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 second 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 and VODs: 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 2 results
Team Liquid – Virtus.pro 3-6
Planet Odd – Tempo Storm 6-5
Complexity – Misfits 6-3
G2 Esports – Love U Lots 6-3
Standings after week 2:
Week 2 known archetypes and performance
Compared to week one, lineups had changed somewhat. Most classes remained one archetype shows, but Warrior and Mage still see experimentation.
Multiple teams hopped off the Fatigue Warrior train, either bringing N’Zoth Control Warrior or Pirate Warrior instead. Misfits remained loyal to the fatigue plan, with mediocre results at 1-1. Pirate Warriors were also mediocre at 2-2, but N’Zoth Control Warrior turned out to be the deck of the week, going 6-1 overall for a very strong appearance.
Exodia Mage had also lost some popularity. G2 Esports and Virtus.pro both switched from Exodia to the steadier and grindier Control Mage, which was the best-performing Mage archetype at 4-3. The lone Exodia Mage from Misfits still achieved the mediocre 1-1 performance. Freeze Mage and Secret Mage also made an appearace, but were not successful this week at 0-1 each.
Last week’s star-performer, Murloc Paladin, was the only Paladin variant we saw this week. Granted, Virtus.pro’s Paladin did not see play, so whether they still kept to their Control list is uncertain. Murloc Paladin remained one of the most successful decks on week two as well with a 6-4 record. We also got to see a pair of Hungry Crabs for the first time in a while as G2 Esports decided to bring a Murloc-sniping deck in their lineup.
Warlock lists saw some consolidation as Control Warlock replaced Zoo and Handlock and started its reign as the only Warlock archetype. The devil is in the details though, as the various Control Warlock lists included quite different tech choices. With a 4-4 record, it filled its spot in the lineups.
The staples were unable to impress. Jade Druid at 3-3 and Midrange Hunter at 2-2 were still able to get those counter-queue wins, but Tempo Rogue at 2-5 and Evolve Shaman at 4-7 suffered from being figured out and prepared for.
As for bans, Priest has now been universally recognized as the best deck in the post nerf meta, banned 8/8, great job m8. The second ban varied somewhat between Druid (5), Rogue (2), and Shaman (1). The same four classes ate all the bans on week one, with bans shifting from Druid and Shaman to Priest and Rogue for week two. As for self-bans, teams did not want to use their Hunter (4), Warrior (2), Mage (1), and Warlock (1). Hunter had become a more popular self-ban target in an environment slowly moving towards agreement on the strongest and weakest classes.
Archetype performance excluding mirror matches:
Paladin
- 5 Murloc Paladins 6-4
Warrior
- 2 N’Zoth Control Warrior 6-1
- 2 Pirate Warriors 2-2
- 1 Fatigue Warrior 1-1
Druid
- 3 Jade Druids 3-3
Mage
- 4 Control Mages 4-3
- 1 Exodia Mage 1-1
- 1 Freeze Mage 0-1
- 1 Secret Mage 0-1
Rogue
- 6 Tempo Rogues 2-5
Shaman
- 6 Evolve Shamans 4-7
Hunter
- 2 Midrange Hunter 2-2
Priest
- Not played
Warlock
- 6 Control Warlocks 4-4
Week 2 known decks
Decklists are not public, so we only have information on the decks that were seen on stream.
