With the announcement of Blizzard’s plans for competitive Heroes of the Storm in 2016, teams across the country have been working harder than ever to improve their teams to be up to par for global competition.
With that comes multiple player changes and swaps. In the past couple of weeks alone we’ve seen an outstanding amount of changes already taking effect and making strides.
- Added Jowe from G2 (disbanded)
- Added Shadowlink from Fnatic
- Vortix left. Is now competing again in Starcraft 2
- Lucifron left. Is now focusing on school
Team Liquid went in head first and showcased their new roster first at the first qualifier for the European Spring Regional. The changes have fared well for them so far, taking out Virtus.Pro, Na’Vi allowing them to already qualifying for the Katowice.
Current Roster:
Gerdamherd
Lowell
Cris
Jowe
ShadowLink
- Added Atheroangel from Dignitas
- Added Schwimpi from Dignitas
- Mene moved to Na'Vi
Both Athero and Schwimpi transferred from Dignitas with an undisclosed buyout amount. In the announcement from Dignitas, Breez expressed his outlook for the future of the team:
“I'm really excited to have scHwimpi and Atheroangel on the roster for 2016, we now have 2 of the best tank players in the EU scene and I'm reunited with scHwimpi who was my former teammate in Natus Vincere, so we already know each others play styles. Individually they are both insanely strong, and they have very deep knowledge of the game, unlike many other players.”
Current Roster:
Breez
Quacknixx
Smx
Atheroangel
Schwimpi
No word on the status of Snitch who did not compete in the European Spring Regional qualifier recently. Instead, they played with Bakery, JayPL, Zarmony, Wubby, diqozoy.
Current Roster:
Snitch
JayPL
Bakery
- Added Mene from Fnatic
- Added GranPkt from ROCCAT (disbanded)
- Added Crozzby from myInsanity (disbanded)
- Zarmony left
Na’Vi has been holding tryouts since about December, subbing in GranPkt and Crozby but now it’s official that they’ll be joining the team along with Mene. Zarmony is no longer on the roster but stated he will still be part of the organization in some capacity. He also most recently subbed with Team Dignitas in the European Spring Regional qualifier.
Current Roster:
GranPkt
Crozzby
AlexTheProG
ethernal
Mene
- Added Glaurung
- Added CauthonLuck from Murloc Geniuses (disbanded)
- Added Faye from Murloc Geniuses (disbanded)
Only a week after announcing they would be dropping Scylol and Syracuse, COGnitive announced they would be signing Murloc Genius members Faye and CauthonLuck, and bringing back former member Glaurung. Along with the player additions Coach xcyteZ announced he would be resigning as the team coach.
Current Roster:
Cattlepillar
iakona
Glaurung
CauthonLuck
Faye
- Equinox from Murloc Geniuses (disbanded)
- Kilick from eLevate
- Shot from Blank
- Ryxie from Vox Nihili
- Daihuu from Blank
An honorable mention of a new NA teams that’s making waves quite quick. With the break up of Murloc Geniuses came the formation of Resurgence(NA). They came out with a bang in the North America Enter the Storm qualifier #2 making it all the way to the finals beating out King of Blades, Panda Global, and Team Blank. Although they lost in the finals 2-0 to Team Blaze, there’s no doubt they earned the position there.
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