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1s [Music]
809s hello everybody and welcome to day
811s number two of the Hearthstone Master
812s tour fall Championship my name is TJ and
815s helping me kick off the show is adal B
817s ad Place how you doing today I'm doing
819s all right this was the closest I could
822s find to a costume sort of like vampire
826s style uh for for you know Halloween
828s weekend but uh yeah in general I'm I'm
832s hyped I'm ready to go can see our our
834s top eight
836s cut I'm dressed up like a
840s Hearthstone Caster a nearing middle-aged
842s Hearthstone Caster there you go that's
844s my get up this week I don't think I've
847s I've worn a different shirt on a Sunday
850s cast in six years this is my Sunday cast
854s shirt six years of time and and starring
857s TJ as himself
859s right yeah that's right actually you
861s know what I'm dressed up as me from one
863s year ago there you go just best past TJ
866s today that's my Halloween theme I I
868s looked around and I asked my wife I was
870s like I need a something like a mask a
873s hat anything I got nothing we got kids
875s costumes and they don't fit and my
879s youngest son we'll get into the Haron
880s stuff in a second this is important U my
882s youngest son is being Sid from Toy Story
885s and for Halloween which is literally
887s just he wears a black shirt with a skull
888s on it that's that's the costume like
890s that's the whole thing he even looks
891s like him he's got a big old head that's
893s bulbous and a short haircut like it it's
896s that's it so no costumes no nothing
899s um but we do have some Hearthstone today
901s I don't have a costume but we I still do
903s have uh some some Hearthstone to cast so
906s this is day two of fall Championship um
909s and uh taking a look at what happened in
912s yesterday's matches we ended up getting
913s to a pretty sick top eight a lot of the
915s streamers in the top eight but yesterday
918s had uh some ups and downs in terms of
920s gameplay but I think it was still an
922s exciting day we got to see some the
923s strengths and weaknesses of some of the
925s decks in this uh in this pretty new
928s metag game
929s yeah and we did have to say goodbye to
932s some uh favorite players you know
934s tonsoku
936s and uh Gabby Casey so and of course when
941s it's a Top Cut like this we we always
943s kind of know just about everyone but um
947s you know someone's someone's not going
950s to make it today too so yeah and I I
954s think uh the strength of some of the
956s Decks that we saw really came through I
958s feel like de Demon Hunter uh definitely
960s struggled the few players that brought
962s it we saw a little bit from tonsoku some
964s from Casey and it seemed like Demon
966s Hunter was tough to get wins Shaman as
968s well has been incredibly Hit or Miss um
971s and in where we see some matchups where
974s a players up 20 and it's like oh jeez
976s this is going to be close they have
978s Shaman left so I'm curious to see how
980s things are going to shape out today but
981s taking a look at the overall program
983s overview the goal for all these players
985s really is to compete at the world
986s championship which is um in a littleit
989s less than 2 months uh with the big prize
991s pull of
991s $350,000 uh each of these seasonal
994s championships we're currently in the
995s last one fall has a a respectable price
997s bll at
998s $50,000 and then uh the rest is just
1001s players that are going to be competing
1003s right we for the uh seasonal
1005s championships we started with 16 uh
1007s split between the regions and then the
1011s uh World Championship consists of each
1013s of the winners of these seasonal
1014s championships uh plus them the highest
1016s point earners uh throughout the year so
1018s still waiting for those spots um as we
1022s uh get closer to the world championship
1024s of course it is the conquest format each
1026s player brings four decks four unique
1028s classes ban one of their opponents which
1031s this tournament has mostly been Warrior
1033s and they cannot win with the same deck
1035s twice so that means it a lot of times
1037s comes down to the the fourth deck which
1039s is the big differentiator for most of
1042s these players uh that is those demon
1044s Hunters
1046s Hunters uh there was one warlock so so
1049s uh people are are really trying to
1051s figure
1052s out what's the best way to go for that
1054s fourth
1055s deck yeah and we'll see who's going to
1057s come out on top today there's your top
1059s eight bracket we're going to start
1060s things off with Hemlock versus levic and
1062s we have pocket train versus ream uh
1064s that's a a big highlight looking forward
1066s to that one MC Banner face versus weu
1069s and then Co versus
1071s balance um and I I mean in in terms of
1076s like past performances this is one of
1079s the best top eights we've seen right we
1082s have levic who's already qualified uh we
1085s have pocket train
1087s who basically already qualified but not
1089s through a seasonal Championship so
1091s looking to take the easy easy row and
1093s then um I think MC Banner face is
1095s definitely highlight as one of the best
1097s and top performing players from the
1099s America's region uh America's Last Hope
1102s which has been a a baton that has been
1105s passed down from generation to
1107s generation uh it was Monsanto in the
1110s past and now it's uh down to MC Banner
1112s face yeah and you mentioned how you know
1115s pocket is all all but in in terms of he
1118s hasn't won one of these yet but is very
1119s high in the points Hemlock uh is another
1122s player who has made it to I believe the
1124s top eight in each one of these events
1127s this year so has been a very consistent
1130s performer uh here on the control Warrior
1133s rainbow Mage secret Rogue and the Arcane
1137s Hunter
1140s yeah the Arcane Hunter kind of being the
1143s odd deck out um a deck that actually
1146s hasn't been performing that well I mean
1148s it really it's a deck that hasn't
1149s changed much in quite a long time its
1152s game plan is pretty simple and
1153s straightforward there's not a lot of
1155s wiggle room that you have in terms of
1156s what you can do but that's the deck that
1159s uh Hemlock has opted to go with
1161s interestingly enough favorite class is
1162s Druid but not many players brave enough
1165s to uh bring Druid after uh got hit with
1168s the the Nerfs pretty hard after a long
1171s streak of dominance uh in constructed so
1175s um well Hemlock still having success
1180s despite not being able to play that
1181s favorite
1182s class yeah and he has opted for the
1185s control Warrior which we say control a
1188s lot of people I think call it Odin
1189s Warrior just because that is the primary
1193s win condition you know of course you can
1195s get there just by controlling the game
1197s but a lot of times it is all about
1200s getting down Odin as quickly as possible
1201s and then your defense becomes your
1203s offense with all that armor gain
1205s converting to attack against the enemy
1207s hero uh really only two options for
1210s warriors between this version and the
1213s enraged
1214s Warriors yeah and not much wiggle room
1217s in terms of car choices as well I feel
1219s like all the Odin SL control Warriors
1222s are nearly identical the range War does
1224s have a couple spots that you can move
1226s around with but this one's pretty set in
1229s Stone um and definitely one of the most
1232s powerful decks uh in the meta game uh
1236s and it does have a couple weaknesses
1238s notably actually drawing Odin in
1241s matchups where you absolutely have to
1244s have uh pressure for a win condition uh
1248s like in some of the uh otk like in
1250s Shaman or rainbow Mage um but it's got
1253s so many tools to help it get there and
1254s surprising amount of tempo especially
1256s with the uh the Rifts and there's
1260s levic just jamming some Hearthstone yeah
1263s I mean levik just sitting pretty already
1265s having won the spring Championship just
1267s sort of accidentally made his way into
1270s this event uh you know it's it's crazy
1274s he he didn't he could have taken a break
1276s he didn't have to be jamming laders so
1278s much but uh know he's here again and
1281s maybe prepared to take so home some
1283s extra uh prize
1286s money yeah uh he just loves Hearthstone
1290s like it it's quite obvious when he plays
1293s um that he's having a lot of fun even
1295s when I interviewed him before the world
1297s championship last year uh he was talking
1299s about how like all of his practice just
1301s comes from basically jamming ladder and
1303s that he wasn't playing with people and
1304s that he just loves playing constructed
1307s ladder just rank matches just jamming it
1310s um which is cool to see and at this
1312s point in you know Hearthstone I feel
1315s like that's necessary to be successful
1317s is to really have that uh that love for
1319s the game and taking a look at levik's
1321s secret Rogue love to see the break dance
1325s in there break dance and the Mixtape
1328s this I feel like is a little bit of
1332s a off color Rogue it's it's missing the
1336s MC blingtron for the full uh the full uh
1341s dance party uh secret Rogue uh package
1344s there but uh couldn't fit it in with all
1347s the other tech cards that in there the
1348s prison of yogs are on uh in there as
1351s well sort of as like a pseudo
1353s replacement for the old yog uh that was
1356s changed um doesn't really fit in Rogue
1359s the benefit of having in a rogue before
1360s was Deb it was by the time you drew it
1363s it was free effectively and you could
1366s bounce it back with Shadow steps and
1367s break dances uh but now the prison is
1370s kind of the uh the get out of the get
1372s out of jail free card uh for the deck
1375s that you need in some of those matchups
1376s yeah it's a lot more of a gamble the the
1379s you know yog Unleashed was pretty
1381s consistent use it as a board clear mind
1383s control just very strong utility card
1385s now with it being nerfed to that set
1387s nine Mana cost and plays two random
1390s spells is a lot less guaranteed and and
1392s you can't really cheese it as much in
1394s the spell heavy decks so the location uh
1396s is just kind of a way of giving you a
1400s little bit of a gamble you know if if
1402s you desperately need a clear or you
1403s desperately need a lethal you can just
1405s press that button and you know you pay
1408s the cost of the first one and the next
1410s two are
1411s free yeah that's that's right and
1414s sometimes you can even use it for like C
1416s draw or in Desperate situations just
1419s Target yourself and sometimes you get a
1421s heal um like if you're dead on the board
1424s not recommended if you're just like I
1426s could use a heal um but maybe
1429s recommended if you're like if I don't
1431s heal I die uh so very flexible card in
1436s that regard I recommend putting it in
1437s all your decks
1439s because of just how flexible it is uh
1442s but looks like we're kicking things off
1443s Warrior versus
1450s Rogue and this is a bit of a unusual
1455s matchup we get to see in the sense that
1457s Warrior was not banned it's been banned
1460s I think something like 60% of games
1465s let's see here uh Warrior sorry ban rate
1471s 71%
1473s yep it's been pretty brutal and in the
1478s matchup that it hasn't been banned we
1480s have been seeing it win but not like
1484s handedly right it's it's been
1486s struggling at some points so notably
1489s like the recen match up yesterday
1490s against the rainbow Mage where the
1491s rainbow Mage just couldn't draw sip he
1493s was able to get out of range of an
1495s absurd amount of damage but like that's
1497s a lost game game most of the time when
1500s you look at it and that was like a game
1502s a serious side of game uh so we'll see
1504s if it's going how it's going to be able
1505s to do here uh against the secret Rogue
1508s which does have Tempo has a good amount
1510s of value you just have to piece together
1513s way to win the game before Odin comes
1515s online and you really don't have a way
1517s to protect yourself uh from from that
1520s much damage you don't have that many
1521s turns to work with after Odin if you let
1524s it come down safely yeah and there is
1527s also the factor that you know the stats
1529s we have are just for warrior as as a
1531s class so some of these are enraged
1533s warriors uh which of course has very
1535s different matchups from the Odin
1545s Warrior Bladestorm come down clean up
1548s mostly the 3-2 uh you know the the one
1551s two is
1557s collateral
1559s there's always a tricky sort of game you
1561s have to play against secret Rogue in
1563s terms of how much do you
1567s value keeping them from say getting two
1570s cards off a secret like double cross
1572s versus having a secret available for
1575s them to be able to activate a card like
1577s Gastly Gravedigger uh which of course
1579s can be know very annoying if you have a
1581s key card in hand that you you really
1583s don't want to lose and having that
1585s shuffled away into your deck one of the
1587s few effects that can do that could be uh
1590s pretty devastating at
1592s times
1596s yeah okay wow actually is going to play
1600s uh the shadow of demise with sticky
1601s situation just to keep up the pressure
1603s on the board and also to try and have a
1605s secret uh next turn for Gastly
1608s Gravedigger well actually next turn
1610s might just be mixtape plus private eye
1612s and this was just the best way to spend
1613s the
1614s Mana um but does have options going the
1618s next turn Hemlock is just all removal
1621s effectively there's the bridge Rift as
1623s well uh to try and get there but it's
1625s just a matter of trying to find the best
1628s way to sequence these turns to uh get
1630s the most M uh value out of these cards
1633s um cu the one thing that we're missing
1635s here is going to
1637s be uh card draw
1640s yeah and you know despite all that
1644s removal this secret of the spider is you
1647s know one the the better ones to to keep
1650s playing here just because the removal
1653s has to be spent before it spawns since
1655s it procs on spell trigger and so that
1660s makes Hemlock have to decide if he wants
1662s to spend another spell to remove the
1664s stealth spider uh most of the time it's
1667s not going to be worth it so levit can
1668s kind of guarantee that three damage
1671s coming
1677s in
1686s Bri rff of course the most powerful play
1690s I think available in the uh Warrior deck
1692s on turn five particularly replaying that
1695s first riff going to be able to very
1697s cleanly deal with these three fours one
1700s from the rush and the other from the
1702s attack buff to this
1706s weapon yeah think it's through but I I
1712s even bellowing flame is not a
1715s clean uh
1717s clear
1721s and would have the sticky situation left
1724s over as well afterwards
1728s but I don't really see anything I guess
1731s you could attack and then blade storm
1733s but then you're kind of in the same
1734s exact
1735s situation um and you're floating Mana
1740s doesn't feel so Hemlock also doesn't
1744s know whether it's necessarily the second
1747s situation or the second copy of double
1750s cross so I think this is a bit of a
1755s decision in terms of does he want to
1758s finale the bridge riff and and you know
1760s make the highest Tempo play or
1762s potentially leave some Mana up to not
1765s trigger double cross cuz the Rogue is a
1767s bit on cards and can actually run out if
1771s they aren't able to activate those
1772s double
1781s crosses so taking away that Belling
1784s Flames which is definitely the strongest
1786s removal tool in the hand
1791s there yep and also we're still
1793s continuing to see this problem with no
1795s card draw for hemlock I'm sorry I mean
1798s it's not did you see the card that just
1802s got burgled
1806s there no that was what was it front
1810s lines so uh for those not familiar with
1814s this card which I would not uh hold that
1816s against anyone this is a paladin card
1818s normally cost nine Mana that pulls
1821s minions out of both players decks until
1823s one person's side of the board is
1826s full now against something like this
1829s Warrior which has very few minions for
1833s the purpose of targeting draw on Odin uh
1838s there's a very real possibility that
1839s this front lines would be able to just
1842s pull out that Odin and put levic in a
1846s position where he could potentially just
1849s run the warrior out of wind
1855s conditions yeah you do have like
1858s couple of random ones in there uh like
1861s ignis and the U
1864s armors Finley's in the hand but when I
1868s looked at that card for a second I was
1870s like wait what I thought it was a a
1872s blood in the water oh no no but it's
1877s yeah you're right it was burgled and
1879s it's discounted so well again going back
1882s to that limited number of minions but
1884s this objection comes in to play uh very
1889s nicely here you know the only minion in
1891s hand being Finley Hemlock might be
1893s wanting to know sort of ditch this hand
1896s to to look for that Odin but uh next
1900s Minion's going to get countered and
1901s there's really no good minion that you
1904s want to let that happen
1907s to nope they all are very high
1914s value this Hemlock just
1918s struggling to do much of anything ah
1920s this is a little bit of an awkward
1923s situation don't really want to play the
1925s front lines cuz you you could
1927s just die no no real way to deal with it
1931s kboa you'd override
1933s your uh your other weapon
1940s here uh pure
1946s side
1948s I think he's maybe planning on going
1950s putride make the attack and then
1952s serrated bone
1954s Spike
1957s yeah it's a shame that the kraa isn't in
1960s the deck Oh no just going to run this
1963s out for the whole concoction you know if
1965s kboa were in the deck then levik would
1968s have the chance of front lines pulling
1970s it out which then means you know fewer
1973s minions pulled from his own deck because
1976s it it takes up those extra board slots
1978s so that's like better going into fatigue
1980s and would just be able to clear up some
1984s of the potentially threatening minions
1986s coming out of Hemlock side although I
1988s think there's really just two Minions
1992s that you're concerned with there's the
1993s Odin of course which is an 88 and then
1996s there is the warrior Titan which is not
1999s in all of these Odin lists but it is in
2000s hemlocks and I suspect that's one of the
2003s reasons maybe that levic has not been
2005s super interested in pulling the trigger
2006s on this front lines without having a a
2008s little bit better board position
2011s first yeah and I also think maybe with
2014s the objection in play he doesn't feel as
2016s pressured to do it um just because he
2020s knows that like Odin couldn't come down
2023s anyway uh if it was there
2025s so
2027s ioose I think he's just kind of taking
2029s in and shride with how this game state
2032s is though this the concoction that levic
2034s did get from the Peter side is probably
2036s the worst of
2038s pable um just because provides no value
2042s whatsoever and Hemlock even
2045s with this hand that just you know can't
2049s play Finley can't play a minion even if
2050s you draw off the top no card draw like
2053s no value generation whatsoever is
2056s still applying some pressure and that's
2059s a big draw off the top cuz it'll at
2060s least
2062s pull uh the secrets out of the deck or
2066s the the the secret
2068s uh just the perjury cuz everything's
2069s everything else has been played yeah and
2072s it's just going to play the temple game
2073s right back both deck thinning in terms
2076s of getting the the perjury out and I
2078s believe under the objection there there
2080s is also a
2084s um wait have both double crosses already
2087s happened maybe
2089s not uh well it's just two secrets and we
2091s know that there's an objection so it it
2094s would show on the the right side as well
2096s so it is objection and
2098s perjury
2103s [Music]
2106s Y and the options are that was a snap
2110s barrier I think because levic knows his
2112s only option left here is to just play
2115s front lines so if you can have that
2118s little extra barrier
2120s no really I'm I'm somewhat surprised at
2124s this I mean it's it's not great for
2127s either of them but I do feel like it is
2131s better for levic particularly with the
2134s break dance
2136s pickup just
2138s because I mean the warrior has I think
2142s more crucial things that they want to
2144s actually have the opportunity to play
2147s versus you know getting pulled out of
2148s their deck there's a lot of battlecries
2149s going on
2154s yeah L's going to die
2158s anyway the Titan picked up able to just
2160s throw down the uh the Finley into the
2165s objection and protect this
2167s Titan on and also gets to proc the stone
2170s skin armor to draw a couple more cards
2173s with the Titan activation There It Is
2174s Well didn't want to take the gamble on
2177s the front line so going to take it on
2178s the the
2181s prison let's see what we get bur RI
2186s okay
2188s oh oh actually clear
2193s sure and Drew a card I've seen better
2195s but still definitely could have been
2197s worse got some healing as well so yeah
2200s that's I'd say that's above average
2202s still but there comes the oh no have
2206s missed the opportunity to to pull it out
2208s of the
2214s deck and with the heavy play PL in hand
2219s and I don't
2221s believe any real way to clear these four
2224s fours can clear the
2227s Odin Shadow step break
2231s dance and also can play the uh one of
2234s the five Mana aelor to gain some armor
2236s so I mean this is
2239s uh you're technically alive but are you
2242s really you know I guess it buys you time
2244s to then praise yog once again
2248s yeah there's a heavy plate in hand so
2250s we're already at 16 points of damage a
2252s shield block off the top would just end
2254s the game or any armor gain really yeah
2256s there it is
2258s Bash yep that's effectively six
2261s damage plus the hero power so good
2268s enough uh a very weird game where both
2271s players had pretty much nothing for a
2274s long time like two uh three two cards in
2278s hand uh no card draw being found uh not
2281s really any generation being found from
2283s leic as well and uh the Odin picked up
2286s just in time the Odin had been picked up
2288s it it would have taken Hemlock at least
2290s a little bit of time to close out that
2291s game that could have allowed levic to
2293s use those asor to maybe call his way
2295s back but out just a time and Hemlock one
2299s zero yeah the Rogue you know it's this
2302s weird sort of attrition the Gastly
2304s graved diggers because while you are
2306s taking away card from your opponent
2307s you're spending your own cards to do so
2310s so each time you play Gravedigger Shadow
2312s step you're effectively hoping that what
2315s you're stealing from them is more worth
2317s it than the cards that you're spending
2319s to take away and in the games where you
2322s don't get the the draw cards
2325s concoctions that means you're you're in
2327s this strange sort of top deck mode where
2328s you're just hoping yours are better than
2329s the
2330s opponents yeah the pure side double
2333s damage potion that was used to kill a
2336s three4 for was not the best outcome
2340s pretty much anything else would have
2341s been decent in that situation even like
2343s double green wouldn't have been terrible
2346s um but was obviously looking for uh hazy
2350s uh or some card draw but unfortunately
2353s didn't get it but the Warriors out of
2355s the way I mean I would say the most
2358s powerful deck in hemlocks lineup uh
2360s that's why the control Warrior itself
2362s has been drawing band so much so uh
2365s we'll see if Lev can capitalize on some
2366s of the other decks him
2372s has yeah sort of uh Power for the course
2375s you know I think we've been expecting
2376s Warriors to get through' been expecting
2378s Mages to get through so it often ends up
2381s coming down to these last picks in terms
2384s of the shaman for levic and the Arcane
2386s Hunter for hemlock and that is honestly
2391s I think a a matchup that has been you
2394s know debated since both decks were were
2397s formed you know pre pre- Nerfs in terms
2400s of you know who has the edge in the
2402s hunter versus Shaman match
2405s up yeah I after seeing some of the
2408s hunter games uh throughout the day
2411s yesterday I kind of lost Pati you in the
2414s Arcane Hunter it just wasn't winning it
2417s just was not winning games and to be
2419s fair there's a lot of tough matchups for
2420s it um that's kind of the decision you
2423s have to make when you're it's a
2425s relatively fresh metag game because of
2426s the the balance patch that was on
2428s Thursday and you don't know what the
2429s best fourth deck is Arcane Hunter is
2431s kind of this consistent
2435s Beast um that will always do the same
2438s thing and capitalize on poor draws bad
2442s starts it's always going to be able to
2444s deal damage so oh this an interesting
2447s start from hemlock uh with the coin and
2449s Shadow of
2450s demise you can get a private eye out
2453s incredibly quickly yeah I mean I think
2455s you're not even terribly worried about
2457s comboing the second one when you've
2459s already got the first one comboed on the
2461s coin sort of the ideal hand for the
2463s secret Rogue just to make sure you can
2466s thin the deck of those Secrets early
2470s on in terms of levik's hand though uh no
2474s keyboard which I feel like is the first
2476s maybe the second time I've seen this
2478s weekend Mage not have keyboard onto into
2483s a cold case but a fenus circle is not a
2487s bad just turn three play to get a f
2488s spell and a few little Minions on
2491s board yeah start making a little
2494s bit of a push at least to fight back uh
2498s in the early game but yep there it is
2500s double coin into private eye with the
2502s shadow of the M getting those Secrets
2503s out yep and that's going to be a prettyy
2507s fast start for hemlock uh just the
2510s perjury oh no it is a sticky situation
2513s sorry so that's the best like Bard
2515s scenario and oh that hand pretty optimal
2520s secrets to pull there uh with with what
2522s levic had to do you know the earlier
2525s that double cross comes down the much
2527s harder it is for the opponent to to play
2529s around because there's just less Mana to
2531s spare to try and deny the Rogue those
2535s cards and then of course just getting a
2537s free three four to to start ramping up
2540s the pressure is uh always
2545s welcome
2549s okay just going
2550s to get the second one out I mean this is
2553s pretty much like all the secrets either
2554s pulled or drawn so this is very good
2558s very good for
2563s H Frozen touch going to be immediately
2567s able to
2573s infuse and uh yeah once again it's it's
2577s a double cross for
2579s hemlock so this Frozen touch is going to
2583s draw him a couple more
2592s cards perjury
2595s activates perjury is such a great tool
2598s for secret Rogue because it it lets you
2600s kind of guaranteed have a secret going
2602s into your turn so you can activate
2604s things like Gastly gravedigger my yeah
2608s and get get access to powerful Mage
2612s secrets well there is also that yeah
2615s counter spell and objection being sort
2617s of the two highest power ones most of
2618s the time
2621s yep
2623s oh this is where that attrition is
2625s brutal right taking away uh you know
2628s potentially levik's card draw here or
2631s first we took the power of Creation in
2632s terms of a clear and you know really
2636s just leaving levic much more star for
2639s cards whereas Hemlock has all these
2641s potion belts and another perjury HRI
2645s side just kind of sitting on a whole
2647s bunch of
2648s stuff
2653s yeah almost too much
2665s value
2667s yeah goes for the wisdom of
2669s norgon Cold Case pretty strong pickup
2676s though Le has no more of
2682s that looks like just playing into turn
2685s seven Elemental inspiration just trying
2687s to get all the spell schools out there y
2690s um reverberation can be sometimes hard
2692s card to use so three Mana left might as
2694s well throw it out there make this easier
2695s to uh
2697s uh to take care of
2699s but he's going to make it to turn seven
2701s with uh enough Health to really do
2703s anything uh is the
2706s question yeah there is the potential to
2709s hit life Steel on those Elementals but I
2713s think currently the Spells played have
2716s been Frost Shadow and
2720s fell and I'm not sure if there's been a
2724s chance to play Arcane yet is the wisdom
2726s of organon would have been the
2729s Arcane
2731s yeah so only four Elementals uh will be
2735s summoned at
2755s present
2761s so Hemlock just kind of able
2764s to relax in knowing that these have been
2767s some pretty weak turns from from levik's
2769s side you know might expect something
2771s like Elemental inspiration to come down
2773s next turn and and so might be willing to
2776s prepare for that but can also just
2779s choose to you know make a big board here
2781s go for for Double Summon three drops or
2784s something uh just
2787s has a lot of flexibility and those
2790s Elementals do come out can make some
2792s trades with with putride in play for a
2795s whole bunch of more
2796s value yeah I think he saw the elemental
2799s inspiration uh with the grap Digger too
2801s right wasn't that one of the options so
2803s should know that
2804s that's on the horizon um so just trying
2811s to set up for it here and I just like
2815s pushing Max damage yep trying to get
2818s there hopefully there's no rushes from
2820s the elemental inspiration to clear off
2822s more of this board and put l all out of
2825s six yeah six of course in range of
2827s double potion exactly just taking
2830s advantage of the lron debuff weapon
2833s while it's there and LEC I think knows
2836s that Elemental inspiration not the
2839s gamble that he wants to take little bit
2841s surprised to
2842s see this come down without having played
2845s the Arcane artificer first
2850s maybe was hoping
2851s for an additional like five Mana option
2856s that could have bailed him out so it' be
2858s played right away and he could get
2859s double value potentially yeah the only
2861s one I can think of is wisdom of norgon
2864s which would show up as five in the
2866s Discover and so getting to draw that two
2869s cards
2871s immediately uh oh and the objection to H
2875s is also the
2879s objection but now we just need single
2881s damage potion so high likelihood to just
2885s here there it is there it is
2888s y all right nice quick little 20 lead uh
2893s for hemlock against two different decks
2894s from leic but tried the Mage and the
2896s Rogue now he's going to have
2898s to make a comeback in this
2901s series but it's not looking good Hemlock
2904s fir on all cylinders right now feels
2907s yeah it is always possible to you know
2910s sweep these fourth Decks that people
2911s have I don't know if Hunter is quite the
2916s one that I would want to have to sweep
2917s particularly when I still have a rogue
2919s left on my side uh yeah Rogues not known
2922s for their healing
2924s capabilities not particularly but they
2928s do have a bunch of random generation so
2932s you know maybe that could uh find some
2934s healing but it's about finding the time
2936s to do that cuz sometimes it can be uh
2938s pretty expensive but if you get like
2940s those private eye
2941s starts you can you know get some
2944s perjuries and get some disruption early
2946s kind of stifle the pressure but there
2949s only one deck so also win with uh uh
2951s both the other decks too um against the
2954s hunter so I mentioned earlier Hunter
2956s it's kind of while it doesn't do
2958s anything
2959s crazy it does just deal damage very
2963s consistently it's game plan is not a
2966s secret it doesn't have any ways to
2969s deviate from that game plan
2971s usually uh but it does have some that
2974s consistency of being able to kill the
2976s opponent so we'll see love it tough road
2981s ahead yeah every every once in a while
2983s you know you use
2984s the immune weapon from uh from the Titan
2989s to buy time so that you can deal more
2991s damage right it's always a matter of if
2994s if you're in a race the only reason to
2996s not go face is if more time will get you
3000s more
3004s damage all right it's going to be uh
3006s Shaman
3008s first for
3011s levic these are the two uh I guess we
3013s could say weak
3015s links of the
3019s lineups yeah but of course you know both
3022s I think pretty solidly tier two death by
3026s comparison to some of the others we see
3028s and holler on brightwing definitely
3031s something that Hemlock wants to see in
3032s that opening hand as well as the costume
3035s singer which uh prior to it being nerfed
3039s was one of the highest win rate cards in
3041s the deck and probably is still pretty up
3043s there even as a one
3054s one it's great to be able to have the
3058s board yeah in the early game it's not
3062s going to stop
3064s either yeah I mean this point you just
3067s run out the feral Spirits I would
3070s expect yeah with hidden meaning I don't
3073s know if you're really
3075s too worried about it since you have the
3077s taunt to block y it's just spending the
3079s Mana and it will proc but you're not too
3081s worried about it and that's not a great
3083s one doesn't even M line up well against
3085s the feral Spirits with the to attack so
3087s I think levik should be feeling
3089s fantastic about this start it's not
3091s stopping got schooling to be able to
3093s continue fighting and then the Titan to
3095s be able to come down and if you have the
3097s board you can feel comfortable just
3099s going with card draw on the first
3101s activation
3103s which is going to be great for levic in
3106s the coming turns now there is of course
3107s the possibility of you know star power
3112s just going ahead and and doing a reset
3115s for him lock um then going to be able to
3118s swing things around I
3120s expect if that happens it's going to be
3123s a
3124s coin and so it's it's a matter for me of
3128s like do you coin brightwing this turn or
3131s do you coin star power next turn and
3133s with being this far behind feel like you
3135s have to coin the star power living all
3144s of probably hoping for uh Ricochet there
3149s yep
3153s um but at least it's not worms I
3164s guess turn the Tide's not bad yeah and
3168s overloading on this turn I think is much
3170s better than overlay on next turn so next
3172s turn you can probably just play
3173s schooling and then roll that right into
3174s Titan without having to overload exactly
3177s and I like the damage push as well I
3179s don't think mlock really has much to do
3182s in this game uh star power is going to
3185s be able to clear things up but already
3186s at 16 it's going to make things pretty
3188s easy for levic and Hemlock really hasn't
3191s progressed anything um hasn't been able
3194s to get rightwing down no spell power
3196s Buffs in
3197s hand uh but we'll
3199s see still still some time left before
3203s levic is able to piece together uh Le
3206s damage yeah and even though you know the
3208s board is now clear and a bunch of these
3210s tools were used in terms of the the
3213s zapper and spirits and everything you're
3216s totally happy with this outcome as the
3217s shaman you've you've gotten your
3219s opponent down through half their life it
3221s just makes your you know combo turn that
3223s much easier to make happen uh only
3226s having taken know two damage so far
3228s himself now four and uh totally free to
3233s just play your Titan and draw three
3235s cards
3247s here I think when you when you see the
3250s shaman play ganth for cards you you know
3252s you're in a little bit of
3254s trouble yeah you often want to be
3256s pressuring them so that they have to use
3258s it for heal and then maybe you can kind
3259s of starve them of
3264s cards
3271s second star power going to
3273s reset and the race is
3278s on
3281s o bioluminescence might not even be the
3285s pick here yeah just because it's too
3287s expensive and there's no weapon to
3289s reduce
3290s it yeah I mean we're very very close uh
3295s to
3299s lethal in fact with this three damage I
3302s think it might actually be 13 damage
3306s next
3306s turn um cuz it's eight from the
3309s lightning
3311s bolts uh with the Nava zapper and then
3313s the overdraft would be 1 two three four
3316s plus the one spell damage so that's five
3317s so that's 13 with just those four cards
3320s yep not even really you know your
3322s traditional combo turn that you look for
3325s and and with aelor being it its current
3328s iteration still a turn away from being
3330s able to gain any armor for
3338s hemlock you know one of the ways you
3340s often hope to kind of egge things out as
3342s a hunter in this matchup is maybe you
3344s you know have a forge Titan traps where
3348s you say get that uh deal six where they
3352s play three spells or or three cards
3356s and uh maybe you can you know pressure
3359s the shaman into being low enough Health
3361s that they aren't actually able to combo
3363s you because they'll end up dying on the
3364s combo turn but that is just not how
3367s things have played out this time around
3368s for
3373s hamlock all right that's just a bunch of
3375s extra damage yep left a two one on the
3378s board Jazz Bas picked up and L going to
3380s put a
3381s point on the board 2-1 now two more to
3384s go against the Hun here let's see if he
3386s can uh make it
3396s [Applause]
3401s happen I think definitely happy to have
3404s the shaman out of the way
3409s there it's
3411s just chill play as yep yep not not a
3415s care in the world remember he's got the
3417s least pressure on him in this
3419s event yeah I feel like levik's been in
3422s just every tournament in like the past
3424s two
3425s years it's just really uh milk and
3428s competitive Heartstone for all it's
3430s worth in 2022 2023 love to see it love
3435s to see it it was relatively unknown
3436s before that uh which is even one of the
3438s cooler parts uh obviously people knew
3441s them especially from
3443s ladder but beginning of last year was
3446s I guess the end of 2021 as well was when
3449s levic
3450s uh started to just rack up result after
3456s results but still in a tough spot here
3460s still down 21 not over the hump yet once
3463s you get to if you win another one get to
3464s game five and it's just one match just a
3467s best of one then you can forget about
3469s what happened for the rest of the series
3471s and just focus on that one but for now
3474s still an up pill
3476s CL ironically though I think having that
3480s you know lack of pressure in the sense
3482s that he's already qualified for worlds
3485s you know puts you in a better mental
3486s state for when you are down uh you know
3489s 20 like he was just earlier and you know
3493s maybe it gives you all the more
3495s possibility of you know overcoming a
3498s deficit like
3504s this
3509s once again hron in hemlocks opening hand
3512s maybe it'll pay off a little more this
3514s time
3515s although It's Tricky while howon is I
3519s think always a keep just because it
3521s Buffs your entire everything that you
3523s want to do right your hand and deck all
3525s your Arcane spells it's still it's a
3528s little slow now at that four Mana cost
3530s and so particularly on the play where
3533s you have fewer cards you're working with
3536s you're going to end up with hands like
3538s these where you okay well the anomaly
3542s fixed it but I was going to say you're
3543s going to end up with hands like these
3545s where you don't have as much of your
3547s early game
3550s cards yeah this is
3553s uh what the fifth sixth anomaly we've
3558s seen maybe seventh but I don't even know
3560s if we want to include
3563s the the yog
3566s cuz the Ys were never played
3568s uh-huh
3570s so that anomaly didn't count therez
3573s nobody got to make any use of it just
3575s dead card sitting in both players hand
3577s oh just side with bone spike in hand
3580s yeah knowing
3584s that uh the worms are
3589s there well it's awkward too you know
3592s turn one 14 that does not not line up
3596s well into any kind of damage based
3598s removal that Hunter can present this
3600s early
3601s on obviously you don't get a potion if
3605s it trades into one of the four ones
3606s because they die at the same time but
3608s even just presenting the threat of like
3610s okay next turn I can hero power get a
3614s potion while killing one of the four
3615s ones and then take out the other one you
3617s know that's definitely damage that the
3620s Rogue doesn't want to have to deal with
3621s and Hemlock not even going to bother
3625s running them
3640s out becomes a little bit difficult
3642s though because if you're not forcing
3644s levic to do anything he's able to just
3645s do whatever he
3647s wants and Temple is a real
3650s thing like these worms are what are
3652s they're just going to be useless for the
3654s rest of the game
3656s that's a little bit awkward well Rogues
3659s don't run fan of knives in standard
3662s these days
3664s so even though you know you'd like to
3667s get them down early it it's no small
3670s thing if you just play all three of the
3671s four ones in the same turn uh after you
3674s know swinging the board
3676s around yeah well the hard part is
3678s swinging the board around if you if the
3680s rogue's just consistently playing
3681s minions right uh and you're not
3684s answering them
3685s uh but that does make sense and we'll
3687s see if that's actually going to be able
3688s to happen bwing can come down next turn
3691s it's going to be a pretty big deal done
3694s oh the double green
3701s o question here is whether or not to
3704s break dance the putride I
3706s think what about the merlock
3709s holes no no I don't think it's ever that
3714s it's like a game in inside of a game
3716s yeah well the the dance is over pide is
3719s dead but he certainly did his job in
3721s terms of preventing those four ones from
3724s coming down in the early game
3733s there now the possibility of another
3736s double
3742s green yeah also just throw out the CH
3745s this too just for another 3-2 on the
3753s board got a rush nice great oh rush and
3757s a five five that is nice fantastic
3761s results
3764s Y and yeah if the trades aren't good we
3767s don't take
3768s them uh a little bit risky going into
3771s the star power turn
3773s but
3776s you do know that three of the cards are
3778s four
3779s ones
3787s yep okay yep this makes sense to
3799s be that uh Knight of the Dead should it
3802s come down Mana thirsted is
3805s healing in addition to being very high
3808s stats for the cost so I think levic is
3811s happy to be able to take advantage of
3813s the break dance rush to trade in there
3816s uh sort of hedge against a star power
3820s and then also have this tool in his back
3822s pocket for later on in the game of you
3824s know healing for I I believe it's five
3831s yeah double ricochets end up being
3834s pretty good here double Ricochet and
3835s just throw out all three
3844s worms leave a 3-2 which is awkward but
3847s hey can't win them
3852s all I'm not seeing the second Ricochet
3856s unless it's guaranteed off the trinket
3858s tracker he played it oh okay
3861s gotcha
3863s yeah
3865s yeah he played the first one and then
3867s thought for a very long time about the
3868s second one sh
3872s yeah but coming down at this later stage
3875s does make for easy pickings on these
3879s know smaller damage effects from levic
3882s and get that perjury
3885s down uh looks like a pretty good agar
3887s turn though yeah easy slam especially
3891s before a potential uh Mage secret yeah
3895s yeah seems good do have to think about
3898s what you want from it however um because
3903s I can
3907s see uh Merit to all three
3912s choices yeah I mean it's it's always
3914s like which which do you want three
3917s instances of do you want know three
3919s taunts do you want three cards do you
3922s want six more damage and
3925s yeah think basically if you are going
3929s face with the weapon then you maybe take
3931s the immune if you're going to clear I
3935s would probably lean towards the 3
3938s three yeah I think clearing here oh no
3942s okay clearing here and then like
3945s protecting
3947s Titan for next turn could be
3950s good we are coming into the krabat TOA
3953s turn so this is going to get cleared off
3955s pretty easily but that's just netting
3957s some some damage here um hilock could
3960s just swing into the kraa
3963s which uh is quite good yeah this weapon
3966s does sacrifice damage but you kind of
3967s need to remove it at this point the the
3969s rare instance of you know okay we we
3972s have to send five damage not face so
3974s that we can protect ourselves although
3976s could be a double conjured Arrow instead
3979s on the
3983s krava HM after checking for uh secret of
3994s course that's a lot of card potential
3997s with howon you know each of those is
3998s drawing
3999s three
4004s yeah good check just with an Arcane shot
4007s here but no just going to rip the
4011s Contra at that point I mean maybe
4013s figuring hey I don't need multiples of
4015s these I would rather get the hidden
4017s meaning
4019s down cuz in in a sense hidden meaning
4022s goes
4029s face more secrets will also make that
4032s Starr strong bow cheaper should they be
4043s activated
4050s okay oh and snap mixtape coming out with
4055s the Titan Forge traps now the way this
4057s works is you do end up discovering Rogue
4059s Secrets because uh any class that you
4062s know gets something from another class
4064s that says discover Secrets you'll always
4066s discover from your own pool unless it's
4069s specifies
4071s yeah you could cheat death and play The
4073s Night of the Dead
4077s because it is man thirsted now true yeah
4079s yeah and it cost one
4082s Mana um if after it was cheat death
4086s back that's a I mean that's a yeah
4089s respectable amount of Health that uh the
4092s concoct okay I guess the hidden meeting
4094s was not played last turn and second
4096s concoct being cheat death is actually
4098s not terrible either so right right it
4102s also
4103s then you know kind of makes it a little
4107s less obvious right
4111s yeah and the order is such that if they
4115s die from the same effect like a star
4117s power it will be the the KN that returns
4121s yeah there's not a clean way for hemlock
4122s to really just remove this one to you
4124s don't want to sink four damage into it
4126s so the N of the Dead's the minion that
4127s would very likely die I think this
4130s Arcane shot is the
4132s last um one cost spell in the deck play
4137s both ricochets both Arcane shots in hand
4139s and both
4140s Tremors it is a lot of
4142s damage uh with the global spell damage
4148s effect we have Celestial
4153s Arrow
4155s or Arcane shot then would be 6 10 the
4159s second Arcane shot would be 13 18 20
4165s yeah I mean it's it's really adding up
4167s for sure and I think you're kind of
4169s happy with just
4171s maybe you know clear these with the star
4174s power develop a little bit more uh keep
4177s pushing
4180s face cuz nice as that healing is it uh
4184s doesn't address the fact there's a
4185s couple of four ones in play and I think
4188s a lot of us were surprised just to see
4190s how these 4 ones end up playing out in
4193s terms of their ility to just acre damage
4197s over the course of a
4209s game our gift ofo Shields
4217s us aelor might have to come down early
4221s the aelor 8 just to to Ping these off
4223s the board
4225s yeah
4229s um I'd didn't be tempted to play double
4233s cross here cuz if you're daggering
4235s you're not really doing much you could
4237s Shadow step the night of the
4239s Dead just for an extra
4242s five knowing that asor is
4245s there to clean the board
4248s upo
4251s soon yeah it's a tough call for me
4253s between the extra five healing and the
4256s double
4258s cross double cross you don't know if
4261s you're going to get it uh this I can see
4263s as well
4264s cuz you know you're taking that four
4267s damage either way so you may as well
4268s clear the minion he's dead and it makes
4272s it harder for both of these to get
4273s cleared at least by any minion damage
4279s yeah so there is lethal I
4282s believe uh but Hemlock does not know
4285s what the secret is it's an explosive
4286s Rune so we can see that it doesn't
4287s matter to what Hemlock is trying to do
4289s he knows that it's not ice barrier so he
4291s needs to decide or think if he has
4293s lethal through a potential counter
4296s spell uh which I still think he
4299s does um you just throw the Arcane shot
4301s out there first the first one because
4303s that's just the three damage even if
4305s it's counter spell Celestial Arrow
4309s Celestial Arrow that's eight plus 2 plus
4314s two so
4316s 12 H if he place a hidden meaning he
4318s doesn't have it I think I just throw an
4319s Arcane shot to
4339s test wait what got to move fast okay
4343s with the yep yeah he still got
4346s there
4350s okay yeah realized that maybe would
4353s not have had lethal if he Arcane shoted
4357s it and it was counter spell mhm it might
4360s have been one Mana
4362s off
4364s um he used up all those cards and
4366s wouldn't have had enough Mana for the
4368s bow if he had done it but uh regardless
4370s takes the victory yep testing with the
4372s secret you know
4374s um a spell that you don't care about
4377s losing and
4378s then uh yeah just enough Mana with
4381s having access to both of the Arcane
4382s shots and still the the hero power to
4384s fill in for the extra two that would
4386s come off of the celestial so well played
4389s Hemlock uh you know remember this is the
4392s uh second player besides pocket train I
4394s believe who has been in all of the top
4395s eights this year and it really
4398s shows yeah now can add uh another top
4401s four to that resume so well done and um
4407s you know that like we had talked about
4410s the one thing about the Arcane Hunter is
4411s just you can you can beat it you can
4414s beat it twice in a row but beating it
4415s three times in the row is just very
4417s difficult eventually they're going to
4419s find a way to piece things together and
4421s I like the way lovic played that he
4423s played Super aggressive went for like
4424s the double green potion or got the
4427s double green potion and just tried to
4428s play Super for Tempo and it did put a
4430s lot of pressure but the double Ricochet
4433s shot into the star power is able to keep
4434s things clean and by time with the Titan
4437s which you
4438s foreshadowed uh I need to sacrifice
4442s damage to buy time so that I can deal
4444s more damage and that's exactly what
4446s happened because more damage did
4449s come yeah I mean the deck just has so
4452s much available particularly when you do
4454s have howon that early so everything has
4457s that that one bit of extra damage we
4459s didn't even see any of the uh two drops
4463s that
4464s you know extra spell damage to all the
4466s cards in your hand so uh yeah there's
4469s there's so much available that often
4471s times using that immune weapon is just a
4474s flexible tool of either you get it as
4476s nanite axe going face or can just use it
4479s to buy more time yeah that's right but
4481s hemlocks going to be moving on uh to the
4484s semifinals going to face off against the
4486s winner of pocket train versus W them
4489s which I believe is our next one so that
4491s should be a fantastic match but we we're
4493s just getting started for it that's just
4494s match one which means we have six more
4496s to go before we Crown a winner uh and
4499s Crown our fall Champion but before we
4501s get into our next quarterfinal we are
4502s going to have to go to a quick break but
4503s don't go anywhere more action to come
4505s here from the Hearthstone Master T fall
4507s Championship don't go
4518s [Music]
4522s anywhere
4535s [Music]
4553s [Music]
4570s [Music]
4582s w
4585s [Music]
4598s [Music]
4606s [Music]
4612s n
4625s [Music]
4648s [Music]
4676s [Music]
4732s he
4750s [Music]
4756s [Music]
4762s he
4764s [Music]
4809s [Music]
4821s [Music]
4836s [Music]
4847s [Music]
4850s hello everybody and welcome back to the
4852s Hearthstone Max tour fall Championship
4854s my name is TJ and I'm joined by the one
4856s the only it's Neil Linda Bond AKA you
4860s can just call me Linda please how you
4862s doing bud I am doing great especially
4865s with what we've got coming up next TJ
4867s and I don't know how it's going for you
