Bob Ross Fan Club has taken the North American Heroes scene by storm — and despite early skepticism from some of the community, they've managed to do it while sticking together.

It's true that it's still early days for both the team and the post-shuffle scene in North America, and they have yet to test themselves against Cloud9. But so far, the team has put up a near-perfect record when they've competed, and the roster possesses a depth of mechanical skill that is difficult to ignore.

Together, Chris "Zuna" Buechter, Ken "Kenma" Buechter, Taylor "Arthelon" Eder, Aaron "erho" Kappes and Stafford "McIntyre" McIntyre are the Bob Ross Fan Club — and according to Kenma, speaking on behalf of the team, the interpersonal issues predicted by the community have yet to manifest.

"We all seem to get along pretty well so far," he said, adding that he mostly does the drafting for the team while Zuna does the shotcalling. "McIntyre always wants to play Chen for some reason, the rest of the team thinks he isn't very good atm," he joked.

"We've all gotten along very well and meshed our playing styles together quickly."

Those playing styles are a big part of what gives the team their combined potency.

Zuna has been at his best when allowed to play ranged assassins, and has seen great performances on Jaina and Sylvanas during his time on Tempo Storm. He was also asked to play Zeratul and eventually, during the rise of the two-warrior meta, the team's second warrior. But it was clear that this wasn't his preference. He and Arthelon left Tempo a day after BlizzCon ended.

Kenma is playing support for the team, and he's no stranger to that position. He's already competed during the early days of the competitive scene with Cloud9 and has actively followed it during Zuna's time on Tempo Storm.

erho has bounced around during his time in the community, but has remained in the conversation nonetheless as one of NA's most gifted warrior players. He played for Barrel Boys (later compLexity Gaming) and had a short stint on Stellar Lotus.

Arthelon, like Zuna, needs no introduction. His time spent on Tempo garnered accolades from his peers for his ranged assassin play. He has demonstrated the will and ability to learn a hero to help facilitate specific compositions, as he played NA's most dangerous Azmodan during the so-called "Rise of Zeratul" period.

McIntyre is the consummate melee assassin player, and earned a reputation with compLexity as a specialist with heroes like Kerrigan and Zeratul. He left coL mid-way through the July Open and played with Bang Bang during the interim.

"We can play everything, and I think that's pretty unique. We have a very mechanically superior team compared to other teams in NA. I think we have either the best in role or top 2 in every position as well," Kenma explained.

All of these players seemed, at one point or another in their recent careers, constrained by the limits of the squad they found themselves with. But this team is something different — it's something that has allowed them to be more like the players they know they can be.

"For me personally I don't feel like a full-time coach like I did on free agents, I actually feel like just a player, and I have faith in my teammates to do their jobs," Kenma said.

Erho offered a different reason that being on the team was so great: "the duck noises Arth makes."

Shared history, exciting future

The team chemistry has also benefited from past history. Arthelon and Zuna played together at a competitive level on Tempo Storm for months. As Zuna's brother, Kenma is obviously familiar with his playstyle, and even produced videos dealing with Tempo's draft strategy during his brother's time with the team.

While there haven't been major issues yet, the team isn't saying that they'll never happen. Instead, they've focused on ensuring that their mindset stays in the right place for when they do.

"Every team will argue, it's just about respecting and believing in your teammates enough to get past it to grow, and improve," Kenma said.

In recent action, BRFC won all four of the Enter the Storm NA qualifiers they participated in. Kenma says that the team had other plans that prevented them from playing in all eight, and in any case they had only intended to play enough to qualify in first-place.

"The ones we missed we couldn't play in because of prior commitments, like moving etc. We only planned on playing enough to take the #1 seed," he explained on behalf of the team.

They won't face them in Enter the Storm, but BRFC will eventually have their opportunity to face BlizzCon champs Cloud9. It's the opponent the team views as the most dangerous "because of their track record with the rest of the teams in NA."

Depending on event scheduling, their next chance may be at the eSports Arena Heroes Rising event in early January. During the qualifiers, BRFC suffered a rare defeat at the hands of Blank, though they did still progress far enough to seed in as one of the qualifier teams.

Kenma said at the time that their draft was at fault, and he and the team believe that despite the recent scaling changes, the draft is still an incredibly important part of a team's success.

"I think this meta helps the more mechanically skilled teams, but drafting still can win or lose the game before it begins."

The team has recently been discussing opportunities with some "big name" sponsors, but hasn't received any serious offers yet. It's one of the reasons that the squad relishes the opportunity to play more high-level competitive Heroes: "our results will set us apart from other teams, and we have some of the biggest names in NA Heroes."

Closing out the interview, Kenma took a moment to thank the considerable contingent of "happy little fans" who have supported the team so far.

"Thank you for watching us, and expect more entertaining games in the future!"

Josh Bury is finding freedom on this canvas. You can find him on Twitter.