Time of the Season: X-Cup Summer Preview

Seasons in Heroes of the Storm have been blurry for a while. It all began with that neverending Winter event. Afterwards the entropy of the Nexus slowly increased until all the seasons became one. Despite these anomalies, we’ve managed to keep track of the calendar thanks to Khaldor’s seasonal tournaments: the X-Cups. The event welcomes its fourth edition with the 2022 X-Cup Summer. This tournament series is sponsored by a mysterious Mr. X, hence the name. After more than a month of qualifiers, we finally know the 8 teams that will dispute the X-Cup Summer, which will take place from July 28 to 31.

3 Legged Cat

After their 6th position both in X-Cup Winter and Masters Clash Championship, 3 Legged Cat has stepped up and performed really well throughout the qualifiers. They’ve been the most resilient team and they’re getting competitive experience tournament after tournament. Though they’re still not ready to take down the European elite, they’re in the right direction and may cause some upsets.

Chilly Mountain

Earlier this month, Chilly Mountain lost the MCC LAN finals and got eliminated from CCL in the same weekend. They’ll need to get back on their feet, and that looks like just what they did by sweeping the ninth qualifier. Even with those recent struggles, X-Cup is Chilly Mountain’s tournament. They won all the three previous editions and will definitely try to take the fourth in a row..

Oxygen Esports

Oxygen Esports is the opposite from Chilly Mountain. They’ll arrive at the X-Cup after winning MCC and qualifying for the CCL finals, thanks to their great regular stage. Will they be tired from this very demanding schedule? Will they be able to keep their outstanding level in all the tournaments they’re simultaneously playing?

Bang Bush

Bang Bush gets back to their main roster after the MCC Finals. There they played with a stand-in, but that was enough to take down Granit Gaming. After that third place at MCC, expectations are high for them, but their contenders continue to improve by leaps and bounds. Will they be able to keep their bronze medal?

ArthasStroitHram

2022 meant a new beginning for ArthasStroitHram. They changed most of their roster and tried to get the ASH tag back to the European elite. And it worked… to some extent. ASH secured the top 4 at X-Cup Winter, but didn’t qualify for MCC due to playing only one of the four qualifiers. They learned from that mistake and played 9 of the 10 X-Cup Summer qualifiers.

5 Shots of Copium

This is one of the wildcards of the tournament. In the qualifiers they’ve proved that they can win or lose against almost anyone. Presumably they’re not one of the teams to dispute the trophy, but they’re very capable of sending an overconfident opponent to the chaotic lower bracket, where anything can happen.

Disgusting

Disgusting is the last iteration of the Polish rosters (led by Rydzu, as usual). In the qualifiers they haven’t been able to make it farther than the third position, which they achieved in qualifier 6. Will they be able to match this feat?

Unleashed

We don’t know much about Unleashed. They came out of nowhere and joined 9 of the qualifiers. Despite falling in the quarterfinals in most of their appearances, their perseverance earned them a spot at the X-Cup Summer main event.