16 crafty card-slingers have emerged victorious from the first leg of the Hearthstone World Championship and will soon be heading to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City for what promises to be a showdown of epic proportions. Some participating are tournament veterans, while others are getting their first opportunities to show what they can do one a big stage. Phase two of the World Championship Americas Qualifier Tournament is not an event to be missed!

Before that gets underway, however, let’s take a look at how some of our 16 players got to where they are. We’ll share their decklists, talk about their toughest matchups and help you choose a champion worth cheering for!

FIREBAT

Who was your toughest opponent in the round of 128, and why?

I got to skip it because of ladder performance, but from watching the stream ThatsAdmirable looked scary good! He was able to use strong play to win matchups some people consider to be the most difficult in the game like Handlock against Shaman and Handlock against Hunter. Will be looking forward to seeing his games at NY!

Why are you going to be one of the top 4 players who goes to BlizzCon to represent the Americas region?

I am going to be the Top 4 in NY because I have not only been able to get results, but all of my results have been achieved through a methodical approach focusing on how the classes and decks interact and big picture ideas rather than simple one turn perfectionism. And I believe this has allowed me to improve dramatically with every step forward not only my play, but also improving in how I tech all of my decks.

DECKLIST: Firebat had a bye as a result of excellence in Ranked Ladder play and as such did not have to compete in phase one of the World Championship Americas Qualifier Tournament.

STAZ

Who was your toughest opponent in the round of 128, and why?

I think my toughest opponent would be my fellow Philippine Representative Chalk. It was unfortunate that we had to play against each other on the second day of Americas Qualifiers. I lost to him with a score of 3-1 and I only got that single win because he made a misplay. He was playing Priest and played the Auchenai + Circle of Healing + Zombie Chow combo but the Auchenai died before the Chow did so it ended up healing me and cost him the game. His priest has a unique combination of cards that I haven't seen before and is just too consistent. It is kinda like the new deathrattle priest with a mixture of shade of naxxramas, auchenai, argus and circle of healing.

Why are you going to be one of the top 4 players who goes to BlizzCon to represent the Americas region?

I think I can somehow come up with a good strategy to make it to the top 4 even though they are better than me. I'll try to figure out the best deck and strategies after the next patch. I'll definitely train hard and do a lot of research before the tournament.

DECKLIST: Staz crushed the opposition with his Control Warrior build!

STRIFECRO

Who was your toughest opponent in the round of 128, and why?

My toughest spot in the first phase of the qualifiers was when I was I opened warrior vs hongrongz. He played an aggroish priest and I felt like warrior was my best deck versus this. My other decks weren't the greatest vs this kind of priest but I lost game 1 as warrior. I also got a feeling from the first game that his play was quite good as well, but luckily I managed to win the next game as hunter.

Why are you going to be one of the top 4 players who goes to BlizzCon to represent the Americas region?

I feel like I have a good grasp of many of Hearthstone's concepts and mechanics that many other players might not have thought about as much. I don't actually spend a lot of time training and in fact, I have never considered playing any game of Hearthstone as training. I am a constant brewmaster and I prefer spending my time testing decks and the concepts that go into each deck. This means that my decks in my Hearthstone client are always changing and I frequently won't have any lists that I have decided on even 1 day before a tournament when decklists are due. It does mean that I have an easy time coming up with a lot of decks quickly because I play everything and I am always adjusting lists.

DECKLIST: StrifeCro made short work of his foes with his trusty Tempo Druid Deck!

THATSADMIRABLE

Who was your toughest opponent in the round of 128, and why?

Myself! I made some errors I really shouldn’t have and they cost me games. I need to remember to think clearly and continue to slow down.

Why are you going to be one of the top 4 players who goes to BlizzCon to represent the Americas region?

Because I believe I am the strongest player.

DECKLIST: ThatsAdmirable befuddled his foes with a truly secretive Mage deck!

TAREI

Who was your toughest opponent in the round of 128, and why?

My toughest opponent in the round of 128 was Diesel. He played a Handlock deck which was one of the decks I feared the most, and it came down to a Handlock mirror in the fifth and final game of the match. There weren't necessarily any crazy plays, but the last game went down to the wire as I barely found lethal with only a Farseer against his Molten/Mountain Giant on the board and about 7 cards remaining in the deck for both of us.

Why are you going to be one of the top 4 players who goes to BlizzCon to represent the Americas region?

I will be one of the top 4 players who goes to Blizzcon because I will play the best versions of the best decks. On ladder, I play various versions of the best decks extensively to see what does well in both the current meta and against a variety of other decks. In addition, I always reconsider my decks and my plays, so I will always keep improving rather than blaming other factors for my losses. Lastly, I have a friend who knows magic so that always helps!

DECKLIST: Tarei called forth Giants and Drakes with his own version of Handlock!

CHAKKI

Who was your toughest opponent in the round of 128, and why?

My toughest opponent was Tarei. Going into it, I knew Tarei was a big fan of Miracle and would likely lead off with it. It was also probable that he had a Hunter deck, but I had no clue what his third deck was. I tried to beat his Miracle deck with my own, but we both had pretty weird no-Auctioneer draws and he ended up getting the damage he needed. Shaman was my strongest deck, but was at a huge disadvantage vs. Miracle Rogue, so I needed my Hunter deck to kill off his Miracle in game 2. Luckily, I drew pretty well and was able to squeeze out just enough damage with a Leeroy Jenkins finisher. His Hunter crushed mine in the mirror match and put me at a 1-2 disadvantage. Game 4 was Shaman vs. Hunter, which I was very comfortable with. In a somewhat close game, I was able to survive his aggressive push and kill him with Al'Akir and Doomhammer. Loading into game 5 was very nerve wracking as I had no clue what to expect. When the Warock portrait popped on my screen, I was super relieved. I correctly assumed he was Handlock and, despite some errors on my part, the game was a pretty easy win.

Why are you going to be one of the top 4 players who goes to BlizzCon to represent the Americas region?

At this point, all the players remaining are extremely skilled and I don't see myself having a massive advantage over them. I will put in as much time as I can to practice for the event, which will be very important with the upcoming changes to Starving Buzzard and Leeroy Jenkins changing everything. I think I will be fine in the highly stressful environment of the live finals, where some players might be nervous as its their first time at a live event. As far as unique insight goes, I think I go for very aggressive percentage based plays that a lot of players are scared to do; some players will use a lot of their resources to control the board and get into a fight they cannot win, I try to avoid that position and go for whatever chance I might have.

DECKLIST: Chakki managed to secure his spot with some help from Xixo's midrange Shaman deck.

If you're going to be in the New York City area on October 5th and 6th, be sure to RSVP for a spot at the World Championship Americas Qualifier Tournament, live from the Hammerstein Ballroom! 16 players will be competing for four spots at the Hearthstone World Championship at BlizzCon 2014!

Build your own Hearthstone decks at Hearthstone fan sites such as HearthPwn and Hearthhead.