Dreamhack Summer: A Look At Amaz’s Decks
by JR Cook - 11 years ago show comments
Dreamhack Summer was the biggest Hearthstone tournament that the world has seen to date. With a 256 person open entry tournament and a 16 person group stage (4 of which were qualifiers from out of the BYOC with the other 12 being seeded invitees) along with a prize pool totaling $25,000, it’s no surprise that people have continued to talk about the tournament long after the last game has finished and the stream has ended. Over the course of the weekend and into this past Monday, we saw high tier play and some truly innovative decks. We’d like to take the next few days to showcase the Round of 8 deck lists that the top four finishers used.
Recently joining Team Liquid, Amaz gets interviewed during Dreamhack Summer. (Credit to ongamers.com)
Dreamhack has been kind to Amaz over the last few outings in the circuit, as he placed 3rd/4th at Dreamhack Bucharest (along with RDU ironically enough), earning $1,000 for his trouble there. At Dreamhack Summer however, he rectified one of his major regrets in not bringing a Priest deck and on the back of Anduin, bolstered his finish to 2nd place and a hearty sum of $5,000 this time around. Easily the most popular and skillful Priest player in the world, Amaz has always been an entertaining streamer and noted by his peers as one of the happiest players in the competitive Hearthstone scene. Simply put, it’s hard not to like this guy. Perhaps you’ll like him even more after borrowing some of his Round of 8 decks and earning a few wins with them on the ladder.
Hunter
Amaz named this deck “Man the Bat”, but outside of that oddity, this is a pretty typical Face Hunter deck. There are a couple of decisions here in what to take as a one-of and what else that allows you to pick up, but in general, the standard features are here in Leeroy for finishing damage, two Freezing Traps for tempo swings, and plenty of Charge minions to go for the face early and often.
Amaz Hunter Dreamhack Summer by Leviathan111
Cards sorted by Low Cost
Hunter (21)
- Hunter’s Mark x2
- Flare
- Tracking x2
- Timber Wolf
- Explosive Trap
- Freezing Trap x2
- Misdirection
- Starving Buzzard x2
- Eaglehorn Bow x2
- Animal Companion x2
- Deadly Shot
- Kill Command x2
- Unleash the Hounds x2
Neutral (9)
Priest
This is the one you’ve all been waiting for. Kolento was experimenting with a Priest deck at the end of last season that looked somewhat similar to this one during the early testing, but it’s obvious that Amaz tailored this Priest deck for what he planned to see at the tournament. Basically, Harrison Jones is looking to ruin a Miracle Rogue’s day (especially if they’re the Assassin’s Blade running version) and maybe a Control Warrior or Shaman if they happen to show up. Those are all strong tournament decks, so it makes sense. The other stuff in the deck represent pretty standard Priest tools – Circle of Healing utility for an early advantage in combination with Injured Blademaster or as a massive board clear with Auchenai Soulpriest. Priest decks in general don’t really fit into the meta right now, but that’s actually sometimes a nice advantage as many of your opponents won’t be expecting it and therefore won’t have practice against it, garnering a pretty nice advantage in terms of preparation, especially when your name is Amaz and you’ve played literally thousands of games as Priest. Also, he titled this deck “A Wish For Death”, which is pretty badass all on its own.
Amaz Priest Dreamhack Summer by Leviathan111
Cards sorted by Low Cost
Priest (19)
- Circle of Healing x2
- Holy Smite x2
- Power Word: Shield x2
- Northshire Cleric x2
- Mind Blast
- Shadow Word: Death x2
- Thoughtsteal x2
- Auchenai Soulpriest x2
- Holy Nova x2
- Holy Fire x2
Neutral (11)
- Wild Pyromancer x2
- Earthen Ring Farseer x2
- Injured Blademaster x2
- Sen’jin Shieldmasta
- Azure Drake
- Harrison Jones
- Sylvanas Windrunner
- Ragnaros the Firelord
Druid
So, like I had previously mentioned when discussing Reynad’s Druid deck, one of the main differences between the Druid offerings brought by nearly every competitor was whether they ran one pair of the combo (Force of Nature + Savage Roar) or two. Amaz’s deck represents a case of the former, with many one-ofs in general included throughout. As far as I can recall from his games, he didn’t seem to go to his Druid too often, so I think this may have been his least favorite of the three he brought, but that’s just conjecture. In terms of the actual content, it seems pretty standard across the board. Plenty of tech cards to counter out Handlock especially with Big Game and Black Knight and possibly for some utility in the mirror, too. I like the inclusion of a Mark of the Wild as an activator for Black Knight or for an extra Taunt on your own side of the board. He titled this one “Fury of Mal”:
Amaz Druid Dreamhack Summer by Leviathan111
Cards sorted by Low Cost
Neutral (13)
- Bloodmage Thalnos
- Big Game Hunter
- Earthen Ring Farseer
- Harvest Golem
- Chillwind Yeti x2
- Azure Drake x2
- Faceless Manipulator
- Argent Commander
- Cairne Bloodhoof
- The Black Knight
- Ragnaros the Firelord
Druid (17)
- Innervate x2
- Mark of the Wild
- Wild Growth x2
- Wrath x2
- Savage Roar
- Swipe x2
- Keeper of the Grove x2
- Druid of the Claw x2
- Force of Nature
- Ancient of Lore x2
Check in with us again tomorrow as we continue to cover the remainder of the Top Four finishers and their decks.
