



GosuCup #4 is done and we've crowned our second Limited King. Inheriting the throne from Vayss - champion of GosuCup #2 - is former Heroes of Newerth competitive player Fibeli3. The Greek player went through the full eight rounds of competition and pinned a 18-2 score before grabbing the $100.

Second to him came Xomg who brought another top four finish for Norway. Dondarrion from Italy and Murloc_1 from Turkey completed the top four.

In unrelated news, GosuCup #4 was the most popular GosuCup tournament since the start of the official cups. 242 players signed up for the event and 189 of them showed up this weekend. The GosuCrew thus likes to thank every single attendee for helping the tournament grow! We hope to see you this coming Sunday as well for GosuCup #5.

GosuCup #4 standings

1. Fibeli3

2. Xomg

3. Dondarrion

4. Murloc_1

5-8. Daxt

5-8. Nydra

5-8. IhaveLethal

5-8. Virtue

Even though they didn't have a player in the top 8 this week, Russia continues to site atop of the GosuCup nation rankings with 11 points, although it does finally find a worth rival. Having a GosuCup champion and two bronze finalists, Italy caught up and is tied with Russia.

Fibeli's success made Greece's big jump into the top ten and the Eastern Europeans are now tied with Germany at 8. Portugal and Norway are tied for fifth place.

Nation standings (Top 10)

1. Russia - 11 points (-)

1. Italy - 11 points (+1)

3. Greece - 8 points (+8)

3. Germany - 8 points (-1)

5. Portugal - 7 points (-1)

5. Norway- 7 points (+6)

7. Czech Republic - 5 points (-2)

7. Sweden- 5 points (-2)

7. Denmark - 5 points (-2)

7. Netherlands - 5 points (-2)

Winners' decklists

How does one win a Limited tournament? Apparently, investing in a Zoolock is the smartest decision. The deck was played by all four semi finalists and played an important part in Fibeli's victory. The champion also brought a Hunter to play against Shamans and a mid-range Rogue for the earlier rounds of the tournament.





Fibeli's decks



In the entire history of the GosuCups, we've rarely seen a player prepare so many decks. GC #4 runner-up Xomg brought not only the full scope of cookie cutters like Zoo, Hunter and Mage, but also invested in a watcher Druid as well as a mid-range Priest. The latter should be a great starting point for players who want to try the class out.





Xomg's decks

Dondarrion's decks

MORE DECKLISTS: ESGN Fight Night (Ek0p vs Forsen, Savjz vs Darkwonyx), Managrind #21

Class stats

For this GosuCup report, we decided to split the data from limited cups from the regular ones in order to have a better look at the limited meta. Let's see what changed

Popularity wise, nothing is different compared to what you'll see on the ladder. Warlock is leading with good 23,7% with Hunter as a runner-up at 15,3%. And why wouldn't they: the cookie cutter rush Hunters and Zoo Warlocks are cheap and powerful picks for tournament environment and no one should be surprised to see them at the top.

Third comes Mage class, which enjoys a good 13,7% pick rate. Spearheaded by Trump's budget build, Jaina is receiving love from players and competes head-to-head with classes like Hunter, Shaman and Druid.

On the very bottom of the table we have Warrior in what's almost a full contrast to the regular constructed meta. Reynad's aggro build is apparently forgotten with epic and legendary cards banned from the tournament, control Warriors are also out of the question, which translates to class' atrocious 3,2% pick rate. Even Priests have more...

Looking at the win rates, Warlock is again on the top, leading with 59,5% as the only class with performance above the 50%. Zoo too strong? It appears so.

Two places from 2nd to 6th have almost identical percentages. Rogue and Druid are coming at second and third place as both of the classes have found good limited solutions: Rogue as a mid-range board control and Druid as a budget variation of the Watcher build.

Champion interview: Fibeli3

Well, you did it - you won the second ever GosuCup Limited, congratulations! How does it feel?

Thanks! It feels great, but I was very confident that I will win!

Oh, why so?

I was prepared very well, I knew which deck I should use every time and how to counter my opponents.

The bracket shows that you had quite the sweeping run. Any match in particular you felt in danger of getting eliminated?

Yes, I made every match to look easy, but it wasn't, especially versus you, Nydra.

Oh, you flatter me! But yeah, that was a close series!

You ran Zoolock most of the games. Is that *the* deck to run in this kind of tournaments? Reynad is a strong advocate of it, even saying it's maybe the best deck in the game overall.

Yes, I ran Zoolock in most of my games and I think it's probably the best overall deck for that type of tournament. It's also a very cheap deck and every new player should give it a shot. I can't say that it' s the best deck, but it's one of the best for sure!

What else did you prepare and why? I know you ran Hunter against my Shaman but was there something else you brought to the tournament?

I used midrange rogue in the first rounds, I think the first time that I played zoolock was against you. The only time I played Hunter was also against you, because you used Shaman and my hunter deck was a great counter.

Hm, that's actually a trend I'm seeing about Rogues being very popular in Limited. What makes the class so good in that format as compared to normal constructed where Rogues struggle a bit?

The limited Rogue deck doesn't have many differences compared to the constructed Rogue deck, which in turn makes it a great choice for limited tournaments. I think miracle is a nice deck for constructed games.

There is no good or bad class, the most important is how to make a great deck that fits in the current meta.

You come from a HoN background so competing in tournaments shouldn't be something new to you. Do you have any card game experience, though, which helped you become good in HS?

My gaming background in HoN and DotA had many online and LAN events, so I have no problems competing in tournaments. Nevertheless HS is my first card game!

Are you planning to make it your primary eSports discipline from now on?

HS is the only game that I playing and I really love it! I will probably try Heroes of the Storm because of my moba experience!

Now that you mentioned it, let's talk Heroes for just a second. What do you think of the game overall? Can it succeed in a market dominated by LoL and Dota?

I saw the game in many streams and I think it will be a nice game, unfortunately I don't have a key to try it by myself. Blizzard is great company with many successful games, of course it can dominate the moba scene.

Many tend to disagree with you on that last part, though. The general opinion is that the lack of items and the talent system is maybe too limiting for the game to become competitive eSports.

I disagree with them. LoL became so popular because it was much easier than DotA and HoN, the lack of deny made the game more easy for the players. Imagine a player that can't get a creep and be without items, he will be mad and probably quit the game.

In my opinion the lack of deny was limiting the game but LoL became the most popular moba in the world. The most important is the amount of the players that play the game and not how it's made.

Back to HS before we wrap up: There are professional teams signing professional players almost every week now. Are you looking to join one?

I was thinking to join a team and apply for the ESGN but I am only 16 year old, so I couldn't play. Maybe in the future I will join one!

You can still form one though, have you ever thought about that?

Not yet, maybe in the future if it's needed for bigger tournaments.

OK, I think we can bring this to a wrap! I don't have 5 quickfire questions for you because I've been playing Diablo till 7 am so instead tell me who're the 5 players you'd pick to make for the Hearthstone dream team!

Haha, OK: FibEli3 (captain), Artosis, Ek0-8p, fibice3 and pew, fibunk0 as manager.

The Raptis family representing, huh? (Editor’s note: Fibice3 and Fibunk0 are Fibeli’s brothers). Anyways, thanks for the interview, man! If you have final words to speak from our podium, do so now.

Shoutout to my brothers!