4869s but this is going flying by this
4871s tournament it's like everyone's brought
4872s all these aggro decks even the control
4873s decks just kill you now it's been a
4876s weird tournament for me like I'm so used
4877s to grindy slow tournaments but we're
4879s we're whizzing
4881s through whizzing on through yeah um I
4885s was expecting a little bit more in terms
4888s of like slower control decks you know I
4890s thought there'd be a little bit more
4891s control priest I thought control Warrior
4893s will come out and not be banned as often
4894s but we're not we're just not seeing it
4897s uh we're seeing combo and pseudo Agro
4902s and Rogue which does not have an
4903s archetype outside of just being called
4905s Rogue but uh this is a second match of
4907s the day let's go and take a look at the
4908s bracket um see how things have shaping
4910s up if you're just now tuning in we just
4912s got to watch Hemlock take a 3-1 victory
4915s over levik to make it to the semi-finals
4917s now we got pocket train versus ream
4920s coming up and uh this is a big one this
4922s is a real big one tell us why it's a big
4925s one it's a big one because it's big TJ
4929s really big um both these players have
4932s sort of helped along with bface and mey
4935s sort of put this program on their back
4936s this year and chose to stream large
4939s chunks of their action throughout the
4940s year so we've seen how the points have
4942s been gathered that have got them here
4944s firsthand and and that takes some doing
4947s right you you're streaming the game
4948s you're trying to finish rank one Legend
4950s and regularly doing so especially if
4952s you're pocket train um and still also
4956s talking to viewers and generally showing
4959s everything it's it's just incredible to
4960s me how they've gone with it and these
4962s have been two of the biggest proponents
4963s of that so fair play to them um in terms
4967s of qualification for worlds it's
4968s slightly less big than some of the other
4970s matches because pocket train barring
4973s disaster will make it through on points
4974s and Rec vanan probably will as well so
4976s they're both in a good spot but there's
4978s a lot of money at stake as well there
4979s 10,000 first prize in this tournament we
4981s we don't talk about that that often but
4983s it's still a huge chunk of
4984s change and you know pocket's taking
4987s seriously so he's brought rainbow Mage
4989s TJ rainbow Mage rainbow Mage looking at
4994s sort of the quote unquote Tech
4996s inclusions not much of it um well you
5001s just play all the expensive stuff and no
5003s solid
5004s Alibi uh some we see some players
5006s playing the solid Alibi but they got to
5008s cut an elemental inspiration they got to
5010s cut the
5012s norgon uh something along those lines um
5016s but this is the uh version I prefer if
5018s you really need a solid outby just
5020s discover one right you know um yeah
5024s that's how I that's my outlook on life
5028s just do what I want and if I really need
5030s something just find it if you you really
5033s need an Al just ask all your friends
5034s until you get one
5037s yeah exactly you get
5041s it um his opponent is going to be
5047s ragam there really up for this aren't
5049s they so early in the morning and by
5051s early in the morning I don't know what
5052s time it is here like 5:00 p.m. or
5054s something I was about to say it's not
5056s even not not even close to morning even
5060s for me morning in the old
5063s it's not the morning you get at like or
5066s something to get fed by the dogs or
5068s something no I slept in today I didn't
5070s wake up until like
5072s 620 620 I don't even have a 6 or 20 on
5075s my clock I just get up and it's a time
5078s yeah it's weird it's still dark out here
5080s at 620 at least until next week when the
5082s the clocks go back wait does that make
5085s it worse no that makes it get an hour
5087s extra in bed is what they say but
5088s actually you get the same amount of time
5089s in bed and the arbitrary number on your
5092s clock is different
5093s [Music]
5094s yeah well like here's the we have alarms
5099s but kids and dogs do not so they're
5102s going to be up when they their bodies
5104s think that it's six which will be now be
5108s five yeah so um good for them changes
5112s nothing Hey look it's a through yeah he
5114s got through on this yesterday um looked
5117s like he wasn't going to win and got the
5118s wind Fury to get through on the the
5120s final card of the final game of the day
5123s of the final Tournament of the Year
5126s final Masters Tour Tournament of the
5128s year
5129s and looks like he's going to have to do
5132s it again obviously pocket train has the
5133s same deck the only difference in their
5135s lineup is that ream has that shadow
5137s priest whereas pocket has
5140s the
5142s Sharman um both of which are I I saw St
5145s and Raven talking about Shaman as if it
5146s was like winning everything really
5148s easily but I don't think we've had that
5150s experience where we've cast have we
5151s we've seen Shaman struggle some somewh
5153s uh not well in the last series uh levic
5157s just kind of tempo a win with Shaman uh
5160s which can happen uh it's not as common
5164s uh but it can happen so there was that
5167s um in terms of like like straight up
5169s combo no we haven't seen it it's been a
5173s Struggle Bus a little bit you say it's
5176s not as common to see it win on Tempo I
5179s think I've seen one bioluminescence cast
5181s like all tournament f
5183s well yeah it's like out of 10 games like
5187s two you win with combo two you win with
5190s Tempo and then six you
5194s lose like that's been our experience
5197s with the uh the Mage throughout
5199s throughout the weekend I feel that's a
5201s pretty good description of uh Shaman's
5204s history in the master fall
5206s Championship uh but we got Mage versus
5208s Rogue coming up right now so uh let's sh
5213s Let's uh shift gears
5215s deal that was close TJ that was close um
5219s the Mage is interesting cuz I think it's
5220s the most powerful deck there is but in
5222s the tournament if you do all the
5223s matchups Mage in theory is the weakest
5226s because everyone's brought their decks
5227s knowing they've got to face the Mage
5229s that being said the stats yesterday
5231s showed that Mage was still running at
5233s 56% um towards the end of yesterday so
5236s it's getting it done despite being soft
5239s targeted you can't Hard Target this deck
5240s it's just got too many moving parts to
5243s Target but it it's doing really well
5247s which isn't particularly
5250s surprising oh no what do you do without
5253s a weapon pocket TR is going to have to
5254s teach
5255s us I
5257s mean still a good hand reverberations
5261s versus me Rogue yep want one of those
5264s thanks yeah just having something to
5267s kill the first Mech without spending the
5270s coin also good this is
5274s I'm on boor I'm on board with this this
5276s is this is tough to deal with I mean
5278s he's going to have to play the oh he was
5280s going to have to play the worm to get
5281s the bolt so he's got reverberations coin
5283s ping next turn with the bolt but this is
5285s now giving him a decision does he want
5287s to try and kill the mechs or does he
5288s want to just make a million skeletons
5290s and four fours and kill his opponent
5292s before they kill him so now he's got to
5294s visualize the whole
5296s game against mechro it's kind of tough
5298s to kill your opponent before they kill
5300s you if you're not addressing their
5303s bardor
5305s um so I don't really like that game plan
5309s but if you can do both simultaneously
5311s then yeah amen um so you can go you
5315s could go keyboard into reverberation but
5318s it's just going to want to have
5319s something on the board multiple attacks
5321s right yeah has reverberation to deal
5323s with one big thing and now has attacks
5325s on board to deal with one big thing plus
5328s a small thing and it gives him the bolt
5330s as well right which means he can rever
5331s bolt if he needs need to on something
5334s terrifying
5340s yeah talk about a lot of moving
5345s Parts if I'm picking up lots of I know
5348s they're not spare parts but they're
5349s spare parts come on give me that one
5352s yeah come on be be honest with yourself
5355s you know you've got to
5360s be it kind of requires answer as well
5362s otherwise the the card Advantage will
5364s get out of
5366s hand well the card the card renewal it's
5368s never going to be an advantage cuz Mage
5370s always has a million cards but
5376s yeah all right choosing not to
5383s panic four Mana crap TJ how do you like
5389s that yeah this one's this one's done so
5394s the only question really is do you want
5395s to trade first so that your crab people
5398s don't get killed or do you want to trade
5400s with the crap
5402s [Music]
5403s people the claws if you will I I think
5407s you can uh trade first throw the tutu
5411s Devon shield into one of the skellies
5413s then kboa and throw the
5416s uh crab thing so to elaborate on that
5420s point even further next turn you've got
5422s any and you want to make sure one your
5423s me is
5424s alive okay this turn you've got in it go
5427s for
5428s it we don't
5430s need it's going wide going real wide
5435s we're kind of in need of an inquisitive
5437s creation right now I would
5440s say yeah and you're going to get stomped
5442s next turn as well so doubly in need of
5445s it yeah and it's it's not even like that
5450s good it's only at three damage right cuz
5452s it's only been frosted fire that have
5454s been
5455s played um Reverb is not terrible here
5459s cuz you can Reverb on the
5462s ined um sure and and even ah you can't
5466s clear off both if you can't because it's
5468s reverbed so yeah
5472s yeah but you can like
5475s Reverb trade and then play a flame
5479s Elemental right cool uh or you can
5482s artificer Reverb that probably better
5485s just try and G A little bit of Health
5486s while you
5488s can oh it's horrible yeah it's all bad
5492s it's all bad
5495s reality yeah he's doing it but this is
5498s be grudging not you know he's not
5500s excited about
5503s this
5508s wow the only thing I guess that is
5510s happening here is Rec V's not piling on
5512s the damage I he's won the board he's
5514s going to get a stomper
5518s down or a
5520s spoa oh my so many
5529s options so pocket does have a little bit
5532s of
5536s time so normally it's instant spider
5538s right but I think the reason re's paying
5540s attention there is you know he's a
5542s Reverb go so the stealth's slightly less
5545s useful than usual some Worlds the coin
5548s was very
5550s tempting but yeah look at this with the
5552s Titan next turn oh my
5564s goodness
5566s yeah no aliis right in this
5569s deck
5571s nope if you really need one though you
5573s can find one got a lot of
5575s reverbs yeah oh no another
5581s spider 12 on board
5585s spider it's so expensive to play the
5588s spider because of the way the Mana works
5590s out
5593s but I
5600s wonder put your a opponent to 15 and
5603s just have a lot of stuff with Titan back
5604s up they keep making bigger boards okay
5607s yeah I think with
5609s stomper you don't really need the
5611s stealth like it's a 79 Reverb is the
5613s only way but Reverb I guess Reverb
5618s ping oh no you can't Reverb ping only
5620s going into six Mana so it shuts off
5622s Reverb ping which was pretty much the
5624s only thing that could answer it yeah no
5627s bolt no yeah cuz of all the yeah sure
5629s that
5631s works
5636s yeah close is
5640s it now this
5642s uh sick jazz flute is
5647s just perfectly apt for the situation at
5651s hand just explain further to those of us
5654s who aren't into jazz
5656s flutes I wouldn't say that I'm an
5658s individual who's into jazz flutes but I
5661s mean you seem to
5664s maybe yeah that's going to do it pocket
5668s train I mean it wasn't a terrible start
5670s It's
5672s just sometimes if Mech Rogue has a good
5674s start you need a perfect start in order
5677s to answer it and that just didn't happen
5680s for pocket train so ream gets a quick
5683s Victory with still quite a few choice in
5685s that game right pocket train had the
5686s choice to play weapon into coin Cold
5688s Case try and fight for board that way um
5692s obviously you don't know exactly what
5694s the Rogue is going to do whether they're
5695s going to stealth whether they just going
5696s to make a big thing whether they're
5697s going to go wide but he thought long and
5700s hard about that decision and ream had
5701s the choice when to play the
5703s stomper really good decision to play the
5706s in when he did I think you and I just
5707s saw crab play crab course it was the
5709s right maloc cost it cleared the board
5711s and it looked
5712s great uh so even though it was a short
5714s game there were still decisions being
5715s made there which I think people Overlook
5717s sometimes in those aggro games that take
5718s five
5720s turns yeah I think kbor probably would
5723s have been also good in that situation
5727s right yeah that's why I missed the play
5728s I saw the kbor I think I win if I play
5731s this krabat TOA so my brain then stops
5734s looking for better options
5737s yeah yeah what's better than winning
5740s winning
5742s better yeah finding a a use for any in a
5746s situation where any may not have been
5748s able to come down whereas kboa is always
5751s an option option um ended up just
5754s ditching it
5755s anyway with the gear shift
5758s but it is what it
5760s is um but now ream still with the the
5764s priest oh we're going to get to see the
5765s priest see if that can take some
5769s wins the shadow priest it's the shadow
5772s priest yeah which is
5774s fine which is fine as opposed to control
5778s priest which is absolutely not
5780s fine
5782s uh control piece is fine it doesn't it
5785s didn't get through we saw there's just
5786s one in the tournament right they didn't
5788s get through oh it's balance he's through
5790s so yeah we'll see balance in our fourth
5794s and final quarterfinal which is the
5797s exact correct number of control priests
5799s for a tournament one and I don't cast it
5802s it's
5803s fine I do cast it so actually should be
5806s pretty fun yeah hey I I I I practiced
5809s Shell PS for quite a long time this week
5813s PR yeah Shadow priest doesn't seem like
5816s a Neil kind of deck you know Shadow
5818s priest I've played Shadow priest for
5819s weeks um during one of the gem
5821s Seasons weeks Yeah well yeah cuz it was
5825s like the only
5827s deck it's like what do I practice I
5829s haven't already practiced n nothing I'll
5831s just play shadow piece again of it's the
5833s best
5837s deck now and thinks it is as well
5840s certainly not yeah it's going to be a
5842s bit awkward this
5844s deck it can be I mean it can have starts
5847s that are just impossible to beat
5850s but like everything outside of that is
5853s just quite mediocre so you're just
5856s hoping you know your other decks get a
5859s get a like a sweep going on you're up 20
5861s you got three chances for the shadow
5862s priest you got three chances to just
5865s draw the absolute nuts
5867s so I think nutshell wow I think this is
5871s very much a fourth deck tournament as
5873s well like the shaman has been a lot of
5875s fourth decks I think again S and R were
5877s talking about this in different light
5879s yesterday um the control priest we've
5882s seen Triant Druid in that slot we've
5885s seen all kinds of stuff the thing that
5888s hasn't been the fourth deck has been the
5890s control Warrior which is running as like
5891s an 85% ban rate in this
5894s tournament yeah just good against the
5898s field that is here it's not necessarily
5900s the best deck in Hearthstone right now I
5901s think that might go to enrage
5903s Warrior but the control Warrior beats
5905s these things at a fair
5910s clip there you go that's how you play
5913s Mage keyboard coin Cold Case vam
5921s knows he just
5922s knows yeah and just pick a card on turn
5927s one yeah just literally literally
5930s just get a get a
5934s spell when you play discovery of Magic
5936s on turn one that's what it is and this
5938s cold case does everything I mean it does
5940s everything anyway but against Shaman in
5941s particular like two skeletons control
5943s the board four armor because you know
5945s you get low on health against Shaman and
5947s a four four because why wouldn't you
5949s want a four
5950s four lovely we
5953s go yeah pocket train with the very
5956s British sarcastic
5959s nod give the thumbs up last turn
5964s yeah he's applauding his friend ream
5966s nice to see such
5968s sportsmanship yeah wants to play inant
5970s next turn so does not want to overload
5972s with the feral Spirits no's going to
5975s just make two different spells happen my
5978s radi I got to watch pocket train for the
5981s entirity this time I don't care what he
5982s takes
5984s oh demonic Dynamics it's a fell you get
5988s two demons and they're
5990s buffed yeah we take that that probably
5992s he's trying to work out his next turn he
5994s probably wants to artifice and do some
5995s stuff next turn but I want the
5999s Dynamics he's probably trying to recall
6001s like are there any actual useful demons
6003s that heal me and stuff like
6006s that or are they all nine
6013s drops there's some pretty good
6017s ones he's just going he's just winning
6019s on Temple right now so
6021s that kind of helps with tempo right like
6024s it summons a tutu also so it's not like
6026s you're just sacrificing your he's
6028s thinking about Order in the Court right
6030s has has he got three turns lined up and
6032s he can just order
6034s now let's have a look at his list quick
6036s what are you looking for for order you
6038s want Elemental your good stuff
6042s right just going to check his exact list
6044s cuz they all slightly different
6046s lists I guess so he's got two Elemental
6048s Inspirations si in his hand then he gets
6050s norgan on
6052s two wisdoms which would be pretty cheap
6054s and Lady nzar basically in that
6057s order yeah cut out all the the little
6060s things like your your your bur basically
6063s but let's say this board gets dealt with
6066s like you have two turns before you're
6067s really doing much like you're not
6069s finding your your
6071s damage but he has another Prismatic I
6073s think that's what he spent so long
6074s thinking about but he's got the voice
6075s scripture as well so he's going to have
6076s two turns worth of stuff I think was
6079s his his thinking
6083s or rather one and a half and take your
6085s chance with the Prismatic if it gets
6087s tough
6089s like I like
6091s it yeah I just wanted demons and I'm
6095s really set upset right now but maybe
6097s this people who are raised by dogs
6100s probably want demons more often than
6101s average to be fair
6105s yeah this is just infinite
6108s stuff it kind of is like this is
6113s this is
6119s damage cl's up to 40
6123s already and flash of lightning is
6128s also I mean you're you're dumping the
6130s second crash for sure clear the board um
6134s because you also get to discover another
6135s nature
6136s spell and not really sacrificing much
6138s damage on top of
6140s it
6145s yep oh and the Titan picked up too
6148s that's this is a big swing it really is
6150s cuz now we're going into turn six which
6152s is the turn that you were saying was
6153s Ream's awkward turn if he did go for
6158s the the order he will pick up uh noran
6162s on next
6167s turn and then he's got double
6169s inspiration the two turns after that
6175s which one do you
6177s fancy ah I
6179s mean probably norgon just so Titan can't
6182s be
6183s played but you're then you're leaving up
6186s the radiance but you don't really have a
6187s way to deal with the radiance anyway
6188s unless you use noron for
6193s damage but that could be worth
6196s though well you got Prismatic into Cold
6199s Case or whatever you pick up from the
6200s Prismatic so you then got better element
6204s next turn you still you still leave up
6206s the radiance I think noran on into
6209s damage might just be the best just get
6211s get the radiance out of the way I don't
6214s disagree it's not often it's just used
6216s for straight up removal like that but
6218s this is a very high value minion that's
6220s a permanent there it's double reduction
6222s next turn if the radiance lives cuz
6224s there was a flash of lightning plate as
6226s well
6229s y tough cool will your and this was
6233s always going to be the tough turn if
6234s things went wrong for him compr okay
6238s okay what with disruption so with
6241s there's uh one overload so the Titan
6243s can't be played but
6245s wait wait I'm waiting I'm
6249s waiting it's not
6252s lethal wait I'm waiting
6256s again now no it's not even close there's
6259s only two damage spells in hand uhhuh
6264s well you know sometimes that's enough
6265s just depends what the Spells are but for
6267s Shaman I sort of
6273s agree I mean you you might
6276s just all right just one crash totem plus
6280s one crash and then clear it off pretty
6283s lackluster turn but what are you going
6284s to do you
6288s know okay so there was two norgan under
6291s and a nasja if he plays this he gets
6293s the the other wisdom and the lady nasja
6297s the two next cards in his deck and then
6299s we're into volume ups and inquisitive
6301s Creations after
6305s that I
6309s wonder if you get to those Creations
6311s still on a decent Health total that
6313s might be
6319s nice
6322s this is really tricky navigation here
6324s for
6334s recam impressed by
6336s my
6338s [Music]
6341s display the call of
6347s sh he the call of
6349s what
6352s so what do you on about
6354s GES I I voice lines I struggle to pick
6357s out I play with sound off actually used
6359s to play with sound off a lot I play with
6360s it on these days because you know I play
6363s sound
6364s off all right double so many flashes
6367s dead he dead dead dead dead
6372s dead
6379s dead
6383s dead dead so much damage dead
6389s dead this double flash last turn
6393s too Ino was played yeah in's down flash
6397s at least single
6398s flash possibly double what
6401s this I thought it might be double but
6403s we'll see so is it down to just play
6406s your uh yeah your Prismatic and
6409s Hope
6411s what are you hoping for
6414s um
6417s bug something gains me 27
6423s armor yeah was about the best he can do
6426s but he knows like he just drew his like
6429s his entire deck over the past couple
6431s turns used one crash I mean we're
6434s actually lacking
6436s damage it might not matter that
6439s overdraft is like a million
6443s cuz it's only the
6445s crash and turn the
6452s tides but
6454s it's he can play everything so it's plus
6456s seven spell damage yeah plus eight spell
6459s damage twice plus 16 spell damage so it
6462s doesn't even matter what you do yeah
6465s okay he's good it's literally two direct
6468s damage spells yeah this is TJ who few
6471s seconds ago said it's only two direct
6472s damage
6474s spells yeah turns out they could do a
6476s lot of damage take 21 Noob take 19
6482s more and it's one all just like that and
6484s re had a really good start and the
6487s decision in this game was that Order in
6488s the Court which I I quite liked uh but
6491s you you did you wanted demons you wanted
6494s the temple on the board you didn't think
6496s you get to turn seven comfortably and
6498s you read it all
6499s right
6502s yeah it yeah it's just tough right um he
6506s was hoping that like norgon would buy
6508s time to get to turn seven comfortably
6510s like the one uncomfortable turn he could
6513s block with norgon making the the cards
6515s cost more but it didn't really stop
6518s pocket train much because he popped off
6520s the turn prior to that um and pocket
6523s train also knew was coming he knew it
6524s was in the hand so he knew when to
6526s pressure like it gives your opponent
6528s information it makes it so you you can't
6531s get creative with your plays because you
6532s know exactly what's going to be drawn
6535s like I at that point I wouldn't even
6536s really care about the demons I would
6538s just yeah I don't know um Elemental
6542s inspiration though is incredibly
6544s important in in that match up I feel
6546s because a lot of times they'll kill you
6548s before you can like get Sith uh and kill
6551s them like their combo happens much
6553s faster than yours so you need the minion
6556s pressure and the way to do that is
6557s Elemental inspiration
6558s but um like in order to get
6562s there maybe you just try and get there
6565s naturally instead of doing it the other
6567s way and then go with the demons to try
6568s and buy some Tempo along the way well
6571s pocket train was one who got there
6572s naturally in the end with the with the
6574s nature Shaman
6577s so we we're down to Mages Rogues and
6580s Priests pocket train slight advantage in
6583s my eyes here because he's got the what
6585s we've been calling the fourth deck out
6587s of the way I don't know how other people
6589s seeing Shaman it's definitely up for de
6590s wa but the shaman or the priest here I
6592s think are the fourth decks in this
6593s lineup that's my opinion and he's got
6596s his
6596s through
6600s yep I'm still worried about the
6603s priest I think yeah I mean there's only
6606s one of them in the tournament quite
6607s often that's a sign you're either going
6608s to win the tournament or you've brought
6610s the wrong deck but it hasn't looked too
6614s bad it's
6616s okay why are you worried about it what
6618s worries you about Shadow priest
6621s that's just about everything to be
6622s honest
6626s with what doesn't wor you about it so we
6629s can eliminate
6631s something uh like
6636s the uh I don't know the crazy
6640s starts yeah they can be good they can
6643s pull off a lot of
6645s times notably with like undying allies
6649s into like banshees and arm dealers and
6654s eggs and then they live and it's
6657s impossible to remove because if you
6658s remove the reborn Banshee it just Buffs
6661s everything else comes back and you can't
6664s do anything about it yeah yeah those the
6666s starts that can just kill you it's
6668s basically a bad version of Mech Rogue
6670s isn't it it just does the same thing but
6671s not as
6673s well uh they have more
6676s direct direct he weing at is he waving
6679s at us
6681s oh okay production was telling him to
6684s wave at at
6685s us he was requested to wave he's done
6688s everything else this season he's
6688s streamed his tournaments he's you know
6691s tweeted out various events and times
6693s he's talked to casters about you know
6695s situations and who's going to get to
6696s Worlds and stuff and now we're making
6698s him jump and wave at us he's done
6700s everything he's done it all now he's
6702s he's lead on the point with
6705s we the production team was probably like
6708s you're on camera and then he literally
6710s didn't move or change his facial
6711s expression at all yeah this is re being
6714s asked to wave and then they yelled and
6716s said wave or something then he gave his
6719s awkward little wave in his slice
6721s smk like I'm not here to wave I'm here
6724s to play Hearthstone a pokey train likes
6726s to
6730s wave I mean w waving can be pretty
6734s fun if you do it
6736s correctly can you can you do it wrongly
6738s how do you how do you wave wrongly
6743s you you'd know it if you saw it you'd
6745s know it if you saw it
6749s okay
6754s reality it's a
6756s major yep if only they could combine
6759s their hands into one super
6764s hand a what's happening they've to wave
6769s he was freaking out see that's weaving
6771s wrongly right there it's exactly I told
6774s you I told you you knew it if you saw it
6777s I saw it and I knew
6780s it interesting here that um in this
6782s mirror where the keyboard is a big deal
6785s cuz you end up getting so much Tempo
6786s because of his hand pocket train has
6787s chosen not to play the keyboard and just
6789s kept the pressure on
6792s board um it's not the end of the game if
6795s you go two into four and he hasn't got
6797s the four um as Mage versus Mage in the
6799s mirror because the Other M can still
6800s generate massive Tempo but it's a
6803s surprisingly big Tempo match up the
6805s mirror you don't have time to mess
6807s around and wait for C you just got to
6808s hit him with the
6810s stuff oh Blessing of Kings see that's
6813s how Tempo he pocket sees
6818s it oh my
6823s goodness it's one of those double
6828s whammies now he's established the
6830s keyboard the blessing oh TJ oh yeah oh
6833s it's juice look at all this
6836s stuff oh it's so good gets out of um
6841s creation range this needs to be good o
6848s Vis Vis I think you're
6852s fine Vis excuse me you okay yeah that's
6857s better
6859s ha what what do you Raven calls it by
6863s age I don't
6864s know yeah something like
6867s that he's just jamming his turns holy
6871s moly here's my stuff I'm going to hit
6873s you with it because I've got the bird to
6874s finish it off this is how the mirror
6876s goes again Sith what's a cth you just
6879s just just make things they are going to
6881s get unmade though for the large
6884s part
6885s yep o i Mana away from being able to do
6889s cool stuff
6892s oh uh too
6894s late I think you take
6900s equality puts everything in ping
6908s range but getting into burn range there
6911s is no armor gain for re in hand at the
6916s moment all this power is mine to me well
6920s Cold
6922s Case apart from the cold case this is
6924s what I was looking for and just didn't
6925s see as it was hidden there behind all
6927s the other cards
6929s obviously it's my
6932s excuse and it's a good one I don't think
6935s it is stick to it I'm sticking to it
6937s anyway but I don't think it is so what
6939s we got here weapon
6941s equality Cold Case and just work out do
6944s you want to one one from the equality or
6945s do you not want to one one from the
6946s equality that's what comes to mind to do
6953s I don't think you
6954s do because you're getting um Inquisitor
6957s or or creation I mean or because it's
6961s just a one one and it's
6962s rubbish because it's a one- one and it's
6964s rubbish
6966s okay I wonder sounds so unnatural say
6970s rubbish don't like it it's
6977s icky still have your seven seven next
6979s turn
6982s next I said next turn is if there's
6984s going to be one that was clever wasn't
6988s it I
6993s was it's got to move though he really
7003s has yep he agrees with you one one's a
7005s rubbish they're not good they're not
7007s they're not what you desire to have
7010s yep a decent swing but pocket Train's
7013s got uh answers lined up his own in
7016s inquisitive
7019s creation actually just rip an elemental
7021s inspiration off the top that sounds good
7023s too yeah chip another
7032s one
7034s uh I think he just got he's got to just
7037s do his
7038s own uh
7042s tra go like double go four4 trade then a
7045s Skelly
7047s trade uh what was it how many is it four
7051s three ah no I was going to go
7056s [Music]
7061s reeverb what do you even do what to do
7065s what to do I think it's
7068s three
7080s good shot another good shot look at them
7083s go yeah that was uh quite good actually
7086s sharp shooting from the skeletons I
7087s think worked out that was his best
7089s chance to win as well I don't I think
7090s while he got the roles he was looking
7092s for I think he looked at the line you
7094s were talking about was like okay but do
7096s I ever
7097s win yeah cuz you then you just get blown
7099s out by uh inquisitive
7102s creation test counter spell first with a
7106s spell that doesn't really matter that
7114s much yeah it's a little afterwards after
7117s you take it it comes
7119s back Bo gets
7128s me that one
7130s yeah that is the best it's the best one
7132s for sure all right now it's got to be
7135s Elemental inspiration hope for Rush
7137s five okay there's one Rush no
7143s taunt no life steal
7147s eight will be your salvation so much
7152s that's just you are
7154s un yeah could do you could do it either
7156s way you could use things first and then
7161s deal 10 or you can just copy it
7163s immediately deal five
7165s twice
7170s prer 10's more impactful looking isn't
7172s it you really blow your opponent out of
7174s the
7175s [Music]
7178s water all right pocket tra one game
7181s away from a semi-final against
7184s [Music]
7186s H that was
7188s uh look like re was like on the verge
7192s potentially mhm of a comeback just need
7194s to stabilize once but Elemental
7197s inspiration coming off the top then the
7199s norgan on and the reeverb was enough to
7201s finish it out could have been a number
7203s of burn spells right and even being that
7206s low like it's it can be tough right um
7211s so was able to get the job done in the
7215s mirror had a slight Advantage with the
7218s opening hand but fl's hand kind of
7220s caught up um it got better it did yeah
7225s get getting the weapon as
7227s well yeah catching right up but yeah
7230s this this ended it who needs Order in
7231s the Court when you just get the cards
7233s you need in the right order anyway
7234s that's that's the best way to do it yep
7237s so now only deck remaining for pocket
7239s train is going to be the
7241s Rogue which we'll see fine is
7246s right
7248s so has a decent chance obviously two
7251s shots of this
7254s no which is hard for
7260s him necro is probably the scariest deck
7263s for me in like a match against a good
7267s player like in the hands of a good
7268s player cuz there's so many it may seem
7271s like this super super oh both players
7273s have plus one attack on their turns
7275s that's actually really good for wck them
7277s yep i' I'd say um because he can clean
7281s up like Divine
7283s shields uh and you know like two ones he
7286s can keep control of the board a little
7287s bit better so and Ream's minions are a
7292s little bit more durable in the sense
7293s that the plus one attack may not matter
7295s that much or as much I'd say that uh
7298s this slightly favors ream in terms of um
7303s the power of this anomaly yeah getting
7304s rid a Divine Shield is a big deal I ran
7306s some Paladin the other day and whenever
7308s this came up I was like okay well
7310s that beats me obviously Mech Rog is a
7312s bit different to Paladin cuz it C takes
7314s you like eight health to take a shield
7315s off but even
7320s so rest of Ream's hand though hasn't
7323s turned out as he would have hoped no no
7327s no no
7333s [Music]
7334s no not particularly
7338s good
7344s okay not going to use the coin just
7345s going to go for Valle in a in a hit here
7350s fine with that I was thinking maybe you
7351s could just like mine sear and foul leg
7353s just to keep the board clean
7355s but I think this is
7359s fineway the m here next turn if there's
7361s only the one magnetic the m still clean
7363s the answers or if two mechs are played
7365s you could always hero power coin mines
7367s here to preserve your position on on the
7374s board need something here obviously he
7376s has got some sort of play but with a
7378s coin but really isn't going oh my
7385s goodness and if he doesn't top de
7386s something good next turn he's in a lot
7389s of trouble I feel yeah
7392s well grav digging could do some work but
7396s I don't know if there's going to be any
7397s trading going on with uh uh with paret
7400s train on the other
7403s [Music]
7404s end stealth first and ask questions
7406s later or ask questions now and then
7408s stealth up it's hard to
7410s know the ongoing debate with this card
7413s they go up to six and just get to answer
7415s by hero power so if you really want to
7416s keep the mech it'd be oh I guess you
7419s could trade and then just play the
7421s spoter afterwards
7423s [Music]
7428s yeah
7432s right what's he going to be for Ream he
7433s needs something to happen
7438s here don't keep your to
7441s yourself yeah that's an
7445s oh
7447s okay but now where you kind of want
7450s those cards to be
7453s played
7455s [Music]
7458s yeah if this all happened in a different
7460s order it' be so different for him
7465s but I guess next time you can only play
7467s one of them and then the turn after
7470s you'd rather have cheap stuff than play
7471s another four Mana thing is
7480s tough I must
7483s consider the Mind here is the big one
7486s right like the only real removal options
7496s yeah would he remember to
7501s swing yeah yeah of course he
7504s does okay Shadow word on death is pretty
7507s useful sometimes yeah I think this did
7511s improve the hand good
7518s amount
7525s 17
7536s though taking a million next turn from
7539s where he's at we can see it's not
7540s actually at this exact second that bad
7542s although hit will change things don't
7545s keep your thoughts to
7548s yourself it's all in
7552s your yeah just decid I can't just can't
7555s get rid of it not going to mess around
7556s just going to get what damage I can
7561s in trying to race him
7566s but not working out too well and he has
7569s more on board than pocket train in terms
7571s of attack but this Pit Stop will change
7573s things
7578s up
7580s he took that so quick oh my
7585s goodness four
7588s five
7591s damage
7593s yeah on board plus an extra
7597s nine it's not enough to clear it has to
7600s rely on the Mind
7603s eater okay
7607s well B Spike
7609s that's
7611s helpful is it it's not no it actually
7615s isn't kill it
7619s no you bone spike your mind
7624s eater um I think you have to don't
7638s you
7639s yourself no just going to effectively
7643s concede and that'll be the end for reim
7646s as pocket train takes the
7648s series 3 to
7650s one and uh that seems to be my
7654s experience with these shadow priests
7656s it's
7657s just it's you have all these expensive
7660s cards that have no effect on the board
7662s and it's like in the matchups where you
7664s just need reactive tools you're only
7665s finding proactive tools like that game
7667s the game where you only need prodct
7669s tools you're only finding the reacted
7670s tools so um a a risky bring from reim
7676s got him to the quarterfinal so obviously
7677s not that risky but wasn't able to go any
7680s further as the mech
7682s bro is going to take him down in that
7684s final game still a good series though uh
7686s I like that one very fast paac with some
7691s quite aggressive decks like you know
7693s above average in terms of how aggressive
7696s uh they actually were yeah and pocket
7700s train goes on to meet hemlocks and it
7702s was pocket train this morning who was S
7703s I was asking around a little bit you
7704s know things I might have missed and
7706s pocket Train's major point to me was do
7708s not undersell Hemlock Hemlock is in his
7711s third consecutive top eight he's a
7714s monster on ladder to play against you
7716s know the players are saying they don't
7717s like playing against Hemlock because
7719s he's just pretty tasty at the game so
7722s pocket TR gets to play Hemlock in that
7724s semifinal a player that he himself is
7727s making sure the cast is hype up so here
7728s I am hying up Hemlock Way Hemlock he's
7731s he's good Pocky train says so Pocky
7733s Train's good as well yeah maybe it's
7735s just uh you know Galaxy brain thinking
7738s from pocket train he's like well I know
7739s I'm going to beat reim and I know
7740s Hemlock is going to win the other
7741s quarterfinal but I don't actually think
7743s Hemlock is that good but I'm going to
7744s talk him up just so it's that much more
7745s impressive when I beat him in that semi
7747s yeah yeah it's like the old pro
7748s wrestling thing right you never put your
7750s oppon he's so good that if I beat him
7752s I'm just the best I'm the sickest if I
7755s beat him cuz he's the sickest yeah no I
7758s really think that it's a lot of respect
7760s for hemlock with the results like that
7762s it's got to be um but yeah that match is
7764s going to be coming up in two matches
7766s from now three matches from now for the
7768s first semi-final so that's definitely
7770s going to be one uh they want to stick
7771s around for but another one you want to
7773s stick around for is going to be MC
7774s Banner face versus wieku which is going
7775s to be our very next quarterfinal uh
7778s that's going to be coming up so we are
7780s going to have to go to a break before we
7781s jump into that one but don't go anywhere
7783s more Hearthstone match to fall
7784s Championship
7787s action
7817s I
7820s [Music]
7847s la
7851s [Music]
7858s [Music]
7866s [Music]
7876s [Music]
7892s [Music]
7907s a
7913s [Music]
7919s [Music]
7928s [Music]
7952s [Music]
7992s [Music]
8014s [Music]
8020s [Music]
8027s w
8031s [Music]
8036s [Music]
8041s [Music]
8057s o
8066s [Music]
8075s hello everyone and welcome back to
8077s Masters talk fall Championship I'm Raven
8079s and joining me for this next match is
8081s subtle little bit weird as well feel
8083s like I've just joined in halfway through
8084s the day as I've sat just been watching
8086s the first few matches but what have you
8088s made of it so far as we are you know
8091s pretty swiftly moving through the single
8092s elimination bracket yeah I was tweeting
8096s about this to the effect that I think
8097s the the top half of the bracket was
8099s incredibly stacked with the players who
8101s have had the most success at the top top
8103s top level like obviously we've talked a
8105s lot already about all the players who
8106s are being here like these this is the
8108s actual undeniable cream of the most
8111s committed most talented Hearthstone
8112s players that we have available to us
8114s this year but I really think that top
8116s four if you look like levik already
8117s going to world
8118s uh Hemlock consistently making it to top
8121s eight pocket train consistently making
8122s it to top eight uh Rec vam uh as well in
8126s that mix so those first two I kind of
8128s tweeted about them both to the same
8129s effect of like you're going to watch two
8131s incredibly high level Hearthstone series
8133s here like the highest level of play that
8135s we kind of have available to us at the
8136s moment and uh no great surprise really
8139s if we're going to sort of talk about who
8141s we're expecting to Edge that to see
8142s Hemlock and pocket train just getting
8144s the
8145s edge yeah it's uh it's pretty impressive
8148s here we've got MC Banner versus Wu
8150s coming up so we can just check out who
8152s we are or or what we're going to see
8154s coming up in this one to No One surprise
8156s SLE we're having a Warriors baned out
8158s I'm sensing a theme continuing on
8161s through today too as we saw I think I
8163s was looking at some of the stats uh from
8165s day one and when Warrior got to play it
8167s was incredibly High win rate so I think
8170s everyone's you know got the gist of it
8172s now but check out mcbf face a player
8175s you've been a fan of for quite a while
8177s so yeah um a player who I have always
8180s acknowledged the greatness of I've been
8182s on the mcbf face hype train uh since the
8185s very beginning no a little being
8187s factious you know I had my doubts about
8189s banter as a player he kind of came in in
8190s that new wave of America's players that
8194s um tried to take over and eventually did
8196s so successfully from the likes of
8199s firebat Muzzy just sayyan right like
8201s that level of of OG America's
8203s Hearthstone player and then we were like
8205s okay who's the next era and then bace
8207s kind of got to mix it with with some of
8208s those in Grand Masters and I think I was
8210s a little dismissive of his level for uh
8212s quite some time but now absolutely I
8214s think he is perhaps the best player in
8216s the Americas overall in in Hearthstone
8218s so uh is here absolutely on Merit yeah
8222s we'll be checking out his Rogue that's
8223s going to be coming up we've seen Mech
8225s Rogue have and Rogue in general honestly
8227s have a good amount of success over the
8229s weekend so far uh at this point sot all
8232s after seeing you know everything that's
8234s happened all the lineups the players
8235s have brought would you have gone for
8237s Mech Rogue would you have gone for you
8239s know let's say secret concoction however
8241s you want to name that list yeah meog was
8245s uh in my lineup in fact I think banter
8247s face has my lineup yeah this well
8249s actually both he stole it hang on yeah
8251s yeah I talk about this a lot but
8252s generally I do like to just you
8254s hypothetically build a lineup before a
8256s tournament just sort of helps me get
8258s into that player mindset a little bit um
8260s and yeah Meg Rogue rainbow Mage and
8262s ancient Shaman Odin Warrior is kind of
8264s what I came in up with coming into this
8266s so um happy to see that multiple players
8268s have gone with that as well but I do
8270s think Mech Rogue had the potential to be
8272s a bit of a sleeper deck and I think you
8273s can still kind of put it in that
8275s category because a lot of other players
8276s went for uh secret Rogues and Casey had
8279s the miracle Rogue as well so even though
8281s Rogue was very popular it wasn't super
8283s dominated by Mech Rogue overall but to
8285s me this was a real eye opener because
8289s you know you you lose prism breaker you
8291s lose yog those were kind of the only
8293s things stopping those absolutely
8296s degenerate Mech boards that you can
8298s throw down very early yeah and we've
8299s already seen it this weekend sort of
8301s recover from not the best openings in
8303s the world but mcbf face wants to
8305s continue on throughout this tournament
8307s he's going to have to take down wiu
8309s another extremely strong player
8312s definitely one of the uh I guess newer
8314s players we've got to see you know time
8316s after time in the past year or um of
8319s course but still very impressive
8320s nonetheless also bringing the mech Rogue
8324s and and pretty much rocking the exact
8326s same lineup so again kind of what you
8328s were just saying subtle where like this
8330s lineup of Odin Warrior Shaman rainbow
8332s Mage and Mech Rogue seems to be the one
8334s that's getting the most work done
8338s overall yeah I would say so and I think
8341s um there are possibly still some
8342s improvements that could be made to this
8344s with the benefit of
8346s hindsight um not necessarily everything
8348s has gone flying through with awesome win
8350s rates I think Sharman is still a little
8354s questionable it's picked up uh back to
8356s around a 46% win rate over over all but
8358s um this is kind of the deck that was a
8360s little bit awkward overall but I think
8363s it is it's also the deck with um a lot
8366s of agency to it it's a deck where player
8369s mistakes can cost you win rate a lot a
8372s lot more obviously and readily than
8373s maybe it can with a couple of the other
8375s decks in this lineup in particular um so
8377s we'll we'll wait to see where things pan
8379s out when we get to the very end but
8380s honestly we're uh we're running out of
8382s time for the sample size to be affected
8384s with the number of games that we have
8385s left as we are really getting into the
8387s the meat and potatoes at this tournament
8389s now yeah so after just checking out some
8391s of those lists and talking a lot about
8392s the lineups H do we think that the the
8395s shaman win is the win to look for in
8398s this pretty much you know mirror match
8399s cuz I think we both agree you'd be
8401s fairly confident that Mage is getting
8402s over the line we've seen it time and
8404s time again this weekend uh and again
8406s Rogue has been performing well so is it
8408s Shaman is that the one we really need to
8410s laser focus on I think so yeah I think
8413s you know Warrior Warrior speaks for
8415s itself it's getting banned in this
8416s series 70% ban rate and then when it
8418s gets to play it still has close to a 60%
8421s win rate right so that goes to show you
8423s where that deck is positioned uh but
8426s because of the nature of the other Decks
8428s that are doing well um the Rogues and
8430s the Mages uh for example there's a lot
8433s of decks that get on board very very
8435s quickly and that's what can be a
8437s struggle for Shaman to deal with in
8439s particular if you can put pressure on
8441s Shaman to the point where they have to
8443s start throwing out like a a crash to AOE
8446s your board without really doing
8447s significant damage to face that can
8449s leave them really wanting in terms of
8451s actually ending the game and that's what
8452s a lot of these board Focus decks are
8454s really able to do with the amount of
8456s pressure they can put on early so I
8457s think that's why we're seeing Shaman
8459s just struggle that little bit but we
8460s have also seen the likes of pocket train
8464s really really finding those spots to
8465s just say actually no you're not going to
8468s put me in a defensive mindset I'm just
8470s going to sneak this lethal through that
8471s you're not going to be able to spot and
8473s really turn the tides uh pun intended so
8476s we'll see how it turns out well as game
8478s one between these two players begins we
8480s are going to see Wu on that Shaman so
8483s again a win would be huge for him here
8484s just to really Propel him into a favored
8488s uh situation in this series but of
8490s course M banter face with a pretty good
8492s opening with this Mech Rogue had the one
8495s drop and then has the spider sort of
8496s lurking in the hand for a little bit
8498s later on H maybe even not that later on
8500s with the coin actually so really good
8502s opening here I think for MCB face
8504s missing some of the spark Bots for now
8507s but not looking too bad at
8510s all oh options
8513s options yeah lowkey really important
8515s taor totem here
8517s because coin stealth is an option for
8520s banter um and if you want to do that
8523s you'd have to attack with your minion
8524s first to retain the stealth afterwards
8526s if you wanted to gain the benefits of
8527s the stealth of course that now makes it
8529s incredibly awkward because then You'
8530s have still have a taunt totem to deal
8532s with next turn with your magnetic minion
8534s wanting to go face which makes life a
8536s bit difficult
8538s um the alternative players just play Two
8539s Three on curve this turn but you know
8541s that goes straight oh it's a 3 four oh
8543s let me let me let me wind it all back uh
8546s not knowing where the click clocker
8547s landed I was assuming that was a two
8549s three uh which makes it very very
8551s awkward just going into jazz base on
8552s curve which is what the shaman very very
8554s often wants to do but since it comes
8555s down as a three four here I actually
8557s love this play it's just so annoying and
8560s disruptive for wiq to have to deal with
8562s if he wants to play jazz base we were
8564s both living in the same world there
8565s because I was like oh it would be nice
8567s if could get that inventor Matic just
8569s down right and just have it at least for
8570s one turn and really gain some kind of
8572s benefit but we can see that and and
8574s obviously ban Fates knows Shaman has a
8576s good sort of widespread of removal that
8578s could just get rid of it but you're
8580s completely right as a 34 probably just
8583s the best singular outcome for that
8585s situation from a banit face because now
8588s you know questions can really start to
8590s be asked in where does bace put these
8592s stats and also just how hard does he
8594s choose to push and this is a small
8596s detail it's not like a massively
8598s impressive thing for a player at this
8599s level to get right but I just want to
8601s point it out wi holding on to the first
8603s charge of this Jazz base I think way too
8606s many people just put the Jazz base on
8608s and go oh the point of this weapon is
8610s for me to use both charges of it I want
8612s to get it down to the second charge as
8613s quickly as possible no in a lot of
8615s matchups you still want to use both
8617s charges very effectively as a fiery
8620s warax right like we don't have two Mana
8623s fiery War axes in the game for a reason
8625s now right so the fact you can play a
8626s three Mana FY warx with this much upside
8629s yes get those uses out of the swings
8631s don't just throw away the first one for
8633s sure and look at this now really uh well
8635s dealt with here gets the piranha and the
8637s weapon swing to finish this off but also
8639s gets hold of a hex which is going to be
8642s potentially like super important in this
8645s matchup first huge minion problem dealt
8648s with and this uh this Divine Shield
8651s might not actually be a big deal if if
8653s hex can just get sent its way if it's
8655s not stealth then Wu's kind of sitting in
