If you’re a fan of the Warcraft universe, you’re likely a fan of artist Alex Horley—whether you know it or not! Alex is responsible for some the most iconic visuals to come out of Blizzard in the past 15 years. From his spectacular key art for Warlords of Draenor to his countless contributions for Hearthstone, it’s likely you’re already familiar with his body of work.

The Person

Alex, born Alessandro Orlandelli, hails from the small town of Opera outside of Milan, Italy, where he taught himself the English language by reading comic books. “I've been drawing for as long as I can remember,” Alex said. “In my very early years, all I wanted to do was draw comics. I grew up with artists like Jack Kirby and John Buscema from the bronze age of Marvel in the seventies.”

As a teenager, Alex fell in love with the work of Frank Frazetta, an American fantasy and science fiction artist and one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. Alex searched books...

There is a new Lackey in the Tavern courtesy of the new Descent of Dragons expansion, the [[Draconic Lackey]]! If you check out the card description, you’ll see that Draconic Lackey is a 1 mana 1/1 that Discovers a Dragon. If you’re playing Standard, Draconic Lackey will pull from all collectible Dragons in Standard, and if you’re playing Wild it will pull from the pool of Dragons in Wild. It follows the normal Discover rules, meaning you will only get to choose between Neutral Dragons and those that belong to the class you play.

Lackey Generators

[[Whispers of EVIL]]
[[EVIL Conscripter]]
[[EVIL Miscreant]]
[[Sludge Slurper]]
[[EVIL Totem]]
[[Sinister Deal]]
[[EVIL Genius]]
[[Improve Morale]]
[[Livewire Lance]]
[[EVIL Quartermaster]]
[[EVIL Cable Rat]]

Lackeys are also generated in Galakrond Rogue every time Galakrond is Invoked, and with the use of [[Galakrond's Guile]].

Like other Lackeys, Draconic Lackey is an non-collectible card generated by several cards introduced...

Bárbara "TheTeacher" Coelho is a mathematics major at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, but she grew up just a few hours’ drive north in the small town of Pereiro, where everyone knows each other. As a well-behaved kid with good grades and a big family, she was one of just four students her age at school. This allowed for a close teacher-student relationship that would inspire her to pursue education as a career.

“I am becoming a middle and high school teacher,” said TheTeacher. “Kids never like math, but I think there is an opportunity to join games with teaching, especially in mathematics where there are so many possibilities to do so.”

When she was introduced to Hearthstone by her boyfriend and current ORO Esports teammate Miguel “Reliquary” Galante, the blend of art and arithmetic spoke to her soul. “He tried to make me play other games before but failed, until Hearthstone captivated me!”

After watching Masters Tour S...

Some Wild cards are returning to Standard for a limited time! Here is the full list:

• Druid - [[Astral Communion]], [[Kun the Forgotten King]]
• Mage - [[Babbling Book]], [[Flamewaker]]
• Paladin - [[Mysterious Challenger]], [[Avenge]]
• Hunter - [[Lock and Load]], [[Call of the Wild]]
• Shaman – [[Evolve]], [[Thing from Below]]
• Rogue - [[Shaku, the Collector]], [[Swashburglar]]
• Priest - [[Lightbomb]], [[Vol'jin]]
• Warlock - [[Imp Gang Boss]], [[Renounce Darkness]]
• Warrior - [[Varian Wrynn]], [[Bloodhoof Brave]]
• Neutral - [[N'Zoth, the Corruptor]], [[Sylvanas Windrunner]], [[Ragnaros the Firelord]], [[The Curator]], [[Emperor Thaurissan]]

These meta-defining cards from years past will be in play for the Grandmasters Playoffs and at Masters Tour Bucharest! We’ve got Europe Division B standings leader Jaromír "Jarla" Vyskočil to break down what this injection of nostalgia means for the competition.

“I'm looking forward to playing with old legendary cards like [[Sylvanas Windrunner...

