The final NA Open this weekend is already home to tense games and great plays. Tomorrow we will find out which NA teams take the last two qualifying spots, and advance to the America Regional Championship.
This weekend the final rounds of the August NA Open take place; signifying the last chance for North American teams to earn their spot in the America Regional Championship. Two weeks ago eight teams advanced to this weekend's final rounds: Tempo Storm, Cloud9, COGnitive Gaming, compLexity Gaming, Murloc Geniuses (formerly Zeveron), Luminosity Gaming, Kappa Wolves and Panda Global.
Out of these teams, TS/C9/COG have already earned a ticket to Las Vegas, but are still focused on winning the prize money and pride in this August Open. But for the other five teams, this weekend makes the difference between them staying in the Heroes spotlight for the months to come or having to build their reputation back up.
As seen in the bracket, no top teams met in the first round like we've seen in the past. Each of the four matchups in the first round saw a fan favorite being matched up with one of the underdog teams. One of the unexpectedly closest set of games however happened during the first round, in the series between Cloud9 and Panda Global. Panda Global is the original The PLEYZ team that has been in the scene since closed beta, and they have now been picked up by their new sponsor. Even though C9 ended up winning 2-0, their team captain DunkTrain stated afterwards that it was way too close for comfort. The following game in particular is worth the watch, showing that it is possible to make Cloud9 sweat.
In contrast with that game, later on in the broadcast we saw Tempo Storm completely overwhelm Murloc Geniuses in a game on Tomb of the Spider Queen. Through solid Zeratul play by Zuna and overall excellent early aggression, TS managed to completely manipulate the flow of the game. Tempo Storm makes it all seem so easy, but as is often the case the opposite is true.
If you enjoy watching high quality Heroes of the Storm play, and you were unaware of the August NA Open up until this point, then tune in tomorrow at http://www.twitch.tv/blizzheroes for the finals rounds of the NA qualification circuit.
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