

Photo: Abraham Engelmark / DreamHack

The best tournament in Hearthstone history is over.

This might sound like an overstatement but it really isn't. Spanning over more than 40 hours of broadcasting and featuring some of the most entertaining Bo5 series ever streamed, the BlizzCon European qualifiers offered a show to be remembered.

Looking back at the entire event, recapping it in a few paragraphs seems almost impossible, but a good place to start would be the production quality. Coming off of near-flawless DreamHack Summer, the DH crew brought their game even further, setting up what looked like the coziest studio to play Hearthstone, creating an atmosphere befitting a game of the mind. Supported by the rock-solid casting desk of Artosis, Savjz and Frodan, the show was entrancing, holding the massive viewership which peaked above 110,000 on the final day, for hours on end.

Yet, competitive Hearthstone is, in the end, all about the games and the tournament was fortunate enough to have one close face-off after another. Fourteen of the twenty group stage matches went to the full five games as the players gave their best to make the playoffs. Some ultimately failed to do so, as community favorites like Neirea, Reynad and Lifecoach packed their bags on Friday evening while underdogs such as Kaor, Thefishou and MrYagut forged the first chapters of their careers. While it's too early to say if those names are here to stay, the storylines they helped forge were a large part of what made the BlizzCon EU qualifiers unique.

As with every big event, however, not everything was flawless. With twelve Bo5's scheduled for Friday and with so many series going the full distance, fans, casters and players were caught in a 20-hour broadcast marathon, leaving all parties exhausted at the end of the day. While some competitors had the luck of starting and finishing early, the quartet from Group D had to stay up until 03:00 CET before they were even given the chance to begin their series. When the broadcast went offline, it was past 06:30 CET on Saturday morning.

Though this made for a record-breaking broadcast, some criticism ought to be directed at those responsible for scheduling the playdays. The tournament began as early as Wednesday but gave out Thursday as a day-off, not only creating a schedule gap but cramming all the remaining group stage games on Friday. A quick glimpse onto recent tournaments like Deck Wars S2 finals or VGVN 3which also had players and viewers endure long playdays should've been a good indication that the current meta sets a very strict limit on how many games can be shown each day before entering the "too much" zone.

And while watching quality Hearthstone is always a treat, there're diminishing returns on the enjoyment after going strong for almost an entire day.

Class popularity and win-rates

Graph 1: Percentile representation of classes based on games played (including 5th place consolation)

During our day one analysis, we glimpsed at the class represented in players' line-ups and saw that Warlock was the popularity king, followed by Druid, Priest and Paladin. When it comes to actual games played, however, things stand a bit differently.

Taking part of 17% of all 117 games played is Priest. Considered to be one of the new kings of competitive play now that the meta has slowed down, Priest was the go-to choice for many players and with good reason. Players like Numberguy, ThijsNL, Thefishou and Kaor own their tournament success in large part to Anduin, as they were seen winning three-in-a-row with the class, essentially taking the series.

Just one percent below Priest is Druid in its various forms. The diversity of the class as well as its well-roundedness was a driving factor for its popularity as aggressive and control decks alike were used by Europe's top 16. A closer look at the games played also shows that Druid is one of the most preferred decks to open a series with: a total of 8 out of all 27 Bo5s - or almost 30% - began with Druid played by at least one of the combatants.

Speaking of well-roundedness, we see Shaman rounding up the top 3. With Hunters out of the picture, players felt more confident using the totem caller in competitive games, without fear of getting hard countered. With control counters like Earth Shock and Hex and the ability to apply pressure through their hero power, Shamans do stand out as a desired pick, even though their actual win-rate has been subpar in this particular tournament.

Tied for fourth/fifth are the heavy control builds of Warlock and Paladin, both with 14%. Which wouldn't be the case if Warlock was not so heavily banned by pretty much everyone but this was to be expected - Handlocks were theorized to be the next deck-to-beat, being one of the best control decks since its creation, only really losing to Hunter (now "dead") and Shaman.

Graph 2: Class win-rates after day three (including 5th place consolation)

Win-rates-wise, Mage stands as queen of the race. Jaina was already on her way there, boasting a 71% win-rate after day one and being third after Shaman and Druid, and now with all games played, she only managed to climb up the rankings. This percentage mostly stems from Thefishou's excellent performance on his aggro Mage, bringing five of all its seven wins and almost finishing the group stages with a perfect 6-0.

Second in the win-rates is Druid, holding its runner-up spot from day one. And while this shouldn't come as a shocker, seeing Hunter as third ought to. After the first round of group stage matches, the beast master had won a total of zero matches but made a miraculous comeback on days two and three. Although this number is heavily affected by the very few games the class actually played, a curtsey goes towards MrYagut and his unorthodox Hunter build (featured below), which managed to surprise Kaor and the casters in the quarterfinals and then 3-1 Frezzar in the consolation bracket.

Just one percent below is Warlock at 55%, a number way more representative than Hunter's and the last one above the 50% line. Four of the remaining classes in Priest, Paladin, Warrior and Shaman are all gravitating just below this mark with Rogue being the only real anomaly. At mere 31%, Valeera is doing the worst our of all Hearthstone heroes as neither the Miracle nor the aggro builds got any success.

Note: Have in mind that this data is based on one tournament alone. Until more post-nerf tournaments are played, we can't know for sure if Rogue really suffered more than Hunter following the changes.

Featured decks: MrYagut's Hunter

Another cool deck you should check out is Thefishou's aggro Mage

If you missed the BlizzCon European qualifiers, chances are you're constantly hearing about that MrYagut fella who apparently rocked a crazy Hunter deck and shocked players and casters alike. There's a very, very good reason for that.

The young German was already casters' favorite due to his intricate in-game decisions that only made sense after his opponents lay defeated in the ground, but things escalated to a whole new level during the quarter finals. In the opening game against Kaor, MrYagut showcased a Hunter deck like no other, at least as far as contemporary meta is concerned.

MrYagut's build is very reminiscent of old-school closed beta control Hunters which used weapons and direct removal to live till their finishers, usually a combination of the old Unleash the Hounds (giving all beasts +1/+0 and Charge), Timber Wolf and Young Dragonhawk for an OTK burst. MrYagut doesn't use that for obvious reasons, instead going for the standard line-up of finishers like Savannah Highmane and Cairne Bloodhoof. He also runs the ubiquitous Hunter's Mark, Flare, Freezing Trap, Animal Companion and Mad Scientist but this is where the standard ends.

All throughout the curve, MrYagut makes curious card choices all with the purpose of surviving. There's a single Snipe to wound threats or straight up kill cards like Gadgetzan Auctioneer or Azure Drake. There's a Deadly Shot and a Multi-Shot to counter control decks and mid-range decks, respectively. We have Gnomish Inventor and two Azure Drakes as cantrips and even a single Cult Master (yes!) as an additional card draw engine. Why the Cult Master? Well, to work with the two Violet Teachers, of course.

Note: This deck is as cool as it is dangerous. Do not try this at home or, you know, if you want to climb the ladder.

Decklists collection

This collection will be updated as we get new information