by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

The wait is over, the Americas Championship kicks off today.  This event features eight teams competing for a $100,000 prize pool, and two coveted spots into the Heroes of the Storm World Championship later this year.  No trip to Vegas would be complete without winners and losers.  Let’s jump right in and try to predict a few of both.

Match 1:  Tempo Storm vs Murloc Geniuses

Tempo Storm has been the team to beat for some time, but after dominating all three qualifiers they have looked vulnerable in their last two events.  Murloc Geniuses is one of the more creative teams in this event when it comes to their team comps.  They play an aggressive style, and could quite easily gain an early advantage over Tempo Storm.  The key will be if Murloc Geniuses can maintain that advantage into the late game, and avoid costly mistakes.  Tempo Storm is the master of punishing late game errors.  I am really torn on this one, but I am going to go out on a limb and say MG takes it 2-1.  Regardless of which teams win, this should be a great match.

Match 2: Immunity vs Cloud9

There isn’t much to say here.  You can make a very strong case that Cloud9 is the best team in the game at the moment, and Immunity is a team of part time players who are quite open about how much they have struggled against the top teams in practice this week.  C9 2-0.

Match 3: loser of Match 1 vs loser of Match 2

If our first picks were correct, this will be Tempo Storm vs Immunity.  If we were wrong, it will be Murloc Geniuses vs Immunity.  Either way, I think Immunity will be eliminated from the tournament 2-0.

Match 4: Relics vs COGnitive

This may be the series that I am most looking forward to.  Relics comes from the South East Asia region, so they play a different style of game than we are used to seeing in North America.  COGnitive also has a unique style, with a strong focus on melee assassins.  It should be interesting to see which of these two strategies comes out on top.  I expect lots of fireworks in these games, but I am going with Relics 2-1.

Match 5: Furious vs compLexity

Like Immunity, Furious is another team that is fighting outside their weight class.  Unlike Immunity, they have kept their spirits up, and seem to feel no pressure.  Who can blame them?  They weren’t even supposed to here.  CompLexity is a solid team that often exists in the shadow of the other more high profile NA teams.  I think compLexity will win, but I think Furious will steal one game.  2-1 compLexity.

Match 6: loser of Match 4 vs loser of Match 5

Assuming our initial picks were right, this will be COGnitive vs Furious.  If we are wrong, it will be game 4 that we miss, so this would be Relics vs Furious instead.  Just like with Immunity, regardless of who they are facing, Furious will be going home after a 2-0 defeat.

Match 7: Group A Winners Finals

This is where it gets dicey.  There four different possibilities for this match, but in the interest of time lets just assume the earlier picks hold true.  This match pits the winner of Match 1 vs. the winner of Match 2, which gives us Murloc Geniuses vs. Cloud9.  While I am hoping for a strong showing from Murloc Geniuses, I think C9 is simply the better team, and they will take this match 2-0.

Match 8: Group B Winners Finals

This is the winner of Match 4 vs. the winner of Match 5.  Just like the previous match, for simplicity lets assume that my earlier picks were right, and we end up with Relics vs. compLexity.  Although Relics lacks the time and resources that NA teams possess, I am going to take them in a bit of an upset.  2-1 Relics.

You can watch all of the action live on the official Heroes of the Storm Twitch channel starting at 10:00 am Pacific time.  Don’t forget to link your Battle.net account with your Twitch account in order to get the exclusive Storm Watcher portrait.  Full details on this promotion, and how to connect your accounts can be found here.