's the
1726s improper use of literally it won't do
1728s much
1729s unfortunately it's for fans of the
1731s English language British use of
1733s literally that improper use of literally
1736s was added to the dictionary so you just
1739s can't even dispute it anymore and it's
1742s the most tilting thing in the world it's
1744s like literally the most tilting thing in
1747s the world
1749s literally
1754s you guys are funny
1757s all right so Hunter a says You Gotta
1759s Have It
1760s I'm not gonna give my opponent optimal
1762s usage of it anyways also with that you
1764s know the mix-up again you know is this a
1766s Wandering monster
1770s is it a freezing trap
1772s the the mix-up then I call them guesses
1774s where you come from damn mind guesses
1777s what did I grow up on the streets down
1780s from you subtle the guesses
1783s all right it's just it's it's a it's a
1785s trolling smash players thing I thought
1787s you'd be aware of this meme but we just
1789s we just make fun of your terminology you
1791s just pretend that you like call Mix-Ups
1793s guesses
1794s you say Dittos instead of mirrors or
1797s like um friendlies instead of casuals
1799s right all this kind of stuff yeah we
1802s just really want to be different than
1803s you guys yeah
1806s I like that I fit into a stereotype
1808s where I'm so unaware of you guys making
1810s fun of us I don't even know I'm not even
1812s knowing the joke I can't even banter
1816s by the way deadly poison with Captain
1818s greenskin that is a heck of a punch oh
1821s just a straight up attack here okay just
1824s wants to push as much damage as possible
1825s Force Hunter to react
1828s but he does have a really great reaction
1830s here with the unleash the hounds he's
1832s just suffering for health total right
1834s now
1837s I'm with uh with Samsung actually
1839s refusing to develop alongside this
1842s he unleash the hounds actually got
1843s significantly weaker right but it does
1846s have flanking strike for something a
1847s little bit more proactive to develop too
1849s and the thing he has double Hound
1850s Masters he has to find ways to be able
1852s to get these out of his hand and then we
1854s also kind of fact through in that Hunter
1855s Ace
1856s does have pressure tools unleash as a
1859s finisher with kill command
1861s on eight Mana could be what gets him
1864s there right
1870s so if we assume that Hunter race is just
1873s going to be hitting the face with the
1874s bows opponent's at 14 kill command for
1876s five puts him at nine and then uh
1879s unleash the hounds with some hero Powers
1881s they're still a little bit short unless
1883s your opponent somehow goes the widest
1884s board possible known to mankind and not
1887s kill you
1889s so he's gonna need like this flanking
1890s strike wolf or houndmaster to do
1892s something
1896s one one I really like I really
1900s really at there because you take away so
1902s much Equity from your uh your opponent
1905s from being able to to attack into the
1907s 3-3 with the dagger oh adorable is so
1909s mad right now
1912s he's so his eyebrows cannot be
1916s higher up on his skull right now and you
1919s look at Samuel town he's got a very
1921s clear game plan Captain greenskin was
1923s put in the deck for more burst damage
1925s with things like deadly poison the
1926s weapon so you don't have to re-dagger
1928s and since this is like this where it's
1930s really good but does he want to take the
1932s three he can vile spine this as well and
1935s save himself the health if he wants to
1939s so let's see so Kevin Green's gonna put
1941s 10 damage to the weapon two with the
1943s Saucy deck and yeah it's not enough
1946s and then he's thinking on the opposite
1949s end
1950s what's my what's my opponent's punish
1952s yeah
1953s because then if you can't kill Hunter
1955s Ace on your following turn that means
1956s Hunter race has two entire turns to do
1959s 15 damage to you with a bow showing if
1961s you play as Captain green skin pushes a
1963s little damage Hunter Ace houndmasters he
1965s biospines for the win there
1967s okay
1968s I think that's what Samuel is figuring
1970s out in his head
1972s and unlike Hunter a samosa recognized
1975s that he is the beatdown
1977s no extra minion playing around unleash
1979s the hounds
1981s trap
1988s oh man
1992s I also had to says kill command how
1993s Master available though
1996s to take care of the green skin and make
1997s a huge board State himself and be
1999s pushing damage
2001s yeah I mean that's kind of what mid-rate
2003s Hunter wants to do houndmaster is often
2005s the turning point for how they push
2007s damage they go from border control to
2009s often killing your opponent
2019s and you know Captain green skin is not
2021s exactly the ideal minion to freezing
2023s trap either by the way that is true
2027s almost certainly wants to Hound Master
2029s the question is
2030s what does he do afterwards we're also
2032s definitely hitting the phase with this
2035s five five wolf right there's just no way
2037s we trade
2039s because then you're just dead to like a
2041s LeRoy actually you can you can trade and
2043s then post freezing trap and then if your
2044s opponent plays Leroy bounces back
2049s oh
2055s the damage goes through and now with
2058s deckhand and valspine that is still
2060s lethal the deckhand will hit the
2062s freezing trap yeah and then five and
2064s five connect for the ten that Samuel
2066s needs uh this definitely has blown up in
2069s Hunter's face and he looks he looks like
2071s he knows it yeah I think he realized he
2073s made a big mistake here he he needed
2075s more time you saw the Rope hit there and
2077s he still hadn't decided on a play the
2079s last five seconds of that rope burning
2081s he picked up kill come on he put it back
2082s down he picked up freezing trap he put
2084s it back down and then eventually the
2086s freezing trap came back out again and
2088s now they seize the deck hand and no con
2092s Hunter race feel the second place curse
2095s creeping up on him again
2098s it's starting to become more than just a
2101s prophecy it's becoming reality Samuel
2104s Tau has made a Hearthstone career out of
2108s upsetting your favorite player and he
2110s might do it once again
2113s oh boy look at that face
2116s that is a man that's not happy with the
2119s current proceedings Hunter race knows
2122s better than anyone else in the world
2124s what it feels like to finish just the
2127s first runner-up in a tour stop because
2129s he has been right on that line twice
2131s already and just cannot find this way to
2134s push over the edge yeah and you know
2136s it's not it's not even necessarily like
2138s things are out of this control I mean
2140s there's a lot that went into those turns
2142s yeah and there's so much Nuance I would
2144s love to see you know amnesiac and Jack
2147s kind of review those kinds of plays I
2148s guess chocolate can't join anymore
2150s but I'd love to see these players review
2153s it because you know there's so many
2155s things to account for and what your hand
2157s looks like what their hand looks like
2158s what they're gonna draw or more
2160s importantly what information you've
2161s gained throughout the entire portion of
2162s the uh of the game and then and then of
2164s course you're playing to your outs and
2166s Hunter Ace looks so upset realizing like
2168s okay I forgot maybe about this one car
2171s that could have completely destroyed my
2173s boy and of course same as hell has the
2175s the real punish which is something that
2177s you kind of want to see ultimately if
2178s you're if you're not accounting for
2179s something that's very likely to happen
2181s you want to see the punish and Sam
2182s what's out it's now one game away from
2185s claiming that beautiful Trophy and going
2187s home
2188s Soul champion
2193s under a so deep into monitor Samuel Sao
2196s rocking and keeping his Groove
2199s can he close it out 3-1 or will Hunter a
2202s strike back and send it to the game five
2211s able to sit uated
2215s the Rogue coming out now for Hunter
2218s racing yeah again diamonds just as far
2220s as the eye can see
2223s I mean that's kind of what malls are
2225s right they're just always there
2227s like can't really get rid of them
2230s they just tunnel on the ground you have
2232s just a serious mole infestation where
2234s you're from Dad I mean I'm not gonna lie
2236s I'm not going with you on this one I
2238s don't know man I I'm not very familiar
2241s with you know the mole Society okay I
2245s thought you were gonna because I said uh
2246s moles as far as the eyes can see like
2248s aren't most blind I realize I didn't
2249s actually make much sense as it came up I
2251s thought that's what you're gonna pick up
2252s on but oh yeah I don't know
2256s foreign
2258s today I learned
2261s I did not get an A in biology subtle in
2264s case you were wondering I know that you
2266s were about to ask that I was I was dying
2268s to notice I got a very subpar B much
2272s judicial Grand of my parents
2283s with these even decks so it was a debate
2286s do you want to hold your coin or do you
2288s want to go uh two into two what does
2290s your curve look like for the opening
2291s turns
2292s Samuel Sao decides it's just going to be
2295s a totem pass for now and these zero twos
2298s are just food for odd Rogue in this
2300s matchup they can they can push through
2302s these zero Twos for as long as you're
2304s willing to press them
2311s well uh you know with Hunter Ace's hand
2314s he has an opportunity to also just be
2316s aggressive any opening that he sees as
2320s Hunter race just shut down do we need to
2321s plug him in oh no he's okay he's okay
2323s he's okay the eyes are flickering um low
2326s battery though yeah I thought
2328s Hearthstone bot had entered sleep mode
2330s for a second but no he's up and running
2333s yeah I mean if he plays double one here
2334s of some kind
2337s he's trying to
2339s okay Cold Blood as well I mean there's
2342s not many punishes here
2344s how many hides all of this behind a tall
2346s creeper on the following turn as well
2349s juicy
2358s Simon Says almost with a nod of like
2360s recognition I'm like yeah all right this
2363s this sucks for me well played you know
2365s one of my favorite things to do with
2367s Rook because I really love playing
2369s Miracle Rogue is Firefly coin Firefly
2371s this is just like the next level of that
2373s entire mole coin like a cold blood
2376s diamond that's crazy
2378s all right
2380s and now hunt race can just play border
2383s control for a little bit and then just
2385s start hitting face and so I you know I
2387s kind of made fun of Hunter race being
2389s you know head down deep in thought there
2390s at the start of the game but actually
2392s you need to commend him on this because
2394s he was right on the verge of tilt after
2397s that last game you could see it right
2399s the emotions the body language
2401s everything was there you know 30 seconds
2403s to a minute break and you can see he's
2405s zoned right back in and he's found a
2407s fantastic opening line here as the Rogue
2410s in this matchup against Samuel Sal and
2412s then Samuel sao's Camp what's the out
2415s what can you really do core sticker
2419s the only kind of stalls it doesn't
2421s really do much and then coin hacks kind
2423s of gives your opponent the ability to
2424s develop things like vicious fledgling
2426s likes to hedge Clan Thug that you're
2427s also super afraid of
2430s it's almost like a lose-lose situation
2432s for Samuel
2433s um he can run into so many bad things on
2436s both ends of whatever play he chooses
2437s here
2438s that's the beauty of the play Bounce
2440s race made that just wasn't really clean
2443s answers to it you look even at things
2444s like Merc spark eel on Samuel Sal's turn
2447s two just did nothing into the line the
2450s hunter race took so the thing with the
2452s corpse takers it should force Hunter ace
2454s off of the ideal three Mana play
2459s too much
2461s yeah probably deckhand has to be
2463s committed to
2466s doesn't have to lose a deck Anakin
2470s choose to use the dire mold to trade
2471s into instead keeping a little bit more
2473s power on the board yeah
2477s do you want to preserve Health on your
2478s talk Reaper or do you want to have an
2480s extra deck hand in play even hole in the
2482s deckhand has Merit because you have vile
2484s spines that's true yeah you're not wrong
2486s the extra damage isn't exactly relevant
2488s right now but you did commit corporate
2490s which kind of implies that you want to
2491s be aggressive so you know it's
2493s definitely a lot going through Hunter
2495s Ace's mind so much so
2497s that he's secluded portion of his face
2500s away from the camera tucked it into his
2502s little jacket
2504s I just feel stressed watching Hunter A's
2506s play right now
2516s he's gonna take the value trade route
2518s extra minimum in play and I think what
2520s this does first and foremost is it just
2522s gives him a bit of a stronger board
2523s against the hex that might come out
2525s means he has that extra minion with the
2527s deck hand that's just already pushing
2528s away yeah it also sets up for a really
2531s good opportunity with fungal manter and
2533s if he draws it off the top this is
2534s something that I see amnesiac do very
2536s often which is sure it doesn't have in
2538s his hand but he sets if he can set up
2540s for the best possible case scenario he
2543s might just win from that spot all right
2546s now you see it
2549s forced to hex his one drop because of
2551s that cold blood threat
2553s and if we don't see the fungal Manson
2555s picked up here which we don't oh Hunter
2558s race is just the smile
2562s the smile comes out Honda race will tell
2564s you he was he was though he was just
2565s baiting he was just baiting yeah he was
2567s in he was in full control at all times
2569s just a prank bro
2572s got you
2577s so what can Samuel do this just looks
2579s like a pumbling version of the first
2581s game of the series
2583s okay
2585s that's uh
2588s in the words of our beloved streamer
2590s from Hong Kong that is a card
2593s the fire plume Phoenix doesn't really do
2596s much except
2597s take a little bit of damage off the
2599s board yeah
2601s what you could do is layer your
2603s fireproof Phoenix and your firewood
2604s mental to kill the hinge Clan Thug over
2606s two turns
2607s that's true
2610s you do take an enormous beating from the
2612s rest of the board anyway that way though
2614s it's not like you you really reduce the
2615s damage too much yeah
2618s it could be that he just wants to go as
2619s wide as possible utilize fire Elemental
2624s oh
2633s four plus
2635s five plus one is twelve
2639s so 12 damage
2647s a little surprised to see the deadly
2649s poison coming down here unless he's
2650s swinging a face
2652s size potentially his file spine
2654s activator unless he's gonna vulce by now
2655s which I guess he is he just wants to
2658s press him for damage he's got 12 this
2659s turns he just goes All Phase probably
2661s will trade it into the direwolf Alpha
2668s this is quite possibly the most polite
2670s series for a grand finals that you have
2672s ever seen in Hearthstone where neither
2673s player wants to waste each other's times
2675s or the viewers
2677s or that picture just says a thousand
2679s words right now you can see Hunter Ace's
2681s lips are quivering as he's just
2684s recognizing how close he is finally to
2686s what he's been so close to so many times
2689s at tall stop victory that really befits
2692s the incredible number of HCT points that
2694s he's a mast I'm not sure if he
2697s re-overtakes Fino here with a with a win
2699s in this tour stop but it's very possible
2703s I don't know I anticipate it to be
2705s changing back and forth for the next six
2707s months here subtle but one thing is for
2710s sure
2711s Hunter race with a win will catapult
2713s himself again in the conversation of who
2716s is the king of Europe in 2018.
2719s meanwhile Samuel Sao you know let's talk
2721s about him for a second here because I
2723s feel like we've been focusing on Hunter
2724s Hayes so much in this series
2727s walked into 2017 act in the winter
2730s season uh just as a student that liked
2733s to play horse in his free time and that
2735s was one of his first tournaments that
2736s he's entering and he got to the world
2737s championships for the top four finish in
2739s the Bahamas
2740s he said that he was taking Hearthstone
2742s part-time and now he's a sponsored
2744s Hearthstone player all decked out in
2746s racing car jackets one game away from
2750s upsetting Hunter race
2752s and keeping the curse on will Hunter
2754s race finish it we'll see what's out be
2755s able to finish what he started in 2017.
2757s let's go into the final concluding game
2761s of act's soul
2770s oh it's just dawned on me throw down
2772s that that might be the last time I hear
2774s that riff leading me into a game of
2776s hostile oh no don't say it I'm just I'm
2779s just back into Tavern music all the way
2781s down from here on out we have Mouse we
2784s have fingers that can type
2786s if you guys are listening again I
2788s implore you to tweet at HSE Sports tweet
2791s at Esports lokazi Jew Higby and let them
2793s know that we need some of that epic
2795s Chase space getaway Chase space
2798s at Ben Drago at Alex charsky
2802s I think a lot of people in chat who
2803s casually policy probably have no idea
2804s who I'm talking about but they are the
2806s people who run these people just typing
2808s words into Twitter cards can't spell any
2810s of those names Korean it's not called
2812s the docs uh blizzard employees
2816s oh this Hunter deck for the first time
2820s now on to race
2822s has just let him down a little bit so
2824s far this series he hasn't been able to
2826s get over the line with it just yet but
2828s he has been missing that key card the
2830s death stalker rexar I hated this card
2835s before the most recent expansion wow I
2838s felt that oh I truly did for some reason
2841s in a world where everyone is obsessed
2844s with HS replay currently right and were
2847s in the previous expansion as well
2848s everyone kept putting Death Star Rex
2851s Death Star corrects are into every
2852s Hunter deck despite if you looked up the
2854s stats it was the lowest win rate card in
2857s all of those decks yeah it kept going in
2859s there so over and over again I need to
2862s stop you right there
2864s this might shock you yeah but some
2867s people play HearthStone for fun
2871s it's a word that I know it doesn't
2873s really exist much in the British
2874s vocabulary dictionary but death star of
2877s rexart is fun and I think a lot of
2880s people love this car it's one of my
2881s favorite cars quite possibly my favorite
2882s card from Knights of the Frozen Throne
2884s on top of my head and the fact that they
2886s update it with more recent beasts is
2889s just so good like thank goodness that
2891s would they change that because at first
2892s they weren't going to update the Beast
2894s pool it was just going to stay static
2896s and then that's what our next round
2897s would have just been a lot worse but
2900s thankfully they did so and uh now is it
2903s one of the worst Winery cards do you no
2905s the since since uh the the new base came
2908s in and the new expansion introduced uh
2910s so many more so many more Rush mechanics
2912s and other lifestyle options that's as I
2914s said I used to hate this card in Hunter
2916s now I am fully converted it's super
2919s powerful it digs you out so many
2921s situations that you can't get out of
2923s otherwise and I think it's a essential
2925s in basically any build of the deck now
2926s yeah it's also you know carried a lot of
2929s those other Hunter builds that you know
2931s are very dependent on specific
2933s strategies that don't go through spell
2934s Hunter for example don't get the spell
2936s Stones like how do you win oh I could
2937s have desert correct yeah right and
2939s that's what we love to see and another
2941s thing too that I appreciate as samosao
2943s gets that taunted which is uh pretty
2944s annoying for the bow uh for hunters
2948s is that uh destroy rexar also introduces
2952s something that we don't really talk
2953s about very often is that it introduces
2955s play Styles you see so many people
2958s disagree when they're watching a
2960s Deathstroke of XR repeated zombies chain
2962s because there's so many decisions you
2964s can make there's six choices presented
2965s every single time your hero power right
2967s and I love seeing that you get to see
2969s opinions like okay am I taking more of a
2971s risk by taking the better base or do I
2972s go cheat because I really need a better
2973s option than the second choice really
2975s cool stuff
2978s and then there's you know angry chickens
2982s yeah
2984s well
2985s it goes with the two Health direwolf
2987s here over the three Health flame tongue
2990s which could just get him into a mess
2992s with this explosive trap in Hunter Ace's
2994s hand right now
2997s he does have the uh Earthen Mite to
2999s Sammy sow to uh punch back against this
3001s get a little bit of purchase against
3004s that explosive trap but it's still gonna
3005s represent a lot of value for Hunter race
3008s and if Samuel Sao just stalls out Hunter
3011s Ace has the ability to start picking the
3013s board apart with blanking strikes and so
3015s on and then he's just buying time until
3016s that death still corrects her
3020s yeah and I can't really find a more
3021s opportune time to do this too because
3023s it's stunts development and it also
3025s gives you repeated weapon swings right
3026s which seems to be a big problem because
3028s Hunter race does not want even Shaman to
3030s load up the board
3033s um
3034s so I think that just lines up really
3037s nicely here and of course on same with
3039s thousand that's where cards like Earth
3041s and might are going to come to play
3044s here it comes
3056s so you know over in Samuel Tao's land
3059s here he picks up Merc Sparkle the
3061s question has become you know what secret
3063s is he going to have to play around
3065s freezing trap Venom strike trap
3068s wandering monster
3069s explosive trap all introducing really
3071s complicated scenarios
3077s Simon style will also have spellstone in
3079s mind now anytime you see a hunter player
3081s play secret off curve like this you also
3085s start to think okay he really wants to
3087s buff a spellstone if that's his three
3088s Mana play here so now he's uh he's
3091s really thinking about his opportunities
3092s loading up against this but yeah as you
3094s mentioned the attack or no attack
3096s dilemma is pretty strong right now for
3099s Samuel Sao in the face of this Secret
3104s yeah one possibility that he can explore
3106s is perhaps loading the board waiting for
3108s opponent to do a little bit something
3109s and then have sea giant come down to try
3112s and launch his offensive
3118s oh
3120s what a race is amps look at him react
3125s to that attack
3128s and Samuel's out gets the talk to him
3132s anyways but I mean that's where the
3134s flanking strike
3135s uh or perhaps Honduras wants to develop
3138s a little bit more proactively with
3139s animal campaign having higher upside
3141s than just a 3-3 wool
3143s was that the moment did Hunter Ace just
3146s feel it Samuel Sao do you know what I
3149s respect that play because my criticism
3151s of Samuel Sao up until this point in
3153s this tournament that he has not been
3155s taking risks yes and that was a risk and
3158s he took it and I will never fault a man
3160s for that it's a gut check too you know
3162s when everything is on the line when
3165s you're staring down a game five finals
3167s or the last game of any series that you
3169s play you really get to see what kind of
3170s player you are when you're introduced
3171s with a risk you know a fork in the in
3173s the past so to speak
3176s um
3178s I'm smacking this Stone claw totem every
3180s single time by the way
3182s Hunter Ace does not do anything quickly
3184s when the stakes are this high he is
3186s going to make sure he calculates every
3188s single opportunity and he might think of
3190s something that I don't but my instincts
3192s tell me that there is no reason why you
3194s don't hit the zero too
3197s discount C giant prevents uh board
3199s leverage tools oh my God
3201s I don't know anything about this game
3203s Dan
3204s uh I think we just don't know the hunter
3207s Aces a line of thought and you know
3209s sadly enough you know Hunter race is
3211s also still kind of new this traveling
3212s thing so whenever I try to talk to him
3213s about his plays or like talk to him
3215s about stuff he's very shy and reserved
3217s um probably because he's not very
3219s familiar with me so I still have to wait
3221s for time to get used to it but generally
3223s I do find fairly often Hunter race just
3226s doing something different than what I
3227s thought he was gonna do that seems to be
3230s one of the most trademark things and why
3231s he's really exciting to watch
3233s foreign
3244s and now because Hunter Ace didn't swing
3247s the bow at that zero two last turn he
3249s can't swing it at the scale high this
3251s turn which means it just gets to stick
3253s around and contest anything that he
3254s plays I don't understand Dan
3258s either but one thing I do understand is
3261s that diamond pickup gives Hunter race
3263s yet another opportunity to play this
3265s tune differently as dire more
3266s houndmaster he has animal companion
3268s development
3269s with secrets or I can just straight up
3272s remove stuff with bow and I think I kind
3276s of like anything that stops my opponent
3278s from fire Elemental swinging the board
3280s sure so Diamond houndmaster might look
3284s good on paper
3285s just that
3286s very juicy full three on the board then
3289s yeah so that makes me lean away from it
3291s but then animal command is not much
3293s better in that regard because if you get
3296s you know Huff or what you get blown out
3298s a little worse because you don't have a
3299s mean to stick up after the board yeah at
3302s least with Huffy you do get to kill the
3303s 3-2 with your bow though okay that's
3305s true
3306s so the the swing back with the fire
3308s Elemental is not quite as devastating
3310s yeah what if you get like leak yeah
3314s yeah that feels bad I think the outcomes
3316s of Adam Queen are too volatile
3326s sea giant is online this turn if
3329s possible or sorry rather it is possible
3331s for samanthao to put it up this turn
3333s by the way if Hunter Ace had killed the
3336s stone claw totem on the previous turn
3338s this turn he kills the scale hide that c
3340s giant cost seven
3343s not to mention he has a 4-3 and a three
3346s five versus zero power
3349s there's the big thing on my mind
3356s I really want to play sea Giant
3359s but looks like Sam it's out with the
3361s trade first
3362s wants to just addresses near the board
3365s and also to be quite Fair corpse taker
3367s is pretty nasty in this spot yeah it
3370s just challenges so well both the the bow
3372s and the houndmaster and there's not many
3375s ways for houndmaster to do much with
3377s stat line
3379s however
3383s deathstalker X star can really Flex here
3387s it looks so good oh yeah oh man the
3391s follow-up as well seven Mana he gets the
3394s spellstone play
3396s yeah that still corrects up Pops The
3398s Shield bow goes through value trade the
3400s houndmaster
3402s the only other play that I think I like
3404s is animal community kill command but
3406s that's just
3408s worse
3410s and you're not even like threatening um
3412s the Shaman's life total so it's not like
3413s your hero power is super important the
3415s hunter heal power scales so well because
3416s each time you use it you deal more
3418s percentage of their life
3420s death stalker wrecks are about to hit
3422s the board it could be the beginning of
3423s the end of the series and this
3424s tournament
3426s Samuel Sao unhappy to say the least
3436s and that sea giant once again will be
3438s stranded
3441s Samuel Tau needs to answer hero for hero
3443s where is his hag at the
3446s no way to be found and that's a really
3448s weak drawer it's one Minion plus a tour
3451s plus a total one card plus a totem at
3453s least
3454s she used to get the two bodies in play
3456s with the ceremony Chain Gang if he wants
3458s to yeah but it doesn't die to the
3462s houndmaster
3466s it also is Mana efficient which might
3468s become the case here we've seen a lot of
3470s even charms run into Mana issues with
3471s getting a lot of the six cost cars and
3473s clogging up their hand space that is
3475s true yeah saying in particular I think
3476s ran into that on a couple of occasions
3482s foreign
3483s night though it stops a value trade like
3487s the the how Master can just take care of
3489s a totem here if you play again greymane
3491s true and you're not really like making
3492s any progress towards the sea giant at
3494s that point you need to start
3495s consolidating a board presence or you're
3498s just sat with this very dead card in
3499s your hand I don't know honestly this is
3501s very close from my perspective for
3503s Samuel Sal
3505s I would still be thinking about this
3507s play at this point
3511s does choose to go Chain Gang though the
3514s trade puts the minion count at two which
3517s means C Giants eight so in the worst
3518s case scenario you still can play some
3519s giant next turn right so I think that's
3521s what may be tilted over the edge oh wait
3523s guess what CJ costs a lot cheaper
3527s second CJ perhaps
3532s and the wandering Monster again another
3535s uh mystery here for Samuel Tau
3537s introducing quite the roadblock for him
3539s to get anything going this game yep it's
3543s a fire plume plus C giant is a
3546s possibility this time but it's still not
3548s a great looking play I think Hunter race
3551s feels like he may have already won just
3552s it feels like before he was locked in
3556s laser focused and now he's moving around
3560s talking to himself kind of stretching
3563s what's in the box oh
3570s the king is in the Box
3575s yeah you thought you were getting
3576s bananas but
3579s King mukla makes the Cameo appearance
3581s and Samuel Tau
3584s can barely see light at the end of
3586s tunnel here nothing he does will impact
3588s to stay at the board right now
3594s fire blue phoenix to the face
3600s he just needs a 3-3 in play he could
3603s just play it alongside the sea giant
3605s decides he might as well send the damage
3607s to the face if he's going to do so same
3610s as I also forgot a hero power
3612s oh you're right it's always free with
3615s the sea Giant in this deck
3617s it's always free not just the first one
3620s on a race Taps the button
3624s I like anything
3626s that has
3628s stats
3633s that you can play this turret
3636s and honestly even if you don't have even
3637s if you can't play at this turn you can
3638s still play bear Shark animal companion
3640s and you know we we can't be very quick
3642s to call it too because we have seen
3644s hackathon swing boards that's probably
3645s the last remaining hope for Samuel Tsao
3648s he needs his hero card to answer his
3650s opponent's hero card I don't know what
3652s Hunter X picked up off the uh the first
3654s option but that poisonous rush to be
3656s able to take care of a of an eight eight
3658s here would be very appealing to me so I
3661s get took hungry crap so it was available
3662s for him it would have taken all of his
3664s Mana to play it but no he's just gonna
3666s uh take poisonous straight poisonous
3668s with the emperor Cobra instead just load
3670s up a 3-5 and take care of the ball
3672s position the old-fashioned way
3673s not a bad draw
3675s Let's uh oh he doesn't have 10 Mana oh
3678s in that case
3684s Hunter race is so close
3687s you go horn bow hero power again
3693s every single hero power and sticks of
3695s zombies on the board
3697s Hunter Aces percentages Skyrocket to the
3700s roof
3712s wow
3717s Divine Shields fantastic plus one plus
3719s one's great wind Fury is also nice too
3721s considering that you can uh
3724s combine it with the eagle humble to
3725s clear everything
3728s Trace even considering if he wants or
3730s needs to track this turn
3733s whether there are any options that he
3734s really needs to pick up compared to the
3736s possible options that he can track over
3738s and Master's good decides to go for it
3741s yeah how Master picked up eaglehorn bow
3743s is just a natural Play From Here and Now
3745s Hunter Ace can just grind him now slowly
3750s but surely yeah a lot of people might be
3753s wondering why Henry's is taking a long
3754s time when it feels like there's a lot of
3755s inevitability but he is hedging against
3757s stuff like this three damages the break
3760s point for fire Elemental for hagatha and
3763s he's trying meticulously to prevent his
3765s board from ever losing control and
3767s potentially being locked out of the game
3770s yeah as long as that poisonous minion is
3771s there Sam Sao can't stick a Lich King
3774s whatever else it is that he draws to be
3776s able to try and get back onto this board
3777s and so he just wants that poisonous
3780s minion healthy you can see if he'd have
3782s taken the value trade there the punish
3784s was ready and apparent off the top from
3786s Samuel Sao the fire rally just has to
3789s take a Divine Shield instead
3792s yeah but on race has killed command
3797s or just even does he want to play board
3799s control for so long it feels like at
3801s some point
3802s uh when death Circle rexar can stick
3804s minions onto the board
3806s and start pushing damage that's when the
3809s game feels like it's pretty much the
3810s side because they can always put out big
3812s throughout their big threat sure
3814s and looks like maybe Hunter Hayes
3817s is starting to see that exact
3819s opportunity Pokemon with the lost three
3821s yeah no Beast required this turn
3825s we are not going to find out what's in
3827s the box on Hunter Aces turn 10 he is
3829s just going to load up on damage push
3831s everything downtown 17 Health remaining
3835s 17 in play not even counting the bow and
3839s Hunter race second place in Germany
3843s second place in Toronto third time's the
3846s charm for perhaps the very best player
3849s in the world right now he finally has
3853s his tour stop Victory under his belt
3855s congratulations to Hunter race and a
3858s race gets 15 points
3860s and a lot of money to bring home to
3862s Norway that beautiful trophy is his
3864s we have our champions for HCT soul
3868s Hunter race from Norway
3870s what an event honestly what a player one
3873s event what a tournament what a bunch of
3874s series that we've had not just today but
3876s it seemed throughout we have seen what
3879s the the perfect combination of a great
3880s atmosphere some perfect Hearthstone and
3883s some imperfect Hearthstone all thrown
3885s together into a pile can create it's
3887s been fantastic I love it we had great
3889s diversity uh in decks and players and
3892s backgrounds we had so much fun watching
3895s hype moments from great play from you
3898s know a little bit of a slobber knocker
3899s back and forth and Hunter Hayes comes
3902s out as top as the winner let's send it
3905s down to the stage and hear what Honduras
3906s has to say
3911s foreign
3959s really tough journey in this soil
3962s tournament and like the final was so
3964s devastating I got this game like the the
3966s third game I believe
3968s we had like that uh decision where I go
3971s like a freezing trap over kill command I
3973s was like so nervous now well I knew like
3976s that there was like there was one person
3977s freezing Japan there was one furnace to
3979s kill command and like ended up putting
3981s in them no they kind of like I was so
3983s devastated it's like to turn around it's
3984s like feels like insane
4027s what can be the most decisive factor for
4030s winning this series
4033s um the most exciting factor I don't know
4035s I felt like I managed like even though I
4038s was kind of like feeling it I felt like
4039s I managed to like keep my head at that
4041s point and like keep keep playing like
4043s solely all through like that brutal for
4045s a game where I got like super punished
4047s obviously
4048s so I feel like that like ended up really
4050s deciding it for me
4053s um
4066s today
4085s um
4096s so talking about your text he's really
4099s interested over your medical through it
4101s I think it really it was a very decisive
4104s step for you for to bring you bring you
4106s up to the final so is there any comments
4108s about that deck
4110s um yeah so in in practice when I like
4112s tested for a tournament I felt like
4113s maligo Street was like the perfect fit
4115s for the lineup because I realized that
4118s like Druid was in a really good spot and
4120s Malik was really supported that lineup
4123s and overall in the tournament malagos
4125s really has been like doing very well for
4127s me like everyone as I lifted up as like
4129s an instalos versus it so it's been a
4132s very good deck for me for sure
4178s there are a lot of people watching you
4180s online who have came out to the arena to
4182s support for you so is there any last
4184s words for them
4185s I want to say thank you for everyone
4187s that has been supporting me I really
4188s appreciate it like it means a lot to me
4190s and like without people supporting me
4193s and generally would like be impossible
4194s to like pursue what I'm doing right now
4197s so thank you to everyone
4198s I hope I like made you proud
4209s all right so uh I guess we're doing a
4213s sign off here uh something that we
4215s confirmed on social media is that Hunter
4216s race is now officially back in first
4218s place and going to thought of where he
4220s belongs
4221s yeah I mean who can fault it right the
4224s second place second place first place
4225s three top 16 finishes and tour stops so
4228s far backed up by fantastic ladder
4230s finishes don't take anything away from
4232s Fino one of my favorite players in
4234s Europe as well one of my favorite people
4235s super chill dude to hang out with I
4238s think it's going to be a right down to
4240s the wire race not just between those two
4242s but there's a couple of other big names
4243s in the European region that can really
4245s hunt this down as well but again I think
4248s of course you've got to give the big win
4249s to the Europe region as a whole it
4251s doesn't matter where you hold your
4252s tournament we're going to come out there
4253s and we're going to take your points
4254s that's just how it works all right you
4257s got you win this time okay
4259s did also a big shout out to Samuel it's
4261s out while we're at it too you know kind
4262s of making a pretty deep run with um you
4265s know a lot of that we weren't expecting
4266s to do very well aggro has been down as
4268s breeding very weak and once again he
4270s sticks to his gun plays an aggro lineup
4271s something that he likes doing a pretty
4273s unconventional way too A lot of people
4274s are disagreeing but I mean at the same
4275s time if sandwich out can keep putting up
4277s consistency results eventually we'll
4279s figure out whether or not he's right or
4281s we're the ones that's wrong yeah for
4283s sure all right and with that uh it's
4285s been a very fun time uh here at HCT
4288s Seoul from saddle and Frodo and I think
4290s we've had a great time as well uh so you
4292s know anything you want to say last words
4294s it's just a tournament an amazing event
4296s it's been a fantastic experience great
4298s atmosphere all around the the idea of a
4301s live crowd has been fantastic I've loved
4303s being here and I think the hearthstone's
4305s back by all up the music's playing
4307s subtle games have been played
4309s congratulations on a race from Norway
4311s from taking act Seoul and we'll see you
4313s guys next time for more Hearthstone
4315s action
4316s after taking second and first in two
4319s tour stops so far Hunter race did not
4322s let up as we moved from Seoul to Italy
4325s for the next tour stop guess what
4327s happened yep Hunter Ace made it to the
4330s finals again this time he was facing
4332s vardue and although it was a tough match
4335s hunter race managed to back another
4337s first place finish let's check it out
4340s countries versus vadu in the finals of
4343s HGT Italy Let's Go Hunt race on the
4346s Rogue varu on the priest
4349s it's the odd Rogue you're going to come
4351s out for Hunter race as we were just
4352s talking about it's a match up where he
4355s can just push damage very very
4356s efficiently it's a hard deck for
4359s um priests to have the right removal
4361s lined up against it until they get to
4363s those psychic scream terms because yes
4365s you have a lot of three threes into your
4366s deck that run into dust breaker but if
4369s you can then deal with that dust breaker
4370s turn and develop again it's very hard
4372s for priests to interact with that board
4374s between say like turn five and turn
4376s seven when psychic scream starts to come
4378s down so those are your big push turns as
4380s the Rogue uh one I guess one last moment
4383s we should just touch on for vardu's
4384s lineup that I haven't mentioned yet I
4386s think Lorinda might have covered this
4387s previously or they may have done on the
4389s the pre-final show but vardu's lineup
4391s That The Finnish players brought with
4393s them is the most successful lineup in
4396s the tournament it has the highest win
4397s rate overall The Finnish players all did
4399s fantastically well uh getting through a
4402s couple of them like uber had a little
4403s twist on was it going full aggressive
4405s cut the two and two Strat and just went
4408s full smoke but the lineup That The
4410s Finnish team put together or the
4411s finished group of friends at least put
4413s together has turned out to be massively
4415s successful in this event yeah and it
4416s might even be you know have a little bit
4418s more to go right now if vadu ends up
4420s taking it let's kick it off here no one
4422s drops for Hunter race in the handbook
4424s coin into three drop is extremely
4426s powerful even in a deck where you think
4428s wait you have a buffed hero power of
4430s course you always press it no not
4432s necessarily it's coin vicious fledgling
4435s seems pretty good to me right now what
4437s does priests run that even deals with
4439s this well that's why coining it is
4440s crucial in the matchup because now
4442s Hunter race gets to attack with it going
4444s into vardu's turn three turn and then
4446s when the dust breaker potential comes
4448s out next turn for vardue Hunter raise
4450s killer picked up Divine Shield plus
4452s Health worst case scenario pick up
4454s plants so you still have some board
4455s state to be able to hit back into the
4457s dust breaker and eliminate it afterwards
4458s and it's why you're seeing this coin
4460s three into three line come out from
4461s Hunter Ace if there's no answer here we
4464s might not even see coin three into three
4466s we might see Firefly Cold Blood for
4468s example come and then you can just aim
4471s to end the game on the spot Firefly
4473s double Cold Blood
4475s I mean he's just in the uh the Twilight
4477s acolyte so you know that extra attack
4479s isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon
4480s yeah if you can take preventative
4482s measures of the vicious fledging dying
4485s Divine Shield stealth potentially helps
4488s out actually the fact that he sees a
4490s minion come down here I said you know if
4491s there's no response from vardue We're
4492s likely to see the cold blood push the
4494s fact that he's seen a minion yes it's
4495s twilight acolyte which can't now take
4497s off his Cold Blood Buffs but it's
4498s actually much scarier for Hunter race to
4500s go all in now because now if he gets the
4502s plus Health he still dies to dust
4504s breaker if he gets the Divine Shield he
4506s still dies to dust breaker and so he now
4509s has to consider whether it's worth
4510s dealing with this 3-4 instead but he
4512s doesn't have a good way of doing that in
4514s hand but he can choose to consolidate a
4517s stronger board instead of just going all
4518s in on the cold Bloods but again that
4520s just involves putting another 3-3 on the
4522s board does it even play around us
4523s breaker
4525s hmm
4527s that's that's what I've got so far this
4528s is actually a very tricky turn and turns
4531s like this at deciding turns in in a lot
4533s of games because you mess this one up
4535s this could get very very dicey indeed
4537s stealth is an option
4543s one cold blood for two and Dagger
4550s if this was any other player I think you
4552s would be being disingenuous with your
4554s comment there but because it's under
4556s race it is fascinating to me at least I
4558s think what he's doing is hedging his
4559s bats there sure you go too much into
4562s minions dust breaker kills you you go
4564s too much into aggro well you just lose
4566s all your extra damage then so I think
4567s this is just okay let's see what I get
4569s from the first half from The Vicious
4571s fledgling if I need to go a little bit
4573s crazier more minions I can if I just
4575s want to dagger up I can
4579s so now uses Firefly to combo his si7
4583s um this he must feel like he needs
4586s multiple combo activators like he needs
4588s a combo activator to activate that SI
4590s this turn that was the obvious part
4591s right like Firefly plus SI on the
4593s following turn to deal with the four
4595s Health minion that one you can see it's
4597s from that point onwards like why didn't
4599s he play the first Firefly and then drop
4600s the cold blood activated on the vicious
4602s fledgling because he'd still have the
4604s flame Elemental in hand to activate the
4605s SI on the following turn so I can only
4607s think that he wants to hold that back
4608s even more just to potentially set up
4610s valve spine Slayer as far forward as
4611s turns it he also would have had the
4613s dagger
4619s so we talk about the aggressive play
4622s that is a pretty good turn two Mana no
4624s cards four damage yeah I like it
4629s but I love the second stealth pick from
4631s Hunter race recognize there was no dust
4633s breaker on the first swing just
4634s re-bought his turn still fishing for
4637s that win series that is three whiffs on
4640s the win Fury you are about one in three
4642s to find it it's 30 to find it so at this
4644s point but is it not do the percentages
4646s shut up oh my God that conversation on
4650s Twitter was destroying me and that's why
4653s I brought it up I know it's 30 guys it's
4656s three out of ten just trust me
4659s so we did go for health instead of
4661s stealth that turn and that's because I
4663s think he might be looking at actually
4664s trying to just deal with this Twilight
4666s Drake and just say well well now what is
4668s a four six where's this damage coming
4670s from if the Twilight Drake is going to
4672s go down
4673s go just use a Cold Blood
4677s so that's what's going to happen I like
4678s it now double fledgling with no answer
4681s on board from vardue he needs to rip a
4684s dust breaker off the top but even if he
4685s does so the four six is going to
4687s continue surviving
4691s is it
4694s yeah this is looking very rough
4696s you know you might think oh primordial
4698s Drake's fantastic cards yes that's true
4700s you've got to get there first though
4702s you've got to get that eight mana and
4703s there's no ramp in this deck and then
4705s there's a VAR spine Slayer so if they
4706s don't clear the board the damage is
4708s still going to get pushed through them
4715s and also hunt race will be fully aware
4718s that the cabal shadow priest is in the
4720s deck of course so countries will now hit
4723s with this fledgling on the left and pick
4725s any option that Buffs the attack and
4728s just says no this will not happen right
4729s now he is just not going to run straight
4732s into a cabal chateau priest he's a
4735s little bit better than that on average
4736s you'd have to say
4737s is he gonna get it though psychic scream
4739s also did get picked up of the Shadow
4741s Vision so that'll be the answer the
4742s body's looking for finally on the fifth
4744s attempt Hunter Ace finds his win Fury
4747s with the two attack minion yeah
4751s well this is scary now actually
4754s because vadu doesn't have to scream next
4756s time anymore
4764s this could be a flip turn it could be
4767s because he can actually proc The Shield
4769s with the acolyte kill the 3-3 with the
4772s other acolyte actually which is kind of
4775s weird to describe what if Huntress gets
4777s the Reed takes poisonous here and just
4779s trades into the 4-4 to play around it
4782s he would be a God and it wouldn't
4784s surprise me that's that's the worst part
4786s if you're like yeah okay
4788s it's health
4792s okay this works better
4797s so now scream is starting to look a
4800s little bit more essential right you you
4802s could buy Shadow priest here you're
4803s taking another seven minimum from that
4805s point that bird on the right can still
4807s get wind Fury again and then there's
4808s just Leroy from hand on top of all of
4810s that people often I think disrespect Val
4814s vineslayer as damage right yes of course
4817s the Battle Cry is the most powerful part
4818s of that card there's still three attack
4820s it's still three damage if it's on board
4822s you can't really discount the fact it
4824s exists and that kind of play as you said
4826s just extends the damage just enough for
4828s it to be a real threat
4830s it's gonna be Leroy the old Leroy dagger
4832s plane
4833s it always feels slightly worse when
4835s you're doing it with odd road though
4836s because you end up having to sync two
4838s damage into one of the worlds as opposed
4839s to one
4841s and now those primordial Drakes with the
4843s valspine Slayer played on the previous
4845s turn
4846s are going to be so much better than they
4848s were
4852s Badoo biggest game of hearthstone of his
4855s life most likely at this point is not
4857s going to do anything quickly but you'd
4859s have to be some kind of Oracle to find a
4863s reason not to play a primordial Drake
4864s that turn with zero spells in hand yes
4866s because there is nothing you can do
4868s fancy with cleric with cabal Shadow
4869s priest with the pyromancer for example
4872s that no they're just minions at this
4874s point so yeah 100 had to be the Drake
4876s and now the big question is what can
4878s hunt race do to get through this and we
4880s see he's thinking about The Swinging to
4882s dagger up and instead he's just going to
4884s dagger up without the swing the deadly
4885s poison will put it for attack and that's
4887s eight damage over two turns
4889s which does add up to primordial Drake
4891s but when the priest can just heal it
4893s feeling a little bit worse about that
4897s looking like Hunter race is quite dead
4900s in this game one he does hold on to the
4902s deadly poison of course so you know
4903s things like ball spine Slayer are still
4905s live but a ball spine Slayer drawer is
4907s still a very low pressure turn for him
4909s he'll get to push damage but that's it
4911s and his Leroy's already gone which is
4913s hello
4914s his Leroy's already gone though which is
4916s the problem that's what you'd be setting
4917s up with this kind of deadly poison valve
4919s spine Slayer but there's two problems
4920s first and foremost there's no Leroy
4923s secondly there's just a second
4925s primordial Drake in hand there's an Alex
4927s Straz I was gonna say and thirdly he
4929s could just Alex himself and be 100 safe
4932s mainly because the usage of these early
4934s cold Bloods and I think this is the
4936s slight issue that our drug has is
4939s instead of Cold Blood early on you
4941s wanted it to be a Hench clown right
4943s because cold blood's always a threat
4945s whereas Hench client on the board attack
4946s well it is a threat but it's just a 4-4
4949s that does nothing for return sure so you
4951s can just deal with it you can play
4952s around it you can kill it you can't
4954s really deal with a cold blood out of
4955s nowhere the hunter is kind of you know
4957s drew the cold Bloods early and just had
4959s to use them
4960s the Alex comes down recognizes that
4963s there is no two card combination also
4966s probably has a very good read that the
4968s card in hand is Baku there's been Mana
4969s floated two turns consecutively for
4971s Hunter race the one card that you'd be
4973s holding there is Leroy Jenkins that
4975s isn't Baku so vadu says the left card is
4977s Baku the right card can't kill me I'm
4979s gonna play my Alex and self lethal as a
4982s very nicely played game one Hunter Ace
4984s had a lot of decisions with allocation
4987s of resources with his Cold Blood and
4989s with his vicious fledglings that turn
4991s where it was you know did he want to get
4992s an extra mini number did he press dagger
4994s did he miss damage with the cold blood
4996s what did he was it worth going all in
4997s with double Cold Blood if he wasn't
4999s gonna play a minion but again then he
5001s would be missing the dagger up like
5002s there's all kinds of Madness going on in
5004s those early game turns but that if
5006s anywhere was probably where the game was
5008s won or lost if it wasn't just one or
5009s lost and decided by drawers yeah and I
5011s think as well the
5012s the Discover effects from the flags in
5014s the first one mainly stealth feels good
5017s multiple times because you dodged the
5019s minion attacks but you're also doing the
5020s minimum amount of damage every single
5022s turn normally with fledgling you're
5024s relying on wing fury and plus damage to
5026s just to just kill someone basically
5028s right you kill them faster than as I
5030s mentioned the primordial Drakes can even
5031s factor into the game but the psychic
5034s scream on time for vardu really just
5036s deleted all those issues and it was all
5038s safety from there especially with the
5040s Alex strausser I'm pretty good for Value
5042s so far it is yeah and I think like the
5045s The Vicious fledglings were of course a
5046s huge Factor because if Hunter race
5047s suddenly if the first fledgling he
5049s Swings with gets wind Fury then into
5051s stealth yes
5053s very different game but yeah he was
5056s again the fifth attempt he found the win
5057s Fury of the vicious Legend which is way
5059s below average but still he had an
5061s incredibly Good Start he had coin
5062s fledgling he had second fledgling he had
5064s cold Bloods and vardu did absolutely
5067s nothing essentially for for three or
5069s four turns so
5070s still uh plenty more action left to go
5073s in this series the control priest
5075s against a lot of aggro decks from Hunter
5077s Hayes felt like it was a deck that was
5079s always going to get a win for for vardue
5081s so it's not a huge win in the context of
5083s conquest of course vardue finds himself
5086s one step closer to really getting his
5088s name on the map because let's be honest
5090s we haven't talked to him about him in
5092s the same annals of time as Hunter race
5094s and leading into this series you know
5095s we've put a lot of focus on to Hunter
5097s race I think quite rightly so his
5099s results deserve that but you have to
5101s start somewhere and vardue can put his
5103s first step on a winning streak that
5105s could end up being just as long as
5106s Hunter races here yeah exactly and
5108s you're completely right I think like
5110s Hunter Hayes has the record he has the
5112s prestige already this year vardue though
5114s if you beat Hunter is in that final and
5116s then you go on to continue to play well
5119s in tournaments get the results get the
5120s HTT points under your belt yeah then you
5122s stop being ignored feel strong but
5125s ignored by the player base the viewers
5128s you start becoming recognized just like
5129s Hunter X has this year
5132s this is going to be the control Mage
5133s versus the Druid though and this is
5136s something I did want to talk to you
5137s about Seoul okay
5139s you were a huge fan of countries as I
5142s believe most people are but you
5143s especially yes you hate this deck with a
5146s passion really too yeah where does your
5148s heart lie do you dislike countries a
5151s little bit for this deck do you think
5152s you're not seeing something Huntress is
5154s I I mean I've
5156s you said this deck is trash I did I said
5159s I said it's a bad deck and then
5161s um you know TJ
5164s um kind of counted that by saying that
5165s when you look at some of the Decks that
5166s were in the tournament you know even
5168s lock being one of them it's a very
5169s common deck in the format right now and
5171s can control control Mage
5174s um you can just uh run over it very
5176s easily because it just has so much
5178s removal against limited threats from the
5180s even lock so it makes sense that the
5183s metagame is narrow enough where if
5185s you're expecting some aggro decks and
5187s even lock which is a relatively popular
5189s lineup uh control Mage is a good thing
5192s to bring with you and I think the rest
5194s of Hunter races line up alongside that
5196s kind of makes sense fitting in with that
5198s strategy from him so I don't blame him
5200s for bringing the deck I'm just saying
5202s like don't don't play it on ladder it's
5204s just it's just it's just not good okay
5208s thanks for the explanation right I'm a
5210s little bit upset TJ didn't use the
5211s counter argument that I would have used
5212s and just called you a bad dick I mean
5215s that's fair I don't like it when people
5217s actually ask me to rationalize my
5218s thoughts I should just be able to say
5219s control Mage is a bad deck everyone goes
5221s yes I agree that's my idea definitely
5223s evolution of our casting partnership
5225s because now I will question you and you
5227s have to answer in a way I'm okay with
5230s and right I'm okay with that what that's
5232s one yeah in the books let's get back to
5234s this game pretty quick ramp coming out
5235s from vardu getting malfurion live so
5238s early is very nice as well because
5240s regardless if you look at it in terms of
5242s the armor in terms of spiders most
5244s importantly that's just three damage
5246s attorney Fadi ones yeah by the way
5248s you've seen a pretty strong uh
5250s demonstration here of how malagostroid
5252s wins when it gets oozed or harrisoned
5255s which is kind of a Hot Topic around the
5256s community right now I still don't know
5258s how it's like why why would you bring
5259s malagost Druid when it can just lose to
5261s weapon destruction and then the top
5262s players will tell you that it doesn't
5263s lose the weapon destruction well The
5265s Twig hasn't been involved in this
5266s matchup yet and vardue has just got Mana
5268s way ahead of the curve he played a Lich
5270s King and then he Alex trials at his
5272s opponent it just so happens that he's up
5274s against control Mage which is equipped
5276s to deal with an 88 on your turn six into
5279s another eight eight on your turn seven
5281s most decks don't deal with that you just
5284s kill them
5285s okay and also we saw that a game very
5288s similar go a little bit earlier today
5290s where it was Alex and then there was one
5293s hit from a just a small minion on the
5295s board or a minion and then it was just
5297s malaga's Moon fire Moon fire Get Wrecked
5299s and that's just a game you can't really
5301s oh I didn't have to Twig or faceless
5303s sorry no just 12 damage from mountains
5305s pretty good yeah that's the other point
5307s is when your twig gets destroyed you
5309s still have a strong combo you Alex them
5311s down to 15 and then you throughout the
5313s game you're still like pushing damage
5314s with uh you know malfurion hero powers
5316s and all that kind of stuff and then yeah
5318s like you said malagos Moon fire Moon
5320s fire still 12. even if they don't die
5322s they then have to kill a maligos and
5325s still do something proactive and we see
5326s the twig we've been talking about
5328s equipped and that's now just both the
5330s hero power to four damage and turn
5334s which is actually very scary at a deal
5337s for yeah
5340s yeah that's a win yep that's a close one
5347s oh
5349s go on technical question well this
5351s choice is going to come up unless you
5352s want to talk about this choice
5354s it's just gonna be count spell
5358s there aren't really any minions to bend
5359s spells around no in particular no
5363s it's where the hunter Ace feels like he
5364s can get some kind of usage out of a
5366s druid spell with Mana binder whether
5367s they just finds the disruption stronger
5372s speaking of disruption I've been talking
5373s about it all week the spellbender is the
5376s most disruptive secret you can take
5377s because it's the hardest one for your
5379s opponent to eliminate from the pool so
5381s there's always Merit to it I mean we saw
5383s a barrier be taken from untrace earlier
5385s and it I didn't quite understand it
5387s because I didn't see the impact it was
5389s going to have but the fact that it was
5391s like
5392s coin okay it's not count as well you
5395s know it's like right it gets very weird
5397s to play around and we'll just ask very
5399s quickly though as I think we've got a
5401s moment
5402s empatharsin can reduce cards money
5406s do you lose if you Raven a
5411s okay does the moon fire win
5415s if a moon phase been reduced below zero
5417s if that makes sense because remember
5418s Emperor could do that how would a moon
5420s fire in your deck be reduced to them if
5422s Emperor attack like place a billion but
5425s it wouldn't be in your deck of Emperor
5426s discounts your hand what if it's is
5428s there a way it can go into your deck
5431s no
5432s so it doesn't matter
5435s I was just wondering because if this was
5437s a terrible question no no if in a
5439s joustic like does the Jazz mechanic take
5441s into the minus numbers that cards can
5443s cost it should do but we've never had a
5445s demonstration of that myself that was an
5447s interesting question but never mind
5448s clearly not mainly because I didn't
5451s think it through which is often my uh
5453s downfall it's your excuse for everything
5455s I just didn't think about it I just say
5458s words and stuff yeah
5460s so the manibike was taken and it ended
5462s up being uh ferocious how the vardy
5463s threw over which is actually a pretty
5465s good card for Hunter race honestly armor
5466s is obviously fantastic although it's
5468s less relevant because alexstrasza has
5470s already been used but most importantly
5473s it was cycle because Hunter Ace needs to
5476s start stabilizing this health total and
5478s his key menus to do that are a Arcane
5481s artificer and B frostwitch jaining has
5483s neither of them right now and was able
5485s to pick up the artificer off that um
5487s cycle with the Ferocious how and now
5489s he's starting to climb up to a range
5491s where even The Twig combo is going to
5493s struggle to do
5494s I will say there is
5496s a lot of extra damage in the hand the
5498s innovate and the death coil is actually
5500s pretty huge as well because that's
5502s damage you can actually squeeze into a
5503s turn that you wouldn't normally sure
5505s along with this hero power just clocking
5507s for a turn not every turn but every turn
5510s value decides to
5511s so even if he just chips this armor just
5513s for a couple of turns it could still be
5514s a little bit spicy
5517s because suddenly you can actually like
5519s Marley goes swing
5522s faceless innovate swipe Death kill Moon
5525s fighter Moon fire witch I'm not doing
5527s the quick maths there but that is a lot
5529s of damage
5530s but here's the issue is that vardue has
5533s drawn so many combo pieces and dead
5535s cards like naturalizers in the spot that
5538s he actually has to spend cards in order
5540s to invest into an ultimate infestation
5542s later so you see him just swiping away a
5543s board which honestly he doesn't really
5545s care about it's not like that board was
5547s threatening him the Arcane artifice are
5548s needed to be dealt with
5550s but he just needs those cards out of his
5552s hand so that he can continue to UI later
5554s yeah what I will say is the the thing
5556s that's okay about swipe is he already
5558s has one and even with twig plays you
5561s still only have so much matter to play
5562s you can't double swipe faceless malicos
5565s and everything else so I think the
5567s swipe's okay but going forward if he has
5570s to start using other tools like if he
5571s has to end up faceless in a Minion for
5573s some crazy bizarre reason right but you
5576s know if there's say a Lich King gets
5578s trapped down if it gets shuffled back
5579s into his deck and then discounted it and
5581s then you faceless it from your deck then
5583s and then dragon's Fury reveals Dominion
5585s exactly and some
5589s then yeah it could the eBay is being
5590s used right now though
5594s and picked up as well so he's able to
5598s dump
5600s what did you have trouble beforehand
5602s yeah oh yeah
5605s oh it's not the worst burn in the world
5607s probably the best burn in the decade
5610s yeah the second UI does tend to be
5611s fairly redundant in a lot of these combo
5613s Druids um you just play two of them
5615s because you want to draw one so commonly
5617s do you think that's going to get cut at
5618s some point
5622s yeah exactly 200 went from two to one to
5625s zero very quickly some people still play
5627s one but yeah I'm definitely not a fan of
5628s it in 200. but you are in a cure combo
5631s deck is a different animal you know
5635s so The Twig is live in terms of one
5639s swing we'll bring vadu's Mana all the
5641s way back up to 10 again yeah so values
5643s just asking when you know Mr Malaga says
5645s at this point because as you can see
5646s that is just a lot of damage I talked
5648s about earlier
5649s he would have what 10 20 36 even without
5654s the death coil so yeah malagos draw at
5656s any point now he would he would Death
5660s coil hero power instead of swipe all
5662s right because it's more damage sure yeah
5663s okay
5667s and you can see draw draw I just I
5671s literally need one card to deal with
5674s this uh this pesky armored up made at
5677s this point
5682s pesky is the word Hunter Ace just
5685s praying for his gluttonous ooze which is
5687s there in the deck and he's not finding
5689s it again it's another reason why that
5690s ferocious how was such good card draw
5692s for him there's that single copy of
5694s gladness ooze which would be a huge Plus
5697s for him don't get me wrong I was telling
5698s you the malagos Druid can win the game
5700s when he gets oozed still not the easiest
5703s thing in the world cheeky yep
5706s oh almost our cards is scary as that
5708s that'll do it it's like a Mali goes to
5710s me
5712s the aspect of magic a twig and a
5716s faceless walk into a bar Hunter Hayes
5719s dies
5720s and Hunter race goes zero two down in a
5723s final of a tour stop which if you are
5726s paying close attention to the intro I
5729s said he's won a tour stop this is now
5731s his fourth top 16 and his fourth final
5734s if you can translate that what that
5736s means is that he will he's lost two
5738s finals already so it's a little bit of a
5741s habit for him at this point I think uh
5744s when he was playing in Seoul he was
5746s potentially a little bit nervous because
5748s you know third time of asking I mean a
5750s final again I can't lose this time
5752s surely and it was the first time maybe
5754s I've seen Hunter race just let things
5756s get on top of him a little bit and
5757s placed a little bit shaky I haven't seen
5759s any signs of this in this tournament so
5761s far even in this finals because it's job
5764s done at this point right he's won the
5765s Tour stop he's got over the line but
5767s again you you don't want to be known as
5769s the guy that always loses fine
5771s regardless of how good that means your
5773s record is overall you don't want to be
5775s that guy yeah I will say as well
5776s actually the
5778s the venues are different I look at you
5780s said it was nervous in Korea
5782s big audience oh yeah big you know a lot
5786s of showering a lot of cheering a lot of
5788s pressure just knowing you've instead of
5789s you know there's people on stream
5791s watching thousands of people and stream
5792s watching there are literally a crowd in
5795s front of you
5796s they're just staring at you that's a lot
5798s of pressure where it's at the moment
5799s he's in a quiet room with vadu just
5802s playing Hearthstone right it's quite he
5804s knows he's on stream but guess what hunt
5805s race has been streamed a couple of times
5807s this year whereas it's just quiet he's
5810s got I imagine he's got this you know the
5811s sound in his ears and that's it that's
5813s all he has to worry about so we'll see
5815s here probably a lot less shaky play if
5817s he's a bit uh
5819s just pushed off a little bit in Korea
5821s down to the pressure but let's kick this
5822s game off now it is the odd Paladin
5824s envato's Rogue the last deck yeah he has
5827s to ask a good question of at this point
5830s and that hand improved rapidly for
5832s Hunter Hayes Mulligan away
5834s um Vine Cleaver and fungalmancer I
5837s believe and has just picked up One Drops
5839s all the way down since then of course
5840s holding on to the corridor creeper in
5842s what is a very board-based matchup but
5844s just with odd Paladin in general the
5846s amount of tokens you generate just for
5848s free with your hero power Corridor
