It’s November 5th, the second day of 2016 Hearthstone World Championship. The last two remaining players – Pavel “Pavel” Beltukov from Russia and Artem “DrHippi” Kravets from Ukraine – are tangled in a battle for quarter million dollars in front of 350,000 viewers. It’s the highest-stakes Hearthstone match of all time. The cards are played with rapid speed as soon as a new turn begins which creates an unusually energetic tension for a game that’s anything but fast-paced.

By game five, this grand final is already more competitive than the previous two, which have ended in whitewashes. DrHippi is not in a good position: Over the course of the tournament, his opponent has feasted on Malygos Druids – one of the best decks in the entire game – and the Virtus.pro player has to get a win with it if he wants the championship. He hopes game six is the one where he ties the one-game lead of Pavel, but the Russian doesn’t allow even a moment’s respite. A 10/10 Edwin VanCleef hits the board for Pavel. DrHippi has two turns to find and answer and there’s nothing in his deck that can deal with this monstrous minion.

Pavel can barely hold his smile and seconds later he is $250,000 richer. The Hearthstone world welcomes its third world champion. The redemption story of the comeback kid is complete.

* * *

The first flop

To fully appreciate Pavel’s achievement, one has to go back in time, farther than the start of this year’s Hearthstone Championship Tour’s (HCT) start. Coming into the European Finals in Prague in October 2015, Pavel was on the verge of his break-out performance. Although lacking a major championship to his name, the young Russian was to his peers what Hearthstone super-star Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk was in 2014 – the underdog talent whose memorable run was due any minute now.

To qualify for the World Championship, Pavel needed to win just one more game against Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy, a veteran of Hearthstone scene and a poster boy for his team G2 Esports. An inch away from the biggest success of his career thus far, Pavel made an uncharacteristic mistake, a misplay so easily preventable but so crucial that it went on being quoted in multiple articles and even named “The Pavel”.

Such an elimination is always tough on the young minds especially, that Pavel must’ve felt heart-broken. His hard work throughout the whole year and the grinding of ladder and open cups were ended not because his opponent played better, but because in his hasted he had screwed up a basic trade that any mid-level player would’ve executed correctly.

Pavel’s perseverance never faltered and with the reimagining of the championship circuit in 2016 he saw a new opportunity, one that would greatly benefit open cup and ladder grinders. With the massive increase in the HCT prize pool, however, came new and hungry contenders and the ruthless preliminary tournaments saw Pavel miss all of the three regional championships, although his results in third-party majors such as DreamHack were more than commendable. Regardless, by the end of October, Pavel’s hard work has paid off and he qualified for the Last Call Invitational of his region, his final shot at a Blizzcon spot.

As the Last Call Invitationals were made in such way as to reward the best performing players throughout the entire year, it had gathered the heaviest of hitters of Europe, arguably Hearthstone’s most competitive region and the current holder of the world cup. With names such as Radu “Rdu” Dima and Frederik “Hoej” Nielsen competing, pundits and fans were worried how far Pavel’s otherwise low-profile career still tainted with that first flop would get him.

Dropping only three games the entire tournament, Pavel gave them the answer: As far as Hearthstone’s largest stage.

[c]* * *[/c]

The second flop

In November, Pavel flew to California as part of Europe’s star studded team, including himself, the 2015 player of the year Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk, the two-times Europe Championship grand finalist Artem “DrHippi” Kravets and the god of Hunter Ole “Naiman” Batyrbekov. On achievements and renown alone, Europe was far ahead of any of the other three regions and their dominance in the group stage was expected to be a formality.

Only, the Europeans were in for a rude awakening. Of the four, only DrHippi won his opening match. Placed in Group D and playing last each day, Pavel saw his clique being beaten into submission, himself included. In his first match against Edwin “HotMEOWTH” King, a newcomer to the scene, Pavel played Hearthstone unworthy of the World Championship stage, notably throwing a C’Thun Warrior mirror match against the American to score a 1-4 loss on opening weekend.

Prospects were looking grim for Pavel and Europe in general. In both previous championships, the region that had gone 1-3 in the first matches only qualified one player for the playoffs and in both cases that had been the player who had won that one game. On elimination day, both ThijsNL and Naiman were shown the exit and Pavel’s previous performance did not suggest he’d fare any better.

A clean sweep against Korea’s Sang-Hyeon “Ddahyoni” Baek bought Pavel an extra day in California, but the decider match against Zheng “OmegaZero” Lin – China’s highest-praised player – began with a 0-3 deficit for the Russian. With only Malygos Druid remaining, OmegaZero was sure to get at least one more victory and repeat the grim statistic from the past championships.

