TSM beats CLG in the inaugural LCS Hearthstone Invitational

Riot taking a page from OGN's book announced the expansion of their esports brand the LCS today with the addition of Hearthstone. Redbeard stated that Riot was happy to finally be working together with Blizzard again so many years after the Defense of the Ancients map that started it all. Alongside the announcement came our first taste of what's in store as popular NA LCS superstars Team Solo Mid and Counter Logic Gaming took to the stage for the first LCS Hearthstone match.

The action started off with Nien's Warrior deck against Dyrus' Mage deck. After a tense match Nien would find his combo to finish off Dyrus.

Nien would also make short work of Oddone before falling to Bjergsen's Rogue. Bjergsen would once again prove why he is the BjergerKing going an amazing 5-0 to secure the all kill over CLG and the win for TSM.

In the post game interview TSM owner Andy "Reginald" Dinh stated that he was happy TSM was given the chance to take the first win in LCS Hearthstone, and that he expects TSM to top the standings in every form of LCS in the coming years.

Riot stated that this was just the first step of the next phase of the LCS. They hope to unveil new LCS leagues from FPS titles like CS:GO and Battlefield 4 to RTS titles like Starcraft II, and even other MOBA titles. RiotMagus stated "Many fans have expressed wishes to be able to watch other esports while they watch LCS. It was such an obvious step we figured, why not?"

The future of the LCS is here and I for one am excited!

A little Hearthstone to get things rolling

Dusting off my old blog I never did anything with and shaking out the cobwebs to talk about my experiences in Hearthstone, so I figured starting simple would be a good idea. So how about one of the counter intuitive things I've had to learn to do: Eating damage to clear a minion with my weapon (or druid hero power).

The typical line of thinking myself and a lot of other players I’ve fought against everywhere from unranked, to arenas, to diamond ranked play, is to avoid eating the counter attack damage and simply kill the offending minion with one of our own the next turn. On the surface that plan is completely reasonable, you damage the enemy champion (or just save durability on your weapon), you avoid taking the minion’s damage in return, and you can deal with it next turn with one of your minions. Your HP stays high, the other player’s HP drops, therefor you come out ahead in the exchange, it all makes sense on the surface level.

The problem comes from the fact that you have no control over your opponent’s turn. Leaving that minion up prevents the damage to you once but also allows plenty of opportunity to keep that minion alive and repeatedly dealing its damage. Without a full deck list for your opponent there’s no way to guarantee that your opponent does not have a buff or taunt or heal up his sleeve to prevent you eliminating that minion on your next turn.  I cannot count the number of times I’ve lost from allowing a minion to live in order to avoid a few points of damage, only to have that minion survive all game dealing its damage to me over and over. The mistake is only thinking of the damage a minion can deal as a onetime event, instead of its potential to deal that damage every turn.

So remember, if it won’t bring you dangerously low on HP (assume around 20hp means you’re safe to take the counter attack damage from almost any minion), take the damage and remove that minion from the board. It would have saved several games for me and it just might save a few for you too!