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Heroes of the Storm: HGC Western Clash 2018 – Upper & Lower Finals

We're in the home stretch of Heroes of the Storm: HGC Western Clash 2018, being broadcast live from the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles. Before we can get to the grand finals, we need to take care of all that double-elimination insanity. Here are the results from today's Finals rounds for both the upper and lower brackets.

Match 1: Team Dignitas vs. Team Freedom

In standard finals fashion, the first match was anything but easy as both teams pushed into each other and then held back looking for an advantage. At one point it looked like Freedom might take it early after nearly getting a team wipe. But Dignitas rallied back and slew the way through the lower end of the map to go up 1-0. The second match, sadly, didn't even feel like a challenge as Dignitas steamrolled their way through the map and squashed Freedom in short order to make it 2-0.

The third match appeared to be pretty even, almost to the point of boredom because it felt like neither side really had a true advantage. But then Dignitas comes through and crushed Freedom's defenses for a sudden defeat and a full sweep. Dignitas moved into the Grand Finals bracket as the first team as we now settle out everything in the lower bracket.

Winner: Team Dignitas (3-0)

Match 2: Leftovers vs. Method

The first round of this match felt like a never-ending war of attrition where each side would slowly whittle down the other and push hard, only to get kicked back just before it looked like they were ready to crush. Ultimately, it came down to resources and space as Method managed to take the fight to Leftovers after nearly getting killed off themselves, taking the early lead 1-0. The second round went about as well as the first one where both teams traded off kills and claimed as much as they could. But in the end, Leftovers basically whiffed on a push and threw away the game, allowing Method to sweep in and take them out for a 2-0 lead.

Leftovers weren't going to go down without a fight as they chose an interesting comp and played a bit of rope-a-dope with Method, ending the round in a team wipe and coming back to make it 2-1. The last match, as interesting and entertaining as it was to root for Leftovers to come back, was basically academic in nature. Like slowly watching your neighbor mow their lawn with a weed-wacker, Leftovers wore down Method until they had few options left, followed by a near team kill leading to a victory to square it up 2-2.

The final fight took both teams through what was essentially a chess match and one of the longest battles of the entire championship series so far as they took nearly 15 minutes on the first objective. After Leftovers conquered that objective, it was a quick match and pull off the reverse sweep to move onto the last semifinal match of the day.

Winner: Leftovers (3-2)

Match 3: Team Freedom vs. Leftovers

Team Freedom went with a Cho/Gall combo in the first game and charged in immediately for a face-to-face battle in the first 30 seconds, but that strategy fell apart in short order and left the door wide open for leftovers to strut their way in and make quick work of them for the 1-0 lead. TF tried to rally back from that loss, but failed to capitalize and gave up too much to Leftovers allowing them to score a 2-0 lead going into the half.

In the third match, TF decided that if they were going to go out, might as well go out with a bang as they brought in Genji and D.Va for the fight. But it was all for naught, as they were delaying the inevitable. Leftovers came in and chipped away at the map until they were in a prime position to squash TF's hopes and eliminate the last North American team from the tournament and relegated them to a third place win.

Winner: Leftovers (3-0)

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