Tonight the first Qualifier for the event that many players and fans of Heroes of Newerth have waited for will start: The Garena Star League event! This event, also called the Asian DreamHoN, is a live LAN event in Bangkok where teams from all over the world will compete for $60,000 in total prize money.

This qualifier will run its course from Monday to Thursday, and the winner will have all travel and hotel costs paid for the trip to the main event in Thailand on March 30-31. This is a lot of money already and certainly a dream come true for many players. So it is no wonder that teams are eager to win this and I am sure that the matches will be thrilling and entertaining with so much on the line. There will be another chance in a second qualifier round next week, but once again only the winner will qualify, so this is high stakes Heroes of Newerth indeed!

We have asked several team captains and players about their chances in the Qualifiers and how they feel about it:

"I'm really looking forward to the qualifiers, the opportunity to travel to Thailand is just awesome! As always we feel confident, especially after the last two cycles in HoN Tour, but there's a lot of teams we have to lookout for of course."
- Fittske, [tdM]Trademark eSports

"This qualifier means a lot to us as we really want to visit Thailand and compete with the best Asian teams. And it's more on top of that: after recent disappointing results we look to redeem ourselves and prove something to our fans. We're ready."
- NoVa, captain of [357]QsQ

"I'm excited to start it and hopefully show everyone that col's still in the running for placing well."
Riser_, [coL]compLexityGaming

"We really, really want to win the first one. I’d say we'll at the very least make the finals, but tdm will be tough, although in a bo3 with no game advantage we're a lot more confident."
swindlemelonzz, captain of [sG]stayGreen

"Hmm the GSL qualifer today will be really fun to be able to play again and not wait for Hontour. We have showed that we are a part of the top teams. If we get our heroes the thing we have to train on is other strats. I would say our chances [are] there but it’s gonna’ be really hard because we have sG in the 2nd match. I think that sG has proven themselves to get that spot because they are such a good team, but we will try our best to do something crazy!"
ArchiTigeR, Co-Captain of [OTP]One Trick Pony

"I'm not expecting my team to go far in the qualifiers, but we always play to win and we hope to cause some upsets by taking a game over SG. SG + TDM are in my opinion the two strongest teams at the moment, but QsQ, CoL, OTP and Lions have also shown great potential and could claim a win in the qualifiers on a good day."
BagInABox, captain of [QsQ7]QsQ 777

"I'm excited! I think everyone should be, there's a lot at stake and teams have been scrimming more lately to prepare for it. Competative HoN is by far at the highest level of competition we've ever seen. As far as oo7 goes, we recently lost Present23 to Absolute Legends (who we will have the pleasure of facing in the first round) which was definitely a loss of a great player, but we may have a surprise for our replacement (not releasing info until it's official) and if our 5th does officially join us, well we might just be the dark horse coming into this tournament and tournaments to come."
DirtyMobs, captain of [oo7]We Are Spies

The most amazing and well known BreakyCPK of HoNCast also commented on it:

"The GSL Qualifiers is going to be amazing to watch, really because of what is on the line but also how quickly it will take place. I personally love the fact that it is a single elimination straight to the point format, as it really does make every game that much more impactful. Also, sure we have our favorites such as Trademark eSports, but I wouldn’t put it past seeing upsets and some crazy results! Can’t wait to see which two teams will represent the NA/EU region in Thailand and compete for the $60,000 Prize Pool."

BreakyCPK, who is still looking for a qualified new co-caster after the departure of Tralfamadore last Sunday, will be casting this event live for HoNCast. In addition, BeefPotPie will cast coL vs PUDG, so make sure to tune in!

Starting today at 4:00 pm EST / 22:00 CET, the first round will consist of the following matchups:

[tdM]Trademark eSports
vs
[Pika]Pikachu

[oo7]We Are Spies
vs
[aL]Absolute Legends

[357]QsQ
vs
[C1K]Call It Karma

[TteS]Tt eSPORTS
vs
[PNIS]Pencils

[sG]stayGreen
vs
[QsQ7]QsQ 777

[OTP]One Trick Pony
vs
[MlST]Team Mistral

[coL]compLexityGaming
vs
[PUDG]Dendis jungldevos

[LION]Lions eSportsKlubb
vs
[AiD]Afraid


Good luck and have fun to all the teams!

- Blaze