Though the Hearthstone World Championship finals will take place next week at Blizzard’s annual extravaganza Blizzcon, half the field will be eliminated in the group stage.
In the second day of play from ESL’s Burbank studios, the first four players were knocked out of the tournament. That included European championship runner up Eugene “Neirea” Shumilin from Team Liquid. Despite a strong performance throughout the qualification process, Shumilin dropped his first game to Guo “DieMeng” Zihao of China to set up an elimination clash with Americas champion Ryan “Purple” Murphy-Root. In a close, five-game series that Shumilin nearly clinched in game four, Murphy-Root was able to stay alive in the tournament. He’l now face the loser of Zihao vs Taiwan’s Ho “Pinpingho” Kow-Ping for the second qualification spot in Group D.
Also dropping out was Chinese regional champion “LoveCX”. After being defeated handily by pro’s favorite Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall, it was South East Asia champion Lan “neilyo” Tran that dumped “LoveCX” out of the tournament in a series that featured nervy performances from both sides.
The tournament’s Cinderella story also came to an end as underdog Victor “Nias” Shelstad was eliminated with losses to Chinese ace Hong “Zoro” Yijie and Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy in a very tough group that also featured Hakjun “Kranich” Baek. In Group A, it was Yu “NoTomorrow” Jian of EDward Gaming who found himself occupying the bottom spot.
All players eliminated in the group stage take home a $5,000 prize, but lose out on the opportunity to capture the title and its $100,000 first prize.
Today’s broadcast will feature the four group winner’s matches, as four players book their spot in the quarter finals.
Image via Hearthstone/YouTube
