North America: What to Expect in the HGC 2017
2016 was a rough year for North America in general, but particularly in competitive Heroes of the Storm. After a year marred with seemingly endless roster changes that made it nearly impossible to care about any team from the western hemisphere, NA was finally left with Astral Authority and Denial eSports as the top two seeds for Blizzcon. Going into the tournament, there were high hopes that these NA teams might be on par with their European counterparts, but after Astral Authority and Denial eSports both failed to make it out of the group stages and finished in 7th and 8th place, those hopes were lost. Now, after a flurry of qualifiers (accompanied by even more roster changes), we finally have eight teams that we can count on to have stable rosters for the next several months and will be competing regularly for our viewing pleasure!
With next year’s standardized league format for competitive HotS, here has never been a better time to get into Heroes esports. The HGC is going to be particularly helpful for the North American scene because it will ensure some roster stability that will hopefully lead to better games and to more consistent teams that are easier to care about for us viewers. Read on to learn a bit about the NA teams qualified for the 2017 HGC and what we can expect to see out of them in the coming months!
(The teams below are listed in order of when they qualified, starting with Blizzcon and working down to the third qualifier that was last Sunday)
Blizzcon
Astral Authority
- Ben “cattlepillar” Bunk––Flex
- Rori “CauthonLuck” Bryant-–Assassin
- Manuel “Fury” Medina––Warrior
- Jun “Jun” Jang––Support
- Harrison “psalm” Chang––Flex
Astral Authority currently represents the best play that North America has to offer. Astral was NA’s number one seed at Blizzcon, which qualified them for the 2017 HGC automatically. While they were not able to make it out of group stages on the international stage either at Blizzcon or at the Gold Club World Championship, they have still consistently demonstrated that they are a level above the rest of their North American peers (see their convincing 4-1 victory over Denial in the finals of the NA Nexus Games). Every member of Astral’s roster is a strong player with significant international experience, and we should expect to see them continue to improve as we move into next year. This is the team to look out for in hopes of a stronger North American showing in international events in 2017.
Denial eSports
- Francis “aPm” Filbert-Brodeur––Support
- Kun “iDream” Fang––Flex
- Keiwan “k1pro” Itakura––Flex
- John Paul “KingCaffeine” Lopez––Warrior
- Stafford “McIntyre” McIntyre––Assassin
Denial eSports was the second strongest North American team in 2016 and the only other team from NA to automatically qualify for the 2017 HGC because of their participation at Blizzcon. iDream, k1pro, and KingCaffeine are all former world champions, having taken first place at Blizzcon 2015 as part of Cloud9, making them some of the most experienced HotS players not just in NA, but in the world. While they have struggled to put up results against Astral Authority, much less any international teams, they have a lot of strength in their roster and have huge potential to improve and eventually contest Astral Authority for the number one spot in North America. Expect to find Denial toward the top of NA’s rankings throughout next year.
Qualifier #1
Gale Force eSports
- Stefen “akaface” Anderson––Support
- Jon “Equinox” Peterson––Flex
- Fan “Fan” Yang––Assassin
- Khalif “Khroen” Hashim––Flex
- Michael “MichaelUdall” Udall––Flex
The strongest North American team that we did not see compete at Blizzcon is most likely Gale Force eSports. GFE has a young and talented roster, featuring three players that entered the scene after winning Heroes of the Dorm championships, as well as Khroen of Li-Ming fame. Their most recent addition, Equinox, has a reputation for clashing with teammates outside of the game, which has led him not to stay with any team for long and even caused him to temporarily leave HotS entirely earlier this year. It will be interesting to watch how well this roster works together and grows over the next year. Regardless of their individual players, nobody can deny that Gale Force’s clean sweep in the first HGC qualifier was impressive as they went 9-0 to secure their position for next year. Keep an eye on GFE to be a strong contender for the top three teams in NA in 2017.
Team Naventic
- Sammuel “bigempct” Hua––Flex
- Josh “bkid” Choir––Warrior
- Kenneth “Kenma” Buechter––Support
- Christopher “Zuna” Buechter––Assassin
- Thomas “Tomster” Maguire––Flex
If Gale Force is the number three team in North America right now, then Team Naventic is at worst number three and a half. Also guaranteeing their HGC spot in the first first qualifier with only a slightly-less-than-perfect 9-1 record (and omg what I wouldn’t give to have seen them play GFE in a grand final!), Naventic is another serious force in NA. Naventic is known for their aggressive play, unrelenting confidence, and sibling power in the playmaking pair of Zuna and Kenma. While they haven’t recently show the kind of dominance that they had when their team premiered back in February, they are still a real contender of the upper ranks in NA. Expect Naventic to fight tooth and nail to break into the top two or three in the region (and to saltily tweet about it if they fail).