5849s creeper is almost always a keep yes I
5852s personally wouldn't throw it away but
5853s lava piled in because it's never not
5856s going to get value
5858s someone just three one drops in hand and
5861s he's so far in the tank already this is
5863s what I want to talk about to me I would
5865s go out and it's quiet yeah because
5866s Rachel you've got nothing to taunt and
5869s to create an awkward speed bump for yet
5871s yep Argent Squire can also take down a
5874s firefly which is a typical one drop from
5877s the odd road because you have Arcus
5879s veteran and then you can protect that
5881s Squire with the righteous protector and
5883s the Divine shield into turn two
5885s unfortunately funds race he is answered
5888s by two urgent Squires which are a little
5890s bit more difficult to deal with so he's
5892s just going to press the button now yeah
5893s the counter argument to what you say and
5895s this is exactly why Hunter race was just
5897s buried head in hands trying to think
5899s about what he wanted to do is if he
5901s plays righteous protector you always
5902s press hero power on turn two it just it
5904s just happens it's what you do so then
5905s immediately those two vulnerable tokens
5908s are hidden behind that torn immediately
5910s right so the Rogue is going to play a
5911s one drop on their turn one and you've
5913s already protected your two one ones from
5915s that minion that comes down with the
5916s righteous protection and here you can
5918s see the fact that his Argent Squire and
5919s not righteous righteous prospector
5921s righteous got some great prospects is
5924s miserable for Hunter race because those
5926s two Arjun Squires just got to pick up
5928s the valueist of value trades
5930s yeah so in summary tough choice actually
5934s and and depending on what your opponent
5936s has or doesn't have one's better than
5938s the other and that's just a hard call to
5940s make we do see though the power of the
5942s powered in hero power actually on the
5944s Bob because he just stays he just keeps
5946s up because it's always two minions the
5949s real care of power high damage output
5951s but just as good as a normal daggering
5953s in this situation is it killing minions
5955s so why are you playing an odd deck at
5957s this point that you see that Firefly
5960s token the flame Elementor it's just like
5962s one twos are just your boy against odd
5964s Paladin now they do so much work it's
5966s why you saw your uh what's the car
5968s called boisterous Bard come into odd
5970s Paladin just for a little fraction just
5973s plus one Health to your whole board
5974s destroyed the mirror all of your one
5976s ones became one twos and just shoved
5979s through took care of the mirror match
5980s when all padding was like the most
5982s popular deck in the game that's when
5983s that mirror map that really came into
5985s play uh useful against uh token Druid as
5987s well in some positions that you saw
5989s there in this case just a flame element
5991s so being able to pick up a value trade
5992s against a 1-1 is just such a big deal
5994s not as big a deal as a zero Mana two
5997s five
5998s that is a pretty big deal as well that
6000s is um that can be the subtle of minions
6003s if you want really yeah that's so
6005s generous of you
6006s yep
6008s thanks I won't follow with the words
6010s twice today I've had very inappropriate
6012s jokes to me you say well it's pink and
6015s veiny or something is what you're gonna
6016s go for close Okay close
6023s anyway moving swiftly on Stonehill
6026s Defenders as well although yes Not
6028s Really Gonna scratch a Hench Klein third
6030s great speed bumps gonna generate more
6033s minions for huntres to use and also
6035s protects these one ones again and again
6038s and again as you talked about the Carlo
6040s creeper gonna be able to take down the
6042s hint climbing now stubborn gastropod for
6044s some of these chunkier minions yeah that
6046s the odd Rogue plays is going to be
6047s really nice and we saw a little bit
6049s earlier and the Honey race game the
6051s power of Stonehill when it pulls
6053s something like the Phantom militia
6055s against their board aggressive deck that
6057s card is just insane you're just
6058s generating what three taunts for zero
6061s cards in hand
6065s uh yeah about that bar dude he needed a
6068s consecration he got eye for an eye
6071s yeah that's a low point in life right
6073s there isn't it
6074s was there anything else that's
6075s particularly great I guess if engine
6077s wrath would be pretty sick too to be
6079s fine now
6083s but without that consecration being used
6085s I think that is the one random
6087s generation in Buddy's deck he plays one
6088s copy of blink Fox and he said he just
6090s doesn't really have the tools in his
6092s deck to stop the flood of one ones from
6094s this point like Rogue has to be winning
6096s definitively by like term three or four
6099s in this matchup if it's gonna happen you
6101s know they need to have got those power
6102s three drops run away with the game
6104s vicious fledgling pushing damage dagger
6106s taking care of the smaller minions where
6108s it can that's just not what's happened
6110s yeah and these times especially for me
6113s at least with righteous protection the
6114s way it looks like contrast might go of
6115s hungriots and I'm always a little bit
6117s worried about just giving your opponent
6119s a Great Vowel spine Target but I was
6122s gonna say if this doesn't get cleared I
6123s wonder if adu's gonna try and
6126s ah
6127s have dagger deadly poison and green skin
6129s just to try and outpace the damage but
6132s it's not going to work with these
6134s stonehills in the way and he knows
6136s there's now two taunts in hand because
6137s of the Stonehill so there's just not
6139s enough swings and just kind of nice
6141s pickup but
6145s is it enough
6147s yeah this game is uh pretty much just a
6149s jump for vardue at this point
6154s Leroy being picked up now is an extra
6156s push Hunter X has Champions more behind
6159s all of this as well which is helping him
6161s take care of what's a very annoying
6162s board state for his bunch of one attack
6164s minions right now I mean to be
6165s completely honest you could Leroy the
6167s hinge Clan and come out of this on top
6168s very easily most likely yeah and this is
6170s this goes back to the bands because like
6172s we said they had quite similar lineups
6174s they both have malagostrid and they both
6176s have odd Paladin and one player is
6178s malagost Druid survive one player's odd
6180s Paladin survived and what you saw is
6182s both of those decks potentially pick up
6184s wins very quickly if this goes the way
6186s it's looking for Hunter race as you saw
6188s just those slight differences in the
6191s lineup Hunter races control Mage and
6192s vardue's control priest just tilted them
6196s a little bit on what which deck they
6197s were going to ban but they really wanted
6199s to ban to about two decks both of them
6201s like there was there was some free wins
6202s the best of three it's been a long
6205s weekend guys let's just play a best of
6207s three it's fine
6209s one thing I I will say we probably don't
6212s bring it up enough but these two players
6216s have spent many hours this weekend
6218s playing Hearthstone
6219s and at the very end of you know it's hot
6221s here in Italy at the very end of tons of
6224s hours of hearthstone you have your most
6226s important match they are in a rough spot
6229s not because of scores but because they
6231s have to sit down and focus for another
6233s couple of hours potentially after three
6235s days yes yesterday alone was a 13-hour
6240s day of HearthStone for these players and
6242s when you like Hunter Ace for example
6245s plays very slowly the majority of the
6247s time when you do that you're probably
6249s going to finish quite late in the Swiss
6251s so it's not like you get your game out
6253s of the way and then just sit chill while
6255s the Swiss resolves you're going to be
6256s one of the last few players to finish
6258s are they saying that Viper is in the
6260s tournament so yeah don't go too far
6263s I will say though it's just it's
6265s incredible to me how they can keep the
6267s focus that's like one of the hardest
6269s parts of tournaments like this hungry
6271s Etting gonna come down else
6277s ick
6280s you did say one twos were good against
6282s Paladin maybe not against six uh sorry
6284s four tens
6286s but you I mean look you could probably
6288s piece this together right unless there's
6290s exactly vowel spine next turn the game
6293s ends yeah and I think vardue this whole
6296s game has pretty much said eye for an eye
6298s is more useful as a combo activator in
6300s my hand than it is even if it was
6302s discarded and activate valve spine right
6306s quick but now it it there's there is
6309s just a small window for vardue because
6311s his hand is out of stuff and the one
6312s ones will take over this game slowly if
6314s it happens but because Hunter races just
6317s found no fungal mances no level up no
6320s blessing of my he's had no way to really
6322s push his initiative in this matchup as
6324s much as face damage or even taking good
6326s trades but that scale Bane is a big old
6329s whiff and there's a big old Leroy in
6331s hand for Hunter Ace to get himself back
6333s into this series yeah and exactly like
6336s you said right this has been a the
6337s resource battle that Paladin can do
6340s versus the value battle in terms of just
6342s getting more damage output from these
6344s buff minions it's actually just about
6345s the fact that his hero power beats
6348s vardu's hero power every single time
6351s and look at that gastropod it's a weird
6353s choice in some regards because you are
6356s playing a one-two poisonous against a
6358s deck that can just always deal two
6360s damage to a torn minion but in that
6362s position it meant a 410 stayed alive and
6365s a five damage dagger ended up going into
6368s the stubborn gastropod so again great
6371s insight into the way that the game was
6372s going to evolve from Hunter Ace and an
6374s easy game number three exactly what he
6377s wanted to get himself back on the board
6378s just make vardy sweat just a little bit
6381s just to lean over the booth and say you
6383s know what I don't lose every final I did
6386s win one of them and also as well let's
6388s be honest regardless of course these
6390s players want to win but you do not want
6392s to get thrilled in the final of a long
6394s time and like this you don't want just
6395s what okay I won a game let's move on
6398s from here as opposed to oh no I just got
6400s absolutely dumpstered in the final a
6402s little bit rough
6404s what's left for Andres it's a good
6405s question Hunter race I do ask them
6407s sometimes yeah he lost he had his
6409s malagost Druid band he has one with his
6412s odd Paladin which means his odd Rogue
6414s and his uh control Mage that we already
6416s saw are the remaining deaths
6417s so again it's control Mage versus odd
6420s Rogue you you Peg control Mage as a
6423s strong anti-aggro deck
6425s um but you know odd Rogue has the
6427s ability to just not worry too much about
6429s building a board and just go all out for
6431s damage they have the cards to be able to
6432s do that which is what control Mage is
6434s just a little bit uh weak against and of
6436s course odd Rogue mirror is odd Rogue
6438s mirror yeah I think the control-made
6439s matchup can be often just a little bit
6441s too slow and the spot removal for
6444s something like a Hench Clan is like
6445s voodoo doll but you can't ping it so
6447s then they get at least some extra damage
6449s from there that came up a little bit
6450s earlier today but also as well one big
6453s minion comes out well then you're
6455s suddenly answering Minions that aren't
6456s that big you're not used to you know
6458s dealing with like meter or four four but
6460s if you don't you could be dead because
6462s the points of damage attack so quickly
6463s with the dagger and this is a matchup
6465s that we were just talking about is the
6467s Mage versus the Rogue and
6470s who indeed because one of the big cards
6472s I didn't mention I should have because
6474s it is my one of my namesakes is Raven
6476s Familia is actually great because it's
6478s just a minion early on obviously doomsay
6481s is very good
6482s I can artificial potentially if you want
6484s to keep it this early for armor but for
6486s me just having a minion to play even if
6489s a dagger swing goes into it it's pretty
6491s okay it's not necessarily just to keep
6493s for armor it's a minion you can play on
6495s turn one I I have seen it happen against
6498s odd Paladin more than anything else I've
6500s seen just an Arcane artificer played on
6502s turn one and just said okay this is
6504s gonna try
6505s okay we want to race Hunter race sir
6509s please look you are just you are one of
6512s the best players in the game you you
6514s don't also need to be this lucky like
6516s come on the best
6521s that's made of a word oh okay is that
6524s the recovery part
6526s he drew a liner
6528s nah I think double doomsayer still wins
6534s yeah I probably wouldn't mind beating
6536s hunting around the spot right now
6541s this is it right look at the board and
6543s again until he's just going deep on turn
6546s one
6547s does he can't do him say probably not
6549s you're scared you're not you're not
6550s scared of coin three drop because
6552s Hunters that's the kind of cost but then
6555s what if dagger comes out and then
6556s there's say minion Cold Blood to deal
6559s with doomsayer you need your doomsayer
6561s to go off in these early turns you
6563s cannot say oh don't say it heals for
6566s seven that's not good enough because the
6567s minions need to die at some point you
6569s can't just let them live and be okay
6570s with it
6572s yeah coin doomsday just has a lot of
6574s problems like you said it's not really a
6576s turn you're too scared about shutting
6577s down ball so if you coin doomsayer your
6579s opponent daggers up and then like what's
6582s your follow You're Gonna Play Raven
6583s familiar like it doesn't really say her
6584s again right exactly
6587s whereas this fits much better it's just
6589s there is something to consider that you
6591s have to get your doomsday is off or give
6593s it as higher chance as possible yeah
6598s body says yep all right you got me I'm a
6601s sit back
6603s give you your hard-earned free turn here
6609s now we see if Hunter Ace gets any more
6611s contact from his draw he doesn't if he
6612s was to pick up something like your
6613s Stonehill Defender gluttonous ooze then
6616s that would of course just be his three
6618s drop play here if he was to pick up say
6619s Arcane key smith well then you can just
6621s go doomsayer again and then get Arcane
6623s Keith Smith down to get ahead of the
6624s ball maybe pick up explosive runes so
6627s you can actually buy tempo for a few
6628s turns but his hands giving him like no
6631s context now in terms of how he's
6633s supposed to play out this doomsayer
6635s raven familiar like Arcane artifice a
6636s kind of combination that he has on the
6638s left hand side
6639s yeah I'm trying to run it through I'm
6642s it's really tough because the second you
6644s Raven you probably want to do them say
6647s her as well to a certain extent but then
6649s you're using the coin so that actually
6650s just lessens the power of that turn
6652s quite a lot because you don't have much
6654s follow-up
6656s there's Raven ping just about 2-2 on the
6658s board but the unfortunate part is that
6660s at this point the dagger just cleans up
6662s it's not a problem at all because
6663s father's not had to use minions yet so
6666s he's just freely re-daggering just go
6668s with the Doomsday play Andres does just
6669s buy the other turn yeah
6674s pretty fortunate as well because even to
6676s a lesser extent this could have been say
6678s firefight Firefly Van Cleef which didn't
6680s sound like a lot but still enough of a
6683s threat to worry about yeah the body's
6685s just sat back right now thinking well
6686s half Stone's a fun game I'm sure I'll
6688s get to play soon he is he's playing
6690s Valero yeah
6697s on North number two sovalu now gets the
6700s information that there's really no
6701s reason to go all in on that Edwin unless
6703s he can do it alongside another huge
6705s minion as well
6706s he knows the polymorphs in Hand of
6708s course we can see that the first one was
6710s already there but vardue just got that
6711s information
6713s hmm
6715s so yeah six six Edwin alongside a couple
6717s of one and two attack minions just
6719s doesn't really feel that appealing at
6720s this point it doesn't but does that just
6723s something has to be played into
6725s polymorph yeah that's a fact he knows
6728s when Trace has it so is that enough to
6730s force a polymorph and a bad turn because
6732s the one man is probably floating if
6734s they're coin ping that's probably a win
6736s for vadu sure they're doing nothing else
6738s because you can kill the Raven and then
6741s maybe you drop vicious fledgling the
6743s next turn with something else and then
6744s you're like okay you know here's more of
6746s a threat because you have to just do
6747s something you can't be oh I can't play
6749s this good minion because it gets
6750s polymorphed right the I mean the
6754s what vardue is potentially trying to
6756s wait for here is a term where he can
6758s drop Edwin Van Cleef alongside a scarier
6761s board than just a bunch of like one ones
6763s and one twos right then he can actually
6765s punish Hunter race for using the
6766s polymorph harder because he pushes more
6768s damage when the other minions aren't
6770s removed and there's also a world where
6772s you know if there's no answer to this
6773s vicious words link Hunter race uses his
6775s polymorph on the vicious fledgling and
6776s then the Edwin comes down as a six six
6778s or an eight eight anyway resistant to
6781s AOE and he gets to go about it that way
6783s yeah one thing I will say is as the Mage
6785s in this matchup I think you do have to
6786s pay attention to the smaller minions too
6788s especially the ones that's slightly more
6789s difficult to deal with like the Ardent
6791s Squire because the chip damage happens a
6795s lot faster than you think it does
6796s against Rogue the dagger is so effective
6799s at just you know two damage a turn it's
6800s effectively Ontario power yeah but
6802s cheaper and then if two one attack
6804s minions are attacking well that's
6806s something four damage return is not
6807s something you can just choose to not
6809s deal with and be not scared of
6811s especially when cold Bloods and Leroy
6813s and deckhands for example are even more
6815s damage that surprises from hand
6822s spends 60 odd seconds trying to convince
6824s himself not to polymorph The Vicious
6826s fledgling and then polymorphs of vicious
6828s leveling it's not a good feeling but he
6830s just really didn't have other options
6831s available
6833s and also let's be honest he kind of has
6835s the next few turns locked up he can meet
6837s you anything that gets played then and
6839s next and then coin Lich King or turn
6842s after he might try and stay away from
6844s that kind of plan though because coin
6846s literally uh literally what is wrong
6848s I've just completely forgotten how the
6849s words today Raven um coin Lich King is
6853s vulnerable to a huge swing turn with
6855s bile spine Slayer on the other side
6857s right so it's very scary the road will
6860s generally want to sorry the Mage will
6861s generally want to keep removing more
6863s than it will want to uh just play a big
6865s tour minion in the way but it's just a
6867s matter of whether he runs out of the
6869s ability to do that and is forced to play
6870s Lich King more than anything
6873s that's it because my worry is if you
6875s were forced to meet you at this turn
6876s obviously we can now see that Vancleave
6878s is around but there is polymer if you're
6880s forced to play removal this turn then
6883s well there's no other removal left so do
6885s you Raven and potentially draw a bit
6887s dirt because if you draw a flange rate
6889s you can't play it and then you've just
6890s played a seven Mana two two to a certain
6892s extent right or do you coin Lich King
6895s because you don't have removal but you
6897s are weak to vowel spine so it's just
6899s kind of weird right what you don't want
6901s to do is Ping pass against our drogue
6903s that isn't good enough right
6905s now vardue side he's starting to get
6908s closer and closer to this huge Victory
6910s from his perspective I know he's got a
6912s huge finish contingent out here like
6914s every game vardu's been playing I've
6916s walked out through the arena and sat in
6918s the bleachers it's just a collection of
6920s the Finnish players like looking up at
6922s the big screen over the Swiss area the
6924s The Finnish teams really have a put a
6927s lot of work in to improve as players
6929s over recent time you know some of the
6931s players that we've seen doing
6932s fantastically recently zomp gonetsky
6934s zumper dream hack pretty much came as a
6937s as a group you know it was it was all
6939s the Finnish players and some was the one
6941s who played the best and did the best and
6943s won but it was a group you know even in
6945s in the the Gathering After Dream hacker
6948s was like they were just stood together
6949s talk about the list talk about how they
6951s did the lineup it was super interesting
6953s and when you've got that kind of you
6955s know close-knit group behind you these
6957s are the people who are doing well look
6958s at Hunt race and the Dusky boys exactly
6960s look at the fins look at Mozzy saying
6964s guess what all these people are very
6966s good players that play with them day in
6968s there yep
6969s there aren't too many players
6971s consistently placing at the top of tour
6974s stops and Championship events right now
6976s that do not have a strong network of
6979s other players doing the same behind them
6982s a few extra points of damage from this
6984s void dripper but as I said even you know
6986s one extra damage on a couple of minions
6988s well that's you know just one turn
6989s closer to lethal at this point because
6991s this is starting to stack up with Leroy
6993s and another deck hand in hand so that's
6995s effectively what 10 damage include in
6997s the dagger just out of nowhere or the
6999s blizzard draw yeah that's better than
7001s coin Lich King I think yes it is and I
7004s was going to point out on the previous
7005s turn I believe Hunter Hayes chose to
7007s Ping instead of playing an enchanted
7009s Raven which means meant if he had to go
7012s fishing that turn and he'd have hit
7014s flame strike as his draw it would have
7016s been uncastable which could have
7018s potentially been a huge punish with the
7020s the board on as it was of course he took
7022s damage off the board immediately with
7023s the Ping On the previous turn but it's a
7025s real risk will risk reward that you have
7027s to weigh up
7030s that's the secret that's gonna mess with
7033s Hunter's to no end he does have the coin
7035s though and the biggest thing you're
7037s worried about initially is can I AOE if
7040s there was no coin then you cry this turn
7043s because if that's Counter Strike that's
7045s a huge problem if you play around count
7047s if that's Counter-Strike this is
7049s Hearthstone Raven this is you infecting
7051s me with the inability to speak for some
7054s reason I know it's a zotek of enriver
7056s but this is Hearthstone
7058s full circle but most importantly if that
7060s is counter spell then you can't just
7063s blow an AOA
7065s but if you play around that and you drop
7066s something like Lich King you cannot give
7068s them a Lich King right eventually so
7070s it's such a huge problem and a very
7073s important turn from Wow to deal with
7077s coin gives him no info Raven Familia now
7080s if he does get Flames drive this time
7081s it's playable still Lana
7086s it's a lot of damage
7088s three six seven eight nine eleven
7089s showing he'd be dead to Leroy
7092s true
7096s let's just give him the Raven now yep
7098s it's not the runes which would have been
7100s another very very that that's what I was
7102s thinking is you take only three damage
7104s which you'd take if it was entity anyway
7105s and it sort of deals with the issue but
7108s you know obviously none of them are
7110s great plays but with the blizzard now
7111s it's absolutely huge clearing off the
7113s board there's just fledgling threat
7115s number five thousand so far for vardue
7117s and you know the questions being asked
7119s again from Hunter Hayes can deal with
7121s this and the answer this turn is yes you
7123s can just meet Chariot yeah in Hunter
7125s race right now is just praying it's just
7127s please one term where my opponent does
7130s not draw a threat that demands an answer
7132s because I think he has a pretty clear
7135s read on the two card combo in hand right
7137s now it's Leroy Plus either Baku south
7141s sea deckhand or cold blood and even cold
7143s blood is very unlikely because he saw
7145s one from the deck and there's positions
7147s where he could have just dumped cold
7148s blood on a minion and pushed damage yeah
7150s if you're saving Cold Blood for Leroy
7152s yeah it does make a lot you put cold
7154s blood on another Minion and see if it
7155s gets removed to get
7156s the only reason there's like a small
7158s inkling that it could be that is that
7159s vardue has actually been very manner
7161s efficient throughout the game in terms
7162s of developing minions
7164s but you'd like pass a firefly to play
7167s in general enjoy certainly yes
7171s I'll spying
7172s this is it this is the turn the hunter
7174s race needed where there is just no
7176s threat generation from vardue
7180s suddenly because that ping Leroy dagger
7182s the one one doesn't help because the the
7184s other dragonling and the Ping just just
7185s deal with Leroy no matter what and if
7187s vardue wanted to continue to disrupt
7189s Hunter race that turn he needed to play
7191s Leroy from hand for example and just
7194s like maybe even like deckhand into the
7196s other one one just to leave the 6-2 on
7198s board yeah and Alana I think it was the
7201s only realistic play this turn this sets
7203s up at worst 210 literal and next turn
7207s can be flame strike
7209s you got you guys didn't see the hand
7211s gesture honestly get me a weatherboard
7215s right and and I will I have done this
7217s before in my career it was flame strike
7219s coming in like a warm front from the
7221s Western very toasty Frontier
7224s I have done that once in my casting crew
7226s cast Hearthstone that was behind me as a
7228s weatherman it was great
7231s well
7232s drip is not gonna change too much here
7234s except activate the vowel spine and this
7236s is the turn where vadu's saying well
7238s this is it right now all in
7241s only way out for me
7244s yep and now I believe this is a safe
7248s Lich King for Hunter race he does not
7250s die to any two cards yep
7253s okay
7258s just general confirmation noises coming
7261s from Rosen it's not my job yes
7265s the question is disrespect the minions
7267s are you still saying I believe yeah you
7269s kill them and you have yeah 21 on board
7271s yep still saying
7273s what's match point in the finals you can
7277s argue right plays wrong plays there is
7279s no reason to not kill the minions okay
7281s you're gonna win if you survive you win
7283s if you try and go fancy you lose just
7287s like values lost right now and that is
7289s going to be two and two Hunters on the
7293s comeback here evening everything up and
7295s it's all going to come down to the last
7297s game absolutely fine by me and odd Rogue
7300s mirror I believe is what we're going to
7302s be looking at but yeah I said it in a
7305s couple of turns before he just needs
7306s that one turn where there just isn't a
7308s big threat and that's that's control
7309s major in a nutshell right you clear you
7311s clear you clear you clear you clear when
7313s they're out of resources you just have
7315s two big bombs essentially maybe Lich
7317s King as well three big bombs that can
7318s just win the game from that point when
7320s you've exhausted all their resources and
7322s that's just kind of a textbook example
7324s of the match up but now suddenly we've
7326s been talking about Hunter Aces emotions
7328s and his track record in finals a lot but
7331s now vardue who is who is new to this
7335s position who has all of these friends in
7337s the audience ruining him on who practice
7339s together built this lineup with him
7340s which was the most successful lineup in
7343s the tournament they find him in the
7345s finals they're all out there in the
7346s stands cheering him on and he's let a
7349s 2-0 lead fall to a 2-2 and now he just
7352s has a mirror match to settle it and if
7355s there's someone you want to be in the
7356s finals to potentially kick off you know
7359s the big flashy moment in your career is
7361s one of the the if not the best player in
7363s the world right now right that is a good
7365s win to take let's look at these hands
7367s all I'm seeing right now so is someone
7369s has Hench Clem Thug and someone does not
7373s oh but vicious Flashlight Hunter race
7376s hits back at Raven as he just calls
7380s opening hands he's saying Hunter is like
7381s sorry Raven were you were you
7382s questioning my mind I'm like I'm sorry
7384s you questioning skills come on
7390s but seriously why'd you make any sense
7392s very similar Firefly as combo activators
7395s Arjun Squire now picked up as well for
7397s Hunter race is fantastic because it's
7399s actually a Divine Shield is stronger
7401s than an extra point of Health in this
7402s matchup because of the dagger a 1-2 gets
7405s dealt with a 1-1 Divine Shield doesn't
7408s um so now that's a very very strong
7410s minion to be able to use moving forward
7411s but it's a very similar hand it's a big
7413s turn three fret it's an si7 with a
7415s strong activator
7418s wow mirror match in a very literal sense
7421s Raven
7425s um yep uh Hunter's is like can we start
7427s on did you call for a mirror map so can
7429s we can we just can we get admin for a
7431s second I think I think something's
7432s Something's Gonna Be weird okay it's
7433s just the hands yeah um I was considering
7437s because it's always something to think
7438s about if you're on the coin can you
7440s clean out the three drop to then do the
7443s backswing with the weapon afterwards on
7445s turn three uh I don't think that's
7448s really possible because the three drops
7449s die to these basically because the
7452s Firefly is on the board the only viable
7454s coin three drop play here is si7 Agent
7457s right that's the only one that you can
7458s even think about trying to sneak through
7460s maybe it's worth it there is some
7462s validity to it because then you are
7464s clearing the way essentially for a more
7467s threatening 3-3 to dominate the board on
7469s the following turn or you can kill a
7470s hence clown exactly
7472s or you can just do all that next turn
7474s anyway
7475s which I think is the outcome here for
7477s bad if I was like yeah dagger kind of
7478s does the same job yep
7484s the only difference here between this
7486s and the SI play is that you know you're
7488s not forcing your opponent to react this
7490s isn't the term where you've chosen to
7492s swing you're going to force your
7493s opponent to swing next turn instead or
7495s react next turn and when Hunter race has
7497s already committed a big threat to the
7499s ball the cold blood is a big deal here
7501s from Trace as well because he has the
7503s Argent square and a great Target to put
7506s Cold Blood onto when you have a
7508s different threat so vicious financial
7509s and Hench Clan any other minion because
7512s that is actually very difficult for
7514s Audra to deal with if there's two
7515s threats on the board unless you're
7517s already really far ahead yeah that's
7519s awkward especially if one has say five
7521s attack and a Divine Shield like what do
7523s you even do
7525s Justice is mine
7528s this is a very awkward game to cast
7531s because it's mirror match with mirrored
7533s hands and they're essentially just
7534s making the same play to each other back
7536s and forth like what what are you
7538s supposed to talk about
7543s I was gonna say who's got the better
7544s hair but I'm just gonna have to go over
7545s Hunter straight away it's not much of a
7547s competition for me
7551s Solitaire version too
7555s closed captioning not available
7558s yes okay you did diet for championships
7561s though so maybe you're gonna bleach it
7563s and curl it as well
7565s no
7568s okay well this is chain shape a little
7570s bit now in terms of the maritans and
7572s mirrored match because Hunter is now has
7574s a LeRoy Cold Blood Cold Blood yeah which
7577s odd Rogue does not deal with you don't
7579s play taunts you don't have heel if your
7582s opponent gets you within range and you
7583s haven't killed them you are dead instead
7585s and with the Hedge client in the Argent
7588s Squire that this nice backup you know
7590s it's like enough threats to get in there
7592s as well this is close now because
7594s speaking of don't deal with
7596s this hinge clam Thug is going to be able
7598s to connect to face and now suddenly we
7601s have a race on because I don't think
7603s Hunter race with the hand that he has
7604s can afford to be trading here so if
7607s vardue couldn't deal with the Hench Clan
7609s Thug the best option he had available to
7611s him was vicious fledgling
7618s not as powerful as it could be the uh
7620s the the fake ice block whatever that
7623s Rogue secret is called could potentially
7625s uh evasion could potentially have been a
7627s little more valid in a pure race
7629s situation but still I like Leroy face
7632s let him kill it Leroy face let's go
7636s that's all the lines I see so
7638s this is huge though this is one of the
7640s moments where
7642s I don't know all in why not
7646s don't think Hunter race can continue to
7648s play board here I just oh no I don't see
7650s it working out with the hand that he has
7652s just died before one goes fine yeah of
7655s course
7656s of course
7658s boom
7659s dagger it's the most damage
7662s most minor efficiency so he has what 14
7665s 16 damage from hand if one of these
7668s Minions on the left or right connects
7671s next turn he wins yes
7672s and as of right now they're going to
7675s connect vardue needs a vile spine
7678s activator off the top
7681s oh
7685s that's it that's enough to not die at
7688s this moment in time and there is only
7690s enough Mana fun Trace to double Cold
7692s Blood if your bar do you're trying to
7694s race here you don't automatically kill
7696s this three three if you're vardue you
7698s have so much damage on board now
7700s yourself vardy has to show a lot of
7702s discipline here and he does in the end
7704s okay well he knows he's gaining damage
7706s anyway because the dragon uh it's an
7709s operative then Dragon dude is buffing
7712s the damage so he kind of makes up for
7713s the damage he loses by trading and
7715s becomes a lot safer
7717s foreign
7722s can he just leave my face well he
7724s there's no real need to right he puts
7726s him back down to 16 again this term with
7728s the dagger swing and then he has 16
7730s again on the following no no the secret
7732s I understand makes him think about what
7734s to play and how do you play around it
7737s I mean this is also the Secret's still a
7739s problem because if I do have to consider
7740s now this secret yeah but I just wanted
7743s to see Leroy cheat death let's go hunter
7746s hunter
7747s makes the play he's done his Hearthstone
7750s is now played for this tournament this
7752s is his final Gambit this is gonna be
7755s based on the response from vardue a
7758s second tour stop victory for Hunter race
7760s in his fourth final and fourth top 16 or
7764s it's gonna be a new face from vardue and
7767s Hunter race is going to get some great
7768s news very soon Raven there's nothing he
7771s can do he can this is the best Playboy
7773s drip he can trade everything stays alive
7775s more damage from the dragon Buffy and
7777s everything we're buffing a minion with a
7779s plus three he sees his cheat death sets
7781s up the board but guess what dagger Leroy
7785s colbod Cold Blood if my mathematics is
7788s correct that adds up to lethal to me and
7791s Hunter Ace does it again he is the
7794s winner of HGT Italy and continue used to
7797s be the best Hearthstone player in the
7799s world right now
7801s look at the face from vardue though
7803s you've got to give it up it's a
7805s devastating way to go out after an
7808s incredible year hunt race made it to the
7810s world championship and was easily the
7813s fan favorite coming in his first match
7815s in group C was versus Ike a win here
7818s although not vital was a huge step in
7821s getting out of the group stage in a
7823s comfortable fashion Ike went to this day
7826s saying the one player I did not want to
7828s go because his Hunter is this tournament
7829s if I can get past him I feel really good
7832s do you feel like you also agree with
7835s that sentiment here from Ike or perhaps
7836s he's over exaggerating I I do think he's
7838s in a very tough spot you know Hunter
7839s race as you mentioned during the opening
7841s was able to essentially just sniff out
7844s what Ike was going to play you mentioned
7846s this is a classic you know N A versus
7848s Europe uh battle it's also a classic uh
7850s aggro versus control in a lot of ways
7852s Honda race you know the control show and
7853s the controller is banned it does leave
7854s him with some less controlling decks in
7856s the form of temporary because Sumner
7857s Mage but even those decks you know are a
7860s bit tuned to beat aggressiveness he is
7863s playing you know the uh the rabble
7865s bouncer plus Mossy horror uh double mind
7868s control Tech version of the Summoner
7870s mage deck so he has a lot of powerful
7872s tools there and you know he has the
7874s underbelly fence Vendetta version of
7875s Rogue so a lot of ways to sort of Steal
7877s back Tempo from Ike's aggressive lineup
7879s yeah well we'll see how those Rogues
7882s play a factor but for now we're gonna
7884s start things off with Hunter Ace being
7885s on the shaman uh and seeing how Shaman
7888s can fare and I think the players are
7891s still divided on the shaman class oh
7894s they're married none more so than the
7896s the shaman expert himself Ike so what's
7899s gonna happen here as Ike's gonna play
7901s what many consider to be the best deck
7903s and hardest owner one of the best decks
7904s in Hearthstone up against the X Factor
7907s Hunter race and his gang of Misfit tech
7909s cards yeah and we see uh the cards we
7912s were talking about in the the opening
7913s there uh ancestor healing while
7914s pyromancer you know specifically he was
7917s looking for anti-aggro tools in this
7919s deck uh and his his re reasoning that he
7922s broke down for us when we had a chance
7923s to talk to him was that all of the
7926s versions that he he tried that were say
7928s Thunderhead based you know they were
7929s Thunderhead zap lightning bolt decks or
7931s you know a bunch of lightning storms and
7933s things he felt like they uh put him in a
7935s position uh similarly uh uh reign of
7938s toads another popular card uh that
7940s forced him to overload into his power
7942s turns what makes this deck so powerful
7944s largely is hagatha and walking Fountain
7947s those are really the cards you try and
7949s leverage to beat the aggressive decks
7950s but if you were forced to overload
7952s yourself going into your late turns
7954s you're just not able to play those on
7955s curve and you and you despite being able
7957s to clear the board don't actually turn
7958s the corner which is the reason that he
7960s has giggly inventors like seven men he's
7963s like yeah it has some uh Synergy with
7966s shutterwalk but it's also mostly just
7969s that it allows him to bridge the gaps
7971s into those powerful Aid drops yes
7973s and also don't overlook because we have
7975s seen some Shaman struggle with those
7977s overload turns going another one yes
7980s featuring some really good cards it
7982s actually is Hunter race specifically
7984s talking about the role of each
7986s individual card and that's something
7988s that you actually hear a lot of and the
7990s top level players they value that one or
7993s two card difference very highly so a lot
7995s of other players they think ah you can
7996s just substitute one car it's not going
7997s to be that big of a difference and you
7999s might be right in that small sample size
8000s but a small sample size is all you get
8002s in a tournament right so 100 race needs
8004s to make an account and that is why he is
8006s Banning Warrior and trying to account
8007s for all those aggressive matchups that
8009s you might face on the opposite end I
8011s mean this really does just look like a
8012s really powerful Arena hand you know you
8014s got your your
8015s Omega Defender giggling inventor
8018s I'm still getting used to the fact that
8020s hex is for Mana because I spent uh
8021s yesterday playing Tavern bro a lot
8023s during my downtime and I was playing the
8024s Pablo mid-range Shaman oh this is
8026s interesting actually hold that thought
8028s Hunter is not toteming what is he trying
8030s to do here so specifically he wants to
8032s play around backstab rating party he
8033s doesn't want to give Ike the ability to
8035s to fire off a raiding party this turn by
8037s enabling backstab and he actually is
8040s playing right exactly with a nice hand
8041s you know he sniffs out the fact that
8043s okay well if your hand is this
8044s combination of cards I'm going to slow
8046s you down and exactly that happens that's
8049s absolutely brilliant Hunter race uh
8052s making the big plays the big place
8056s yeah exactly it's it's really
8059s interesting right like the like that
8061s little thing so many people you know you
8063s you as a streamer for instance people
8065s will be like oh miss totem missed totem
8067s it's like no I did not totem or like you
8070s know you're playing Rogue it's like Miss
8071s hero power it's like I did not hero
8072s power because that contains Harrison
8074s Jones and I don't want to give them an
8075s extra card if they get the Harrison
8076s jokes this is you know Hunter Hayes with
8078s sort of that next level uh read of well
8080s a hand that you know makes sense for Ike
8083s to have here is this backstab rating
8084s party and I want to slow him down yeah
8086s and I think that might end up paying off
8088s huge dividends because now Ike I mean
8089s yes he got to develop an si7 agent so he
8091s had a contingency plan but everyone who
8094s plays Rogue and played against Rogue in
8096s the past few months can recognize the
8098s power of raiding party very similar to
8100s master scholar just drawing on three
8101s setting up powerful Tempo swings
8104s now anyways
8105s he has his mind control Tech which is
8107s pretty valuable do you think he wants to
8108s fight for boards he's just going to kind
8109s of pass here now that the ss7 it's
8111s interesting because he does have the
8112s hagatha scheme
8114s um so there is some incentive too I'm
8117s just going to kind of sit back this does
8118s give uh Ike the ability to possibly just
8120s use backstab now in order to enable
8122s rating party but in the this is like a a
8125s point passed out with the uh at which
8127s this is really efficient for Ike so yeah
8130s he's going to go ahead and Shadow step
8131s into raiding party into the S.I in order
8135s to uh to take this out
8137s yep and saves the backstab and this also
8140s is something that he could have done
8141s whether uh Henry's played this or not it
8143s just saved some damage to his face
8146s and against rogue rogue isn't really a
8148s deck that you expect to go wide where
8150s the you're actually going to get value
8151s uh from that uh that uh mind control
8155s Tech right and you know similarly you're
8157s not really you know able to give them
8160s the time to build up hagatha's uh scheme
8162s to just blow up all their stuff because
8164s they're such a burst the damage uh
8166s oriented deck that's right now Hunter
8169s Ace he has that hunt Omega Defender
8171s which seems to be appealing at first
8173s glance but we have to account for uh
8175s your opponent's turn five now that
8177s they've played rating party and you are
8179s aware of the tempo swings available
8181s through dread Corsair and wagglepick
8184s that new weapon from the rise of Shadows
8187s that allows you to return a minion to
8188s your hands yeah and part of honduras's
8189s explanation for including Omega defender
8191s in his deck was that he he just kind of
8192s wanted a taunt to help protect him from
8194s rogue's burst damage and you know at
8196s this stage of the game well he's a 26.
8198s not necessarily you know looking to uh
8201s just throw it as taunt to you know have
8203s it die to backstab waggle pick and not
8205s have that available to him later yeah
8207s now the waggle pick is very powerful to
8209s remove it's really powerful to push
8211s damage its versatility is what's often
8213s being one of the foundational cruxes to
8216s this Tempo Rogue and why they're able to
8217s set up big bursts or even just fight for
8219s board very efficiently all right well it
8221s is the uh the Omega Defender that does
8223s come down and there is the option for
8225s Ike to remove this uh if he wants to
8227s just go ahead and backstab pick it's not
8229s 100 Mana efficient
8232s what other options does he have the
8235s other efficient uh use of his Mana would
8238s be to use the uh the backstab in si and
8241s then he has two more Mana he could play
8242s say the evil cabal rat rat and I don't
8245s know if that's exactly what he's looking
8246s for because it develops a little bit
8248s weaker than the wagglepick and the Drake
8250s yeah
8256s such a powerful Tempo play and you know
8259s he did save the backstab here by using
8260s the shadow step previously so he's able
8262s to you know clear this off and get the
8264s damage in from the SI agent as well
8269s at the same time on race
8272s part of the reason why the control
8273s Shaman is you know considered to be an
8276s effective effective class at fighting
8278s against Rogue is because of its arsenal
8280s of three damage through haga 3 through
8282s lightning storm zilliacs here is really
8283s good so Hunter race is not in trouble
8285s just here
8287s all right so the deli X does come down
8289s and uh break this up
8292s and now oh another dread Corsair from
8295s Ike yeah and I think Ike is at the point
8297s where he could really start developing
8299s like really big turns like he could play
8301s pretty much half his hand at this turn
8302s right but the question is you know is he
8304s overextending into the hagas hagertha
8306s scheme and then if that is the case
8308s what's his reload and I think that's
8309s where the thief Road could really shine
8311s because they're able to replace their
8314s hand fairly easily and not be super
8316s dependent on card draw like raiding
8318s party and Myers disable element all
8319s right it does pick up an ethereal Lackey
8321s which is uh arguably the strongest of
8323s the lack if you look at the statistical
8325s win rate I believe the Ethereal Lackey
8327s has the highest of all of them uh that
8329s or Cobalt lucky that deals two damage I
8331s think both of them are very high yeah in
8333s terms of that I do think I do think this
8334s is number one by at least a small bit
8336s okay another possible party pick a
8338s pocket and Sprint so lots of value
8340s options for Ike here he already has his
8342s waggle pick uh number two so you only uh
8346s would get a little bit of card draw I
8347s believe uh off of the uh
8350s oh man he bounces is the Ethereal Lackey
8354s to give myself another spell and a combo
8356s activator yeah that's pretty powerful
8357s and you know I like this restraint on
8359s the second dread Corsair yes I could
8362s have developed a big board but he knows
8364s that Hunter race could try to squeeze
8365s out area effect cards so instead Force
8369s Under race to use it sub-optimally and
8371s then develop again with a second Michael
8372s pick
8373s yeah and Hunter is here he's a he's uh
8376s 19. he's already used a zilliacs so his
8378s remaining healing is a single copy of
8380s witch's brew and the two walking
8381s fountains none of which are in his hand
8384s uh you know we're seeing how you know
8386s rogue's ability to just present a few
8389s medium impact threats you know makes the
8393s the hexes in Hunter Race's hand fairly
8394s uh fairly uh ineffective uh as well as
8398s you know the hag of this game it's been
8400s building up but there's still just a lot
8402s of cards in Ike's hand because thanks to
8403s raiding party thanks to maybe ethereal
8405s Lackey getting him additional cards uh
8408s he has just been able to to keep up pace
8410s uh with resources as well as pressure on
8413s the board yeah at the same time there's
8416s not many good hex Targets in this deck
8418s when I say good you're thinking about
8419s big heavy dragons like you know Sarah in
8423s the mage deck usually there's a headwind
8424s right yeah that's like the only thing
8426s you're really super thrilled to hex does
8428s fire off one right now I like it and he
8430s even uh gets a nice outcome with the
8432s taunt on to gain a little bit extra life
8433s here
8435s foreign
8438s probably feels like this is a setup for
8441s turn eight hundred has been holding to
8442s the coin and turn eight could be a
8445s really big swing if he's not careful
8446s well one one interesting thing about uh
8448s hex in these control Shaman decks is the
8450s ability to hex into walking Fountain
8452s means you you are guaranteed to have a
8454s zero attack minion that walking Fountain
8455s gets the hit uh so you can often kill
8458s you know multiple things while still
8459s having a ton of Health left in your
8460s walking Fountain that's right Shadow
8462s step another raiding party and
8464s assassinate
8466s hmm I I think Ike is deciding between
8468s assassinating Shadow step here he has
8470s the the Ethereal Lackey could just
8472s Shadow step and re-buy or Shadow step
8474s you know a burglar or the SI revive the
8476s Libra in hand as well Shadow step you
8479s know gives you uh some pretty scary
8480s stuff as well
8483s I would guess we're seeing Spirit Bomb
8486s here timeout's not very useful
8487s corruption yeah
8488s and does just kept the Vendetta he could
8491s just use Vendetta to push damage here if
8493s he wanted to but kind of a uh
8496s a kind of excessive I think
8502s flirting with the idea of utilizing the
8504s shadow step but he keeps Leroy in his
8506s back pocket which I think is the
8507s important thing right and now if Hunter
8510s Ray's had that hagatha Ike would have
8514s he wouldn't have enough damage I thought
8516s I was assume he hit a waggle pick but in
8518s this position on race is he forced to
8521s pull a trigger on the heck of this game
8522s I don't know that it's getting better
8523s right like what what board is Hunter
8526s race hoping for for this in the future
8528s right and you know I I was actually
8531s somewhat surprised they didn't pull the
8532s trigger when there were just a couple of
8534s minions to play like the two three
8535s threes I thought that that actually was
8537s a fairly juicy Agatha scheme board
8538s against Rogue
8540s um but he hasn't seen the second dread
8542s Corsair I believe he actually knows
8544s there's another uh pirate in the hand
8546s based on the the card positioning from
8549s uh from the rating party yes
8554s actually that was the first one that was
8556s in his opening hand
8560s he played one rating party and then
8562s right he had a waggle Pig nationally no
8564s no I'm saying I'm saying the dread
8565s courser I believe he knows and uh it
8568s makes a lot of sense for that yeah he's
8569s gonna go ahead and pull the trigger on
8570s hey let's get him right here that's not
8571s gonna get much better
8573s now it is totem time
8577s I like the restraint
8579s uh for holding up to hack the scheme
8581s it's gotten a lot better position
8582s although it's still scary there is Van
8584s Cleef
8586s so what could this look like for Ike he
8589s has the the uh wagglepick
8594s he could like waggle pick dread Corsair
8597s if he wanted to Vendetta Van Cleef right
8600s he doesn't know that there's an
8601s earthshock and another copy of hex in
8603s Henry's back
8605s like basically just has a six six here
8607s yeah I don't think he needs to Pump It
8608s Up Too Much Hunter X even has an earth
8610s shot right coincidentally
8614s this also says that the Leroy Shadow
8616s steps 100 has to heal or set up a wave
8618s of taunts which he actually does have
8620s through the form of giggling inventor
8622s there's also the acidic swamp boost here
8624s which will you kill the waggle pick and
8627s bounce one of these
8628s it's true
8630s in fact uh acidic swamp Boos plus the
8633s giggly inventor yeah is available very
8635s strong see what hits
8638s okay so that means Van Cleef is sticking
8640s around
8641s so will Hunter race pull the trigger on
8643s this hex is he just dead if he does he
8646s gets a Todd totem he's he is he does
8648s have that he does have ancestral healing
8649s but there's the the Vendetta I think
8652s that Hunter race almost has to point out
8654s the giggling inventor to be able to beat
8655s Libra plus Shadow step though he doesn't
8658s know that uh there's another Shadow step
8660s Ike has used his deck's natural Shadow
8661s step I believe oh this one is from
8663s Lackey
8666s oh wow okay farsight gives him another
8669s reroll he's not dead yet but Hunter
8670s Hayes is playing with fire
8672s four minute Googling Bender I mean I
8675s think he has to go he could coin
8677s ancestral he coin Twilight breaking
8679s Celestial healing
8682s I think he just has to play Giggles here
8684s he just coins at the hex I think he dies
8689s yep coin hex and he thinks there's no
8694s more waggle pick he thinks there's no
8695s more Shadow step but that shadow step
8697s from the Ethereal Lackey is enough to
8701s combine with this Leroy and give Ike a
8703s one-game lead in the series
8707s that's a big win Friday and I'm stunned
8710s that sunrays not playing the game even
8713s better obviously he thought a lot about
8715s it he didn't play things super quickly
8717s but I gotta wonder and question the
8719s methodology because you're in a position
8721s where
8723s you know you could die and even it
8725s wasn't even that like there was a turn
8727s where his opponent he could have died to
8728s just a LeRoy like prep visery type
8731s situation you know and it's it's a it's
8733s a very dangerous situation where if he
8735s loses this match he loses one of his
8736s better matchups in this entire business
8738s yeah I I actually feel like specifically
8741s after he hit the the giggling Venter off
8743s of the uh The Far Side and could have
8745s played Giga inventor with another giggly
8747s inventor to follow it up I feel like
8749s that it just puts you in such a safe
8752s position you know obviously uh you know
8755s Ike is sitting there with the uh the Van
8757s Cleef and play maybe you're afraid of a
8760s fan of knives backstab something that
8763s that you know just just ends up pushing
8765s through from that position but that's
8766s that's a lot more than just Leroy
8767s Shadow's death but to be fair again the
8769s shadow step was from the Lackey
8772s so it's it's not something that uh he
8774s was anticipating I have it right uh and
8776s I mean there's a lot more that we want
8778s to say but we'll go ahead and gather our
8780s thoughts and when we come back we'll
8781s break down more of game number one and
8782s get ready for game number two here in
8784s the Hearthstone World Championship
8785s day number two continues as Hunter race
8788s and Ike going at it and Hunter Hayes
8790s getting greed or letting greed excuse me
8794s get the better hold of him
8796s you know and I I sat down and thought
8797s about it for a couple minutes here for
8799s the control Shaman versus Tempo Rogue uh
8801s I think Hunter X was thinking you know
8803s seven turns down the line because he's
8804s thinking about if I don't if if these uh
8808s if these giggling vendors get blown out
8810s and I don't draw my eight Mana plays how
8812s do I get out of the situation more
8814s importantly if I draw like hagatha and
8816s he doesn't have a board
8817s um how am I supposed to have any minions
8819s to really generate value off a pack if
8820s they're considering that you only had
8821s dealing better in hand and then I
8823s totally understand that rationale the
8825s only problem is that you know he already
8826s had drawn two cars deeper with the far
8828s side so he already had that and also
8830s there's so much that I can do if Ike
8833s sets him down to a low Health Point then
8834s if this race lethal you know it's all
8836s these different questions that's coming
8837s into our heads and I feel like Ike
8839s really stole that one away from Hunter
8840s race yeah and I think that some of that
8842s may have been you know uh Hunter is
8844s thinking okay well you know we mentioned
8846s it before the shadow step is gone he's
8847s used his shadow steps so you know he
8849s can't leave his shots at me both waggle
8851s Pricks are gone there's no wagglepick
8852s Leroy but you know that he was not
8855s accounting for the discovered card from
8856s the Ethereal Lackey which was Shadows
8858s have been frankly could have been if you
8860s had Leroy plus uh two eviscerates right
8863s he would have died too right which I
8864s mean there were other road cars
8866s discovered right there was exactly a
8867s hedge Clan burglar car that was
8868s discovered it's like and they're
8869s obviously trying to push damage so right
8871s if you assume like the average spell
8873s damage being two to three damage if they
8875s even have Leroy it'd still get there
8876s right so you have to be very cautious if
8879s you're 100 and that's something he was
8880s actually talking to me a little bit uh
8881s yesterday he was saying that his
8883s practice hasn't exactly just been
8885s playing games it's actually been reading
8887s every card in the Hearthstone library
8888s because he has to like understand what's
8890s in the pool available and something that
8892s he has to account for oh yeah and
8893s there's there are a number of cards that
8894s you end up seeing quite a bit uh in
8896s between Fire 2 witch doctor and ethereal
8899s Lackey right yeah and fire he was Joker
8900s giving astral Rift there's so many
8902s things that you can possibly end up
8904s hitting yes I mean you could have uh
8906s what is it the messenger Raven into Toki
8909s into everyone whatever
8913s yes into thousands of hearthstone cards
8915s but that's in the past now we're gonna
8916s switch roles a little bit Hunter Ace is
8918s the tempo Rogue this is the deck that he
8920s said that it was just too good not to
8922s bring Ike said the same thing about Zoo
8924s warlock he said Zoo warlock is just the
8926s nuts although to be fair any deck that
8928s Ike brings that he's confident remotely
8930s confident he kind of says that line
8931s that's true I I is one who is uh you
8935s know a little bit prone to hyperbole but
8937s uh I don't think it's hyperbolic to say
8938s that it is a huge deal that he has that
8941s uh Blitz Hill Corsair in his opening him
8943s yeah you know we were we were debating
8944s it early this morning
8946s um
8947s I I think that if you do bring Zoo
8949s warlock blood Corsair is so useful
8952s against the Myriad of classes that
8954s leverage their weapons Rogue Warrior I
8956s mean you even see Hunters sometimes as
8958s being very useful against to stop their
8960s board
8960s um being destroyed yep
8963s uh Hunter race though with a very strong
8965s hand here double backstab no real way to
8967s advance his own game plan but does have
8971s the easy answer to this flame imp right
8974s here
8975s yeah I'm using enough Hunters can play
8977s his entire hand by next turn yeah but uh
8980s what what's important is that he doesn't
8981s let Zoo develop and this is a contrast
8984s to what we saw at yesterday's game where
8987s we saw Rogue players choose to keep
8989s Edwin Van Cleef for that huge Tempo
8991s swing which is you know shoot with its
8993s moniker however let Zoo develop too much
8996s the point where they just felt far
8997s behind and die
8999s on your head like saying all right you
9002s have another one
9004s oh what a drop that is huge we see this
9008s the shake of the head as uh the
9009s application of this sort of wash over
9011s Hunter is backstab number two into that
9014s top deck evil miscreant is so relieved
9016s and I know Hunter is a grin for Mike
9018s okay all right all right
9020s this is a very emotional player and
9022s that's something that I feel like in a
9024s certain capacity his youth betrays him
9026s he's a very young kid 18 or 19 years old
9029s um he's only been playing competitive
9030s HearthStone for about a year and a half
9032s he's even documented some of his journey
9034s going through anxiety and whatnot
9035s publicly through a twit logger and it
9037s was very touching and he's kind of found
9039s solace in competitive Hearthstone yeah
9040s sometimes can't escape that nerve right
9042s now he was telling me how nervous he was
9044s I'm like dude everyone fears you and
9046s you're the one that's nervous and he's
9047s like I can't help it it's my first
9048s championship right yeah it is very
9050s interesting Hunter Race's story of how
9052s he got here you know he just kept
9054s putting up tremendous result a
9055s tremendous result at all of the tour
9057s stops throughout the past year but he
9059s really was never able to break through
9060s at a playoff uh when we you know sat
9063s down with all the players the beginning
9064s of this event you know at the casters
9065s sort of interviewed them as a group to
9067s kind of get a you know their thoughts in
9068s the the format the metagame everything
9070s and it was the first time we ever sat
9072s down with Hunter race that way everyone
9074s else had been to a championship you know
9076s Muzzy actually hadn't been to a
9077s championship this year but we talked to
9079s him last year it's his championship
9080s appearance it's the world championship
9081s last year but hunter is so it was it was
9083s the first time and you know it was kind
9086s of funny in a way because uh you know he
9089s he was not even in our little uh inside
9091s jokes you know like you have any
9093s questions for us and you're asking us
9094s questions he's really doing it yeah
9098s I joke when we interview players because
9099s uh one thing that Nims used to do all
9101s the time when he was first helping us
9102s host it was asked do the players have
9104s any questions for us and which we look
9105s at him and say why would they have
9107s questions for us we're asking questions
9108s and then we started just asking it every
9110s single time and then it became a meme
9111s and then Hunter race actually took
9112s initiative and spent 20 minutes asking
9114s us questions it's like wait wait
9116s player here so that's why this kid's
9118s adorable that's why we all love him his
9120s personality is great loves Carson to
9121s death but yet at the same time I just
9123s wish the best for him and I hope they
9124s can contain himself to the point he
9127s doesn't let himself tilt because he is
9128s prone to tilting self-admittedly yeah
9130s and you know we heard Ike as well in the
9133s the interview piece uh just prior to uh
9135s to the the show where he was saying that
9137s when he qualified for this tournament it
9139s was through the the tiebreaker tussles
9141s that were our way of uh resolving the
9144s final world spots uh just at uh the the
9148s last uh the last championship because
9150s there were multiple players who are
9151s already qualified and if he was in a
9153s position where it looked very unlikely
9155s that he would be able to qualify all of
9158s the uh the other players are but rather
9159s both the other players were tough
9161s matchups for him uh yeah he managed to
9163s pull it out though just by kind of
9164s having the laid back attitude of okay
9166s well you know if if I win great but I
9168s don't expect to yeah
9170s and I think he might feel very similar
9173s in this position uh Temple Rogue has
9175s gotten ahead and is staying ahead that I
9177s like that Drake worser play a lot
9178s because it shuts down Ike's development
9180s what Hunter race is uh disallowing is
9183s Ike to leverage things like Grim rally
9185s yeah and Ike had a great hand for
9187s grimrow right yeah he's just not going
9188s to be effective right yeah I cut the
9190s possibility to just you know abusive in
9192s the uh the the egg get it killed or you
9194s know Grim rally the egg and Grim rally
9196s again but but now this is a position
9198s where he's got he's got a single Scarab
9201s a 1-1 and his opponent has you know a uh
9205s hold over the board as well as quite a
9208s few cars left to hand and we know that
9209s one of those is another evil miscreant
9211s which is you know decidedly just the
9213s strongest card in uh in this deck is
9215s certainly in this matchup
9217s important note that a lot of players
9219s have chosen one blood Corsair in their
9221s deck list
9222s as Tech well yesterday we saw a killing
9224s all day have two and I like to Ike now
9226s doesn't have the ability to shut down
9227s that waggle pick should under race pick
9229s up one
9231s that being said I still like ice
9232s development on the board his two grand
9233s rallies he needs to get use out of it
9235s Leroy is effectively a dead card with
9237s the Grim rally I think this is his best
9239s move
9240s and Hunter is here you know he has this
9242s witchy Lackey he can use you know both
9244s to uh you know to generate his uh rather
9248s turn his in his initial miscreant into a
9251s four drop as well as combo into his
9252s second miscreant here and I think we you
9255s know may very well see him just double
9256s frayed into the direwolf and make that
9259s play even as they he could do something
9261s a couple of different things as well he
9263s could just uh eviscerate even
9265s preproviserate yeah all right yeah he's
9268s gonna put the miscon anyway you start
9269s with the practice let's see what else
9270s you got this is a correct ordering if he
9272s picks up ethereal Lackey which he does
9274s and that gives him the ability to
9276s discover a spell and they also play it
9278s for faceless Lackey though and he
9280s already has the best rate to play okay
9283s eviscerate faceless lacky witchy lack if
9285s he skips him such a strong board here
9293s I was gonna dagger okay interesting
9296s he wants to get rid of every single
9297s thing I'm like side of the board huh yep
9301s giving him no opportunity to develop I'm
9304s I'm a little surprised to see that over
9306s faceless plus witchy here because he
9308s would have had a four drop instead of
9311s the one three and then two one ones and
9313s a two drop
9314s and it feels like that just puts Ike in
9317s such a tough position whereas I mean
9319s right now Ike's head is quite bad so you
9321s know there's nothing you can really do
9323s to take advantage of the fact that that
9324s Honduras does not have you know a very
9327s wide strong board so what was this just
9329s to play you want to play I felt like
9331s rather than daggering the the witchy
9333s Lackey and faceless Lackey okay was was
9335s so then looking like could be very
9336s strong in that position six I think five
9338s or six means to be on the board and I
9339s think Hunter says I don't have a way to
9341s do a c giant okay so then if Ike has
9344s like a c giant okay yeah then I buy it I
9346s buy it yeah I wasn't I wasn't really
9347s doing the CGI calculation so that makes
9349s a lot of sense
9350s but I mean it just shows you how careful
9354s 100 I mean he's playing around a lot of
9355s stuff now I think he's saying like you
9357s know what last game I didn't play around
9358s certain things uh I'm gonna go for this
9362s a little too disrespectful last game and
9364s now very cautious Escape vanish could be
9366s real powerful it's not necessarily in
9367s this matchup because your opponent has
9369s just so many small things but yeah just
9370s gonna take a second Vendetta oh yeah
9372s I'll take an upgrade Wing blast every
9373s time here this is so powerful with this
9376s spot you can he can take out this magic
9378s carpet and now use the witchy Lackey
9380s right and now he's not afraid of C giant
9381s because he has two removal pieces
9384s oh that's even more damage seven damage
9387s does cost one more right but it costs
9390s zero because right because that's funny
9393s that's so insane what kind of combo is
9396s this wow so he's a second Vendetta that
9399s costs zero it's not even costs four less
9401s it's cost zero yeah so the the
9403s additional cost was Kieran toward
9405s tricaster is the name of that four drop
9406s uh and that is spell damage plus three
9412s but Vendetta specifically sets its cost
9414s to zero if you have a spell for another
9416s another class in your hand and it
9417s overrides that and we look at the
9418s Starfire it costs seven
9422s that's crazy well speaking of crazy Ike
