HGC – Focus Down Week 10: Sweden or Bust

Dylan Walker, Blizzard Entertainment

The finish line is in sight. One weekend of league play remains, and it’s time to determine which teams are set to begin practice for the Mid-Season Brawl, and which must fight their way through the Playoffs next week. Here are the important matches you cannot miss in Week 10:

Gale Force Esports vs. Tempo Storm—Friday, April 20 at 4:00 p.m. PDT / 1:00 a.m. CEST

This weekend will decide which team from North America will secure the automatic qualification that comes with toping the Phase 1 standings. If Tempo Storm win this match, they will clinch the spot. But if they lose and HeroesHearth Esports wins their match, then HeroesHearth will land the qualification. There is also a small chance that Team Twelve takes the crown— you can learn more about the North American qualification scenarios by checking out this community post by DBSmiley.

Team Liquid vs. Fnatic—Saturday, April 21 at 11:00 a.m. PDT / 8:00 p.m. CEST

With both Team Dignitas and Fnatic already qualified for the Mid-Season Brawl, the onus is now on Team Liquid to win through the Playoffs. Winning against Fnatic here would mean maintaining third-place seeding in the Playoffs—Team Liquid would only have to win a single best-of-five in order to play against the rest of the best teams in the world at DreamHack Summer. Markus “Blumbi” Hanke, the former Warrior player for Team Liquid turned Fnatic coach, anticipates that he’ll be seeing his old teammates in Sweden regardless of the result from this series.

Tempest vs. Team BlossoM—Saturday, April 21 at 2:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. CEST

With both Ballistix and KSV Black all but automatically qualified for the Mid-Season Brawl, it has now fallen on Tempest to prove their worth through the Playoffs. The map score between Tempest and BlossoM is 18-1 in favor of Tempest in the last seven series between the two, so Tempest is the clear favorite to win here in our final weekend.

Be sure to tune in when the broadcast goes live this weekend when Miracle takes on Ballistix on April 20 at 2:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. CEST right here at playheroes.com/esports.

Watch live video from Heroes of the Storm on www.twitch.tv