HGC West

Week 8 Recap

Must-watch Games

Friday, April 28

Playing Ducks [3-1] Tricked eSport

Playing Ducks gave all they had this weekend to avoid falling down to the Crucible, but their first game was a shaky start. After a strong early game from the Playing Ducks, Tricked eSport clawed their way back into the game after Heroics were unlocked. Winning a string of fights in the mid and late game, Tricked completely turned the game around and took a dominating first win.



After the first game, Playing Ducks refocused, and through widely varying but intelligent drafts, they won the rest of the series convincingly. In the second game on Infernal Shrines, Playing Ducks played for shrine control with heroes like Zarya, Malfurion and Gul’dan. Meanwhile on Dragon Shire, they opted for a strong dive comp with Chen and Abathur to put pressure on the top lane. To top it all off, Playing Ducks played double globals on Braxis Holdout. Using Dehaka and Falstad to put pressure on the top lane, the Ducks simultaneously secured



Team Dignitas [3-1] Synergy

After an absolutely dominating performance on Cursed Hollow in the first game, Khaldor joked that Snitch had other plans that evening. Joke or not, Dignitas was certainly not playing around. Although not quite dominating like the first game, Team Dignitas found themselves in the driver seat both on Sky Temple as well as on Braxis Holdout.



A small sliver of hope appeared for Synergy in the second game on Dragon Shire. The Lost Vikings kept the pressure up on all times, making it hard for Team Dignitas to take the Dragon Knight even when they were winning fights. CEBKAJE was on point with Crystal Aegis to deny any Ring of Frost combos from Team Dignitas. Unfortunately, this was the first, and only game Synergy ended up taking.



Synergy continually overextended with their aggression on Sky Temple, which Team Dignitas punished heavily. After multiple takedowns throughout the game, DIG ended three levels ahead. On Braxis Holdout, Synergy had the superior sustain with Zarya and Morales. However, with an early takedown on Zul’jin, Team Dignitas found themselves with the stronger Zerg wave. From there on out, Synergy was



B-Step [3-0] No Tomorrow

Despite a huge win against GFE last week, No Tomorrow was unable to keep up the momentum in their series against B-Step. The first two games passed as clean victories for B-Step in which they rarely gave up their advantage.



No Tomorrow looked more confident in Game Three on Sky Temple, cleverly pressuring the bottom lane early to guarantee a fort on the second temple phase, but they never really got ahead. The game continued on even footing until



Tempo Storm [3-1] Team Freedom

Tempo Storm looked in control of the whole series due to the solid, consistent play that has kept them near the top of the standings in North America from the beginning of the HGC. In the first and third game Tempo Storm played Abathur compositions to textbook perfection, winning the first game in under 8:00 and taking the third game after slowly accruing a lead with Abathur’s constant lane pressure. Game four also went to Tempo Storm after Team Freedom played a hesitant game ending with a



