Kolento, Hoej, & Ant among early Hearthstone World Championship exits

After the first two days of the Hearthstone World Championship, four players have advanced to the quarterfinals—and four have crashed out.

Among those who took an early exit from the competition are fan-favorites Aleksandr “Kolento” Malsh and Anthony “Ant” Trevino.

Kolento fell out in Group B after falling to both SamuelTsao of Taiwan and China’s Jason Zhou. Despite taking each game to a deciding frame, Kolento finishes bottom of his group. Perhaps his form in competitive series shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, after he told the press this week that he had any practice in that format. Instead, he chose to just play ladder.

Ant has been one of the best stories of the 2017 Hearthstone Championship Tour, as his success propelled him from a relatively-unknown grinder to a popular personality in the community. Sadly his journey came to a swift end, and his full-aggro lineup failed to deliver against the control-based competition. He lost 1-3 to Aleksey “ShtanUdachi” Barsukov before being swept 0-3 by his friend and fellow North American pro Ryan “Purple” Murphy-Root.

Frederik “Hoej” Nielsen was also eliminated in an all European clash by Jon “Orange” Westberg, with Ukranian Eugene “Neirea” Shumilin repeating his 2015 Worlds result with a group stage exit.

While the other Europeans have struggled, top points earner Thomas “Sintolol” Zimmer has flourished. His wins over Purple and Shtan, thanks in part to his unorthodox Big Mage deck, have put him in the quarterfinals. He is joined by Canda’s “DocPwn”, SamuelTsao, and Kim “Surrender” Jung-soo of Korea.

The final four group decider matches will be played tomorrow, with the winners of those advancing to the quarterfinals. By Sunday, we will be left with just four players to fight for the title of world champion.