9425s has AOE to like win back the board yeah
9428s so interesting because
9431s I mean Zoo warlock played Hellfire like
9433s once upon a time unironically because
9435s there weren't better cards to play and
9437s now I feel like we're turning back kind
9439s of crosses one damage off lethal though
9441s right yeah seven eight nine ten eleven
9443s Starfire for eight
9448s and there's not much that I can do about
9449s it no I mean he can start he can just
9451s start for our face for eight now
9454s it doesn't have to necessarily uh uh oh
9457s there's an underbelly fence so maybe
9458s it's not going to be doing that
9463s yeah he's 19 damage
9465s um faces lack he could discover Chargers
9467s or extra damage so you could start with
9469s that then you you couldn't place if if
9471s you don't Starfire now you potentially
9473s lose the extra damage from your guy but
9475s I don't know how much that matters
9477s I think you also lose the the uh rush
9479s and plus on an underbelly fence which
9481s you just drew though which might be more
9482s important or at least right at least
9485s mitigate that and I think because of the
9487s threat of sea Giants and plural right to
9490s you he's gonna hold on to it but he's
9492s still he's so firmly far ahead that
9495s I like almost anything Hunter race does
9497s in fact I kind of like him to restrict
9498s the board by trading in this one one
9500s again yep that's what he's doing and I
9502s don't think he has to play this face as
9503s Lackey I think he just re-dagger
9506s it's very consistent with his game plan
9508s and Hunt race is firing at all cylinders
9510s Immaculate play this turn
9513s but it has that Hellfire he does but it
9516s does leave a Lackey in play
9518s rather than miscritin play and then
9520s there's still a five damage Starfire
9524s still one damage off
9528s here's the thing though Zoo warlock
9530s eventually wants to life tab so well
9533s yeah I mean you could just Starfire face
9534s attack you down to one
9536s and then is there even there's there's
9540s just the void Walker I believe in uh and
9543s I expected that could allow him to
9545s survive if he wanted to do that yeah but
9546s yeah I expect that we'll see life tap
9548s anyway he can just leave open the
9550s Starfire available to him yeah
9553s the Starfire is a surprise Factor now
9556s it's Hunter races turn to surprise Ike
9558s with some of these uh car generators
9560s because Ike's gonna be very tempted to
9562s life tap because it's a desperate
9563s situation you can just fire up Vendetta
9565s here leaving a single 1-1 against this
9567s board plus the Starfire in hand right
9572s and yeah Ike is now the one who has
9576s really no
9577s no options here he he asked the life to
9580s have to find anything because otherwise
9581s he dies on board yeah
9586s she's crazy amount of damage coming out
9587s for Mike's turn though like the Grim
9589s wrap double criminality with the abusive
9590s Sergeant on Leroy is still about half of
9593s Hunter Hayes's life
9594s yeah he could attack for 11 this turn
9596s but unfortunately for him Hunter is
9597s still 25 yeah
9603s I mean I think that in this game a lot
9605s of what we saw here was just the power
9607s level of the uh the thief package the
9609s vendettas and the underbelly fence just
9612s leaving uh Ike with so little that he
9615s was able to do obviously I had a pretty
9616s poor draw early on
9618s um but hunter races uh miscrit did a ton
9622s of work as well as his just awareness of
9625s okay I need to I need to you know kill
9627s this uh the scarabag pick off the uh the
9630s scarabs to come out of it before
9631s something like Grim Reilly can get
9633s online and those just ended up stranded
9634s in Ike's hand the entire game hunter
9636s race equalizes the series one game a
9639s piece and Rogue as a class climbs over
9642s the 50 win rate it was five and six to
9644s start today now seven to six and we
9646s mentioned the pre-show Rogue is a slow
9648s starter sometimes right yeah based off
9649s how it works out also important to note
9651s the thief Rogue get us another W on the
9654s board compared to the other pirate Tempo
9656s Rogue which are struggling a little bit
9657s more so perhaps it makes us re-evaluate
9660s the value of those because some people
9662s were saying you know what I'm not sure
9664s about some of these defro cars I think
9665s it's a lot weaker than the pirate
9667s package maybe we have to think for a
9669s second oh I mean the the thief projects
9671s also have Pirates right they're they're
9672s just a little bit Slimmer on the Pirates
9674s they're not the the uh charged pirate
9676s deck I think what we've seen mostly is a
9678s split between the thief Rogue and the
9680s the kind of deadly poison deckhand Rogue
9682s right it's the all-out face Rogue versus
9684s the uh the Vendetta Rogue yeah four
9687s Centric versus face Center yeah which
9689s makes sense if you're you know a player
9691s that well one loves to go phase which
9693s you know who doesn't unless you're like
9696s Fibonacci and then the second is uh you
9699s know being able to have multiple varied
9701s game plans and one thing that people
9703s don't really factor in in terms of
9705s tournaments as often as they should is
9707s the factor of just having that that
9710s element they can't prepare for when you
9711s have that stolen card it can be really
9713s difficult and hagatha is another like
9714s MVP card that can do that and this is
9716s also 100's best matchup this is a very
9719s favorite for the control Shaman so this
9721s is what he's really hoping to gunned
9722s down and even though people point at
9723s token Druid being their weak deck
9725s statistically before we factored intent
9727s cards zoo looks like to be the the deck
9729s that through yeah it's it's interesting
9731s obviously these uh stats we're citing
9733s are their ladder stats so it's it's hard
9736s to really say you know who between these
9739s uh these decks the more unusual versions
9741s are going to be favored because I don't
9742s think we have you know probably more
9744s than the games hunter race played a
9746s matter with this deck to determine uh
9748s you know what what this deck's active
9749s matchups are but they're pretty good if
9751s you have both hackathon schemes in your
9752s opening hand against a board-centric
9754s deck that's for sure interesting that he
9756s also even just threw away hack of the
9757s straight up that's how much he valued
9758s just not laying the board getting way
9760s out of control I mean hagatha is is
9762s incredibly powerful but zoo is a deck
9764s that puts you on a very very fast clock
9767s you need to be able to answer things
9769s well before you know you coin out a
9771s hagatha you know for three damage AOE on
9773s turn seven yeah if it's even relevant by
9775s the time good value comes around or they
9777s have scary base
9778s but as a faceless at Goblin lackeys
9781s yep one thing that's also fairly
9784s important for Hunter acres is the Wild
9785s pyromancers and he has all the tools he
9787s has the coin along with his wild
9788s pyromancer and the ancestor healing so
9790s he could possibly have multiple uses of
9792s that pyromance's ability and have it
9794s stick in play having the coin here is
9796s fairly clutch for that specific reason
9800s um it was almost to the point where
9801s players were like start you know
9804s sarcastically mocking Hunter is like
9806s dude you have one apartment but you have
9808s like almost like no spells to really
9810s utilize it and you like give double
9811s acidic swamp moves like you really hate
9813s like every other class in the game
9814s that's not shaman
9817s uh and I think it's paying off in space
9819s I mean Hunter Hayes even went a little
9820s bit uh on Twitter talking about like how
9823s yes he knows his Shaman deck looks very
9824s weird but all of them have very specific
9827s uses of it and then orange was backing
9829s up obviously because they practice
9830s together so you know I I think that as
9833s we see the shaman continue to develop in
9836s this series it's looking more and more
9838s scary yeah it's it's worth noting uh you
9840s know this is the first time we've had a
9842s tournament of this size you know
9843s certainly the first time we have the
9844s World Championship uh so close to the
9846s release of an expansion very often at
9849s Champions events there'd be kind of
9850s settled versions of What deck is the
9853s best and what versions of that deck are
9855s the strongest that's just not true right
9857s now right now we're in a world where you
9860s know players uh are both seeking okay
9863s you know what are the strongest decks
9865s period and what are the best versions of
9866s those decks Shaman is the the class that
9868s had sort of the most disagreement
9869s there's tons of different versions of
9871s Shaman in this tournament despite
9873s everyone generally deciding okay well
9876s control is the way to take
9880s like now trying to evaluate uh what can
9883s you do the turn before the heck of the
9885s scheme or if he extends too far deep his
9887s opponent can coin out the back of this
9889s game
9890s I think almost any way he slices it to a
9893s magic carpet is something that he wants
9894s to play as soon as he can to try
9896s establish more dominance
9900s face is Lackey looking for something to
9902s survive AOE okay
9905s A little bit of foreshadow
9910s well still if you're support though
9912s something that Hunter race
9914s might be thinking about pulling the
9916s trigger if he's greedy though
9919s he might shoot something else hilarious
9920s actually has the ability to pyro coin
9923s acolyte ancestral healing here so that
9926s gives him an extra card it's the
9928s Accolade on the board
9931s game to me
9932s and this does Wipe Out everything but
9935s the carpet and then this turn the
9937s schemes tick to five so that's gonna be
9940s enough to to wipe out uh the carpet and
9943s whatever ends up following the Mind
9945s anagram rally and also shuts down the
9946s sea giant really well played here by
9948s Hunter Hayes spotting every single
9949s possibility that Zoo can develop in the
9951s spot
9952s as inconvenient for Ike to say the least
9954s now he could continue to develop
9958s nice jungler here those a little bit
9960s risky we risk giving hundreds an extra
9963s card if the juggle has the acolyte right
9966s he does fill up the carpet so anything
9967s can attack immediately he could uh he
9970s could play you know the uh Goblin Lackey
9973s just to Accolade immediately to try and
9975s then play Knife juggler
9978s I think gabumaki has the most iconic
9980s voice line of this set double time and
9984s double pay I didn't do that very well
9985s but commit to it cancer don't cut
9988s yourself off Midway I mean I got your
9990s back finished it but I did it badly I
9993s I'm I'm just being judgmental of myself
9994s I'm committing but I'm committing to the
9997s fact that I was bad at that
10002s there it is
10005s I think you did great I don't know my
10008s voice is quite squeaky enough yeah maybe
10011s if uh we get you a balloon of helium
10013s well this sport is relatively innocuous
10017s but annoying at the same time right does
10019s Hunter race choose to have a scheme or
10021s just easily ax in this spot
10023s there's there's two kind of major
10024s threats here right now there's like the
10026s the carpet itself and the the knife
10029s juggler right because if the carpet
10030s remains in play then everything else
10032s that comes into play is getting buffed
10033s you know and uh potentially taking down
10035s say the zilliacs that scheme does end up
10038s killing both of them which is kind of a
10040s big deal uh does leave the uh Argent
10043s Squire but that's only a single uh
10045s single Minion in play well I was playing
10048s um a dexism or this it was a big Shaman
10050s with buck Morpher and you know big bad
10053s archmage and a bunch of like really fun
10055s cars I was playing with Chris Sierra who
10056s did the reveal stream uh you know on can
10058s be imagine for Hearthstone
10060s and I was like why are you so afraid of
10061s Magic Carpet if you're a deck that just
10063s plays a bunch of daily it has rush it
10065s doesn't have charge it's true so let
10066s your opponent keep playing minions and
10068s just developing and then use your giant
10070s aoes like have this game to clean it up
10071s if you change a knife juggle here I
10073s guess incentivize uses Divine Shield
10074s instead or to use another Rush Minion
10077s and then it's like Rush can't do
10078s anything to you beyond that yeah it's
10080s true so I I like this straight into the
10082s knife Joker because that actually can
10083s really mix you up
10085s all right Solarium time gonna go digging
10088s fines abusive Sergeant void Walker all
10092s once another carpet oh a second carpet
10096s but now that like you were mentioning
10098s and observing the heck is a scheme can
10100s pretty much kill everything yeah both of
10101s these are up to six right now I do
10104s suspect oh that is greedy if he does
10106s this that is pretty greedy on Ike's part
10109s to use the Divine Shield but granted
10110s he's also kind of in a position where
10112s well if you have a a uh skim in a lot of
10115s trouble
10116s and he does know that there is this one
10119s card that uh Hunter Hayes kept still in
10121s his hand yeah I I don't know about that
10124s yeah hagatha out in full force hack at
10127s the scheme the queen and the Bewitched
10135s yeah this is definitely creep right and
10137s also he misses damage which is a little
10138s bit uncharacteristic of him however uh
10141s if he has that sea giant I can totally
10142s understand right like we were talking
10144s about I feel like from Ike's perspective
10146s at this stage of the game if this is a a
10149s pretty bad matchup and you know B you're
10152s you're in a position where your hand is
10154s kind of poor if you aren't able to stick
10156s a board both Leroy and C giant are weak
10159s if your opponent is able to clear your
10160s board anyway so I think that maybe
10162s taking the road that's okay well I want
10164s to just you know be able to maximize
10166s what uh I have going on here in the in
10168s the case that I'm fortunate enough that
10170s my opponent does not have AOE
10173s interestingly enough I know we a few of
10175s us have bagged on having Arch Village
10177s reform in the zoo were like that I kind
10179s of wonder if it's even just better
10180s against like Hunter Hayes's deck instead
10182s of a position because it doesn't feel
10183s like Ike has enough substance to push
10185s through if he doesn't land a sea giant
10187s down
10187s and it's like in this spot
10191s what is like really relying upon in fact
10194s he doesn't even have a single Minion
10195s like had he had the yards and square
10196s maybe this Evil Genius good yeah it's
10198s true and and I do think that he might
10200s have played the game differently he had
10202s the Evil Genius in his hand
10203s s sure absolutely it's you know it is
10206s still in your deck right and again I get
10208s the logic he's coming up on turn eight
10209s he wants to maximize his pressure before
10211s that turn eight comes out like we're
10212s disgusting It's just tough because now I
10215s see the zoo deck and just looks it looks
10217s really bad it's tough for sure
10220s and now Hunter Hayes is in a position
10222s where
10223s he's in a really good spot I mean he
10226s could get away with just playing a swamp
10227s Queen hagatha the new legendary Shaman
10230s minion that teaches a minion spells you
10234s guys miss kazakis from back in the me
10237s she's a gadget stand where you built a
10238s custom potion you get to build a custom
10241s spell minion
10243s thornbringer is kind of what you're
10244s looking for but lightning storm is all
10246s him is all really effective is what I am
10248s always looking for I think lightning
10249s storm is is more what Henry's looking
10251s for that was a snap snap pick right
10253s there and that is an incredibly powerful
10256s uh horror right here just far horror
10258s with lightning storm feral Spirit he's
10259s going to have a five five for five that
10263s kills his opponent's board gives him two
10265s two three taunts
10268s it is a very powerful thing AOE and
10270s board development exactly what you want
10272s against zoo and those wolves have taunt
10274s yes
10276s big deal I mean I think he's far head
10279s enough that he can get away with tossing
10281s in ancestral healing Man Hunter race is
10283s so greedy he's like he's he's going back
10285s and forth like sometimes like okay I'm
10287s the beat down so I'm gonna go ahead one
10288s big thing is that eichstag doesn't have
10290s soul fire right so like just getting in
10292s like the chip damage isn't nearly as
10294s powerful as as it is for some other
10297s versions of decks that have more bursts
10298s he only has Leroy for burst in this bag
10301s it's true but without double magic
10303s carpet
10305s I mean it feels like the Swanky
10306s character would trade two for one in
10308s this spot it's true which makes me feel
10309s like
10310s I kind of want to be I actually think
10312s there's there may be the the rationale
10314s from Honduras that if his opponent plays
10316s C giant he wants able to attack the sea
10317s Giant and play hagatha so he doesn't
10320s want he doesn't want Ike to attack the
10322s swamp good hackatha
10323s yeah that's true
10325s that's fair enough
10327s like baiting him to the extent to the
10329s board right
10332s and in the end guess the value trade
10334s anyway so it works out really well for
10336s Hunter Hayes
10338s I mean I like the upside of keeping
10339s ancestral healing you know if you're
10341s able to
10342s get The Walking fountain for example
10344s yeah look at that screen oh scheme at
10347s eight it is
10349s and uh Ike's gonna trade to try and
10351s protect the Giant from exactly what I
10352s was just mentioning the the haga the
10354s plus trade but uh he's been scheming for
10357s a long time and it might be might
10360s finally be the moment that those plans
10361s are set into motion as this uh is an
10363s eight-point hack of this game that wipes
10365s the entire board yeah if he had nine
10367s Mana he had the hex and just for heart
10369s to go for a guaranteed board clear with
10371s lightning storm development and uh
10374s destroying these opponent's board
10378s even just threw the wishes Brew too so
10380s the the threat of burst even you know
10382s getting ethereal lackeys off of Evil
10384s Genius and finding Soul fires and not
10387s going to really be working out right I
10389s think that we're at this with the stage
10390s where Hunter Hayes feels like he is just
10391s in incredible control of this and wants
10393s to make sure he does not make a mistake
10398s that's why that's why I look at Hacker's
10400s heart I'm like is it really that bad to
10402s just play that in the Accolade here
10404s the horror yeah I mean that that's
10406s definitely an option oh I meant the
10408s extra scheme yeah like does he feel like
10410s he's wasting his Resources by doing this
10412s I think part of
10414s it's interesting the dress for horror
10416s here does give him
10417s you know a bunch of damage on his
10420s opponent's stuff it does overload him
10422s for four right which is a fairly big
10423s deal and he does give him the ability to
10425s scheme the following I am pretty
10427s surprised that he didn't want to scheme
10428s here
10430s um maybe maybe that's exactly why he did
10432s not the possibility of a follow-up sea
10434s giant but he has a hex right I'm just
10437s I'm just trying to figure out right
10439s I you know I think that the uh the
10441s second sea giant you know I might think
10443s okay well my first sea giant didn't die
10445s maybe the second one's safe and then the
10447s heck of the scheme comes down
10453s yeah I think I think that's exactly it
10456s actually because 100 is so uh fixated on
10460s the value of being able to get the hack
10461s of the scheme and saving hex for any
10463s kind of Hail Mary attempts
10465s that he should be good to go in almost
10468s any scenario here it's it's also I think
10470s he's worried about a
10472s um Solarium was already played actually
10473s yeah Solarium was played I mean there's
10476s one remaining sea giant after this sea
10478s Giant and I mean that's part of why the
10480s just being able to scheme last turn wipe
10482s everything off and have the hex in
10483s reserve
10484s just feels particularly powerful to me
10488s right
10491s but now it's like doesn't even really
10493s need this just right well he just hex
10496s you know trade off the five five yeah
10505s it's for the nuke option the nuclear
10506s option in case Ike does something
10508s amazing like Evil Genius into
10512s um ethereal Lackey into like reform's
10515s scheme until like crazy board
10517s development with grim rally I think
10518s that's kind of but even then he has to
10519s tag at this the just as a Battle Cry
10523s Oh God this is Dice
10528s uh maybe Ike's the fatigue plan yeah
10531s trying to
10536s oh God
10540s oh
10541s Solarium another one okay
10545s all right that's a clear board yeah and
10548s now you know now Ike's like all right
10550s well that's a hag if they're coming down
10552s you uh oh God
10562s and there's even you know just used to
10564s follow it up get a spell and both
10566s walking fountains in hand for 100
10569s stop he's already dead come on man
10574s I mean get on I like to play it through
10576s if even if you have a point five percent
10578s chance of winning or less sticking
10581s through it as long as above zero
10584s but I I think this is almost as close as
10586s it can get this year he has double
10587s giggly winner double walking fast
10589s shutter walk for you know the horror and
10593s yeah I mean we joked about having like I
10595s kind of wish he had to perform in this
10596s position I think he'd very much take
10598s that
10603s still a reasonable four two despite
10605s everything it's true
10609s dude walking Fountain though it is a
10611s that is the real deal yeah new common
10613s Elemental that has wind Fury lifesteal
10616s and rust you can combo it with all the
10619s ancestral spells that social here
10620s healing and social spirit
10622s and Ike is going to scoop them up that
10624s is game three over to the Norris player
10626s and yeah this this was what uh you know
10629s Hunter has really built this deck to do
10631s just absolutely dominant aggressive
10633s decks we saw maybe he played things a
10635s little too conservatively took a a
10637s rather tried to service resources too
10639s much the first uh showing with that deck
10641s and you know was able to uh fall to
10644s Ike's Rogue but here he just picks apart
10647s that Warlock deck and now he's just one
10649s game away from winning this match right
10651s that being said uh one of the decks in
10654s question here also for Hunter race is
10657s his Mage Mage is very vulnerable to
10659s those Zoo warlock strategies that they
10660s don't have AOE however rice has got a
10664s very interesting thing it's a lot of
10665s stuff yeah Ike was actually saying that
10667s he thinks that the hunter races mage
10669s deck may be the toughest deck in the
10671s lineup for him simply because of the
10672s specific decisions that uh that uh
10675s Hunter race made during the deck
10676s construction you know the pair of rabble
10678s bouncers the uh the Double mind control
10680s text the Hench Clan sneak you know it's
10684s just such a powerful deck even a Mossy
10686s horror you know just so many powerful
10688s minion based tech cards uh that you know
10691s Hunter race can can dig for with book of
10693s specters yeah yeah I I really admire
10695s Hunter Ace's play and his enthusiasm but
10697s for this event what I admire the most is
10699s his deck building choices I think he's
10701s really showed up his weaknesses targeted
10703s strategy honed it without warrior in
10705s mind and I think it's going to pay off
10706s in Spades against Ike and Ike make the
10709s upset we'll find out when we return to
10711s the Hearthstone World Championship
10714s I'm kind of cocky
10718s I am very confident how I play I think
10721s I'm one of the best players I hit him in
10724s the face so they have less life is kind
10725s of my motto although it sounds kind of
10727s stupid it's just something to actually
10729s think about in a simple way right you
10731s have two choices you could trade or you
10732s can go face if you don't really know
10734s what to do just go face
10739s I'm not perfect but like I'm pretty damn
10743s close having fans that actually care
10746s about how you do it's really motivating
10748s and feel good thing fans Drive players
10750s hanging out saying hi in chat saying man
10753s you really did great at this tournament
10754s and I enjoyed watching a smile on my
10756s face and a motivation to play so I was
10759s born with
10761s um a bone disease called in general
10763s pseudoarthrosis about one in a million
10765s people have it throughout my life I've
10767s had long periods of time where I can't
10769s walk which has led to 21
10773s surgeries basically a surgery a year
10775s video games are just the go-to thing
10778s when you can't really do anything
10779s Hearthstone in particular you just open
10781s it up on the iPad it's just really nice
10783s in long recovery periods to Hearthstone
10786s is honestly just kind of been there
10788s during difficult times I got two aspects
10792s of my life medical and gaming I'm kind
10795s of on the up on gaming and down on the
10797s medical so it's nice to have a little
10799s balance out so getting up on a
10801s Hearthstone stage having a bunch of
10803s people watch you seems not as scary as
10806s going in for an eight-hour surgery where
10809s you might lose your leg coming out of it
10811s I kind of told everyone that I was gonna
10813s win Worlds this year so this is the last
10815s shot for that so I don't really have an
10817s option to lose here I got Brian kibler's
10819s choose your champ vote everyone has ever
10821s picked has made it to the world
10823s championship and I don't plan on ending
10826s his pick on a wash Creek
10834s Ike's grown up for eyes as he's becoming
10838s a boy to a man but you know what hasn't
10840s aged well
10841s that segment because kipler he had your
10845s choice as choose your champion and now
10847s you've decided to go against it but you
10849s know what it looks like it's panning out
10850s the killer blessings in full effect as
10852s Hunter raises up two to one I picked Ike
10854s he Co-op of the world championship I
10855s feel like my work was done there to some
10857s degree okay yeah you got him here what
10859s else does he want do you want to win
10862s Worlds oh yeah I think he does yeah I am
10864s still rooting for Ike you know I think
10865s Ike is a great guy yeah but like I said
10868s the uh the conversation we had with
10869s Hunter race where he just went into
10872s incredible detail about all of his
10874s decisions as to why he built that Shaman
10876s deck we just saw win the way that he did
10878s it just kind of blew my mind you know I
10880s I and I love to see that level of of uh
10884s you know thought process and you know
10886s just passion from a player and you know
10888s I I hadn't had a chance to meet uh
10889s Honduras before and he just really
10891s impressed me and that was why I chose
10892s him for this event and you know I hope
10895s we all win but only one player can win
10898s uh this match and uh Hunter race is just
10900s one game away and and Ike's deck here is
10903s a very unique one he is only uh one of
10906s two players in this tournament who's
10907s playing token Druid period uh and he is
10910s the only player who is playing this kind
10912s of hybrid version of token heel Druid uh
10915s that he has brought he has two copies of
10917s Crystal Stag and two life Weavers as the
10919s the heel cards effectively in the deck
10921s uh but also has like ornery Tortoise and
10925s the crystallizer we see in his hand to
10926s enable those against Decks that don't
10928s necessarily damage him right so and the
10930s Riser shot is one of the new Mechanics
10931s for the Druid class is to restore Health
10934s just in general and if you do you get a
10936s bonus ad effect uh no different than if
10938s you guys play Channel live the dragon
10940s hog from roscom's Rumble summon ragnaros
10942s if you heal five Health throughout the
10944s game Crystal stack summons a copy of
10945s itself which is a four-war Rush Minion
10947s and everyone knows Rush is pretty darn
10949s good in Hearthstone and then lifeweaver
10951s of course being able to generate those
10952s extra spells very similar to Lyra the
10955s sunshard from Journey 2 and Goro having
10957s this Hail Mary but also incredible value
10960s generation can be extreme really
10962s powerful especially with Drew with class
10964s that is traditionally had a lot of
10966s powerful spells
10967s how to raise his hand though pretty
10969s powerful here for this matchup and I
10972s collect you with an interesting decision
10973s here because he has that uh Whispering
10975s Woods in his hand and he did just get
10978s two squirrels from that Acorn bear Acorn
10980s Bear by the way I think one of the
10982s quietly just the strongest cards in the
10984s set in terms of how it enables this deck
10986s not only giving you additional token
10988s minions you can play to buff but also
10990s increasing your hand size for Whispering
10992s Wood and still allowing you to play
10993s proactively also very on point flavor
10996s wise because if you've never seen two
10998s squirrels fight over and uh it is
11000s absolutely hilarious so in the fact that
11002s when someone drops the acorn two
11004s squirrels pop up it's just very well
11006s designed thematically I like
11009s Hunter Hayes now you know he has the the
11011s rabble Bouncer and the mind control Tech
11012s in his hand uh gotta be on Ike's mind
11015s specifically the rabble bouncer is so
11017s powerful if he does extend very wide in
11019s the board can go down to zero Mana
11022s against the full board
11025s and yeah this was as I mentioned uh
11027s before he went to the break uh one of
11030s the the Decks that I was most concerned
11032s about
11034s yes although I think a zoo warlock is
11037s definitely uh backing up the statistics
11039s at least for now we'll see if Hunter
11042s Rays can deal with this first threat
11044s check and the Honda race has an amazing
11046s turn here if he wants it he has rabble
11049s bouncer into mind control Tech
11052s Arena's phone zero cost two seven taunt
11056s yeah I was thinking this okay he's
11059s actually not gonna MC tag he's gonna go
11060s ahead and just acidic swamp who's in
11061s pink yeah Michael dick is better when
11064s your opponent keeps that's true
11065s that is true he wants to go ahead and
11066s use his uh his hero power to just uh
11068s plink one off while he sells that
11069s opportunity
11071s and yeah uh Ike does have the
11073s opportunity to power up the wild here if
11076s you wanted but you know now he's down to
11078s a board of five and that rabble bouncers
11079s in play you know that is just a really
11082s rough situation he's not really able to
11083s make much Headway with the buff card
11087s I'm a big fan of uh just buffing and
11090s pushing here yep I don't think you have
11092s much time against the mage deck if you
11094s give him setup they will be able to do
11097s really powerful things against you
11100s oh interesting hey Ike when you don't
11102s know what to do go face I mean what
11105s happens they have less life
11106s and then you kill them so they're dead
11108s yeah
11110s all right there we go
11113s he he talks to talk and he walks the
11116s walk it's true
11117s so zilliacs is an option for Hunter race
11120s here you can clear off the entire board
11121s and you still have the option of scale
11124s worm next turn right
11127s interestingly you know Hunter Hayes he
11130s is
11130s not really in the uh the sort of
11133s Advantage perspective resource-wise
11135s right now because it's not found his
11137s inspectors at least in terms of like
11139s cards in hand
11140s um though his cards are certainly more
11142s powerful than Ike's you know like with
11144s those two squirrels and no no way to
11146s buff them outside of that tending torn
11147s at the moment it is interesting uh Ike
11150s is playing tending torn rather than
11151s playing blessing of the Ancients right
11153s the new twin spell card and and that's a
11156s very interesting decision uh that I
11158s think may serve him well one of the
11160s things that we saw in Jing's match just
11162s yesterday when he he lost for this token
11164s repeatedly was that he had a ton of buff
11167s spells and nothing to do with them you
11169s know he would have power of the wild and
11171s Savage Roar and blessing the Ancients
11173s and just no minions and tending tauren
11176s is you know a uh a minion that is much
11179s more powerful uh in terms of giving you
11183s that that flexibility
11186s and I think we may it looks like it's
11188s actually going all four okay he's not
11189s gonna play around mind control Tech
11191s yeah I think Microsoft tech is not
11193s something that's on his mind I think
11194s he's kind of setting up the best 10d
11198s the best attendees available to him and
11201s now uh you know Hunter race he has that
11203s skill where ping still available so he
11204s can take out three of these minions and
11207s keep the zeliacs alive that is really
11209s nice and this is just a really rough
11211s situation for Ike here as
11214s yeah we mentioned that Rush is a really
11217s powerful mechanic yeah
11220s all right that's why Ike even values it
11222s in his own deck Crystal stag right to
11224s try to get that Rush effect
11226s Crystal power is the draw not really
11228s very powerful right now yeah this might
11231s look like Ike is considering obviously
11234s developing or just utilizing swipe in
11236s this position Crystal power a new spell
11238s that gives you the choice of either
11239s restoring five health and getting that
11241s activation through life weaver or
11243s Crystal stag or you can just deal two
11245s damage
11248s most effectively this turn
11250s gonna go with the swipe though
11252s yeah the thing about saying torrent is
11254s that it gives like really good trades
11255s for hunt race once again and then that
11257s zili X will take out effectively two and
11258s a half he could kill the zilliacs for
11260s this one one remaining in play
11262s you're right sorry but uh
11266s I am a little bit surprised by the swipe
11268s there maybe maybe the thought process is
11269s that swipe is not going to be good later
11272s summoning portal interesting that ends
11275s up being very good for a summoning maid
11277s that wants big stuff like Mountain giant
11280s I think is playable I thought you see
11282s Hunter is not in a little bit all right
11283s all right my summoning theme deck is
11285s continuing
11287s uh yeah actually Mount giant was
11289s playable either way but now you can play
11290s both Mountain giant pulls anything else
11292s so
11293s Ike drawing another swipe
11299s I mean there's no great way and this is
11302s kind of part of why I I felt like the
11304s the tending tournament last turn you
11307s know yes it would have left up a uh the
11309s scale Worm but you would have had the
11312s tutus along with the tending tauren and
11314s skull could kill one of them
11316s and you know now you know Ike has these
11318s tending torrents which are behind other
11320s minions where you know having obviously
11322s like an additional swipe here you
11324s couldn't play anyway but he'd have the
11326s bodies on the board he would have you
11327s know a three four and a a tutu
11331s I'm inclined to agree
11334s I'm inclined to agree because and you
11336s know who else might agree because a
11337s bloody face might agree too because he's
11339s been everything that costs the most Mana
11341s he's been very critical of players that
11342s have been favoring like using removal
11345s and hero powering a little bit to try to
11346s be more value-oriented but he's saying
11349s if you're like a deck that really wants
11350s to get on the board why not get on the
11351s board this is a really good mind control
11353s Tech opportunity for Hunter Hayes
11355s yeah I think the Twilight tricks even
11357s Drake Drake MC tech oh my God this
11361s summoning portal is oh and he takes the
11365s 3-4 takes the tending tauren
11368s and he also can play one more minion
11370s these six one he can go so wide he's the
11373s token mage
11375s it feels like he's he's going faster and
11377s wider on the board
11385s bad spot to say the least but
11388s if he's able to weather this Hunter race
11391s has no cards left in the hand yeah but
11393s he is he has seven things
11398s like well I don't know what the sequence
11400s of cars that I could draw that would
11402s would allow him to get out of it life
11405s we've I mean I guess
11407s maybe you haven't been on the receiving
11409s end of just like you know the miracle
11410s period type situation but I've seen some
11412s wacky stuff happen from that all right
11414s explain to me how I did that okay he
11417s draws life Weaver he draws all right he
11420s draws Crystal stag at one point removes
11422s Crystal stack is not enabled right but
11425s he has he can't he can't handle even
11426s Crystal power he's at 26 right
11429s in the future turns and how many turns
11431s did he have here
11433s thank you
11434s three
11437s what to do he's gonna remove at least
11439s two of these minions that's three of
11440s these with this with the swipe here he's
11442s killing some stuff yeah
11448s and he can remove two more of these
11450s minions and just put seven pound on the
11452s board then but then he he's not using
11454s Crystal power for its heel so I think
11456s he'd rather just utilize it too maybe
11458s it's close
11461s I guess because he has two more means to
11463s play on nine he'd rather just utilize
11465s his man efficiently now oh my God book
11468s of specters all right
11470s we're talking about you know oh well how
11472s does like uh okay well if he didn't have
11475s book of specters he would have been
11476s drawn this it's just like I think I
11480s could have came back if he just drew one
11481s big four state for example I think he
11483s still can
11484s yeah no at this point after that that
11487s tickets removal and that uh that book
11489s into into mostly air now 100 is the
11492s position that you know do I hold these
11494s witch doctors or do I just try to push
11497s you down with damage but how much
11498s they're six seven eight nine
11503s oh my God
11506s hold on Kibler
11509s all right that was a big drop right
11512s conjure is calling that's a nice draw
11515s too okay and there's still it's a sixth
11517s drop he has from the attending tauren
11519s power of creation all right this is even
11522s a lot more interesting than I thought it
11523s was gonna get
11524s all right well that's a big oh that's a
11526s good one and a bad one
11528s that's okay because then you can use it
11530s again it's true
11532s foreign
11538s all right are you kidding me
11542s as the power of conjures calling
11545s that was basically a power of creation
11547s right there yeah
11550s with cat car and play and now Hunter
11552s race is pushing for lethal I just have
11553s the time anymore
11555s all right those are a couple big swings
11556s going back and forth there and yeah now
11558s 8 11 12 13 14 15. the soul that's so far
11563s straw the the taunt in the way are
11565s massive right yeah that four seven taunt
11569s what was that I forgot the guy's name
11572s I want to say Temple something but I
11573s don't think that's right I want to
11576s record us
11577s and there it is so Hunter Ace takes the
11580s series three games to one in the game
11583s that was you know much more volatile
11585s than I I at least was willing to believe
11587s uh prior to those last couple of turns
11589s it was scary but in the end Hunter Hayes
11591s takes it three to one
11594s and Ike's prophecy has become
11595s self-fulfilling at this point he did he
11598s did feel like you know this is his his
11600s toughest matchup right and you know
11602s understandably so as you know he said
11604s Hunter Hayes built his line up the
11605s counter me right and you know like is a
11608s player who he's he's very outspoken in
11610s his opinions he's very forthright and
11612s you know the the styles of decks that he
11614s enjoys he thinks are good and uh
11616s Honduras was able to exploit those
11617s Tendencies and build a lineup That was
11619s just very effective against aggressive
11620s decks that's right and just like
11622s tortoise it's a slow start for him as
11624s well so you know he's not out of it yet
11626s he'll drop to the lower bracket and
11628s we'll find out whether or not uh Hunter
11630s race ends up meeting Ike again perhaps
11632s in the decider match shout out to all
11634s the fans that showed up by the way at 9
11635s 00 a.m on you know to try and cheer on
11637s for their favorite players they're
11639s anxiously awaiting what's going to
11640s happen in group D because I think most
11642s Taiwanese fans came out to cheer on
11643s Roger but a quick look at Group C Hunter
11646s Ace takes out Ike to start things off
11649s and then we'll have later today for the
11651s third match eight three six five zero go
11653s up against
11654s yeah we've already seen one of the top
11657s Point earners uh from the year uh end up
11659s taking the their first match with Hunter
11661s Hayes winning he can potentially just
11663s face the uh the America's point leader
11665s in just saying in the uh the initial
11666s matter rather does the uh winners match
11668s later today that's right two Europe
11670s players versus two America's players I
11673s think a lot of people are also uh
11674s waiting to see how Justin is going to be
11676s able to do because uh you know being
11678s very gay Group C looks like to be one of
11680s the groups of death if not the group of
11682s death it's got two points leaders in
11684s sand and Hunter race although Saiyan
11686s technically qualified through a
11689s championship so he's not like the points
11691s leader in terms of I guess that's true
11692s yeah he was the number one point earner
11694s I believe overall but Muzzy got the
11695s point spot yeah because uh Saiyan did uh
11698s make the the top four of the
11699s championship yeah and in a way like
11701s Sam's like I think I messed myself up
11703s because I put myself to play against
11705s shout out to your Hunter raise and he
11706s was like I didn't want to do that but I
11707s also wanted mostly go through so he's
11709s like you know what I'll take this out
11710s for the team and I'm gonna beat Hunter
11711s Hayes I'm like that's right same because
11713s in order to be the best you have to beat
11714s the best yeah and you know we still have
11716s uh Tyler who's been facing off against
11717s Roger the other point leader against the
11719s sort of Hometown hero later today in a
11721s match that Tyler thinks is gonna be
11723s really tough that's right so it was a
11726s fiery start to begin day number two here
11729s in the Hearthstone World Championship as
11731s Hunter Hayes was able to take down Ike
11734s from the United States by a score of
11736s three to one off the back of his
11738s explosive Shaman and Mage decks coming
11740s up next we have Tyler from Vietnam go up
11743s against Roger from Chinese Taipei don't
11746s go anywhere more action for the
11747s Hearthstone World Championship live from
11749s Taiwan right after this after taking a
11752s loss versus just saying in the group
11754s winners match hunt race had one last
11757s chance to make it through
11758s as a hunter Ace fan this one was tough
11761s to watch with the champ having his back
11763s against the wall after falling two games
11765s behind let's see how he made a huge
11768s comeback welcome back everybody the HCT
11770s World Championship up TJ Joy by the
11773s Admiral that's admirable and it wouldn't
11774s be an Esports competition without at
11777s least one awkward handshake
11780s no comment
11782s okay I'll let you take that one I'm not
11784s gonna talk about it
11787s fair enough
11789s I ignore you it makes it a lot less
11791s awkward it wouldn't be an Esports
11793s competition without one awkward Caster
11795s transition Amen to that brother this is
11798s the Battle of the caspers
11800s as both Hunter race and a83650
11804s share a first name yeah I mean I think
11807s when you look at it uh from a top-down
11808s perspective it's pretty interesting
11809s because it means that Casper uh is
11811s definitely favored over Casper in this
11813s one and Casper I think is a lot better
11815s if the Casper is yeah and uh one other
11817s thing that I want to point out which is
11818s not a storyline that we've been talking
11820s about very much but I think it's very
11822s important in the past two years players
11825s with five numbers at the end of their
11828s name have a 100 win rate in World
11832s Championships
11834s it's a true story
11836s tom60229 that's right was the previous
11838s one fun facts for everyone out there so
11840s even though we don't have the potential
11842s for crazy games that end in a bomb
11846s at least we have caspers we do have some
11850s some stuff that's pretty darn crazy in
11852s this match though uh you know the big
11853s one I look at is the mid-range Shaman
11856s from aa3650 uh which is a unique deck at
11860s the tournament uh he's not the only
11862s player playing Shaman of course but he's
11864s the only player to play a shaman quite
11866s in this regard it's got a lot of token
11868s Generation stuff in it it features
11870s bloodlust it's got a copy of sun Reaver
11872s War Mage and a copy of Karen bloodhoof
11875s in it as well and in the first match
11877s that we saw it with it went the distance
11879s in a uh Shaman mirror match against a
11883s control Shaman and ended up winning with
11885s one point of Health remaining
11888s in that matchup and it's just kind of
11890s crazy how effective this deck has been
11892s and you know I feel like I'm the only
11893s one of the casters who didn't have a
11895s giant question mark prior to the
11896s tournament about it I didn't either I
11898s love the deck
11899s okay fair enough we just disagree on
11901s what kind of deck it is but we both love
11903s them okay two shape two shape
11905s believe it was a bloody face graded this
11908s deck F minus
11911s during his interview process which is
11913s really funny because
11915s the winner of this match goes on to face
11918s bloody face in the quarterfinal oh yeah
11920s so what would be the ultimate Justice
11922s for that ridiculous unnecessary BM on
11927s this beautiful specimen of a Shaman deck
11930s would be if a wins this goes on to face
11932s bloody face and just wrecks him to be
11935s fair it was I who pressured him to grade
11937s the deck lists and a8s happened to be at
11939s first yeah
11942s that's true
11943s so it's your fault
11945s yeah what great Justice it would be if
11947s A8 had to face me
11949s as the winner of this match
11951s and then go on to show me up yeah
11955s let's get into it Rogue versus Shaman in
11957s game number one Henry shaman on the
11960s other hand is
11961s I would say somewhat unique compared to
11964s the field it doesn't control Shaman but
11966s there's quite a few Tech inclusions uh
11969s that are uh in his deck that we don't
11971s really see anywhere else and the thing
11973s that stands out to me the most is the
11974s two copies of wild pyromancer
11976s the two copies of Mind Control Tech and
11979s the one copy of Omega Defender
11981s oh and I didn't even mention that
11982s there's two twilight drinks in the deck
11984s as well oh you also forgot the two
11986s giggling inventors
11987s oh yeah so very unique and the funny
11990s thing about it is and I have a ton of
11993s Henry stories
11994s I've traveled a lot this year so is he
11996s we've met up a few times gotten to talk
11998s to him a bit also had him on talk Zone
12000s the podcast that that Dan and I have
12002s done throughout the year so I have a ton
12004s of honorary stories that I'll sprinkle
12005s throughout the cast here but the first
12007s one is
12008s when we sat down with the players to
12010s interview them before the world
12011s championship took place
12013s Honduras came in the room the first
12015s question we asked him was
12018s how did you come up with with your
12019s Shaman list and most of the time when we
12021s ask players they're like well I practice
12023s with this guy he came up with the idea
12024s and we refined it played a lot of games
12026s and ultimately said it on this list very
12027s simple explanation Hunter Ace
12031s went back and talked about every single
12034s moment that they decided on every single
12037s Tech card he took 15 minutes to answer
12039s one question about the Shaman deck
12042s he also thoroughly explained the cards
12045s that were not included but they had
12047s tried that they had tried it was a very
12050s thorough explanation and you can tell by
12052s the intense look on his face that
12054s thorough is pretty much just what he's
12056s about when it comes to Hearthstone you
12057s know TJ had mentioned that uh you know
12059s he's seen Hunter Ace a lot and he's got
12061s a lot of stories with him throughout the
12062s entirety of the Year Hunter Ace just
12064s tour stop after tour stop was the most
12066s dominant player in the world uh without
12069s a question he was the number one points
12070s earner uh and just had such a fantastic
12073s performance very consistently throughout
12076s the course of that and you know that
12078s consistency may be a bit overshadowed
12081s here by the fact that this giant Edwin
12083s Van Cleave is coming down here on turn
12084s two
12085s uh but yesterday when Hunter Hayes took
12088s his loss uh to move to this 1-1 score
12091s in this decider match to get out of
12093s group he did not look happy about it and
12096s I can guarantee you he went right to
12099s work trying to figure out how he's going
12101s to
12101s to attempt to dismantle this lineup from
12104s A8 well uh one problem big problem that
12106s I see in another Hunter a story right
12109s before his match against A8 I went
12111s backstage and Henry's had his tablet out
12114s and he was staring at AIDS deckless and
12116s he came up to me of all people and said
12118s hey TJ do you have any secret advice on
12121s beating a8's lineup he asked me the same
12123s question too
12124s so I don't know if he has any idea if
12127s he's going to me and admirable for
12129s advice cool he's doomed that's bad news
12132s I've gone to me for advice before and
12134s it's a bad idea yeah yeah I mean right
12137s now what secret advice could you tell
12139s him to deal with an 88 Van Cleef on term
12141s two I would tell him uh have your Rogue
12143s opponent's hand be full of nothing but
12144s four Mana cards on their three minute
12146s turn
12149s and then draw hex on turn four
12151s that's part of the equation there's an
12153s earth shot in here as well yep foreign
12158s two copies of hex but that's an eight
12161s point attack that just happened you know
12162s something that's a that's a really big
12164s kicker to this game though is the fact
12166s that Hunter a Scott hagatha from
12168s farsight and so he's about to suffer
12170s heaps of damage but the hagatha coming
12173s down way earlier than A8 can
12176s realistically anticipate
12178s means that a lot of his development
12180s could get counteracted here and what I'm
12182s thinking almost specifically is in a
12184s waggle pick dread Corsair dread Corsair
12186s situation
12188s you suddenly lose a lot of board
12190s presence because of that I'm just
12192s curious if Hunter race is going to have
12193s the time the problem is at that point he
12195s will have taken taken uh 24 damage from
12198s Edward Van Cleef as well as four damage
12200s from the waggle pick with four more
12202s showing
12203s it's a lot of damage
12206s this kills the Casper yeah I mean you
12209s see the change from giggling inventor of
12212s the days of yore from five minutes to
12214s seven Mana that was a five Mana giggling
12216s inventor I think Hunter Hayes had a very
12217s realistic chance here the fact that it's
12219s seven instead uh I think puts him in a
12221s in a fairly troubled spot and he's gonna
12223s need something to get out of this let's
12224s have zeliacs to you know provide a
12226s reprieve perhaps but I think he's gonna
12229s need something real quick or this game's
12232s done well if he plays tag at the next
12233s turn he's still going to take a ton of
12235s damage but then they can follow up with
12236s zilliacs into giggling Adventure
12238s so the fact that Hunter Ace has seen
12241s this first leads me to believe that
12243s zilliacs is probably going to be
12246s um
12246s an option for him more so than the
12248s hackathon would be however if you play
12250s the hag of the first what that means is
12251s the zilliacs provides you with a spell
12253s yeah and if that spell is Earth shock
12255s that's a game changer or lightning bolt
12258s or totemic smash all those would deal
12261s with the Edward Van Cleef at the same
12262s turn that he would play he's not going
12264s to let this Twilight Drake do anything
12267s and that means nine damage is coming
12269s across his turn Hunter Ace to just 12
12272s points of life
12276s foreign
12279s that's a big deal
12282s that's a very big deal the problem is I
12284s don't know if he has time I think he
12286s just might now playing the hagatha is
12289s going to risk a death but it requires
12291s quite the hand from Hunter Ace I'm sorry
12294s from A8 for him to actually die it would
12296s need to be a prep and eviscerate
12298s so what that means is hackatha comes
12299s down here it sets the Edwin to five
12301s attack
12303s five health I'm sorry yeah five health
12306s and you move from there
12308s you know the big issue with the hagatha
12310s this turn is that A8 has yet to use
12312s wagglepick and the dread corsairs are
12315s there
12315s that's something Hunter Ace knows is
12317s possible because of the rating party so
12320s I think when you really break it down
12321s zilliacs is probably one of the
12323s directions you move towards but that
12324s opens you to backstab
12330s A8 doesn't have backstab though he
12333s doesn't have si7 agent and what that
12336s means is that an attack has to go
12338s through the Celiac so the zilliacs
12339s without a draw that kills it
12343s it's a lot more HP
12346s that has to be an attack to kill it now
12349s yeah and the uh underbelly fence does
12352s deal with it the problem is
12354s he has no Mana to play anything but
12356s raiding party and the problem with that
12358s is his raiding party is much less value
12361s this is already drawn both waggle picks
12363s this is a definite waggle pick turn from
12365s A8 here it's the waggle pick it's both
12367s dread corsairs you smack the zilliacity
12370s raggle Pig you attack face for eight you
12373s set him to ten and you got tons
12374s represented it's going to deviate though
12376s I'm quite surprised by this
12381s I think a8's reasoning here is that a
12384s this is Mana efficient and that b he
12386s doesn't want
12388s the Edwin Van Cleef to get bounced back
12390s to hand and be in a bad spot
12398s if A8 had gone for that waggle pick Turn
12401s as well
12402s much more vulnerable to hagatham
12404s that I'm I'm actually curious if A8
12407s considered even yeah maybe maybe
12409s Agatha's off that that far side if it is
12411s I want these dread corsairs for
12413s afterwards that could be an active
12415s thought
12418s I think it I think that's unlikely but I
12420s think it's possible
12423s I don't know if that one's likely
12425s um I think the one that could be likely
12427s is
12428s playing around the double ooze in Hunt
12431s Race's deck that is for almost certainly
12433s a keep from Hunter Hayes aside
12435s he doesn't want this Edward Van Cleef to
12438s be brought back to the hand
12444s giggling inventor
12447s a little bit more checked when the
12448s backstabs there if the waggle picks
12450s online and you have unleashed the beast
12451s in hand I mean this is a lot of attacks
12453s that A8 can develop this turn but
12456s there's some stuff on his side to think
12457s about you know hagath the scheme one of
12459s the first ones that comes to your mind
12460s mind control I'm sorry a lightning storm
12461s is going to be in your mind there
12464s a crazy wild pyromancer turn hey it has
12466s to think about what the hand range from
12468s Hunter Ace feels like
12470s and oftentimes it's going to feel like
12472s something where it is expensive cards
12475s and situational cards
12477s but that could just as easily I think be
12479s hagatha's scheme instead
12485s I will now's the turn to go in and I
12488s just honestly don't think Hunter race
12489s has a way out of this
12491s I disagreed
12494s I think it takes a great deal of Fortune
12495s but I think it's possible
12498s what is the the ultimate scenario
12503s here it's probably that you get a
12507s witch's brew from the acidic swamp poos
12508s or it's the giggling inventor and hope
12510s your opponent doesn't have an extra
12512s attack Activation so both of those
12514s things are extremely unlikely
12517s a path but lightning storm rolls High
12520s ooze does something
12522s you have a chance giggling inventor he
12524s could also uh could he snag ancestral
12526s healing here and block in the pack I
12528s don't think so because A8 has access to
12531s six attack mechanisms so Hunter Ace is
12533s beaten in this one and it's an extreme
12535s long shot for him to win in that
12537s scenario
12539s Edwin van cleef's just too much yep
12549s I'd say not a super unexpected result
12552s but certainly not the one that Hunter
12554s Ace was looking for I think I think
12556s Rogue is especially Burger Rogue is one
12558s of those Decks that Hunter Ace is a
12559s little bit stronger against yeah and
12561s when you consider the grand scheme of
12562s Rogue decks so quite a tough loss uh
12565s with Shaman just a big clunky hand early
12567s on yeah eight uh uh broken is built
12571s aggressively
12572s but those are the matchups that you
12575s expect to win as the control Shaman they
12576s have so much
12578s normally so many ways to deal with early
12580s game boards and especially since Hunter
12582s Hayes has put in Wild pyromancers
12584s has the Mind Control attacks honestly
12587s one of the big turns was just the kill
12588s on the Twilight Drake
12590s yeah that would allow him to potentially
12592s fight back at least with minions maybe
12595s force Aid into a situation where he had
12598s to go for the wagglepick turn
12600s to try and protect his Edwin Van Cleef
12601s but
12603s nonetheless A8 crucial victory in game
12607s number one
12609s Edwin van cleef's a hell of a card it is
12615s and uh you know I'm pretty sure we've
12617s said it like
12619s probably 12 times so far in the the
12622s first three days of competition here at
12623s the world championship
12625s Edward Van Cleef has been in every
12628s single world championship lineup that
12631s has won that is one yeah four years of
12634s World Championships and four Edwin van
12636s cleef's in the winning lineup and it is
12638s going to happen again
12640s well unless Roger wins in the next match
12642s about to save Roger's the only player at
12645s Worlds this year that could stop Edward
12647s Van Cleef
12649s from reigning in Terror we got a shaman
12651s uh matchup coming on both sides however
12654s we described ah Shaman and now you get
12656s to take a closer Gander at it um I feel
12659s like this deck
12661s was interpreted initially as an aggro
12663s deck by myself included I was very
12664s Behemoth about defending my principle of
12666s it I still somewhat agree with it
12668s however
12669s the big story of a8's Shaman deck is
12672s that it's it's a deck of timing your
12674s pressure it's not about just playing
12677s Minions on curve and hoping that works
12679s out sometimes you have to do that
12681s the big deal about it is getting the
12683s timing of pressure in there he's got two
12684s copies of Soul the murloc in this deck
12686s to try to help secure a board position
12688s in the face of uh one single board clear
12690s yep he's got Thunderhead to develop
12691s those boards it's got storm chasing and
12693s fetchup bloodlust in the matchup
12696s and at the top end Cairn Rana toads
12698s swamp Queen Agatha and a pair of sea
12700s Giants for if you secure a board as ways
12703s to get payoffs
12705s it's meant to operate like a
12707s like picture a weaker rogue deck
12712s that's kind of what it's going for yeah
12713s it's basically like putting a second
12715s rope deck in your lineup that's slightly
12716s weaker well I I'd say considerably
12718s weaker okay but
12720s you know the ideas is operate like Rogue
12722s you know instead of Edwin Van Cleef you
12724s have like sea giant for instance you got
12725s to get a bunch of minions to play with
12726s Thunderhead
12728s and one of the most memorable matchups
12731s so far of the tournament for me has been
12734s the uh the A8 or versus uh just saying
12737s matchup where A8 went to fatigue
12740s saved his blood loss for a really long
12741s time and was able to grind saying out of
12743s resources and kill him with just one
12745s Health remaining and Hunt races lists
12747s are a little bit different than Saiyans
12749s he's got a little bit more top end with
12751s with uh shutter walk with swamp Queen
12753s hagatha he's got more minions but he
12755s doesn't have access to as many control
12757s tools he has one lightning storm he has
12760s uh no thunderheads Noble take first no
12764s zaps so his ability to to kind of fight
12767s for boards in the mid game
12769s I wouldn't say is worse it's just
12771s different it's very different and I
12773s think one of the biggest differences I'm
12774s looking at personally is the fact that
12775s that the shutter walks at the top end uh
12778s you know shutter walk with giggling
12780s inventor attached to it
12782s it's a very different kind of feeling
12784s where you end up in situations
12786s oftentimes where shutter walk just
12788s providing two more annoyatrons uh and
12791s then having some secondary effect is
12794s enough to get something done
12795s and so for A8 you know his hand so far
12798s has looked fantastic it picked up the
12800s Unbound Elemental to threaten to buff
12802s any tiny Place cards here he's got a
12804s Thunderhead but again the real story is
12807s timing of pressure where does that
12809s timing come in and how do you get it
12811s done
12812s you know I think swamp Queen hagatha
12814s looking at A8 sand right now is going to
12815s play a key role if he's going to win
12817s this game
12830s just kind of playing out stuff right now
12831s yeah it's it's a really it's a really
12834s tough matchup I think from A8 side
12836s because there's just a lot of guesswork
12837s to be done and on Hunter race aside
12839s there's just a lot of things to account
12841s for and the two of those things stacked
12844s side by side is gonna lead players to a
12846s lot of unfamiliar territory
12849s where they're going to try to avoid
12851s risks I would say until things you know
12854s start to feel like they're slipping away
12855s and the sooner you notice that the
12857s better you know if you get to that risk
12859s point it's too late that's not gonna
12860s work
12861s if you take the risk too early you
12863s weren't behind that's a disastrous call
12871s the setup of the Thunderhead also does
12873s make sea Giant
12876s a very Potential Threat coming down next
12879s turn with uh zap sludgeer sludge slurper
12884s if honorees plays pretty much anything
12887s see giant is a real possibility
12891s which I don't think that he's unhappy
12893s with
12894s I actually think that you would like to
12895s see sea giant when you're uh not under
12898s as much pressure like when your health
12899s total isn't at a critical point when the
12901s sea giant comes down your health toes at
12903s a critical point that means four man is
12904s occupied by hex
12906s a lot of times yeah and when that
12908s happens you're like oh I don't really
12910s have to take care of the rest of this
12911s and from eight side it's basically that
12914s exact same style of story where you play
12917s sea Giant and Honduras isn't Under
12918s Pressure he gets a free attempted mind
12920s control perhaps
12924s mind control Tech active
12932s sea giant costs a measly three Mana
12935s right now
12951s this allows a zap to take place zap and
12954s uh the kobold lack he actually just
12956s deals with this completely right
12959s five Minions on board
12961s three of them are pretty primed you got
12963s some pressure down on Hunter Hayes
12965s he's gonna be put to a test here
12968s oh look at that
12971s interesting I quite like that attack huh
12981s overloads on turn uh five as well for A8
12984s so going into six Mana you guys got
12986s plays for it and then rolls right in the
12987s swamp Queen Agatha good mandate
12988s management
12992s hmm
12995s Agatha scheme was in the opening hand so
12997s it's at four right now I believe it'll
12999s be at five at the end of this turn oh
13001s it's at five now if it's there on turn
13003s one it activates immediately
13005s oh yeah if he
13010s so on turn one it goes to two yeah on
13013s turn two it goes to three yep
13016s that's what I mean by the Sea giant
13019s coming down too early Hunter Ace knows
13021s that bloodlust is the the colossal
13023s killer but a Eights on four Mana he's
13026s free to hex in this spot yep timing of
13028s pressure means that A8 does not have a
13029s lethal blow this turn yeah and uh has
13032s the ability to roll into
13034s a hackatha scheme would clear up this
13037s board
13038s uh could also if he draws a smaller
13041s spell maybe lightning storm could go for
13043s wild pyromancer act a lot of pain plus a
13044s spell
13046s but it'll probably just be a hackathon
13047s scheme to clear things off scheme and
13050s likely an Accolade pain
13053s such a weird card
13056s Omega Defender it is he just wanted
13058s something that could like block some
13060s damage early on but in the late game
13061s he's like oh it's got 12 attack sweet
13064s I've never seen anybody actually put
13067s that card in the deck well the thing
13068s about it is uh he basically looked and
13071s said what cards make my shutter walk the
13075s nuts yep
13077s Omega Defender plus Twilight Drake plus
13079s giggling inventor
13082s that shutter walk when it's played after
13085s all those BattleCraft meetings have been
13087s played is beef
13091s what's up plus 10 attack
13094s health for all the cards in my hand
13096s summon two annoyotrons
13102s what's up swamp Queen Agatha
13105s what's up Kearney asada
13111s because there's an on the end of Karen
13116s inflections
13124s Stormbreaker Randy toads
13129s would it cast in that order I wouldn't
13131s I think it has to be the other way
13132s around okay well I'm curious what A8
13135s actually took in that scenario we'll get
13137s a glimpse at it soon
13139s Hmm this is a kind of a weird one I
13142s swamp Queen hagath is one of my favorite
13143s cards because it just does one of the
13147s most unusual things that I can imagine
13150s in Hearthstone
13153s teach a minion two I was like what does
13156s that mean
13157s but picture trying to do that in a
13158s physical card game like you have your
13160s box of cards off to the side
13162s stormbringer lightning bolt
13164s just imagine it you have like your box
13166s of cards off the side you gotta teach
13167s two spells you have to pick up all the
13169s cards from the box and go look through
13170s them and then
13171s figure out which Windows of opportunity
13173s you get to actually discover the and
13175s then 12 minutes of work to teach it two
13178s spells and then get out your super glue
13179s and super glue the cards to the minion
13181s that you taught to spell at that point
13182s you might as well just be actually
13184s teaching a seminar yeah
13188s here boom boom done
13192s does that even mean
13194s it just happens for you oh you're
13196s talking about the swampy cat I thought
13199s you were talking about the game I am
13201s talking about the game no thanks
13202s Hearthstone but this turn oh well last
13205s turn
13208s it's like there's no way he has to look
13209s through does he have anything
13211s that's gonna do it
13215s interesting turn here for A8 though
13219s my head initially goes towards like a
13221s Thunderhead feral Spirit kind of turn
13224s but I'll tell you what this is right
13226s into the dreaded turn eight from Hunter
13229s Ace
13230s and I'm certain
13231s hey it's thinking about Hackett though
13235s oh stormbringer oh my goodness
13239s gets a lightning bolt with it as well oh
13241s my goodness
13243s oh my goodness oh my goodness
13247s oh my look at Hunter Ace's face
13253s his eyes
13255s were open
13260s so we have mind control Tech we have a
13262s neutron
13265s with the giggling inventors I I there's
13268s still possibility Hunter race can get
13269s something done here you know all the
13271s Steels on board right now are pretty
13273s good
13276s the issue is that Hunter Ace is at 14.