Game Two on Dragon Shire was much more exciting. Team Freedom was behind the whole time but managed to hang on long enough to make some incredible plays post-20 to turn it around. KilluZiioN kicked off their comeback with an excellent Playing Ducks gave all they had this weekend to avoid falling down to the Crucible, but their first game was a shaky start. After a strong early game from the Playing Ducks, Tricked eSport clawed their way back into the game after Heroics were unlocked. Winning a string of fights in the mid and late game, Tricked completely turned the game around and took a dominating first win.After the first game, Playing Ducks refocused, and through widely varying but intelligent drafts, they won the rest of the series convincingly. In the second game on Infernal Shrines, Playing Ducks played for shrine control with heroes like Zarya, Malfurion and Gul’dan. Meanwhile on Dragon Shire, they opted for a strong dive comp with Chen and Abathur to put pressure on the top lane. To top it all off, Playing Ducks played double globals on Braxis Holdout. Using Dehaka and Falstad to put pressure on the top lane, the Ducks simultaneously secured takedown after takedown in the bottom lane.After an absolutely dominating performance on Cursed Hollow in the first game, Khaldor joked that Snitch had other plans that evening. Joke or not, Dignitas was certainly not playing around. Although not quite dominating like the first game, Team Dignitas found themselves in the driver seat both on Sky Temple as well as on Braxis Holdout.A small sliver of hope appeared for Synergy in the second game on Dragon Shire. The Lost Vikings kept the pressure up on all times, making it hard for Team Dignitas to take the Dragon Knight even when they were winning fights. CEBKAJE was on point with Crystal Aegis to deny any Ring of Frost combos from Team Dignitas. Unfortunately, this was the first, and only game Synergy ended up taking.Synergy continually overextended with their aggression on Sky Temple, which Team Dignitas punished heavily. After multiple takedowns throughout the game, DIG ended three levels ahead. On Braxis Holdout, Synergy had the superior sustain with Zarya and Morales. However, with an early takedown on Zul’jin, Team Dignitas found themselves with the stronger Zerg wave. From there on out, Synergy was unable to pull it back Despite a huge win against GFE last week, No Tomorrow was unable to keep up the momentum in their series against B-Step. The first two games passed as clean victories for B-Step in which they rarely gave up their advantage.No Tomorrow looked more confident in Game Three on Sky Temple, cleverly pressuring the bottom lane early to guarantee a fort on the second temple phase, but they never really got ahead. The game continued on even footing until one unfortunate misplay from No Tomorrow during a late game teamfight led to four deaths and cost them the series.Tempo Storm looked in control of the whole series due to the solid, consistent play that has kept them near the top of the standings in North America from the beginning of the HGC. In the first and third game Tempo Storm played Abathur compositions to textbook perfection, winning the first game in under 8:00 and taking the third game after slowly accruing a lead with Abathur’s constant lane pressure. Game four also went to Tempo Storm after Team Freedom played a hesitant game ending with a decisive teamfight that secured the series for Tempo.Game Two on Dragon Shire was much more exciting. Team Freedom was behind the whole time but managed to hang on long enough to make some incredible plays post-20 to turn it around. KilluZiioN kicked off their comeback with an excellent Bolt/Twilight Dream combo to secure a kill. Then Freedom turned what looked to be a perfect setup for Tempo into a winning trade to take the game. Unfortunately, that was all the luck Team Freedom had in the series.

Saturday, April 29

Team expert [3-0] beGenius

Despite a recent dip in results, Team expert still proved to strong for beGenius and sent them even lower into the Crucible. For the most part, the games looked even for the first few minutes, but then Team expert invariably found an opening to take the lead and snowball it to a victory.



In the final game on Battlefield of Eternity, beGenius won the first two objectives, but expert comfortably defended. On the third immortal, expert took a decisive fight, and with the third immortal in their favor, they pushed all the way to the Core while



Fnatic [3-2] Team Liquid

The match between Fnatic and Team Liquid was one of extreme discipline with small margins for error. By far, this was one of the highest level series of the year with some of the best play from both sides.



Liquid used the freedom provided by The Lost Vikings in Game One on Warhead Junction to roam around in the early game and secure multiple takedowns. However, Fnatic came back in the mid game with a takedown on darkmok followed by a quick double boss play. After a prolonged stalemate with both teams hoarding multiple nukes, Fnatic secured yet another boss in the bot lane. It looked like Team Liquid had held by using their nukes for defense, but a quick turnaround on Lucio changed everything, and Fnatic ended the game decisively.



Liquid showed dominant play in the second game on Cursed Hollow. Similarly, in the fourth game on Sky Temple,



Like Warhead Junction, Fnatic won Game Three on Infernal Shrines through excellent sieging technique. They forced out Molten Core just before their late game Punisher arrived, allowing them to be much more aggressive during the siege. Following up with a clutch Drag on Auriel, they barreled down on the Core of Team Liquid.



