“I’m scared to go to sleep because if I wake up, it won’t be real.”
Tom "PocketTrain" Swinton is the winner of the Hearthstone World Championship 2023 tournament! He took home the bulk of the $350,000 USD prize pool and earned the title of World Champion on Dec. 17. Read on for the winning Hearthstone Masters Tour World Championship 2023 decks, what PocketTrain had to say about his victory, and more!
PocketTrain wins Hearthstone World Championship 2023
After claiming victory at the Hearthstone World Championship 2023 event, PocketTrain went on social media to celebrate his journey to the top. He also acknowledged a bunch of folks who helped him along the way, which included his practice group. In a post-match interview after his win, he described how it all seemed like a dream to him before talking about this group as well.
"I'm scared to go to sleep because if I wake up, it won't be real," PocketTrain said during the interview. "I've played so much Hearthstone this year, thought so much about Worlds, every dream [was] about Worlds, had vivid dreams like play-by-play losing like going 0-2, play-by-play winning, and then I wake up the next day and none of it was real. So this one is crazy right now. I don't know. I'm a bit of mess right now, but a brilliant mess."
He then thanked Franjo "reqvam" Blažević for being a great practice partner 24/7 and noted how Pedro "Pascoa" Pasqualini helped with statistics work. He also gave shoutouts to lots of players such as Nicolas "TicTac" Gillet, Frederik " Furyhunter " Møller, Luna "lunaloveee" Eason, Kyle "McBanterFace" Spigelman, and Raphael "BunnyHoppor" Peltzer.
"When I started, I was a no one. And then jambre reached out to me and said, 'Do you want to join our practice group for this Masters Tour?' And it was a bunch of big names," PocketTrain added. "I was scared. I didn't join the voice calls."
He then reiterated his thanks to James "jambre" Brennan for reaching out to him and welcoming him into the competitive Hearthstone community.
Hearthstone World Championship 2023 decks
In terms of the winning decks, PocketTrain brought Pure Paladin, Naga Priest, Naga Demon Hunter, and Dragon Druid to the competition. When PocketTrain faced CJkaka in the grand final, the latter player brought Rainbow Mage into the fray. However, PocketTrain defeated it using his Demon Hunter and Naga Priest.
Deck Name | Deck Code |
Pure Paladin | AAECAZ8FBIbiBIOWBfboBY3+BQ3JoATavQS/4gSBlgXBxAXKxAWZjgbjjga8jwaOlQb1lQaqlga1ngYAAA== |
Naga Priest | AAECAa0GBImyBPrbBM/2BaSdBg2i6AOIsgSktgSntgSGgwXdpAWVqgXIxgW7xwWi6QWFjgbGnAa4ngYAAA== |
Naga Demon Hunter | AAECAea5AwKkkgX3wwUOtKAEiLIEmLoE+b8EpeIElaoF2dAF5OQF4fgFxfkFkIMGhpAGjZAGnJoGAAA= |
Dragon Druid | AAECAZICBLCKBPzfBcj4BcGVBg2unwSQtQSuwAS7zgSjkwX93wWn+gW7lQa8lQa9lQbXnAbYnAbanAYAAA== |
In the final game, PocketTrain leveraged the synergy of his Dragon Druid deck. After drawing into the Spinetail Drake minion, he played Snapdragon to buff the Battlecry minions in his deck.
Later, he played Dragon Golem and summoned four copies of it on the board. This Battlecry minion summoned a copy of itself for each Dragon in PocketTrain's hand. After going face to lethal, he swept CJkaka 3-0 and became the Hearthstone World Championship 2023 winner!
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