Singaporean success in week 1 of eHL. Decklists inside

Note: As group's winners are required to use the same decks in the cycle playoffs as well, we cannot reveal them just yet. Expect a full feature covering them after the playoffs are done next week.

Group A: Crea's Control

The first group of this new tournament series was highly anticipated, but also bugged by issues of a higher authority. The official start of the event was delayed by one day after the Blizzard servers for the region declined crashed midway through the opening match. Coming off that extensive rest, Crea seized his opportunity and not only won the "abandoned" game of the first day but also rolled the competition that followed. He used a standard Druid and a Handlock and those were too much to handle for the opponent.

After this success, Crea is not only in the great position of being the first player from the tournament to have made it into the playoffs, he also made it without revealing anything from his third deck. Malfurion's natural resources and Gul'dan's dark magic tricks were enough to edge out crazerk, Blooded and the winless daijo and clinch the spot.

The other three are now out of the race for the eHL Season 1 crown, as they couldn't get past Crea at all. No matter what decks they tried to throw at him, the Singaporean player always came out on top and only dropped two maps. Only the Druid of crazerk without any big alterations from the "StrifeCro Druid" and Blooded's version of a Molten Giant Mage were strong enough to edge out the Handlock of Crea; his Druid stayed undefeated throughout.

Gelbin Mekkatorque in his Completely out of sorts was daijo in this group, as he couldn't score a single victory. The young player from Singapore tried literally everything - even ain his Priest Deck - but nothing worked. He left the group stage after an 0-6 run and virtually no chances on any map whatsoever. He still will forever be remembered as the gutsy guy that played Priest and that Legendary card in a competitive tournament.

Player G W L P Crea 8 6 2 6 Blooded 7 5 2 5 crazerk 7 3 4 3 daijo 6 0 6 0 Matches and results

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Blooded's aggro Paladin Blooded's trigger Warrior Blooded's Giants Mage

Group B: Wensushi with ease

While Group A was one with three Singaporeans and just one player from Malaysia, Group B featured more variety in terms of country representation. It had Tokky from Vietnam and iNomChu from Malaysia balanced it out just a pinch who balanced Singapore's Wensushi and Silfer.

The path of a second Singaporean player straight to the playoffs still couldn't be blocked as Wensushi rose up to the challenge and delivered a beatdown of his opponents. Only his fellow countryman Silfer could bring him down, pushing his record to 6-1.

The main attraction of the group was the excitement of equal competition though. Beyond Wensushi, all of the three other players managed to win three games. With the point system in place as it was, this resulted in equality of the points they all won - although Tokky lost one game less and therefore takes home the first runner-up spot.

In terms of variety in decks it was fairly spectacular as well, as it went from standard Warrior Aggression à la Reynad over StrifeCro spawns of a Druid deck all the way to Weapon Warriors geared towards the late-game. In the end StrifeCro indirectly won this battle of different deck variations because of Wensushi claiming all his six wins with the clawing power of Malfurion, as the forces of nature were on the side of the young Singaporean.

Player G W L P Wensushi 7 6 1 6 Tokky 7 3 4 3 iNomChu 8 3 5 3 Silfer 8 3 5 3 Matches and results

Click on schedule and then the match to watch the VODs and see attached decklists Click on schedule and then the match to watch the VODs and see attached decklists

Doomsayer Rogue by Inomchu Late weapon Warrior by Inomchu Standard aggro warrior by Tokky

Group C: Singapore > Philippines

From the tri-national Group B to the bi-national Group C with two players from Singapore and two representing the white, blue and red from the Philippines. Kaiel came in as the known player, as he was already a part of the big Hearthstone Alley Tournament in Singapore at the end of 2013 - taking a respectable spot within the Top 8 there. Just like crazerk, this didn't guarantee him a good finish here though as Yamafuda walked away with the ticket to the playoffs. He was the second Singaporean in the group, finishing ultimately with a record of 6-1.



Yamafuda's only loss came against the Filipino HAVATITE on his way to a respectable 3-4 record. He was only topped by Kaiel, who ousted Jinos and lost to Yamafude, only to win the direct clash against HAVATITE for the runner-up spot. This obviously has no impact on the remainder of the tournament with only the champion of each group advancing, but with more and more content and competition arising all around the world, it's a nice confidence boost.

