When the winners of 16 tournaments throughout the year fight for the title of the best in the world, you expect it be nothing less than spectacular. And spectacular is exactly what we got at the Hearthstone World Championship 2016 when the Russian Pavel defied all odds to win it and become the third Hearthstone World Champion!
Pavel, who hails from Russia, nearly made it to the World Championship last year, but faltered at the last step. This year, he sealed his qualification through the last tournament in the European region.
Coming into the tournament, Pavel was the player with the highest competitive win rate of all the 16 players, a staggering 70 percent. However, he wasn’t expected to be the man lifting the trophy by most people. That honor was bestowed upon the likes of ThijsNL, who lost in the group stages, and Amnesiac, who was ousted by Pavel himself.
The format of every game is that the first player to win 4 games with his uniquely built decks wins. Twice in two games, Pavel found himself trailing 3-0, a single game away from defeat. The first one was against China’s OmegaZero while the second game was against Amnesiac from the Americas region. There are no prizes for guessing that he came through to win 4-3 in both the games. But what’s incredible is the calmness he displayed in his games during those times of adversity.
Another notable thing was the fact that Pavel was confident with his decks. Players who made it to the top 8 were given a chance to make alterations in their deck lists. Pavel was one of the few who went ahead with the same list he used in the group stages and in hindsight, it turned out to be the right decision.
The smile on his face after defeating DrHippi in the finals and his reluctance to bring down the trophy when it was handed to him were clear signs of how much this meant to the 18-year old. From nearly missing out on qualifying in 2015 to winning the whole thing in 2016, Pavel’s tale is one of persistence. Gamer or not, this is an inspiring tale about the importance of hard work and dedication.
