Heroes of the Storm NA Spring Championship Preview

Heroes of the Storm NA Spring Championship Preview
by: Patrick “ESVDiamond” Soulliere II

This weekend in Los Angeles California the best teams North America has to offer will all converge and play for a coveted spot at the Heroes of the Storm Spring Global Championship in Seoul, South Korea and a piece of the $100,000 prize pool!

Huge prize money aside, the real prize here is the spot at worlds, where NA will defend it’s title as the best region in Heroes of the Storm. Unlike 2015 in which the two spots felt already decided before the event started, the NA region has grown and and the Spring Season 2016 Global Championship spots are anyone's game! Throughout the last several months a new stronger NA scene has emerged where even World Champions like Cloud9 have not been able to win every tournament they enter.

The format will be identical to last years NA Regionals with double elimination group stages (GSL style) feeding into a four team single elimination bracket from which the top two teams will advance to the Global Championship in Seoul. A total of three BO3 wins is all that stands between these teams and eternal glory as Global Championship players. Can C9 return to it’s former glory and steamroll the competition en route to Seoul, or will newcomers like Naventic ruin the day for the defending world champions? Let’s look at the teams:

The Teams to Beat
Cloud9
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Cloud9 is one of the largest and most established organizations in all of E-Sports and will be the ultimate “team to beat” heading into this weekend. What makes them special is not the size of their parent org, but that they are the defending World Champions from 2015. Everything is on the line, and anything less than top two would be a disaster for the long tenured roster.

Cloud9 has fallen on some hard times as of late, only winning one tournament since their World Championship run. However this is a roster of some of the most skilled players in any region of Heroes of the Storm and they have a history of showing up big when it matter most.

Led by their captain Derek “Dunktrain” Arabian, this roster has potential and all the skill to win the World Championship in 2016. Not too long ago they swapped out one of their players Fan for Arthelon. Arthelon is one of the most experienced pros in all of Heroes of the Storm, winning MLG Championships in other games previously. Since they point they have been slowly trending upwards, and just last week were able to secure 1st place in the Enter the Storm NA Qualifiers #6 beating Team Blaze 2-1.

For every team this has to be the team they want and need to beat the most, as knocking Cloud9 out of the tournament would be almost as big an achievement as top two. They will have the biggest bullseye over their head, so anything less than 100% in every game will leave them in a risky spot. However if there is one thing Cloud9 is well known for is their ability to play best when their backs are against the wall, and this is a scenario where I would expect nothing less from them.

Team Naventic
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The team formerly known as “Bob Ross Fan Club” is right now without a doubt the #1 team in NA and very likely a top three team across the world. Naventic is composed of the most skilled players in every role in NA and have literally won every tournament they have entered since their creation. They would be the first on this list if Cloud9 were not defending World Champions as they were able to beat Cloud9 in a LAN setting at Heroes Rising in January this year.

Looking at Naventic’s roster, they have some of the most notable players in NA. The big star is team captain Christopher “Zuna” Buechter who is a multi-game pro player, making it to the World Championships across multiple titles. Not far off lies Fan, part of the 2015 World Champion Cloud9 team as well as the 2015 Heroes of the Dorm Champion Cal Berkeley team. Rounding out the other three spots is McIntyre, the breakout star melee assassin from 2015, Kenma a long time world class support player with experience in coaching world class teams, and Erho whom is one of the very best if not the best warrior player in all NA.

The roster should be the closest thing to a shoe in for the spot to Seoul and the Global Championship. Anything less than 1st place would be shocking for this still young roster. While all eyes will be focused on Cloud9 as the defending World Champions, Naventic is by a large margin the scariest team in the tournament right now.

The Returning Challengers
Tempo Storm
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Tempo Storm was the team that for most of 2015 was thought to be the guaranteed World Champions, however a plague of issues due to a locked roster brought them to their knees early, only taking 7th/8th place and failing to make it out of group stages in the World Championship. Since that point Tempo Storm has made some of the most drastic changes seen in a sponsored NA team for 2016, replacing 3 of their 5 players including former captain Dreadnaught, who instead of playing this year at NA Regionals will instead be on the caster desk.

The true X factor and major part of the rebuild is focused around the new captain and one of the highest ranked players on the NA server Quinn “Srey” Fischer. While Srey had little competitive experience in 2015 known as a “ladder hero”, he is now fully a part of the Heroes E-Sports scene. While there is other members of Tempo Storm that are new to the roster, all falls on Srey to lead his team to the World Championship slot with his fantastic shot calling and warrior play.

The other two newcomers to Tempo Storm are Canadian standout Goku as the primary melee assassin as well as Zixz formerly of Cloud9 Vortex. Both players have very unique play styles that keep their opponents guessing and make Tempo Storm one of the hardest teams to predict. Don’t be surprised if you see Goku keep diving early game as Zeratul to kill enemy Abathur’s, and in particular keep an eye out for Zixz’s Rehgar which he plays with terrifying efficiency.

Returning from the 2015 roster are So1dier and Kayeoh. Both players are part of the original pre Tempo Storm roster (named SMG) and are two of the longest tenured pro players in the scene. Both have won dozens of high profile tournaments and should be rock solid stability for the young and changed roster.

For Tempo Storm this is a tournament where they want to make top two and show that their major rebuild has been a success. They possess the talent and leadership, but with the depth of the NA scene in 2016 they will have to work for every inch of ground.

Cognitive Gaming
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If you are a long time fan of the NA scene you know who this team is already. In 2015 Cognitive was one of the top four teams in NA without a shadow of a doubt. It was not results however that made them so prolific, it was their superstar melee assassin player Mike “Glaurung” Fisk. Despite being one of the youngest pro players you would be hard pressed to find many individually skilled players that can compete with Glaurung. Teams have dedicated entire pick/bans strategies in the past of “pick or ban everything Glaurung plays that is meta” and still he can 1v9 carry a team to victory.

