Gwent Slam #3 Finals Recap
Gwent Slam 3 has just reached its conclusion and what a tournament it was! The Grand Finals were played between relative newcomer to the big stage, Dyuhaaa and one of the games’ best Pro Ladder players, Tailbot. Let’s take a deeper look at the Finals action:
After being declared the Blue Player who would get the ability to play second in 3 out of the 5 matches, Dyuhaa chose to ban the powerful King Bran. Tailbot on the other hand decided to ban Broover Hoog since while his lineup was quite powerful, it did notably lack answers to deal with the golden weather in the Broover Hoog deck.
Dyuhaaa did not waste any time showing exactly why he made it into the finals of this prestigious event. He made an astounding round 1 play by using the power of his Frightener and the red coin to force a pass from Tailbot. This not only setup a long round 3 which favored his Eredin deck, but it also allowed him to get great value out of his Succubus which may have otherwise been bricked. While Succubus is a very powerful card it is one that loses a substantial amount of value once your opponent knows that it is in your deck. Dyuhaaa leveraged this fact to control the pace of the rest of the game. His open pass round 2 led to a 10 card round 3 in which his frost was able to do a massive amount of damage against the units of Tailbots Radovid deck. This proved to be too much to overcome and Dyuhaaa drew first blood in the best of 5 series.
Tailbot chose to play his Unseen Elder deck in game 2 when he would have the advantage of going second. He masterfully crafted a round 1 in which he successfully baited out his opponents Geralt: Igni on a Toad Prince that could have been absolutely devastating later in the game. He also managed to setup both a Nekker and an Ekkimarra for carryover and timed his pass very well. He was able to leverage these powerful carry over units to secure a 1 card advantage going into round 3. Though round 3 was well fought by both players, the combined power of multiple Witch Hunters and the essentially free tempo provided by Dun Banner Light Cavalry proved too much for Tailbot to overcome, particularly since he had a Slyzard in his hand without a target in the graveyard.
Tailbot was now facing elimination and chose to rely on his prowess with his Nilfguard deck to win a mirror match and keep his hopes alive. His deck was well suited to the mirror match with powerful tools such as Muzzle and the Guardian. He was able to leverage his Muzzle in round 1 to steal his opponents Impera Enforcers, a key engine card in the matchup. Round 1 turned into an absolute slugfest with both players trading haymakers and eventually playing every card in their hands. Tailbot came out on top of the all-in round 1 brawl and was able to turn that win into a favorable round 3 scenario where he was up a card on Dyuhaaa. The extra card was too much to overcome and Tailbot was able to stave off elimination.
Game 4 showcased Dyuhaas’ very direct and straightforward approach to beating the Nekker focused Unseen Elder strategy employed by Tailbot. He was forced to go first, but managed to leverage this fact by taking the board over with Impera Enforcers on the very early turns of the game. This allowed him completely decimate his opponents swarm of Nekkers before he was ever able to really get their engine going. Tailbot tried to anticipate a long round by making an Arachas Behemoth from his Monsters Nest for some additional value, but his plan was not meant to be. Dyuhaaa forced him out of the round shortly after deploying his third Impera Enforcer which allowed him complete control of the board. In round 3 Tailbot gave it his best effort, but an unfortunate Roach draw helped to seal his fate. His hand was no match for the full might of Nilfguard as Dyuhaaa had all four of his powerful golds saved until the final round. Nilfguard triumphantly took down the final round of the tournament and Dyuhaaa was crowned the champion!
Dyuhaaa brought a very strong lineup which was much more focused on the powerful weather hazards than any of the other competitors. His great read on his opponents to not include a sufficient amount of weather clears in their deck paid huge dividends as he was able to ride his slightly unorthodox deckbuilding decisions all the way to the championship.
Congratulations to Duyhaaa our newest champion, and to all of the other participants at Gwent Slam. This was yet another wildly successful tournament showcasing some of the best players in the world at the peak of their game. I would also like to thank Lifecoach for hosting, the casters for providing very high quality commentary and all of the behind the scenes people who worked so hard to make this event as great as it was.
This article was written by Joesn0w. You can find more from him on his twitch
