The Hearthstone Masters Tour Ironforge is over and the first champion of the year is none other than Huang “Xiaobai” Dehui. Xiaobai took European player Michaël “Maverick” Looze and pretty much dominated the match. With the win, Xiaobai took home the Masters Tour trophy along with $25,000 in prize money.
Journey to the Finals
Xiaobai’s journey to the Finals started with an 8–1 score in the Swiss Rounds, giving him a spot in the Top 16. His first opponent was Hearthstone Grandmaster Wesley “lambyseries” Seek. It was a tough match for Xiaobai but he eventually got the win at 3–2.
In the quarterfinals, he went against Kenta “okasinnsuke” Sekiguchi. Game 1 went to okasinnsuke with his Priest deck against Xiaobai’s Warrior deck. However, Xiaobai tied the series and got the advantage by winning Game 3. In Game 4, okasinnsuke was clawed back and tied the series 2–2. In the end, Xiaobai grabbed the victory and moved to the Semi-Finals.
In the game against Marco “Turna” Castiglioni, Xiaobai won the first two games and was more than ready to close it out in Game 3. Still, Turna wasn’t going down easy and won the game. There was no stopping Xiaobai though as he won Game 4 and took a spot in the Finals.
Finals Match
In the finals, it was Xiaobai versus Maverick. Maverick arrived in the Finals on the heels of a 3–0 win in the Semi-Finals. There was the expectation that the match would go the distance. In fact, commentators Darroch “Darroch” Brown and Jia “Jia” Dee both predicted that the match would reach Game 5.
Unfortunately, the expectation was different from reality as Xiaobai was able to sweep Maverick 3–0. Xiaobai not only showcased his skill but also made the most of his flexible lineup. What is surprising though was Maverick decided to use his Rogue deck for all three games.
With the Ironforge done, the next Master Tour is Ogrimmar, which is from April 30 to May 2. The first season of Grandmasters is also scheduled to begin on April 9.
