Day 2 of the Hearthstone Spring Championships in Shanghai China started off with a bang and featured some fierce competition as the entire day was dedicated to weeding out the weaker players and determine the Top 8 who would move onto the Quarterfinals. Join me as we go over some of the most notable highlights of the day.

One of the first exciting matchups of the day was the Korean veteran Kranich going up against Chinese player Dogggg. Kranich, a player who has been to 2 out of the last 3 Hearthstone world championships, is making a come back in full force after a disappointing performance in 2016. He said that he had a kind of crisis when it came to Hearthstone feeling that if he couldn’t be the best, if he couldn’t get to worlds, why would he even play the game. After taking some time off, Kranich expressed his new drive and ambition to make it to the top, but with a renewed sense of love for the game.

Dogggg, on the other hand, was representing a country that up until that point had been suffering from a series of defeats. For an event taking place in China, it must have been devastating for the audience to see their representatives one by one fall by the wayside which ultimately resulted in a 0-6 record for China heading into Day 2. Therefore, the hopes of the Chinese Hearthstone scene fell squarely on the shoulders of Dogggg.

The situation initially looked bleak as Dogggg lost his first and second games to Kranich’s Secret Mage and Quest Rogue decks, but in what looked to be a reverse sweep, Dogggg was able to beat Kranich’s Murlock Paladin twice leading to a Game 5. As the match began, things were looking good for Doggg who opened with a hand containing Coin, two Mana Worms, and a Frost Bolt. This is about as strong of an opening hand as you can ask for when playing Mage. However, Kranich’s opening hand was equally as powerful and after a few exchanges, Dogggg found himself on the defensive. As the game went on, his attempt to maintain control of the board proved to be too difficult of a task and in a relatively quick Game 5, Dogggg surrendered.

While this was an absolute heartbreaking series for China, it marked a return to form for one of the most respected players in Hearthstone, as Kranich now had a seat with Worlds in his sights.

The next game would see China’s last hope, Trunks, against DiegoDiaz the first Latin American to ever make it to a championship tournament.

Diaz looking to put Brazil and all of South America on the map for Hearthstone, Trunks, desperate to give his home audience something to cheer for. DiegoDiaz while hungry for a win lost a fairly decisive first two games, however, in Game 3 we got to see a Paladin Mirror match for the ages. The game began as many mirror matches do, a push and pull to control the board state, decent trades on both sides. Every time one would build up pressure there was always an answer waiting around the corner, there was just one problem.

As the game ran long, well into the bottom third of their decks, DiegoDiaz couldn’t seem to draw either his Tirion Fordring or his N’zoth which is basically what his deck is built around. The tide of pressure soon turned against Diaz as he struggled to buy himself time to draw his most powerful cards, but as time went on it became painfully clear it wasn’t going to happen. Both of his most important cards were in the bottom four of his deck, even when he eventually did draw and play them, it was already too late.

The unrelenting tide of Murlocs came and eventually knocked him out of the game and the tournament. While there can be only one winner to any game, it’s hard to see the dreams of an entire region get crushed like that. While I'm sure we will see more of Diaz in the future, for now, Latin America stays on the Hearthstone backburner.

Trunks, however, had done it, in a 3-0 against Diaz he had finally pulled out a win for China and the audience was in an uproar. Not one to call himself a full-time Hearthstone player, Trunks is a family man, and who better to give China their win than a man of the people. This celebration would ultimately be short-lived as Trunks would go on to lose his Quarterfinals seat to Ukrainian player and model Hearthstone player Kolento, but at that point, one victory was worth a thousand.

The last game I want to talk about was between Tredsred of Japan and Ant of my home area, Fresno California. Tredsred had previously had a good performance that day, but the most entertaining part of his previous match was the post game interview, where the host would say the question to the audience in Mandarin, translate it to Tredsreds interpreter in English, who would convert it to Japanese for Tredsred, who of course answers in Japanese, Interpreter translates to English, for the host who reacts in English and then translates back to Mandarin for the audience. It was a cartoonishly long winded interview that was ultimately only two questions long.

His opponent Ant who was deemed to be the happiest guy there, always wore a big smile even when detailing his difficult past. In the player profile, it was revealed that Ant had lived in an area with a gang problem, surrounded by crime and drugs. He was able to stay out of that scene thanks to his family and his video game hobby, and even after his dad passed away he was able to stay constantly positive and improve himself to the point of becoming a pro.

No one knew what to expect from the pair and yet everyone was still surprised. In one of the fastest matches of the night, Ant completely swept through with a 3-0 victory not one game even getting to max mana. After the game Ant basically said what we all think, “I just wanna play Hearthstone, hopefully, I win so I can play the maximum amount of Hearthstone.” True words my friend, true words.

Day 2 was an exciting and wild ride and I for one can't wait to see what in store for me tonight during the final day of the Spring Championships.

If you’d like to see the full day of games check out the video below.

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