Adjusting to the Times

The HotS Inhouse League

Written by: Koznarov



This image brought to you by MS Paint Google Drive Presentation tool

Wednesday, Apr 08 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) HasuObs vs Zaelia

Sunday, Apr 12 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) HasuObs vs Nic

Monday, Apr 13 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Quackniix vs Makke

Tuesday, Apr 14 4:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Nic vs Zaelia

Tuesday, Apr 14 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Lauber vs Quackniix

Wednesday, Apr 15 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Lauber vs Makke

The end of Division S Season 2 left a void in the Western Heroes of the Storm competitive scenes. The last European LAN, Masters Clash, was planned to take place in the middle of April near Paris, but unfortunately, it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.For some time, top players in Europe had been playing custom games as an alternative to Storm League. Known as in-house games, these are a common part of practice in competitive games. When the best players can avoid matchmaking issues and control every single variable in their training environment, it makes their practice time more efficient. In Heroes, the community was able to witness these normally-behind-closed-doors games thanks to Khaldor’s and HasuObs’ streams.When Masters Clash was cancelled, the top players thought of what they could do to fill the off-season break. Ouille , a semi-pro player and tournament organizer, tells us about the situation they found themselves in:“The Div S ended, so we wanted a competitive tournament/league that could please us because there was nothing left for HotS at the moment. We then talked about if we should involve money or not. Everyone proposed some new ideas which we talked about between all of us. Yeah, I guess it was kinda triggered by multiple factors: no tournaments left, finding a quarantine job, and no more Div S because playoffs were done.Then casters became interested, and now it's gonna be casted by Khaldor, Malganyr, Tazzdingo, and Noizen. There was also a crowdfunding [campaign] launched, and people actually got an insane interest in that tournament. Everyone was crazy about how much people donated in a few minutes. We expected to split the cash prize of €450 (30 x €15/player), and now we're at $1,624 on Matcherino.”That’s how the Inhouse League was born. The tournament has a draft format, something we’ve seen a lot last year in the Korean scene. So, six captains (Nic, HasuObs, Lauber, Quackniix, Zaelia and Makke) drafted their teams from a pool of 24 more players. The initial prize pool was put together through an entrance fee of €15, as Ouille said. This self-funding system is something we pointed out last year as an alternative to the lack of external investment. And in this case, it’s working wonders combined with crowdfunding.Group stage of the Inhouse League will take place from April 6th to April 17th, followed by a double-elimination playoff in the same weekend Masters Clash was initially set (April 18th and 19th). This group stage games have already been scheduled, and you can watch them at Khaldor’s stream!The full bracket can be viewed on Toornament , and you can help donate to the cause via Matcherino ! Make sure to follow Ouille and Khaldor for continuing updates and information!Organizing a whole tournament around in-house games is something quite new, but this isn’t the only front where these custom games are becoming strong. For those of you more interested in the North American scene, HeroesHearth is warming up for the next season of CCL by hosting weekly inhouse games. And they’re willing to push them to the limit by even testing out the PTR changes