There is an old and impossibly beautiful coastal town in southern Italy by the name of Gallipoli that attracts tourists from far and wide in the summertime. This sleepy beach town is an endearingly well-preserved vestige of times long past. It also happens to be where Jolanda “Yocto94” Murra was born and raised before she moved to Rome to pursue a degree in medicine—and a professional career in esports.

She is getting close to wrapping up her university studies, but the esports success has been slow to roll in. However, the introduction of the Hearthstone Masters program has given Yocto94 a chance to stand out among the rest by qualifying for both Masters Tour Las Vegas and Masters Tour Seoul.

“It's one of my first big results,” she said. “It's so important for me. It means that I'm doing well, that I'm in the right. I'm so excited for these events. Honestly, I can’t believe that I qualified. For me, it was impossible to think that I could.”

Her recent qualification helped her sec...

Bomb Warrior and Tempo Rogue were the two most popular deck archetypes in Week 1 of Hearthstone Grandmasters. Both decks made an appearance in some form across all three regions over the weekend with Bomb Warrior going 26–28 (48% win rate) and Tempo Rogue going 18–17 (51% win rate).

While not as popular, Cyclone Mage dominated in Asia-Pacific and Europe, claiming a 71% win rate over 28 games played and making it Week 1’s most successful archetype. In Week 2 it is the most popular archetype, making up exactly half of the decks in play. 

The X-0 Bracket

Congrats to the 12 players who went undefeated on the weekend!

Between Flurry, Dawn, and Kolento, every Grandmaster competing on behalf of Cloud9 made it through Week 1 without dropping a match. So, c...

When it was announced that Dylan "FroStee" O’Mallon was on the Asia-Pacific roster for Hearthstone Grandmasters, his phone exploded with love from the ANZ gaming community. “I had to turn off my notifications, my phone was buzzing every two seconds!” he said. “It's kind of crazy, to be honest. I had to keep this hidden for a month. I was so happy when the initial Masters announcement happened that I just wanted to tell everybody!”

When he was five years old, FroStee began taking lessons in taekwondo, a Korean martial art that would grow to become much more than just a hobby. “I just never stopped,” said FroStee. “I've been doing taekwondo for about 20 years at this point. About seven years down the track, I got offered to start instructing and took it up because I enjoy it that much.”

FroStee spent most of his youth practicing taekwondo and bouncing around Australia, from Victoria to Adelaide to Perth and back again. He grew up with console gaming before making the switch to PC via...

The stage is set! The full schedule for Hearthstone Grandmasters 2019 Season 1 has been published and our Grandmasters are currently practicing hard in anticipation of their first-round opponents. With the new Specialist format, the tried-and-true playstyles we’ve come to expect from some of these familiar faces has gone out the window. We are entering uncharted territory for most of these players, and while every matchup is worthy of a feature, these three stand out as “must-watch.”

Amnesiac vs. StrifeCro – Friday, May 17 at 3pm PDT / 11pm CET

When this series plays out, William "Amnesiac" Barton will be exactly one week away from graduating high school and getting his diploma. It’s been a long time coming for the 18-year-old, who has spent much of the past six months focusing on his studies outside of the Hearthstone limelight.

His opponent, Cong "StrifeCro" Shu, recently competed in the Esports Arena Hall of Heroes Specialist tournament. He lost 0-2 to James "Firebat" K...

The final series of the HCT 2019 World Championship between Casper "Hunterace" Notto and Torben "Viper" Wahl will go down as one of the most electrifying matches in Hearthstone history. From a 1-Health runback opener to game-defining aggressive Alexstrasza play to an absolutely nutty march of Legendary minions courtesy of Arch-Thief Rafaam that saw not one but two Azalina Soulthiefs played—we could not have asked for a better way to send off the Hearthstone Championship Tour.

The series was as close as could be, but it was Hunterace who lifted the trophy at the end of it all. “It was pretty insane,” said Hunterace, “My heart rate was very high. I haven't played any of those games in practice!”

