Looking Back at the Hearthstone World Championship: 5 Next Level Plays

By Cam Shea

The recent Hearthstone World Championship finals in Amsterdam saw the top 16 players in the world fight it out over four days of competition. There were some absolutely unbelievable games and series’, and while many of the players brought very familiar line-ups, the sheer skill and depth of knowledge on display ensured that it was hugely entertaining.

With that in mind, I thought it might be fun to highlight some of the plays that most impressed me while watching the tournament. These aren’t meant to be definitively the best. Instead, they’re an insight into the high level thinking of the top players, and also a good way for more casual Hearthstone fans to appreciate the incredible depth that this game offers. (More experienced fans can probably skip each “background” section below.)

Let’s get into it.

Fr0zen vs OmegaZero: Highlander Priest vs Aggro Druid

The Background: Highlander Priest (so called because “there can only be one” – these decks only have a single copy of each card) is one of the most dominant decks in Hearthstone right now (although changes are coming). In fact, at the Hearthstone World Championship, 14 of the 16 players brought a variation of the deck as part of their four deck line-up. The reason it’s so powerful is because it can do an enormous amount of burst damage by utilising Raza the Chained and Shadowreaper Anduin, along with other tools like Prophet Velen (which doubles the damage done by Shadowreaper Anduin’s hero power as well as doubling the damage of other spells), Kazakus, Lyra the Sunshard/Gadgetzan Auctioneer and a fistful of cheap cards. It’s designed to allow players to draw through their deck quickly to find their combo pieces and then to turn every card in hand into additional damage. You can see Fr0zen’s decklist here.

The two cards that drive the Highlander Priest archetype.

Other vital ingredients. (Players generally run Lyra OR Auctioneer.)

Aggro Druid, on the other hand, is designed to quickly build – and rebuild – a wide board, then buff those minions using spells. It’s capable of explosive damage thanks to cards like Savage Roar and can utilise cards like Living Mana and Corridor Creeper to rebound from a board clear instantly. It was the fourth deck chosen by a number of players in the tournament. You can see OmegaZero’s Aggro Token Druid list here.

Instant board.

The Set-up: In this game, Fr0zen is on the back foot from the very beginning. OmegaZero is able to put significant pressure on, getting him down to three health. Fr0zen clears the board with a Kazakus potion and plays an Acolyte of Pain, risking death if OmegaZero draws his second Savage Roar (a one in 19 draw). He doesn’t but plays a Corridor Creeper, again threatening lethal. Fr0zen clears it off with Shadowreaper Anduin, taking him up to three health, five armour. OmegaZero then hero powers for one damage and plays Living Mana to refill his board, once again threatening lethal.

At this point, Fr0zen is at seven effective health and OmegaZero is at 32. Fr0zen takes the entire turn time before playing Prophet Velen and casting Binding Heal on his Acolyte, bringing him back up to 17 effective health. OmegaZero has 14 damage on the board and draws Mark of Y’Shaarj, which adds another two damage. He ignores the Velen and sends all his minions face, bringing Fr0zen down to one health.

The Play: At this point, almost everyone watching – casters included – are trying to work out what Fr0zen can do to simply live another turn – particularly since he draws Priest of the Feast, which, in combination with low cost spells, can help him heal. Instead, he uses Acolyte of Pain to draw a card, netting him one of his key combo pieces – Raza the Unchained – which reduces his hero power to zero cost. He plays it and proceeds to do 33 damage by playing Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Death on his own Raza and Circle of Healing, plus attacking with his Velen. It’s an incredible play and demonstration of how mastery over a deck allows great players to find lethal damage when all seems lost.

Fr0zen vs Sintolol: Highlander Priest vs Dragon Combo Priest (Quarterfinal)

The Background: The two decks in this game may both be Priest, but their win conditions are very different. Highlander Priest is trying to draw into its combo pieces in order to get Raza and Shadowreaper Anduin online, which then allows it to convert its cards into damage and burst the opponent down.

Dragon Combo Priest, on the other hand, is also trying to draw into its combo pieces, but for a different goal – to stick high health minions on the board which it can then stack more health onto (using cards like Power Word: Shield and Kabal Talonpriest, then doubling that health with Divine Spirit), before converting health into attack with Inner Fire and finishing the opponent off in a single hit.