What happened next would define Pavel’s entire HCT storyline. Staring down the barrel of match-point, Pavel reverse-swept the powerful deck of the Chinese. He was going to the playoffs after coming within hand’s reach of elimination once again.  

[c]* * *[/c]

Shock and awe in Anaheim

Although Pavel’s gameplay looked stabilized after narrowly beating the group stages, his prospects in the playoffs weren’t the best. His quarter final pairing met him with Will “Amnesiac” Barton, the 15-year-old Hearthstone prodigy and the best performing player of the tournament so far, with perfect plays in all of his games.

It took Pavel about half an hour to find himself in a familiar predicament: Down three games and with a Malygos Druid to beat. The NA fans were ecstatic, already tasting the victory. No way for Amnesiac to lose this one. The perfect player was about to get a perfect score.

 Instead, fans were treated to the most dramatic match in the entire tournament. The high skill of the players got overshadowed by ridiculous RNG rolls. The crowd cheered at each Ragnaros roulette, each top deck, each Firelands Portal swing. It boomed as Pavel’s tiny and innocent Babbling Books polymorphed Amnesiac’s dragon god of magic. It roared as the comeback was completed. The boy genius who had held the win and lost it could not believe he was out of the tournament.

No other match that Pavel played could be compared to the roller-coaster against Amnesiac. Not when he eliminated China’s last hope Jason Zhou in the semi-finals and not when he once again feasted on his enemy’s Malygos Druid to win the championship against DrHippi. All that Pavel became on that memorable gunpowder day was to be owed to a pair of unforgettable reverse-kills against world’s perfect players.

The comeback story was complete with the most perfect ending imaginable.

[c]* * *[/c]

In conclusion

To deny luck played part in Pavel’s victory run would be foolish. To attribute it all on it would be outrageous.

As we welcome our new world champion and look forward to his career in 2017, we ought to remember where he started and how far he’s come. How at age 18 he’s the highest winning Hearthstone player of all time. How his career has been anything but kind to him and how he’s fought tooth and nail to win in the game’s most competitive year. How he overcame his own shortcomings and public criticism. How he defeated the best players of three regions to get where he is now.

There’s virtually nothing that can diminish Pavel’s achievement. 

It’s November 5th, the second day of 2016 Hearthstone World Championship. The last two remaining players – Pavel “Pavel” Beltukov from Russia and Artem “DrHippi” Kravets from Ukraine – are tangled in a battle for quarter million dollars in front of 350,000 viewers. It’s the highest-stakes Hearthstone match of all time. The cards are played with rapid speed as soon as a new turn begins which creates an unusually energetic tension for a game that’s anything but fast-paced.

By game five, this grand final is already more competitive than the previous two, which have ended in whitewashes. DrHippi is not in a good position: Over the course of the tournament, his opponent has feasted on Malygos Druids – one of the best decks in the entire game – and the Virtus.pro player has to get a win with it if he wants the championship. He hopes game six is the one where he ties the one-game lead of Pavel, but the Russian doesn’t allow even a moment’s respite. A 10/10 Edwin VanCleef hits the board for Pavel. DrHippi has two turns to find and answer and there’s nothing in his deck that can deal with this monstrous minion.

Pavel can barely hold his smile and seconds later he is $250,000 richer. The Hearthstone world welcomes its third world champion. The redemption story of the comeback kid is complete.

* * *

The first flop

To fully appreciate Pavel’s achievement, one has to go back in time, farther than the start of this year’s Hearthstone Championship Tour’s (HCT) start. Coming into the European Finals in Prague in October 2015, Pavel was on the verge of his break-out performance. Although lacking a major championship to his name, the young Russian was to his peers what Hearthstone super-star Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk was in 2014 – the underdog talent whose memorable run was due any minute now.

To qualify for the World Championship, Pavel needed to win just one more game against Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy, a veteran of Hearthstone scene and a poster boy for his team, G2 Esports. An inch away from the biggest success of his career thus far, Pavel made an uncharacteristic mistake, a misplay so easily preventable but so crucial that it went on being quoted in multiple articles and even named “The Pavel”.

Such an elimination is always tough on the young minds especially, that Pavel must’ve felt heart-broken. His hard work throughout the whole year and the grinding of ladder and open cups were ended not because his opponent played better, but because in his hasted he had screwed up a basic trade that any mid-level player would’ve executed correctly.

