It was elimination day in Taipei, Taiwan at the Hearthstone World Championships. After all groups had sent one player to the top eight yesterday and on Thursday, it was do or die for the players left in the lower brackets. Up first each group went trough their 'Elimination Match', after which the winner moved on to the group's 'Decider Match'. With eight clashes going down, there was a lot of action to unpack. Thankfully for you, we've recapped it all.

Elimination MatchesAnother one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust

The day kicked off relatively quietly with group A. In a series where not too many shenanigans happened, China's fan favorite XiaoT took on BloodTrail, playing on home soil. With mutual Warrior bans, the two traded games off and on, until in the fifth game XiaoT's Zoolock defeated BloodTrail's Rogue. The series was followed by a far more enthralling clash between Languagehacker and muzzy in group B - their opening game set the bar for the rest of the day. With Languagehacker on his Control Shaman and muzzy on his Control Warrior the game took a long time, with quite a bit of explosive RNG, but both players proved to be resillient and executed their game plan flawlessly. Although that game went to muzzy, Languagehacker came back dominantly and secured the game 3-1.

The schedule for today. The winner of the Elimination Match faced off
against the player in the Decider Match for a spot in the top 8.

It went far quicker in the Elimination Matches of group C and Group D. While Ike's Token Druid was an innovative deck to bring to the World Championships, it stood absolutely no chance against A83650. In an unceremonious series the deck was obliterated by A83650's Warlock, Shaman and Rogue, sending Ike home. Group D's Elimination Match wasn't any less one-sided. Viper took a quick 2-0 lead over Tyler, who then switched from his Warrior to his Shaman deck. It didn't matter, and Viper advanced with a 3-0 sweep.

Decider Matches

With a ticket to the top 8 on the line, and consequently the dream of becoming the Hearthstone world champion, the groups entered their final stage: the Decider Matches. Awaiting XiaoT in the lower bracket of group A was fellow Chinese player Jing, who had 3-0'd XiaoT in the initial group match. It looked a little brighter for XiaoT at first, but after taking one game Jing swung back and grabbed his ticket to the top 8 with a 3-0 victory. Group B's Decider Match between killinallday and Languagehacker was far more tense - at least when killinallday's Bomb Warrior was in play (see the clip a bit further down for an example). The series ended a bit dull by comparison - Languagehacker simply stomped his opponent's Miracle Priest.

Group C's Elimination Match began with a clean 2-0 lead for A83650, who was looking to continue his rampage from earlier today. While hunterace began to grow more frustrated with every game, he did recover and bring it back to a 2-2 score. Holding his breath, he waited nervously what A83650's Zoolock would do. His Conjurer Mage was heavily teched against aggressive decks, and it paid off. A83650 did not play around hunterace having two Mind Control Techs and a Rabble bouncer in his hand, and consequently was knocked out of the tournament.

Rounding off the third day, crowd favorite Roger fought a steep uphill battle with his anti Control lineup against Viper's Midrange lineup. Nevertheless, he was able to win the second game, and for a short while the third game looked close too. The hill proved to be too steep though, and Viper advanced to the top 8 with a 3-1 victory.

Witness the wackiness

Words can put things in perspective, of course, but who doesn't love a good clip full of Hearthstone action? We've gathered some of the best moments of the third day at the Hearthstone World Championships! If you're up for a longer sitdown, go watch Languagehacker vs. Muzzy or hunterace vs. A83650, they're a treat.

Zoo doing Zoo things

XiaoT executes an EVIL plan

Did someone say bomb?

This is how you assert dominance

Tomorrow, a new champion is crowned

There's only one day of Hearthstone World Championship action left, and it's the most important day of all with seven matches: the quarter finals, semi finals and the grand finals. The top 8 continues in a single elimination bracket, so no mistakes can be made. Asia Pacific has no competitors left standing and the two players China have left are facing each other... Everything favors a fourth Western world champion, with both Europe and the Americas having three competitors in the top 8.

Who will grab the $250,000 first prize?

These are the first four matches for tomorrow. The winners of QF1 and QF2 face off, while on the other side the winners of QF3 and QF4 meet in the semi finals. Who are you rooting for?

Like the previous days, the show start at 4 am CEST / 11 am KST (which is later today for Americans, at 9 pm PST), and can be watched live on Hearthstone's Twitch channel.