Finally, after a long season of HGC games all over the world, our Heroes of the Storm global championship has come to an end. Below, you’ll find links to each game in both semifinals matches and the finals matches next to a short synopsis of each game. Will Team Liquid usurp the world champion team, Gen. G? Or will Miracle finally claw their way into the finals? Find out below!
Caution: Spoilers are obviously abundant in this article.
Semifinals 1: Gen. G vs. Team Liquid
Game 1: In this close, 25-minute-long match on Volskaya Foundry, we saw some amazing play from both teams. Gen. G had the advantage for most of the game, but Liquid played very passively, picking and choosing their fights throughout the game with care. This led to them actually catching up in levels to Gen. G to give us an action-packed post-level 20 section of the game for a solid amount of time. In the end, Liquid managed to set up a strong defense over the objective to win it before marching the protector to Gen. G’s core.
Game 2: Gen. G took this Towers of Doom game by slowly and methodically gaining an EXP lead over Liquid. By no means did Liquid roll over and die, but Gen. G was able to keep their advantage rolling all game despite Liquid’s efforts. This allowed Gen. G to pull of a win.
Game 3: Gen. G seemed to be very comfortable in this Dragon Shire game. They were very capably gaining momentum, robbing Team Liquid of their camps, getting surprise kills and just in general keeping Liquid from getting back into the game. This led to Gen. G once more walking away with the win for this game.
Game 4: This game on Infernal Shrines had team fights that were the definition of explosive. It featured super intense fights, even a somewhat comical 1v1 between the supports of the two teams, and just good play all around from each team. In the end, Liquid managed to win a couple of late-game Shrines to win the game, using Tyrael’s Sanctification to protect themselves from Gen. G’s aggressive team fight play.
Game 5: This was an incredibly tense match on Braxis Holdout that opened with some very aggressive plays on Team Liquid’s part. Gen. G seemed to be on their back foot the entire game with Liquid’s triple tank composition really pushing Gen. G out of the game. The casters commented saying that the entrie game would come down to one team sniping just one kill from the other in the late game, and they were correct. Gen. G managed to get a kill on Liquid’s Tyrael and they snowballed the game from there to a win.
Semifinals 2: Dignitas vs. Miracle
Game 1: This game took place on Infernal Shrines and showcased Dignitas drafting Kerrigan for her quick objective clear on this map. The game went back and forth with some very very nice defensive play coming from Miracle. This led the game to go late, past level 20 where Miracle was able to win one last team fight before coming back to destroy Dignitas’ core with an aggressive counter-push.
Game 2: If you want to learn what it means to control the item camps on Volskaya Foundry, look no further than this game. Dignitas had absolute control of the item camps all game, winning themselves an EXP lead over Miracle. This lead let Dignitas push forward, taking a long fight through the remnants of Miracle’s top keep before winning the game.
Game 3: Dignitas and Miracle started this one on Tomb of the Spider Queen by trading blows in aggressive fighting in the middle lane. The entire game was a slugfest; each team had moments where they had the upper hand, but Dignitas managed to get ahead just a little after an excellent defensive game. Dignitas won with their counter-momentum driving them to Miracle’s core. The casters pointed out that Miracle made some questionable decisions towards the end of this game that may have led to Dignitas’ comeback.
Game 4: Dignitas won this game handily, displaying amazing Blaze Bunker play and team synergy over Miracle. The entire game Miracle pushed back and fought against Dignitas’ dominance, but Dignitas didn’t let them get back into the game.
Finals: Dignitas vs. Gen. G
Game 1: The first game between these two titans was a back-and-forth match chock full of kills and explosive team fights. Dignitas pulled forward a lot in the early game, only to fall prey to Gen. G’s passive, patient play. The team fights this game were a master class in positioning.
Game 2: Rich on Gen. G broke out his Alarak this game, using the displacement and Silence effect brought by that hero to thwart Dignitas this Tomb of the Spider Queen game. Gen. G was able to turn in back to back multiple times, repeatedly hammering into Dignitas’ defenses. Dignitas fought back diligently, but not enough to combat the massive lead that Gen. G had achieved. Gen. G won this one with their excessive amount of constant pressure.
Game 3: Dignitas opened up strong, diving hard into Gen. G for a couple early-game kills. All game, Dignitas fought tooth and nail to run down Gen. G and keep their lead in impressive fashion. In Dignitas’ final moments, they pushed all the way to Gen. G’s core and knocked it down to just 3% health before being wiped. Gen. G’s Tassadar utilized his shielding to keep thier core slightly healthier than it could have been during the entire fight, using his Archon ultimate to reset his Dimensional Shift ability so he could better stay alive and keep his core safe. This was enough to buy Gen. G the time to wipe Dignitas and take the win.
Conclusion
Thank you to everyone who has been following along with Daily Esports during this HGC Finals season! It’s been a great run and we’re excited to continue coverage of events like this in the future. If you are looking for a good series to watch, the above Team Liquid vs Gen. G match was fantastic.
As always, feel free to let us know what we can improve on in the comments, and if you like what you see, feel free to share around! I’ll see you guys in the Nexus!
