THE WOW FOREVER COLLECTION · DISPATCH · RESEARCH CHECKED OCTOBER 19, 2026
Short answer: Warlockguy won The Forever Open. The Undead Warlock came into Sunday's finals as the 20th of 36 seeds, lost the upper bracket final to Neepzen, won the lower bracket final, and then beat Neepzen 3–1 in the best-of-five grand final. The last duel ended at 02:35 UTC on October 19, which was 7:35pm PT on Sunday. Warlockguy is Nien, a former League of Legends pro and Rank 1 arena player, and takes the $50,000 champion's prize. Neepzen, another Undead Warlock and the 27th seed, finished second and takes the Warlock class prize. Two Orc Shamans finished third and fourth: Cdewx, better known as the 2018 Arena World Champion Cdew, and Oddwaffletv, the 31st seed.
It was a Warlock tournament. All four Warlock finalists finished in the top 12, all four used almost the same Demonology build, and in the finals Warlocks won 26 of their 33 duels against other classes. Every number in this piece comes from Raider.IO's bracket data unless we say otherwise.
The grand final
Neepzen reached the final without losing a series. Their last win on the way was a 2–1 over Warlockguy in the upper bracket final, finished at 01:55 UTC. Warlockguy dropped to the lower bracket final, where Cdewx was waiting after four straight lower bracket wins. Warlockguy beat the Shaman 2–0, and the second duel was logged ten minutes after the upper final ended.
In a normal double-elimination bracket Neepzen would have had a second life: lose the grand final from the upper side and you play a reset. The Forever Open's rules didn't allow one. Rule 10.1 reads: "The Championship Match is a best-of-five (Bo5) series with no bracket reset." So the two Warlocks met on level terms, and Neepzen's unbeaten run bought nothing extra.
| Game | Winner | Logged (UTC) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neepzen | 02:22 |
| 2 | Warlockguy | 02:27 |
| 3 | Warlockguy | 02:32 |
| 4 | Warlockguy | 02:35 |
Neepzen took the first duel. Warlockguy won the next three, about five minutes apart, and the fifth game was never played.
How Warlockguy won it
The top 28 seeds skipped the play-in, so Warlockguy's first duel of the day came in upper round 2. Counting every game, they went 14–3 across the finals.
| Round | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Upper round 2 | Skeelz (Shaman, seed 13) | 2–0 |
| Upper round 3 | Lamelol (Paladin, seed 4) | 2–0 |
| Upper quarterfinal | Jázggz (Warlock, seed 5) | 2–0 |
| Upper semifinal | Minpojke (Druid, seed 24) | 2–0 |
| Upper final | Neepzen (Warlock, seed 27) | 1–2 |
| Lower final | Cdewx (Shaman, seed 10) | 2–0 |
| Grand final | Neepzen (Warlock, seed 27) | 3–1 |
The 20th seed undersells them. Warlockguy went 6–0 in their Swiss pod on Saturday, but 14 Warlocks went 6–0 and only four could advance. The organizers settled it with a 14-player Warlock tiebreaker of single duels on Saturday night, and Warlockguy was its 14th and last seed. They beat Sylak, the tiebreaker's third seed, and then Muffinrat to take one of the four spots. Neepzen came through the same tiebreaker by beating Nazgul and Carry. So the champion survived two sudden-death duels just to reach Sunday, and ten Warlocks went 6–0 on Saturday without making the finals.
Warcraft Tavern and Icy Veins both link Warlockguy to the Twitch channel nien1. That is Nien, who played top lane in the LCS as Nientonsoh for teams including CLG. The channel's About page lists Rank 1 in three League of Legends seasons and, in WoW, the 7th-highest 3v3 rating in the world in Season 6, a 3v3 tournament win in vanilla and Rank 1 on "around 10~ teams throughout TBC."
Final standings
Placings below fourth come from the round you were knocked out in, so players who went out in the same lower bracket round share a place.