13280s that's a problem
13286s I don't even know what's the best deal
13288s here Illidan
13290s almost certainly Illidan
13295s so is there any funny business now with
13297s the zillia
13304s and trade yeah hex the Illidan right
13308s the Beast is the most attacked your life
13310s total matters I want to kill the Beast
13311s though I want the 3-3 yeah but are you
13313s gonna do that yeah
13315s it's true story you have a wild
13316s pyromancer in hand you have a hackathon
13318s hand what do the two ones actually mean
13319s I think you're right I think it is hex
13320s the Beast
13323s or giggling Adventure I think giggling
13325s Adventure is a reasonable compromise as
13327s well you have five attacks worth of
13329s taunts in the way you have one of them
13330s refunding three health
13332s it would take a disaster to die right
13334s now
13335s it would take almost specifically I
13337s think Thunderhead lightning storm
13339s but I don't even know if that works
13341s perfectly because the illidan's going to
13342s generate first so the Thunderhead would
13344s make a 2-1 but you have five spots on
13345s board yeah and then the thunderstorm or
13348s the lightning storm rather would put you
13349s at six minutes on board some in one one
13351s so you would be able to get through in
13353s that instance 16 points of damage so
13356s that actually would have been lethal but
13358s there's only one copy of lightning storm
13359s and AIDS deck
13361s and it doesn't happen in
13364s the Thunderhead also makes it kind of
13365s weird because again none of these
13367s minions can die from trades the Illidan
13370s happens first before the Thunderhead
13372s I believe the Illidan uh will activate
13375s first because of order of operation
13379s so Henry's got some
13382s some time to spare here
13386s but honestly this wasn't even many
13389s resources from A8 to make dislodge of a
13392s board that's a true story but I think
13394s for Hunter Ace it's more about the time
13395s than it is about uh the resource battle
13398s I think I think for hunters it's about
13400s getting past that initial hump and if
13402s you manage to do that things are looking
13404s good for you yeah the issue here is that
13407s A8 was patient he didn't go overboard
13410s with this and that's starting to put
13413s compounding pressure now back onto
13415s Hunter Ace he has to make something
13417s happen this turn and there's two taunts
13419s in the way like I this is just a tough
13421s situation
13423s foreign
13426s my head moves towards wild pyromancer
13429s what can happen with that so while
13431s pyromancer you trade the 2-1 into the
13433s feral Spirit you hex the nazari
13436s I'm thinking then the uh
13440s the Earth shock goes over
13444s the Beast
13446s why would you silence that
13449s to get rid of nine damage oh put the
13451s Mind Control Tech into it then well the
13453s night control Tech is going into the
13455s alien Illidan
13457s is it you have a hackathon
13460s that's true
13462s I don't that's what I mean like this is
13464s a this is a really difficult puzzle to
13466s solve
13468s oh my
13470s so hagatha would allow him to use
13475s either the Earth shock or the annoyatron
13477s to clear this off
13482s what do you hope an earth shocked then
13484s that's 13 right there six from bloodlust
13487s that'd be 19 just out of range
13492s so Hunter race is going to hang onto the
13493s Earth shock for the wild pyromance
13495s return I imagine
13498s how amazing just taken so much damage oh
13501s yeah it's it's a lot of damage
13504s he needs help it's there though I mean
13506s there are things that help
13510s I'm looking at a shutter walk being a
13512s big deal
13513s I'm looking at walking Fountain being a
13515s big deal
13518s heck even a witch's brew is a pretty big
13521s deal I think just to buy more time
13524s to get those other couple cards that you
13526s talked about
13527s he only has one copy of witch's brew in
13529s the deck
13530s and there are I'd say a substantial
13532s amount of
13535s of dead draws Twilight Drake's
13537s definitely one of them ancestral healing
13541s healing I don't think is dead
13542s I think it says for healing could be
13544s good because the wild pyromancer gets an
13545s extra activation that way I got a scheme
13548s uh that's dead
13552s oh boy this is tough
13559s oh wow okay so now
13563s a hex onto Karen
13567s one damage to board you ancestral
13568s healing the pyromancer another damage to
13570s board
13571s you ER shock the nozari
13573s that's another damage to board that
13575s wipes out the beast nozari's at two
13578s health
13581s and you have a little bit of Mana left
13585s so the question is can acidic swamp Boos
13587s change that texture
13590s in a way that perhaps a different
13592s sequence happens I I don't think you're
13594s you're getting better than a hex
13597s Hunter Ace wants to see if there's a
13599s spell that can prove this he's much less
13601s concerned with the body on board
13603s stormbreakers are relevant
13605s this is a tough situation
13610s Hunter Ace wants to hang on to this
13611s ancestral healing
13613s to see if he can use that on just a big
13615s minion so that's why he's going to go
13617s for the urshock here to wipe out the
13619s Beast
13620s and then ancestral healing to try to buy
13623s the extra life total instead
13625s so he's using that effectively as a heel
13627s for three
13629s or an attempt at that at least
13631s four for four excuse me
13637s an A8 certainly interested in making a
13640s push here
13646s honestly now the outs are becoming even
13647s more slim for Honduras just because his
13649s life total is going to be even lower
13650s it's a true story but he's got a
13653s hackathon scheme cranking so if he could
13655s manage to hang on for another turn like
13657s maybe one more turn he might get into
13659s the clear so shutter walk Walking
13661s Fountain which is brewed those are the
13663s those are the three cards he's looking
13665s for even a giggling inventor I think
13667s could be a reasonable pickup at this
13668s point also his own zilliacs
13671s oh that's right that celix was from uh
13673s the Mind Control deck steel he mind
13674s control Tech that zilliac so you know
13676s even lightning storm is not that bad of
13678s a pickup because you have a hackathon
13679s scheme sitting at two
13680s so a lightning storm
13682s you know it could make some fireworks
13684s happen
13688s this is a big deal though
13693s look at Hunter Ace
13697s he is hoping for good fortune here
13701s I mean at this point shuttle sorry he
13703s gets a heal shutterfunk I don't even
13705s think is enough swamp Queen Haggett does
13707s not good
13712s acidic swamp poos into a high rolled
13715s lightning you're gonna have to brew up
13716s something with this
13718s this witch's cauldron pot that hackath
13721s is brewing with
13722s because the cards right now are not good
13724s enough
13725s it looks like it's only out his
13727s lightning storm and Hyrule every minion
13731s and then hackathon scheme
13733s fills up his team Mana perfectly
13736s if he doesn't get it he could storm
13738s bringer for the memes or shock
13742s not good
13749s he's dead
13754s not a single legendary that saves him
13758s a path can you think of once not not
13762s with a hex in hand for A8
13766s from his perspective oh
13770s gotta be some big dumb talk that works
13772s right
13773s are there any big dumb talks there's
13775s always some legendary that does what you
13777s want it to do archville and reform
13779s that's a big dump truck
13782s calagos is not
13784s 2-0 to A8 right now at the deck that
13790s I've seen a lot of question marks about
13791s that I've talked to a lot of players
13793s about to get an opinion on with this
13796s mid-range deck from A8 is now three and
13799s zero in game score
13801s it's the deck that's doing the heavy
13803s lifting for him
13805s it hasn't lost a game it's the decider
13808s match drip 2-0 versus the highest ranked
13811s player in the world was number one in
13813s points and the most dominant player
13814s throughout
13816s just like I told you TJ Casper is going
13818s to beat Casper in this match and whether
13820s that means a comeback or the victory
13822s that's currently on the path that's yet
13823s to be decided
13826s I continue to be more and more impressed
13828s by the Shaman deck
13829s aye even said himself when we talked to
13832s him he said against a lot of decks he's
13834s got to cheese him and this is not him
13836s cheesing them yeah he got Stormbreaker
13838s off of the uh swamp Queen hagatha but he
13841s just he had a ton of gas even in his
13842s hand when the game ended I'll call that
13844s a pseudo cheese pseudo cheese there we
13846s go like Velveeta yeah
13849s but he's this is just a dominant
13851s performance from A8
13854s hello in Casper um my nickname is pretty
13857s original 86 360 and I'm currently
13859s playing
13860s candy and so being in the world stage
13863s feels pretty amazing to me I just cannot
13866s wait to play uh first of all in the
13869s group State maybe a little bit further I
13871s have a good further but it's not going
13873s to be easy because my group is pretty
13874s hard but I will never give up so we're
13877s looking at the lineups and looking at
13878s the bracket I think about it was a
13881s really good lineup for the tournament
13882s and he got a really good bracket as well
13885s because he's facing pretty much only
13887s control Warriors in the part of his
13889s bracket in the other part of bracket uh
13891s there are mostly bomb Warriors
13893s so I think laundry will easily get out
13895s of the groups and he and if you get
13898s um like five favorable matchups uh
13902s interpret he can go he can go really far
13905s for example to the final or maybe maybe
13907s even win the whole tournament
13909s my fans are always supporting me
13911s especially from the Polish Community and
13913s I'm really glad and
13916s I'm reading a lot of even small messages
13919s like good luck in the tournament I'm
13921s trained for you I voted for you and even
13924s if I don't response it still means a lot
13926s to me and
13928s I'm really grateful to have such a big
13930s community in the Polish team
13940s I don't really feel like I have too much
13942s of a Target at my back it's like hard to
13945s know right because uh I don't think that
13948s any of the players like specifically
13949s tried like counter what I was most
13952s likely to bring or they didn't end up
13953s doing that at least which I think was
13955s pretty convenient for me like I'm pretty
13959s happy with how my lineup turned out and
13961s how my group is so uh I think I'm in a
13964s pretty good spot as long as I managed to
13966s play well I mean there's a lot of
13969s variables into that but uh I think I'm
13972s I'm in a pretty good uh good good
13974s position like due to my lineup and how
13978s like the lineup turned out versus my
13980s group so it will depend a bit how like
13982s the day goes and stuff but I feel like
13985s if I'm able to like perform at my best
13987s level I should have a really good shot
13988s at making food groups and then from that
13991s point on we will kind of like see how
13992s the bracket lines up
13994s I had some of these tournaments like
13996s last year also but this one was like way
13999s more intense since there's like a lot
14001s more relevancy to it I think that all of
14003s the players were pretty stressed out
14005s because um also like the meta game
14007s Warrior and Rogue are like two pirate
14010s classes when we play in The Conquest
14012s format and we have to bring four next to
14014s everyone if it comes like a way
14016s different uh problem to tackle and it
14020s was pretty difficult to like try to
14022s figure out like what type of directions
14024s other people would go knowing that
14026s probably everyone knows that broken war
14028s is going to be like the two most likely
14031s uh likely classes and one of them is
14034s probably going to get banned and one of
14035s them is probably going to get hedged
14036s towards
14037s the first thing I buy if I I'll win the
14039s World Championship will be uh ice cream
14042s I like uh pistachio and vanilla I don't
14045s make it too complicated
14049s welcome back everybody to the
14051s Hearthstone World Championship
14054s I'm TJ joined by the Admiral that's
14055s admirable yo
14057s he currently has a 2-0 lead in the
14059s series over Hunter Ace and
14061s I made a promise to the viewers
14064s I said I had a lot of Honey stories that
14066s I was going to unleash over the course
14067s of this series and I'm quickly running
14069s out of time
14071s well you better start
14073s Hunter Ace I mean look at just look at
14075s the difference between the two of them
14077s right now Hunter Aces we came back
14078s shaking his head and yeah
14080s I mean those are two brutal losses
14082s pretty tough
14084s I mean the first one I think you
14086s couldn't help it you ran into Edwin you
14088s had a clunky hand the second one
14091s it felt like the second one was winnable
14093s in some capacity I don't know exactly
14094s how but it felt like it was yeah uh I
14097s don't know what he could have done
14099s differently to create a different
14100s circumstance I mean you could talk for
14102s for hours about that game
14105s and Hunter Ace
14108s we're back in right now you know it's
14110s important to note this is actually the
14111s first tournament that Hunter Ace has
14112s played on a giant main stage like this
14114s he's had a lot of tour stop experience
14115s but this is the first championship event
14118s it's the first championship event but he
14120s did play on this exact stage in December
14124s so it says All Stars held the same uh
14126s weight as as the world championship says
14128s it didn't held the same way but it was
14130s the same type of environment but not not
14132s as prestigious I will agree
14134s um but you know you're right the stakes
14137s at that tournament were yeah you win it
14138s or you lose it you know that's a lot at
14140s stake but this one this was the whole
14142s Year's work for Hunter race like I'm
14144s curious how much that's that's Weighing
14147s on him right now it's I mean he's he's
14148s not shied away from showing any amount
14149s of emotion and whether or not that's
14151s affecting his play I'm not going to
14152s speculate it's affecting his play
14153s because I don't think it is I think he's
14154s playing pretty well with what he's been
14155s dealt uh I think though that it's just
14158s clearly Weighing on it to me it's just
14161s it's an interesting thing to watch as
14163s much as I don't want to necessarily
14164s watch that yeah I can't help but think
14167s what's going through Hunter Ace's mind
14169s right now yeah
14171s well while we have probably the slowest
14173s part of this match we're gonna get I'm
14174s gonna tell one story
14175s and I'm gonna call this story Hunter
14177s Race's day at blizzard
14179s so Hunter Hayes was uh we invited him to
14181s be on the podcast talk stone that throw
14183s it in and I do that we've done for the
14184s past year
14185s and he uh he arrives at the blizzard
14187s campus and I escorted him on the first
14189s thing he does is he says Hey teacher can
14190s I get a hot chocolate
14191s oh another five cause hagatha
14195s yeah so he asked for a hot chocolate
14198s he asked for hot chocolate so I got him
14200s a hot chocolate we bring him up to the
14202s recording room the first thing he does
14204s he walks in the recording room before I
14206s can even tell him what he's supposed to
14207s do or where he's supposed to go
14209s he goes to the couch that we have in the
14211s room takes off his shoes lays down on
14213s the couch and cues up a game at rank two
14216s with talk waggle druid
14220s that's Henry's in a nutshell he's just
14222s aloof and the only thing he cares about
14224s is Hearthstone and sweets
14226s well I'll tell you it's not aloof it's
14228s what Hunter Hayes just did this term
14229s with that hagatha so do you recall back
14231s to the first game when he got that
14233s Accolade pain and he contemplated
14235s playing it
14236s and eventually he did when he drew the
14239s hagatha here
14240s he waited for a moment he hovered the
14243s Agatha thought for another moment and he
14246s passed the turn he is really trying to
14247s send A8 the message but that's a
14249s playable card right now the the problem
14252s is
14253s there's a lot of cards you wouldn't play
14255s in your situation there are a ton of
14257s playable cards
14258s that are all reasonable in this
14260s situation
14261s he's trying to send the message that
14263s it's not like what it is and you can see
14265s Hunter is here praying please no Grim
14268s rally
14270s Hunter Ace is like one or two turns away
14273s from getting into this game and perhaps
14275s getting a Stranglehold on it afterwards
14279s and so Hunter Ace I think is going to
14281s look to just avoid any sort of death
14284s this turn and if that means expending
14285s two copies of ancestral healing to taunt
14287s up your totem and your mind control Tech
14289s or whatever you steal
14291s I wonder whatever he uses this turn I
14294s believe it is calculated maximally to
14296s just simply not die and I honestly think
14299s that your play is the best
14302s protect your life total at all costs
14304s mind control Tech take the damage off
14305s the board doesn't matter if you're gonna
14306s kill it next turn take it off the board
14308s ancestral healing at least the Mind
14311s Control Tech to block any little point
14313s of damage you've got celiacs you have
14314s the Stevie of walking Fountain it is
14317s Unthinkable to me that if Hunter Ace
14318s gets to one single safe turn
14321s past that hagatha that he is almost as
14325s in the clear as you can imagine and the
14326s way that he gets to one single safe turn
14327s is by just playing everything he
14329s possibly can
14333s his face has turned red
14336s just from the start of his turn to now
14340s taught the totem
14343s no mind control Tech and the reason is
14345s that my control Tech is because this
14346s technically does the same thing
14349s uh except he gets to save the micro Tech
14351s and the ancestral healing here if Grim
14353s rally were to come down what that means
14355s is A8 would have the same number of
14356s attacks next turn the difference is
14358s there'd be a 3-3 taunt in the way that's
14360s about the only difference and here he's
14361s just trying to hold on to it to
14362s compensate for that so what about the
14364s totem roll
14366s the totem roll could be a 1-1
14368s and maybe that changes something like
14370s abusive Sergeant gets to come down or
14371s what have you I I don't know what he's
14373s calculated exactly what I do know is
14376s that look at the sigh of relief as he's
14378s gonna head into a hagatha turn
14380s he's going to go to 19 there's an Argent
14382s Squire and he's got a zilliacs a hag of
14384s his scheme and a mind control Tech in
14387s hand with a walking Fountain approaching
14388s with an ancestral healing to heal up the
14390s walking Fountain I can't imagine Hunter
14393s Ace losing from this spot that seems
14395s ridiculous
14397s and so for A8 last turn
14399s you know I think about Solarium it could
14402s have been a big waste last turn but
14404s could he have found
14405s a grim Rally or perhaps two Grim rallies
14407s maybe ended the game that turn that's
14409s the only thing I think about
14411s so I did the damage with grim rally he
14413s would have had 16 points of damage
14417s and uh Honduras was at 22. so if you
14419s Solarium did a grim rally Grim rally
14421s would that have been enough because you
14423s could Grim rally one of the minions you
14424s played abusive Sergeant you grew Valley
14426s again yeah it would have been even
14427s without abusive Sergeant it would have
14429s been uh he would have had five extra
14431s points of damage because he would have
14432s to kill two minions
14433s on the first Grim rally so it would have
14435s been no it would have been 21. so he
14437s would have needed one extra point
14438s because he's gonna have six Minions on
14439s board well he had seven minutes on board
14442s so you Grim rally so you Grim rally and
14444s that was that was 16. I did that match
14446s so you take one more minion once you get
14448s five six twenty one and then abusive
14449s Sergeant make it 23. and then three of
14451s the damage gets absorbed by the healing
14453s totem
14454s so no it wouldn't have been enough there
14456s you go
14457s could the pressure from that have been
14459s enough though
14461s did I tell you what this certainly is
14462s going to be enough Hunter Ace is going
14463s to chew through these next couple boards
14465s like it's nothing
14467s an ad giggling adventure to that one I
14469s think Hunter Ace is in the clear
14476s if he loses this game I might eat his
14478s decklist
14483s you hear that
14484s that's the deck list
14489s not the series this game
14492s well if he loses his game he loses the
14494s series
14495s right but if he wins this game and loses
14497s series I don't want to eat the decklist
14498s then
14501s we might need it
14511s just Henry's posture has changed
14513s completely oh well I mean I I believe
14515s that he knows
14520s he was fully tensed up
14523s on that turn for
14527s still not completely relaxed but in a
14529s much better position the thing about it
14531s is is in so these tournament matches the
14533s Hearthstone when I've seen Hunter Ace
14535s he's I don't relax is never really the
14537s word I get it's either like fretful or
14541s not the rest of the time he's just quite
14544s animated
14545s it's getting in the zone and just trying
14548s to let himself take over at that point
14550s yeah use your use the strength of your
14553s intuition
14555s think about the scenarios play the best
14557s Hearthstone you can
14559s that means be animated
14562s let some of that stress go so be it
14566s just don't punch anything
14572s what
14586s he's just saving up a ton of burst yeah
14589s that's smart and that is a ton of burst
14593s the thing for Hunter race to really
14594s think about in my opinion is going to be
14596s a Magic Carpet turn and how that
14598s interacts with stuff like giggling
14599s inventor
14600s I think that that could be the one
14603s dangerous spot
14605s that Hunter Ace gets into this game
14608s I think I think if I'm in Hunter's spot
14610s I'm looking at zilliacs and I'm like
14611s this is nice and safe I get an extra
14614s taunt from this you're not gonna die in
14616s this spot this might be better later on
14618s but I'll tell you what it's really good
14619s right now
14621s blazing invocation hmm
14625s with wild Parliament or an ancestral
14627s healing in hand I'm inclined to hold on
14629s to that absolutely
14632s because that's just another board clear
14635s I must decide
14641s these provide zero three taunts on death
14643s good news for hunt race or health equals
14646s more time equals more win
14653s picked up which is a great draw for A8
14656s with how his hand is yeah that can't
14658s a walking Fountain turn yeah but the
14661s problem is Hunter X has the answer he's
14663s got wild pyromancer hex ancestor healing
14666s blazing invocation that deals with the
14669s board of even three Health minions
14672s across the board plus a sea giant yeah
14674s and so for A8 he knows that time is
14677s running out and I think it's largely
14678s because of the zilliacs yeah and he's
14680s just gonna go in as a result I don't
14682s blame him
14690s celiacs changes the Landscapes of so
14692s many of these aggro games and when your
14693s opponent has hagged the cranking they
14695s have a boatload of gas at the top end
14698s yeah
14701s and honestly
14703s by every criteria imaginable
14708s this is a very good turn for AAA
14713s unfortunately it just feels like it's
14714s not enough this was the deck building
14716s process for Hunter Hayes too this was
14717s the situation he was trying to get to in
14721s these processes it's happened enough to
14723s get through the early game and then have
14725s a Stranglehold afterwards
14729s looking at a8's zoo Warlock deck there's
14732s no Leroy in this one
14735s two Salt fires that's the only immediacy
14738s of damage aside from Lackey generation
14741s that he's gonna have without board
14743s presence
14755s another blazing invocation yeah it's
14758s just
14761s your clear board your clear board your
14762s clear board eventually they run out of
14764s stuff
14773s that's step one
14779s the task master up
14782s I don't think it matters
14790s well that was taken awfully quick
14793s if he didn't have enough already
14796s back to back carpets I imagine that it's
14799s pretty interested in playing those and
14801s look at what the discoverer provided for
14803s hunting race
14808s walking Fountain to do with two
14810s medium-sized things hackatha's scheme to
14813s do with a lot of small things
14814s mind control Tech to do with three small
14816s things in one big thing
14818s and mossy horror to just deal with
14820s everything else
14824s foreign
14825s the carpet
14832s ah
14834s funnily enough that's uh currently the
14836s only minion that does not oh no it would
14839s die the monster War because it had the
14841s abusive Sergeant attack onto it bye by
14843s board yep
14852s foreign
14864s it's like I guess I'll keep playing
14868s maybe he makes a mistake
14877s maybe he's stormbringers five millions
14879s and gets all Barren goods and then I top
14881s deck double Soul fire
14884s foreign
14896s we're going to game number four
14900s with your Far Side of hagatha
14902s it might be scary before turn five but
14905s once you hit turn five it's not scary at
14907s all anymore
14909s probably enough the second game in a row
14911s that Hunter Hayes
14912s or not in a row in the series yeah
14915s Henry's far side of the Agatha the first
14918s one though hey eight went tall he did
14922s didn't work out but Henry's still life
14924s in the series and honestly if you're
14927s looking over at the decklist for May 8th
14930s the Warlock is probably the one that he
14932s has the best chance of beating three
14934s times in a row it just has not really
14936s performed
14937s so far in the world championship for a
14939s lot of players it's definitely been a
14941s struggle but two Soul fires two Grim
14943s rallies could get some work done but
14945s I'll tell you what I'm worried if I'm in
14947s a AIDs position you were hoping to 3-0
14949s this one and instead it's a two and one
14951s yeah 100 is still an uphill battle ahead
14953s of him if he wants to win this match and
14955s move on to the quarterfinals
14957s that just means we got plenty of series
14959s left to play we're gonna go to a quick
14960s break but don't go anywhere more World
14961s Championship
14963s right after this
14966s okay I'm 83 I'm from Poland but I'm
14969s currently living and studying in Germany
14974s I actually had to make a break from the
14977s University just to play Houston to
14979s prepare for tournaments but I want to
14982s come back and then study
14984s the family was pretty skeptic like
14987s negative from the beginning but then I
14990s started making some real money and
14992s that's why they started supporting me
14994s and now they're supporting me a lot and
14996s I really appreciate that
15002s bunny Hopper has conceded ah is going to
15006s the summer championships I think
15008s Hearthstone was pretty easy for me from
15011s the time when I started playing it it's
15013s an incredible feeling of course I think
15016s I've never felt so good in my entire
15018s hearts and career it's incredible I went
15020s to the first land tournament and I won
15022s this one so I was correct and then I
15026s started competing in more tournaments I
15029s achieved some pretty nice results and
15031s that's why it became competitive
15034s I didn't know that I will get like
15036s recognized in Hearthstone that's why I
15038s typed something totally random and then
15040s I just went to a tournament in Poland
15044s like 64 people I won this tournament
15046s surprisingly and then everybody was
15049s knowing me and it didn't feel like
15051s really changing the nickname after that
15056s welcome back everybody to the
15057s Hearthstone World Championship
15060s updated joined by the Admiral that's
15062s admirable hi hanres versus A8 series
15065s starting to heat up
15066s as Henry's trying to mount a comeback in
15070s the series but
15072s when you go down 2-0 it is very hard no
15074s matter what kind of deck you're facing
15076s to beat it three times in a row against
15078s one of the best players in the world I
15080s don't think there's any doubt about it
15081s however the two remaining decks uh it's
15084s Rogue which it's the burger variant of
15087s Rogue been a very strong performing deck
15089s throughout this so obviously the talk of
15091s the tournament coming in as far as
15092s ladder is concerned
15093s it's the dominant deck
15095s a couple problems I see with the deck
15097s was so admirable what's that there are
15099s new fan of knives
15106s it is uh very difficult
15111s for Honduras to continually pick apart
15114s board States
15116s I'm looking at a couple key cards here
15119s backstab si7 agent evil miscreant
15123s I was looking at this hand and I'm I'm
15125s curious
15128s you know what are you curious about well
15130s I feel like Vendetta is the reason you
15132s play this deck
15134s so he's got Hench clean burglar he's got
15136s Vendetta
15137s as much as I don't know wow I was well I
15140s was going to mention the eviscerated
15142s so eviscerate's not a pretty looking
15144s card when you have to just use it as a
15146s two minute card and hit a minion with it
15148s but I'll tell you what when you have
15150s hedge Clan burglar and Vendetta the
15153s appeal of keeping an eviscerate to me at
15154s least does seem a little bit better now
15157s that being said you want to find your
15159s key cards you want to find evil
15160s miscreants you want to find raiding
15163s party you want to have underbelly fence
15165s because you have the Hedge clamp burglar
15167s in play there's a lot of cards that are
15168s very strong in the deck but if my main
15171s goal is just to not die and have the big
15173s Tempo swing from burglar Vendetta I can
15176s I contemplate keeping an eviscerate in
15178s that spot
15179s with two preps in hand Hunter Ace
15181s doesn't feel like he needs to hang onto
15182s this backstab just kill this minion make
15184s a dagger
15186s hope you can deal with the next thing
15187s that happens the problem with uh trying
15189s to just survive
15192s is that unlike the shaman versus warlock
15195s you don't just have pretty much a
15197s guaranteed win in the later stages of
15199s the game
15200s you gotta kill him
15201s yeah I think the amount of value that
15203s Hunter Ace picks up with uh hedge Clan
15205s burglar is quite important
15207s and the tempo swing from the Vendetta
15209s threatens to get more value because then
15211s the Hedge Clan burglar can pick apart
15213s border it can start attacking face yeah
15214s uh A8 at this position when he sees the
15217s turn two backstab and then the dagger up
15219s and he saw a two keep from Hunter Ace
15222s aside he's got to think what is this
15223s hand right now
15225s if opponent had Edward Van Cleef would
15227s they backstab right now
15228s probably not so I'm gonna rule that out
15231s it's an evil miscreet in hand does that
15233s mean they have another thing to play
15234s perhaps
15239s would they have kept blink Fox
15241s underbelly fence
15243s Maybe
15246s that's going to get ruled out yep so
15249s then what are those cards
15253s Hench Clan pendetta
15255s you can pretty much start to narrow it
15257s down
15261s honduras's hand while it looks poor this
15263s turn
15265s there are a lot of draws that make this
15267s hand insane well
15281s Tempo Sergeant direwolf Alpha is going
15284s to temporarily unnerf it back to 2-1
15288s uh the good old days
15291s Leroy drawing so Leroy Shadow step now
15293s available this pickup from hedge Clan
15295s burglar is going to be really important
15297s baited Arrow sounds great to me
15306s blazing invocation
15308s while at first glance it may seem good
15310s but keep in mind combo cards are not
15313s Battle Cry cards
15318s and all the a lot of the strong cards
15320s are combo cards talking about evil
15323s miscreant could pick a pinch claim
15325s burglar from that well I'll tell you
15327s what sea Giants do a pretty bad job at
15329s fighting against Rogues it's one of
15331s their main goals is typically to
15332s eliminate your board turn after turn and
15334s so A8 is now faced with the decision
15337s of Soul fire of how to Solarium
15341s scare bag or life tap this is the
15343s critical turn of the game for A8 right
15345s here
15346s this one turn has to be calculated
15350s perfectly because there are so many draw
15353s variations that change the landscape of
15356s this if you if you draw a bunch of cheap
15357s minions in a row
15359s you're gonna look down at that Solarium
15360s and going ah maybe I should have done
15361s that
15366s C drive pitched nice pitch away for AAA
15369s that's that's the better one to get rid
15370s of yeah but now this baited arrow is
15372s going to do some work
15374s for Hunter Ace and honestly it's to the
15377s point where he needs to consider the
15379s preparation the baited arrow and the si7
15380s agent start working on the one ones
15383s maybe even just go face with the si7
15385s agent yeah that's what I was thinking
15387s yeah
15389s it's Giddy Up time attack with the
15391s dagger no seriously yeah it's Giddy Up
15393s time I actually think that I was foolish
15396s to initially consider attacking the egg
15397s I think this should go face and you
15399s should start pressing the issue you are
15401s three turns away from lethal represented
15403s damage on Leroy Jenkins yeah I mean
15405s you have to force A8 to have an
15407s activator for the scare bag
15409s and then he's got to deal with your
15411s stuff I don't know about this Hunter
15414s race
15415s he's typically shown that he's very
15417s willing to try to restrict options as
15419s much as possible and I don't blame him
15421s if knife juggler and a bunch of
15423s shenanigans happen with that egg you may
15425s regret it later on all right well
15428s let's say Evil Genius is picked up here
15430s then he made the right decision
15434s bunch of ones
15437s so now
15438s the soul fire comes into mind
15442s I don't think you necessarily need to
15444s juggler this turn but you probably want
15446s to
15448s the fact that Hunter Hayes popped this
15450s egg what that means is A8 has a
15453s guaranteed kill on the devil store if he
15455s wants it had you not done that that five
15457s damage plus the hit from the dagger
15458s really starts cutting into that life tap
15461s it starts to add pressure to A8 because
15463s you have Leroy and Shadow step that's
15465s the one question mark I have about
15467s playing to a restrictive measure
15469s so the way I looked at it was basically
15471s just the damage break point now granted
15473s a it's going to be light tapping but you
15475s put them down to 22 you push anything
15477s next turn
15480s it's down to 14.
15481s that's one dagger up and then Leroy's
15484s Shadow step Leroy
15486s is enough
15489s just a 2-3
15494s and once you committed to the
15495s restrictive measure when do you turn
15496s back you also have Shadow step for the
15498s si7 agent which could provide two
15500s additional damage if you try to need it
15502s to turn sooner
15504s what's the Leroy breakpoint look like
15507s you could drop A8 to 16 just with your
15509s attacks
15512s then you need one minion to connect
15515s yeah you're adding a two three you still
15517s got the dagger he's most likely going to
15519s tap
15522s and from the eighth side he's got four
15524s damage showing he's got soul fire in
15525s hand so Hunter oh boy is effectively at
15528s nine well here we go
15534s bagger minions or dagger face
15538s looks like an easy call for Hunter Ace
15542s so this is a lethal setup
15545s if a were to not deal with any of these
15548s minions there's 10 damage showing Leroy
15550s from hand plus a dag grip no Shadow step
15552s necessary
15554s oh that's a bad draw right now yeah
15557s that's gonna be Soul fire food
15569s see
15572s almost back up
15574s these Tempo versus Agri matchups are
15578s tense when they mean this much they
15580s certainly are you know what this is game
15582s one of the series it's like I feel like
15584s it's a lot less tense but when you're
15586s talking Match Point versus
15588s the number one points are in the world
15590s for your tournament life
15595s oh boy yeah
15598s that's certainly
15600s that's certainly so now I'm not gonna
15603s end up well
15605s has guaranteed unless this juggle jungle
15610s has to hit a minion has to hit the has
15612s to hit him in has to hit a minion
15614s doesn't hit a minion
15616s Hunter Ace with the Leroy from hand with
15618s the five on board with the one from the
15620s dagger sends it to game number five
15629s only one slot there too so you don't
15630s even have to worry about the juggler
15632s Leroy that could have been a big deal
15634s too
15640s it could snipe the Leroy Jenkins very
15643s low odds in that case he has two other
15645s minions he ain't supposed to trade a
15647s minion in that case
15652s that's 11 chance to kill the Leroy
15658s or I'm sorry no no it's lower 6.25 yeah
15661s because Leroy yeah
15663s I don't know that's weird that's weird
15666s you have to account on him having Leroy
15668s that's how you die though
15673s some math wizard out there knows it I
15676s don't know
15679s imagine how insane that would be he just
15681s trades one million 100 what does he do
15682s that for James and Leroy Leroy gets
15684s juggled twice
15686s that that would be that would be crazy I
15687s don't even want to I'm not gonna talk
15689s about that anymore I'm freaked out maybe
15690s he is supposed to trade a minion that I
15692s mean Leroy's literally what you die too
15693s yeah I don't know it's it's like it's
15696s taking do you have a greater than six
15700s point whatever percent chance
15702s to win the game by pushing one more
15704s damage
15705s you also have one more minion and also
15707s it's even lower than that because not
15709s only are you relying on that but you're
15710s also relying on your opponent having
15711s drawn Leroy
15714s with with 10 card drawn so it's like a
15716s two percent chance that is weird that
15718s that could end up winning a game I don't
15720s know it's a very bizarre scenario
15723s I don't even know if it crossed either
15725s player's mind
15727s but either way Hunter is saving the uh
15729s the toughest one for last I believe
15738s what look at that hand
15740s both hands are good
15743s Buckle in this one might not take long
15745s Hunter race on the Summoner Mage he's
15748s teched in two copies of rabble bouncer
15750s he's got a Mossy Harbor in here all
15751s right well that's not good that's the
15753s rest of the attacks is great he's
15755s looking for a conjurers calling right
15757s now conjure is calling it khadgar if
15759s Hunter race draws both of those cards
15762s he's gonna have a very reasonable time
15765s of winning this game one of the coolest
15766s interactions of this deck it was the
15768s very first game I played after Hunter
15769s Hayes talked to me about it I played
15771s Hench Clan sneak on three and then on
15772s turn four I attacked a minion I coined
15775s out khadgar conjure is calling the Hedge
15777s Clan sneak got four three cost minions
15779s and my opponent conceded
15781s and it was against soup that sounds fun
15783s it was awesome I immediately put in a
15786s second hedge Clan sneak I mean honestly
15788s right now with the wet with this hand
15790s does he even need condor's calling he's
15793s got the biggest swing turns you could
15795s possibly ever imagine he's got a lot
15796s loaded up here that's going to be able
15798s to get some work done and so he'll
15799s suffer some damage in the meantime
15803s the scary thought for Hunter Ace is
15805s going to be sea giant this game you know
15806s we've seen it be low impact in the rest
15808s of them you might be wondering why is
15809s this card in here the reason is matchups
15811s like this where you know wide board
15814s states are common because of the way
15815s that the minions battle back and forth
15817s and honestly I just realized the
15820s interaction with saronite Taskmaster
15823s see China it means they kill your
15825s minions they kind of stay in play yeah
15828s for the sea giant discount
15830s Andre is going to coin out the sneak
15831s early and that means that abusive
15833s Sergeant can't be strapped onto that
15835s Argent Squire and value trade yeah the
15838s sneak is there to buy the initiative
15840s because of the stealth it's such a
15842s clever inclusion yeah it really is and
15845s you know the way he explained it was
15847s basically the fact that you have the
15848s option to keep it in stealth to force
15851s your opponent to play more minions
15853s gravel bouncer my control Tech better or
15857s they try and consolidate their board
15860s which means that they're putting on less
15862s pressure
15865s so we're uh one piece away
15868s this mind control Tech it's good almost
15871s no matter how you slice it
15874s this looks good to me
15880s that's just smart deck building
15886s oh the knife circular Starry Night
15888s Taskmaster is kind of fun
15890s the opposing one that is
15893s ah you get a minion you get a juggle
15895s but is that the most efficient trade I
15897s think it is because you get to keep a
15898s two one around with the uh oh that's
15901s super interesting
15902s get in there and fight maggot well
15907s it's not where AID wants us to go right
15908s now he wants to battle for board
15914s this is twice now he's got a Juggle now
15916s that has changed the lands of things
15917s he's gonna get a Minion from this if he
15918s doesn't trade in his serenade Taskmaster
15921s it just plays macaroon hundreds can go
15924s rabble bouncer into my control Tech
15927s oh my gosh you're right
15930s and so
15932s A8 one of the highest chance to juggle a
15934s minion there and then trade into the one
15936s that was on a post he's gonna go face oh
15939s he's thinking about it oh my
15942s gravel bouncer plus my control Tech is a
15945s this massive switch this is a trade
15946s every time and the reason why is to
15948s protect the juggler that's a greedy
15950s attack I think from A8 because
15951s protecting the juggler can be a big
15953s difference here protecting the knife
15955s juggler can be a huge difference rabble
15957s bouncer comes down for a single point of
15959s Mana
15960s trade-off to zero three
15963s my control Tech this could be massive I
15967s mean it's massive no matter which way it
15968s goes
15971s and you kill the juggler of course and
15973s with a dragon plus skill worm in hand
15975s he's a he even has a way to answer CGI
15977s indeed I think Hunter I think Hunter Ace
15980s just
15981s took firm control and is now
15983s but Far and Away in the lead of this
15985s game
15987s and sea giant there's no way this turn
15989s to get it down to one Mana unfortunately
15992s well you have magic carpet and then sea
15994s Giant
15997s one man away
16001s from the Jews
16002s with Magic Carpet if you don't play the
16005s sea giant now it's never coming down
16007s yep
16011s and how to raise very confident in this
16014s ability to win the late game so save the
16016s Magic Carpet just play the sea giant get
16017s in a life tap while you can you're gonna
16019s need some more cards yep
16024s now Hunter X also has a different plan
16026s of Dragon Ball scorcher isolate the
16028s board oh boy
16034s But now y'all kill the sea giant look
16038s your opponent just played an 8-8 and you
16039s could kill it just kill it yeah
16042s don't listen to me don't listen to TJ
16045s I'm dumb somebody shut that TJ up
16047s yeah and for Hunter Ace here who cares
16050s about that opposing life total you chip
16051s away at the board look at that hand of
16053s yours where on Earth
16055s are you gonna lose control of this right
16057s now
16063s A8 looks like he's about to lose his
16065s third game in a row with Zoo Warlock
16072s I can't think of a single scenario
16077s it's a bunch of nice juggler nonsense he
16080s has to out muster hunt Race's deck which
16082s is
16083s uh
16085s honestly it's built for the mid game
16087s like it's true plays big stuff after big
16090s stuff there are some weird things that
16091s can happen though well
16096s you're gonna quickly start to eliminate
16098s those weird things that can happen
16099s because Hunter Ace is about to have the
16101s turn
16102s wow
16104s four seven drops incoming
16107s if they were all Baron gens that would
16110s be bad but they are not archville and
16112s reform it's VIP anyone concedes and Hunt
16117s race moves out of the group after going
16119s down two games to zero and finds himself
16123s in the top eight of the world
16125s championship
16129s importantly he wins the
16134s wins the
16135s wow
16138s what a nail-biting series that was just
16141s insane game five was a blowout but
16145s everything else in game five you get to
16147s see why Mage is performing so well
16150s overall yeah
16151s it is a very powerful Deck with some
16155s massive potential against aggro decks
16157s and massive potential against late game
16158s decks and we got there in a very weird
16160s way
16162s Group C did play out as people expected
16165s it to
16168s just in a lot more exciting of a way
16170s than people expected it to happen I did
16172s not anticipate a lot of the games being
16174s as close as it were just saying that
16176s Hunter Ace ended up moving out the
16177s number one points leader in the world
16178s the number one points leader in uh the
16181s Americas region with just saying
16184s that was just a stacked group any way
16186s you sliced it yeah and my hat's off to
16188s A8 in this tournament because I think he
16191s played pretty out of his mind the one
16193s thing that I can nitpick is whether or
16195s not you should have traded a 1-1 to
16197s juggle a LeRoy sometimes and that is a
16200s very very specific and to trade a
16203s saronite Taskmaster to avoid rabble
16205s bouncer's second mind control attack
16206s like get out of here yeah if that's
16208s gonna be your nitpick that is a
16209s world-class player hats off yeah also
16212s coming to the tournament with a unique
16214s Shaman deck that was on nobody's radar
16216s and pretty much still isn't
16218s three and zero it went three and zero it
16221s went so gotta commend players for coming
16223s in with creativity and I know for for
16226s darn fact that we have not seen the last
16228s of a three six five zero but the seventh
16232s match of the day is in the books and
16233s that means we have one more spot in the
16236s quarterfinals up for grabs
16239s we're gonna go to a quick break but
16240s don't go anywhere because the eighth and
16242s final match of day number three of the
16244s Hearthstone World Championship
16247s it's coming right up three more wins
16249s stood between Hunter Ace and the world
16251s champion title his first opponent in top
16254s eight was Luna formerly bloody face even
16258s though Hunter Hayes took an early lead
16259s the end of the series was a true nail
16262s biter let's see what happens it's
16265s quarter final it's gonna be bloody face
16267s versus Hunter Ace yes they rhyme and yes
16270s I'm a misspeak at the little point in
16272s this series but most importantly as
16274s always with today everything on the line
16276s Hunter race has been for a haircut since
16278s uh you may have last seen him so his
16280s hair's looking a little bit tight a
16281s little bit more streamlined and
16282s aerodynamic waiting to get some wins but
16285s we are going to go pretty quickly into
16286s this matchup let's talk about the player
16288s song yeah as soon as you said that my
16290s brain started trying to do rhyme schemes
16292s I didn't get very fast like outer space
16293s paper chase I just couldn't I couldn't
16295s link anything together but enough about
16297s that two of the most fantastic players
16299s in the world something I'm very excited
16301s to see uh for me bloody face if you'd
16303s ask me to name like my top 100
16305s Hearthstone players at the start of LA
16307s last year he's not even a name that
16309s probably would have made that list but
16310s that's a lack of exposure from that I
16312s had to him I just hadn't seen him play
16314s that much since I've been seeing more
16316s and more of him towards the latter half
16317s of last year and the start of this year
16319s he's become so impressive and he's
16320s honestly in terms of technical play
16322s probably one of the most respected
16324s players in this tournament now but
16326s looking at deck lists uh but one of the
16329s first times we're seeing kind of
16330s Divergent bands control Warrior going
16332s down on one side Tempo road going down
16333s on the other side which means that now
16335s we have uh potential Mage mirror uh with
16338s the invert their inverse decks Rogue on
16340s one side control worry on the other
16342s being left up and then the shaman from
16344s Hunter Ace which is yet another
16346s different build from the ones that we've
16347s been seeing so far from the likes of
16349s just saying uh very in the balance
16351s series I would say yeah I think so and
16353s you see the difference between say for
16355s example the the Shaman deck and the
16356s hunter deck create the differences in
16358s band strategy straight away which is the
16361s big deal for me and I'll Echo what you
16363s say your bully phase kind of kind of
16364s came out of nowhere I knew he existed as
16366s a person yeah and just hadn't seen a lot
16368s from him but Champs after Champs talking
16370s to him a lot as well and you know seeing
16373s his play this weekend
16375s I can't really argue he's kind of
16376s rocketed to the respect and I don't
16378s think it's any coincidence that uh that
16381s rise in my estimation as well as the
16383s estimation of multiple other people uh
16385s in this tournament and outside coincides
16387s with him saying hey you know what I'm
16389s quit my job and I'm doing full-time
16390s Hearthstone and and suddenly you know
16391s within one year he's kind of skyrocketed
16394s to the dizzying heights of now just
16396s being a few games away from being
16398s crowned the Hearthstone world champion
16400s and without further ado
16402s Hunter mage yep Hunter Ace is on the
16405s Mage and bloody faces on the hunter so
16407s let's not confuse any matters based on
16409s names yeah but I will just say as well
16411s as a side note we've been praised a lot
16413s bloody faces technical play and
16414s performance on that stage Hunter race
16416s and it hurts me to say this a little bit
16418s but it's looking a bit shaky yesterday
16421s he was a bit flustered he said he was
16424s some things that were bothering him it
16425s was a bit flustered anyway yeah wasn't
16427s the hunters we are used to seeing the
16429s big question has he sorted it out has he
16432s got together you know refocused am I to
16434s get everything back together again yeah
16435s and he's going to win some games we're
16436s about to see because this is going to be
16438s maybe his toughest opponent yet very
16440s possible uh we still I think there was a
16442s very exact moment you can pinpoint in
16444s the previous series if you kind of watch
16445s The Hunt race of the first game of a
16448s game and a half compared to the hunter
16449s race of the latter game and a half in
16450s that series you'll see night and day
16453s difference the the hunt race through the
16454s first half of the series was kind of
16456s fidgeting around in his seat heading
16457s hands a lot you know exasperated noises
16459s and facial expressions
16461s um whereas the hunter race of the latter
16463s half was much more Focus much more stoic
16465s much more calm just in his demeanor so I
16469s think you can see that he got it
16470s together during that series even and now
16473s just needs to carry that into this uh
16475s this further day yeah no we'll say you
16477s know from the the discovery that we can
16479s come to the game here and from the early
16481s softmaticals I feel like Hunter might
16483s have a sideways uh benefit versus Mage
16485s to be completely honest yes if Mage
16487s makes massive taunts and big guys early
16489s in the game but they win most matchups
16491s when they do that so that's not too much
16493s of a thing about its Hunter but I do
16494s feel like Hunter has consistently got
16496s there and maybe gave Mage it's its
16498s biggest problems Mage has not lost a lot
16500s in this tournament and Hunt race hasn't
16502s lost a single game with his Mage yet but
16504s I would like to actually see and maybe
16506s someone else is the exact losses that
16509s Mage has faced in this tournament as a
16510s whole in terms of which matchups yeah
16512s what matchups it's lost yeah because I
16513s feel like Hunter might be the up there
16515s even if it's like twice you know oh yeah
16518s it was crazy yesterday we talked to
16520s Hunter Ace about the build of this mage
16522s deck that he has and his one Unique Card
16524s is the uh hedge Clan sneaks yeah what
16526s it's called the three-man stealth minion
16528s and we talked to him specifically about
16529s why using the three drop instead of the
16531s four drop like what does this really
16533s open up to you he said the fact that you
16534s can play it down so early if you're
16536s playing against a deck like Zoo for
16537s example they'll often have three minions
16539s in play at the time you play your Hench
16541s Clan sneak then because your minion has
16543s stealth they either have the option to
16544s say all right I'm just not going to play
16546s anything else or boom they have to play
16547s into mind control Tech by playing
16548s additional minions the first time we
16551s then saw hedge Clan sneak get play from
16553s Hunter race that was the exact situation
16556s that's exactly what his opponent did
16558s played into mind control Tech and then
16560s the Mind Control Tech arguably won the
16561s game for him it's just incredible to see
16564s some of that stuff pan out exactly as he
16566s planned for his Tech card it's very deep
16568s isn't it deep understanding knowledge
16570s and and basically predicting people's
16572s play Styles and just how people will
16573s react to a situation and that's a lot of
16575s the game I feel is
16577s a lot of times I sometimes
16580s that's a complicated turn to make my
16582s opponent make come more complicated
16583s decisions instead of me in that way and
16585s I make them react to certain things I
16587s will do instead of being the reactionary
16588s player myself looking at his open hand
16590s though there is a mountain Giant on
16591s freestyle but there is a hyena available
16594s so it's kind of a tough one I think
16597s Bloody Face has done as much as he could
16598s to present a threatening board versus a
16600s mountain giant which looks quite strange
16603s but it does make sense yeah and I do
16604s really like this uh this Tempo doubt
16606s hyena on the previous term for bloody
16608s face this is one of the things that you
16609s can leverage this cut this deck right
16611s now is in kind of early game philosophy
16614s it's the new mid-range pad you know the
16616s new control Paladin the one thing that
16617s paladins always lacked apart from the
16619s period where uh rallying blade was in
16621s the game is ways to do significant
16623s amount of damage to the board early
16625s until true silver Champion consecration
16626s comes into play they didn't really have
16628s any way to interact with key minions
16630s early so if you had knife jugglers and
16632s Scavenging hyenas and all these you know
16634s very high value Minions that sometimes
16636s you save for immediate value you could
16638s just slam them on curb against Paladin
16639s and pound couldn't really interact with
16641s them that's now very similar to how this
16644s Mage operates so putting High upside
16646s High snowball potential minions down
16648s onto the board early is a very very big
16650s deal for this deck I can see even now
16653s just going base with that hyena Brave
16656s player bloody face just wants to end
16658s this game he could have killed the
16659s mountain Giant and said okay we're even
16661s but you are minus one mounting Giant and
16663s instead he's just saying okay let's go
16666s and the respect though what he has done
16669s is the giant can't get a value trade and
16671s then a duplicate so Hunter is actually
16673s skipping
16675s the conjurers calling valuing just
16678s voodoo doll coin ping first and saying
16680s well how do you deal six now yeah it's
16683s actually I think impossible with the
16686s decklist did they actually deal six from
16687s the number from hands uh do I mean you
16690s could get there right direwolf
16692s Timberwolf spring pool and and the extra
16694s links
16697s sure he's already played the spring part
16698s it's really
16700s really unlikely yeah but it's possible
16701s and leaves nothing on the board I think
16703s or you like yeah the Timberwolves but I
16705s do want to just go back and talk about
16706s the decision to go face there because
16707s voodoo doll is not the only thing that
16709s really blew you out um there's other
16711s they're two card combinations but
16713s obviously you're conceding the game to
16714s caggar condras but I guess we can rule
16716s that one out because you're probably
16717s losing the game to caggar Country
16719s exactly exactly
16721s um so I guess voodoo doll is the one
16722s that you really have to look at there
16725s and wonder whether that risk was worth
16727s the cost of six damage oh sorry eight
16729s damage in that position yeah that was my
16731s point um earlier just talking about the
16732s matchup in general if Mage does the
16734s stupid things every deck loses that's
16737s that just about yeah that just happens
16739s right so you know you can't really
16741s factor that in in terms of an actual
16743s debt build
16745s but now bloody face just has to work out
16747s exactly what he wants to do here unleash
16749s Headhunters Hatchet
16751s and the hero power I guess like he's
16752s committed now yeah you can't go face
16754s with hyena then backpedal especially as
16756s Hunter there's no backup plan on turn
16758s five
16760s foreign
16767s okay let's see what comes out from the
16769s country's calling because funnily enough
16770s this Hound
16772s is he not gonna okay
16776s the Hound just might present some break
16778s points in terms of uh Hey Unleash the
16780s Beast in the following turn but I guess
16782s the Ooze helps with that a lot more yeah
16783s not more so than the web in the opposite
16785s way right
16788s yeah I think uh sequencing was good
16789s there from Hunter race uh hit the
16791s country is cool first if he'd have
16792s rolled the 25 chance of Double Mountain
16794s giant he would have played some Fury
16796s that turn
16797s um but having got at least one taunt he
16799s just goes ahead and plays the Ooze uh it
16801s was a win-win outcome for him now though
16805s although this is you know nice clear you
16808s do have to think well that was a lot of
16810s stuff from bloody face to clear one kind
16812s of spare minion and now double kondra's
16815s call is available yep and I don't see
16817s why not so game over
16827s oh I even played he even played the
16830s fresh one so now bloody face knows there
16832s is two more in hand
16835s triple taunt and I believe there is
16838s nothing in the game of hearthstone no if
16841s it stops this happening just for good
16842s measure bloody face is gonna generate
16844s that spell but that looks dead to me in
16846s Hunter Ace is off to a quick start and
16848s this Mage still getting the wins
16851s although you wind back and the big
16853s question is and I don't really have a
16854s complete answer to this was the hyena
16856s going face correct because it looked
16858s silly because it was dealt with and then
16861s Giants came onto the you know can
16862s continue to sprawl across the board and
16864s on Trace one yeah but if you trade do
16867s you actually win that game going forward
16869s in a late game when huntress's hand is
16872s pretty much full yeah so he has stuff to
16874s do right I don't think so
16876s um I think that is a plan that looks
16878s very silly when you get punished in the
16880s way that Bloody Face did but I think in
16882s a lot of scenarios he wins the game More
16884s Often by doing what he did because his
16885s hand didn't have any kind of late game
16887s plan it wasn't like he was sitting on
16888s you know unleash the beasts and Masters
16891s calls and zojin he was just sat on
16893s damage so I think him trying to catch
16895s that in the route they had having seen
16897s uh Hunt's race already go book of
16899s specters I think it was a reasonable
16900s risk to take yeah and a pretty quick
16902s fire first game there between hunt race
16904s and bloody face these players playing
16905s for a spot in the semi-finals fast on
16908s world championship here Hunter race
16910s currently leading one and zero but
16912s plenty more Hearthstone to come up so
16914s don't go anywhere we'll be right back
16917s my name is Brian Eason also known as
16919s bloody face I'm from Atlanta Georgia
16920s I've played a lot of different card
16922s games in the past competitively I
16924s actually used to play poker
16925s professionally online before the US
16928s government shut down PokerStars in Full
16929s Tilt I've always just wanted to play
16931s games my whole life and I think
16933s Hearthstone right now is my favorite
16934s game to play
16937s no other card game I played has so many
16940s smooth features as Hearthstone does so I
16942s think Hearthstone tournaments go a lot
16944s deeper
16948s when you play against somebody that's
16950s also giving that they're all and you
16952s know they really care about it and you
16953s really care about it it's just so much
16955s fun it's kind of like an adrenaline rush
16957s nothing really compares to it I was
16959s studying computer science and my last
16961s job was a software engineer just
16963s basically coding all day every day I
16966s quit my full-time job a few months ago
16968s and wow streaming full time my family
16970s didn't wasn't thrilled when they heard
16972s it quit my job to play Hearthstone
16973s full-time but I think they do support me
16975s they were mostly concerned about me
16977s finishing and graduating college which I
16979s did thankfully so if arson doesn't work
16982s out I still have a good safety net being
16983s in a game like Hearthstone I just want
16985s to be at the very top it's not really
16987s enough for me to have moderate success
16989s you know if I if I don't make a breakout
16991s performance and get to the very top then
16993s I honestly might just go back to doing
16996s software development
16997s bloody face versus Hunter race Hunter is
17000s leading 1-0 with a win on the mage deck
17002s but the tables are going to be turned a
17004s little bit here as bloody face I believe
17005s is going to be playing his Mage versus
17008s huntress's Warrior so uh you know the
17011s the hunter becomes the prey I feel at
17013s this point
17015s yeah and just based on that little
17016s interview we saw in the break from
17018s bloody face I don't think there's too
17020s much chance that he's going to be going
17021s back to software engineering anytime
17023s soon he said you know I really need a
17024s breakout performance and to get to the
17026s very top uh stages don't get higher than
17029s the one that you are playing on right
17030s now you are at the very top of the game
17032s playing in the top eight of the World
17034s Championships I think Bloody Face is uh
17037s at least in the short term got an
17038s ongoing career with Hearthstone I
17040s certainly hope so because I just want to
17042s see more bloody faces impresses me every
17044s single time I see him and I definitely
17046s want to see more players like that
17048s somebody face is going to be on the Mage
17049s as we see there in Hunt race on the
17051s actual control Warrior and I don't think
17053s we've actually cast too much control I
17055s feel like we've all just been throwing
17057s bombs around to be honestyle at least me
17059s and you
17060s you might be right yeah
17062s first control Warrior game at the time
17066s but this is I think an extremely
17069s one-sided matchup bloody face has some
17071s anti-aggro text such as that Baron
17073s Garland one Mossy horror as well there's
17075s Double Dragon Ball Scorch and double
17077s some Fury protector as well as the Mind
17079s Control text the top end the mountain
17081s giant of course but then Alex Strazza
17084s and rabble bouncers and two crowd
17086s Roasters uh really the the top end there
17088s along with the astromancers which is
17089s standard so I would say about is 50 50
17094s as you can go at least in terms of
17095s amount of cards of late game to early
17098s game
17099s yeah definitely not the ultimate greed
17102s list that you'd want to have against
17103s Warrior and because of that and because
17106s of the quality of Hunter Ace's hand and
17108s because of the quality of Hunter race in
17110s a as a player in these incredibly
17112s stretched out resource battle card for
17115s card you know Battle of the grind kind
17118s of situations I don't make a bold
17120s prediction that Hunter race might just
17122s win this game from this position
17123s yeah I mean if ever there's a time it's
17125s going to happen it's when there's boom
17126s ready to curve on second uh on seven
17129s sorry and boom on second
17131s that'd be a really good card and um and
17134s bloody face having no mountain giant is
17136s pretty no book of specters either that's
17138s what really was the Clincher for me the
17140s khadgar is there so there's a lot of
17142s explosivity able to come very quickly
17144s but bloody faces some number of turns
17146s away from doing that he's gonna need to
17147s pick up a mountain giant or else he's
17149s gonna have to wait until he can develop
17150s one of his minions fairly you know
17152s playing astromancer for Seven Player
17154s crowd roaster for seven
17155s um and then if he's gonna combine that
17157s with kundra is cool that's a 10 Mana
17159s turn so if he's waiting all the way
17161s until then to make a huge play happen
17163s Hunter race will be very nicely
17165s established with his own doctor boom let
17167s me be clear this is a very favored
17169s matchup for the Mage I am just you know
17172s sticking my neck out here and saying
17174s with the current state of the draws
17175s Hunter race might actually be in a
17177s decent spot interesting point there with
17179s the ray of frost so bully face is very
17181s early on revealing what that discovered
17183s spell is so just buy a little bit more
17186s time away from this Acolyte and now the
17188s scale worm can clean it up in one hit so
17189s nice play but the information is there
17191s and now Huntress knows there's one Ray
17193s across left and a no more random cards
17196s available quite yet big thing for me is
17199s um
17200s not so bad right now because the coin
17202s has been used but all the four drops
17205s that just run right into dynomatic just
17208s feels terrible like I feel like the fall
17210s drop turn just feels terrible to play no
17213s Matter What against a warrior because
17214s you're like well
17216s probably just eyes and there's nothing I
17217s can do about it they end up with a
17218s minion I don't
17220s lot of options here for Hunter Ace uh
17223s Shield block is viable slamming the 5-3
17225s to cycle is viable slamming the 2-2 just
17228s to mitigate damage off the board this
17230s turn and then set up for your zilliacs
17232s on the following turn to get them get
17233s rid of the five three that's also very
17235s viable
17238s whoever's slam more path
17241s what now
17244s because you got to just consider use the
17246s card slam and use the card war path yes
17248s sorry slam more path is in play war path
17251s you know slam it
17252s I was just like wait what does that do
17257s okay so Hunter is choosing to take a bit
17259s of damage here
17262s I like this so there's the the the
17264s options that I kind of laid out like I
17266s said the slam would minimize the most
17268s damage this turn if you did on the 2-2
17269s it would then set up for zeliacs on the
17271s following turn but you're pretty
17272s confident your opponent's gonna play
17273s another Minion alongside this at least
17275s the kind of turns that put you in under
17277s any trouble uh your opponent's gonna
17279s play another Minion alongside this so I
17280s like slamming on the five one on the
17282s five three because it gets you closer to
17284s more key draws in your deck and gives
17286s you a good chance of getting a decent uh
17288s war path out on the following turns
17290s yeah really interesting because my worry
17292s was because of this slam who feels
17295s better
17297s okay who feels better about say a
17300s condra's coin on the scale worm here
17303s I think Hunter race does okay
17305s oh it's Harrison Jones up
17309s that's a big play from bloody face to go
17312s pressure with the Harrison Jones because
17314s it's not like if your opponent is just
17317s running low weapons project in their
17318s deck and that's it or if you're playing
17319s against a bomb deck where sure denying a
17322s bomb in your deck is impactful but it's
17324s not the Beyond Endo of your win
17326s condition this is a super collider deck
17329s from Hunter race right
17331s I know no no it's not then this then
17334s this seems perfectly reasonable yeah
17336s double Omega Devastator uh on four drops
17338s but then we're going to brawl dynamatic
17340s Harrison and zelia oh my mistake I was
17342s looking at bloody faces list that's my
17343s mistake I apologize yeah and and the
17345s shock there from subtle basically about
17346s the Harrison is that super collider is
17348s one of the anti-big Mage cards or maybe
17351s the anti-big Mage cards yes apart from
17353s Dr boom which is the anti-opponent card
17355s I see everything yeah yeah but yeah uh
17357s supercards is a real problem so in that
17359s case you can't really play around it
17360s right so if there's only weapons
17361s projects in the deck the body face has