8658s a good spot even though his health is
8660s relatively low for turn four I think it
8662s might well end up being stealth though
8665s because you know the pool of cards that
8668s that card has been discovered from right
8669s and it's not just hex that would punish
8671s you it's also potentially just altered
8673s cord right because you know there's
8674s piranhas to bump The Shield uh and then
8677s altered cord be able to make a mess is
8679s it stealth this turn though because this
8682s hand doesn't scream to turn lethal to
8685s me true you do actually with the double
8688s coin um picked up from the the squirrel
8691s on the previous turn you can actually
8694s make a big enough minion that you would
8696s be resistant to aled cord and it would
8698s only be the hex that ends up punishing
8700s you so there might actually be a
8701s temptation to just ignore the stealth
8703s part and just get all the damage face
8705s but you can also use that as a mimon
8708s setup which it looks like what banter is
8710s going to go for here yeah I like this a
8712s lot because again if you wanted to
8713s retain the stealth you can't attack oh
8715s sorry you you would push one let's say
8718s um and and then like is that really
8720s setting up enough anyway so I actually
8722s really like this uh sort of slight pivot
8724s from McAn here because I think this just
8726s ticks all the boxes resistant to options
8729s your opponent may have whilst also
8732s giving you Progressive ways to actually
8734s win the game as opposed to this is
8736s stealth this turn I hope I draw a high
8739s damage magnetic thing right and hope
8742s that's going to work whereas this seems
8743s a lot safer for me final choice you
8746s could put into the mix I'm not not
8747s advocating for this I don't think it was
8748s right but if you want to give credit for
8750s that card uh the hex card that we've
8752s been talking about if banter wants to
8753s say Hey what if that's primordial wave
8755s you could have actually played this out
8757s as just straight up three separate
8758s minions this turn right and just have
8760s the the biggest spread but I don't think
8762s that was really worth going
8766s for feral spirit always looks appealing
8770s against Mech Rog as just some speed
8771s bumps to get in the
8775s way lightning Bol always looks appealing
8778s because face
8781s but going to go for overdraft
8786s okay I mean this definitely helps open
8789s up mana for the following turn but I was
8791s kind of surprised the plan wasn't even
8792s potentially just feral
8806s feral
8809s B face now has to try and break down as
8811s to whether he can get through these
8813s taunts in a an efficient way whilst
8815s again kind of protecting what he can we
8818s know that there's just a hex sitting
8819s there ready for anything big so do you
8821s think there's Merit or do you think MCB
8823s phase will actually try and spread stats
8826s or try and build a wider board as
8828s opposed to the single Target Allin kind
8830s of uh strategy we've seen quite often
8832s from me Rogue POS very possibly yeah
8835s because again you're starting to
8837s look at the PO of cards that this
8839s discovered option can be to and the
8841s reason I'm focusing on this so much by
8842s the way is that when you start making
8844s like 10 Health Plus Mech the cards in
8847s charman's deck don't really exist to
8850s deal with that it is the discovered
8851s options from lightning reflexes a lot of
8853s the time they end up punishing you um so
8855s I think you're relatively confident at
8857s this point that you're not going to be
8859s dealing with primordial wave for example
8861s cuz I think you would have seen that on
8862s the previous turn if that was the case
8864s to deal with the mimon for sure to deal
8865s with the mimon yeah so I think think hex
8867s is certainly something that you have to
8869s consider at this
8871s time and this is a nice bonus as well
8873s like the stomper coming out it it
8876s doesn't scream game-winning but at least
8879s the benefit we can see is if hex has to
8881s be played that's all that's getting
8883s played so it would have to you know a
8885s lot of Trades would would go down and
8887s still leave mcbf face with something on
8889s the board um unless I'm missing
8891s something but yeah I feel like that's
8893s quite likely and I think that's a card
8894s that you also want to get value out of
8897s um because it was on the far left of
8898s your hand before you start doing your
8900s gear shift turn right like it's a very
8902s very good card in the matchup so even if
8904s it's not going to be the optimal turn to
8906s play it you want a turn to play it
8908s before you refill with that later ex it
8911s always does something as opposed to yeah
8913s sometimes it just wins you the game on
8914s the right turn but it always does
8916s something good and bface is going to get
8918s that knowledge now see the hex and at
8920s least can take off that box say okay
8923s there's the one the Discover Cards
8926s gone
8929s yeah and I was trying to look for a
8931s reaction from banter just to try and see
8933s if he could pick up on whether that was
8934s something that he had been planning for
8936s but um you know in a typical banter
8939s fashion not giving an awful lot away
8941s with the facial
8946s expression looks like a gear shift turn
8949s to
8952s me toys are much more fun
8956s to
8970s and the thing you got to remember as
8971s well is like weq had a really good ter
8974s with that hex for sure but he isn't out
8977s the woods yet by any means because but
8980s we we've seen Rogue just get the job
8982s done time and time again and we could
8984s yeah can build a board has another base
8987s as well has some card draw but that's
8989s all got to be done without overloading
8991s too much without leaving some sort of
8992s awkward room here the BF actually going
8995s to go a little bit wide with these mechs
8996s now drop the reborn spark bot and then
8999s yeah lock in that gear shift to No
9000s Surprise and tidy up some of this
9002s board oh another
9006s stomper yeah second stomper is very nice
9009s I think the big decisions that turn from
9011s banter were just a how high he wanted to
9014s stack the magnetics and then B whether
9017s the spark bot for example was worth
9019s playing or whether having two Mana
9021s remaining instead of one after the prep
9023s gear shift was important for for
9024s anything that he could draw but I think
9026s since it was a relatively High stated
9028s vanilla minion that he was dropping the
9030s reborn on I do think this makes a lot of
9032s sense yeah and it's just the extra
9034s question cuz if something can be
9036s magnetized on the start of the next turn
9038s right um you're really in a a good
9045s spot well I was going to say this is a
9047s hand that is a long way away from really
9049s being able to turn the turn the corner
9051s and do something aggressive but if
9053s you're going to draw two cards that
9054s allow you to start thinking about that
9056s in the near
9058s future oh there's
9062s crash yeah you've always got to have at
9064s least an eyeball on conductivity though
9066s it can allow you to do some very very
9068s degenerate
9073s things the storm is in me
9077s it's going to be uh that overdraft that
9080s was picked up earlier on going to pay
9081s off quite a lot here going to clear up
9083s all of that overload for next turn not
9086s too shabby at all yeah and
9088s simultaneously able to take care of the
9092s full bronze gatekeeper with the reborn
9094s as
9095s well the interesting Factor here for me
9098s is this second speaker stomper like is
9100s there room to deal with enough of this
9103s board and play the stomper and
9107s threaten lethal enough with having that
9109s speaker stumper down I think so right
9111s it's I think with with the bone Spike
9114s pretty perfect with the bone Spike and
9116s the bronze gatekeeper right just take
9117s out the two taunts and then you can
9119s think about you know cuz you're playing
9120s speaker stomper you might even just get
9122s to push face at that point and just say
9123s that's fine have your plus two spell
9125s damage I'm not super worried about
9131s it it's really tricky isn't it
9135s because if you make
9137s more trades that's fine but then you
9140s further away but you are playing around
9142s just leaving that spell damage on you
9144s know even if there's just any even like
9146s a a normal crash or something right just
9149s something to to deal any kind of AOE
9151s damage mhm it looks like it is going to
9154s be respect given to the
9157s zappers he going to trade down
9160s instead and I think if you're not making
9163s the push here to be as aggressive as
9164s possible it's not speaker side time
9167s either yeah
9172s agree now is this going to be primordial
9176s just to again switch off or hopefully
9179s for wiq uh switch this problem off in
9182s terms of stealth minion I mean as nice
9184s as that Mech is it is all stacked on a
9186s one drop so it is hard to imagine a
9189s better Target for your primordial way
9191s and there's just a fish as well if you
9192s really want to save the
9195s Spells
9212s while stealth it cannot
9216s torn is there something that banf can
9219s like realistically draw with the
9221s knowledge we have of this primordial
9223s that's going to pull him back into this
9224s game or do you think wiu sort of you
9227s know managed to get over the hill at
9228s this
9230s point I mean it's very very hard for
9235s mecro I mean I was going to lead the
9237s sentence was going to lead towards Titan
9239s um but it's very very hard for mecr to
9242s do any sort of damage from hand while
9245s out of cards uh sorry when when off
9247s board it's just not really a thing that
9248s they excel at doing
9252s um part of my eyes lighting up at
9255s pushing a little bit of damage on the
9257s previous turn is then at least you can
9258s start thinking about like crab a to off
9260s the top it pushes a little bit of damage
9262s with the weapons and then maybe you can
9264s scrape over the line um but I think
9266s there's some cast Vision involved in
9268s that where I could see that the board
9270s was going byby no no matter what banter
9273s did because of that primordial wave that
9274s was available and then the Piranhas that
9277s could come down to clear it up at the
9278s end uh I think what banter did made the
9281s most sense in a vacuum um but I think
9285s this was the best draw in Ban's deck and
9287s it's still not particularly good enough
9289s you can see just from Ban's reaction
9292s right it's kind of just like eh right
9295s what has to happen for this to be okay
9297s sure I'll you know obviously B is not
9300s going to just concede at this point in
9303s the game especially uh with the Voltron
9305s draw
9307s but it's looking a little bit dicey
9312s mhm
9314s oh that's a good draw
9318s sure
9322s is now the real
9325s question is this play everything in go
9332s face oh are you respecting the minions
9335s and just lightning bolting them
9341s away this it's a real tricky decision
9345s right
9349s it is Voltron is very scary to leave
9352s alive especially when your opponent has
9355s not played their any yet correct is
9358s still remaining in the de what about can
9361s I interest you in half kill the vultra
9363s and leave the little
9367s flipper I'm just I I don't know if I can
9369s look at the screen while light two
9371s lightning bolts go to minions oh you
9373s don't have the lightning bolt that I
9374s mean you can just weapon the penguin
9376s okay I'm also okay with this yeah I
9380s think it's just too clean right like
9381s your the natural play which will play
9383s all of the cards in your hand gives you
9385s a six damage lightning bolt so I think
9387s at that point it would be fairly
9388s irresponsible to leave the Voltron alive
9391s but you know
9392s me I'm a deeply irresponsible person at
9396s least I know
9398s it and now bner face has to just try and
9402s fight back on this board weirdly enough
9404s the player on barely any health is the
9406s one very ahead right
9409s now yep get some eviscerates in your
9413s rogue deck that's what I say no
9416s I'm is there a world where MC Banner
9419s actually
9420s like ever passes this turn oh it's going
9424s to trade the stomper okay I didn't know
9425s if he wanted to keep the stomper but
9429s sure I was wonder if he like could trade
9431s H sorry could wait one turn and then
9434s likely draw a Mech then go with the
9436s spark Bots and then play stomper you
9438s know next turn try and like package all
9440s of that together it's maybe a long shot
9443s but I feel like Banner needs a long shot
9445s to work here and I'm not sure if the
9447s tradeable was I mean I'd have to look
9450s but I don't know how likely that was to
9452s hit something high impact this turn or
9455s more high impact than a stomper
9459s right and with seeing all that damage
9461s and all those cards played out like if I
9463s was banner I would assume I had the time
9468s yeah I don't think you're necessarily
9469s expecting to die next turn right cuz
9473s like this board just already doesn't
9476s exist right yeah but I think I think you
9479s can flip that on his head right I think
9481s from banter side if you can say okay
9483s I'll play these cards they trade
9485s relatively one for one with my
9486s opponent's board if it come comes down
9489s to an empty is board and both players
9491s top decking I like the Rogue in that
9495s situation
9497s okay maybe we just disagree then that's
9499s fair I'm just looking at the weapon and
9502s thinking well that weapon swing already
9504s leaves weu ahead yeah I mean that's
9507s that's
9510s fair it's very close though I'm not I'm
9512s definitely not saying it's it's you know
9515s the the the the risk factor of well what
9517s if the next troll was a 2-1 for Banner
9519s pH then then he basically passed a turn
9521s for nothing right that's the downside of
9524s my suggestion for sure yep
9527s I think there's any great Merit to just
9529s not being a card deeper in your deck
9531s right but I do think like maybe even
9533s after the tradeable you see your next
9534s card and you start to think about okay
9536s what if I just hold on to these four one
9538s Mana cards well one of them cost zero
9540s because of the effect of the the one
9542s drop um and then just like pray for in
9545s next turn and then I can do all of that
9547s in in one turn arguably like there's
9549s there's some options for sure cuz it's
9552s like any this crab a towerer mhm but
9555s outside of that I wouldn't say there's
9557s like a card hey there you go
9562s see like I I think bant is just simply
9566s ahead now right yes this is very
9569s scary oh
9573s my working out whether he wants to like
9577s where he wants to face trade because he
9580s has krabat TOA to deal six right so he
9583s doesn't
9585s like
9587s [Music]
9589s H he could throw away a weapon charge to
9594s take one instead of two I guess that's
9596s the decision right now right
9599s yeah there's uh there's still this guy
9601s that you've got to think about as well
9603s though
9604s right good old Big Goal pretty big
9607s problem if that comes out and you're
9608s suddenly healing for six
9611s yeah but the krabat toe is pretty
9614s resilient from a top deck right yes from
9617s from Wu that is fairly resilient right
9619s now I think weirdly enough taunt totem
9621s is the scariest thing for weu to do next
9626s turn going take the two going to lock in
9628s the weapon that gives him ways for taunt
9630s totem but there's flash of lightning
9632s Okay go
9634s again turn oh it's going to be ta totem
9639s oh no it's not it doesn't matter yeah oh
9642s wow I look at B's face that is also my
9645s face face and I'm not even
9650s playing like obviously turn the tides
9652s technically clears the 65 but you just
9654s can't do it you're just not allowed to
9655s face tank it yep there it is that game
9659s was a roller coaster and honestly
9661s correct me if I'm wrong sole but I think
9663s mcbf face will be very happy with the
9666s outcome of that one because I'm pretty
9668s sure he was thinking right well there
9670s goes game one I'll have to deal with it
9672s all in game two but yeah starts to Ser
9674s he's off with a win so two points
9677s firstly you know that that game was
9679s crazy because uh banter Face's
9682s expression changed like 14 times towards
9684s the end which I think is some sort of
9686s world record just going to say changed
9688s changed full stop yeah um also just but
9692s just following up on what you said at
9693s the end like I think banter is
9695s experienced enough and will have played
9696s that match up enough times to know that
9698s it's not over right like when the the
9701s the biggest problem that Shaman has is
9705s uh being being low on cards if it's low
9707s on cards it can't really do anything to
9710s you right it really really does rely on
9713s big big combinations so when it comes
9715s down to this kind of top deck War I do
9717s think that's where banf Face's head was
9719s at it's like okay let's let me find a
9722s situation where we both play the
9724s remaining cards in our hand and we're
9726s both still alive and playing Hearthstone
9728s and I think if he can get himself to
9730s that position all he needed to do was
9732s draw krabat TOA and yes he got lucky in
9734s order to do that immediately with the
9736s very first draw after he got down to
9737s that point but it's in there and there
9740s are other cards in there that are card
9741s draw that can find can get him to that
9743s point so I think he would have been you
9746s know feeling unfavored but certainly not
9748s abandoning the game sure and I I I could
9751s sorry I could just imagine the chat now
9753s after you uttering the word is well all
9755s I needed to do was draw this exact one
9758s card Drew uh but yeah I think kbor was
9761s of course the uh the the key to Victory
9764s there for MCB face but like I said just
9766s a fantastic start because even if he
9770s wasn't expecting to just straight up
9771s lose it was not an overly uh comfortable
9774s game of hearthstone let's say so we're
9776s going to jump straight into game two and
9778s we're going to have the Mage mirror SLE
9780s M banter face is currently leading the
9782s match one Z and there's the uh I guess
9785s signature opening of whatever keyboard
9788s and then no doubt a cold K is coming up
9789s soon uh weq though is H really looking
9792s to make a big stride forward getting a
9794s win on the board here in the mdle
9797s match forget about Cold Case we're
9799s hitting something even better than Cold
9801s Case from this Prismatic Elemental
9803s that's what's Happening
9807s Here have we had any uh love everlasting
9809s Mage games yet this uh this tournament I
9812s don't remember any I don't think so okay
9815s but I still remember the first time I
9817s did that and I was like how is this
9819s allowed I know I honestly was like wait
9823s why aren't more people talking about
9825s this yeah obviously like if if it was
9826s from like discover a spell right it'd be
9828s really rare and it wouldn't happen that
9830s particularly often but because you can
9832s curate a pull down to okay I'm going to
9835s three see three spells and one of them
9837s is going to be a holy spell like it
9840s happens a lot
9841s yeah oh yeah got some of that strangle
9844s Thorn Heart On The
9845s Go bellowing Flames it deals 10 no one
9849s knows
9850s why not even the devs Noe think it was a
9854s code in error too embarrassed to change
9855s it now
9858s what do you mean you put it in in
9861s binary Cosmic keyboard coming down no
9864s for MCB face I think uh looking at just
9866s the straightforward turns one and twos
9868s from both players I think I'd rather
9869s have a keyboard than the elemental right
9873s now
9875s [Music]
9878s same
9884s okay yeah up Forge the
9891s Flames now obviously your opponent
9893s having the keyboard coin Co start is the
9897s nuts but if you're going to want
9898s anything in response to that it's a card
9900s that deals
9902s 10 for two man for some
9906s reason uh I think you'll find it's four
9909s because you have to forge it yes yeah
9914s yeah
9919s I'm enjoying this uh hopefully this
9921s continues with this new extra way we
9923s describe cards now is just this card
9925s costs this much and Deals this much
9928s damage it's just like how we've
9929s described minions for the past five or
9931s six years I've called it bellowing
9933s Flames at least twice already I don't
9934s know what more you want from me
9944s Raven
9950s wait where did the other one go oh the
9951s creation okay I didn't even see the
9952s other one go off yeah yeah it just
9955s didn't really have an animation that did
9956s it it was just like you are now
9962s too inro to Fallout
9966s three about as good as it's going to get
9969s here for weu with the board clear
9971s because this is the situation I feel in
9972s the mirror where you do start to slip if
9974s you're in in you know on weu side of the
9976s board here um but as you mentioned
9979s dealing 10 is quite good and clearing up
9981s a lot of the board
9983s but this is going to get him back into
9986s it a little bit because otherwise I feel
9987s like you just taken too much damage and
9989s then suddenly you're just going to burn
9990s out pretty quick yeah
9992s agreed needed a card of significant
9995s power level to be able to swing back
9997s from uh being
10000s behind rewind yeah
10004s sure
10006s okay I'll take a free m y I mean fine
10012s yeah is it worth doing
10014s a like killing the two two just to get
10016s the
10020s infinitize killing the 2 two just to get
10023s the infinite Oh you mean Arcane bolting
10024s it yeah yeah yeah sorry yeah bolting
10027s mhm problem is that it also eats your
10030s last keyboard charge as well right which
10032s is a little bit painful yeah I mean this
10035s turn
10037s instead I was going to say I'm okay with
10039s just going artificer and going
10040s infinitize I think this is the one I
10042s would end up on personally I was
10044s wondering whether it was just artificial
10045s and Prismatic Elemental and just look
10047s for something better to use the last uh
10049s the last keyboard charge on but yeah
10051s difference is like going for a bigger
10052s minion versus just having an extra spell
10055s in hand um or at least at least
10057s utilizing infinitize is probably more
10060s accurate since you get a spell from the
10061s elemental
10064s anyway
10069s I like this as well after billowing
10070s flames you building a little bit of a
10072s board not overly threatening but again
10075s if you take if you manage to deal an
10076s extra two three damage here and there
10078s that does start to stack up inquisitive
10080s creation for Wu is going to be drawn now
10082s so that option is there to just clear
10084s that up I didn't even look but I'm
10086s easily assuming it's more than three
10088s right now or at least three should I say
10091s yeah Co case and Flames have both been
10093s played right so certainly certainly
10094s Frost and
10102s I was also a wisdom in
10105s hand oh sure yeah that that also helps
10114s yeah remember the Arcane giant era where
10117s there was also yog in the
10120s game and people used to say well I mean
10122s how am I supposed to know how many
10124s spells they've casted like literally
10125s tells you just look at that card in
10127s their
10143s hand this is where things are getting a
10145s little bit tricky now and this is where
10147s the the the full display of mage skills
10150s is going to come into play because these
10153s decisions even though they're
10155s discovering a spell that they may not
10157s use for the next five six turns M
10160s getting those choices right I feel makes
10162s such a big impact on the game CU at
10164s least many times I played I picked a
10166s spelling on this will be great later on
10169s and then it just never does anything
10171s whereas you know picking the right
10173s options getting use out of everything
10174s you've picked can actually just pull you
10176s ahead in the
10179s game one situations right where like
10181s Reverb is a fantastic card but is it how
10185s long is it going to take for that to pay
10187s off yeah and sometimes you have to look
10189s at situations like this and like solar
10192s eclipse is only not broken because the
10196s developers get to design the rest of the
10198s cards you're supposed to play with solar
10200s eclipse in that class right so if you
10203s get offered it in a different class
10204s you're probably just supposed to take
10206s solar eclipse you'll end up doing
10207s something broken and also by the way
10209s solar eclipse is pretty broken even in
10211s Druid anyway oh you know that card
10214s that's pretty much been played in every
10216s Druid since the cards existed oh yeah
10218s pretty
10221s good yeah even that option right where
10224s MC bface went for solar and you broke
10226s down why um but there was could have
10229s cleared the board that turn right like
10231s that was an option but getting these
10233s decisions right really does make the
10235s difference especially when you play in
10236s the mirror yeah and I think um just
10239s breaking down the turn from weu a couple
10240s of turns ago cuz we were immediately
10241s like okay inquisitive creation just
10243s clears the board that looks good um
10245s helpfully uh Elemental inspiration has
10247s just appeared on our screen and that is
10249s a card that you always have to have in
10250s the back of your mind so instead of
10252s playing the creation on the previous
10254s turn uh wiq has gone from a situation
10256s where his wisdom of norgon cost three
10259s when we were talking about it at the
10260s time to where it now cost zero meaning
10262s he's cast five different spell scools
10264s already up until this point so now
10266s having spent the last two turns doing
10268s all that and still being sat on that
10270s inquisitive creation he can actually
10272s respond really really nicely to
10274s Elemental inspiration if it comes out on
10276s the other side of the
10281s board yeah things are going to start
10283s heating up now like MC bace can draw 1
10285s million cards if he wants to wiq has got
10288s a hold of Sith now so even though he
10290s took a bit of a beating early on there's
10292s a counter spell to back up sort of at
10294s least slow down um at banf face this
10297s turn even though we can see it won't
10299s really slow much down at all H and and
10301s then there is Sith like locked and
10303s loaded not quite going to go yet but
10305s just having it there is going to be very
10310s nice so yeah 2 4 six uh volume up that's
10315s nine get solar eclipse in there as well
10317s yeah yeah million cards yeah no that's
10318s right you're correct I mean come
10331s on this is where I would already be
10333s stressed if I was M ban face cuz he's
10335s obviously sat going through the turn in
10337s his head but he's running out of time
10338s and he can do a lot of things this time
10341s correct yeah so I'm getting I'm already
10343s watching this bar timer go down I'm
10345s getting more stressed it is a um a drum
10350s I've banged a lot over time people like
10352s not making the first Fork decision soon
10355s enough in their turn so then the quality
10357s of the decisions they make later in the
10358s turn are worse what I will say is trying
10361s to work out what you do about objection
10364s counter spell exposive runes etc etc on
10366s that ter was a very very difficult first
10369s Fork decision but yes I think that is a
10371s very valid point to raise that it's kind
10374s of this trick of the human brain right
10375s of like well I know what this first
10377s decision is so I'll take a really really
10379s long time to try and work it out but
10381s there are there might be five or six
10382s other decisions left over the course of
10384s the turn that your your brain just
10385s doesn't know about you and even now you
10388s can see that Banner finished his turn 10
10391s cards maybe that was unavoidable maybe
10393s it wasn't but
10395s um but still not exactly where he would
10398s like to
10408s be another counter spell going to be
10410s dropped down there for weu I imagine
10411s this is going to be
10414s traded oh no never mind just going to
10417s lock it in yeah I think just doesn't
10419s want to spend Mana dealing with the
10422s artificer and also wants to be looking
10425s very very hard at setting up a lethal on
10427s 10 right so doesn't want B to be gaining
10428s armor because you now have Forge molten
10431s Rune and the Arcane bolt you had a
10434s couple of shots from the infinitize to
10436s find another one mana burn spell that
10438s could fit into that for zero as well
10440s yeah and it just locked in holy as well
10442s right cuz I don't think that was holy
10443s played beforehand so y yeah I mean that
10446s that was discovered from History of
10448s Magic so right yeah yeah of course yeah
10450s yeah so yeah just ticking enough boxes
10452s to waren being played there and I guess
10454s yeah is that actually what it's called
10455s or is that just the Harry Potter class
10457s I've just
10459s made uh what did you say discovery of
10462s magic okay good yeah History of Magic
10465s come on Ron we're late for history of
10468s magic I mean yeah valid it's Leviosa not
10473s Leviosa oh you would you that would be
10476s you it would actually just that was a
10478s line you would write for that uh
10483s film
10485s time runs out
10487s on and again my banner tons of stuff but
10492s getting use of it getting these cards
10494s out of hand is just as important as
10495s creating them at this point cuz again
10498s just another kind of weird situation
10501s where
10503s the it probably sounds worse than I'm
10506s sorry it's probably not as bad as I'm
10508s making it sound but it feels like Banner
10510s isn't really progressing too
10512s much here where is weaky I don't know
10515s looks like he's got a really good handle
10516s on this game yeah stacking a little bit
10519s of armor is giving him really strong
10520s defense against the dark arts right now
10522s though so that's
10523s something
10526s reality
10528s [Music]
10534s Wen fine I guess be like that Raven see
10539s if I can what
10543s sorry thank you very good very good I
10546s see what you did
10549s there I was just letting it sit letting
10552s it
10561s simuns I think nature is the last
10564s remaining spell from mhm uh spell score
10567s from
10568s weq Quick work on the uh the link find
10573s like a hex or a primordial wave some
10575s sort of transmogrification effect like
10577s that maybe oh no RAV I could do this all
10580s day okay don't don't challenge me is too
10583s full well I was expecting something a
10585s bit more natury honestly give me a plant
10590s name
10591s so I'm doing names of subjects Raven
10594s that's the that's the
10596s bit yeah you know need nature could have
10599s gone with herbology but didn't could
10600s have gone with herbology yeah that's a
10602s good
10603s sh
10610s I'm a banner doing the typical thinking
10613s pose right
10616s now someone quick make a
10626s statue the tried and tested Cold Case
10629s again gaining more and more armor trying
10630s to defend but there gets to a point
10633s where
10635s you know defending gaining Armor All
10636s game isn't really going to cut it and
10638s there's still so much that Banner has to
10640s drop here because I mean it's I'm not
10642s going to lie it's hard to keep track of
10643s all the cards in hand but cth is
10646s there it's just that there's no bird
10649s available yeah and unfortunately for
10652s banter this all of this armor is
10654s incredibly necessary because uh while
10657s I've been messing around with uh with
10659s Harry Potter subjects wiq has gathered I
10661s did talk about it the uh the extra burn
10663s zero Mana picked up from uh from
10666s infinitize which can stack in there with
10668s the Sif as well has a two Mana molten
10670s Rune that can be thrown in as well if
10672s you finds one other one mana burn spell
10674s for
10675s example I do think we need to make it a
10677s requirement that all the players play
10679s the signature versions of the cards
10681s because I'll be honest I didn't notice
10683s until just that when I said it that CIF
10685s had been in hand from panda face for
10686s that long oh really he's not because
10688s he's not playing the signature one right
10689s so it's like what kind of animal doesn't
10691s play signature
10692s S I like this choice as well uh burning
10696s the
10697s Arcane Arcane Bolt from weq just to have
10700s an Arcane spell get cast in order to uh
10702s set up the lady in order to get the
10704s discount on everything else cuz now you
10706s can actually cast both of those molten
10708s runes both forged in the same turn with
10711s cth so you throw away a little bit of
10712s damage to gain a lot of damage on the
10714s following ter yeah now it's just going
10716s to be nice armor friend in the next turn
10719s cuz it just probably won't
10723s matter
10731s banter again just trying to think of a
10733s way out of this cuz there's just there's
10735s just not much going on there is the uh
10737s the solar Cold Case if he just wants to
10740s keep going down that road but is it
10742s actually going to progress the game plan
10744s is it going to get him anywhere three
10745s cards left for
10748s B yeah that million card that does not
10751s show it at all that that million cards
10754s that Drew earlier is uh proving to be a
10756s little bit of a problem right
10761s now all this power is mine
10774s to
10778s Fireball yeah R because there's Sith
10781s solar blast and stuff right like
10786s don't think it's going to matter
10787s especially with the extra five from
10789s having the minion stick on board not
10791s that it's going to matter to much as
10792s approximately 1 million damage the same
10795s amount of cards that M bface Drew he's
10797s going to take in damage form right now
10799s as weu looks to be in a good position to
10801s take game number two and even up this
10804s series Yeah clean game in the end I
10807s think was behind early certainly was
10810s helped relieve a little bit of that
10811s early pressure with the bellowing Flames
10812s otherwise we might have been just
10813s looking at game that panned out entirely
10816s differently but I think what w did very
10818s very well there is recognize he was
10821s heading towards the cth otk and I know
10824s that sounds very obvious cuz a lot of
10826s people will just look at that and say
10828s well it's a cth otk deck that's what it
10831s does but it's a very um it's a real
10834s Swiss army knife of a deck it can win in
10836s a large variety of ways and sometimes
10838s you have to identify what that win
10839s condition is several turns in advance
10841s and step towards it and I think that's
10843s what weq did very well from sort of the
10846s eight Mana turn up until the turn where
10848s banter face actually exploded I think
10849s that was all mapped out very very nicely
10852s to progress weq down that Garden Path
10854s towards the end of the game very nice
10856s game yeah and like we said though the
10858s Mage taking a win for wiq fantastic the
10861s Rogue being on MB side for the win is
10864s great but there's still those shamans
10866s left over and we said ourselves earlier
10869s on the Mages I don't think there's
10871s anything too much to worry about banter
10873s of course someone had to lose the Mage
10875s mirror but if B decides to Q Mage again
10877s I think he'd be very confident in any of
10880s the matchups that he's got going there
10881s so tough one for atand face there trying
10883s to deal with uh maybe too many cards in
10886s hand and and not getting hold of the
10887s actual you know sort of nailed down plan
10890s that you really want that for example
10891s weu did but still plenty left in this
10894s series that we just one and one and if
10896s you just joined us recently this is a
10898s top eight match single elimination so
10900s the loser is going to be done and dusted
10902s the winner moves on to that top four so
10904s a lot on the line for these players a
10906s world a guaranteed World Championship
10908s spot is on the line as the one you know
10911s the last chance for some of these
10912s players uh this weekend so yeah a lot on
10915s the line here although I think a fair
10917s few of them are pretty doing pretty well
10919s on points as well now so that's
10920s something we'll have to look at and
10922s investigate when the time comes it is a
10925s a speed bump for lovers of smooth
10928s narratives that players have been
10930s incredibly consistent throughout the
10931s year not not only in which players have
10934s qualified but also which players have
10936s made top eights so we've had it through
10938s consistently throughout the year that a
10939s lot of the players who are in the top
10941s eight it's like okay they're playing for
10942s a spot of world sure but they're also
10943s actually in really good standing overall
10945s in terms of the number of points that
10946s they have in total so it has made things
10948s a little bit awkward in some places um
10951s we are now going to see the reverse of
10953s the match that we saw previously with
10955s banter uh picking up the mantle on the
10957s Sharman weu looking to build those early
10959s boards on
10961s Rogue Wu's opening looks quite good to
10967s me would you say like this is the
10969s opening is there anything weu is really
10971s missing as a macro K that you would swap
10974s something for anything for a frequency
10976s oscillator uh squirrel on two squirrel
10979s on two on the play is what you
10980s absolutely want
10983s sure not far away though not far away
10986s yeah it just means that you kind of have
10987s to delay for that extra turn but drone
10989s deconstructor is a nice consolation
10992s prize right because you can find Stealth
10995s you could find Divine shield for example
10996s if your one drop wasn't click clocker
10998s and already had the Divine Shield you
10999s can find ways to consolidate that board
11003s and try and protect yourself from the
11004s coppertail Snoop which will start to
11007s cause some
11012s damage where does the Snoop go here
11015s though well now that your opponent has
11019s drawn
11020s schooling things start to get quite
11022s complicated
11024s cuz you may even oh I hate
11030s myself yeah I mean I guess you do have
11032s the tradeable yeah I was about to say
11033s you might even just play invento Matic
11035s cuz again this time I did notice it's a
11038s 34 which I think makes the most awkward
11040s board against the Piranhas but then as I
11043s started to say that I threw up in my
11044s mouth because it floated a mana and then
11046s I realized that you could just trade
11047s away the speaker stomper which is a
11049s downside sure because we've seen already
11051s speaker stomper can do some work in this
11053s matchup but uh I do think it just makes
11055s the most irritating over it's not a Mana
11058s floated downside put it that way exactly
11060s yeah it's like yeah this is a good turn
11062s now for banter right but it's the whole
11064s turn and now the squirrels are gone and
11067s you could okay okay here's the actual
11070s thing that I didn't want you to kill now
11071s I will drop that on the board yeah the
11074s Piranhas are gone so all getting mixed
11076s up with his animals of course but they
11077s are what did I say he said the squirrels
11079s have gone the squirels G the squirrels
11082s there some kind of that's my cat hunting
11085s in the park behind our
11088s house T of TI's going to be used here to
11091s clean up some of this but again not
11093s quite all going to have to use the
11095s overdraft as
11097s well do I didn't even say his name why
11100s is he just wandered in the room I he
11103s like you summoned me master yeah did you
11105s just respond to the word squirrel is
11108s where you sure it's a cat and not a dog
11112s no
11116s or is At The Mention of
11118s squirrels one of my dogs is still just
11120s snoring next to me so really a good
11123s hunting dog this one isn't
11128s him so great news for banter is that he
11133s was able to pass the threat check of the
11135s coppertail Snoop uh if he didn't this
11137s game was pretty much over because innie
11139s was coming down behind that and there
11141s was the gear shift to be able to draw
11142s cards to actually have things to spend
11145s all of those coins on because sometimes
11147s that does become a problem you can curve
11149s out perfectly into any but then you've
11152s played your whole hand so the fact that
11153s you're getting three or four coins every
11155s turn from your coppertail snoops doesn't
11157s actually mean diddly squat the bad news
11159s is though there is an inie so there is
11163s that is something you would love to
11164s avoid if you can if you're on MC
11166s Banner's side of this
11168s board but what's the setup Pig like can
11170s can Banner afford to just weapon pass
11173s here
11175s oh okay I like
11178s this yeah I do too
11180s Max Max Tempo draw some cards you don't
11183s face any overloads you still get to drop
11185s the Gogan on the next
11188s turn
11192s Okay
11198s noises
11202s my dam it presumably yeah you want to
11205s hits twice you do hit minions twice this
11207s shuts down the Titan play some of the
11210s time from banter uh luckily banter
11213s already has the turn the tides to go
11215s with the Titan
11218s though making it an actual legal play on
11221s the
11224s SP this would have been so brutal
11226s without right cuz it's like yeah you can
11228s kill one but that's
11232s it
11234s winess
11237s the and then you'd be looking at Voltron
11239s Prime inie which is possibly the most
11242s fun two card interaction in the
11245s game who
11248s okay both players no crab no crab he
11253s literally just said no crab both players
11257s just uh you know swinging at this
11261s point going to get rid of the this makes
11264s sense right like you don't want to rely
11265s on the top deck just try and cycle some
11267s more cards and build into it
11273s later H yeah any getting shoved back in
11277s the deck it's a weird card like it's so
11279s close to being cutable in this deck
11281s because it does do that in a lot of
11283s games like you sit there staring at it
11286s in your hand going this in is going to
11288s be the nuts as soon as I get to play it
11291s and you just never do cuz your opponent
11293s is desperately killing every Mech you
11295s play for the entire game but any turn
11298s you do land an in it's just so powerful
11300s though it feels like you just win right
11303s yeah it just retains its place in the
11304s deck just on overall power level see for
11307s just one card so for just one card
11311s mhm problem here is this is just simply
11315s a million
11321s damage it it has to be
11324s coin hero power right no
11328s okay are F
11339s to trying to magnetize the crab Robo
11342s crab unfortunately is not not not
11351s possible M face down to one
11354s potentially she going to lose this game
11356s and start to slip away Shaman once again
11359s looking to be in a tough spot and that's
11361s going to be it yeah Wu takes game number
11364s three 2-1 up so far and and it it really
11368s does just seem like we're just going to
11369s talk about Shaman for the rest of this
11371s match and maybe the rest of the Daya at
11373s this point because Mage getting the job
11376s done Rogues getting the job done again
11379s if mcbf face chooses to Q Mage I think
11382s he would be really confident in whatever
11383s match up you get well it would be the
11385s shaman one now be confident and it
11387s really is just like who's going to get
11389s Shaman over the line I do feel like this
11391s class has really fallen in to that
11393s everpresent fourth slot right like
11396s there's always that fourth deck that's
11398s like oh this is worse than all my other
11400s three but yes I accept what you're
11403s saying right but then if you look at
11405s some of the other Decks that have been
11407s brought in that fourth slot Druid has a
11409s 16% win rate Demon Hunter has a 33 % win
11413s rate uh warlock is killing it but it's
11416s two wins and one loss that's just not a
11418s real sample looks good to me yeah so
11420s like yes okay Shaman has been brought by
11423s a lot of people as kind of that fourth
11424s deck um but still yes this Series has
11428s not done it any favors but it was
11429s running at 45 before we started this
11431s series right so it was doing okay it was
11434s it was underwhelming but it wasn't the
11436s catastrophe that we seeing some others
11438s right and even even hunter that we've
11440s seen a lot at is in the 40s as well
11442s right like the that fourth deck by
11445s Nature right like if you bring a to a
11448s deck a lineup to Conquest and all four
11450s of your decks across the whole
11451s tournament have above 50% win rate well
11455s done shake my hand you probably won the
11457s tournament right like yeah it's not
11459s often that things work out like that
11461s yeah and and don't get me wrong I
11463s definitely don't think uh Shaman was I
11465s wouldn't even call it a mistake or
11467s anything I just think it's becoming
11469s glaringly obvious that it is that number
11472s four right I think Rogue um is is really
11477s stepped up because I was a bit unsure of
11479s what to think how Rogue would do going
11480s into this tournament if I'm completely
11481s honest was confident on Mage confident
11483s Warrior but the Rogue looks the Rogue
11485s choices should I say look to be really
11487s shining whereas Shaman does seem to be
11490s the uh the struggle deck right yeah I
11492s was very bullish coming into this that
11495s Mech Rogue was going to do very very
11496s well in this
11499s T and I think that has been borne out
11502s Rogue itself has has done extremely well
11504s in this tournament how how well that has
11506s broken down between the secret Rogues
11508s and the mech Rogues I'm not entirely
11510s sure at this point we are going to see
11512s as we go into game four though mcbf face
11514s on this Mage hoping to even this match
11517s up and give us a good old shame and
11519s mirror for the game five but for now weu
11522s still has the ability to fight back here
11524s and and just end this match quickly
11526s especially with this hand looking quite
11528s good the Piranhas are available some
11530s earlier plays that you know if need be
11532s can be used to Tempo but maybe just
11534s missing just a little bit on some
11536s guaranteed sort of good amount of card
11537s draw here yeah I think really this yeah
11541s if this hand drew a three on three if it
11543s drew feral Spirits or uh turn the tides
11546s suddenly everything was looking
11548s fantastic because yeah you have thorm
11550s you have Flow Rider but you currently
11552s have no way to overload which means you
11553s currently have no way to draw cards uh
11556s you also don't have a particularly good
11557s Tempo play on three which are I just
11561s named a pretty comprehensive list of the
11562s things things this deck wants in the
11564s early game um wiq does have the Piranhas
11567s though which means he's not going to be
11569s taking a ton of damage in the early game
11571s which is nice uh but yeah it's still a
11573s hand that needs a couple of extra pieces
11575s to pull it
11578s together and I like this as well just
11580s don't try and get too fancy just play
11582s the three piranhas leave one on the
11584s board if it gets pinged great if it
11587s doesn't great you know whatever at this
11589s point yeah spend your Mana right there
11592s was
11593s effective way to do that unless you just
11595s want to play a vanilla spider tank Thor
11597s but that does not seem worth it
11599s there you
11613s yep flash of lightning is the Mana spend
11616s and then you'd still be able to go Flow
11619s Rider thorm next turn but it just wasn't
11622s a flash of lightning hand was it like it
11624s kind of is now when you have a lightning
11626s reflexes in it but before you pick that
11628s off the Flow Rider it just cly was not
11630s yeah the rist the rist didn't look like
11631s it was worth the payoff right or even
11633s the potential
11634s payoff C case again from B to face just
11638s doing it the usual doing the
11641s basics just playing Mage having a good
11651s time
11655s this hand is coming together though I
11657s would say like whenever there's double
11659s crash you have to always just sit there
11661s and be like
11664s hm what's achievable in the near
11670s future decision now really I'd guess
11673s between the weapon and the feral Spirits
11677s here yeah and it is that decision as to
11680s I whether we actually have to fight for
11683s board and play the the tempo battle this
11685s game or whether we can just ignore all
11688s of that and say hang on I've got like a
11690s light I've got lightning reflexes flash
11691s double crash in my hand like can I just
11694s get there the chance of drawing the
11696s Titan as well right like just not
11698s overloading into six and I know you know
11700s it's a one in 19 at this point but You'
11703s still if you've got a good enough turn
11705s without the overload why not right I
11707s think that's fair
11710s yeah Arcane ball take off the floor R
11713s banf face is just going to keep the
11715s tempo and keep pushing damage with these
11717s skeletons not looking too bad at
11726s all what's he thinking about here cuz
11728s that was a quick early decision followed
11730s by a long pause to whether he wants to
11736s [Music]
11738s draw yeah I guess
11741s so
11743s just seemed like a surprising delay
11745s that's all
11750s mhm
11752s oh okay it's kind of weird isn't it cuz
11756s like I was going to say C immediately
11758s looks tempting but when you look at what
11760s you can do next turn into Elemental
11763s inspiration Suddenly It's like hm yeah I
11766s like
11769s no Wu is saying I've had enough I can't
11772s get hit and then get hit by the death
11774s rattles again so yeah just going to take
11776s a beating now go down to 11 set up the
11778s weapon
11781s swing but nor for plus one is coming
11784s down this time right and that's why this
11785s was the choice un is that you absolutely
11789s had to lock this down from your opponent
11791s cuz you are constantly scared of that
11797s setup the tit wasn't far off one turn
11800s late but still yeah
11812s uh suddenly a really really ugly spot to
11814s be in for the Sharman
11818s right I think it is just Titan right I
11821s think it is just Titan yeah you can go
11823s reflexes and look for the uh the 54
11825s rushes to be able to answer but at that
11829s point why are you betting your future on
11831s a situation where you can just shoot it
11833s for 20 anyway makes more sense
11841s yeah it's going to hold doesn't use the
11845s spell discount
11846s yeah once the feral spirits to be
11849s playable next turn is potentially
11850s guaranteed Minions on board so you can
11852s either draw the bioluminescence or find
11854s it from that lightning reflexes
11856s potentially yeah or even just generating
11859s the overload as well right yeah yeah
11861s yeah absolutely
11869s a little bit tricky here from at banter
11872s face does have the elemental inspiration
11875s but in a weird situation where
11877s suddenly the Titan didn't use the deal
11880s damage heal right it's like oh that's
11882s just still
11885s there yeah you just can't let this thing
11887s live like your opponent's hand would
11889s have to be something kind of random in
11892s order you with a second charge Jazz base
11895s and an alive Titan discounting a spell
11897s by three yeah how do you not die next
11900s turn in that sitation I guess like the
11903s long shot is you saw them play a crash
11905s but that's too long of a shot for me
11908s still I am the of our
11915s Queen those are not it actually having
11918s drawn bio number one off the top these
11920s were not the cards that weak you would
11923s have wanted to see this
11931s turn lightning Bol and crash not
11936s bad but it's more about how this turn is
11939s going to finish right like what's the
11941s outcome here cuz no heal available
11944s either yeah so Zappa
11948s ferals swing the
11951s weapon six put your opponent 23 you have
11954s plus five spell
11956s damage plus six with the zapper you have
11959s to go in and do it yeah I agree with
11964s this B
11966s faces the eyebrow