I am the Hearthstone World Champion!! pic.twitter.com/HkciTCSNqA

— Casper Notto (@NVD_Hunterace) April 28, 2019

On stage, Hunterace was animated in the sense that he clearly was agonizing over each and every decision, sequence, and position. “I'm very emotional and I care a lot ab...

The Top 8 is set at the HCT 2019 World Championship! With a sold-out crowd, the tension in the air is palpable at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium. Every top deck and clever play is met with roaring applause and booming gasps. A number have series have played out to the fifth and final game, and although we’ve bid farewell to half the playing field—those that remain promise to put on a show.

To get a better idea of what it’s like on the floor at the tournament, below are some snapshots from the group stage, taken by Helena Kristiansson.

Don’t miss the epic conclusion of #HCT when the final day of the Hearthstone World Championship begins at 7pm PT at Twitch.tv/PlayHearthstone!

David "killinallday" Acosta is in Asia for the first time in his life this week to compete at the HCT 2019 World Championship in Taipei. On day one of the tournament, he defeated Mihai "languagehacker" Dragalin in the first round, only to fall just short of cracking the top eight in a 5-game series against China’s Xu "LFYueying" Kai.

“I think I played pretty well,” said killinallday. “[but] I roped out a turn and didn't have time to complete the turn, so that was pretty bad. To be fair, I’d say that Chef Nomi Priest is a harder to play than what other people here are playing.”

When Kacper "A83650" Kwieciński tried Hearthstone on a whim he chose his handle by typing in a few random characters. As his professional career took off, the name stuck. Today, A83650 will be the first Polish player ever to compete at a Hearthstone World Championship.

“It just feels like a dream come true,” said A83650, who has been receiving encouraging messages from members of the Polish Hearthstone community ever since his plane touched down in Taipei. “The Polish community has been really supportive of me, it’s always a good feeling to know they are cheering for me.”

Right off the bat, A83650 has his work cut out for him, facing Americas point leader David "Justsaiyan" Shan. “Lineup-wise, the matchup against Justsaiyan should be the hardest one,” said A83650. “Justsaiyan just built his decks better, his decisions were smarter. I need to high-roll the series in order to win. I'm feeling much better against Hunterace and Ike.”

A83650 brewed a unique Shaman deck for the oc...

Who better than the reigning Hearthstone World Champion, Chen "tom60229" Wei Lin, to give predictions on what the meta will look like onstage at the HCT 2019 World Championship?

“Bomb Warrior is the trendiest deck on the ladder now,” tom60229 said. “So, there will probably be two kinds of lineups in the tournament—control decks with an even slower curve to hunt the Warriors, and full aggro decks, likely in the form of Rogue and Druid, that ban out the Warriors.”

He's mostly right! Only Raphael "Bunnyhoppor" Peltzer, Mihai "languagehacker" Dragalin, and Torben "Viper" Wahl decided not to bring a Warrior deck to Taipei. Everyone but Luo "Roger" Shengyuan brought a Rogue deck, with most being the Tempo variant with Waggle Pick. Roger was also the only player to bring Control Paladin, featuring the High Priest Thekal and Nozari combo. The new Zoo Warlock with Sea Giant and Magic Carpet is present in many lists, as is Control Shaman, Midrange Hunter, and Khadgar Mage. David "killinallda...

Casper "Hunterace" Notto is the only person that can say “I am the number one point-earner worldwide.” He is also the only player competing at the upcoming HCT 2019 World Championship that did not play on stage at HCT Summer, HCT Fall, or HCT Winter. You take these facts, and you add it to the major set change upheaval in the professional scene, and suddenly people start doubting the wunderkind.

This is foolish of course, as Hunterace is approximately the most consistent Hearthstone player to ever touch the game. His laundry list of merits is a parade of single-digit placements. Out of the 9 HCT Tour Stops Hunterace played in last year, he placed top 8 at seven of them, including wins in both Seoul and Italy, 2nd place in Toronto and Germany, and a semifinal finish in Tokyo. He was the first player to ever hit 3-Star Master—the highest points status tier a player could achieve in the previous system.

