Murlocs and Tracers and Angels, oh my! The Nexus was filled with Gale Force winds of change this week as North American Regional 1 brought a flurry of upsets and incredible plays. And Auriel, the Archangel of Hope, has officially been released to rain down Heavenly fury and lend a healing hand to her allies.

Upcoming Events

You can find the full schedule of upcoming events here.

Games to Watch

Teams			VOD	Description
Gale Force	vs.	Murloc Geniuses		The curse of Tassadar was broken at North America Regional 1. The protoss high templar has been struggling to get results of late, but looked strong during this enjoyable clash on Sky Temple.
Murloc Geniuses	vs.	Vox Nihili		Zagara was the Hero of choice for Murloc Geniuses this past weekend, particularly on Cursed Hollow. This game highlighted how strong she can be when Nydus Nexus is played with finesse following the recent minion changes.
Team Naventic	vs.	Gale Force eSports		Best known for his incredible proficiency with Li-Ming, Gale Force’s Khroen looked unstoppable as Tracer in this series and spawned a hashtag as a result. #JustKhroenThings

Murloc Geniuses March to BlizzCon!

To say that last weekend’s North American Regional 1 was filled with unexpected results would be an understatement. With so many teams having made changes to their rosters recently, it was hard to know where they’d land. Gale Force eSports and Team Naventic, the region’s top two teams last season, retained all but one player each on their respective rosters and, as such, were widely expected to do well.

By day one, heads were spinning as the recently-reincarnated Murloc Geniuses made it out of Group A alongside Team Naventic, leaving Denial eSports and Astral Authority in the dust. In Group B, a solidified Team Name Change fell short alongside Gul’DansGame and, in a surprising turn of events, newcomers Vox Nihili claimed the first seed ahead of Gale Force eSports.

The Semifinals were intense. Based on seeding, former champions Team Naventic were pitted against Gale Force eSports in a thrilling best-of-five that could’ve gone either way as the last game got underway. Thanks in part to some spectacular Tracer play from Khroen, Gale Force eSports emerged with the 3-2 victory. In the other half of the bracket, Vox Nihili and Murloc Geniuses played a very decisive 0-3 set. Vox simply didn’t look like the team that they were the day before, and Murloc Geniuses capitalized on the new meta to dominate the series.

Going into the best-of-five Grand Finals, the expectation and hope was that Gale Force eSports and Murloc Geniuses would go the distance, and that’s exactly what happened. The teams brought out different strategies for every game, and Murloc Geniuses--known for their ability to adapt to new patches quickly--looked very much at home on larger maps like Cursed Hollow and Towers of Doom. Gale Force eSports pulled off some incredible plays, but didn’t appear to have the same grasp of the current meta that their opponents did. With a 3-2 victory, Murloc Geniuses became the Regional Champions and booked their tickets to BlizzCon 2016.

For more detailed coverage of the event, check out the official recap here!

Last Chance for European Teams Targeting BlizzCon

Europe’s second Fall Regional takes place at gamescom in Germany next week. For seven of the eight teams competing, this is their last chance to qualify for the Global Championship.

Fnatic and Misfits (formerly mYinsanity) are widely considered the favorites to qualify and join Team Dignitas, who won the first European Fall Regional, at BlizzCon 2016. All of the competing teams are capable of great things though, and it’ll be exciting to see which of them can best capitalize on recent shifts in the meta. Teams like ExcelenteEleccion (formerly Crowing Chickens) and ePunks have already shown that they’re versatile, and will be eager to pull off an upset.

Here’s the full list of teams competing at Europe Fall Regional 2 next week:

• ePunks
• ExcellenteEleccion (formerly Crowing Chickens)
• Fnatic
• GoogleIshetZont
• Misfits (Formerly mYinsanity)
• Team Dignitas
• To Be Determined
• Too far bjutifl

Tune in starting August 17 to see which of them will emerge victorious.

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