11972s rais he's waiting for the third burn
11974s spell he's waiting for the third burn
11976s spell and it's not going to come and it
11977s turns out that he is still in this
11979s series cuz he has sift double Arcane
11981s bolt coming back the other away oh my
11983s God the desync is so intense I promise
11985s you what you just saw from bter Face's
11988s reaction was him realizing that the
11989s third burn spell was not there from wiq
11993s and that means he gets to take this one
11995s down and square the series up at two
11998s games to two and we are going to go all
12000s the way to a game five deciding yeah I
12003s was going to say that I'm not sure what
12005s spell damage exactly SI was on but I'm
12007s pretty sure the answer was enough right
12010s so yeah it was a fair play for we there
12012s going for it I think as you mentioned
12014s that the turn was correct right you just
12016s dump it all go and see what happens next
12018s turn if you're still alive uh couldn't
12020s get the Titan to heal didn't get hold of
12022s any extra heal as well for any sort of
12024s security and yeah just uh fell to the to
12027s the Wayside there and we are going to
12028s come down to a shaman mirror h i i uh
12032s wasn't too much of a prediction really I
12034s would say but the Rogues did their job
12037s the Mages did their job and now it's
12038s just down to a shaman face off and it's
12041s going to be a really tricky one how how
12043s do these mirrors normally go subtle is
12046s the person who wins board early
12048s generally the one who's going to take
12050s Victory or is there opportunities for a
12053s very back and forth
12055s game uh yes to the first question but
12058s also somewhat yes to the second question
12061s um the benefit of having early tempo of
12064s just like Landing fish on the board
12065s playing feral spirits on three dropping
12068s crash on the board and pushing through
12069s early chip damage is that there's an
12072s incredible fear equity in doing that for
12074s the plays that your opponent then has to
12076s make right if you chip your opponent
12078s down to 20 and you pass the turn to them
12081s and you've got two minions in play
12084s You're sat I'm sat there looking at that
12085s board going well if I don't pay
12088s attention to that they can kill me from
12090s 20 this turn because I'm leaving them
12092s with two Minions on the board so
12093s suddenly this card draw that I want to
12095s play I might not get to play this cuz I
12097s have to I have to deal with the board
12098s instead um so oh this is my first
12101s anomaly of the tournament Raven um oh I
12104s looked away for one second which one was
12106s it plus plus five Health oh okay thank
12108s you so um that actually changes things a
12112s little bit right cuz that actually gives
12113s the players a little bit more of a
12115s buffer to play with you're going to be
12117s less scared of turn five turn six
12119s lethals if you're leaving boards up on
12121s the other side and they do get the Jazz
12122s base down early but you can still see
12125s right like even though common wisdom
12128s might tell you well this is an otk deck
12130s against an otk deck Wu just keeps
12133s schooling and plays schooling on one
12135s because getting that Tempo battle right
12138s in the early turns is so huge this deck
12140s is so underrated as a Tempo deck um in
12144s terms of how to most effectively play it
12147s right it's a big reason why this version
12149s of the deck one out over the totem heavy
12152s version of the deck right with the
12153s infused spell and then that's much
12155s better at being an otk deck but it
12158s cannot Tempo so it loses that this is
12161s Hearthstone we're playing okay it's
12162s taken us 10 years to learn this but I
12165s thought we would have finally got there
12166s by now yeah we've seen it time and time
12168s again with these styles of decks where
12170s your end game plan doesn't mean anything
12173s if your opponent just plays stuff and
12174s kills you right so like we you know
12176s we've seen it time and time again as you
12178s said we even going to see the the tempo
12181s piranhas available uh getting dropped
12183s down there for wiq just to say you know
12185s what I'm just going to play these down
12186s you're not really going to kill them off
12187s and I'm going to have that board
12189s Advantage going in now exactly what I
12192s was referring to in the lead up right
12193s now these three these three little fish
12195s just get to chip away some damage push
12197s banter into the vicinity of 20 Health if
12200s they were starting at at 30 which
12202s they're not um and then suddenly that
12205s Fear Factor is huge I think right B
12208s banter having seen this schooling coming
12209s down will actually be somewhat thankful
12211s for that uh anomaly giving him a sort of
12213s a free renal at this
12218s point I mean b already kind of agonized
12222s over the choice here because they're all
12225s good but what's correct right like turn
12228s the tides again feels like the type of
12230s card you want
12233s playable also that's a thought has
12235s anyone talked about this how many renals
12237s are in this
12239s tournament 64 decks and I is it two
12242s control priests and that's it for renor
12244s deck maybe yeah and then the anomalies
12247s yeah yeah but but yeah yeah I think
12249s you're right
12251s actually
12254s well the biggest upset of this
12255s tournament all is zero paladins
12257s [Laughter]
12260s okay why did you want there to be
12262s Paladin I I was ready to cast some
12265s Divine Justice okay because there's
12268s something just I don't know all these
12269s fancy decks where Paladin's just like
12271s I'm just going to play a dude and hit
12272s you in the face MH just an honorable
12275s deck right now that's all I'm saying I
12276s do like the idea that you know because
12279s of like Order in the Court and the
12280s various effects that have cuz like most
12281s good Paladin effect uh decks abuse Order
12284s in the Court to some degree right
12286s massively yeah um whether it's like do
12288s this then I draw my pator and then that
12289s draws me all my light rays or whatever
12291s like that that kind of thing or the
12292s other version where you you play Order
12294s in the Court and then you always draw
12295s the garden's Grace but then the into
12298s your second one yeah and then guns great
12300s always cost zero by the time that you
12301s play it like because that's the nature
12304s of Paladin decks they basically just
12305s play the same game over and over and
12307s over and over again great and that game
12310s is get them
12316s yeah here the
12318s weu arguably has board control with the
12320s totem down but looks like this is going
12322s to be a weapon equip and go I don't
12325s think there's that much Merit of just
12328s playing turn the tides for a minion when
12330s you have the the Jazz uh bass
12338s available it kind of is though it's a
12340s three three on the board that
12343s yeah I like this I was thinking about it
12345s but I just thought it was just going to
12346s set up the weapon instead and just have
12347s that Flex for next turn yeah I just
12350s don't again it's I don't think the
12353s weapon is going to be popped two turns
12356s from that turn four that we you just
12358s played so if that's going to be the case
12361s then just take the extra 3 three a turn
12363s earlier right and just have that extra 3
12365s three in play this is
12370s fine 17 by by the way he started at
12374s 35 I was going to say I guess it's still
12376s a little bit early of thinking maybe
12378s comboing them both to kill a Titan for
12380s example right or to help kill a Titan
12383s still a bit early in the game for that
12384s so yeah agreed and I think honestly with
12388s the the hand that we's staring at here
12390s now with the Jazz BL Jazz Bas lined up
12394s it's not so much killing a Titan I mean
12396s he is killing a Titan but that Titan is
12398s the Titan of the America's Hearthstone
12400s scene MCB face that's who going to be
12402s killed
12403s here one day I'll forgive you please I
12407s just want you to like me
12411s vter it's I'm sorry okay I'm
12418s sorry I haven't been this far in the mud
12420s with an America's player until like
12421s since I called Muzzy a choke artist live
12424s on oh that was a whole Ark wasn't it it
12426s was a whole lot that never got old we we
12428s we used that for like a good two years
12430s straight this is the thing you have to
12433s understand it's all excellent television
12435s though isn't it that's the
12441s point kind of interesting choices here
12443s is this just hex because he doesn't need
12445s the health and hex is
12449s cheap yeah sounds
12452s right sometimes the simple answers are
12455s the correct answers more often than not
12457s I'd say actually is there any juice in
12459s this Jazz base because there's a uh
12462s there is a little niche trick that you
12463s can do where you can actually
12465s potentially stack both charges of jazz
12467s base right like so if you have one like
12469s this and then you overwrite it with the
12471s second Jazz base and then swing that
12473s jazz base that you've just equipped you
12475s get the first spell discount effect then
12477s also going into the next turn you can
12479s swing the second Jazz basically just
12481s equipped and get it again uh usually
12484s there's not much of a way to get that to
12485s gain you more than one discount because
12488s you obviously you can't cast other
12489s spells before popping the second base or
12492s the whole thing's redundant um but it is
12494s a weird Niche spot a difficult lethal
12497s situation that does come up
12507s sometimes tournament life on the
12511s line both players trying to get there
12513s trying to piece together some kind of
12516s burst but weu definitely ahead by miles
12519s at least
12520s healthwise yeah n on 10 months of work
12524s on the line right now as
12529s well is
12532s little I'm ban to
12534s finding
12537s nothing how dare you insult lightning
12540s Bol like
12545s that yeah I think this is just Banner
12548s face just saying I've got to do
12551s something let's
12558s go right 28 without being able to get
12561s the second bio down
12566s yeah
12572s yep I'm sure weu was thinking not like
12575s this not not the fifth bur spell not the
12578s fifth bur spell not from
12580s 35 yeah
12585s yeah now uh 14 seems like a more
12588s attainable number
12591s yeah I'm just trying to honestly my
12594s brain struggles so much with doing crash
12596s numbers you can stop there
12599s mate H just you just your brain
12602s struggles so much end of sentence H but
12606s true but fair look we all struggle it's
12610s okay some than others I think so the
12614s problem here for Wei's hand is just
12615s minion generation right just can't
12617s really get enough stuff on board for the
12619s the
12622s bioluminescence one discount currently
12625s coming from the Jazz base on the
12627s previous turn so if you find feral
12629s Spirit from Flow Rider you're paying two
12632s for it you do still have an overdraft so
12635s you can get that one Mana back but you
12637s would if overdraft wasn't your first
12639s spell which it wouldn't be you'd be
12641s paying one for one man to get that one
12643s Mana back
12648s anyway this just going to stabilize
12651s instead or at least attempt
12654s it yeah this looks okay right clear the
12657s board and just say you don't have seven
12659s after all that yeah that was a it was a
12663s hand by the way like banter going for it
12665s 100% full force with his chest on the
12667s previous ter was absolutely correct
12669s because of this thorum being able to
12671s reset this on the following turn anyway
12674s um but we's turn on that previous turn I
12676s don't know if some Mega genius finds
12678s some god tier line on that turn it was
12680s one of those hands having played this
12681s deck a lot that's like it's screaming at
12684s me that there's some hidden God play in
12685s it but I just could not work out what it
12687s was I think it was just like a manner or
12689s two short wasn't it I think if if this
12691s was turn eight turn nine maybe we could
12694s definitely talk about outs but I think
12696s just a lack of Mana was the real problem
12699s mhm and this is so tired two players
12702s been working like 10 months fighting for
12704s a world championship spot and it's only
12707s the anomaly really that is keeping them
12710s alive at this
12713s point yeah cuz weirdly that that would
12716s have been it right mben would have
12718s lethal Wu in this exact game obviously
12720s the game maybe and well would have been
12722s played differently and so on but yeah
12726s just as maybe Wu could have done the
12727s other turn better if there was less
12729s health of course but there's Zappa all
12733s you tell
12736s me Zappa Flow Rider go
12740s looking I have the overdraft anyway
12742s right yeah overdrafts there yep and
12744s there's the crash with the uh
12749s ferals
12752s TI T is three but then crash still costs
12757s three oh for
12759s sure what's that on the left left okay
12763s how is this game still going
12765s on I don't know but they are now both
12768s officially dead sounds anomaly so you
12770s know we have that going for us I just
12772s feel like it's that thing where you just
12774s poke them both with a stick and say do
12776s something it's like it wasn't it wasn't
12779s there
12780s right two
12782s minions bioluminesence and overd Dr
12785s you'd be overloaded for two so it would
12788s just do four yeah no that wasn't it
12793s how could you not do eight that turn I
12795s don't believe it that must have been
12798s lethal and banner can't believe it
12800s either I think he was so sure he was
12802s dead so now is this just Titan AOE
12807s [Music]
12809s heal Titan draw three is true yeah I I
12812s didn't even look how low his deck was
12814s and there it is that plus lightning Bol
12817s I think M bface can't believe it either
12819s that's not only going to be game but
12821s that is going to be Matt MCB takes the
12823s victory there and look at that that was
12826s so close and there you go I love that
12829s it's the fist pump of yes I won and then
12832s the actual reaction of how the heck did
12835s I win that game of hearthstone because I
12837s think both players at multiple turns
12840s throughout that end game expected each
12842s other to or expected themselves I guess
12845s to lose and die because there was so
12847s many turns where in maybe any other game
12850s the shaman would just thought oh yeah
12852s sure I'm going to do this I'm going to
12854s press end turn I'm pretty much dead
12856s whatever you know I'll see what happens
12857s and I think what twice it happened where
12860s just neither player could get there and
12861s I think you know if we would have had
12863s cameras for both players you would have
12864s seen shock on MCB face and weu there
12867s after each of those turns really
12869s incredible last game and you can take
12871s that back to the the Rogue versus Shaman
12873s game as well right like bface thought he
12876s was cooked twice this series like for
12879s sure he absolutely thought he was dead
12882s um in oh it was the Mage game Sorry like
12884s where actually all three right the Rog
12886s yeah the Rog yeah he was he thought he
12888s he thought he was out of it with the
12889s Rogue until the crab top deck kept him
12891s back in here and just just straight out
12892s fact that he wasn't dead to the shaman
12893s on the other side the Mage he was one
12895s burn spell away from dying and he
12897s thought that burn spell existed and then
12898s he had the Sith counter lethal and then
12900s the shaman mirror so all three games weq
12903s lost with Sharman banter probably would
12906s have thought he was out in all three of
12908s them uh and two of those the Mage and
12910s the mirror were actually at tournament
12913s life on the line and that at that point
12914s in the scores as well so that seems like
12917s an incredibly unlikely series from Ban's
12920s perspective to have won but I think you
12922s know banter is a phenomenal player this
12924s was two great players with two good
12927s records with very similar lineups going
12930s up against each other so the margins
12931s were always going to be that fine but
12934s yeah I don't think too many of us would
12935s have predicted that ending of just an
12937s anomaly and just a few bad draws
12939s basically keeping both players players
12941s in it for that one extra turn and
12942s allowing things to fall in favor of bter
12945s yeah luckily for banter and I guess for
12947s us we've got a little bit of time to
12948s recover as we're going to go to a break
12950s while we set up the final top eight
12952s match of the day and then we'll
12953s obviously continue into that top four so
12955s don't go anywhere we'll be right back
12957s with some more he
12968s [Music]
12970s Stone
12972s [Applause]
12999s Hall
13010s [Music]
13022s [Music]
13029s hey
13037s [Music]
13046s [Music]
13059s yeah
13066s [Music]
13072s [Music]
13085s [Music]
13089s n
13104s [Music]
13120s [Music]
13150s w
13156s [Music]
13171s [Music]
13179s go
13185s [Music]
13192s [Music]
13209s n
13212s [Music]
13234s [Music]
13241s Hello everybody welcome back to the
13242s Hearthstone Masters Tour fall
13244s Championship my name is TJ I'm joined by
13246s adal Vice once again we kicked off the
13248s show and now we're back for the final
13250s quarterfinals how you doing I'm doing
13253s great what a series to follow I think
13255s that's probably my favorite match of the
13257s weekend so
13259s far yeah that was a a good one very
13262s close every game was close every game
13264s you could look at it for the last five
13266s turns and be like no idea who's going to
13269s win literally no idea aide um and maybe
13272s that's just the nature of Shaman get it
13275s nature of Shaman I need to that um but
13278s yeah we got one spot left in the
13280s semi-finals and it's going to go to co
13281s or balance as the two players that are
13285s going to be competing here in this next
13287s match yeah and balance I believe is one
13291s of the few priest
13296s players control
13298s priest heyo I'm sorry wait a minute I'm
13302s seeing Co has control priest please tell
13304s me they don't both
13309s sorry wait did I look at it wrong I
13311s didn't think so wait okay no no it's
13314s balanced all right I was I had a heart
13317s attack for a moment thinking we had been
13319s stuck with control priest mirror oh no
13322s we have I'm correct go and balance both
13325s have the XL control priest which uh is
13330s kind of curious are the only two players
13332s who have brought it and both of them
13333s make it into the top eight so uh maybe
13336s they just had a read kind of unfortunate
13338s for them to then run into each other as
13341s I think even priest players are not
13343s terribly happy to see that
13346s mirror oh jeez I have the completely
13348s wrong decks
13350s open but uh yeah Co does have on the
13353s other hand the enrage Warrior rather
13356s than the Odin Warrior so at least doing
13358s us a favor by going a little more
13360s aggressive Ive on that side of things
13362s I'm I've always been pretty big fan of
13365s enrage Warrior uh I don't know about you
13367s youj but I just I don't know I like
13370s getting those huge stat numbers which
13372s which you can yeah definitely do now
13375s with battle war faceless and anima
13376s extractor it's pretty fun Temple Deck
13378s with a lot of skill expression which is
13380s cool I also love small steam
13384s Guardians I don't know why it's small
13386s but it's small um and an interesting uh
13390s list that doesn't run um the RoR roria
13395s yeah roria or Grom I think yeah know
13399s previously when we had sort of Druid
13402s Stone going on one of the arguments for
13404s for cutting that big top end was you
13406s just had to kill them quicker than that
13408s and I think that's that certainly can be
13411s a continued argument even even now but
13415s uh I would prefer to have those going
13417s into another control priest player
13420s certainly
13423s yeah it kind of need it for the the
13426s damage but we'll see if we uh if we get
13428s to that point uh in the series um moving
13433s over to talk about
13435s balance uh it's kind of interesting
13438s actually I completely skipped over on Co
13441s and even putting up my deck list for
13443s this round I didn't even put his up uh
13447s hit the correct decks up that so many
13449s priest players actually made it in uh to
13451s the top eight because we actually did
13452s see even though we lost ream earlier
13454s with the shadow priest uh make it into
13457s the top eight as well so even though the
13460s times we've seen the deck on stream have
13462s been quite
13464s lackluster uh the deck is obviously
13466s performing well or the class is
13468s obviously performing well across both
13470s archetypes to make it to this point
13473s perhaps the the players uh you know
13475s priest is at least as of our previous
13478s stats not
13480s still not the greatest performance win
13483s percentage wise it's at uh
13486s 42.86% now I don't know if that is you
13490s know the shadow priest dragging down the
13494s controls or or vice versa in terms of
13496s stats but uh it's a little surprising
13500s that all three of them made it to the
13501s top eight when the stats for it have not
13504s been
13506s Stellar yeah um but 40% is still
13510s respectable like it's you know winning
13512s nearly half the match that half the
13515s matches that takes part in half the
13517s games that it takes part in and control
13519s priest is much different than control
13520s priest of old you actually get to play
13522s things and you can be proactive with the
13524s deck uh as opposed to you know in
13527s previous iterations of control priest
13529s where you were just reactive until super
13532s late stages in the game uh one of the I
13534s think most important cards in control
13536s priest nowadays probably ignis um yeah
13540s gives you so much flexibility it gives
13542s you ways consistent ways to like gain
13544s armor Beyond just um you know generated
13549s effects right which helps a lot uh in
13552s many matchups in the current metag game
13554s getting above certain thresholds of life
13556s and also you can make a bunch of ignes
13559s you can just ignis all day every day and
13563s make a bunch of weapons that fit every
13564s situation you know get a five cost for
13566s Tempo sure yeah then get a 10 cost for
13569s that you know and endgame win condition
13572s uh you could do it
13573s all yeah a lot of times if priest is
13576s able to beat out some of these you know
13579s more direct damage decks it is because
13582s of armor from ignis giving it the
13583s capability to do something it is
13586s normally not able to which is exceed the
13589s maximum life total of know 35 with
13591s renthal but yeah getting so many ESS
13594s from power of creation from power cord
13597s synchronize like priest is a lot more
13600s now about like finding key minions and
13602s just getting tons of copies of
13605s them yep and that is more fun than just
13610s taking your opponent's cards and hoping
13612s that's something good or waiting for
13614s your opponent to play big stuff and then
13615s killing it and that's
13617s it so uh definitely much more of a fan
13621s of the control per still tends to be
13622s long games they still tend to be quite
13624s grindy and you know like to uh grind out
13628s decks and that's why we're talking about
13629s the AR because games do tend to go a
13631s little bit longer um but they can end
13634s games which
13636s is thumbs up they can win they can win
13639s games of hearthstone not just not lose
13642s games of hearthstone and we're going to
13644s get to see it right off the
13645s bat certainly matchup wise uh in terms
13649s of being the priest here versus the
13652s enrage Warrior you're probably feeling
13655s pretty good as balance and we're coming
13656s in a few turns in but see the the
13660s Cathedral location here for the priest
13662s even though there's not a ton of minions
13663s it's just really great tool for card
13666s draw you know once you pay that three
13668s Mana up front you can then use it uh for
13671s for just you know three cards over time
13674s right you pay your tax set at at the
13676s start and then the next ones are free
13677s and this is a very common use case where
13679s you even just buff the enemy minion
13682s right before you kill it just to get
13683s that card
13688s draw the
13692s bori I can't call it anything else
13696s now yeah it it can be an obnoxious card
13700s for control decks to deal with but
13702s priest specifically is sort of the the
13704s king of you know silences or or dealing
13708s with threats without actually triggering
13710s stuff so uh no silence present just yet
13714s but there are certainly two copies of
13717s Shard of Naru in the list somewhere yeah
13720s and could be crucial in this game as
13723s well
13725s um just to try and stop these eggs get
13729s rid of some Buffs that are going to
13730s happen on the board later on in the game
13733s uh even like trial by
13734s fire
13740s um I don't think it's sangs because I
13742s don't think you want three locations on
13744s the board but it could be okay it is s
13746s it's just the cheapest it's rare
13748s situation where you have three locations
13750s on the
13752s board I mean sometimes a a ping is nice
13756s you know maybe thinking well it pairs
13758s with the Holy Nova
13761s and uh you know allows you to take out
13764s this this 3
13765s three I'm not sure there were any really
13768s great options there so yeah just kind of
13770s the cheapest to get out of the way and
13772s you don't usually care about Ford space
13774s as much as the priest so kind of okay to
13777s play a bunch of locations yeah
13786s for Co
13788s though it's not you know it's looking
13792s okay with the number of board clears
13794s that priests have access to you're
13796s always a little bit on edge of you know
13799s how long is this going to last how much
13800s value can I get out of it so I'm sure
13802s he's thinking
13804s about what resources he wants to spend
13807s you know is it worth doing champ session
13810s plus the uh crispy Skipper we sometimes
13813s call it the sunfury there to get two
13815s procs on you know acolyte for card
13824s draws op just keep things as
13829s is and I think not playing the sanguin
13832s deps last turn for balance was an odd to
13835s picking up this trial by fire right so
13838s one situation where board space would
13839s would
13840s matter
13842s yes and one of the only ones I wonder um
13847s he's going to go there was pretty clean
13848s clear with just two bumps into the steam
13850s Guardian then acolyte Thor bori but it's
13853s just going to make use of actually this
13857s is actually what a
13859s full full
13862s full clear crucially only one attack
13866s used on the aqualite right so don't end
13868s up drawing the opponent too many cards
13870s going to leave up the egg for
13873s now
13875s yep pretty clean turn ends with the two
13878s four fours that are full health uh after
13880s the location hit so nicely done
13884s and for en rage Warrior it's always
13886s tough to kind of start from scratch um
13889s obviously theor Bor is going to do some
13892s work in trying to fight back this board
13894s but when you fall behind on board within
13896s rage War it can be kind of difficult to
13898s get back unless you've done
13900s significant amount of damage to your
13901s opponent and can try and go for uh those
13906s otks
13908s um have a little bit in the
13910s makings of it with the crazy wrch and
13914s the copy with jam session but still not
13918s nearly enough and quite has to just
13922s think if it's worth trial by fire for
13924s four right now because there's no board
13926s space we just roaring Applause and then
13927s see what happens
13931s yeah I mean this is certainly the
13933s matchup where you would wish to have
13935s something like a gromos of course grash
13938s plus location plus the battle warn
13940s faceless is a way that you can get a
13943s massive amount of Gobo damage I think it
13946s goes up
13947s to like what is it
13950s 204 damage
13954s or grash plus location is 12 and then
13959s you you copy it so yeah
13960s 24 and that can be one way you take the
13963s priest by
13968s surprise going to have to do it the
13970s oldfashioned way
13971s here yeah actually Grom plus en rage is
13974s the old fashioned way but going to have
13977s to do it have old old fashioned way yeah
13979s going to have to do with the new
13981s fashioned way with a bunch of cards in a
13983s single turn and then
13986s killing and these trial by fires for Co
13990s are actually kind of awkward because of
13992s this this egg you know I'm wondering
13996s like how long he's going to be sitting
13999s on this reduced jam session together
14002s with the craze WR and things because one
14004s of the options on the previous turn
14006s would have been to buff the egg uh
14011s awaken Thor balour and you know jam
14014s session on that
14018s board
14030s seems like the goal is to go for just a
14034s massive hand buff turn I think Co is
14037s going to try and curate the hand so that
14039s all the Buffs land on that craze
14043s wretch yep also has um the bonus of
14048s being able to clean this board up as
14050s well CU you
14052s can
14054s alternate
14055s attacks with the thory Bel
14058s Lord as you play these fire spells just
14061s what resources want to get rid of
14063s strengthes the
14065s ashes
14067s moral Soul full of
14071s sin now this is uh a little bit
14074s surprising to me uh battle war faceless
14076s very powerful card in in Rage Warrior
14079s but it does have the awkward sort of
14083s anti- synergy
14085s with um animal extractor where any Buffs
14089s that it eats are kind of wasted if you
14092s end up using it for the copy effect
14094s because it it transforms so
14099s uh yeah usually I like to copy the
14103s extractor itself so you can kind of
14104s minimize that happening but you are you
14108s know sometimes star for Mana in terms of
14110s being able to do
14117s that still a lot of resources generated
14119s a lot of Buffs being placed got two on
14122s the craze wretch is decent I saw uh at
14126s least one go on to the disat ogre as
14128s well so yep there's some damage being
14131s racked up
14136s here and this uh one Mana weapon for
14139s balance you know typically you're
14141s looking for on a one Mana weapon you
14143s know say the the death rattle deal one
14145s to everything and poisonous but uh it's
14149s still just an efficient weapon here uh
14151s with life steal and gain two
14158s Arbor it's like the only way to clear
14160s the board but it ging over somebody yeah
14164s attack first okay there we go I was
14166s about to say if he's going to do it how
14167s I think he's going to do it then is
14170s going to be a lot of Buffs thrown
14174s over this will clear and
14177s then follow up with the sanguin depths
14180s not sure if it may be meant to do the
14184s armor vendor
14185s but the the important plays got
14189s through there is another extractor now
14193s so even though the battle war faceless
14195s ate some of those Buffs earlier on uh Co
14198s might be able to just
14200s go again and and this time copy the
14203s Animo
14216s extractor there's always the the risk
14218s though of dirty rat but as the enrage
14221s Warrior I kind of feel like you don't
14223s really have another plan like you sort
14227s of have to go for this all in
14230s uh hand buff strategy
14232s and yeah I just hope you you can dodge
14234s the rats because it's very very unlikely
14238s that you end up actually sticking a
14255s board and terms of okay balance just
14259s looking to clear and draw cards that's
14262s kind of the constant uh name of the game
14264s for the
14265s priest
14267s yeah has a lot of
14269s ways to do that with the cler plus
14273s handmaiden as
14275s well uh parkour synchronize
14279s H not really anything currently to use
14282s that on I guess in a pinch you could use
14284s it on like armor
14285s vender
14288s um the Behemoth The probably not great
14292s can't be used this
14295s turn but it's likely going to be wide
14297s unless you're staring at a single Minion
14299s which Co doesn't really have too much in
14301s the way of the single minions caniz is
14303s fantastic here just be able to stop
14306s these buff from coming on it is it
14308s fantastic I mean that's not really how
14310s you want to use that card there's not
14312s really anything else you're going to use
14314s it for in this match up though there not
14315s like big stuff and well I think often
14318s times you know your ideal use case is up
14321s against something like uh you know you
14324s play your dirty rat you hit their big
14326s minion they've been buffing all game in
14328s hand and then and then you can
14330s cannibalize
14331s that yeah but no dirty rat in hand I
14336s mean I guess a lot of card draws
14338s still just trying to find ways to spend
14341s the
14345s Mana and with this many
14347s cards
14350s I don't know in this situation I feel
14352s like it was
14353s decent I I mean I think had to do it I
14356s think you're just not necessarily happy
14358s about it right
14366s yeah in terms of CO's plays here I mean
14370s these Embers are a lot less useful when
14373s you're not doing the sort of you know
14374s sunfury Embers anima
14377s extractor
14380s combo uh so I'm little surprised that we
14384s did not see that coming down a little
14387s bit earlier but you know the the flip
14391s side of saving this battle warn faceless
14394s like this is and I'm sure Co is thinking
14396s about it in this way you get to save it
14399s for the craze wretch so you know he's
14401s been sitting on this craze dret and jam
14403s session for quite a while now and I'm
14405s sure has it in his mind
14407s to you know use the location in play
14411s plus the sangin depths in hand plus jam
14413s session on The Craze wretch and then
14416s copy it with the faceless and and so
14418s that is kind of the amount of burst
14420s damage that that Co has been working
14423s towards is it a 47 right now he hasn't
14426s moused over in a
14428s while yeah uh
14432s unfortunately and there goes the
14435s faceless and there goes the other one
14437s out of the deck that is one of the the
14440s you know really tough things about if
14443s you you let things get to the point of
14444s dirty rat whirl poool is you not only
14446s lose copy in play that you lose copy in
14448s your deck and I think Co was looking to
14450s pull the trigger on the next
14456s turn 36 and it would have been a lethal
14458s setup as well unless balance had been
14461s able to gain a lot of
14465s Life what 24 something like that but now
14470s back to square one only four cards left
14472s in the deck I don't just don't know if
14473s it's going to be enough damage to get
14474s there it's got to kind of go wide and
14477s then hope yeah I mean you need something
14479s to
14482s stick you know no silence on the thory
14486s has meant a considerable amount of value
14489s out of its you know recursions just
14492s making it all the more Awkward for for
14495s balance to keep getting
14497s clears yeah and
14500s here's the weapon finally is I think
14503s that might be both weapons in the bottom
14505s three cards which is in the
14507s B yeah for a second I I was I had to
14511s double check that they were there I was
14513s like wait a second this doesn't seem
14516s uh this doesn't seem particularly good
14520s but yeah they are there they're just at
14521s the bottom there have been some players
14525s that have actually been cutting Ena
14527s extractor or or going down to one copy
14529s in their latter list uh this was during
14532s the Druid meta but uh just
14534s because they saw battle war faceless as
14537s kind of the the better card and since
14540s there is that bit of anti- synergy there
14543s they were you know looking at ways of
14545s just going lower to the ground and not
14547s worrying about hand buffing so much as
14548s just taking advantage of the weapon but
14550s I don't think there's any lists that
14552s have cut in bux it is just way too good
14555s of a snowball
14557s card quick
14560s good snowball card can also be a good
14562s setup card at times if you just need to
14565s be proactive just making a bunch of
14566s stats on the board getting them out of
14568s range certain
14573s a this
14575s is just very awkward here for balance
14579s you know this only clears the thory and
14584s you know you like to have saved it for
14585s the following turn out of I don't think
14588s this is
14592s enough it's it's not infused but it's 10
14595s 13 14 15 + 4
14600s 19 yeah 2021 jam session is 24 both Jam
14605s sessions oh both Jam sessions yes this
14607s is the last card and also c r
14610s too uh just
14613s to add to it so balance just not able to
14617s find something
14620s to get that last push uh taken care of
14623s from CO's side that was a little bit
14626s awkward not what I expected to be quite
14629s Frank again this is usually quite
14631s favored for the priest I think it really
14633s comes down to the fact that balance
14634s never saw any Shard of the Naru which
14637s are a huge card in the matchup you know
14639s very good against all all the Buffs
14641s against story bour which Co was able to
14644s get massive value out of so I think if
14646s you're Co you're very happy with that
14648s game one result not just because of the
14650s win but because a win into an
14652s unfavorable yeah that's
14654s uh a huge win maybe a loss for us
14658s because the priest is still on the
14660s table I was thinking that it means
14663s higher odds that we see that priest
14665s mirror yeah I was like I I'm I was about
14669s to breathe the S relief I was like okay
14671s got the faces is out of the deck decent
14674s life total one last push to take care of
14677s and balance just couldn't take care of
14679s it and I feel like that's a weakness
14681s we've seen from priests quite often
14684s because they're sometimes they get forc
14686s to these positions where they're have to
14687s be so
14688s reactive um and but they just run out of
14692s tools against uh these types these
14694s styles of decks which just keep
14697s refilling that's the one benefit I guess
14700s if you want to call it that for Co of
14702s having like jam session and bux at the
14704s bottom right was that a the AC early on
14709s both light of the phoenixes came like at
14711s the perfect time uh to be able to
14713s continuously have a full hand size
14716s throughout the entire portion of that
14717s mid game and that allow him to have like
14720s sort of waves to push as you mentioned
14721s the sh of the Naru just not being there
14723s um balance may have just run away with
14726s the game that Thor balora had been just
14728s taken care of uh earlier on because he
14731s used that to trade in to so many minions
14733s and then to deal a good amount of face
14735s damage at the end as well yeah I I think
14739s you know one of the problems priest can
14741s have is actually just too many cards in
14743s a hand balance couldn't make enough hand
14745s space to actually play that handmaid
14747s into to draw three to find the cards
14749s that he actually needed right you play
14751s something like identity theft get two
14752s cards from your opponent I mean the
14755s trial by a fire was a pretty good pickup
14757s but besides that I mean it's just you're
14760s replacing cards in your hand with other
14762s cards that you don't necessarily want
14764s and then never having the hand space to
14766s play handmaiden for the the draw three
14768s that might have found a board clear that
14770s much
14771s earlier I see you've
14774s broughtest
14776s light and the
14778s impure all right getting some Mage
14781s versus
14782s priest going on here we just need one of
14787s these priests to win before they face
14789s each other
14791s that's it's going to be the last deck
14793s for both
14794s players that's the that's the
14797s trajectory uh we're heading down so
14800s we'll see balance fighting Tempo with
14801s Tempo here just temping out the
14805s artificer certainly Mage has been you
14808s know one of the better uh performers
14812s it's pretty likely it seems that people
14815s end up getting you know wins with Mage I
14818s suppose it's kind of middle of the pack
14820s Rogue has
14821s been the best but uh yeah it's it's an
14826s awkward matchup for the
14829s priest where you have to kind of dirty
14833s rat Sif but then also there's a lot of
14836s boards you still have to
14838s clear
14843s mhm sort of need to get copies on the
14846s dirty rat tube
14848s to be able to hit the Minions that you
14851s need at
14853s times snap
14857s Ignus
14861s there's potential for four ignis this
14865s game yep and that's the beauty
14870s of getting it from the protocol is that
14873s it that's your Forge also taken care of
14876s for the ignes yeah absolutely don't even
14879s have to worry about it so now um that's
14882s a a Big Boon for Co just gives you
14886s proactive stuff in especially It just
14888s fits the curve perfectly yeah I think Co
14891s is just happy to have seen you know the
14893s volume up happen before the cold case so
14896s that does give time uh for feel a little
14900s safer playing the ignis on four you'd
14903s probably do it either way but just not
14905s quite taking that chip damage just yet
14907s feels pretty
14915s nice and I think you go for a five here
14919s yeah just play on
14922s curve yep took the five when Fury summon
14927s perhaps it's good Tempo
14931s option there was armor too but I don't
14933s think you're really needed at this
14936s point well the armor is less useful if
14939s it's just getting chipped down by things
14942s like volatile skeletons anyway right
14945s like you do have healing in the deck
14950s yeah so yeah wind Fury summon makes a
14952s whole lot of sense to me take out the
14954s skeleton and then the
14962s artificer o that's a good
14967s one very good
14972s one oh but so is love everlasting for
14976s balance they were just just talking
14978s about it
14982s too I don't know that there's a game you
14984s ever don't want love everlasting as I
14986s know
14988s yeah yeah
14991s it's absolutely
14995s broken I mean there's no for some pretty
14998s insane sift combos too insane sift
15001s combos it just Smooths everything along
15003s like there's pretty much no turn in
15005s which you're not playing a spell anyway
15007s so it's just free like you never end up
15010s like the priest sometimes does where you
15012s feel like you have to play a spell or
15014s else you're going to lose your love
15015s everlasting in Mage it's
15018s just it just happens you're just playing
15021s spells anyway
15023s yeah the only time where you may have to
15026s think about it is like it's turn six and
15028s you got norgan on and it's a really good
15034s play wither is the pick here for the the
15038s second discovery of magic and uh
15043s honestly even without the undead Synergy
15046s with the volatile skeletons I think it'd
15048s be a solid pick just as a one Mana
15049s nature
15050s spell
15054s yep us
15056s all that's not a good
15059s one those two are less good yeah
15063s certainly if you if you take the stats
15066s from both of them it's pretty
15070s average the 38 and the 1 one
15074s but alone it's not
15077s great still another ignis exactly oh
15083s wow okay going for the
15086s melanic that's pretty cool
15091s actually I'm a little surprised to see
15094s it play Turn well it gets rid of the
15097s love ever foric potentially right most
15101s most most of the time it doesn't I guess
15103s but in this instance it it might just I
15108s mean it kind of forces the elemental
15110s inspiration
15112s right
15114s yeah I think that might be worth it even
15117s though noran just fits the curb so
15121s well oh it's yeah you're right it's four
15124s already because there was even a holy
15125s spell
15126s played
15131s but you're you're facing up against a
15133s board yeah but the norgon isn't doing
15136s much either right what what do you do
15137s just kill the
15141s 43 yeah that's true and you lose your
15143s love
15149s everlasting not having an inquisitive
15151s creation to sort of answer back on this
15154s is definitely a tough spot for balance
15162s but a lot of times priests has
15165s symmetrical board clears so even though
15169s he may not have wanted to it was kind of
15170s forced into this Elemental inspiration
15173s it does present a bunch of stuff that Co
15175s has to address
15182s now going for a 10 no these are ones so
15186s that was probably a poisonous and then a
15187s deal
15189s too
15195s yep and I'd be a little surprised yeah
15198s if we didn't see this other synchronize
15200s coming down on the ignis uh cuz we are
15202s nearing that 10 point and a lot of the
15204s tens are very very good for what the
15206s priest wants to do here oh
15216s yeah
15226s no card draw no inquisitive creation
15229s this is just a a really weird spot for
15234s balance to be in right
15235s now yeah can make use of the uh wither
15239s to get that out of the way
15243s yep that only steals two though after
15246s you summon the skeletons
15251s yeah but it's still something
15255s yeah and it's another spell in the pool
15259s imulation
15262s Aura I don't believe we've done fell yet
15266s it actually might not even be bad to
15268s kill your own skeletons off right away
15271s if you or you could wither and then
15273s imulation right right and that's like
15276s okay lighting reflexes
15279s also
15284s fine doesn't add to the current number
15287s of spell schools though and uh not
15289s getting a terribly big clear here
15295s so perfect amanul onto the skeletons
15301s there
15306s potential all right let's see what the
15308s pick
15309s is
15311s World evil dragon
15320s Bane there's no fire spells in
15323s Priest
15330s so yeah Dragon band is really the only
15333s one that makes any sense whatsoever so
15336s it's not terrible
15338s it could be a little bit of damage like
15339s a last push of damage too yeah
15341s absolutely if need
15343s be try and put a little bit of pressure
15347s on and this is the power of love
15350s everlasting coage was not able to heal
15353s and so you know that forg molten Rune is
15356s just enough doubling the spell damage
15359s and uh yeah three instances
15363s that's 27 damage it's not even so
15367s something I was looking for because
15369s eight Mana is not really the turn you
15371s expect to SI but yeah like you said the
15374s love everlasting uh just able to let you
15376s do things
15378s that uh feel a little bit unfair at
15381s times and I that was like a decent game
15385s from coage too like there was a good
15387s amount of pressure good amount of tempo
15391s I mean lost a game with dirty rat in
15393s hand and ways to like answer C it had if
15397s it had come out with like a board in
15400s play uh that's the only sort of thing
15403s that you could point out that maybe
15404s could have been done differently is just
15405s ripping the dirty
15407s rat
15408s um but it's hard to expect that damage
15412s to come out I mean maybe the turn that
15414s the molten Rune was forged that could
15416s give you maybe a slight
15418s indication uh which was the previous
15420s turn as you set up for it um but that
15423s was it like that was the only like thing
15425s that said yeah you're he's going to kill
15427s me this turn so yeah it was maybe a
15430s slightly unusual spot for someone to to
15432s forge a molten Rune that maybe that
15434s could give you an indication uh perhaps
15436s I should dirty rat but I I think you
15439s know it maybe got carried away with
15441s playing the pressure game and was like
15443s well but I'm I'm keeping them on the
15445s back foot I'm not dead right and and as
15448s you say you're just not used to on that
15451s turn being dead to the sift from you
15454s know a fairly healthy life total at 25
15457s but love everlasting just makes those
15460s plays
15461s happen it certainly
15464s does and now we get one step closer to a
15467s game five priest miror it's feels like
15470s at this point it's just
15473s inevitability um cuz both players just
15476s can't seem to get a win on the deck I
15479s prob be PR versus Rogue right now should
15481s it come to that there is one small
15483s Comfort which is that from what I see
15486s here Co does have sister swna in an
15491s Etc and ah I believe balance does not
15496s yeah there is no sister no Etc even or
15500s balance balance took more of a strictly
15502s like
15504s anti a sort of tech strategy without
15507s really thinking about the mirror cuz
15510s saalna is not super relevant most of the
15513s time I would say
15515s facing current metad decks besides
15519s another priest so I think I can I can
15521s respect hanging it out but of course
15522s then runs into the the one player where
15524s maybe it would matter if they end up in
15526s that
15528s mirror not something to be expected it's
15531s great for the value these uh priest
15534s mirors don't tend to really go to
15536s fatigue
15538s anymore um so like previously we used to
15541s see this game where both players would
15543s play towards fatigue and just try and
15546s pick as many drowns as
15548s possible um to make sure that they were
15550s winning in that race but I feel like you
15552s have access to enough big threats and
15554s and multiple Ines to where you know one
15557s player can can pull ahead a lot of the
15560s time uh in sort of those those board
15563s battles enough to put it on pressure to
15565s win
15566s so I mean the other unspeakable sort of
15570s outcome in those matchups was players
15572s using Finley to intentionally shuffle
15574s cards into their deck to do better in
15578s fatigue
15581s yep yeah it was uh brutal we didn't see
15585s that many though that was the the one
15587s Saving Grace for us they they were few
15590s and far between and you know every once
15592s in a while I can appreciate like those
15593s type of long stle games cuz you don't
15595s get to experience them much in like
15596s ranked play sure um because not many
15599s people are playing decks on ladder and
15601s then if you get into it they have to be
15603s like of equal skill level enough to get
15605s to that point in the game and then three
15608s you have to find someone willing to sit
15609s there and play it out cuz a lot of times
15611s one player will concede cuz they just
15613s want to save themselves some time when
15615s you're playing in rank so it really
15617s tests like that Hearthstone uh game
15620s knowledge right that the sort of
15623s instincts uh that you need um so we're
15627s not going to get it though it's going to
15629s be Rogue versus priest now again one
15631s step closer to the the mirror to end all
15636s mirrors see if that ends up being the
15638s case I feel like when these kinds of
15642s lineup uh matchups happen it puts me in
15646s this very awkward position of I never
15647s want to root for priest except that
15650s rooting for priest is what prevents me
15652s from having to deal with both players
15654s eventually being
15656s priest
15663s [Music]
15665s yep
15668s and uh balance his hand looking pretty
15672s good here I know if I'm on Rogue I
15675s definitely always like to start with
15679s potion
15680s belt I think that's a fine result
15684s right yeah I guess it's a bold choice
15688s but but a fine result yeah just a free 2
15691s six no information I want to taunt into
15694s this 32 and I hope you don't have kboa
15696s right
15699s yep nicely
15701s navigated think good potion zacho is
15705s maybe yelling at the
15707s screen oh there's the
15713s graat would have had the cannibalize in
15716s two turns to be able to deal with it I
15719s suppose I know leaving a full crao up
15721s potentially for two turns would be
15723s pretty rough yeah kind of devastating
15729s [Music]
15738s oh yeah this is a hearstone hand right
15742s here location pass location pass I guess
15747s actually this is a great mixtape right
15749s because you're guaranteed to hit the
15751s cathedral really like that
15755s play
15760s Cathedral being used as intended for
15762s face
15764s [Music]
15777s damage sticky situation helping to kind
15779s of keep some semblance of pressure here
15784s you know the awkward thing for a rogue
15785s going against something like PR is bone
