If you ever followed Heroes eSports with any consistency from 2015 to 2018, you've at some point seen someone pose the question: who actually stands a chance against MVP Black? With seven world championships and winning records against all other historically significant HotS teams, MVP Black is not only the best HotS team of all time; they are one of most dominant all-time competitors in any eSport period. In this article, I revisit this question by telling you exactly who it was that not only stood up to them, but actually overcame the indomitable raidboss that was MVP Black.

2015 - Heroes of the Storm Team League

MVP Black roster: Sake, Hide, Lockdown, Gilduck, Merryday

#1: 1-2 vs. Team No Limit/Team DK KR (Noblesse, sCsC, CrazyMoving, Sniper, JaeHyun)

#2: 0-2 vs. PSE Vortex (yesman, ArHaN, DooSim, 혼자서도미치, 아몬)

#3: 0-3 vs/ Team No Limit/Team DK KR (Noblesse, sCsC, CrazyMoving, Sniper, JaeHyun)

VoD's: 1 2 3

Three of MVP Black's twenty-five losses come from their first event together as a team. While these losses may appear surprising given the overall legacy of the team, the earliest iterations of MVP Black were very different from the ones people came to know over the following years. The only member of the 2018 Gen.G roster that played for MVP Black at this event was Sake. There was no Rich, Reset, Tsstt, KyoCha, or even Sign. The rest of the MVP Black roster from this event included Merryday, the brothers Hide and Lockdown (who are better known as the core members of Tempest), and Gilduck, a player who had no long-term significance in Heroes history.

The first loss of MVP Black's career was to Team No Limit, one of their early rivals, and one of the best Korean teams in the game's early days. Their second loss was to PSE Vortex, by far MVP Black's most obscure loss, since it seems that the team ceased to exist after this event. Notable players on that team included DooSiM, who would later be better known as DDuDDu, and ArHan, who would later become a professional Overwatch player. When they met TNL again in the finals, they were soundly beaten in an 0-3 series. VoD's for this final match against TNL still exist, but are only available in Korean, and provide a window to the strangely antiquated meta of 2015 HotS.

2015 - Nexus Cup - Kael'thas Season

MVP Black roster: Sake, Hide, Defy, Lockdown, Merryday

#4: 0-3 vs. Snake eSports KR (Tsstt, Oreoman, monkeyDfish, Kong, Kinnu)

VoD's: 1 2 3

The curious thing about bringing up MVP Black's loss to Snake is that Snake itself was a precursor to the later iterations of MVP Black. In fact, Snake eSports shared more members in common with the 2018 Gen.G roster than the 2015 MVP Black did. It included Tsstt, Oreoman and monkeyDfish, the latter two of which would eventually become better known as Rich and Reset. Even though Snake would disband by the end of the year, and be mostly forgotten, it comes as no surprise that they were able to defeat MVP Black, given the storied legacy of the players who were on it. Black was still not yet the dominant team we could come to know them as, and they were simply outclassed by Snake.

#5: 0-3 vs. eStar Gaming (xiaOt, NccCc, XingC, Tumi, Tiger)

VoD's: 1 2 3



Although eStar took several games in many of their future series with MVP Black, this first ever series between the two legendary teams is the only one that actually went in eStar's favor. It is also MVP Black's only series loss to a Chinese team ever. Much like Snake, eStar was simply on a higher level than MVP Black at the time, and this was not a close series.



The VoD's for both of these matches survive to this day, but they are very difficult to watch. They are only available in Chinese, and only in very poor quality.

2015 - Super League

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Lockdown, Merryday

#6: 2-4 vs. Team No Limit/Team DK KR (Noblesse, sCsC, CrazyMoving, Sniper, JaeHyun)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5 6



After the Nexus Cup, MVP Black finally solidified their core roster for 2015, which consisted of Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Merryday and Lockdown. In the three months that followed, this roster quickly established itself as the most dominant team in Korea, winning the MSI Masters Gaming Arena, the first HotS global, in the process. They came into Super League as the overwhelming favorite, with many people expecting that they would win the event, qualify for Blizzcon, and then win Blizzcon as well.



