



So, that was a thrilling Sunday!

217 players signed up for the third Limited GosuCup #6 and before the first matches were in, we were looking at an action packed end of the week. This is where our system decided to surprise us in the most unpleasant of ways.

Having implemented a new ranking and counting system last week, we did not anticipate that huge waves of match resulting might cause problems, which it did. Players were unable to enter the scores of their games or upload screenshots, which led to a tsunami of PMs in admins' inboxes. On top of that, Battle.net decided to "help" us further and several players - including renowned IEM Katowice participant Lothar - reported that they've been disconnected from the servers repeatedly.

With time, every problem was solved however, even though it all happened on Sunday, traditionally one of the busiest days for GosuGamers. Admins and coders came together to cure the issues: we managed to fix the resulting problem before any massive delays to the tournament by fixing the system coding while manually advancing every match from the tournament.

From the position of head GosuCup admin, I'd like to personally thank to all GosuCup participants who were patient with us, the GosuCup staff, while we tried to resolve the problems. Both me and Angel had hundreds of skype messages and e-mails coming in and we sincerely hope that we have managed to answer to all. Neither of these problems be repeated in next GosuCups as our coders are looking into optimizing the system.

Now - to the more fun part. After a really long and tiresome day, we finally crowned our sixth official GosuCup champion, andu305 from Romania. Andu crushed through using just one class and one spec, which is, I believe, a GosuCup precedent!

Second game Polish player Shvchnk who fell 1-3 to the champion in the grand final. Third and forth are Eksan and Dorathor from Sweden and Denmark, respectively.

One other thing we must point out is the invasion of the Dutchmen as they took three of the top eight spots. Latvia's debut in the top 8, represented by Karlis, should also be applauded.

GosuCup #6 standings

1. Andu305

2. Shvchnk

3. Eksan

4. Dorathor

5-8. Gradefor

5-8. Apoc.BP.Duck

5-8. ThijsNL

5-8. Karlis

Having a Romanian winner - a country which had no representatives in GosuCup top 8's before - nothing could really mash up the top three of Germany, Italy and Russia. The only change is they get a new member to the top club - The Netherlands.

The Dutchmen have been traditionally strong in GosuCups and have been climbing the rankings for two weeks straight now. Thanks to Duck, ThijsNL and Gradefor, their country is now tied with Russia and Italy for the second spot.

Sweden also received a nice boost and is back in the top ten. The country owes it to Eksan, who went 12-1 in GosuCup #6 before finally falling to runner-up Shvchnk.

Nation standings (Top 10)

1. Germany - 14 points (-)

2. Italy - 11 points (-)

2. Russia - 11 points (-)

2. Netherlands - 11 points (+3)

5. Greece - 9 points (-1)

6. Denmark - 8 points (+1)

6. Norway- 8 points (-1)

6. Sweden - 8 points (+5)

9. Portugal- 7 points (-2)

9. Czech Republic - 7 points (-2)

Winners' decklists

We've seen lots of different high finishers since GosuCup launched. There have been players who relied on surprising builds, like GosuCup #0 champion Via. There have been those like BlazingGlory who brought almost a double digit of decks to the tournament. We've seen competitors who run several cookie cutter builds or ones tuned to their liking. We've even had players who only relied on a single class.

But we haven't seen a player who not only used one class but also one spec! Who needs sideboarding and countering when you can build a deck that beats everything?





Andu305's deck

Eksan's decks

Dorathor's decks

Champion interview: andu305

Sooo, from first round elimination in GosuCup 5 to GosuCup 6 champion... that's quite a big jump! How did you manage that?

My first game in GosuCup 5 was not so lucky. I played my Hunter rush down deck against another rush down deck and he won because he had better draws! Now I had a better deck, I learned some secrets about my class and about my deck and managed to defeat all my opponents!

Secrets, huh? Like what?

When I say secrets, I am talking about my combos and my rush down style. Everybody knows about Starving Buzzard + Unleash the Hounds, but there are a lot of players that use this combo only for two card draw and I think that is a mistake, because that combo could be used to obtain more cards and can easily win you the game.

So you delay the combo as much as possible as to extract maximum value and just use minions and weapons to live through early and mid-game?

That's right! My deck is strong even without this combo and I can handle my opponents and rush them with my other cards. Of course, I will use my hounds if necessary, but I was talking about best scenario and how it's best to be played.

I also had a nice combo with 2 Starving Buzzards and one Unleash the Hounds when my enemy had 3 minions for a total of seven cards drawn!

Why didn't you prepare a second class or at least some hunter variation? Aren't you afraid of hard counters?

When you know your class very well, no opponent can win two out of three games! I fought against Druid with taunts, Paladin control decks, Mages, Shamans, Warlocks and even Hunters but I usually won and lived at more than 15 hp.

What specs/classes were most difficult to you overall? I know Druids have been preparing heavy taunt/healing decks to counteract Hunters, bringing Healing Touches, Earthen Ring Farseers, etc.

I lost four games in this tournament so I can tell you easily! I lost two games against Druid with taunts and two games against Mages The Druid deck is very annoying , but I manage to destroy all the taunts with silence or with my minions.

Hunter has been king of limited tournaments along with Warlock Zoo for a while. What should players do to prepare better against those, in your opinion?

Rush down as well. That is my only counter

Yeah but not all classes can.

Yeah, I know, but you can't win against a rush down deck if you just defend yourself. Participate with more decks and try to rush down; if you can't, do a control deck.

So it's either outrace or go full control?

Exactly.

If you hop on community boards like reddit or twitter, you'll read lots of comments about people considering UtH to be a bit too strong now. It's only 2 mana and it can swing games heavily by both giving you board presence and drawing you cards. If you have to look at it objectively and not as a Hunter player, what do you think about that?

It's overpowered and a game changer. It is annoying to play against Hunter with UtH and I think that it should be nerfed.

How would you change it?

I don't want to change the spell but rather make it 3mana so that players can't use UtH + Starving Buzzard + Timber Wolf on Turn 5.

As someone who lost to Buzzard + UtH + double Timber on T6 in last limited tournament, I biasedly agree.

Let's go outside GosuCup for a while and talk about more general stuff. What's next for you in Hearthstone after becoming champion? Do you have any competitive/professional aspirations? Find team, get better, earn some more money?

Of course I would like to be a pro but I really don't know where to start and how to find teams and things like that! If someone could help me I would agree to spend some time to become a pro. I also hope that teams will send me a message and ask me to join them !

What do you think the Hearthstone scene needs more in terms of tournaments? More big ones? More interesting weekly ones? What would you do if you were a tournament organizer?

I would give big prizes, invite a mix of good players like GosuCup winners and recognized pros and organize this one or two times a week.

Alright, man, I think that should do it for the interview and congratulations on your win. Any closing words?

Thank you for the tournament, play smart and greetings, travelers!

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