Tuesday Night Hype #59 was another crazy week of card slinging. This week’s tournament brought in many players to try to grab some last minute Winter Season HCT points before the season closing deadline. Another crowd of 256 players gathered in front of the fire to see who would come out on top.
After the group stages and many exciting rounds of group play, the tournament was down to the final four players. The first semi-final game featured CapnCrunch against Macsamillius. Capncrunch brought the pain with Secret Paladin, Mid-Range Druid, and Zoolock. Macsamillius decided to slam down the same decks in the mirror. Capncrunch’s strong gameplay ended up finishing off Macsamillius and he took the match 3-1.
The second semi-final match had Deerjason facing off against Hearthlytic’s own Fr0zen, who just so happened to finish #1 Legend on the NA ladder last month. Deerjason brought Dragon Priest, Warlock, and Patron Warrior to the game. Fr0zen’s deck choices were a little different from the usual. He decided to bring a Control Warrior deck that featured Deathwing, a Malygos Mage deck, RenoLock and a Control Priest, which Deerjason banned. It was a very anti-aggro choice of decks, but seemed to work out for him in this matchup. Fr0zen dominated the series 3-0 on his way to the finals.
The final match pitted Fr0zen against Capncrunch. Capncrunch decided to ban Fr0zen’s Malygos Mage, to leave him playing against his Renolock, Control Warrior, and Control Priest decks. Fr0zen, staying with his anti-aggro theme, bans Capncrunch’s Druid, which leaves him playing against Zoolock, Secret Paladin, and Patron Warrior.
Game one Fr0zen tried to keep things under control with his Warrior deck against Capncrunch’s Secret Paladin. Not a whole lot happened early on in anyone’s favor, but over the course of the first few turns Capncrunch had a hand that curved out very well with Sludge Belcher into a turn 6 Mysterious Challenger. The problem Capncrunch ran into was Fr0zen also had a very good hand and had answers to any minion Capncrunch played. Fr0zen tried to control the game on turn 8 by wiping Dr. Boom off of Capncrunch’s board with a Big Game Hunter. The problem was Capncrunch followed up with a Ragnaros on the next turn to start swaying the game into his favor. Fr0zen tried his best to keep things even by playing Justicar Trueheart, but Capncrunch followed up Fr0zen’s Justicar with a Muster for Battle to crowd up his side of the board. Even with Fr0zen playing Deathwing to clear the board on turn 10, Capncrunch just had everything go his way and took the first game away from Fr0zen.
Game 2 had Capncrunch hoping to flood the board with his Zoolock deck. Fr0zen had hoped to stop the flood by bringing his Control Warrior again. Capncrunch dominated the game very early on and took Fr0zen down to eight life very quickly. Fr0zen came back in the game hoping to clear off Capncrunch’s loaded board with a turn 10 Deathwing. However, Fr0zen’s recently killed off Deathlord had spawned a Nerubian Egg for Capncrunch! Because of this unfortunate RNG for Fr0zen, Capn was able to have a minion survive the wrath of Deathwing, and deliver lethal. Capncrunch was then up 2-0 in the match.
In game three, Capncrunch hoped to take the sweep with his Patron Warrior versus Fr0zen’s Control Warrior. Capncrunch decided early on to try to be aggressive with his board, hoping to get the quick win before Fr0zen could start building up his armor. On turn 6, Fr0zen cleared everything but a Frothing Berserker on Capncrunch’s side of the board. On the next turn, Capncrunch followed up the board clear with another Frothing Berserker and an Unstable Ghoul. The problem for Capncrunch was, as the game went farther into the late rounds, the game would swing more in Fr0zen’s favor. Capncrunch used Grim Patrons to try to fill up the board, but Fr0zen just had too much control in his hand. Another Brawl helped Fr0zen clear most of the board again and Justicar Trueheart helped him keep his armor built up throughout the rest of the game. With an empty hand and no more answers, Capncrunch gave Fr0zen the win. The match now stood at 2-1 in Capncrunch’s favor.
With that win, Fr0zen decided to bring his Control Priest to the table hoping to get another win, and tie up the match against Capncrunch’s Patron Warrior. The early game was relatively stagnant, until Fr0zen played a turn 5 Sludge Belcher and a turn 6 Justicar Trueheart to start spicing things up. Capncrunch cleared the board and was left with two Grim Patrons by turn 7. Fr0zen had followed up that play with an Auchanai Soulpriest and a Circle of Healing to take the board back in his favor. In addition, he was able to throw down a Cairne Bloodhoof, previously obtained by Museum Curator. A couple of turns later, Fr0zen played a Thoughtsteal to grab Grommash Hellscream from Capncrunch’s deck in what would end up being the ironic lethal shot that won him the game. Suddenly, the match was tied at 2-2.
Capncrunch, one final time, brought his Patron Warrior to the table hoping he could get the win against Fr0zen’s Renolock deck. Capncrunch took Fr0zen down to 19 life in hopes of ending the game relatively quickly. Capncrunch even used one of his Executes somewhat early to try to keep the board control in his favor. However, by turn 8, Fr0zen refilled his life with Reno Jackson. After that play, Capncrunch decided to start playing in a more control style instead of going to Fr0zen’s face.
Capncrunch began to fill his board up, including throwing down a Kor’kron Elite to push some damage. In a cruel twist of fate, unknowingly to Capncrunch, Fr0zen was sitting on a Faceless Manipulator…and was four damage off of lethal. Without hesitation, Fr0zen copied the charge minion, resulting in the exact amount of damage he needed to get the win. Not only did he win this series, winning this series meant Fr0zen walked away as the victor of Tuesday Night Hype #59!
Congrats Fr0zen!!
Organized by Vicious Syndicate, Tuesday Night Hype is one of the longest running weekly open Hearthstone tournaments in the competitive scene. Countless pro players and amateurs alike participate side by side in ruthlessly fought battles of Cardstone! Some of these pros include Archon Orange, Hearthlytics Fr0zen, and even World Champion Ostkaka. Be sure to sign up for Tuesday Night Hype on Strivewire and check out our streamed matches on Twitch!
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