This past weekend, June 17-20, there was another Dreamhack Hearthstone tournament, this time in Sweden. Taking a look at the top players, there were many interesting deck decisions. There were also some very obvious deck choices shared throughout. A big congratulations to RDU for winning the tournament! He is now the first player to ever win two Dreamhack Hearthstone tournaments. We will be taking a look at his and the other top players’ decks.
The Unsurprising
As expected, all of the top eight players brought a Shaman deck. In fact, fifteen of the top sixteen players brought Shaman. And of those fifteen, thirteen of them were Aggro Shaman, only two players bringing Midrange Shaman. All four of the top four players had Aggro Shaman. What’s even more interesting is that all four of the top players ran identical decklists. I guess they’ve refined Aggro Shaman to a science, and it seemed to work! Their version is a more minion based version than the original Aggro Shaman. They’ve cut Lava Shock and Ancestral Knowledge in favour of more board control plays. They also run Tuskarr Totemic and Thing from Below, something more typically found in Midrange.
RDU’s Aggression
RDU took first place with an incredibly aggressive set of decks. He brought Aggro Shaman, Zoo Warlock, Tempo Mage, and Camel Hunter. With so many players playing ten mana gods, RDU managed to beat them by not letting them get to turn ten. With the current meta showing a distinct lack of board clears, RDU took advantage with his flood decks. In the past these flood decks were countered by spells or taunts, but Standard’s launch removed so many of those that these decks that simply fill the board are too strong to be punished.
His Camel Hunter deck is interesting as a fairly aggressive midrange Hunter deck. It runs Desert Camel alongside Fiery Bat and Injured Kvaldir to seize the board. Camel Hunter used to be a fun deck that some people, specifically J4CKIECHAN played with. However, it wasn’t viable competitively due to Zombie Chow being in so many decks. With Zombie Chow gone, Camel Hunter appears once again viable!
The talk of the show, however, was RDU’s Tempo Mage. It showed itself to be so unbeatable that his final opponents chose to ban it out. He played a typical aggressive Tempo Mage, but added in some late game. Cabalist’s Tome, Ragnaros, and Yogg provide enough late game to seal any game. Using these decks RDU managed to dominate Sweden’s Dreamhack Hearthstone tournament.
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Fr0zen’s List
Fr0zen came second in the tournament, just behind RDU. Until the finals, he managed to beat his opponents very convincingly. As with the others, he brought Aggro Shaman, but the rest of his list was unique. He was one of four players to bring Miracle Rogue. Rogue is quite strong at the moment, but surprisingly it has fallen off in recent weeks. Far more interesting, however, are his final two decks.
First, he brought Patron Warrior. That doesn’t sound interesting, except that he managed to come second place. Also he was the only one that brought Patron Warrior. Patron was extremely dominant for a long time, until Blizzard nerfed Warsong Commander. Since then, Patron managed to make a comeback and show itself as a strong deck once again. However, with Death’s Bite leaving Standard, the deck has fallen off quite a bit. Making use of Ravaging Ghoul, Fr0zen played the deck excellently.
His final deck was Yogg Druid. Yogg Druid is one of my personal favorite decks, and I wrote a guide on it a few weeks ago. Seeing it not only at a Dreamhack Hearthstone tournament, but in the finals, was amazing. His list is very similar to J4CKIECHAN’s list that became popular a few weeks back. It makes use of small spells to clear the board and combo with Violet Teacher and Fandral. Then it combos with tokens to turn 1/1s into massive threats. It uses Yogg as a finisher, when all else fails. Seeing him play with such an interesting deck so successfully truly is what makes Hearthstone great.
Other Decks of Note
Of all the tournaments in recent years, this is the one with the most variety. Typically as a meta settles down, players begin to bring the same decks. However, this time around the longer the meta is in place the more interesting decks are discovered. Let’s take a look at the top sixteen and pull out any particularly interesting decks they used.
Hoej managed to make it to the top four using two different C’Thun decks. He brought C’Thun Warrior and C’Thun Druid. He was one of seven players from the top sixteen to bring C’Thun decks. C’Thun may have fallen out of favor recently, but it seems that the professionals are still making him work! Even more interestingly, of the nine C’Thun decks, they were split between three classes. Four C’Thun Warriors, four C’Thun Druids, and one C’Thun Priest by SuperJJ.
SuperJJ also brought Pirate Warrior in its purest form. Many Pirate Warrior decks have cut several of the Pirates. SuperJJ went further than many and actually ran Captain Greenskin. Between the Captain, Bloodsail Cultists, and Upgrade, SuperJJ’s deck had five different ways to buff his weapons. SuperJJ made it to the top eight with his unorthodox decks.
ShtanUdachi brought the final deck that hits our spotlight. He made it to the top sixteen running N’Zoth Miracle Rogue. The body of the deck is a Miracle Rogue deck. However, he also runs Journey Below, alongside Tomb Pillager, Journey Below, Undercity Huckster and Bloodmage Thalnos. With these eight deathrattle minions, he decided to throw in N’Zoth to give him a massive late game play. It does compromise the Miracle aspect, but adds quite a bit of strength in difficult matchups.
Conclusion
Overall, this Dreamhack Hearthstone tournament was one of the most diverse we’ve seen. With the exception of Shaman, no one knew what to expect. It is clear that Shaman needs to be toned down a bit. However, the rest of the meta seems to be in a very solid place at the moment. This was one of the best tournaments I’ve seen in a long time! Congratulations to RDU, and hopefully we continue to see interesting tournaments in the future.