15788s Spike becomes a very challenging card to
15793s use
15795s yeah but I feel like it hasn't been too
15799s detrimental it's made
15802s things a little bit take a little bit
15805s longer like getting this private eye out
15807s but it wasn't even there yet
15809s so overall not the biggest of deals and
15812s can kind of just have his way with this
15814s early game get some tempo Co just has to
15817s decide
15818s now all right so now there's dirty rat
15821s and there's a cannibalize in hand right
15824s you can do the same turn
15826s yeah but not going to be the play uh cuz
15830s you're still not really answering the
15831s three fours that are on board and you
15833s just give them good trades into the
15834s dirty rat even if it did pull out
15836s something
15837s good so little surprised at the trade
15840s there which could potentially have
15842s triggered the uh double cross
15851s yeah kboa again another thing a lot
15854s worse when your opponent doesn't have a
15855s minion play you don't get to make that
15857s attack for
15858s four yeah play it on curve is quite good
15862s there we go we found our shadow step
15865s Target pack it
15867s up
15868s yeah see
15871s you you is it too greedy to n there's a
15875s cathedral I was going to say too greedy
15876s just hold it for a turn no just just go
15878s in three times right it also activates
15881s your queen ajara for next
15883s turn just get rid of the whole hand yeah
15888s end with a break
15892s dance cuz the ice barrier is going to be
15894s there next turn also yeah you're still
15897s going to have a
15898s secret yeah I mean the ice barrier was
15900s just there as something that was never
15901s going to get proed and also is a mage
15903s secret that has to be played
15905s around
15912s oh that's just
15917s rude better play that power cord
15920s synchronize cuz it's you're losing the
15929s hand where is their game plan this game
15931s is just emptying each other's hands okay
15933s oh synchronize on the queen of Shara I
15936s do like like this uh cuz Co is not
15938s working with much here so trying to get
15941s some additional value out of cards
15942s outside of just dirty ring everything
15945s but he's on three cards he knows it's
15947s not sticking
15950s around oh unless unless we're taking a
15952s break for
15954s kboa yeah definitely it's a solid kboa
15957s break going on right now I guess you can
15960s wait until a couple of spells have been
15962s played before you steal the queen aara
15964s because it's ly not active I
15970s think oh never
15972s mind just do all of the
15976s things at this point you take
15978s cannibalize Queen ofar doesn't matter if
15980s it doesn't activate yeah and still needs
15982s two more spells for it so even if
15984s there's a spell drawn off the top that's
15986s playable oh okay F this is
15991s just like the the peak of annoyance out
15996s of this rogue deck you know normally I
15999s think people would be most frustrated at
16003s what priest has to do I think secret
16006s Rogue brings to the table an element
16008s that players are finally like no no this
16010s is not
16013s okay this is a perfect game to Showcase
16016s it uh is alive at
16020s three oh no at 1 okay now at
16025s four um
16027s draw first and then you don't hit
16029s anything yeah you just land prison here
16031s I think mhm for sure yeah prison prison
16033s for sure absolutely y it's always lethal
16036s no no there we go oh no it
16038s actually yeah found the line there still
16042s I stick by my uh by my call there you
16044s definitely slam prison no one can tell
16046s us that prison wasn't lethal since it
16049s wasn't played yeah so multiple ways to
16052s lethal actually prison probably
16054s represents more of a lethal more damage
16057s the psychic damage it's it's the mental
16060s damage yeah but that's uh three games so
16064s far this series and uh three priest
16066s losses uh so far this series doing some
16070s serious damage to that win rate
16073s yep oh yeah that's where that's where we
16077s are right now just Sunday final day the
16080s master tour fall
16081s Championship hanging
16083s around watching priest lose that's uh
16087s exactly how I expected my Sunday to go
16090s but TJ Sunday is a fun day come
16093s on yeah it's fun for the player in each
16097s individual game that's not playing
16099s priest and then in game five when it's
16100s inevitably build priest then it's not
16102s fun for anybody
16104s so that's where we are right now I can
16106s imagine we're going to see priest versus
16107s Rogue in this next game
16112s um so we're getting there is like that
16116s yeah nice little lethal spot at the end
16118s if I had looked at that for like 45 more
16120s seconds I would have seen it if my brain
16124s had not already slammed the prison I
16126s mean realistically like Whirlpool could
16129s have come down there for Co and had it
16132s not been a lethal that turn and there
16134s still would have been very low odds of
16136s winning that game yeah not much you can
16140s really do maybe was could have been an
16144s ignis potentially I don't even know if
16145s there was the card for that game um it's
16148s blending together with the previous
16149s priest game but balances one game away
16153s with the priest they do they really do
16155s always blend together that is absolutely
16163s true all
16165s right is this the one is going to be
16167s playing the RO someone has to not play
16169s okay all right is the you can do it
16171s balance you've got
16174s this there's so much on the line rooting
16178s for no other reason than that no one
16180s wants to see priest
16186s Mir there's probably few out there who
16191s do it's all right they understand at
16195s least
16198s yeah
16199s Chu I see you've brought
16205s guest
16216s I don't know between the clergy and the
16218s armor vendor
16220s and
16223s yeah clergy has higher immediate upside
16227s and the armor vendor potentially has
16230s higher long-term
16232s upside obviously entirely dependent on
16234s the game state if you can copy it
16237s to get a little bit of Health to live an
16239s otherwise lethal situation then maybe
16241s but yeah I mean I think playing the
16244s clergy on one is where you you do the
16247s most in terms of threatening the
16248s opponent with you getting value and
16251s so uh you know had there
16255s been a magnetic like a poisonous
16257s magnetic there then you could expect it
16259s would have been played to kill the
16260s clergy
16265s yeah
16266s [Music]
16271s of course now is that card worth
16285s it very curious to hear the thought
16287s process here for balance like what he's
16290s debating
16292s between I mean I think it's between hero
16294s power or like coining the holy NOA
16297s cuz Hol NOA often doesn't get a ton of
16300s value in this match up it can but very
16304s frequently you know the the Rogue is
16305s just all about making a big minion and
16307s so uh doing two damage to the board
16309s isn't really doing a whole
16311s lot yeah I mean I could have also seen
16315s just like armor vendor like pass yeah
16319s just to have multiple attacks on the
16320s board to be able to clean up like this
16322s uh small mechs and also with like Shard
16325s the Naru in hand it allows you to clean
16327s up the mechs after they're silenced
16330s potentially um
16333s so but Tri the Naru is such a premium
16335s card it's hard to know like
16340s fully when to use it and I feel like
16343s that's a often times a big deal in this
16345s matchup a lot of times when you can
16347s clear the board simultaneously to be
16349s able to keep the X clear but now we have
16351s two so we can be a little bit more
16353s liberal with our usage yeah and and
16355s there getting the uh solid holy NOA that
16359s I wasn't sure if it would come or not uh
16361s Pop Quiz TJ I should have done this
16362s earlier when there were two Blues but
16364s what are the spark bots in
16366s hand this is terrible for someone who's
16368s color blind oh no I'm so
16374s sorry uh the I don't know there's a one
16378s of the blue ones and two of the green
16380s ones I don't know which blue it is
16383s they're so close green it is in color
16385s right so the earlier like kind of
16387s lighter blue one that got played of
16388s course was the reborn this is the wind
16390s Fury and then we've got poisonous and
16393s stealth I was going to I was actually
16395s going to go with reborn that was going
16397s to be my 5050 guess but I would have
16399s been incorrect now to be fair I'm not as
16400s colorblind as Brian
16402s Kibler
16404s um who's like three magnitudes has three
16408s magnitudes worse color blindness than I
16410s do o I mean this is the kind of deck
16414s that the Rogue is is right you can hedge
16417s a little bit you know putting one of
16419s them onto the enhanc attic but no matter
16422s what you can't really play around sh of
16424s the Naru and uh this has got to be one
16426s of the more polarized matchups there
16430s is so understand Co wanting to just kind
16432s of try and get it out of the way you
16435s know you hope that The Shard is not
16437s there but if it is there's not a whole
16440s lot you can
16444s do
16447s now this is going to be
16451s tough cuz now there's going to be
16454s multiple turns where Co is just trying
16456s to set up yeah trying to find like a
16459s spoter there's a couple things that he
16461s has to hope for he has to Hope or he can
16462s make a push before turn eight warpool
16464s comes online and also has to hope that
16466s the second sh of the Nar is not there
16469s yeah well turns out both of those things
16470s are not the case so uh going to be in a
16474s world of hurt we got Rush double wind
16477s Fury so uh you know reasonable there get
16482s to rush in the Divine Shield take out
16484s the 32 push in for eight but I mean
16488s there's just a wealth of of answers here
16491s in terms of sh of the Naru cannibalize I
16494s mean there's just so many tools that
16497s priest has access to that make the Rogue
16500s miserable it's sort of unless you can
16502s kind of catch them with their pants down
16504s in those first few turns uh it's it does
16508s not get better after turn
16510s [Music]
16526s five I
16528s wonder balance in a great position but
16531s just trying to figure out the most
16532s efficient way to spend Mana
16534s here
16537s I mean I think the love everlasting
16539s coming into the hand is is a little bit
16541s of the the question like you're always
16543s want to get that down as soon as you can
16545s but it means going for shard instead of
16548s cannibalize here
16550s and
16552s cannibalize while you know really good
16555s for dealing with a buffed minion does
16558s have the issue of if there is a stealth
16561s you're not able to Target it whereas you
16563s know Shard of thear of course gets
16564s around that problem
16572s yeah but getting the love everlasting
16573s online does open up World Pools as early
16575s as next
16580s turn I don't know about you but I have
16582s not been loving the speaker Stompers
16585s this weekend at least in the
16592s Rogue
16593s yeah it feels like either a dead card or
16596s a win more card in a lot of
16599s situations um but maybe we're just
16602s seeing too small of a sample
16608s size get a good read on it I don't know
16611s it doesn't even look like it's doing
16612s anything this turn because it's balanced
16614s out by the love
16617s everlasting
16619s yeah at least not for the first
16623s spell all right
16626s that's a good one okay
16629s yep we're we're a turn away from
16632s Whirlpool though U mimran could have
16635s could have been used
16643s earlier now Co I think is is in kind of
16647s Allin mode right he seen two shards he
16651s seen uh I believe one
16654s cannibalize uh
16657s yes but of course the whirlpool
16659s shatterer of Dreams here reduced by the
16662s love
16664s everlasting I mean I think you had to
16666s play the mimran there right you just you
16668s got to
16668s go
16673s yeah but with second WHL poool loaded up
16676s I mean balance at this point could just
16678s like run Co out of cards like
16681s that's not even just win the game but
16683s just completely neutralize every card
16686s that Co has I mean all that
16690s said there is a a risk of the Prime
16696s coming down at some point in
16698s here and balance has not been able to to
16701s hero power gain life for for many turns
16705s so it's getting you know a little bit
16708s danger
16710s territory this is
16713s true can F in a hero power
16720s here if Whirlpool would be the option
16723s which kind of has to be with the life
16725s total
16730s here
16732s yep so Co just got to be thinking all
16735s right
16736s that's that's got to be that's
16738s everything right that's got to be
16740s everything no more yeah frequency
16742s oscillator not not the turn nine pickup
16744s you want as the Rogue uh Rog yeah this
16748s 62 so far on on day two uh and has won
16752s five straight games but I think that
16754s streak is about to
16761s end there's so many good hits here yeah
16765s Am On th is one armor vendor is another
16770s honestly yeah just to be super
16774s safe
16777s right yeah you can just double armor
16779s vendor Shore up that that healing you're
16782s concerned about finally there's a minion
16785s that light it burns is actually able to
16788s clear weave in the hero power or just
16792s play the second in location yeah World
16794s Zer waser at this point if you're
16797s priest that's that should very well be
16802s it too much life gained Co on the back
16804s foot not many resources left whatsoever
16808s okay there's the prime but it's it's
16810s about to turn too late
16813s yeah if that was picked up last turn
16815s maybe a
16817s [Music]
16827s shot yeah I was going to say you kind of
16829s have to go for more value here
16833s yep okay spoter yeah spider's good but
16837s can't quite play it this
16845s turn and I think between the the two
16848s attacks and dissonant plus Holly NOA
16851s there is another clear there's even
16853s potential
16855s for you know power
16857s cord on the
16862s [Music]
16864s Voltron
16866s prep
16867s sure oh wait it was on the six damage
16869s side yeah yeah so I don't even need the
16874s Nova gets a squirrel to boot I think the
16877s only reason Co is still you know in this
16879s game is because it's not
16881s ladder
16886s yeah and now effectively has to wait for
16889s the spider like that that's it and even
16892s then it's just feels like it's not going
16894s to get there I mean balance doesn't
16895s really have much to do but even just
16898s these couple small minions will
16900s eventually uh be able to close it out Co
16903s rubbing the eyes knowing
16906s that this will soon come to an end oh
16909s that's I mean that's just salt in the
16910s wound seeing your
16913s opponent get an extra copy of Prince
16915s renial just for for
16918s pressure just for a 3 four like just a
16921s just a spider tank okay one one of the
16924s better remaining top deex but I mean
16927s when you're at this point where both
16929s gear shifts are gone so it's it's really
16931s just about your top card every turn uh
16935s there's there's really just no keeping
16937s up with uh all the value that that
16940s priest has available to it
16944s yeah add a minions though I mean that's
16947s the yep oh there's
16954s ignis this is uh dredge though so no
16958s reduction for picking the ignis but with
16960s the location in play you are able to get
16963s that ignis
16967s immediately I think just lock in any
16970s defensive options it'll probably be a
16977s five let's get out of the way right
16980s now is that 10 yeah 10 yeah all right
16983s sure yeah 10 NOA just just try it would
16987s have been perfectly fine yep are are we
16989s done here like come
16993s on yeah for for Co you got you got to
16996s feel you know wanting to to play it out
16999s have as much time uh on broadcast in the
17002s master tour as possible but it it's you
17004s know these are those kind of
17005s heartbreaking ends that why uh control
17008s priest tends to be the
17012s villain also could it just take once
17014s they get ahead it just takes them some
17016s time to win the game yes
17019s yeah like they give you small bits of
17022s Hope here and there but that's the end
17024s of the deck so is it just spider and oh
17027s my
17033s goodness this might actually have been a
17035s little bit scary two turns
17041s ago
17043s but yeah seeing the lethal damage on
17046s board Coit finally decides to pack it in
17050s um you know Valiant effort sticking
17052s through to the end just on the off
17054s chance that that you know maybe there
17056s was something but uh balance going to
17059s going to take the win there and you
17061s know CO's loss is our gain in that we
17065s have dodged the priest
17068s Mir we did yeah uh priest still took
17071s quite the beating uh in that series for
17075s sure um there was a priest in every game
17077s and it only won in the very last one so
17081s not sure if that bodess well for balance
17085s moving into the
17086s semi-finals uh later this afternoon
17089s later this evening whatever time zone
17091s you're
17091s in um but seems like playing the decks
17095s well and the other decks are are taking
17097s wins um and that's the kind of position
17100s that he needs to to put himself in um
17102s but the last priest remaining in the
17104s tournament now I believe with ream being
17106s eliminated now Co also being
17108s eliminated uh has to rep for the the
17111s priest players in this tournament which
17114s is you know a huge weight on balance's
17117s shoulders do we count WV among priest
17121s players in that number that was a a
17124s purple priest I don't know if that no
17126s absolutely that's a priest reim is a
17129s Bonafide priest enjoyer and don't ever
17133s let him forget it that's
17136s uh that's a
17138s fact and one that he'll never be able to
17141s escape I don't think he even really
17143s necessarily agreed with the priest
17144s choice but couldn't find anything better
17146s in the two days that these players had
17149s to prepare on the new patch which it
17151s always happens this way like the
17153s smallest patches I guess this one wasn't
17155s that small in the grand scheme of things
17157s but um basically one deck being brought
17161s down and Rogue being slightly brought
17163s down cuz they were
17165s also in a user of two of the carts that
17168s were uh taking a hit from Rogue still
17171s like on fire both
17174s variations uh on fire we actually had
17176s three variations technically in this
17177s tournament cuz I think there was one
17178s like old school Miracle Rogue player but
17182s the top eight yeah the one hold out um
17185s but both seet Rogue and Mech Rogue
17188s firing all cylinders like feels like
17189s they can't lose the game as you
17190s mentioned with the stat that you said
17191s earlier uh with the win rate um
17194s especially today's that's out six games
17195s in a row that we've seen from from Rogue
17197s uh that are
17198s W yeah it's now so it's now 72 on day
17202s two Rogue is and is now won six straight
17205s well no no cuz cuz Rogue finally broke
17208s the streak there Rogue finally lost so
17210s oh Rogue finally lost oh yeah it was on
17212s five straight wins and then lost to the
17214s you play you play one squirrel and all
17216s of a sudden I think you're a rogue one
17219s squirrel and all of a sudden I think
17220s you're a rogue yeah you're absolutely
17221s right got that backwards I was just so
17223s accustomed to priest losing I was like
17224s there's no way that priest would have
17226s lost there yeah and I think the the
17229s priest is is rubbing off on us a little
17231s bit from seeing it so much we've been'
17233s been going on quite long but we are
17235s going to go to a break and uh be back
17237s with the uh first semi-final match after
17241s this catch you
17253s you
17276s [Music]
17283s n
17293s [Music]
17306s [Music]
17314s [Music]
17322s [Music]
17332s [Music]
17343s a
17347s [Music]
17373s [Music]
17407s [Music]
17447s [Music]
17469s [Music]
17475s [Music]
17491s [Music]
17493s f
17497s [Music]
17523s hello everyone and welcome back we've
17525s got semifinal number one coming up for
17527s you in just a few minutes but what a day
17530s it's been already subtle as we're about
17532s to get into Hemlock versus pocket
17534s train yeah with the the standard we've
17537s had so far it's amazing that things
17539s could even be considered to be going
17540s upwards but uh I think it is I think
17543s this is the match to be looking forward
17545s to I think these are the two players um
17548s out of this year's system overall um
17551s we'll really dig in deeper later as just
17553s to how impressive these two players are
17555s pocket train in particular just that
17557s little Cut Above I would add to that as
17559s well but we are now in top four stages
17563s semifinals of the last chance for direct
17566s qualification through to that world
17568s championship yeah of course and just in
17571s case you were you know just tuning in or
17573s haven't quite caught some of the
17574s discussion around it h this isn't the
17576s only way to qualify for the World
17578s Championship this is just the guaranteed
17580s way to do it um which is to finish first
17583s place of in this Master's tour but there
17585s are um Top Cut points going in as well
17588s so points gained basically throughout
17589s the year um to be able to qualify to
17591s fill up those last spots that are
17593s available for the world championship so
17595s still lot to play for for these players
17597s but of course the number one goal for
17600s them this year is to win a master's tour
17602s to just get that
17604s guaranteed yeah and you can see hemlocks
17606s route to attempting to do just that I
17609s think Hemlock to me number two player on
17611s the circuit this year overall um he has
17614s put in some fantastic performances as
17617s has Rogue as a class so far in this
17620s tournament really deciding to already
17622s showing to be the a big winner for the
17624s players who have brought it uh which is
17626s most of them to be fair but I think the
17628s debate may still rage um between the
17632s mech Rogue and the secret Rogue and how
17634s things break down you see hemlocks
17636s version of the deck here uh is still
17639s choosing to include uh prison breaker
17641s even after the Nerf which you know Fair
17644s enough and I think also a single copy of
17645s break dance in there as well a
17648s particularly interesting card to look
17649s out yeah I think the big difference for
17652s me with the Rogue so far has been um
17655s probably expected but when Mech Rogue
17657s wins it feels like it really wins but
17659s when it loses it feels like it really
17662s loses um whereas I feel like the secet
17664s Rogue um at least at surface level looks
17668s to always have a way to get back into
17670s the game H we'll see how it's been going
17672s for pocket train of course of course um
17674s what a journey pocket Train's been on
17677s over the last I guess couple of years at
17679s this point especially um and it's been
17681s going well for him so far wants to just
17683s sort of seal this uh World Championship
17685s spot up with today without having to
17687s worry about anything going on with
17689s points yeah I feel like uh the Journey
17692s of pocket train is a nice way of putting
17694s it I feel like pocket has like aged
17696s about seven years in the last 2 years
17698s just from the pure stress of playing
17700s high level Hearthstone um as well and as
17703s often as he has over that time we did
17705s just see him there on the shaman
17707s although we are looking at the Mage
17709s pocket train interestingly I think is
17710s one of the few players who's kind of not
17712s suffered the shaman curse so far this
17714s tournament his Shaman has his Shaman
17716s play has seemed pretty smooth he's kind
17718s of got it out of the series and the way
17719s he's needed to um but this rainbow Mage
17723s I think has been perhaps the success
17724s story of the tournament right uh
17726s although no one really would have found
17729s that to be unexpected right I think
17731s generally people coming into this
17733s tournament um if you put a little bit of
17735s thought into it you would I think we
17737s most people would get as far as Warrior
17739s Bann a lot Mage winning a lot I think a
17741s lot of people would have got over that
17743s yeah I'm with you I was just going to
17744s add exactly if you're expecting Warrior
17747s to be banned one way or the other
17749s whether it's OD him whether it's in Rage
17751s or whatever then you would just put Mage
17753s like yes okay there's a reason pretty
17755s much everyone brought it there's a
17756s reason pretty much every single player
17758s brought the same style of Mage and
17761s that's because it's just extremely
17763s strong and uh it gets the job done as
17765s proven time and time again through the
17767s matches we've seen but we can see both
17769s players getting ready they must feel so
17772s close but still so far away subtle right
17775s cuz like yes when you're in the finals
17777s you know it's that last match but semis
17779s you think I've got to win this one and
17782s then even if I do there's still one more
17784s so even though they've got so far to get
17787s to this exact point to make it to top
17790s four it still feels so far away yeah yes
17794s and it's a familiar story for both of
17796s these players I talked a lot already
17798s about how good their records are overall
17800s but just to break it all down so three
17802s major Masters Tour events so far this
17804s year right Hemlock was fifth through eth
17807s in Spring he was fifth through eth in
17809s summer and he's top four again now he's
17812s also fifth overall in the actual point
17814s standings that you get from the ladder
17816s finishes to get to this point which can
17818s then just get you through to the world
17819s championship in like a second chance
17821s Last Chance kind of thing if you don't
17822s win The Masters Tour right incredible
17824s record but then when I talk about pocket
17826s just being a cut above that pocket third
17829s fourth in Spring runner up in summer and
17832s now top four again and is tied for first
17836s overall in the number of points um
17838s gained through ladder finishes so both
17840s of these players have incredible records
17842s incredible levels of consistency and
17845s we've talked about this for years and
17847s years and years consistency is really
17849s the marker of great Hearthstone players
17851s and there really isn't anyone who's been
17852s more consistent than the these two
17854s players this year but when you talk
17855s about how okay now this is top four but
17858s we still have to push it that extra step
17861s to make this 10 months of work that
17863s we've put in actually worth it and to
17866s hold that world championship invitation
17868s in our hands as if it was a tangible
17871s object which it isn't but ignore that um
17874s this is another Harry Potter reference
17875s is there an owl going to deliver the
17876s world championship inite or something
17879s AIO World Championships no um but yeah
17882s they like both of these players have
17884s fallen at the last hurdle right is the
17886s point I'm making here they have both
17888s consistently got very very close but
17891s then just haven't quite made it over the
17892s line of the last step well let's dive
17896s straight in it's going to be Rogue on
17897s the top for hemlock and pocket train
17900s going to be sitting on that Mage and we
17902s have a bit of a wild game one
17905s subtle yes indeed double shifter zerus
17910s one of them already been gobbled up by
17912s Hemlock on the other side uh does find
17916s amusingly a second copy of private eye
17918s in the hand from the shifter Z that's
17920s fun yeah this is probably one of the
17922s more wild anomalies right you see like
17924s oh you know plus one Health every turn
17927s or both Heroes get plus one attack this
17929s is like oh both players just get two
17932s shifter zeros could be anything let's go
17935s what I will say like just in case anyone
17936s is watching this who is primarily a
17938s Battlegrounds player who has experienced
17940s the similar anomaly in Battlegrounds
17942s it's it's a little bit different in
17944s construed because in Battlegrounds your
17946s zerus will just transform into a six
17947s drop and then you have a six drop right
17949s like that that's that's just it you
17951s could have a six drop on turn three or
17953s whatever how you can't if you get like
17955s some massive game impacting crazy card
17958s it's probably going to cost a lot of
17960s Mana right so that doesn't end up having
17962s a huge impact in the early game honestly
17965s a lot of the time I play this anomaly
17967s it's just a frustration that I have two
17969s extra cards in my hand like you know
17971s just for hand space issues cuz generally
17973s play Decks that draw a lot of cards um
17975s but certainly things can have a big big
17977s impact if you hit the right say that's
17979s why I think like the way Hemlock has
17982s whether chosen to or not or just made
17985s that decision at the time but oh just
17988s play a card that you can play right it's
17990s not a negative get one out on one as a
17992s one three that you didn't have regard
17994s you know you wouldn't have had otherwise
17996s right so like yeah just play it get it
17998s out the hand and it's still beneficial
18000s not I think the goal of of utilizing
18002s these kind of on what you said is not to
18005s make like oh this this um zeros has won
18008s me the game but it's more oh this is
18011s just an extra card to plop down p a
18013s little bit more pressure on when
18014s otherwise I wouldn't have necessarily
18016s been able to so like hey just two extra
18018s little minions right like it's fine a
18020s little bit of synergy as well God tier
18022s Synergy your putride is a two4 Now
18025s Incredible scenes but if you look at
18028s both these players positions now
18030s hemlocks got the zerus out and is piling
18033s on the pressure is that Fierce outside
18035s of crimson sigil Runner it is right
18037s that's fun okay big
18041s fan pocket train is going to now defend
18045s get rid of the putride himself well it's
18047s it's a pretty intense Tempo swing right
18049s because you actually get the double
18050s value from the putri side as
18053s well which is really really nice
18056s obviously the putri side gets cleaned up
18057s very easily here with the two one Health
18058s Minions on board but you actually just
18060s get a full mix concoction out of that
18062s play from uh from pocket think was a
18063s really nice spot yeah both players just
18066s making the most out of what they've got
18067s right
18074s mhm pocket did get a hazy as well pocket
18076s is a uh is long renowned as a fan of of
18079s hazy
18083s concoctions going as far as to say on
18086s numerous occasions that it is always
18092s hazy going to get cleaned up nothing too
18095s crazy going on but does get that 43 on
18097s board which is going to be you know at
18099s least you maybe for hemlock trade trade
18102s fairly with the 3
18106s three both players just using these
18108s early turns is s of shimmy for
18118s position I
18122s wonder
18127s okay might the leap ahead on board
18130s presence here for pocket train to use
18132s discovery of magic or history of magic
18134s or whatever else you want to try and
18136s call it to give him a few more options
18138s going forward in the next few turns not
18139s too bad at all especially with the
18141s inquisitive creation just sat there cuz
18144s to me that's it might sound a bit stupid
18147s but that's when it feels most powerful
18149s is when you've just got it sat waiting
18151s and ready to go right not when you've
18153s had to throw it out for an emergency
18154s clear but when it's just sat there and
18156s you know that yeah more or Le you know
18159s most boards I can just clear away kind
18160s of
18164s effortlessly it's not a particularly
18167s familiar Rogue hand on the other side
18169s from hemlock is it just a bunch of
18171s Minions that all cost quite a lot of
18172s Mana it's not really what you associate
18175s with playing
18177s Rogue would you like some cards with
18179s your
18181s cards yeah
18184s just a little awkward no real smooth
18186s options with you know you're not firing
18188s off zero Mana concoctions no crazy
18190s Shadow step synergies happening here
18192s it's just a handful of uh fairly
18195s mediocre mid-range
18199s minions yeah the prison break's probably
18203s not too far is probably too far away
18206s right even with the prep like prep
18208s concoction that's probably I don't think
18210s there's been that many spells has there
18214s uh no Hemlock spent a lot of mana on
18216s playing the uh the zerus minions so I
18219s wouldn't have thought so I think
18221s whatever this turn looks like hemlocks
18223s just thinking what gives me the best
18225s krabat TOA next turn that's what I would
18228s be looking at
18231s anyway Tess okay
18235s [Music]
18237s sure again it's that kind of thing like
18239s Tess is a card that could be kind of
18241s crazy for rainbow mage great you spend a
18243s lot of time playing uh discovery of
18245s magic and Prismatic Elementals and
18247s getting cards from different classes but
18249s again it's a situation I was talking
18250s about before because it's constructed
18252s shift ASAS you do need the amount of
18254s Mana required to play the card you can't
18256s just jam it and play it
18267s right and already now pocket just
18270s getting himself in a fantastic position
18272s you know way ahead on board Hemlock not
18274s really been able to really challenge it
18277s while still having plenty of juice in
18278s the tank as well in the hand has no gun
18280s in available for next turn on curve has
18284s um said unstable Elemental or something
18286s I just made up the name of a card I
18288s think but Elemental inspiration is what
18290s I meant uh for the followup so the whole
18292s board pressure is there um it's just
18294s missing just maybe a little bit of burn
18295s options from
18301s hand
18304s I imagine this is krabat
18306s TOA I think what Myra is the closest to
18309s that actually being a card wasn't that
18311s the actual name of that card Myra's
18313s unstable element the the draw the rest
18315s of your Deck card where I've got it from
18317s yeah but everyone just called it Myas
18319s right might even be wrong on
18326s that oh got to go for prison breaker
18329s instead okay look at that nerfed card in
18332s full effect having to do so much extra
18335s work to deal with this board State and I
18337s think it's something the pocket had
18338s understood and was leveraging for
18341s basically every turn up until that point
18343s like yes the prison breaker was not uh
18345s active because of the amount of Mana
18347s that was spent on minions early from
18348s hemlock but pocket train just had no
18350s real fear of just playing three Mana
18352s spells and feral spirits and whatever
18353s else and just getting a whole board full
18355s of three Health minions not a thing that
18357s would have been game-winning pre-
18359s balance patch all right let's see the
18362s exposive Run come out now and going to
18363s go for shooting star number 500 today
18366s it's going to help clear up some of the
18368s boards leave the 4 one
18375s though not really the best is it the
18378s best offerings I've ever seen no Arcane
18381s Defenders obviously will end up as a
18383s seven Mana card but when it's fight
18386s fighting for attention with elemental
18388s inspiration it seems a little bit
18390s underwhelming did go for it okay
18396s yeah just not really good
18398s choices yeah I was wondering if just
18400s noing a card just as a backup plan maybe
18404s was ever worthwhile but yeah you know
18407s Echo your thoughts not the best choices
18415s overall really slow turn overall from
18417s pocket decent amount of value but it's
18420s going to mean Hemlock gets to just pile
18422s on some of this pressure right now and
18424s going to deal significant damage yeah it
18427s is significant damage good damage being
18429s pushed with the uh actual blingtron
18431s effect MC blingtron my second favorite
18434s MC in this tournament after MC banter
18442s phas you know that got me when I knew it
18444s was coming I still sort of half chuckled
18446s to myself
18451s mhm
18462s not going to be a little bit tricky I
18463s mean again crap TOA just seems good
18467s right to just push reasonable amounts of
18469s damage again will get hold of the board
18471s I think trying to get aelor down doesn't
18474s really scream proactive to
18481s me
18484s it goes back to your point about the uh
18486s the inquisitive creation just chilling
18488s in hand though right like if it wasn't
18489s there if that if that safety blanket
18491s wasn't there Hemlock pushed a lot of
18494s damage stuck a nice board and if you
18496s know Mage just kind of had to play into
18497s that and not clear it suddenly you'd be
18499s looking at you know a couple of uh
18501s damage discovers from this potion belt
18503s and you might be just pushing lethal for
18505s hemlock but inquisitive creation is just
18507s such a good card for maintaining control
18509s of these
18511s things
18514s the crab is going to come to
18517s play would you say krabat TOA has been
18519s the most impactful Colossus now that
18522s we're you know many long time down the
18524s line
18525s impactful no like yeah I'm going to be
18528s very pedantic over your choice of words
18530s like most most ubiquitous maybe most
18534s common like it just it it does just seem
18536s to show up in just about every rogue
18538s deck after time people sometimes argue
18540s about whether or not it should be in
18542s some rogue deck
18549s andal does that not make it the most
18551s impactful possibly in every deck
18556s yeah I'm just saying like the actual
18558s impact of it hitting the board on a
18560s caseby casee basis is fairly low because
18563s it's cheaper than others right which
18565s guess you could AR the way you said that
18567s then talking about words I'm just
18569s thinking like does the graphical and
18571s sound effect make it hit the board
18573s harder than some of the other some of
18575s the other Colossus it's like I don't
18577s know down deep Rabbit Hole ask one of
18580s those various Psychopaths that still
18582s have screen Shake on after this time oh
18585s probably the best change task done
18586s that's ever happened was when that
18588s option it some of the things used to
18589s actually make me feel sick honestly if
18591s you still have screen Shake on you're a
18593s bad person it's as simple as that I'm
18595s sorry I just being honest I hate to
18597s break it to
18599s you I'm sorry you had to find out this
18601s way
18607s wow remember when uh who was it
18609s yesterday that went fishing needing
18610s exactly double damage for lethal and hit
18612s it and then Hemlock needing double
18614s damage for lethal got neither of them
18616s right does get the consolation prize of
18618s draw four
18622s though it's kind of strange isn't it
18624s because we can see that pocket does not
18627s have a high burn aggressive hand but
18629s Hemlock just doesn't know that right
18632s it's kind of kind of tricky Hemlock has
18634s a couple of ideas on some of the cards
18635s OB he knows the elemental knows the
18637s zerus knows the Infiniti other than that
18641s I don't think anything's a sure thing
18642s here but he has managed to build a bit
18643s of a board gain some of that armor as
18646s well which is going to push him up 17
18648s which makes him feel at least half safe
18650s you would
18653s say
18655s rag play it I mean come
18659s on take us back to what was it worlds
18661s 2016
18666s mhm I remember there was a really good
18669s play in that tourament I can't remember
18671s who it was specifically but someone
18673s represented not having rag for quite a
18675s long time to bait the other rag out of
18677s the opponent's hand first so that they
18679s could rag the rag and then just you know
18681s they won rag tennis essentially is what
18684s they did it was really
18688s good that was the tournament where we
18690s were uh vibing in the crowd while we
18692s were commentating wasn't it good times
18694s good
18699s times feel like good times at the time
18702s but no probably was wish there was some
18704s way to
18705s know you're in the good times before
18708s they're
18713s over oh someone who's not having good
18715s times right now is hemlock facing down
18717s an absolute flurry of
18721s Elementals
18733s decided that Queen Asar is the best
18735s chance
18737s here it's a giga fin angle yeah now is
18741s this the most impactful
18749s colossa
18751s um
18754s doesn't look great and also really not a
18757s lot of time to make decisions at that
18759s point anyway not that it probably
18761s mattered and that means pocket is going
18764s to go up 1 Z against Hemlock so far H
18768s again another Victory chalk it up for
18770s mage there you go but I think really
18772s well controlled from both players um I
18775s think Hemlock got away with having those
18777s zerus nice and early to be able to just
18779s pile on a bit of board pressure but I I
18781s really do just think think it was pocket
18784s gaining board and having the inquisitive
18787s Creation in the hand that really sealed
18789s the deal because it was just okay
18790s Hemlock had to fight to get the board
18792s back and then pocket could just go okay
18794s there you go gone again and I think that
18797s really just put enough of a delay on
18799s hemlocks plans that pocket could then
18800s just do the Mage thing right and just
18802s get to those late game stages where you
18804s can suddenly start pulling H rabbit out
18806s of
18808s hats one rabbit out of multiple hats I
18812s mean you know if you're going to be a
18814s magician these days you've got to
18815s subvert the form to some extent right so
18818s and also that' be impressive imagine you
18819s line up 10 hats and one rabbit's just
18821s jumping through yeah yeah if you pulled
18823s the same rabbit out of multi like
18825s genuinely like yeah I'm down pen andella
18827s make it happen um yeah scramble at the
18830s end from hemlock for sure um I do I take
18833s your point I think both players really
18834s just used the early zerus minions as
18837s soon as they could right like as soon as
18839s they got a thing that did something I
18840s think Pockets ended up being a little
18842s more impactful because that uh Reverb on
18844s the Putra side and then rush into the
18846s putri side get a fully stacked potion on
18849s your own side was um a much bigger swing
18852s than Hemlock got from any of his uh
18855s zerus minions and I think was a large
18857s reason why things eventually snowboard
18859s in the way for pocket train but good
18861s good opening games two uh two solid
18862s players long way to go in this one
18864s pocket train staying hydrated it's nice
18866s to see of course could still be a long
18868s way to go in this one a long way to go
18870s in this tournament but he's looking he's
18872s looking energized he's looking he's
18874s looking youthful attentive he's been a
18876s very bitter and jaded man for many an
18879s occasion over the last few months but uh
18881s he's looking good so far yeah I also
18882s enjoy that we don't even have to
18884s remotely think oh you know what time is
18886s it for pocket you know how's he how's he
18889s getting on with the time zone like no
18890s not too much of a big deal for us mhm
18894s hey we going into game two pocket going
18896s to jump over to the shaman whereas
18898s Hemlock saying it's my turn to play Mage
18900s now and very light Al get a win if the
18903s weekend's anything to go by but pocket
18907s we'll need to pull something out the bag
18908s with this Shaman list but more than cap
18910s the same rabbit after it's come out of
18912s all the hats pull it out on the bag as
18914s well yeah and then in the end bunny
18916s Hopper just comes out of the bag and he
18918s like why didn't see that coming
18922s go and then bnny Hopper just wins the
18925s World Championships again despite not
18927s being
18928s entered it's just it's just the hay maze
18931s again isn't it
18933s Brock Lesnar at money in the
18939s bank we should have stuck to the office
18942s references yeah sorry all I know is ah
18955s wrestling again solid start for pocket
18958s train just having access to those
18960s piranhas give some flexible choices in
18963s the early game if Hemlock drops that
18966s keyboard no weapon on two for hemlock is
18970s great news if you are pocket train uh I
18973s think obviously this goes without saying
18977s weapon has a huge impact on uh most
18979s matchups keyboard that is on the Mage
18981s side um but I think against Sharman in
18984s particular they the difference between a
18987s game plan where the Mage pressures them
18989s early and a game plan where the Mage
18990s does not pressure them early is just
18993s phenomenally large and the way that Mage
18995s pressures early is almost exclusively
18997s with that keyboard so having missed that
18999s pocket train now has a lot of luxury to
19001s just be getting on with his game plan
19003s here yeah I'm just seeing some Deja Vu
19006s going on here as I swear those piranhas
19007s were dead a second ago um but yeah more
19010s piranhas back on board for pocket going
19012s to contest once again but this time
19013s Hemlock has a cold case did have to use
19016s that fire cell to be able to clear off
19017s the previous
19019s push and again I think this is the
19022s the respect the players have for this
19025s early game right is when pocket just
19027s drops three piranhas against Mage right
19030s early cuz that's it looks kind of weird
19032s maybe if you not played the match up
19033s much or not played the deck much but
19035s this forces Hemlock into awkward
19037s situations luckily for hemlock he's
19039s managed to respond reasonably well so
19045s far oh there it is at
19050s last
19056s yeah still just about in time I would
19058s say a little bit awkward because of the
19060s uh vague anti- Synergy with the chaos
19062s strike you'd want to play The Cosmic
19065s keyboard first just to get an extra two
19067s drop from the chaos strike but then to
19069s get the damage from the chaos strike
19070s little bit weird yeah I wonder if it's
19072s even just get the keyboard loaded and
19077s just go Arcane worm ping like is
19080s that
19082s is that crazy I don't
19085s know don't think it's
19090s crazy I think like having the two one on
19092s board utilizing the Ping saving you know
19094s saving the keyboard for maybe something
19096s a bit more
19099s impactful I was so I was wondering about
19102s this but I thought this would have a
19104s discovery of magic in the turn as well
19106s which apparently it does not oh okay so
19108s hok is actually still going to play the
19110s keyboard and probably use an arcane bolt
19112s to take one of these off the board and
19113s just getting an extra one drop like
19115s actual Max Tempo yeah okay I'm fine with
19118s that see I was thinking this wasn't a
19120s keyboard turn and you'd spend that uh
19122s one Mana that was just spent on the
19124s Arcane bolt on the discovery of magic
19125s instead and just try and look for
19126s something playable this turn um and then
19129s you can potentially still ping off the
19131s uh the 31 if you want to or you might
19133s find something uh more impactful from
19135s discovery of magic but yeah Hemlock just
19136s saying you know what I don't need
19137s massive value uh from these keyboard
19140s charges I just need stuff on board now I
19142s need pressure now I need to give pocket
19144s train some actual questions to answer so
19146s he can't just merily March his way
19148s drawing through his
19153s deck pocket meanwhile merrily marches on
19156s drawing through his own deck well H's
19159s going to try and keep up now with that
19160s CH strike getting played there's the
19162s creation as
19164s well so now I imagine you really want to
19167s play another spell this turn just so you
19170s can uh get that attack through without
19172s costing yourself the the
19175s durability I could even see this being
19178s oh okay oh yeah fair enough sure I was
19182s thinking of Maude yeah I was thinking of
19184s just like cycle the Viper discovery of
19187s magic and then infinitize and just do it
19189s that way but yeah whatever
19200s works
19206s but this is when games creep up on you
19209s because pocket looks like he's falling
19211s behind which on BD he is but with that
19214s card draw focus with some of discovers
19216s and you know with the right card drawn
19218s here and there Hemlock could be in a lot
19220s of trouble because it's that benefit
19222s isn't it of clash that not only does it
19224s often push tons of face damage but it's
19227s also clearing the board a lot of the
19228s time as well yeah oh it's going to get
19231s the command of nepon going to come out
19233s and help with this
19235s instead second flash is pretty good okay
19238s just going to drop the turn the tides
19240s sure Max
19242s Tempo I thought pocket might just go for
19244s a more Allin turn than that but I think
19247s just finding three Rush minions off the
19249s lightning reflexes he just decided this
19250s was good enough but uh pocket was really
19252s one of the first people I saw doing this
19254s with the original version of the well
19256s the original pocket version of the deck
19258s lots of people were playing various bad
19260s versions of the deck before that
19262s um he was kind of the first person I saw
19264s doing these kind of Mini popop turns
19265s where you'd actually all in your entire
19267s hand but because you just had thorm in
19269s your hand it didn't matter play the Thor
19271s in the next turn and then just redraw
19273s like a pretty full hand straight
19275s afterwards yeah I think there was a real
19277s temptation to just uh you know play The
19279s Flash that turn and go for that way
19281s right because you just think hm next
19283s turn could get very interesting yeah I
19286s think if you'd have found like cheaper
19288s nature spells like bolts and crashes you
19290s might have seen like the novice zapper
19291s novice zapper bolts and crashes turn and
19294s then just you know deal whatever 12 to
19296s 16 damage to your opponent with whatever
19298s you discover and overload for three or
19300s four and then just slam the thorum next
19302s turn right to to get all those cards
19306s back as it happened he discovered board
19310s cards so he played board
19313s cards sounds simple when you break it
19318s down I feel like creation should be like
19321s I don't know seven Mana at this point
19324s storm is in me it just always gets the
19328s job done
19329s in you call down the of
19334s Thunder there's thorm though going to
19336s start cycling a ton of cards here for
19342s pocket yeah this this is where things
19344s start to get spicy right when double
19346s crashes in hand lightning bolt there as
19348s well obviously the two zaps already on
19350s board um means that they're almost
19353s certainly not going to add to any of
19355s this potential pressure next turn but
19356s still it's a lot of power it is the
19360s issue pocket has though is just no no
19363s Jazz base and uh flash of lightning not
19367s really seeming like it's queued up in
19368s the near future right so it's hard to
19371s convert this hand into any kind of
19373s realistic lethal and if he doesn't start
19375s doing that in the next one to two turns
19378s you kind of have to be fearful of the
19380s Sith burst coming back from the other
19381s side
19392s M himl so far though just going to
19395s defend obviously get these spell damage
19396s minions off the board try and be as safe
19398s as possible but again another
19402s um slowish
19408s turn
19410s oh okay
19411s that is the drawer I think yeah I was
19414s going to say I'm trying to think of a
19415s better draw
19435s here is it deal heel I'm guessing has to
19438s be right yeah
19442s I think card draw is not something he
19444s overly needs right
19446s now get double trade minions deal heal
19449s and then actually just push the damage
19450s face to face so you clear up the three
19453s four I guess you clear the three four
19454s make the 5 S as annoying as possible is
