A new Heroes of the Storm king has been crowned in Paris. After being cancelled last year due to COVID-19, the Masters Clash Championship is back. There was an alternative online plan in case players suffered travel restrictions, but luckily everything worked wonders. Masters Clash organized a great event where the three best teams from the online group stage (30k, The Donuts and The Hardos) and the gauntlet winner (Chilly Mountain) fought hard to earn the European crown.
The very first series, 30k vs. Chilly Mountain, was a perfect starting point for the tournament. 30k had the lead during the whole first map, but in the end catapults won a totally unexpected base race for CM (with a little help from a Mortar Punisher). MichaelUdall’s organization stood up and won the next two maps, despite SmX’s impressive performance. The former Fnatic support landed one clutch healing after another, but it wasn’t enough to defeat 30k. The other semifinal, Donuts vs. Hardos, ended with a 2-0 Donuts victory.
After these semifinals, CM and The Hardos faced each other at the lower bracket. Unlike the previous matches, this do-or-die series was a bo5. After their defeat against The Donuts, The Hardos were out for blood. They overwhelmingly took the first two maps. They could have signed a 3-0 victory, but Chilly Mountain executed a perfect teamfight in Tomb of the Spider Queen that granted them the map and kept their hopes alive. But this was merely a setback for The Hardos, who closed the series by winning the fourth map, Infernal Shrines.
Once the first team had been eliminated, it was time for the Winners’ Finals. It was beautiful watching both teams adapt their drafts throughout the series. 30k pulled some interesting picks, such as Genji or The Lost Vikings. They tricked The Donuts once, but Lauber’s team learned from mistakes and won the three next maps. In the last map, Towers of Doom, 30k tried to counter The Donuts’ strong backline with Stitches, but thanks to a wonderful positioning by Svampgrotta and Lauber, the abomination wasn’t able to fulfill its task.
Day 2 began with the Losers’ Finals: 30k vs. The Hardos. It seemed to be a really close series, as it started with a 1-1 tie. However, 30k became stronger game after game. They had the upper hand during game 3 and slowly built up their victory. That slight advantage evolved into a great snowball in game 4. Thus, the French-German team earned a ticket to the finals, a chance to get revenge on The Donuts.
And that’s just what they did.
The Grand Finals started with a 1-map advantage for The Donuts, thanks to their clean upper bracket run. That’s all they got. Dynouh—who earned the award for best DPS of the tournament—played Valla wonderfully in three of the four games. It didn’t matter whether his team was winning or losing, he delivered tons of damage once and again. The Donuts played well though. They fought hard, but it wasn’t enough. Things could have been different if 30k had lost the third map, Tomb of the Spider Queen. But even with no structures left, Dynouh’s team miraculously came back. The fourth game was just the last nail in The Donuts’ coffin. A nail that sealed the 4-1 30k victory and allowed them to lift the well-deserved trophy.
The Masters Clash Championship was an awesome event, but there’s much more Heroes of the Storm ahead of us. CCL final stage begins next weekend. Don’t miss it!
Source: https://tl.net/forum/heroes/575367-the-paris-trophy-masters-clash-championship-recap
