BlizzCon Quarterfinals Set – Group Stage Review

The playoffs for BlizzCon have been determined and some of the world’s best players are ready to clash for the 2015 Hearthstone Champion title.

There were some really big surprises in the group stage, as big names were left out of the event in the long run. However, some of the favorites like ThijsNL performed as expected, passing with ease through the stage.

• In Group A, we had Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk continuing to show he is well prepared and determined to wear this year’s crown, winning comfortably against NoTomorrow and Kno. He is probably the most favored player to win the tournament and he has shown us why. The second advancing player was Kno, who managed to beat JAB two times, the first one with a close 3-2 and the second time 3-1, losing in between to ThijsNL 3-1. JAB fought hard to advance in the playoffs, but unfortunately, just like NoTomorrow, he did not manage to overcome the pressure and the high standards set by the other two players.
• In Group B, we had one of the biggest surprises as Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy was eliminated after losing to Kranich twice, once 3-1 and the second time by a 3-0 shutout. Dignitas’ Hak-Jun “Kranich” Baek managed to win a place in the final run, losing just one close series 3-2 against the other qualified player,  Hong “Zoro” Yije of Team Celestial. Zoro won against Nias in another close match 3-2, throwing the underdog and crowd favorite, Victor “Nias” Shelstad, in the pit against Lifecoach, who would proceed to win as well 3-1.
• Group C finished with Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall steamrolling the stage and winning the first place after winning 3-1 against both LoveCX and Hotform. Dylan “Hotform” Mullins made it to second place in the group after beating Neilyo twice in the group stage, the second time with a close 3-2 scoreline. Neilyo and LoveCX both put on a very good performance, but unfortunately, they did not make it through.
• Finally, Group D finished with Goa “DieMeng” Zihao winning both of his matches and taking the first spot in the group, after beating Neirea 3-1 and Pinpingho 3-2. Kwo-Ping “Pinpingho” Ho delivered us the other big surprise, as he eliminated one of the tournament’s most favored players and one of the major contenders at this year’s championship, Ryan “Purple” Murphy-Root. Yevgeniy “Neirea” Shumilin fell short of expectations and his run in the championship stopped here in the group stage as well.

After all these battles, we now have only 1 contender from North America (Hotform), 2 for Europe (ThijsNL and Ostkaka), 2 for China (DieMeng and Zoro), and the underdog region of Asia-Pacific with the most contenders (Kranich, Pinpingho, and Kno).

In the Blizzcon quarterfinals, we are going to see the following battles:

ThijsNL will battle against Kranich

Ostkaka against Pinpingho

DieMeng against Kno

Zoro against Hotform

The matches will be played on 6th and 7th of November.

Which one do you believe will be the champion for this year? Could you predict the top 4? Let us know in the comments section below.