In addition to Chu8 my Hotdoge, perennial top teams Naventic, Gale Force eSports, and Gust or Bust advanced to day two of the qualifier.
After Astral Authority and Denial eSports disappointed at BlizzCon 2016, the rest of North America’s teams hoped to restore North America’s competitive reputation. However, in order to challenge Astral Authority and Denial in North America's HGC 2017 league, teams have to play in the HGC qualifiers.
New Blood
Popular Twitch streamer, Chu8, debuted his new team, Chu8 my Hotdoge. Although new, Chu8’s team possesses several long-time professional players such as Glaurung, YoDa, buds, and Justing. Although the team lost their first game, they slowly gained momentum throughout the day, appearing more dominant with each game.
In their five games, Chu8 my Hotdoge employed several interesting draft compositions including the rare selections of Sgt. Hammer, Li Li, and Arthas. While the team excelled in their games on day one, they will have to face the top seed, Gale Force eSports, in their next match.
Similar to Chu8 my Hotdoge, Grandmaster Jackets contains familiar faces such as insomnia, zugrug, and KilluZiioN. However, unlike Chu8 my Hotdoge, the team did not drop a single game on their road to the top eight, going 6-0. Grandmaster Jackets will face arguably the best team in the qualifier, Team Naventic.
The Old Guard
Perennial top teams Naventic, Gale Force eSports, Gust or Bust, Dumpster Tier Superstars, Vox Nihili, and No Tomorrow cruised in their matches to advance to the top eight. While these team names should be familiar to most fans, each team has undergone some roster changes.
Naventic replaced Jason with bkid, while Gale Force replaced bkid with Equinox. After losing Equinox and TalkingTrees, Gust or Bust acquired nightmare and Jin. Lastly, Vox Nihili replaced Goat with HaoNguyen and No Tomorrow (formerly Barrel Boys) replaced McIntyre with erho.
Tomorrow, Gust or Bust will face Vox Nihili and Dumpster Tier Superstars will play No Tomorrow.
Qualifier #1 finishes tomorrow
The first qualifier will finish tomorrow, so tune in to Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm channel Tuesday, November 21 at 5:00 PM PDT to see which two teams will qualify for North America’s HGC 2017 league.
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