The first of four North American qualifiers for the Spring Championship has come and gone. Each qualifier will result in two teams advancing to the North American Spring Regional in Los Angeles on February 27th for a chance to take home their piece of the $100,000 pie. In addition, The top two North American teams from this regional will secure their spot in the 2016 Heroes Spring Global Championship in Seoul, Korea in April to face off over a massive prize pool of $500,000.

Unsurprisingly, the two teams to advance from Qualifier #1 were Cloud9 (C9) and Bob Ross Fan Club (BRFC), the current undisputed, best teams in the region. BRFC had a seemingly easy weekend, posting a perfect 8:0 record on their way to securing their spot in the Spring Regional while taking down promising teams like Tempo Storm and Team Blaze without batting an eye. Keeping on pace with BRFC, Cloud9's weekend shared a similar story. C9 had an 8:1 record for the weekend, with their only loss being to the revamped COGnitive Gaming roster. The only other truly notable victory for C9 during the first qualifier would be against Panda Global, which Dunktrain's quintet casually stomped 2:0.



When it comes to the shift in meta, the world hasn't turned upside down, but there were some noticeable changes from recent events during the drafts: different Heroes, different bans, and plenty of surprises. Always a strong pick in the past, Zagara seems to be reaching a new level of fear amongst teams. It was rare to not see The Broodmother of the Swarm banned over the weekend. Generally, she was first banned with a "now you can ban either Kael'Thas or Tyrande and we will pick the other" mentality. Also, prior to this weekend, seeing Tyrande in competitive play was a lot like seeing a solar eclipse: very rare but, when it happened it, was always special. As a result to the elevated Zagara fear, this is no longer the case! Granted, she is still a rather high-priority ban, but we did have the opportunity to see her played multiple times throughout the weekend, usually when the second ban preferred to play against her in lieu of Kael'thas.

After a very slight buff, Stitches appears to be making a strong resurgence back into the competitive scene and was a hot commodity to come by throughout the weekend. The utility the hook brings to the table, particularly in the current CC-heavy meta, especially after the level 16 talent Fishing Hook is taken, is rather unrivaled for a non-Heroic ability. This led to teams prioritizing the abomination during drafts. Lastly, Cho'Gall and Lunara both saw some action over the weekend. They were not played much, but they were played. Lunara was selected by Team Blaze when they still had Raynor, Valla, and Greymane available, and after her recent changes to her movement and attack animations, we could possibly start seeing her even more.

Tomorrow the action continues with the second qualifier. Ultimately, most people would agree there are six real contenders going into this weekend. The two front-runners appear to be Tempo Storm and COGnitive Gaming, but Team Blaze seems poised to make a statement by the end of the weekend and could easily upset either of the two favorites. This leaves three teams left to step it up and show all of North America what they're made of: Panda Global, Resurgence, and 2ARC. All three of these teams are currently, points-wise, in position to eventually secure a spot in Los Angeles, but none of them want to leave that to chance. Which teams will rise to ink their name next to Cloud9 and Bob Ross Fan Club?

Eight teams will eventually qualify for the North American Spring Regional, and there are a slew of teams currently on the outside looking in. Multiple teams worthy of note including Blank, Kings of Blades Alpha, and Gale Force eSports are still easily within striking distance to make their mark. Will any of these teams take the step up to the next echelon of competition and get themselves back in contention for a spot in Los Angeles?



The next qualifier kicks off tomorrow at 17:00 GMT (+00:00). The action can be watched live on several different Twitch channels. You can also find the bracket and additional team information here Make sure to tune in and cheer for your favorite NA teams as they vie to the first two spots in Los Angeles.

Note: Due to a bug with Greymane’s Talent “Perfect Aim” sometimes doing double damage at max range, it is not allowed to be selected. Greymane can be picked but the talent will not be allowed and may incur a restart if not warned previously or risk disqualification.


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