Welcome to the first installment of the NerdHawk’s Guide! An in-depth discussion of video games and everything nerdy; from MMO’s to MOBAs, eSports and lore, comics and movies, everything is on the table. We have a big year ahead of us in the nerd world with the release of a new Starcraft 2 expansion in November, Star Wars Episode 7 in December, and the Marvel Secret Wars coming to an end this month we’ve got a lot to talk about.
So, to start things off I will be previewing Blizzcon 2015, which begins this Wednesday, October 28 with the World Championships of Heroes of the Storm, where eight teams will face off for their share of the $500,000 prize pool, and the title of World Champions.
In case you missed it, the tournaments leading to Blizzcon have been an exciting set to watch. Team Cloud9 secured an exciting win over Tempo Storm in game 5 of the America’s finals in September on the Blackheart’s Bay Battleground. Shutting down multiple turn-in’s Cloud9’s multiple cannon barrages prevented Tempo Storm from recovering in lane, and a late game owl skillshot from C9’s Tyrande stopped TS’s Rhegar from a 17 coin turn-in; sealing their fate from across the map. Cloud9’s bearded champion Derek “DunkTrain” Arabian mentioned the team’s plans to attend Nvidia GeForce’s gaming Boot Camp in preparation for next week’s tournament.
From across the water at the O2 Arena in Prague, Russian team, Natus Vincere was able to score a 3-0 victory over Team Dignitas becoming the European Champions. Warning their American competition of the big game they are bringing with them to Blizzcon Team NaVi flex player, Simon “ScHwimpi” Svensson says he’s bringing the heat to Blizzcon this year, “We try new shit all the time, and it always works. They will see what we bring, and they will feel it.”
I’m hoping for a world championship final round between these two, Cloud9 and NaVi. These two teams offer so much to the HotS metagame that will hopefully change the game for the better. With their out of this world strategies, NaVi may have what it takes to walk away with the crown over the standard “Top tier” pick list that Cloud9 tends to roll with.
Along with all the HotS action, Blizzcon will also have panel discussions, demos and live tournaments of all your Blizzard favorites including Diablo 3, Hearthstone, and of course Starcraft 2. I myself am most excited all the new World of Warcraft: Legion content to be revealed in preparation for next years launch, the big discussion starts Friday of Blizzcon at 12:30 PST. Getting to the convention isn’t something I am able to do this year, so I will be taking the virtual route. Virtual Tickets are available at www.blizzcon.com and come with all sorts of digital swag and get you access to all of the panel discussions and tournament streams. Stay tuned for next week’s edition of the NerdHawk’s Guide for everything nerdy!
