Na’Vi makes its move into Hearthstone

Natus Vincere is the latest esports outfit to decide this wizard poker thing is probably going to stick around, and form its own professional team. Na’Vi’s initial roster is made up of three players—Xixo, Hoej and Ostkaka—who had been free agents (see below). All three will be familiar to fans of the competitive Hearthstone scene, and feel like strong pickups from Na'Vi. Though it’s fair to say each player probably has something to prove in order to kick on to the next level.

Na’Vi join Cloud9, Team Liquid, and (to a lesser degree), Team Solo Mid, which only has Trump in terms of tournament players, as esports organisations better known for competing in other games who are now taking Hearthstone seriously.

The newly formed team will also need to pit their skills (and Pilotted Shredder rolls) against organisations whose main focus is Hearthstone, like Reynad’s Tempo Storm, Amaz’s Team Archon, and the Lifecoach-led Nihilum, which won the ATLC last weekend. You can see six of the most exciting games from that tournament right here.

SEBASTIAN 'XIXO' BENTERT

Twitter: @NaViXixo

Nationality: German

Probably best known for racing to legend overnight at the start of each season, and holding #1 legend on the NA, EU and Asia servers at once, Xixo was recently released by Team Archon after the team’s ATLC exit. (It’s not clear what caused the split, but here’s his statement and the team’s one.) Xixo is also notable for pioneering the use of Sea Giant in Zoo and annoying Reynad in their ‘grudge match’.

FREDERIK 'HOEJ' NIELSEN

Twitter: @NaViHoej

Nationality: Danish

Hoej’s breakout performance came at the Viagame House Cup 2 in March this year, which he won having come through the open qualifiers, beating well known invited players like Firebat and Thijs along the way. A virtual unknown at the time, since then he’s remained a free agent though GosuGamers’ sources suggest not for a lack of offers.

SEBASTIAN 'OSTKAKA' ENGWALL

Twitter: @NaViOstkaka

Nationality: Swedish

Perhaps the least familiar of the three players, but a well known to other pros and arguably the most exciting of the signings. Ostkaka is very much seen as one to watch, and is a proficient ladder warrior, finishing #4 on the NA server last season. Yet to have his breakout tournament performance, but did finish 2nd behind Team Archon’s Orange at the Seat Story III cup.

With over two decades covering videogames, Tim has been there from the beginning. In his case, that meant playing Elite in 'co-op' on a BBC Micro (one player uses the movement keys, the other shoots) until his parents finally caved and bought an Amstrad CPC 6128. These days, when not steering the good ship PC Gamer, Tim spends his time complaining that all Priest mains in Hearthstone are degenerates and raiding in Destiny 2. He's almost certainly doing one of these right now.