Heroes of the Storm Global Championships came down to just 3%

The Heroes Global Championship has crowned another victor! For the past week, twelve teams have been battling it out in the group stages leading up to the finals at BlizzCon. There were some amazing plays, clutch moments, and some heartbreaking defeats. If you’re still wanting to watch the games for yourself I won’t tell you who was in the final matchup, or what the score was until after the break. But if you read on, expect spoilers.

The Quarterfinals

In the Quarterfinal matchups, we saw how dominant Europe and South Korea are. Gen.G, Dignitas, and Miracle all took their matches in 2-0 victories. Team Liquid had to work a little harder against HeroesHearth Esports, taking the series 2-1. HHE came out swinging and took the first match, but Team Liquid fought back and doused their flames with masterful use of the Time-Lost Vikings. HHE just wasn’t able to contend with the pressure applied by the Vikings.

The Semifinals

During the Semifinals, Gen.G had almost as much trouble as HHE did. They went to game five and narrowly snatched victory thanks to Rich and his Alarak getting a much-needed kill on the final push. Dignitas lost the first game to Miracle, but came back like a lion and took the next three matches commandingly. Dignitas even managed to take two of the wins without having a single death on their team.

The Grand Final

The Grand Finals were a re-match five months in the making. Dignitas and Gen.G last squared off at the finals of the Mid-Season Brawl. They went to game seven and that was a nail biter. The stage was set for some truly epic games. Even more so with how close Liquid came to beating Gen.G.

Take a moment to remember..
The last time these 2 teams met in an #HGC Grand Finals.. the series was so close it was decided by the bonus damage of a TALENT! 🗡️ pic.twitter.com/GmB1a4JWTr

— Heroes Esports (@HeroesEsports) November 3, 2018

The early matches went strongly to Gen.G, as Dignitas couldn’t quite counter what they were doing. At every turn, Gen.G had them on the ropes. Something changed between the second and third game though. Maybe Bugs Bunny gave them a special sports drink or they took the time look at their favorite cat pictures — because they came into the third game as a different team.

Dignitas drafted Stitches and Medivh and came out swinging. Sadly, we didn’t end up getting the “Milk Carton” combo — where Stitches and Medivh work together to make one of the enemy team disappear so thoroughly that missing posters are put on milk cartons. They still managed to land hook after hook into waiting stuns from Tyrande. They picked up two kills in the first 41 seconds of the game! They were poised for a reverse sweep — and if any team could pull that off it would be Dignitas.

Backed into a corner @dignitas has to unleash their secret weapon.. @JayPL_hots' Stitches HAS ARRIVED! 🙌 #HGC pic.twitter.com/IyvhTpC8Ii

— Heroes Esports (@HeroesEsports) November 4, 2018

Playing at the top of their game, it was like the last two matches didn’t happen. The crowd was on their side, cheering at every kill, every hook, and every stun. Everything was going so well. Going all in on the core Dignitas was poised to take the match. Until Gen.G did the impossible. They held their core at 3%.

3%.

With that 3% core hold, Gen.G solidified themselves as the Global Champions for the second year in a row! Gen.G pushed back, taking first a Keep and then the core of Dignitas for a stunning upset of a win. Gen.G has said that their goals are to get the championship for the third year in a row, and as it stands right now they look like they can. We’ll have to see if the new changes and new heroes will give other teams a shot at the glory.