It’s week three of the Hearthstone Players Showmatch series, and in this episode contributors LightsOutAce and Camzeee battle each other in an ESL style best of five match!
In the words of LightsOutAce:
“These matches will be played in the ESL tournament format. It is a best-of-5 where the players prepare three decks, and play them in a pre-set order against their opponents for the first three games, and then choose which of their decks they want to use for games four and five. So basically, it’s three blind pick matches, then the players play whatever they want from those 3 decks if a game 4 and 5 are required. This format produces more ladder-style decks, which I believe are most helpful to the average viewer.”
I was joined by RaFive that evening and had the pleasure of commentating the matches. There were some fantastic games, and despite a few technical issues we ran across along the way it was a great series. This video includes the matches as well as a post-game interview of the players, where we discuss the games, plays, and thoughts about the different decks. Make sure you stick around until the end!
Spoilers Below!
LightsOutAce took some time to add additional written analysis of the games to this post. After the matches I suggest coming back to this section so you can see some of his thoughts on key moments of the games.
Game 1: Control Warrior (LightsOutAce) vs Handlock (Camzeee)
Both players had excellent early hands for the matchup – 2 Shield Slams and Executes for LightsOutAce
and Twilight Drake for Camzeee. The game first took a bad turn for LightsOutAce on turn 5 when he was
forced to use a Shield Slam on Sludge Belcher so it wouldn’t shred his armor and render the second
Shield Slam useless. Ideally as Warrior you want to save your 4 hard removals for Handlock’s 4 early
threats (2 Twilight Drake, 2 Mountain Giant) and cobble together some damage/Big Game Hunter to
deal with the Molten Giants later.
A key Mountain Giant + Shadowflame on turn 9 reversed the Warrior’s board control, and the double
giant turn 10 exhausted LightsOutAce’s removal. The two Siphon Souls in Camzeee’s hand (which as RaV
pointed out, was extremely stacked with quality cards) closed the door on LightsOutAce’s chance of a
comeback, although the game dragged out several more turns.
Game 2: Midrange Hunter (LightsOutAce) vs Mech Mage (Camzeee)
LightsOutAce had an excellent start with minions on the first two turns then a Freezing Trap to deny
Camzeee’s Harvest Golem and a Houndmaster to eat Camzeee’s Mechwarper with his Haunted Creeper.
On turn 7 Camzeee’s Loatheb denied LightsOutAce’s sick Feign Death turn, and LightsOutAce chose to
attack face with his Piloted Sky Golem rather than trade with the Loatheb for value. This is because
Hunter’s hero power gives it an insurmountable edge in a racing situation, so the opponent almost
always has to trade with the Hunter’s minions. In this same vein, LightsOutAce chose to hero power
instead of Feign Death with his Savannah Highmane on turn 8 because the 2 damage DEFINITELY cut a
turn off of his clock, whereas the 2 Hyenas might not get any damage done in the face of an AOE or
taunt. In the end Camzeee could not catch up to LOA’s perfect start.
Game 3: Handlock (LightsOutAce) vs Ramp Druid (Camzeee)
This matchup traditionally favors Handlock when they start with Twilight Drake into Mountain Giant,
and things looked great for LightsOutAce when he played Dr. Boom onto and empty board turn 7 after
Camzeee used all of his spells removing a Twilight Drake, Mountain Giant, and Loatheb.
On the next turn (after Camzeee played Cenarius) LightsOutAce definitely misplayed by relying on Boom
Bot rng to remove the small taunts. A Hellfire or Shadowflame would have been more efficient.
Camzeee also did an excellent job of baiting out both Siphon Souls on Ancient of Wars, which made it
very awkward for LightsOutAce to remove Kel’Thuzad after it already revived two minions. The extreme
value Kel’Thuzad gained eventually exhausted every card in LightsOutAce’s deck and he died to the
leftover minions Camzeee assembled. It would have been better for LightsOutAce to silence one of the
Ancient of Wars and kill it with minion damage. He also would almost assuredly have won the game if he
had Lord Jaraxxus in his deck.
Game 4: Handlock (LightsoutAce) vs Mech Mage (Camzeee)
Camzeee took an interesting line on turn 7 by trading into a Sylvanas and playing Loatheb instead of
attacking face. It worked out alright in the short term since his Mechanical Yeti gave him an Emergency
Coolant for LightsOutAce’s follow-up Mountain Giant and LightsOutAce did not play around Flamestrike
with his double Ancient Watchers. Eventually, however, LightsOutAce played Mountain Giant into
Siphon Soul and followed up with Antique Healbot a couple turns later to put the game out of reach.
Handlock beats Mech Mage when it has early removal (Darkbomb and Shadowflame/Hellfire) and life
gain to follow up its Molten Giant. Mech Mage wins when it gets in a bunch of damage early and has a
Fireball or two to close the game out.
Game 5: Midrange Hunter (LightsOutAce) vs Ramp Druid (Camzeee)
LightsOutAce again had an amazing start with minions on curve turns 1-3 dropping Camzeee to 20 life.
Camzeee had to use Innervate on a Wrath instead of saving it for Ancient of Lore, so he wasn’t able to
present enough pressure to kill LightsOutAce before he died to double Kill Command. You can see the
effect double Kill Command had on LightsOutAce’s plays on his turn 6 – he attacked face with Piloted
Shredder instead of making a favorable trade with Keeper of the Grove because he knew he only had to
get Camzeee down to 10 life to win.
Camzeee made a mistake by drawing cards instead of gaining life with his Ancient or Lore – he wasn’t
desperate for plays since he had a Swipe and a Chillwind Yeti in hand, so the life would have given him
the time to play his cards. All Druid needs against Hunter is time to play its cards since they are higher
quality on average. That said, sometimes the Hunter has two Kill Commands and there’s nothing you can
do.
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