Heroes Lounge S2 Weekly Recap #5

SPICING THINGS UP - THE VLOG

This week we have something special for you: In addition to the Weekly Recap Blogpost we present the Weekly Recap VLOG by [FictionalAroma](https://twitter.com/FictionalAroma). Watch it and tell us what you think!! If you have any Feedback reachout to us via all the Heroes Lounge channels, or leave a comment on our [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbo4u4GMHlNPIVB4PPfyJZg) or on the [YouTube channel of FictionalAroma](https://www.youtube.com/user/FictionalAroma) or via [twitter](https://twitter.com/FictionalAroma).

HEROES LOUNGE TEAMS AND THE HGC OPEN DEVISION

This week, the news – and we mean THE BIG NEWS – were the information on the Heroes of Storm Global Championship format and, in particular, the HGC Open Division. For those who do not know it already, the HGC is a league format for the four major regions: Korea, China, North America, and Europe. There are eight teams in the HGC paid a salary by Blizzard which is about 20’000 $ for each player of the team if they can maintain their participation in this pro-league. However, the HGC Open Division is supposed to be the chance of amateur teams who wants to rise in the Heroes of the Storm scene and establish themselves in the pro-league with a guaranteed income. Last week the details about the format were published and there was a nice summary article about it from [Tempostorm](https://tempostorm.com/articles/overview-of-the-heroes-global-championship-hgc-2017).

Apparently, the Open Division consist of seven Heroes of the Storm tournaments per region in which the teams can earn points for the participation in the Playoff-Tournament of the Open Division. The two best teams in this Playoff-Tournament will then face the two lowest ranked teams of HGC to decide who is playing in the second half of 2017. The European Open Division cups will be on Monday’s at 18:00 CET, starting tomorrow at the 16th January 2017. You can find all the necessary information on the website of the host of the tournaments: [Gosugamers.net](https://gosugamers.net/heroesofthestorm). However, from the [InsideLounge](http://heroeslounge.gg/blog/category/insidelounge) articles of [mYinsanity Heroes](http://heroeslounge.gg/blog/post/insidelounge-myinsanity) and [Gorge good Ult](http://heroeslounge.gg/blog/post/inside-lounge-gorge-good-ult) we already know that some teams of Heroes Lounge might be interested in playing in this Open Division. Since we wanted to know it even more detailed, we started out a little survey between the captains of the Heroes Lounge teams and got participations from more than half of them.

At first, we wanted to know how large the interest in the Open Divisions is and if the teams are planning to participate. Quite surprisingly, more than the half of the team captains showed interest from which almost 17% said that they are definitely going to take their chance. Another thing we wanted to know was if the teams already have a coach helping them to analyze their games and improve their gameplay.

From the answers, we got, one can see that most of the teams are not going to have a coach in the next time. However, three of all the team captains answered said they already have one. Can those be the team who definitely want to participate in the Open Division? Anyway, almost a third of the teams taking part in the survey showed interest in getting a coach in future. An obvious question here we missed to ask was if the teams were actually ready to spent also money on paid practice sessions with experts like [Bkb](https://twitter.com/bkbgrnrjefek) and [Jowe](https://twitter.com/jowehots) or if they were thinking of coaches as a team member who is not going to be paid. The other questions we asked in the survey were about the practice sessions of the teams, how frequently they are practicing, how long, and in which way. Apparently, the majority of the Heroes Lounge teams are practicing on a regular basis. Half of the teams are practicing for one to two hours per session and the other half between three to four hours. Only two captains answered that they even spend more time per session.

Interestingly, Heroes Lounge teams are quite happy to include scrims with other teams into their practice schedule. Only one third of the captains stated that they almost only play Team League in order to prepare for their matches in Heroes Lounge. What do you think about the survey? Is there another question we should have asked? Give us some feedback and we can probably do these things more often!

ROUND 5 @ HEROES LOUNGE AND SUPER SUNDAY

Last Sunday, [FAT #5](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/98) showed that they are not willing to give away this sweet spot on top of [Division 1](http://heroeslounge.gg/division/ranking/view/1) in Heroes Lounge just yet. At the moment, they are with 5 wins to 0 losses the team you have to keep an eye on. They also can watch today's games quite relaxed. [Gorge good Ult](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/67) needs to win against [Stiches wants to Play](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/97) in order to follow FAT #5. This game is a really anticipated one from which we expect to see nice Stitches plays and Gorge Ults.

However, [Blame the Healer](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/48) showed this week that they are a team to be reckoned with. With their victory over the [Salty Clowns](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/85) they climbed to the second rank in Division 1 which they can maintain if Gorge good Ult fails today. Another team which would benefit of a win from Stiches wants to Play could be [Natus Dominari](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/22) if they would win their game today against [Infinite eSports](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/47). Natus Dominari won this week in a close 2-1 against [ESOX Come Un Treno](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/112), a team which went to Round 3 of the second EU Qualifier for the Heroes of the Storm Championship and lost there to Team Liquid. Also [Gaming in the Rhythm](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/60) can move higher in ranks. They only need to win today in their match against [Team TFT](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/113). But this is not going to be easy...

