Four Hearthstone Global Games countries that already look scary good

Jun 24, 2018

The Hearthstone Global Games are set to return on July 17th. Contrary to last year’s edition, the Olympics of competitive Hearthstone this time around won’t span (an excruciatingly long) four months, but instead will provide more concentrated action to grasp the audience’s attention. Once again residents could vote on the three player’s they want to accompany the ‘anchor’: the country’s highest HCT point earner. This week the results came in and the teams were revealed, so let’s take a look at four countries that will have their opponents tremble with fear!

Czech Republic

Naturally, the reigning Hearthstone Global Games champions are to be taken into account for this season too. A glance at Czech squad this year immediately highlights an important absentee: Stanislav “StanCifka” Cifka, touted by last year’s team as its leader, is missing after not acquiring enough HCT points to make it to the top 9 of his country. A tough loss indeed. Fortunately for those rooting for the Czechs another dominant player has taken his place: Oldřich "Faeli" Mahdal has been doing exceptionally well in both Standard and Wild tournaments this year.

But not all of last year’s team has forgotten to qualify. Both Mikuláš "Pokrovac" Dio and Jaromír "Jarla" Vyskočil impressively make a reappearance, the latter of whom will lead the team as its anchor. It will be up to them to guide newcomer and Vašek "Findan" Prosser through the Global Games. If the team works together as well as it did last year, that won’t be a problem at all.

South Korea

Evaluating the South Korean team is a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Expectations might be low at first, as the country famous for dominating other esports has not lived up to those standards in Hearthstone. However, in the 2017 Global Games the team surprisingly reached the semi-finals at Gamescom. That excitement then has to be suppressed once again, when you realize none of the four players who got South Korea that far last time made it to the team this year.

Nevertheless, there’s plenty of reason to be excited for South Korea once again. While he’s not the team’s anchor, 2017 World Championship runner-up Kim “Surrender” Jung-soo is by far the largest name on the roster. Ever since his outstanding performance in January he hasn’t appeared in many other tournaments, but expect him to be sharp as ever when the Global Games commence. After Surrender, Cho “Steelo” Ganghyeon is the name most Hearthstone enthusiasts will recognize. He’s been around for a while, picking up some successes here and there – this very month he even reached the semi-finals of HCT Seoul.

While achieving the position of anchor is definitely a hard task to accomplish, not much is to be found on Ryvius. On Liquipedia his first recorded appearance dates back to late 2017, and his most impressive result is the second place he got at HCT Bangkok in March. Similarly, South Korea’s fourth competitor Sooni hasn’t left a huge legacy either. He is on the same team as Steelo though, so the synergy between those two will definitely be another advantage to the South Koreans.

United States

Another team that has no reappearing players in this iteration of the Global Games, but doesn’t suffer from it. Once again U.S. citizens had a tough choice, and boy did they end up with a mighty spicy team – arguably the best possible result. Leading the stars ‘n stripes is none other than Tempo Storm veteran David “JustSaiyan” Shan, who not only is ranking up HCT points at high speed this year, but also made it to the semi-finals of HCT Seoul. Speaking of HCT points and Tempo Storm, Muzahidul "Muzzy" Islam continues to live up to his nickname “Muzzgod”, currently leading the season’s HCT point standings partially due to his first-place finish in the second Copa América.

The third competitor is perhaps one of the most efficient players of last year. After Frank "Fr0zen" Zhang qualified for the 2017 Hearthstone World Championship at the first opportunity he took a break, only to emerge in full force at the World Championship and grab the silver medal. Rounding off the list is the ever-calm Terrence "TerrenceM" Miller. Granted, after his breakout performance in 2016 TerrenceM hasn’t found much success in tournaments. His success on ladder, however, is all the more impressive, and no doubt that his mastery of it will benefit his team’s preparation.

Germany

It’s tricky to list Germany here. Last year the country had two of the best Hearthstone players at that time in its line-up in Lifecoach and SuperJJ, and was predicted to get far, if not take it all. It eh… didn’t exactly go according to plan, and the team stranded in the first phase after winning only one series. This year Germany brings back Torben "Viper" Wahl, who coming weekend will fight for the HCT Summer Championship trophy and a spot at the 2018 World Championships.

He’s not the only player who makes the German squad again, but he is the only one who will actually play again. After being banned from participating in the Global Games following unsportsmanlike behavior last year, Thomas "Sintolol" Zimmer is back with a vengeance. This time with an appearance at the World Championship under his belt as well. It’s to hope for Germany that Sintolol will manage his emotions better this time, as he still is one of the country’s best players.

Germany too has its ladder masters present. Raphael “Bunnyhoppor” Peltzer didn’t accomplish a noteworthy result in a tournament this year until he, like Viper, qualified for the HCT Summer Championship. And while Germany’s anchor Linh "Seiko" Nguyen has had a top 8 and a top 16 finish at Tour Stops this year, he is most renowned for his stellar performances on ladder. All in all the German squad this year might not have as big of a name to live up to as last year, but that just might be where the team can surprise its opponents with break-out strength.