The competitive Heroes scene is currently seeing a lot of team changes, to prepare for what's to come after Blizzcon. This article will list all confirmed and unconfirmed changes that can be expected.
Even though Heroes of the Storm does not have in-game seasons yet, Blizzcon can surely be seen as the end of the competitive season. Eight teams are still in the running for the title of World Champion, but all other teams are waiting for Blizzcon to end. Blizzard might or might not announce a more comprehensive tournament structure for next year, but it can be expected that tournament organizers will start setting up tournaments again after Blizzcon has concluded.
In other sports and esports, periods like these are often filled with team disbands, team creations and roster changes. It is of course better to change things when the calender is calmer, and not when everybody is involved in tournaments every week. Heroes of the Storm is no different, and we are already hearing about a big amount of change that is going to affect the future. Some teams will continue playing, but for different sponsors, while other teams will make the decision of changing parts of their roster with the hopes of improving their performance.
We at GosuGamers are very much invested in the competitive scene, and this allows us to keep track of most of these developments. Some of these development have been confirmed, while others are hinted at in a variety of ways. Below we have compiled a list of such developments, that we will continue to update for a while, organized by region and status of the change (confirmed/unconfirmed).
Last updated: November 27.
Europe
Pirates in Pyjamas
October 9 - Pirates in Pyjamas disbanded after not performing well enough at the Europe Championship. This was confirmed by most members through twitter.
Euronics Gaming
November 3 - Puszek Team has changed sponsors, the same players will now compete under the Euronics Gaming banner.
Fnatic
October 15 - Quacknixx and Smexystyle might join Fnatic, as seen from Fnatic's WCA line-up.
November 4 - Lowell has left Fnatic to join Team Liquid.
November 4 - Kesil and Wubby also leave Fnatic.
November 26 - Fnatic will be playing with the following roster for DreamHack Winter: Breez, Quacknixx, Smexystyle, Mene and Shadowlink.
November 27 - Fnatic announced the official entry of Quacknixx and Smexystyle into the Fnatic roster.
Team Liquid
November 4 - Team Liquid has announced their intent to rebuild the team, dropping GranPkt, Blackscorp and FalcoN from the original roster.
November 4 - Warrior player Lowell is the first new addition to the team, leaving Fnatic.
November 5 - Blackscorp announces he is retiring from competitive Heroes of the Storm.
November 12 - Team Liquid's definitive roster has been formed as is as follows:
ROCCAT
October 15 - Granpkt might leave Team Liquid to join ROCCAT, he is seen replacing Shadowmare in their WCA line-up.
November 26 - ROCCAT will play DreamHack with the following roster: HasuObs, Socke, sportbilly, GranPkt and Redx-.
Virtus.Pro
October 9 - Kunichan is no longer playing for Virtus.Pro, the (temporary replacement is Gela).
Team Alternate
November 12 - Team ALTERNATE's latest roster has seemingly already dissolved, with two of the members now playing for different teams: Shad is playing for Fnatic and Redx is playing for ROCCAT.
Team Dignitas
November 23 - Dignitas announced the departure of adrd and Zarmony from the team, and announces that Schwimpi and JayPL will officially join Dignitas. This leaves the definitive roster as:
Natus Vincere
November 23 - Natus Vincere announced that Schwimpi and JayPL have left the team, while Zarmony is added to the official roster.
mYinsanity/Team Spartanien
November 8 - GerdamHerd leaves Team Spartanien for Team Liquid.
November 23 - It was announced that the former Team Spartanien will now be playing under the mYinsanity banner with the following roster:
Americas
COGnitive Gaming
November 6 - COGnitive manager Dylux has announced that he and his players are probably looking to switch sponsors.
November 11 - Glaurung announced during Town Hall Heroes they had found a new sponsor and were moving to a new team location/team house soon.
compLexity Gaming
October 19 - Blinks has announced he is no longer playing for compLexity and is looking for a new team.
Tempo Storm
October 22 - Tempo Storm will be undergoing major changes after Blizzcon, as stated by team manager Zoia.
November 9 - Tempo Storm has announced the departure of Zuna and Arthelon from their roster in an official statement.
Bob Ross Fan Club
November 13 - Through the Enter the Storm NA sign-up page, we learned that Arthelon and Zuna have formed a new team, bringing on Kenma, Erho and McIntyre to complete the roster.
Asia
Team Snake/Team AsD
October 20 - Team Snake have lost their sponsorship, and are now playing as their old name Team AsD again.
Team DK
October 20 - Team DK may also be losing their sponsor because of China's Gold Heroes League's banning all Korean players from participating in their tournaments. But for now they are still competing in the World Championship under the Team DK banner.
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