The Hearthstone Grandmasters 2021 Week 2 champions were crowned on April 18. Throughout the day, the semifinalists of each region duked it out for a spot in the finals. Each regional winner also received the lion’s share of the weekly prize pool.
As for the viewers, they were able to earn card packs through YouTube Drops.
Week 2 Hearthstone Grandmasters Asia-Pacific recap
The Asia-Pacific semifinals began with Cho “Hi3” Wongyeong against Chiang “Alan870806” Shih-hsun.
Hi3 started the day off strong with his Rush Warrior deck against his opponent’s Paladin. He controlled the board in the early game by playing Rush minions and buffing them. Although Alan870806 cleared the board with the help of Pen Flinger, it wasn’t enough as Hi3 pushed consistent damage to the face and won the first game.
It was a Paladin versus Paladin match in game two. While Alan870806 had Libram cards, Hi3’s deck did not have them. Both players fought for control of the board while buffing their minions. However, Alan870806 came out on top with several Libram of Wisdom buffs to his Lady Liadrin.
In the next game, Alan870806 brought his Spell Mage to go up against Hi3’s Aggro Paladin. Hi3 developed his own side of the board by playing minions and buffing them on his earlier turns. However, Alan870806 persisted by clearing the board with the aid of Expendable Performers.
Alan870806 then drew into Oasis Ally for zero mana, thanks to Deck of Lunacy. This activated his opponent’s Oh My Yogg! card. Alan870806 followed this up with a Libram of Hope for healing and to stop the bleeding. Soon after, Alan870806 pushed damage to the face and won the third game.
Alan870806 continued this win streak with his Miracle Rogue versus his opponent’s Spell Mage in the next game. This earned him a score of 3-1 and a spot in the finals.
Up next was Li “TIZS” Ching Li against Pa “GivePLZ” Yu Hsin.
While GivePLZ began with OTK Demon Hunter, his opponent opted for Token Druid. TIZS earned the first victory in their set of games by ramping up the pressure on the board and buffing his minions.
However, GivePLZ brought it back as he played Miracle Rogue against TIZS’ own Demon Hunter. Although TIZS played Il’gynoth on his ninth turn, he wasn’t able to clear the board. GivePLZ played Wicked Stab (Rank 3) to deal with Il’gynoth and continued to control the board while freezing his opponent’s face with a Water Elemental. This helped tied the score 1-1.
GivePLZ achieved another victory in the next game involving a Demon Hunter mirror match. He was able to draw into his combo pieces first, play them and then get lethal with 36 damage to the face.
In game four, TIZS had to get a reverse sweep in order to make it to the finals with his Spell Mage against GivePLZ’s Control Priest. The latter player closed out the Week 2 Hearthstone Grandmasters Asia-Pacific semifinals with a score of 3-1.
As for the finals, GivePLZ went up against Alan870806. Alan870806 brought his Miracle Rogue deck to game one, while GivePLZ played OTK Demon Hunter. Although Alan870806 didn’t have an ideal starting hand, he achieved board presence off the back of Ogremancer. The card received a buff thanks to Claw Machine. With the board presence and pressure built afterwards, Alan870806 won the first game.
Game two consisted of Alan870806’s Spell Mage against GivePLZ’s Token Druid. GivePLZ gained board presence and buffed up his minions in his earlier turns. Although Alan870806 played Devolving Missiles to help clear the board, it wasn’t enough as it didn’t hit all of his opponent’s minions. This happened again after GivePLZ’s fifth turn, which spelled out his victory.
Next, was GivePLZ’s Miracle Rogue versus Spell Mage. GivePLZ earned another win by going face with Wicked Stab (Rank 3). He continued this win streak into game four with OTK Demon Hunter against his opponent’s Paladin.
With a score of 3-1 in the finals, GivePLZ became the champion.
Week 2 Hearthstone Grandmasters Europe recap
Thijs “Thijs” Molendijk and Radu “Rdu” Dima kicked off Week 2 of Hearthstone Grandmasters Europe with Secret Libram Paladin and Control Warlock, respectively.
Thijs started his game off strong with a board of minions. However, Rdu cleared the board while playing around his opponent’s Paladin Secrets. Rdu later used Hysteria to clear the board. He then used Twisting Nether in his hand to remove his opponent’s consistent board of minions.
Although Rdu seemed to have the board in his consecutive turn, it was not enough. Thijs buffed a minion with Hand of A’dal, reduced the cost of his cards and played Blademaster Samuro to clear the board. The buffed minions and Libram discounts were too much for Rdu, which earned Thijs the first win.
In the next game, Rdu brought Token Druid to go up against Control Warlock. Rdu used Soul of the Forest to create a stickier board. Yet, the plan was thwarted when Thijs played Grimoire of Sacrifice and followed that up with School Spirits for the full board clear.
The game quickly ended when Thijs played Tickatus to get rid of cards from his own deck. This helped him draw into Soulciologist Malicia and create a full board.
Rdu brought back his Control Warlock deck for the third game. Meanwhile, Thijs entered the fight with Tempo Rogue.
In the late game, Thijs had to clear his opponent’s board. He did so, and yet Rdu played Y’Shaarj, the Defiler. The card gave him Tickatus, which made his opponent go into fatigue. Thijs then bowed out of the game, resulting in a win for Rdu.
