Tempo Storms Sealed Deck format once again shone in last weekends Red Bull Team Brawl, the second significant tournament run in this Hearthstone format. And for the second time, the home team won, with Tempo Storm beating Team Liquid 3-1 after squeezing into the finals.What is Sealed Deck format? When developing a Hearthstone version of Sealed Deck, Tempo Storm borrowed from Magic: The Gatherings Sealed Deck format, one of my personal favorite limited formats in card games. Each team opens a series of virtual packs to form a 240-card pool from which they must build three decks with only those cards.What makes this a compelling format is that it highlights the deckbuilding itself, rather than simply piloting a constructed, refined deck, in which most players almost entirely know the majority of a players deck after a few turns, if not before. Forcing players to build decks from a random, limited pool, creates interesting scenarios. And as a team format, with the players miced up, you both get to see direct teamwork, fairly unusual in Hearthstone, and hear the players thoughts.Tempo StormAndrey Reynad Yanyuk Haiyun Eloise Tang Victor VLPS LopezTempo Storm may have won the tournament, but it was a very near thing, as they only advanced to the final match against Team Liquid by virtue of winning a tiebreaker as three of the four teams involved went 1-2 in the Round Robin (Team Liquid went undefeated).The team felt they had enough Mechs to put together a kind of hybrid Mech/Token Shaman that could swarm the board and make beneficial trades, with Thunder Bluff Valiant and Muklas Champion leveraging the tokens. Mech Shaman had been a thing in the past, a straight aggro deck during the days of Goblins vs. Gnomes, but without a Rockbiter Weapon or Whirling Zap-o-Matic, Tempo Storm couldnt go a straight-up with the aggression.Tempo Storms Mage did manage to get a Mad Scientist, useful to exploit the Duplicates, and the two Flamestrikes were key to making the deck work. The only thing really missing was direct burn damage to the face outside of the two Forgotten Torches; there was no Fireball in this deck. But the two Flame Lances came in handy several times over the weekend -- an important thing to remember about Hearthstone is that there are a lot of cards that never see play in Constructed, but only because there are cards that are simply a smidgen better.Druid was the deck Tempo Storm worried the most about, a deck full of large minions and not a lot of ways to catch up.Im going to play the most expensive thing in my hand every single turn until hopefully my opponent dies. The only thing thats missing is any kind of decision-making, commented Reynad before the tournament started on how theyd win with the deck. In the end, they went 3-3 with it.After going 6-7 in games during the Round Robin, Tempo Storm tinkered with all three of their decks (they were allowed to make changes before the finals using the same card pools), making them more aggressive, notably including Bloodlust in Shaman to push the token theme. The Bloodlust proved to be a key card in the final against Team Liquid, as the team didnt get too greedy and used Bloodlust for important minion removal rather than simply for the burst damage to face.Team LiquidJeffrey Trump Shih David Dog Caero Janne Savjz MikkonenTeam Liquids deck all shared in a theme in that their card pool was really suffering for lack of area-of-effect clears, the type that could help the games if they fell behind. So they focused on decks that built a solid curve that could maintain board control with minion-on-minion combat.You could see this issue in Team Liquids Mage deck, which had very high minion quality, but no Flamestrikes, no Fireballs, and only Blizzard for a dependable board clear, albeit one that would likely need some kind of board presence.Team Liquid was also fortunate to draw both Reno Jackson and Lord Jaraxxus, enabling them to put together a fairly decent Renolock deck with a bit of Dragon synergy. One problem which didnt hit them early: the lack of board clear in the form of Hellfire, Shadowflame, or Twisting Nether. But if they could survive and get to Jaraxxus, they stood a good chance of winning. In practice, it proved tricky and the deck only was around .500 in the end.During the round robin portion, the general deck plan proved effective, the team going 9-3 over the course of their three preliminary matches. As it turned out, the quick aggressive decks that would punish the decks early were nowhere to be seen. Tempo Storm going for a smaller curve in the finals proved to be their undoing.Team BMKBrian Kibler Rumay Hafu Wang Tom MartellWith one of the best Arena players in Hearthstone in Hafu to go along with two very experienced Magic players, this seemed like an ideal format for this makeshift team.The deck that worked out the best for Team BMK was their Priest deck, the only Priest played in the tournament. While the class has been the whipping boy of Constructed for the last six months or so, they were able to collect many of the elements for a Resurrect Priest, with many of the standard cards for that archetype being available without substitutions. The Priest went 2-1, so wasnt the problem.Nor was the problem the Shaman deck, which went 3-1 with some powerful late game cards, a total of nine minions of five-or-more mana. Without a lot of aggressive decks to play against, they were able to reach that endgame more often than not.What sunk Team BMK was the Mage deck, a deck that get out-tempoed early if they couldnt get a Fallen Hero or Stormchugger, easily their best early-game minions, to stick. And thats a problem as with no Fireball, Frostbolt, or Blizzard, the team fell regularly behind and would lose if they didnt happen to have Flamestrike. Even with two Flamestrikes, this happened quite a bit, leaving the Mage deck to go 1-6, the worst performance of any deck for the day.The other problem turned out to be the secrets. While Tempo Storm had two Duplicates to go along with their Mad Scientist, Team BMK had two of the weakest secrets -- Id argue the absolute weakest -- in Vaporize and Spellbender. After the initial surprise in their first match given