| Place | Player | Class | Race | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warlockguy | Warlock | Undead | 20 |
| 2 | Neepzen | Warlock | Undead | 27 |
| 3 | Cdewx | Shaman | Orc | 10 |
| 4 | Oddwaffletv | Shaman | Orc | 31 |
| 5–6 | Azzu | Paladin | Undead | 18 |
| 5–6 | Minpojke | Druid | Tauren | 24 |
| 7–8 | Lamelol | Paladin | Undead | 4 |
| 7–8 | Jázggz | Warlock | Undead | 5 |
| 9–12 | Korleone | Warlock | Undead | 1 |
| 9–12 | Gomzy | Paladin | Undead | 3 |
| 9–12 | Luuxiå | Shaman | Orc | 8 |
| 9–12 | Nieze | Priest | Troll | 14 |
| 13–16 | Fvp | Hunter | Troll | 9 |
| 13–16 | Dakkroth | Priest | Undead | 12 |
| 13–16 | Justwoo | Rogue | Undead | 17 |
| 13–16 | Sodapoppin | Druid | Tauren | 22 |
| 17–24 | Ryhaz | Hunter | Troll | 11 |
| 17–24 | Pshero | Rogue | Undead | 15 |
| 17–24 | Reed | Paladin | Undead | 16 |
| 17–24 | Chopmaster | Rogue | Undead | 19 |
| 17–24 | Lash | Priest | Troll | 23 |
| 17–24 | Hardfight | Hunter | Orc | 26 |
| 17–24 | Danmark | Hunter | Orc | 28 |
| 17–24 | Mag | Warrior | Undead | 35 |
| 25–32 | Allyana | Mage | Undead | 6 |
| 25–32 | Desmondhume | Druid | Tauren | 7 |
| 25–32 | Skeelz | Shaman | Orc | 13 |
| 25–32 | Venruk | Mage | Troll | 21 |
| 25–32 | Yonezka | Mage | Troll | 25 |
| 25–32 | Teleporter | Mage | Undead | 30 |
| 25–32 | Snupy | Druid | Tauren | 32 |
| 25–32 | Disruptive | Warrior | Skyborne | 33 |
| 33–36 | Psychapeute | Priest | Troll | 2 |
| 33–36 | Kyroo | Rogue | Undead | 29 |
| 33–36 | Fracc | Warrior | Orc | 34 |
| 33–36 | Bcw | Warrior | Undead | 36 |
The class prizes
The other $50,000 goes to the classes, about $5,555 to the best-placed player of each of the nine, split evenly on a tie. The champion can't take both. The tournament terms say "The Champion is not eligible to receive a class award in addition to the Champion prize," and the class award passes to the next-best player of that class. That is why the Warlock prize goes to Neepzen. Warcraft Tavern's list of class winners matches the table below.
| Class | Winner | Finish |
|---|---|---|
| Warlock | Neepzen | 2nd |
| Shaman | Cdewx | 3rd |
| Paladin | Azzu | 5th–6th |
| Druid | Minpojke | 5th–6th |
| Priest | Nieze | 9th–12th |
| Hunter | Fvp | 13th–16th |
| Rogue | Justwoo | 13th–16th |
| Warrior | Mag | 17th–24th |
| Mage | Allyana, Teleporter, Venruk and Yonezka (split) | 25th–32nd |
The Mage line is the awkward one. All four Mages went out in the same lower bracket round, so they tie for the class's best finish and share the prize, about $1,389 each. A week ago the forums were arguing that Mages were overpowered at level 30. Then the October 15 build cut Ice Lance's bonus against frozen targets from 300% to 200%, and in the finals Mages won 4 of 16 duels against other classes, the worst rate of any class.
The build that won
Raider.IO kept every finalist's locked talent build, and the Warlocks barely disagreed. All four ran 5/21/0: Improved Corruption in Affliction for an instant Corruption, then 21 points in Demonology for Soul Link, with Demonic Embrace, Demonic Sacrifice, Fel Domination and three points in Improved Sayaad for longer Seductions. Warlockguy and Jázggz used identical builds. Neepzen moved one point from Demonic Brand into Demonic Energies. Korleone, the top seed, put two points in Improved Voidwalker and only one in Improved Sayaad.
You can open both finalists' builds in our talent calculator:
- Warlockguy's winning build (5/21/0)
- Neepzen's runner-up build (5/21/0)
Both use 26 points. Level 30 normally gives you 21, and the extra five come from the Talented perk in the Legacy system. The October 8 build gave every beta tester enough Legacy points to buy it, and the tournament rules allowed Legacy points, so every finalist had 26.
Upsets and runs worth knowing about
Seeds meant little on Sunday. Of the top eight seeds, only Lamelol (4) and Jázggz (5) finished in the top eight. The top three seeds went out in 9th–12th, 33rd–36th and 9th–12th.