History does not look back kindly on Team DK, who stole Korea's only spot to Blizzcon that year away from MVP Black, only to be embarrassed to a 3rd place finish at Blizzcon by Cloud9's Abathur-Murky comp. Following that, TNL/Team DK began to fall off, never beating MVP Black again, eventually being ousted from their spot as a top 2 Korean team by Tempest, and then finally disbanding midway through 2016. On the day of the 2015 Super League finals however, they were simply the better team. They began the best-of-7 series against MVP Black with a 2-0 lead. Although Black did manage to take a two maps in the series, Team DK maintained the lead the entire time, until the series finished at a score of 4-2 in their favor.

2015 - World Cyber Arena

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Lockdown, Merryday

#7: 1-2 vs. Team Liquid (Cris, Lowell, VortiX, LucrifroN, GerdhamHerd)

The 2015 World Cyber Arena is an interesting story in itself, since it was a notoriously poorly run tournament for many games, with Heroes being only one of them. Although MVP Black ultimately took first place at this event, giving them their second world championship title, they experienced an upset in the group stage to the European contenders, Team Liquid. This would be MVP Black's first loss ever to a European team, and one of only three in the franchise's history. No rematch occurred between the teams at this event, since Team Liquid was eliminated in the first round of the playoff bracket by Oh My God, a Chinese team, despite going undefeated in the group stage.



Sadly, VoD's of MVP Black's first loss to a European team appear to be gone (or perhaps just really difficult to find), if they ever even existed at all. In fact, all VoD's of the Heroes of the Storm tournament at the World Cyber Arena seem to be unavailable. Only a scant few remaining articles, as well as Liquipedia's page for the event, provide any record that the event ever happened at all.

2016 - Super League - Season 2

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Rich, Merryday

#8: 0-4 vs. Tempest (Hide, Lockdown, Dami, Hongcono, Duckdeok)

VoD: Full Series



MVP Black's match against Tempest in the finals of Super League Season 2 is quite possibly the most crushing defeat they ever suffered. It was well documented and discussed earlier that year that MVP Black had an astonishing 41-game win streak, which was eventually broken by eStar at the 2016 Gold Series Hero League event. What is less well known for some reason, is that because eStar did not actually win the series, MVP Black's series win streak remained unbroken going into Super League Season 2. By the time they faced off against Tempest in the finals, their series win streak stood at a mind-blowing 43 consecutive wins. Tempest not only broke this win streak; they did so with a clean 4-0 sweep, the single most dominant performance against Black in the history of the game, and the only time Black was ever swept in a best-of-7 series.

2016 - Summer Global Championship

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Rich, Merryday

#9: 2-3 vs. Tempest (Hide, Lockdown, Dami, Hongcono, Duckdeok)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5



If MVP Black had perhaps underestimated Tempest at the Super League Season 2 finals, then by the time of the Summer Global Championship, they knew to take them seriously. Although this event would feature strong contenders from all regions, such as eStar and mYinsanity, it would nevertheless culminate in a finals rematch between MVP Black and Tempest. In what was likely considered the best and highest-level HotS series at that time, Tempest and MVP Black traded map wins until they found themselves on game 5, set to take place on Towers of Doom. That game itself was legendary for Dami's Wizened Duelist Greymane play, then a much more feast-or-famine talent, which granted stacks only from takedowns, all of which could be lost on death. Empowered by Hongcono's Tyrael and Duckdeok's Tassadar, it was enough to bring the championship home from Tempest, and away from MVP Black.

