eHL Cycle 1 overview: Winner's Decklist, stats and champion interview
eHL Cycle 1 overview
- VODs
Winners' decklists
- Crea (1st)
- Wensushi (2nd)
- lemniscate (3rd)
Class stats
Winner's interview
A great debut of the eGTV Hearthstone League has come to an end in the way it was supposed to. A gripping and thrilling Grand Finals, stretching over two Best of Fives with a total of nine intense Hearthstone matches.
That of course was only the closing chapter to a league that produced content over two weeks, being one of the first cups to dare live production without the Spectator Mode implemented in the game. The high risk paid off, although sometimes small technical issues arose, the eGTV crew weathered every storm and can be proud of their accomplishments for this one.
Obviously this is only the start of things to come, as the second cycle kicks off in the near future and the big overall playoffs are already overshadowing everything. In this article we let the future be the future though, focusing on stats, decks and happenings of the first cycle - also giving King Crea the chance to speak his mind, voice his opinions and explain his future plans in the game of Hearthstone.
eHL Cycle 1 results
1. Crea
2. Wensushi
3. lemniscate
4. Trinity
5-6. Allura
5-6. Derikku
7-8. Yamafuda
7-8. Bojangy
Due to both players slugging it out and Wensushi coming from the Lower Bracket with determination, the game needed to go into a second Best of Five series to settle the first ever eHL Cycle Champion. The attached VoD is the second series, right after Wensushi won 3-1 in the first.
The complete dominance of control decks in the arsenal of the eHL Cycle 1 Champion Crea is something noteworthy. Most of his decks play very good into the late or mid game of battles. The only real change up from most Shaman decks is the inclusion of [card]Windfury[/card] and [card]Leeroy Jenkins[/card] opposed to the usual standard [card]Al'Akir the Windlord[/card].
Crea's Decks[deck linked]160[/deck][deck linked]161[/deck][deck linked]162[/deck]
While Crea went to battle with three fairly similar decks in terms of the range, runner-up Wensushi switched it up a little bit. His staple Miracle Rogue deck was pushing several opponents to the brink, including Crea in the Grand Finals. Later in this article the stats are giving Rogue one of the highest win rates in this tourney, which can be mostly attributed to the "Miracle Worker" Wensushi in several occasions.
When Wensushi's staple deck throughout the tournament was the liason with Valeera, lemniscate's forte definitely came with the raw force and brute strength of Garrosh. The heavy control brought him to several victories, made him one of the favorites going into the playoffs, but wasn't enough to overcome Crea and Wensushi in the big moments. His other decks, while also played, barely had as big of an impact on his standing as his Warrior.
lemniscate's decks[deck linked]152[/deck][deck linked]155[/deck][deck linked]156[/deck] Class statsAfter these reports out for three GosuCups, all the graphs and bars are basically telling the same story. Druid as one of the most versatile classes, powerful against basically any opposition is the way to go in Hearthstone as of late. The highest usage and the highest win percentage are definitely giving power to the theory that Crea mentioned throughout the interview: [card]Innervate[/card] is a pretty good card.
A nice change of pace though is the success of Rogues in the Southeast Asian scene, although the that number is highly influenced by the Miracle Rogue of Wensushi. He alone played that deck numerous times and crushed pretty much every opponent with it - up until Crea put a stop to it in the biggest game of eHL so far.
Another significant stat that differs a lot between the results we have seen in the NA/EU region and now SEA is the low winning-rate of Warlock. Looking at the report after the second GosuCup was in the book, Warlock was toping the chart with over 55 percent of the games won. The versatile class ranging from aggression with Murlocs, Zoo or the control game as Handlock has proven effective in many circumstances. In Southeast Asia this has not been the case with Warlock sitting at a measly 34.4 percent win-rate, placing them in the bottom four of classes.
That is still infinitively better than the outings Priest had throughout this first cycle. The class was rarely touched as it is, but when it was played, the results were always against Anduin. The light only burned whoever tried to play this class, although that might come down to some players trying out funky tactics with [card]Gelbin Mekkatorque[/card] in a Priest deck. Whatever it is, the Priest class has hit rock bottom being played only eight time - eight times throwing in the towel at that.
Champion interview: CreaHello Crea, thanks a lot for taking the time to talk with us after your triumphant victory at the first eHL cycle. First things first, did you expect to make it into the finals and actually win when the league started?
Hello, thank you for your congratulations. I never really expected to make it into the finals and actually win because I had not stepped into the competitive scene so I was kind of a wildcard as compared to the more famous local players. However, I did feel I have a fair chance as I've watched a lot of streams and played against top notch players over and over again and always reviewed over the current meta.
You just said it was your first competitive tournament in that regard, do you have any kind of TCG background like Magic? Or just fresh into the genre with Hearthstone?
Well it is definitely the first for Hearthstone, although I do have TCG/CCG experiences with MTG, Alteil, Pokemon cards etc , I have never really joined a competition regarding the card genre games.
So what made you join the young and fresh start up league eHL as opposed to trying out your talent at local tournaments like HAT first?
I was planning to join the HAT tournament but due to unforeseen circumstances I wasn't in Singapore hence I was not able to take part.
And so the decision of joining a big online league like eHL was the next closest thing?
Yes that was probably the only tournament I found and I decided to pit my skills against various competitive players in the region and gain more exposure to the scene.
