After a few turbulent months post-Blizzcon with players switching teams, new teams being formed, and old ones disbanding in the North American HotS scene, the dust has finally started to settle. Cloud 9’s lackluster performance in China and the host of new and reformed teams appearing means that the title of the best North American Heroes team is yet again up in the air.

Heroes Rising is the first crowdsourced Heroes tournament to date and will take place between 9-10th of January at eSports Arena in Santa Ana, CA. Fighting for a final prize pool of $12,184, the best of the best in North America will clash, starting with showmatches on January 8th. Cloud9, Tempo Storm, Panda Global, COGnitive Gaming and Murloc Geniuses have been invited to the tournament and will be pairing off against Team Blaze, Team Blank (representing SK Gaming), Bob Ross Fan Club, oVo Gaming and King of Blades-Alpha, who fought tooth and nail to qualify.

The Invited Teams

Cloud9 (C9), last year’s World Champions and one of the most dominant teams of 2015, have had a rocky period more recently. After barely making it through the group stage of the Chinese Gold Series Hero League, C9 eventually ended with a fourth place finish in the tournament, a result that did not live up to their Blizzcon title. Since then, C9’s player Fan has been switched out with former Tempo Storm player Arthelon after a brief stint in the Bob Ross Fan Club. This move might prove stabilizing for C9, as Arthelon’s more calculated playstyle starkly contrasts Fan’s rather unique playstyle. Regardless, after coming back to their home turf, C9 should be out for blood, and Heroes Rising might be their first win of the year.

At their peak, Tempo Storm (TS) was the most dominant team in the NA scene, and many predicted early that they would end up as the World Champions in 2015. But alas, the team fell short at BlizzCon due to internal struggles, ending up in 7th-8th place. Since then, the roster has changed dramatically with So1dier and Kaeyoh being the last members of the former squad. With new pickups being cemented only recently, one has to wonder if TS will be adequately prepared for the tournament. Picking up Srey gave them a strong potential shotcaller to replace Dreadnaught, and Goku is highly praised as one of the most solid players around. Along with former C9 Vortex support player Zixz, they have the potential to go all the way.



Murloc Geniuses (MG), an unsponsored team with a fierce early game, will also be making an appearance as one of the teams invited to attend Heroes Rising. MG has quickly become a staple of the American Heroes scene after becoming one of the fan favorites at the American Championship last year. Despite the support, MG has struggled at achieving sustained success, with a second place at the HTC Heroes Brawl being their best result in recent times. They are unlikely to win the tournament, but with one of their famous Nova or Kerrigan picks from Equinox, they can throw off their opponents and pull out an upset win.

COGnitive Gaming (COG) is yet another team with a huge roster overhaul to premiere. With the aggressive duo of Glaurung and Hospital leaving the team it will be interesting to see if COG will come into Heroes Rising with a new playstyle that can take them to the top. Despite Glaurung and Hospital garnering the most attention on the team, they still have a strong squad waiting in the wings. Scylol plays a solid bruiser, and with the subbing of Kilick and Cattlepillar, we might see a more patient playstyle emerge from COG. Definitely one of the wildcards this tournament.

Panda Global (PG), formerly known as Kappa Wolves, has played since early Alpha without any notable results, and they might be one of the weaker teams in the tournament. But as with any professional team, one can never count them out entirely.

The Qualified Teams

The Bob Ross Fan Club (BRFC) is coming into this tournament as a powerhouse with a lot to prove. Being a rather newly formed team with players from multiple titanic teams such as TS and C9, BRFC has a rather solid lineup on paper, but as a new team, how strong will their teamwork and coordination be when the pressure’s on? Heroes Rising will give us the answer.

Team Blaze (BLZ) is another solid team to keep an eye on this tournament. Boasting some of the most highly skilled individual players in NA such as Kladeous, Jason, and Batterry, they have the potential to go far. One does not need to look further than to the weekly and monthly Go4Heroes Cup result to see how dominating they can be, as they have won almost every single title since late 2015. Their biggest weakness is the fact that they are one of the newer teams and lack the offline tournament experience that established teams like C9 or TS have. While there can be no doubt about the strength of Team Blaze, the big stage might prove for overwhelming for them.



SK Gaming, also known as Team Blank, has a decent squad featuring former COG flex player Shot, as well as other notable players like Araragi and DanLeeFor3. Through the qualifier, SK Gaming ended up beating oVo as well as Blaze to qualify, proving they are not to be underestimated in this tournament.

If we were going to crown the biggest underdog of the tournament, it would probably be oVo Gaming lead by former Kappa Wolves player LuxUther. After qualifying for the tournament by barely beating Stellar Lotus in the loser’s bracket, one might not initially expect much from them; however, with small expectations come even bigger surprises.

Last but not least, we have King of Blades-Alpha, the team that defines enigma in the NA scene. If oVo Gaming is the biggest underdog, King of Blades-Alpha could prove to be the dark horse. Showing solid performance through the second qualifier, beating teams such as Gale Force eSports, FlipSid3 Tactics and eLevate, they have shown that they are very capable of playing with the best. Like Team Blaze, King of Blades-Alpha players have almost no offline tournament experience, but if they can keep it together and play their best, they can go far.

Closing Words

After a turbulent holiday season, we will finally get a sneak peek at the North American scene’s state going into this year’s Spring Circuit. Will C9 again cement themselves as the supreme champions of NA? Will TS rise to a new period of dominance? Or maybe one of the wildcards will have the last laugh? On top of the tournament, Heroes Rising will also feature an All-Star Showmatch featuring the most voted-for players, and the event itself is open to the general public free of charge. With more than $10,000 on the line and prominent Heroes contributors Zoia and Gillyweed on the mics, this is looking to be a tournament you do not want to miss.



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