Over $6000 in cash and prizes is at stake this weekend. The best American teams will duke it out over the course of the next two days to prove themselves as the champion of this new tournament series.
Heroes Hype has made a name for themselves in the HotS community as one of the premier tournament organizers for good reason. Their consistent lineup of both Amateur and Pro tournaments have given American teams space to show their stuff. As the next two days draw near, their newest tournament – the HTC Heroes Brawl – brings this space into a much larger scale. The best of the best will be facing off for a significant cash and prize pool. For full details on the tournament schedule, check out Heroes Hype’s official description of the event.
However, those keeping up with the Heroes eSports scene will know cash and prizes are not the only important parts of this tournament. This is also the last time that Americas teams can show off their new strategies before the Heroes World Championship at Blizzcon. Tempo Storm and Cloud9 have limited time to prepare themselves for this upcoming monumental event, so this is their best chance to test themselves on a serious level.
However, this is the third week of the tournament. We have already seen plenty of testing from all these teams. Let’s take a look at the standings and some of last week’s highlights.
A Recap of Last Week
As we previously went over, week 1’s matches were filled with upsets. Top ranked teams COGnitive and compLexity were both defeated by underdogs Murloc Geniuses and Team Blaze. However, week 2’s results were par for the course.
- compLexity was able to decisively 2-0 Kappa Wolves.
- Cloud9 managed to take a 2-1 series from Team Blaze.
- Tempo Storm came back in a close series against COGnitive, 2-1.
- Murloc Geniuses pulled a 2-1 victory against Panda Global.
There were no major upsets last week; every match’s victor was the higher ranked team. This being said, there was a lot to take from week 2. Tassadar seemed to be the star of the show, managing to be contested in all but one of the games played on stream. Both Tyrande and Tassadar – the “pseudo-supports” of HotS – were buffed in the last patch, giving them stronger healing capabilities. While it isn’t sure whether or not they can shine in a solo support role, they now excel even more in their duo support role. These changes have led to a large increase in pick/ban rate for both heroes, but it seems Tassadar got the better end of the buffs. With such a diverse kit, and with his standard build allowing him to cheat death on more than one occasion, he seems to be a strong pick going forward.
Onto this weekend’s matches!
Both Saturday and Sunday will feature streamed matches, with Sunday having the playoffs matches. Here’s what we will be seeing on Saturday:
- Team Blaze vs Kappa Wolves
- Cloud 9 vs compLexity
Currently, Tempo Storm and Murloc Geniuses lead Group A with a 2-0 record, both clinching spots in the finals. This is why we will not be seeing any Group A matches on Saturday. Cloud 9 leads Group B 2-0, with both compLexity and Team Blaze in second with 1-1 records. Sunday’s matches will contain two semi-final and one grand final match to decide the winner of the tournament. If there’s an ace in the hole that any team is holding on using, now is the time to show it off. Make sure not to miss out on the matches this weekend! You can watch the matches live on HTC’s official twitch page.
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