Cloud9 emerged victorious over old rivals Tempo Storm to win their second major title in a row this weekend in one of the most thrilling competitive Heroes of the Storm matches to date.
Both Cloud9 and Tempo Storm secured their place in November’s inauguralHeroes World Championship this weekend in Las Vegas by reaching the final. But there was still the small matter of the $40,000 first prize. For that, the two teams battled in a five game series that could signal a permanent shift in the North American power balance.
Historically Tempo Storm have dominated Cloud9, going 4-1 against them since July this year until earlier this month. But now, Cloud9 have won three of the last four encounters between the teams.
Cloud9 looked unstoppable in the first two games of the Americas final, finishing both leads of more than a dozen. In game one, Tempo Storm’s Christopher “Zuna” Buechter fell flat with his off-meta Butcher pick that seemed the clear weakness in the Tempo Storm composition.
But Tempo Storm wasn’t going down without a fight, scoring a pair of comfortable wins to level the score and set the scene for a tense final game.
The teams met on Blackheart’s Bay, a map rarely seen in competitive Heroes and that few teams are comfortable on. In the draft, Cloud9 prioritized vision, picking Zagara and Tyrande, a move that would later prove crucial in securing the game as the team finished with 25 kills to Tempo Storm’s six.
The rest of the Americas tournament proceeded much as expected. COGnitive Gaming and CompLexity Gaming made it out of group B, falling to Cloud9 and Tempo Storm respectively in the semi finals.
Tempo Storm and Cloud9 will now advance to November’s Heroes World Championship to face the champions of Europe, China, Korea and Taiwan for a share of $500,000.
Image via BlizzHeroes/Twitter