17363s to worry about then I I'm actually a big
17365s fan of this Harrison Jones play it's not
17367s really getting any better right so why
17369s not drop it down now
17371s I like this this is just lined up
17373s reasonably well in that all the time
17375s bloody face is like yeah this bra still
17377s kind of sucks if you want to play it and
17379s most importantly denying armor game to
17381s stop a shield slam on the mountain giant
17384s to clean it up that way yeah and it's
17385s one of the reasons why having the 5-4 in
17387s play was so key here it kept pressure up
17390s to the point where Hunter Ace has gone
17391s into this turn with Zero armor and he
17393s needs to have exactly zero armor to play
17395s around Shield block armor up Shield slam
17399s um so that extra piece of pressure from
17401s the Harrison Jones is so key so vital
17404s and so intelligent from bloody face to
17406s be able to put him in this position it's
17408s easy to look on at this game and say oh
17410s he's just played his biggest minion on
17411s curve every every turn and then just
17412s curved into the mountain giant but
17414s Harrison Jones is a card a lot of people
17415s would have held there funnily enough
17418s bloody faces when you combine the board
17420s and the Hand it's very 50 50. the ball
17422s looking fantastic
17424s and there is astromancer but then
17426s there's like the rabble bouncer the
17427s mossy horror and then The Roaster which
17430s yeah kind of sucks and Trace just
17433s dropping a Devastator
17435s and this was the this was great because
17437s uh for bloody face because
17440s this is a bad term from Hunter is to be
17442s completely honest yet but you have to do
17443s something is it too late to retract my
17446s prediction nope okay I'm sure you said
17449s hunt race wins this 100 of the time and
17452s if he doesn't I will eat a hat
17455s now you're putting words in my mouth I
17457s will not be putting a hat in mine okay
17459s what about a deck list if we're gonna go
17460s on admirables definitely not
17465s yeah but bloody face drew the Giant in a
17467s timely matter that a timely manner sorry
17469s that's what changed from uh you know
17470s when I made that bold prediction up
17472s until now where Hunter is just in a
17475s miserable position you know that that
17477s equation was based on Bloody Face not
17479s finding the giant early and he did and
17481s that's just nice to come crawl him back
17484s with the excuses
17486s I've got a little suggestion though yeah
17488s if Huntress can stabilize does he have a
17491s bank or no mega Devastator
17494s just to get another one in the deck the
17496s card's pretty good versus my age like
17498s it's yeah
17499s are you really trying for elysianas in
17502s this matchup you're the dumbest idea
17504s yeah you I mean your opponent always
17506s like if the warrior is winning this it's
17508s likely through fatigue a lot of the time
17510s when you just kill all of their stuff
17512s um so they're gonna get there a lot
17514s quicker than you because they're casting
17515s the specters
17516s um so yeah a lot of the time it doesn't
17518s make sense okay Andre's giving himself
17521s just a a 25 chance to absolutely uh open
17524s up this game for him basically here with
17526s this play whoa
17528s bloody face can't believe it and Hunt
17530s race I think there was a slight smile
17532s which he evolved into a cover my face
17535s with my hand and then just cool guy
17537s knowledge
17538s style it out cool guy nod we're good but
17542s that
17543s was good I'm gonna lie to anyone giving
17546s yourself a 25 chance to maybe win the
17549s game when it was almost certainly lost
17550s yeah paid off big time and I like it
17553s honestly there was there was no other
17555s real play that appealed to me you
17557s couldn't just play Boom there it was
17558s miserable you were dead it's like what a
17561s mega Devastator again doesn't challenge
17562s the Border again you're just dead like
17564s it's just he had to go for that play it
17566s was all that he had available for him or
17567s Shield block fish for what some magical
17570s card in his deck that doesn't exist and
17571s the biggest point there is brawl armor
17573s up puts you in the same position the
17575s next turn except you don't have a bra
17577s which was which was and your opponent
17578s always has a minion yes that's what I
17581s mean you're Auto Under Pressure yeah and
17583s then you just don't have brawl anymore
17584s and it's like well this is a problem
17587s runs out on me and that's change things
17589s up a lot because this might just be
17591s enough breathing room here for Dr boom
17592s to come down and the second boom's down
17594s there's a whole lot more removal in this
17596s deck it sure is
17598s pilot trade Twilight trade it's got to
17600s be I just don't see any other line
17602s bloody face is just going to be trying
17604s to go for kind of regular pressure here
17605s as Twilight Twilight Drake and to
17607s potentially khadgar astromancer or just
17609s astromancer on its own on the follow-up
17610s as opposed to Baby pressure
17613s yes
17615s but now the doctor boom being able to
17617s activate these Shield slams relieves a
17619s lot of pressure for Hunter race there is
17622s still khadgar into astromanta next turn
17624s yup and which is going to get some work
17625s done obviously bear in mind slowly face
17627s saw the desperation brawl so you know so
17630s and then he's just seen a shield slam so
17632s maybe he's just gonna go for it and hope
17635s it's that's what I said as you were
17637s formulating your dank Rick and Morty
17639s reference and clearly not listening to
17641s me
17642s so
17646s yeah I like it you just got to get the
17648s pressure going these are four drops so
17649s there's a chance that they are very very
17652s small
17653s yeah wait a minute yeah so about that
17657s but what does it mean it means that
17661s Warpath is going to decimate this board
17663s State that's what it means
17667s thank you
17670s it's not that good is it
17672s no Factory Witch Doctor
17675s dead they're dead they're just dead next
17677s turn
17677s is sports getting more paths
17684s yikes
17686s uh I'd like to remind you that you
17687s retracted your predictions
17691s you turned it down
17697s the prediction still stands
17700s oh boy
17704s this Warpath is the juice
17708s I can't emphasize how huge it is that
17711s you are clearing your opponent's cadgar
17714s turn with not April in this matchup oh
17717s he leaves a five one up yes well he
17719s doesn't have to he can shoot you can
17721s shoot your slam yeah
17722s but that's the that's the question right
17724s is it worth it because the only thing
17725s that will say bloody face is say
17727s kandra's coin on the seven drop
17729s so I think your Shields aren't that bad
17730s you're going into a mega Devastator next
17732s turn I think actually you do Shield slam
17735s wow
17737s never mind
17740s yep untrace's face unimpressed I think
17743s that one
17744s taking boom River and he's just gonna
17745s triple war path
17747s and just Shield slime the seven drop
17749s they are only four drops from the
17751s Twilight Drake yeah that's fair he
17754s always is
17756s he definitely went halfway there
17758s okay I'm happy with this
17766s yeah one mechan hand versus four extra
17769s Health right it seems reasonable it's a
17771s little bit worse than that because you
17773s still have to deal with the 4-1 in the
17774s future but you're in doctor boom form
17776s you have 10 mana and you're having a
17777s mega Devastator in your hand so your
17779s your ability to deal with things that
17781s your opponent does is near infinite I
17784s think as well specifically a four one is
17785s extremely easy because what there's
17787s three hero powers that deal with it
17789s outside the discovery Mech that can just
17790s rush so yeah like robots and the
17794s Whirlwind yeah
17798s and now
17800s bloody face would love a book of
17802s specters
17805s just getting stuff down
17807s trying to avoid a rushing minion deal
17809s with the four one nice little play there
17811s bossy horror not gonna get value in this
17813s matchup
17817s you see another
17818s doesn't change much but also it doesn't
17819s matter boom Weaver's gonna come down
17825s to Perfection as he gets the one two out
17828s just to chip off the old Twilight Drake
17831s Hunter is truly a god
17834s what what must it be like to be Hunter
17837s Ace just have everything work out
17839s smoothly for you and be a lot taller
17842s how tall is Hunter is a lot taller than
17845s me I don't take obviously you as a it's
17847s harder than you as a shorter gentleman
17849s you notice when people are tall you know
17851s when someone's just an inch or two
17852s taller than me I don't really notice
17853s because I'm not just craning up at them
17855s like you would I just look at people's
17857s like chests yeah that's it so there's uh
17860s definitely but hunter is a lot taller
17861s than you I think okay lemon Viper I'm
17864s gonna go out there as the two tallest
17865s players here fair enough
17869s Arena's full and then our bloody face
17871s just stands up
17873s when you're tighten up an already
17874s taunted minion yeah you know you're
17877s feeling bad about life yeah bloody faces
17879s just kind of gassed out right now he
17880s needs book inspectors immediately
17883s you can silence the boom Weaver
17887s it's not the worst why not to be
17889s completely honest yeah all Hunter Ace
17891s has to do now there's two things one
17894s kind of Hope book of specters isn't
17896s drawn and two not let bloody phase have
17900s some Minion on the board that can just
17902s random you know conjure in and out for
17904s him yeah and it's just silence just owl
17906s in and kill it up he isn't going to kind
17909s of surprise me actually
17911s thank you
17913s this is a full clay but I think you
17915s should have done that anyway right it's
17916s a full clear with better board
17918s development than he does with the owl
17919s right like he doesn't he doesn't push
17921s but he wasn't really going to push
17922s anyway if you were using the 7-7 to
17924s trade and spending three mana on a
17926s spider tank on a nightmare amalgam is
17928s better than spending three mana on an
17929s IMB cow if you're gonna do the same
17931s thing anyway well the defense has one
17933s turn is the way I see it these five
17935s drops you have to be magnificent
17938s say Magnifique nope
17941s that's the problem though again stuck to
17943s Boom they're never gonna be enough no
17945s because a Mech kills them yeah from hand
17948s this is the nightmare scenario when you
17950s are out of cards against against Dr boom
17952s your win rate is as close as makes no
17955s difference zero percent yeah because it
17956s doesn't matter what one card you draw it
17959s cannot stick to the board against Dr
17962s boom there are some extremely rare
17965s exceptions to that like forest's Aid
17967s maybe if they don't have specific things
17968s can stick something to the board in one
17970s card but it's so rare that having no
17973s resources staring across the board a
17975s doctor boom form is the single most
17978s soul-crushing experience in Hearthstone
17979s right now to a certain extent it almost
17982s might be better and I'm not saying for
17983s bloody faces previous turn at all I
17985s think it was fine but it might be better
17986s to just pass a few turns hope you don't
17989s die and actually be able to combo
17991s together something else it sounds bad
17993s the seven five on the board is the big
17995s problem with doing that exactly yeah
17997s which it just gets clopped so fast which
18000s is the caveat of not this turn not this
18002s game but sometimes you do have to just
18004s wait and say I need to do one big turn
18006s instead of a lot of little ones yeah
18007s because as we can see Hunter race can
18009s choose from a a plethora of options that
18013s deal with this board just in his hand
18015s never mind the body already has look
18017s it's just done tested
18020s you can just play wall path for one for
18022s one it just doesn't matter it's fine I
18023s want to say that didn't go particularly
18025s well for hunt race and he can still
18027s clear easily yeah I mean
18033s I'm searching for whatever the opposite
18035s of a silver lining is for uh for Hunter
18037s Ace right now hey
18040s I don't know I'll think about that one
18048s look of specters finally the card that
18052s he's needed this entire time finds
18054s himself some gas but even then one last
18058s slap across the face there for bloody
18059s face not a good day to be bloody face
18061s apparently
18063s and
18065s there is the oh that's all I was gonna
18068s be wrong twice in a day
18069s um but the
18071s the phrase better late than never
18074s is often true
18076s I don't think it applies to that book
18078s respect as in this game specifically
18079s yeah it's not Universal is it no like a
18081s punch to the face better never than late
18084s and never then I'm sorry what do you
18086s want to be punished later or never I
18088s thought you're saying two separate
18089s phrases I was like wait what
18091s she said one wrong
18095s to the face it's just an idiom now in
18097s Raven's world I never know you quote a
18099s lot of things I don't know so it's
18100s probably for some another obscure show
18102s yeah
18106s yeah there's still Minions that aren't
18108s mixed that still have rush in this deck
18114s and Hunt race oh obviously off the back
18118s of that brawl but he's not playing Super
18120s Collider
18122s and he's still making this work
18124s it's crazy
18126s and it's it really is the lack of book
18128s inspectors you know we can go back and
18130s forth on this prediction that I made at
18132s the start but it's just looking at the
18134s lack of book of specters in bloody
18136s Face's hand and the presence of the
18137s doctor boom in Hunter Race's hand that's
18139s what makes it possible I'd still say
18141s it's unfavored from that position and
18143s you can see how that played out he ended
18145s Hunter Hunter Ace basically took a 25
18147s percenter to win this game and won it
18149s that's what happened right that kind of
18151s illustrates to you that he was still in
18152s an unfavored position but I felt like it
18154s was a reasonable thing just to call out
18156s and say hey guys there's a good chance
18157s that Hunter Hayes can win this game you
18159s know he's not a favored position but he
18161s wins a good chunk of the time there we
18163s go the discoverer of the Mage car was
18165s not enough maybe book of specters
18167s discovered was going to be better for
18168s him there but it wasn't to be in Hunt
18171s race just beat the Mage with the warrior
18174s and that was not supposed to happen on
18176s paper but hunt race has made a lot of
18178s things happen that you would say
18179s shouldn't and continues to perform
18181s extremely well here going 2-0 up versus
18184s Bloody Face and if he's winning those
18186s matchups you gotta feel good and you
18189s know it's hard come back to the list as
18190s well Mossy horror was played and you
18192s know we played this little little game
18194s about Hearthstone decks and deck
18196s building of well if Mossy horror that
18198s anti-aggro card
18199s wasn't an anti-aggro card maybe that
18202s helps because he did draw it and did
18203s nothing rabble bouncer it's a fantastic
18206s card uh it should be in the deck but
18208s again he drew that and it's like the
18209s wrong matchup yeah he needed the big
18212s guys and the big pushes and the draw and
18214s he drew all the antiago tools he put in
18216s the deck against a control Warrior you
18218s have to start going really deep though
18220s because when he starts okay he here he
18222s is in the quarterfinals if the mossy
18225s horror that was in his deck was a power
18226s of creation or some other greedy tool
18228s right he would have done better there
18230s would he be here yeah exactly what I
18232s mean if that Mossy horror was a power of
18234s creation or whatever else because we've
18236s seen Mossy Horrors be insane in that
18239s deck against token Druids and zoos so
18241s far as well
18242s it's really tough and I feel like
18244s especially because of how flexible these
18245s Mage builds are it's going to be a
18247s never-ended story I think as long as
18248s this archetype is relevant for because
18250s yeah there are so as long as you put the
18254s country's calling and probably the
18255s mountain Giants in the deck enjoy the
18257s other you know 26 cards
18259s and I want to make one more one more
18260s final point on this as well because you
18262s can also say let's say power of creation
18264s for the sake of argument say he has
18266s power of creation there and he plays it
18267s after that point where he's lost that
18269s brawl when Dr boom has come down cleanly
18271s does power of creation win that game
18273s probably not right so the takeaway
18275s message from that is that if Warrior
18278s draws well and gets Dr boom they are not
18281s unbeatable when in the hands of a top
18283s player so then you have to look at your
18285s overall strategy coming into this
18286s tournament and think about whether band
18288s Warrior should have been the world you
18290s were living in yeah well let's find out
18291s was we are moving on with this series
18293s Hunter Ace arguably the best player in
18296s the world highest points owner at least
18300s it's going to be going up against bloody
18301s face he has his Shaman and bloody face
18303s has the Rogue and outside of the crazy
18306s matchups we've seen in this tournament
18309s you've got to imagine huntress's prep
18311s for this one oh yes
18313s I honestly feel like these uh these kind
18315s of mid-rangey control leaning shamans
18318s that we're seeing a kind of in a
18320s response to how much Rover you're
18321s expecting to see
18323s the kid was does this deck actually
18324s survive and then wear out Rogue yes send
18328s it I'll bring it on multiple occasions
18330s I'll bring it bring it to Worlds
18335s okay so far again uh you know just in
18337s case you missed some previous matches
18338s and previous days of this tournament
18340s obviously on the Hearthstone
18341s Championship tour
18343s hunt race broke down his shame and Deck
18345s with about 20 minutes discussion on
18347s every single card to us that had ever
18349s been included and thought about
18350s including but the big point I want to
18351s get to is Twilight Drake and giggling
18354s inventors so this deck does have some
18357s because I feel like these control decks
18358s have walking Fountain and then no other
18360s minions it feels like but this does have
18363s some you know middle beats there's the
18365s act like pains early as well to help
18366s wild pyromancers are a question mark
18368s we've discussed before yeah this deck
18370s but my point is huntres can play stuff
18373s isn't just removing all game every game
18375s they have not impressed me the wild
18377s pyromancers personally
18379s um there was a game where he drew while
18381s pyromancer against zoo and never wanted
18383s to play it and that suggests to me that
18385s you're not a good wild pyromancer deck
18387s and what I mean by that is that here's
18389s the list of spells that cost three or
18391s less no be quiet Agatha five Mana carry
18394s on the list of spells that cost three or
18396s less in his deck lightning storm a
18398s couple of far sights one Witches Brew
18400s one Earth shock two ancestral healing
18401s you know it's not the big zap voltaic
18404s burst all of those kind of extra tools
18407s that you have in there to really really
18408s make that pyromancer very effective
18412s speaking of efficiency
18414s five Mana Agatha four Mana hex
18419s five Mana hagatha's scheme uh this is
18423s actually huge though we're kind of
18424s joking around a little bit but hagatha
18426s one is going to continue to keep on
18427s Tracy's hand decently filled with the as
18430s I said he plays a decent amount of
18431s minions in the deck yeah and then most
18433s importantly now the scheme starts taking
18435s along those are almost two board wipes
18438s and if we're talking value for later
18440s walking Fountain which will create a
18442s spell and then swamp Queen hagatha which
18445s will create effectively what four spells
18447s two from the minion it creates one from
18449s the swamp Queen being played and one for
18451s the minion being played with haggar the
18453s hero haggarth of the witch actually live
18455s so Huntress has got some juice is what
18457s I'm saying it's convoluted obtuse and
18459s confusing but the math checks out on
18461s what you said
18462s perfect
18464s shooting for the Stars
18468s absolute Bullseye but okay we've just
18470s brought down hunt race his hand and
18472s almost certainly overall game plan
18475s what's bloody face going to do we know
18477s what he wants to do but what's he need
18479s to do to actually win this game with our
18481s ultimate knowledge of these hands
18483s you're asking me how a man beats a five
18485s Mana Hager
18486s well could I can I have can I have some
18488s time on that one you can have 10 seconds
18491s as I explain hunt races likelihood at
18494s least in my view of just slamming
18496s hagatha and having it down for the for
18498s the late game and for the rest of game
18499s going forward especially that he has a
18502s turn six he has a turn seven and they
18504s turn eight minion choice just didn't get
18506s in there entire I was gonna say I wonder
18507s if there's any Merit to this Twilight
18509s Drake because the hagarthur is concealed
18512s information right I think you know a
18514s better question so me trying to say what
18515s can bloody face do to beat a five Mana
18517s hagatha is what Pitfall might bloody
18519s face fall into not realizing there's a
18522s hagatha that's cheaper than it should
18524s you should be in hand right and I think
18526s that surprise factor is something that
18528s Hunter race is playing towards right now
18529s because he wants to use this to really
18531s get a blowout turn on a board that
18533s Bloody Face is not expecting to be able
18534s to be cleared by Agatha uh true but that
18537s only lasts till turn eight right so
18539s there is just a limited time so that
18541s becomes a huge blowout okay as far as
18544s bloody face is concerned he's he could
18545s be playing around three damage area
18546s already if he's considering Hager for
18548s the scheme right so hackathon scheme can
18551s be a card that you just put from your
18552s mind right because this road this rogue
18555s deck doesn't play Minions that outscale
18556s hacker to the scheme you can't deal with
18558s it they just don't exist so if scheme
18559s happens scheme happens
18561s um The X Factor is that Haggart of the
18563s witch which right here this could be the
18565s big bait turn right like if two dread
18567s corsairs come down right now this can be
18570s the turn that Hunter race has been
18571s waiting for my only worry is something I
18575s believe we've seen previously in this
18576s tournament already is when you are
18578s forced into a unfortunate hackathon
18581s because you need hagatha down sure as
18582s opposed to having already played a safe
18584s Agatha right now but knock knock who's
18589s there Agatha before turn eight goodbye
18592s dreadcast there is not a sea a wall a
18596s deluge of debateds in the chat right now
18598s I don't know what you're doing twitch
18600s chat just listen to that crowd they got
18603s it
18606s and now say what you want it's very
18608s lucky to farsight and get yourself a
18610s five Mana hagatha incredibly fortunate
18612s Hunter Hayes took the hand he was dealt
18614s and executed it perfectly it turned out
18617s very very well
18619s just as much though you do have to think
18620s to a certain extent that there are a lot
18622s of good Minions that could have turned
18624s out theirs I mean walking Fountain would
18625s have done a similar job not quite as
18627s backbreaking yeah but I'm just like my
18629s point just to finish was when you were
18631s forced into a bad hackathon because you
18633s just need haggar to down in the health
18634s is when things can get a little bit
18636s tricky but you quite rightly uh presume
18640s this was gonna happen and it did so good
18641s job one last caveat I agree with you
18643s more often when you're forced into an
18645s eight Mana hagger for though if you're
18647s forced into a five Mana Hager you can
18648s often do something alongside it that
18650s will dig you out of it as well
18653s but back in current reality
18657s no I will have the last word
18662s they were likely
18663s lacking funky things happen another
18665s eviscerate is available for just extra
18667s damage
18668s in another world vanishes are considered
18671s pick just for the surprise of actually
18673s no you're not a whole boy but double of
18675s this wagglepick deadly poison green skin
18678s double deadly poison oh sorry yeah
18681s double deadly poison no ooze for Hunter
18683s race
18686s foreign
18696s if he wants here and I don't see why not
18699s it feels like it can can get the work
18701s done so the murloc you can't really
18702s guarantee a board outside of the minion
18704s and a shark
18706s versus exactly Van Cleef
18710s which is a bit Niche he took the airshot
18712s it's van niece very good
18716s this game seems good to me though oh
18718s Ferrell yeah I like viral I guess I
18721s guess you've already got a scheme for
18722s one big wipe and then feral does the
18724s backwards job of schemes to a certain
18725s extent uh shock Pharaoh Spirit
18727s um oh my oh jeez calm down
18730s no swearing on stream songs I feel like
18732s you nearly got there
18734s three of this rates will do things to a
18736s Man Raven yep maybe even kill him in a
18739s game of Firestone
18741s I wonder
18742s um I was just kind of winding back the
18744s options off his uh ethereal Lackey one
18747s of them was the was of this vanish fan
18749s of knives right I wonder about the fan
18752s of knives in that pick with how much
18754s damage he does have built up but one of
18756s the big roadblocks to that being
18757s giggling inventor yeah Ryan exactly
18760s um if a giggling inventor comes down fan
18762s of knives is a great tool to be able to
18764s push damage through that still uh so I
18766s wonder why whether maybe that translates
18768s into more damage over the long term but
18770s it's hard it's hard to like work out the
18773s combo that bloody face has gone here
18774s with his picks damage plus damage equals
18777s damage it's one of the most effective
18778s combos in Hearthstone
18780s yeah there's 14 damage from hand as well
18783s I I love this play because what you've
18785s got to consider as well is one it sets
18787s up exact lethal from hand
18789s and also
18791s if Huntress has the use he plays two
18793s Mana he he's probably bounces something
18795s good and also he spends the banner which
18798s just reduces what he can do that turn
18800s yeah this is huge
18803s turns race heading hands now because
18805s that's just an unfortunate turn and he
18807s can't see Triple eviscerate with the
18809s cobbled Lackey to actually prop the
18811s combo effect
18813s this is an eight damage weapon from
18816s bloody face which means the play he's
18817s made here also beats walking fountain on
18820s curve because walking Fountain would
18821s only heal the weapon the weapon covers
18823s that healing and then as you said this
18825s or this of this kobold lack of 14 damage
18827s from hand I guess he's dead oh wait he
18831s died yeah even if he drew the ancestral
18833s healing it wouldn't
18836s wouldn't matter would it it taunts oh
18838s yeah sorry the time the top would matter
18839s so ancestral healing would have been an
18840s out that's for to either draw or get
18842s from the uh get from the hackathon
18845s foreign
18847s but that looks like an extremely dead
18849s hunt race to me this game
18851s and here we go what did we say damage
18856s plus damage plus damage Hunter race
18860s cannot believe his eyes
18862s that is about as close to shocked as
18865s that man is ever gonna look and then the
18867s shot gives way to disappointment that
18869s was a semi-final spot
18872s just melted away from right in front of
18875s Hunter Race's eyes he would have thought
18876s he was very close to getting that one
18878s over the line and there's so much damage
18881s coming through and let's remember this
18884s was off the back of a early hagarthur
18886s obliterating aboard the Bloody Face
18889s played into the hagatha to make it even
18891s worse and it just didn't matter I
18894s thought that was I thought it was over
18895s honest honestly I thought it was over I
18897s thought you know with the hand that he
18898s had after that giggling inventor and
18900s walking fountain that it was going to be
18902s tough for row even even the mighty Rogue
18905s to set up a board state that gets
18907s through this but who am I to doubt Rogue
18909s we talked
18910s um last game about how the strong
18913s performance we just saw from a warrior
18914s means that maybe you should just be
18916s considering bam Warrior as your strategy
18918s well I guess we gotta do the Jujitsu due
18920s diligence because Rogue just did the
18922s exact same thing and you can't ban them
18924s both so you see the problem that these
18927s players have got into coming into this
18928s tournament yeah big story of the
18930s tournament and the big questions are
18931s being asked of what do you do when there
18934s are two leaders of the pack in terms of
18936s classes and can you target them that's
18938s what we're going to find out by the end
18939s of this tournament so that was the
18941s exciting game there and hunt race is not
18942s there yet bloody face has a chance to
18944s fight back is he going to find after
18946s this we're back here at the Hearthstone
18948s world championship and it's hunt race
18950s versus Bloody Face Huntress leading the
18953s way here 2-1 but he had a good chance at
18955s taking a game there for a quick zero
18958s sweep for bloody face put a stop to that
18960s with frankly an obscene amount of damage
18962s from hand and from the weapon overall so
18965s his Rogue has the win done dusted I
18967s believe he is going to be queuing up his
18968s Mage next and the Mage versus Shaman
18971s matchup it's a bit of a strange one to
18972s me because
18974s mainly it's just the ability of the
18976s hagitis scheme to clear a ridiculously
18979s large Mage board is something that you
18980s constantly have to think about and I
18981s think just with the sneak peek over
18983s Hunter Ace's shoulder there is our
18985s camera panned around I think he has a
18988s scheme in his opening hand for the
18989s Mulligan he sure does that is there you
18992s go huge deal
18994s he's gonna let that tick up over the
18996s next you know five six seven maybe even
18998s more turns and when a card in hand reads
19001s five Mana destroy the board pretty much
19003s no matter what you're looking pretty
19005s good against the deck like bloody faces
19007s Mage yeah
19008s um I gave this breakdown when I thought
19010s we were going into a shaman match up uh
19013s previously but it's it is a weird one
19015s because they have all the answers right
19017s there is the earth shot for the Twilight
19018s Drake there is the hexes for the
19020s mountain Giants so they can for a while
19022s with a good draw kind of shut down and
19025s stop the board from snowballing but if
19027s the opponent just Waits just builds up a
19029s hand size with book of specters and then
19032s just Waits until like turn six when they
19035s can go three Mana giant kundra is
19036s calling immediately that can just be
19039s hard for the shaman to shut down there's
19040s only one card that really does it and
19042s that's hackathon scheme and even then
19044s they have to buy an additional couple of
19046s turns to get to that eight AOE that they
19048s need to clear the board if the
19050s opponent's done it on turn six it's not
19051s up there yet yeah it definitely feels
19053s like akin to a rhythm game where timing
19055s literally is everything because you need
19057s to just jump through those Hoops just at
19059s the right time or otherwise the shame is
19061s going to have the one by one answers you
19063s know as you were speaking like oh one
19064s giant well one hex one Twilight Break
19066s one is shark can really work out by
19069s Hunter Hayes
19070s using those pyros in the most positive
19072s ways two Mana three twos that might go
19074s first three two get them
19077s let's counteract the uh some Fury
19079s protector though
19083s again get him
19087s foreign
19098s there has to be a lot of heals
19101s a lot of witches brew repeated on
19103s pyromancer to be able to clear a mage
19105s mod right
19107s um I
19109s this is the weird situation that you
19111s create by playing two pyromancers that's
19113s going to trade one in first you can just
19115s play your own Twilight Drake and keep
19117s going face I mean all that yeah
19121s this is a funny situation because the
19123s likelihood of say two four drops
19125s beating this board is just unlikely to
19129s be quite quite honest just because the
19130s three attack from the pyromancers kind
19131s of covers the bases right yeah weird
19133s line weird line from Hunter race but you
19135s can tell he was prepared for the
19136s Twilight Drake coming down because as
19138s soon as he did Hunter Ace a very careful
19140s and considered player just immediately
19142s knew what his response was he could code
19144s for slow
19145s yes he um but I mean not slow for no
19149s reason you know it's not like he plays
19150s slowly and doesn't get results out of it
19152s that's why I use the word considered
19153s because you don't have a win rate as
19155s high as Hunter races is without using
19157s that time to find the most lines uh find
19159s the best lines the largest percentage of
19161s the time sometimes slow things are okay
19163s yeah agreed
19166s like a punch to the face I'd rather have
19168s a slow punch to the face than a fast
19170s punch to the face
19171s yeah we're only getting much force will
19173s it no
19174s is that cluster's a punch then
19177s runs out a fist pump to the face
19182s maybe there he knew Hunter race just
19184s knew that hey if the Twilight Drake
19186s comes down I'm just not gonna bother
19187s thinking about the Earth shock I'm just
19188s going to play out my Twilight Drake and
19190s just keep going face
19192s and
19194s I was wondering whether this becomes a
19197s very strange game of Minion chicken
19199s where they just keep going face and keep
19201s playing more stuff because I feel 100
19203s race would actually lose that game oh
19204s yeah he runs out with me he has to play
19206s very very quickly and by that I mean now
19208s in a hot because he would lose that race
19211s it's just which is interesting to me why
19213s Bloody Face chose to trade
19215s that's my point there obviously because
19216s he wants his giant to live
19218s through any means necessary yeah
19220s he has a country's calling in his hand
19222s that's that's the deck
19224s I was just meaning you giant lives on
19227s one Health
19229s yeah
19231s one Health is a lot here because that
19232s pyromancer can't cast a spell and then
19234s attack no but there are a lot of I
19237s wonder cards that can do the damage I
19239s guess name one that's sufficient
19241s Earth shock
19243s when there's a Twilight Drake on the
19245s board uh one Manor deal one damage
19248s that's your official to exactly one
19251s healthy for exactly one Health minion no
19254s you want a zero Mana Cardiff there's a
19257s zero Mana card that does two there's
19259s there's more than one zero Mana card
19261s that does two
19262s which is overload really count yes
19266s remember the lightning stuff though
19269s good
19272s but that this is my point right look how
19274s ugly Hunter races turn had to be to deal
19276s with that uh that mountain giant I guess
19280s I think the key thing is that there was
19282s a little follow-up from Hunter Ace
19284s anyway apart from I
19286s yeah nothing but bloody face doesn't
19288s know that right I mean there's a really
19290s follow-up in the deck at that point well
19291s you could have just spent the turn
19292s casting farsights played a mind control
19294s Tech like spending manner on things
19296s they're a lot more beneficial and you
19297s know what the two acolytes I do actually
19299s keep forgetting about in the deck so you
19300s know what yes okay agreed if you're just
19302s leaving three menus on the ball and just
19304s goes trade trade trade your giant okay
19305s now now I just have freedom to do
19307s whatever I want
19312s it's gonna be scale hide oh okay just
19315s gonna try and front load the rubble
19316s Bouncer and that's a double benefit here
19318s of it's a threat that
19321s hasn't done anything yet it's you know
19323s it's kind of flies into the radar a
19324s little bit because Hood Trace has to
19326s consider it as a problem because it's a
19327s seven drop
19329s well if he hexes it then it's a win for
19332s bloody face because there's plenty more
19333s where that came from yeah for sure
19335s really good players Lee I was looking at
19337s just the scale worm just to push far
19339s more damage and do four drops on the
19341s board okay-ish health
19344s not an overcommittal but this is
19346s actually fine as well there aren't
19347s really a lot of minions you need to
19348s taunt block with this Rebel bouncer
19351s against Shaman anyway yeah but hunter
19353s Ace will be feeling okay not fantastic
19356s but okay
19357s um his hackathon scheme is essentially
19359s scaling with the turn count right now so
19362s as long as he can deny Mountain giant
19364s into countries calling which would be
19365s eight health Minions 100 of the time
19367s from turn seven onwards he'll feel
19369s confident that he can take down akundra
19371s is cool board you know it really does
19372s have to get up above seven and eight
19374s health essentially more Health than the
19376s turn of the game that we're on that's
19377s that's what you're aiming for at this
19379s point as bloody face and that's what
19380s Hunter race is hoping not to see
19383s I do wonder if Agatha's scheme is ever
19385s going to be used in such a weird fashion
19387s to actually keep the turn time account
19389s for players that plan to their plan to
19391s go to turn time because I could you can
19393s remember which turn you drew it on right
19394s and then just the the scheme does the
19396s rest yeah is that is that more efficient
19398s than a tally chart I don't I don't know
19401s I don't see the making notes all fair
19403s enough
19407s again yeah bully plays could do a
19409s similar trick here and just proud roast
19411s the one three if he wanted to oh
19414s if he doesn't want to open up any
19416s drawers that was a
19418s it's a weird one
19426s I drink number two
19430s you're calling the inventor is actually
19431s a nightmare right now
19434s he's like it's so easy to kill but
19437s I can't without something like exactly
19439s Agatha or the scheme right now yeah but
19442s if he doesn't kill it well that's just
19443s going to create more t7 drops but look
19445s at this I love this card the sapper
19451s look out for a plot twist deck from from
19454s Raven himself coming out soon
19457s I'm sure they're just waiting with
19459s baited bread to see that look I said
19461s that little Nugget Drop onto it plot
19463s twist and sapper like if you're not
19465s interested then you don't like Carson
19466s yeah
19467s yes thank you and it does deal too by
19470s the way for any minion any friendly
19471s minion that dies it does the thing that
19473s you saw happen there you go
19475s give me too much credit yeah
19481s which is very funny because of country's
19483s calling
19492s it's really a good card yeah it's
19495s definitely it's one of the it's one of
19497s the factors that can be your strength or
19498s weakness of the card where you know
19499s sometimes when you're trying to use it
19500s in removal spots you'd much rather it
19502s was a transform effect like if there's
19504s just some huge like big death row Mech
19506s that someone's built on the board this
19507s is actually killed you'd like it to be
19509s Transformer minion into two copies of a
19511s different opinion
19515s oh I like the front load now just
19517s because Alex Strazza Go is is a very
19519s interesting play
19520s Irish trials ago is a very interesting
19522s play normally you well one just to let
19525s you guys know there's only a single
19526s which is Brew in on Tracy's list yeah
19528s but also if you Alex Charles are in post
19531s there can't be AOE and a lot of witches
19533s brew so your opponent has to you know
19535s figure yeah for go one of those things
19537s normally and if you do then you normally
19539s just dead anyway
19540s can we just giggling and chill this turn
19542s from Hunter Ace's position
19547s Mage not a great deck at um leveraging
19549s against the the annoy trons right they
19551s very often just have to go through it
19553s honestly with the minions there is
19554s Dragon Ball scorcher about the only
19556s thing that they can use
19559s this country is calling me annoyatron
19561s yeah it's pushed three maybe that could
19563s be lethal I mean I'm not gonna I'm not
19565s gonna ridicule that play because you may
19566s see it happen at some point in
19568s competitive Hearthstone if it's lethal
19570s Fountain here kill off the
19572s zilliacs and he can reheat ancestral
19574s healing good lightning
19577s it's very interesting for lightning and
19580s social healing extremely good here
19582s actually
19583s to take the Divine shield and create the
19586s break point
19587s that was a good hug of the spell yep
19592s he's gonna use the ancestral healing to
19594s keep it around
19596s not a huge value ancestral healing
19598s normally you're looking for the dream
19599s scenario with those walking fountains
19601s make both trades happen then get the
19603s ancestral healing to come down
19604s afterwards I think he could have gone
19605s the other way and left the Tapper alive
19606s or is it just too much of a fear for the
19608s country I don't think so I don't I don't
19610s see what's the upside of it UK has a 4-8
19613s right you trade more at first and then
19615s you get the healing afterwards because
19616s then the sapper does like attacks in I
19619s can see it he'll like doesn't actually
19621s kill the The Walking Fountain and then
19623s makes two seven drops like not great
19625s obviously I understand the downside yeah
19626s but you've left more often not with a
19629s walking Fountain there's Merit to it for
19631s sure I think you're left weak to crowd
19633s roaster in that position more so than
19635s doing yep and leading into uh I only
19639s need to know Manus you wouldn't see and
19641s can't just call him but yeah you are
19643s right foreign
19655s giggling inventor territory there's
19658s there's an 88 on the board that you
19659s don't want to deal with just put two
19660s annoytrons in the way so there's extra
19663s which is Brew for free which means that
19665s the healing now is more readily
19667s available for entrees yep and after the
19669s Alex comes down as well
19680s tricky
19682s I actually think I like the sculpture
19684s here because giant let me fall off my
19686s chair I don't think anyone saw that um I
19689s think giant intercontra's calling is
19691s something he has to save because of the
19693s fear of scheme you can't go deep and
19695s then just get one scheme and it's like
19696s oh God it's gonna take me another few
19698s turns to build up again there's a window
19700s sorry it's okay off there like 10 7 8 9
19702s there's a window where you can kind of
19705s um disregard hackathon scheme because if
19707s they've drawn it at any point around
19708s turn two three four Etc it hasn't got up
19711s there to those big giant numbers yet
19713s once you hit turn 10 and Beyond they can
19715s have drawn hagatha's scheme through a
19717s very wide range of turns and it still
19720s kills all of your minions plus you
19722s factor in how good all these players are
19723s at hand tracking my face probably has a
19725s very good idea of that card on the very
19727s far left that was the only card kept in
19729s the Mulligan for Hunter race is the
19732s scheme and he's keeping track of exactly
19734s how much damage it's doing yeah and also
19736s there's been positions where for example
19739s I'm just thinking of the cards that
19740s would be kept against Mage as the Shaman
19742s deck scheme and then what
19744s hex and acolyte of pain maybe Agatha
19749s hackathon I guess but like he's seen
19751s hagatha there are options where hex
19753s would have been played almost certainly
19754s so guess what it's probably a scheme
19757s it's schema and I think he does it now
19759s actually scheme Twilight Drake
19760s definitely not the end of the world to
19761s generates an additional spell and it
19763s gains the board back
19764s it does
19766s it's a low impact board to scheme though
19768s he takes a big swing if he doesn't
19771s that's my worry if he doesn't heal or
19773s scheme
19775s a lot of things could happen where he
19777s just dies or at least gets very close to
19779s it
19780s and again I feel like any turn you're
19782s forced into which is Brew on death feels
19784s just like a delaying the inevitable from
19786s what we've seen so far yeah I'm just
19788s gonna go for it I do like this a lot I
19789s think he has to do it there's you know
19791s you can try and just witch's brew heel
19793s up and just say you know I'm gonna take
19794s the hit your opponent is going to hit
19797s you in the face with their minions kill
19798s your one two and say pass your turn yep
19801s same spot and you're just down a witch's
19803s brew
19805s no fire too witch doctor has this nice
19807s added benefit of basically
19809s replacing itself in hand which keeps
19812s this mountain giant at a reasonable
19813s level
19815s hmm bloody face after seeing the skin
19819s get used does not just immediately go in
19821s with his Mountain Giant
19829s crowd roaster pretty effective in that
19832s spot I guess if there is a second lower
19834s damage scheme in hand for Hunter race
19837s which there is entitled to be at this
19838s point then uh playing his two giants
19842s into that four or five yeah he's able to
19845s take one of them out at least and the
19847s crowd roaster is still a threat because
19849s Hunter's nose is a country's Con in hand
19851s yeah because it's the the second one the
19854s twin spelled right which means that
19856s Hunter is every single seven drop has to
19858s be considered uh a huge huge threat one
19861s he pushes seven and Hunter it's only 15.
19863s but also it could push so much more in
19866s the turns following this looks like a
19868s swamp queen turned to me which means Far
19870s Side is going with it which means Far
19871s Side probably comes first so you can
19873s look for an out there is that hex he's
19875s been waiting for the whole game but I
19877s think for me potentially still a swamp
19879s Queen turn I think he's afraid okay
19882s there's a mystery Mage Bell Sol which
19884s means he could die
19886s I am gonna say pyro blast and fire uh
19888s Fireball but those cards exist they do
19894s I don't think you want to be knocked out
19896s of the world championship if you've got
19897s a better play
19898s not off the back of just this game but
19900s you don't want to take a loss if you can
19901s that's the Trap though right like just
19903s because you can think of a random card
19905s that you die to does not necessarily
19907s make one play better than the other
19910s I never said it was better didn't you is
19912s that not you don't want to get knocked
19913s out of the championship if you've got a
19914s better place that's what you'll feel
19915s like I think that's right I think that's
19917s what people feel like
19919s you should avoid that's what I'm saying
19923s here we go
19930s tickled me the elemental mate was
19932s actually alive for a second there
19934s because there was an elemental on the
19935s board but it was their opponents
19937s that shadow walk is huge here that's big
19939s Health on the shutter walk it's uh
19942s hagatha and it summons the annoyatrons
19944s to put up a defensive wall here kind of
19946s tickling head of the same dimly lit
19954s quite frankly
19957s it's kind of all he's got
19959s he's going for swamp Queen
19964s I feel like you just dare this swamp
19968s Queen doesn't do anything
19970s and even if it does it has to do
19972s something pretty magnificent because you
19974s cost managed to play the the Battle Cry
19976s minion next turn right
19981s what you can be sure of
19983s or at least almost certain of if he
19985s plays sugar walk he's just not bad next
19991s but maybe he thinks he needs something
19992s more than sure what can give
19994s us
19997s oh that's the bad order
20001s loses his Divine Shields
20006s flame strike gonna
20009s unlock the door for bloody face to kick
20011s it through anyway
20013s with these seven attack minions and does
20015s he just leave Shadow walk and just say
20016s well have your six attack I mean well
20019s flame strike push damage here does is a
20022s little bit scary from bloody Face's
20024s position because it means he's very
20025s close to just losing the board in play
20027s if he loses the board it doesn't matter
20029s how much damage he's pushing his deck
20031s doesn't push damage unless it keeps
20033s forward
20034s foreign
20036s in a lot of circumstances
20041s shoulder Wok does beat the two seven
20043s seven attack minions the grave Horrors
20044s but only you can only attack once unless
20046s it gains win Theory obviously right but
20049s you know trade one of your minions play
20050s another Minion of your own yeah but you
20053s can catch up with astromanta
20055s if another dragon's draw on this roaster
20057s I don't think there's a better option
20059s I'm just saying this is not as good a
20061s position as bloody face would want to be
20062s in right now
20065s rain the Toads is going to make things
20066s uh pretty spicy fun Trace oh oh rain the
20069s toes into hacks
20072s you just eat a marshmallow
20081s only totemic might
20083s didn't only target totems
20086s I mean he has the urban mate
20090s I'm just thinking of Renato attacks yeah
20091s manner efficiency
20098s I guess does he even need to play the
20099s Rainy totes's turn you can just playable
20102s pushing damage itself it doesn't really
20104s do much it's not blocking Minions that
20106s don't aren't there so maybe the one
20109s other than mate is it does this go on
20110s the shadow walk okay we should bring us
20112s the same yeah but does better
20115s okay okay I'm Tracy's piecing this
20117s together I'm becoming a Believer right
20119s now
20121s oh well maybe not
20125s will only be three drops though three
20128s drops is very unimpressive
20130s maybe you should play the without card
20134s s versus two three drops yeah it's not a
20136s big difference is it
20140s because then you could also taunt up if
20141s it helped in any way put a 2-3 on the
20144s board as well maybe because because
20145s bloody face needs to close out this game
20147s soon because he's doing what happened in
20149s the previous game and running out of
20150s juice again yep
20153s okay
20156s my calculations are closed can I just
20159s get the full drop
20162s not great
20165s we're gonna play anything else just drop
20166s the Ping the toad does soak up some
20168s damage but oh
20170s celiacs is huge zillions other than my
20173s even is available here
20175s okay so
20178s hunt race oh
20181s that's probably won this game um okay
20183s I'll finish what I was gonna say
20184s I was for a second thinking about swamp
20187s Cooling hagatha
20189s just because it's a it's a relatively
20191s safe turn to play it because you're on
20194s enough Health you're gonna have stuff on
20196s the board
20197s and you can get that live for the
20198s following turn but yes this turn was
20201s pretty sweet too and this is what I was
20203s scared of I don't again this is not a
20206s criticism I don't think there was a
20208s better play available than flame strike
20210s push damage
20211s it's just bloody faces just really
20214s scrambling to stay ahead on this board
20216s now
20218s Gathering doing it surprisingly good job
20220s yep
20223s okay Agatha feral speed yeah it looks
20225s like it's one point turn to me get that
20226s value in right now you gain a five five
20229s you gain another five five that actually
20231s does some spells and stuff yeah and then
20233s also the feral Spirit to back it up
20235s looks fantastic to me
20239s draw a card is a little sketchy at this
20242s position second more confident in the
20244s day
20245s there's also a a real world where this
20248s is a fatigue game
20252s foreign
20255s spell check
20262s lava bus lightning storm with it with it
20264s okay thank you
20268s Mossy horror is time to shine against
20270s the control Shaman although is it just a
20273s bait would be better versus reign of
20274s toads
20277s very true
20284s also crowd roast is kind of unplayable
20286s here because it could snipe the swamp
20288s Queen but then the two damage it takes
20290s from gedden opens it up to just a trade
20292s from the the other Pharaoh's parent or
20294s the other pharaoh Spirit doesn't live
20295s right because you ping it if you're
20297s playing oh sure oh yeah okay yeah yeah
20300s no you're right you're right I didn't
20301s know if there's gonna be any other
20302s development along with that but no
20303s that's way way better hmm
20313s even so
20314s I love the best Limestone pick will be
20316s pretty sick if that was the turn
20319s yeah wow but I feel like crowd roaster
20321s is to play it looks better than Mossy
20323s horror here to me you've got to do
20324s something
20326s oh what about Mossy horror taunt of the
20328s mossy horror and go face with the 75
20332s sure
20334s kill him try and kill him quick I kind
20336s of like that yeah this goes on the far
20338s right yeah I like this play I like this
20339s play it's not going to work out that
20340s well based on uh the the drosphar horror
20343s that was picked up you got to get him
20344s though aren't you but I do yeah I like
20346s it in theory
20347s oh probably about as late as the scheme
20351s could be drawn to have strong relevance
20354s in this game I would say any later and
20356s you're really running low but with the
20357s cards that Andres has available it's
20359s just for horror and even just the soul
20361s of the murlocs to back it up he can heal
20362s hagatha up as well yeah with the
20365s ancestral healing this is slipping and
20368s slipping and slipping away from bloody
20370s face here and it's I'll be honest
20374s shocking to me that we've talked about
20376s Mage for the whole weekend and weekly up
20378s to this and it looks like Mage the one
20381s that's gonna feel like it's suffered in
20382s this series
20387s foreign
20400s might die in some respect I'm not I'm
20403s going to extremes but I'm just saying I
20405s think hunt race is safe enough to do it
20407s because how does he ever get hit again
20409s this game like with the minions he has
20411s reign of toads as well it feels unlikely
20414s at this point
20416s I see a vision indeed as always Mage
20418s spells can be pretty good
20421s Tome of intellect it's kind of gas
20424s he needed better gas
20429s is it tough though I needed some of that
20430s premium unleaded
20435s no diesel just another country is
20437s calling or a power of creation something
20439s to make that khadgar be really explosive
20441s maybe even a book of specters just the
20444s drawers because I I don't oh he can't
20446s play the fatigue game he's going to lose
20447s this in the fatigue game so maybe he
20448s draws his deck and says right I need to
20450s go in go
20452s either way going for Ray of frost I
20454s think the plan here is yeah to crowd
20455s gross into Ray of frost was uh was my
20457s initial thought as well
20459s again
20460s as good as you're gonna get
20463s next turn he can um actually trade in
20465s Dragon Ball scorcher and open up a seven
20467s damage attack with this got uh with the
20469s um
20470s roaster sorry sculpture roaster I'm
20472s running and mixing up my words
20475s Omega Defender though
20477s probably not needed this turn
20484s I also
20486s hmm okay I'm thinking
20490s hmm
20492s maybe after seeing the Crowd Goes to you
20494s do play The Omega Defender
20496s because you know it's very now unlikely
20498s to get sniped just play two Roasters
20499s right yep so if the crowd roaster trades
20502s into this Omega Defender well a mega
20504s Defender gave you a spell
20506s okay wine why not
20509s I'm sure I like this well my point is oh
20511s wow I feel like this was just a reign of
20513s toads I thought you might want to reign
20514s of toads uh solo murloc what do the one
20518s ones do damage
20525s one damage each but also hunt Rings
20528s might just be on the plan to just say
20530s I'm just gonna run you out of minions
20532s uh-huh
20534s isn't rain of toads on curve more
20537s effective at doing that
20540s um
20543s I'm not sure this straight up kills the
20545s crowd roaster yeah
20547s not necessarily because you can imagine
20548s there's more minions coming afterwards
20560s look at these Miralax
20563s uh-huh spill the Paladin
20569s bloody face is dismissive to those
20571s burlocks as Dorian was
20577s jiggling inventor yet again it's such a
20579s good wall against this deck they just
20582s have nothing
20585s just reign of toads Brew brew perplexing
20590s because again I although I think
20592s Huntress is doing well here I don't
20594s think he'll be in a position to more
20595s than realistically spam phone Brew
20598s and not get hit for that much back real
20601s if he giggling inventors this term
20603s preemptively ships the two one ones into
20606s the 7-3
20607s do you not think he can potentially have
20609s a really greedy witch's brew turn the
20611s turn after and worried that
20614s the second is a greedy turn is he lets
20616s bloody face have the board again
20618s I don't know if he needs to do that his
20620s bloody face has two cards and Hunter
20622s race knows one of them is Ray of frost
20624s what's he gonna do to him
20629s gonna go the other way and go reign of
20630s toads instead
20632s can play The Witches Brew
20634s it does go with your play
20636s s agrees with me so yeah man I'm
20640s sticking with the giggling line
20641s call me greedy
20643s you greedy thank you
20647s oh
20650s we're gonna live in the results oriented
20651s world
20653s we have a giggling event to write down
20654s down right now that's seven one that
20656s seven two would be a seven one there
20657s would only be three sources of damage so
20659s one of the ones whose would even live
20660s this turn take care of this board and at
20663s most there'd be six damage in play the
20664s next turn doesn't this stop the crowd
20667s Rose to gain value trade into let's say
20669s value trade a trade in into conjurers
20671s because there's one kind of car in life
20672s right there was no track he couldn't
20674s trade it because you ship the two
20675s murlocs in first so it's a seven oh wait
20677s wait so you put them both Into The
20679s Roaster yeah sorry sorry I'm back with
20680s you
20683s I also think you might just want to get
20685s these toads out the way first because of
20686s the overload I don't know we'll see what
20689s happens
20690s yeah like I said I'm living in results
20691s oriented World which is not a good
20693s argument
20694s by any stretch of the imagination
20696s you know what's not a good argument
20698s for three Twilight Drake just isn't
20702s like
20703s on paper a bad draw but it's too many
20706s drawer spell yeah it's just good just
20708s stuff to do is good for hunterries right
20710s now yeah
20713s and this scheme is building up now yeah
20717s so even with the last ditch push there's
20719s only five cards left for bloody phase
20721s and there's one scheme that probably
20722s kills all five cards it played it
20724s together
20727s oh that's a good one too I really feel
20730s like Hunter race could have sequenced
20732s these last two plays in a way that ends
20733s up with him having so much more Health
20735s from his witches brew
20737s does he even need it was my the core of
20739s my mind more is always more Raven
20742s but he's spending his manner doing other
20745s stuff yes
20747s he never has 10 Mana to which is through
20749s this game yeah it was pointless good
20751s point uh it's the next coming turns that
20755s kind of dictates whether that line was
20756s uh was gonna go oh
20761s oh geez
20764s can we get a hug of this game check I
20766s believe it's gonna be five from what I
20768s can see just in the little corner thank
20770s you it is five hundred percent
20772s confirmation
20777s bloody face assuming the position of oh
20780s wait maybe I can win this
20783s is that the without just duplicating the
20786s same minion is that the most possible
20788s stats he could have got from five drops
20792s almost certainly yes
20796s what just happened
20799s bloody face might turn this game around
20801s remember Saul we play we're watching
20803s Mage it does stuff
20808s what
20810s I'm just joining with the crowd at this
20812s point so I'm not gonna lie yep
20815s I am now just forget casting I'm just a
20818s viewer now
20823s okay for getting casting was boring I
20825s couldn't speak so
20826s haunted Visions looks like a reasonable
20829s place to start as any unless he wants to
20831s reign of toads with mind control Tech
20832s and go full time you can do that anyway
20836s even oh sorry reduces the reign of toes
20838s of course yeah
20841s yeah I think he needs to yeah find
20844s something go fishing find some help
20847s send help
20851s the crap just really want to see a storm
20853s bringer yeah same I'm now back in the
20856s crowd again
20857s fast side though it does look good but I
20859s think he is going to play the Rainy
20860s toads MCT reign of toads yeah
20869s queen of toad summons minion soul
20871s I mean not that many when you already
20874s have three in play but sure we'll take
20876s it but if he gets another reign of turns
20881s oh this game I'll Stone
20888s bear in mind though 11 Manor Harrison
20892s well bear in mind bloody face
20895s is recovering yeah but those minions are
20898s still five drops so this country's
20900s calling
20901s it's not only not mind-blowing it's not
20903s only gets worse right it's only worse
20906s it's either on a four drop yeah or on
20908s five drops that have to give you worse
20910s minions outside of
20912s Reckless Rocketeer
20915s is the like good one which is obviously
20918s a situation dependent
20921s but you can bloody face outside of like
20923s a very low health Bear
20926s realistically counters calling any of
20927s this is this actually just going to be
20929s ping Trader trade pass
20932s he literally can't play Harrison so
20935s I think I don't think you can get these
20937s means are too good
20939s and the Damage like for health wait oh
20943s there's nothing higher unless more bears
20945s right to beat beat scheme I'll say
20947s no that's I'm pretty sure that's the
20950s highest health five drop right
20952s what five
20954s I mean except for Bears is there a
20956s higher Health five drop that the seven
20958s fours now could be morphed into no there
20961s isn't right no
20963s oh another Fireside this college is too
20965s late in the game
20968s there is still swamp boost to generate
20969s something
20973s so he can kill all but one Bear right
20977s uh
20978s correct trades into the 11 health of
20981s course scheme now at six
20982s and you can still play the use to help
20986s and he's funny and it's it's kind of
20988s tough right because
20990s it does then open up
20993s a second Congress calling on the
20996s remaining bear but that could whiff that
20998s could backfire and so and it's about the
21000s last push the bloody face is gonna have
21002s left as well this game is so close
21006s it's gonna do it and he keeps a one-two
21009s tour as well play this uh who's behind
21012s it right we should this spell is going
21014s to be huge maybe even game breaking heck
21016s oh that'll do
21018s or at least that'll help
21021s some few protector is there a rabble
21023s bouncer left in bloody faces deck
21027s I want to say yes here we go Rubble
21029s bouncer zilliacs is that his deck four
21031s four and a five five definitely not bad
21034s and there's I think you just dump
21037s Harrison
21038s yeah kill him kill him quick before he
21041s does all the crazy things walking
21043s Fountain walking Fountain is remaining
21045s for Hunter Ace and he has ancestral
21047s healing and he has two far sights in his
21049s hand and he will have two cards left in
21051s his deck he can guarantee the draw
21054s but if he spends them both it doesn't
21057s work yeah he needs to get it off the
21060s first one because it will go down to
21061s five Mana but he will spend six using
21063s farsight if he gets it off the first one
21065s though the big key here is ancient uh
21068s sorry ancestral healing which means he
21070s can do trades and then heal it back up
21072s and say now what Mr bloody face this
21075s game is nuts and if anything truly nutty
21078s comes out
21080s then he's looking good look Harrison
21081s Jones walking Fountain beats the the
21084s night blade and the Harrison Jones you
21086s can then hex the Liam and then you've
21087s got a 2-3 to worry about at the moment
21092s still on board actually that which will
21095s sort of beat the 2-3 but will now die to
21097s pinks this game there it is
21100s look at the play that Bloody Face made
21102s though to beat this exact eventuality I
21106s don't know the last two cards in the
21107s deck I'm so upset Sun Fury the Liam so
21111s that the walking Fountain was as weak as
21114s possible of a draw for Hunter Ace
21117s you saw his autopilot took over for a
21120s second as we started talking about
21122s Harrison Jones he picked up Harrison
21124s Jones then stopped and went hang on
21125s Bloody Face this is the World
21127s Championships don't just autopilot
21129s playing your biggest minion think about
21130s it I like this as well this is just
21132s saying up it's a little bit delayed but
21134s hex the 5-5 now then walking Fountain
21137s next turn
21140s mind control takes one of the cards
21144s I play it
21147s yes I think he just has to dump it all
21150s right he needs to set up a lethal for
21152s next turn oh
21155s well that's not a good one
21157s again let's remember though every mini
21159s is a spell
21160s it's another scheme
21163s he needs things that generate minions I
21165s think unless this walking Fountain is
21167s just enough to get there
21170s it does continue to challenge it beats
21173s the three Minions that we're seeing at
21175s the moment I think this last card is
21177s either a zilliacs or a rabble bouncer oh
21179s it's an astromancer two drop and he has
21182s he kind of has to play it that's why
21183s he's been holding cards in hand as well
21187s okay so questions now is one honestly
21190s don't know what the last card they hand
21191s traces deck is we'll find out very soon
21192s but is there a world that the walking
21195s Fountain does enough to make the acolyte
21199s of playing a act like a paint a playable
21201s card because the spell will be better
21203s than the pings that Bloody Face can do
21204s to make him overdraw I don't even know I
21206s find that very unlike okay
21215s yeah if Hunters doesn't find stuff that
21217s generates minions okay okay
21219s but he needs this card I think he needs
21222s this spell off the The Mind Control Tech
21224s to generate minions for him somehow
21225s because otherwise
21227s he's going to be forced into a status
21229s quo where he uses his removal to deal
21230s with this wave of minions the Bloody
21232s Face plays or this wave of minions plus
21234s one more the Bloody Face plays from his
21236s hand and then bloody face has final
21238s minion this game and final minion always
21239s wins in fatigue
21245s also funnily enough
21247s F1 trees takes the two value trades
21252s then
21254s so they've got a scheme is that the plan
21256s I mean fatigues I think actually he's
21259s just healed for eight
21261s and this has to be traded into there are
21264s no spells that get rid of this no face
21265s pass
21267s he wants him to play more stuff because
21269s this has to be traded into so two some
21271s of these minions die the rest gets
21272s replayed wait one million dies and if he
21275s replays both then it means he can MCT
21279s does he does the English bloody face
21281s there's no way bloody face plays too
21283s there's no way he plays two minions okay
21285s so he knows
21287s people forget things Saul
21292s what I'm saying is even in an MCT less
21295s world I don't think you play all your
21296s minions here because there's so many
21297s random hag of the cards I think you need
21299s to try and save something to beat one
21301s more random AOE that can come down so
21302s now the question is do they know each
21304s other's hand apart for the Spells I mean
21305s hunter race this is locked up he's so
21307s far ahead in fatigue now he's going to
21309s be mind control Tech versus mind control
21310s Tech no it's not the first one the five
21313s one lives
21316s the Mind Control Tech will kill the
21318s Harrison because there's just a ping and
21320s it doesn't beat it yeah so then the
21321s witch's brew will out heal along with
21324s their walking Fountain attack to face
21326s yeah the damage that the Mind Control
21328s Tech from bloody face will be able to do
21329s to him off the back of this insane game
21333s he just took two that turn correct
21334s bloody faces so three four five will
21337s kill him he has three more turns to live
21339s mind control Tech Plus Hunter Aces
21341s fatigue does not do that through a
21342s witch's brew and ever the prophet there
21345s is going to be potentially
21348s a full 10 Mana which is Brew played this
21351s game
21351s but apparently final minion does not
21354s always win in fatigue you're a liar
21356s oh what oh it's so insane and not from
21359s Hunters he knows he knows does that
21362s change the clock just going face there
21363s change the clock
21366s versus a witch's brew
21369s he takes three more next turns we take
21371s six next turn puts himself to 12.
