Let's learn more about the teams headed to BlizzCon.
Astral Authority (NA #1 seed)
When they first formed before the start of the Fall season as Murloc Geniuses, not a whole lot was expected of them. Team Naventic and Gale Force eSports were the top dogs in the North American Heroes scene, and Crescendo (now Denial eSports) was massively hyped up as the new challenger.
Of course, neither Team Naventic nor Gale Force eSports actually qualified for BlizzCon - instead, Murloc Geniuses wound up winning both North American regionals. Now under the Astral Authority banner, they hope to prove everyone wrong one more time and win BlizzCon.
Players to Watch:
CauthonLuck is currently one of North America's best-ranged Assassin/Specialist players and a founding member of the team.
Fury is one of North America's best Warrior players and is known for being able to play ones that aren't necessarily typical or meta. He was on Gale Force eSports during the Summer Globals.
Jun made a huge splash during the 1st NA Fall regional and is now considered North America's best Support player.
Denial eSports (NA #2 seed)
When Cloud9 won BlizzCon in 2015, no one could have imagined that less than a year later, the team would be no more. However, k1pro and KingCaffeine were not finished in the Heroes scene, and formed a new team, Crescendo. Massively hyped up as the next big thing, they fell far short of expectations at the 1st North American Regional, failing to make it out of the group stage after going 0-4 vs. Murloc Geniuses. With the benefit of hindsight, that doesn't seem quite as damning, but it was a big shock at the time.
Vowing to improve and get better, they made a single roster change: former Cloud9 player iDream joined them, replacing Prismaticism. The 2nd NA regional went much better, as they narrowly fell to Murloc Geniuses in the finals but defeated Gale Force eSports in the tiebreaker to advance to BlizzCon as North America's 2nd seed. With 3 out of 5 former Cloud9 players, some would consider this team the effective defending BlizzCon Champions, and they will be out to defend their title.
Players to Watch:
KingCaffeine is one of North America's best warrior players and a former member of BlizzCon Champion C9. He's particularly known for his Muradin and Leoric play.
k1pro has been considered one of North America's best players for much of his career, despite having a small hero pool. He has improved on this weakness to the point where he now has one of the widest hero pools in pro play. He takes the Ranged Flex role and is another former member of BlizzCon Champion C9.
Glaurung has been considered one of North America's best melee assassin/bruiser players in North America for a long time.
Regional Outlook
Despite winning BlizzCon in 2015, North America is generally considered the weakest of the four major regions, and so is not expected to be able to have a serious chance to defend Cloud9's title.
Astral Authority has looked good so far, but skeptics will say that they are largely untested by pointing at the relative weakness of Heroes teams in North America compared to worldwide competition in the other 3 major regions.
Denial eSports, meanwhile, has shown incredible creativeness in draft, much like Cloud9 did last year at Blizzcon. They have looked shaky at times, however, leading many to question whether Denial can beat top level competition without relying on pocket strategies. It will be nearly impossible to win the entire event if they can't.
Team Dignitas (EU #1 Seed)
The runner ups to Cloud9 at BlizzCon 2015, they have remained relevant in the EU Heroes scene and globally for 2016, and are probably the longest standing and most successful team outside of MVP Black. They won both EU regionals during the Fall season, replacing mYinsanity (now under the name Misfits) as the top EU team.
Unfortunately, AlexTheProG retired after the 2nd EU Regional, leaving Team Dignitas to replace him with a former member in Atheroangel, a highly skilled player in his own right. It will be interesting to see how well they play at BlizzCon and if they can win the prize that eluded them last year.
Players to Watch:
Bakery is the captain and support player of Team Dignitas. He is probably one of the most liked and well-respected players in the entire Heroes scene.
A true flex player, JayPL can play melee Assassins and bruisers quite well, yet also tank for the team, if needed, at a world-class level.
Fnatic (EU #2 Seed)
An all Swedish team, they have long been one of Europe's top 3 teams, yet they have struggled to break through and make it to a global event. Their hard work was finally rewarded when they stunned Misfits 2-1 in the tiebreaker to seize the 2nd EU seed at BlizzCon. This will be the team's first time on a global stage, so this is the team's chance to impress the world with their play.
Players to Watch:
Formerly a member of Team Dignitas, Wubby is one of the best melee Assassin/bruiser players in Europe.