The series came down to a fifth and final game on Battlefield of Eternity. With Fnatic drafting Sylvanas, Team Liquid had to win the early objectives or face the danger of a Sylvanas snowball. Unfortunately, Fnatic caught Malfurion out of position and gave them the time needed to win their first objective.



Team Liquid didn’t give up. They defended well and looked to stabilize before the second immortal spawned, but a well executed dive by Wubby and Breez took down Valla and gave them the second objective as well. With the power of Sylvanas and Heroics,



Team 8 [3-0] Superstars

Don’t be fooled by the game score of this series, Superstars vs Team 8 was one of the most eventful series in North America this weekend. Superstars held a moderate lead through the whole first game on Infernal Shrines before Team 8‘s Prismaticism disconnected about halfway through the game, leaving a Chromie bot in his place. Much like No Tomorrow’s Muradin bot, Chromie bot proceeded to get incredible value and even



Team 8 brought in Kure to sub for Prismat for the rest of the series. In Game Two they played an aggressive



Gale Force eSports [3-0] Team Naventic

In Game One Naventic went even with GFE for the first few minutes, but a few back to back kills on Kenma gave GFE the lead which they held and expanded upon throughout the game, eventually taking the map.



Naventic opened strong in Game Two, scoring several early kills and putting up excellent teamfights all game long.



The third map had just as much action as the second, including an Despite a recent dip in results, Team expert still proved to strong for beGenius and sent them even lower into the Crucible. For the most part, the games looked even for the first few minutes, but then Team expert invariably found an opening to take the lead and snowball it to a victory.In the final game on Battlefield of Eternity, beGenius won the first two objectives, but expert comfortably defended. On the third immortal, expert took a decisive fight, and with the third immortal in their favor, they pushed all the way to the Core while scoring a few takedowns along the way.The match between Fnatic and Team Liquid was one of extreme discipline with small margins for error. By far, this was one of the highest level series of the year with some of the best play from both sides.Liquid used the freedom provided by The Lost Vikings in Game One on Warhead Junction to roam around in the early game and secure multiple takedowns. However, Fnatic came back in the mid game with a takedown on darkmok followed by a quick double boss play. After a prolonged stalemate with both teams hoarding multiple nukes, Fnatic secured yet another boss in the bot lane. It looked like Team Liquid had held by using their nukes for defense, but a quick turnaround on Lucio changed everything, and Fnatic ended the game decisively.Liquid showed dominant play in the second game on Cursed Hollow. Similarly, in the fourth game on Sky Temple, Team Liquid had zero deaths on their team for the entirety of the game, despite being up against one of Europe's best teams. However, despite insane plays on Sky Temple and Cursed Hollow, Fnatic responded with equally amazing strategy and execution on the other maps.Like Warhead Junction, Fnatic won Game Three on Infernal Shrines through excellent sieging technique. They forced out Molten Core just before their late game Punisher arrived, allowing them to be much more aggressive during the siege. Following up with a clutch Drag on Auriel, they barreled down on the Core of Team Liquid.The series came down to a fifth and final game on Battlefield of Eternity. With Fnatic drafting Sylvanas, Team Liquid had to win the early objectives or face the danger of a Sylvanas snowball. Unfortunately, Fnatic caught Malfurion out of position and gave them the time needed to win their first objective.Team Liquid didn’t give up. They defended well and looked to stabilize before the second immortal spawned, but a well executed dive by Wubby and Breez took down Valla and gave them the second objective as well. With the power of Sylvanas and Heroics, Fnatic took it all the way and gave Team Liquid their first loss in HGC.Don’t be fooled by the game score of this series, Superstars vs Team 8 was one of the most eventful series in North America this weekend. Superstars held a moderate lead through the whole first game on Infernal Shrines before Team 8‘s Prismaticism disconnected about halfway through the game, leaving a Chromie bot in his place. Much like No Tomorrow’s Muradin bot, Chromie bot proceeded to get incredible value and even solo killed Hosty to begin a comeback for Team 8. Superstars continued to press their advantage but failed to close the game and were eventually caught out of position while disengaging from a late game shrine fight, giving up the objective and the map to Team 8.Team 8 brought in Kure to sub for Prismat for the rest of the series. In Game Two they played an aggressive “portal bomb” strategy . Superstars went toe-to-toe with Team 8 in teamfights throughout the game, often matching Glaurung’s Ley Line Seal initiations with Void Prison to safely disengage. However, much like the first game, Superstars was unable to capitalize on any opportunities. After 30 minutes of long skirmishes around the objectives, Team 8 finally found a winning trade and walked to the Core. They took game three shortly after without much trouble, ending a long series with a convincing but eventful 3-0.In Game One Naventic went even with GFE for the first few minutes, but a few back to back kills on Kenma gave GFE the lead which they held and expanded upon throughout the game, eventually taking the map.Naventic opened strong in Game Two, scoring several early kills and putting up excellent teamfights all game long. An incredibly heads-up play from bkid and Zuna turned what looked like a sure team wipe into a huge winning trade. This exciting game ended with a huge teamfight that left almost every hero dead, allowing GFE’s Fan on Illidan to Hunt across the map and solo the Core.The third map had just as much action as the second, including an excellent Gust by bigempact that racked up four kills for Naventic followed and an explosive Gust into Twilight Dream combo only a few minutes later. For all their impressive plays, Naventic was still unable to keep up with the map pressure and superior control of GFE.