21374s he could wish to put all the way up yeah
21376s he's good he's good he's good wow the
21378s nod from hunt race gives me belief
21381s he knew this would happen
21383s yep
21386s sorry bloody face you're about to get
21387s the bad news that there is a witch's
21389s brew in your future and there is the
21391s concession coming out it's a brutal way
21394s to go down but it's an incredible game
21396s to go out on Bloody Face my friend you
21399s have made a lot of friends and a lot of
21401s fans this is a guy that I hope sticks
21404s around for the long term because he's a
21405s great character he's not afraid to be
21408s critical to talk about how he we should
21411s expect better from Hearthstone players
21413s and then to set that standard of himself
21415s and that standard is what has led him to
21417s being top eight in the world Alva field
21421s has died at over 6 000 across the year
21424s but it's Hunter race that is going to
21427s find himself in a semi-final I guess
21430s sn's Jing bunny Hopper versus Viper on
21433s the other side yeah absolutely
21434s incredible performance and this world
21437s championship just keeps delivering I
21440s already want to go back and watch every
21441s one of every match that has been played
21443s they've been some of the most
21444s entertaining matches I've ever seen seen
21446s in Hearthstone and it continues hunt
21448s race versus a bloody face you know the
21450s European wonderkid is still in the
21452s tournament it looks dicey for him
21454s yesterday it looked less dicey today but
21457s still close all the way down to that
21459s fatigue maybe he is the chosen one and
21462s will just go all the way because I will
21464s never count that guy out he's the chosen
21467s one he has the blessing of the Qibla on
21469s his side so in some ways he does have
21472s you know the the ultimate winner looking
21474s over his shoulder and if Kibler gives
21476s you the blessing then you've got to
21477s imagine that some of that natural qibler
21479s good luck wears off on you
21482s my expense a lot I've never had Kepler's
21484s question but our fantastic series once
21486s again and that was the last quarter
21487s final we're going to be moving on to the
21489s semi-finals four players left and
21492s they're going to be playing a spare for
21494s a spot to get that chance at the world
21496s championship title everything's still to
21499s play for some amazing Hearthstone has
21500s been played some amazing Hearthstone is
21502s going to be played stay tuned more World
21504s Championship Hearthstone coming up the
21507s semi-finals saw Hunter race take on
21509s China's Last Hope Jing it started to
21512s look like the prophecy was coming true
21514s as hunt race continued to dominate with
21516s his Shaman yet again clutching a long
21519s drawn out game to help take the series
21522s let's take a look
21524s thank you very much rap goddess Annalee
21527s my name is frodan I'm joined by Brian
21529s Campbell and while we are not as
21531s eloquent in poetry as she may be uh we
21535s are equally as excited for this second
21537s semi-final we already have one world
21539s finalist in Viper from Germany will be
21542s another fellow European or perhaps
21543s history can be repeated with another
21545s final appearance from a Chinese player
21547s in Jing yeah and you know uh so far we
21551s have three of the four European players
21554s that made it through to the top eight
21555s one of those three made it through to
21557s the finals uh Hunter race could be
21560s second European player to break through
21562s and really cement the dominance of that
21564s region this year yeah and it would be
21567s fitting we have viper one of the players
21569s who made it to two different
21570s championships he defeated his teammate
21572s got revenge on uh his practice partner
21575s bunny hopper for beating him in these
21577s semi-finals at the championship where
21579s they both qualified earlier this year
21581s now Hunter Hayes you know he is the
21583s points leader can he emerge at the top
21586s he's got through Jake first yes there's
21589s lots of story lines to talk about the
21591s first of course is that the both Wars
21594s have been banned and Hunter Hayes was
21596s thinking about different Decks that he
21598s wants to Target he was talking to me
21600s backstage he's like I think I'm gonna
21601s ban Tempo rug I haven't been able to to
21603s handle Rogues really well I was like no
21604s maybe I banned his uh his bomb Warrior
21607s because you know I try to Target Warrior
21609s but those are the slow controller words
21610s so these are things that Hunter race is
21612s thinking about and accounting for all
21613s possibilities but he said you know what
21615s not gonna over complicate it I've been
21616s Banning Warrior a lot uh and I've been
21619s trying to see if I can face off against
21620s other X and he feels confident although
21622s he said the big weakness in his lineup
21624s has always been rogued throughout his
21625s entire tournaments although I mean if
21627s you ask him he's been getting himself
21628s into wacky situation after wacky
21630s situation hey we're talking about this a
21631s little bit backstage it feels like that
21633s Shaman deck of his almost is designed to
21635s get himself into ridiculous situations
21638s that he then has to claw his way out of
21640s yeah frankly that's sort of what control
21642s Shaman does in this format is you know
21645s fall behind and then claw back often
21647s involving hagatha which means you
21649s naturally are going to find yourself in
21651s situations where you have to adapt to
21653s unusual things happening all right well
21656s the game boards being set the second
21658s semi-final is about to begin who is
21660s going Viper in the grand finals is it
21663s Hunter race from Norway who's playing
21664s his control John or Jing who's playing
21667s his token Druid which has been a huge
21669s question mark and yet it's delivering
21671s when it matters the most it has and uh
21673s Hunter is here he has the wild
21675s pyromancer which is one of the
21677s inclusions in his deck that is very
21679s different from the the rest of the field
21681s most players who chose to play Shaman
21684s chose to play the Thunderhead package of
21687s overload spells plus Thunderhead is
21689s their sort of early game AOE style
21690s removal Hunter race didn't want to
21692s overload himself too much for his power
21694s turns with hagatha with walking Fountain
21697s and instead chose to play while
21699s pyromancer alongside ancestral healing
21701s to have some AOE that said he doesn't
21703s have that many cheap spells and that
21706s while pyromancer plus ancestor healing
21708s may be great at clearing off a single
21710s Whispering Woods but may not be enough
21713s to deal with the the AOE and yeah he's
21715s going to keep the pyromancer at throw
21717s back
21718s The ancestral healing yeah these are
21720s some of the stuff that uh Hunter race is
21722s prepared for compared to the normal
21724s control shot list as you're talking
21725s about and he was also saying you know
21727s what I am ready to take down two
21729s contribute three times this is
21730s definitely the deck that he does not
21732s want to slip through Jing here he has
21734s the coin with keeper sludrus and the
21735s power of the wild we've we've seen him
21737s uh you know make very strong use of
21740s keeper Slaughters in a number of
21741s positions and here is possibly a good
21743s one yes the ability to get that 2-3 out
21745s in the board and then follow it up with
21746s a 3-2 that gives you two more spells in
21749s hand against a control deck like Hunter
21751s races oftentimes it's a resource battle
21753s yes and being able to get those extra
21754s resources while developing thanks to the
21756s keeper is very powerful this big play
21759s here for Ching to try immediately get
21761s that value and that Tempo Hunter race
21764s picks up the hack the scheme that is a
21766s crucial card extremely vital to control
21769s the state of the board so that way if
21771s things even get a little bit out of
21773s control he can reduce the pressure if
21776s needed the the big thing is that token
21779s Druid has been laying their threats
21780s really well and Jing has also been
21782s playing uh you know he's been timing his
21784s things into threats appropriately so far
21786s and really made it complicated for those
21788s control decks to wipe Williamsport and
21790s one of the most important Cards Against
21791s control for the token dradex is already
21793s in Jing's hand the force Aid it may be
21796s expensive maybe slow but against these
21798s decks you often have quite a bit of time
21800s you know they they don't pressure you
21801s they don't kill you very well uh though
21803s Hunter Hayes is built with the ancestral
21805s healings plus the walking fountains can
21807s often put you in a very uncomfortable
21808s position at least late in the game yeah
21810s six swamp booze on two is something
21812s that's joked about around a lot by his
21815s friends he's saying like you know the
21816s acidic swamp who's on two is like
21818s Shaman's best play because you need to
21819s have something to play and develop onto
21821s the board because totem doesn't really
21822s do anything you're basically gaining a
21825s little bit of life or armor and the
21827s power of the wild is available for Jane
21828s he'll make himself a 3-2 I imagine right
21830s here and get himself some more spells to
21832s go along with that uh that hand that is
21835s developing quite nicely for him
21837s would you even just buff the stalagers
21839s that's that's an option
21841s I mean you don't have any way to
21842s capitalize on it further in value
21844s because you don't have any choose one
21846s cards but the upside is being able to
21848s keep a threat and you know annoy Hunter
21850s race to maybe use other removal I feel
21852s like I feel like making the 3-2 allows
21854s you just get a little bit of damage in
21856s and having a you know a 3-1 here
21860s effectively if you do buff and then you
21863s know trade yeah he's gonna go ahead and
21864s make the three two gets those extra
21866s spells very powerful effect
21868s he's gonna trade himself
21872s yeah and then uh it's interesting that
21873s he choose to trade himself here what is
21875s he playing around I I'm not really sure
21878s thinking about it there you know there's
21879s no uh no real remove that feels like it
21881s would tremendously punish him maybe he's
21883s playing around an Accolade of pain and
21885s then a trade into the three two maybe
21886s just wants to protect the three two
21887s feels more valuable oh that's fair
21889s that's fair
21891s yeah maybe honor Ace would end up just
21893s minimizing damage as much as possible
21895s the swampy and heckath is a pretty good
21898s draw for Hunter Hayes because not now
21900s but it is a card that will ultimately
21902s actually give him something relatively
21904s proactive to do which is something that
21905s overall his deck kind of lacks uh the
21908s the problem will be getting to a point
21909s where he can play swampy and Agatha
21911s safely uh because at that stage of the
21913s game and this you know he decided to
21916s trade and by doing so protected himself
21918s from just having a 2-3 against this
21920s three three right
21921s this might look very confusing if you
21924s think about the Battle Cry of my control
21926s Tech but under race wants to control
21927s that state of the board again so that
21929s way he's not dependent on stealing the
21931s correct Minion or even in worst case
21933s scenarios uh Hunter a steals a minion
21935s that but dies anyways because there's
21936s still three or four even five six
21939s Minions on the board that's average
21940s George yeah when you're playing a deck
21942s that generally is going to need to uh
21944s constrain the size of your opponent's
21946s board in a matchup like this you can't
21948s really afford to let them get a bunch of
21949s stuff in play because if they do well
21950s it's going to get buffed up it's gonna
21952s you know end up being a real problem for
21954s you
21956s and there's the trance trade comes in
21958s both players still 30.
21961s and the draws walking fountain that pyro
21964s that Henry's kept doesn't have that much
21966s help he has Earth shock
21968s one activation of the Pyro but without a
21972s far sight without a cheap spell to go
21974s along with that it's gonna be hard for
21976s him to make much use of it yeah that was
21977s one question mark that we had which is
21979s uh wild pyromancer often is best with
21981s cheap spells and if he doesn't have
21983s access to that much right now you know
21985s when is the timing for pyromancer I
21987s think he is uh very keen on that turn
21989s four which is Whispering Woods that'll
21991s probably be the first threat check from
21993s Jing if he had it but since he doesn't
21995s he might just instead go for the the
21998s power of the wild options that were
21999s given to him
22000s buy a keeper still address
22004s and and you know that that is something
22006s that that Hunter race knows there you
22007s know he knows there's the summon Panther
22010s leader of the pack here which means
22013s at bare minimum there's a 3-2 plus a
22016s buff for the entire board available next
22018s turn there is hackathon scheme available
22020s to Hunter race and this isn't a matchup
22022s where you're just relying on hackathon
22024s scheme to you know blow out one big
22026s board the problem is they can they can
22028s keep with with a good draw that the
22030s token Druid that can keep generating
22031s boards and any just even mid-sized board
22034s starts to become very powerful and if
22036s the game goes on it becomes more and
22037s more powerful simply because there's so
22039s many opportunities to use blessing of
22041s the wild and leader of the pack and uh
22043s Savage Roar to really buff them up if
22045s you have enough Mana
22046s that's right uh you know hagget scheme
22049s is great but it only answers half of the
22050s forces so Jing picked up belligerent
22052s gnome a card that has been growing on me
22054s a little bit although the more I talk to
22056s Ike backstage the more I feel like token
22059s truly can go in a completely different
22060s direction and still have a really good
22062s game plan going into Lacey's game
22065s um but yet Blitz are known where he saw
22067s it against Zoo warlock when we saw it
22068s against uh Rogue even had some
22070s opportunities to make some big plays
22072s because the buff and that taunt body
22074s yeah
22078s the the four Health to start on the
22080s gnome yes it is you know it's pretty
22083s nice because it's uh you know gets
22085s carries Buffs very well yeah and and now
22089s this is fairly size five
22091s and this is
22093s essentially three or two and a half
22096s three and a half cards committed because
22098s of the the keepers the address
22100s two and a half even yes
22103s and now does the sunrise need to pull
22104s the trick on scheme he does yeah he's
22107s just not taking damage recognizes that
22110s uh Jing did use one of his buff guards
22112s but Jing was ready to go with more cards
22114s uh with more board fill with the dream
22116s Guardians and summon a panther and just
22118s think about how powerful keeper sliders
22120s was that this uh this game it gave him
22122s that buff didn't require him to commit
22124s anything else right still has the summit
22126s of Panther in hand
22127s it's just giving him so many extra
22129s resources in a deck that can often until
22131s it gets the forest a really struggle for
22134s those resources when it's facing a deck
22136s that has AOE clears yeah and I think
22137s that because Hunter Hayes hand has some
22139s pretty high value stuff like the walking
22141s Fountain like swamp King hagatha perhaps
22143s he learned a little bit by watching not
22145s only of course his own gameplay but he
22147s saw you know just a couple of series ago
22149s just saying had like pretty much every
22151s form of AOE that he would ever want
22153s including swamp King hack or including
22156s yeah
22158s um and then he still lost against Zoom
22159s warlock because he was a little bit too
22160s greedy and so when you have all these
22163s late game options I think Hunter is
22164s saying you know what I'm okay utilizing
22166s this even though it's not the best value
22168s that I could usually get yeah though
22170s here you know he finds another high cost
22172s card he picks up a second walking
22174s Fountain he has this wild Power mansion
22176s that's been in his hand since the start
22178s of the game as an earthshock but no
22180s second spell that means that Jing he's
22183s going to start next turn with three
22184s minions in play unless Hunter race rolls
22187s spell power or chooses to play the Wild
22189s powermans are in Earth shock one of
22191s these minions
22193s I think he would want to because his
22195s turns are starting to get pretty strong
22197s from next turn on uh so I think by
22199s Hunter Ace going for this good
22201s sequencing by the way because he want to
22202s damage his own totem especially
22204s if it's a steering totem looking for
22207s healing total
22210s Stone claws good too this is actually a
22212s pretty interesting situation because now
22214s Hunter race has constrained xing's board
22217s somewhat so it does make the blessing of
22220s the Ancients in hand significantly less
22222s powerful
22223s he can only he could use blessing of the
22225s Ancients once attacking to one of these
22227s and then uh hero power down the wild
22229s pyromancer but mostly with Hunter Hayes
22232s when he talked about how he built this
22233s deck he was talking about the power of
22236s the high cost cards the power of walking
22238s Fountain the power of swamp Queen
22240s hagatha and Agatha herself and that's
22243s all he's really looking to do is bridge
22245s to those power turns this isn't about
22247s maximizing the value of all of his cards
22249s it's surviving to the Haymakers and it
22251s looks like he may have done that right
22253s also the pyromancer challenges the
22256s double buff it does that thing that I
22258s think is is a crucial element of this
22259s that you leave yourself with a free
22261s Power minion and play and yes your
22262s opponent can you know hero power but you
22264s do at least deny the possibility of
22267s blessing blessing him yes the Slowdown
22269s is important
22272s has some big swing potential
22275s and this board isn't that big so you
22278s know the giggling inventor 400 race I
22280s think doesn't have to come down he can
22282s just play swamp Queen hagatha if he
22284s wants and the the Mind Control Tech draw
22287s is actually pretty powerful because
22288s in addition to the walking fountains
22290s that are already in his hand that means
22292s he can play uh the disc of our horror
22293s alongside a mind control Tech next turn
22296s if Jin goes wider in the board
22300s underneath Wayne with two seven cost me
22302s he's giving inventor Nerfs but still
22305s finding use in a couple of decks here
22307s and if he wants to go wide now it
22310s softens up the board but exactly what
22312s you're saying what is he accounting for
22313s what does he even really want for the
22315s hackath if he doesn't get the AOE he's
22317s looking for if he doesn't get lightning
22318s storm you know what are some other
22320s options that he can get there are a lot
22322s of spells in the shaman pool that don't
22324s do anything there are however
22326s the ability to stitch together powerful
22329s combinations even if you get relatively
22330s low impact things sometimes say you get
22332s you know full tank where it's like well
22334s if you go for take first and you can
22335s combine it with the stormbringer you
22336s know or you get uh Big Bad Voodoo which
22340s he gets looks like you're lightning let
22344s me let's take a look at what exactly he
22345s chose it's totemic smashing Beaker like
22347s he's just going for board control there
22351s and the uh the beaker lightning uh is a
22353s way for him to clear off a Whispering
22355s Wood yes that's big but he does know
22357s that the blessing of ancients is in the
22360s hand right therefore if it did come down
22362s it most likely wouldn't be a good
22364s blessing of or sorry it wouldn't be a
22365s good beak or lightning without spell
22367s damage
22368s I don't actually think that spell damage
22371s affects the spells that you cast off the
22373s dusk bar horror okay I believe that you
22375s know it counts the Battle Cry effect so
22376s it's not getting your spell damage it
22377s casts the Spells but yeah it gives you
22379s the overload correct
22382s all right well that debt system seems to
22384s work very realistically unfortunately
22386s yeah
22388s Hunter is he he took that Beaker
22390s lightning so fast and I I saw that there
22394s was a Sternberg in there and I didn't
22394s see what the other option was and
22397s you know yes maybe maybe it's just the
22398s the meemer in me it was like ooh
22400s stormbringer but I feel like sort of the
22402s discussion that we're having before
22403s regarding you know how how much can you
22405s really value the uh
22408s the beaker lightning in a situation
22410s where your opponent
22413s has the uh the defensation that you know
22415s about all right well these are just the
22418s two minions yeah getting in here I think
22421s Hunter Ace feels like hard for card he
22423s still has just better quality and
22426s there's walking Fountain speaking of
22427s better quality cards the walking
22429s Fountain is absolutely dominant
22435s but there's there's that Force Aid in
22438s Jing's hand here
22443s and how exactly does he want to petition
22446s attacks does want to keep the most
22448s health
22449s very dominant for Hunter Hayes exactly
22452s why he was okay with pyromancer and
22454s scheme going away but now Jing can begin
22456s his forced AIDS push but he's also
22458s leaving up the walking Fountain so
22460s that's kind of the the decision that's
22462s Weighing on his mind and why it was
22463s important for Hunter is to keep that
22464s extra Health onto his element yeah and
22466s it's a little bit scary because there
22468s are two copies of ancestral healing in
22470s Hunt Race's deck so if if Jing is just
22473s going to leave this up and cast his
22475s Forest Aid which I think he almost has
22477s to do because it's so hard to find good
22480s opportunities to play forestate in
22481s general this cost so much Mana uh that
22484s walking Fountain may only look like and
22486s kill two things but if there's an
22488s ancestral healing it kills something he
22489s gets healed back to full kill something
22491s else and still has six health and taunt
22493s to follow things up
22496s yeah if he goes for a removal option
22498s he's not actually developing anything
22499s significant and then like let's say he
22501s swipes here and plays power of the wild
22503s hero Powers down swamp King Agatha which
22505s will be at a five rounds he's giving up
22508s his buff on the power of the wild and
22509s also giving Hunter Hayes the opportunity
22511s to take a very big proactive stance yeah
22514s I'm not sure if I like this this is a
22516s it's a very reactive turn from Zhang
22518s that puts him into a position where he's
22521s gonna find another turn to spend that
22523s eight Mana
22524s I understand the the reason why he feels
22526s like to need to but you know Hunter
22527s Hayes has a lot more in the tank
22530s and he also used to worry about the
22532s dress for hard like that that car alone
22534s we could just be possible number two
22537s gonna walk all over you
22543s that's exactly the same exact spot
22545s almost so we need we need to actually
22547s make an album with uh analy's incredible
22550s Rap God performance of the hunter Ace
22552s you know don't trade always go face and
22553s then there's you know this fountain's
22555s made for walk-in and it's gonna walk
22557s over I I don't I don't really know that
22559s that particular Rhythm to that song but
22562s that's pretty good I think it'd be good
22563s no I think you guys will hit Platinum
22565s within a couple years
22567s all right well
22569s this Fountain is still around ancestral
22571s healing is the draw
22574s and this is what Zhang feared this is
22577s why Zhang decided to kill the fountain
22578s last term but he cannot kill this one
22582s Hunter race can Attack One mind control
22584s Tech
22585s attack another and still have a walking
22590s fountain with so much health and play
22592s more into the board right
22594s I mean you can you can develop with this
22596s Twilight Break first to get maximum
22597s health this looks like everything is
22599s coming up on a race yeah
22601s and now you know Jing is the token deck
22604s and he is the one who is well behind on
22606s this board after the sequence of plays
22608s yeah and Hunt race is back at full life
22611s he has board diamonds in the ancestral
22613s healing this looks really bad for Jing
22615s Jing of course with a little head knot
22617s recognizing that
22619s that is really bad news for him
22623s Hunter's thinking if there's any room
22625s for him to be aggressive here
22628s I don't think there's any need to he
22630s does know that there's a second floor
22631s save
22636s control does he want to roll a totem oh
22639s that's awesome there's any reason not to
22641s maybe he doesn't want to take up space
22643s in case he wants to play giggling
22644s inventor yes if his opponent can't kill
22647s the board he needs every single uh
22648s minion spot with giglia yeah
22652s blessing of the ancients
22655s so in this position Ching I think it is
22657s immediately considering do I need a
22659s Savage offensively or do I need to
22660s Starfall or maybe both the control stay
22662s of the board here well Savage Roar plus
22665s Starfall allows him to just use his hero
22667s power
22668s uh and the Starfall to take out the
22670s walking fountain
22671s you can establish your uh plus hero
22673s power is five plus the three from Savior
22675s and uh and shapeshift and then like use
22679s the other minions as removal and try to
22681s just get to I'm gonna grind you out
22683s forces okay I did I wasn't even thinking
22685s about the AOE it just just I guess more
22687s raw damage that's true that's true so
22690s and then there's no clean combination of
22694s stuff other than maybe using the
22696s blessing the Ancients could use
22697s blessings trade two in zero power down
22700s but then you still leave up the you have
22701s hog Steed in Savage
22704s Savage Roar still leaves you get five
22706s though you'd have to use two things oh
22708s no if you use your face blessing okay
22710s interesting
22713s whoa this is just such a defensive
22715s posture though yeah this is basically oh
22718s actually you know what Hunters doesn't
22719s have that many memes in the deck that's
22721s true but he does know the dress for a
22722s horror right I think that's also what
22724s I'm slightly afraid of but 100 race is
22726s more likely to take thrusts far harder
22728s in a defensive manner as opposed to an
22730s offensive storybringer
22732s whoa hagatha we're not gonna see that
22735s come down now it's powerful obviously
22736s but he knows his first aid waiting in
22739s the hand but that is a incredible like
22741s pre-loaded answer to Jing's next big
22745s play
22747s just for heart
22748s is totemic Smash and the beaker lighting
22751s which would kill his own Twilight Drake
22752s and if he plays giggling better now he
22755s weakens his own hag at the turn right
22756s it's it's a little bit awkward for
22758s Hunter Ace based on based on that and he
22761s does choose the totem now
22763s okay
22764s stuck at healing or taunt
22769s it is true that giggling inventor does
22771s weaken his own hackathon and it weakens
22773s his host hagatha value by spending a
22777s Minion from his hands and if he knows
22779s that there's a forest stain I think that
22782s there's some argument to just
22784s either trade or attack phase yeah and
22787s don't play anything else yeah Hunter
22788s race agrees
22790s archmage vargoth oh it's the draw
22794s that's really good with blessing of the
22795s ancient if he has that wide board he did
22797s already use the front half of blessing
22799s ancient so he doesn't just keep getting
22800s it back
22801s which is one of the crazy things about
22803s uh twin spell and things that recast
22805s yeah no twin spell ended up being really
22807s powerful with some of these cards with
22809s Congress calling in the forest Aid
22810s blessing of the ancient Jing also knows
22813s that Hunter has had an opportunity to
22814s develop with 10 Mana chose to pass
22815s essentially right he knows that just
22817s just for hard in the hand so he probably
22819s assumes that there's AOE to punish the
22820s force Aid and I think with this Arc made
22822s vargoth draw maybe Jing just says you
22825s know what I might just go for the
22826s blessing of the Ancients buff anyways oh
22829s no with this hero power yeah we're gonna
22830s see four save this turn you know as I
22832s mentioned before it's just so much of a
22834s commitment it costs eight Mana okay
22835s entire turn I will know by the way Xing
22838s is now the 13th he has not been attacked
22840s that many times by Hunter race but they
22843s were in some pretty big attacks and he's
22845s attacked a lot of things with his hero
22846s power there is hagatha that's crushing
22848s yeah we talked about how Henry's found
22850s himself in some awkward situations that
22852s always had to involve hagatha but this
22854s is a a okay that's a good draw that is
22857s yeah vargoth plus Landscaping plus
22859s blessing of the Ancients builds you a
22861s pretty big
22862s yeah I mean he saw another form of AOE
22865s right and dressed for horror does not
22868s have powerful AOE in it it has Beaker
22871s lightning
22875s he tossed the hog Steve with it too just
22877s to get that that board presence it
22879s depends what you're going for if you're
22880s going for the blessing the Ancients here
22881s then I I think that
22884s yeah I think I think that
22886s um
22888s no go I was gonna say blessing agents
22890s can get you out of uh AOE range right
22893s because if if bark off blessings again
22895s rather than playing the uh rather than
22898s playing the landscaping again you can
22899s end up with four fours right and you
22902s know a a four eight and that's out of
22904s lightning storm range
22906s even with a higher yes
22908s I mean Henry's has been holding on to
22910s one car to the left of the horror for a
22911s while but if it is that second scheme
22913s James not being that anyways right so I
22915s think in his mind he has to try and do
22918s the best thing he can to make sure this
22919s board survives and maybe too many tree
22922s ants is actually a bad thing
22924s it's gonna be the hog seat though I like
22926s the Creed I think 132. I don't know if
22928s you get there with just a handful of uh
22930s four floors
22932s all right I'll Becca Defender that's big
22936s but
22939s right now Hunter Ace he's facing a big
22942s board there's a Savage room blessing of
22944s the ancients
22945s in Jing's hand yeah and this is kind of
22947s where the the Mana cost of gaming vendor
22949s is very inconvenient for 100 very
22951s prohibitive because he would love to be
22953s able to hex and play the giggling
22954s inventor to just get in the way soften
22956s everything up and then dress for hardest
22957s bigger lightning can clean everything
22958s once they're done trading into the
22961s annoyotrons
22964s it's gonna hex the vargoth he's gonna
22965s play the just for a at this point
22967s I think so you can use the the Titanic
22970s smash it will cast smash first yes
22986s he would have left a a bigger guy I
22989s guess okay well that was that was
22991s actually pretty big getting getting a
22992s cheap removal spell there was pretty
22993s important 32 life does mean that savager
22996s is not scary and the blessing of the
22998s Ancients here
23000s doesn't really get him out of range of
23002s just the the drift bar horror
23004s trading into a bunch of his minions yeah
23006s I think this might have to be a rat
23008s cycle yeah I think it does I think he
23010s needs that second copy of forest tape
23012s pretty badly he needs something that
23014s will generate significant board presence
23016s not just Buffs
23024s Jing's gonna look for something that
23026s helps cement his board too I think I
23029s think sold the forest and is probably
23031s one of his better draws in this position
23032s also good dream with guardians I mean
23035s that does help him with the wider board
23036s yeah he can he can play dreamway
23038s Guardians into blessing of the ancients
23040s punch down the drisk of our and
23042s have a pretty decent board yeah
23044s seems reasonable but he's down to one
23046s car ackard Savage Roar
23049s and those dreamway Guardians do mean
23052s that the fact that he's used his life
23053s total so aggressively is much less uh
23057s punishing he's down in single digits
23058s well before until he hits with the
23060s dreamway gardens yeah he's down to nine
23063s on a race no burn or anything like that
23066s in his deck but it is hackathon so he
23069s could find himself lava burst he could
23071s find himself
23073s which is Brew he's not gonna die anytime
23074s soon yeah
23076s farsight
23079s finds himself a Twilight Drake sure he
23083s can play that for one then plan to make
23084s a Defender yep there's just two things
23086s to fight for the board and that's all
23087s he's looking for now wow
23092s that's what he's looking for now oh yeah
23094s now you can Crush pretty much
23096s but is this the best opportunity Jing
23099s still has foresaid in his deck so scary
23102s is this board compared to
23105s Forest Aid you also overload yourself
23108s the Future Turn if you play on Mega
23109s Defender now yeah I like this I like
23112s just playing Omega Defender this board
23113s is not nearly as scary as it could be
23117s yeah and foreign state is Jing's last
23120s out because if he picks up Whispering
23121s Woods that's not gonna do anything he's
23123s already drawn two Landscapes he's
23125s already drawn his dreamway Guardians his
23127s board summoning potential is actually a
23129s lot smaller than you think yeah and a
23131s lot of players I think might have just
23132s pulled the trigger in that lightning
23133s storm said oh I can clear your board
23134s right 50 chance but hunter is
23136s recognizing he's playing a deck that
23138s needs to go long yes he has you know a
23141s his opponent down to nine but it's when
23143s it just draws for a state pull the
23145s trigger lightning storm savage or coming
23147s you lose here's one of the things too
23148s you know Jing having a 12-6 doesn't mean
23150s he can freely trade with his own life
23152s total it's a mega Defender yeah
23156s and he needs this average where to get
23158s past this so he has to trade two minions
23159s unless he's willing unless he's willing
23162s to trade with his life total with a
23163s dreamweight guardian and then try to
23164s push with a little bit extra minion
23166s pressure yeah I don't I don't know he
23168s can trade with the lifesteal first go up
23170s to 14 and then take 12. I don't think
23173s you can withstand that
23175s because that means hun race would be on
23177s any damage spell from hagatha to end the
23179s game
23184s all right
23187s still 12 damage that
23189s yeah I don't know I I think I think that
23192s it might have been Jing's best road to
23193s Victory to trade one of the one of the
23195s dreamer Guardians a tank that just
23197s looking at how this plays out he he he's
23199s down a guy he's down a minion yeah and
23201s Hunter Hayes has a bunch of resources
23204s Jane needs every single Minion he can
23206s get yes maybe he dies to a lava first
23208s coming off the packet though this way he
23210s just Dives to
23211s just not enough stuff right not enough
23213s minions yeah I mean hundreds doesn't
23214s even really mean bossy horror
23217s oh wow actually did you throw boom
23219s Master on this giggling inventor is also
23221s equally huge but both of these are just
23223s so powerful I I believe Jing has used
23225s both copies of power of the wild which
23227s is his only way to play Forest they can
23230s get out of Mossy horror range that is
23232s just such a nail in the coffin
23236s it's actually a hard decision it is
23238s because he can he can feel Professor
23239s right now and that gives him another
23241s spell gives him another opportunity for
23242s the giggle inventor and he does have a
23245s giggling board yeah I love it
23247s either of these are are very powerful I
23251s think this is the right play because it
23252s also gives another spell to be able to
23253s get opportunities to shut down right the
23256s forest eight
23258s Cyrus not gonna do anything and this is
23261s this is Jing doing no damage these these
23263s uh two annoyotrons are just brick
23265s Walling his two minions and his hero
23268s power he can take down one gain two life
23271s oh yeah
23272s and very reflective of the boom stay
23275s project metagame when giggling inventor
23277s just kept getting bounced and played
23280s again another giggling inventor and yeah
23283s now Hunter Ace is just absolutely
23284s running away with it he has all the
23286s tools he needs he plays this game out
23287s like we said lightning storm not even
23289s really needed in this position Hunter
23291s race is cruising to a victory
23294s and that control Shaman having all of
23297s those late game tools getting the
23299s inventor seven man it doesn't matter
23301s Ching is locked out and he is hoping
23303s that for his date is his next card and
23305s even then I don't think it's enough I
23307s don't think so either he would need to
23308s spend the entire turn playing for USA
23310s that's a swipe
23312s he can take out the giggling inventor
23314s and one of the annoyotrons
23318s in fact it kind of helps Hunter race
23319s because he needs another board space
23322s he wants room for everything yeah can
23325s you kill something please with more
23326s spells and more minions come on get him
23329s out of here
23333s I think Jing is also starting to think
23335s is is it even too late if I draw Forest
23337s Aid next turn do I even keep playing
23338s this game
23341s swipes the healing totem okay and yep
23345s bad uh
23346s you know for from under perspective
23348s thank you for the board space but Jing
23351s is thinking I gotta get through these I
23352s gotta fight the theater through these
23353s turn after turn I can't have that
23355s healing totem in the way
23356s now even more a Neutron's in the way
23360s even more spells there's a ski there's a
23362s scheme in case you guys didn't know what
23364s cars were good against token Druid
23366s there's Force aid but
23368s you can Forest save there's a lightning
23370s storm right waiting in the hand that is
23371s right answer number one hack of the
23372s schemes gonna tick up it's gonna be
23374s answer number two for both halves of the
23376s forest Aid
23378s and then Jing has dead cards in his deck
23381s now so I mean Whispering Woods will
23383s summon one whisk yeah he's got
23385s Whispering which he's got Ward Druid
23387s Lodi these are just these are just not
23389s gonna be hagatha right
23392s pyromancer he's got everything Hunter
23395s race has it all yes
23397s lightning storm clears the way and this
23400s is just the the march of the annoyotrons
23402s yeah funny enough Hunter X doesn't
23404s actually have any like good pressure
23406s he's just got an army effects he's
23408s playing Mech Shaman
23410s he could play Tempo pyromancer if he's
23413s so desired
23415s to get this over with a little bit
23416s quicker there's a Wrath
23418s okay rat does actually help Jing in this
23421s position because it helps him dig deep
23423s against the uh dig deeper into his deck
23425s and also shut down two damage
23430s and there it is the final push and
23433s Hunter race has got this
23436s pretty easily there it is the the pirate
23439s oh shutter walk too yeah sure to walk to
23441s even just repeat all the battle cries
23443s that were played this game
23445s like summons more neutrons like that in
23448s itself is already locking Jing out yeah
23452s okay good sequencing first before the
23456s pyromancer
23460s to mutate Brew
23465s they can just uh
23468s preemptively attack
23470s heal the pyromancer that's still around
23473s you gotta punch that down yep and Jing
23476s down to his last turn here
23480s it's even protected but I don't know
23482s iotron you cannot punch it down okay the
23486s rusher
23487s he is technically still alive I mean
23490s maybe it's it goes into taunt mode with
23492s the one six
23494s you've got to get that uh that uh Power
23497s Ranger off the board that's fair
23499s I mean I think that you're gonna see
23500s Whispering words for two wisps yeah a
23503s rushing Lodi into a hero power
23506s yep it's a shutter walk just doing the
23509s whole thing all over again or hanging
23511s the scheme whatever Hunter Ace wants to
23513s do to win this game he can do it he has
23515s this all but locked up yeah the uh the
23518s shutter lock is just going to summon all
23520s the annoyed John's back and for extra
23522s for extra measure he can mutate the
23525s shutter walk at this area got me a 10
23527s drop
23528s but but the shadow Rockets Omega
23529s Defender so he doesn't really want to
23531s mutate it because it's gonna it's gonna
23532s be huge fair enough
23535s The ancestral healing oh he's thinking
23537s about how many things that may put
23539s cartoon's hand that might trigger or
23540s something is that why his ancestral
23541s healing sure that's right because he is
23543s going to be generating spells in his
23544s hand
23546s all right and there's the shutter walk
23553s oh he's gonna kill him for lethal with
23555s the Titanic smash that would be great
23557s 16-14
23560s and
23563s yeah
23566s okay
23568s Style
23572s RNG game you got the lightning bolt off
23574s so lucky
23577s Hunter Hayes takes the first game of
23579s this semi-final two steps away from a
23583s destined fate against Viper in the grand
23585s finale and I think in the minds of a lot
23587s of players those are the two question
23589s mark decks in these lineups honorees has
23591s struggled mostly with that xiaomi we
23593s talked about how it kept getting to
23594s these awkward spots sometimes he was
23596s able to find his way out of them
23597s sometimes he wasn't and you know he had
23599s needed to figure out a way to get this
23601s Shaman through zhing his Druid Deck has
23604s been the weak spot of his lineup the one
23606s match he lost he lost 0-3 with his Druid
23610s he needs to find a win with that or
23612s Hunter Ray spoon to the finals yeah uh
23614s token Druid has been a deck that has
23616s been suspect to say the least but Jing
23618s has been able to defy the odds and be
23621s able to climb up slowly but surely and
23625s as we get ready for game number two
23627s we're going to find out what happens as
23628s this best of five is just getting
23630s underway don't go anywhere more
23632s Hearthstone World Championship action
23633s continues right after this
23635s foreign
23702s Lucia
23732s Utopia
23768s Jane's gonna need all the help that he
23771s can get up against point leaders of the
23773s world that's Hunter Ace I see he's
23775s currently up 1-0 after his control
23777s Shaman putting on full display while he
23779s has put his faith in hagatha now we go
23782s into game number two it's going to be a
23783s rogue mirror here Henry said Rogue was
23786s too good for him not to bring Honduras
23788s loves bringing those slow decks those
23790s controlling ones that love to get into
23791s his late game weird scenarios but he
23793s said Rogue was just the nuts and so when
23796s he brings it he has a lot of faith in it
23797s and this will be the closest matchup
23799s that I think will that could influence
23801s the series outcome yeah and these two
23803s Road decks are quite similar uh there
23805s are two copies of Shadow step in Hunter
23808s races deck while only a single copy in
23809s Jinx Jing does have access to acidic
23811s Swampers which is a card that can be a a
23813s big big uh swing card in a matchup based
23817s around wagglepick
23819s oh yeah I mean wagglepick uh is going to
23822s be very important but so is Hunter races
23825s evil miscreant and the fact he's on the
23827s coin yeah the coin is a very big deal
23829s yes in the Rogue mirror matches Rogan
23831s General likes to have the coin but in
23833s the mirror match in particular having
23834s the ability to combo without having to
23836s expend a resource is a particularly
23838s strong uh impact of that card and the
23842s evil miscreant is very difficult for
23844s Rogues to remove uh when you point it
23846s out when he just comes to play right
23847s away and that can lead to a witchy
23850s Lackey evolving into something even
23851s bigger
23854s although I would say the rest of
23856s honduras's hand a little bit more
23857s Awkward since it's removal oriented yes
23860s not like Jinx has much better uh he's
23864s got a bunch of combos that don't work
23866s with each other he's got uh you know
23867s wagglepick without the dread Corsair
23869s he's got sa7 agent without the combo
23871s Naval he's got preparation with no
23872s spells so you know he's a couple of
23875s draws away from greatness in my opinion
23877s like say he picks up um you know raiding
23879s party and then he'll be really cooking
23880s and Hunter Ace he's pretty much just
23882s dependent on this evil miscreant to give
23884s him big plays to develop the tempo
23888s here I'm gonna take things a bit slow uh
23891s no real plays in the early turns both
23893s players looking for raiding partaging in
23894s particular with two copies of
23895s preparation not a lot of uses for that
23898s card in this deck outside of raiding
23900s party it is I think uh indicative of
23903s just how strong rainy party is that you
23905s play preparation basically for that card
23907s right of course hedge Glen burglar does
23909s give you access to additional spells and
23910s it goes very well with uh spells
23912s discovered off of ethereal Lackey but uh
23914s naturally in the deck the only three
23916s cost spell is raiding party everything
23918s else is zero or two
23921s so I think it's Vendetta too but that's
23923s mostly zero yeah
23925s that's that's a good point
23927s speaking of zeros there's a lot of those
23929s in the honorary sand right now so I
23931s think Hunter Hayes he wants to coin this
23932s evil miscreant but I think he has to
23934s weigh his future turns because this
23937s Korean is the core part of his entire
23939s hand so for example is he willing to
23942s even Shadow step it early to try to make
23944s sure he can get value off of it then you
23946s can play Lackey and miscreant the
23947s following turn
23949s and he's running out of time so he's he
23951s has to actually decide looks like he's
23952s going to hold back for now so that way
23955s he can coin out the miscreant and then
23957s Shadow step it if he needs to respond to
23959s his opponent's hand I think Hunter race
23961s has a reactive game plan right now yeah
23963s but incidentally enough so does Jake
23964s yeah and uh you know with the Vendetta
23967s draw means that he has that burglar plus
23969s Vendetta which is extremely powerful uh
23972s Tempo reactive uh draw that allows you
23974s to also develop in the same time
23977s yes uh Hunter is I think is uh rather I
23981s think Jing is considering whether it's
23984s worth deploying this SI agent which
23985s could just die the backstab and that
23987s backstab would enable the combo on
23988s miscrand or even just a rating right
23991s it's one of those things where Rogues
23993s have been so attuned to the tempo swings
23995s back and forth and the combo activators
23997s that playing Minions on three which is
23999s what Rogue always wants to do usually is
24002s something that they're hesitant on yeah
24003s because of that factor at the same time
24005s Jinx hand game plan without this si7
24008s agent it's just pass again right then
24010s he's giving that radio
24012s all right and now
24014s Jing is effectively going to get three
24016s damage in a backstabout of Hunter's hand
24018s in exchange for this SI right
24022s and that's a that's something that uh
24023s Hunter Ace is really happy to see yeah
24025s he picks up henchman burglar
24027s does find kobold Lackey and ethereal
24029s Lackey oh that is the gruesome twosome
24032s those were I think two of the strongest
24034s lackeys that are available uh especially
24036s in the mirror match right I think
24038s dealing damage is just what you want
24041s because you're able to win the board or
24043s push damage uh ethereal uh Lackey also
24046s gives you so many options yes
24049s all right well there's the Hench clam
24051s burglar and we we could see burglar if
24053s uh Jing decides that this is worth a
24056s vendetta to get off the board and
24057s prevent witchy Lackey or Shadow step
24059s Shenanigans I think he is a lot is
24062s something that you should heavily
24063s consider yeah just to remove this one
24066s kind of quick options here he has that
24069s those two preparations oh and uh he does
24071s have a he does have the Phantom knives
24073s as well I I overlooked that my earlier
24075s analysis of preparation rapid fire would
24077s be insane Road card let's just put it
24079s out there it is absolutely nutty I mean
24081s you guys already saw how Maly ghost
24083s Rogue was able to utilize uh razor Peter
24085s volley to access that imagine you just
24087s started with the pedals in your hand
24089s yeah rapid fire is interesting because
24090s it is a strong combo enabler it also
24094s allows you to pick off lackeys which can
24096s sometimes be a little bit annoying in
24097s the course of the game where you know
24099s you you are attacking with your dagger
24101s or your you know like just trying to
24104s consolidate a board so that you can uh
24106s uh overcome your opponent's aggression
24109s cybertech chip so he's going for serious
24112s value here
24114s yeah I think he's saying I don't have
24115s actually I don't actually have a game
24117s plan yeah I think with kind of a hand
24120s that's mostly air right he has two
24121s preparations the waggle pick is strong
24124s but a lot of his hand doesn't do that
24125s much if he can get a chip ooh Vendetta
24129s also picked up for Hunter Ace hey
24132s spellbender blessing of wisdom and a
24134s chip of his own yeah I'd love to say you
24137s know we haven't seen a lot of Mech
24138s Hunter this weekend got Mech Rogue yeah
24140s we got Mega Road no problem
24143s blessing of wisdom is the pick yeah I
24145s think Hunter race feels like this is a
24147s battle of resources
24149s and rightfully so
24151s he's gonna discover a spell first just
24152s in case he can utilize a backstab
24155s instead of Vendetta radiation
24158s fan of knives does cycle but preparation
24161s his hand is mostly cheap stuff but with
24163s the eviscerates
24165s preparation's pretty powerful I think
24166s that there might be a concern
24169s from Hunter race here that
24172s he does lack uh much in terms of
24175s impactful stuff if this minion dies
24178s so I I think that there may be some
24180s consideration given to fan but does
24181s decide to go ahead and take preparation
24182s yes I wonder if I'm Hunter race do I
24187s swing with this dagger I choose to hold
24188s on to it keeps first number two
24191s for Zhang he does have the the
24194s preparations we could possibly use that
24196s in combination to try and take away the
24198s board could just waggle pick the waggle
24200s pick here and allows him to take down
24202s the burglar get some damage off the
24203s board and does set up for a possible uh
24206s burglar into bounce the next turn
24207s especially powerful with the two
24208s preparations
24213s when I go pick is like an investment
24215s into the next draw which is something
24216s that I don't think Jing feels very
24218s confident right now it's fair
24220s finds splitting image and unexpected
24223s results you could prep either of them
24225s this turn the prep understanding result
24227s gives him the board and Hunter Ace is
24228s not exactly a deck that can deal with
24230s white boards easily what is the
24231s knowledge that he has yeah
24233s right now Hunter's hand is actually
24235s fantastic against unexpected results
24237s with the kobold Lackey and the
24238s eviscerates and such that being said
24241s the average health of a two-man and
24243s Minion is around two and Rogue excels at
24246s dealing with two damage when they have
24247s things like si7 agents that is the tempo
24250s option that Jing decides he'll take
24251s preparation gets out unexpected results
24253s and what is the result
24257s super fender
24259s oh oh I didn't even think about the
24262s Cyber dick chip this gives this Combos
24264s and gives him some value in a hand
24266s that's pretty light on it oh I like this
24269s obviously depends on what comes off of
24271s these results right the only thing is
24273s that when you there's not a lot of mechs
24275s in the Rogue class so you're you're
24277s going to be relegated to getting neutral
24278s mix which a lot of them can be pretty
24280s weak yeah but there's also some insane
24281s ones we're talking about zilliacs uh
24284s you're talking about uh just having high
24286s power mechs like War gear all right well
24290s the blessing of wisdom plus the attack
24293s that's a spark drill that's a Tempo card
24297s if the shoe fits fascinate
24300s deal two damage
24301s and Hunter is not really uh heating too
24304s much Cyber attack chap he could have for
24306s instance sapped one of these but decides
24309s Ultron for the magnetic I guess all
24311s right it gives spark drill sounds
24312s Sparkle does give you mechs that you can
24314s that have Rush right after the initial
24317s Mech that has Rush
24319s hmm
24322s the Leroy draw you know has to have Jing
24325s evaluating especially alongside the
24326s waggle picking his hand okay well Hunter
24328s is he's a 26. do I want to keep trying
24332s to play a resource game which is pretty
24334s scary considering the the hand size
24337s advantage that Henry's has here
24343s and I think he's weighing the spark
24344s drill versus a fan of knives and
24346s reactive play and once again Jing has
24348s been shown that he likes the reactive
24349s take it slow plan underbelly fence
24352s that's a big time draw yes it is that
24354s allows him to take off the entire board
24357s that is a Coke skull chemist is his uh
24360s one two Divine Shield minion in play
24361s that can take out
24363s the burglar and then the fence can take
24365s off the fox and suddenly Jing is the
24368s board he's yeah he's ahead and you know
24370s I like that again he hesitated yes this
24371s looks like a fairly obvious snap play
24373s but once again evaluating his options
24374s just to make sure he's not jumping the
24376s gun a little bit he's gonna drop the
24377s glow Tron
24378s yep board dominance this is a Tempo
24381s matchup spend your Mana get the board
24383s put out stats
24390s does not play saps in his deck and this
24393s is a hand that can make a really really
24396s big Van Cleef Brian Chandler every World
24399s Championship we've been saying this from
24400s the beginning every World Championship
24401s Edwin Van Cleef puts on a Hall of
24404s Champions worthy performance
24407s and it has been huge for every player
24410s that's brought Edward Van Cleef into
24412s their lineup and I think we're once
24413s again going to see something like that
24414s yeah I mean hunter is he he has a lot of
24417s options here to utilize the Van Cleef it
24419s does require committing a lot of
24420s resources to do things that aren't that
24421s powerful and we can use eviscerate on
24424s the 3-1 preparation if this rate on the
24426s one three or you know if it's with the
24429s chemist then eviscerate the one three
24431s then dagger down the 3-1
24434s you have to use your prep in there on
24435s one of the eviscerates that you play you
24437s clear the board and get an enormous Van
24439s Cleef and play but you spend most of
24440s your hand doing not that much okay when
24444s you when you phrase it like that and you
24446s kind of talk about the plays option oh
24448s that's a great Temple all right
24451s dude some of these cars that just come
24453s out on the other side they're so useful
24455s and you can clear the board
24457s he can save this zap obviously for an
24459s edmon turn which I think is something
24460s he's leaning towards I don't think he
24462s wants to I don't think he wants to kill
24463s the board here yeah I think that what
24464s we're gonna see
24466s is that zap hang out with Van Cleef to
24468s do a bit better and I think part of this
24470s is Hunter race is thinking well if I can
24472s Shadow step the burglar right as part of
24475s my chain to get a giant Bank yeah it's
24477s just a lot more powerful right right and
24479s also increase the flexibility of his
24481s play it's based on what he draws or
24483s reacting to what the board is and I
24485s think that's something that Hunter Ace
24486s has done
24487s uh although it looks like he's pretty
24489s unhappy with something and it's probably
24491s because he figured out uh one of the
24493s flaws in his lines usually when when
24494s players are making that face they
24496s identify a pretty big weenie so they may
24497s have overlooked due to the fact that
24499s rope was burning and they didn't they
24501s didn't account for it
24502s yeah I mean I feel like if if Hunter is
24504s going to commit the eviscerate there
24507s you know he on the 1-3 in the first
24509s place
24510s he could have just gone in on the Edwin
24512s and there you know the fact that Jing
24513s does have no saps puts him in a great
24515s position and now he's sort of just
24517s giving the turn back to Zhang and you
24519s know will there be targets for his you
24521s know his absence removal in play second
24523s fans raiding party oh
24526s it gives him more resources which is big
24528s and he's going face and yeah this is the
24531s problem with Hunter's plan Hunter's plan
24533s was trying to conserve a resources to
24537s some degree there's his only right but
24539s damage on the line here Kibler Leroy and
24542s Shadow Step Van Cleef eviscerates sapson
24545s assassinate I mean that is just the
24547s aggressive hand yeah and you know he so
24549s he has seven Mana available to him he
24551s can use the he can attack with his uh
24554s burglar Shadow step it replay the
24555s burglar for two Mana we still have five
24557s men available
24560s I like it yep start with that and maybe
24562s he finds something that he wants to prep
24564s out now right
24568s finds haunting Visions oh you can prep
24571s haunting Visions just continue to stack
24573s up this Van Cleef yes
24575s prep haunting Visions which helps him
24577s get another spell Mass dispel okay
24580s that's his answer to
24584s wait
24585s okay so he values another car from his
24587s deck for one more Mana
24589s yeah
24590s power divisions gets you something else
24592s too though okay he's gonna prep in the
24595s sap into this race face into into
24598s Vancleave okay so the master spell is
24602s if he's playing for the dread course
24604s there he knows that his opponent has the
24605s opportunity okay
24608s and he's setting up a big van please so
24609s he can push past that
24611s and he would have if he'd have lethal
24613s with that no he doesn't have enough Mana
24614s to do that Master spell costs too much
24616s Mana
24617s yeah Henry's kind of shaking his head
24619s here uh oh
24621s I think he he was making all those
24623s calculations but he forgot that he
24624s didn't have preparation do all that he
24626s could have cast prep Master spell zap
24629s your guy
24631s in in instead of sapping and he would
24633s have had sap for a taunt into Leroy next
24635s turn if there's one taunt right if
24637s there's two taunts he kept that Master
24638s spell but
24641s it's not regardless yeah there's still
24643s 18 damage a lot and if Henry's picks up
24645s and Si is that enough no because he
24647s doesn't have a Mana for a dagger and S.I
24649s and Jing you know he has the wagglepick
24651s Leroy he can get in there for nearly
24654s lethal he is 16.
24657s 100 18.
24662s in his mind though he knows a road card
24664s was discovered he knows there's a Hench
24665s clam burglar card that's still really
24667s scary
24668s and there's a there's a Mech yes and he
24670s has no taunt that Leroy will just finish
24673s the game Jing needs to go now he's out
24675s of time
24677s no it's not not active
24680s he needs to draw for the dread corsairs
24682s he got both of them double Drake Corsair
24685s is big but there's the massive spell but
24688s he doesn't have the damage he's only 18.
24692s have been used
24694s he is short on Mana for lethal here
24697s and I don't know that he can
24700s well there's no guarantee that Leroy
24703s would bounce with the with the pick
24705s itself
24707s he can use assassinate if he
24709s assassinates one of the dread corsairs
24711s attacks him to the other face for 14.