2016 - Super League - Season 3

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Rich, Merryday

#10: 2-4 vs. L5/Ballistix (Noblesse, sCsC, Jeongha, Nachojin, Swoy)

VoD: Full Series



The finals of Super League Season 3 represent one of the greatest beginnings in Heroes history. It was the beginning of the greatest rivalry of all time: MVP Black versus L5/Ballistix. L5 was a newly formed team at the time, created from two-fifths of the disbanded TNL/Team DK roster and three other players. MVP Black had already defeated L5 twice in the earlier stages of the tournament. With scores of 3-2 and 3-1, the two series were actually pretty close, but MVP Black was still viewed as the overwhelming favorite going into the finals.



Black dominantly took the first two games of this series. L5 looked like they couldn't even keep up. The third game on Dragon Shire was looking to be the same story, with Black winning for almost the entire game. After a successful dragon knight defense however, L5 turned the game around in what was one of the most brilliant and well executed core calls in the history of the game. From that moment on, the momentum of the series had shifted completely in favor of L5, who won the next 3 games in the series in a row.

2016 - Blizzcon

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Rich, Merryday

#11: 1-3 vs. Fnatic (Breez, Quackniix, Schwimpi, Wubby, SmX)

VoD's: Full Series



Although this article as a whole focuses on MVP Black, this match stands out much more in Heroes history as the break out for Fnatic. Today, we can look back on the legacy of Fnatic as the fourth or fifth best team of all time. Back in 2016 however, that legacy had not yet been built. MVP Black was already a legendary team with three world championship wins. Fnatic had not won a world championship yet. In fact, as Khaldor remarked during the match itself, Fnatic hadn't even won a European regional that year. They were clearly only the third best team in Europe at the time, behind Dignitas and mYinsanity/Misfits. They failed to qualify for 2016's global events up until Blizzcon, and only just barely edged out Misfits to qualify for Blizzcon. They were massive underdogs going into this match, which made it all the more exciting when they opened the series with a 2-0 lead. Black managed to win the third game to avoid the sweep, but Fnatic ultimately closed out the series in game 4. MVP Black was eliminated at 3rd place, their worst placing at a global up to that point.

2016 - Gold Club World Championship

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Sign, Rich, Merryday

#12: 0-2 vs. L5/Ballistix (Noblesse, sCsC, Jeongha, Nachojin, Swoy)

VoD's (Korean only): Full Series

#13: 1-2 vs. MVP Miracle (Ttsst, Reset, CrazyMoving, Sniper, Darvish)

VoD's (Korean only): Full Series

#14: 1-2 vs. MVP Miracle (Ttsst, Reset, CrazyMoving, Sniper, Darvish)

VoD's (Korean only): Full Series



MVP Black faced off against L5, now rebranded as Ballistix, for a fourth time in the group stage of the 2016 GCWC. Although the games in this best-of-2 series were close, Ballistix would once again claim victory over MVP Black, winning both games. Sadly for MVP Black, they were denied a chance for a rematch with Ballistix, because they were gatekept out of the grand finals by their sister team, MVP Miracle, who double eliminated them. MVP Black fell to 3rd place again, a very disappointing end to a year that began with their dominant win streak. Major changes would follow this loss, and a new era of MVP Black would be ushered in. Rich would only temporarily retire from the game, but Sign left MVP Black forever. With Ballistix also winning the Gold Club World Championship, it was hard to tell at this point if MVP Black would ever reclaim their position as the best team in Korea, let alone the world.

2017 - HGC Phase 1

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Ttsst, Reset, Merryday

#15: 0-3 vs. L5/Ballistix (Noblesse, sCsC, Jeongha, Nachojin, Swoy)

VoD's: 1 2 3



This match was one of the few times when MVP Black was unequivocally viewed as an underdog. L5 entered HGC with the very same roster that had won back-to-back world championships just a few months earlier. MVP Black, on the other hand, had just spent nearly a year as the second best team in Korea, and had just undergone roster changes. At this time, no one knew if Ttsst and Reset would be able to fill in the big shoes left behind by Sign and Rich. At the very least, they may have needed some time to adjust to their new roster. For this match though, it wasn't enough. L5 defeated MVP Black without dropping a map, the only time they managed a clean sweep against them.

