After outlasting hundreds of other players, Thijs Molendijk claimed his second regional championship to qualify for back-to-back Hearthstone World Championships.
The Dutch player from G2 Esports was the experienced favorite heading into the eight player regional, surviving a tough final against Russian player “Iner” that went to all seven games.
En route to the final, Thijs also defeated compLexity‘s Mateusz “Loyan” Roszkowski, claiming the $25,000 first prize.
Thijs won the 2015 European regional championship, making him the first player to claim two regional championships in Hearthstone’s history. With his victory he also claims a spot in the Hearthstone World Championship, becoming only the second player to make it to the showpiece event in successive years, after Hakjun “Kranich” Baek of South Korea. In 2015 Thijs reached the semifinal stage, losing to eventual winner Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall.
Thijs is widely regarded as one of the most consistent strong players in Hearthstone’s short history, with nine top-eight finishes in big tournaments including DreamHack Bucharest 2014, Viagame House Cup 2, and DreamHack Winter 2014. Along with teammates Dima “Rdu” Radu and Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy, he also claimed victory in the $250,000 Archon Team League Championships.
With his qualification for the Hearthstone World Championship, Thijs now has the chance to claim a share of the $1 million prize pool at the event. So far his qualified opponents are William “Amnesiac” Barton, Ole “Naiman” Batyrbekov, Sanghyeon “DDaHyoNi” Baek, and Chen “Breath” Yuxiang.