TFT is the acronym of TapioNs friendship team and they showed a convincing performance so far defeating Natus Dominari and ESOX Come Un Treno. They won all their games, even against [CoB Misclick](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/65) this week - the team TapioN himself is playing on. Since TFT joined the Heroes Lounge competition not until Round 2, they need to fight the top teams and defeat them to contest the top position in Division 1. In [Division 2](http://heroeslounge.gg/division/ranking/view/2) last Sunday, the [Abatheurs](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/29) won against the [CrocoDocs](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/9) and clearing things up in the ranking … but only for a short time. [Don our Fedoras](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/18) were not impressed by the top teams in Division 2 but motivated. Last Sunday they won against [FSN](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/70), on Wednesday they defeated the Abatheurs and today they can put themselves in the top 5 by winning against [4Q Sports](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/74). By now, there are only two undefeated teams on top of Division 2: [Throw Inc.](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/45) and [Team Solid](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/16). A third team might join them today. The [StarBoys](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/57), undefeated as well, need a victory against [Vino Veritas](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/68) to follow the other top 3 teams of Division 2. In [Division 3](http://heroeslounge.gg/division/ranking/view/3) the rankings are still not telling too much. There are seven undefeated teams so far with [MEDIOCRIS](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/35) and [Blackhearts Booty](http://heroeslounge.gg/teams/view/38) already played their fifth match. We really hope for the matchmaking today to create us interesting match-ups which are challenging enough for the participating teams. By now you should have noticed that this Super Sunday is going to present some interesting match-ups. In total we have eight games for you today, from 4 pm to almost midnight. So, feel free to tune in and when you there you can farm these sweet revlo points for our *Stormlord Falstad Skin* Giveaway on the [Heroes Lounge twitch.tv channel](https://twitch.tv/heroes_lounge). Here is the list of upcoming matches for today: * [Div 2] Don Our Fedoras VS 4Q Sports – 16:00 CET * [Div 1] Gaming in the Rhythm VS Team TFT – 17:00 CET * [Div 1] Gorge good Ult VS Stiches wants to Play – 18:00 CET * [Div 2] The Forever Alones VS OrderofGul’Dan – 20:00 CET * [Div 1] mYinsanity Heroes VS Throw The Advantage – 20:30 CET * [Div 3] Fast Transition VS Overextenders – 21:00 CET * [Div 2] StarBoys VS Vino Veritas – 21:00 CET * [Div 1] Natus Dominari VS Infinete eSports – 22:15 CET

HEROES LOUNGE 1000 FOLLOWER ON TWITCH GIVEAWAY

We teased it last week and [officially announced it on Friday](http://heroeslounge.gg/blog/post/heroes-lounge-1000-twitch-followers-giveaway):

Heroes Lounge is Giving away 1x 20€ battle.net gift card which can be used all those sweet things you can pay with money in Heroes of the Storm. With this we want to celebrate the 1000 Follower we get on our main channel at Twitch.tv. All information about this Giveaway can be found in the [specific Announcement post](http://heroeslounge.gg/blog/post/heroes-lounge-1000-twitch-followers-giveaway). Therefore, do not hesitate to enter the competition and if you like hit that Follow-button on Twitch.tv. If there is anything you want to tell us or any Feedback about our Twitch or YouTube channels you want to give, contact us and our staff via Discord, Twitter or Facebook.

SINGING, REPLAY CASTING, AND WTF MOMENTS

There were plenty of other things going on in Heroes Lounge this week. In a cast of Rey (not trying to spell the whole name here) of the Blackhearts Booty's the Twitch chat came up with the idea have him singing on stream. Junglesiege, also a caster and his team mate, immediately set up a [poll](http://www.strawpoll.me/12071612/r) to have you guys deciding what song it is going to be. You can still vote for it.

You might have noticed that there is now a #clips channel on our discord server. There you can post funny, awesome, or embarrassing clips of your Heroes Lounge matches. [FictionalAroma](https://twitter.com/FictionalAroma) is looking for such clips to prepare a WTF MOMENTS video for our YouTube channel and asked to give information about the teams playing, the map and game number, and a brief description of what is happening. Look into #clips or reachout to FictionalAroma on discord if you have more questions. For those who have not noticed it yet, [Nera](https://twitter.com/nera_hots) is doing from time to time replay casts on his [twitch channel](https://twitch.tv/nera_gaming) of games and matches which could not be casted live. If you are interested in having your played matches casted, then you should definitely reach out to him on via a direct message on discord or [twitter](https://twitter.com/nera_hots).

ORGANIZATIONAL THINGS

Last week the official map pool for the HGC League were announced not including Garden of Terror, Blackhearts Bay, and ... Haunted Mines. Since we were waiting for this decision before we decide on a possible inclusion of Haunted Mines into the Heroes Lounge map pool, we can now tell you that everything remains the same and the mines are going to stay closed for our teams. Tonight Round 5 of Heroes Lounge will be officially over and the matchmaking for Round 6 will be done. Hence, some teams might be marked as inactive. Here is a list of the teams which (by Saturday evening) have not scheduled their Round 5 game yet and, thus, are in danger to be marked as inactive for Round 6: * Agents007 * Out Of Order * Witness Me! * Baewatch * Chirand * Besatt eSport * Oranje Head * FSN * Silver Plebs * Focus Halloween * Silver-lining * Running into a knife * Kill Dance Assist * The Last Word * Firebats * Oviedo Gaming Remember the newest hero of the Nexus, Zul’Jin, will be still banned for Round 6 games and will be first allowed to be played in Round 7. *We wish all of you good luck with your upcoming matches in Heroes Lounge. If you want to stay up-to-date with all the things happening inside Heroes Lounge, make sure to leave us a follow or subscription at [Twitter](https://twitter.com/hotslounge), [Twitch](http://www.twitch.tv/heroes_lounge), [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/heroeslounge.gg/), or [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbo4u4GMHlNPIVB4PPfyJZg).*