#16: 2-3 vs. L5/Ballistix (Noblesse, sCsC, Jeongha, Nachojin, Swoy)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5



By Part 2 of Phase 1, things had changed. This time, MVP Black was the favorite heading into their league match. They were the champions of the first Eastern Clash, where they had double eliminated L5 to secure victory. They dominantly took the first two games of this series, making it seem as if they really had re-asserted themselves as the best team in Korea. In true L5 fashion though, L5 managed to just barely keep themselves alive by winning an incredibly close game 3. Once again, the momentum had shifted in their favor. They managed to turn the series around and they finished with a game 5 that wasn't even particularly close.

2017 Mid-Season Brawl

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Ttsst, Reset, Merryday

#17: 1-3 vs. Team Dignitas (JayPL, Snitch, Bakery, Zaelia, Mene)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4

#18: 2-3 vs. L5/Ballistix (Noblesse, sCsC, Jeongha, Nachojin, Swoy)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5

The 2017 Mid-Season Brawl was one of the most competitive global events in the history of the game. It was a time when all four of the top teams at the event were very close to each other, and any one of them could have taken it. It is also one of the lowest points, if not the lowest point, in MVP Black's history. Despite entering the playoff bracket as the favorite, with the strongest showing in the group stage of any team, they fell to Dignitas in the upper bracket semifinals, in what would be their final loss to a European team ever. This also means that it was their only loss ever to Dignitas, despite their later rivalry in 2018.

In their lower bracket match, they faced off once again against their long-time Korean rival. A lot was riding on the outcome of this event. For MVP Black, it would be Merryday's final series as a member of this legendary team. For L5/Ballistix, it would be the final series for Noblesse and Nachojin as members of that team. Despite the frequent perception throughout Heroes history of the Koreans as the top dogs, both Korean teams found themselves in the lower bracket, having to eliminate the other in order to proceed further.



Although L5/Ballistix was the #1 seed from Korea at the time, MVP Black was viewed as the favorite going into this match, having had a much more successful tournament up to that point. L5/Ballistix had struggled in the group stage, taking the 3rd seed and entering the playoffs in the lower bracket. In this epic five-game series however, it was L5 that pulled through in the end, in an incredibly close final game on Towers of Doom, and sending MVP Black home in 4th place, their worst placing at a global - or any event - ever.

2017 - Phase 2 Eastern Clash

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Ttsst, Reset, Rich

#19: 2-3 vs. Tempest (Hide, Lockdown, Sign, Hongcono, H82)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5

Phase 2 of HGC Korea 2017 featured a return to form for Tempest, who had just exited the worst period of their franchise history. The return of Hongcono and the arrival of H82 made them able to compete with Korea's best once again. For the first time since the 2016 Summer Global Championship, Tempest went toe-to-toe with MVP Black, with back-and-forth map wins in this best-of-five series. Game 1 was itself a highly unexpected win in Tempest's favor, and while MVP Black fought back, Tempest was able to seal the deal with their game 5 map win on Dragonshire.



Although this was a long while back, my memory tells me that it was reported that MVP Black, and particularly Rich, were struggling with the ever-changing meta of HotS at that time. Rich strongly favored Illidan, hearkening back to his 2016 MVP Black days. After Black's loss to Tempest in the upper bracket however, Rich shifted his hero priority away from Illidan for the rest of the event, and toward more unflashy and tankier warriors, such as Arthas and Dehaka. They would go on to defeat Tempest 3-0 in a rematch in the lower bracket finals.

