In just a few weeks, the top eight Heroes of the Storm teams in all of North America will converge at the ESL Studios in Burbank, California to battle at the second and final North America Summer Regional! The winner will take home the first place prize of US$25,000 and secure a spot to represent their region at the Summer Global Championship in Sweden. Here's a look at the top teams and their competitive histories:

NAVENTIC

• Fan “Fan” Yang
• Stafford “McIntyre” McIntyre
• Christopher “Zuna” Buechter
• Samuel “Bigempct” Hua
• Ken “Kenma” Buechter

Naventic was founded in February 2016 and picked up the players of the Bob Ross Fan Club (BRFC) to form their debut Heroes of the Storm roster. The team placed second against Cloud9 at the North America Spring Regional and represented North America alongside Cloud9 at the Spring Global Championship, after which Aaron “erho” Kappes was replaced by Samuel “Bigempct” Hua.

Naventic most recently came out on top at the first North America Summer Regional, solidifying their spot at the Summer Global Championship and earning the largest share of the US$100,000 prize pool. They will be competing at the North America Spring Regional #2 for a portion of another US$100,000 purse and to prove themselves as the best Heroes of the Storm team in the region.

BRAIN POWER

• Jeffrey “iakona” Dolan
• Mike “Glaurung” Fisk
• Rori “CauthonLuck” Bryant-Raible
• Kayla “Faye” Murray
• Quinn "Srey" Fischer

Previously known as COGnitive Gaming, Brain Power will be playing under a new name and a new roster. Ben “Cattlepillar” Bunk moved to Cloud9 and helped them earn a seat at the North America Summer Regional in the Invitational Qualifier, leaving Brain Power to fill his spot with Quinn “Srey” Fischer.

Brain Power is made up of veterans from the Heroes scene and many of the players have played together professionally in the past. They achieved a top four finish at both the Spring Regional Championship in Burbank and the recent NA Summer Regional at DreamHack in Austin. Qualifying for the second Summer Regional in the top two seed, Brain Power is ready to rumble.

PANDA GLOBAL

• Harrison “psalm” Chang
• Josh “bkid” Soo
• Eugene “Yuuj” Tseng
• Richard “Kladeous” Tran
• Jason “Jason” Mei

Panda Global acquired its core members in November of 2015 after signing Kappa Wolves, one of the oldest and strongest rosters in the competitive scene, to replace their previous team, which disbanded in October. The current roster has made some changes since then, with Stefan “akaface” Anderson and Michael “MichaelUdall” Udall switching over to Gale Force esports and Bigempct moving to Naventic.

Panda Global fell to Naventic early on in the group stages of the DreamHack All-Stars, but will be starting their second Summer Regional with a matchup against Astral Authority. After earning a seat at the Burbank Summer Regional in the second open qualifier, Panda Global are looking strong and have a good chance to make it out of the group stages.

GALE FORCE eSPORTS

• Stefan “akaface” Anderson
• Manuel “Fury” Medina
• Khalif “Khroen” Hashim
• David “Roflcopter” Young
• Michael “MichaelUdall” Udall

Gale Force eSports had something of a roster overhaul this Spring, with akaface, MichaelUdall, and David “Roflcopter” Young all joining in mid-April. Akaface and MichaelUdall moved over from Panda Global, both with 2016 Heroes of the Dorm first place titles in hand.

Manuel “Fury” Medina and Khalif “Khroen” Hashim both joined the team earlier in March, and with these five members, Gale Force eSports seems to have settled into a pattern of success. After making it to the playoffs at DreamHack All-Stars and falling to Naventic in the semifinals, Gale Force eSports will be going into the ESL Summer Regional ready to make it to the top.

TEAM NAME CHANGE

• Justin “Justing” Gapp
• Chandler “Buds” Gavran
• Hao “HaoNguyen” Nguyen
• Francis “MATRE” Gilbert-Brodeur
• Kyle “Prismaticism” Belaiche

Justing and Buds formed a team in November of 2015 under the name Team Higher Consciousness (THC) and went through numerous roster changes. In March they picked up HaoNguyen, playing also with Grizz and Ishb00. After losing to Panda Global in the first qualifier for the North America Summer Regional #1, things were looking grim for TNC, but the night before the second qualifier they picked up MATRE and Prismaticism from the disbanded PPST.

TNC played one scrim block with MATRE the night before and played with Prismaticism for the first time during the second qualifier where they won 2-1 over Brain Power and 2-0 over Astral Authority to qualify for DreamHack. The first North America Summer Regional at DreamHack was where they debuted as Team Name Change (TNC) for the first time and although they fell to Cloud9 in the group stages, they are going into the ESL Regional with a lot of confidence.

ASTRAL AUTHORITY

• Chris “DarkChimera” Beery
• Damian “FrozenX” Nagel
• Jerome “KilluZiioN” Tanguay
• Kevin “TalkingTrees” Marco
• Jon “Equinox” Peterson

Team Gust or Bust impressed many at the North America Spring Regional and were acquired soon after by Astral Authority. These five players made their competitive debut as a part of the #AstralArmy at the DreamHack All-Stars in Austin, but fell to Gale Force eSports after a close game in the group stages.

Astral Authority took down Tempo Storm and secured a spot at the NA Summer Regional before Cloud 9 in an impressive performance in the third regional qualifier and are headed to Burbank looking to make themselves known as one of the best.

CLOUD9

• Keiwan “k1pro” Itakura
• Kun “iDream” Fang
• Derek “DunkTrain” Arabian
• John “KingCaffeine” Lopez
• Ben “Cattlepillar” Bunk

Former world champions Cloud9 lost a Summer Global Championship seat to Naventic in the first North America Summer Regional at DreamHack Austin and were surprisingly late in qualifying for the second. A recent roster swap adding Ben “Cattlepillar” Bunk to the lineup seemed to reignite the team as they made their way to the ESL Summer Regional after a very strong performance at the recent Invitational Qualifier.

Cloud9 won the first ever Heroes of the Storm championship title at the Blizzcon Championship in November 2015, but surrendered the crown to MVP Black in the 2016 Spring Global Championship in Seoul, South Korea. The big question of the second NA Summer Regional is whether or not Cloud9 will once again make their way to the Global Championship or if their dominant North American dynasty will be put to an end.

TEMPO STORM

• Kurt “Kaeyoh” Ocher
• Francisco “Goku” Avalos
• Brian “Zixz” Skarda
• Thomas “Tomster” Maguire
• Ed “TigerJK” Hong

Tempo Storm were the last team to qualify for the North America Summer Regional, winning the losers bracket finals against Hot Dog Burglars in the Invitational Qualifier. They made an appearance at the first NA Summer Regional, but lost in the group stages to COGnitive Gaming (now Brain Power).

Tempo Storm started off as a top team in the early competitive days of Heroes of the Storm, but took a downfall due to tense team relationships. After switching up their roster, they are back at it, consistently qualifying for regionals and making their way to the top of the pack.

NA SUMMER REGIONAL #2

The Heroes of the Storm North America Summer Regional begins on Friday, June 3 with community broadcasts starting at 10AM PDT. The action will continue at the ESL Studios in front of a live audience for the rest of the weekend.

Tune in on the ESL Heroes of the Storm Twitch channel to see which team will go on to represent North America at the Summer Global Championship in Jönköping, Sweden! Who are you rooting for?

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