Hello and welcome everyone, to the start of another exciting season of collegiate Hearthstone. To kick off the season, the Hearthstone White team took on the Bay State College Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are a new addition to ECAC this season, so going into the match the Red Flash had no idea what to expect. Speaking of our Red Flash, the White team this year is completely comprised of our former Hearthstone Red team from last season. With that out of the way, let's get into the action.
Game 1
For the first round of the season, Hearthstone White decided to start their first game off with Tyler "Clutch" Tomechak at the controls. Tomechak is a familiar name and face for Red Flash Hearthstone, having been the captain since the birth of Hearthstone at Saint Francis Esports a few years ago. Clutch, now a seasoned veteran and leader, was confident and stoic heading into the first match. After trading deck lists, the Red Flash quickly realized they were in trouble. It turns out BSC happened to bring decks that heavily countered those brought by SFU. The group, having been through thick and thin, stayed calm and still believed that they could win as long as they played a near perfect game and were dealt the right hand. Finally, the game started and it was close early on--both teams were clearly shaking off the rust from their prolonged time away from the game. Soon enough, the game became more intense, with both teams roping rather often, making sure that they took their time to make the best decisions possible. According to Anthony "McBucketzzz" McFeaters, this matchup was a race to deal as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible. The Red Flash stuck to that strategy, making quick work of BSC's health bar, making it 30-10. However, they knew that they had to operate quickly because BSC had such a high damage potential. Not more than two rounds later, BSC pulled out a wicked combo with great draws, allowing them to take out SFU in a single turn making the series 0-1.
Game 2
Going into game two, the White Team was rather concerned, as their matchup statistics got even worse. However, they were somewhat relieved to find out that their first hand was rather decent. The game was close for a few rounds, with each team waiting for the other to misplay or to draw their win conditions. Anthony started to become nervous to the point that he started not to feel well. Instead of the game relieving his worry, Hearthstone made Anthony's nightmare come true. The Red Flash drew their fire elemental, the only card they did not want to draw. In turn, Anthony decided to go back to his Catholic routes and pray for the rest of the game to go well. Unfortunately, the prayers went unanswered and the White Team was forced to concede no less than two turns later bringing the series to 0-2.
Game 3
For the third game in a row, SFU decided to keep Tyler at the controls. The Red Flash would need a miracle to make this matchup competitive as they had a win probability below 45%. To make matters worse, the White Team's first hand was not what they were hoping for at all; the game only devolved from there. It seemed as though SFU was unable to get anything started from the first hand and nothing changed by game three. Bay State was able to exploit the Red Flash's bad luck and slowly waste away their HP. The White Team went on to lose the game 0-3, but they hope to bounce back for next week's matchup.