#20: 1-4 vs. L5/Ballistix (sCsC, Jeongha, Hooligan, SDE, Swoy)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4



Many questioned if the then-new L5 roster, which featured two new players who were basically "promoted" from mid-tier teams, would still be able to compete with MVP Black. The loss of Noblesse was viewed as a major blow, who, aside from being considered one of the best tank players of all time, was also considered one of the best drafters and shotcallers of all time. After L5 had lost 0-3 to MVP Black at the start of Phase 2, it seemed as if L5's days of rivaling MVP Black may have been over.



Although the Hooligan-SDE L5 roster would ultimately never experience the same level of success as the Noblesse roster, they proved at least this one time, and two more times later, that they could still bring the fight to MVP Black. In fact, with a final score of 4-1, courtesy of upper bracket advantage (actual game count of 3-1), L5's victory in the grand finals of the 2017 Phase 2 Eastern Clash is actually one of their more convincing wins against MVP Black.

2018 - HGC Phase 1

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Ttsst, Reset, Rich

#21: 0-3 vs. Tempest (Hide, Lockdown, Sign, Good, Dami)

VoD's: 1 2 3



After winning back-to-back world championships without suffering a single loss, MVP Black, now KSV Black, faltered at the start of HGC 2018. They had taken perhaps too long a break, and they were not ready for their week 1 match against the new Tempest roster, which featured the return of Dami and the arrival of Good. Game 1 began with a massive lead for KSV Black, an appropriately dominant performance befitting the reigning world champions. With Tempest's core down to 51% and only one keep left to KSV's five structures, they mounted an incredible comeback on the back of Dami's dragon blades. They won the next two games to close out the series, giving Tempest the honor of being the only team to ever clean sweep Black more than once.



#22: 1-3 vs. L5/Ballistix (sCsC, Jeongha, Hooligan, SDE, Magi)

VoD's: 1 2 3 Game 4 missing



After their week 1 loss to Tempest, this loss to Ballistix came as much less of a surprise. Compared to their dominant showing at the Gold Club World Championship, MVP Black appeared lost in 2018, relatively speaking. They still beat all of the other teams in Korea, but their losses to both Tempest and Ballistix put them in 3rd place in league standings, a rarity for black. This would also be one of the last series in which Rich would play as a solo laner, before transitioning over to ranged assassin.

2018 - Phase 1 Eastern Clash

MVP Black (Then KSV Black) roster: Sake, Kyocha, Ttsst, Reset, Rich

#23: 3-4 vs. L5/Ballistix (sCsC, Jeongha, Hooligan, SDE, Magi)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5 6



MVP/KSV Black, for perhaps the only time in their history, entered this Eastern Clash as the third seed, owing to their league play losses to both Tempest and Ballistix. At the start of this event, Tempest was the clear favorite, due to their undefeated 7-0 league record. However, that quickly changed when Black made a dominant run through the upper bracket, defeating both Tempest and Ballistix, while dropping only one map in the process. They had seemingly re-asserted their position as the most dominant Korean team, and had only one match remaining to secure the championship. Their opponents in the grand finals would be Ballistix, whom they already defeated in an easy 3-0 sweep in the upper bracket finals.



For one last time, in their 17th series against Black, Ballistix showed up to play and claimed their 8th and final win against them. Since one of those 17 series was a tie, that meant that the win-loss record between the two teams was a perfectly even 8-8 at this time, which is mind-blowing when you consider the overwhelmingly dominant legacy of Black. Sadly for Ballistix, this match would be the end of their rivalry with Black, who would once again ascend to be the indomitable juggernaut they are always remembered to be. The two teams would play six more times after this match, but Ballistix never won again. Given that they were responsible for 8 of MVP Black's 25 losses however, which is more than Dignitas, Tempest, Fnatic and eStar combined, they still walked away with an incredible legacy of their own.

