Esports Gaming: Finnish player Zumpp had an impressive run on his way to being crowned the Hearthstone champion of DreamHack Winter 2017 at the Elmia Convention Center in Jönköping, Sweden.
Best-of-five format in play
This tournament featured the now-common best-of-five format, wherein, after losing with a deck, a player is no longer allowed to use that deck for the remainder of that best-of-five. The first player to defeat all three of their opponent’s decks wins. Far and away the two strongest decks in the game right now are Highlander Priest, based around late-game control and the ability to stall, as well as Tempo Rogue, which, in contrast, is all about early board pressure that can help snowball into an aggressive mid-game.
Given the format, Druid also proved to be a key deck as it has flexibility – with both Aggro and Jade being top-tier decks – as well as having a winning match up against both Priest and Rogue. Also important to note is that each player is allowed to ban one class from the opponent before the best-of-five game starts, so each player brings four decks in total.
Priest banned in quarterfinals
After defeating Toniramis 3-1 in the round of sixteen, Zumpp squared off against NoRage in the quarterfinals, with both players opting to ban Priest. Zumpp opened up well against NoRage, playing a control-oriented Warlock into NoRage’s incredibly aggressive Aggro Druid. Successfully stopping NoRage’s early onslaught, Zumpp stabilised and claimed the first victory. Next up into Zumpp’s Warlock for NoRage was his Tempo Mage, a deck that has been rapidly rising in popularity. However, once again, Zumpp out-stalled the pressure that was put on him, leading to his second straight victory with only NoRage’s Tempo Rogue remaining.
Unexpectedly, NoRage was able to defeat Zumpp’s Warlock off the back of a clever play of saving his Shadowstep for later in the game, giving him the flexibility needed to claim the win. Zumpp quickly rebounded with Aggro Druid, dominating the early game and easily taking the win to thusly move into the Semifinals against Un33d.
Un33d the semifinal opponent
Zumpp once again banned Priest, with Un33d opting to ban Rogue, leading to the opening matchup of Zumpp’s Highlander Priest vs. Un33d’s Tempo Rogue. This game was decided on turns eight and nine, when Zumpp slow-played his hand to perfection, baiting Un33d into overextending. Zumpp successfully cleared the board and healed himself, creating a dominant position that led to his eventual win.
Un33d bounced back with his Tempo Mage, utilising two Burgly Bullies, which are placed in his deck specifically to counter Priest (they have four attack, which is difficult for Priests to deal with). After a swift victory with Aggro Druid, Zumpp found himself against Un33d’s Jade Druid deck, a classic control versus aggro match-up. Zumpp weathered the storm of Un33d’s constant defence, ultimately chipping away just enough to claim victory, even in a long game for an aggro deck, giving Zumpp another 3-1 win, to place him in the finals against Vanik.
Odd matchup leads to weird opener
As the finals began, Vanik banned Druid with Zumpp banning Priest, leading to a somewhat bizarre first match. Vanik brought out an aggressive Warlock (aka Zoo), while Zumpp answered with his Highlander Priest. Yet Zumpp was the aggressor, curving out minion after minion and pressuring down Vanik; the opposite of what was expected. In the strangest game of the tournament, Zumpp claimed victory on turn five.
Vanik recovered nicely, however, utilising the strength of Jade Druid’s late game to even the score at 1-1. Zumpp remained steady, swapping over to his Tempo Rogue deck, where he once again dominated the board state early. Vanik appeared to never recover as he continually attempted to halt the onslaught from Zumpp, to little effect. Zumpp claimed victory on turn ten, pushing him to championship point in a Rogue mirror match. Unfortunately for Vanik, Zumpp had a quality turn three and four while Vanik did not, giving Zumpp all the momentum. Zumpp never lost control of the match from the moment it began, crushing the mirror match and claiming first place.
Zumpp picked up the bragging rights, along with a $7,500 cheque as part of the $25,000 prize pool, to improve on his placing as a defeated semifinalist at the DreamHack Summer 2017 event earlier in the year.