Sunday, April 30

Team Dignitas [3-2] Team Liquid

In Game One on Towers, Dignitas opened aggressively and established a firm early lead. Liquid slowly closed the gap, but Dignitas’ advantageous position from their early lead was enough to finish the game out. In the second game on Cursed Hollow, Liquid flipped the aggression of their opponents on its head and stole the boss, riding out their own early lead for the win



Dignitas ramped up the aggression again on Sky Temple by bossing Liquid around the map and controlling the game entirely. Team Liquid was powerless to respond, and with the help of Mene’s Chromie dishing out the pain, Dignitas snowballed the game for a win.



Liquid responded in kind in Game Four on Tomb of the Spider Queen. darkmok again showed off impeccable Sonya play supported by Lucio and Auriel and bullied Dignitas into submission for a quick win. It all came down to Game Five on Infernal Shrines and some huge fights. Mene again played all-star on Gul’dan by



beGenius [3-1] Playing Ducks

Game One went firmly in the Ducks’ favour after cleaning up after some of the usual mistakes from beGenius. But in Game Two, beGenius brought the heat. The French team



It looked awful for beGenius during the fourth game on Cursed Hollow after they lost Rehgar to the boss stun of all things, but some impressive coordination in their teamfights allowed BEG to push back during a huge opportunity window with both bosses, a curse, and level 20 on the horizon. They barely needed the rest of their advantages, though; the first boss secured the game and gave beGenius their first series win in HGC!



Tempo Storm [3-2] Team Naventic

Without a doubt, this series was the best in NA this weekend. Naventic took total control in Game One on Battlefield of Eternity after a series of close teamfights and impressive individual plays which barely ended in their favor. The game came down to the wire as Naventic got crushed in a late game teamfight, but the



Game Two was the exact opposite.



Tempo Storm struck back in the fourth game with coordinated and controlled teamfights. Fury even caught four of Naventic in an



Naventic opened with aggressive Valeera/ETC ganks in the final game on Dragon Shire which left Tempo Storm running in fear from the CC chain. After



Superstars [3-1] No Tomorrow

Superstars opened up with a Lost Vikings strategy on Towers of Doom to slowly accrue an experience lead while stalling No Tomorrow from capturing altars. Their strategy paid off when they were able to secure a talent lead and



