The tournaments promise to be hell of a show.
Over the past two weekends, Edwin “HotMEOWTH” Cook and Artem “DrHippi” Kravets became the Summer champions of HCT Americas and Europe, respectively. With that, the Blizzcon line-ups for the two regions are almost set with only the Last Call Qualifiers remaining.
The first on the schedule is Europe’s bracket, scheduled for October 8, and fans couldn’t wish for a better line-up to determine the fourth and final European to go to Blizzcon. Long-time competitors and multi-majors winners Dima “Rdu” Radu and Frederik “Hoej” Nielsen are among the heavy favorites to take the ticket, but their competition is not to be underestimated. After finishing second at the Summer Championship, Britain’s rising talent George “Georgec” Connoly will be attending his third major HCT event in a row, while fellow countryman James “Greensheep” Luo is set to prove he doesn’t need to wear a Dignitas jersey to pull down good results, but he will have to get through a Bo7 against "ShtanUdachi" first. ANOX’s Pavel “Pavel” Beltukov, currently eighth in the world by the GosuRankings and fifth in the HCT points standings, is another force to be reckoned with, still due his first major championship.
Europe’s Last Call Qualifier line-up
Rdu
Georgec
Hoej
Bunnyhoppor
Sintolol
Pavel
Nicslay
Greensheep / ShtanUdachi
The Americas’ line-up is no less impressive. Dominated by the United States with a single Canadian name in Austin “SilentStorm” Li, the list is headlined by Luminosity pair of Muzahidul “Muzzy” Islam and Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang, the former aggregating the second most HCT points in all regions behind South Korea’s Il-Mook “Handsomeguy” Kang. For players such as “Chessdude123” and Robert “Nostam” Madson this will be their second shot at a Blizzcon qualification, after missing on the previous championships.
The Americas Last Call qualifier is set to begin on October 15.
Americas’ Last Call Qualifier line-up
Muzzy
Fr0zen
Chessdude
Bbgungun
Nostam
Neobility
SilentStorm
Noblord
The Last Call qualifiers themselves came under criticism recently as Europe’s point leader Rdu raised issues with the system, pointing out the lack of any prize pool for the tournaments – despite featuring the year’s most dedicated and hard-working players – the awkward locations and the lack of live audience, among other things.
