Heroes of the Storm news » Team Liquid MaNa on Poland’s Nexus Games Win
With the conclusion of the Nexus Games in late November, we would like to congratulate and recognize Przemysław “RzuF” Rudzki, Mariusz “zdoon“ Zdun, Adrian “Gugus” Stecuła, Adrian “Gugus” Stecuła, Marcin “wolfz” Radzewicz, and Grzegorz "MaNa" Komincz of the Polish national team for their victory.
“We took the championship! It was a great feeling for me, and I'm always proud to represent Poland in the best way I can."
MaNa is a StarCraft II player for Team Liquid and has been competing in esports professionally for over a decade now. He gives much of the credit for his team’s win to RzuF, who was the primary drafter and shotcaller for Poland during the tournament. “In 1v1, I am all by myself and every mistake and every decision I make is solely my own. But in the Nexus Games, I could rely on my team even when I made a mistake. They did good things regardless of how I played,” said MaNa.
It’s clear to see that the mechanical skill involved in being a professional StarCraft II player goes a long way in Heroes of the Storm. Many professional players have made the switch rather seamlessly, including Kim "sCsC" Seung Chul, Kwon "Sniper" Tae Hoon, Dennis "HasuObs" Schneider, and the Moreno Durán brothers. While MaNa’s love for StarCraft keeps him rooted, he’s maintained a passion for Heroes since its release.
“When I had access to the Alpha, I just wanted to play Protoss heroes because I'm a Protoss player in StarCraft,” said MaNa. “The first two heroes I was playing all the time was Zeratul and Tassadar. I guess my next favorites would be Chromie and Probius. Those would be the two I play the most right now.”
Poland utilized the Curious Probe on three separate occasions during the Nexus Games—on Haunted Mines only—and twice alongside Alarak. “The reason we took Probius on Mines is because it's a map where it's good to split push because the other team has to be in the Mines or defending. It's also a map where there are plenty of camps that are up frequently. Probius is very good at taking these camps, which are basically the fighting point of the teams,” said MaNa. “We took Alarak with him because he's a decent counter to Probius in the solo lane, so we didn't want the other team to have him.”
While MaNa is hip to some of the nuances of Heroes, he admits he still would have a way to go to become a top player (despite hanging around the top of the Grandmaster leaderboards every season). “I have the mechanical skill from StarCraft II to judge situations and execute my abilities, predict the movement of players, and so on. There are many things I would have to learn to become a great Heroes of the Storm player though. It’s more about the team cooperation I think.”
For those that missed it, you can find the VODs for the Nexus Games here and see for yourself how the Polish national team navigated their way to victory.
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