Nick "Dorazion" Dorazio
1st Place: Despite their uncharacteristic loss against Tempest, MVP Black is still the favorite to win this tournament. If anything, their loss was just the “wake-up-call” they needed to bring the team back into fighting shape. They were admittedly stagnant after such a dominating win streak and that stagnancy could have spilled over to Dreamhack Summer.
But it won’t. Tempest may have won the battle, but they will lose the war. Expect MVP Black to bring the pain with potentially eStar and Tempest challenging their reign.
Teams to watch: Let’s not forget how dominate mYinsanity was during the last EU regional. Their stable roster since January will start to shine in the massive lan environment and it will take more than the roar of the crowd to disrupt their momentum. They are the favorite to make it out of their group, with only Galeforce esports threatening their advancement.
Meta Prediction: Tassadar will dominate the Summer Championships. This versatile support enables niche pocket strategies (Like Tracer / Illidan reliant teams) while also keeping double support strategies available. Banning Tassadar often feels like a waste, but allowing him through the draft (without picking him first) is dangerous if you haven’t already secured enough damage to break through the shields. The result is a hero that is hard to draft around and hard to play against.
Lydia "Lideyuh" MitrevskiL
1st Place: While MVP Black dropped the grand finals of Super League (and the first match since December), this doesn’t mean it’s the end for the titans of the Heroes esports. Their resiliency and trust in one another will take them to the top yet again. They have probably the largest hero pool of any other team in the world. Being able to adjust on a whim will be their biggest strength come game time.
Teams to watch: The two main teams that will be nipping at the heels of MVP Black this week will most definitely be mYinsanity and Tempest. mYi has begun to form a strong synergy, capitalizing on their opponents mistakes and taking the top spot at the second European Summer Regional in an extremely convincing manner. The fact that Tempest dropped MVP Black 4-0 in the Super League finals was no fluke, ever since the brother duo between Lockdown and Hide created this team they have done nothing but prove themselves worth. If anyone can hold a flame to MVP Black this week, it will be one of these teams. (Sorry NA)
Meta prediction: While Chromie hasn’t really seen much pro play since her release, I definitely think at least one team has been working on pocket strats with her to pull out from nowhere, seeing as players most likely haven’t been practice with or against her. Rehgar is still the most dominant support, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a vast amount of Rehgar combined with heavy double tank compositions.
Matt "Snufalugus" Trovalli
1st place: I’m going to have to agree with just about everyone else and say that even though MVP Black had a very uncharacteristic loss to Tempest, I don’t think that is a trend that will continue. I believe they’re easily one of, if not the best team in the world, and they can easily take first place at DreamHack Summer. Their biggest challenge for MVP Black won’t be the competition in Sweden, but will be getting in the right mindset after that 0-4 loss. Once they accomplish that though I see no reason why they can’t win it all.
Team to Watch: This could be my NA influence showing but I think Gale Force eSports could easily be a top contender in Sweden. They have an outstanding roster with a lot of players who have been around for a while so they’re definitely not lacking in the experience department. They’re going to have to get over the nerves of playing in Sweden against world class teams but purely based on skill and potential I think they’re a team to watch for. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make it out of the group stages and into the finals.
Meta Prediction: The church of Rehgar is alive and well and I think we’ll see a lot of him in Sweden. I also think we’ll see Tassadar quite a bit, as well as a more tanky meta. Teams have been enjoying the return of Arthas and Anub’arak so the double tank meta is thriving. With that came the rise of Tychus so he’ll probably be a top hero as well. I also think Tracer will have a huge impact on this tournament as teams will be fighting to see who the best Tracer in the world is. This last one is a bit of a stretch but I would love to see some of the more mechanically skilled players dominate with Chromie.
Justin "Fenix2424" Lee
1st place: It seems crazy to be going with any team other than MVP Black, but I’ll go with Tempest winning the entire event. They impressively 4-0ed MVP Black to win the latest season of Superleague, and they’ll have a little help from MVP Black in taking them down again - according to their announcement on Reddit, MVP Black will be frequently role swapping during the tournament in order to make the game more fun for its members. Despite all of that though, MVP Black will not underestimate Tempest again - this time, Tempest will have to earn every single win the hard way in a close 3-2 win in the Grand Finals.
