Hearthstone Trinity Series Season 2 Week 1 Recap

Hearthstone Trinity Series season 2 is a team league played in autumn 2017. The first stage of the tournament is a seven-week online round robin, after which the top four teams will compete in live finals. The prize pool of the tournament is $150,000.

In this post, I take a look at the first week of the round robin.

There is not a whole lot of data to work with, so this post is not as in-depth as most of my tournament posts, but I’ve gathered what there is for you to check out.

Format and schedule

There are eight invited teams in the tournament. Each team consists of three players, and the players pilot the decks together – discussion on each move is allowed and encouraged, and stream viewers get to listen in on the players at times.

Each match is played in best-of-11 Last Hero Standing format: teams submit a deck for each of the nine classes, and ban two of the opponent’s decks. The teams then self-ban one of their remaining seven decks, leaving them with six decks for the match. The first team to reach six wins takes the match.

The round robin started on September 27th 2017 and continues until November 16th 2017 with two matches played each Wednesday and Thursday. The live finals take place from December 8th to December 10th 2017.

Prizes:

  • 1st: $75,000
  • 2nd: $30,000
  • 3rd and 4th: $15,000
  • 5th and 6th: $4,500
  • 7th and 8th: $3,000

Official website: https://play.eslgaming.com/hearthstone/americas/major/trinity-season2

Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/esl_hearthstone

Teams and players

Complexity: Tyler, Crane, and MrYagut

Tempo Storm: Trump, Eloise, JustSayian

Planet Odd: Xixo, Hoej, Surrender

G2 Esports: Rdu, Thijs, Lothar

Misfits: StanCifka, Pokrovac, GeorgeC

Team Liquid: Dog, Sjow, Feno

Team Love U Lots: Chakki, Muzzy, Zalae

Virtus.pro: DrHippi, Naiman, Bunnyhoppor

Week 1 results

Complexity – G2 Esports 6-4

Misfits – Tempo Storm 6-2

Planet Odd – Virtus.pro 4-6

Team Liquid – Team Love U Lots 6-3

Standings after week 1:

Week 1 known archetypes and performance

Trinity series runs a highly unusual format that has by no means been figured out, so it will be interesting to see what direction the decklists will take. With $150,000 on the line, the incentive to map out the format should be there.

For the first week, we did not see anything particularly weird. Sure, there was a Keleseth Aggro Paladin (Team Love U Lots), and a Murloc Paladin without Spikeridged Steeds (Misfits), but nothing too wacky.

Paladin was the class that shined on the first week with Murloc Paladin going 10-4 and Control Paladin 3-0. Aggro Paladin went 0-1, but the overall performance of the class was still a stunning 13-5.

The next class was Mage. Control Mage was the best-performing list with 3-1, with Exodia Mage not far behind at 5-3. Secret Mage (1-1) performed its sniping duty, taking out its target before falling to a counter-queued deck. Overall 9-5 result for Mage.

Paladin, Mage, and Warlock (Control, Handlock, Zoo) showed most diversity with three archetypes each. Warrior was also present with two archetypes (Pirate and Fatigue), whereas the remaining five classes only got to show a single archetype each: Jade Druid, Kazakus Priest, Tempo Rogue, Evolve Shaman, and Midrange Hunter.

Priest was banned seven times out of eight. Druid was banned six times. Shaman was banned twice, and Rogue was banned once. The self-bans went to Warrior (3), Hunter (2), Warlock (1), Mage (1), and Shaman (1). With no access to decklists, it is difficult to analyze ban decisions. Obviously, the teams have no access to their opponents’ decks either, but they at least know their own decks.

Archetype performance excluding mirror matches:

Paladin

  • 6 Murloc Paladins 10-4
  • 1 Control Paladin 3-0
  • 1 Aggro Paladin 0-1

Warrior

  • 3 Fatigue Warriors 1-3
  • 1 Pirate Warriors 2-1

Druid

  • 1 Jade Druid 0-1

Mage

  • 3 Exodia Mages 5-3
  • 2 Control Mages 3-1
  • 1 Secret Mage 1-1

Rogue

  • 6 Tempo Rogues 2-5

Shaman

  • 3 Evolve Shamans 2-3

Hunter

  • 6 Midrange Hunter 1-6

Priest

  • 1 Kazakus Priest 1-1

Warlock

  • 4 Control Warlocks 2-3
  • 1 Handlock 1-1
  • 1 Zoolock 1-1

Week 1 known decks

Decklists are not public, so we only have information on the decks that were seen on stream. A couple of full lists can be found on Twitter, links below.