Oddwaffletv had the run of the day. The Shaman needed a Shaman playoff on Saturday to qualify, entered the finals as the 31st seed, won the play-in against Fracc, and then beat the second seed, Psychapeute, 2–0. After losing to Azzu, Oddwaffletv won five straight elimination duels in the lower bracket, against Reed, Fvp, top seed Korleone, Jázggz and then Azzu, before Cdewx ended it one round short of the lower final.
Psychapeute had the worst day. The Priest was the second seed and went 0–2 against Oddwaffletv, then lost a single duel to Disruptive, a Skyborne Warrior seeded 33rd, and finished 33rd–36th.
Minpojke, a Tauren Druid seeded 24th, beat top seed Korleone 2–1 in the upper quarterfinal and reached the upper semifinal, where Warlockguy beat them 2–0. Azzu reached the finals much as Warlockguy did, as the 14th of 15 seeds in the Paladin tiebreaker, and finished 5th–6th with the Paladin prize.
Third place went to Cdewx, which is Cdew, the arena player who won the 2018 Arena World Championship with Method Orange. Warcraft Tavern lists the Shaman prize under that name, and the cdewx Twitch channel describes its owner as a "professional wow player since 2009." Cdew lost only once before the lower bracket final, 0–2 to Azzu, then won four straight single duels in the lower bracket, the last of them the all-Shaman lower semifinal against Oddwaffletv.
Sodapoppin, the Twitch streamer, played Druid and finished 13th–16th. They beat Ryhaz 2–1, lost 0–2 to Neepzen, won one lower bracket duel against Danmark and went out to Nieze.
The Warriors, who filled the bottom four seeds, mostly went out early. Three of them lost in the play-in. Mag got through the lower bracket as far as round 4 and took the Warrior prize from 17th–24th.
Every class in the finals
Here is how each class did against the other classes in the finals, mirror matches left out.
| Class | Series won–lost | Duels won–lost | Duel win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warlock | 13–3 | 26–7 | 79% |
| Shaman | 14–6 | 19–11 | 63% |
| Paladin | 9–7 | 16–13 | 55% |
| Druid | 7–8 | 12–14 | 46% |
| Priest | 6–8 | 9–12 | 43% |
| Hunter | 4–7 | 7–11 | 39% |
| Rogue | 3–7 | 5–11 | 31% |
| Warrior | 3–7 | 4–11 | 27% |
| Mage | 2–8 | 4–12 | 25% |
Warlocks went 6–1 in duels against Paladins and 7–2 against Druids. Only Shamans and Druids took more than one duel off a Warlock in the finals, two each, and it was a Shaman, Oddwaffletv, who knocked out the top seed.
Qualifier day in numbers
Saturday's Swiss stage gives the clearest class picture, because the sample is big. Raider.IO's standings count 1,380 checked-in players across 48 pods, with another 233 marked as withdrawn and 103 as disqualified. By our count, about 4,500 duels were decided in the six Swiss rounds and another 29 ended without a winner, which the rules score as a tie. The pods were drawn at 15:33 UTC and the standings were frozen at 00:29 UTC on Sunday, nine hours later, and then the class tiebreakers ran for another hour.
| Class | Checked-in players | Win rate against other classes | Went 6–0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paladin | 134 | 63.1% | 15 |
| Warlock | 148 | 60.1% | 14 |
| Priest | 201 | 53.1% | 4 |
| Mage | 89 | 48.3% | 1 |
| Hunter | 241 | 47.1% | 2 |
| Rogue | 171 | 46.4% | 2 |
| Shaman | 217 | 45.7% | 2 |
| Druid | 99 | 44.6% | 1 |
| Warrior | 80 | 38.7% | 0 |
Player counts are Raider.IO's. Win rates are our count of every decided Swiss duel between two different classes.
Paladins and Warlocks were close to even against each other in the Swiss rounds (Warlocks won 60 of 119). Against Mages, Warlocks won 47 of 63. Paladins beat Warriors 41 times and lost 9. On Sunday the Paladins ran into the Warlocks and went 1–6.
Among the 1,700 characters Raider.IO placed into pods, Undead was the most common race (598) ahead of Orc (538), Troll (324), Tauren (212) and Skyborne (28). That's a little awkward for the racial rework complaints: Undead players said the October 15 build robbed them, and the grand final was two Undead Warlocks.
The rest of the weekend
The finals were played in Hyjal Crater, in the arena Blizzard built for the event, according to wowforever.be's report on the result. It was a long day. The first finals duel was logged at 17:34 UTC and the last at 02:35 UTC. The admins ran the upper bracket through the quarterfinals before starting the lower bracket, so Psychapeute, knocked into the lower bracket at 20:54 UTC, didn't duel again until 23:38. The lower bracket then got through 33 single duels in about two hours.
