The last Warlock to qualify walked away with 50,000 dollars. On Saturday night, Warlockguy finished the qualifiers with the lowest Buchholz of all 36 finalists (48). He only got his spot after two tiebreak duels. On Sunday, he beat Neepzen, another Warlock, three games to one in the grand final, after dropping the first game.
The Forever Open, the 100,000-dollar dueling tournament of WoW Forever, ended overnight from Sunday to Monday. According to the Raider.IO timestamps, the grand final was confirmed shortly after 4:30 in the morning, Paris time, well past the announced midnight finish. Here is the winner’s run, the final standings, the class prizes and the count that measures how far ahead the Warlocks were.
Warlockguy, from the tiebreak to the title
Among Warlocks, undefeated players far outnumbered the four available spots, as detailed in our article on the 36 qualifiers. Warlockguy had to beat Sylak and then Muffinrat to claim the fourth and last spot of his class.
The final bracket is double elimination: you have to lose twice to be knocked out. Warlockguy did not drop a single game until the winners’ bracket final. He beat Skeelz (Shaman) 2-0, Lamelol (Paladin) 2-0, Jázggz (Warlock) 2-0, then Minpojke (Druid) 2-0. His first loss came against Neepzen, 2-1.
Dropped to the losers’ bracket, he met Cdewx in its final, a Shaman who had just strung together four wins there, and beat him 2-0. The grand final was a best of five. Neepzen took the first game, Warlockguy the next three.
Neepzen had only given up two games before the grand final, one to Azzu and one to Warlockguy. He had beaten Allyana, Sodapoppin and Gomzy 2-0, then Azzu and Warlockguy 2-1. He leaves without the title, but with the top Warlock prize, since the winner already takes the grand prize.
Final standings and class prizes
The Forever Open prize table published on the Raider.IO prizes page started at 50,000 dollars. Streamer TimTheTatman added another 50,000 dollars, doubling the pool. The champion gets 50,000 dollars, and the highest-placed player of each of the nine classes gets 5,555 dollars. When players tie on placement, the class prize is split.
| Place | Player | Class | Knocked out by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warlockguy | Warlock | Champion, $50,000 |
| 2 | Neepzen | Warlock | Warlockguy, 3-1 in the grand final |
| 3 | Cdewx | Shaman | Warlockguy, 2-0 in the losers’ bracket final |
| 4 | Oddwaffletv | Shaman | Cdewx, in the losers’ bracket semifinal |
| 5-6 | Minpojke / Azzu | Druid / Paladin | Cdewx / Oddwaffletv |
| 7-8 | Jázggz / Lamelol | Warlock / Paladin | Oddwaffletv / Cdewx |
Class prizes go to Neepzen (Warlock), Cdewx (Shaman), Minpojke (Druid), Azzu (Paladin), Nieze (Priest), Justwoo (Rogue), Fvp (Hunter) and Mag (Warrior). Among Mages, all four qualifiers, Yonezka, Allyana, Venruk and Teleporter, fell in the same round of the losers’ bracket. They therefore split the 5,555 dollars, about 1,389 dollars each. Warcraft Tavern reaches the same list of winners.
Oddwaffletv, nine matches from the opening round
The longest run of the Forever Open belongs to a Shaman who almost did not play at all. On Saturday, Oddwaffletv had to win two tiebreak duels, against Xonez and Shrm, to claim the fourth Shaman spot. Seeded among the bottom eight qualifiers, he opened Sunday in the first round.
He beat Fracc and then Psychapeute 2-0, before losing 2-0 to Azzu. In the losers’ bracket, where every match is a single duel, he then knocked out Reed, Fvp, Korleone, Jázggz, and finally Azzu, who had sent him down from the winners’ bracket. Cdewx stopped him in the semifinal of that bracket. He played nine matches that day to finish fourth.
Cdewx also climbed back through the losers’ bracket. Undefeated in the qualifiers, he beat Lash and Hardfight before falling to Azzu, then knocked out Luuxiå, Lamelol, Minpojke and Oddwaffletv. Two Shamans in that semifinal fits the rest of the day: the class won 19 of the 30 games it played against other classes in the final bracket.
Why Warlocks dominated the Forever Open
In the public Raider.IO data, leaving out duels between players of the same class, Warlocks won 26 of the 33 games of the final bracket, or 79%. Shamans come next (19 of 30), then Paladins (16 of 29). At the bottom, Warriors (4 of 15) and Mages (4 of 16).
The dominance did not start on Sunday. Icy Veins notes that 14 Warlocks finished the qualifiers undefeated, against 15 Paladins. It relies on GetShroomy’s analysis on Reddit, which covers all 4,673 qualifier matches. There, Warlocks are even against Paladins and in the mirror, and struggle most against Mages. Against every other class, they are favored.
At level 30, Icy Veins credits this edge to control, with 
Fear and the Succubus’s Seduction. It also points to damage-over-time spells. They keep the opponent from healing in peace or slipping into stealth. Last come the bonuses drawn from the demon, with 
Demonic Sacrifice and 
Soul Link.
On that announced weak spot, the final bracket settles nothing. Only one Warlock met a Mage there, and Neepzen beat Allyana 2-0. All these numbers come from the beta, at level 30, with the current talents. Warlocks took home 55,555 of the Forever Open’s 100,000 dollars, and the balance can still shift before the November 4 launch.
Going further. The tournament was hosted on Raider.IO and streamed on Esfand’s and Xaryu’s channels. Icy Veins thanks the organizer, Tips Out. Our tournament guide covers the format, and our article on the consumables race tells how players prepared.
To try a level 30 Warlock, the WoW Forever talent calculator is up to date with the latest beta patch.
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