Yesterday we took a look at all of the changes to the North American HGC. Today, it’s time to turn our gaze across the pond. That’s right, it’s time for some EU Rosterpocalypse grades! Since time immemorial, Reddit and the larger Heroes community have praised Europe for the stability of their rosters and the calculated maneuvers of their offseason changes. This offseason, EU threw all of that out the window, as if a crazed robot stood up at a tea party and yelled “CHANGE PLACES!”





As with yesterday, we’ll be examining each team in reverse order of the final standings from the 2017 season. I’ll award each team a letter grade based on the players they lost, and whether or not the replacements were an upgrade to the overall strength of the roster. For those who have not seen all of the final roster announcements, the HGC website has a chart detailing the rosters for both regions. Take a look before reading on. Let’s do it!

Diamond Skin

Diamond Skin has had a tough year. Between their sponsor failing to actually pay the players and a season that ended in the Crucible, there’s really nowhere for this team to go but up. That said, the three biggest names on the roster have left for other teams higher in last year’s standings. Nande and Wolfjoe were left to fill the holes in the roster left by Ethernal, Sportbilly, and Cris. All three players were respected veterans in the scene, and it would certainly be difficult for Diamond Skin to replace these players with proven talent from better rosters.

One thing to remember about my grades in these articles is that I’m not actually trying to rank teams based on how I think they will perform in the regular season. The goal here is to look at what was available to the team, where they struggled before, and what they are now doing to resolve those issues with these roster changes.



To that end, I actually like the direction Diamond Skin went with their offseason. This team struggled all year to lock down a consistent tank main, alternating the role through multiple players. Robadobah has shown promise at multiple international events, and is actually a tank main. He may be unproven in Europe, but I think having a tank is a direct upgrade to not having a tank. Roskmeg is another unproven pick with upside. Reportedly he is a true grinder in hero league and was very impressive in tryouts. They also brought in Team Liquid veteran, darkmok, who has at multiple times been among the strongest assassin players in the region. Team Liquid has struggled for some time, but the jury is still out on whether or not those struggles were primarily due to team synergy, or a decline in ability from members of the roster. If darkmok can return to form, he can provide a key piece to this lineup.

Last note, the team has also been receiving coaching help from Blumbi, formerly of Team Liquid. If his guidance can help robadobah level up more quickly as well as provide guidance during scrims and drafting, this roster could become scary near the end of the first phase.

Final Grade: C+

Diamond Skin frankly had very little to work with going into this offseason. Losing their three biggest names made it difficult for the squad to rebuild a roster that sounds cool to read about on Twitter. I look at this as a rebuilding season for this team. Get Roskmeg and robadobah some experience and sort out the hero pools of darkmok and nande (boy do I hate all of these lowercase names). It’s difficult to call these moves an “upgrade” in the strictest sense of the word, but I think this is a better direction for the squad than trying to collect other veteran names floating around in the Open Division.

Zealots

Every one of you about to go make a Wish pun in the Reddit thread for this article, know that I don’t want to be your friend. You’re a bad person, and you’re not invited to my birthday party. Which sucks for you, cause there’s gonna be pony rides.

Anyway, Zealots showed a ton of growth near the end of the season, nearly earning a trip to Blizzcon in their first split as an HGC team. Unfortunately, much of their power was due to a stone cold murderer known as POILK in the backline making all the people dead. The squad also lost its veteran support player, Granpkt. To fill that gap, because apparently there are no support mains in the world, Shad is moving to the support role.

In order to try and replace POILK, Zealots brought in Cris, formerly of Diamond Skin. While Cris is a strong veteran and popular streamer, it is difficult to call him an upgrade over POILK. The ranged rookie was so impressive in his rookie season, we may well be considering him among the best ranged players in the world within the next year. Cris is solid, but a known quantity. It is difficult to see upside in the move beyond what we’ve already seen from him over the last few years.

The big surprise of Zealots offseason is the addition of adrd from Team Expert. Not only does the team upgrade their flex role, but they bring in a veteran leader and great addition to their draft prep. Adrd is a huge addition outside of the game alongside his mechanical skill and hero pool.