Saturday had its rows. NoHitJerome was disqualified during a duel against Savix, and the clip spread on Reddit. That evening NoHitJerome apologized to Tips Out and Savix on X: "yeah i was being a sore loser and after talking to my mom i can say I'm sorry." A bigger Reddit thread came from Hydra's stream. Its title says admins handed a duel to a player who was cheating in front of them and that Kasu quit the tournament over it. Whatever the merits, the rules leave no way to challenge a call. Rule 4.2 says admin decisions on duel results and rule enforcement "are final. Competitors have no right of appeal." And the broadcast's paid leveling guide ad set off two forum threads that passed 1,100 posts between them, which we cover in our piece on paid leveling addons.
SullyGnome's estimates have Xaryu's channel peaking at 67,287 viewers on Saturday and 66,101 on Sunday, so the finals kept the qualifier-day audience there. Esfand's channel peaked at 21,295 and 13,425. Sodapoppin's own stream, as a competitor, peaked at 107,781 on Sunday, higher than either host. Those are single Twitch channels, and every finalist was also streaming their own view.
What players are saying
Mostly, that Warlocks won again. "Turns out locks are still the best 1v1 class" went up on the US forums while the grand final was still being played and had 163 posts by Monday morning. "[Breaking News] Warlock's FEAR is absolutely disgusting" (54 posts) and "Let's address a few takeaways from this tournament" (93 posts) went up earlier in the finals. The complaints are mostly about crowd control, Fear above all, and Soul Link, picking up a crowd control argument that was already running before the tournament. The most common reply is some version of one posted in the first thread: "Turns out the game isnt balanced for 1v1s." Others argue that nobody should rebalance a game around a level 30 duel tournament on a beta.
Blizzard hasn't said anything. No staff member had posted in the forum threads we checked by Monday morning, and the tournament was never Blizzard's to judge: its own rules call WoW dueling "not an officially supported Blizzard esport." Nothing has been announced about a follow-up event either. A level 60 tournament has been rumoured since September, but Tips Out hasn't confirmed one.
What it means for WoW Forever
Treat the result for what it is: a level 30 duel bracket on a beta, played with free Legacy points and a ban list that took out protection potions, sapper charges and other tricks players will use on live servers. It doesn't tell you much about raiding, battlegrounds or world PvP at 60. It does tell you that a Soul Link Warlock was very hard to beat one on one at 30 in this build, and that Mages fell a long way after the October 15 nerf.
The beta closes on October 21 and WoW Forever launches on November 4. If you want to try the winning build before then, the calculator links above load it directly. The class tier list and the level 30 Warlock BiS list are good next stops, and our Forever Open explainer has the full rules, the ban list and the rows that built up before the event.
Sources: Raider.IO, The Forever Open finals bracket, qualifier pods 1 to 48 and the Warlock, Paladin, Shaman, Mage, Warrior and Druid tiebreakers (bracket data read October 19, 2026, 06:30 UTC; standings, scores, seeds, races, game times and talent builds are taken from it, and class statistics are our own count); Warcraftforever.com, talent calculator (Raider.IO's own link for Warlockguy's build, used to check our decoding); Warcraft Tavern, Warlockguy Wins the WoW Forever Open 1v1 Dueling Tournament (October 19, class prize winners); Raider.IO, Swiss standings (check-in, withdrawal and disqualification counts, read October 19), Finals Format & Rules (rule 10.1), Rules, Regulations & Code of Conduct (rule 4.2), Terms & Conditions (class award terms) and Prizes; wowforever.be, Warlockguy wins the 50,000 dollar Forever Open (October 19, Hyjal Crater venue); Icy Veins, Warlocks Dominate the $100,000 Forever Dueling Tournament (October 19); Twitch, nien1 and cdewx About pages (read October 19); Inven Global, NA team wins WoW Arena World Championship for first time since 2013 (November 3, 2018); NoHitJerome on X, apology (October 17); Reddit r/classicwow, Hydra points out tournament admins ignoring blatant cheating (October 18); SullyGnome, stream stats for Xaryu, EsfandTV and Sodapoppin (read October 19, estimates); Blizzard forums, Turns out locks are still the best 1v1 class, Warlock's FEAR is absolutely disgusting and Let's address a few takeaways from this tournament (October 18 and 19, post counts read October 19, 07:00 UTC).