There may be just 16 teams competing at the HGC Finals—but there are countless opinions as to who will win. To narrow the field (somewhat), we spoke to all 16 team captains about their opinions of all the other teams. What follows are the results of our highly confidential, only slighty salty correspondence

Jump Ahead:

Fnatic

“Fnatic are a great team, with a good shot at winning the tournament. People are drastically overestimating them though.”

“Fnatic is the team to beat, but nothing lasts forever.”

“They are the winner of the Mid-Season Brawl, and their backline (support-ranged Assassin) is so strong.”

“An extremely strong team that can play under so many different compositions. [They] know the game extremely well and have no weakness to exploit.”

Team Dignitas

"I think Team Dignitas are one of the strongest teams in the world and, depending on their form that day, and meta, I believe they have a really good shot at winning BlizzCon this year."

"Strong team but slightly overrated. Can’t wait for Snitch to lose to NA."

"They have great draft and team focus. They can always make an unexpected result."

"They are top-tier, but I think if we are on point we won’t have much problems with them."

"We should beat them in group stage, then our chance to get a trophy will get larger."

Team expert

“They discovered Sonya and now Sonya is definitely a first-tier hero.”

“Team expert is pretty tricky. They maintain a really high level of gameplay, but the scary part of them is their innovation/cheesy drafts as well as badbenny’s positioning and how he sets up plays.”

“They are great with Medivh.”

“Played a scrim against them when we were at the Mid-Season Brawl. They have improved a lot.”

“A key opponent to defeat if we want to advance from group stage.”

MVP Black

“Once the big devil, I like them a lot and I’m looking forward to playing them.”

“My personal favorite to win BlizzCon. They have had an unbelievably dominant second [phase] and feature players able to take over the game with raw skill alone.”

“They are the number-one team in the world right now and there is no a team they can’t beat if they really want to.”

“The ‘underdog favorite.’ If Korea is back, then MVP Black is the HGC Finals Raid Boss. They'll need to make sure they don't choke on stage this time.”

“Maybe the best team at the tournament with ‘Rich’ being back.”

“They are strong, but we can beat them once again like we did at the second Eastern Clash.”

Ballistix (L5)

“L5 is a bit of a wild card for me. They may lose early or win the whole event.”

“While they surprised everyone at the Eastern Clash, I don't think they can do it again. I'm expecting a solid Top 4 performance.”

“The loss of two key players is a huge blow to the team. [They] still have a great backline cast, but overall a lesser team than its old form.”

“They look strong and more varied than MVP, but I think they are most likely weaker than Fnatic and Dignitas (and hopefully us as well, since they are our first opponent).”

Tempest

“Team morale is really important factor for Tempest.”

“They have four world-caliber players and defeated L5 in HGC Korea. Another opponent we have to defeat should we want to go far in the Finals.”

“While they looked behind the other Korean teams, raw mechanics will always have a space in making miracle runs, and Tempest has experience at that.”

“Even though they clutched their last game through playoffs, I think they have potential to be a higher seed from Korea going into future tournaments. Will be interesting to see how they match up against Dignitas and Roll20.”

"Their Warrior and Assassin players always have great performance."

Roll20 esports

“They are good if they are playing their signature Heroes. But if it is banned, they are not that competitive. Still have a chance to make an unexpected result.”

“Roll20 is consistently improving and are slowly but surely getting their name up with the big boys. I am hyped to see what Glaurung and the boys have in store this time!”

“A real dark horse of the tournament. If NA ever had a hope of getting near the Finals, this is the team.”

“Very effective with certain tactics, and opponents have a hard time trying to counter them.”

“They are the strongest team in the NA. And they might change the NA’s weak image this time.”

Team Freedom

“I'm not our team's drafter, but I'm taking over and banning D.Va if we meet in groups.”

“Team Freedom plays well as a team but they rely heavily on comfort picks.”

“A weaker team that we could stand a chance with.”

“They know the game very well and are unafraid to play different Heroes.”

“They have very unique gameplay style and their understanding of tactics is quite different from others."

Tempo Storm

“Slow to grasp things compared with other regions, but can be a lot better team if they can deepen their understanding of the game.”

“Tempo Storm looked strong in the playoffs but they seem to struggle at LAN [events].”

“Tempo Storm has been trending up since playoffs, but they are hard-countered by LAN.”

“I've heard whispers of a 10k Grandmaster Hero League point earner on this team. Let's see how he fares against our resident Diamond 4 player.”

“I want to show our improved abilities to the Tempo Storm owner, our former boss.”

Super Perfect Team

“They took the 1st place spot in China, but it was available after eStar disbanded.”

“Arguably the No. 1 team in China and revered by peers. I hope they will go far in the Finals.”

“A tough opponent to play [against]. Exceptional at dissecting their opponents and use draft and compositions to create advantages.

“We are making sure not to underestimate them.”

CE

“A strong and passionate team. They practice with Korean teams many times.”

“A team that is built for big moments like this. They should perform better in games like HGC Finals than domestic tournaments. The higher the pressure, the better the performance. I hope they can raise the flag for China Heroes.”

“Will they bring Sylvanas one more time?”

“Strong but defeatable.”

Beyond the Game

“Looking at their drafts from the past, it looks like they have a pretty good understanding of metas. We will see how they show up!”

“The least-known of the major regional teams, BTG stand as the tournament's biggest wild card and could be capable of greatness.”

“A new team on the rise, fairly good individual skills and has a few compositions that they excel at.”

Deadly Kittens

“I think they have two Korean players now. [That] might make them much stronger, but not sure.”

“Unclear as to how they perform under roster change, but they are fairly strong based on our experience with them.

“I feel Deadlykittens is trying really hard to improve and are closing the gap with some teams. Hope my statement is right and they clutch it out of groups!”

“Deadlykittens will need purrfect play to make it out of groups.”

Soul Torturers

“Soul Torturers looked solid at the Eastern Clash, but their group is pretty hard to get out of.”

“Their team has a lot of LAN experience. One of the stronger minor-region teams.”

“Soul Torturers will have a hard time in their group.”

Red Canids

“I'm hoping they can beat North America.”

“Red Canids have been on the cusp of a good international result for a long time and will be resolute to fix their late-game problems in Jschritte's last tournament as a LATAM player.”

“For a minor region, and for not scrimming much before the tournament, I was impressed by them during Western Clash. Let’s see how it goes this time around.”

Dark Sided

“I don’t know a lot about this team as I don’t follow the ANZ scene in depth, but I’ll do my homework and make sure to not underestimate them.”

“Good tempo and team brawl ability.”

“Congrats on dethroning Nomia [and] welcome to HGC Finals; we will be your guide.”

“Dark Sided has the veteran Robadobah, [who] knows what it takes to make upsets.”

That’ll do it from us (or, rather, the team captains)! Check back right here at playheroes.com/esports tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. PDT / 8:00 p.m. CEST for the kickoff of Opening Week.