Pavel’s perseverance never faltered and with the reimagining of the championship circuit in 2016 he saw a new opportunity, one that would greatly benefit open cup and ladder grinders. With the massive increase in the HCT prize pool, however, came new and hungry contenders and the ruthless preliminary tournaments saw Pavel miss all of the three regional championships, although his results in third-party majors such as DreamHack were more than commendable. Regardless, by the end of October, Pavel’s hard work has paid off and he qualified for the Last Call Invitational of his region, his final shot at a Blizzcon spot.

As the Last Call Invitationals were made in such way as to reward the best performing players throughout the entire year, it had gathered the heaviest of hitters of Europe, arguably Hearthstone’s most competitive region and the current holder of the world cup. With names such as Radu “Rdu” Dima and Frederik “Hoej” Nielsen competing, pundits and fans were worried how far Pavel’s otherwise low-profile career still tainted with that first flop would get him.

Dropping only three games the entire tournament, Pavel gave them the answer: As far as Hearthstone’s largest stage.

* * *

The second flop

In November, Pavel flew to California as part of Europe’s star studded team, including himself, the 2015 player of the year Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk, the two-times Europe Championship grand finalist Artem “DrHippi” Kravets and the god of Hunter Ole “Naiman” Batyrbekov. On achievements and renown alone, Europe was far ahead of any of the other three regions and their dominance in the group stage was expected to be a formality.

Only, the Europeans were in for a rude awakening. Of the four, only DrHippi won his opening match. Placed in Group D and playing last each day, Pavel saw his clique being beaten into submission, himself included. In his first match against Edwin “HotMEOWTH” King, a newcomer to the scene, Pavel played Hearthstone unworthy of the World Championship stage, notably throwing a C’Thun Warrior mirror match against the American to score a 1-4 loss on opening weekend.

Prospects were looking grim for Pavel and Europe in general. In both previous championships, the region that had gone 1-3 in the first matches only qualified one player for the playoffs and in both cases that had been the player who had won that one game. On elimination day, both ThijsNL and Naiman were shown the exit and Pavel’s previous performance did not suggest he’d fare any better.

A clean sweep against Korea’s Sang-Hyeon “Ddahyoni” Baek bought Pavel an extra day in California, but the decider match against Zheng “OmegaZero” Lin – China’s highest-praised player – began with a 0-3 deficit for the Russian. With only Malygos Druid remaining, OmegaZero was sure to get at least one more victory and repeat the grim statistic from the past championships.

What happened next would define Pavel’s entire HCT storyline. Staring down the barrel of match-point, Pavel reverse-swept the powerful deck of the Chinese. He was going to the playoffs after coming within hand’s reach of elimination once again.  

* * *

Shock and awe in Anaheim

Although Pavel’s gameplay looked stabilized after narrowly beating the group stages, his prospects in the playoffs weren’t the best. His quarter final pairing met him with Will “Amnesiac” Barton, the 15-year-old Hearthstone prodigy and the best performing player of the tournament so far, with perfect plays in all of his games.

It took Pavel about half an hour to find himself in a familiar predicament: Down three games and with a Malygos Druid to beat. The NA fans were ecstatic, already tasting the victory. No way for Amnesiac to lose this one. The perfect player was about to get a perfect score.

 Instead, fans were treated to the most dramatic match in the entire tournament. The high skill of the players got overshadowed by ridiculous RNG rolls. The crowd cheered at each Ragnaros roulette, each top deck, each Firelands Portal swing. It boomed as Pavel’s tiny and innocent Babbling Books polymorphed Amnesiac’s dragon god of magic. It roared as the comeback was completed. The boy genius who had held the win and lost it could not believe he was out of the tournament.

No other match that Pavel played could be compared to the roller-coaster against Amnesiac. Not when he eliminated China’s last hope Jason Zhou in the semi-finals and not when he once again feasted on his enemy’s Malygos Druid to win the championship against DrHippi. All that Pavel became on that memorable gunpowder day was to be owed to a pair of unforgettable reverse-kills against world’s perfect players.

The comeback story was complete with the most perfect ending imaginable.

* * *

In conclusion

To deny luck played part in Pavel’s victory run would be foolish. To attribute it all on it would be outrageous.

As we welcome our new world champion and look forward to his career in 2017, we ought to remember where he started and how far he’s come. How at age 18 he’s the highest winning Hearthstone player of all time. How his career has been anything but kind to him and how he’s fought tooth and nail to win in the game’s most competitive year. How he overcame his own shortcomings and public criticism. How he defeated the best players of three regions to get where he is now.

There’s virtually nothing that can diminish Pavel’s achievement. 

Nydra is a veteran of esports and head of Hearthstone at GosuGamers.  If you enjoyed this piece, follow him on Twitter at @GGNydrA.