Known to Twitch chatters for his screams when they win, Breez is undoubtedly one of Europe's best warrior players.
Regional Outlook
Europe has three relevant teams in the global scene, and in overall strength is probably only behind Korea. It is worrying though that Misfits won the EU Nexus Games, in the sense that this suggests that the best EU Heroes team will not be at BlizzCon. With Team Dignitas having to re-establish synergy with Atheroangel instead of AlexTheProG, and Fnatic being largely untested on the world stage, it is quite possible that the region does not live up to expectations at BlizzCon.
Team L5 (KR #1 seed)
One of the two teams formed from the ashes of TNL (which disbanded after they failed to make the Summer Global Championship), Team L5 was initially considered the weaker of the two (the other one being MVP Miracle). This belief was quickly shown to be in error, as Team L5 immediately surprised the world with a 3-0 upset of Summer Global Champions Tempo Storm in Power League.
Tempo Storm got their revenge in the Grand Finals, but even then L5 acquitted themselves well, forcing Tempo Storm to 7 games. This trend continued in Super League, as they took MVP Black to the limit, downed MVP Miracle twice during the Playoffs and then, in Super League tradition, upended the favored MVP Black in the Grand Finals 4-2. L5 has repeatedly shown that they can compete with the best, and teams that underestimate this power house will find out the hard way just how good this team really is.
Players to Watch:
The main Warrior player and ex-TNL member Noblesse is without a doubt one of the best Muradin players in the world.
sCsC was known for much of his days on TNL as a Warrior player, and then transitioned to melee flex. However, he has become a true flex, as he is capable of playing ranged Assassins, Warriors, or melee Assassins/bruisers at an extremely high level.
Jeongha is the main bruiser/ melee Assassin player on Team L5. He is starting to follow in Rich's footsteps, as he is becoming known for his Thrall play. He has played Heroes of the Storm in Korea for a long time, most of it with top level teams in Korea.
MVP Black (KR #2 seed)
MVP Black is the longest standing and most successful Heroes of the Storm team in the world. They first made a name for themselves at MSI, defeating the American Powerhouse team Tempo Storm 3-0 to win the entire event. Considered the best team in the world after MSI, they were the favorite to represent Korea @ BlizzCon but were shocked 4-2 in the Grand Finals of SuperLeague 2015 by Team DK (they became TNL after the organization dissolved).
After that stunning upset, MVP Black came back stronger than ever, winning every major event they participated in (including the Spring Global Championship) until Season 2 of Super League, where they lost 0-4 to Tempest (now Tempo Storm). In the mean time, they won 41 straight maps at one point and 34 straight overall matches, an unheard of feat.
Without a doubt one of the most talented Heroes of the Storm teams in the world, they have nonetheless underwhelmed fans at various points despite their accomplishments: for instance, despite being favored in all 4 Super League Finals, they have won Super League just once.
Players to Watch:
Honestly, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to list all of MVP Black's members here, as they have all shown themselves to be incredibly good. However, I'll list the two that have stood out the most lately.
Rich is generally considered to be the best Heroes of the Storm player in the world. Originally known for his incredible Thrall play, we've also seen great Medivh play and even incredible Alarak play in recent weeks. Although it hasn't been seen in quite some time, his Kerrigan play on Infernal Shrines was a joy to watch as well.
Sign is often said to be the best Warrior player in the world. He has played multiple Heroes of that class at an extremely high level, but the moves he's pulled off with ETC's Mosh Pit heroic, particularly with the Tour Bus upgrade, have been legendary.
Regional Outlook
Want to know how high the expectations for Korea as a region are? It would be a stunning upset if the Grand Finals of BlizzCon isn't a KR vs. KR affair. The region is so tough that the Summer Global Champions Tempo Storm did not qualify for BlizzCon. Yes, you read that right. And no, Tempo Storm did not see a massive drop off in their level of play. The rest of the region just got that good, with 4 world-class teams that some would consider the 4 best teams in the world. If the other regions want to break Korea's dominance, it's up to them to raise their level of play and close the gap that seems to be getting wider.