19456s that a real thing though against the
19458s Reverb class probably not but I guess it
19460s is just responsible to to take the
19469s trade I think primarily in this match up
19471s like you might sit there thinking oh
19473s draw three is really good but then your
19476s opponent just reverbs you and uses the
19478s good ability against you because it's
19479s still remaining so even if it's not
19482s necessarily the best choice for you in
19484s the moment it's very often just correct
19486s to do it that way just to deny the Mage
19488s access to that ability off their
19490s inevitable Reverb yeah and I think
19493s really for me it's never a bad choice it
19497s feels like right you know okay well not
19499s never is a strong word but you know what
19500s I mean right it's never terrible to do
19502s it especially if your opponent got that
19504s board so y looking good overall reverb's
19506s going to come down though no true
19508s surprise I imagine pocket was uh
19510s expecting this
19521s mhm that is a cast that we've still not
19523s really done isn't
19525s it the uh full cast being uh just sound
19528s effects made by
19530s us
19532s well there was the one where they
19534s thought that the sound wasn't going out
19536s live and then they did sound effects the
19537s entire time and then it was going out
19539s live but that was an fgc cast
19542s so yeah we've done bits of games before
19545s but not actually like a whole
19551s game pocket with the flash now all the
19555s cards in the world in his hand and
19558s definitely setting up lightning bolt
19560s available over going to be the choice
19561s though to help clear out some of that
19563s space and some of that
19567s mana and this is terrifying isn't
19570s it look at the hand available for pocket
19573s and Hemlock needs to pull something out
19575s the back of I think that's what pocket
19577s just did then right just raised the hand
19579s saying well let's see yeah this is the
19583s turn that you like expect to die right
19585s where if they've drawn cth there's a
19587s good chance with 10 Mana cth kills you
19590s um it's not there pocket train however
19592s does have a different problem to deal
19594s with which is the solid Alibi which has
19596s now come off the rewind as well yeah and
19598s you saw I think pocket train knows okay
19601s they didn't have Sith cuz I didn't die
19603s so if they're just playing one solid
19604s Alibi I'm fine with that like we can
19606s wait one turn and then if they don't
19608s draw Sith the next turn I'm probably
19610s still winning the game when you see
19611s solid Alibi into
19613s rewind then you start to think maybe you
19616s might have some long-term issues this
19618s game yeah that's really tough isn't it
19620s because
19621s it's just that scary moment where you
19623s know the the raw impact of them just
19625s drawing the one card they need and even
19628s as you said like one turn even two turns
19630s feel scary now seeing the card draw on
19633s top of that it's not as if it's just
19635s saying oh well two aliis means they draw
19638s two cards to try and hit Sith right no
19641s because the Mage has tons of card draw
19642s access anyway yeah you just sort a
19644s wisdom come into the hand obviously uh
19647s volume up was cast which can't actually
19648s draw cth but it thins your deck out so C
19651s becomes a more likely draw to follow up
19652s and if you do if you then play you know
19654s if you play volume up and it puts a zero
19656s Mana draw two in your hand that's made
19658s it exceedingly more likely that you are
19660s going to find the
19663s Sith okay altered cord coming out for
19665s pocket it's going to
19677s help is this seven like H think it's
19680s like is this ever just neptulon to just
19683s play it and just
19685s threaten a little bit more damage even
19687s if it's to damage next to an extra I
19690s suspect so yeah the other option is uh
19693s zap just cuz zap actually gains you Mana
19696s right especially because you've actually
19697s just equipped a fresh Jazz base um so if
19700s you then play you know zero Mana for a
19702s zap that actually gains you one extra
19704s mana on the spell discount
19706s immediately um but I don't think it's
19708s required with this hand
19709s necessarily
19713s Buck it's just like has he got it this
19720s time it must be a really tough position
19723s obviously we are only in game two it's
19725s not as if the winner of this game is w
19726s and moves on to the finals yet and there
19729s is still plenty of time but it is
19733s a a rough position to be and you can see
19736s by pocket's reactions right the squint
19737s in he's almost can't even look because
19740s any single turn he may just be dead and
19743s with solid Alibi there's not a lot he
19745s can really do about
19750s it I love the slight delay it's like no
19753s no no no no no we can see he's already
19755s played alivi it's like finds the second
19758s one as well I'm not going to use the
19760s Viper actually just Cycles the Viper I
19762s was thinking he needs to kind of get
19763s another card out of his hand so he can
19764s play the second wisdom yeah wants to
19767s draw more but I guess he can still do
19768s that on the following turns there also
19771s whether he wants to forge now yeah there
19773s you go
19786s okay so at this point does pocket have
19789s access to anything that
19792s can increase his chances to have not
19794s dying to
19796s safe I don't think so right no I believe
19799s it's just to set up and go I believe
19801s both reflexes have been played which is
19803s where you find your altered chords from
19805s so the the life gains out yeah there's
19808s Flow Rider um there's one Flow Rider
19811s left in the deck I believe Flow Rider
19812s ins a overdraft and lightning bolt I
19817s think yeah sounds
19820s right wisdom both players pretty much in
19824s the bottom of the deck still no wait is
19827s there no more card draw nope so it's
19830s going to be what infinitize or but like
19833s at that point you're spending two mana
19835s on the infinitize you'd be spending more
19836s mana on the card draw like you you just
19839s still don't have it then
19841s right so
19844s defense solid Alibi
19853s again and Pockets reaction any second
19858s there we
19859s go
19861s oh
19864s no he's thrown his hands up in the air
19867s but in fact he does
19879s care yeah going to take the flash just
19882s for more heal quisitive creation going
19885s to clear the board not that it overly
19887s matters at this point I would say in the
19889s game
19892s yeah it does find one more card here
19893s from the flash of light as
19900s well I
19902s mean with the
19905s Viper it it it's so close I mean it just
19909s is right it's just it feels just like
19912s automatic game right because there's
19915s Alibi and a Viper
19918s trade with the natural draw and then the
19921s turn after even if it's bottom card
19923s there's Viper trade again yeah you see
19926s so you can see two nonv cards from your
19928s deck this turn right have a straight
19930s 50/50 of one of those being si uh you
19933s then play solid Alibi again this turn
19935s but you're still out of card draw so now
19937s you have the Viper in your decks and now
19939s next draw you're actually 66% of the
19941s time you don't draw CIF right because
19943s one of those cards is now the Viper but
19945s if you get the Viper you can trade the
19947s Viper back in if you spend one Mana
19949s trading the Viper though you can only
19950s cast cth and molten Rune so H there's
19956s there's there you're telling me there's
19958s a chance
19965s my which kind of makes Hellfire here
19968s pretty attractive right cuz you can just
19970s burn them down now to the point where
19973s just SI and the M are
19977s lethal as long as Alibi comes out it
19980s doesn't really matter what your health
19981s looks like does
19983s it oh wait didn't actually play the
19986s Hellfire didn't play the Hellfire no oh
19989s okay star power does a million but not
19991s to
19998s face problem now of course as well is
20000s that there's also just a board on the
20002s other side which uh pocket kind of has
20004s to deal with or else certainly be
20009s dead can it afford to
20012s crash I think you just have to I guess
20014s you can't afford not to precisely yeah
20017s but like I think there should still be
20019s enough right with the with the double
20022s lightning bolt crash in
20024s hand okay so there's the Viper so this
20026s is the exact situation I was talking
20028s about
20031s surely but can but there's also even if
20035s the Viper whiffs can't it just be nog on
20037s and plus one plus one yeah yeah oh
20040s please tell is this going to be keyboard
20042s lethal with the deadly
20047s poison you ever beaten a man to death
20049s with a keyboard before not a musical
20059s one
20062s oh is it still in the
20067s deck so yeah we're no Plus oneing
20070s salvation can pocket make it work cuz
20074s the thing with this as well is this
20075s means no Cold Case right so no armor
20079s gain
20084s yes ohal five oh deal five Reverb plus
20089s one to take the damage off the board
20095s sure which is plus two now of course yep
20098s yeah yeah no good point good point that
20099s could actually be a massive difference
20101s as well yeah that's just better right
20104s like simply as as a play leaving just a
20107s one one on board obviously the weapons
20109s there as well but the the difference
20111s between one and two feels the difference
20113s between doable and not doable yeah so
20116s would this have to be
20118s like oh no this is just oh God so it has
20122s to crash again
20126s right if it's not Le like pocket trade
20129s is being very careful here that this
20131s isn't lethal I don't think it is and if
20136s it's not then yes you just have to crash
20138s all of this away and just try and get
20139s there with the lightning bolts next
20142s turn so this is guaranteed safe if
20145s Hemlock wants
20148s it but at this point I don't even know
20151s what the that spell damage
20156s is it's actually crazy what
20161s so now you can you can trade the Viper
20164s and then you can get Sith and you can
20165s still cast Hellfire and Arcane
20169s bolt probably not in that
20172s order correct but that would still not
20176s be enough right I really feel like you
20177s were supposed to just rip this Hellfire
20179s at some
20180s point yes or even noon in five damage to
20185s minion right yeah so there's even yeah
20192s but I think if you're going to say noon
20193s five damage to face you have to be able
20196s to tell me how much damage pocket train
20198s can do from his hand with plus two on
20201s every card right because if you don't
20202s know the answer to that question you
20204s can't take that risk as to whether like
20206s that extra three damage you left up on
20208s board ends up killing you that way yeah
20210s true but I think like Hemlock could do
20212s that math right because of how limited
20214s the card pool is I don't know if he did
20216s or didn't but I think he could because I
20218s don't think there are any huge impact I
20220s guess there the one Flow Rider question
20223s mark
20225s right yeah Al fire how is this game
20228s still going I I don't
20235s know so that's the five
20237s armor I am surely this is enough
20241s right
20243s yes cuz there's
20246s double
20248s bio it both qu draft yeah yeah that has
20251s to that's it right yeah yeah again I I I
20255s know I shouldn't be questioning this
20256s like it's not but it's with the way this
20259s game's gone I'm shook I'm just I don't
20261s know how how it this like I neither does
20263s Pock it look he's like I don't even know
20265s how I won this game of hearthstone right
20267s now Hemlock with a Sith that just
20270s doesn't want to come out to play that is
20273s brutal that honestly huge win for pocket
20277s of course but I feel really bad for
20279s hemlock cuz that felt like one of the
20281s roughest games of hearthstone I've seen
20283s in a long time but it is one of those
20286s moments where there'll be a lot of
20289s opportunity to rewind that game and take
20292s a look at different moments like as you
20293s were talking about I think the biggest
20295s question was I think the nor Ganon turn
20297s was very good to get the plus two but
20300s could it have been a five to face
20301s reliably that's the question or was
20304s there a spot to get the Hellfire in and
20306s still say yes they can't kill me with
20309s whatever no one or not gun two whatever
20311s it ends up being so I think there were
20313s moments there for hemlock and and no
20315s doubt Hemlock will do this at some point
20317s is look back on that game and see if
20318s something could have changed but either
20321s way super unlucky to have cth just stick
20324s to the bottom of the deck yeah I think
20327s Hemlock played the version of the game
20329s that you win as long as cth isn't your
20332s last card and isn't found off any of the
20334s Viper trades throughout the course of
20336s the game perfectly the problem the
20339s question is can you also find a line
20342s that wins that game where it's the last
20344s card as well and I feel like the answer
20346s to that question is yes um and again
20350s like we came into this one I certainly
20351s came into this one um talking about how
20354s we could be seeing the highest level
20356s series of hearthstone that we see all
20357s weekend all year potentially as well
20359s with how good these two players have
20361s been so those are the standards that you
20363s have to hold people to uh so you really
20367s really intense game right the way down
20369s to the the finest razor wire in the end
20372s you can see the reaction from pocket
20374s train what four minutes ago four solid
20378s aliis yet to plow through in the end
20380s like absolutely absurd stuff and again
20382s this has been a consistent story of the
20384s tournament like sometimes just through
20386s pocket train being really good at the
20388s deck and sometimes just through a little
20389s bit of good fortune pocket train is
20392s getting Sharman through the series and
20395s other players are not and that right now
20397s is the big difference as to why he's now
20400s favored to make it to the final and a
20402s lot of other players who have brought
20403s Shan have been struggling a lot
20405s more yeah for sure and the play is not
20408s wasting any time that you okay
20412s Rick Rick wait what yeah flare
20417s oh yeah that's all I heard so I was like
20421s right I didn't know a change casting
20423s partner a uh not really an association I
20426s want these days Raven just to but the
20429s noise is the Noise Okay yeah yeah yeah
20432s okay yeah diving straight in Pocket
20435s could tidy this match with a quick well
20438s quick in air quotes three three 0 I feel
20441s that last game really uh took out of us
20443s all but could be moving on to the finals
20445s if you can just make it work with this
20447s Mech Rogue Hemlock though on the Mage
20449s just needs to hold off and hope uh this
20452s game goes a little bit better than the
20453s last one and we are landing a
20458s mimon
20463s beautiful stuff obviously even if this
20465s gets reverbed the board is clear so you
20467s still get to play a full turn of
20468s hearthstone with mimon in play and you
20470s will take that any day of the week and
20472s twice on Sunday Unfortunately today is
20480s Sunday but what else can you
20485s do he
20488s my
20491s yeah this is definitely a tricky one
20492s here as pocket starts to really develop
20494s on the
20495s board and he's uh planning to cause some
20499s Havoc prep spark Bots you've got wind
20506s Fury we've got all the reborn in the
20509s world y this whole game's going to
20511s reborn at this
20516s point look at the like the of things
20520s that are happening here for turn
20523s three going to give it reborn again oh
20526s that's okay I like that that's kind of
20527s cool I promise you I wouldn't have seen
20530s this play and I don't know why cuz it's
20532s really obvious now but I promise you I
20534s never would have done this I I would
20536s have just dealt the damage and just they
20539s been wind furied in the in the head like
20540s yesterday yeah but like this is so
20542s clearly
20544s better screw you pocket train why are
20546s you better at Hearthstone than
20548s me
20556s and this is this is the problem because
20558s at this stage in the game Mage just
20560s doesn't have the capability to do as
20563s much stuff as pocket train just did
20566s right yeah so here that's the problem
20568s for hemlock like he Hemlock can have a
20570s decent turn right has keyboard has a
20572s void uh scripture but that is not enough
20575s and that's the big problem here volcano
20578s mansy though is something to consider
20580s yeah that is definitely a card in this
20584s scenario but how would
20586s you like would it be like keyboard or
20589s the
20591s elemental oh wait no he's got the Mana
20594s for some reason I didn't think he had
20595s the Mana for it okay perfect yes by
20597s definition of the card he has the Mana
20599s left to play the card that just
20601s activated
20606s yes this why that rebor is just so
20608s clever right like trade off and just
20610s spend the last mana on on the reborn
20612s again and like now you just have gig
20615s Fury Mech coming down this turn right
20617s like it's just so
20619s smart oh reborn
20627s again really wants to keep rolling for
20629s Mana yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that's the
20631s one you want you want the
20633s preps you can just keep on playing these
20636s mechs yeah and there's that way I think
20639s again with he's crossed the line where
20642s there's no point with uh or overly
20645s worrying about the um the stealth one
20647s because he has cloak field anyway but
20649s even if he didn't I think Seven health
20651s is fine right of just saying you could
20653s just push the damage
20655s anyway suddenly Hemlock is in a
20658s disastrous state right now with just 10
20661s damage mimon Embers is a card it says
20665s Taun on
20666s it you're not wrong I believe that is
20669s what it
20675s says yeah just get just pay the
20677s artificer behind it for some
20682s armor and looks like I wish it cost
20687s two and you get a sap and you get a
20692s sap maximum damage coming through from
20695s mimon really really beautifully played
20697s like this seems straightforward this
20698s entire game seems trivial this game was
20701s losable you had to get turn four right
20703s and pocket train absolutely did get turn
20705s four right in a way that was basically
20707s unbeatable I think overall so in the end
20711s what I hyped up as potentially one of
20712s the closest Titus series ended up being
20715s the second freest 3-0 that we've seen
20718s all day since Man City at Old Trafford
20720s so sorry I guess we underd
20722s delivered yes and no because I will say
20726s that the the shaman versus Mage game uh
20729s where pocket just somehow beat that many
20731s aliis because of you know one pocket's
20734s you know good play of course but also
20735s just hemlocks like slight look factor or
20738s lack of it should I say when it comes to
20740s drawing safe I think that one game
20743s really sums up the uh the potential of
20745s these two players because it was so
20747s close so many times yes game three
20750s looked one-sided and it was but again
20752s echoing your thoughts I think uh pocket
20755s played it very well with those rebound
20756s trades getting the maximum value out of
20758s what he had ailable to him but yeah a
20761s series that doesn't look close
20762s score-wise but had some very very close
20765s moments and I think that's just you know
20767s a shout out to both Pocky and Hemlock at
20769s how good both of these players have been
20771s all year so it's a shame to see Hemlock
20773s lose but that's the nature of these top
20775s fours right someone has to lose someone
20777s has to go onto the finals and that is
20779s going to be pocket train we're doing it
20782s all over again Saul yeah making his
20784s second final of the year um and as
20787s mentioned like pocket is joint top of
20790s the overall standings which means um in
20793s these tournaments as each individual
20795s player gets eliminated they start
20797s rooting for pocket train particularly if
20799s they're European because you know if if
20801s pocket gets an actual automatic spot to
20802s Worlds through winning that opens up
20804s another point standings in the The Last
20806s Chance qualifications uh for all the
20808s players behind there's a few
20810s relationships like that going on in the
20811s tournament right now like wiu and banter
20813s face was a similar thing with the the
20815s head-to-head that they had with them
20816s both being fighting for America's spots
20818s so yeah pocket train second bite of the
20821s Cherry second final out of three
20823s available so far this year you know
20825s leader of the point
20826s standings he's he's he's a player let's
20829s let's just put it that way he knows what
20831s he is doing with a Hearthstone board in
20833s front of him well we have got two more
20836s matches left today we've got semi-final
20838s 2 and then of course the finals to
20840s decide our champion so make sure you
20843s don't go anywhere there's just a little
20845s bit more Hearthstone left for the day
20846s we're going to go to a break I'll be
20847s right back with semi-final number two
20850s too reborn again oh that's okay I like
20853s that that's kind of cool I promise you I
20856s wouldn't have seen this play and I don't
20857s know why cuz it's really obvious now but
20860s I promise you I never would have done
20862s this I I would have just done the damage
20864s and oh they'
20868s [Music]
20878s been
20880s [Music]
20890s [Music]
20895s [Music]
20966s [Music]
21075s [Music]
21083s [Applause]
21087s hallelu
21117s oh
21121s [Music]
21133s [Music]
21144s hello everyone and welcome back to the
21146s Masters Tour we have semifinal number
21148s number two coming up to see who's going
21150s to face off against pocket train in the
21153s final I am still here but I'm now joined
21155s by the idol Vice welcome uh I know you
21158s were just watching that semi-final what
21160s did you think of it what do you think of
21161s the quick three from pocket I I mean I
21163s just about blinked and missed it you
21165s know after the the series The TJ and I
21167s cast I was ready to settle in you know
21169s watch another five game set nope Pockets
21172s just like get in get out get on with it
21175s yeah it was it was really incredible and
21177s I'm really looking forward to to cuz I
21179s will not be casting the finals I get to
21181s just put my feet up and enjoy as a
21183s spectator but for now we like I said we
21185s have to decide who is going to be facing
21187s pocket in that finals it's going to be
21189s mcbf face versus balance H so going to
21192s be a really spicy one again so much on
21194s the line so much work all year gone into
21197s this for these players to get to this
21199s like sort of one two matches away from
21202s just a world championship direct invite
21204s which is got to be the dream right to
21206s just say we don't have to worry about
21208s points any more all that goes out the
21209s window I'm just going that's what these
21212s players really want yeah absolutely I
21214s think for every single one of them just
21217s would be a huge relief if could just
21220s focus on practicing for worlds generally
21223s rather than trying to grind out for the
21225s points to get there yeah M bface had a
21229s really uh spicy matchup against wiq with
21232s some very surprised moments earlier on
21235s uh because again we've seen this
21236s throughout the day because this sort of
21240s natural he myself there we go because we
21244s can uh we've been seeing a lot of Mage
21246s and Shaman both decks have the burst
21248s potential that you see a lot of these
21250s players going ah I can't kill them I'm
21252s probably dead and then they don't die
21254s and then it's going to be you know okay
21255s suddenly what's the recovery looking
21256s like and at least there some really
21258s really out there uh matchup so we are
21261s going to check in uh with MCB faces Mage
21264s probably you know we're not going to
21265s talk about Warrior yet but um mage proba
21268s probably the the star of the show this
21271s weekend absolutely yeah Mage has been
21273s sort of that number two deck both in
21275s terms of players who brought it and in
21278s terms of performance for a lot of folks
21280s uh Rogue another strong performer but
21282s Mage is really just this one deck
21284s whereas you know Warrior and Rogue are
21287s kind of split between you know en rage
21288s and Odin or Mech and secret Mage is is
21293s just rainbow Mage except for CJ Kaka on
21295s the Naga Mage the one player and yeah
21299s it's been you know it's been holding
21302s up yeah I'm just looking at the bands
21304s for this match and um I I think it we we
21308s were told it was double Warrior sorry
21310s there were no Warrior bands but I
21311s actually think there might be a warrior
21313s band so we'll see that soon we we'll see
21315s the outcome of that in the near future
21317s but on the other side of course been
21318s talking a lot about mukban face but
21320s balance has been the one uh wielding the
21323s dreaded control priest um the the deck
21326s archetype that haunts my nightmare after
21329s uh after certain you know grandm stints
21332s in the European region that seemed
21334s endless at times with a lot of control
21337s Warrior mirrors but we will not get the
21338s mirrors in this I do believe there's
21340s Shaman Bann out uh from mukban face and
21343s the enrage Warrior from balance has been
21346s banned out as far as I'm as far as I
21348s believe so we won't be seeing the enrage
21350s Warrior but if bace is going to win
21352s we're going to see some of that Odin
21354s Warrior yeah and I think that may be a
21357s nod to Co thinking that you know on this
21360s priest if it does end up having to face
21362s the Odin Warrior there are a limited
21364s number of minions in that deck so
21366s there's an opportunity to just go for
21369s multiple copies of dirty rat and and
21371s going into that M turn eight or whenever
21373s feels the opportune time just being able
21375s to snipe it out of the opponent's hand
21377s and at that point you've got plenty of
21379s ways to just run the warrior out of
21382s stuff yeah it's very interesting isn't
21384s it because like the Odin Warrior has a
21386s lot of control control aspects of you
21389s know older control Warrior archetypes
21392s but it really does just have that now I
21395s kill you sort of button which is Odin
21397s right you play that and suddenly control
21400s goes out the window it's face face face
21402s H damage so it'll be very interesting to
21404s see if there's any way to recover if
21406s that matchup happens and if those dirty
21408s rats can start causing some Shenanigans
21410s so it's going to be a cool matchup cuz
21412s I've not cast Warrior at all all weekend
21414s so at least you know I get to cast maybe
21417s some form of warrior uh before I go uh
21420s but going to be pretty interesting with
21421s this lineup overall because one thing
21423s that surprised me was balance is
21425s bringing rainbow Mage makes sense it's
21428s extremely powerful as we've seen a rogue
21431s secret Rogue at this point but still the
21433s Rogues have been doing well overall in
21435s Rage Warrior it's one of the two
21436s extremely good warrior decks but then
21439s the control priest right it's like it's
21441s not like there was some out there lineup
21443s that you know control priest really
21445s benefited from so what do you actually
21447s make of just it looks like a I don't
21450s mean this as it sounds but it looks like
21451s a real lineup and then you just stuck
21453s control priest on the end for balance
21455s like do you like this uh otherwise I
21458s mean I think it's got to be some kind of
21461s comfort pick or something in my mind
21462s because there doesn't seem to be a
21465s particular strategy built around the
21468s control priest you know it's not like
21469s you're assembling a control lineup or
21472s anything uh certainly with the enrage
21474s Warrior over the uh over the Odin
21479s Warrior so it yeah it is a bit of an
21483s unusual pick here in Balance but it's
21485s also it's built in a slightly unusual
21487s fashion it's
21489s very targeted in terms of you know all
21492s these tech cards and things and there's
21495s no extra value no Etc no salna so really
21499s not built for the mirror I think balance
21501s was relieved not to have to play out
21504s that mirror because as were we
21507s all
21509s in terms of you know just competition
21511s terms uh it would have had a slight
21513s disadvantage in terms of value going
21515s into Co CO's version well here we go
21518s game one already underway again if you
21521s were just joining us the winner of this
21522s goes on to face pocket train in the
21524s finals with a world championship spot on
21528s the line Bank face going to be on the
21530s Mage and we're going to see this priest
21532s nice and early and how do you feel this
21535s priest does versus the Mage um is it you
21538s talked about dirty rat and it has the
21540s you know the potential to actually pull
21541s SI and maybe kill it as well which is
21543s obviously a big deal but do you think
21545s balance has to go to that level of
21547s extreme to win this matchup or do you
21549s think he can do it let's say fair and
21551s square I mean it's very hard as the
21554s priest with your limited number of tempo
21556s tools to actually just try and you know
21559s win out that way it's not really the
21561s game that a control priest is playing so
21565s in a sense you you sort of have to just
21567s deal with every threat that the Mage has
21570s to offer and that is very challenging
21574s against this particular Mage which is so
21576s filled with value I mean we see
21577s infinitize maxud as just infinite value
21580s potentially literally infinite depending
21583s depend on how you play it out
21585s yeah Ignus is a way that you can uh get
21588s there with pressure
21590s though yeah as usual and as has often
21593s been the case with a lot of controlled
21595s priests in the past as well is
21598s there's not not a lot of standard ways
21601s to win certain matchups but there's a
21603s lot of weird ways to win certain
21605s matchups even if you look at cards such
21607s as uh identity theft as well right and
21610s things like that can can sort of create
21612s odd conditions for you to actually steal
21614s winds so and again I think you're
21617s exactly right where this must be some
21620s level of comfort pick for balance and if
21622s you're that comfortable with a deck that
21624s has to create weird Wing conditions a
21625s lot of the time you're going to be used
21627s to it so I think that's definitely going
21628s to go in his favor for this one but mban
21631s just playing like the raw good deck
21634s gives me a lot of confidence in him for
21635s this
21637s guy yeah and although no keyboard in
21641s hand for banter being able to go coin
21642s Cold Case into second Cold Case is
21644s always just a lot of pressure you know
21646s you force out that Shard of Naru because
21647s priests don't want to have to deal with
21649s all that extra chip damage from killing
21651s the skeletons and balances in position
21654s where you know he can go for a big draw
21655s turn here but uh not necessarily the
21660s cleanest clears
21665s besides it's always a question of when
21667s you do actually go for the dirty rat in
21669s this matchup is probably the toughest
21671s thing cuz there's a lot of Minions that
21673s you don't really want to
21675s hit yeah it's definitely tricky isn't it
21678s because there's not even the the other
21681s than just letting the game go on and
21684s knowing that your opponent say has had
21686s five cards in hand for the last five
21689s turns let's say there's no signifier
21692s right there's no often not a setup turn
21694s that makes it obvious that they're about
21696s to do something so it it could be really
21699s really difficult uh to to try and time
21701s this against at least against cth
21705s specifically yeah
21706s definitely and you have to kill it in
21708s the same turn or silence it because Sil
21712s otherwise it is immediate death
21714s otherwise you've just done them a favor
21716s yeah I think like one of the tough ones
21719s because I would say versus The Warrior
21721s you would just play Rat before turn
21724s eight right and just not let them drop
21726s it on curve potentially and that's
21728s that's just straightforward because they
21730s want to play it ASAP whereas that is
21732s obviously not the case with s so yeah
21734s very very tricky
21738s overall yeah the warrior both has fewer
21741s misses in terms of there's fewer minions
21743s overall you know they've built a deck
21745s around chorus riff and a limited number
21747s of minions so that chus Rift has higher
21749s odds of drawing Odin or if you miss on
21751s Odin draws Finley and then you flip your
21753s deck upside down to to pick up that Odin
21757s and uh you know it is better the earlier
21760s you play it with Odin C is not that way
21763s C A lot of times is better the later you
21765s play it uh in some seex you know apart
21767s from winning the game earlier you do
21769s need to power it up and that can take
21771s time so in this matchup a lot of times
21773s as the Mage you're kind of happy if you
21775s don't pick up C until the turn you're
21778s going to play it for the win yeah and
21780s then that goes to an extreme and you're
21781s called Hemlock and you never pick up
21784s safe even though there's only one card
21785s left in your deck H which is what we saw
21787s a little bit
21788s earlier although very likely against a
21791s priest that would be a perfectly fine
21793s situation yes yes true
21798s true and this is one of those weird
21800s spots for balance where and and again
21803s this has often been the case for priests
21805s where it's just like there's not really
21807s a lot to do you've got nearly you got
21809s plenty of cards in hand but because so
21811s many of them are like semi situational
21813s it's just like huh I guess do I just
21816s pass even you can see him hovering the
21818s dirty rat and yeah he's going to go for
21821s one probably hits a creation yeah again
21823s you'd be reasonably happy with this
21824s outcome right creation definitely one of
21827s the more annoying cards to try and deal
21829s with yeah it's just such a powerful
21832s board swing you know only having to
21834s spend four mana on the clear and and
21836s then being able to devel up whatever you
21838s want on the other side and having a
21840s three four as well I think especially
21842s with yeah picking up the ignis off the
21845s creation instead of more dirty rats it's
21848s just kind of more reliable in terms of
21851s making things awkward for the
21858s Mage Banner face now does have a pretty
21862s reasonable amount of Health to sort of
21863s Chunk through here with this 47 dirty
21866s rat right and normally when you see a
21868s dirty rat come down you're like nah
21869s whatever you know it doesn't do much you
21871s know once it's had its ability done of
21872s course but this is a significant minion
21874s that Panet face is going to have to push
21876s through
21878s it I think one of the reasons it's you
21881s know almost an auto include in so many
21882s lists is it it it pairs very well with
21885s the location so sometimes you know when
21887s you do just play it out early for either
21889s hand space or you know you're up against
21891s something where there's not really bad
21893s hits and you just want a big taunt uh
21895s getting that plus two power plus one
21898s toughness uh really makes things
21901s challenging for your opponent to trade
21910s into rewind never a bad pick to look at
21914s Gifts of aaras fine but I do think
21916s overall rewind is going to be more
21917s tempting here for
21919s B yeah the card draw is a bit Limited at
21923s present so you're maybe even looking for
21924s wisdom of
21926s norgan H
21930s or Another Cold Case you know those
21932s always feel pretty
21934s solid that's a pretty good pick up for
21936s balance
21943s though what Mana weapon would you take
21945s here five it's always 10 always 10 no
21949s matter what it's always 10 I I
21953s remember I this might have been in the
21956s theory casting that we did
21958s uh well that is 10 when we were talking
21961s about ignis I me and Saul I remember
21963s saying yeah look at the 10 weapons it's
21965s always 10 so I was like no no anything
21967s that's made a weapon it's always the you
21969s know anything that discovers like a a
21971s builder Builder card is always ended up
21974s being the cheapest is the best I was
21976s like no no it's always going to be 10
21977s and for once in my life it kind of
21979s worked that it was in fact always 10
21982s especially pre
21984s Nerf and I think especially in in Priest
21987s you know where where you do often have
21989s the resources to to get to that 10 mana
21992s and I mean look we've picked up a wind
21995s Fury armor weapon I think so you know
21998s fantastic combination both just for
22001s damage and uh getting 16 armor every
22004s turn that that's in play is just massive
22008s in terms of putting this wall between
22011s yourself and and the CIF lethal uh it's
22015s not know that's one of the ways where
22016s you don't need something like a dirty
22018s rat on is where you just gain so much
22021s armor that it's it's impossible for the
22024s Mage to get there without being able to
22026s s a
22034s board yeah it's kind of interesting as
22036s well like obviously Mage draws a very
22038s increased uh rate but even with balance
22041s drawing plenty of cards themselves
22043s there's still nowhere in there worrying
22045s about fatigue right so what four cards
22048s behind face at this point so you know
22051s all the card draw as well is just going
22053s to help give them some more options as
22055s they check out this
22059s discover surely you want dirty R right
22062s at the top yeah I mean with already one
22065s ignis in reserve and a powerful 10 Mana
22067s weapon available weirdly enough I feel
22070s like there is such a thing has too much
22073s value doesn't happen often but it does
22076s happen there's safe yep
22081s okay four minions in hand so pretty good
22085s odds if balance just just decide to go
22087s for a dirty rat play next turn alongside
22091s I don't know if you would play Behemoth
22092s just because you don't need the healing
22095s but yeah I mean I think stage one is
22098s play the dirty rat and see what happens
22099s right like that's uh cuz as you said
22102s it'll be Shadow word or Shadow the
22103s narrow to silence the Sur if it hits uh
22106s one way or the other but if not yeah I
22109s think just F out the turns probably
22113s good cuz I do think the behemoth at this
22117s kind of stage is more a big minion than
22120s would you really save it for heal right
22123s you play more is just a big threat as
22125s opposed to saying oh well they'll get me
22127s a bit low and then I'll just heal it's
22128s like well a bit low might just be dead
22130s against Mage
22133s so K strike being the choice there from
22136s P the face I just adding to the
22138s potential overall damage output oh and
22141s going for a very early reduction now
22143s having already gotten the Sith in hand
22146s so yeah I mean when I talked earlier
22149s about are there any signals for
22151s C that's probably one of them if you're
22154s going to get one right you see the
22156s damage uh sorry the cost reduction come
22158s out I think if there's ever a time to
22160s snap dirty right it's probably now well
22162s that may be why banter went for the fire
22166s spell there you know both because uh it
22171s maybe signals oh I'm I'm not quite ready
22173s right I'm having to spend a fire spell
22175s and also because if the rat is played
22178s there's you know a one twoo in hand that
22179s you don't mind just getting R play yeah
22183s I think this is really good because you
22185s can always say oh it could have saved it
22187s for more damage it's like well it won't
22188s be any damage if Sith gets pulled right
22190s so yeah I'm completely with you I think
22192s adding an extra minion to the hand
22194s because if you look at the the burst
22196s potential anyway it's pretty high as it
22200s is yeah absolutely and I I like this
22203s from balance going in on the uh identity
22207s theft first just to take a peek take a
22209s peek at the hand you know if you see
22211s that there's a safe there certainly you
22213s go in on the dirty rat right
22216s now just a quick lean to see your
22218s opponent's hand see what's going on or
22219s at these bits of it yeah he's going to
22221s go with a behemoth
22223s instead does remove the uh you know it's
22226s not healing but it does remove an amount
22228s of damage right like preemptively almost
22230s by killing this off
22232s y that's just another thing that has to
22235s be dealt with I think balance wants to
22237s feel safe going
22239s into this turn 10 like thinking okay I'm
22243s a very unlikely dead from 35 if my
22245s opponent just played one of their zero
22248s mana burn spells and I want them to have
22251s to deal with this board so that I can
22253s play my runic hammer and and just start
22257s 16 armor every single turn and this is
22260s getting pretty close this is going to be
22261s Arcane ball
22269s yeah so what's that is there three
22272s Arcane bolts in the hand I think yeah
22275s yep two of which cost zero so
22278s yeah Ho Holy
22281s SP the second one is free I
22286s suppose
22289s there is the elemental um not Elemental
22292s inspiration inquisitive creation there
22295s too many of these similarish words come
22297s on and for those wondering why banter
22300s might have taken Garden Grace there I
22302s think it was it was just a matter of
22303s discovery of magic if you only have one
22305s spell school left that you haven't
22307s played you don't have a choice yeah it
22310s kind of is what it is like you can't
22312s really uh be fussy when there's only one
22315s option wow suddenly like this is this
22320s dirty rat or dead at this point I think
22323s I
22324s mean it's tough call cuz at 35 Plus the
22328s 16 you know it sounds pretty
22332s healthy but that's a lot of damage with
22335s the Reverb right
22336s [Music]
22338s yeah it's just the fact that you know
22342s there's a reduction on at least you
22345s would guess at least a couple of cards
22347s right cuz the reduction came down and it
22350s um
22351s it it wouldn't have it wouldn't have
22353s happened right if there was hitting like
22355s one spell right like banet face would
22357s not have have reduced one spell though
22359s so see what the outcome is here for
22361s balance there's a forged Rune as well so
22364s even if you don't know about you know
22366s the reduced
22367s Reverb there is the factor of you saw
22370s the forge yeah you saw the forge so if
22373s you're playing around molten Rune and
22375s you know a couple of Arcane bolts you
22378s know there's an extra one from the void
22380s scripture
22383s right so sorry yeah I just look at B
22386s Face's response to the AR was like
22391s no it might still be enough with the
22395s Reverb I'm trying to think you can't
22396s play both Reverb and the molten Rune
22399s yeah I feel like if it was enough
22401s balance would already be dead so I'm
22404s assuming that it is not enough he's
22407s counting it out it might be just shy I
22410s don't know from that that expression
22412s this is how I work out lethals um when
22416s casting if the player hasn't locked it
22418s in when it's just like this spell damage
22420s Minion plus burst then it's not lethal
22423s that's that's the the the way I approach
22425s these things a lot of the time mainly
22427s the issue we've got is I can't quite see
22428s what um Si's at yeah I mean I think it's
22431s everything but holy but I I don't recall
22434s the max number you can have
22437s the problem is that if he waits a turn
22440s there's there's just more armor yeah
22442s seven so you Reverb because it's always
22444s dead
22447s anyway so that's plus 14 spell damage
22450s means each these 17 why does my bace
22453s look like surprised this outcome yeah
22455s it's exact lethal didn't as bface let my
22458s strategy down oh no yeah I think he yeah
22461s I think this I think this reaction and
22463s the fact he's going to get up and just
22465s have a moment here really sums this up
22468s because I respect mcbf a lot as a player
22471s and I would have assumed that even after
22474s the armor swing that mcbf face would
22477s have just known how much damage he could
22479s do right just straight off the bat
22481s before the turn even happened from
22483s balance he would have said at this
22485s moment with this hand I have X amount of
22486s damage uh so I was really surprised and
22489s that's why I was saying if he's not
22490s locked it in I just assume it's not
22491s lethal because surely would have counted
22493s but I think that it's that moment where
22496s there's some much pressure and you know
22499s even with players that are seasoned as
22501s MCB face there's got to be that thought
22503s in your head that goes I need to count
22506s this again and I need to count it again
22508s and then count it again because you
22510s think if I mess this up and lose this
22513s game that could be the difference
22515s between a world championship spot and
22516s not so yeah I think at that moment he
22519s was kind of half surprised that it was
22521s just lethal but still congratulations
22523s what a what a weird ending to that game
22526s to be completely honest you know had it
22528s had it been me playing there I almost
22530s would have just gone in because I know
22532s if that weapon gets to attack again
22533s there's there's no way you're overcoming
22535s you know an additional 32 armor over the
22537s next two turns so uh yeah just going for
22541s it at the end whether he he double
22543s checked his his work and and realized or
22546s or just knew that he had to go in uh
22548s yeah exact
22549s lethal yeah really really big win there
22552s from atand theace cuz that started to
22554s slip away as you mentioned right with
22556s the um uh with the ignis weapon suddenly
22559s that's a way that priest can even
22561s without dirty rat actually stabilize and
22564s feel some level of safety but yeah
22566s mukbanf face got through there so
22568s there's a loss for the priest for
22569s balance mcface getting the Mage over the
22572s line H but there's still plenty more to
22575s to go where that came from because
22577s there's like I've been saying all
22579s weekend I feel like any player who gets
22581s to play Mage in a match should win right
22585s at some point like mage shouldn't be the
22587s deck that causes them trouble uh so yeah
22590s we'll have to see how the rest of this
22591s match up goes but what a close start to
22594s this
22596s series yeah absolutely and you know
22599s priest is a deck that you're always
22602s giving your opponent time and so uh Mage
22607s usually just has more options the longer
22609s the game goes I think it's it's really
22611s just that big weapon that can sometimes
22614s shut the door but turn 10 is very very
22618s long time to give them age as very
22621s frequently it's it's on 10 Mana where
22623s they do kill you yeah I feel like that
22626s matchup is just all about timing right
22628s because you can see oh well what if a
22630s dirty rat came down earlier you know to
22633s try and get the SA or what if maybe
22636s there was one turn delayed from at ban
22638s face so suddenly the weapon could swing
22640s again then we play a completely
22642s different game of hearthstone and things
22644s look very very different overall so I I
22646s think there is or or that was clearly
22648s just that sweet spot of it's just in
22651s time to push that damage cuz any later
22653s and it would have been game over I think
22655s from at bface but also any earlier like
22658s before the weapon gets to swing there
22660s was a chance that at bface could kill
22661s them then right so those like just
22664s really really clear timings are very
22666s very difficult to sort of guess at when
22668s you're in that position but without
22670s further Ado we're get into game number
22671s two banter face jumping onto the Warrior
22674s One of the uh the rarest classes
22677s seen out in the wild this weekend going
22679s up against this priest once again I've
22681s got a funny feeling ID Vice that bounce
22683s is going to stick on priest till he wins
22685s with it or goes home I mean I can
22688s respect that right it's it's sort of the
22690s deck that you just like all right this
22693s one I I need to get a win with it is it
22695s was the one you know potential awkward
22697s or weak link
22699s and you know again I feel like it must
22702s be a comfort pick if you brought it so
22705s yeah
22707s so in this
22710s matchup if the Odin doesn't
22714s happen would you say it's very likely to
22717s just be game to balance is that is that
22719s as as if we were going to oversimplify
22721s the
22722s matchup would you agree I think I would
22725s agree because you know there's two ways
22728s there's there's a late Odin and there's
22729s a dirty ratted Odin and uh certainly
22734s the dirty ratted Odin is is just very
22737s unlikely you're going to get there it
22738s kind of comes down to ignis weapon at
22740s that point I mean in in sort of both
22742s situations it comes down to ignis weapon
22743s I think you're you're looking for that
22745s wind Fury at least in the case of a late
22747s Odin sometimes you can set up situations
22750s where you get that wind Fury weapon and
22753s you just sort of save it until you
22755s finally throw down Odin and you get to
22759s just multiply your armor cards in
22762s particular the the tradable ones that
22764s you've maybe been holding on to this
22765s whole time and
22766s furiously trading to look for that Odin
22769s but if it gets dirty rat it's it's tough
22771s times for The Warrior yeah well let's
22774s see how it goes here is B uh starts to
22777s try and get going here with the priest
22779s of course just going to go Forge that
22781s creation
22784s protocol and just start this the slow
22786s buildup right uh just build up all the
22789s resources again I think we saw in the
22791s previous game right where there was what
22792s three or I think there was only three
22794s locations on board at the same time for
22796s balance right just you know build that
22798s sort of preload that value uh in there
22801s is love everlasting as well available in
22803s hand looks like it's going to get
22804s dropped down on curve but yeah just
22806s getting everything set up but again a
22810s lot of the game will revolve around how
22813s this Odin makes an
22816s appearance yeah and once again I think
22818s the best time to draw Odin in this
22821s matchup is on turn eight as soon as you
22825s are on eight Mana if it comes into the
22827s hand then because there's there's no way
22829s for the priest to sort of steal it away
22831s from you
22834s thename
22841s never and we're not seeing the discovers
22844s here but I imagine as the priest we're
22846s going for a
22852s five well this is another matchup where
22854s you can go for a 10
22856s assuming the Odin doesn't come down
22858s terribly early and out armor what the
22860s warrior is able
22861s to present in terms of
22877s damage having a a little bit of
22880s technical difficulties in terms of not
22882s seeing the discovers and LU we'll find
22885s out quickly and and we we have a rough
22888s guess as to what balance we'll want
22890s right generally speaking oh actually
22892s went for five so went for an on curve
22894s play okay it's I guess it's not always
22896s 10 I'm slightly upset I mean there's not
22899s a lot of fives in the deck I I feel like
22901s it was frequently five or 10 with the
22904s caveat that if there's something that
22906s needs to be addressed immediately you
22908s take a one right if you're in a very
22910s aggressive match up like frequently
22911s against Mech Rogue you do ones looking
22913s for poisonous deal damage
22922s I would say the premium five in the