24714s what happens
24716s there's dead to Leroy oh no but no the
24718s bounce there's 15. he's not dead to
24720s Leroy he's not guaranteed that to Leroy
24722s they said there's 16 damage there was
24725s that was that was when there was no
24726s other minion Leroy plus pick plus Leroy
24729s is 16 damage when there's no other
24730s minion guaranteed to bounce on Leroy
24731s right right now there's no guaranteed
24733s bounce on Leroy
24735s so assassinate on one of these trade in
24738s the other okay 14 to the face
24741s puts Jing on
24743s needing to deal with your your Leroy
24745s will kill you or rather you need to kill
24747s your Edwin or you and it's not easy to
24749s kill Edwin it takes almost much to kill
24751s you
24756s all right and now Jing has a 50 chance
24759s to win right now unless he draws
24760s something else
24762s yeah Vendetta is the draw
24768s okay now let's think about does he have
24770s removal tools with the spark drill he's
24772s got seven damage there and
24775s he doesn't actually oh if he had another
24777s car from another class he could actually
24779s remove the Edwin and win back the board
24781s wait no oh yeah yeah you're right you're
24784s right if you get Vendetta his own well
24785s he could also just Vendetta his own
24787s Minion and be guaranteed the bounce if
24788s he had if he had an ability oh yeah
24790s there you go he would have been a lethal
24791s at that position right if the Vendetta
24793s was active for zero he'd have guaranteed
24794s lethal now he's 50 50. here we go going
24797s for it he's going for going race is
24800s covering his eyes
24802s Leroy
24805s she gets the Leroy bounce and this
24809s series is tied up Brian Kibler one
24812s player with Edwin Van Cleef has always
24814s won worlds
24816s Edwin and kilif did not win this game
24818s for Hunter race
24820s but Jake still got one of his own Gene
24822s got one of his own and that was a
24824s massive victory for the Chinese player
24826s the crowd is loving it
24828s and more importantly Hunter race has a
24831s bunch of questions in his head
24833s about what ifs what if you planned a
24835s little bit better with his Manda
24836s expenditure I I feel like that turn
24838s where he sapped the cloak skill chemist
24842s yes he set up a you know the possibility
24844s of having the master spell to get
24845s through both of the red Core Series he
24848s didn't have the man available
24849s several turns to do that and Jing took
24852s advantage of that Jing took time
24856s race needed to set up the lethal he had
24858s he had sculpted with that discover and
24861s was able to kill Hunter Hayes before he
24863s could strike back and also Hunter race
24865s he was also accounting like if his
24868s opponent only had one dread Corsair he'd
24870s still be able to push through with that
24871s 14 of Leroy the dagger right yeah so
24874s it's definitely something that uh Hunter
24877s race needed to cover every car every
24879s single base possible and he didn't and
24881s Jing narrowly able to punish him out
24883s well just just look at the player's
24885s reactions after that game jingus is
24886s sitting there calmly counting things out
24888s calmly you know going through the plays
24890s going through the motion of his head
24891s Henry is heading hands he is clearly
24894s stressed after that game yes it's his
24897s first championship stage appearance this
24899s year he got in through points everyone
24900s else has made an appearance or qualified
24903s through the championship directly
24905s and Hunter Ace he has to now compose
24909s himself when just one of his weakest
24910s areas of the game this kid is really
24912s good at Hearthstone I don't think
24912s anyone's gonna deny it I think one of
24914s the errors he admits that he needs to
24917s improve on is his mentality while he's
24919s on stage
24921s and that's one of the things that you
24922s know yes Hunter race was the the points
24924s that are throughout the year but as you
24925s mentioned he has not appeared on a stage
24928s of this size before you know Jing was he
24930s was at the the previous Championship he
24932s has played you know on camera in front
24934s of uh tens of thousands of people before
24936s Pottery yes he has he has played it at a
24938s bunch of tour stops throughout the year
24940s but never been quite under the
24941s microscope as he is here at this event
24943s as the worldwide point leader there are
24946s so many expectations for his performance
24948s yes he's my Champion I'm not on him for
24951s packs I've been away on his side
24954s if you if you drive to your he at least
24956s got to the the the seconds it's true
24959s uh I mean because if he goes one more
24962s round you get one more pack killer how
24963s greedy could you get I know you're a
24965s dragon I know you like The Horde but
24966s come on I want it all and so do these
24969s players they want to make it through to
24971s the finals and have a shot at that
24973s Trophy and at that quarter million
24975s dollar first prize
24977s at Hunter race he's going to use his
24981s pinch Clan sneak deck as I like to call
24984s it double mind control Tech Hunter Ace
24986s has a mage deck that is teched to beat
24990s aggressive board-based uh Tempo decks
24993s like Zoo warlock like even token Druid
24995s and I mean that's the reflecting his
24997s double rabble bouncer his Mossy horror
24998s his Hench Clan sneak which sets up a
25000s mind control Tech and you saw it
25002s yesterday and you might see it again
25003s today we'll first start things with that
25005s book of specters though Hunter race
25007s tossing away that Congress calling it's
25008s it's strange to call this deck this Mage
25011s deck sort of a breakout deck because
25013s it's a deck that has been very popular
25014s on ladder you know the conjured calling
25017s book of Specter Mountain mage deck has
25019s been one that a lot of people have been
25020s playing on ladder uh since the release
25022s of Rise Of Shadows but the specific
25025s builds that Hunter race and Bunny Hopper
25029s and Viper in particular have been
25031s playing as well as bloody face if you
25033s look at those Decks that have mind
25034s control texts that have rabble bouncers
25036s most notably the rabble bouncers I think
25038s really give the deck an incredibly
25040s powerful game plan against aggressive of
25041s decks while not fundamentally diluting
25043s its strength against control and I think
25046s that that has been the reason these
25048s players have been so successful if you
25049s look at the overall uh lineups for the
25052s tournament every single player who
25054s brought Mage made it through the top
25056s eight with the exception of a group in
25059s which there were three players who
25060s played Mage only two of them could make
25062s it through that's right and three out of
25063s the four semifinals tied that page
25065s similarly Zoo has been a deck that has
25068s been uh somewhat maligned throughout
25070s this tournament it is a deck that has of
25072s course been successful for many players
25074s Jing is here in the top four both bunny
25076s Hopper and Viper Viper now through to
25077s the finals they played Zoo they clearly
25079s had a lot of success but it has
25081s frequently been their weakest deck yes
25084s and many players were swept on their Zoo
25087s decks
25089s so uh just a center back into this game
25091s Jing already had a couple decisions that
25093s he wanted to weigh first is he had magic
25095s carpet and he wanted to coin it out but
25097s by playing this flame imp uh and making
25100s it susceptible to a two-man minion that
25103s Hunter Hayes had uh Jing is no longer
25106s going to be able to get like that big
25107s damage from the flame imp unless he's
25109s willing to Pivot and play void Walker
25111s instead
25113s and if he does play void Walker that
25114s means that the swedex office gets to
25116s double up in terms of what it kills two
25117s minions right and you know from Jing's
25120s perspective well he could play could go
25122s in here right he could play minion
25124s minion coin minion well that opens up
25125s yourself up to mind control Tech right
25127s so Jing needs to consolidate his threats
25130s and I I actually really like this
25132s because Magic Carpet is very threatening
25135s it makes all of his future minions more
25137s threatening doesn't expose him to MC
25139s Tech ooh that though is a nice draw from
25143s Hunter race very scale worm does give
25146s him the possibility of interacting with
25148s that uh carpet ooh the conjure calling
25152s hit is Big we see a bit of a
25155s that is a risk that you run that when
25158s you draw that spell with the book of
25159s specters you are no longer you are no
25161s longer allowed to keep it and Jing now
25163s has the Magic Carpet ready to go for a
25165s ride yeah Hunter race does have scale
25167s worm which is not quite big enough to
25169s kill the carpet and Jing here though you
25172s know he could obviously sort of maximize
25174s his carpet here just play out three One
25176s Drops again that exposes him to mind
25177s control Tech
25180s and in this matchup from Henry's
25182s perspective a lot of it is about trying
25185s to uh get Xing into a position to use
25189s his Deck cards to use that mind control
25191s Tech to be able to maximize the power of
25193s His rabble bouncers yes
25197s and Jing needs to try to avoid getting
25200s hit by those but still put enough enough
25203s pressure to put on a race in awkward
25205s position here you know he quit out Magic
25207s Carpet he can just go in but there's the
25210s the MC Tech possibility it looks like
25212s he's just gonna tap he wants to do
25215s and he's even gonna play the void Walker
25217s this is protecting the carpet from the
25219s threat of a scale worm coming down and
25221s allowing the scale worm into ping and
25223s taking it over out over turns the
25225s problem for Hunter race here he's just
25227s playing a minion deck oh babe he's a
25229s Tiger deck is a bunch of minions so all
25232s he can do
25233s oh my that is a powerful card for
25237s shooting I don't know if he's gonna play
25239s it now
25239s but it is stuff though yes now Jing you
25243s know he can use these One Drops rather
25245s than develop a board and potentially get
25247s hit by a mind control Tech you can just
25248s play out one drops and keep pressuring
25250s with say three minions each turn to keep
25252s hitting Hunter race and then use the
25254s magic carpet to send in minions to kill
25257s everything that Hunter Ace plays
25260s yep and I like that Hunter Ace play this
25262s product because he already has another
25263s Dragon for calicos but Huntress is
25264s playing very quick and this is something
25265s that's uncharacteristic to him
25268s and and you know it's one of those
25270s things where you just have to pay
25272s attention Hunter race plays very slow
25273s usually I think his mentality has been
25275s shaken a little bit hopefully he can
25277s continue to stay on course Jing going
25279s for the the Twilight trade trades very
25281s natural
25287s I think we might see a additional one
25290s drop see some attacks then see the the
25293s Grim rally yeah because it also
25295s consolidates to three minions and
25297s they're three larger minions
25299s yep gonna hit him for
25306s could have been better he could have
25308s just Grim rallied this before it saved
25310s the blood suckers there oh and did he
25312s get the damage oh he did okay yeah that
25313s was a bit of a misstep from Jake you
25315s could he could unless he was
25316s specifically intending to have two
25317s minions if he had just attacked first
25321s then played
25323s the uh the Grim rally
25326s he could have saved an additional minion
25328s here and would have have a a 3-3 I
25331s believe yeah uh I think he I think he
25333s could have optimized it definitely
25334s better there and I that might end up
25336s having big dividends for for hunrays he
25338s can remove the Magic Carpet now next
25340s time you can play Mountain Giant and
25342s then contra's calling that that Contra
25343s is calling draw it may not look like
25344s anything really big right now right but
25347s it has so much utility not only just on
25350s his own minions but maybe he needs to
25351s set up a mind control Tech after the
25352s Buffs have been utilized
25355s can just use it's bad draw it is it's
25359s another bad draw
25361s that's not what Jing needs right now no
25363s it's not
25364s frankly you know having a an extra 3-3
25367s and play would be a big deal
25369s yes very much so
25374s and here what I think uh Honduras is
25376s actually looking to do
25378s one thing that she has to be terrified
25379s of is uh the mossy horror Mercy next
25384s turn that's just that absolute blowout I
25387s mean I think you have to play as if
25388s Mossy heart isn't a card in our Stone
25390s yeah on a race now though I think is
25391s going for Voodoo Doll plus contrast
25392s calling here yeah so this gives him not
25394s only the ability to remove the carpet
25396s that's why he chose to go with the the
25397s scale of attack last turn I like this
25399s this gives him killing the carpet pair
25401s of three drops they're not great but now
25403s he's ahead another carpet but no one-man
25406s and minions Jing's been drawing non-stop
25408s one-man and means and then he drew all
25409s of his top end yeah oh another giant sea
25413s giant this may be the turning point
25416s you can play that magic carpet but he
25418s has no way to defend it if Hunter race
25421s has anything that does any damage to
25423s that he can take him Aussie horse well
25426s it is good but he got two two power
25429s three drops
25430s that's true but he does get to restrict
25432s the board size he does but right now he
25434s can just drop Mountain down with almost
25436s no repercussions the only problem is
25438s that he can't Kill the Magic Carpet I
25440s think that's something else that's on
25441s his mind he also has to be thinking what
25443s are these cards in your hand you have a
25445s magic carpet and didn't play anything
25446s what are the cards that make any sense
25448s to be in Jing's hand at this point right
25449s and I I think that sea giant is
25452s certainly among the cards that Hunter
25453s race is thinking about which is you know
25455s one reason okay well you know if I play
25457s the giant what am I doing am I am I
25459s killing your minion to try to ensure
25461s that we uh at least restrict right the
25463s board space
25468s if he can draw Solarium and possibly
25470s just draw a string of one drops he could
25472s Rush a sea giant yeah problem is CJ
25474s needs to go down to one and I don't
25476s think he can no
25478s there's a sea giant though and we have
25480s seen a voodoo doll at this stage right
25482s so this sea giant may end up
25485s being uh being a scary customer it is
25487s scary that's for sure
25491s and now from Henry's perspective he has
25493s to think okay well do I want to try to
25496s get Congress calling here on you know
25498s use the conscious calling on the
25500s mountain giant well so we got some value
25501s yeah or am I looking to trade off
25505s or maybe pushed him oh I mean what if he
25508s gets Frost Nova
25510s power registration doesn't have to Mana
25512s for it it's gonna It's Gonna Take It All
25514s right he's going for it yeah I like it
25517s and the thing is if Jing has to develop
25519s into this
25521s wow
25524s big outcome here for Hunter race Jing
25527s yeah with a deep side
25530s land of the sea giant but it is already
25532s outclassed
25534s second grave waiting even after
25537s the sea giant number one eats up the
25539s first
25544s Jing is even scared to tap in this
25546s position but he's oh yeah I mean you're
25547s you're not winning if you if you don't
25549s tap and frankly at this stage you're
25551s probably not winning if you do simply
25553s with how big of a swing that double gray
25556s horror is
25559s second C Giants definitely scary oh yeah
25561s but under race has a lot of options at
25564s his disposal
25565s hedge clean sneak
25567s the deck's namesake
25571s if he uses power of creation does not
25573s have the minute to hero power down that
25575s sea giant which seems like the the low
25577s hanging fruit here the problem is is
25579s this plays on seven Mana aren't exactly
25581s great right he could Mossy heart and
25584s clear the board if he does if he does he
25586s doesn't if he does the power of creation
25588s he can just attack the uh grave horror
25590s into the void Walker and then trade okay
25594s like that and plus
25595s discovering say two ocean commanders
25598s yeah oh he's got to get the snake out
25600s though oh yeah he needs to make
25604s winning every game you play you play the
25606s sneak I like this patience here from
25608s Hunter race also I really like
25610s pressuring his life total every single
25612s attack to the face reduces his ability
25614s to life tap the longer the game goes and
25615s I think a lot of what's going on here is
25617s Hunter's calicos so there's very little
25619s reason to commit the eight-man and power
25621s of creation here goes into power of
25623s creation next turn build yourself a wide
25625s board to trade into anything threatening
25627s your opponent plays although I mean
25631s Jing looks like he might just get
25632s pressured out of the game with what's
25634s existing on board oh that's yeah he's
25636s he's not not a good spot that's for sure
25637s I mean now hypon race wants to he can
25640s just
25643s horror ping off the uh uh that giant and
25648s leave Jing with nothing you can even add
25651s the fire tree witch doctor to get a
25653s spell to close the game
25656s and I think that's exactly what he's
25657s doing bossy horror it's smashing time
25664s a single sea Giants
25668s as if he needed anything else Hunter
25670s raise has guaranteed lethal next turn
25672s and Jing has no way to close this Gap
25675s yeah Jing has Leroy Jenkins but 20 life
25679s for Hunter Ace and that is it the global
25683s point leader in his first championship
25685s appearance is now just one game from the
25689s finals after when you know what faces
25691s the song suggests that's right maybe the
25694s secret power wasn't the haircut maybe it
25697s wasn't the deck list it was annalize
25698s rapping skills
25700s or maybe he's just really good at
25702s Hearthstone who knows
25703s It's gotta be the wrap
25706s on a race up two to one and only has to
25710s win with his Tempo row remaining many
25712s who Peg to be the best deck in
25714s Hearthstone
25715s at least in the top three for sure and
25717s Jing still has to win not only with the
25719s zoo warlock but his token Druid and keep
25722s in mind Hunter race he accounted for
25724s this possibility too so he is ready to
25727s take on these decks yeah the token Druid
25729s here may be a bit stronger against the
25731s Rogue specifically because of the build
25732s Hunter race is choosing to be chosen to
25734s bring uh there are no Phantom knives in
25737s Hunter races deck which does mean that
25739s he is much more vulnerable to the the
25741s early aggressive token starts
25744s that's right without fan knives things
25746s like uh you know all those little
25747s Whispering Woods and all things can be
25749s really tricky to deal with but he also
25751s has some powerful Tempo tools too and I
25753s mean hunter is having that second shout
25755s outs that might even be able to find
25757s some really cool stuff with the lackeys
25758s and it seems like there's more underage
25760s fans than people who are fans of Jing I
25762s guess but it makes sense because this
25763s guy has been lighting the Hearthstone
25765s world on fire this past year yeah and
25767s you know while he is at the table he is
25769s you know he's he's quiet of course you
25771s can't really talk but we couldn't hear
25773s him if he was talking but uh he's a very
25776s colorful character when you get a chance
25777s to sit down and talk to him and you know
25779s he he's clearly just so passionate and
25782s so excited about Hearthstone I think
25784s that's infectious I think a lot of
25785s people see that and like you know what
25787s this guy's a lot of fun this guy is
25789s obviously a tremendous Hearthstone
25791s player and I just want to see him
25792s succeed yeah and what I love the most
25794s about Hunter Ace is that he just thinks
25797s so differently about the game one of the
25799s one of the common inside jokes that a
25801s lot of players have when they talk about
25802s him is that Hunter race thinks he's
25803s favored in every match you know he's
25805s like yeah you know this is like a usual
25806s unwinnable matchup I think I'm okay you
25809s know what I think I'm favored it's like
25811s Hunter is the data is literally says
25812s you're 25 75. he's like nah that that
25815s day is wrong I check my text perfectly I
25817s remember the first time I heard about
25819s Hunter race I think it was uh on watch
25821s Stone when uh just saying was was you
25824s know spectating people at the sort of
25825s end of uh the ranked Seasons this is I
25828s believe last year and Hunter Hayes was
25830s consistently at the absolute top of the
25832s latter rankings and that was when Raza
25835s priest was so powerful and people were
25837s like oh Hunter is just always has Raz on
25839s five and Android on eight it was like
25841s well he certainly had it sometimes but
25843s he also just always found these ways to
25845s win the games that didn't look like he
25847s possibly could win
25849s oh yeah we've all been there and Hunter
25851s Ace is now one game away from going to
25854s the finals that is a full keep and I
25856s like that he's on the coin yet again
25858s with evil Miss cran and this time he's
25860s got hint hamburger and Vendetta Jing
25862s with the zoo warlock needs to get a fast
25864s start and he does have macaroon but he's
25866s got a relatively slow start after that
25868s yeah Jing here you know again with the
25870s deck that can punish the lack of fan of
25873s knives in a hunter races deck now he's
25875s got the sea Giants and you know the the
25877s single copy of sap in Hunter's deck now
25879s in his hand but if Xing is able to get
25881s out to a very aggressive opening find
25884s Grim rally in particular yes uh Hunter
25886s race may not have the time to take
25887s advantage of his evil miscreant in his
25889s burglar Vendetta
25893s on a race with a really fast turn one
25895s pass you've been seeing players rope
25896s turn one uh almost two almost feels
25898s deliberate at that point where they're
25900s trying to troll us to say yeah I'm gonna
25901s take my time you're gonna sit here and
25903s watch me uh Hunter ice he says that when
25905s he plays fast he's either nervous or
25907s he's in the zone and I think when he's
25908s this close it might be both
25911s no blame him either way at this point
25914s this is so massive this queen does not
25917s die to to a lot of things into double
25920s kobold Lackey that is a lot of removal
25923s alongside that shadow step in hunrae's
25924s hand
25925s that will give him and the one five body
25928s so ability to absolutely pick apart
25931s Jing's opening right and and Jing does
25933s not have soul fires there he would have
25934s to kill this with like you know direwolf
25936s and abusive Sergeant does not have that
25938s and you know Jing was one of the players
25941s that was you know popularizing Grim
25942s rally back in the winter Championship so
25943s he knows his deck very well and it was
25947s to the point where a lot of people were
25948s saying that was the deck that people
25949s should have brought and is this going to
25952s be his downfall here
25954s it could be right now we are seeing
25956s Zhang sort of trying to debate how do I
25959s play this out
25961s how do I find a way to deal with this
25964s evil miscreant this incredibly powerful
25966s uh three drop that Hunter race is coined
25968s out immediately yeah it's it's funny to
25970s say it's incredibly horrible it's a one
25972s five but against Zoo the five health is
25975s so important right and the one power is
25978s good enough against most of the minions
25979s yes like he can trade Shadow step and
25982s then go back at it get more Lackey yeah
25984s and we're seeing exactly this Jing is
25986s like
25988s Oh I thought I thought for a second it
25990s was gonna yeah I was gonna say
25992s if he does if he just decides okay I'm
25994s gonna abuse the sergeant and send this
25995s into the miscreant Shadow step just
25996s makes that all for not it's just wasted
25998s damage right and Jake realized this he's
26000s like all right I'm not gonna try and
26000s kill this I am going to just push damage
26003s to the face I have to kill you I got
26004s Leroy yeah I'm gonna win this game it's
26006s going to be in the basis
26009s of getting that damage into face and try
26011s to make a board that sticks and is hard
26013s for you to deal with
26017s are the pickups for Hunter Ace he has a
26021s preparation so a lot of
26024s access to possible options off the
26027s Ethereal Lackey witchy Lackey
26029s interestingly isn't necessarily good uh
26031s right right off the bat onto the uh the
26034s miscreant because like we're saying
26035s sometimes you just want the one attack
26037s you want the five Health if you make it
26038s a four drop it can have less health
26042s rally
26044s that's a big draw for Zhang here and a
26048s knife juggler just a little bit off Mana
26050s usage-wise I mean I think we're almost
26052s half to see this Grim rally here for
26055s Shang his board is just so vulnerable to
26057s the one five and the dagger otherwise
26058s you know there's no fan knife so Grim
26060s rally with a bunch of one one tokens is
26062s not nearly as uh as bad right and
26064s frankly he ends up making a big board
26067s that
26069s you can push for six damage right now a
26071s few rallies on the Scara bag and you
26074s know that's chipping away the life total
26075s that Henry's has here and making his
26077s minions much more difficult to remove
26079s yes
26081s and I think that's big I think that's
26083s important because Hunter Ace he's
26084s playing a little greedy here but I mean
26085s rightfully so because he has the ability
26087s to do that
26090s it's Grim rally
26093s out that's a sizable board
26098s oh does Jing really think about trading
26100s in this spot
26102s he just saw a shadow step already no
26104s Amino train Amigo face yeah nine power
26107s on the board with Leroy in hand
26109s there's only one place yeah for Hunter
26111s race and it is the face we're rappers
26114s over here already oh yeah I guess yeah I
26116s am kind of a rapper but this this
26118s burglar is is really big project wow
26122s rapid fire is also has a lot of use here
26125s too it does
26127s he already has a weapon in place the
26129s weapons project loses a lot of its
26130s appeal yeah I like the uh I like the
26132s rapid fire allows him to pick off those
26134s tokens what I like about weapons project
26136s is the life game
26138s it's true though it does give your
26140s opponent the weapon over turns that can
26142s either kill your board or go to your
26144s face oh
26146s just enough minions wait but there's a
26149s sap in Hunter Ace's hand so it's not
26152s going to be impactful right now but the
26154s fact is Jing has this as an option when
26157s Sapp only delays it sapling delays the
26159s sea Giant obviously if you clear off
26161s bits of the board it does make it much
26163s harder to come back down right that's
26165s the thing like if Jing goes to the Sea
26167s Giant and it gets sapped
26169s Hunter race will clean up the board to
26171s the point where he can't play next turn
26173s there's only a single copy
26175s copy of Hunter races deck and frankly
26178s Jing's other play is
26179s tap right hope to draw a one drop to go
26182s with knife juggler I wonder if he's
26184s gonna trade but he did see a vendetta so
26186s like the the Vendetta the Dennis swing
26189s is less likely here I I think with with
26191s Leroy in your hand and your opponent at
26193s this low in life oh I think that you
26196s almost just have to send all five of
26198s this
26200s he's gonna trade and and incidentally
26203s this puts him in a much worse position
26204s to replay The Siege on after a sap oh
26206s yeah but there's a side has a one-off
26208s but Hunter Hayes has all his base
26209s covered he's playing hand Rogue yeah I
26211s mean there can be
26213s there can be the sap to to deal with the
26215s giant it's a question of do I want to
26217s prep it do and how do I want to
26219s distribute my my Minions that I play
26220s afterwards do I want to leave enough
26223s minions in play oh look at how to race
26225s what are these headcrack I think is
26228s probably your best option yeah just a
26230s deal it does it's a car that does
26232s something unlike the others right
26234s now Hunter race can clear the board with
26236s the underbelly fence and sap save his
26238s prep for something else
26240s and the question is in part does he want
26243s to
26244s develop anything else on this board I
26247s think this is perfect because it's seven
26248s Mana
26250s yeah okay
26255s oh he's gonna wish Lackey okay that's
26257s fine too
26258s does this does mean your opponent can
26261s replay Siege but that touched his entire
26262s turn it does
26265s oh
26266s wait there's only prep and sap though
26269s but that's still good for the future
26270s turns yeah
26271s yeah
26273s dude you can hit crack toys oh wow
26276s that is interesting
26279s that's pretty good rope's a class that
26281s plays a lot of spells but they are
26283s Target spells you know Rogue does like
26284s to do tricky single types of things he's
26286s got a head crack he just keep head
26288s cracking
26289s get that if you do you get the head
26292s crack back off of vargoth too
26295s well he just you mean you don't know
26297s Kibler the master of academics more head
26300s cracks off of Varga I feel you for
26303s guidance I think he will
26305s so Hunter Ace can cobalt Lackey he can
26309s do something to clear this
26315s the the the
26317s raiding party makes the headcrack plan
26319s probably less likely but
26323s he could have and it would have been it
26324s would have been really cool in fact he
26325s can bring him party twice
26328s if he raiding parties he's gonna draw
26330s the rest of it this is basically like a
26332s Sprint yeah rating party he's gonna get
26334s another rating party unless he plays the
26337s rapid fire then that could go wrong
26339s yeah I think killing the sea giant is
26341s the utmost importance
26343s staying up and now Hunter race he's the
26346s zoo deck and one of the biggest things
26347s about this vargoth is not the fact that
26349s it's necessarily recasting this rating
26350s party though it is clearly powerful
26351s because it gives him his captain green
26353s skin and second blood uh dread Corsair
26356s so this means that next turn Henry says
26360s waggle pick double dread Corsair
26362s and the headcrack which will come back
26365s with the varka after Double casting
26367s Gambler that is a sweet play but that
26370s has not happened it's gonna happen it's
26372s not happening
26374s but I'm on your side if this was your
26377s stream I'd be spamming a chat do it in
26379s all caps
26383s does pick off one of the lackeys yeah
26385s every juggle really matters here he just
26387s doesn't want it on bargoth
26390s okay it does pick off two of them but
26393s look at this swing
26395s 100 race is gonna make his victory
26398s game-winning push yeah the waggle pick
26400s into double dread Corsair into SI agent
26405s no head crack for Barca sadly but this
26408s is just absolutely dominating swing on
26412s this board for Hunter Hayes
26415s zoo is the deck that tries to go wide
26417s and it is Hunter race who has five
26420s minions in play to the single flame imp
26423s of Zhang
26424s lady I'm not rushing just counting for
26426s every possibility is there any reason
26428s why I would ever kill this flame imp and
26431s I mean I don't think it really matters
26433s here because Hunter race you don't have
26435s to worry about Soul fire there's none in
26436s the deck you don't have to worry about
26438s uh RC for Farm because Jing didn't put
26440s in his deck there's Leroy Jenkins
26443s as is direct damage and that's it
26446s are you afraid of some sort of
26449s Magic Carpet coming down and Solarium
26452s and everything going for a ride and
26453s killing your board yes that is a
26455s possibility there also this Evil Genius
26457s into the exact spell he needs
26459s blame him oh he didn't even attack to
26462s the weapon oh he's afraid of the blood
26463s cell course there ah okay he's Crossing
26466s his his teeth and dotting his eyes
26467s there's a carpet
26469s he doesn't want to get Corsair that's
26470s that's the reason behind the uh holding
26472s the attack that's brilliant flame imp
26474s number two is gonna come down
26476s it will pick off some of these minions
26479s but it's going to do a lot of damage to
26481s Jing
26482s and we see the Leroy Jenkins just
26485s waiting in the hand Hunter is just
26487s waiting for his turn
26489s he's got seven damage
26492s eight nine and Leroy Jenkins comes down
26496s and sends Hunter race to the finals of
26499s the world championship
26502s three out of the four years of the world
26504s championship we've had a point leader
26505s and once again the Wonder Boy from
26507s Norway is going to claim victory and
26511s advance to the Grand finals this is the
26514s first time we have seen Hunter race on
26516s the championship stage all year despite
26518s earning so many points and tour stops he
26520s was never able to break through the
26522s playoff system and now he is making the
26524s absolute most of his points lead with a
26528s spot in the finals of the world
26530s championship and hats off to Jing he had
26532s a heck of a run but China once again
26535s gets stopped in the semi-finals making
26537s it an all-european Showdown Viper versus
26541s Hunter race only one can be the champion
26543s yeah and I think that this this finals
26545s is going to be incredible both of these
26547s players have had such tremendous years
26548s Viper two championship appearances
26550s making uh a run through this tournament
26553s to defeat his practice partner bunny
26556s hopper in the semi-finals take revenge
26558s on bunny Hopper's victory over him in
26560s that exact same position early this year
26562s when they both qualify for the World
26564s Championship and now Hunter Hayes points
26566s leader just heralded by so many players
26568s the best in the world and now he's the
26570s chance to try to claim that title in in
26572s fact how many times do we get to really
26574s see this you know a kid that was able to
26576s build himself from the ground up first
26578s heralded as just a ladder player you
26580s know what just this random kid that is
26582s already beating all the best players you
26584s know it's because Robert piece was
26585s really broken yeah that's why he was
26586s really good and then he started showing
26588s up to online tournaments and he started
26589s winning bad then he went to tour stops
26591s started winning that and then he played
26593s Masters cups with his all the best
26594s players in the world and he was winning
26595s that there was Masters cups that weren't
26597s streamed and out of the three he entered
26599s he won two of them against the elite of
26602s the elite you look at those Masters cups
26603s all those players in it is basically
26605s Grand masses already Hunter race is
26607s seriously good at Hearthstone if you
26609s haven't heard of him you definitely have
26610s no and all that had really eluded him
26612s until now is is the championship
26613s appearance the championship title he had
26615s won Majors he'd won tour stops but now
26618s the title of world championship
26621s world champion is in his grass yeah and
26623s one thing too is that Hunter Ace he's a
26625s sucker for his own storyline in the
26626s sense that he said you know what I lost
26628s that match but I can go through the
26630s losers bracket and three out of four
26632s years the world champion has lost in the
26634s group stages but made a huge comeback
26636s not dropping a series after that can
26638s Hunter race or Viper both are eligible
26641s to fulfill that prophecy we'll find out
26644s that and more when we come back to the
26647s Hearthstone 2019 World Championship
26650s the final between hunt race and Viper is
26653s one of if not the most memorable match
26656s in competitive Hearthstone history as
26658s one of the two lucky people who got to
26660s cast it in person I can say the
26662s atmosphere was electric on one side we
26666s had a crowd favorite hunt race and his
26668s opponent another European Viper who's
26672s off meta deck building had got him this
26674s far if you haven't seen this match
26676s before then I envy you and if you have
26679s I'm sure you'll be happy to relive this
26682s incredible moment
26683s it is time I am Raven and joined by
26687s subtle it's our honor to bring you the
26689s finals of the Hearthstone World
26691s Championship two players are left
26694s a year at least of hard work has led to
26697s this one moment and now I think you
26700s could see it when they walked out that
26701s this means everything they look
26703s exhausted before they even start and
26705s that is not just sheer being tired that
26707s is realizing what is on the line for
26710s each of these players yeah I feel like
26712s Hunter race in particular is just hour
26714s by hour series by Series game by game
26716s just descending into this this shriveled
26719s husk version of himself like can someone
26722s get that that boy an ice cream vanilla
26724s or pistachio please or both he needs his
26727s life force he does seem to have so much
26729s taken out of him Viper I think looks
26732s fairly normal he he's a very stoic
26734s character when he plays at the best of
26736s times he definitely hasn't shown too
26738s much emotion throughout the tournament
26740s um but hunter race I think has had the
26742s the slightly more Rocky Road to get here
26743s as well with some real kind of back and
26746s forth and and Tempo swings and
26748s ridiculous outcomes in a lot of his
26749s games so we'll see if he's got it left
26751s in him to play another series at the
26753s level that he demands from himself elf
26755s yeah and that is high demand that
26756s speaking of the roads to get here not
26758s only just in this tournament but to get
26760s to this tournament full stop Huntress
26762s came through with the highest point
26764s earner ever basically for this
26766s tournament and managed to go through
26768s that way and that required a year of
26770s straight hard work all the tour stop
26772s grind all of the actual ladder ground
26774s everything possible to get to those
26776s points and he couldn't make the cut
26777s through playoffs it never worked out for
26779s him whereas viper made it to a
26781s championship qualified through that and
26783s then has moved on and progressed want to
26785s continue doing well for the rest of the
26786s year of course but that is how he got
26788s his spot Hunters had to work
26790s consistently non-stop throughout the
26793s year and Hunter ACE also has a history
26794s with this when he's brought slow decks
26796s to Long grindy Swiss tournaments he has
26799s often said come round four around five
26800s round six that he feels he's exerting so
26802s much mental energy on playing these
26804s Decks that he's not then playing
26806s optimally you know hour six seven eight
26807s into the tournament
26809s um so we'll see this is this this is a
26810s marathon not a Sprint and there is a lot
26812s on the line so Hunter race needs to play
26814s very best yeah let's check out for the
26817s final time for this season and for HGT
26820s as a whole what the deck is going to be
26822s Miracle Rogue is gonna be banned out
26823s from Viper probably a signature deck
26825s from him and archetype overall so he
26828s will not be allowed to play his favorite
26830s class and archetype and huntres ban the
26832s control Warriors so we see on both sides
26834s now you know what a funny moment where
26837s Rogue only has a one-off in this whole
26840s lineup is that's the only class out at
26841s the top two that's going to be played
26843s here one out of a possible four
26844s potentially he's only going to be there
26846s and hunt race does have the Rogue the
26848s Summoner Mage and the control Shaman
26850s versus the zoo the mid-range Hunter and
26852s the Mage so I think maze now cementing
26854s itself as at least top three yeah
26857s there's gonna be uh a lot of that deck
26859s on ladder after this tournament I would
26861s suspect like get your betrayals and your
26863s big game hunters and everything else
26865s that they're ready to go because you're
26867s gonna have to be killing some Mountain
26868s Giants if you want to be successful in
26870s on ladder over the coming weeks but yeah
26872s for me question mark decks we talked
26874s about it a lot it's the nature of this
26876s Tournament being so close to the set
26878s rotation that a lot of these players
26880s have one deck that they're not entirely
26882s happy with
26883s um for me in these two lineups it's the
26885s zoo warlock on Viper's side it's the
26887s shaman on Hunter races side if those two
26890s decks run into each other that can be a
26892s huge swing in terms of who is going to
26893s be taking home that trophy yeah it
26895s really is it's less about the matchup
26896s specifically and more about just getting
26898s a win and removing the deck from the
26900s lineup about having to play them out I
26902s am pumped for this one and that fancy
26904s stage right there making those visuals
26906s happen often mean you're ready to get in
26908s the game the players are good to go game
26910s number one of the finals of the HCT
26912s World Championship here we go hunt race
26915s on the Rogue and Viper on the zoo
26918s Warlock
26919s or Hunter is already deep breath sucking
26922s air huge inhales
26926s he's got a long way to go this series
26928s hasn't even started yet yeah I must
26930s admit though I I honestly can't even
26931s imagine what it means and how it feels
26933s right now to be one of those two
26935s gentlemen on the seats yeah in the
26937s center stage in this Arena packed out
26939s all the pressure in the world on them
26942s and they cannot afford to misstep
26944s because each player is good enough that
26946s they will punish their opponent if they
26947s misplay
26948s but if Hunter Ace was nervous about
26951s getting off to a strong start the Rogue
26953s gods have smiled upon him because when
26955s you are facing down Zoo coin evil
26958s miscreant si7 agent and a shadow step is
26962s about all that you can ask for Sansa
26964s backstab
26965s completely true couldn't agree more and
26968s I don't want to go there again that one
26972s with a 10-foot pole Raven you you've
26974s done enough so but I will say before
26976s that draw Piper's opening is not too
26979s shabby either just as much as the evil
26981s mistrion is a key card in Rogue because
26983s the power level of lack is I see an evil
26986s genius with a wonderful death rattle
26988s which is perfect outside of maybe an egg
26990s to have proc but there is the question
26993s mark the reform a seven drop never mind
26996s about reform never mind about what it
26997s does it's a seven drop that cannot be
26999s reduced in Mana cost that is in your
27001s hand from turn two that just well from
27003s term one sorry that just isn't good
27005s doesn't matter what the card does that's
27007s just unplayable for six more turns after
27008s that so that's just a fact of the matter
27011s people argue it with me if you want I am
27013s used to it
27015s but the one ones being played here it's
27017s gonna get arguments now refund doesn't
27018s cost seven I'll be like okay I don't
27022s know we see the one ones now just being
27024s able to fill out this curve if Piper
27025s chooses
27026s um do you think I don't know if he
27027s really needs to rush this Evil Genius he
27029s can't really play the Luckys anyway this
27031s turn so there's no inherent instant gain
27034s I do like going wide and saying yeah
27036s Hunter is I've got three sticky minions
27037s you're already in trouble friend you
27039s want to put the pressure on
27041s you know what deals pretty well with
27043s three one ones
27048s oh double Rush okay two damage Lackey
27052s and Rush Lackey are probably right up
27055s there with the spell Lackey in this
27056s matchup I would say just because it is
27058s so board-centric so Tempo based and
27060s those are the Fantastic lackeys for
27061s achieving Tempo I think as long as the
27063s Rogue has the minions though right you
27065s know as long as there's something to
27066s combo them with there's a one five it's
27069s chilling yep and oh I think also
27071s importantly there is the fence that can
27072s combo with it kind of
27080s has uh important decisions to make
27082s starting next turn his hand has played
27084s itself up until this point coin the
27085s Lackey see what happens now he has to
27088s decide does he want to Shadow step the
27089s Lackey and go digging for more uh
27092s lackeys and go for the two damage and uh
27094s key spells like fan of knives off um of
27096s ethereal Lackey to try and get him over
27098s the line that way does he want to go the
27099s si7 route where multiple Shadow steps on
27103s a si7 can represent so much board
27105s control for rogue in this matchup as
27106s well yeah side note as well the Mana
27109s fans in there just um not Anna Reservoir
27114s um you might be right actually I'm 19. I
27115s might well be wrong but most importantly
27117s there are soul fires in this list so and
27120s and potential spells from the lackeys
27122s right so you know although it's a bit of
27124s it what is happening wow we are rushing
27128s through this game
27130s why are there four of them Raven
27133s cosmith screen got played twice and it
27135s can happen I don't already know what you
27137s want from here oh sorry how foolish of
27139s me I'm like
27145s Here Comes lucky number two or four what
27147s do you do with it it's just the the
27149s Russian plus one isn't just really isn't
27152s doing a great deal I mean it's removing
27153s two minions when you keep chaining them
27155s together it's fair
27157s it is something versus zoo and removing
27159s the minions is pretty key you talked
27162s about the the power of huntress's role
27164s can right now but bear in mind there are
27166s no backstabs there are no fan of knives
27167s no available
27169s um also does Hunter even uh sometimes
27171s even play fan of names he does not right
27172s no he doesn't
27174s so there's like there's no backstabs I
27176s think most importantly there's no say
27178s prep for the raiding party to really get
27179s things cooking he does have Corsa and
27181s the pink yeah I think wave pick and one
27184s Corsair already in his hand like the
27186s necessity of casting raiding party
27188s anytime soon this game really does go
27190s away so I think he can uh you know be he
27192s can live without a prep for now
27194s um I think one of the big problems he's
27196s walking into right now is that because
27197s all of these lackeys are the rush uh the
27199s rush version he doesn't really have like
27201s a good combo activator for his si7 this
27203s time because if the only minion he's
27205s going to want to rush next turn is the
27207s si7 agent itself which means he would
27209s have to play it after the si7 and that
27211s just doesn't work that way around
27212s doesn't activate the combo yeah funnily
27214s enough he could actually just go fence
27215s rush rush rush the one one Rush offense
27218s yeah that's an option get some work done
27219s depending on the board yep but that is a
27221s pretty beefy minion in itself a 4-4 now
27224s but not technically because the direwolf
27225s but you get the gist that is a bit of a
27227s sticky minion right the air Huntress is
27229s gonna have to consider now backstab
27230s might help out a little bit
27232s yeah like I said he could play fence and
27234s just rush it with the with the Goblin
27237s I think this direwolf is actually
27239s priority number one for me right now
27241s four damage on the board and it's only
27243s going to continue to stack we saw what a
27245s direwolf being left on the board can do
27247s so many
27248s in terms of just positioning of minions
27250s more than anything absolutely yeah blood
27257s okay gonna go for the biggest minion
27258s first mainly because the pick lines up
27259s extremely well with it get that Corsair
27261s down but the course is just already dead
27263s and I just said we've seen what one
27265s direwolf can do oh whoa about two plus a
27269s grim rally
27272s that's so much damage and that enables a
27276s One Singular clean trade for this dread
27278s Corsair to die with this Argent Squire
27280s and then the Buffs keep rolling rally
27283s why not cheat the direwolf conga line
27285s here as well to push out some even more
27288s damage
27291s Honda race looking cook to this game
27294s yeah I mean look at his face he's kind
27296s of just like welp I guess that's just
27298s gonna be it for now because he just
27300s doesn't really have much he can do the
27302s prep is
27303s a card that can be used to combo SI to
27307s start off with and then maybe you do
27309s something else
27310s means you can double Goblin pranks so
27312s you can get two trades if he wants prep
27314s raiding party finds him a his second
27316s drag Corsair sometimes yeah there's two
27318s burgers though that's not it
27321s so now with no defensive options just SI
27324s brush Rush
27326s s i Rush Shadow step the SI
27330s is that a better way of doing it
27332s it leaves less Minions on
27340s you're right you're right
27345s oh he could Shadow step replay swing
27347s replay
27349s yes
27352s I don't know if that's better so but
27353s it's something he can do is All I'm
27355s gonna point out right now
27357s it allows him to not take the damage on
27360s the SI he takes three goes down to five
27362s and then he sizes the other three two
27364s and he's alive by one
27367s foreign
27371s 's not happy yeah can't blame him he is
27375s under a lot of pressure heading hands
27376s though he's just gonna hope is there one
27378s damage there is not but there is a live
27379s tap
27380s which with him still not
27383s but what's the next turn look like even
27385s if Viper didn't get lethal like
27388s is it one you can't take a single damage
27390s and Viper runs two Soul fires in the
27393s list and the solarium
27397s and another Evil Genius there's so much
27400s damage from hand potentially amazingly
27401s the Witchwood him the one one stealth
27403s has just turned out to be the lethal
27405s draw here because that's the card that
27407s Hunter race can't beat right now liar
27409s foreign
27411s technically liar
27417s so he pokes the Argent Squire he
27419s backstabs the flame him and he equips
27420s the explosive trap
27423s yep pretty much what he does have to do
27424s there
27425s so let's take a look now
27427s there is a way
27431s but this explosive trap has to be played
27433s it's the only way this imp dies you look
27435s at oh the fence great minion because it
27437s can go now doesn't matter it can't
27439s attack a stealth menu
27442s now Viper it's gonna consider this
27444s carefully
27446s another witch would imp did he just go
27449s in and play reform
27450s taps
27452s I assume this interaction happens
27455s simultaneously where the minions both
27457s die before the extra health is given
27459s uh I believe so but I'll be honest not
27463s something I've run into too much right
27464s now Hunter hasn't been playing traps all
27466s right let's find out yeah
27468s yep
27470s passes all the health over for the void
27471s Walker it just died out with the rush
27473s goblins
27474s there's a vest
27477s no way well no way right my next
27480s question
27481s yes there were Taps for lethal yes was
27484s it just okay
27485s to drop a massive minion
27488s yes
27490s I think it was definitely a justifiable
27492s line that term to just drop the huge
27494s minion and threaten lethal weapons
27496s cannot be used to kill it you have to
27498s you have to keep in mind the Viper's
27500s dealing with an unknown secret though
27501s there so he didn't have the knowledge
27503s that he was about to play into explosive
27504s trap Magic Carpet is air and now now
27507s Viper has decision time again again life
27510s tap to find lethal or just play the huge
27513s minion and the problem now is the board
27515s is wide enough that it just kills it
27516s well one juggler he's gonna go looking
27518s this is everything that's nothing
27522s you must be dead waggle pick of this
27524s coming out
27527s that is ridiculous Raven
27531s Hunter Ace looked ecstatic that he could
27534s win that game look at him now ball zoned
27537s full Focus okay he got this Viper on the
27540s other hand the hands came up the glasses
27542s flew to one side and Viper I believe now
27545s is Shook and I do not blame him I would
27547s probably not be able to play after that
27549s if I was Viper and that is just game
27551s number one the sequence of turns from
27555s the point where the Grim rally turn
27557s happened Hunter Ace was dead and then he
27560s found a way to gain a second life si7
27563s agent three times to clear the board
27566s with wagglepick leaving himself alive at
27568s one to the remaining flame imp and then
27570s a discovered explosive trap that the
27574s Viper played his minions into leaving
27577s only a single void Walker in play as he
27580s was just disrespecting the explosive
27582s trap an unknown secret looking to secure
27585s lethal for himself absurd game
27587s ridiculous nonsense game number one and
27590s I'm gonna go back again right I will
27592s talk about reform refund could have been
27594s played and wasn't the benefits it's a
27596s big dude that weapons are cannot be used
27598s against yes downsides sap yes very much
27602s behind at that point and plus your Taps
27605s instead of me listing a reel of cards
27606s that could get him lethal no longer
27609s legendaries yeah so I am not saying
27612s grafam should have been played blah blah
27613s blah it's at all none of that yeah it
27615s was definitely a hard decision because
27617s again jugglers would have been big two
27620s Soul fires a Solarium to dig even deeper
27623s Evil Genius onto a minion to get a
27625s Lackey to deal damage for the two damage
27627s or maybe even the cheeky2 drop you never
27629s know that there were many Taps that
27631s would have got him there but they didn't
27633s game over one zero turns race we're
27636s moving swiftly on let's get straight
27638s into it now it's a mage mirror and if
27641s you thought the Rogue versus Zoo matchup
27643s just got funky welcome to Mage mirror
27646s it's either going to be explosive and
27647s end very quickly or we're gonna go down
27650s air Funky Road Again yeah this mirror
27653s match can be a real clown Fiesta to
27655s bring it all the way back to like what
27657s 2017 Hearthstone lingo are rolling back
27659s through the ages because the chances
27662s that one of the players in the Double
27664s Mountain giant doubles book of specter's
27666s deck don't get to a mountain giant early
27668s in this game is so low right like one of
27671s them almost always does if one does and
27674s the other doesn't the game is just a
27676s snowball Fest it's just over the
27678s interesting games the one where absolute
27680s chaos happens are where both players get
27683s access to the mountain Giants and the
27685s conjurers calling yeah big talking point
27687s as well we did mention it earlier today
27689s but let's be honest let's just mention
27690s it one more time secrets and I don't
27693s just mean because one was discovered
27694s there but I mean the Viper is playing
27696s Arcane key Smiths which have key cards
27699s against a deck that doesn't ruin many
27700s spells and the ones that it does run
27702s half of them are targeted which means
27704s they can completely mess up kondra's
27707s calling Hunter race does not run arcan
27710s keysmith which means he has slight
27712s disadvantage on that end of town no
27714s giant three minions but no giant he has
27716s one more draw for it if he picks it up
27718s next turn Viper can play it on turn
27720s three already though the Mind Games is
27723s splitting image it isn't good right now
27725s but then can Viper play a giant into a
27728s mirror entity
27729s can he set up a kandra's car he plays a
27731s giant for example if he droot which he
27733s hasn't it's safe Not Mere entity is it
27735s is it spellbender just this secret
27738s already from Hunter race is doing the
27740s opposite to what I said he could do it
27742s wasn't from a key smith but it was
27744s discovered yep great pickup mind games
27748s not the first time we've seen it as well
27750s I mean the very last game we saw it the
27752s value of all the secrets that the one
27754s you put in play isn't as well as the one
27757s that it is
27759s dislocation and now nods to guess what
27761s if my opponent goes wide
27763s oh Hunter race is back in it
27767s Hunter Ice is very much back in it
27770s Twilight Drake pick it's not bad and in
27773s the absence of a giant that minion is
27775s King right now
27777s and again you saw Viper there just just
27779s played the Mind Control attack it's
27780s something to play and also if you make
27782s if your opponent in this mirror goes so
27784s wide you can mind control Tech he
27785s normally dead the next turn anyway so it
27787s doesn't matter
27793s wow
27794s what did I say about the chances of
27796s neither player hitting a mountain Giant
27798s slim I'm not doing number so
27802s already Lolo Viper just
27807s both players just need to take a
27809s breather
27813s puny four nine yeah what a wimp
27817s but again we talk about concealed hidden
27820s information double messenger Raven in
27823s Viper's hand it's maybe not as powerful
27826s as a secret but it's still something it
27829s could create extra Minions that have a
27831s huge impact on this game he could get
27833s his own Arcane Keith Smith you never
27835s know
27837s do you think voodoo doll hero power is a
27842s great test for some other things as well
27843s or you could just really don't
27845s know you couldn't feed the dog pass
27849s I think you just took it out and start
27851s pushing damage
27853s I guess you test for Vape if you want to
27856s run a 410 in that kind of sucks yeah if
27858s you're making that play you attack face
27860s first right because then if you proc uh
27862s ice barrier or vaporize then you've
27864s learned extra information about the turn
27865s and can reassess
27870s I mean the natural turn that I want to
27872s make is just fire tree and messenger
27874s Raven
27876s but that both of those cards replace
27878s themselves in the hand and Viper has a
27880s full hand right now and he needs to draw
27881s a mountain giant so
27884s and also it just removes levels of
27886s shenanigans Viper considering the attack
27888s he's only got a few seconds left
27890s he goes for it more knowledge knowledge
27893s acquired with zero loss yeah very very
27895s good play there he is now down to
27897s counter spellbender splitting image
27902s yes
27906s the three worst ones you could argue yes
27909s exactly the three worst ones for Viper
27911s yeah Viper I'm afraid we've got some bad
27913s news it's one of the good secrets
27918s but Hunter Hayes does not have a
27921s powerful turn and I think most
27922s importantly bypass a coin that's all
27926s sure does
27927s he can test a counter spell
27930s safely with coin if it's not counter
27934s spell he can astrom answer and gains
27935s more knowledge if it is counter spell he
27938s could just do some other stuff he could
27939s double Raven and kind of be okay with it
27942s because he knows he's not gonna get
27943s punished any other way at that point
27944s he's not aiming any spells at anyone so
27946s he's safe and maybe
27948s it's not a bad thing the Viper doesn't
27950s have Congress calling because he's not
27952s thinking about whether it's going to
27953s ruin him to play it or not
27956s sounds backwards but it makes sense if
27958s you don't think about it
27963s Perfection okay celiacs no attacks
27967s Hunter Ace
27969s choosing to hold on to his both his
27971s voodoo dolls in hand right now maybe
27973s just trying to get some value out of
27975s this splitting image while he can
27976s playing the taunt minion
27981s it's the most power he can put into play
27983s in a weird way when you think about it
27985s right because the Twilight drank attacks
27987s into the zilliacs and so a further
27989s minion comes out there's some knowledge
27991s no can't spawn now sorry just to
27992s interrupt no no but that this is
27994s oh yeah second time this tournament I
27997s believe but this is important because
27999s this is exactly why he made this play he
28001s was scared of coin astromancer so he
28003s wanted to make the play where if coin
28005s astromancer happened he had the most
28007s power in play in that eventuality
28009s my next question is Saul
28012s is was the attack
28015s always needed there I I honest honest
28019s answer I think Viper assumed it was
28021s spellbender at that point okay that that
28024s would be my that would be my hand on
28026s heart guess on the situation because
28028s obviously if if you're 4-4 should be
28031s bigger but this end yep and then you
28033s know it's not all but two secrets and
28035s one of them could make a second zilliac
28037s for your opponent to effective charge on
28042s well now
28044s Viper's safe in terms of
28046s Conjuring
28048s could he fire tree
28051s the countries
28052s got these hands they're both just that
28054s locked and loaded and ready to go and
28057s just waiting for a conjurer's call off
28059s the top what about honestly fire tree
28061s and then you could just Play Rebel
28062s Bouncer and continue with your life
28065s there's enough stuff to conjure is right
28067s now
28069s seating a lot of tempo on the board
28071s though playing a 2-7 here
28074s I see a vision in this place
28078s oh does he play the game again
28082s this plays a secret he's like how does
28084s this feel Hunter is and they arouse his
28086s eyes parents like oh that's okay yeah
28087s this seems Superior to playing the
28089s rabble bouncer I think honestly just
28092s playing The Mountain giant there seems
28093s superior to the rabble bouncer to me as
28095s well
28096s as huge as it is for those conjurers
28098s calling swings I think the rabble
28100s bouncer was just too low Tempo it would
28102s pass too much initiative back over to
28103s Hunter Ace
28106s speaking of tempo
28107s scale worm is available for just a kill
28110s on this Twilight Drake really the only
28111s fearful minion that's left of which you
28114s can say it's fearful but out of the two
28116s but is there a good follow-up though
28119s it's a real question isn't it I really
28121s see it
28123s would you have a voodoo doll and then
28125s play scorcher I was just looking at that
28126s exact play and it's very bizarre looking
28128s because I do want to point out as well
28130s like the voodoo doll to answer a giant
28132s often doesn't work in this matchup
28134s because they never just have one right
28136s and you can't double voodoo doll
28138s scorcher on the same turn which would be
28141s sick actually
28142s what to do
28148s better that leaves anything reasonable
28150s on the board the scorcher does beat up
28152s and make the uh the two too pinkable
28155s let's turn after even if Scorch gets
28157s dealt with
28161s let's just hit hit trade and the
28163s Twilight Drake still lives yeah
28166s it's kind of the the turn we just said
28168s but on the other place that's why I
28170s wanted the scorcher down there is less
28171s power in play for uh for Viper than
28174s there was on the previous turn but yeah
28175s it does at least require a ping which is
28178s something I've noticed hunt race has
28179s been doing a lot this game in this
28181s mirror match is he's been setting up
28182s situations where Viper is kind of
28184s obligated to ping you know you think
28186s about the zilliacs no attacks that's
28188s kind of a force a ping turn as well
28189s right
28191s um
28192s um it does have some value in the match
28193s up because you are severely Mana choked
28195s playing this deck everything in
28197s everything is so expensive and you want
28198s to play cards together in combination
28200s which often demands all of your Mana
28202s allocation what do you think of a double
28204s Raven pink obviously depending on what
28206s you draw for Raven of course but it's
28208s very manner efficient you go you do go
28210s wide on the board but the two two goes
28212s away anyway because of the trade yeah
28214s and your hand size stays the same so
28216s Mountain giant can stick yeah it's still
28218s for cheap
28219s basically depend on what the first
28220s discover million is you know oh
28225s okay it's got to be spare cat girl
28228s hasn't it I believe so or even pyramid
28230s IAC if you just want an extra chunky-ish
28232s minion no you're not wrong you know what
28234s I mean like what like you're just
28236s playing now yeah it's three Mana it's
28238s very swaps out with the Raven right yeah
28239s you're right I totally dismissed
28241s pyromaniac to me like that's just the
28242s odd Mage card and if if you're not
28244s playing odd Mages unplayable like it
28246s just doesn't work he's saying parameter
28248s didn't go to Hall of Fame with the odd
28249s cards right yeah um but yeah that's
28251s absolutely he needs to draw kundra's
28253s calling now right so a card that says
28254s draw a card on it that he could play is
28257s just absolutely perfect for him
28260s for sure the right pick blizzard very
28262s high value
28265s it does stall and maybe one turn is
28268s enough to flip the board in your favor
28269s yep I don't see anything better unless
28272s he wants to just Scorch the 3-4 but
28275s blizzard seems good to me
28279s astral Rift I think we could throw in
28280s the bin
28282s you don't need random stuff you need the
28283s stuff that's actually new deck to win
28284s the game
28287s just go for the blizzard oh yeah the
28289s Twilight Drake was on two as well okay
28290s because it's like like clearly the pick
28292s in my opinion as you didn't realize the
28293s Drake was on too okay empty board but
28297s Viper your initiative friend
28300s you say that the secret mind games what
28303s a wet noodle fight of a mage mirror
28307s no Bombs all the way into turn nine this
28310s is insane
28312s Viper's hand just looked so much more
28314s gas heavy right now
28316s okay next question soul
28319s how and when does Yasir even get played
28321s in this matchup how about
28325s yeah see welcome to my world I think you
28328s just followed my exact thought pattern
28329s which is scary in itself
28332s if he plays it now which seems fine he
28334s generates the car stays on the high hand
28335s total but the The Vicious Tempo swing
28338s potentially of just voodoo doll Get
28340s Wrecked massively Sarah well worse than
28343s that he ends the turn he ends the turn
28344s at 10 cards again and then potentially
28346s burns his conjuries call off the top
28347s which is the the one and only
28349s game-winning card in this matchup so
28351s instead he's saying play some more wet
28353s noodles what Viper's not he's going
28355s mainly because of this Arcane Keith
28357s Smith I think this is a certain level of
28359s protection and there's a spellbender
28362s and I like it this causes havoc
28374s the one damage if you're wondering if
28376s you if you wonder about the pink oh this
28378s this matchup's just fair so
28381s if you're wondering about the ping it's
28382s mainly because yeah some Trace probably
28384s puts a two one into two two
28386s but one damage to face on full life does
28388s not affect this matchup in any dramatic
28390s fashion and here's something that you do
28392s have to look out for with the
28393s spellbender tech in the mirror which you
28394s know we'll go back to the basic level
28395s first because we haven't really covered
28397s it spellbender the only real targeted
28399s spell naturally in the deck is the
28401s conjurers calling which as we say is the
28402s game-winning card so if your opponent
28404s has a spellbender up you trying country
28405s is calling your giant it diverts you
28407s just keep one giant and it splits their
28409s uh spellbender minion instead the way
28411s you can use that to your advantage is in
28414s combination with mind control Tech right
28416s you can if you narrow down the secrets
28419s to a spellbender you can save up for a
28421s double conjurers calling turn where your
28423s turn is conjure is calling number one
28425s mind control Tech steal a minion play
28427s the twin spelled conjurers calling on
28430s the minion that you cut that you uh
28431s conjurers put which you might control
28433s Tech sorry which is hopefully a big
28435s enough minion to give you a Tempo swing
28436s on the board that's something the hunter
28438s race has got to be on the hunt for now
28439s yep
28441s tough there as well people might be
28444s thinking all day low but if that was
28446s entity
28448s you can't just give him another giant
28449s but he could have played giant voodoo
28452s doll ping but he had to play the voodoo
28454s doll first which messed up the giant
28455s manner just to point that out
28457s I can imagine the chat as we speak
28466s I'm pointing out at the start that the
28468s uh the most interesting games are the
28470s ones where both players hit the
28472s conjurers call I neglected to mention
28474s the games where all four conjurers calls
28477s were in the respective bottom tens of
28479s both players decks because I've honestly
28481s never seen one this I didn't realize
28483s this was a possibility it's weird
28485s now is to see the seroton after seeing a
28487s doll I think so I think it's way more
28489s reasonable now you've seen one doll fine
28492s you're not under that much pressure
28493s there is this mystery secret down that
28494s your opponent has to think about as well
28496s although he knows it isn't entity and
28499s that's it right because all he's doing
28501s is playing video ping and play the three
28503s six
28504s so entities out the window sorry I
28506s didn't think he played the 360. he's out
28508s the window and that's about it
28511s no no no ice barrier
28516s Twilight Drake voodoo doll ping
28519s looks good to me and now the worrying
28523s point is as you quite rightly call this
28525s one a bit of a wet noodle fight well
28527s hunt race has more noodles so he is kind
28529s of winning at this point
28531s if he can just keep pushing with these
28533s minions and Viper doesn't really have an
28534s answer which he doesn't at this point
28536s then
28538s he'll win
28543s how can Viper possibly have 10 cards in
28547s his hand
28548s with 11 cards left in his deck as
28550s summoner's Mage and not have a
28553s game-winning play available to him
28557s like bits yes
28562s nightmare might come in handy though for
28564s some big big trade-ups
28566s if and when required and to check for a
28568s secret maybe as well
28570s it was also a reasonable combination
28573s with the conjurers call right like if
28575s you if you sentenced your minion to
28576s death anyway you might as well split it
28578s open into two
28579s yeah that's true
28583s okay well that's a rubble bouncer
28586s I'm sure if the snake's quite ready for
28588s this matchup
28589s not sure if that's his main job no it's
28592s more of a part-time job
28593s but and now and we've seen both players
28596s just say yeah we just I guess we just
28597s play the A8 the noisemakers
28603s nightmare could come into play now as
28605s the answer to this giant flame strike
28608s two very very effective here as a board
28610s clear so the sequel to Flame strike
28613s flame strike 2 Electric Boogaloo
28616s I get that reference
28624s don't you just flame strike ping
28626s I feel like right now the game is a race
28629s to Congress calling 100 but if you kill
28632s this giant flame strike ping
28634s then well Hunters just has less stuff in
28636s hand
28638s so surely you believe it's Viper you're
28640s ahead because you have your secret
28641s Andres has to keep thinking about yep
28643s yes you don't have a board
28645s oh well you have it sorry you have a
28646s full one
28648s yep
28649s seems like a good position for me to be
28651s completely honest
28653s he could even just play there oh no
28655s sorry we're paying
28657s I'm okay with it a bit slow
28660s but I think he can afford to be it is a
28662s little bit it's my only concern it's a
28663s little bit slow
28665s but I'm not seeing anything that really
28667s sees his initiative much faster you've
28669s got to get rid of the Jane yeah and your
28671s options to do that are really just kind
28673s of flame strike a nightmare that's about
28674s all you got as we dig down to the the 10
28676s and less card count someone's throwing
28678s the conjures they are in the decks guys
28680s we promise so you don't want to just you
28683s don't want to get conjured onto a giant
28685s because you just chose to leave it up
28686s when you could have cleared it and still
28688s been in a reasonable spot
28690s one more draw fun Trace in both players
28692s top ten
28697s honor race does have to be a little bit
28699s careful here because he does still have
28700s astromancer remaining in his deck and
28702s he's dramatically reducing his hand size
28704s to the point where that is not a very
28706s powerful draw for him is he just trying
28708s to kill him though
28710s he's a 24. well you know the Hedgehog's
28713s neat might hit uh-huh he's at 21. I
28716s think 20.