An all French finals punctuated the last day of Masters Tour Seoul, with Théo “Felkeine“ Dumont squaring off against Martin “Zhym” Prêté in an identical Highlander Mage mirror match for the history books.

Despite the massive stakes, both players blazed through their turns at an unusually fast tempo, snapping down cards before the animation of drawing them was completed. They went blow-for-blow, often casting the same card back-to-back with [[Arcane Keysmith]] following [[Arcane Keysmith]], [[SN1P-SN4P]] following [[SN1P-SN4P]], and so on.

But it was Felkeine who clenched the win in the final game of the series after Zhym placed the fate of both players in the hands of a [[Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron]].

“It’s so unreal,” Felkeine said. “Three days ago, I entered the tournament and went 1-1 to start, and here I am!”

Felkeine was certainly studied up, having played a total of 23 Mage mirrors on the road ...

We have our Top 8 here at Masters Tour Seoul! One of the players listed below will take home the trophy, the title, and the lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool!

• Shuda “RNGLys” Liu – 11-1 with Hunter in Swiss
• Euneil “Staz” Javinas – 10-2 with Hunter in Swiss
• Théo “Felkeine“ Dumont – 10-2 with Mage in Swiss
• Martin “Zhym” Prêté – 10-2 with Mage in Swiss
• Lionel “Magoho“ Michaud – 10-2 with Warrior in Swiss
• Jack “DeadDraw” Bancroft – 10-2 with Warrior in Swiss
• Gregoire “Un33D” Bodin – 10-2 with Rogue in Swiss
• Sangsoo “Sooni” Nam – 9-3 with Priest in Swiss

Despite making up a little more than 10% of the field of registered competitors, no North American player remains in the Top 8. In fact, half the players in the Top 8 are from France! Bien joué!

Staz is the only Grandmaster remaining in the running. “When I heard that I was the only Grandmaster left, I felt pressured,” Staz said. “Maybe all the other Grandmasters will be watching! I will just do my best a...

54 countries were represented among 324 players that participated in the opening rounds of Masters Tour Seoul on Friday, with approximately half of the players in attendance returning from Masters Tour Las Vegas. After 7 rounds of Swiss, only 162 players remain in the running for the trophy ahead of Day 2!

Hot Streak

Only Martin "Zhym" Prête, Jack "DeadDraw" Bancroft, and Asia-Pacific Grandmaster Euneil "Staz" Javiñas will start Day 2 with a clean record, piloting Highlander Mage, Control Warrior, and Highlander Hunter respectively.

Promising Priests

Mage is the most popular class of the tournament, making up just over a third of the field, but it was Priest that really stole the show in the initial rounds. New cards such as [[Psychopomp]], [[Neferset Ritualist]], and [[Injured Tol'vir]] have created space for the class to take better trades in the early-mid game­­—buying time to find to [[Chef Nomi]] or those crucial combo pieces. The newest deck iterations ha...

After winning the Grandmasters Season 1 Playoffs in Asia-Pacific and securing his spot at BlizzCon, South Korean Kim "Surrender" Jung-Soo went to work on unraveling the Saviors of Uldum meta. This weekend he’ll put his knowledge to the test on home turf at Masters Tour Seoul, where he’ll compete alongside hundreds of invited players from across the world.

Obviously, Surrender would love nothing more than to claim the trophy himself. “I’ve been playing Hearthstone for at least 8 hours every day since the new expansion came out,” he said. “The players with the most practice in such a short term will typically have higher chances! Whenever there is a tournament after a big patch, the player who predicts the meta and finds the best deck in the shortest time always wins.”

Mummified Meta

Surrender expects popular archetypes such as Cyclone Mage, Lackey Rogue, and Control Warrior to make up half the field at Masters Tour Seoul. However, he knows deck-builders are always tinkering w...