In Game Three, No Tomorrow dominated Battlefield of Eternity. They ouplayed Superstars at nearly every turn and showcased an In Game One on Towers, Dignitas opened aggressively and established a firm early lead. Liquid slowly closed the gap, but Dignitas’ advantageous position from their early lead was enough to finish the game out. In the second game on Cursed Hollow, Liquid flipped the aggression of their opponents on its head and stole the boss, riding out their own early lead for the win despite Snitch’s best efforts on Greymane to bring his team back.Dignitas ramped up the aggression again on Sky Temple by bossing Liquid around the map and controlling the game entirely. Team Liquid was powerless to respond, and with the help of Mene’s Chromie dishing out the pain, Dignitas snowballed the game for a win.Liquid responded in kind in Game Four on Tomb of the Spider Queen. darkmok again showed off impeccable Sonya play supported by Lucio and Auriel and bullied Dignitas into submission for a quick win. It all came down to Game Five on Infernal Shrines and some huge fights. Mene again played all-star on Gul’dan by isolating Tyrael with Horrify and blowing him up before he could use Sanctification. A crucial late game teamfight win allowed Dignitas to secure level 20, take down a keep, and take a massive win over the European giants.Game One went firmly in the Ducks’ favour after cleaning up after some of the usual mistakes from beGenius. But in Game Two, beGenius brought the heat. The French team took a great fight to secure three picks before a late game immortal, and despite being behind throughout the game, they rode their one advantage all the way to Core. Ducks brought out the Abathur/Chen composition again in Game Three on Dragon Shire to bully the top lane. It was super close until the late game, but again a takedown for beGenius gave them the opportunity to take down a keep and shortly after secure the Dragon Knight for a win.It looked awful for beGenius during the fourth game on Cursed Hollow after they lost Rehgar to the boss stun of all things, but some impressive coordination in their teamfights allowed BEG to push back during a huge opportunity window with both bosses, a curse, and level 20 on the horizon. They barely needed the rest of their advantages, though; the first boss secured the game and gave beGenius their first series win in HGC!Without a doubt, this series was the best in NA this weekend. Naventic took total control in Game One on Battlefield of Eternity after a series of close teamfights and impressive individual plays which barely ended in their favor. The game came down to the wire as Naventic got crushed in a late game teamfight, but the winions were too strong , and Naventic took the first game.Game Two was the exact opposite. One early teamfight resulted in full team wipe and a two level lead for Tempo Storm only two minutes into the game. From there, Tempo never lost their commanding lead and dominated the rest of the short game. The curse of the Sky Temple Boss struck North America again in the following game! Tempo Storm again had the advantage, but a throw pit play landed them in the backseat while Naventic gained a significant lead and pressed their advantage for the win.Tempo Storm struck back in the fourth game with coordinated and controlled teamfights. Fury even caught four of Naventic in an epic Mosh Pit , allowing Tempo to take control of the game and tie up the series 2-2.Naventic opened with aggressive Valeera/ETC ganks in the final game on Dragon Shire which left Tempo Storm running in fear from the CC chain. After a bizarre teamfight Tempo caught up in experience and captured an objective, though. As the game progressed both teams played extremely cautiously, but Tempo Storm got the jump on their opponents and were able to sneak a Dragon Knight to finish out the series.Superstars opened up with a Lost Vikings strategy on Towers of Doom to slowly accrue an experience lead while stalling No Tomorrow from capturing altars. Their strategy paid off when they were able to secure a talent lead and wipe No Tomorrow , allowing them to snowball their lead to victory. On the second map both teams played passively, going more or less even into the late game until Superstars was able to take a winning fight and take a 2-0 lead in the series.In Game Three, No Tomorrow dominated Battlefield of Eternity. They ouplayed Superstars at nearly every turn and showcased an incredible bait at their Shaman Camp that scored two easy kills and left Superstars scattered. With a win in Game Three, No Tomorrow carried their momentum into the next map with a strong opening. However, Superstars was able to stop them in their tracks with outstanding Zeratul play by Goku, including a Vorpal Blade double Blink to chase down TigerJK and an awesome blind Singularity Spike to secure a kill on Jason. In the end Superstars were able to close out the series despite No Tomorrow’s confident play.

Week 9 Preview