by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

Two months of Heroes of the Dorm action culminated last night as Arizona State University squared off against the University of Texas-Arlington for the right to call themselves 2016 Heroes of the Dorm Champions.

Both teams had been impressive throughout the competition and although ASU was considered the favorite to win, it was by no means a foregone conclusion, unless of course, you were one of the ASU players. They had been confident and outspoken from the beginning that they were the team to beat, and their play certainly backed that up. As a result of their brash confidence, someone compared them to a Disney villain in a press conference earlier this week.

Before the Finals began, Austin “Shot” Lonsert offered what may have been the quote of the weekend when he said, “If we’re the villains in this Disney story then there is no happy ending”.

UTA, on the other hand, had been much more low-key, preferring to let their unorthodox play do most of the talking. With their history of creative team compositions, they certainly seemed to have the potential to slow the ASU steamroller.

With the games set to begin, the capacity crowd at the Centurylink Field Event Center was incredibly hyped. The arena was packed and the cheers were deafening.

Game One was on Blackheart’s Bay and it started off in favor of UTA. Their early game push with Xul and Sylvanas took down several structures and they won the first real team fight. UTA hit level 10 first with almost a full level advantage. ASU was able to win the next team fight, but UTA continued their strong push. Things looked like they would continue in the favor of UTA after they were able to unexpectedly capture the Boss at the eight-minute mark. It looked as if the push power of the UTA composition would be too strong, but ASU won a big team fight and was able to even the game shortly after the ten-minute mark. ASU continued to turn up the pressure with their combination of Illidan and Li-Ming. When a sliver of an opening appeared, ASU made an aggressive Core push and successfully closed out the game at the fourteen-minute mark.

Game Two was on Towers of Doom. Frankly, UTA looked sloppy the entire game. ASU was able to get multiple takedowns as a result of poor positioning from UTA. Even when UTA did have their opportunities, they failed to capitalize on them. A prime example was when they were able to eliminate three ASU players right as two Towers spawned. Despite being up three players, UTA was unable to capture either Tower. ASU was already clearly winning at this point and these two Towers propelled them even further ahead. The result was a very one-sided victory for ASU in Game Two.

Game Three took place on Infernal Shrines and it was match point for ASU. With ASU one win from the title, and UTA one win from elimination, the excitement in the arena was off the charts. True to form, UTA got creative and opted for a tankless comp centered around Illidan. Once the game began, things looked like they might continue to snowball out of control for UTA as ASU was able to secure a kill just twenty seconds into the game. ASU hit level 10 first, but UTA was able to win a team fight in the mid-game and take their first level lead. Play continued at a fever pitch when ASU once again saw an opportunity for an aggressive, some might say greedy, Core push. The crowd erupted in excitement, as it was obvious that this push was going to be very close. Could ASU claim the title with one of their trademark speed wins? Could UTA respawn fast enough to defend? With the shield down and the Core starting to drop, UTA players started to rejoin the fight and were able to begin picking off ASU players. With the crowd frantically cheering, and their Core at 26%, UTA was able to get a full team wipe on ASU. With short respawn timers and no clear path to victory, UTA set about retaking control of the map. They were able to secure the next Punisher and take down a Keep with it. It appeared for a moment as if they might be able to push for the win, but ASU was able to defend. With both teams now having clear paths to the Core, it was obvious that whoever won the next team fight would win the game. Tensions were high and the action was back and forth for a bit until UTA’s Kladeous on Illidan opted for a very questionable Hunt. ASU quickly capitalized on this mistake and followed up with a clutch four-man Void Prison from Shot to close out the game and the tournament.

With that, the dream became a reality for the Real Dream Team from ASU. In an impressive display of dominance, they made it through the entire event without losing a single game. They entered the Heroic Four with an average game time of 16:12, and they actually managed to improve that average against two of the best teams in the field.

In the post game press conference, ASU implied that there was a chance that they would keep the team together and compete on the pro scene in the upcoming Summer Regional. Given their success in this event, it would be quite interesting to see how they would fare against the top North American teams.

The teams weren’t the only ones to have fun this weekend. The production in this tournament was arguably the best yet for a Heroes event, although it was geared towards more casual fans. The Seattle area proved their love for eSports with standing room only crowds on both days. Not only were there plenty of people in attendance, but they were clearly passionate about Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard did a great job of encouraging a high energy crowd, and the fans responded.

I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to attend this event and I am already looking forward to next year’s Heroes of the Dorm.

GG WP to all of the teams and to everyone at Blizzard and ESPN who helped make this event possible. All Hail the Kings!