Fnatic [3-0] beGenius      

The recurring theme with beGenius seems to be shining moments of genius mired by the inability to close out the game.

In Game Two on Towers of Doom, beGenius was closer than they have ever been to taking down Fnatic. beGenius secured their Heroics more quickly due to the global soak provided by the Lost Vikings and began to push their advantage, taking down forts and splitting The Lost Vikings to control the altars. At one point, the Fnatic’s Core was down to 18 hit points in contrast to beGenius’s comfortable 32. Right after the fifth altar phase, Fnatic turned up the heat by catching Malfurion out of position and netting a boss. From there, Fnatic won multiple fights in a row and prevented beGenius from delivering the final blow.

The rest of the series went as expected. beGenius could not muster up a fight on either Infernal Shrines or Tomb of the Spider Queen. Fnatic was always first on the objective and snowballed their lead from there.

Tricked eSport [3-2] Synergy      

If there were an award for best comeback in HGC, it would surely be given to Tricked eSport for their set against Synergy last week.

The beginning of the series is best summed up by the second game on Braxis Holdout. Synergy barreled through the early game to score two early forts followed by a Zerg wave and an insanely fast keep. Without hesitating, they continued to push in and brought down the Core in one of the quickest HGC games of all time.

And yet, Tricked wasn’t out of it. The map started like the others with Synergy taking the lead early and securing the first curse as well as a solid level lead. However, after being up a member, Synergy went for the greedy play of stealing the boss of Tricked eSport, resulting in a team wipe and a boss for Tricked. From that point on, the series turned in favor of Tricked eSport as they picked up their first map win. Tricked rode the momentum from the previous game into Battlefield of Eternity. They were always the first on the objective and forcing Synergy on the defensive, and eventually the defense of Synergy broke down.

The tense series continued as both teams prepared for the final game on Sky Temple. Through most of the early and mid game, the structural advantage as well as the experience advantage went in favor of Synergy. Despite the setback, Tricked eSport waited patiently. After multiple trades on both sides, Tricked eSport gained position on the temples. With the superior setup, Tricked eSport won the following fights and pulled off an insane comeback.

Gale Force eSports [3-0] Superstars      

The new and improved Gale Force eSports continued to dominate in Week 7 with refined play. Superstars chose to start the series off on Dragon Shire, pulling out North America's first competitive Probius. The pick wasn’t be enough to stop GFE though, as they played a great early game and took complete control of the map.

GFE broke out the Chromie-Zagara again on the next map, Braxis Holdout. While Superstars had an early xp lead, Khroen’s Zagara was able to force catapult pressure once GFE hit level 10, keeping Srey’s Sylvanas pinned back clearing waves. GFE eventually took a late game boss and pushed down the naked Core of Superstars.

GFE then moved into their favored double warrior/double support composition on Tomb of the Spider Queen. Superstars tried to time the boss and webweavers together to secure multiple keeps, but even though they did get mid keep, their rotation into the top lane was too late and GFE turned the fight just before Storm talents hit, winning the series in dominating fashion.

Team Freedom [3-1] B-Step      

Game One on Cursed Hollow went into the late game where both teams traded bosses during a curse on Team Freedom, but B-Step had already secured the keep, and Freedom was unable to adequately defend the push.

Unfortunately, Game One was be the only game B-Step would take off Team Freedom this series. After fluctuating results all season, Team Freedom finally showed signs that they were ready to rise to the top. Game Two on Infernal Shrines was a pretty even game until very late, but an expertly timed Horrify from Daneski secured the punisher. The Freedom-won punisher pushed into bottom keep, and after picking k1pro off, Freedom confirmed the keep and won the game.
Freedom then played on Towers of Doom, where they tried to grab the Abathur/Arthas combo they ran last week, but B-Step wouldn’t let them have it. Instead, Freedom was forced into a solo tank Arthas. Still, while B-Step was able to secure some altars, Freedom's teamfighting was simply too good, and they took the third game of the series with ease.

In the final game on Warhead Junction, Team Freedom ran a triple warrior composition with Greymane/Malfurion. The game was very scrappy and ultimately came down to a level 20 boss fight, but Freedom prevailed and won the series 3-1.