Part of Priest’s OTK combo toolkit.

The deck doesn’t even need a board of its own to do this. With the right cards in hand, this style of Priest can use Potion of Madness to temporarily steal an enemy minion with 2 or less attack and transform it into a behemoth to deliver lethal damage. You can see Fr0zen’s decklist here and Sintolol’s decklist here.

It’s my attack now.

The Set-up: Fr0zen is very much in control throughout this entire game, but much like Highlander/Razakus Priest, which can burst you down from nowhere, so too can Sintolol’s Dragon Combo Priest. Scary damage can come out of nowhere, and Fr0zen knows that he has to be very weary of just such an eventuality. Indeed, by midway through this game, the only way Fr0zen loses is if Sintolol pulls off a multi-card combo. In particular he’s thinking about Twilight Acolyte, which has the battlecry “If you’re holding a Dragon, swap this minion’s Attack with another minion’s.” This is the reason, when presented with a Netherspite Historian discover choice that includes Ysera – a strong late game card – he instead chooses Duskbreaker. The Ysera’s 4/12 body can be used against him, after all. Sintolol could cast two Divine Spirits then an Inner Fire on it – turning it into a 48/48 minion, then steal that 48 attack using Twilight Acolyte.

The Play: Fr0zen’s next decision shows just how well he knows the match-up. After selecting the Dusk Breaker – which does three damage AOE to everything on the board – he opts to use it to damage his own board, killing off three Netherspite Historians that could be stolen with Potion of Madness and damaging another minion vulnerable to it – the 2/5 Radiant Elemental. If he’d left the Radiant Elemental at 2/5 Sintolol could theoretically have used it to do close to 30 damage with the right cards. (For instance, he could steal it with Potion of Madness, then Power Word: Shield, Divine Spirit, Divine Spirit, Inner Fire for a total of 28 damage out of nowhere.) Even damaging his Drakonid Operatives plays around Twilight Acolyte, which with the same combination of cards would have allowed him to steal 32 in attack power. That minion would then have been easily dealt with before it could attack, but his line of play was all about shutting down potential outs from his opponent.

Surrender vs tom60229: Tempo Rogue vs Jade Druid (Semifinal)

The Background: Hearthstone is often a game about tempo – about establishing board control and trying to maintain it. In this match-up that’s very much what the Rogue is trying to do – get out to an early lead and do as much damage as possible before the Jade Druid can ramp into big plays or build its Jade count to a threatening level. You can see Surrender’s Tempo Rogue list here and tom’s Jade Druid here.

A free 4/4? Don’t mind if I do.

The Set-up: With that in mind, you’d think that the Jade Druid player would want to contest the board whenever possible, but sometimes it’s far better to wait for the opportunity to swing the board, instead of just trying to contest it, and that’s exactly what tom – who went on to win the World Championship and played fantastically across the four days – was thinking in this game.

The Play: With five mana available, he plays Nourish, and has the opportunity to also play an Arcane Tyrant for free. Doing that, however, would only save a small amount of face damage. If Surrender has a Backstab in hand, he can backstab and clear the minion with his 2/2 Swashburglar. If he has a Vilespine Slayer he can coin into it to kill the Tyrant without losing anything.

If tom holds off, on the other hand, not only might he be able to get a better Spreading Plague if Surrender commits more minions to the board, but he can then play the Arcane Tyrant after the Spreading Plague so that it’s more protected and can potentially help him clean up the board. It’s the strongest play and a decision that allows him to hold off the aggression and eventually win the game.

Sintolol vs ShtanUdachi: Dragon Combo Priest vs Jade Druid

The Background: Priest has always been seen by Hearthstone developer Team 5 as one of the “tricky” classes. That is, it’s historically been a class that steals its opponent’s stuff and uses it against them, and executes two (or more) card combos to clear boards and swing games. Dragon Priest was a little bit different – it was initially a minion-driven deck with the win condition of putting over-statted minions on the board one after another until your opponent can’t answer them, all while maintaining card advantage by effectively creating cards. Dragon Combo Priest – as played by Sintolol in this tournament – utilises both those parts of the Priest identity to create a powerful combo deck capable of serious burst. Sintolol’s decklist is here and ShtanUdachi’s Jade Druid here.

