In April of 2016, the Heroes of the Storm team representing Gale Force eSports underwent several huge changes and quickly climbed the ranks with the help of their new captain, MichaelUdall. Fresh off a win from Heroes of the Dorm, Blizzard’s premier collegiate competition, Udall quickly stepped into a leadership role and helped the team improve rapidly—so rapidly, in fact, that they quickly jumped to the top four in North America and won the Summer Regional Championship in Burbank just a month and a half later.

Despite doing poorly at DreamHack Summer and finishing out the year with less than optimal results, GFE still continued as a formidable opponent throughout most of the year. Another huge change at the end of the year brought in renowned flex players Fan “Fan” Yang and Jon “Equinox” Peterson to create one of the strongest rosters North America has ever seen.

While their performance in HGC 2017 has been a bumpy ride so far, it’s clear that this powerhouse team is on their way to great things. Boasting a unique “four flex and a support” approach, GFE utilizes a vast array of strategies and drafts which make them anything but predictable.

Following their critical victory against Tempo Storm, North America’s de facto top team, I got a chance to sit down with MichaelUdall and talk about his performance, expectations for the Western Clash, and the current metagame.

First of all, congrats on qualifying for the Western Clash at IEM Katowice! It hasn’t been an easy road for GFE, though. You guys dropped a 2-3 series against Team Freedom and Team 8 and nearly lost to B-Step as well in earlier weeks. What was so difficult about those series?

I think Team 8 is a very strong team, arguably the best in our region, so that match was just a hard-fought series. I think versus Team Freedom, they had a very good understanding of the meta, and I think they also prepped very well for us. I think that with our match versus B-Step, since it was our first match in HGC, nerves were present and we played a lot more passively than we normally do. I do feel very confident going forward that, if we continue to work hard and prepare for every team, we have a good chance at beating any team in the world.

In contrast, you stomped Tempo Storm last weekend and ended their winning streak. Was it a matter of knowing their playstyle better or did something click?

It was a combination of both. Tempo Storm is our main scrim partner, so we are pretty familiar with what drafts they like to run. The biggest factor to why we won has been our change in work ethic. The Team Freedom and Team 8 loss really shook our team, and going into our Tempo Storm match, we knew it was a really important match for us to win, so the week leading up to it we were putting in very long hours watching all of their VoDs and playing the game to better understand the meta.

A lot of people were skeptical of the “4 flex and a support” approach, but it seems to be working out. Are you going to continue to do it at the Western Clash?

I think the 4 flex/1 support approach is something we will continue to do at the Western Clash. We have seen success with it, and we are still learning and improving upon the concept. I am excited to show some of our awesome strategies in the future

Which team are you most excited about playing against at the Western Clash?

I am really looking forward to a rematch versus Misfits, who I played against at DreamHack Summer when they were called mYinsanity. My team lost 2-0, but it was a hard fought series, and I would love some revenge. I also would love to play against Fnatic since I am friends with a lot of players on that team.

Artanis is highly prized in NA, but EU tends to overlook him in draft compared to other warriors like Varian and ETC. Do you think that’s perhaps a weakness you can exploit?

I hope that EU has practiced dodging Artanis swaps—that's all I have to say.

How likely are we to see Valeera at the Western Clash?

I have yet to play her after her buffs, but my guess is that she will see some play. I think she is a strong hero, but it's hard to justify picking her over someone like Zeratul.

Totally unrelated, but as a former Heroes of the Dorm champion, will you be watching it this year?

Yes, 100% hopefully. It's close to Arizona, so I can fly or drive there. I think my family wants to go again this year with me. I can watch it as a spectator for the first time.

Thank you to MichaelUdall for taking the time to talk with us, and good luck to Gale Force eSports at the Western Clash and through the rest of HGC!