Canada entered the Hearthstone Global Games with most observers predicting they would make a deep run. In their first two performances, they showed exactly why they are a favorite for the nation-based team tournament.
Despite being a player down, Canada handily defeated top group contenders Belgium 3-0. That gives Canada the best record in the tournament so far, without having dropped a game across two matches.
With Jacob “APXVoiD” Coen travelling during the matchup, TSM’s Julian “Cydonia” Perrault was left to pick up the slack and play two games during the series. The player defeated “Oliech” and Michaël “Maverick” Looze with Paladin and Warrior respectively, with teammates Ryan “Purple” Murphy-Root and Dylan “Hotform” Mullins completing the rout.
Purple’s Midrange Hunter, one of the only Hunter games to be seen in the tournament in recent days, had a tough match up against the Taunt Warrior of Arneej. A top decked Kill Command allowed Purple to push through the final points of damage in an unfavored matchup.
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Having defeated France and Belgium, Canada have now seen off two of their strongest contenders in Group F.
Perhaps their top contenders now are the similarly undefeated Denmark. The Danish side with its abundance of individual talent appears to be bringing it all together, though they were taken to five games by Kazakhstan. Ole “Naiman” Batyrbekov was nearly able to clutch out a win with a pair of victories over Erik Solanki “Inderen” Kristensen, but Inderen managed to split their games to seal the series.
In Group B, the United Kingdom roared back from their loss to the United States in week one with a crucial win over Romania. With just three spots in the next round and the Netherlands also performing well, the loss means Romania will likely have to win all of their remaining games to have a chance of advancing.
After the next group stage, teams will advance to the top 16 to fight for the $300,000 prize pool.
