Day 1 of Heroes of the Storm‘s Western Clash has come to a close, and North America isn’t doing so hot. Let’s take a look at the surprises from each match.
Match 1: Dignitas vs. Octalysis
Dignitas wins this one in a brutal fashion, taking the whole match 2-0. Octalysis did what they could, but their risky core call in game 2 wasn’t enough to take down last year’s Blizzcon runner-up. We’ll see if Dignitas can keep the ball rolling in Day 2.
Match 2: Method vs. Tempo Storm
This close series ended in a 2-1 in Method’s favor. With a little more coordination from Tempo Storm, this may have been a win for NA. Tempo seems to have a tug of war between Glaurung wanting to be very aggressive and the rest of the team being a little more conservative. Method looked very strong, and they will be moving on to face Dignitas in Day 2.
Match 3: Leftovers vs. HeroesHearth
Another rough series for North America, Leftovers take this one 2-0. We didn’t see the typical macro-oriented HeroesHearth gameplay that we’ve seen all season. Instead, they tended to brawl in team fights a lot more than usual. Whether this is what led to the loss today or not is up in the air, but it was curious to see such a different play style coming from the #1 NA seed.
Match 4: Team Liquid vs. Team Freedom
In the last non-elimination match of the day, Team Freedom buckled down after a rough first game to win the series. The final game was a very back and forth match that ended with Liquid getting mostly wiped at Freedom’s base. With Liquid down 3 players, Freedom was able to rush to Liquid’s core and end the game. Freedom will be the only NA team progressing outside of the loser’s bracket from Day 1 as they compete against the Leftovers in Day 2.
Elimination Match 1: Team Octalysis vs. Tempo Storm
Tempo loses this one and is knocked out of the Western Clash Day 1. Again, it seems like Tempo’s coordination is off just a bit. This is a big win for Octalysis as they now get to stay in the Clash for Day 2.
Elimination Match 2: Team Liquid vs. HeroesHearth
HeroesHearth seems to have gotten their mojo back this series, taking it 2-0. They did a good job of keeping an experience point lead over Liquid in both games, forcing Liquid to take disadvantageous fights without the talents they needed to be on parity with HeroesHearth. This results in Liquid being eliminated from the Western Clash and HeroesHearth making it to Day 2.
Brackets
Here’s a quick look at the brackets for the Western Clash. If you’d like, you can check them out in more detail on the official HGC website.
For more Western Clash news and highlights, stay glued to our Heroes of the Storm coverage on Daily Esports!
