by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

The Heroic Four met today at Centurylink Field Event Center in Seattle to determine which two teams would advance to the Grand Finals. It was a short day as far as Heroes of the Storm eSports go, but it didn’t lacking for excitement.

The first match featured UT Arlington vs. Tennessee. UTA said in their afternoon press conference that they do things that no other team will do, and they proved it repeatedly in this match.

Their draft for Sky Temple consisted of Muradin, Rehgar, Zagara, Abathur, and Artanis. Tenn was able to take control early, but UTA surprised everyone by taking Nydus Network as Zagara’s Heroic. The constant pressure from the Abathur/Zagara combination proved too much for TENN, and UTA was able to take game one.

UTA continued to think outside the meta in game two, taking a tankless comp featuring Illidan, Abathur, Greyman, Xul, and Rehgar. They also continued taking nonstandard Talents, going with my favorite Ultimate, The Hunt, on Illidan. While TENN again had an advantage early, UTA was simply too strong. They won team fight after team fight, even when it looked like TENN should have the edge. This quickly snowballed into a twelve minute victory, advancing UTA to the Grand Finals.

The second match of the day was UCONN vs Arizona State University. Many people consider ASU the favorites, and the ASU players certainly agree. In the afternoon press conference they acknowledge that they are the team to beat, a role they seem to cherish.

Known for their slow, methodical approach, UCONN was simply unable to deal with the relentless aggression from ASU. In game one, ASU quickly converted early takedowns into an eventual three level lead. MichaelUdall’s signiture Falstad play combined with frequent resets on Li-Ming’s Critical Mass trait equaled a fourteen minute victory for ASU.

Game two on Battlefield of Eternity started out similarly, with ASU getting the early takedowns and a very strong push from the first Immortal. UCONN closed the the gap as level 10 approached, but ASU was able to take the second Immortal despite losing multiple Heroes. They pushed that Immortal hard and the result was a lost Keep at the eight minute mark for UCONN. The third Immortal also went in ASU’s favor and down went UCONN’s other Keep. This game again featured clutch Falstad play for ASU, but this time is was Pham landing the timely Mighty Gusts. Sixteen minutes after the game began, ASU was victorious and advancing to the Heroic Four for the second year in a row.

The stage is set for an epic conclusion to this year’s Heroes of the Dorm. On one side you have the team that so many people believe is the favorite, and on the other side you have the team that is unorthodoxed enough to defeat them.

Tune into ESPN2 at 5pm PST on April 10th to see which of these great teams will claim the title and earn $75,000 in college tuition for their players.