BlizzCon: Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals decider match rundown

After the first day of the Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals at BlizzCon, day two started off with an intense Quest Shaman mirror match.

Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals Decider Match A: Casie and Surrender fight for board control

By turn four, Kevin “Casie” Eberlein had a strong board presence thanks to Evolve. Houndmaster Shaw was even on the board, which gave his other minions Rush. In response, and with only three mana due to Overload, Kim “Surrender” Jung-soo completed his Shaman Quest.

With the Hero Power reward, Surrender’s Mind Control Tech took his opponent’s Arathi Weaponsmith and Searing Totem, but that wasn’t enough to turn the board around and win the game.

Game two featured Casie’s Combo Priest and Surrender’s Quest Shaman. On Surrender’s turn four Evolve, he got Restless Mummy, allowing him to control the board. This left Casie’s board with only an Injured Blademaster. After a series of plays, Surrender won the game.

The final game, which determined who would advance into the semi-finals, saw Casie’s Control Warrior battling against Surrender’s Paladin deck.

Casie faced pressure against Surrender’s board of Mechs. It did not look good for him. However, he used Brawl to clear most of the board. By turn nine, Surrender decided to go all in, leaving him with an empty hand.

Casie, however, played N’zoth on his turn 10, gaining back the board with a bunch of Taunt minions. With Garrosh at full health afterward, Surrender tapped out, allowing Casie to advance into the semi-finals.

Global Finals Decider Match B: Fenomeno versus bloodyface

In the next Decider match, Chris “Fenomeno” Tsakopoulos used Tempo Rogue against Brian “bloodyface” Eason’s Combo Priest.

On turn four of game one, Fenomeno was able to play a 6/6 Edwin VanCleef. The Legendary minion proved to be a threatening presence on the board when bloodyface had to use Inner Fire and turn it into a 4/4 minion.

On the next turn, Fenomeno protected Edwin VanCleef against Injured Blademaster by using Shadowstep on his Kobold Lackey. By turn 10, bloodyface needed to draw more cards and search for an answer. However, Northshire Cleric, Circle of Healing, and even Bwonsamdi were not enough against his opponent’s board. Fenomeno made it through bloodyface’s taunt, hit face, and won the game.

In the next game, Fenomeno played Combo Priest against bloodyface’s Quest Shaman. Fenomeno started the game off strong with a hand of two Beaming Sidekick cards and a Northshire Cleric. He then drew into Circle of Healing. He continued to draw cards in his next turns thanks to Northshire Cleric staying on the board.

Bloodyface did not give up, however, as, by his turn four, he picked up the monstrous Octosari. In response, his opponent searched for answers using Northshire Cleric. His call was answered with Wild Pyromancer, which cleared his opponent’s board, save for one minion.

In the next series of turns, Fenomeno tried to regain board control. However, it was in vain, and bloodyface won the match.

In an intense game three, both players went against each other with Combo Priest. Each player drew numerous cards thanks to Northshire Cleric in an attempt to get their Combo pieces as quickly as possible. In the end, bloodyface won against Fenomeno, who was just one damage off lethal.

Stay tuned here at Daily Esports for updates on the semi-final games, where Hearthstone competitors will play for the best-of-five.