DreamHack Austin concluded this weekend and crowned a newHearthstone champion. This time it was Keaton”Chakki” Gil of Team Dignitas, that managed toovercome the hard competition and take the trophy home.
Hard work surely pays off, as Chakki has been chasing a goldmedal for over a year now and he has finally made it. The Dignitas’player has shown a great potential for more than a year with highfinishes in many events, managing to finish mostly as a runner-upor a top 4 in almost all of them, including but not limitedto: ESL Hearthstone Legendary Series – Season 1, KinguinFor Charity – Easter Edition 2015, DreamHack Summer2015, eSports Arena Invitational. He also had a great run atthe 2016 HCT – Americas Winter Championship, finishing in thetop 8.
This time though, it was his turn to finally shine on top. Aftera harsh swiss round, he managed to advance to the playoffs afterbeating names like the world champion Sebastian”Ostkaka” Engwall, Europe’s champion Ole”Naiman” Batyrbekov and Drew”TidesOfTime” Biessener, among others. Thedeck that shined the most was Chakki’s N’ZothPaladin that went 6-1 in the playoffs. Chakki also used aZoolock, a Control Warrior andanother Control Priest featuring N’Zoth, theCorruptor once again. Chakki shared the decklists on his twitteraccount, which you can see below.
The decks I used to win the #DHATX16 #Hearthstonetournament.@PlayHearthstone @DreamHack pic.twitter.com/qariFavsrK
— Keaton Gill (@Chakki_HS) 9Μαΐου 2016
The notorious Paladin was based on N’Zoth, theCorruptor and aimed in going into late game. With cards such asDoomsayer and combos of Consecration/Wild Pyromancer and Equality,the possibilities to contorl the board seemed quite increasing.Acolyte of Pain and Solemn Vigil helped with card draw and N’Zothhad cards like Cairne Bloodhoof, SylvanasWindrunner and Tirion Fordring in his arsenal forressurection. Another card that’s rarely seen and was used byChakki was Eadric the Pure, which definitely was there to helpmaintain board control. Both Ragnaros, Lightlord and Ragnaros theFirelord made it to the deck, in order to get both damage andsurvivability. Chakki’s Priest also featuredN’Zoth as a win condition but also featured Elise Starseeker. Onceagain, this deck aimed in going into the late part of the game,with two Entombs, two Excavated Evils and a Justicar Trueheart toensure that the board will not be overwhelmed.
The Warlock Chakki brought with hisline-up was a common Zoolock featuring Leeroy Jenkins whichcould combo with Power Overwhelming for some serious burst damage,a Sea Giant to combo with his Forbidden Rituals and the nowadayscommon addition of Gormok The Impaler. This deck was the onlyoffensive deck in Chakki’s line-up and took him out of a difficultposition a few times. Last but not least, hisWarrior, just like his Priest, featured an EliseStarseeker and aimed into playing for quite a few turns. DoubleBrawl was there to ensure that the board won’t get too populatedand Justicar Trueheart offered some great armor value. A kind ofunique addition were the two Doomsayers which is something you donot get to see often in Control Warriors. Finally, GrommashHellscream was there for a valuable burst damage possibility, andGorehowl for both board control as well as a chance to go face.
This win, awarded chakki with 15 HCT points, which lock him forthe NA Summer Preliminaries, and a respectable amount of $8,000,raising his total earnings to over $28,000.