COG has made some major overhauls as well in the offseason to strengthen their roster for the upcoming season. Iakona is the only other player from the 2015 roster still around, and despite not being the most outspoken or flashiest player in the scene has been one of the top three support players in NA since 2014! He is super consistent and most importantly syncs up very well with Glaurung and can help keep him alive when he does the trademark wild Glaurung plays.

The three newcomers to the team are some of the most established players in the NA scene. Leading the 2016 COG roster as Captain is former Complexity player Cattlepillar. Known among many NA pros as “Cattle the God” Cattlepillar is easily one of the top three warrior players in NA and one of the most consistent players there is. What makes Cattle so unique however is not his amazing play but his world class shot calling. Finding a S Tier player that can also shot call at the same time is about as rare as finding a unicorn on venus, COG has found the unicorn with Cattlepillar.

The remaining two players are the remaining players from the COG/Murloc Genisus merger in CauthonLuck and Faye. CauthonLuck is one of the oldest pro gamers in all of Heroes of the Storm, however unlike most he has played at a competitive level in four major titles across four genres! This is a basically unheard of achievement in modern pro gaming and the experience CauthonLuck brings as a pro gamer is worth it’s weight in gold. Faye is the final player and one of the very best players Heroes of the Storm has to offer. Part of the 2014 Blizzcon EG team, Faye brings years of high level pro gamer experience and some of the most creative and unique play in the pro scene for Heroes.

With this roster of amazing talent backing up Glaurung + Iakona this year, expect COG to be a true contender for the Global Championship spot.

The "Team Blaze" Category
Team Blaze
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Team Blaze is a team so unique they deserve their own category here. Originally known for running the funniest team Twitter account in Heroes, the team has grown and grown since its creation in April 2015 to become one of the most unique and skilled teams in the NA scene. Coming off a 1-2 loss they should have won last week vs Cloud9 the team spirits should be running high and make them one of the most dangerous opponents you can face in this event.

Drafting in modern Heroes can be sometimes very cut and dry in matches between the top teams, every single time Team Blaze drafts is something you want to watch intently. They will pick literally ANYTHING at anytime at put some of the smartest comps in professional Heroes. Led by captain Eugene “Yuuj” Tseng, this roster is the unique butterfly in the NA scene. Thier first claim to fame was introducing Rexxar to the competitive scene when he was deemed “unviable” and since that time have introduced countless new strategies and comps to the pro scene.

Team Blaze is actually also the longest running team without roster changes heading into this event. The last roster change they made was in August of 2015, this complete roster has over six months time playing together. They have an unbelievable synergy and some of the cleanest teamfighting you will see in NA. If you like unique teams that don’t care about “meta”, this is your team to watch.

The NA Regional Newcomers

Panda Global

Panda Global coming into this event has second longest standing roster consisting of some of the best players at each individual role. The real current claim to fame for Panda Global is their two players that were part of the 2015 Heroes of the Dorm runner up team in MichaelUdall and akaface. Both players have experience playing on ESPN, so stage fright or nerves should not be an issue at all here.

The current team captain is Sammuel “Bigempct” Hua, the #1 rated NA player on the January 2016 Hero League MMR Leaderboards. Known for his high risk/high reward style, Bigempct is the type of player that can lead Panda Global to Seoul. If the other four players on the team feed into the energy and play Bigempct brings you can expect Panda Global to make it deep in the event.

King of Blades Alpha

King of Blades Alpha is easily one of the breakout teams in 2016. Formed out of relatively unknown players like captain Damian “FrozenX” Nagel, KOB has gone on to become a legit top contender for the NA throne. Already achieving 15 top four finishes KOB is looking better than ever heading into the 2016 NA Regionals.

Boasting recent wins over teams like Panda Global should have the new team ready to take on the best NA has to offer. They are in a tough group being in group A, but they have recent map wins vs two of the three teams they will face and cannot be counted out. Keep an eye on KOB, this is their big chance as establishing themselves as a top four team.

Team Nom

Team Nom enters the NA Regionals the most unknown team of all eight teams. Boasting mostly players unknown to the competitive scene like team captain Miqueas “Wrath” Kim, Team Nom chose the best time possible to have a breakout performance winning the Los Angeles Invitational Qualifier over Resurgence Gaming for the final spot in LA.

While some would assume this is a team that came out of nowhere, if you watch NA tournament brackets in late 2015 and 2016 you would have seen Team Nom all over the place. With 12 top four finishes under their belts, Team Nom could easily become “The little team that could” story in the NA Regional event. Although they are far from the favorites to make it to a top two spot, simply advancing out of groups would be a major step forward for Team Nom, and almost guarantee next time they are on stage they will do so as a sponsored team.

Final thoughts and event info

While last years NA Regionals felt done before they started this should be an amazing event where the NA scene will show how much it has grown in the off season, and every game should be able to be won by either team playing. Make sure and tune in for what should be some world class games!

I can't wait to watch and hope you liked my preview! As a reminder I do this just for fun and don't have an editor so if you see any grammar issues or anything feel free to let me know!

How to watch
When/Where
February 27: (Opening Matches): 10:00 a.m. PST / 1:00 p.m. Eastern
February 28: (Final Matches): 10:00 a.m. PST / 1:00 p.m. Eastern
Stream link: http://www.twitch.tv/blizzheroes
Full info and groups: Liquipedia Page

Heroes of the Storm NA Spring Championship Preview

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