Complexity:

  • Jade Druid (Eater of Secrets, Spellbreaker)
  • Midrange Hunter (Fire Fly, Deadly Shot, Deathstalker Rexxar)
  • Control Mage (Medivh)
  • Murloc Paladin (Golakka Crawler, Cobalt Scalebane, The Curator)
  • Handlock

Tempo Storm:

  • Midrange Hunter (Patches, Deathstalker Rexxar)
  • Exodia Mage
  • Murloc Paladin
  • Tempo Rogue (Tar Creeper, Shadowcaster)
  • Keleseth Zoolock (Malchezaar’s Imp, Soulfire, Crystalweaver, Doomguard, Vicious Fledgling, Bloodreaver Gul’dan)
  • Fatigue Warrior

Planet Odd:

  • Secret Mage (Pyros, Acolyte of Pain, Spellbender, Counterspell, Ice Block, Burgly Bully)
  • Murloc Paladin (Corpsetaker, Stormwatcher)
  • Kazakus Priest (Prophet Velen, Eater of Secrets)
  • Keleseth Tempo Rogue (Plague Scientist)
  • Control Warlock (Happy Ghoul, Twilight Drake, Lich King)
  • Fatigue Warrior (Public Defender, Cairne Bloodhoof)

G2 Esports:

  • Midrange Hunter (Spellbreaker, Bittertide Hydra, Savannah Highmane)
  • Exodia Mage
  • Murloc Paladin (Crazed Alchemist, Grook Fu Master)
  • Keleseth Tempo Rogue
  • Evolve Shaman
  • Control Warlock (Happy Ghoul)

Misfits:

Team Liquid:

  • Midrange Hunter
  • Murloc Paladin (Crazed Alchemist, Divine Favor)
  • Tempo Rogue (Tar Creeper, Spellbreaker, Shadowcaster)
  • Control Warlock (Golakka Crawler, Stonehill Defender, Twilight Drake)

Team Love U Lots:

  • Control Mage (Tar Creeper, Alexstrasza, Frost Lich Jaina)
  • Keleseth Aggro Paladin (Abusive Sergeant, Patches, Small-Time Recruits)
  • Keleseth Tempo Rogue (Tar Creeper, Shadowblade, Cobalt Scalebane, Blazecaller)
  • Evolve Shaman (Golakka Crawler, Tar Creeper, Tol’vir Stoneshaper, Cobalt Scalebane)
  • Control Warlock (Corpsetaker, Bloodoworm)
  • Keleseth Pirate Warrior (Tar Creeper, Saronite Chain Gang, Argent Commander)

Virtus.pro:

Week 1 matches

Complexity vs G2 Esports

Bans: Complexity banned Priest and Druid and G2 Esports banned Priest and Shaman.

Self-bans: Complexity chose to not use Warrior and G2 Esports chose to not use Warrior.

Games:

Murloc Paladin wins against Keleseth Tempo Rogue

Murloc Paladin wins against Control Warlock

Murloc Paladin wins against Midrange Hunter

Murloc Paladin loses to Evolve Shaman

Handlock wins against Evolve Shaman

Handlock loses to Exodia Mage

Midrange Hunter loses to Exodia Mage

Jade Druid loses to Exodia Mage

Control Mage wins against Exodia Mage

Control Mage wins against Murloc Paladin

Complexity 6 – G2 Esports 4.

Misfits vs Tempo Storm

Bans: Misfits banned Priest and Druid and Tempo Storm banned Priest and Rogue.

Self-bans: Misfits chose to not use Mage and Tempo Storm chose to not use Shaman.

Games:

Midrange Hunter loses to Keleseth Zoolock

Fatigue Warrior wins against Keleseth Zoolock

Fatigue Warrior loses to Exodia Mage

Murloc Paladin wins against Exodia Mage

Murloc Paladin wins against Murloc Paladin

Murloc Paladin wins against Tempo Rogue

Murloc Paladin wins against Midrange Hunter

Murloc Paladin wins against Fatigue Warrior

Misfits 6 – Tempo Storm 2.

Planet Odd vs Virtus.pro

Bans: Planet Odd banned Priest and Druid and Virtus.pro banned Druid and Shaman.

Self-bans: Planet Odd chose to not use Hunter and Virtus.pro chose to not use Warlock.

Games:

Kazakus Priest wins against Keleseth Tempo Rogue

Kazakus Priest loses to Midrange Hunter

Keleseth Tempo Rogue wins against Midrange Hunter

Keleseth Tempo Rogue loses to Evolve Shaman

Control Warlock wins against Evolve Shaman

Control Warlock loses to Exodia Mage

Secret Mage wins against Exodia Mage

Secret Mage loses to N’Zoth Control Paladin

Fatigue Warrior loses to N’Zoth Control Paladin

Murloc Paladin loses to N’Zoth Control Paladin

Planet Odd 4 – Virtus.pro 6.

Team Liquid vs Love U Lots

Bans: Team Liquid banned Priest and Druid and Love U Lots banned Priest and Druid.

Self-bans: Team Liquid chose to not use Warrior and Love U Lots chose to not use Hunter.

Games:

Tempo Rogue wins against Keleseth Tempo Rogue

Tempo Rogue wins against Evolve Shaman

Tempo Rogue loses to Control Mage

Murloc Paladin wins against Control Mage

Murloc Paladin wins against Keleseth Aggro Paladin

Murloc Paladin wins against Control Warlock

Murloc Paladin loses to Pirate Warrior

Midrange Hunter loses to Pirate Warrior

Control Warlock wins against Pirate Warrior

Team Liquid 6 – Love U Lots 3.