The first Western Clash introduced the little-known Australian team of Nomia to the world. While the HGC was still young, five Australian players cemented their place in the league’s history after winning the very first game of the entire event against the tournament favorites Misfits (now Team Liquid). Though they weren’t able to win an entire series and ultimately finished in 7th place, Nomia’s play against both EU and NA impressed enough viewers that their roster became well-known throughout the scene. Minor region or no, they became recognized names throughout the Western Clash regions—and among them was Liam “Arcaner” Simpson.

As strong as seemed, Nomia peaked. The team struggled to remain competitive with the other regions, and the players were forced to consider whether to keep battling it out in ANZ or move on to other things. In Arcaner’s case, he decided to move to the UK and try to find a place in the EU HGC.

It turned out to be the perfect move. Arcaner found his place on Team Liquid playing alongside Nils “NuroK” Gebhardt and Dennis “HasuObs” Schneider: two alumni from Misfits. In one short year, Simpson has gone from being an intriguing wild card to BlizzCon finalist. Where Nomia struggled to find challenging opponents, now Arcaner will be on the playoff stage against some of the greatest Heroes of the Storm players of all time. He can even say he’s beaten Gen.G, and that’s quite a feat for any ANZ player.

It’s an almost dizzying journey, and not just for Arcaner individually. Team Liquid has been a powerful presence in Heroes of the Storm since the game’s early days, and yet the franchise has never made it to BlizzCon. No matter how close they came, it would elude them at the last moment. Arcaner’s presence has changed that. In his first season with the roster, Team Liquid is finally reaching the potential they’ve always shown. It’s a group effort to be sure, but Arcaner has become definitively part of that group, sharing in the hunger and excitement of the team’s collective dream.





At the Blizzard Arena in Burbank, we spoke to Arcaner between group stage sets. “It’s been incredible,” he says excitedly, opening up about the personal details of his journey. “It’s been quite a wild ride, coming from Australia to move on my own, at my own expense, to Europe. Taking a gamble, trying to get into a team. It’s been stressful, but since I’ve been in HGC throughout the year, it’s been very rewarding. And it’s been...” He pauses, searching for the right word. “It’s been very satisfying, having a format where I can improve on myself and I can vs better players, and I can see myself grow as a player. Because you can’t really do that in a minor region. So yeah, it’s been good!”

EU is certainly a more competitive region than ANZ, but Arcaner had practical considerations too. “I chose EU because I have family in the UK,” he tells us when asked about North America, “and I have dual citizenship. So it was much easier, from a logistics perspective, to move to the UK. Also I had more contacts with the EU professional players, and I think I had a more similar mindset to what they had. So I thought I had a better chance of getting into an HGC team if I moved to EU.”

Arcaner emphasized his need for better opponents, but he isn’t the only one mindful of minor region limitations. Since he left his old ANZ team—now known as Mindfreak—they’ve struggled to follow up on their first impressions and grow weaker every time we see them on the global stage. While Team Liquid was able to defeat every other region in the group stage (even Korea!), Mindfreak failed to take a single map.





Across Heroes of the Storm social media, heated discussion grows as to whether minor regions should even be allowed at international events. It’s a tricky situation where Arcaner’s concerned—on the one hand, his move and success seem to be proof that the minor regions are a dead end, but without giving Nomia a chance, he never would have gotten his shot in the first place. It’d be easy to get lost in that conundrum, but Arcaner sees the big picture.

“I think Heroes as an esport needs to grow to a point where you have organizations that are scouting players, not just within their region but other regions. So, I think there needs to be a healthier environment regarding imports if players from minor regions are to be given the opportunities that they need to prove themselves, to be an HGC quality player. Like you look at League of Legends,” he says, showing his knowledge of Australian esports beyond his own game. “You have players who are succeeding in their own region and they’re getting opportunities in, like, Echo Fox. Big organization. There’s a player called Lost from the OPL [ed: Oceanic Pro League, LoL’s ANZ region] who’s played on the NA LCS in Echo Fox. So there’s things like this…because I had to make the decision on my own and the move on my own, it was very hard for me. But if I had an organization like Team Liquid that messaged me and said ‘hey, we really want to try you, and we want to invest in you,’ then it would be a lot easier for me to move and it would be less stressful. So I think the main overall message is that there needs to be a healthier environment for imports that is created by Blizzard.”





