Sammuel "bigempct" Hua is a veteran Heroes of the Storm player in the North American scene. Before discovering the game back in beta, he was an avid League of Legends player and college student. Shortly after though, he found himself on a competitive Heroes of the Storm team—commencing his turbulent career in Heroes esports.
Following the conclusion of 2018’s first roster transfer period, the Team DJ ranged player has now found himself with new teammates and a new team identity. Previously known as Gale Force Esports, they’ve become the new home for former Team Octalysis flex players, Kure and Daneski, replacing the tank and support duo of Fury and Akaface.
Recently I had a chat with bigempct to determine the winners and losers in the latest ‘rosterpocalypse’.
With the roster changes in Team DJ, what role swaps have been made to accommodate Kure and Daneski?
So basically we would have bkid on tank, MichaelUdall on support, and Kure’s going to the offlane. So it would be me and Daneski playing range.
How is the new roster performing in scrims?
Our scrims have been going fairly well. I think we started scrimming later than every other team in NA, ‘cause everyone was already doing tryouts or prepping for the Midseason Brawl. So we started scrimming I think a week or two after every other team was because we were taking a break. I feel like we’re caught up already and now we just have to work on synergy, and basically create our own style and perfect that.
It seems that everyone on Team DJ is aiming for Blizzcon, so outside of the role swaps and roster changes, are there any changes you’re making as an individual player to make sure you get there?
Pretty much just practicing more and trying to see where I fit in with the new roster. Like, seeing what everyone’s tendencies are and what I can do to adapt to their style. I’m more like a reactionary player where I benefit a lot from my teammates, and I kind of base my play around how my teammates are playing, like if they’re more aggressive I’ll be more aggressive, but if they’re more passive I can be more passive.
How do you rate the other roster changes in the region?
So I feel like our roster was a big gamble. I mean Kure and Daneski are insanely good players, not saying Fury and Aka weren’t, but they bring a lot to the team in terms of drafting. Daneski has a lot of experience shot calling as well so I feel like he and Udall can learn a lot from each other.
HeroesHearth and Tempo Storm made no roster changes so I feel like they’ll be really strong as well.
LFM lost Drated and Tea, and got Fury and Droplets. I feel like that team improved. I think Fury can be a leader and I feel like that team didn’t really have a leader. Droplets is a pretty strong player, and being fresh blood he’s pretty hungry.
No Tomorrow got Akaface and lost Equinox. They lost a shot caller so someone on that team is going to have to develop into one or else the team will stagnate. I don’t see him (Akaface) being a shotcaller, but he is drafting for them based off on scrims. Tomster going back to offlane is actually an insanely good move. I think he was one of the stronger offlaners and made a name for himself playing offlane.
Octalysis lost Daneski and Kure, and gained Prismaticism and Drated. I think they are really good, and Prismat’s really smart, but mechanically I think they’re not the best. I think they’ll be a little weaker in my opinion but still middle to top tier because they still have a strong core three.
Simplicity picked up TigerJK and lost Prismat. I think Tiger brings a lot of experience and communication to teams, but I feel like that team has a lot of ranged players and needs someone to develop into a strong offlaner. I don’t know how the shotcalling is on that team but I think they will go okay if they develop a strong offlaner. They got Equinox as coach too, who we wanted as coach as well, but he chose Simplicity over us. I think he brings a lot to the team dynamic in game and he’s really smart so I think he would make a good coach.
HeroesHearth and Tempo Storm made no roster changes so I feel like they’ll be really strong as well.
LFM lost Drated and Tea, and got Fury and Droplets. I feel like that team improved. I think Fury can be a leader and I feel like that team didn’t really have a leader. Droplets is a pretty strong player, and being fresh blood he’s pretty hungry.
No Tomorrow got Akaface and lost Equinox. They lost a shot caller so someone on that team is going to have to develop into one or else the team will stagnate. I don’t see him (Akaface) being a shotcaller, but he is drafting for them based off on scrims. Tomster going back to offlane is actually an insanely good move. I think he was one of the stronger offlaners and made a name for himself playing offlane.
Octalysis lost Daneski and Kure, and gained Prismaticism and Drated. I think they are really good, and Prismat’s really smart, but mechanically I think they’re not the best. I think they’ll be a little weaker in my opinion but still middle to top tier because they still have a strong core three.
Simplicity picked up TigerJK and lost Prismat. I think Tiger brings a lot of experience and communication to teams, but I feel like that team has a lot of ranged players and needs someone to develop into a strong offlaner. I don’t know how the shotcalling is on that team but I think they will go okay if they develop a strong offlaner. They got Equinox as coach too, who we wanted as coach as well, but he chose Simplicity over us. I think he brings a lot to the team dynamic in game and he’s really smart so I think he would make a good coach.
You mentioned that Daneski also has shotcalling experience, do you think he could clash with current shotcaller, MichaelUdall?
So far it hasn’t happened. I mean we’re all pretty open minded and none of us really take what we say as insults. So when Michael made a call and Daneski didn’t agree, we talked it through after and they worked it out to see what’s the better call. We’ve been scrimming for two weeks and both their calls have been pretty similar or they agree. Like if Mike or Dane makes a call both of them will agree in the heat of the moment, so it hasn’t really clashed at all and they’re complimenting each other really well.
Finally, what results are you expecting from NA at the MSB?
I think Tempo has a really hard group. They’re gonna really have to pop off in their group ‘cause it’s insanely hard. HeroesHearth’s group is a little easier and they have a lot of pocket picks. I want Tempo to give us a better showing because I’m friends with all of them but they have the harder group and HeroesHearth is really cheesy so I think they can pull out some wins with just straight cheese. But I feel like the other regions just look insanely strong right now. I still have love for NA and it’s my home region but I feel like the other regions are just too ahead right now.