Which teams should you keep an eye out for in the HGC North American Qualifiers?
Astral Authority and Denial eSports won't be competing, because they are auto-qualified for the HGC 2017 North American League by being North America's representatives at BlizzCon. That leaves the more than 70 teams signed up for the first qualifier to compete over the next 3 qualifiers for the 6 remaining spots and the $100,000 that comes from participating in HGC (it is only $50,000 if a team finishes 7th or 8th in the league and then loses in the Crucible).
Link to Participants (Bracket will be live shortly)
The qualifier for North America starts on Monday and will conclude on Tuesday, starting both days at 5 pm PST. Watch here.
The Favorites
Team Naventic
One of North America's strongest teams in 2016, playing in both the Spring and Summer Global Championships, Team Naventic has nonetheless seen plenty of team synergy problems due to frequent roster swaps. The most recent roster swap saw Jason leave the team to be replaced by bkid, the former tank for Gale Force eSports. Will having a dedicated warrior player for the first time in a while be just the thing Team Naventic needs to reclaim their former glory as North America's strongest team?
Gale Force eSports
With bkid leaving for Team Naventic, Gale Force eSports chose to replace him with Equinox of Gust or Bust, who is switching roles from melee assassin/flex to tank. Perhaps North America's most talented roster on paper, and one of North America's strongest teams during 2016 along with Team Naventic, they nonetheless go into 2017 with a lot to prove.
The Journeymen
2016 hasn't been a kind year for Dumpster Tier Superstars, as they have seen some roster changes and have struggled at North American regionals much more than they might have liked to. Nonetheless, the players of Dumpster Tier Superstars are all quite talented and veterans of the North American scene, so it would be a huge surprise not to see them in the HGC 2017 North American League next year.
The team everyone will be watching
Chu8 my Hotdoge
Chu8, one of Heroes of the Storm's most popular streamers, has attempted to qualify for competitive play once before in 2016, and he nearly succeeded - Gust or Bust barely succeeded in turning him back, and not without considerable controversy. Since then, Chu8 has managed to get into some controversy of his own related to his activities on stream. With Glaurung joining the team after being let go from Denial eSports, and 3 other strong players on the team, including former Team Name Change warrior Justing, Chu8 is likely going to be able to add HGC revenue to his streaming revenue. Not bad.
Other teams to watch
Vox Nihili
One of North America's best amateur teams, they broke out in a big way during the first North American Fall Regional, but were unable to follow up on that performance. Nonetheless, they are likely to be a major factor for the final 2 spots in the league, as the North America Heroes scene isn't exactly overflowing with groundbreaking talent.
Gust or Bust
Despite being one of North America's top 8 teams for a long time, this team will enter the qualifiers as a big question mark as their best player and long time shotcaller Equinox has left the team for Gale Force eSports. This is especially true since their performance without him when he was retired during the 1st half of the Fall season in 2016 was very poor and also controversial thanks to their match against Chu8 my Hotdoge.
Varian will not be playable, as he has not been out for two weeks. Will Samuro be available? That depends on whether or not Blizzard has fixed the bug that has surfaced with him in the Europe HGC qualifiers.
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