2018 has been a tough year for Latin American Heroes of the Storm players. Losing out at both Intercontinental Clashes left the region without representation at any major global events this year. At the most recent Clash in Sydney, LATAM’s Thunder Predator fell against the ANZ champions Mindfreak, in a one-sided series that saw them go 1-4 and subsequently lose out on tickets to BlizzCon.

In order to earn the right to face Mindfreak, Thunder Predator first had to deal with LATAM’s Phase 1 regional champions, Encore e-Sports. Following this series, team manager and sub player, Gerardo “Genre” Gonzalez stated the team thought they “were going to get 4-0’d,” but “surprisingly that didn’t happen.” Playing without their full lineup, Thunder Predator was missing team captain and ranged flex, ET0MyX, forcing Genre to step up and take his place.

“It was difficult for me because I haven’t been playing Heroes lately, I’ve been focusing on school and work,” he stated. “It was pretty difficult adapting on the fly; I only had three days to play solo queue, no scrims.”

Thunder Predator, formerly playing under 6Sense, were denied entry to the first Intercontinental Clash back in May after they fell to Fratres, a team that showcased one of the fastest rising players in the region, Juan “SleepyBear” Martinez. Naturally, following their unexpected defeat, Thunder Predator approached both SleepyBear and his brother, rokblin, to join the team.



“People in the scene have known he’s really good mechanically,” Genre stated when reflecting on their new ranged flex, who he jokingly refers to as ‘Sleepygod’. “He’s barely 13, well, when he started he was 12. So, there’s things that, maybe macro play and stuff like that, he’s not there yet on, but his mechanical skill is insane," he added, marvelling at Sleepybear’s ability to “draw two or three bans every game.”

About Genre

Genre himself is a Heroes of the Storm veteran in Latin America, having played alongside the likes of Jschritte on Infamous at the Western Clash last year—an event he described as being “a dream come true.”

He is also well known in the scene for his involvement with HeroesHype and helping to spearhead their expansion into LATAM as a tournament administrator. Unfortunately, the LATAM based tournaments have since been discontinued, as there “wasn’t that much interest.”

Genre has also helped HeroesHype with administration for HGC Europe Open Division, but due to life commitments has since had to take a step back. Nonetheless, he has stated that “HeroesHype is great, they’ve done so much for Heroes,” and he is “very grateful for the opportunity.”

Current state of LATAM Heroes

This year, the LATAM region received much attention after pro players took to Reddit to voice their concerns over issues regarding tournament money. “The payment situation has been resolved, it took some time but the people at Blizzard LATAM, they work hard, and they got that fixed,” stated Genre, adding that Blizzard has since started handling the payments directly.

Genre believes the community outcry on Reddit had a significant impact on the situation. “We hate to do that, but it was so long that we didn’t get payments that some players in the scene were getting loans, expecting the money to come soon,” he stated. “Even Jschritte from No Tomorrow, he personally loaned some money to some Brazilian players during that time.”

Jschritte is a big name globally, but no more so than in his home region of Latin America. Unfortunately, his move to North America at the start of this year left a big gap, and, after losing such a big name and changes made to the format, instability within the region caused numerous pros to quit.

Genre believes that “even though some players might not admit, he is missed. Even when it came to issues with payments, he was at the forefront, . . . he was sticking up for other players in the scene, so that was really good.”





He was especially impressed with the superstar ranged flex after playing alongside him at IEM Katowice last year. “Having someone like that on the team is invaluable, even though he would push you and you would have to know how to handle it. He has extremely good game knowledge,” Genre said.

Currently one of LATAM’s most significant strong points is their Twitch viewership. Both HGC Copa America streams rivalled that of North America and Europe throughout 2018, something which certainly took many from outside the region by surprise.

“The Blizzard community in Latin America is huge, so I think a lot of people that play other Blizzard games also follow Heroes,” Genre stated. The community aspect is also a big factor in the region, with Genre adding that “people just love to talk and interact with one another,” with pros and streamers having big personalities and joking around with fans on social media.

Looking to 2019

For Genre - and indeed for many other players in the region - the number one wish is to have a guaranteed spot at international events once more. “That’s one of the best experiences, forget the money, going and competing on the global stage was very memorable. Money comes and goes but those experiences don’t always show up,” he said. Other suggestions he had included the introduction of an online league—similar to the ANZ Premier Division—and a Clash between all four minor regions.

Prize money has always been a hot topic in the professional Heroes of the Storm scene, with many players wanting to live off their earnings. Latin American pros are no exception, but this year they have sadly seen a reduction in tournament money. “You can’t really live off of it, and that’s what our team wants to do. They want to get to the point where they can live off just playing,” Genre stated.



At the end of the day though, the opportunity to play in global events is one of the most thrilling parts of professional gaming, and there’s no doubt the restriction on this has hurt LATAM. “We know it’s a minor region, there’s not that many teams, not that many players, there’s a lot of viewers for some reason,” Genre laughed, “but we just want our international slot back.”

Despite the ups and downs in the scene though, Genre is “very thankful for Copa America” and Heroes of the Storm. Hopefully, he will continue to lead his team to success in the coming year!