that these cards are never played in Constructed, both Tempo Storm and Team Liquid were able to play around the secrets quite easily.Cloud9James Firebat Kostesich Cong Strifecro Shu Andrew TidesofTime BiessenerCloud9s plan for their Druid was simple: put as many giant minions, preferably with taunt, on the board as possible and dare the opponent to have enough removal to get them all. And it worked out more often than not, the deck winning three of its five games. With Dark Arakkoa, Captured Mormungar, two Ironbark Protectors, and two Volcanic Lumberers, their opponents tended to run out of removal.But against a fearless, aggressive opponent with a bit of reach, the deck ran into trouble. Tempo Storm didnt have spell options to remove Cloud9s big minions in their mirror match, so the former used their two Savage Combatants to use their heros health pool as a removal tool. And they did this to the tune of 25 self-damage just to retain board.Like Team Liquid, Cloud9 got a Lord Jaraxxus to use, but the combination of a smaller curve without enough aggression to put the game away early, they had a harder time geting to their Jaraxxus.Cloud9s last deck, yet another grinding-style Mage was a deck we didnt get to see a lot of, only geting two games in. Which is kind of a shame as they were able to work in five Dragons and two Blackwing Technicians, something that caused Team Liquid a great deal of trouble in the very first game of the day. Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys Authentic . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys China . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. http://www.cheapbuccaneersjerseysauthentic.com/ . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. Buccaneers Jerseys China Cheap .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. Lee Roy Selmon Jersey . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. The big fish is gone, so teams will circle around other targets when NHL free agency opens Friday.Even with Steven Stamkos staying with the Tampa Bay Lightning on a $68 million, eight-year deal, the free agent market presents plenty of big-time players from forwards Milan Lucic, Loui Eriksson and Kyle Okposo to defensemen Brian Campbell and Dan Hamhuis.Theres some high-end guys this year and itll be interesting to see what they get paid, Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said. I think the market will fall into place after those guys find destinations and establish the top salary level.Stamkos $8.5 million cap hit could set that bar, even though he acknowledged taking less money than he couldve made on the open market.Some people when theyre in this position chase obviously the most money possible, Stamkos said on a conference call Thursday. For me I recognized the situation. ... There could be some money left out there, but for me thats not what its about.More than a handful of players should be able to cash in even though the salary cap only went up slightly to $73 million.The Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings were among the teams that expressed interest in Stamkos. Now theyll have to circle back to Plan B, which could include Okposo, Eriksson, St. Louis Blues captain David Backes and right wing Troy Brouwer, Chicago Blackhawks left wing Andrew Ladd and New York Rangers forward Eric Staal.Lucic has been linked to Edmonton after the Oilers traded Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.Im hoping a lot of those guys go quickly because the trickle-down effect is always how everybody else figures out where things are going to go, Brouwer said Wednesday. Youre going to see the top guys, and theyre always going to get their money. The big dogs always get to eat first.Brouwer went from being unsure about landing a long-term deal going into the final year of his contract to being in line for one after scoring eight playoff goals. Okposo impressed with 64 points in the regular season, and Capitals left wing Jason Chimera set himself up for a nice deal with 20 goals.The defense market is weaker after the Floriida Panthers traded for and signed Keith Yandle and the Arizona Coyotes did the same with Alex Goligoski.dddddddddddd. But Campbell is willing to take a short-term deal to try to win another Stanley Cup. That was one of the motivations for Stamkos in taking below market value to re-sign with Tampa Bay.Were trying to put as competitive a team on the ice (as possible) and we asked Stammer, will you work with us on this? Lightning GM Steve Yzerman said. Stammers contract, hes the captain of our team, hes our leading goal-scorer, he plays in all situations. The contract, it works for us.Predators GM David Poile, who acquired defenseman P.K. Subban from the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber, said a lot of players have been re-signed by their teams before unrestricted free agency, much like years before.The only problem is that while the crop is deep, the cap space isnt.How many teams are going to be capable of adding free agents? There are going to be a few, Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray said. There is going to be a flurry in the beginning, but if you recall last year at this time, there was a flurry, and then it went dead. Im thinking that could become more of the norm going forward. There are too many players for jobs.For some teams, like the Lightning and the Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins, maintaining is more important than adding. The Blackhawks, who won in 2010, 2013 and 2015, dont have the space to add much, but GM Stan Bowman knows how to take his chances at bargain buys.There should be no shortage of those, either, starting with Staal, who at 31 isnt a superstar but still has something left in the tank. Stamkos himself might be a bargain based on his point-a-game production.At the age of 26, I believe a player is really entering the prime of their career, Yzerman said. Hes going into his peak years now. Regardless of what happens statistically, that to me is an indicator of playing your best hockey. I think Stammers best years are ahead of him.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno . ' ' '