The Chinese Heroes of the Storm scene had been quiet since the last GHL editions, back in 2020. A few Chinese teams joined the FiSH Bowl Heroes League earlier this year, but there hadn't been any Asian events outside Korea. After half a year of hiatus, a new tournament has emerged in China: the 2021 Storm League. As the old GHL used to do, this event has also lured some of the best South Korean players to play alongside their Chinese colleagues.

Tsunami appeared in late 2019 as one of the half-Korean rosters in GHL. In their first run, they finished 3rd, losing against TheOne, who later won the whole tournament. After that promising beginning, Tsunami won all the five 2020 GHL editions, becoming the absolute rulers of the Chinese scene. That’s why, even with a few roster changes, they were one of the favorites for Storm League. The other favorite team was FLY, a name we heard a lot during the most recent Chinese tournaments. Their performance wasn’t always good, but they qualified for all the 2020 events. Their roster for Storm League was completely new, putting together some of the finest Korean players—Lockdown, Reset, Spell, Kcb and dami—led by the Chinese legend misaka.

These two titans easily defeated their opponents in the first round of playoffs. However, Tsunami lost in the winners’ semifinals against a new team: C8. This roster (with CapyBara being the only non-Chinese player) was led by LLK, who you may remember from the 2018 HGC Finals at Blizzcon, where we played for BTG. Another upset followed Tsunami’s defeat, as C8 also took down FLY at the winners’ finals.



Tsunami advanced through the loser bracket until they arrived at the finals (after a close 3-2 victory against the full-Chinese team Reverse). There they met FLY, writing a new chapter in the Hide vs Lockdown series. Their match ended with a Tsunami victory, granting them a chance to redeem themselves against C8 at the grand finals. Despite their awesome loser bracket run, Tsunami struggled again against LLK’s team. C8 took them down mercilessly, becoming the new rulers of China.

Meanwhile in the West…

The beginning of the Chinese Storm League coincided with the X-Cup Summer in Europe. This tournament was funded by an anonymous Heroes esports fan and hosted and organized by Khaldor. After ten qualifiers, the eight best teams earned a spot for the main event. The Hardos won the first three qualifying tournaments, but after those initial victories, Wurst And Homies (Zaelia, Daykwaza, Dynouh, Azyrite and BananaH) won the rest.

X-Cup Summer was a celebration of European Heroes of the Storm. Most players currently compete at HeroesHearth’s CCL, so they attend fewer tournaments in their home region. The merge of the Western scenes is good for both of them, but there are some things we miss from the old EU days. At the X-Cup Summer we’ve watched again all the European flavors: the CIS wildcards (FlippingMafia), the national teams (Cow Attack and RossPierrDoll) and the veteran mixes.



Despite the joy of this family reunion, the tournament followed the script written at the qualifiers. Wurst And Homies and The Hardos outshone most of the other teams. The Donuts climbed their way through the lower bracket—they had a low seeding due to playing few qualifiers—, but couldn’t repeat their Masters Clash Championship result and fell against The Hardos at the losers’ finals. In the end, Wurst And Homies took down The Hardos 4-1 at the grand finals.