22924s circumstance would be wind Fury and
22926s summon a four
22928s drop yeah I would say so just pressure
22931s pressure pressure right you're trying to
22932s get a hold of that
22933s board do you have this in a
22940s bigger there is Banter ignis which is
22943s another thing that you don't terribly
22945s want to get dirty ratted
22947s Yeah It's Tricky though cuz like you
22949s said that it's not like there are
22952s hundreds of minions in the deck right
22954s from it Banner face to try and clog the
22956s hand on purpose to try and Dodge it
22958s because he does need to be uh proactive
22960s himself I see second ignis come down now
22964s so again we'll discover the Discover
22967s when we see it we do have some uh
22970s discover I think it's just the spectator
22972s discover bug that happens sometimes does
22974s go for a 10 the second time round which
22976s makes
22977s sense yeah absolutely and I'm banter
22981s face here you know this isn't really
22983s pressure you're not terribly worried
22984s about pressure from the priest but you
22986s do maybe want to just go ahead and Forge
22988s and play your own ignis try and look for
22991s that wind Fury
22996s weapon and in the case of the warrior
22998s you're happy to take ones because all
23000s you really care about most of the time
23002s is having that wind Fury tag these
23005s priests do 10 run so you can't really
23008s your weapon picking a
23016s 10 decisions decisions from bner face
23020s here really tricky CU there are just a
23023s lot of options even with this Finley
23025s right it's like oh do I leave the Finley
23028s in hand to try and cause shenanigans
23031s that way um do you want to play Finley
23034s to just cycle through or reverse cycle
23036s the deck kind of tricky but they just go
23038s for the board presence instead is going
23040s to say you know what forget about Odin
23042s for now I'm going to go for plan a which
23045s is just beat my opponent
23047s up yeah and there are you know a few of
23049s these board building cards available so
23052s the warrior the primary one
23054s being uh this this riff the bridge riff
23057s although banter did foro a minion draw
23060s there by by taking this route since the
23063s bridge Rift was not finaled uh to get
23066s the the double meant losing out on
23069s replaying aorus riff we do get to see
23071s this five Mana weapon uh which is the
23074s deal for and life steal just keep
23076s balance topped off in the mid game
23085s here when does this prison of yog come
23088s into play my question when are we going
23090s to start seeing
23091s fireworks you know this used to be I
23093s think just a regular yog pre pre-
23096s balance patch but uh right has since
23098s been swapped back for the prison is just
23100s sometimes you need an X Factor and I
23103s suppose that's something I I hadn't
23104s listed because I I'm not really a prison
23107s of Yong player myself but you know every
23111s once in a
23112s while you have to be a True Believer to
23114s play that card you have to just close
23116s your eyes press the button and
23119s go we've had quite a few Believers this
23121s tournament there is the wind fury on the
23123s second one we'll get to see what Mana
23125s cost was picked and it is the one Mana
23127s so that is the optimal weapon for the
23129s warrior you see the thumbs up from B
23132s there even the gain two armor I think
23136s yeah why not right
23140s I I guess that the pause here is does
23144s banter want to use it to actually just
23146s draw cards because we doesn't have Odin
23149s yet right is there a world where he
23150s actually wants the card draw to be able
23152s to just use it to try and get to that
23154s Wing condition or is he saving the
23157s weapon for the win condition yeah I mean
23160s there that's possibility there's always
23162s the option as well of just like well I'm
23163s going to take some time so my opponent
23165s doesn't know that I got the best weapon
23167s possible uh and you know then you maybe
23170s just hold on to this go for turn nine
23174s you Finley and try and play Odin that
23177s same
23180s turn and yeah this is go time for the
23182s dirty rats from balance yeah there goes
23186s the MCB face will be very happy to see
23188s especially if there's a second one
23190s getting played now yeah pulling no
23192s minions
23195s yeah balance gets the bad
23198s news you know still good position on
23201s board
23202s but Bo is kind of irrelevant for most if
23206s not all of of this match up for these
23209s two
23210s decks yeah it's like oh B the face is
23213s like oh I can use my removal cards now
23218s perfect yeah this would now be the
23220s perfect time to draw Odin and not only
23222s is it exactly on curve but also just
23225s seeing those dirty rats get played out
23227s but not going to be drawn quite
23231s yet I almost wonder at what point you
23234s prison for
23235s codra well I think you know the shield
23238s Block in hand right like there is the
23240s well there's maybe the weapon I'm not
23242s sure exactly the outcome of what the
23244s weapon was after what I'm imagine was wi
23249s Fury it all depends on what ban or where
23254s banter feels he he is in this matchup
23256s right after seeing those rats is is this
23259s just like oh well you know as long as
23262s there's no crazy disaster that comes out
23264s I'll be fine or is it I still have to
23267s get a lot of work
23269s done I think banter can
23272s expect that the 10 Mana weapon is you
23275s know what's waiting in the wings here
23277s right having seen the five come down you
23279s figure all right there is going to be a
23281s 10 meta weapon to contend with my
23282s opponent still has coin so being a
23285s little conservative with the removal
23287s just using the trial by fire saving the
23290s blade storm uh once again like you know
23293s board usually not super impactful so
23297s just trying to conserve as many
23298s resources as
23304s possible
23307s one thing I will say is M bface looks
23308s pretty relaxed at this point in the
23312s game the most emotive of players but
23315s also just the fact that he's just s sat
23317s back and thinking y it's fine we'll get
23319s there I mean apart from you know not
23322s getting the opportunity to Finley he has
23325s dodged the big hurdle which is getting
23328s dirty ratted going into your turn eight
23331s and now it's just a matter of making
23334s sure that Odin is you know somewhere in
23336s the next in the top half of his deck
23338s well I was going to say that is a
23340s potential problem right because with
23342s Finley being gone now because it that
23344s did get pulled by dirty rat there's no
23346s like uh oh well it's not in this there
23348s it is never mind um it's not in this
23352s part of the deck I'll search for the
23353s bottom half right uh but obviously now
23355s with Odin coming out yeah banter giving
23357s the nods he is quite happy about the
23360s outcome of this so far and we might see
23363s fireworks next turn put it that way
23366s way yeah the strike from history being
23369s used from amul means that there is some
23373s other removal that has to be played so
23374s no coin weapon from balance even if
23377s there were some good defensive options I
23379s can see there's wind fury on that runic
23381s great hammer I'm not sure if uh there is
23384s the eight armor again which would have
23386s been something that balance is looking
23387s for
23389s but yeah now balance is very much on the
23392s back foot that Viper does not do
23394s anything to this one Mana wi Fury weapon
23398s as long as it it comes down the turn
23400s that lethal is happening yeah that's the
23402s benefit isn't it of going for the one
23404s Mana is the fact that you you equip it
23407s and and go basically on the same turn
23409s almost all the time right so uh yeah any
23412s removal isn't the end of the world good
23413s taunt to uh summon from balance though
23416s that's going to help out a little
23418s bit does have light to uh deal with its
23424s Odin light and then can even location on
23428s the what is it I think that did say gain
23430s armor yeah it just goes weapon gain
23432s armor right oh right the discount yeah
23434s yeah yeah so he does have I was
23436s forgetting the discount as long as you
23438s order it properly where you uh do the
23440s light first there is still double bash
23443s Shield block and you know a million ways
23445s to deal with this board and push a lot
23447s of damage uh so is that very smug
23451s eyebrow raise from MC face I'm not sure
23454s well this
23456s complicate things for sure
23463s yeah prison okay are we are we blad
23467s storming what's What's Happening Here
23469s prison first my
23473s interest there is always some risk to
23476s the prison as well cuz there's uh
23479s potential to burn things although that
23481s was the only minion left in the deck and
23484s also potential to discard your hand
23487s there is that tampering that's a
23490s possible random spell which discards
23493s your hand and shuffles one cost copies
23495s into your
23508s deck it does have the blade storm but
23511s unfortunately now because the prison
23513s doesn't really have a good way to clear
23515s the rest of this
23517s off but on the other hand the last
23520s ability remaining is the make a copy so
23522s unless balance plays something a little
23524s scary to make a copy
23526s of there's not a whole lot of use being
23530s U you know made out of
23538s it yeah the hand doesn't scream uh you
23543s know winning moment here from balance
23545s does it I think obviously the weapon is
23547s fantastic but other than that nothing
23551s really feels like it gets worked and
23553s like all this weapon disruption or
23556s removal is good in theory but with Odin
23559s it kind of becomes null and void is this
23562s just going to be a a renthal and copy
23572s it get a pair of five sixes no
23576s okay together in harmony
23584s quickly are we actually going to see a
23587s Titan be able to
23589s attack I know what a rarity or the
23595s treat that's an ah I'm not sure I've
23599s ever seen that card played
23604s hedra
23610s yeah it's kind of interesting with the
23611s world
23613s poool right like it's a Potential Threat
23618s I guess is is the word I'll
23620s use and balance placing some pretty high
23623s value on the two Mana reduction from
23625s love everlasting you know could have
23627s just let it let it pass there figure
23629s we're on 10 Mana don't need it anymore
23630s but willing to kill his own five5 saying
23633s you know hey damage does matter for me
23635s this game I just need to run you out of
23637s stuff so I may as well you know keep
23639s this buff going another way to do that
23642s though would have been to actually go
23643s for like a putride angle maybe play
23646s putride copy it and kill the one three
23650s get a couple of potions and use those to
23652s keep the love everlasting
23654s going yeah I think it's okay though cuz
23657s if you think about it the the ruin isn't
23660s going to get much value against MCB face
23663s right there's like nothing really to hit
23667s pretty much with with shadowwood
23670s ruin yeah true Odin it was the only big
23673s minion and that having passed I mean
23676s there's I think no minions left in the
23678s deck for for bace right so it's just you
23681s it's I think it's one of those just just
23683s get it out the hand right just get it
23685s thrown away while you can while you've
23686s got the
23689s time looks like it's going to be putride
23692s now though now this is about as much Val
23695s as balance could expect to get off the
23696s pure
23707s side though I think we do have to use
23710s the the weapon if we want to clear that
23715s 36 which is sinking 10
23720s damage yeah I think if that's the case
23722s then you just don't bother yeah cuz
23725s this's the whirpool right I think like
23727s the the whirpool might even come down
23729s just to sort of juice oh never mind no
23731s I'm just going to play the hedra now
23739s okay oh I wonder if balance made the
23745s mistake that I was making in my head
23746s there which is thinking that hedra was
23749s based off the spells that were in your
23750s hand not the ones you played while it's
23752s in your hand oh right yeah that's why I
23754s was talking about whirpool right because
23756s like you know you play out whilst
23758s hedra's there and then suddenly that's
23760s actually a pretty you know pretty
23761s serious threat on average at least but
23764s balance sitting on 1 million Health MCB
23767s face on am measly 11 but there's like
23770s infinite armor to gain at this
23774s point yeah the only reason B has been
23777s holding back on the armor has been just
23779s because it it does also convert to
23781s damage right but I think
23785s probably this this sanitize is going to
23787s get ripped if he doesn't feel like Child
23791s by fire is good
23793s enough yeah I think so I think it's just
23795s I think that was the moment right just
23797s uh using the sanitize well I think is so
23800s key for this deck because if you sort of
23804s throw it away too early it can be really
23806s punishing because it does have that sort
23808s of just remove board effect right like
23811s that's what it feels like that the text
23813s says in a lot of these instances is just
23815s clear the
23818s board and I like this you know not a
23821s particularly great three drop Elemental
23823s to get but it is guaranteed no two
23825s damage and balance's location is coming
23828s up so you kind of disincentivize using
23830s that this
23833s turn it's also interesting as well cuz
23835s like banf face is just holding and
23837s holding um with all this because he just
23839s knows well it's not lethal so whatever
23843s and he knows he can't die as well right
23845s like nothing that balance is going to do
23847s to him will kill him from an empty board
23850s not that I can think of anyway you know
23853s nothing but random generation I think
23855s sure you know some people might be a
23858s little scared about you know say if this
23861s blingtron off of the random legendaries
23864s were an alakir then combined with this
23866s location you know that would be 10 first
23869s damage potential right but yeah largely
23872s outside of those Fringe scenarios the 10
23875s Mana weapon was about as much damage as
23877s you can expect out of the priest and now
23879s that's out of the way you can feel
23881s pretty secure in your you know 16 health
23883s over
23892s there oh looks like it's going to be the
23894s whirpool as well again balance thinking
23897s well there's not going to be that many
23898s more minions left can't really deal with
23900s these and don't want to be taking any
23902s extra armor damage cuz that's kind of
23904s like the the weird issue um with armor
23908s on the priest right is that well you
23909s can't really heal it so once it's gone
23911s it's gone uh to an extent anyway
23915s so yeah armor becomes a very precious
23918s resource any damage you took before you
23920s got it you're you're fine with being
23921s able to heal up but uh the armor once
23924s it's gone it's
23929s gone now I believe the last riff played
23934s was a verse
23936s riff
23937s [Music]
23940s I I think I'm with you on
23947s that so if there was some scenario to
23951s like play that one Mana weapon and
23954s finale the verse riff we have potential
23957s for quite a bit of damage but yeah just
23959s going to go for the bridge rift this
23961s turn it's not lethal yet I think it's
23963s probably going to involve both of
23966s the I can never remember the name of the
23968s spell but the tradable the one he just
23970s got rid of combined with the oh heavy PL
23973s sword yeah heavy plate yeah yeah yeah
23976s yeah I I think so too and I think that's
23977s what's I I I was quiet for a second CU
23980s I'm just staring at Ban's cards that's
23983s left you know trying to see if you know
23985s what's available is he waiting for
23987s anything specific but there's like I
23989s think there's like two from the depth
23991s which doesn't really do anything at this
23992s point um there's uh there's not that
23996s much more in the deck apart from as you
23999s mentioned those heavy plates so I'm
24001s right there with you I think that's
24002s what's going to be needed here there is
24004s the trial by fire just to um defend a
24006s little bit here and I think that's the
24007s benefit of these Rifts is that you just
24010s saw or bace just saw balance have to use
24013s a whirpool to deal with a quite a small
24015s board so it's like right if these
24017s minions again get to a just peel this
24019s armor or any of this armor then it's
24021s they're going to be very very successful
24023s indeed at helping him get uh you know
24025s the finisher on this game cuz even like
24027s look at that even the behemoth's kind of
24029s useless apart from as a actual minion
24032s threat as opposed to Healing right
24037s right he's going to be able to clear the
24039s board and represent some uh threats
24041s himself but
24042s again oh there's even this Hammer to
24044s sort of do some you know peel more of
24046s this armor away until you can get hold
24048s of the the big burst turn as well yeah
24052s absolutely and and you know meanwhile
24054s you're feeling safe on your own life
24055s total so you don't even need to clear if
24057s you don't want to yeah as long as this
24060s armor number from balance goes downwards
24063s uh M Bandon face is going to be pretty
24066s happy I think the the interes in fact
24069s sorry um is just can or or how long will
24073s M bface have to wait to get hold of both
24076s heavy plates if they're needed right I
24078s think that's the the question mark I
24081s have yeah for sure and it's you know
24083s just a little trick here when you're
24085s drawing one card a turn you kind of need
24088s both but when you've seen one you're
24090s trading to look for other stuff to do in
24092s the meantime so that makes it a lot
24094s harder to you know actually piece two of
24096s them together in a turn I think
24097s Craftsman Hammer is one of the you know
24100s things that Panter was maybe looking for
24102s in this moment yeah to help fill the Gap
24104s yeah but it may come down to a you know
24108s prison result in terms of actually being
24110s able to pick up both of those heavy
24113s plates to use on the same
24118s turn and again he's like is this world
24122s poool is this uh
24124s Behemoth it's probably going to be Viper
24126s one way or the other right like this
24128s Viper is not going to get a better
24130s chance
24132s because I don't think there's a world
24134s where balance thinks that this weapon in
24137s hand from at bace is going to be a 10
24139s cost mhm so this Viper's not getting any
24144s any more value than killing this weapon
24146s now when the blink Tron actually is you
24150s know interesting as a kind of sneaky
24153s secondary weapon destruction so I I
24155s would think you may be just again
24157s protecting that armor you go in on the
24159s Whirl poool figuring there's not too
24160s many minion boards left you can play the
24162s Viper on the other side of it and then
24165s if that does mean that banter is like oh
24168s the Viper is used I can play a 10 Mana
24170s weapon which of course we can see isn't
24172s there but it's got to be inbalance mind
24175s of okay well at least I have this backup
24178s of if there's 10 Mana weapon I can still
24180s destroy
24182s it I was actually wondering if there was
24185s a world where balance synchronizes the
24187s armor vendor
24189s there yeah he's going to rush drop Viper
24192s break the weapon and say your turn my
24196s friend this can help with the
24200s um with the draw as well right from the
24203s deps I I wasn't valuing it that much but
24206s I guess if it gets to
24208s guarantee none of those are heavy
24212s played oh and you have to put one of
24214s them on
24216s top yeah I mean it's what would you say
24221s it's probably Bladestorm right there are
24223s no minions left in the deck so chorus
24225s riff is
24226s just not nothing because it has finale
24229s right but it's kind of nothing it's
24232s about as nothing a card that exists in
24233s the B Face's final six cards here see if
24236s I can show you the cards is it going to
24238s work no it is not I don't know why I
24240s pressed that
24241s button no no it it it works yeah
24245s first oh well it's showing it's showing
24247s the hand as well yes I was going to say
24250s that's showing way more than six cards
24253s but still that is going to be some card
24254s draws you said prison now coming out
24257s there is a prison and I think this is
24259s why people are willing to play it
24262s because when it is you know the resource
24265s of Last Resort sometimes it just gets
24267s you there and that is a yeah huge swing
24270s for banter getting those those cards
24273s picking up both heavy plates we see one
24275s of them did get the reduction even
24276s though it wasn't viewable in the dredge
24279s earlier but uh yeah getting Miracle
24283s growth and uh you know a 99 taunt if he
24286s wants it on the following turn at this
24287s point dirty rat's just going to be
24288s hilarious if it comes out because
24291s suddenly there is a little bit scary I
24294s don't think it is going to come out
24295s because of that of course I me balance
24297s knows what's there right that there were
24298s no minions in deck before and now
24299s there's a 99 in
24304s hand but B face I think there was trying
24307s to just quickly add up things work out
24308s what he could afford to play what he
24310s couldn't afford to play how much man he
24311s needs to spend kind of similar to what
24313s we just saw in the well what we just saw
24315s what feels like an age ago now in the uh
24317s the Mage matchup of just working out
24319s exactly what this uh from at Ban's side
24322s of things hopefully the final turn no no
24325s no he's playing it for the Tot
24329s but oh he's just going to
24331s sron wait there's not enough Mana to
24334s replay another one I mean it would just
24336s be to keep the spell discount going but
24340s yeah I think balance was was just kind
24342s of in his head oh there's no minions
24344s left I'm going to play this taunt out
24346s sort of forgot that that means there's a
24347s N9 there yeah I thought this would have
24352s been again maybe slightly miscounted of
24354s just saying oh well actually if you play
24357s another one now that's still more taunts
24359s than there are Minions on board right uh
24362s so that would have been something but
24363s yeah kind of interesting there but
24365s there's runic sword and here's about to
24367s be 18 bajillion damage yeah and it
24371s really came down to like you said all
24373s that armor was gained earlier on but
24375s because it was earlier on bender had all
24377s his time to sort of chip away and it
24380s can't can't be healed back up now he
24382s finally goes for this Mass massive swing
24385s uh look at
24387s this going to be nearly
24389s 60 yeah yeah yeah nice 54 damage yeah
24394s basically a million if you round it up
24397s oh no the game two 5
24399s 56 and uh but yeah really really good
24402s win there from abanda face of course the
24404s dirty rat on the oding did not happen
24406s the oding came a relevant time but I
24408s think for me the real trick there for
24411s MCB face was good Rec nition of how much
24415s damage he can do you know at whatever
24418s point in the game and also acknowledging
24420s that he should just take it slow there's
24422s no rush the priest is unlikely to
24426s surprise kill him as long as he's not on
24428s like three health or something right um
24431s and then saying yeah balance has gained
24434s all this armor fantastic I think was a
24436s 35ish armor at the highest point I think
24439s which is a lot but it can't be healed it
24442s can only be more armor or nothing so the
24444s heels don't work and it's just I'll just
24446s Chip Away Chip Away chip away and then
24448s when it comes down to it when it comes
24450s down to that final turn it's going to be
24452s game because that armor will all be gone
24454s so it's really tricky from balance's
24456s side because on one hand you could say
24458s oh it should have saved the weapon
24460s swings for later you know to gain the
24461s armor at the last moment but when do you
24463s know when the last moment is if Odin's
24465s already been played right that's the
24467s problem right and once you've started
24469s you kind of have to keep going because
24471s it's it's getting chipped away no matter
24474s what so what do you say Well they're not
24478s going to be able to they're going to be
24479s able to Chip Away 16 but but not more
24481s than that or or like where's the waiting
24483s moment I think it it's totally
24484s reasonable to just go all in say I'm
24486s going to protect this as much as
24487s possible and you're not always able to
24489s protect it
24490s perfectly yeah and suddenly we're only
24493s one game away is mcbf going to be able
24495s to clear this up 3-0 or is balance going
24498s to be able to fight back um bface now
24501s only has his Mech Rogue left the Nate
24505s Shaman was banned out H so it's just
24507s Mech Rogue to go against basically the
24509s whole lineup uh from balance so very
24512s very scary indeed because time after
24515s time this weekend we've seen Mech Rogue
24517s get the job done either through you know
24519s an extremely aggressive openings or
24521s surprisingly still managing to to finish
24524s the job in the mid to late
24526s game yeah it's a deck that you know on
24529s on one level you think oh it's just
24531s turbo and if you don't win by turn five
24533s it's its game over but uh it does have a
24535s lot of staying power if it is able to
24538s you know pick up those gear shifts Etc
24541s and there's just so many like little
24545s plays you can make with with mimran to
24547s like squeeze out extra value or with
24550s Ultron uh and uh a lot of times we we've
24554s seen yeah the game goes long but they're
24555s able to just squeeze in a little damage
24557s here a little damage there such that I
24559s mean krabo has almost been the allstar
24561s in those situations for just right
24563s getting that bit of extra damage over
24564s the Finish Line yeah and I can only
24567s imagine what's going through B's head
24568s right now because those have been two
24571s you know pretty rough games right of not
24574s I I don't want to say hopeless games but
24575s probably feeling like that when you're
24577s playing the sort of slow control deck
24580s and then you just die right and again
24583s it's not like mcface did anything to out
24586s of this world it's just that's what
24587s those two decks the Mage and the warrior
24589s do but it it feels a little bit rough
24591s when you're not hitting right it didn't
24593s hit the didn't hit the uh the Odin but I
24595s guess that's the sort of game you play
24597s right if you bring a control priest and
24599s a lot of these sort of burst otk
24601s matchups come down to dirty rats when
24603s you hit you hit when you miss you miss
24605s we're going to go jump in to game number
24607s three though and I think that was
24608s fortifications the plus one Health per
24610s turn um on a minion correct me if I'm
24612s wrong if you sorry uh it it was and that
24615s is a pretty good one for the mech Rogue
24619s but we are actually going to see uh
24621s Rogue V Rogue I think balance needed a
24623s break there from the control priest
24626s understandable even though I would say
24628s this is the matchup that you want with
24630s the control priest there's definitely
24633s some Merit to saying okay well let's get
24634s my harder matchups out of the way and
24636s then hopefully it's a cruise if you get
24639s to play that control freest again yeah I
24641s think a lot of it honestly is that there
24643s are certain players that go one way
24645s certain players that go the other when
24646s it comes to this kind of situation but I
24649s would guess that bounce is just like I
24651s just need a moment away from priest cuz
24653s those were two very you know drawn out
24656s kind of long crazy games let's just jump
24658s over to somewh else because he's going
24659s to have to play priest versus Metro if
24661s he wants to win this match up anyway he
24663s has to win with all three of his decks
24665s so um you know that's going to come when
24667s it
24669s comes and I think that's why a lot of
24672s players have opted not to bring
24674s something like a control priest to an
24675s event like this because there is just
24677s added mental strain in terms of your
24680s games are longer and you know should you
24683s continue to lose with priests your
24685s losses are longer so uh I think I
24689s totally understand why you know so many
24691s players have opted for other options
24693s like the you know nature Shaman or
24695s Arcane Hunter these faster decks just
24699s because even if you do say oh I feel
24702s okay about control priest I mean three
24704s priests did make it to the top eight one
24707s of them Shadow but it's just not a deck
24711s that certainly I would want to be
24714s you know going all in on for an event
24716s like this where it's just taking up so
24718s much time and and mental strain
24721s throughout the
24722s event yeah it's something I look I
24724s struggle as a SLE well knows once I get
24727s to the four and a half hours straight
24729s casting Mark I struggle to even remotely
24731s make sense so in terms of playing I
24733s respect the players who can bring these
24734s uh slightly slower lineups so far though
24737s B has been able to put forward some
24739s level of Defense here against MC Banner
24741s face keeping things uh keeping the mech
24744s Rogue in check at least for
24745s now but he's going to be able to answer
24747s with the gatekeeper magnetized going to
24750s make this nice value trade and this is
24752s where you start to get a little bit
24753s afraid right if you're balanced in this
24755s situation cuz you just sat there
24757s thinking oh oh no like that's going to
24760s stick and now I'm
24762s afraid yeah and oh let's Health buff
24767s again you know I said from the beginning
24769s I think this favors the mech Rogue
24772s and sure enough we're we're kind of
24774s running away with this one that wind
24775s Fury coming down all the extra coins and
24779s I think the eyebrow raise there from
24781s balance is all we need to know yeah want
24784s to hear my just a bit like ah so that's
24786s how it's going to go M banter face hands
24788s in the air just saying right do you have
24791s something do you not are there any kind
24792s of concoctions that are going to help
24794s and just like that Palance has just said
24797s no thank you that's enough for me and M
24800s banter face is going to be going to the
24803s the finals to face off against pocket
24806s train two very intense games earlier
24810s finished off by me Rogue being me Rogue
24814s what a way to end this match yeah
24817s absolutely and I got to say I'm I'm a
24819s little you know biased in terms of
24822s wanting bface to get through there right
24824s is our our our last hold out for
24826s America's region but uh also in terms of
24829s you know I catch his streams every once
24831s in a while he's he's a really fun guy
24833s and and uh yeah he's been I mean all of
24836s these players have been grinding
24838s massively but bface has been a recurring
24840s name this year uh you know not
24843s necessarily in the the top eight of
24844s every event the way the pocket has been
24846s but certainly been present at each of
24847s these events this year yeah and and
24850s honestly what a final it's going to be
24852s uh there's going to be some uh some
24854s Stakes on the line extra at least for
24856s the casters since it's going to be
24857s pretty much UK versus the America so uh
24860s that's going to be a pretty spicy one
24862s and I am
24863s one I would love to cast it of course
24865s but I I am off for this next match but I
24867s will very much enjoy putting my feet up
24869s and watching this finals because it's
24871s going to be fantastic simply two of the
24873s best players we've had at at least all
24875s year at the very least even saying that
24878s so it's going to be absolutely fantastic
24879s we're going to go to a quick break while
24881s we get this finals set up but don't go
24884s anywhere it's going to be amazing we'll
24885s be right
24892s back
24922s f
24931s [Music]
24939s [Music]
24981s h
24984s [Music]
24995s [Music]
25001s [Music]
25011s [Music]
25022s [Music]
25041s [Music]
25047s [Music]
25068s [Music]
25071s w
25072s [Music]
25085s [Music]
25101s you
25110s [Music]
25131s go
25147s [Music]
25152s [Music]
25161s d
25166s [Music]
25189s [Music]
25191s d
25194s [Music]
25221s no
25230s [Music]
25245s [Music]
25251s d
25253s [Music]
25262s [Music]
25273s [Music]
25281s a
25286s [Music]
25294s [Music]
25304s [Music]
25311s I
25319s [Music]
25334s [Music]
25341s n
25345s [Music]
25350s it's finals time everybody and what a
25353s final we have got mcbf face pocket train
25356s sttle they're all here all of your three
25358s favorite people um two of them are
25360s streamers one of them used to do so
25361s sttle how's it going uh it's going great
25365s it was a bit of a deranged intro but I'm
25367s I'm here for it I am a genuinely really
25371s really really excited for this final I
25374s think in terms of quality of players we
25377s very arguably have the best player in
25380s Europe against the best player in
25381s Americas um I think that's almost
25383s inarguable on pocket side for for Europe
25386s on and you know bit of an argument for
25387s bface on the other side I think also you
25390s know sometimes you you have to put your
25392s personal biases aside and sometimes you
25394s just have to declare your personal
25396s biases and I think also in terms of just
25398s people that both of us like and actually
25400s have kind of like personal relationships
25402s with with and talk to regularly two
25404s players that we're really delighted are
25405s doing really well in this tournament as
25407s well so um I am really really excited to
25411s get my team sunk into this one I think
25413s it should be a fantastic final for our
25416s yeah and I think from the viewers right
25417s I think people have watched these two
25419s players come through the whole 10mon
25421s grind to get here um on stream a lot of
25424s the time I know pocket train slowed it
25426s down a bit but people know these two
25428s players they're two of the players
25429s who've streamed the most of this
25430s tournament throughout the whole year and
25433s I think that people would be delighted
25434s to see these two here obviously there's
25436s recr there one of the other players
25437s who's done that me we didn't get to see
25439s much this weekend but another one they
25441s they've really helped this tournament
25443s Along by showing us the insights of how
25445s the ladder has
25448s unfolded probably two of the best
25449s players they absolutely are and you see
25451s some of those final moments of POG train
25453s getting over the line I think it's very
25454s fitting that we are looking at the
25455s nature Sharman here because I made this
25457s point uh during pocket semi-final is I
25460s think part of the reason why he has been
25462s so successful is that he has had an
25464s easier time getting this Shaman out the
25467s series than a lot of other players have
25470s some of that has been good play some of
25472s that has been good fortune some of that
25474s has been bad play from the opponents
25476s some of that has been a combination of
25477s you know maybe a little from column A
25479s and C with that that weird game against
25482s in the semi-final with CIF being the
25483s last card but maybe they're being
25485s different ways out of the game but
25486s certainly nature Shaman um you know
25490s glass half empty glass half full you can
25492s kind of say yeah you know it's sub 50%
25494s win rate it's not doing great and you
25496s can frame it that way or you can stack
25498s it up against the other Decks that a lot
25500s of other people have put in that fourth
25501s deck slot and say well it's doing a lot
25503s better than any of those are um so but I
25506s do think it's a real talking point for
25507s the tournament of uh whether that was
25509s the bring in terms of the the out thebox
25512s deck that at least every player has at
25514s least one of it seems and something I
25516s don't think we've touched on necessarily
25518s this tournament which is unusual for
25520s this group of casters is it's very much
25522s a pocket trained sort of deck draw some
25525s cards do some stuff count your health
25526s total know how much you die to know your
25528s outs kill your opponent somehow like yep
25531s it's it's his wheelhouse entirely he's
25533s very good at all of hearthstone but this
25535s deck is very much like how you define
25538s him or priest defines him this is
25540s remarkably similar in a lot of ways to
25542s that yeah it was one of the fears I had
25544s coming into this tournament as a pocket
25546s train enjoyer or is like was there
25547s really was this really a pocket train
25549s meta right like you you mentioned B
25551s priest of course
25552s um but we've also seen it with mlock
25555s where he was probably a top five mlock
25557s player with you only Fury Hunter and a
25559s couple of others really uh stepping
25561s above him um he really does like those
25564s you know card draw heavy bursty damage
25566s heavy decks in general and this feels
25569s like a very Tempo focused board-based
25572s aggr meta overall uh where you know it's
25575s boards and it's disruption and control
25576s on the other side um so finding that way
25579s to just sneak nature Shaman in there I
25581s think just as a little Comfort pick for
25583s pocket train has been very very
25585s interesting but speaking of uh board
25588s based decks and snowballing and aggro no
25590s deck in the game really does that better
25592s than Mech Rogue does and we've seen uh
25594s both of these players now pocket train
25596s and MC bface almost one uping each other
25598s with how gross a start they could get
25601s rolling with Mech Rogue in their two
25603s yeah how good must Mech Rogue be if
25606s anace has brought it instead of bringing
25608s Miracle like Miracle Rog is one of his
25610s go-to decks when he he's you wants a
25613s comfort pick he's brought the Mets I
25615s think that's um yeah he can play
25617s anything but it's just as a sign of how
25619s good this deck must be and it's it's
25621s shown it right every game we cast Mech
25623s Rogue it looks like oh they got lucky
25625s yeah 17 times in a row or something I
25627s it's not quite that many but you know
25628s many times in a row the Met has just won
25631s from nowhere now but got it work out
25633s against the Sharman because they can
25634s turn your good card into a pudding and
25637s that's the end of the game yeah
25639s primordial pudding that that well-known
25640s Shaman card um um it's yeah I think me
25644s Rog was something that I did I was very
25646s very bullish on would be a good deck in
25648s this tournament because um you know like
25650s I played a lot of Mech Rogue I turned
25652s you on to Mech Rogue and you had a good
25653s time with Mech Rogue as well um and I
25656s really stopped having any success with
25658s it at all as soon as yog appeared
25661s essentially because then we fell into
25662s that prison breaker yog meta where if
25664s you were dumb enough to try and put
25666s things in the middle and play minions um
25669s well yog just came along and just you
25671s stole your one giant magnetic minion oh
25673s okay I won't make one giant magnetic
25675s minion I'll spread a little bit wider
25677s instead okay well yog Mia now that's
25679s gone anyway right that there felt like
25681s nothing that you could do with mecro to
25683s play around that so with Y gone this
25685s just felt like a natural extension back
25688s in to the uh to The Meta game what I'll
25691s be interested to see here as the game
25692s and final have started is how this feral
25696s Spirits get used do you just jam it or
25697s do you wait for a moment when your
25699s opponent's got an 1111 that's about to
25701s kill you and then just PL po it on the
25702s board and say you can't get through this
25703s it's too difficult I think the only
25705s thing that makes that question is that
25707s there is also a turn the tides in hand
25709s and there is also a jazz base in hand
25711s right like if um I talk about this a lot
25713s but this deck really really really wants
25716s to play a Tempo 3 on turn three a lot of
25718s the time there I think pocket train
25720s doing the exact opposite of that and
25723s playing flash of lightning instead but I
25725s think understanding already that because
25727s there is a 47 Divine shield on the board
25730s none of his threes are Tempo threes
25732s anymore right like feral Spirits kind of
25734s garbage doesn't contest turn the Tide's
25736s kind of garbage doesn't contest so he
25738s has to go flash of lightning lightning
25740s reflexes instead this has to be his way
25742s out of it to go digging with the
25743s lightning reflexes this time yeah and
25745s I'm amused obviously because you are the
25747s main proponent in the entire world of
25749s playing flash as early as possible in
25752s this sort of
25753s situation so oh my
25756s goodness no
25758s still what not even close the one that
25762s looks like wind Fury is reborn that's
25764s not what hang on hey they all look the
25766s same all the all the blue
25770s ones right so here's the pop well the
25772s early pop off gets the
25777s hex is a massive deal it is a really
25781s really big deal
25782s yeah and this allows him to use the
25785s feral Spirits as you were describing
25788s like okay if more Buffs and wind Fury
25790s come down now like I I might still take
25792s some damage depending on how good the
25793s hand is but it's unlikely that you know
25795s they can make uh this a 10 attack minion
25798s and connect face twice right and then
25799s I'm really in trouble
25801s so yeah I was looking through the win
25803s percentages of you know all the matchups
25805s obviously that's kind of my job coming
25808s into this and this is one of the more
25809s lopsided ones in favor of the um Sharman
25812s which is not your first instinct I don't
25814s think but the more we've seen it played
25816s the more we've seen Sharman have
25818s multiple ways with the taunts with the
25820s hexers with the evolve effects to deal
25822s with stuff it's only 58% like
25825s everything's 50/50 in this meta give or
25826s take yeah but yeah it's one of the more
25829s upsid ones I think that was a surprise
25830s to me when I first saw it thinking that
25833s the Rogue should just steamroll this
25835s just just enough little tricks that the
25836s shaman has if played correctly yeah I
25838s think so
25842s too so how are you going to use your
25844s inie we had this question I think you
25846s raised it earlier with Raven like in is
25848s great but they're killing every Mech
25850s that they can kill so what does innie
25852s actually do a lot of the time yes um
25855s obviously the dream is um in with some
25858s sort of magnetic squirrel uh it is
25861s continues to Astound me how nonsense
25863s some of the sentences this job makes you
25864s say are but um that is kind of the dream
25869s but sometimes if you keep that dream if
25870s you clutch onto that dream too tight you
25872s end up just having a dead in in your
25874s hand the entire game like I think
25876s generally any if you can point it at a
25879s Mech is probably the best play in your
25882s hand obviously you can't do that this
25884s turn but I think a lesson that you have
25885s to learn very quickly is like just just
25888s use it it's really good um if you don't
25891s use it you're probably going to end up
25893s gear shifting it away at some
25895s point and facing that horrible situation
25898s going into this turn six where you know
25900s what can happen to you so yeah make a
25902s board that doesn't involve getting blown
25904s up
25907s everything there's some words I just
25910s said get doesn't involve getting blown
25912s up everything yeah those rearrange these
25914s words into a popular
25916s [Laughter]
25919s sentence into a popular sentence yeah
25921s it's probably more popular than any in a
25923s magnetic squirrel right I imagine
25925s whatever the correct version of your
25926s sentence was has been said more often
25929s than my previous
25930s sentence true or at least at the time
25932s that I said it yours may have caught up
25936s okay so pocket train still on 26 still
25940s with a feral in hand has an active Titan
25943s he's got card draw in hand and a crash
25945s this looks really good for Shaman right
25947s now it does look very good yeah there's
25949s a choice here though oh that was not one
25952s of the choices I was about to lay down
25954s okay yeah there was actually three ways
25956s to go about that right one was this uh
25958s spend the spell discount and then you
25960s shoot for 20 there was also draw three
25964s and then use turn the tides and send
25967s face and the minion into the
25969s 66 uh and then there was um deal three
25973s heal six and then use just the minion
25977s and not your face from turn the tides to
25979s clear the entire board right like all
25981s three of those have relative merits uh
25983s kind of weird actually to play a Titan
25986s and actually have all three a serious
25988s consideration for the ability on the T
25990s yeah really cool I me it's one of the
25992s best Titans if not the best just in
25993s terms of raw power level um but
25996s something that pocket train does and I
25997s think you also highlighted this earlier
25999s is whenever you see his play like oh
26000s that's obvious you can't kill my Titan
26002s now I can use the deal three ability
26004s next turn they they very rarely actually
26006s get rid of it here obviously you do this
26009s yeah the so the reverbed mimon where he
26011s reborned his mimon traded the two
26013s reverbed memons into each other to get
26015s an unreversed
26031s I'll be telling my grandkids about that
26034s lucky them yeah can't they just watch
26036s the
26038s VOD right so now because of his previous
26040s play he has another use of his ability
26043s which means he can just draw the rest of
26044s his important cards and win some
26047s Hearthstone yeah and like serious point
26049s I think that's why this play wins the
26052s battle because it put taunts up and the
26055s one thing that Mech Rogue really has to
26057s deal with minions from hand is Krab TOA
26060s so by having the feral
26061s in it kind of shut down really any
26064s option for B to be able to remove theg
26067s which I think just made this really
26068s really really smart
26073s overall and uh yeah like pocket tra like
26077s banter face has just just got got Tempo
26080s Kong this game like this is why pocket
26082s train is arguably the best player with
26084s this deck in the world like he wins an
26086s inordinate amount of games by just
26089s winning Bard which isn't really thing
26091s that should seem possible with this deck
26093s winning board but like this this is the
26095s thing that I think he does incredibly
26097s well again other top players will also
26098s do it incredibly well um he still
26101s lightning bolts face as well with a plus
26102s five it's not just the he manages to mix
26104s the direct damage and the tempo to a
26107s very early lethal I know it's not
26109s particularly amazing but you I'm sitting
26111s there going do I temper or do I hit them
26113s in the face with the Spells no you just
26115s do
26116s both you've got two things to win the
26118s game
26120s with
26124s this is a
26134s lot
26139s yeah forced to take down the spell
26141s damage minions to have any sort of
26143s remote chance down of
26150s ther
26153s just unlock a whole bunch of free Mana
26156s again uh turn the tides and overdraft
26161s one
26162s [Music]
26163s off
26164s 6
26167s 36 probably six on board oh no sorry I
26171s was counting the turn the tides is doing
26172s six damage which it doesn't you're
26174s further off than that it's only 11
26180s total
26183s something that's come up throughout this
26185s tournament time and again is the rogue's
26186s lack of ability to actually hurt you
26188s when it gets going so you can just tank
26190s six or seven there just so comfortably
26193s if it keeps you the board yeah this is
26195s about the scariest situation for rogue
26197s that exists or me Rogue that is like
26199s they haven't played their krabat TOA yet
26200s so that's some amount of damage you can
26202s take from the weapon and they have a
26204s couple of mimon Gadgets in hand right
26206s which can also be damage but even in
26208s that scenario you're super chilling at
26211s 19 with an empty
26213s board yeah V's having to use his weapon
26215s to just hurt himself over and over
26218s again
26222s a go on little buddy you got
26229s this well there's my hand good luck
26233s everyone I like these nice slow paac
26235s finals where the players take their time
26237s and rope every turn yeah yeah yeah for
26239s sure everything on the line taking their
26242s time to make sure they get it
26243s right
26245s fish
26247s fish
26249s fish fish p face hasn't got any cards
26254s stop it's not
26257s fair fish
26260s fish
26262s fish there we go just Just Fish them
26265s till they leave that's the that's the
26267s way why was the fifth fish the one that
26270s broke the back
26272s so I've seen enough fish now I want to
26273s see what colors they
26275s were well okay one schooling okay one
26278s fish two fish three fish oh I think I
26281s can beat that oh Red Fish Blue Fish on
26283s top of that as well oh okay I'm out you
26285s got me just the wrong color fish and
26288s anace gives it up and pocket train who
26290s played at lightning speed there one Zer
26293s ahead Yeah clean game um like I said
26296s pocket train is is kind of unparalleled
26298s at being able to do that kind of stuff
26300s with uh with nature Sharman just turning
26303s the handful of tempo cards that the deck
26305s has which are incredibly good right like
26309s schooling buff feral Spirits is only one
26311s overload turn the tides those cards are
26314s really good at winning boards between
26315s turn one and turn four right like
26317s they're so so good at it but if you can
26319s do it consistently and then keep that
26321s board for a couple of extra turns
26322s through your gogen you win a lot of
26324s games of hearthstone just by being ahead
26326s on board through the early turns and I
26328s think it's a lot a thing that even with
26330s the version that ended up getting nerfed
26332s a lot of people struggled to understand
26334s for quite a long time is that it's a
26336s much better Tempo deck than it seems
26339s apparent immediately uh but pocket train
26342s has always been ahead of the curve with
26344s that kind of thing right like even with
26346s M lock right like there was probably
26348s Fury Hunter who's better at playing for
26350s Tempo with melck and then pocket train
26351s was probably the closest one behind that
26353s as understanding how a deck somehow with
26355s like zero minions in it can actually
26358s still sometimes play for Tempo which is
26359s incredibly bizarre
26361s um and I think that is the mark of
26363s Mastery for a combo player it's that
26365s they actually still manage to play for
26367s Tempo with combo decks because at the
26369s end of the day I said this earlier this
26371s is Hearthstone it is an incredibly Tempo
26374s focused card game and just before we get
26377s into this Mage Mo where nobody has a
26379s keyboard um did you catch how many C
26381s there's one did you catch how many cards
26382s pocket train had left in his deck at the
26384s end there when we saw the replays I did
26386s not no did you he had eight cards left
26388s in his deck nice so not only he
26391s generated all that Tempo but in eight
26393s turns he had drawn 22 cards in some way
26395s or other nice so he's doing all the
26398s things it's not like it's luck that he
26400s happened to have those cards he's drawn
26402s his deck so he's going to have those
26406s cards small thing here but keyboard not
26409s being played onto uh just playing the
26411s spell playing the minions a again swings
26413s the tempo you're now ever slightly ahead
