by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

The North American Spring Regional may be over, but it won’t soon be forgotten.

Eight of the best teams in North America spent the weekend vying for two coveted spots into the Spring Global Championship, as well as $100,000 in prize money. In the minds of many fans, it was a forgone conclusion that Naventic and Cloud9 would be the two teams advancing. While they did ultimately prove to be the best teams, they were both severely tested along the way.

Both teams took similar paths to the Finals. After sweeping their opening round opponents, they were both taken to the limit in their second matches on the way to earning their berth into the playoffs. In the Semifinals, both teams lost their first game and were face with the threat of elimination. As you would expect from the two best teams, both were able to regroup and win the next two games to earn their spot in the Finals.

The Finals were a best of five, and while both teams had locked up their spot in the Spring Global Championship, the winner was also guaranteed a bye into the round eight, as well as additional prize money. Cloud9 took an early lead with a victory in game 1, but Naventic was able to tie up the series with a win on Blackheart’s Bay in game 2. Naventic appeared to be in control of game 3 on Battlefield of Eternity, but Cloud9 was able to secure a late Immortal and use it to secure a comeback win. In game four, Cloud9 turned what was a slight advantage for most of the game into a dramatic victory thanks to a decisive push Boss push on Cursed Hollow. While the final score of 3-1 might seem a bit one sided, all four games were tightly contested and could have gone either way. Both teams showed why they are considered the top two teams in North America, and you could make a strong case for either to win in Korea, although at this point you have to give the edge to Cloud9.

What made this event so special was how close almost all of the matches were. Tempo Storm, COGnitive, Team Blaze, and Panda Global proved that the distance between them and the top two teams is much smaller than most people thought. Newcomers King of Blades Alpha and Team Nom also showed that they have a bright feature and are more than capable of challenging the more established NA teams. While 2-0 sweeps have been commonplace in previous events, most matches in this event went to a deciding game three. This led to some very exciting games and tense moments. If this event is any indication, there is a lot to look forward to when it comes to Heroes of the Storm eSports in 2016.

Official VODs should be released in the next few days if you missed any of the action, but in the meantime you can check out the ESL Twitch page to find the full streams for both days.

GG and WP to all of this weekend’s competitors, and a big shout out to all of the people who helped make this event happen.