The first season of the NGS Storm Division is over. The league emerged as the natural replacement for Heroes Lounge Division S. In fact, HL partnered with NGS to organize the first Division S season in North America. The idea was clear: to consolidate the regional competitive structure by adding a final layer where the top teams from the amateur leagues could compete and step up.

However, NGS wasn’t the only tournament organizer to announce their plans for NA: HeroesHearth came up with CCL and revolutionized the whole Heroes competitive scene. Even if Storm Division lost some of its importance, it has been the perfect entry point for Korean players to join the North American scene. It has also brought together some of the former HGC and CCL pros with the new generation of competitive players. Storm Division has become the link between the new and the old, between the amateurs and the pros. It has consolidated NGS as the grassroots tournament organizer in NA.

Korea vs North America

Before the league took off, VGM Gaming and Team Alexander looked like the favorites. Team Alexander, the team led by the Jin brothers—Hide and Lockdown—represented the prowess of Korea and gathered an elite squad to conquer the New World. VGM was NA’s last stand, the bulwark that would defend the local scene from the Korean invaders. The series between these two colossi was scheduled in the first week of the single round robin league. The match was close, but Alexander took the victory.

The first couple weeks added another contender to the godlike duo: Team Exodia. We hadn’t seen much of this team because they only participated in one qualifier and swept it, but we learned what they were capable of very quickly. Two Heroes of the Dorm winners, the brothers EKevin and EToby partnered with Nazmas to summon the Forbidden One. This team only lost against Team Alexander and VGM during the group stage and secured a high seed for playoffs.

Despite their theoretical superiority, Team Alexander couldn’t maintain a perfect record through the round robin. The team to end their streak was Chilly Mountain, a team that had a rough start—that could well be their trademark—but after their first two defeats, they took down all their opponents. They got a 5-2 score through the whole round robin stage, sharing seed with VGM (who lost against Team Alexander and Velocity) and Exodia.



CCL took off right after the Storm Division group stage ended, so some players had to train with their new teams. This situation shook the whole NGS playoff. Nothing was certain anymore and anything could happen. Chilly Mountain continued its ascending trajectory and took down Team Alexander in the first round. VGM had players from three different CCL teams, and Team Exodia took advantage of it, sending them to the loser bracket. While Exodia faced and defeated Chilly Mountain in the winners finals, Team Alexander and VGM knocked down ReGen and Velocity respectively.

Team Alexander executed VGM, but struggled against Chilly Mountain once more in the losers finals. The grand finals was a rematch of Exodia versus CM, but things were different this time. There was a three week gap between the winners finals and grand finals, and Exodia didn’t play any official match during that time. Their CCL players, Nazmas and RedRobot, focused on the HeroesHearth league, where they had a great beginning with Oxygen Esports. On the other hand, none of the Chilly Mountain players participated in CCL and had plenty of time to practice together as a team. They got stronger during those three weeks and finally took down their nemesis, finishing their miracle run and becoming the first Storm Division champions.