4 biggest highlights from OTK’s WoW Hardcore Mak’Gora tournament

One True King’s World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore Mak’Gora tournament ended with a bang when PvP veterans Snutz and Ziqo fought for a grand cash prize of $50,000 on Oct. 31. But, even though this was an incredible duel, the tournament had plenty of highlights.

Packed with sweat, laughter, and tears, OTK’s WoW Hardcore tournament had the world’s best PvPers armed to their teeth competing in a series of duels that culminated with duels to death. From Ziqo’s amazing duel against Savix to Esfand’s on-field interviews, OTK’s Mak’Gora tournament left fans itching for more. 

All good things must come to an end, and here are the tournament highlights that will surely give you one more adrenaline rush as you dive back into your own WoW Hardcore journey.

Iconic duel between Ziqo and Savix

The duel between Ziqo and Savix that took place on Oct. 30 during the qualifiers stage will definitely make history. The duel was peak WoW, with both players utilizing every tool they had at their disposal just to get even the smallest edge. 

The duel lasted roughly 10 minutes, and both Ziqo and Savix reset the duel a couple of times, healing back to full HP before getting another chance to burst through each other’s health. 

This showed perfect manipulation of consumables, cooldowns, dueling area, and playing the opponent, not the cards. The duel was close, and either of these players could have taken the win—but Ziqo ended victorious.

The cameraman isn’t always safe

OTK had a number of staff members working behind the scenes to make sure the event went smoothly. This included admins, cameramen, and referees. Normally, these characters should be immune to all incoming damage and have a privileged status, given they are there to ensure a clean broadcast. 

But, during a duel between two Shamans on Oct. 30, a cameraman died a tragic death. While recording the duel, one of the Shamans used Goblin Mortar, a trinket that deals damage and stuns the targets in a five-yard radius.

This killed the cameraman on the spot, and the OTK crew had to quickly find a solution to this unexpected tragedy. Luckily, the tournament continued and no such incidents were repeated. 

The tragedy of Lepan

Lepan is one of the best Warriors in Hardcore, but this time around, it seems like they were doomed to fail. While facing Mage player Okos, Lepan had the upper hand as they stacked Frost Resistance gear. But they made a crucial mistake. Instead of fighting in a Mak’Gora duel, they accidentally fought in a regular duel. In the finals, all matches were supposed to be duels to death, so they had to duel again.

Soon after restarting the duel, Lepan got the Coward debuff, decreasing his stats for three days. This happened because Lepan was CCed outside the dueling area.

Unfortunately, the admins couldn’t remove the debuff, and Lepan had to play another duel with it. Expectedly, this didn’t end well for him.

Esfand’s field interviews

As soon as OTK’s Mak’Gora tournament neared its final stages, Esfand took it upon himself to go out in the open field of the event to interview the last standing contestants. This was an absolutely lovely bit, packed with laughter and silly jokes.

Up until that point, Esfand and Xaryu were designated commentators, analyzing the duels and filling the audience in with any crucial reports from the admins. Honestly, this was a great way to loosen up the tensions before the final rounds, and it added a little more flavor to the already amazing event.