23-year-old Xiaomeng “VKLiooon” Li made history last week, becoming the first woman to qualify to the Hearthstone Global Finals with her win at the Gold Open Tianjin Master Group Season 1 Playoffs.

“Being qualified for the Hearthstone Global Finals is by far the highest finish I’ve achieved in my Hearthstone career,” VKLiooon said, “This is my first time to be able to get global attention as a representative of China. This is the best way to strike back at those people who doubted me only because I am a girl. It proves that girls can be strong pro players, just as guys do.”

VKLiooon hails from a small town in the Xinjiang Province in Northwes...

Grandmasters Season 1 has come to an end and three players have punched their ticket to the Hearthstone Global Finals at BlizzCon this November!

In Asia-Pacific, Kim "Surrender" Jung-soo defeated Tyler 'Tyler' Hoang Nguyen only to fall to Liu “Shaxy” Wei-Chieh in the initial stages of the bracket. He redeemed himself by advancing past Euneil “Staz” Javiñas in the Semifinals before besting Yashima “Alutemu” Nozomi in the Finals 3-1.

I won APAC Grandmasters Season 1 and i am going to Blizzcon this year! I couldn't be happier than now 
Shoutout to all the korean players who helped my practice during the whole season ^_^

— Jungsoo Kim (@Surrender_hs) July 14, 2019

In Europe, Chris "Fenomeno" Tsakopoulos moved past Linh "Seiko" Nguyen in the initial bracket before winning 2-0 against his teammate Jon "Orange" Westberg. He duked it out with Seiko again in the finals and clenched his spot at BlizzCon with a 3-0 victory.

GOING TO BLIZZCON!!!!!! No words, just a big thanks to ...

Lucas “Rase” Guerra narrowly missed out on playoff qualification this past weekend after an unfortunate disconnect cost him his final series of Season 1 against Ryan "Purple" Murphy-Root. This came on the heels of the first ever tie in Grandmasters, when the two players hit the turn timer in the first game of the set.  

“After being 7-4, losing three in a row and missing playoffs was really frustrating for me, especially after the disconnect in my last series” Rase said. “I'm the kind of guy that never surrenders and always tries to fight until the end.  But sometimes these things happen, so I must raise my head and move on. I would like to thank everyone that cheered and supported me.” Rase explained that even though he is sad for not making playoffs, he is also very proud of himself. “I know I've tried my best and will work hard to go even further next season,” he said.

We’ve asked Rase to give his playoff predictions for each region. He has happily obliged but has prov...

The final week of the regular season is upon us, and the playoff picture is becoming clear. Locking up the first place spot in each division yields a first round bye, putting the best in each region one step closer to that coveted spot at the Global Finals.

The field consist entirely of Mage, Rogue, Hunter, and Warrior this week with some variance in primary decks and more drastic variance in secondary and tertiary list. In terms of secondary inclusions [[Walk the Plank]] has become prevalent for Rogue, and we’re seeing more mech packages featuring [[Coppertail Imposter]] and [[Wargear]] across the board. Asia-Pacific’s Dasol “Ryvius” Sim brought Plaguebringer in his secondary, one of the new basic cards introduced last week. You can find all the Week 7 deck list on our schedule page here. 

Surrender vs. tom60229—Friday, July 5, at 4am PT / 12pm CET

Chen "tom60229" Wei Lin has struggled to post results in Grandmasters Season 1 so far. His Week 7 opponent Kim "Surrender" Jung...

Only two weeks remain before the Season 1 Playoffs! While the class meta is largely the same for Grandmasters Week 6, we’re seeing a few trends with cards such as [[Half-Time Scavenger]], [[Faerie Dragon]], [[Questing Adventurer]], and [[E.M.P. Operative]] popping up more in secondary and tertiary packages.

Thijs "Thijs" Molendijk brought [[Auchenai Soulpriest]] in his [[Chef Nomi]] Priest, [[Mecha'thun]] can be found in multiple decks in the Americas, and SamuelTsao has enlisted the help of [[Hungry Crab]]. You can find all of the Week 6 deck list on our schedule page here. 

