The esports potential of Blizzard’s newest title is finally being realized: The first online tournament for Heroes of the Storm is about to begin.
Since its announcement in 2010, when it was simply known as Blizzard Dota, the game has left fans excited about its potential as an esport. Heroes of the Storm takes elements of the biggest esports on the planet, Dota 2 and League of Legends, and mixes them with Blizzard’s gaming universe and its trademark sense of humor.
Announced this morning, the ESV Championship Series will take the top eight teams from the game’s online ladder and pit them against each other in a 12-game series. The top two teams will fight in the playoff finals.
Only six teams are confirmed for the league, but it already features some of the biggest names in competitive gaming.
The early frontrunner is Team Snowflake, which contains two ex-Evil Geniuses StarCraft 2 players in Greg “IdrA” Fields and Jacob “LzGaMeR” Winstead. At one point Fields was considered one of the greatest StarCraft players in the world, but his struggles both within the game and off the field saw him kicked off Evil Geniuses. He now appears ready to regain some of his former glory on a whole new battlefield.
Facing off against Snowflake, however, are some other serious contenders. Glorious! Gaming features former SC2 pro Rori “CauthonLuck” Bryant-Raible along with popular Heroes streamer, ZPs. Also competing is Symbiote Gaming, led by League of Legends pro Taylor “Arthelon” Eder.
Heroes of the Storm might still be in its alpha stages, but an organized league this early on shows some incredible potential for the up-and-coming title.
