bytes: Laval Wins Heroes of the Dorm, Blizzard Esports Recap

Laval University Wins Heroes of the Dorm

After an undefeated run in the Heroic Four and Grand Finals, Rouge et Au of Laval University earned the undisputed title of collegiate Heroes champions and the top prize of full tuition for its five players for the remainder of their collegiate careers.

The North American collegiate esports tournament for Heroes of the Storm, the dynamic battle arena title from Blizzard Entertainment, culminated at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles in Burbank, California and crowned its first Canadian champion. In its fourth year, Heroes of the Dorm serves as the marquee event from Tespa, Blizzard’s collegiate esports network.

The Rouge et Au were flawless in their run through the Heroic Four, sweeping teams from the University of Kentucky and the University of Buffalo in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

Congratulations Laval, your 2018 Heroes of the Dorm!

Heroes Global Championship: ANZ’s Mindfreak Wins Intercontinental Clash for Spot at Mid-Season Brawl

Australia / New Zealand’s Mindfreak won the very first Heroes Global Championship (HGC) Intercontinental Clash over Latin America’s Encore e-Sports to earn themselves a trip to the Mid-Season Brawl in Jonkoping, Sweden. Hosted at the Promo Arena Studios in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mindfreak proved themselves the dominant team, winning 4-1. They will be placed in Group A of the Mid-Season Brawl, where they’ll battle the very best teams in the world, including Tempo Storm (NA), Fnatic (EU), Ballistix (KR) and more, beginning June 9.

Next week on May 18, Taiwan and Southeast Asia will battle in the very first HGC Horizon Clash to determine who will secure the last spot at the Mid-Season Brawl. For the full Mid-Season Brawl bracket, please visit: https://esports.heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/schedule

Overwatch League Grand Finals Heading to Brooklyn; Playoff Tickets On-Sale Now

Stage 4 doesn’t start until later this week, but the race to the postseason is already in full-stride. The top six teams after 40 regular season games will advance to the playoffs in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League.

The two semifinals victors will move on to the Grand Finals, hosted at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY July 27-28. For up-to-date standings, visit https://overwatchleague.com/en-us/standings/season/1/league.

Contenders Finals Saw Some Fireworks

The Contenders Europe and North America Playoffs traveled to Alwernia, Poland, for a climactic finale this past weekend. Alvernia Planet played host to the excitement, an all-too-fitting venue given that it looks like a real-life version of the Horizon Lunar Colony map. The eight assembled teams had the perfect stage on which to battle, and they did not disappoint.

Check out the blog for a breakdown of some of the best moments from the weekend’s action: https://overwatchleague.com/en-us/news/21784862/contenders-finals-saw-some-fireworks.

Americas Summer Playoff Results, Asia-Pacific Playoffs on the Horizon

The second of three weeks of grueling HCT Playoffs for the Summer season has wrapped up, and four American players have officially earned their tickets to the 2018 HCT Summer Championship!  Congratulations to Rase, Killinallday, Nalguidan, and Dog who will travel to the Blizzard Arena Los Angeles June 28 – July 1 to battle against four counterparts from each of the other competing regions – China, Americas, Asia-Pacific – in an effort to earn their place in the World Championship in early 2019.

The action continues this weekend with the Asia-Pacific Summer Playoffs, which will air from 7:00 p.m. May 18-19 at http://twitch.tv/playhearthstone

Check out VODs from this past weekend here: https://www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone/videos/all

Tune In: Hearthstone Collegiate Championship This Weekend

Tune in this weekend to watch the Hearthstone Collegiate Championship (HCC) come to a grand finale! The HCC is bigger and better than ever before, featuring over $150,000 in scholarship prizing, tablets, and more. The following collegiate teams are being represented in the finals:

Saturday, May 19 Match Ups

  • Stanford University vs. Boise State University
  • University of Utah vs. Pennsylvania State University
  • Carnegie Melon University vs. Pennsylvania State University
  • University of California – Los Angeles vs. Georgia Institute of Technology

Sunday, May 20 Match Ups – TBD

Watch the HCC live on twitch.tv/playHearthstone on May 19 and 20!

Visit the Tespa Compete page for more info: https://compete.tespa.org/tournament/97

StarCraft II – North America and Europe Challengers Earn Their Spot at WCS Austin

The Finals of WCS Challenger Season 1 in Europe and North America took place this weekend to decide who would take home prize money, WCS points and, most importantly, automatic qualification for WCS Austin (June 1-3). These are the results:

North America

  • 1st Place: Neeb – Protoss (USA)- $1,600 / 200 WCS Points / Seed into WCS Austin 2018
  • 2nd Place: uThermal – Terran (Netherlands) – $1,200 / 140 WCS Points / Seed into WCS Austin 2018
  • 3rd/4th Place:  puCK – Terran (USA) / Scarlett – Zerg (Canada) – $800 / 90 WCS Points / Seed into WCS  Austin 2018

Europe

  • 1st Place: Serral – Zerg (Finland)- $1,600 / 200 WCS Points / Seed into WCS Austin 2018
  • 2nd Place: MaSa – Terran (Canada) – $1,200 / 140 WCS Points / Seed into WCS Austin 2018
  • 3rd/4th Place:  HeRoMaRinE – Germany (USA) / PtiDrogo – Protoss (France) – $800 / 90 WCS Points / Seed into WCS Austin 2018