In game four, Rdu brought Token Druid back to duke it out against Tempo Rogue. While Thijs had a board in the early game, Rdu drew into resources with the help of Fungal Fortunes. Rdu needed to build a board with Glowfly Swarm or Gibberling, but he wasn’t able to create a board in time as Thijs set up lethal.
With a score of 3-1 against his opponent, Thijs made it to the finals for Hearthstone Grandmasters Europe two weeks in a row.
The next set of games consisted of Enzo “Warma” Floch and Jaromír “Jarla” Vyskočil.
The first game between them involved Warma’s Secret Libram Paladin and the latter player’s Midrange Demon Hunter. Jarla had the board in the late game and he eventually hit face with his board of minions to achieve victory.
In game two, it was Warma’s Ping Mage that went up against Jarla’s Control Priest. Although Jarla played Solarian Prime and got Counter Spell to save him from an Apexis Blast lethal, it was not enough as Warma tied the game 1-1.
In the next couple of games, Warma brought Control Priest and Secret Libram Paladin into the fray. He went up against Jarla’s Spell Mage. Warma won both games with minions to the face. This earned him a score of 3-1 and a spot in the Week 2 finals.
After a short break, Warma duked it out against Thijs. The first game of the finals was a Control Warlock mirror match. Throughout the game, both players drew into Soul Fragment for healing. Although Warma fatigued first, his setup for lethal paid off as he took the win with minions on his side of the board.
Game two was another mirror match but with different cards in each deck. Thijs had a good start but he wasn’t able to find value to follow up. Warma had the mid-game while Thijs ran out of gas. This led to another victory for Warma.
This final game of Hearthstone Grandmasters Europe Week 2 involved Thijs’ Control Warlock against Warma’s Ping Mage. Thijs pressured Warma by having minions on the board. However, he wasn’t able to heal up with Soul Fragments when Warma set up lethal. With a Fireball and a Fireblast to his opponent’s face, Warma became the weekly regional champion.
Week 2 Hearthstone Grandmasters Americas recap
The Hearthstone Grandmasters Americas Week 2 semifinals kicked off with Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang and Eddie “Eddie” Lui.
While Fr0zen brought his OTK Demon Hunter deck, Eddie played aggressively with Face Hunter. The latter player built up his board and pushed damage turn after turn. This helped him achieve lethal on turn seven.
Game two was a Rogue mirror match but with different deck archetypes. Fr0zen played Miracle Rogue, while his opponent opted for Weapon Rogue. Eddie achieved lethal with a buffed Swinetusk Shank to his opponent’s face. His consecutive aggressive decks earned him a score of 2-0.
As for the third game, Eddie’s Spell Mage duked it out against Fr0zen’s Control Warlock.
During the game, Eddie played Counterspell, which had been created by Runed Orb. This disrupted Fr0zen’s Felosophy. This made Fr0zen play Soul Shear to destroy his own minion and shuffle more Soul Fragments into his deck.
Eddie then coined into Mask of C’Thun on an empty board for damage to the face. Although Fr0zen played Soulciologist Malicia for a full board after, it wasn’t enough as Eddie followed up with two Fireballs to the face for exact lethal next turn. Spell Mage burned out the Control Warlock and Eddie achieved a score of 3-0.
Then, Luke “NoHandsGamer” Kooken and Martín “Tincho” Mazza clashed against one another in the semifinals.
The latter player opened the first game with Aggro Paladin against his opponent’s Weapon Rogue. Tincho had the start and pushed damage to the face, which helped him get the first win.
Game two involved a Token Druid mirror match. However, the slight difference between the decks meant that Tincho had one Pride’s Fury and two Soul of the Forest cards; his opponent had two Pride’s Fury and one Soul of the Forest.
Tincho achieved initiative when he got minions on the board first. It was a fight that involved getting minions on the board. Tincho won the battle with Pride’s Fury that buffed up his own minions.
In game three, NoHandsGamer built the board up with his Aggro Paladin and continued to pressure his opponent. He went face and didn’t give his opponent a chance to establish his OTK Demon Hunter combo.
The final game between Tincho and NoHandsGamer was OTK Demon Hunter versus Weapon Rogue. With Talented Arcanist, Il’gynoth, Mo’arg Artificer and Felscream Blast got the job done with his deck. This earned him a score of 3-1 and a spot in the Week 2 finals.
The Hearthstone Grandmasters Americas Week 2 finals were between Eddie and Tincho.
In the first game, Eddie used Midrange Demon Hunter against his opponent’s Token Druid in a board-centric matchup. Tincho was able to take control of the board in the mid-game. With Eddie unable to clear the board, it was soon over. Tincho buffed up his remaining minions with Arbor Up and came out on top in game one.
For the second game, Eddie used Face Hunter to go up against Tincho’s OTK Demon Hunter. Eddie wasn’t able to get control of the board early on. Meanwhile, Tincho drew into his OTK combo pieces, cast his combo and got lethal on his eighth turn.
Up next, Tincho brought his own Face Hunter to the fray. The mirror match ended in a 3-0 sweep for Tincho when he continued developing his side of the board and kept pushing damage to face.
With the Face Hunter win, Tincho became the weekly region champion.
That’s all for Hearthstone Grandmasters Week 2. In the meantime, Hearthstone fans can catch up on the Week 1 matches. As for the next week of match broadcasts, they will resume on April 23.
