Two of the biggest names in Hearthstone have announced that they’ll be playing under a new banner moving forward.
The first announcement came from Andrew “TidesofTime” Biessener. The American who first made a name for himself as a professional Dota 2 player has truly come into his own concentrating on Hearthstone.
His accomplishments include high ladder rankings and multiple tournament victories, including a win at the World Esport Championships, which, at the time, featured the biggest prize pool ever contested in competitive Hearthstone. Biessener’s share of that prize was a tidy $32,500.
Biessener is also a popular streaming personality on Twitch and was the anchor of his Hearthstone team, Tempo Storm. But now, Biessener has moved on to a much bigger organization: Cloud9.
In a statement on Cloud9’s website, Biessener expressed regret for having to leave behind his old teammates, but optimism for what his future would hold.
“I’m incredibly excited for this new chapter in life where I get to be on a team that’s made such a huge mark in esports,” Biessener said.
He joins other popular players like Cong “StrifeCro” Shu and Jan “Ek0p” Palys in what is now arguably the strongest Hearthstone team in the world.
Meanwhile, another of Hearthstone’s most successful players, Jason “Amaz” Chan, announced his own departure from his former team.
Chan, who like Biessener maintains a strong presence on the Twitch platform in addition to his competitive ventures, has made finals appearances this year in events staged by DreamHack and the Intel Extreme Masters series.
Chan had for some time been playing under the Team Liquid banner, but the esports organization quietly announced that Chan would be parting ways with the team.
The given motivation for the departure is for Chan to form his own team, likely based around Hearthstone. In his own statement, Chan was thankful to Team Liquid for their support and sought to assuage any concerns fans might have that the move would affect his content production or competitive performance.
“I’ll continue putting out great content: whether it’s in the form of streaming or videos or joining tournaments (and hopefully doing well), I’ll always try my best,” Chan said.
Chan did not offer any hints as to when his new team might be formed or which players would be joining him.
Screengrab via ESL/YouTube
