On his debut, Gaby defeated Viper to became the youngest player to win a Hearthstone Grandmasters weekly tournament at the age of 15 .
Gaby won Hearthstone Grandmasters week 1 in Europe. The French player became the youngest player to win a GM weekly tournament at the age of 15. The finals were not just another match. It featured a new edition of Gaby vs Viper, the epic Masters Tour Orgrimmar finals.
Gaby’s Grandmasters Adventures Begin
Gaby’s Grandmasters career couldn’t start in a better fashion. In his first week at Hearthstone’s prime league, the newcomer nailed a perfect 5-0 and, although it’s a story to tell, we should not be surprised.
Ever since his first Masters Tour appearance, Gaby started becoming a Hearthstone personality. The story of Gaby’s promotion to Grandmasters was all over the place in May, after he became the youngest Masters Tour champion in Orgrimmar. The famous final match against Viper was only one of the many to come.
Gaby advanced to the weekly Top 8 after winning the initial group shared with Thijs, J4YOU and Seiko. It is no secret that the European GM division is stacked, but the golden boy does not seem to care. In playoffs, he defeated three of the most experienced and competitive players on the field. Gaby won 3-2 against RDU, then in the semifinals, he beat the two-time Masters Tour Champion xBlyzes. Viper was yet again his final boss. Curiously, this was the exact same Top 4 from Masters Tour Orgrimmar.
The decisive match showed some of the finest gameplay since United in Stormwind launched. Featuring the most powerful decks of the moment, Gaby and Viper battled in a close match. The 3-1 score might be deceptive and don’t reflect how even the series was. In the end, the French teenager was the one who took the match and the week with a solid gameplay exhibition.
Gaby’s Line-up for Hearthstone GM week 1
With less than two weeks of United in Stormwind expansion launch, Gaby had to figure out the best 120 cards to start his career in Grandmasters. Questlines proved to be one of the best strategies. Quest Mage, Quest Warlock and Quest OTK Demon Hunter were staples for most players. However, Gaby put his personal touch in his line-up.
Click on the image to copy the Deck Codes.
Secret Hand-buff Paladin was Gaby’s signature deck for Grandmasters this week and it paid off. The game plan of this deck is to establish a stealth minion and buff it with Blessing of Authority and then give it Windfury with Battleground Battlemaster. Seems like a simple plan, but when most decks you face are not prepared to answer that, it becomes highly effective.
Gaby’s story with Viper before Grandmasters
In case you are not a Hearthstone scholar and you missed it, Viper and Gaby have some interesting background stories. In Masters Tour Orgrimmar, Viper asked Gaby if he would sell his line-up for the tournament.
$10 was the price agreed and as if Hearthstone esports were a Hollywood movie, both players ended up clashing in the finals. Gaby won the tournament, however, no one will forget how Viper turned those $10 into $17.000. Seems that Gaby’s line-ups are not at sale anymore now that he is a Hearthstone Grandmaster.
Asia-Pacific & Americas Grandmasters
Besides Gaby’s spectacular win, Grandmasters had two other regional champions this week. We can find some similarities with what happened in Europe, in Asia-Pacific and the Americas region. In every region, a newcomer was a contender to take the first week of competition.
Over the Asia-Pacific region, newcomer Park "grr" Kijeong made it to the finals to face GivePLZ. Meanwhile, in the Americas region, it was a similar story, it was Eggowaffle the newcomer decided to take down Muzzy, one of the most experienced Hearthstone players in the region. Unlike Gaby, these other Grandmasters’ new bloods weren’t able to make the final step, as GivePLZ and Muzzy won the decisive matches.
Hearthstone Grandmasters will continue next week with Last Hero Standing format and many balance changes. Stay tuned to Esports.gg for every Hearthstone news and update.