KSV has announced the acquisition of both MVP Black and MVP Miracle, two leading Korean Heroes of the Storm teams. 
This is another stepping stone in KSV’s goal to field a team across the top esports titles. The Korean-American company is the one behind Overwatch League’s Seoul org, the team which believed to be named Seoul Dynasty in the near future.
MVP Black were founded in April 2015 and have been consistently strong; they won the 2017 Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) Korea Phase 2, 2017 HGC Eastern Clash Phase 1, and 2016 HGC Spring Championship.
MVP Miracle meanwhile are slightly newer to the scene, having been established in June 2016 as the second under the MVP banner. A talented team that have shown considerable potential by winning third place at HOT6 Heroes of the Storm Super League 2016 Season 3, they’ve accumulated $194,000 (£147,000) in total earnings to date.
Kevin Chou, CEO of KSV, said of the move: “We are very pleased to acquire another excellent Korean esports team. We will fully support the teams to maximize their performances on the global stage as successful professional athletes.
“Also, we will make every effort and investment into Heroes of the Storm fans to create content and grow the community around the team.”
MVP Black will continue to use the MVP Black name during the 2017 HCG Finals, which are set to take place from October 26 to November 4. The team will be re-branded with a new name later this year.
The HGC is the officially sanctioned esports league for Heroes of the Storm. HGC is a yearlong program in which four major regions – North America, Europe, China, and Korea – each run their own eight-team leagues, the top teams from which will qualify for four international tournaments including the annual HGC Finals. Despite competitions such as this it’s a title which a lot of esports organisations have seemed to ignore. There’s an extensive opinion piece looking into why this is on Esports Pro here.
KSV is a mixture of Silicon Vallery and Korean investors hence the name, and it has plans to host invitational Overwatch tournaments in Seoul in 2018. The first season of the Overwatch League, which gets underway early in the new year, is taking place in Los Angeles.
KSV’s Seoul Overwatch line-up was announced in late August and is made up of Lunatic-Hai players Kim ‘EscA’ In-Jae, Ryu ‘ryujehong’ Je-Hong, Yang ‘Tobi’ Jin-Mo, Gong ‘Miro’ Jin-Hyuk (the MVP of Overwatch World Cup 2016) Kim ‘Zunba’ Joon-Hyuk, and Moon ‘Gido’ Gi-Do.
Esports Insider says: Amidst extensive investments and acquisitions across the world of esports, Heroes of the Storm has been largely left by the wayside by a great many. With a major company such as KSV picking up two strong teams, this is much needed positive news for the scene as a whole.