Final Grade: C

POILK is a huge loss for this team and virtually any ranged player would be a downgrade. The loss of a skilled veteran like Grankpkt hurts as well. That said, adrd is a massive get for this roster. I also believe support is the easiest role swap in the game, so that offsets the downgrades somewhat. Ultimately, it’s the surprise addition of adrd combined with the stability of a known quantity in Cris that earns Zealots an average grade.

Team Liquid

2017 was not kind to Team Liquid. New squads like Expert and Tricked rose up to challenge the most stable roster in the West. After missing Blizzcon, it was clear that change was necessary. The squad parted ways with darkmok and Blumbi. To fill their roles, Team Liquid brought in Sportbilly and ethernal from Diamond Skin.

Now, Team Liquid absolutely needed to make changes. You cannot have a disappointing year after so much success and not shake things up. That alone is positive for Liquid as it shakes up the team dynamic and gives everyone on the squad a chance to reset and start the new year fresh. That said, it’s difficult to look at either player as an upgrade. Sportbilly moves into the tank role to replace Blumbi, but he was competing with nande for the tank role on Diamond Skin for most of 2017. Ethernal is a strong player, but with Diamond Skin struggling to escape the bottom of the HGC, calling him an upgrade over darkmok in terms of raw talent and pedigree seems irresponsible.



On the bright side, many of these players have played together on previous rosters, which should help team synergy in the early stages of the season. Ultimately, it will be difficult to fully evaluate Team Liquid until we see them perform. Was the team simply stagnant after keeping the same roster for so long, did Blumbi and darkmok decline as players, or was the roster as a whole simply unable to keep up with the rest of the league as the meta evolved? The answer to these questions will ultimately determine the success of Team Liquid’s roster changes.

Final Grade:C+

Just making any roster change is a step in the right direction for Team Liquid, however it’s difficult to feel confident about these specific changes given the number of strong free agents available in the offseason.

Tricked Esport

I swear, every time I write this team’s name, I have to erase the “s” from “Esport”. Honestly, there isn’t much to say about Tricked at this point. They had a pretty good year, Makke is a promising player, and Granpkt is an upgrade at support over Gnappe. Keep the rest of the roster and run it back with a better support, seems like a solid plan to me. With so much upheaval in the rest of the EU HGC, Tricked starts the season with a distinct advantage having kept so much of their roster intact.

Final Grade: A

When you finish the season in fourth place and make a strict upgrade at a position of weakness, there’s really no other grade to apply. No, Tricked didn’t go out and make moves that make them look like the strongest roster in the region on paper, but there’s something to be said about simply upgrading a stable roster with promise. There’s zero downgrade in this roster’s offseason, and plenty of room for growth from the existing roster.

Team expert

Easily the surprise success of 2017, Team expert had a stellar year. They not only shook up the holy trinity of EU’s top three, but also knocked the second place EU team, Dignitas, out of Blizzcon. That said, expert’s losses in the offseason were substantial. BadBenny was an exceptional tank, particularly in the latter half of the year, and has left the role entirely to play with Fnatic. Rather than pick up a tank, Aetheroangel has returned to the role. We’ve seen Aethero play a solid tank main in the past, but with such strong play out of Benny at Blizzcon, this move can only be seen as a downgrade. With Aethero moving roles, expert chose to take a flyer on a minor region player with strong upside, Arcaner. Pros and analysts have nothing but praise for Arcaner’s talent, hopefully playing with such a strong team will allow him to quickly rise to the occasion.

The last change for expert is particularly interesting. Adrd was the focal point of any discussion about expert throughout the year. His draft preparation and versatility frequently set expert up in strong, comfortable positions in any series. Schwimpi is certainly a versatile player, and one of the best in the region. If adrd’s importance to the team was overblown, Schwimpi is a big upgrade. If not, even bringing in a Midseason Brawl champion could ultimately be a downgrade.