“I think it’s very difficult when you have minor region teams at an event where they’re not expected to succeed. I experienced that a lot, so I have a lot of empathy for the Mindfreak and Luna Meow players. It’s difficult to have this reality, but I think when you go to an event that has the caliber of BlizzCon, where it’s meant to be the combination of the greatest teams and the most intense competition, you’re going to have community disagreement in terms of should minor regions be at an event like this. And my main opinion on this is I think it is fine to have minor region teams at an event like this…IF it isn’t at the expense of a team like Fnatic or Ballistix or BlossoM from Korea, or something. So I’m happy for minor regions to be at an event like this if Blizzard were to raise the cap of teams to 16 teams so we can have more representation of stronger regions.

But if Blizzard can’t do this, then I think that they should spend more time with minor region events like…maybe not just Australia vs. Latin America, maybe all the minor regions play in an event. And at the event, they might have Fnatic or Ballistix there as well, and the winner of that event qualifies for an event like BlizzCon. I think League of Legends has the same thing; they have a Play-In event that leads up to their World Championships, and the result of having a play-in event like this is you have the most competitive group stage and playoff that you can have. So, that’s my opinion.”

Mindfreak didn’t get a lot of support at the group stage, but Arcaner did. He had the support of his parents, who came to the Arena to watch his matches. Actually, he had an awful lot of parents in the Arena that day. Following a production mishap during the stream, Arcaner has been proudly adopted by the entire Heroes of the Storm community. He’s our son, he’s your son, and we’re all his parents now.





However many people are now invested in Arcaner, nothing compares to the real thing. He grows emotional when he thinks of his parents' support, tearing up as he described what it meant to him.

“It’s very heartwarming and wholesome that my parents are here, actually. When I was playing in ANZ in Nomia, my parents weren’t as supportive. They thought it was a big risk that I was taking, to be trying to build an esports career in ANZ. They were very skeptical of it. But then when I decided to move, and I got into HGC, my parents started supporting me a lot.

“I think they kind of expected it, because they weren’t shocked. They were kind of worried, when they heard it. When I explained to them that I could live with family whilst I was trying to get into the HGC, they were kind of more at ease. They saw it as, I guess, a nothing-to-lose situation: ‘even if I don’t make HGC, I can come back home.’ When I actually did arrive in the UK, the worry decreased a lot.

“They started watching every game, they started getting into HGC a lot—not just watching my games, but other matches! They were following each individual player. And…to have them here, it’s…it’s incredible. That they would spend the money and take the time out of their lives to actually watch me play and support me, and…it’s helped me perform better, I think, on stage.”

And what a performance it’s been. Throughout the interview, it’s clear that Arcaner is hyper-conscious of his individual performance. That drive has fueled his move across regions, and it’s still pushing him now. He’s very aware of his team’s performance as a whole, but he’s also constantly mindful of his own standards for himself, and that shows in his thoughts about the map-win over Gen.G.

“It was a very great moment! Because at the previous event, at the Western Clash, we performed terrible and we lost to NA both series. So it’s been not only very satisfying and, I guess…I can’t find the word for it, but it’s been very satisfying taking a game off Gen.G. But I think mainly beating Tempo Storm 2-0 is something that means more to me than taking a game off Gen.G. I feel like that’s something I couldn’t achieve for a long time, and I struggled very much—no matter the team I was in—to beat NA. But I think the main feeling I got from taking a game off Gen.G is a feeling of worthiness, at an individual level, to be playing against Koreans. And I felt like they respected me more after that series.”





For both Team Liquid and Arcaner, 2018 has been a whirlwind of a year. And since it’s clear Arcaner feels both the team and personal struggles very keenly, that’s even more pressure to perform on the biggest possible stage this weekend. Luckily, he’s managed to deal with it by focusing on the same urge to improve that brought him to this point.

“I think, whenever I feel stressed and pressured to perform—like I have been at this event, because I’m not the underdog anymore, I’m expected to succeed—I always think back to just enjoying myself and having fun. Even when I have the pressure and I’m not the underdog, I try to have an underdog mentality, that I have to prove myself as an individual player, and have to prove my team’s belief that we are good enough to be here. So I think whenever I’m feeling stressed, I work on breathing like I’m onstage, and mindset before the games.”





At the time of the interview, Liquid still had another match to go, but Arcaner was aware of the expected end. “Actually, now that HeroesHearth have beat Tempest, we’re going to probably be versing HeroesHearth in the playoff stage,” he says, a prediction which came true. HHE will be Liquid’s first opponents on Friday.

“And that’s actually a lot more stress and pressure on me to perform, because I don’t think we’ll be the underdog in that matchup.”