The Starladder Hearthstone tournament has started up once again, this time paired with I-League. We are currently in the first set of group stages, of which the first two members of each group of five will move on, and the third and fourth place players will have to fight through the loser’s bracket. The person who comes in last in each group will be sent home. The prize pool is $50, 000, with the winner taking home $20, 000. Group B concluded earlier this week with Trump taking first place and Neirea with a close second. Now Group C has concluded, and the results are as follows:
| Placement | Player |
|---|---|
| First | Kolento |
| Second | Surrender |
| Third | Kranich |
| Fourth | Orange |
| Fifth | Purple |
Kolento came first with a match score of 4-0 and an overall game score of 12-2. Kolento is a well known Hearthstone player who streams on Twitch and plays for Cloud9. He is most famous for creating the Miracle Rogue deck, which resulted in the Gadzgetan Auctioneer and Leeroy Jenkins nerfs. He’s had a pretty impressive showing this year, bringing home 6 first place finishes over the past year. He brought Druid, Paladin, and Shaman to the tournament. His only losses were once against Orange and once against Purple.
Surrender came second with a 3-1 match score and an overall game score of 8-7. Surrender is a relatively unknown player who plays for Korean team All-Killers and streams on Twitch. In the past year, he has preformed poorly at tournaments, with only one first place finish in 2015, making his second place finish in Group C surprising. He brought Paladin, Warlock, and Warrior to the tournament, and played mediocre matches, but better than the rest of Group C.
Kranich came third with a 2-2 match score and an overall game score of 8-10. Kranich is also a relatively unknown Korean pro, playing for Team Dignitas and streaming on Twitch. While he’s only participated in 5 major tournaments in 2015, he did win one of them in first place. He brought Hunter, Paladin, and Shaman to the tournament, and all of his matches were relatively balanced in terms of wins and losses.
Orange came fourth with a 1-3 match score and an overall game score of 6-10, allowing him to edge out over Purple. Orange is a relatively unknown player, but he’s had three first place finishes for Team Archon in the past year. He’s barely managed to stay in the tournament, and I look forward to seeing him play more. Orange brought Priest, Warlock, and Rogue to the tournament. Unfortunately, he did not preform well, and lost most of his games.
Purple came fifth with a 1-3 match score and an overall game score of 6-11. Purple, also known as PurpleDrank, is a very new player to Hearthstone, only playing since the beginning of 2015. The Canadian plays for GamersOrigin and has impressively managed to win 2 first place finishes of the 5 tournaments he participated in this year. However, his combination of Priest, Warlock, and Warrior decks seem to have failed him, and he will not advance to the next bracket.