2018 - HGC Phase 2

MVP Black (Then Gen.G) roster: Sake, Kyocha, Ttsst, Reset, Rich

#24: 2-3 vs. MVP Miracle/Miracle (Judy, Nachojin, Sniper, Frankle, BlueB2tle)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5



At the start of 2018 Phase 2, some discussion was centered around Miracle's roster changes. The return of world champion Nachojin to professional play, and the arrival of Frankle and BlueB2tle, two outstanding players who had not yet had a chance on a high-tier team, led many to believe that Miracle would ascend through the ranks of Korea. Results were initially disappointing as Miracle suffered 0-3 losses to both Ballistix and Tempest, but then they shocked everyone with their 3-2 win over Gen.G/MVP Black in week 4 of league play. It was the first time that MVP Black had lost to a Korean team other than Tempest or L5/Ballistix since December 2016 - when they last lost to MVP Miracle at the Gold Club World Championship.



Many viewers discredited Miracle's win. They had lost badly to both Ballistix and Tempest in the weeks prior, and would go on to lose to Blossom in the following week, failing to even qualify for the Eastern Clash. Rich played Azmodan in Game 1 of the series, which Miracle won, leading many to believe that Black simply wasn't taking the series very seriously. The two games that Black won were also incredibly dominant in their favor. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the scoreline stood in Miracle's favor.



#25: 2-3 vs. MVP Miracle/Miracle (Judy, Nachojin, Sniper, Frankle, BlueB2tle)

VoD's: 1 2 3 4 5



MVP Black's final loss ever would also come at the hands of Miracle. There could be no excuses this time. One win could be a fluke, but beating the best team of all time again, in addition to beating Ballistix one week before, proved that Miracle was simply the real deal. There were no silly hero picks from Rich this time, and with their Blizzcon seeding on the line, it's hard to argue that MVP Black/Gen.G weren't doing their best to win. Miracle played true to their name, pulling off a miracle comeback in game 2, and then simply fighting toe-to-toe with Gen.G in game 4 and 5, ultimately pulling out the series in their favor.

Bonus: 22-0, Never Forget

MVP Black roster: Sake, Kyocha, Ttsst, Reset, Merryday

Although this match technically did not make the list because MVP Black didn't actually lose, it is well remembered and celebrated because it is the best performance ever by a North American team against MVP Black. North America was long regarded as a joke among the major regions in HotS, and the idea of a North American team standing up to any Korean team, especially MVP Black, was often viewed with incredulity.

MVP Black and Roll20 faced off in the group stage of the 2017 Mid-Season Brawl. Black failed to do their due diligence in researching their opponents, and let some of Roll20's power picks through the draft, particularly the combo of Justing's Diablo and Glaurung's Medivh. In game 1 of this best-of-2 series, Roll20 absolutely mauled MVP Black with this combo, achieving 22 takedowns, while suffering 0 in return, leading to the 22-0, Never Forget meme. It was the first time a North American team had ever taken a map off MVP Black. Roll20 would take another map off MVP Black later in the bracket stage, which would be the last map MVP Black would ever drop to a North American team, making Roll20 Esports the only North American team to ever take maps off MVP Black.

MVP Black's Win/Loss Data By Team

Team Win-Loss-Tie (Series) Series Win Rate Win/Loss (Maps) Map Win Rate L5/Ballistix 14-8-1 60.8% 52-34 60.4% MVP Miracle/Miracle 9-4 69.2% 31-12 72.1% Tempest 12-4-0 75% 40-21 65.5% TNL/Team DK KR 9-3 75% 28-13 68.3% Snake eSports 3-1-0 75% 7-3 70% Team Liquid* 0-1-0 0% 1-2 33.6% Team Liquid** 1-1-1 33% 5-5 50% Fnatic 4-1-1 66.6% 12-6 66.6% eStar 8-1-1 80% 22-11 66.6% Dignitas 7-1-0 87.5% 19-6 76% PSE Vortex 0-1-0 0% 0-2 0% Roll20 eSports 1-0-1 50% 4-2 66.6%

*This table entry considers the 2015 Team Liquid by itself, since it has no continuity with the 2017-2018 Team Liquid rosters.**This table entry lumps all Team Liquid rosters together.