Hearthstone

SeatStory Cup III

SeatStory Cup III brought plenty of excitement, but not a lot of good news for American players. Out of seven players representing the U.S., only 2 made it to the round of 16, and both Firebat and Hyped were knocked out at that point. Players like Reynad and StrifeCro couldn’t even make it that far, showing that our local talent needs to step things up if they’re going to compete on an international stage.

The finals came down to two Swedish players, as Orange and Ostkaka battled it out. It was an incredibly close series, only being decided in the ninth and final game, in a Druid mirror match. In the end, it was Orange that emerged victorious, grabbing glory for Team Archon, and a $10,000 check for himself. Archon was represented well in this tournament, as Xixo shared 3^rd/4^th place with Millenium’s Maverick. ROOT Gaming’s Ostkaka takes home $4,000, putting up a great performance right to the end.

Heroes of the Storm

Heroes of the Dorm

What began with 64 teams has quickly been whittled down to the final 8. As they compete for a paid tuition, sweet new PC setups and more, 8 universities still have representatives in the Heroes of the Dorm tournament. Boston College, Western Ontario, Indiana University, University of Connecticut, Texas A&M, Arizona State University, University of California Berkeley, and University of Washington are the last teams standing.

We’ll have to wait until April 18^th for the quarterfinals, but that’s going to give the teams plenty of time to study their opponents. Of note is that out of the 8 teams, 6 of them enjoyed 2-0 victories over all three opposing teams. The only ones that didn’t? Indiana and Connecticut, who will be playing each other in the first round of the playoffs. There’s no question that intense action awaits.

League of Legends

EU LCS Spring Playoffs - Semifinals

Fnatic has continued to perform as one of the best teams in Europe, taking down the upstart H2k Gaming in a close series that went the full 5 games. It’s not common for a team to completely revamp their roster and find immediate success, but that’s exactly what’s happened here. Fnatic has secured themselves yet another spot in the EU LCS finals, something the organization is quite accustomed to. They’ll be up against the Unicorns of Love, who shocked the world by taking down #1 ranked SK Gaming in the semifinals. SK seemed to have a lot of internal issues during the series, and UoL was ready to capitalize, not letting the threat of players like FORG1VENGRE and Svenskeren shake their confidence. The Unicorns became fan favorites during the regular season, and they’re now guaranteed no less than 2^nd place this split. If they can take down Fnatic in the finals, it will be icing on the proverbial cake.

NA LCS Spring Playoffs - Semifinals

It was like deja vu all over again. Team Liquid had Cloud9 down two games to none in the semifinals, something no team has ever done to C9 in NA LCS playoff history. However, just like Team Curse of last split, they were unable to finish things out. Cloud9 shifted into high gear after that, dominating Liquid in three straight games to take the series and move on to the finals. The team appeared to never lose confidence in themselves, as they appeared to play better and better with each game. It’s a loss that’s going to sting Liquid, but might just give C9 renewed hope as they look forward to the finals.

However, they have tough task ahead of them. After getting thrashed by Team Impulse in game 1, Team SoloMid reminded fans why they were North America’s top team. TSM looked to be in top form after that first loss, taking complete control of every game after that. They showed that they are a dynamic team, able to win in a variety of ways. Using Dyrus as a sacrificial lamb is a well-documented strategy, but TSM also found victory in a game where Bjergsen wasn’t a huge point of power, a rarity for this team. Some say that SoloMid looks stronger than they ever have in the history of the organization, and that might not be far from the truth. This is a team that was built to have a chance at winning Worlds, but since that event is still a ways off, for now they’ll have to settle for once more facing off against Cloud9 in the LCS finals.

That wraps up the major events of this past weekend, but eSports never sleeps (it gets a bit drowsy sometimes, though.) Check back with us tomorrow for a full calendar of all events for the coming week!