Complexity:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Jade Druid | Jade Druid |
| Midrange Hunter | Hunter |
| Control Mage | Control Mage |
| Murloc Paladin | Murloc Paladin |
| Priest | Priest |
| Rogue | Rogue |
| Shaman | Evolve Shaman |
| Handlock | Warlock |
| Warrior | Warrior |
Tempo Storm:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Druid | Druid |
| Midrange Hunter | Midrange Hunter |
| Exodia Mage | Mage |
| Murloc Paladin | Paladin |
| Priest | Priest |
| Tempo Rogue | Tempo Rogue (Elementals) |
| Shaman | Evolve Shaman |
| Zoolock | Control Warlock |
| Fatigue Warrior | N’Zoth Control Warrior |
Planet Odd:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Druid | Jade Druid (Dirty Rat, Mind Control Tech) |
| Hunter | Hunter |
| Secret Mage | Secret Mage |
| Murloc Paladin | Murloc Paladin |
| Kazakus Priest | Priest |
| Tempo Rogue | Rogue |
| Shaman | Evolve Shaman |
| Control Warlock | Control Warlock (Prince Valanar) |
| Fatigue Warrior | Pirate Warrior |
G2 Esports:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Druid | Druid |
| Midrange Hunter | Hunter |
| Exodia Mage | Control Mage |
| Murloc Paladin | Paladin |
| Priest | Priest |
| Tempo Rogue | Tempo Rogue |
| Evolve Shaman | Evolve Shaman |
| Control Warlock | Control Warlock |
| Warrior | Warrior |
Misfits:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Druid | Druid |
| Midrange Hunter | Hunter |
| Mage | Exodia Mage |
| Murloc Paladin | Murloc Paladin |
| Priest | Priest |
| Rogue | Tempo Rogue |
| Shaman | Evolve Shaman |
| Warlock | Control Warlock (Dirty Rat, Gnomeferatu, Lich King) |
| Fatigue Warrior | Fatigue Warrior |
Team Liquid:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Druid | Druid |
| Midrange Hunter | Midrange Hunter |
| Mage | Freeze Mage |
| Murloc Paladin | Murloc Paladin |
| Priest | Priest |
| Tempo Rogue | Tempo Rogue |
| Shaman | Shaman |
| Control Warlock | Control Warlock |
| Warrior | Warrior |
Team Love U Lots:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Druid | Jade Druid |
| Hunter | Hunter |
| Control Mage | Control Mage |
| Aggro Paladin | Murloc Paladin |
| Priest | Priest |
| Tempo Rogue | Tempo Rogue (Elementals) |
| Evolve Shaman | Shaman |
| Control Warlock | Control Warlock |
| Pirate Warrior | Pirate Warrior |
Virtus.pro:
| Week 1 | Week 2 |
| Druid | Druid |
| Midrange Hunter | Hunter |
| Exodia Mage | Control Mage |
| Control Paladin | Paladin |
| Priest | Priest |
| Tempo Rogue | Tempo Rogue |
| Evolve Shaman | Evolve Shaman (Corpsetaker) |
| Warlock | Warlock |
| Warrior | N’Zoth Control Warrior |
Week 2 matches
Team Liquid vs Virtus.pro
Bans: Team Liquid banned Priest and Druid and Virtus.pro banned Priest and Druid.
Self-bans: Team Liquid chose to not use Warrior and Virtus.pro chose to not use Warlock.
Games:
Tempo Rogue wins against Tempo Rogue
Tempo Rogue loses to Control Mage
Midrange Hunter wins against Control Mage
Midrange Hunter loses to Evolve Shaman
Control Warlock wins against Evolve Shaman
Control Warlock loses to N’Zoth Control Warrior
Murloc Paladin loses to N’Zoth Control Warrior
Evolve Shaman loses to N’Zoth Control Warrior
Freeze Mage loses to N’Zoth Control Warrior
Team Liquid 3 – Virtus.pro 6.
Planet Odd vs Tempo Storm
Bans: Planet Odd banned Priest and Druid and Tempo Storm banned Priest and Rogue.
Self-bans: Planet Odd chose to not use Hunter and Tempo Storm chose to not use Mage.
Games:
Control Warlock wins against Control Warlock
Control Warlock loses to Midrange Hunter
Pirate Warrior wins against Midrange Hunter
Pirate Warrior wins against Tempo Rogue
Pirate Warrior loses to Evolve Shaman
Jade Druid wins against Evolve Shaman
Jade Druid loses to Murloc Paladin
Evolve Shaman wins against Murloc Paladin
Evolve Shaman loses to N’Zoth Control Warrior
Secret Mage loses to N’Zoth Control Warrior
Murloc Paladin wins against N’Zoth Control Warrior
Planet Odd 6 – Tempo Storm 5.
Complexity vs Misfits
Bans: Complexity banned Priest and Druid and Misfits banned Rogue and Priest.
Self-bans: Complexity chose to not use Hunter and Misfits chose to not use Hunter.
Games:
Evolve Shaman wins against Murloc Paladin
Evolve Shaman loses to Control Warlock
Jade Druid wins against Control Warlock
Jade Druid loses to Exodia Mage
Control Mage wins against Exodia Mage
Control Mage loses to Fatigue Warrior
Murloc Paladin wins against Fatigue Warrior
Murloc Paladin wins against Evolve Shaman
Murloc Paladin wins against Tempo Rogue
Complexity 6 – Misfits 3.
G2 Esports vs Love U Lots
Bans: G2 Esports banned Priest and Shaman and Love U Lots banned Priest and Druid.
Self-bans: G2 Esports chose to not use Warrior and Love U Lots chose to not use Hunter.
Games:
Evolve Shaman loses to Jade Druid
Tempo Rogue wins against Jade Druid
Tempo Rogue wins against Control Warlock
Tempo Rogue loses to Control Mage
Control Mage wins against Control Mage
Control Mage wins against Pirate Warrior
Control Mage loses to Murloc Paladin
Control Warlock wins against Murloc Paladin
Control Warlock wins against Tempo Rogue
G2 Esports 6 – Love U Lots 3.