The third annual Heroes of the Dorm competition kicks off this weekend. Heroes of the Dorm is a uniquely collegiate esports tournament featuring Blizzard’s popular multiplayer online battle arena, Heroes of the Storm.
The tournament has been quietly running qualifying matches for the last two months in order to get to the full 64 team bracket. To join the tournament, you had to be a currently enrolled college student. The winning team is awarded free college tuition for all five members.
Fans can also win in-game rewards as well as cash prizes by filling out a free bracket. The more accurate your bracket is, the more points you earn. If you’re among the top 500 accurate brackets, you’ll receive the Cheerleader Kerrigan skin and mount. The Grand Prize winner (the single most perfect bracket) will also earn a $10,000 cash prize. Brackets must be completed before the tournament begins this Saturday, March 18.
The bulk of the tournament is single-elimination, Best of Three matches that play out over a week. After a two-week break, the remaining four teams will travel to Las Vegas for the semi-finals and final showdown on April 8. Tickets are available to watch the final matches live at the University of Las Vegas. The entire tournament will be broadcast live via the Heroes Esports Facebook page.
MOBAs can be tricky to watch if you’re unfamiliar with the game, but Heroes of the Storm is probably the most user-friendly of the big MOBAs. It’s also the quickest, with most matches lasting around 20 minutes. Heroes of the Dorm is a fun way to infuse the passion of college sports with video gaming, and filling out brackets is an appropriately fun past-time in March.
My wife’s alma mater, UT Arlington, made it all the way to the Grand Finals last year, but lost to Arizona State. I’ll be rooting for UTA to get their revenge this year!
