For as long as anyone cares to remember, “the Big Three” have dominated the Korean Heroes of the Storm eSports scene. From the old days of TNL-Snake-MVP Black to last year’s MVP Black-Tempest-L5, major tournaments such as the Chinese Gold Series and Global Championships have rarely seen any major challengers to the throne. Understandably, many fans expected and waited to see high level plays in only semifinals and above. As such, the Big Three have been the gold standard in the Heroes scene.

To survive in these circumstances, mid to lower teams had to follow the strong teams’ tried-and-true formula for victory, as one defeat in lower and deciders’ brackets means an immediate elimination from tournaments. The desperation and pressure to do well in major tournaments, which happen once in a blue moon, seemed to dictate their performances at these events. In other words, they only scraped by while mindlessly accepting the meta set by the Big Three, rarely ever incorporating their own strategies and flairs.

Fast forward to 2017, and the Heroes scene is beginning to change. Although the Big Three, MVP Black-L5-Tempest, are as formidable as ever, lower teams started to show promising performances. For starters, the newly reunited Mighty admirably played against Tempest in a match that went down to the wire, effectively threatening one of the Big Three. Team BlossoM(previously Supreme Mixtape), which was promoted from Open Division, has also taken a much needed first victory of the season. Even the bottom HGC team, Raven, and the top Open Division team, Unbalance are showing their true colors, regardless of their current standings.

The basic fundamentals causing these shifts is the full league format of HGC. In a full league format, lowers teams get to play as many matches as the high performing teams. Previously, inexperienced teams had somewhat of a disadvantage as a single defeat could knock them out of the tournament, but they now have a level playing field since they can continue playing through the season. Rather than fearing for defeat and, subsequently, elimination, all teams are able to look at the season with a more long term perspective. This change in mindset has also caused teams to start playing with their own unique strengths and styles.

▲ H82's mind-blowing two-man Phase Prism shocked many fans.

In recent interviews, players have reflected this exact sentiment. Considered by many to be the bottom of the league, Raven, currently going 0-7 in the season, was able to take two games against MVP Miracle in the last match before the Eastern Clash. Although they failed to achieve their first win of the season, Jeongwoo “H82” Kim said in an interview that he encouraged his teammates to play what they knew best. As a result, H82’s Artanis was able to make a surprise appearance, leaving a strong impression on people for his meta-breaking plays.

If Raven was on the verge of elimination, Artanis, who was on a losing streak, would have never seen play for the foreseeable future. Raven themselves also commented that they drafted Artanis against MVP Black with limited success, so they collectively decided to not use him again. However, with the other half of the season still remaining, Raven was able to make a splash with Artanis once more.

In the secondary league, Open Division, each team’s style is becoming more clear as the season goes on. Centered around Seunggoo “UnscaryPerson” Lee [Korean: 안무서운사람], Unbalance won two consecutive Open Divisions. Teammates explain that they named the team Unbalance because the UnscaryPerson’s form largely dictates if they win or lose. Putting everything in one basket and helping him to become “scary” is the team’s playstyle. Also known as “AvianKing” [Korean: 조류왕], UnscaryPerson walked a fine line between carry and troll but proved himself to be the team’s defining player ever since he started playing on a team that maximizes his strengths. It goes without saying that a superstar-oriented strategy is not without its flaws, but Unbalance honed their skills and managed the risks to come up with their unique playstyle.

Now, the league format is well-suited to allow teams like Unbalance to aim higher. Unlike last year when players had to wait for the next qualifiers if they didn’t make Super League, teams can now accrue Open Division points to move up to HGC. Fans will closely monitor these budding teams’ progress, while teams like BlossoM can make their claim at an HGC spot next season. Since many players have a massive craving to take their first step as a pro gamer and also to obtain monetary compensation, the relentless pursuit for the primary league will surely continue.

Since pro gamers and players are people with human tendencies, they cannot bring their A game to every match. As humans, they tend to lose their way under the constant pressure of defeat and elimination. All strategies, whether wild or simple, can only bring victory if they are used in actual matches. In order to test those strategies, teams need to minimize the outside pressure and focus on their own plays.

Players who defeated MVP Black when the team was unanimously favoured to win, all say the same thing; although they had been intimidated by Black from previous encounters, they rose above their fears of defeat and only thought about their own plays. Both L5 Noblesse and Jeongha’s responses were the same.

Granted, not every player will be able to part with the pressures that come from the cutthroat pro gaming setting. Still, HGC helps players to showcase their plays from the tournament organization perspective, as evidenced by Raven’s H82 on Artanis. The league change shifted some of the weight on players while providing new hope for future players. Now that the new playing field called HGC is set up, hopefully current and future pros will be able to leave their mark on the scene, knowing that one or two bad games won’t decide their careers.