Placed in Group C (aka the “Group of Death"), Hunterace is up against the likes ...

Before going pro in Hearthstone, Tyler “Tyler” Hoang Nguyen was a well-known fashion blogger and photographer. With over one million (!) followers on his companies Instagram, he was invited to cover New York Fashion Week in 2014 as an influencer.

“I was getting connections with other Instagram bloggers and fashion bloggers and I was doing photography for them and I was making a very decent amount of money,” said Tyler. “But I didn't feel happy because in the meanwhile I was very good at Hearthstone and I was seeing all these people have success with Hearthstone and I realized that was what I wanted. I ended up selling my company.”

Tyler made the local newspaper in 2014 for his efforts in the fashion world.
By 2017, he was in the newspaper again—for competing in Hearthstone. 

Tyler’s parents were refugees. With some money his grandfather tucked away from fighting in the war, they fled...

Jia “Jia” Dee’s hands were shaking as she sat onstage at the World Showdown of Esports (WSOE), an all-woman Hearthstone tournament that took place last month in Manhattan Beach, California. A tremor or two is common for competitors in the spotlight, but a little out-of-character for a Hearthstone caster like Jia, who possesses a natural talent for performing in front of crowds.

“As I won more, I started to focus more,” Jia said. “There are so many things to think about, like probabilities of your opponent having a certain card, what cards you've already drawn, your win condition… I think devoting all my mental space to that helped me forget about being on camera, and I was able to play well because of it.”

Jia did a lot more than “play well,” of course—she won the whole thing. “It was honestly such a huge confidence boost,” she said. “As a caster we don't get many opportunities to compete, and because of that people don't necessarily know how much credibility we have.”

Torben "Viper" Wahl was one of just four players who did not bring a Hunter or Paladin deck to the HCT Winter Playoffs–Europe. As it happens, he also was one of just four players who qualified for the HCT Winter Championship by the end of the tournament. 

This was thanks in part to a homebrew Shaman deck he cooked up with Felix "kolmari" Baum. “It's essentially control Shaman,” Viper said. “I think you can compare it the most to Odd Warrior. Odd Warrior doesn't die and just removes everything the other guy plays and at some point the Odd Warrior has cards and the other guy doesn't have cards anymore. This Shaman kind of comes down to the same thing.”

Qualified for Champs the 2nd time this year!
Can’t wait to have a great time hanging out with everyone in LA again.

Peanut-Shaman is literally the nuts pic.twitter.com/L3XBvCLa8p — Torben Wahl (@viper_hs) January 13, 2019

There are some wild interactions and synergies available in Peanut Shaman. You can Haunting Vis...

Early this year, we kicked off our Opening Moves series, where we took a closer look at the early game of competitive Hearthstone. We followed up in July with Midgame Moves. This week, to celebrate the end of the year, we’re bringing you Endgame Moves. Today, we examine what the takeaways should be from both victories and defeats.

Win or lose, you learn something from every game of Hearthstone—or you should. But it can be difficult to identify what the something is, as Hearthstone is a game wherein you can make the best play and lose, or the worst play and win! Rather, “You have look at what's correct, and why is it correct,” said 2014 Hearthstone World Champion James "Firebat" Kostesich. Over time, if you consistently choose the correct play, your win percentage will improve, no matter the outcome of any single game.

Look Back

You learn when you miss lethal, mess up a mulligan, or when the line of play you were taking turns out to be wrong. “You can come up with a great game pl...

Early this year, we kicked off our Opening Moves series, where we took a closer look at the early game of competitive Hearthstone. We followed up in July with Midgame Moves. This week, to celebrate the end of the year, we’re bringing you Endgame Moves. Today, we learn how to deal with mental and physical fatigue as your progress through a tournament.

Competing in pro Hearthstone is a rewarding but mentally strenuous activity. Players must harness a great deal of brainpower to succeed, but staying physically sound is just as critical. To get the most out of your cerebral capacity, you have to take care of yourself!