The confidence of Yamafuda should also be miles high after this performance, reaching the playoffs by getting victories on two different decks using not only Druid - the go to class for many winners before him - but also making his Shaman work against HAVATITE and Kaiel. He will now enter the playoffs with one deck still unrevealed and the reassurance of being successful with the other two. Adversaries like aggressive Warlock decks, late-game oriented Paladin decks, Handlocks or Aggro-Warriors couldn't bring him to sweat: Also a nice confidence booster.

Player G W L P Yamafuda 7 6 1 6 Kaiel 6 4 2 4 HAVATITE-WRONG 7 3 4 3 Jinos 6 0 6 0 Matches and results

Click on schedule and then the match to watch the VODs and see attached decklists Click on schedule and then the match to watch the VODs and see attached decklists

Kaiel's control Paladin Kaiel's control Shaman HAVATITE's Handlock

Group D: Transitioning from HoN to Hearthstone

The headline already indicates it: Group D was won by a player that used to be a part of one of the most successful HoN teams in Singapore. Trinity from iMpunity did not only defend the honor of HoN against Zenith in a special challenge, he was also a part of the latest SEA HoN Tour team that almost made it to the big conclusion of the Global HoN Tour Finals. Now him and his iMpunity captain Rhonn are in the mix for the Hearthstone glory in eHL and at least one part has delivered.

Trinity was fighting against Kyenn, JoeyA and SmileyRambo, who could come close to him, but never closed the deal entirely. Sometimes it was just the power of the topdecks, sometimes it was merely outplayed - the ways in which Trinity marched through the group to a 6-1 record were not always straight, but always leading to success, only SmileyRambo from Malaysia able to knock one deck of him down. The lover of Hogger managed to overwhelm Trinity's Druid on the first match, but then got outraced by his aggressive Warlock twice in a row.

That fate of many small Warlock minions tickling you to death was not the way JoeyA and Kyenn fell down, as they couldn't overcome the initial Druid deck of Trinity and therefore got demolished twice by many trees hitting rather hard.

Group D made a somewhat bigger splash in terms of deck representation compared to the other three. Disguised as straight up Druid decks, standard control Shamans or aggressive versions of Warrior and Hunter, some odd balls snuck in in several decks. Some choices in the deck left observers wondering - in awe or disbelief - and some increased the entertainment value by a lot. SmileyRambo is leading in this category, as he was the only player on the first weekend who gave both Hogger and King Mukla a chance to shine. The aggressive Gnole was was featured two of his decks and Mukla ruled two more as the King of the Apes. Other interesting decisions in terms of deckbuilding were made by JoeyA, who ran his Druid without the feared Savage Roar , but incorporated Power of the Wild and Boulderfist Ogre into his deck. Also his Shaman deck without the inclusion of Unbound Elemental , but with heavy overload and the burst of two Lava Burst is interesting at the very least.

Player G W L P Trinity.sg 7 6 1 6 Kyenn 6 4 2 4 JoeyA 6 2 4 2 SmileyRambo 7 1 6 1 Matches and results Mid-range Hunter Aggressive trigger Warrior Mid-range Druid What is next? With half of the first cycle already played out, the second half of the players is now eagerly awaiting their chance in the spotlight of the EpicGamingTelevision broadcast. Group E kicks off on Wednesday with xNVx, Derikku, AweNoProb and the Philippines hope Bing. None of these players has been in the Hearthstone Alley Tournament in Singapore two months ago, so predictions are basically shooting in the dark. It gets clearer with Group F which features Allura who was a part of the HAT spectacle. Overall his performance in the group stage and the bracket stage of that tournament wasn't very successful with a combined record of 2-4 in matches, but two months more of experience could help him overcome his Singaporean countrymen Clutch and BcdGavin, as well as Philippines player Persona. Group G is pretty much a replica of (no) storylines with Group E with no HAT veterans, but three Singaporeans and one Filipino player. JEMsan, Bojangy, Josiah and coldznap are all looking to pounce on the big stage of Southeast Asia with authority, this being the first step towards glory and towards the eHL Season 1 playoffs. Ending and probably headlining this event is Group H with Attoken of Hearthstone Alley Tournament fame as the 5th/6th finisher of that event, and with Rhonn from HoN and iMpunity. The former captain is looking to follow his teammate Trinity into the next round and the playoffs, although the competition with lemniscate, Attoken and deephurtz as the only Indonesian player in the entire tournament is stiff. Can Singapore keep up the streak? Will Attoken and Allura capitalize on their HAT experience? Is Rhonn going to be the second iMpunity player in the playoffs?