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Since the Mid-Season Brawl, China has undergone more changes than any other HGC region, including a major format shift to double round robin with Bo2 series. The team landscape has changed as well. The Chinese rosters have gone through significant shakeups with many noteworthy players leaving the scene and many new faces rising through the ranks.

The new format and teams together make Phase 2 feel like a beginning more than a continuation of HGC. But the changes have complemented each other; with a large number of Bo2s each day, the teams are getting the chance to test themselves, learn through experience, and build their new identities. After two weeks of play, HGC China has already finished an astonishing 24 series. With so many games played already, the power rankings of the new teams are quickly emerging.

Farewell to Keep It Simple, Xteam

Keep It Simple (KIS) was the weakest team of Phase 1 by a large margin. Though their support player Pomii was promising, the rest of the team struggled to accomplish much, and unfortunately the roster lost its place in HGC. But Pomii remains on Hots Lady for Phase 2, and flex player Soap (stylized as Fz) has been substituting for eStar due to Tumi’s illness.



Xteam, an important fixture of the Chinese scene, also disbanded. Fans of Xteam will be relieved that most of the players are still around on another roster, but it’s still a shame to see the familiar logo missing from the standings tables. Even if Xteam’s players remained, the departure of the organization left a slot in the league open.

Well Met: Wukong Gaming and Kudos Top

Two rookie teams entered the league, each with five all-new players with no prior history, and they’ve had very different results from each other.

Bluntly, Wukong Gaming (WKG) is the worst team in the region. The team has played against a wide variety of opponents from CE to SOA, but still has yet to win a single game in any of their matches. Despite this unencouraging start, there is one good thing to say about them: even if they continue a season-long losing streak, they’re still visibly better than KIS was. Despite the struggling record, WKG still shows that across HGC the standard of play is moving upward.



Kudos Top has had better luck. The team is a collection of promising rookies, particularly hyper carry Seaink. But after good first impressions, KT’s momentum has slowed down as they’ve encountered the better teams in the region. They’re currently looking like sixth place material, and they’re unlikely to rise higher than that, but their players have a lot of potential. Depending on how quickly they tap into that potential, they may be able to pull an upset.

eStar is Dead, Long Live eStar

eStar Gaming impressed the world at the Mid-Season Brawl, showing that Chinese teams can never be underestimated. Despite their amazing performance, the entire active eStar roster departed Heroes of the Storm after the event—but the organization remains. In addition to Fz and former Hots Lady flex player Ooz, the new roster features three former members of Xteam—Gd, KID, and Tao (now known as CNNo1). As such, the team has to live up to the legacies of both eStar and Xteam.



They proved themselves immediately by taking a game from current champs CE, something neither Xteam nor the previous eStar roster were able to do in Phase 1. They’ve torn through the rest of the league, and so far only CE and SPT have been able to defeat the new eStar. They might not be ready to hold the world stage at the same level as their predecessors, but they are definitely in the region’s top 3. This incarnation of eStar still has a long way to go, but if they already look this good at the very start of their time together, who knows where they will end up?

Outside of these three, the other Chinese teams have all seen their own roster changes. But even with new faces, the teams maintained their identities from Phase 1 with the same styles of play and personalities. With everyone else remaining so consistent, it will be up to the new rosters to shape the standings.