After what felt like an eternity, the HGC is finally back. The 2018 season brings with it a number of interesting storylines and matchups. Between Rosterpocalypse, role swaps, new organizations, departed organizations and the changes to international LANS, the stage is set for an exciting, dramatic season of Heroes of the Storm action.

Today, I want to begin a new series analyzing the best matchups on that week’s HGC schedule. Ordinarily, that would mean comparing teams in terms of skill, analyzing their draft strategies and results to try and predict a winner of the match. There are people waaaay better suited to that than me.





Instead, we’re going to focus on what I find most interesting about the HGC--the people. My matchups analysis will be based purely around storylines. Essentially, why you should watch that game, and what’s at stake beyond simply a win or a loss. So, with that in mind, we’re going to go through the key matchups on the schedule (for EU now, and NA later today). There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s not waste any more time!

Zealots vs Tricked esport

The big theme for all of Week 1 in the HGC will be role swaps. There were a surprising number of role swaps in the offseason, and we’ll finally get to see those changes in action. The week starts out with perhaps one of the most dramatic debuts for Zealots’ new support player, Shad. Not only will he be playing his first professional match as a support, he’ll be doing so across from his former support, veteran GranPkt. Gran was a key piece of Zealots’ incredible run through the Blizzcon qualifying gaunlet, in which the team fell just short of qualifying for the world championship. Now, all of his experience and knowledge of team will be turned against them.

Tricked only made the one roster change in the offseason, so for them this match is much more about setting a tone for the season. However, for Zealots this game is about discovering their identity. Can Cris provide them the same level of playmaking the team enjoyed with POILK in their backline? Can adrd still engineer successful, surprising team compositions with a brand new roster, one without EU allstars like BadBenny and Nic? Right now, the Zealots roster is nothing but questions, and we’ll get our first hint of an answer when they take on Tricked.

Marquee Matchup: Shad vs GranPkt

The first-timer versus the old-timer. Can Shad rise to the level of support play his team came to expect from GranPkt, or will the veteran’s experience allow Tricked to punish Shad for trying to fill his shoes?

Leftovers vs Team Liquid

The most stable roster in HOTS finally splintered at the end of 2017. The team that stayed together through three sponsors remained with Team Liquid, but with two new members. Esports fans have a short-term memory, but some will remember that Team Liquid were in the fight for number one in the region not so long ago. Will the shakeup bring back that level of play from Nurok, Splendour, and HasuObs? Were ethernal and SportBilly the right people to “fix” the roster?

Leftovers, on the other hand, are thrown into a must-win game right at the start of their season. EU is stacked to the rafters with talent, and the fight to just crack the top six will be fierce all season long. Many analysts predict that Team Liquid will be one of the teams struggling to avoid relegation right alongside Leftovers. By that metric, a head-to-head win against TL would be a huge step towards helping the rookie squad stay in the league. They earned the right to compete this season, and now it’s up to Leftovers to show us why they deserve to be here.

Marquee Matchup: Team Liquid vs Expectations

History tells us that Open Division teams don’t find success in Heroes of the Storm (with the exception of Zealots). With just one season under our belt, we've seen multiple teams fail to qualify, and two promoted teams immediately fall out again. While a loss will hurt Leftovers, it will shatter fan expectations for Team Liquid. If they are going to rebuild their reputation as contenders in the region, they have to be able to take care of the newbies. On paper, Team Liquid will gain very little by winning this match, but they could lose a great deal in defeat.

Not Expert vs Diamond Skin

Purely looking at the team names, this shouldn’t be a “match of the week”. Expert defeated Dignitas at Blizzcon, they are an elite team in EU. Diamond skin barely avoided relegation, and didn’t shock the world with their offseason pickups.

However, this is not remotely the same Team expert that traveled to California last year (and not just because they aren’t with the organization anymore). Nic Atheroangel, and cursen are stars in their own right, but how much of their success was predicated on the exceptional tank play of BadBenny or the brilliant drafting of adrd? Arcaner and scHwimpi are both world class players, but has the team lost its identity? Will Aethero be able to fill BadBenny’s shoes?

Across the map, Diamond Skin enters the season with virtually no fan expectation. They didn’t make any “sexy” moves in the offseason (although have you seen this robadobah guy? Dude’s picture on the official HGC website looks like if Jack Sparrow got a haircut). Every prediction has them slated for another season of battling in the Cruicible. However, this roster is nothing but upside.









Robadobah has a ton of international experience and is an actual elite tank--one of the rarest commodities in HOTS. Roskmeg is considered by some to be the “Kure of EU”, and we saw how well the Kure of NA worked out for Team Freedom. Darkmok spent all of 2016 murdering members of Fnatic and Dignitas, and looked good doing it. Every pickup made by Diamond Skin has the potential to be an elite player in this league. This is a team hungry to prove the analysts wrong, and they’ve got a great opportunity to do so against the new, possibly weaker Not Expert.







Marquee Matchup: Aetheroangel vs robadobah

The best player in ANZ vs an EU veteran in a new role. To say Aethero has big shoes to fill is an understatement. BadBenny was one of the best players in the league last season. However, Aethero is a proven competitor with experience in his new role. Will that experience help propel Not Expert to victory, or will ANZ’s finest lead Diamond Skin to the biggest upset of Week 1?



Now, some of you may be wondering--why are there no Dignitas or Fnatic matches in this preview? Well, frankly, their matches are boring this week. They don’t have big questions to answer, because we already got most of our answers at GCWC. They are the best two teams in Europe, and they should have easy matchups this week. If either team loses, it will be the only thing we talk about next week, but most likely, these are the two games that are safest to skip from a storyline perspective.

All in all, this season looks to be the most interesting in the history of Heroes of the Storm. I cannot wait to start seeing these storylines playout when the HGC kicks off this Friday.



Lastly, if you're looking for one last reflection on the 2017 season, be sure to check out the community All Pro Awards on my personal blog.