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How Tempo Storm Won Team Brawl in 6 Steps
Take a look at Tempo Storm's keys to success in this weekend's first Red Bull Team Brawl event.
Tempo Storm won the inaugural Red Bull Team Brawl
© Marv Watson
Arithmetic has never been so exciting! Despite making some early mistakes, Tempo Storm (Reynad, Firebat, and Eloise) orchestrated a perfect comeback blitz through their challengers on Saturday to take home the trophy in the first-ever Red Bull Team Brawl: Hearthstone!
It was a wild ride, so let's look at the six key steps Tempo Storm took to win the tournament.
Step 1: Gather Intel and Establish Communication
Tempo Storm got off to a rough start against Team Liquid. They went 0-3, but still made sure that they still got valuable information out of those matches. Eloise kept track of every card played by Dog's surprisingly perfect Oil Rogue deck, so her teammates could make better decisions when they had to play against it.
They talked constantly, asking for opinions on important plays and reaching consensus before the rope burned out. Hearthstone became a team game, and it was awesome to hear their thought process.
In their post-win interview, Firebat even called out their communication as the key difference that let them win the whole thing.
Step 2: Giganitize the Scavenging Hyena
In Round 2, Tempo Storm quickly lost another game. But right when things looked bleakest, Firebat stepped up with a brilliant burst-damage play using the old-school combo of Scavenging Hyena and Unleash the Hounds.
Down to only 3 health and facing a massive enemy board, Firebat boosted his Scavenging Hyena to 12/7 and mowed down Savjz's hero, doing 22 damage in a single turn! Team Liquid couldn't believe it and, in the words of the shoutcasters, "That play is bananas!"
Reynad's mistake cost his team a game
© Marv Watson
Step 3: Make a Crucial Math Error
30 damage. No, 27. No, 26. No, 27. Maybe 29. "Yeah, 29 for sure."
That was the hilarious-in-hindsight struggle of Reynad and Firebat to count up their total damage on board against an opponent with 28 health remaining as the timer ran out.
"Aww, that's embarrassing."
And that was the hilarious-for-Team-Liquid realization that Tempo Storm had accidentally counted incorrectly and left Dog with 1 health remaining. Reynad hadn't realized that one of Firebat's minions had just been played and couldn't attack—a very real hazard in this fast-paced tournament where 3 games are being played at once.
That's the sort of misplay that could really frustrate some players and send them on tilt. But Tempo Storm laughed off the mistake and kept each other in good spirits throughout it all.
Step 4: Initiate the Reynad Revival
After losing their first series 4-5, Tempo Storm needed clean sweeps through Cloud9 in their next series to stay in the running. Thankfully, that's right when Reynad came online.
Even Tides' perfect Excavated Evil couldn't slow Reynad down as he took back board control and set himself up for success with Chromaggus. That let him grab double Big Game Hunter right when he needed removal (to which he jokingly asked, "Is that good?").
Everyone on Tempo Storm absolutely crushed it in this series, going 6-0 in the first two rounds. But only Reynad went totally flawless 3-0 with his brutal grind warlock deck that choked out enemy board presence and forced card advantage with his hero power.
Eloise played well throughout the tournament
© Marv Watson
Step 5: Fight to Survive
Tempo Storm's third series, against Team Archon, was a cardiologist's nightmare. I had at least 8 heart attacks watching the intense matches and insane back-and-forth plays.
Zalaer got Jungle Moonkin from Ram Wrangler in with his full board of minions. But Reynad drew the most timely Demonwrath that let him wipe away his problems and start fresh. Eloise got a perfect Mukla's Champion to buff up her entire board and win her game quickly.
The biggest moments, though, once again came from Reynad's Warlock deck. He comboed Brann Bronzebeard with two Frostwolf Warlords to build massive 10/10 and 12/12 bodies to counter the buffed giant on Amaz's side, ready to win the game.
And it all came down to a long last match of the series. Whichever team won would go to the Finals, and Reynad narrowly beat out Amnesiac's Druid.
Step 6: Tempo SWARM!
Before facing off in the Finals, Tempo Storm and Team Liquid opened another set off packs and built brand new decks. This is where Tempo Storm really took control. They analyzed how Liquid played before and took stock of which cards worked best/worst in earlier games. They decided to build a host of swarm decks that could overrun their opponents quickly.
Reynad's mech Mage monstrosity absolutely destroyed everything he faced, winning as early as Turn 5! Eloise's token Paladin had Muster for Battle and Murloc Knights with a penchant for summoning more Murloc Knights. Firebat's Priest deck spawned plenty of tokens while relying on stealing troops from Trump's side of the board to keep his army at full capacity.
In the end, Tempo Storm built perfect counter decks to what they predicted Team Liquid would do, and easily won 5 games in a row to claim the trophy!
So, now you know Tempo Storm's secret to winning the first-ever Red Bull Team Brawl: Hearthstone. Now get out there, grab some friends, and win a sealed tournament of your own!
For more Hearthstone features, follow @redbullESPORTS on Twitter.
