Lessons from Day 2, #HGC Western Clash

NA is not competitive internationally, period: In 2015, Cloud 9 (everyone do a shot!) swept Team DK and Team Dignitas (Korea and EU, respectively) to win the World Championship. Since then, NA has been unable to do anything of note on the international stage. Today was no different. FNATIC swept Tempo Storm, and Dignitas swept GFE. The record for NA against EU is utterly humiliating:

GFE 0-5 vs. EU
Tempo Storm 0-3 vs. EU
Team 8 1-2 vs. EU

For those who cannot add, that's a 1-10 record for NA vs. EU. The Western Clash is less of a tournament and more of a showcase of EU as clearly the second strongest region behind Korea.

Barring a miracle by Team 8 tomorrow, this NA/EU rivalry will end in a completely one-sided stomp that should make Blizzard consider rotating the clash next year so that EU and Korea can square off (they should probably do that anyway). "LOL NA" has never been more appropriate, and you know how much I hate giving power to Twitch Chat Trolls.

Misfits is Back to Being Immortal; Pay No Attention to the Nomia Series: Yesterday, I said that Misfits was mortal almost getting knocked to the losers bracket by ANZ's Nomia. Forget that. Yes, Snitch was unwell, but Misfits swept Dignitas with relative ease to move on to the next round. Not five hours later, a still sick Snitch and Dignitas took out GFE in a sweep. Now, either Snitch recovered really fast or Dignitas is just that good. I would bet on the latter. Meaning, Misfits is even better.

Can Team 8 Get a Fucking Sponsor Already? Two of the three gutter teams in NA (Team Freedom and Naventic) have sponsors. Why hasn't an eSports organization stepped up to sponsor Team 8? For that matter, why are there any teams in pro HotS without a sponsor? In beating Tempo Storm, Team 8 holds best-of-five victories over all of the other teams in NA. Right now, they are the top team, and no one will sponsor them.

It's not like this is an NA-only problem. L5, after winning Blizzcon, lost their sponsor, and they are currently running the table in Korea without a sponsor. Still, that means that the top team in two of the four major regions has no sponsorship, no backing.

JHow and Solid Jake Need a Regular HGC Gig: All of the casters we have are fantastic, but in the last series, Jake and JHow were just awesome. No one needs to be replaced, but we could just expand coverage for Latin America or something just so that these two can cast together.

So, What Happens Tomorrow? First, because it wasn't obvious which teams went where in the losers bracket (thanks for no bracket challenge, Blizzard), my bracket was messed up, though I'm technically correct on my top 3. That isn't an accomplishment since everyone had 1. Misfits, 2. FNATIC, 3. Dignitas, 4. The Least Bad NA Team. Anyway, here's what you need to know:

Team Dignitas 3-2 over Team 8: Team 8 has already shown that they can take a map off of EU, and they did it against Dig. Expect Team 8 to get game one and game four. I would like to see Team 8 force Dignitas onto Warhead Junction or Braxis in an attempt to make them uncomfortable, but I am almost positive Dig will ban out WJ. Team 8 can win this if they learn the lesson about Dig I have been preaching: do not fight on their terms. That means, don't fight them when they engage, and don't fight them when they are ready to defend. Team 8 has to catch Dig off balance, and do so in the mid and late games to win.

Misfits 3-2 over FNATIC: The league match was a classic, and this will likely be the first of two matches that we see. Misfits getting a scare from Nomia woke them up, and now, everyone beware. FNATIC is good, and this will be close. Game five will come down to a minor error that Misfits will exploit and turn.

FNATIC 3-1 over Team Dignitas: Right now, Team Dignitas has work to do in figuring out how to play against Misfits and FNATIC, and that work will not happen between now and tomorrow. FNATIC is too good right now, and they own Dig.

Misfits 3-2 over FNATIC (again): First, Misfits will start with a +1 advantage for not having lost, meaning they only need to win two. Second, FNATIC will have just come off of playing two series in a row to play series three, so they are going to be tired. The schedule locks it in for Misfits as they will enjoy the winner's advantage and win the first clash.

And with that, I'll leave you all with this clip of Dread getting broken by Jake at the desk: