Introduction

Almost two weeks ago, the Heroes of the Storm community received the devastating news that the Heroes Global Championship would not continue. Although we are sad to see it go, we should also celebrate the wonderful experiences and memories it has left us with across all of its regions. There is one team in particular that has been special to me, and that team is Ballistix/L5. The following are some of the team's most incredible moments from its two and a half year run.



For the purposes of this article, Ballistix and L5 are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to the same team. The same is also true for Gen.G, KSV Black and MVP Black.

#6.5 - Comeback Mechanics - Vs. Estar Gaming - 2017 Mid-Season Brawl

With a 20% core and only one structure left, L5 turns the tide against an opponent that still has all six.

#6 - SDE’s Display of Pure Power - Vs. Tempest - 2018 Phase 2 Eastern Clash

Ballistix slowly dismantles Tempest with extreme discipline and patience.

#5 - DROP THE BEAT - Vs. MVP Black - 2017 Phase 2 Eastern Clash



Speaking in his best English, Hooligan proudly celebrates his victory at the Eastern Clash with his new team.

#4 - Nachojin’s Tear’s of Joy - Vs. MVP Miracle - 2016 SuperLeague Season 3 Finals

While the rest of his team laughs and high fives to celebrate their Blizzcon qualification, NachoJin cries tears of joy.

#3 - Back to Back World Champions - Blizzcon 2016 and GCWC 2016

The Blizzcon 2016 finals between Ballistix and Fnatic.

#2 - The Birth of a Rivalry - Vs. MVP Black - 2016 SuperLeague Season 3 Finals

There is a part of me that wanted to put this moment higher up on the list. Aside from the need to match it to the IGN meme, it was also a relatively inconsequential game in the grand scheme of the 2017 MSB. It was from a best-of-2 group stage series whose outcome did not have a significant influence on either team's seeding into the bracket, nor the overall results of the tournament. So why is it even here?Because it is one of the most miraculous Heroes of the Storm comebacks of all time, one that exemplifies the discipline, tenacity and resilience of L5 better than perhaps any other single game.L5 spent the first 15 minutes of this game getting positively spanked by an utterly ludicrous draft from Estar, which consisted of a main tank D.Va, an off-lane Zagara, and a holy trinity knock-off of Valla, Auriel and Zarya. L5 frequently lost 5v4 teamfights, while also losing structures to the Zagara. At the 15 minute mark, Estar attempted to convert a double keep play into a core call, but L5 managed to hold onto their core with 20% remaining. This may sound like a typical core throw, except for the fact that up to this point, Estar had still not lost even a single fort. Victory for L5 would not have been anywhere near as simple as walking across the map and ending.Thanks to Noblesse's map awareness and shotcalling however, L5 secured a crucial pick on Zagara leading up to the Dragon Knight shrine phase. They made the purposeful decision to put Nachojin's Dehaka in the Dragon Knight, even though Noblesse's Anubarak or Jeongha's Alarak could have taken it seconds earlier. As the Dragon Knight began sieging down the keep front wall, Jeongha managed to find another critical pick on XingC's Valla that effectively sealed the game in L5's favor, to the absolute bewilderment of both viewers and casters.SDE has often been one of Ballistix's unsung heroes. He often had an air of steely concentration, but was also prone to some very animated popoffs during the team's triumphs. As one of the "replacement players" after the team's first roster swap, he had unimaginably big shoes to fill, whether it's those of his direct counterpart, NachoJin, or really any member of the team's star-studded legacy.At the 2018 Phase 2 Eastern Clash however, it was SDE who seemed to be keeping the team afloat, at a time when Ballistix as a whole were struggling. It began with his Thrall sundering flanks. It culminated with the extremely curious level 20 talent pick of "Archon: Pure Power" on Li Ming, during game 4 against Tempest.Icy Veins, although not the be-all-end-all of Heroes guides, describes the talent as "peculiar but ultimately ineffective [and] does very little that Li-Ming may not already do." Yet it became the linchpin for yet another miracle comeback against a team that still had all six structures remaining.The biggest threat to SDE was Sign's Anubarak. While Hooligan and Jeongha held the front against Sign, SDE used the on-demand Disintegrate to scout bushes for potential flanks. With their bottom keep already gone, Ballistix made the hard, but deliberate, choice of conceding their top keep as well, opting instead to maintain control of the bottom lane and bottom Dragon shrine. They slowly sieged down the bottom lane through the use of mercenary camps and Li Ming's Archon, carving out a path to victory from Tempest's bottom fort, all the way to their core.After a very long, tense, late-game stand-off, Tempest finally became desperate. Dami's Yrel overextended in an attempt to dive onto SDE, which forced a Radiant Dash cleanse from Hide's Kharazim. Hooligan and Magi capitalized with a CC chain of Stay Awhile and Listen and Warlord's Challenge on Hide, leading to the first kill in over twelve minutes. With Tempest's healer gone, Ballistix pushed forward with their mercenary camps, and SDE's Li Ming began chipping away at the core. By the time the core's shields were gone, Hide still had 10 seconds left on his death timer. Sign made a last-ditch attempt to stop the bleeding by burrow charging in with Anubarak, but he was almost instantly deleted, sealing the fate of his team.In his post game interview, SDE said, "no matter how much we do the scrim, we don't adapt [sic] meta until we get beat up in the actual tournament, and so we're a team that improves through losing. And right now we're just back from the [sic] hell, and that's when we're the strongest. So we want to continue the momentum and win." Although Ballistix would not take 1st place at that tournament, these words very much captured the essence of the kind of team that Ballistix was.Ever since the departure of Noblesse, eyes were always on Hooligan to see if he would be able to fill the shoes of one of the most revered tank players of all time. He wasn't the only one who had a lot to live up to, since SDE was also new to the team, but it was Noblesse who was regarded as L5's key player. While Noblesse is remembered as one of the greatest tactical minds the game has ever seen, Hooligan was seen as an energetic player of pure heart.Given L5's roster changes at that time, there were also questions of whether the team as a whole would be as good as it used to be, and more specifically, if it would still be on par, or able to compete with, MVP Black. After MVP Black's earlier 3-0 victory over L5 in league play, it initially seemed that this would no longer be the case. MVP Black seemed poised to take the 2017 Phase 2 Eastern Clash with ease.By the time the Clash came around however, it took a somewhat unexpected turn. In one of their rare moments of weakness, MVP Black was actually knocked out of the winner's bracket by Tempest, leading to the only Eastern Clash winners finals between Tempest and L5. L5 took this in a close 3-2 victory, and then faced MVP Black in the grand finals, who won their rematch against Tempest.The actual match between L5 and MVP Black isn't the most exciting part of this tournament. It was a 4-1 victory in L5's favor, making it one of their easiest and cleanest wins ever over MVP Black. Instead, Hooligan himself stole the show when he was given the mic during the trophy ceremony.In this moment, we again celebrate one of the L5/Ballistix players who received comparatively less attention or fewer accolades. That's not to say that NachoJin was completely ignored, or that anyone would doubt that he was an incredible player. Yet, when NachoJin and Noblesse departed from the team, the latter was viewed as the greater loss to the team, and the harder gap to fill. Noblesse and sCsC were part of the successful Team DK/TNL roster prior to joining L5, while NachoJin's resume was less exceptional.Defeating MVP Miracle would not even be L5's biggest achievement at the SuperLeague Season 3 Finals, an event where they would later defeat MVP Black. But it would trigger an emotional outpouring from NachoJin to signify another very important achievement in itself. At the match's conclusion, while MVP Miracle's CrazyMoving cried tears of sadness for failing to qualify for Blizzcon, NachoJin cried tears of joy because he did qualify for Blizzcon.NachoJin was not the star of this team when it was formed. He did, of course, become a star in hindsight, but back then he still had a lot to prove. He spent the earlier part of 2016 on weaker, or mid-tier, teams, and did not achieve anything particularly noteworthy, before becoming a member of L5. NachoJin clearly had a lot of his hopes and dreams riding on the outcome of this event, with his Blizzcon qualification being his first real achievement as a HotS player, though certainly not his last.Compared to MVP Black/Gen.G, their arch-rival, Ballistix/L5 has generally been a less perfect team, with even some of their best tournament runs marred by struggle early on. Many of the other moments on this list describe times when the team found their resolve after they were backed into a corner. This isn't one of those moments.Ballistix came into Blizzcon as the unexpected #1 seed from Korea. After making it to the championship bracket without dropping a map in the group stage, Ballistix eliminated both European contenders (Fnatic and Dignitas) with 3-1 scores. They never even had to face MVP Black, who were eliminated by Fnatic in a match that is often seen as the most memorable series of that tournament. At the end of the day, Ballistix just looked clearly better than any other team at the event.Their victory at GCWC 2016 was somewhat less clean, as they dropped 3 maps in the group stage, leaving them with ties against MVP Miracle, Super Perfect Team, and Dignitas. They found their groove later on however, and cruised to 1st place without dropping a single map in the playoff bracket. Once again, they did not even have to face MVP Black, who were double eliminated by MVP Miracle.The fall of 2016 represents Ballistix at their peak, and while most of the other moments on this list are more exciting, Ballistix's back to back world championship wins at Blizzcon 2016 and GCWC 2016 are their crowning achievements. For this reason, they receive the #3 spot on this list.

This is my favorite Heroes of the Storm match of all time. It was the match that turned me into not only an L5 fan for life, but led to me religiously following all of Heroes Esports for the next two years.

On the one hand, the old OGN production was much more exciting than HGC's ever was. The ceremony, the music, the interviews, and undoubtedly the best Korean trash talk ever in a Heroes of the Storm broadcast.

And on the other hand, there was the storyline of the teams themselves, and the incredible match that followed. MVP Black, the most dominant Heroes of the Storm team of all time, versus L5, a new team at the time, consisting of two former Super League champions - Noblesse and sCsC - as well as three players who were, until then, unproven at the absolute top tier of HotS play: NachoJin, Jeongha and Swoy.





The turning point of the series that turned L5 into a champion.

Twitch chat doubted L5 as they struggled to keep pace with MVP Black, dropping the first two games in the series under the pressure of Rich's infamous Alarak. Game 3 was looking to be the same story, with L5 losing for almost the entire game, until they made a miracle Dragon Knight defense that they converted into a brilliant core call. From that point on, the momentum had shifted in L5's favor, and they won the next three games to finish the series. It was L5's first-ever win against MVP Black, having already lost to them twice earlier in the tournament.

It was a series that marked the emergence of L5 as a world class team, and that gave birth to one of the best Heroes of the Storm rivalries of all time.

#1 - The End of a Rivalry - Vs. KSV Black - 2018 Phase 1 Eastern Clash

SDE and Hooligan popping off in celebration of their final victory against Gen.G/KSV/MVP Black.



Hooligan finds a pick on Rich to keep Ballistix alive in game 5.

Conclusion

It was a tough choice between this and the SuperLeague 3 Finals for the #1 spot. Ultimately, I chose the 2018 Phase 1 Eastern Clash Finals because it represents an ending. It seems more fitting, just as the Heroes of the Storm community itself now faces an ending with the cancellation of HGC. This was the last time that Ballistix truly showed up as a world class team. It was the last time they won a tournament. And it was the last time that they defeated Gen.G/KSV/MVP Black.This last moment echoes several of the common themes in this list of Ballistix's greatest moments. The first theme is their resilience. While Tempest was a team that would usually start strong but then fizzle out, Ballistix has often been a team that started out slow, but gained momentum over time. They are quite possibly the best team of all time at making comebacks -- within individual games, within a series, and from one series to the next. Earlier in that very same day, Ballistix lost 0-3 against KSV in a fairly one-sided series. They came back in the grand finals to win 4-3 against KSV, even despite starting out with a 1-game deficit because of their lower bracket disadvantage.Another important theme is Ballistix's long-time rivalry with Gen.G/KSV/MVP Black. To date, Ballistix has more wins against them than any other team, at 8 wins. Despite the more recent and popular rivalry between Gen.G and Dignitas, Ballistix was truly MVP Black's biggest all-time rival. By comparison, both Dignitas and Fnatic walked away with only 1 all-time win against MVP Black each. To be fair, Ballistix had far more opportunities to play MVP Black than Dig or Fnatic, but even if we use a somewhat fairer metric, such as winrate, Ballistix still comes out on top with 36% (8-14 series record). Fnatic comes in next at 20% (1-4) series record, and then Dig has 12.5% (1-7 series record).In fact, the head-to-head series record between KSV and Ballistix at the conclusion of this event was tied at exactly 8-8. This tournament however, marked the end of that rivalry. Ballistix would never beat them again, losing all six of their remaining series against them, leaving the final record between the two teams at 8-14.Ballistix had a hard and disappointing year for the remainder of 2018, and with the news of HGC's recent cancellation, the 2018 Phase 1 Eastern Clash Finals will forever remain their final tournament victory.It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to my favorite Heroes of the Storm team of all-time, just as we as a community are saddened by the greater loss of HGC as a whole. I would like to shout out all of Ballistix's players through all of their rosters: Noblesse, sCsC, Jeongha, NachoJin, Swoy, Hooligan, SDE and Magi; Ballistix's coach, Minwoo; and Ballistix's Esports Manager, Pat Soulliere, better known as ESVDiamond. Following this team through its successes and failures for the past two and a half years has been an incredible journey that I will never forget. Thank you all.