Fnatic [3-0] Playing Ducks      

Fnatic must have been in a hurry against Playing Ducks because they crushed their opponent in one of the most one sided series of HGC to date. Playing Ducks didn’t play badly, Fnatic simply punished them hard for every mistake, no matter how small.

In Game One on Cursed Hollow, a routine mid game boss push turned deadly after a single takedown allowed Li-Ming to dominate the fight and end the game.

Similarly, in Game Two on Infernal Shrines, it looked like the Playing Ducks had successfully defended the Core, but after catching ChriZplosion out of position, Fnatic returned to finish the job. It didn’t stop there. On Battlefield of Eternity, Fnatic was always faster on the rotations and secured every immortal. Getting maximum value out of the Sylvanas trait, Fnatic quickly put the final nail in the coffin for Playing Ducks in a 3-0 stomp.

Tricked eSport [3-1] Team expert      

Tricked eSport has made great progress lately, and on Saturday they faced off against Team expert in a series filled with clutch moments and razor thin margins.

Look further than the fourth game on Warhead Junction to get a glimpse of what the series had to offer. After trading blow for blow, nuke for nuke, and boss for boss, Team expert defended the boss push from Tricked eSport, taking down two of their opponents in the process. However, as Team expert rushed across the map to push the Core, the remaining members of Tricked eSport snuck around with their two remaining nukes in an exciting base race. After the dust settled, Tricked stood as the victor with a mere 8% left on their Core.

The rest of the series was equally intense. In Game One on Infernal Shrines, Team expert had control early game, but Tricked defended well and caught up in experience enough to reach 20 before their opponents. With their talent advantage, they took the punisher and subsequently ended the game. On Braxis Holdout, Team expert had the superior rotations and used the global mobility from Falstad to stay on top of the objective at all times. After taking a favorable fight on the second objective, they pushed with a max strength Zerg wave to end the game. On Dragon Shire, Team expert were the ones picking up the late game Dragon Knight, but Tricked defended beautifully and ran down Team expert on the retreat.

No Tomorrow [3-2] Gale Force eSports      

This is easily the most insane series the NA competitive scene has seen for some time. No Tomorrow took the first game on Towers of Doom—a favorable map for them—without too much trouble, but the series kicked into high gear in the second game on Tomb of the Spider Queen.

GFE looked more comfortable with their double support composition and were able to get huge value in teamfights from MichaelUdall’s Horrifies. Snowballing a structural advantage, GFE soon had webweavers on all three keeps by 13:00 and effectively closed out the game shortly thereafter with a boss/webweaver combination.

With the series tied, GFE aimed for Infernal Shrines where they used outstanding macro play to grab relatively early two keeps and put the catapult pressure to No Tomorrow. The game came down to an extended late game teamfight over an arcane punisher, which GFE won and pushed the Core with.

Unfortunately, GFE couldn’t keep up the momentum in Game Four on Battlefield of Eternity. Fan’s Zeratul, though a historically strong pick, wasn’t able to deliver in this series. Several questionable Void Prisons on the back line allowed No Tomorrow’s double tanks to soak up tons of abilities and cooldowns while dealing free damage. The VPs cost GFE in later teamfights and eventually signalled defeat for GFE.

The final game on Sky Temple featured several back and forth teamfights in the early game, but no one was able to secure a decisive advantage. At one point, TigerJK hit a godlike Divine Palm—seriously watch this—but like many of the other fights, the momentum didn’t really swing in either direction. The game took a crazy turn after erho disconnected and his inability to rejoin the match forced No Tomorrow to finish the game with a Muradin bot. After a ridiculous teamfight over the boss, No Tomorrow came out ahead, and awkwardly enough, beat GFE with a bot.

B-Step [3-2] Team 8      

Like the previous series, this one also included all five games and several ridiculous plays. Team 8 dominated during the early stages of the first game on Dragon Shire, but B-Step’s late game teamfighting prowess kicked in at the last minute to yield them two takedowns and a 22-minute Dragon Knight for the win.

