First major tournament of 2016 and crowdfunded LAN releases bracket

The first Heroes of the Storm tournament of 2016 will be held at the first eSports exclusive venue in the country, and will be funded by you, the fans.

Heroes Rising is truly a tournament like no other. It is completely crowd funded through a kickstarter campaign set up by eSports Arena. 100% of the money raised will go toward bringing top North American teams to the West Coast. What do you get in return? Other than the proud feeling of donating to a community you hold near and dear, you can receive perks anywhere from your name on the website, to a t-shirt, to a VIP Meet and Greet. The $5,000 goal required to hold the event AT ALL has already been met, which allows them to set a prize pool of $10,000 thanks to various sponsors.

Heroes Rising just released their bracket with some surprise. Only two matches will actually be played in the first round come January 9. Cloud9, COGnitive, Panda Global, Tempo Storm, Murloc Geniuses and Team Blaze were all given byes. This leaves the only two matches in the first round. Bob Ross Fan Club versus oVo Gaming and Blank versus King of Blades. If BRFC can take a win against oVo Gaming then they would move on to play Cloud9, something North American fans have been dreaming to happen ever since BRFC started plowing through just about every competition that came their way since their inception.

This will be the first tournament of 2016 and for many teams it will be the first chance they get at displaying a new roster at a live event.

Cloud9 is supposedly replacing one of their members with Arthelon from Bob Ross Fan Club. No telling who it is yet. They haven’t played since Gold Series in China, or since the supposed announcement of Arthelon's departure. Bob Ross Fan Club played at the Heroes Hype Holiday Showdown recently with retired player Sheth as a sub in Arthelon's place.

Tempo Storm hasn’t competed since Heroes of the Storm World Championship group stages and since then has lost numerous players. They’ve supposedly been trying out Srey, Goku, and Zixz, but like the other teams, no official word on any permanent changes yet.

You still have time to get in on the action! The kickstarter ends just days before the event. Need tickets?

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QUICKPOLL Would you like to see more crowdfunded tournaments? Absolutely! This community is the best.

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