Looking back at the first cycle, what do you think of the way the league presented itself, managed the weekly routine and everything?
Well, it was very nicely planned out, however there are bound to be some issues as time management with players are one of the biggest issue if it’s in a different region of the world. Other than that I think it was pretty well done.
I am sure the boys are happy to hear that after all, but let's switch gears and go into the actual tournament. You went straight through Group A, never lost in the playoffs up until the Grand Finals, using three fairly standard decks. Talk us through the decision process of which decks you wanted to bring for this tournament.
Actually, my initial plan was to bring one aggro and two control deck, however I ended up sending three control deck instead, that was a mistake on my part. Now, druid is one of the obvious choice on my list due to the versatility of its nature, you can [card]Innervate[/card] out an insane minion for a ridiculous board control/pressure, you have a creature which draw you two cards... It’s just too good and it can play against almost everything with ease with the exception of Shaman and Handlocks.
Shaman is there to counter Druid with its crazy hexes/strong ass removals and possibly some aggro decks with the insane amount of removals there is.
Third was supposed to be an aggro deck to deal with control type control decks like control warriors which Lemniscate used or cheese opponent if the RNGesus is with you like Wensushi's miracle rogue!
Well you say mistake, but in the end your Handlock also did its job fairly well. And the fact that you brought three control decks makes it seem like you prefer that kind of play style. Is that a fair assumption, that u rather play control over aggression?
Not entirely true, I prefer putting pressure then trying to retain board control with spells and such hence why my druid deck is mid-range aggro-ish type. Shaman is also very good at early pressure if you draw the right cards and can also be played as a control deck due to mass amount of removals plus cards like [card]Fire Elemental[/card]!
Okay, fair enough. Let's talk a bit about the actual Grand Finals against Wensushi. You guys went through two Best of Five series to determine the first ever eHL cycle champion. What was your mindset going into that clash?
It was really intense because like I mentioned earlier I had no answer to his miracle rogue, I needed a real early type of aggro deck to have a decent chance against his miracle rogue as that was probably the only deck I was very worried about. His RNGs were also really good. Everything I played, even 3-4 taunt minions on field, received answers. And so my mind was blanked out for quite a while trying to cope with that pressure that was on me, luckily RNGesus came to me when I was playing possibly the last match From there, I managed to get my tempo going and start getting as aggressive as I could to put heavy pressure on him as I was fully aware of how his deck works.
Indeed, Wensushi's Miracle Rogue went 5-2 in those finals, giving you a really hard time, but in the end you managed to pull it off with a 3-2 in the all deciding match. In the second Bo5, once you broke the Miracle streak, did you think you had it in the back from there on out?
Yes, when I won that match against the miracle rogue, I was quite certain I would have a fairly high percentage of winning the game due to the fact that my deck is not the average control-type druid which is slow. The last two decks of Wensushi were more suited for late game battles which is something that is towards my advantages because the minions I have in my deck are fairly strong against removals as you would probably need to trade two cards for one. You also need more than average draws to be able to deal with the threat I'm setting out which is one of the worst scenario for control type decks as hand size is a very important factor in winning the matchups. And the fact that Wensushi didn’t play Paladin first or Druid like he always doe meant he had low confidence in the other two decks against mine.
The finals were played in a LAN setting and I want to ask you two specific things about that. First off, did facing your opponent straight away offline make you more nervous, seeing as this was your first real big competitive tournament?
I play other games competitively so I wasn’t really nervous at all.
Okay, good point. The second thing was the "support" for Wensushi in his corner by his ManaSurge crew. Do you have any plans of joining a team as well or are you more of a "lone wolf"?
Well having no support being a wildcard is supposed to be expected but I do feel a little pressured as I came to know he won a local tournament and the support he has. I do have plans to join a team that’s able to soar to the international level and pit with players like Reynad, StrifeCro or Trump in a high level competitive arena as I'm only playing against them in rank matches now.
How do you fair against those boys in ranked?
I have a fair share of winnings against them. Maybe at a 50/50 rate at the moment but it's playing against them that got me where I am now. The amount of knowledge that you get by playing them is very different than your average players. The decision making is very different, they try out weird stuff you don’t see like the recent Reynad's zoo warlock deck. The element of surprise is there at time but it’s what make you improve!
We are almost at the end of the interview, only a couple of questions left and one obviously has to be about your expectations for the big overall Grand Finals of the first eHL season. What is your goal?
I will try to win the Grand Finals and the EHL season 2. My goal is to be able to be at BlizzCon and compete at the highest level possible if i am given the chance!
High ambitions, I like it! Let's end with some quick takes, just short questions, short answers about likes and dislikes in the game right now. Starting with favorite class and why?
Druid, Innervate makes too huge of a impact for pressure!
Least favorite class and why?
At the moment its Hunter, super strong cheese shit with the "buffed" [card]Unleash the Hounds[/card].
Favorite streamer?
Savjz, he is a very very awesome player and gives huge insights at times.
Most underrated Legendary?
In my own opinion probably [card]The Beast[/card]/[card]Baron Geddon[/card].
Absolute favorite card?
[card]Leeroy Jenkins[/card], retarded cheese ass finisher.
Alright, thanks a lot for your time. Any final shoutouts you want to get off your chest?
Thank you for your time and interview, shoutouts to my MMORPG guild Synapse, Trinity and RACHEL KIRIE, she’s one helluva cos player!
