Long Live the Kings: CCL Season 3 Recap

After three months of thrilling games and excitement, the third season of the Community Clash League is now over. The HeroesHearth league took off last October with its group stage. After the first few weeks, it was clear that Simplicity wanted to take its third trophy in a row. 30k and WildHeart looked like fearsome opponents, trying to break Simplicity’s streak. On the other hand, some teams had rough beginnings. Some of them came back in time, some didn’t. The result of these mid-season powerups was a quadruple tie at the end of the group stage: STORM Esports, Oxygen Esports, Diamond Hands and WildHeart Esports ended with a 4-3 score, but the map difference made WildHeart skip the first—and deadly—playoffs stage.

Chilly Mountain and Granit Gaming played the first gauntlet round. Only one of the two Swedish cores could make it to the next round. Chilly Mountain came from a tough group stage where they couldn’t win any series, even with some roster adjustments. Against these odds, they beat Granit in this do-or-die series and earned the right to play against STORM Esports in the next round.

STORM joined CCL in season 2 and made it to the grand finals. With almost the same roster, expectations for them were high. And they delivered. One round after another, they kept climbing the gauntlet to earn their spot at the top-4 bracket. They took down Chilly Mountain (3-0), Oxygen (3-1) and Diamond Hands (3-0).

Final Four

The second playoffs stage welcomed STORM with a poisoned gift: a duel against the final boss, the first seed from the group stage, the almighty 30k. That was where their winning streak of 6 best-of-5 series ended. Meanwhile, at the other side of the bracket WildHeart faced Simplicity. Though losing this matchup back in the group stage, WildHeart and their outstanding rookies fought back and took down the back-to-back champions.

At the winners’ finals, 30k kept their dominance and sent WildHeart to the loser’s bracket, where they found themselves in a rematch against Simplicity, who had taken down STORM. This series was an epic duel between two teams that know each other quite well. The drafts already showed some respect bans and counter-strategies, with both rosters adapting perfectly to what their opponents had in mind. Led by Mene’s Falstad, Simplicity took the first map at Tomb of the Spider Queen. But the series were just beginning.

WildHeart had a plan for Alterac Pass, the second map of the series. They drafted Diablo and Johanna, adding two more unbreakable rocks to the mountainous battleground. The newcomers SlugHunter and Tremor—the ones in charge of these tanks—executed the strategy perfectly in a very clean game, turning the immense health pool and positioning control into an unconquerable obstacle for Simplicity. After this tie, the champions took the lead again in Towers of Doom. With their backs against the wall, WildHeart tried to repeat the Johanna-Diablo pair in Infernal Shrines, but this time they couldn’t make it work.

Immediately after this intense series, Simplicity found themselves at the grand finals versus 30k. Preying on their opponent’s fatigue, MichaelUdall’s players drafted rapidly, without giving Simplicity any time to catch their breath. They took the first map, Alterac Pass, in a heartbeat, leading the series 2-0 (they had a 1-0 advantage because they reached the grand finals from the winner’s bracket).

After this 15-minute victory, 30k drafted Tracer, letting the mind games begin. Simplicity answered with some cc and blindness. They even picked Brightwing to protect their carries. But they had been baited. It wasn’t just a hypercarry composition. 30k last picked Jaina, coming up with a double threat that the back-to-back champions weren’t ready to face. Sky Temple ended with another 15-minute victory.

Simplicity made its last stand at Infernal Shrines, where they used the Johanna-Diablo duo, carrying WildHeart’s legacy as a Genki Dama attempt. They put up a good fight, but 30k’s power was overwhelming. MichaelUdall’s organization closed an immaculate series and began a new CCL dynasty after Simplicity’s reign: the era of 30k. Long live the new kings!

HasuObs, Liam, Dynouh, YasuOTP, BadBenny and Nagrom212 are the new CCL champions. Congrats to 30k for their victory!

Source: https://tl.net/forum/heroes/584581-long-live-the-kings-ccl-season-3-recap