ZeroPanda (CN Seed #1)
Here's what you need to know about this team: 3 out of 5 members used to be on Edward Gaming, before that team disbanded. Edward Gaming finished 2nd at the Spring Global Championships, falling to MVP Black in the Grand Finals but having a much stronger showing than expected. Although they had some hiccups during the Summer season of Gold League, dropping a match to eStar Gaming and Super Perfect Team, expect this team to be dangerous at BlizzCon. Teamfighting-wise, they are probably close to if not on par with the Koreans. It's still up in the air if the team will be able to attend BlizzCon, as Chinese teams have often struggled to get visas to the US.
Player to Watch:
m, one of the former EDG players, is one of the best melee Assassin players in the world. Known for his Thrall, Zeratul, and Greymane plays, he is still more than capable of playing the other melee Assassins/bruisers, or even Warriors if needed.
Super Perfect Team (CN Seed #2)
I'll be blunt here: It was a big surprise that this team wound up as the 2nd Chinese seed, over the likes of eStar Gaming or X-team. Chinese teams struggled a lot with split pushing after the various changes Blizzard has made to the game and Super Perfect Team was one of the first to take advantage of that fact. In teamfights, however, questionable positioning and inconsistent shotcalling has plagued them, and if they don't fix this at BlizzCon they will likely get wrecked. We probably won't find out, though, as they aren't likely to make it due to visa issues.
Player to Watch:
As the tank/bruiser player of SPT and the only member to have international experience, Misaka (formerly of X-Team) will have to have a strong performance if SPT hopes to make some noise at BlizzCon.
Regional Outlook
The Chinese Heroes scene was really badly hurt by the massive exodus of talent that happened after the Summer Global Championship to other games. This means there are far fewer talented players left in the scene, drastically hurting the depth of the region and level of play overall. Before the exodus they were clearly ahead of Europe, but post-Summer Globals the region as a whole is likely worse than Europe, even though Zero might be better than any European Heroes of the Storm team. Here is to hoping that the League format of 2017 can rehabilitate the Chinese Heroes scene.
The Taiwan representatives from the Summer Global Championships is back, although they certainly didn't make it easy for themselves - they lost 3 straight maps in a row during the Grand Finals, forcing them to win 3 straight maps in a row in order to make it to BlizzCon.
Whether that is a sign that the Taiwan Heroes scene is stronger than ever or they are not as strong as in the Summer season is hard to say, but what we do know is that they made a lot of noise during the Summer Global Championships by making it to the 2nd Group stage via defeating NA seed #2 Gale Force eSports, the first time a minor region made it past the initial groups. Can the Taiwanese repeat that feat at BlizzCon? Well, the #2 seeds from most major regions other than Korea are somewhat vulnerable, so the opportunity is certainly there.
This team competed at the Spring Global Championships and the Summer Global Championships as Big Gods, and they are the only team from a minor region other than Please Buff Arthas to win a map vs. a team from a major region (also against Gale Force eSports). Much like Please Buff Arthas, they had some difficulties during their regional qualifier for BlizzCon, struggling in their semi-finals match.
However, they'll be eager to play at BlizzCon, something they didn't get a chance to do last year as their visas were denied (they were known as Brave Ozone at the time). Hopefully they will be able to get their visas this time and play at BlizzCon.
Known as Negative Synergy when they played in the Spring Global Championships and the Summer Global Championships, it was undoubtedly shocking to Heroes fans to learn that Negative Synergy had lost to this team called Reborn in the first ever LAN finals.
Of course, it wasn't really that much of a surprise - 4 out of the 5 former Negative Synergy Players were on Reborn, with Sashin the only player on the old team that had remained there. They haven't managed to take a map off of a major region so far, but the opportunity will be there at BlizzCon, especially with the #2 seed of major regions other than Korea being somewhat vulnerable.
Last year, during the 2015 Americas Championship, a team called Relics played reasonably well against the likes of Cognitive Gaming and Complexity Gaming, even though they would ultimately wind up losing to both and not making it out of groups.
Two of the members, Zeys and Mirr, have joined forces with Stronger and harharrr of Renovatio I, the Southeast Asian representative at the Spring Global Championships and Summer Global Championships, to form a Southeast Asian "super" team. They were dominant during the Southeast Asia Fall Regional, but the top teams at Blizzcon represents a significant jump in level of competition.
Opening Week for BlizzCon is Oct.26-Oct.28 starting at 9 am PDT. You can catch all the teams except the major regions' #1 seeds playing then on the BlizzHeroes twitch channel.
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