King of the Hill #6 Wrap-Up

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Greetings fellow Hearthstoners! This is aUShadow, a 3-Star Master player on the NA server who is looking to become a more active member in the ever-growing Hearthstone community. This is the beginning of what I hope to be a series of articles recapping the weekly King of the Hill matches brought to you by Sympatico, Artosis, DoA, and the rest of the IHEARTHU staff for those who are unable to view it live when it happens.

Thus far, these show matches have featured some of the top players in the competitive scene today such as Gnimsh, LS, and Nyxh. Each week, two players bring their best constructed decks to the table in a best-of-seven series. The winning deck continues to be played, as the losing player is forced to use a new deck from his list (for those familiar with Starcraft, think of the “all-kill” format: each player has four potential decks, and when all of these decks lose, the player is eliminated). This week, in the sixth installment of this series, two fellow Team DogeHouse members-Savjz and Ek0p-squared off in order to determine who could bring maximum wow and much impress.

For those of you unfamiliar with the two players who faced off this week, here’s a little bit of background. Savjz entered this match as the only player to successfully defend his kingship after two victories over Nyxh and Cixah. Additionally, Savjz was named the #1 NA player in the latest Blizzard Top 50 rankings, demonstrating that he is currently one of the strongest players in the Hearthstone world right now. However, his opponent eK0p is certainly no n00b and is not new to the competitive TCG world. Ek0p was possibly the best German WoW CCG player, and is known as a mastermind in designing and building unique, powerful decks. For proof, watch a VOD of Artosis’ Blizzcon prep: the eventual Blizzcon champion credits eK0p with being extremely influential in all of his deck choices, and even went so far as to say he believed eK0p to be the best damn player in the world at that time. Needless to say, this match had the potential to be absolutely electric.

And these two stud muffins did not disappoint, as this was the first KOTH series to go all seven games in deciding a winner. In Game #1, Savjz came out swinging with his “Counting Stars” aggro Warlock deck (which Artosis admitted may be the strongest deck in the game right now) against eK0p’s “Yolodin” deck, a Paladin designed to counter the popular aggressive decks in the constructed scenes. This Paladin deck can be compared to the deck used by Artosis at Blizzcon, though it featured cards such as the Southsea Deckhand, Molten Giant, and Ragnaros. However, the Yolodin couldn’t keep with the tempo in this game, as Savjz was able to gain an early board advantage and take the Game #1 win.

In Game #2, Savjz’s Warlock deck faced another tech deck built in order to counter aggro decks, the “Snowman” Mage of eK0p. This Mage deck is a Team DogeHouse special, as all its members run an identical (or nearly identical) deck to it. This deck plays a ton of freezes such as Frostbolt and Blizzard, removal cards like Doomsayer and Flamestrike, and cards designed to prolong the game like Ice Barrier and Ice Block. The damage in this deck comes from cards such as Fireball, Pyroblast, Molten Giant, and Mountain Giant, and Alexstraza allows you to either gain health or put your opponent at 15 to nuke down with Pyroblast and the Giants. Yet, as fun as this deck is (I’ve messed around with it on ladder, and I’ve never roflcoptered harder in my whole life), some brilliant play from Savjz (such as destroying his own Sylvanas Windrunner in order to steal eK0p’s Mountain Giant) and a bit of a misplay from eK0p (in which he did not play his second Ice Block) resulted in Savjz being !
able to take a 2-0 lead.

Game #3 featured a mirror match up, as eK0p played his version of the aggro Warlock (which he calls “Straight out of Anus”) in order to try to get back into the match. It proved to be successful, as he was able to get an early board control by expending all the cards in his hand, and this (and some key draws) allowed him to snowball his early lead and take the third game.

Game #4 was nearly the same as Game #2, as Savjz pulled out “Mage Giants” deck, his version of the Team DogeHouse Mage deck. For the early part of the game, it seemed as if the Warlock would again prevail as eK0p took an early advantage; but, unlike Game #2, Savjz was able to slow the game early enough with Doomsayer and play both his Molten Giant and Mountain Giant on Turn 8 in order to deal enough damage and take his lead to 3-1.

Game #5 gave me cancer. Really. I start radiation therapy in the morning. Ek0p, in order to counter Savjz’s Mage deck, played a deck that has caused me to nearly break multiple keyboards: a Hunter OTK (“one-turn kill”) deck that he appropriately names “Cancer Reloaded.” All that really needs to be said about this game is that the Hunter OTK’d on Turn 7 as Savjz took his own Mountain Giant to the face due to a MIsdirection, and eK0p drew the series back to 3-2.

Game #6 featured more cancer, as eK0p’s Hunter OTK faced Savjz’s “Calm and Collected” Shaman, a slower Shaman deck that is not as aggressive as some of the popular Shaman decks. Unfortunately for Savjz, a pretty rough opening hand did not allow him to get out enough damage to pressure eK0p’s Hunter or get out taunts to slow the OTK, and eK0p was again able to go off on Turn 7 and bring the match to a deciding seventh game.

For the final game of this match, Savjz pulled out his “Slow and Steady” Paladin, a deck pretty similar to the deck used by eK0p in Game #1 (though Savjz’s uses the Blood Knight) in an attempt to cut out eK0p’s Hunter OTK. Savjz needed to get out to a quick start and gain board dominance in order to keep pressure on eK0p, and he was able to: his Southsea Deckhands were buffed and given charge through the Paladin’s Sword of Justice, and eK0p was unable to deal with these threats and go off in time. This allowed Savjz to take Game #7 and become our first three-time KOTH champion!

Hope you guys found this summary informative and helpful! Please leave plenty of comments and suggestions, as I am looking to make this into a regular series here on IHEARTHU. Help me make this as good as it can be for you guys, as it’s ultimately about helping out the community. See you guys out on the ladder!