In 2014, the DreamHack Summer event was Hearthstone‘s first established major. One year later, and the 2015 event was just as important a landmark for Hearthstone esports.
After two gruelling days of competition, Xieyu “TiddlerCelestial” Wang took home the title with a 3-2 victory over David “Dog” Caero.
The two players traded wins until Wang took down Caero’s Patron Warrior using his Warlock Zoo deck to secure the title. The win was the first major championship for Wang, who came second at the World Cyber Arena 2014 and the 2014 Hearthstone World Championships.
Wang was was representing his own team for the first time after founding Team Celestial in April. With the victory, he also increased his career prize money to $124,578, for the first time surpassing the total won by James “Firebat” Kostesich and setting a new record for lifetime prize money in Hearthstone.
DreamHack Summer was the first major swiss tournament in Hearthstone, something many pros have been crying out for. Rather than a traditional bracket or group system with early elimination, swiss competition takes the form of a set number of matches for every competitor—in this case, 128. The players with the best records then generally advance to a playoff bracket. The format is closely associated with other card games like poker and Magic: The Gathering.
Both Wang and Caero outlasted 126 other players through the seven-round swiss bracket, where a record of at least six wins and no more than one loss in seven matches was required to advance. Apostolos “Hawkeye” Karaiskos topped the swiss portion of the event with a 7-0 record.
Wang went on to defeat Archon founder Jason “Amaz” Chan and SK Gaming‘s Esteban “AKAWonder” Serrano, with Caero beating Karaiskos and Keaton “Chakki” Gill of Dignitas to advance to the final.
