BlizzCon is many things to many different people. For some, it’s a cultural event where passionate gamers from around the world journey to Southern California and revel in the shared passion of their favourite game worlds. For others, however, it’s the truly mind-boggling culmination of five of the biggest esports tournaments on the calendar.
I tend to fall in the latter category and, while that’s not to say you shouldn’t be excited about the rest of the convention, there’s plenty to look forward to at this year’s event.
This year, Australia will be represented in three of the major events, headlined by our Overwatch World Cup team featuring in the tournament’s quarter-finals after a stunning group stage performance against the odds in Bangkok.
Joining them will be Mindfreak in the Heroes of the Storm Global Championships, as well as Gfinity Elite Series triple champions Order in the World of Warcraft Arena World Championships.
Benjamin Vinante-Davies will lead Mindfreak into battle at BlizzCon. (Photo: Mindfreak Esports)
The main event – from an Australian standpoint – will undoubtedly be the performance of our Overwatch team, who are making their second-straight quarter-finals appearance. Last year, they pushed eventual runners-up Canada all the way but this year have been dealt the absolute worst possible hand; a date with reigning back-to-back champions South Korea.
The Korean dominance of the professional Overwatch scene is unlike anything in the traditional sporting world. They’ve not lost a single match in world cup history and went through the inaugural tournament in 2016 without losing a single map.
That’s like winning the FIFA world cup without conceding a single goal.
But, while they still went through Group A undefeated, the conquerors looked conquerable for the first time ever with Finland pushing them to a fifth-map tiebreaker in front of their home fans.
Don’t get me wrong, Australia will start as the longest-price outsiders of any of the quarter-finalists, but the fact they’ve even reached this stage of the competition is an enormous achievement and coach Gunba (Jordan Graham) deserves accolades that don’t yet exist for his work.
Gunba’s guidance was vital as Australia surprised at the World Cup. (Photo: Robert Paul/Blizzard Entertainment)
They proved they’re more than worthy of a spot in the knockout stage after they snuck past heavily-favoured Sweden and Denmark to qualify – almost defeating powerhouses China in the process.
Even taking a map off the unbackable favourites will do wonders for the squad – most of whom aren’t yet on Overwatch League rosters.
Match time: Saturday, November 3, 12:15pm (AEDT)
While the Overwatch esports don’t start until BlizzCon properly begins next weekend, there’s plenty of Heroes of the Storm action to tide you over – starting from tomorrow.
Australia are sending some all-conquerors of their own in the form of eight-time national champions Mindfreak. We had the privilege of speaking to captain Benjamin Vinante-Davies earlier this year on both how to get better at MOBAs, as well as building strong team culture.
After breezing through yet another ANZ Premier Division season, they easily accounted for Latin American side ThunderPredator in the intercontinental clash to punch their first ever BlizzCon ticket.
They’ll face some stiff competition in Group B, however, including the first-placed sides from both the European championship (Team Dignitas) and North American championship (HeroesHearth)
Also in the group are Leftovers, who qualified through the European playoffs, second-placed Korean team Tempest, and TheOne, who finished second in the Gold Series playoffs.
Some pretty rough experiences in mid-season brawls past means our HGC side will start as outsiders when it comes to knockout stage progression, but they’ll still have the opportunity to put Australia Heroes esports well and truly on the map.
Match times (all AEDT)
Friday, October 26, 7am vs HeroesHearth
Saturday, October 27, 3am vs Tempest
Saturday, October 27, 9:45am vs TheOne
Sunday, October 28, 8:30am vs Leftovers
Monday, October 29, 3am vs Team Dignitas
The last of our three teams in Anaheim is none other than Order who, fresh off taking out the crowns in CS:GO, Rocket League and Street Fighter V at season one of the Elite Series, are sending their WoW Arena team (acquired from Mad Dog) to BlizzCon.
Having taking out the Asia-Pacific grand final, they face very tough opposition in the form of Tempo Storm first up. While Tempo Storm only qualified on AWC points this year (largely due to a roster upheaval since 2017’s tournament), they’re still a dominant side who will take an extraordinary effort to overcome.
Order won’t be the only Australians at the Arena World Championship, however, with Chanimal (Adam Chan) – who used to play for Tempo Storm – also travelling to BlizzCon as a member of North American qualifiers Super Frogs.
Also from the local scene is New Zealand’s Mes (Richard Simpson), who’ll be playing for North American powerhouses Method Orange.
Match time: Tuesday, October 30 – TBC
Speaking of New Zealand, they’ll be the closest team to home at the Hearthstone Global Games, after Australia crashed out in the Swiss rounds earlier this year.
The Aussies were brushed aside by both Belarus and Canada and, while they were able to score a win over Argentina, a fourth-round loss to Peru saw their tournament ended.
No Hearthstone Inn-vitational means no chance for Australia’s Navi00T to repeat his 2017 heroics. (Photo: Blizzard Entertainment)
The Kiwis, on the other hand, backed up their surprise performance last HGG with a strong 4-2 performance in the opening stages that included wins over Sweden, Italy and Portugal.
They breezed through the round of 16 after knocking off Taiwan and Singapore – setting up a mouth-watering clash against China.
Their run to the quarter-finals last year – where they fell narrowly to the USA – was a sight to behold. If they go one better this year, we’ll do no doubt try to pass off their success as our own.
Match time: Saturday, November 3 – 6:15am
While, predictably, nobody from Australia qualified for the StarCraft II World Championship Series finals, it will be interesting to see if Korea can finally be dethroned – namely by Finish phenom Serral (Joonas Sotala). In any case, StarCraft II can be one of the most incredible esports to watch, so it will be still be worth tuning in for.
Australia’s presence at this event has no doubt grown and grown – especially over the last two years. Can our competitors shock the rest of the world?
I can’t wait to find out.
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