Final Grade: B

Schwimpi is a world class talent, and Arcaner is a young, hungry rookie with huge potential. Keeping a great support, and exceptional ranged sets expert up to build on last year’s success. However, losing the loss of BadBenny is a potentially huge problem, and Arcaner is unproven despite the praise heaped upon him. The question marks surrounding the team prevent these changes from being seen as true upgrades until we seen the team in action.

Team Dignitas

One of the most decorated teams in Europe, Dig struggled to regain their footing after the Midseason Brawl. The double support meta hurt this team more than most forcing awkward drafts and suboptimal roles to some of the best players in the world.

Dignitas went could not have done better in correcting these issues leading into the 2018 season. Releasing Mene allows Snitch to return to the versatile flex we know and love. To replace their former mage main, Dig brought in the breakout star of 2017, POILK. Already in Gold Club we’ve seen the young playmaker show off his mechanical prowess and deep hero pool. This one move effectively upgraded two positions for Dignitas by allowing Snitch to be more flexible, and bringing in potentially the best ranged player in the region.

Bakery’s retirement opened another opportunity for the team. Rather than bring in a new support main, Dig chose to upgrade another role by picking up Wubby to fill the solo lane. Any time you can bring in the very best player at a position, it bodes well for your roster. Zaelia, moving to support, has proven he has the mechanics to fill Bakery’s shoes, and will continue to grow into the role. His trial by fire against Korea in Gold Club will only serve to accelerate his growth.

Grade: A+

This is the strongest roster in EU without question. They solved their biggest weakness with a huge upgrade, and managed to upgrade a second position as well. If Zaelia can become even a serviceable support, this team is in a prime position to take back their position as the best team in EU.

Fnatic

At last, we’ve arrived at the best Western team of 2017. Fnatic fell one series short of the best year in the history of Heroes of the Storm. They were far and away the strongest team in the West, and gave us all something to believe in throughout the entirety of the Blizzcon finals. However, the reign of the Swedish Boy Band has come to a close, and with it come some highly questionable roster moves.

Quakniix wrote a phenomenal twitlonger that should absolutely be read by anyone who attemps to criticize Fnatic’s offseason decisions. We cannot hope to understand any behind-the-scenes issues that existed with the previous roster. Sometimes you have to part ways despite all the success. Everything ends, and that should be understood by everyone.

That said, these particular changes raises plenty of reasonable concerns in the fanbase. The best offlaner in the West, Wubby, has returned to Dignitas, and Fnatic’s superb flex is now playing for their other rival, expert. To replace both players, Fnatic brought in Mene as their flex, and converted elite tank main, BadBenny, to their offlaner. Mene’s lack of versatility was a key reason for his removal from Dignitas, bringing him in to replace Schwimpi in the current meta can only be seen as a downgrade. Losing an all star for a player swapping roles certainly doesn’t provide your fanbase with much confidence either. We’ve already seen the team struggle to find solid draft strategies through the group phase of Gold Club--it’s a clear potential weakness that will have to be overcome in order for Fnatic to repeat their success from this year.

That said, there is a hope just over the horizon that could invalidate many of the concerns thrown at Fnatic. With the massive support nerfs incoming next patch, we could very well see the death of double support. If this is the case, Mene could return to his beloved mages full time, and we could see the birth of a deadly double-ranged style from Fnatic that simply allows them to outplay their opponents through comfort picks and stellar mechanical skill. Quackniix has proven to have a mastery of the macro game as a shotcaller, in the right meta this roster can absolutely shine.

Final Grade: C

When you lose two players off the second best team in the world, it’s incredibly difficult to find true upgrades. Ultimately Fnatic could well contend for the Blizzcon crown again next year, but on paper, when looking purely at their old roster compared to the new, these moves can only be seen as a downgrade. Were it not for the incoming support nerfs, this grade may be even lower.

If you missed the NA grades, you can see them right here. This has without a doubt been the most fun offseason we’ve ever seen in Heroes esports, and I cannot wait to watch these new teams play next year.