Thijs Hearthstone Legends Invitational had everything the community missed. Diverse players, tough competition, minigames, and OG SeatStory cup vibes. Check the best moments of this legendary event in this article.
Thijs Hearthstone Legends Invitational was a huge success bringing back OG vibes of SeatStory cups. Prominent streamers, competitive players, and even a Hearthstone Dev participated in the two-day event competing for €3,000, a G2 sticker, and a pack of dead AAA batteries. The memes, minigames, epic highlights, and everything you need to know in this Esports.gg recap.
The motivation behind Thijs’ Hearthstone Legends Invitational
Thijs could have retired from Grandmasters, but he is still killing it in Twitch with his Hearthstone content. Not for nothing he is considered Top 3 most influential players of all time by Frodan. Motivated by the lack of fun and engaging Hearthstone community events and inspired by the OG SeatStory or ATLC cups, Thijs organized the Legends Invitational. When Esports.gg asked him about this topic, Thijs gave us an interesting insight:
“I have been in the Hearthstone scene since 2014. My most memorable moments were, of course, my EU Championships, but also the fun I had with friends & the community. We had SeatStory / ATLC cups and the Viagame House cup what were amazing events where you, of course, wanted to win, but also it was just so much fun being part of it. With all being so focused on GM, I feel we lost this concept, so I hope I can bring part of it back.”
Thijs Hearthstone Legends Invitational had the perfect recipe for success. The participants were a mix of highly competitive players, prominent streamers, a Hearthstone dev, and a mysterious challenger from the open qualifiers. Moreover, we got to see RDU, TJ Sanders, and the one and only Thijs at the casting desk. As if this was not enough, the production of the event brought the audience live interviews, min-games with the players, and some giveaways.
Participants of the Thijs Hearthstone Legends Invitational
Part of the success of Thijs’ Hearthstone Legends Invitational had to do with the players participating in it. Thijs explains that the selection of different profiles was by design:
“I wanted a diverse group of invites. Some are very focused on competing (Gaby / Alutemu), some in-between (NoHandsGamer / Bunnyhoppor), and some more based on streamers (Feno / Kibler). Then, I got an idea, "why don't ask one of Blizzard to join", I expected a no but, surprisingly to me, Cora said yes, so I got all the group together very fast. I believe the best events like these should have an important split in personalities to make it a success.”
The last spot went for the winner of the open qualifiers that had over 500 players registered. Fun thing, the 22.0.2 Hearthstone patch hit right in the middle of the qualifier, forcing some rescheduling. Despite everything, Kleenex won the qualifier and got to play in Thijs’s Hearthstone Legends Invitational.
On top of the excellent competitors, the cast was also on point. RDU and TJ Sanders brought fresh and fun commentary, perfect to complement with Thijs everlasting energy and positivity. TJ Brought some tricks under his sleeve and surprised everyone with his meme background mimicking RDU’s apartment for everyone’s amusement.
The action
Moving on to the Hearthstone action in Thijs Legends Invitational, we had many highlights. Alutemu rose champion after coming from the lower bracket and defeating Gaby twice in the finals. Thijs was comparing the Legends Invitational with Hearthstone’s World Championship, well they had one thing in common, a Japanese champion.
Thijs: "I was secretly hoping Cora would win the event."
Alutemu took home the 3,000, but Gaby and Bunnyhoppor didn’t end up empty-handed. Gaby won an impressive G2 Sticker as runner-up, while Bunny got a pack of dead AAA batteries for his third place. No memes, those were the official prizes!
Talking about memes and fun stuff, we can’t leave out the mini-games in which players participated in-between matches. Questions were not super hard. Anyone with some little knowledge or cunning enough to realize that they were designed to tease the participants could get the answers right.
G2 came up with some ideas, and I had some ideas myself. We made all the games set up together as you need some hearthstone knowledge to not make it too easy/difficult. As you saw, they're mainly meant to just have fun (like Gaby’s age or RDU not getting to worlds). Not everything has to be serious for the win.
The highlight of the tournament probably goes to one of the first matches between Gaby and Bunnyhoppor. Few times you’ve seen a turn 1 win like the one Bunny achieved in his match. Before spoiling it, let me give you the recap so we can all laugh together.
As you saw it, Maestra is a win condition of its own. Gaby insta-conceded when he saw his opponent queueing Shaman, the class he banned, only to realize that it was a Rogue in disguise. Bamboozled. If only World Championship players thought of this.
What’s next in Hearthstone after the Thijs Legends Invitational?
Well, 2021 is over, and HS Esports already announced its plans for 2022. However, what we learn after the Thijs Legends Invitational is that the Hearthstone community is eager for more events like this. With a viewership somewhat comparable in part with the World Championship, we might expect more things to come in 2022. When Esports.gg asked about Thijs his thoughts on the topic, he had an optimistic opinion (when doesn’t he, right?):
“The community liked it, that’s all I wanted out of it. We did it in a pretty short time, and more as a "try event" for the potential future. I’m very satisfied that everyone has enjoyed it so much. My goal was to see if the Hearthstone scene would be interested in it. That definitely seems the case. I might set up something bigger for next year and maybe include Battlegrounds. This was, for me, a tryout event. Let’s see what the future holds.”
To sum up, as Thijs says, let’s see what the future holds for us Hearthstone fans. Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more news and updates. Happy feast of Winter Vail for all!