Qualifier #2
Team Freedom (formerly Grandmaster Jackets)
- Merek “Zugrug” Kangas––Warrior
- Zachary “Insomnia” Hacker––Assassin
- Philippe “Nazmas” Laberge––Assassin
- Dane “Daneski” Coleman––Flex
- Jérôme “Killuziion” Tanguay––Support
While the first four teams to qualify in North America are all established teams that have been together for some time, the last four to qualify are all relative newcomers to the scene, such as the recently sponsored Team Freedom. This team landed their spot in the HGC with an impressive 9-1 run in the second qualifier under the name Grandmaster Jackets. Signed just last Friday by Team Freedom, a new organization in Heroes esports, this roster includes a number of players that have been around for while but who haven’t been top competitors in NA yet. That said, after an unexpectedly strong 9-1 success in the second qualifier, these players have shown that they mean business. Because we’ve never seen this roster play before last month, it’s hard to predict how well they’ll play next year, but it’s safe to say that they’ve got a lot of work to do if they want to have any chance of breaking the top four in NA.
No Tomorrow
- Aaron “erho” Kappes––Warrior
- Jason “Jason” Mei––Assassin
- Kevin “TalkingTrees” Marco––Assassin
- Ed “TigerJK” Hong––Support
- Skylar “Casanova” Mulder––Flex
Much like Team Freedom, No Tomorrow is also built largely of old-timers in competitive HotS (with the addition of a relative newcomer, Casanova), and also swept through their qualifier bracket with a 9-1 record. Notably different, however, is that Team Freedom was smacked down 2-0 against Naventic in the first qualifier, while No Tomorrow lost to them 3-1, making them the only team to take a game off of Naventic in the tournament. It may seem like a small victory, but the game they won was not close––it ended at 13 minutes with 22 kills to 1 in favor of No Tomorrow. While a game like this is often just a fluke, it can just as often be a sign of things to come. While No Tomorrow is not yet a top team in NA, I suspect we’ll be seeing them edge out Team Freedom as the strongest of the lower four teams in the region.
Qualifier #3
Chu8 My Hotdoge
- Chandler “buds” Gavran––Support
- Jaehyung “Chu8” Park––Flex
- Mike “Glaurung” Fisk––Flex
- Justin “Justing” Gapp––Warrior
- Orie “YoDa” Gue––Flex
Next up we have a team that a lot of people thought was a joke when they registered for the first qualifier, but after sweeping the third qualifier 9-0 they’ve shown they’re serious about competing in 2017. Chu8 My Hotdoge, named for the popular streamer himself, has got a lot of starpower behind them going into the HGC. Chu8 is well known for having a wide and unorthodox hero pool, and Glaurung is known for having a very narrow pool, but both are known for playing their hero pools very well. While Chu8 has not played HotS competitively before, he is no stranger to the grandmaster leaderboards and has played other MOBAs professionally in the past. On the other hand, Glaurung just competed at Blizzcon with Denial eSports and has been a popular player in NA for a long time. The rest of their roster, while less famous, are no less skilled or experienced, making this roster one of the teams with the most potential to improve in 2017, even after a 9-0 victory in the third qualifier. I think it’s a total coin flip whether we see this particular Hotdoge quickly climbing the ranks of North American HotS or to quickly be playing to save themselves from relegation.
Dumpster Tier Superstars
- Kayla “Faye” Murray––Flex
- Francisco “Goku” Avalos––Assassin
- Raphael “Hosty” Tsantilli––Assassin
- Jeffery “iakona” Donal––Support
- Quinn “Srey” Fischer––Warrior
The other team to secure their HGC position in the third qualifier also has a roster full of big names. That said, the Dumpster Tier Superstars have a record for inconsistency, both in their roster and in their play. After losing to No Tomorrow in both the first and second qualifiers, DTS decided to change their roster at the last possible minute, adding Hosty to the team with less than a week before the final qualifier. While their risk did pay off and they were able to waltz through the third qualifier 9-0, this makes them the North American roster with the least experience together that will be playing in the HGC. Before the qualifier season, DTS placed third in Bloodlust, but then a month later failed to even qualify for the NA Nexus Games. This inconsistency does not bode well for a team that will be competing every week a month from now, but the skill of the individual players cannot be discounted. If this roster works hard to prepare for next year then we might see them slowly improving and having some success among the lower four teams in NA, but if not I expect that we will see them them playing in the Crucible in the spring.
And those are our NA teams for 2017! Stay tuned for more info on where and when to find HGC games soon(tm). Thanks for reading 
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