David "Justsaiyan" Shan is a competitor who does just that. One of just two 3-Star Masters players in the world, he’s also earned his spot (via a top-four finish at HCT Fall) among the elite who will duke it out at the HCT World Championship this spring. Of course, he will be packing his habits and rituals for staying frosty on game day, which he was kind enough to detai...

Early this year, we kicked off our Opening Moves series, where we took a closer look at the early game of competitive Hearthstone. We followed up in July with Midgame Moves. This week, to celebrate the end of the year, we’re bringing you Endgame Moves. Today, explore the similarities and differences between popular combo decks.

Combo decks are slower archetypes that require finding a few key cards before pulling off one massive turn that either kills the opponent, leaves them clinging on by a few health, or restricts them until they concede or perish. To get a sense of how these decks operate in—and survive until—the late game, we spoke to seasoned Hearthstone veteran Anthony "Ant" Trevino to talk through three of his favorites.

Togwaggle Druid

The idea here is to switch decks with your opponent with King Togwaggle, which gives your opponent a ransom card that could (theoretically) allow them to switch the decks back. But before this happens, the deck plays Azalina Soul...

Early this year, we kicked off our Opening Moves series, where we took a closer look at the early game of competitive Hearthstone. We followed up in July with Midgame Moves. This week, to celebrate the end of the year, we’re bringing you Endgame Moves. Today, we’re diving into the details of fatigue damage.

As anyone who has ever played a long, grindy game of Hearthstone knows, after you exhaust your deck you start taking fatigue damage every time you draw. Fatigue damage stacks, inflicting one damage for the first non-draw, two for the second, and so on. Thus, when a match “goes to fatigue,” even minor misplays can spell defeat. Thankfully, we’ve got HCT Summer Champion Raphael "BunnyHoppor" Peltzer —who recently earned his doctorate! Congrats, Dr. BunnyHoppor!—here to spell out what you need to know concerning this crucial aspect of the extreme late-game.

Finally, it's Doctor Bunnyhoppor now :) See you guys on stream Monday pic.twitter.com/daxcPEkE1P

— Raphael Peltzer (@Bunnyhop...

There is a single team that stands out among the competition remaining in contention for the Hearthstone Global Games (HGG) crown, and that is the last remaining representative from the Americas region: Brazil.

There’s something unique about this team, and it’s not (just) that they were the only team to go undefeated in the Swiss rounds. It’s the fact that the four teammates, Lucas "LucasCrt" Claudio, Lucas "Neves" Figueredo, Rodrigo "Perna" Castro, and Lucas "Rase" Guerra are longtime friends who forged a common bond long before HGG began.

For Team Brazil, the motivation for winning extends beyond prize money or fame. It’s about national pride and breaking down barriers for esports in Latin America. “Brazil has a lot of passion for gaming,” said Rase. “Not just Hearthstone but every game. The problem is our structure for esports is not as good as some other countries. If we won, it would be insane. If we won, maybe Brazil would get the exposure it deserves.”

Rase and his team a...

Team China are your 2018 Hearthstone Global Games (HGG) victors! Comprised of anchor Gao “Leaoh” Yang, Zheng “OmegaZero” Lin, Zhang “YouLove” Lichen, and He “Trunks” Huan, the team completed their HGG journey with a clean 3-0 win over a surging Brazil in the Grand Finals.

“I am super pumped now,” said Trunks. “This is my first trophy at a global tournament ever, and this also proves how good Chinese Hearthstone is! So, I'm truly happy.”

China took a different approach to the tournament than many other teams, assigning each player a couple of different classes in which to specialize. “Everyone was assigned and had their classes that they excel at,” Trunks said. “The one advantage that we have compared to other teams I think is that we did a better job on picks, bans, and the class player order.”

What Card Best Represents China?

“The Chinese community could be like Yogg-Saron, because nothing is impossible! We are here to surprise you guys and take your trophy!”—Trunks