28720s do that all over again a couple of times
28722s you need that
28726s my issue is can you afford to
28728s effectively pass no so he's got to do
28731s something I know
28733s you know you just feel bad about it yeah
28734s it's just one of those situations where
28736s you're just illustrating the sadness of
28738s Hunter Race's current situation
28740s Viper has somehow you know kept parity
28743s with Hunter race here while maintaining
28746s a handful of cards Hunter races had to
28748s spend every resource available to him
28750s just to stay in this game I wonder what
28752s Viper's her mental counters of the
28754s minions left in the deck because I I
28757s like this play oh because he can aragle
28759s book of specters next turn and get even
28761s further ahead in value Raven it's here
28765s both players down to 10 cards and we see
28767s the first conjures calling but conjure
28769s is cool
28770s spellbender
28771s four Minions on the opposing side of the
28773s board Mountain Giant in play stealable
28777s with mind control Tech what's funnier is
28779s that seems quite far-fetched Huntress
28781s has won more far-fetched games than that
28783s the previous game of this series for
28785s example here we go let's see there's a
28788s spellbender there goes the spellbender
28789s there is one minion
28792s site there is two minions if this is the
28795s eight eight I am a prophet go
28799s Andres is taking a deep breath he's
28800s gonna play it and the steal is a 1-1 not
28806s what he was after at all factually the
28809s worst deal
28810s it was available on board
28812s but he had to go for it
28820s now
28823s does he have to okay he's not going to I
28826s was wondering whether he had to felt
28827s like Congress was caught in the air
28828s Forger
28829s no way he does it without khadgar which
28831s is obviously important exactly oh here
28834s we go
28835s Hunter Ace You Had Your Shot you won a
28839s one in four brawl to steal a game in the
28841s last series you had a one in four mind
28843s control Tech to do the same here you
28845s can't win them all these things tend to
28847s even themselves out over time
28853s Hunter is just saying come on give them
28855s to me
28859s the key play and I'm gonna ask you the
28862s question so depending on this next draw
28864s is Hunter Ace Condors calling that
28867s khadgar
28869s what
28872s for doomsayer
28874s I mean I'm sorry sober I don't see a
28877s better I better play
28880s does he does he just have to and he only
28882s gets one because the board's full I'm
28884s like you can clear something off right I
28886s like Viper using the second one here
28888s firstly for the reasons you mentioned
28890s only one space on the board now for
28892s doomsayer but secondly Hunter Ace does
28894s still have mind control Tech hundred is
28896s calling swings available to him so Viper
28898s needs to blow past that possibility so
28901s heavily with his own board state that it
28903s kind of uh removes it from the equation
28905s let's go check the Discover first
28909s animus those do nothing
28912s except lead to andres's death
28916s he needs to go to the Congress calling
28917s right
28919s literally no other play calling for
28920s doomsayer yep
28924s and it's only a one chance as well yeah
28927s because the board's full all right you
28928s can't get rid of it
28933s yep there's the prey I'm pretty sure if
28936s I know hum Trace knows and here we go
28938s it's a small chance but most importantly
28941s right now it's a chance he's going for
28943s Doom so he has to let's see what it is
28946s and by his face it's a mess that does
28948s not look good that's Crystal Smith can
28949s go oh Stone UI come on you ruined that
28952s moment we had hunt Race's face to go by
28955s but Viper is gonna even the series up
28958s one and one and again another game on
28963s the edge of our seats I'm sure the whole
28964s crowd here is on the edge of the seats
28966s as well as this is just frankly intense
28968s that that was one of my favorite moments
28971s I've ever had casting Hearthstone when
28973s Hunter Ace picked up the country is
28975s calling and pointed it at the khadgar
28977s and everyone in the audience recognized
28980s what was going on yeah that was just a
28981s oh they just ran through the room it was
28985s super hit we see it as a collective
28988s audience we knew what the player was and
28990s so did Huntress it wasn't to be in Viper
28992s Mayor Ford just falling asleep nope it's
28994s okay uh he is fighting back here evening
28997s it up and I think after those two games
29000s these players need a little bit of a
29002s breather and you know what so do we hear
29004s on the desk don't go anywhere guys this
29006s is the finals of the Hearthstone World
29008s Championship we'll be right back with
29010s some more hostile Hunter Ace versus
29013s Viper the final showdown of the 2019 HCT
29017s World Championship
29019s this is a spicy one both players evened
29022s it up one on one now entree is finally
29025s taking a loss with that Mage which I
29027s believe is the first time in this
29028s tournament he's lost with that deck so
29031s very very impressive run so far but both
29033s players honestly looks neck and neck to
29035s me subtle
29036s yeah I would agree with that assessment
29039s uh primarily because both of the decks I
29041s called out as potentially problem decks
29043s in the lineup are still needing to get a
29045s win on either side Shaman and the uh Zoo
29048s from Viper's side uh neither of those
29051s decks are going to make an appearance
29052s yet again if we've got our Q information
29054s correctly he's going to be Hunter going
29056s up against the Mage again from Hunter
29058s race Hunter race doubling down on this
29060s Mage pick clearly a ton of confidence in
29063s it and this time he's found the boy the
29065s tech the Hench Clan sneak yeah and I
29069s think that was almost a snap full keep
29070s there from Hunter Ace because one thing
29073s I was just going to point out is I've
29074s talked a little bit over the course this
29076s few days of the world championship here
29078s the hunter the more I see it I genuinely
29080s didn't really like the deck coming into
29082s the tournament the more I see it the
29084s more I see its potential power level
29085s versus Mage and it I feel like it's all
29089s about play style as well and what you
29091s can really push out the deck because
29092s we've seen matches where for example a
29094s bloody phase just went highly aggressive
29096s went face with a hyena and then died
29099s basically because of the um the conjures
29102s calling but if you play aggressive
29104s enough
29105s Mage often can't do enough to actually
29107s even stem the tide except the hunt race
29109s is a very anti-aggro based list for his
29112s Mage he mentioned the hedgecon snake
29114s glasses double some Fury protector
29116s double swamp poos and then there's also
29119s this double mind control Tech the scale
29122s worms to deal with for example mishas
29124s offers to just get them out the way a
29126s little bit more tricky to deal with the
29127s Scorchers as well and the zilliacs and
29129s the mossy horror which against this dial
29131s specifically with all the one Mana one
29133s ones gonna get some work done
29136s and there it is
29138s the package
29140s wait what how's it see giant Hench Clan
29143s sneak plus mind control Tech
29146s Hunter Ace
29148s laid this out step by step to us in our
29151s interview before this event even started
29153s he said you play hedge Clan sneak
29156s they've usually got one or two minions
29157s in play you play it has stealth they
29160s have no options they can't trade into it
29162s they can't value trade they can't play
29163s minions and then trade their board off
29166s so they maintain a size of two or three
29167s minions in play they have to do one of
29170s two things skip development whatsoever
29172s great that's good for me play more
29174s minions and play into mind control Tech
29176s yeah great that's good for me and even
29179s on top of that as well that is you know
29181s turn three into turn four potentially
29182s but also double scale worm a Twilight
29185s Drake and then a scorcher so even if
29188s that outcome which is likely does not
29190s happen oh no I have 50 other things I
29193s could do this turn uh boohoo I'll save
29195s my mind control tech for later
29200s now convenient as well lines up very
29202s well versus the scale I had played on
29203s curves yeah not so good about against a
29206s diaphrenzied scale hide though I will
29208s say
29211s feels weird though doesn't it because
29212s there is coin diaphrency looks it just
29216s looks good to be quite Frank yeah but
29218s what does the rest of the rest of your
29220s turns look like going forward it looks a
29223s bit meager at least for now you'll work
29225s them out you draw the scale Heights yep
29232s still now that suddenly this scale worm
29235s can trade but then that scale hide it's
29237s kind of two for two to a certain extent
29239s because the diaphrency and the coin
29241s so I suppose you'd be okay with that but
29244s maybe a Twilight Drake's just a little
29246s bit better I agree and then the next
29247s question is does Huntress just leave the
29249s sneak in sneak mode and leave it stealth
29252s because he is aware that Viper runs a
29253s deadly shot does he want to just step
29255s into it what to do
29257s is there a big punish for just not going
29259s face randomly for three damage I don't
29261s think so
29264s big fan of everything Hunter race did
29266s this turn no need to panic you're at 26
29268s that's plenty for now you know you have
29271s this uh scale hide covered on the
29273s following turn if you need to with
29274s voodoo doll and ping and like you said
29276s leaving that minion in stealth one of
29278s the uh even further benefits that we
29280s haven't even talked about is that it
29282s continues to play around deadly shot
29284s Hunter's Mark is a nice extra little uh
29287s bonus card that can be used especially
29289s with all the rush and charge minions
29291s just to pick off one a big annoying
29293s meaning like rabble bounce that's just
29294s been played because in this matchup you
29296s definitely Play Rebel so just it's a
29298s taunt it could stop you dying outside of
29300s that yes Animal Companions are good card
29302s and gives him a strong turn five animal
29304s companion to either hero power or the
29306s hatchet but
29308s I think Hunter's Mark might just be good
29311s enough along with deadly shot if there's
29313s giant into Congress just the ones which
29316s will be for the next foreseeable turns
29318s is all he could do then deadly shot
29320s Hunter's Mark with a minion on Board
29322s gets that job very very much done yeah
29326s unless this stealth minion just stays
29328s itself for the whole game and then
29330s Viper's gonna have to find a flag I
29333s think it might killing this four too
29335s yeah you know what I can agree with that
29336s I can see it
29338s all he's thinking about it it's like
29340s he's having a good old good
29344s that's his boy you know you don't just
29346s send your boy out to die you take care
29348s of him you nurture him it's actually
29350s just another spectator at this point
29352s just sitting on the board yeah
29354s but now interesting choices yet again
29356s well the decision making is just
29358s Relentless turn after turn deadly shot
29360s kills of four right in an average game
29362s of past Hearthstone you would be more
29364s than okay with that turn except it's one
29367s of the lesser of the scarier minions in
29370s this deck as a form and a four eight
29371s Maybe
29372s does he need to save it
29374s can he just play an animal companion
29377s can he do something else can he just
29380s headhunt his ax go face I don't know
29382s instead count for many choices it's
29385s gonna be the hanging in the deadly shot
29389s scale worm turn looking very good now
29391s though oh yeah
29393s geez who Mana for Hunter's Mark is a lot
29396s of Mana to pay for a Hunter's Mark I was
29398s just looking at it there trying to find
29399s some term that allowed you to push Tempo
29401s with it and it's just so restrictive now
29403s it is but I do feel this deck can go
29405s late game
29407s and I think late game it feels better
29408s because so many of you I think any deck
29411s can go late game okay I mean like seven
29413s or eight man against Sark because so
29415s much of the curve is so low you can use
29418s two Mana for the Hunter's Mark
29424s let's go one number one though and this
29425s is looking fantastic because yes the
29427s face damage right now doesn't really
29429s matter if Viper face tanks hit but he
29432s will equip a hatch here and then swing
29434s it at a minion and not andres's face
29436s which is worth something in itself
29442s think about playing this torn
29444s he's thinking about playing either of
29446s these two Minions that I think with
29447s double hatch here I don't think you skip
29449s I I don't think you can play these I
29451s think with you having a face that
29453s Hunters are really really keen on some
29455s Fury is really good too
29457s I do agree that a minion needs to be
29459s played there and all I'm arguing is that
29461s both of them had their merits because
29463s what Hunter Ace wants to do next turn is
29465s just drop an astromancer in order to do
29467s that he needs to fight aggressively for
29469s Tempo this turn so that he can just play
29471s his uh slightly slower seven Mana guy on
29474s turn seven I think my view with with
29476s this board it's I think it's more likely
29478s that there's one some Fury there's two
29480s of each in the deck by the way two some
29482s Fury two videos I think that this one
29484s some Fury does a little bit more than
29486s just the news and the news gets a lot
29487s more value earlier in the game I would
29490s say
29491s foreign
29502s but there is mind control Tech along
29505s with a scale worm
29509s and yes Hunter goes wide but it often
29511s reduces its own board side very quickly
29513s as soon as it does go wide the only
29514s reason you wouldn't play the astromancer
29516s here is to ooze the weapon right so your
29518s turn would be like oh sorry sorry yeah
29522s I was just looking for the Mana
29524s efficiency song you're not wrong
29527s does make you feel warm inside when you
29529s spend all your Mana
29533s because my worry is like
29535s one minimum the astromance is dead
29538s if Viper wants it to be
29540s unless there's a Thompson right if so
29543s then then sixth health
29547s uh Plus
29549s bypass you've got to imagine some level
29550s of damage in hand there with every
29552s summons is gonna die is my point
29554s well I mean we better switch roles here
29558s because that's a very pessimistic stance
29559s to take
29562s so I mean the average five drop is gonna
29564s die
29565s six drop
29566s oh sorry six drop Six drop yeah I mean
29569s same
29570s apart from cairn
29572s do you think there's minions with Divine
29574s Shield there's minions with stegatron
29576s and if like you get a five Health minion
29578s they still have to have kill command and
29579s kill command your minion like you're
29581s acting like it just commits suicide when
29583s it lands on the board no I just mean
29584s that with the four power plus the two
29586s from the weapon and then plus what five
29588s Hunter cards
29590s and how this deck is built I feel like
29592s there's always chip for divine shield
29594s and there's always enough power make him
29596s spend their manner killing your stuff
29598s okay
29599s that's how it works out
29607s also just a small note
29610s uh let's discuss con just calling in
29612s that legendary minion
29614s oh geez because guys in case you want to
29616s know it works we've done it yeah I've
29618s done it here like we tested this it does
29621s re-summon itself as well as the
29623s country's car
29625s foreign
29632s Piper could have picked an animal
29634s companion but did not and chose to go
29636s put on his Mark and that is uh cashing
29638s it in right now yep has animal companion
29640s and some spring Paws in hand along
29642s without unleash
29643s but most importantly this scale height
29645s is just doing the work and it's
29648s I feel like all we've seen with Hunter
29649s is diaphrency into draw or a diaphraged
29652s minion the next turn
29654s because the first scale hide was it was
29655s killed by the Hench Clan remember
29657s foreign
29665s okay I like it
29667s was looking I
29668s uh the voodoo doll scorcher myself
29673s what did I say these diaphragm is just
29675s Shuffle to the top of the deck they do
29678s no Piggy
29681s not even a little teddy bear
29684s unleashedo line up pretty nicely one
29687s hanger away from a good time
29689s is he gonna General I can't imagine he's
29691s going to use these unleashes to trade
29693s right if he's unleashing he's then also
29694s going to play the spring pause alongside
29696s that to trade with the three twos but
29699s then you're not playing the scale I
29700s don't understand why this Unleashed
29702s would get cast this turn
29704s well unless he's playing on leash and
29707s hitting face and then playing the scale
29709s Hive to trade with one of the three twos
29711s oh unless it's unleash hidden face hero
29714s power in and say let's go
29716s all right now that's a little bit too
29718s far I think
29719s a channel you're in a hunter but there
29721s aren't many sources of charge left in
29723s the game they're very precious and there
29725s aren't many those dogs do and they would
29728s consider it an insult if they are used
29729s as Rush minions most importantly there
29731s isn't much stuff in Viper's hand which
29734s is why I'm thinking does it just her
29735s apparently
29737s okay I bought it all right all right
29739s we're okay Raven Wicked he did terrify
29741s with them yeah sure did I was half right
29744s as always
29746s Nevermore nevertheless
29752s okay aggressive Alex strasa
29757s this looks a little bit better maybe
29768s Ludo conjure is calling scorcher yeah on
29773s the scale hide and then scorcher you
29775s have one minion so this leoque isn't
29776s gonna get masses of value from saying
29779s unleash and it also sets up the scorcher
29781s to clean trade into the leak
29785s or
29787s do that
29789s although I do think you make hundreds
29791s again
29792s you don't you don't need the flame tone
29794s it's on the flame tongue yeah surely
29796s yeah you don't need it the three damages
29797s you know from the scale hide okay
29801s that is one large gentleman to the left
29804s the smallest of eyebrow raises from
29807s Huntress there's like oh
29808s okay f47 for three Mana seems good
29817s and now my question to you subtle
29821s if these dogs are used at least
29824s semi-defensively then how does Viper
29827s actually Kill Hunt race apart from eight
29828s turns with a hero power
29830s you can put four to face now he's
29832s committed there's an Alex Strasser in
29835s Hunter Aces hand
29836s this is turning South very very quick
29840s Viper has a board of warm ones and he's
29842s trying to push damage and Hunter race
29844s has a dragon more scorcher and an Alex
29846s straza in his hand
29848s oh even more so now he could just play
29850s scorcher with the doll cleanup and then
29852s set up Alex razza next turn it's
29854s defensive Alex the safest thing you can
29856s do this turn though
29861s Define safe
29863s not dying next turn what to do okay
29869s Viper's draws zul'jin
29873s and that's unleash Animal Companions and
29877s kill commands
29878s okay
29880s you might have sold me there
29881s Master's Call doesn't
29884s quite get it done because you can't draw
29886s unleash from Master's Call to make that
29888s like I guess like a charging hyena
29890s pushes four
29892s but again he can't play a lot if he
29894s spends three men on a master's call so I
29896s think it literally is zeljin which is a
29899s one out of 20 chance
29902s but if he doesn't do that
29905s he just stumps him right
29910s yes
29912s so you may think
29914s I am I'm trying to work it all out
29919s aircraft
29923s cables somewhere is clapping the dragon
29925s got played and in the craziest way
29927s possible spring pause the draw I don't
29929s know about you soul
29931s springport's a good card but it ain't
29933s that good that is a lethal setup
29935s what a baller
29937s most importantly I want to know as the
29940s fist pump comes out from Hunter Hayes
29942s deadly shot
29944s was used
29945s there's only one in the deck the even
29948s the hunters Mark spell generation gone
29951s there was literally zul'jin a One
29955s Singular car second kill command as well
29958s right
29959s he was at eight there was two one one
29961s still on the board
29962s foreign
29966s that's a rough spot to be in
29970s I'm trying to kill him now yeah
29972s apparently so Hunter Ace defined the
29975s exact opposite route that we did that he
29977s was not favored if the game kept
29979s stretching on that he was not gonna win
29981s if he defended him uh defensively
29983s alexstrasad himself he said you don't
29985s have the outs the math says if I Alex
29988s draws you in the face I win more than I
29990s lose and I'm just gonna take that right
29991s now and honestly like the moment you
29993s said it
29995s I'm just thinking about you I said
29997s defensive alexstrasza it does put a lot
29999s of pressure on your opponent's got one
30000s draw the problem is the longer the game
30002s goes on you'll probably has two draws
30004s three draws four draws the second they
30005s play zeljin I think Andre is just loses
30007s but your opponent has one draw and then
30010s you hit them for 16-ish damage then they
30013s have one draw and then you hit them for
30014s 16-ish damage and they're dead
30018s yeah I guess
30020s it's real close the only thing I could
30022s think of for example is a master's call
30025s into uh the the rhino
30030s hyena with an unleash draw the second
30032s turn both unleashes are gone
30035s true
30037s I like the play so I'm not gonna
30038s complain too much I think it's all
30039s definitely interesting I think all
30040s analysis aside it was an incredibly
30043s Brave move and it was incredibly
30045s exciting and it's led us into a position
30047s where Hunter Ace the global points
30050s leader the man who at least for the
30053s first six months of this year was being
30055s lauded as almost universally the best
30057s player in the world now stands on the
30060s precipice of a Hearthstone World
30062s Championship to go alongside that yeah
30064s and I agree Huntress was talked about
30065s for a long time just just the best
30068s player there was no real question and
30070s now huge downgrade he's now in what top
30073s two top three best players in the world
30075s oh no yeah like what a shame and if you
30078s cements this win he will be undisputably
30080s the best Hearthstone player in the world
30083s and maybe the best Hearthstone player
30085s we've ever seen to be completely honest
30086s I don't think anyone's quite done what
30088s Huntress has done if he takes this
30090s Victory players the very best players in
30094s the world when last year's HCT the
30098s points race system was announced
30100s the majority of the very best players in
30103s the world said that achieving three-star
30105s Masters was impossible and that no one
30108s would do it hunt race did it with months
30112s with chain spare months and months to
30115s spare
30117s incredible and this this kid's not a not
30119s an old-timer like us either song
30122s he's got many years ahead of him he does
30124s he he will probably only get better at
30127s this point and it's generally scary but
30129s very very exciting but Viper isn't going
30130s to roll over Piper is for very very hard
30134s to get to this point he's in Grand
30136s finals of the most prestigious
30137s Hearthstone tournament that exists
30139s and perhaps most importantly
30141s it's Shaman time and this is kind of
30145s where I focused in with at least my
30146s concerns for Hunter Ace's chances of
30149s winning this world championship because
30150s I I have some issues with the way the
30152s deck is built together I think the Pyro
30154s that's contrast about it I think the
30156s fire package feels a little bit tacked
30158s on with not quite enough spells to uh to
30161s really support it which can lead to a
30163s very uh clashy draw sometimes where you
30165s just have anti-synergistic cards sitting
30168s alongside each other but hunter Ace has
30171s with a little bit of Fortune on his side
30173s it's worth saying such as five Mana
30175s haggathas
30176s um really scraped his way through a lot
30178s of really tough spots with some
30179s incredibly intelligent play with this
30180s deck and I think it's a huge story of I
30183s I truly believe every single player of
30185s this tournament is they had the one deck
30187s that was well you really need a win with
30189s this one yeah because it's going to make
30191s the you know the series ropey if not and
30193s again it's the nature of just hey you
30195s have eight days to submit a lineup after
30198s a rotation comes out no one it doesn't
30201s matter how good you are it doesn't
30202s matter how many people you rope in how
30204s how good your practice group is how many
30206s hours between you you can put into
30208s playing decks watching streams
30210s researching what's going on everywhere
30212s else running statistical data on stat
30214s aggregating website it doesn't matter
30216s there's no way you're coming up with
30218s four of the best most refined decks in
30220s the game eight days after launch my
30222s worry here is I say worry I'm just happy
30225s whoever wins fantastic for me as long as
30228s the game's good but
30229s if you are Viper I'm staring at this
30233s list of the Shameless funds race the
30236s double wild pyros you've got questions
30237s about but are wild Power going off once
30239s against this hundred X pretty sweet
30241s there's an earth shock for a potential
30243s cheeky hyena double hex there is two
30246s hagertha schemes which he can save one
30249s for the zul'jin turn to just say nope
30252s you made your big board and now it's
30253s gone again as long as he doesn't die
30255s there's a zeliacs two giggling inventors
30257s a haggarth of the witch as well as swamp
30260s Queen hackathon for maybe more healing
30261s or AOE and then two walking fountains
30264s for even more heal and then they should
30266s have walked to top it off and do it all
30268s again we saw the power of sugar walk in
30270s Hunt Race's last series to get into the
30272s finals there's a lot of stuff and I
30275s don't think Viper can play a long game I
30276s think Viper has to kill him and cross
30278s his fingers and hope it works
30283s already they saw Mega Defender is just a
30285s reasonable question to ask by but
30287s plastic's help
30290s Mark sure is a fantastic car they're
30292s chunking through these big taunts but
30294s still he has to have it then he has to
30296s play it and then he has to do the other
30298s two damage as well
30300s that's slowing Viper down enough and the
30302s slower the game goes hunt race his only
30305s limitation really will be Mana in terms
30309s of whether he's going to live well I
30311s think there's an assumption you're
30312s making here Raven which is that Hunter
30314s Ace is the one who wins this game in the
30316s late game is that always the case
30319s he doesn't have a card in his deck that
30321s says I win the game they can drag this
30323s out for as long as they want and if they
30325s get to the position of stalemate Viper
30327s has Tundra rhinos and diaphrenzies
30330s my question is does this matchup mirror
30332s the control Warrior match up that we've
30334s seen this Hunter deck be so successful
30336s in the biggest thing for me is the
30339s giggling inventors the hexes the Earth
30342s shock and the sugar work because cool
30345s make some big stuff enjoy punching
30347s through four giggling inventors yep like
30350s uh how do you do that efficiently and
30352s then the second hunt race gets a second
30354s scheme all that doesn't play Death
30356s rattles you can't come back onto the
30357s board it has to just have more stuff
30360s and that that's my worry and the fact
30363s that there is a straight flat answer to
30365s souljin is a big deal in the form of a
30368s haggis hagerthoud's scheme sorry if
30371s entrees can hold on to one yeah because
30373s unless the role is unleash unleash
30375s against the board with like Hoffa lioc
30377s whatever
30378s then scheme try again friend
30383s I am no expert this matchup I am not an
30385s expert in any matchup at this moment in
30386s The Meta game I'm going to be completely
30387s honest I know what I know and that's
30389s about it but
30392s there are answers and there's a lot of
30393s healing but I will say viper double kill
30396s command and a pretty decent sized board
30398s I'm not saying it's not doable I'm just
30401s saying bypass to do it in one punch
30408s I wonder already 10 damage from hand as
30410s long as he sticks a beast
30412s on Trace only on 22.
30415s I might have to think about where the
30417s Hecks
30418s or even lightning storm it's gonna be
30420s good enough he needs to bridge gaps he
30422s needs to he needs to get from here to
30424s giggling inventor to walking Fountain to
30426s start climbing back into this game
30428s so then do you think maybe just an early
30431s hex plus maybe even an earth truck on
30433s the Misha hex the five three just so he
30436s can play giggling then to the turn after
30438s yes he doesn't want to be overloaded
30440s because that's why I was talking about
30441s like the Restriction is Mana for me
30443s that's the restriction on Huntress in
30445s terms of winning this game if he gets
30447s caught overloaded or just has too much
30450s big stuff he needs to do together Viper
30452s kills him
30457s entrees heading hands
30459s every turn
30462s could be one turn closer to him becoming
30465s the world champion I won the pressure
30468s must be ridiculous right now it feels
30472s like it's going in the other direction
30473s though it feels like each passing turn
30475s is pushing him further away from being
30477s the world champion there's a lot of
30479s damage in Viper's hand
30485s he can put him to eat this turn if he
30487s wants he almost certainly shouldn't
30490s because he could just play and Unleash
30492s the Beast kill the three two and push
30494s damage don't see why not get it in the
30496s pool he can just play the Shimmer fly as
30498s well if he really wants he can save that
30500s for other like cute things like cleanser
30502s Rhino hyena Shimmer fly but still the
30504s options are there
30506s you'd go for marked shot instead and
30509s that is pretty weak options two Mana
30512s draw a card what yeah it might be oh
30516s huh
30518s was explosive shot ever a heads up for
30520s the giggling inventors one card removed
30523s Divine Shields kill the two one I think
30524s it's worth thinking about yeah but when
30526s he has unleash the hounds in his hand
30527s already probably not the biggest deal no
30530s buff though so you can pick the shields
30532s but not cleanly but you know picking the
30534s shields is what explosive trap does
30535s anyway right like if you're if you don't
30537s have minions to trade through
30540s um then it just takes the shields off if
30541s you do have minions to trade through
30543s then taking the shields off and doing
30544s the two damage is the same thing anyway
30548s way
30550s there's no way you commit damage no no
30552s okay what if you just tear our parody
30555s doesn't kill a beast and heal whilst I'm
30558s saying that you don't you don't commit
30560s damage you don't go for a damage plan
30561s because your opponent's just about to
30562s walk into their turn eight and that's
30563s what I mean like just one hero power no
30566s no it's exactly the same reason they're
30568s going to heal next turn it's their
30570s walking Fountain turn you do not push in
30572s your plan on saying he's not going what
30574s is it too manner commitment this turn
30576s with his hand to that big of a deal it's
30578s passing the board and your opponent
30580s plays a walking Fountain kills all of
30582s your stuff and you don't have a board or
30583s lethal anymore
30587s we'll see
30591s quickly
30599s gonna go for the deadly shot maybe to
30602s open some simple
30604s trade off this one deadly shot maybe get
30605s the Divine Shield if not you can still
30607s kill it you got it nice
30610s all right but this is and
30613s I think insurmountable insurmountable
30615s sorry amount of pressure that is an
30616s enormous push now from Viper and there's
30619s still Trip kill command and the hex from
30621s the previous term by the way we were
30623s talking about how but through
30624s combination of hex and Earth shock uh
30626s there are actually two different ways to
30627s do it you mentioned one and I was about
30628s to say no way you do it this other way
30630s but they both worked if you use both hex
30632s and Earth shock you could have cleared
30633s out both the board and there would not
30634s be a taunt frog hanging around on this
30636s board anymore which can make all the
30638s difference for your uh for your walking
30640s Fountain turn as it is that the Earth
30643s shock that he has remaining can be put
30645s to good use against this Scavenging
30646s hyena but it's it's it's just gonna be a
30649s Warfare
30650s ancestral healing it's clutch it is
30657s this frog both in the hyena
30661s just a 12-7 Scavenging hyena
30667s does he oh wait wait wait wait wait does
30669s he track for the deadly shot
30672s would that be enough
30674s tracks one to a deadly shot goes to five
30676s hero power
30679s no it's 19. one off yeah yeah I just
30681s went to check because the deadly shot
30683s that was played was
30685s um not his natural one was it really
30687s okay he got he took it off um thank you
30690s right okay I think how many Mark shots
30692s has he played then because he must have
30693s taken a kill command off Mark shot as
30695s well when the flare isn't it wait maybe
30696s it is I'm so confused right now
30700s it's gonna be double kill command not
30702s gonna let huntres get any more healing
30704s which is the important it might look
30705s like Overkill but one he does more
30707s damage with the hyena anyway yeah and
30709s also it's just no more healing for you
30710s hunt race is down to six Viper has a
30713s kill command and a hero power which is
30715s five without a beast he can do all that
30717s anyway because of tundra I know and
30718s Huntress has to do something magnificent
30721s he has he could Earth shock walk-in
30724s Fountain he has multiple phenomenal
30727s things he can do this turn
30729s and then if the second he stabilizer
30731s shoulder Works gonna be a big deal but
30733s then so is Elgin
30736s and there are already two kill commands
30738s in that in that zul'jin
30740s with a third waiting in the wings but if
30742s you can sugarwalk first it means that
30743s you would summons you know the the extra
30745s minions right giggling events for extra
30747s targets yeah
30749s gonna go for the hackathon
30750s what's 11
30751s so there's what there's seven right now
30753s with just Thunder Rhino kill command
30755s hero power
30757s annoying
30762s I knew it was something
30764s and there's the big Rhino tell your
30767s friends he's gonna be used it's a
30768s similar amount of damage so close ish to
30771s the kill command but most importantly
30772s front load damage Now kill command 4
30774s later
30776s how big is this second walking fountain
30780s such a huge heal for him oh does he
30783s could he have ever played the pyromancer
30785s first
30787s no
30788s um purely francestral Spirit or or the
30791s ancestral healing well he can still use
30793s that now if he gets it off
30795s yeah so so I mean play the Pyro because
30797s you might draw a higher cost spell that
30799s does something
30800s no you're playing you're playing you're
30802s playing the uh the fountain this term
30804s because you want to heal if you don't
30805s heal you're just dead to burst from
30806s hands so you play the card that you're
30808s definitely gonna play first you might
30809s pick up a double spell a two minute
30811s spell like ancestral Spirit or Earthen
30813s Mite which is better to use on your
30815s walking Fountain than playing the
30816s pyromancer I guess yeah there's like
30817s witch's brew and then you could hex it
30819s for example maybe but but yeah okay
30826s five for now it's Viper just staring at
30829s Hunters
30830s yeah he is it's like you're just staring
30833s at Hunter's
30834s entourage is glancing back at him
30836s sideways but he's definitely not meeting
30838s the eyes
30840s I think Viper is just thinking I don't
30842s want to see how What's worst case
30843s scenario are you giving any towels to
30845s think you've got you ready for this you
30846s know yeah
30848s not going with Georgian yet locking in
30850s and Unleash the Beast and animal
30851s companion it does clear off the
30853s pyromancer but most importantly puts
30854s those two spells in the tank
30862s and now the rain the frogs feral spirit
30864s all of this can help him a lot but the
30867s worry is like I said earlier Mana
30869s restrictions can he like how much can he
30873s overload
30874s and also these are spells so they will
30876s not hit the board and generate him more
30878s spells that might be dim which is Brew
30880s to help with heal
30885s such a scary spot yeah Hunter race and
30887s you can see it he leaned towards the the
30889s reign of toads caused himself to take a
30892s moment this is a huge overload
30895s commitment
30897s reign of toads and feral Spirit Viper
30899s picks up the buff Tundra Rhino and this
30902s is going to put my theory to the test of
30904s who actually wins this when it comes
30906s down to the late game because Viper
30908s still has so much gas ready to go
30913s oh
30917s let's see the fireworks bear in mind he
30921s left the leoch because he wants it to do
30923s something but that looks like a deadly
30924s up to me right
30928s Huff Huff
30933s that's gonna be off oh no sorry one half
30935s is dead
30937s one dog's dead
30940s the Leo's dad dies
30942s I was just waiting to see it happen
30948s on the doggo
30950s there's three hounds
30953s and it's full though so he's gonna burn
30955s the card on draw and if we know anything
30956s about that Frenzy
30959s wow nothing hit face there but he did
30964s manage to clear up the board and here we
30966s go it's the overload the Mana
30967s restriction yeah remember Hunter Ace
30969s just can't do anything in response to
30970s this really zilliac's being picked up
30972s off the top is about as good as it gets
30974s a pyromancer lightning storm would have
30976s done it as well sure maybe not as nicely
30980s as the zeliac's pick of course but it
30983s would have done it I think the problem
30984s with that the hunter ACS as well is that
30986s he then can't uh Shadow walk the turn
30988s after which he's probably gonna need to
30989s do sooner rather than later in this
30991s position side benefit of this all chain
30992s as well as the hero power can now be
30994s aimed which means he doesn't have to
30995s give untrace any extra healing
30998s and hold on a second charging Scavenging
31001s hyena here
31002s does it how is he trading off minions
31004s though Springport into into what if he
31008s trades in physics it heals some more
31009s then it's going to buff the hand I mean
31011s it might not be lethal but it's an
31012s enormous Scavenging High you know that
31013s still gets to connect that's true
31016s so he gains what a net one Health
31020s and Trace does
31022s so trade gains him three and the hyena
31025s gets buffed if you lose one minion
31027s plus two
31029s foreign
31035s I wonder if you can just do something
31037s else can you just play a five five hero
31040s power the three two push for five
31042s and then do that next turn he can it's
31045s definitely enough I'll play a five eight
31046s that can charge that's actually way
31048s better right
31049s let's put him to one right
31053s let's Point him to one
31057s and now yet again I don't think Hunter
31060s Hayes can do the amount of things he
31062s needs to do with 10 Mana even if he had
31065s the best draws in the game yeah and it's
31067s a very smart play from Viper because the
31069s one thing it does do is shut down the
31070s shadow walk Shadow walk was not gonna
31072s find Hunter Ace healing there so that
31074s was the big counter punch that he had
31075s available to him and now Hunter Ace just
31078s has to go digging into the witch's brew
31079s trying to find some miracle answers to
31083s this board State and I'm afraid they
31085s don't exist
31086s Healing Rain is not a card anymore guys
31089s and that is it Viper is gonna even this
31093s series up and so I wouldn't have it any
31096s other way we're gonna be going to a game
31099s five
31100s for the grand finals here the
31101s Hearthstone World Championship Viper
31104s fights back
31107s look at the game five that it's coming
31109s down to
31111s there's two decks remaining it's the two
31113s Decks that I pointed out right at the
31116s start could be the problem the
31118s problematic ones to win with for
31119s respective players
31121s and it also opens up the possibility
31124s after us talking about it so much this
31127s week
31128s one game
31129s for reform to redeem itself in this
31132s tournament yeah if there's ever a time
31134s it doesn't get any better or more
31136s intense than this guys we're going to
31138s give you a minute go and grab a drink do
31140s anything you need to do because you are
31142s not allowed to Blink in this next game
31144s we're going to be right back with the
31146s final game of the Hearthstone World
31147s Championship the long and Winding Road
31150s of the HCT circuit ends here at the
31155s world championship we are game number
31157s five between Hunter race and Viper our
31160s finalists
31161s and it's all going to come down to this
31164s everything on the line the world
31166s champion title is going to be given to
31169s one of these players and it's down to
31172s hunt races Shaman and Vipers Zoo Warlock
31175s and before we get into it I do want to
31177s give one final shout out to our crowd
31179s they can't hear me right now we're not
31180s being piped to the house because
31181s primarily they wouldn't understand a
31183s word we're saying but there was a little
31185s worry at least on my part that when all
31186s the the Home Country players dropped out
31188s before this final day that the audience
31190s would be a little bit flat a little bit
31191s less invested in what was going on but
31193s I'm sure you guys have heard some of the
31194s reactions coming through our microphones
31196s they have been fully into this and made
31198s this uh played as much a part as anyone
31200s into making this final feel as special
31202s as it has been with the Hearthstone
31204s we've seen one for the last four days
31205s and two especially in this match you
31207s would have to have a Heart of Stone to
31209s not be you know involved and evolved
31213s and here we go it's in the opening hand
31216s and this match up on this stage control
31220s Shaman reform opening hand this might be
31223s best case scenario for this build of the
31225s deck because rafam if you look at it
31227s statistically has an immensely High win
31230s rate when it's kept in the Mulligan or
31231s when it's drawn in the Mulligan uh and
31233s there's an explanation for that shout
31234s out to Rebecca on Twitter who put this
31236s into words that I was looking for when
31238s you have reform in your opening hand you
31240s can plan for it long term you can keep
31243s resources in hand and you can make that
31246s reform as powerful as possible when you
31249s play it on turn seven by making sure you
31251s then immediately have access to a bunch
31254s of powerful legendaries
31256s he's putting his money where his mouth
31257s is this he kept the roof arm this match
31260s up as well this is a very slow control
31262s deck that relies on exhausting all your
31265s resources and it does not have infinite
31268s value not in the sense that Dr boom has
31271s hagatha is a value engine but it is not
31274s as oppressive as Dr boom is so this is
31277s an infinite value engine that can be
31278s beat by a stream of endless legendaries
31280s this scenario right now in game five of
31284s the world championship final is the best
31287s case scenario for archville in reform
31290s let's see what it can do and I am very
31292s interested because
31294s how do you even play this how many cards
31297s do you hold how slow do you go how much
31300s do you live tap Viper is here to teach
31302s us one way or the other because we're
31304s gonna find out there has to be a winner
31305s Hunter is answering this Argent Squire
31308s with an ooze the rest of his hand not
31310s looking so fancy as far as I am
31311s concerned so
31315s Hunter is not really with a lot to go on
31317s either just full air in his hand
31320s double ancestral healing one of the most
31323s controversial cards I'd say to be
31325s running main deck in your in your Shaman
31327s in this tournament
31328s I like it I'm a personal fan of that
31331s card at the moment okay
31336s Sergeant is going to be used to proc
31338s this uh Sergeant Squires attack and be
31341s able to kill off this oozer most
31342s importantly is a juicy Target for this
31344s coin into Evil Genius Hunter a bit of a
31346s shrug it's going okay well you got me
31349s you're doing the zoo things can I answer
31351s them in these next few drawers are going
31352s to be big hagatha's scheme
31354s obviously not playable yet but by the
31358s time he gets to turn five might just
31360s have enough damage to clean the board if
31362s you were gonna draw an unplayable card
31364s that was the one to draw
31372s hunt race just a planning his future
31375s turns B representing to Viper that he
31378s might have something to do in his hand
31381s I've lost the fact that you're debating
31383s a small pyromancer clear here Bluff the
31386s fact that you're debating just dropping
31387s an acidic swamp poos into this board
31390s not much of a bluff you'd probably just
31391s do that anyway but there are things that
31393s you have to represent uh so Viper
31396s doesn't have the full knowledge that you
31397s just have nothing to do right now
31400s it's a tough one outside of totem up
31403s ancestral healing
31406s there is literally nothing to do
31408s on Chase is going going in the tank
31413s I'm taking deep breaths myself so I'm
31416s not gonna lie I'm just watching these
31418s players it's making me nervous and I'm
31419s not even on the stage
31425s I'll bring some cards I end up with
31427s totem there we go
31429s mainly
31431s he wants Viper to think I'm always
31434s thinking about other stuff the less he's
31436s thinking about some other other stuff
31438s that's what it was split attention
31442s rather like he's just as a side note
31443s Goblin Lackey is the plus one attack and
31445s rush and the witchy lucky is effectively
31447s a an evolve and plus one evolve
31453s but now does any of that pay off for
31455s Hunter race representing that he might
31457s be thinking about pyromancer
31458s representing that he might be thinking
31459s about lightning storm whatever other
31461s nonsense idea that he's trying to get
31464s into Viper's head I think it's a little
31466s transparent Viper should just be able to
31468s play his game here but remember he does
31470s also have to consider how much attention
31473s he wants to pay to that late game plan
31475s of Arc villain reform what is his plan
31478s like that's the problem isn't it like I
31479s actually just don't know how much she's
31481s supposed to even play he's just played
31482s two more minions yes he has live tap
31485s yeah but we've also seen reform plays in
31487s the position where there weren't that
31488s many cars left in the deck right which
31490s means where you don't have tons of value
31491s because it's like okay five random
31493s legendaries on average are quite bad
31494s right
31496s and yeah I have no answers to these
31498s questions second scheme means that
31499s there's a backup clear but second scheme
31502s also means there's a whole lot of
31503s nothing to do yet again for hunt race
31506s I will say there was no truly Explosive
31509s Start From Viper there was no you know
31512s unanswerable flaming that's been that's
31514s hit for six or seven so far you know
31516s that it's it's
31517s slow in zoo terms I'll say but it is
31520s starting to heat up a little bit now
31521s with this knife juggler representing
31523s just a good chunk of damage
31532s and are we just going through the same
31534s song and dance again with Hunter Ace
31537s waiting for the Rope there are some more
31540s considerations this turn both in cards
31542s that he could be representing that he's
31543s thinking about playing but also in terms
31545s of legitimate concerns like do I hex
31547s this knife juggler which is a real
31549s question
31551s I'm simply though
31554s I think Andreas might be doing just
31556s anything you can to just make stress
31558s viper out
31563s he says no and
31566s it's also a weird backwards thing as
31568s well the more my opponents pass as a
31569s control deck the more I'm like oh I need
31572s to finish this game because they clearly
31573s have the end the late game stuff in hand
31576s which you know is not necessarily the
31578s correct way to think because you can be
31580s thrown off mentally by that but it's
31581s something you have to think right if
31582s it's doing nothing you just play the
31584s news and pass the return then what the
31586s heck
31590s anything
31591s because it is is that enough because on
31594s Trace has passed you just put a worm on
31596s it and go face and say okay I mean it
31599s seems just like a nice balance right
31600s like Hunter race has to skip has to
31602s scheme a board like that anyway and by
31604s life tapping and playing minimal cards
31606s he is setting himself up is that plan B
31608s of the art villain reform it's just kind
31611s of a win-win situation for Viper right
31613s now I feel like it's just enough damage
31615s yeah test the juggle misses approaches
31618s the uh
31620s yeah I think hitting that juggle made
31623s Viper makes Viper's decision a lot
31625s easier this turn if he hits that juggle
31627s he gets to keep all of these minions and
31628s go face with them all that is plenty to
31631s be impaired one abusive Sergeant for
31633s that you know it really is not a big
31634s investment
31636s okay too far from the evolved and if
31638s they're committing a little bit more
31640s than they thought he would based on the
31641s refund keep
31642s ballad mate this is not a playstyle I'm
31645s familiar with
31649s so he's going to play the Lesser scheme
31651s to damage plays the threats on the ball
31653s leaves the two two off and has a much
31655s bigger scheme to be able to just
31657s guarantee a clear later on due to any
31659s Grim rallies for example
31661s again
31664s maybe hero power carpet
31667s see see what's cooking
31676s and we might just want to dump his hand
31678s before reform and say I'll draw one to
31680s two legendaries a turn
31681s looks like it he's pressuring Hunter
31683s he's down to half Health now yep oh
31688s one more time oh okay
31694s in this
31696s is there only really one bad pull
31700s because funnily enough
31702s just wait I should know this doesn't my
31704s crew have rush if you steal it because
31707s the carpet
31709s it should do yes yeah I'm not going
31711s crazy once you give a minion rush it has
31713s rushed right it wasn't rushed for this
31715s turn it just says give Rush okay well
31718s there's a couple there's some really
31720s good targets then he gets the macaroon
31722s there's the trade into the flame Viper's
31724s head goes down
31726s and
31727s it's I'm just going to keep asking
31729s questions here it's the best I've got
31730s but with reform kept
31734s did he need to go four minions wide two
31738s of which have rush and one of them's a
31739s carpet I I don't know but did he it's a
31742s great question uh I mean it's hard to
31744s argue with you you've gone in once
31747s you've seen the scheme you've got your
31749s opponent down to 15. like every fiber of
31752s the fact that you're playing an aggro
31753s day yes says my opponent has just used
31756s their best board clear and is at half of
31759s their health total I'm gonna push my
31761s chips in and try to kill them that is
31763s just kind of the aggro philosophy yeah
31765s and let's be real here we're a farm or
31767s not we are striding towards crowning a
31769s winner because we are it is soon I I
31771s feel it right now it's going to happen
31774s very very soon but the decision making
31776s here
31777s one more time does he save cards for
31780s reform because I honestly believe
31782s playing reform with an empty hand and
31784s then drawing the legendary and then
31785s having to maybe tap into another one
31787s which you probably then can't play
31789s he's rough or it's low impact it's very
31792s slow it's so bad I think you do need a a
31795s choice of legendaries to get the highest
31797s chance of something good Viper's going
31799s in though he's saying you know what you
31801s just did two powerful anti-aggro things
31803s please don't have a third but we could
31805s see scheme or giggling inventor a great
31808s choice is here
31810s and now there's the Brew
31815s hex for the reform as well next turn if
31817s he wants I can present an additional
31819s Theory here which is Viper has not
31821s wanted to sit back and live tap too much
31823s because he doesn't want to push himself
31824s too close to fatigue uh whereas with
31826s reform and drawing one per turn he does
31828s feel like he out values the shaman over
31830s the long term because again it's not
31832s like there's Dr boom Omega Devastators
31833s and so on and he's playing the even
31836s longer game by not life tapping and
31838s filling up his hand for the immediacy of
31840s a stronger farm that hits a handful of
31841s cards
31843s yeah maybe maybe that's true just just a
31846s theory yeah I mean it's all we can work
31847s on because again I've not tried exactly
31849s this playstyle versus exactly this deck
31852s it's it's a theory but it's not one that
31854s I'm really sold on I think what's
31855s actually happening is that Viper has
31857s smelled blood and just tried to kill his
31859s opponent after his opponent had a very
31860s very weak start another absolutely
31862s reasonable conclusion and now
31865s solved it's now or never arch villain
31867s report okay he kept it in his hand it's
31871s on seven subject nine mediocre not Pagel
31874s very arguably mediocre to bad
31877s it does not kill Hunter race and also if
31880s you're talking about the fatigue then
31882s it's a bad card because you won't want
31883s to draw extra or Willy if he wants to
31885s power him down with legendaries I
31887s honestly don't know one way or another
31891s Farm is deciding this championship
31897s Omega
31898s easily playable
31900s removes the reform threat and then
31902s basically says Hunter is ready to send
31904s to Viper okay how good is your average
31906s legendary friend because we're about to
31908s find out and I would argue the answer to
31910s that is not good let's see
31913s Katrina
31915s okay that's a good one
31920s okay well there's a lot of small minions
31921s but there's a reform okay one three he's
31925s just seen the hex
31927s and I believe
31930s that six eight is not dying anytime soon
31934s certainly looks that way
31936s there is going to be a big old
31937s procession of zoo minions coming out
31939s from that thing over the next few turns
31941s does he have to go for swamp Queen he is
31942s I think so you need something big next
31944s turn he can pair it with ancestral
31947s healing he could plan essentially in
31949s next turn let's see what he gets voltaic
31950s burst looks the best to me but there is
31952s Elemental reaction if he wants to draw
31954s yeah
31955s or
31957s storms draw a card reign of toads I
31959s think is what he will appeared and yes
31961s it is I like it
31963s does he turn up the hagata
31966s how scary
31967s yeah I think you're fine okay
31969s um you're asking for your opponent to
31970s have some kind of legendary that
31972s leverages from hand and kills this two
31974s six
31976s to allow the six eight to do anything
31977s truly scary it's a big ask I think if
31980s anything taunting up the five five gives
31981s Viper a better attack by just killing
31984s the five five with the 6A as opposed to
31985s the two six yeah I was just thinking
31987s because of potential lightning star next
31988s turn
31989s maybe you're okay with that but maybe
31990s you can do that anyway yeah I mean that
31992s just it just put that just moves the
31993s ball from your court to your opponent's
31995s court right by toning it up
31999s Toronto I'm definitely not bad solves
32001s that problem in my book
32010s no words nope azaleena as if the game
32014s was not already ridiculous enough
32019s let's see what I have to play around
32024s as a leaner Soul Thief
32026s Viper first things first he checks the
32029s horror
32031s realizes that Hunter Ace has a very
32033s powerful Tempo turn and look at Casper's
32036s face
32038s I don't even know how to respond not
32041s only does Viper fill his hand with cards
32043s to actually do something
32045s he also has now full information minus
32048s one card of this draw as exactly what's
32050s in Hunt Race's hand that is a fantastic
32053s draw even even Viper one of the most
32056s stoic Hearthstone players I've ever seen
32058s in my life cracked a smile when that
32061s frog appeared
32063s oh
32065s I will tell you now
32067s this Grand Final and this game has not
32071s disappointed in any way and it's not
32073s even over yet the walking Fountain I
32076s guess on Trace is just thanking
32078s something that the walking Fountain
32080s wasn't already in his hand too because
32081s that would be truly grim
32083s Viper also solves the mystery of what
32086s what on Earth was going on with Hunter
32087s Ace's early game
32089s he's oh he had double ancestral healing
32091s in his hand okay that makes sense
32095s how Viper gets his own reign of toads
32097s it's a frog off and that's that's what's
32100s kind of scary to me in this scenario is
32102s that if Huntress doesn't play his big
32105s Tempo card first here Viper has the
32107s option to do it before him and really
32109s push him onto the back foot
32111s he does have walking fountain
32114s just Farm some of the toads
32119s yeah this is a big turn there we go I
32120s like this and you know Viper's not going
32123s to roll spell damage because he's a
32124s warlock yeah
32128s froggy boys jump down even the healing
32130s toe I'm getting a little bit of value
32131s and there's grifter discover two cards
32134s give one to your opponent one to
32136s yourself at random yep crazy card not
32139s the best constructed card in the world
32140s but again Viper
32145s could play it and in case that's
32147s confusing anyone you see three cards you
32149s pick one you see three cards again you
32150s pick one the game then decides which of
32153s those two cards you pick go to you or
32155s your opponent
32158s isn't that good
32160s it's I mean the azaleena is so like I
32163s can't emphasize enough how big that
32165s azaleena is because it gives vipers
32167s reformed deck something to do that isn't
32170s just playing in media every turn guys
32172s we're getting grifter in the deciding
32174s game oh of the world championship okay
32177s what does Viper pick because these
32179s decisions get hard do you want to give
32180s hunt race a good minion what is my life
32183s right now what even is Hearthstone the
32185s problem with grifter is you get you hand
32187s over a lot of the time the tempo to your
32189s opponent because you give them a minion
32192s or something with full Mana you have to
32194s spend Mana playing grifter
32197s so you lose a certain amount of tempo
32199s let's see what the picks were
32201s stranglethon and guribashi Berserker
32205s so he just picked two five drops two
32207s decent cards I guess
32211s I'll get
32212s it Frogger
32216s now we're just gonna see what happens
32217s because this game has evolved into a
32219s true mess in the best of ways
32224s and Trace has to just be careful here he
32226s is overloaded
32229s overloaded enormously yeah only on five
32231s money he needs to make this five Mana
32232s work very nicely for him and I believe
32234s that's going to include hexinger five
32236s five to keep his frogs alive
32238s oh in a deck full of legendaries that's
32241s terrifying though
32242s hexa 5'5 and all manner of things can be
32246s in those remaining 13 cards that's true
32249s but I think you need to make some
32250s strides
32251s I don't think you can have a lackluster
32253s turn I mean the big problem is that he
32255s can't play many of his other cards
32257s because the way this board is paired
32258s down he can't kill off any of his own
32261s minions to be able to play for example
32263s zeliacs let's take double heal
32267s please
32270s that healing tote I'm doing work it
32273s keeps the trust for horror alive because
32276s lightning storm cannot be spell damaged
32278s yet yes there are cards that may change
32280s that but yet
32282s this lightning storm will not kill this
32284s 5-3 off as it does become a 5-4 similar
32286s to potential low rolls as well on some
32288s of the products
32289s last night not bad at all and an
32291s archmage vargoth lightning storm signed
32294s me up sodal because that will do it I
32296s know it you know it Viper knows it and
32299s let's be honest if you can hear that the
32300s crowd definitely know it
32302s four golf lightning storm he's a warlock
32306s and he's casting bark off lightning
32309s storm this turn Raven
32311s it's not fair
32313s Piper though this is huge and Hunt
32315s Race's face just watch the face of a man
32317s who's about to get wrecked
32326s if Viper even plays it he just yells out
32329s he doesn't know because of the overload
32332s so many impossible but I don't think you
32335s can just leave stuff up I think it's too
32337s much of a swing look at the damage you
32338s push
32340s almost out of time he kills off the 5-2
32343s he can trade in and still push for five
32344s and not worry about that five two or do
32346s you think he passes I think he pushes
32348s five damage
32350s oh he passes okay
32353s Hunters can't believe it
32357s now he has to keep his composure
32360s there's a mic
32362s free draw
32364s every draw is like a boxer in a Rocky
32368s movie just throwing another enormous
32370s right hand at his opponent
32373s the only difference is it's a modern one
32376s so of course the film is three hours
32377s long
32381s five
32385s yes valgoth might have been flashier but
32387s there weren't spells that really
32388s benefited at this point
32392s oh the the the the the low-cost turn
32395s here six oh my goodness oh there's the
32398s spell damage
32406s was Viper the chosen one all along was
32409s reform the chosen one all along
32412s the Redemption story of Reform and
32415s subtle
32417s is he going to have the last laugh the
32420s big deal here is six Mana the heavy
32422s overload from the double lightning storm
32423s means that Viper has less Mana to play
32425s with that is the air quote punish for
32429s having that amazing turn last turn it's
32431s starting to matter less and less because
32433s Hunter races deck does not have the
32437s tools to beat this level of gas
32441s behold
32444s if I got just someone
32447s who too no he did not it just looked
32449s funny with the animations
32452s ontrace now does have the walking
32453s Fountain and a re-heel to start chipping
32456s away at this board he does have Minions
32459s that feel more impactful trade-wise
32461s available to him yeah that is a bonus
32465s that is something he has to keep in mind
32466s and
32467s he has to keep his car there is frankly
32471s silly things happening right now in this
32472s game of hearthstone that's basically the
32474s most important game I've asked on these
32475s two players will ever play in their
32476s lives almost almost certainly
32480s but
32482s he has to keep his cool what is the best
32485s play how can he progress in this game
32487s and I think making just use of this ball
32489s he has is extremely important and Hunter
32491s is saying a fond farewell to this
32493s vargoth and say no more friend no more
32496s cankle off the um
32498s the that piglet he wants but does he
32501s want can I just had sexual heal and call
32503s that a day
32507s I think Hunter Ace has to establish
32509s himself as the aggressor here yeah
32511s like I said he has the Minions that can
32513s trade right yeah
32515s on duster there's a stranglethorne tiger
32517s in his hand it will summon attack
32519s freaking stranglethorn tiger in his hand
32522s Raven that he picked from a grifter that
32525s he might not have got
32528s he's playing Zoo why do we even need
32531s notes
32532s you can't prepare for this
32535s there we go this that you may have heard
32538s is sold ripping up Viper Zoo list we
32541s don't need dude cars anymore
32543s we've got every card in Hearthstone
32548s race just cannot believe it he is
32551s receiving mental blow to mental blow Far
32553s Side now
32555s it's gonna be able to take him a little
32556s bit deeper and maybe
32558s get what I feel now is a trademark
32560s hackathon poll
32562s from this far side
32564s I I feel like he needed Agatha several
32566s turns ago I feel like all of these
32568s Minions that are in play right now
32569s needed to generate value for him if he
32571s was going to keep up with this from
32572s Viper
32575s Unity Precision reflection nice little
32580s extra impact there with that annoyotron
32582s sticking to the ball means now that's a
32584s 4-4 Rush with the lifesteal on the
32587s Divine Shields gonna make it stick
32588s around recess
32590s whatever
32591s sorry you're a decent card it feels like
32594s but it doesn't matter it feels like the
32596s the last the first draw in the last six
32599s or seven that hasn't just felt like a
32602s giant punch to the face
32604s except he can play it with verisa
32607s bariso Risa windrunner
32612s he does gain a weapon
32616s and maybe he wants to spell damage for
32618s the sick Cali ghost yeah
32621s I don't know if I pay if he's hovering
32622s this giggling inventor he he feels under
32624s threat and then kind of so we should he
32626s absolutely is under threat he has a lot
32628s of damage being represented on the board
32634s good thing for hunt race now is he seen
32636s most of the azalina cards
32638s right yep so now he's back to almost
32641s well he's got random legendaries let's
32643s see what this far side's gonna be though
32646s okay
32647s that is a a high value minion right now
32651s does he wait does he want to play it
32653s before hagatha because he's he's the
32656s aggressor with the minion Focus he
32657s doesn't want to deal three to his own
32658s it's possible but he does have the
32660s Twilight Drake in his hand which does
32661s make it better on the following turn
32662s anyway but I like your thinking it's a
32665s very very good shutter walk right now
32668s he gets address fire again he gets
32669s address fire again and he casts the
32671s Battle Cry of the one that he's already
32673s played mind control Tech giggling
32675s inventors
32677s and is this gurabashi Berserker that
32680s Viper gave to Hunter Ace gonna be a
32682s potentially game-winning card
32684s why are we saying this in the last game
32687s because this is our lives now Raven this
32690s is what we do now there's a home Master
32693s sure it means Glass Knight can attack
32697s in the same turn is played
32699s with which is brewed
32702s synergy
32708s it took me a minute to realize
32710s why are we casting Hunter Paladin Mage
32714s Shaman cards in Zoo
32718s one last time for old sake it's
32720s pronounced shot
32726s come on take the sugar work
32730s team now you're just being silly
32742s 5-1 going into a 5-6 removes a huge
32746s amount of the problem for Viper
32750s four minions in play though
32755s and Viper is going to Value trade the
32758s Mind Control Tech in this shutter walk
32760s is live
32762s sign Hunter race up for one shoulder
32764s walk please
32766s It's gotta be the walk yeah it's not
32768s getting any better right
32770s yes you killed two minions
32773s you can kill off the shore you can kill
32774s off the one two leave two four attack
32776s Minions on board the walking Fountain
32778s whether you heal it or not is dead if
32781s you do that if that is the play hex
32783s you've got to say has limited impact
32785s right now Fireside if it draws hackathon
32788s like I said like I don't think that's
32789s good enough
32792s onto race
32793s is hovering the walk
32797s side he's still very heading fatigue
32801s with two cards now that was a four Mana
32804s giggling inventor he can still walk but
32806s now he might gig first to go wider he
32808s doesn't he goes now and you know what
32810s let's just see what's gonna happen
32812s as the big Health he does even though
32814s the Omega Defender activates didn't
32816s activate the first time around it does
32818s still just recheck again and look at all
32821s this value look at all this board
32822s pressure that walk has just opened up
32824s lethal a 16 attack and 16 Health yeah
32827s means Viper has to be a little bit
32829s worried High Priestess jetlik means that
32832s he's going to be taunt with lifesteal
32834s along with Rich's Brew means that
32835s there's a chance but there is frankly
32837s one million attacks on the board for
32839s Hunter race now
32841s remember everything has Rush
32846s oh it Viper is putting his tournament
32849s life on the line with a caligos
32853s that doesn't look good to me the best he
32856s can do is a witch's brew and isn't he
32858s just dead he has zero Mana destroyers
32864s I'm an idiot
32866s oh I I can't take much more of this soul
32876s where's the saranite Chain Gang because
32878s I don't know how much longer this can go
32879s on
32881s some time
32883s Viper has a witch's brew in hand which
32887s shuts down any kind of aggressive push
32889s from Hunter what does the dress far do
32892s it's a great question can we go there
32894s just for a check
32898s Barrel Spirit totemic smash fairly you
32901s know minimal it is
32903s good you take that off a random Dress
32905s Bar you take that
32907s and remember the total totemic smash is
32909s aimable it is not just like throw it out
32912s there zojin style you can aim that two
32914s damage which might end up being clutch
32916s right
32919s this calicos has to go right why
32923s it's a 412. is there going to be a
32925s bigger thing to hex in those remaining
32927s four cards uh it is only dealing for a
32930s turn with one attack soul I don't think
32932s it does okay there are no spells outside
32934s of one witch's brew
32937s Matt Pagel that is air 100 pure air
32942s that will disappear into the ether when
32944s azaleena is played as potentially the
32947s last card of the game for Viper now
32949s does vipraph to make a gamble as Alina
32952s and hope there is a spell
32954s that you can cast for free to save him
32957s which is Brew he already has it
32961s next turn then
32966s it goes up to full but I mean he can use
32970s it all the whole Witch is brewed this
32972s turn but can he afford to
32976s have any other options yeah I don't know
32978s that's right it's just it's just a very
32979s slow turn sorry just look at this Glass
32981s Knight just chilling oh another Divine
32983s Shield oh another Divine Shield he is
32985s gonna stop and drop the jet click which
32987s I do agree with I think he needed to do
32988s something else this turn
32991s so that's two Mana he's only got three
32993s cards left so I can't see the painkill
32995s getting anything done here he may as
32996s well which his Brew
32998s but is he on a minion or his own face I
33001s think how Master sure
33003s I see a lot of four attacks there so
33006s go into the face okay well look we we
33009s we're stomping towards the end here
33011s there's still no Agatha drawn
33014s that's outrageous
33017s Hunter Ace is staying relatively Toe to
33020s Toe here without even having access to
33022s his Agatha
33024s turns out sugar works hell of a card and
33027s Viper has a chance of stealing the
33029s hagatha for himself if he can time the
33031s azaleena
33033s but he's got no minions left
33042s like
33043s this last night once and for all after
33045s the Frank taunts with this uh this
33048s Divine Shield that keeps procking no
33049s matter what I mean that that's like last
33051s night gained like six Divine Shields
33053s last turn but it doesn't quite work that
33054s way
33056s can Hunter is on full health
33059s and slightly ahead of fatigue
33063s but you've got to say he just has more
33065s access to heal heal potential than Viper
33068s does because of the Haggerty coming down
33070s eventually I think Hunt's race is too
33073s far ahead Saul
33074s outside of a death Wing in which there's
33076s I'm staring at a hex
33078s that might be what Hunter has to say
33079s with the hex for you know
33081s literally a death link you might be
33082s right but what one car beats him now
33084s yeah we've got the top slam it game this
33087s three two changed the equation more than
33088s a random hagatha card later that's dormu
33091s that doesn't look good enough to me all
33093s right here's the standard of how
33094s ridiculous this game is nosdormu was
33097s drawn and you could hear a pin drop in
33099s this Arena no one cares about Noz dormu
33102s that is the standard we've said this is
33104s it azaleena for a Dream
33108s and there's the zero Mana hex because
33110s calicos is still on the board but subtle
33113s is it enough pyromancer as well
33117s that's kind of the business right now my
33120s Lord
33125s second as Alina after the reform as well
33129s as still no hagatha for Hunter Ace trust
33132s for horror looks good to me totemic
33135s Smash can clear off one of these minions
33139s even gain a totem which I think any
33141s minion is good right now
33143s yep
33144s and maybe maybe just pushes
33147s coming back right at him though he knows
33150s he knows the very same thing is coming
33152s back this is Now quickly becoming a
33154s fairly solvable situation on both sides
33157s surely he wants to go first though right
33159s oh for sure it's just he's he's when I
33162s say that I'm saying he's considering do
33164s I play pyros with it do I play one
33166s pirate with it two pyros with it what am
33167s I going to do to leverage my two threes
33169s against his two threes next turn is this
33171s gonna be double Pyro
33173s he's going for the horror right
33179s going far on the Pyro Viper literally
33181s has no spells left in the deck unless
33183s some legendaries oh his last two
33184s legendaries generate them yeah and I
33186s think Hunter Hayes might just be one
33188s step ahead because totemic smash does
33191s not deal with this board he chooses to
33193s not Overkill as opposed to Overkill
33195s though which is kind of interesting in
33197s that scenario Grill rule
33200s the dragon killer I believe is the full
33202s title not official of course but still
33205s that's a big minion but it is one big
33209s minion enough there's only one more draw
33212s left and unless that that girl is played
33215s and hexed
33216s and the next drawer's death wing
33219s I think that's gonna be it
33222s but we've said that about 50 times the
33223s series so quite likely to be wrong
33232s and you are right though Agatha
33234s bottom three as hero farm he has played
33238s swamp Queen but not haggar to the witch
33241s that would have hunters andres's hand
33243s would be full right now he's kept up
33244s he's just somehow his hand will be full
33247s and Viper's azaleena twice yes
33251s for what four cards and somewhere in the
33254s region of four I think what's your first
33256s one bigger I thought the first one yeah
33261s here we go the Vipers are saying I've
33262s got to do this and hope it's enough I
33264s can play the Wild pyromancer that's all
33266s he's got and now he's slightly ahead on
33268s board
33269s he's only overloaded for two which means
33271s Grill can be played next turn he now has
33273s this board plus a gruel plus one random
33278s legendary minion remaining that random
33280s legendary minion can be another as Alina
33283s and then we're back to square one again
33284s it can be all manner of things it can be
33286s a Janna line
33291s it can
33293s the big question is this hex
33295s and Hunt race would probably love to
33297s save minions for hagatha but he cannot
33300s pop it as punished on us that is
33303s terrible
33305s they're about a non-legendary two drops
33307s at the moment in time and that is game
33310s I don't know how he fishes himself out I
33312s I'm looking at our answers on Hunter
33315s Aces board and in Hunter Ace's hand for
33318s everything that he needs to answer the
33320s board pairs down evenly right now
33322s there's a hexagrawal blood Mage is
33324s irrelevant
33325s but Mage gets him to death quicker
33327s because of the fatigue
33330s and without even a I think a drawing
33333s Agatha would win in this game
33335s purely didn't fatigue at this point
33337s gruel has to be played Viper's got no
33340s choice and as you said the board is even
33345s but Viper knows as a hex he knows
33348s he hexed pick it from the azelena he
33351s knows he's there you know girl's dead
33354s and is that was that swamp queen that is
33357s sorry not Swank just the haggarth of the
33360s witch apologies the game's over but
33363s still that looks like game to me
33370s it doesn't really matter hex this and
33372s take the damage from the 5-3 this turn
33373s or play the hagger for this turn and
33375s take the damage from the gruel I think
33377s it's because he wants worse like pyro
33379s pyro hex right yeah worst case best case
33382s scenario he can kill this eight five
33384s without using a hex and then he beats
33386s Deathwing as the last card as well he
33388s can kill it now with totemic might
33390s beautiful to clean it up and I believe
33392s even in a completely solved Game Hunter
33395s Ace finds a way to maximize his chances
33398s and after beating a seemingly unbeatable
33402s reform everything came together for that
33405s deck in the situation we've been talking
33407s about all week and Hunter race without
33410s even access to his value generator beats
33414s it out and becomes your new Hearthstone
33418s world champion
33422s foreign
33464s Hunter Hayes that was an incredible
33466s finish to the world championship please
33468s tell me what is going through your mind
33470s this very moment
33477s I don't know it's it's pretty
33479s unbelievable like that last game was
33481s like super tense
33485s it's been like such a long journey to
33488s get here and like
33490s actually delivering now that I'm in the
33493s tournament and winning the tournament is
33495s so big for me like it means so much
33498s I'm incredibly grateful
33501s I don't know that
33508s besides
33516s what was the hardest obstacle to
33519s overcome in order to become the world
33521s champion
33529s I don't know man this entire tournament
33531s has been super hard for me like uh
33534s there's been a lot of situations that I
33535s maybe could look back on and like tell
33537s you like super close decisions and such
33539s but I don't know I really just want to
33541s thank everyone that has been helping me
33543s helping me throughout the preparation
33545s period because I felt like that was the
33547s most crucial Port part of this
33549s tournament because it was right at the
33551s rotation and it was such a big deal what
33552s lineup ended up bringing and also I want
33554s to like give a huge thanks like everyone
33557s in the Hearthstone Community everyone
33558s has been so supporting and it's really
33561s incredible
33570s um
33576s all right my last question Hunter race
33579s you were are the points leader you were
33582s the promised one you were the one that
33584s people were betting on packs has it feel
33586s to live up to the hype as the Wonder Boy
33588s of hearthstone I don't know it feels
33590s incredible it's uh it's really amazing I
33593s I can't really describe it like uh it
33596s hasn't really going through man I'm just
33597s like thinking about random legendaries
33599s and everything is going through my head
33601s like
33607s myself
33613s um
33650s let's welcome let's see mobile franchise
33653s lead of hearthstone is for separate
33655s weight at Euro 2017. STD world champion
33659s Tom 60229
33663s Hunter
33672s congratulations
33701s it's been a wonderful Journey throughout
33703s the past few years of the Hearthstone
33705s Championship tour where stars were made
33708s and dreams came true and with our world
33711s champion with all the grand Masters
33713s everybody here from blizzards and the
33715s talent thank you for watching and to the
33717s future of hearthstone we say thanks for
33720s watching and well played
33725s cheers
33741s hope you all had a great time just like
33744s we did see you
33747s today
33770s foreign