The Set-up: Against Jade Druid, every turn counts for Dragon Combo Priest, because modern Jade Druids have multiple ways to taunt up and generate absurd amounts of armour – both of which can make your win condition significantly less effective.

Drakonid can put some pretty powerful tools into a player’s hands.

The Play: A good Hearthstone player needs to be able to make the most out of every turn and in this fourth game in the series between ShtanUdachi and Sintolol, Sintolol is able to do just that, engineering a way to steal and utilise his opponent’s Fandral to play a Nourish he’d taken with Drakonid Operative, then kill the Fandral off.

It’s one of those plays that top players would likely see very quickly – after all, using Twilight Acolyte to turn an enemy minion into a two attack minion that could then be stolen is part of the Priest tool kit – but once it’s been spotted, does it make strategic sense? And what other lines are there? In this case it enables Sintolol to turn what could have been a lacklustre turn into an opportunity to draw cards and strengthen his board position, without risking a more valuable minion like Lyra. It’s a cute play, but above all, it’s the play that best works towards his win condition and puts the most pressure on ShtanUdachi.

Surrender vs StanUdachi: Highlander Priest vs Jade Druid (Quarterfinal)

The Background: Jade Druid versus Highlander Priest can be a difficult match-up for the Priest because the current Jade Druid builds gain an extraordinary amount of armour over the course of the game in an effort to out-armour the considerable amount of burst damage that Highlander Priest has at its disposal. To win this match-up as the Priest you need to use your resources very efficiently, and this game is a great example of that from Surrender. You can check out Surrender’s Priest list here and ShtanUdachi’s Jade Druid here.

The Set-up: There’s no doubt Surrender is fortunate to have most of the tools he needs from quite early on – Shadowreaper Anduin, Lyra, Kazakus and Raza the Chained – but even so, only a few turns in, ShtanUdachi is up to 17 armour above his 30 health. He is also able to play both Ultimate Infestations and grow his Jade count to a threatening level.

Ridiculously powerful.

And this is where the delicate balance has to be found for the Priest player. After playing Raza and Anduin you can take advantage of the fact that every card in hand represents damage, and the more armour the Druid gains, the more you have to get out of those cards – hopefully in combination with Prophet Velen – but unless you can see the path to killing your opponent, their minion pressure can’t be ignored. Over the course of the game Surrender spends a fair bit of potential face damage killing minions in order to buy more time. It also allows him to establish a board that can get chip damage in.

After getting ShtanUdachi down to 10 armour, he’s soon back up to 17, and before long plays Malfurion the Pestilent, which allows him to gain three armour per turn. Surrender gets more damage in, taking Shtan down to 21 health, but before long he’s added another 12 armour to that. Surrender’s Velen has been answered and his ability to do damage is dwindling. Meanwhile, Shtan’s Jade Golems are creeping up towards the 10/10 mark.

The Play: Throughout this game Surrender is keeping track of the cards left in his deck, which means he knows exactly how much damage he’s capable of doing using those cards. At this point ShtanUdachi has 28 effective life (which will be 31 after the following turn), but Surrender knows that his Wild Pyromancer will allow him to draw through the last of his deck using Acolyte of Pain, and he’s calculated that if he effectively goes all-in by playing his burst cards in hand (Mind Blast and Holy Smite) to do damage AND draw cards, he’ll have the damage to end the game on the next turn. In the end he has just enough gas to get there and it’s all thanks to his ability to navigate the match-up effectively.

So there you have it – five great plays from the tournament. If you didn’t watch it, definitely check out some full series’ (Surrender vs Fr0zen / Fr0zan vs Sintolol / Fr0zen vs tom60229 to name a few – full VODs are available here) and if you did, chime in with your favourite moments in the comments.

Cam Shea is senior editor in IGN’s Sydney office and recently interviewed Hearthstone’s esports head honcho Che Chou, as well as popular casters TJ Sanders and Raven. He’s on Twitter.