Hunterace vs. Pavel—Friday, June 7, at 9am PT / 5pm CET

World Champions collide in Week 6 of Grandmasters. Both players are on Bomb Warrior this week, but Pavel "Pavel" Beltukov seems favored in the inital game of the series with [[Archivist Elysiana]] and [[Harrison Jones]] in his primary deck. Pavel handed Casper "Hunterace" Notto a 2-1 loss when the two players met in a Week 2 Mage Mirror. 

Ryvius v...

24-year-old Eddie "Eddie" Lui, formerly known as Seohyun628, was born in Canada but raised in Hong Kong. At the age of 18 he moved back to the land of maple syrup, and currently resides in Vancouver where he’s finishing up his university studies in Business Administration.

Eddie traveled all over the States last year, participating in every single Tour Stop in the Americas and two outside the country in Italy and South Korea. His biggest accomplishment from back then was winning DreamHack Atlanta with Toggwaggle Druid, Clone Priest, Deathrattle Hunter, and Odd Warrior.

Won DreamHack Atlanta! pic.twitter.com/5QiwmSYpue

— LZR | Eddie (@LZR_Eddie) November 18, 2018

One thing that makes Eddie stand out to viewers and opponents alike is that he’s the only player that brought Bomb Warrior to the first 4 weeks of Hearthstone Grandmasters. “I really like the flexibility of Bomb Warrior where you can play an aggressive style or a control style depending on how the hand was issued and th...

After Yoann "Hypno" Pfersich’s hijinks with [[Azalina Soulthief]] at Masters Tour Las Vegas, both Kevin "Casie" Eberlein and Jon "Orange" Westberg have opted to submit a similar Bomb Warrior list for Grandmasters Week 5 featuring [[Armorsmith]], [[Cruel Taskmaster]], [[Improve Morale]], and [[Grommash Hellscream]]. Dasol “Ryvius” Sim is on Control Shaman, Raphael "Bunnyhoppor" Peltzer is playing [[Revenge of the Wild]] in Midrange Hunter, and Vladislav "SilverName" Sinotov doubled down on his Week 4 Token Druid. You can browse the submitted deck list for Week 5 here.

Fr0zen vs. Firebat—Friday, June 21, at 12pm PT / 8pm CET

Brought the to GM so gotta practice it live https://t.co/d96hNQDdtG. Thx @Bunnyhoppor and @Liquid_hsdog for prep pic.twitter.com/OaiBSa9dYh

— Frank Zhang (@Liquid_Fr0zen) June 20, 2019

While Fr0zen’s run in Vegas didn’t work out quite as well as his teammate David "dog" Caero, he did have a hand in helping our newly crowned champion craft his deck list for th...

David “dog” Caero won out 3-1 in an all-Americas final over Edward “Gallon” Goodwin at Masters Tour Las Vegas. The ‘second-place curse’ that has plagued dog for years seems to have finally been lifted. “It's crazy! I came in expecting to flop out,” dog said. “You never expect to win these things. I've never won anything, so this is cool! It feels awesome.”

Dog’s built his hybrid Freeze Mage deck list (with the help of his teammate Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang) around the strategy of using the recently buffed Luna’s Pocket Galaxy to discount expensive minions such as Kalecgos, Alexstrasza, and Archmage Antonidas. His tertiary deck featured the inclusion of Deranged Doctor, which helped him out of more than one sticky situation.

Deranged Doctor for the save ...but wait, it gets EVEN BETTER! @Liquid_hsdog

A 2:0 lead now and it's match point with the #MastersTourVegas trophy on the line! pic.twitter.com/b8eGke5RjY — Hearth...

The Top 8 of Masters Tour Las Vegas has been decided! One of the players listed below will take home the trophy, the title, and the $100,000 prize for first place.

