The ‘100in10’ challenge is the best thing to happen to Hearthstone’s Arena mode

Fans of Hearthstone‘s Arena mode have long lamented the lack of competitive outlets for the format. But now some of Arena’s top proponents are chasing an ambitious goal set by one of the game’s most popular streamers.

The “100in10” challenge, laid down by Team Archon founder Jason “Amaz” Chan, challenges arena streamers to achieve 100 wins in 10 Arena runs.

In Arena, players draft a completely random deck choosing a card from three, in one of three random classes. They then play against other random decks until they win twelve times or lose three times, whichever comes first.

The challenge wouldn’t be insurmountable if not for the one rule: when presented with the three classes, if one appears that you have not played earlier in the attempt, you have to choose it. You also cannot start a new run if reaching 100 is mathematically impossible.

This rule was the undoing of Johnnie “Ratsmah” Lee, who set a new record with his 93 win run. With 92 wins from nine runs, he needed just eight from his last attempt to beat the challenge. He was presented with the notoriously weak Warrior class, however, and went on to draft a very poor deck that yielded just one win. His 93 wins made him the highest scorer to that point, beating Rumay “Hafu” Wang’s 85 in nine attempts.

Not to be outdone Hafu, who is considered to be one of the best Arena players in the game, made her 13th attempt at the challenge to try and regain the top spot. With no way of tracking top arena runs in game, Hafu is one of the few players to track all of her attempts and make the information publicly available.

On this attempt, Hafu managed to reach 90 wins in nine runs, including a 12-0 run with Priest, before getting a strong Paladin deck for the final push. But that deck was only able to manage six wins, meaning Hafu reclaimed her crown but still failed to beat the challenge. She has made five further attempts but has yet to come as close again.

Amaz, the challenge’s creator, recorded a score of 69, but most fans are still clamoring to see if Ratsmah or Hafu will be the first to break through to triple digits.

The enthusiasm that players and fans have shown for the event indicates there’s an appetite for some kind of regular competitive aspect for the game mode. 

Image via Blizzard