B-Step relied on their teamfighting again to force a late game boss on Tomb of the Spider queen, but ended up losing the boss and the game to Team 8 instead. Luckily, they brought it back with solid teamfights in Game Three on Infernal Shrines to take the lead back.

In Game Four on Battlefield of Eternity, Team 8 busted out the Chromie/Abathur combo as a response to B-Step's Sgt. Hammer composition. Team 8 was able to consistently delay the immortal fight while Abathur got free soak throughout the game, eventually securing a final immortal with a level 20 power spike. While pushing down the final keep, Team 8 made an insane play with a Malfurion Bolt/Twilight Dream combo followed by Greymane dive on top of the Core.

For the second time, Game Five took place on Sky Temple. And again there was a pause issue. And again the underdog would come away with the series. Team 8 found themselves leading another game but unable to close it out. With level 20 vs level 19, Team 8 tried to force a fight on the boss, but somehow B-Step stole the boss and survived without any problems. The final late game teamfight went B-Step’s way yet again and allowed them to rush the Core and win the series 3-2.

Team Dignitas [3-0] beGenius      

beGenius employed a variety of strategies to overcome the Western Clash champions, but nothing worked. Meanwhile, Dignitas used a variety of drafts and a calm, patient, methodical playstyle to secure the 3-0.

In Game One, Dignitas again showed a fondness for Sylvanas on Infernal Shrines. beGenius responded by avoiding fights and split soaking with Dehaka, but the heavy front line of Dignitas gave them total shrine control and superior pushing power with the punisher and Sylvanas. The French team was patient and lashed out when the moment was right to even the game multiple times, but Dignitas always equalized the pressure and eventually dispatched beGenius in a level 20 vs level 20 teamfight.

The second game on Towers of Doom was more one sided. An old school Abathur/Jaina/Tyrael composition aided by Lucio and Arthas completely unraveled beGenius and led Dignitas to a quick victory. beGenius looked far more shaken than in Game One and was bereft of confidence come Game Three. They went for an all-in composition with Kharazim, Illidan, and Greymane lineup on Sky Temple, but despite their impressive late game wombo combo, they couldn’t close out the game and once again fell to Dignitas during a small level 20 timing window.

Team Liquid [3-0] Synergy      

Team Liquid vs Synergy was another clean sweep for the favored team as predicted. Synergy was ahead throughout the early game on Sky Temple, but a Gust attempt to try and secure a kill on Arthas was turned by Liquid with a superb Horrify. From there, Liquid secured kills and temples and rode out the game, carrying that momentum through the rest of the series.

Hasuobs again brought out The Lost Vikings on Cursed Hollow in Game Two. Synergy’s Abathur was simply unable to contend with the split soak pressure, and the resulting 4v4s were heavily in Liquid’s favor. Liquid snowballed a huge lead (five levels by the end) to a quick end.

Synergy tried something weird in Game Three with a Probius/Chromie composition on Tomb. Unfortunately, Synergy’s front line consisted of a lone Anub’arak who was picked off twice in the early game, giving Liquid the first webweaver and an early lead. Liquid began having fun with Medivh portals and diving hard with Sonya, Lucio and Arthas. Once again, Liquid established another huge experience lead and rode out the game for an easy win.

Tempo Storm [3-1] Superstars      

Throughout this series, Superstars demonstrated marked improvement from their play before the break. In Game Two, Superstars convincingly outdrafted their opponent and showed total dominance from start to finish. On the next map they held their own, but Tempo Storm perfectly took advantage of one late-game overextension to win the game.

In the climax of the series, Goku scored a miraculous Molten Core flank and huge Sulfuras Smash to keep his team in the game, but they later lost anyway following an ill-fated Core attempt. Regardless of the outcome, Superstars went toe to toe with one of North America’s strongest teams and revealed that they have every intention of fighting for a place in the region’s top four.

Team Freedom [3-0] Team Naventic      

Team Freedom dominated the first two games in this series, winning every teamfight on both maps. Game Three was much closer, coming to a head in typical North American fashion with a ridiculous 9-death boss call on Sky Temple. Naventic would likely have won the map if not for Team Freedom’s KilluZiioN—who made not one, not two, but three hugely impactful Twilight Dream plays and carried his team to a 3-0 victory.