• Wataru “posesi” Ishibashi – 11-1 with Mage in Swiss
• Yoann “Hypno” Pfersich – 10-2 with Warrior in Swiss
• Edward “Gallon” Goodwin – 10-2 with Warrior in Swiss
• Maxime “Kalàxz” Thierry – 10-2 with Mage in Swiss
• Eugene “Neirea” Shumilin – 10-2 with Rogue in Swiss
• Chen “tom60229” Wei Lin – 10-2 with Mage in Swiss
• Chris “Fenomeno” Tsakopoulos – 9-3 with Mage in Swiss
• David “dog” Caero – 9-3 with Mage in Swiss

We have some Grandmasters in the running with tom60229 representing Asia-Pacific, dog representing the Americas, and Fenomeno representing Europe. All players that went at least 9-3 in the tournament have earned invites to both Masters Tour Seoul and Masters Tour Bucharest.

The initial rounds of the dual tournament groups unfolded Saturday ni...

The scene at the LINQ hotel during check-in on Friday morning included a long line of familiar faces and new challengers. With $500,000 on the line, 287 players sat down at the tables with the common goal of taking home the Masters Tour Las Vegas Trophy and a good chunk of that prize money. 49 countries from around the world were represented in total on Friday, but only 144 competitors remain in the running ahead of the second day of play.

A Perfect Score

Only David "Dog" Caero, Edward “Gallon” Goodwin, and Yoann "Hypno" Pfersich will resume Swiss on day 2 with a perfect match record. You can see the standings and find the full list of the players still in contention on the Masters Tour Las Vegas Battlefy page.

A Magical Mage Mirror

Casper “Hunterace” Notto and David “Justsaiyan” Shan went blow for blow in the HCT system, and it was Justsaiyan who poetically handed Hunterace his only loss at the 2019 HCT World Championship. Both Grandmasters prepared for Masters ...

Today we have the United Kingdom’s own David "SirSalty" Chee to give his unique perspective on what we can expect to see at Masters Tour Las Vegas this weekend. SirSalty won the first tournament he ever played in, a UK Nationals, where he beat George "BoarControl" Webb in the finals. After finding that win, he traveled to Norway where he took Top 8 at HCT Oslo. It took him three tries to qualify for Masters Tour Las Vegas, and five tries to qualify for Masters Tour Seoul. 

SirSalty expects a “circle of decks” consisting primarily of Warrior, Rogue, Hunter, and Mage, with outliers such as OTK Paladin. He also anticipates a spread featuring newer, unconventional, or under-utilized decks such as Pogo-Hopper Rogue and Heal Druid. “I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of Heal Druids, it’s an interesting one,” SirSalty said. “It’s actually very good against Bomb Warrior and is pretty good against Rogue as well.”

With more than 300 invited competitors, you can expect a few lef...

The card buffs introduced in Hearthstone's most recent update have thrown some curveballs in the deck lists submitted for Week 4 of Grandmasters. While classes are largely represented by Rogue, Warrior, Mage, and Hunter—we have one Token Druid submitted in each region, and a Mech Paladin from Cong "StrifeCro" Shu. You can check out the decks yourself on the schedule page.

In terms of trends, both Linh "Seiko" Nguyen and Francisco "PNC" Leimontas have brought the addition of Hakkar, the Soulflayer with Spellward Jeweler in their secondary decks this week. We’ve also seen a few inclusions of Barista Lynchen in secondary decks for Bomb Warrior in the Americas and Asia-Pacific. For those wondering, the new Legendary Mech SN1P-SN4P was included in 7 primary decks, and 4 secondary/tertiary decks in total.

And Then There Were Two

Only Seiko, Jerome "Monsanto" Faucher, and Chris "Fenomeno" Tsakopoulos are undefeated at 6-0 in Season 1. What’s more, Seiko has not dropped a single g...