Murloc Geniuses defend their title while Denial eSports earn the second North American BlizzCon spot at the PAX West Heroes of the Storm Fall Regional

After Murloc Geniuses lost 2-0 to Denial eSports in groups, many were doubtful that they could win back-to-back North American Championship titles, but Murlocs advanced from the lower bracket in the first Fall Regional where they won it all, and they repeated that success at PAX West. After their victory, a revamped Denial faced Fall Regional #1 runners up Gale Force eSports and won 2-0, punching their ticket to BlizzCon.

SEMIFINALS

Championship Sunday began with Denial eSports taking down Astral Authority in a quick 3-0.

Murloc Geniuses battled Team Naventic in their first match. The first game went to Naventic and it was looking like Murloc Geniuses wouldn’t be able to repeat the success they had in Burbank, but they were able to just barely take an insanely close Game 2 to tie things up 1-1.

Obviously angered, Naventic tried to use Lieutenant Morales’ Medivac to rush core in the early stages of Game 3. After making a significant dent in Murloc Geniuses’ core health, the defending champions were having none of it and they made a similar aggressive push against Naventic. In the shortest game of the tournament, Murloc Geniuses won the race for core just eight minutes in.

Naventic’s aggressive early game strategy paid off in Game 4 as they tied the score 2-2 with a dominant win on Cursed Hollow, but it was Murloc Geniuses who won the fifth and final game to move on to the grand finals.

FINALS

Game 1 of the grand finals was looking like a win for Denial. They had Murloc Genius’ core down to 43% health until Murlocs pulled off an entire team wipe and handed Denial eSports their first loss of the tournament.

Murloc Geniuses were able to take down Denial in Game 2, putting them on match point and setting the stage for a tiebreaker match between Denial eSports and Gale Force eSports, but Denial then pushed back with a win of their own.

After a great display of teamwork, Denial took down Murloc Geniuses in Game 4 Garden of Terror and pushed the series to a fifth game.

Game 5 on Blackheart’s Bay was Denial eSports’ map pick, but Murloc Geniuses pushed to an early lead and defended their title as the North American Champions.

TIEBREAKER

Following the grand finals, Denial eSports faced Gale Force eSports in a best-of-three tie-breaker battle for BlizzCon. After a disappointing performance in the group stages and failing to make it to the playoffs, this was GFE’s last chance to prove themselves.

Denial had eight games behind them and had just come off of an exhausting loss to Murloc Geniuses, but they managed to take down GFE in a close Game 1 on Sky Temple.

Everything came down to Tomb of the Spider Queen where Denial continued their momentum and won the tiebreaker match 2-0!

When Denial were the first team to make it out of groups Glaurung said, “I was super disappointed and heartbroken last event, to the point where I’ve never focused so hard for an event. To all our fans, we let you guys down last time. This is the third year that I’ve had the chance to go to BlizzCon. I’m not gonna miss it this year, I’ve missed it twice.” The hard work paid off and Denial eSports are headed to BlizzCon 2016.

THANKS FOR WATCHING

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the ESL Arena at PAX West and to everyone who tuned into the broadcast. Congratulations to Murloc Geniuses and Denial eSports, and be sure to stay tuned as these top North American teams get ready for the Fall Global Championship at BlizzCon 2016. If you missed the action on Friday or Saturday, be sure to catch up on what happened in Group A and Group B.

For all the latest updates about the North American Heroes of the Storm Fall Global Circuit, follow ESL Heroes on Facebook and Twitter. You can also follow Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm social channels on Facebook and Twitter and add your voice to the conversation by using #HGC.

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