ESL hasn't put on a Hearthstone event of their own for a long time, their last one being the rather small IEM Katowice, held in the Polish esports capital with just eight players in attendance. Their $150,000 Trinity Series is the company’s glorious return to card-slinging competition.

The ETS team league can be easily described as one of the best products in Hearthstone. The massive invitational, which has gathered the best players and teams in the game, is not only a revival of a long-gone tradition, that of team-based competition, but also shines in how the entire entertainment is set up. Not one month into 2017, fans are looking at a strong candidate for best non-Blizzard tournament of the year, blowing away much from what we’ve seen in the space in the previous years.

There’s a lot to be learned from ESL’s endeavor in question, not just in terms of what Hearthstone’s metagame looks like midway through the Gadgetzan rotation, but also in terms of what future team leagues such as these – and tournaments in general – should strive to offer fans, if the game is to move forward.

Lesson 1: Insight into players’ heads is pivotal

A big part of the ETS broadcast is the switch between the commentary desk, in this case entrusted to Brian Kibler and TJ “Azumo” Sanders and the players’ communication with each other. In ETS, all three competitors on a team pilot each deck and each game as a group, making collaborative decisions on how the match is carried out.

Saying such insight dichotomy is fundamental to attracting larger viewership would not be going too far. Having access to both the talents on the casting desk, which possess experience into presenting each narrative in an inviting and entertaining manner, and the minds of three established professionals thinking and acting as one helps the audience better understand what the hell is going on. Hearthstone is just as difficult an esport to grasp when it comes to learning the deep intricacies as any other and it requires a diverse broadcast skillset to reveal all layers. Casters have the charisma and enunciation to glue viewers to their screens but they might lack the inside-out knowledge players have acquired through years of competing and vice versa. With their dynamic hop between the two modes, ESL Trinity Series is utilizing this potential to the fullest.

This concept is by no means new to competitive Hearthstone. Past tournaments such as Archon’s 2v2 brawl and Red Bull’s Team Brawl heavily accentuated on bringing the in-game voice of players to the stream, but none has done it as seamlessly as ETS. Even though only in its first week and still trying to find the proper balance between desk casting time and player communication time, the production team behind ETS is properly identifying key points: Which turns require player comm instead of desk commentary; which team is more interesting to listen to in each scenario; does the broadcast need a player comm “dialogue” and for how long.

It’s not a hyperbole to say that production-wise, ETS has set such high bars that future similar projects will have to at least come close to in order to be in conversation.

Lesson 2: Communication, not individual skill, will win ETS

In the four matches shown during the first week of ETS, major differences could be observed in how players in each team engage in decision making. Their results also strongly correlate with how well and orderly team communication was executed.

A prime example is G2 Esports impeccable team-work. The three-times GosuAwards winners swept Alliance 6-0 on Wednesday on the back of Anyfin Paladin and even though it was ThijsNL technically piloting the deck, the win belongs just as much to Rdu and Lifecoach.

G2 stood out as a trio which operated in perfect synchrony. The team is famous for its vigorous and disciplined training practices and keeping to the same three players for two years now, sticking together through thick and thin, showed in their in-game conversation. G2’s communication channel showed no overlap and no conflicts but a mature conversation between three accomplished champions. G2 also showed clear differentiation in player roles, with two actively conversing with the third taking a back stand and analyzing the macro plan for each game.

Other teams found success in having a main shot-caller, supported by the other two in tricky situations. Tempo Storm, which upset the powerful Virtus.pro on day one, is a prime example of that where VLPS made the majority of decisions and guided his team to a rather dominant 6-3 victory, even if Tempo’s individual players have been struggling competitively for the last year or more.

In contrast, teams whose voices overlapped during important turns, or couldn’t find mutual agreement on each play faltered and this is the first thing they ought to fix preparing for week two. Unlike traditional Hearthstone team leagues of the past where matches are strictly 1v1 with no team-mate interference and individual skill is in the forefront, the Trinity Series will only be won by the trio that finds zen.

Lesson 3: Hunter won’t be prom king any time soon

The pick/ban format of ETS allows teams to ban two classes right off the bat, exclude a third for themselves and play the other six. And if tournament’s set-up offered a lot of new elements to be excited about, the metagame picture certainly didn’t.

Shaman, Rogue and Warrior took all the bans during the first week – a very much expected results. Most teams were comfortable playing with and against control decks, especially when Druid is so good at countering them and, coincidentally, always open for play, but didn’t want to risk getting blown out by a Pirate snowball in the first turns.

This led to drawn out series and especially on day two, where it took about eight hours for the broadcast to complete as both series went to full eleven games. Fortunately, the upsides here are more than the cons: Viewers get more hours of entertainment and get to see teams navigate through the hardest match-ups of Hearthstone together, learning the game as they go along. Anyfin Paladin, RenoLock and RenoMage proved extremely popular, together with the natural control deck counter – Druid.

Sad news for Hunter, however, as Rexxar continues to not hunt, alone or otherwise. The class has been on the bench since Gadgetzan’s release, finding difficulties to exist in a meta which either kills faster than a Steady Shot spam or outlasts said spam through Reno and Kazakus shenanigans. For better or worse, historically the most hated class in Hearthstone is likely to not see play any time soon, especially with no new cards to be added until the April rotation.