This past weekend, Team SoloMid's extremely popular player Trump finally claimed his first major tournament victory in the HTC Recharged event. In a field consisting of many established pros, this was by no means an easy path to victory. Let's break down the finals, game by game, to see exactly how he was able to pull this off.

Game 1 – Trump (MalyLock) vs. Nugoory (ZooLock)

This was a fairly easy and straightforward game for Trump. The only wrinkle came when after a 4 damage Imp-losion, Nugoory dropped a very early Sea Giant on the board. Trump initially looked to whittle it down with Blackwing Corruptor, but after the Giant got one attack to his face on the following turn, Trump’s next draw was Big Game Hunter, immediately neutralizing the threat. From there on, Trump had complete board control, and on turn 8, a few attacks plus the direct damage of Darkbomb, Hellfire and Soulfire dealt the last 18 damage he needed to take the game.

Game 2 – Trump (Mid-Range Hunter) vs Nugoory (Aggro Hunter)

The first interesting play came on turn 3, when facing a board of a 1 health Mad Scientist and two Abusive Sergeants, Trump drew into Unleash the Hounds. One dog took out a Sergeant, but Trump made an intelligent play, taking out the Mad Scientist next. This put Freezing Trap on Nugoory’s board, allowing Trump to trigger it with the hound, making sure the Secret was wasted and unable to be used on a more important minion. However, that didn’t do much to slow Nugoory down. Knife Juggler and Leper Gnomes chipped away at Trump’s life total, and on turn 6, two Quick Shots plus Hero Power ended the game. Aggro Hunter usually has the advantage in this matchup, and it played out as expected.

Game 3 – Nugoory (ZooLock) vs Trump (Mech Shaman)

The early game was about board control, with Trump seeming to hold a slight advantage. However, on turn 5, Nugoory was able to take control thanks to Power Overwhelming trading his Nerubian Egg for a buffed up Whirling Zap-o-Matic, and Voidcaller trading into Piloted Shredder, bringing out a free Doomguard. Doomguard took out the Mechwarper that came from Shredder, leaving Trump with only the Mechwarper he had played earlier. Trump’s next turn consisted of dropping a Fel Reaver, and having Mechwarper go for face. Another Doomguard emptied Nugoory’s hand, but allowed him to clear the board, keeping a 5/5 and two 1/1 spiders from an earlier Haunted Creeper. A Fire Elemental the following turn brought Nugoory down to 11 health, with Trump still sitting at 23. Nugoory Life Tapped very aggressively over the next couple turns searching for answers, but Trump’s Doomhammer ended up being enough to close things out, and take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Game 4 – Trump (Mid-Range Hunter) vs Nugoory (Patron Warrior)

The early game consisted of Trump looking for board presence, while Nugoory was mainly concerned with using Acolytes of Pain to draw as many cards as possible. A key moment was Nugoory’s turn 5, when he used both Executes to rid the board of a Houndmaster and the Haunted Creeper it had buffed. This meant his options were quite limited when dealing with a Savannah Highmane, which Trump dropped on the board the very next turn. Nugoory’s only play the following turn was to use Cruel Taskmaster to clear a 1/1 spider, and Gnomish Inventor to draw one more card. This led to Trump playing Loatheb on turn 6, and that all but sealed the win. Savannah went for the face, and a Houndmaster on Trump’s next turn was the last card he needed. This game was a complete whitewash, with Trump in control from beginning to end.

What we saw from Trump

As one of Hearthstone’s most popular players, it’s odd to think that this was Trump’s first major tournament win. With that said, he absolutely steamrolled these finals. The only game he lost was a very poor matchup for him, one in which he was expected to suffer defeat. Other than that, he looked calm and in control the entire way. We saw him playing with some less popular decks, choosing Mech Shaman over something like a Warrior or Mage, and using MalyLock when many pros are still favoring Handlock or Zoo. Credit must be given to Nugoory, a relative unknown who made it to the finals in a tournament featuring some tough competition, and getting through players like Forsen and Gaara to make it to the finals. Of course, it was no easy journey for Trump either, as he had to take down Lifecoach and Dog to make it to this point. It didn’t come easily, as each of his three matches before the finals went to the full 5 games. Interestingly, the Mech Shaman deck didn’t lose a game for Trump in this tournament. In the end, all of his hard work paid off, his deck choices proved to be intelligent ones, and Trump claimed his first-ever victory in a major Hearthstone tournament.