26415s on 10 point ever slightly behind
26417s secondly you don't really have anything
26419s to do on turn three any anyway so if
26422s You' done it the other way around you
26423s play Cosmic keyboard on two you take a
26424s little bit of Chip damage from the
26426s minion that you leave up from banter
26428s which is important and then you end up
26429s burning one of your charges on that one
26432s Mana spell on turn three when you end up
26434s doing the same thing anyway whereas the
26436s way pocket did it he ends up in a
26438s scenario where now he gets to spend all
26440s three of these charges on nice juicy
26442s four Mana plus
26444s spells yeah and yeah you see Banta sort
26446s of shrugging a bit this match up I don't
26448s know what the stats are it's massively
26449s favored from the first keyboard but it's
26451s definitely not over like there's so much
26453s generation so much can go on that yeah
26456s if you get through this somehow and you
26458s have your own keyboard later yours
26459s generate s s so you do have a chance to
26461s come back into this I did wonder where
26463s that was going I did for a moment think
26465s you might be having a stroke when you
26466s started well I haven't really looked at
26467s the matchup data for this mirror match
26469s yeah I was I was kind of wondering where
26471s you going no the match up data for
26472s people getting keyboard first yeah yeah
26474s it's massive right so ridiculous but you
26478s can win by coming through the other side
26481s and generating your own bigger stuff
26483s later on it's the same it's the same
26485s thing I was just talking about right
26486s like it's it's two Decks that are
26488s resiliant enough that they aren't going
26490s to lose to the other one on board a lot
26491s of the time so it does make it an otk
26494s deck versus an otk deck but the tempo is
26496s still phenomenally important because if
26499s you're ahead and you're chipped you're
26501s pushing chip damage to your opponent you
26503s might only have to do 20 with your siif
26505s at the end of the game right whereas the
26507s other person who's been scrambling to
26509s clear boards the entire time is going to
26511s have to do 30 35 40 depending on how
26513s much armor you've stacked so banter is
26516s actually doing a phenomenal job right
26519s now even though pocket train has had all
26520s the tempo cards to be able to stay ahead
26522s banter is just going okay no no no no
26524s small minion small minion small minion
26526s clear your stuff push a little bit of
26527s Chip damage every turn yeah and it it
26530s came to play there with um like one of
26532s the turns was artificier into worm into
26535s bolt your two Health thing just so I've
26537s got some little things on the board
26539s there they're still there one three one
26541s two one two chipping three a turn
26543s defending a little bit something massive
26544s comes
26545s down um making this nor and you know
26548s still very powerful but at least they
26550s could do something to
26552s it you want six attack on the
26559s board po taken his time it's it's rare
26563s that the first Norman isn't plus cards
26566s uh or plus one to
26568s cards but again with a six damage on the
26570s Bo that that plus one to card is
26572s supposed to defend you but six damage
26575s already there that plus one to card
26576s isn't defending you much yeah I think
26579s the question you have to ask though is
26580s like if your opponent like wind Furies
26582s all their minions into your norgon and
26584s then throws a spell at it cost too much
26586s is that not still not a good turn yeah I
26588s think I think this is right all
26593s right I guess my point is Imagine This
26595s turn if he hadn't got six attack on the
26597s board oh 100% yeah
26601s o
26603s ooh now then now they all live or most
26607s of them
26609s live yeah yep yep yep okay two of them
26612s live but you know that's most 50%
26615s rounded up three of them live cuz only
26617s two have to attack in yeah okay I was
26620s right well long I knew it you're a
26622s secret genius yeah pretty sure that's
26626s true very well kept
26629s secret and again just ripping two four
26632s five and a 7
26634s Seven what's in his
26638s hand banter is so much more Juiced on
26641s the uh on the spell School front as
26643s well just gets to counter swing this and
26647s he survived the the weapon and he's come
26649s out of it kind of ahead and he's got rid
26651s of the Titan as well he's he's in an
26653s okay spot in the long term here I think
26655s he's in a very good
26659s spot
26661s pocket is going to need some sort of
26663s answer from discovery of magic probably
26665s to be able to deal with this board
26667s State yeah or uh wisdom of nogan into
26671s creation but again the the spell skools
26673s just aren't jued enough like nogan costs
26675s uh three so we're only two spell scools
26676s deep right
26678s now and those are not it if if he
26682s doesn't deal with this just B to just
26683s rip the other one knowing that these
26684s can't be dealt with so okay off we go if
26687s he doesn't deal with this he might be
26689s dead also
26693s true death born yeah
26701s sure
26703s okay but banter knows that was a
26706s scramble right there's a good idea that
26708s was a
26715s scramble just a little bit scary in
26718s terms of what happens to the seven one
26721s not scary but awkward you don't you
26723s don't want to trade you don't want to
26724s trade either of your four threes into it
26726s right you don't want to necessarily
26728s throw one of your one Mana Spells at it
26729s because you have a siif in your hand you
26731s also don't really want to coin ping
26733s because King po coin is an incredibly
26736s good card in this scenario as well y it
26739s it does help a lot when you get three
26741s Rush from your thing though that's
26743s pretty
26744s good oh option four who cares about
26747s it I think you can trade the other
26749s skeleton and yeah so if
26752s you that's very frustrating yeah you see
26754s the little slight curl of the mouth from
26757s banter face so with the first Rush going
26760s into the skeleton if that skeleton had
26762s hit either of the other two Rush minions
26764s I think you can just toss that Rush
26766s Minion that's already damaged into the
26767s seven one right and not feel too bad
26769s about it because you do want to protect
26771s this coin but yeah I think at this point
26773s the Minions that you have left that can
26775s attack are all more valuable than that
26779s coin
26788s Reverb just to get the yeah just casting
26791s Reverb to get the shadow cast oh nice
26794s nice nice nice
26808s nice okay
26815s yeah seems good I agree
26818s banter is he just counting next turn
26820s lethal though before he just plops this
26824s down like he could Forge oh I mean
26826s that's that's what I'm referring to is
26828s just foring the molten room
26831s potentially to
26833s do cuz the the primary disruption that
26836s your opponent has is the norgon of their
26838s own which is already gone right so it is
26841s largely uninterruptible apart from
26843s discovered things on the other side and
26845s you're very unlikely to be dead you just
26847s to work out do you need to kill off this
26849s 4 four for I mean that's trivial right
26852s like killing the 4
26855s four cuz it's uh it's reverbs like you
26857s could have just pinged it if you were
26858s really that desperate to do it no I
26860s realized I just it's Mana but he's got
26862s zero Mana spells well this is just a
26863s million next turn he's decided he's not
26865s taking 20 whatever it is three
26868s mhm seems a good thing to
26871s realize yeah I mean your opponent played
26873s Shadow spell wisdom for two Mana last
26877s turn right so they're not you know you
26879s know quite comfortably that they're not
26880s they're not like seven eight spell
26882s scools deep at this
26894s point why don't good players die they
26896s just find things it's because they know
26899s what they're looking for obviously ly
26900s but you know he's going to die
26918s now and it's one on in one of the
26921s fastest Pac finals I've ever
26924s seen oh and banter face has 16 corpses
26928s incredible oh that's what we really
26930s needed to know yeah yeah yeah B squares
26933s up the series and honestly like big big
26936s pat on the back it's you know you talked
26938s about it keyboard versus no keyboard but
26940s really really impressive the way that
26942s banter responded to it like as soon as
26944s he saw that keyboard come down he was
26945s like okay fine here are all my small
26947s minions and then I will throw my entire
26950s hand at clearing your keyboard stuff
26952s every single turn just so I can chip
26955s away with these minions in the end not a
26958s huge Factor because he had a million
26960s damage in hand because of the way things
26962s Drew out in the end but it there were
26964s lots of Worlds where that was incredibly
26966s relevant right where he didn't just
26968s naturally draw into the Naga and the
26971s Reverb and everything else at the end of
26973s the game and he just had to put together
26975s a little scrappy do lethal instead um
26977s then that the way that early game was
26979s played uh gave him way more outs in
26982s terms of uh you know how quickly he
26984s could get through his deck and find that
26985s burn damage I mean it made the
26987s anti-magic shell perfect like there's
26989s time well I get offered anti Magic Shell
26991s I haven't got a minion on the board but
26992s he's got four of them even though they
26993s were small yes it's a good good thing to
26995s rip but also if you got the four minions
26997s there and half I don't know if it's half
26999s a large number of the spells in half
27000s Zone affect your minions and you're
27002s going to get random cards let's have
27004s some Minions that we can affect and he
27005s did that as well so just trying to
27007s highlight what H's also saying about the
27010s the importance of having stuff on the
27011s board especially in that Mage Miller but
27013s in all of heart think s ramble that home
27015s this
27016s weekend I'll find some other point to
27019s Ram home I've got plenty of them don't
27021s worry about it I've been doing it for
27023s years um yeah Mage Mage picking up a win
27027s I'd think was largely expected I think
27029s it's been largely expected for the
27030s tournament um it's outside of warrior
27032s it's been the most successful class and
27034s the only reason I'm calling Warrior more
27036s successful is that you have to do
27038s relative percentage taking bands into
27041s account as well right which I think
27042s makes Warrior a more successful deck
27044s overall the
27045s Mages uh so uh that Mage picking up a
27048s win I think well I guess what I'm saying
27050s is the Sharman win for pocket train I
27052s think is a more important win Conquest
27054s is a weird format where sometimes the
27055s score doesn't reflect uh the who is
27058s actually favored in a series right just
27060s because the series is 1 one does not
27062s mean it's evenly poised and I do think
27064s the Sharman was a bigger win for pocket
27066s train than the Mage was for banter face
27069s overall and but we will see how things
27071s go because this is a mirrored series
27074s overall I'm not sure if we have uh made
27076s that point yet met crog rainbow Mage and
27079s nature Sharman being the three decks
27080s left up for both players with Odin Mage
27082s uh Odin Mage no please stop um Odin
27086s Warrior being the deck that was banned
27088s out by both people that that would
27090s actually be gross by the way imagine
27092s with the 1 three Elemental and you just
27093s start casting infinite spells and just
27096s gaining a bunch of armor and smacking
27097s your opponent in the face that sounds
27099s yeah just Cold Case yeah makes a 4 four
27102s two two tws and hits your opponent in
27104s the head for four gives you four armor
27105s yeah it sounds all right that card um
27108s but yeah I agree with you large I think
27110s that the Mage
27111s stats it's interesting right you look at
27113s top thousand stats and they're nothing
27115s like the stats when the top 16 play and
27117s that's something I don't think we've
27118s talked about as much this time as in the
27119s previous two masters tours where there's
27122s 25 players in the world who are
27123s substantially better than all the others
27125s yeah yeah I I made the point earlier um
27128s it might have been yesterday that I
27130s think you know looking at publicly
27132s available stat tracking websites and
27134s trying to draw conclusions about highle
27136s competitive Hearthstone is as futile now
27139s as it is ever been it's a combination of
27141s a few factors um there's more
27143s competition in the market for that kind
27144s of stuff right now so the user bases
27146s split several ways in terms of what data
27148s is being reported where um and also the
27151s difference between a 1,000 Legend and a
27154s top 50 Legend is bigger now than it ever
27156s has been um because there's only a small
27158s portion of players that are taking it
27160s seriously to the point of being able to
27162s qualify for these tournaments yes um so
27165s those conclusions are very hard to reach
27167s sometimes but it's interesting that you
27169s say you know you look at Mage as a
27171s general uh sample on on stat tracking
27174s websites and it has kind of lower stats
27176s overall than when the very very good
27178s players play it because I think you'd
27180s agree the only conclusion that you can
27182s draw from that Neil is that Mage is a
27183s very skillful deck that the best players
27185s can get a lot out of no the conclusion I
27187s draw is that everyone was scared of Mage
27189s and brought Decks that beat
27191s it so why is Mage doing well hang on
27194s what what we say why is it doing well um
27197s because the other decks are getting
27200s unlucky okay all right
27204s good do you want to like you know make
27206s your stance on Mage clear so I have to
27209s stop trying to needle it out of you or
27210s are we we just no you can watch me on
27212s stream I'll make it clear there later in
27213s the week just just check it
27217s out uh yeah I mean pocket train and
27219s banter face both regulars in uh the
27222s stream that Linda appears on camera on
27225s which you know that calls Linda's stream
27228s but I think everyone really knows SLE
27230s stream deep down I think we all know
27232s what's there for it's everybody's stream
27234s this was another option of not playing a
27236s keyboard on two by the way which is was
27238s a less obvious one this time around last
27240s time the curve kind of worked cuz it was
27242s the three into the four there was no
27243s three drops but this time just still
27246s faving moving the mech which again kill
27249s mechs they they kill you yes um but
27251s forfeiting the turn two tempo of lack of
27254s tempo of the keyboard to even with a
27257s Reverb in hand just make sure that Mech
27260s were dying kill Mech or they kill you I
27263s think the Terminator series would have
27264s way worth synopsis if written by Linda
27267s just turn out then it's it's very
27270s understandable I think between me and
27271s Raven we could come up with some good
27272s synopsis for all sorts of
27281s things this is interesting we the
27283s speaker guys have been pretty lethargic
27287s this entire weekend but this is a
27288s situation where B try and leverage them
27290s pretty
27298s strongly yeah they've been fine I can't
27301s really remember any like blowout moments
27304s where it's like well I guess I just have
27305s to make this play and if if they have
27306s speaker stomper I lose the game
27308s automatically like we've definitely seen
27310s those games in previous tournaments and
27312s there haven't been too many of them so
27314s far that I can remember in this one but
27316s I do still think they are a fine
27318s addition in most decks of this kind of
27320s style with Mech Rog you know I think if
27322s you were playing like I don't know
27324s plague DK or some sort of Unholy DK
27326s you'd want them in there as well like
27328s what so any deck that's like super Allin
27330s and having board all the time uh I do
27333s think you need them in there to defend
27334s from the the likes of Mage and nature
27336s Shaman and all that kind of stuff I
27337s think the reason they've been a bit
27339s below par this weekend is because
27340s there's so much aggro and so many
27342s minions in this particular tournament
27345s like sure yeah there's very few Decks
27347s that it targets apart from the Mage
27349s there's been no plague DK at all which I
27351s think is something we thought we'd
27353s see one or two priests two priests in
27355s the whole tournament you know yeah I
27358s don't thought we'd see like feared we'd
27360s see would be more accurate from my
27362s perspective I like I yeah it's less bomb
27366s Warrior less plague DK please things
27369s where you just Shuffle things into your
27370s opponent's deck nah not my
27373s vibe
27378s Shuffle
27383s okay I'm excited when I see stealth and
27386s then Titan in the same hand yeah are
27392s feels like damage waiting to
27404s happen there is an imulation aura in
27407s pocket's hand that's kind of the most
27408s useful
27410s uh random effect that he's been able to
27413s get his hands on so far but not really
27415s going to have any kind of impact on this
27423s board that's a lot lined up with a
27435s prime
27438s okay
27442s this is now a very awkward board against
27444s the prime right like there's what's
27446s what's the good option to take from
27447s Voltron Prime against
27451s this
27453s yeah
27455s well like I think plus damage is still
27457s the strongest but then you would expect
27459s that board to get dealt with you haven't
27461s drawn cards from the prime your board
27463s gets cleared how do you rebuild from
27465s that point you kind of don't shoot Dam
27469s out there and hope they don't have
27470s another turn but you know they've got
27471s another turn cuz they've got a weapon
27473s and seven Mana next turn
27478s y right like best case scenario you you
27481s voltr on Prime you do double damage it
27483s kills the two five ones and you be push
27485s face with the minion that you have
27487s you're still probably losing that entire
27489s board next turn right so what what good
27492s does that actually do so did he look for
27494s stealth into wind Fury here just to just
27497s end it as an out he still looking for
27499s stealth that's why this ended up being
27501s the pick
27510s yeah now how do you
27516s win that's the F pretend stealth if I
27519s you pretend
27528s stealth
27535s oh oh the creation comes into hand as
27539s well yeah I was going to say it's a
27541s pretty good imulation Aura but it was an
27544s even better inquisitive creation as that
27546s came off the top I think the one way you
27548s end up losing there is getting baited
27550s into playing Elemental inspiration on
27552s curve even though it was fantastic if
27553s you get Zero Rush from it there are
27555s worlds where you just randomly die out
27557s of
27558s nowhere
27559s pocket train too smart to get baited
27561s into that world creation coming off the
27563s top making it basically a formality to
27564s sweep that
27566s board so bface needs to set up lethal
27569s for next turn and that might not be
27571s enough CU there's so many ways around it
27574s yeah so many
27580s options like spark bot draw to or you
27583s can go spark bot for damage try and get
27585s some of the damage to go face and then
27587s like you draw exactly crab off the
27591s top
27593s yeah I think it's card
27596s draw no he's going to go for the full
27598s damage
27603s okay yeah I
27605s mean like whatever and I'm sure there's
27607s a better option and a worse option there
27609s but they were both like sure I'm not
27610s going to argue whatever you choose there
27612s partly cuz you're better than me but
27613s partly because they're all Desperate
27615s Measures don't you whatever me Linda I
27618s what B to face this is F this is finals
27622s the winner of this goes to Worlds I'm
27624s not accepting whatever as an answer okay
27628s explain in great detail why Pit Stop
27629s wasn't better look for stealth so I
27633s actually as I reflect on this I actually
27636s think this was better cuz it creates a
27640s one in N how many minions are in play I
27642s can't actually remember it creates a
27644s niche out where both shots for four go
27646s face and then with your one dagger swing
27648s you can put youron to four exactly and
27651s then you draw crab off the top and you
27652s win the game that is a better out than I
27654s can think of than by drawing two cards
27658s and not dealing any damage that turn so
27660s in lie of me being able to give you a
27662s better out with two extra cards I think
27663s banter Face's decision there is correct
27665s I wanted to draw a buffed stealth minion
27668s stick it on the board my opponent
27669s doesn't roll toward and I kill them with
27671s it with the cards next
27674s turn where are you getting a buff
27676s stealth Minion from I'm discovering
27679s yeah oh so you want to draw the other
27682s pit stop and then play the other pit
27684s stop and get the okay yeah sure that's
27687s still two turns away though right
27688s because you're spending all your Mana oh
27690s that that turn on one drop and Titan
27693s right so you then have to spend the next
27694s turn playing the pit stop uh so it's
27697s still a couple of turns away which I
27698s think makes life pretty pretty awkward
27700s overall but as predicted hey the Mage
27703s picked up a win who who saw that coming
27705s right Linda so it's just met Rogue uh
27708s left for pocket train on the other side
27711s which it's only Mech Rogue left between
27714s pocket train and what has been a 10mon
27717s journey which genuinely without
27719s exaggeration has destroyed this man's
27722s Soul yeah part of is wondering if if we
27725s get to talk to him later if he does win
27728s if his answer is going to be why didn't
27730s I do that sooner yes are you are you
27733s happy you won this tournament no I
27735s should have won a different one I'm I'm
27737s half expecting that to be a reply if
27738s that's a question that gets asked yeah
27741s it's been it's been incredibly arduous
27744s this the system this year has asked a
27746s lot from our players and these players
27749s who are here deserve incredible
27750s Commendation for accepting that
27752s challenge and stepping up to this plate
27754s to be here um but certainly like pocket
27758s train looked I'm about 12 years old in
27761s January 2023 I'm pretty sure and now
27763s look he's got facial hair he's frowning
27766s you can see the the the fear IND his
27769s eyes like this man has we hope that's
27773s water he's gone through a journey
27775s whereas there's bface same as bface has
27777s looked since the beginning of time I'm
27779s pretty sure there he is look yeah I
27781s wonder if he looked sort of this this
27782s mid 20s look when he was at school as
27784s well cuz I don't remember him ever
27785s looking any different I wonder if it's
27787s just a loop on his webcam that he's been
27789s playing for like the last 5 years
27792s now it explain so much it would explain
27795s Raven's problems if identifying whether
27796s he'd won or not
27797s earlier
27800s all right fish we've seen how that can
27802s go
27807s down schooling's absolutely the draw
27810s that you want though I think I I again
27812s you want to talk about keyboard stats I
27814s don't specifically know the stats in
27817s this matchup for mulligan win rate of
27819s schooling but I would imagine it is
27821s pretty
27823s massive sounds good doesn't it
27826s like to the point that he's considering
27830s he's shaking his head cuz he has to lose
27831s two fish
27833s but
27835s yeah go try and get better value out of
27837s them by waiting for the the full six
27840s attack rather than the the
27843s three oh
27846s hello
27849s oh unfortunately three fish do six
27852s damage so you can't just safely land a
27854s mimr on here that's not a
27857s thing
27861s is that reborn that is reborn that's
27864s huge yeah that's that's the
27870s boy do you play the
27880s weapon like weapon and swing and just
27884s delay fish again hope that they don't
27886s get stealthed up
27890s what to
27896s [Music]
27902s do so all the bad things that can happen
27905s to you here um outside of everything so
27908s squirrel comes down on curve right like
27910s that's the big one that you have to
27911s think about so you need one bump to beat
27914s the Divine shield and then you need uh
27916s four damage to at least be able to reset
27919s it back to the second click clocker that
27920s will come off the reborn that's fine
27924s actually you probably need five damage
27927s because they'll use the coin to play
27929s another spark bot presumably so assuming
27931s it's they're all bad spark Bots that
27933s don't do anything that ruins your plan
27935s you can do all that with three fish
27937s right one the one one fish to take off
27939s the shield then you have the two attack
27940s fish and the three attack fish does this
27943s allow you to knowledge
27945s though knowledge as well as clear with
27948s the fish not if anything relevant comes
27951s down to magnetize onto it
27957s no CU you can only do three to it right
27959s so this is the same as just having a
27961s squirel magnetized onto it right it
27963s would have full health either way and
27964s you can only deal three to it if you
27965s play ancestral knowledge at the same
27967s time I think I've known you too long and
27970s I'm getting way too ambitious now I want
27972s to flash an ancestral here and close my
27976s eyes ra put this that doesn't last for
27979s it that just doesn't work I kind of love
27983s it i' got loads of Mana next turn I've
27987s got reduced cards I've got two two
27988s reductions in my in my
27992s base okay he's going to play sens damn
27997s it oh he can do this and like he could
28000s have also flashed he could still
28002s Flash no no no no you
28007s can't
28009s oh using the weapon you mean yeah yeah
28011s you absolutely correct yeah he could
28013s have done but I think at that point use
28015s weapon and ancestor knowledge is just
28017s better right cuz the re the reason to
28019s flash there is to say okay I'll just put
28021s a bit of paper over this scary board for
28023s now and then I'll reveal it again next
28025s turn and use all my discounted Mana to
28027s deal with it next turn once you've
28029s actually dealt with that board I think
28030s the the relevance of playing flash on
28032s that board actually goes away quite a
28033s lot and the BL flexus was there by the
28035s way which he will have
28037s noticed was the next card you mean like
28039s it one two with the ACC he would have
28042s had the reflexes in the flash turn mhm
28045s turn down
28048s that hey you remember when we said we'd
28051s never really seen a game where speaker
28052s stomper just locked someone out yeah
28056s yeah kind of this one huh very much so
28059s it's not going to lock out just the game
28061s so I think it's going to lock out the
28067s tournament
28071s he's looking for anything to do can you
28073s see
28080s anything can see things it's just a
28083s question of whether those things are
28084s actually any
28086s good I think the answer to that is
28088s probably
28092s no there's another stomper in the hand
28095s even if there's not a lethal right off
28097s the top
28102s you could have gone lightning reflexes
28104s for altered cords which would have cost
28107s three less one more less but then two
28111s more because of the speaker stomper so
28114s cost three as long as you were
28115s overloaded which would have been
28117s playable and just shot the mimon if you
28118s hit exactly aled cord off first option
28121s that's probably not good enough to go
28127s for
28129s yeah just making annoying shapes now as
28135s well me being me there would just Jam
28138s the second stomper cuz hey they didn't
28140s have it last time but
28143s yeah
28147s nope technically that keeps you alive
28151s right the
28152s Gogan uh you'd have to use the discount
28156s to throw a lightning bolt at something
28158s thing as well just leave up the the
28164s 55 uh but is it is it more winning to
28167s open the lightning reflexes for
28169s primordial wave
28171s instead because the base of the minion
28173s on the right is a click clocker right so
28175s it turns into a penguin yes I
28181s believe yeah the The Goth play feels
28184s like it yeah I survived but it's still
28187s horrible
28190s mhm I let your play I want to open the
28192s box there's
28194s also Radiance reflexes and shoot for the
28198s crash of lightning as well cuz you have
28200s zero Mana lightning bolts at that point
28202s but if you were going to go for that
28203s line you needed to have started 30
28204s seconds
28215s ago
28217s okay
28218s oh it's it's all it's yog it's prison of
28220s yog to go to Worlds I mean that come on
28222s we come on I mean we can talk about what
28225s the right players all as much as we
28227s want like pocket did you come this far
28231s to be a coward like you're get it there
28233s anyway pocket come on you're the points
28235s leader you can do it
28237s honestly pathetic kind of cringe to be
28241s honest mhm what just two six Sixers yeah
28246s yeah a not being at the World
28249s Championships
28251s already could have just gone yeah could
28255s have just pointed prison of yog at your
28257s opponent's face and you'd be fist
28259s pumping already this is how much he
28261s doesn't want to play in
28266s November uh alter cord is there but I
28270s think really banter wanted this to be a
28272s cheap Reby spell which you might just
28275s have to end up taking conductivity to do
28280s that I mean feral is there but yeah I
28283s was just looking F spirit is just
28284s taunting him as it were
28287s [Music]
28293s there it's what he hasn't had all game
28295s is he yeah this is how pocket train won
28297s the reverse of this which in a mirror
28299s matches what you want like he had the
28300s double feral like 30 seconds bant you
28303s got to
28304s go yeah I think this is the choice now
28307s altered cord is
28309s incredible but isn't there primordial is
28312s now
28313s though that is two snow flipper penguins
28316s and a playable
28317s crash oh
28321s no
28323s wow oh the Spells cost one more that is
28327s an absolute
28330s [Music]
28332s disaster both players head in hands in
28335s the end pocket train barely even looking
28338s satisfied yes that is correct you are
28341s looking at the player that won and I
28344s think you are just seeing the emotion of
28346s everything Dawn on this player of what
28348s they have gone through this year to get
28350s to this point yeah second Masters Tour
28352s win of course first one of this year but
28354s also beating someone who I suspect is a
28356s pretty close friend at this point
28358s because all of the people have been
28359s streaming this and all of the people
28360s have been hanging out who have been in
28362s the top 16 as well been hanging out
28364s together sort of in it together all year
28366s so yeah um yeah
28368s there is a little bit of sadness in
28369s putting your friend potentially out of
28371s the tournament and bface now is going to
28373s have to perform miracles on the points
28376s to be honest to get into Worlds now um
28378s on the system because weq is just going
28380s so well in the America system so tinge
28383s with sadness for pocket trade but also
28384s the emotion of finally winning one after
28387s a final earlier in the year and yeah 10
28390s months of grinding out and lad to get
28393s here yeah it's been a long whole journey
28396s for uh for everyone involved but I think
28399s pocket train after everything is is a
28402s wonderful player you know I I called it
28404s out during his semi-final just in
28406s comparison to
28409s um everyone else in this tournament who
28411s have accolades and things that you can
28414s praise them for and then you compare
28416s that next to what pocket has done and
28419s start to realize just you know how much
28422s better pocket is than some of even the
28423s best players that we have in the world
28425s so I personally am delighted have him
28428s guaranteed at the World Championships um
28430s and it does really now open up that
28432s extra spot in the race as well for uh
28435s players to try and make it then yeah
28437s let's have a look at how it went down
28439s after this because it has been a week
28443s just going to have a look at the top
28444s four though so pocket train beating
28445s Hemlock which um you know I was hyping
28447s up this one because this is the people
28449s we know of stream but Hemlock was sort
28451s of pocket trains not his pick but the
28453s person he wanted to make sure we talked
28455s about a lot because he says that Hemlock
28457s is was wasn't getting the plaudit he
28458s deserved and and then he beat him so
28460s it's the perfect setup really well done
28464s pocket and bface beating out balance
28466s balance struggled a little bit with the
28468s pressure one of the first times we've
28469s really seen him deep in the tournament
28471s made one or two mistakes I think in that
28472s semi-final um but also a fantastic
28474s performance just to get here and then to
28476s get all the way to that semi-final uh
28478s with priest as well which was not a
28480s popular bring this weekend so well done
28482s to balance as well yeah I think very
28485s very impressive you're right again to
28487s call out Hemlock you know when I was
28488s saying you can take a player that has an
28490s incredibly good record this year um
28493s Hemlock was kind of the example I was
28495s going for there where Hemlock has three
28498s top eights now overall two top eights
28499s and a top four in the three tournaments
28501s are available is stood fifth overall
28503s globally in the point standings again
28505s prior to this event um but then you
28508s stack that up against pocket who's had a
28510s third fourth a second and now a first
28513s and is joint first in the standings
28515s globally overall like yes there is a
28519s smaller sample of tournaments that are
28522s available to be competed in at the top
28524s level this year than there have been
28525s before but in terms of just complete
28528s domination of the field and consistency
28530s throughout the whole year it's lad
28532s finish after ladder finish after ladder
28533s finish into there being three major
28536s tournaments available and he's been top
28537s four in all of them in a card game in a
28540s game where there will be people watching
28543s this stream right now saying oh what
28546s what are we watching this for it's all r
28547s anyway like no shut up it isn't some
28550s people are just better than others and
28552s pocket train is one of those people yeah
28554s and not to mention that he won an open
28556s Masters Tour in 2022 as well which you
28559s know give or take 350 400 players
28562s whatever it is and he had other strong
28565s results in those tournaments as well
28566s player that's really com to his own we
28568s saw him coming he was one of the players
28569s we did sort of know was on the way from
28572s a long way out he like this guy's going
28573s to be good he just needs to get bit
28575s confidence I think he struggled a little
28576s bit on camera like like everybody does
28579s the first few times out I remember
28580s talking to all sorts of players who have
28581s said they've struggled on camera you
28583s after they've won three or four big
28584s events like yeah I used to be really
28586s scared didn't want people thinking I was
28588s stupid well win then then then they
28590s don't think was stupid um people over
28593s getting nervous but he's done all that
28595s now and yeah the emotion there at the
28597s end fantastic to see hopefully have a
28600s little chat with him as well yeah
28601s exactly if you're wondering why we are
28603s uh quite clearly just vamping for time
28605s right now we are hopefully going to get
28606s pocket train on the line to have a few
28608s words with him but I guess now would be
28610s a good moment as well to shift the focus
28611s to Banter face for a second because um
28615s you know he has has come on Leaps and
28617s Bounds I think this is not the time to
28620s be you know throwing out the meme again
28622s but he's a player that I I undervalued
28624s and underappreciated for quite some time
28627s um during his time in America's Grand
28629s Masters and I think you know he really
28632s since then has been able to separate
28633s himself from the pack and make the point
28636s that he make the AR argument that he
28638s could just be the best player in
28639s americaas um and coming as close as he
28643s did you know we've talked about it from
28645s the perspective of pocket train where
28647s it's like okay he's put all this time in
28649s and imagine that outpouring of emotion
28651s of like oh my God I actually did it like
28653s this is all been worth it the goal is
28654s there you then have to flip that and
28657s think what does it feel to a player
28659s that's now thinking oh hang on I
28661s invested all this time and I got you
28663s know one card one discover one decision
28667s here away from making that a reality and
28670s now it's all been snatched away and
28671s again like you said the uh the the
28674s standings for the Americans
28676s qualification uh wiq has a pretty
28679s substantial lead overall over banter
28681s alog together so going to be a really
28683s really rough one from banter from here
28685s but he has made an incredible accounting
28687s of himself this year overall to to to
28690s play as well as consistently as he has
28692s yeah and I think of all the people have
28694s talked about who've been streaming the
28696s event he's been the one who has
28698s constantly put in infinite hours uh I
28701s know me's put in a lot of time as well
28703s obviously uh but bace he managed to
28706s mix doing the infinite hours but still
28709s playing a wide variety of things you
28711s know the end of some months yeah
28712s obviously he goes down and Knuckles down
28713s and plays the best deck but he didn't
28715s just play the same thing to qualify
28717s every time he he showed his versatility
28720s on stream all year and hopefully he
28722s continues to do that even I presume he
28725s will take some break of this this has to
28726s be training for him but presumably we'll
28728s see him back in streaming
28730s and probably playing a little bit more
28732s Mimi like he enjoys doing as well um
28735s another point I just want to make while
28736s we're waiting for pocket train to be set
28738s up is I think one of the reasons you may
28740s have underrated him is something we
28742s always struggled with casting him was
28744s because of the decks he brought he liked
28746s to play Hunter he liked to play the more
28747s aggressive stuff the selling point was
28749s he didn't make mistakes he wasn't one of
28751s these players like pocket train playing
28753s B priest playing 27 cards a turn drawing
28756s his deck and killing you he just didn't
28758s mess up he just did the right thing over
28761s and over and it was very hard to
28763s identify the really good plays it was
28766s yeah and again
28769s like no but like you were you you were
28771s casting America's Grand Masters right
28773s and so true the the the standard of like
28776s oh okay well this player just isn't
28778s making mistakes when you cast Europe
28780s Grand Masters you're unimpressed by a
28782s player that just doesn't make mistakes
28784s right because you're used to seeing
28786s people who always have the right lineups
28788s are always playing at the top of their
28789s game are actually like innovating the
28791s way that matchups are being played at a
28793s top level um and I think that's where
28796s banter has arguably made that extra step
28798s forward as well yeah yeah just to word
28800s it's slightly better he was not he
28803s wasn't playing Decks that allowed him to
28805s show off his flare because yeah so the
28808s the the reduction was he's not making
28810s mistakes
28811s yeah theer didn't also allow him to need
28814s to make flashy plays yeah I think ready
28817s though to have a word with our champion
28819s Pock you can see some of the moments he
28822s went through to get to that point the uh
28825s the variation of emotions uh through the
28828s earlier games in the tournament and that
28830s final moment as he was able to uh step
28833s past a good friend of his uh in mcbf
28836s face in the final he's been through a
28838s long road not just today but over the
28840s entire year to uh to get to this
28843s point indeed he
28846s has
28847s to face crushing moment at the end like
28850s yeah primordial wave was great but
28852s obviously you're devolving away your own
28854s uh your own discount at that point which
28857s means then you're just that one Mana
28858s short of being able to play anything
28860s relevant to clear up the board so an
28861s absolute Heartbreaker a banter face in
28863s the end but we do get to find out the
28865s emotions of the winner
28869s now you hear me hello you pocket train
28873s you did it you're going to Worlds I mean
28876s I think you knew you were probably going
28877s to Worlds but uh we saw it in the
28879s realization how does it feel to actually
28881s be going to Worlds got to be honest man
28883s that's the worst way to do it I really
28886s like I'm very confident that I was going
28889s to have enough points to make worlds
28890s anyway I really don't want to have to
28892s grind ladder for the last month but uh I
28895s felt really bad beating bant over all
28897s people um like I was hoping he would
28900s make it obviously so that I have just a
28902s stretch three finals and I was I was
28904s super happy the entire time last last
28906s master to the finals like it showed I
28908s was stressed I knew like there and then
28911s win this get to Worlds and I botched it
28913s as a result but now like one month to go
28916s it's like I I haven't even skipped the
28918s year I've done the hard part and then uh
28921s one at the worst possible moment and
28923s denied a friend a world spot so it's
28925s it's a bit Bittersweet but I am happy
28926s that uh it's finally
28929s over um so that's that's nice but uh
28932s yeah uh the whole Banda thing is is is a
28935s little bit bit sweet sure
28938s so first off uh nice nice to once again
28941s have a proper Accent on the stream
28942s pocket welcome um secondly uh I think
28946s you know you just I was going to ask you
28947s about you know we saw the emotions on
28949s your face which were best described as
28950s mixed at the end of that game um but I
28953s think you've described that accurately
28955s already so I guess we'll just talk
28956s Hearthstone stuff instead um you tweeted
28959s your lineup talking about like least bad
28961s decks um I think the decision in there
28964s was like Mech Rogue when a lot of other
28966s people were bringing secret and as well
28967s like nature Shaman being the fourth deck
28969s out of the the the field of fourth Decks
28972s that were available what was the
28973s reasoning behind those two like a little
28975s bit more in depth so I mean I I prepped
28979s mostly with Casey and mey for this one I
28981s I would have prepped with ream but he
28983s said he didn't want the distraction from
28985s ladder and studies or something and then
28986s he prepped like a maniac anyway um just
28989s on sort of slightly on his own um a bit
28991s of a tangent and uh just in testing
28995s every deck felt bad for pretty much and
28998s then I played Metro and it went like 70%
29000s Plus in testing just stomped everything
29003s and then I thought okay well since every
29005s deck feels bad there's no way I'm not
29007s bringing this one because it actually
29008s feels good and then I've got one more
29009s deck to deal with and I was actually on
29013s Relic Demon Hunter like Casey until like
29015s the last 10 minutes oh um and
29018s then I think I spoke to bter actually
29022s with like 10 minutes to go and we like
29024s exchanged lineups even though we didn't
29026s really prep together and then he had the
29029s same lineup as me but with I think no
29031s Mech Rogue and he had drum Druid and I
29035s had um The Relic D instead of the shaman
29040s you said a proper accent I was kind of
29041s hoping ra Raven would hit be here so we
29043s could unfiltered speak the truth of how
29045s to pronounce Shaman but
29047s uh um all right C interview over kick
29050s him out like he out his
29052s time we we we like swapped a deck each
29054s and then it just turned out to be the
29056s best lineup cuz we met in the finals uh
29058s which was which was quite nice uh cuz
29061s yeah the last deck just felt bad no
29064s matter what it was Relic DH felt okay
29066s but it just couldn't beat met grogue the
29069s idea was get stuff that's decent into
29071s Mage and Relic did a better job of that
29074s but it felt like it did a worse job
29075s against everything else than the nature
29077s Shaman which is yeah I felt validated
29081s when everyone else started bring when
29082s when everyone else was bringing it
29083s because I thought okay at least uh if
29085s I'm in the bin I'm I'm in the bin with
29087s everyone else so there's a chance that I
29088s just hire Al mirror at least we're all
29091s just scrapping in the same dumpster yeah
29093s um how do you how do you feel you played
29095s overall because I know you were kind of
29096s critical of your performance in the last
29097s Masters Tour a little bit like do you
29099s feel you reached the standards you set
29101s for yourself in this one not in the
29104s final um but up until then I'm very
29108s happy with it because I was playing
29110s stress free for the most part but not so
29112s stressfree that I got a bit sloppy which
29114s I think I did in the final for sure um
29118s but up until then I was very very happy
29120s with my play I think um yeah especially
29124s like I felt like I had no right to win
29126s any game against Hemlock and then and
29128s then three 0 which
29130s uh that that had me buzzing for a very
29133s very long time
29135s um uh the earlier rounds I yeah I
29138s remember the first match on stream
29140s against tansu specifically that one made
29142s me feel great because I went into this
29144s not feeling the most confident because
29146s prep wasn't as in-depth as it has been
29148s in the past and then I came away from
29150s that Series going there's a there's a
29152s chance I played every turn perfectly and
29154s then just built Confidence from then and
29157s uh yeah it's felt kind of good stress
29160s free since because I I've always had
29162s this feeling that I kind of needed to
29163s prove myself and then I feel like with
29165s what I've done previously this year that
29167s was kind of gone so whatever happened
29169s happened this time I I could lose I'd be
29171s at Worlds then then do the business
29173s there uh so yeah it's been a little bit
29175s stress free so I think I think my plays
29177s have been
29177s more more clear because last time
29181s distress kind of it makes your brain all
29183s muddy and stuff stuff just gets a bit
29185s bit overwhelming but this time yeah
29187s thoughts have been mostly
29189s clear I don't think I've ever seen a
29191s clearer example of the pocket train plot
29193s armor than that Series against Hemlock
29195s like that that was absurd how you were
29196s still in your tournament this tournament
29198s after that I have absolutely no idea but
29200s uh we've been told that we do have to
29201s let you go so we'll give you one last
29203s final opportunity any thank yous
29205s commiserations shout outs any thing that
29206s you want to give the floor is yours well
29208s the the biggest thank you for sure for
29210s well banter he gave me he gave me a deck
29212s that I won the Masters Tour with um and
29214s obviously commiserations to him I really
29216s wanted to see him at world so I do feel
29217s a bit rough for for doing that to him um
29222s uh mey Casey who I'm very happy to have
29225s helped out because he he needed one of
29227s the ladder spots so hopefully he can get
29228s the ladder finishes to qualify for
29230s worlds because um I thought I let a few
29233s people down last time uh yeah Casey
29235s prepped with me hopefully yeah um mey
29239s wfam those are the main people I
29241s practiced with um yeah Fury hunters in
29244s and around it still he didn't really
29245s help this time but he gave me the I
29247s think the best lineup for the last
29248s Master's tour just like five minutes
29250s into joining our prep group he said
29251s bring this it's the best and then like a
29253s week later I was in a master to final
29257s but yeah those are those are the big
29258s names
29260s um that's mostly it cool it's been great
29264s talking to you pocket train as it always
29266s is anyway but going to have to let you
29268s go now to go and celebrate or chill or
29270s go to sleep or whatever it is that
29271s pocket train does when he's just W
29273s tournament bit of everything and yeah
29276s enjoy your next month of chilling and
29279s try and bring that relaxed attitude to
29281s the World Championships I guess but
29282s great to see you and we'll see you at
29285s Worlds you heard it you heard it was
29288s there it may have been underneath Linda
29290s but you heard it he said he was going to
29291s stream absolutely yeah we will see you
29294s in your stream then most likely yeah
29297s that's the end of another Masters Tour
29299s the final Master's tour of 2023 sttle um
29302s other than the champion any any
29303s interesting takeaways anything you want
29304s to say before we go no I just I think it
29308s just shows the the resiliency of our
29311s talent pole in Hearthstone by which I
29313s don't mean us the the broadcast talent I
29316s mean the talent of the players right is
29318s that um this the system that we had this
29321s year presented a very unique set of
29322s challenges and we still had an
29324s incredibly high level of of cream rising
29327s to the top of when we get to these
29329s events the the standard that is set is
29332s still so incredibly high like yes you
29336s know people have their various
29337s criticisms of the grand Masters era of
29339s hearthstone or whatever but I think it's
29341s indisputable that after we went through
29342s a few iterations of relegation with that
29345s system we had an absurdly high level of
29348s hearthstone being played um in the
29350s competitive scene at that point and I
29353s think the greatest Testament to the
29355s players that we have in these
29356s tournaments so they are continuing to
29358s hold that standard set by the likes of
29361s Gabby and bli and yer and all the
29363s players that came out of that grand
29364s Masters system so we are putting
29367s together an incredibly stacked field of
29370s players to compete a world championships
29372s and they have a very illustrious group
29375s of names to live up to whoever is going
29377s to pick up that mantle of being the next
29379s World Champion but I am already very
29381s confident that we are going to have
29383s someone who fits right in with the like
29386s of firebat and lion and Bunny Hopper and
29388s all of these incredible players that
29390s we've had before that have been world
29391s champions so yeah um GG I love
29394s Hearthstone that's basically the way
29395s that you sign off every tournament at
29397s this point uh yeah it's been great yeah
29399s always emotional for the cast as well
29401s it's two great days of action that we
29403s get to see a little bit too rarely but
29405s there's so much more still to come
29407s because December the 16th December the
29409s 17th the World
29412s Championships uh will be played we will
29414s be here with that here as always
29416s and you know who three of the players
29418s are going to be but there's five more
29419s still to be found keep an eye on Twitter
29422s and twitch I guess to see who those are
29423s going to be we'll let you know as soon
29425s as we can as well but that's it that's
29427s the end of another Masters Tour so
29429s thanks to all the production to the
29431s players to a of ice TJ Raven and
29433s everybody for watching we'll see you
29435s next time at
29445s once
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