With a little over a week before the first NA qualifiers, Glaurung finds him self a free agent, no longer on a pre-seeded HGC team.
Many North American Heroes fans are saying the same thing after Denial eSports announced on Facebook that Mike "Glaurung" Fisk will no longer be playing with the organization:
"Again?!"
It's no secret that NA teams performed poorly during the BlizzCon 2016 world championships. Many people blame the region's tendency for frequent roster swaps and team shuffles which, after this news, seems appropriate. Korea and Europe thrive off their teamwork and long standing rosters, and hopeful NA fans can't help but become frustrated when yet another star-studded NA lineup finds itself in pieces.
While no one knows the playing conditions or team morale of Denial, was it really so bad to lose such a veteran player as Glaurung? If you want my personal opinion, I can't imagine an NA team that wouldn't want Glaurung in their group of 5.
A free agent
His passion, energy, and devout fan following are valuable to an organization looking to make their Heroes team stand out. It's hard enough to become a popular Heroes team (the game has a tendency to draw attention to new Heroes and content, rather than individual players) but Glaurung has managed to make a name for himself off of individual player skill and personality alone. Why give that up?
Handlebars, the teams manager, is also leaving the org with plans to compete in the HGC himself. This seems to make more sense, but fans can at least be thankful that the departure of Glaurung seems to be on good terms:
While we can't report officially, there are rumors of Denial looking to fill the roster with the old Cloud9 roster, including DunkTrain and Arthelon. While this would be some fantastic nostalgia, skeptical fans can't ignore reality. Heroes of the Storm has changed since 2015 and the level of play has skyrocketed. It doesn't matter much to be the best in your region-- international competition is becoming the norm and, if you can't take games off of MVP Black, Dignitas, Fnatic or Ballistix, your Heroes eSports future isn't looking too good.
Follow us on Twitter @GosuGamersHotS and on Facebook for more competitive Heroes of the Storm news and coverage from around the world.
