ShtanUdachi wins the 2017 Hearthstone Winter Championship

After a weekend of card-flinging action at the 2017 Hearthstone Winter Championship in the Bahamas, one player has emerged victorious: Aleksey “ShtanUdachi” Barsukov.

Early in the weekend, his road to the top looked like it was going to be easy. The Russian player came out to a hot start, earning a 2-0 series score in the group stages and bringing down Zhang “lovelychook” Bohan in the quarterfinals in a swift 4-0.

But then the semifinals and SamuelTsao hit. After four games, ShtanUdachi found himself down 1-3, facing one final deck from SamuelTsao: Reno Warlock. He had to beat him three in a row to keep his tournament hopes alive. And win he did, beating the Warlock player with Rogue, his own Warlock, and then Shaman.

His finals opponent, Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang, offered up a much more back-and-forth match, with both players trading wins until the final matchup between ShtanUdachi’s Reno Mage and Fr0zen’s Reno Warlock. The last match was fitting, considering this will be the last major tournament before the release of Journey to Un’Goro and Reno Jackson’s rotation out of the Standard format.

Thanks to a strong opening draw that turned into a powerful control match, ShtanUdachi was able to close out the game and earn the right to take home the Hearthstone Winter Championship trophy and $60,000. The victory also grants him a spot at the Hearthstone World Championship at Blizzcon 2017.

For more coverage on Blizzard’s CCG, head over to the Yahoo Esports Hearthstone hub.

Follow Taylor Cocke on Twitter @taylorcocke.