Team to Watch: Gale Force eSports. Once considered a rising NA team with potential before their shocking 3-0 destruction of Team Naventic in the Grand Finals of the last NA regional, this team boasts exceptional team fight skills as well as one of the strongest Li Ming players in the world. While their raw team fighting skills may actually be better than any of the other Western teams, the team’s shotcalling could be their undoing despite rapid improvements in this area during the last NA regional. If it is flawless, GFE may get a top 4 finish; if it is not they may be quickly eliminated in Group Stage 2.
Meta Prediction: A lot of people are going to say Double Tank thanks to the reworks of Anub’arak and Arthas, but only Anub’arak has actually been winning games - Arthas has struggled mightily in competitive so far. The bigger problem with Double Tank being meta though is Tassadar - Double Tank comps rely mostly on a target being locked down and bursted, and Tassadar on the enemy team makes this significantly harder. Add to that the fact that Tassadar enables Illidan, Sonya, or Tracer extremely well, and the real meta becomes painfully obvious - Tassadar will be picked or banned ASAP; and if a team is lucky enough to pick him, they’ll also pick one of the three above heroes that he enables so well.
Ryan "Boardshorts" Krage
1st place: Try and stop me from staying on the MVP Blackwagon. They won China’s Gold League and beat Korean teams so bad for so long they either quit the game or joined MVP Miracle. Plus they have Rich and other teams don’t. Now Tempest rightly deserves their place among the best teams in the world but MVP Black went into the Superleague Finals exhausted by a road schedule (back and forth between China and S. Korea) that no other team had. Expect to see a rested and reinvigorated MVP Black at Sweden.
MVP Black will go against Estar in the Finals with Mvp black winning 3-1.
Teams to Watch: If any team from the smaller regions has a chance to make an upset it’s Please Buff Arthas from Taiwan. I predict they’ll make it through the group stage by eliminating one of the NA/EU teams.
Meta Prediction: Tychus and his ability to chew through high health pools will make him a highly contested hero at Dreamhack where the double warrior team comp is expected to be prevalent.
Dorian "Drona" Loetzer
1st place: Probably the most difficult prediction to make. It’d be far-fetched to not go for either MVP Black, e-Star or Tempest at this point. The only question that remains is: Which one of these teams will end up dominating? Considering the dominant year they’ve had, MVP is definitely a strong contender for first place, but they’ve recently been 4-0’d by Tempest in the SuperLeague finals. Was this the wake-up call they needed or are they now on tilt because they don’t know how to recover from a loss? Tempest’s play was unlike any we’ve seen before, but can they transfer that to the international stage?
eStar is also still a strong contender for the title. In the end, I’ll have to go with MVP Black after all, especially since they’re one of the teams with the most international experience, so they’re least likely to have their play affected by travelling. I don’t think they’ll sweep the tournament without dropping a map, but provided they bounce back from their loss against Tempest, they should still take the trophy back home.
Teams to Watch: mYinsanity. HasuObs and company have been involved in the Heroes of the Storm scene from the beginning. In their current roster, they prove to have a style unlike any other European team, especially considering their insane hero pool. At first their gameplay suffered from this focus on versatility, but they have steadily been improving. Tribute to this improvement was their recent performance in Dreamhack Tours, where they managed to take the entire tournament without dropping a single map. Expect The Lost Vikings. Expect Lunara. Expect entertainment.
Meta Prediction: Tassadar will reign supreme as that hero you cannot waste a ban on and you don’t really want to let your opponent have either. Paired with Thrall, Sonya or Illidan (if he’s ever not banned), you’re already well on your way to a Tier 1 composition. Kael’thas will still be the number one ranged Assassin, since Li-Ming’s winrate has been all but dreadful in competitive play so far. Meanwhile, the Support role will focus mostly around Rehgar and Kharazim.
The latter of these has dominated in Europe for a while (you have Bakery, GerdamHerd and Splendour to thank for this) and has recently crept into even the Korean meta. Expect Muradin, Anub’Arak and ETC to be the most sought after Tanks, with Johanna cropping in on Tomb of the Spider Queen. With there being a potential rise in 2-Tank compositions, we might see a rise in relevance for Tychus as well, especially since he’s become more popular in all the regions since MVP Black have started using him successfully. European teams will likely bring out TLV every now and again, in which case you might see Zeratul or Li-Ming being chosen as counters.
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