David “Justsaiyan” Shan is one of the top Hearthstone players in the world and a constant presence in the esports scene. Hailing from the Uniter States, he played for Tempo Storm until earlier this year, when he moved over to Radiance.
Justsaiyan first began playing in his junior year of college. During his early days of playing Hearthstone, he mainly played Arena. It was a few months before he took a try at playing constructed decks on the ladder, and he recalled being a single victory away from reaching the rank of Legend when the season was about to end. He recalls how in that last match, he was up against none other than Alexandr “Kolento” Malsh, a Ukrainian player who is considered among the best in the world.
Past victories
Justsaiyan has performed well in recent competitions, placing first in WESG USA 2018 and Dreamhack Montreal 2018. He is currently a three-star master, which is considered the highest tier for players in the world. Heading into week five of the second season of the Grandmasters Tour, Justsaiyan leads the pack with 24 points, making him the highest ranked among all the world’s Grandmasters players.
Playstyle And Original Decks Played
Like most competitive Hearthstone players, Justsaiyan has grown and developed his playstyle over the years. That includes moving past only using favorite archetypes of decks. In the early stages of competition, he says that friends would always joke about how frequently he would bring Miracle Rogue, regardless of its power in the current meta of the time. Over the years, he has stepped away from only playing his strongest decks, and onto what the meta demands as balance changes shift power from one class to another.
Current Playstyle And Decks
With the above point in mind, Justsaiyan is firmly in command of the most powerful and popular decks in the meta, leaving behind his love of certain archetypes in favor of what is currently dominating. This means that Combo Priest, Quest Maly Druid, and Holy Wrath Paladin were the decks that he used during the week four Grandmasters competition against Francisco "PNC" Leimontas.
Watching Justsaiyan play is a great lesson in the finer points of competitive Hearthstone. The decks being used and protected from ban by most players right now are all quite similar. Despite little variance in the classes and deck types used, Justsaiyan is absolutely dominating the competition so far, and the odds favor him above all others to be among the top at the World Championship. If you are looking to improve your Hearthstone game, take a look at the video below of this past weekend’s Grandmasters event, as he has been completely dominating all of the competition.
With the fifth week of the Grandmasters Tour upon us, Justsaiyan is set to take on Amnesiac, which is sure to be an interesting game to watch as both are outstanding competitors. Amnesiac is the 2016 Americas Winter Champion and the winner of HCT Austin, so while Justsaiyan looks to be the dominating force in this second season of the Grandmasters Tour, his opponent is no pushover.
For now, it's too early in the season to know who will emerge on top, but little doubt exists that Justsaiyan won’t be among the best.
Source: Playhearthstone.com, dailyesports.gg, hearthpwn.com