The first half of the HoN Tour Season belonged to Trademark eSports, but the entire second half went to Stay Green as the most dominant team of the competition. In the last couple of Cycles Stay Green set milestone after milestone, emerging as the number one spot in the HoN Tour Rankings and the number one team in the entire Heroes of Newerth scene. Now it’s their time to validate that top seed in Vegas, and walk away as the first ever HoN Tour Champion.

Dealing With Adversity

The start for the team into the big competition was not easy. Originally the team “Gary Johnson 2024” was formed with a lot of free-agents to compete for a DreamHack Winter 2024 spot in the Destination: DreamHoN tournament. The core roster at that time featured swindlemelonzz as a captain, his brother ZfreeK as a jungler, Skyzoe as a suicide player and the two former It’s Gosu members KheZu (Carry) and Sender (Support).

The initial success to go to Jönköping, Sweden to compete in the prestigious DreamHoN Winter event was followed by a crushing elimination in the Group Stage. V0TE went into the tourney with high expectations, but failed to win against their rivals compLexity Gaming in the Group Stage, and only tied against the Malaysian powerhouse Orange eSports -- knocking them out of the competition after the first day.

After that, some changes in the roster happened with Sender being replaced by the Australian superstar sLiCKz, who left Tt eSports after playing for them almost 2 years. The last transaction to take place was the adoption of Chessie into the team, pushing Skyzoe out and transitioning ZfreeK into the support role. It was not long after that Slickz, Khezu, and Chessie made the journey over to Miami to form the current Stay Green gaming house.

Source: Mischa Tan

From left to right: KheZu, Chessie, swindlemelonzz, sLiCKz, ZfreeK

swindlemelonzz
Kyle Freedman, 20 years old, Hightstown, New Jersey, United States of America
swindlemelonzz is the undisputed leader, decision maker and drafter of the team with plenty of experience in the scene. His drafting changed the meta-game as of late and introduced one of his favorite heroes - Deadwood - as a viable and desirable pick-up for every team.

ZfreeK
Zakari Freedman, 18 years old, Hightstown, New Jersey, United States of America
In the six months of Stay Green being together as a team, ZfreeK had to adjust out of the jungle and into the lane support role, but no dropoff in performance was visible. As a hard support he might not get the recognition of the scene or the fans, but he is a pivotal part of the success story that is Stay Green.

KheZu
Maurice Gutmann, 17 years old, Aichach, Germany
Another member of Stay Green that had to adjust his role is KheZu. When the team was originally formed and competed at the DreamHack Winter 2024 event, KheZu was viewed as one of the best carries in the game, making unconventional carry options like Tremble work. Then sLiCKz arrived, and KheZu transitioned into a supreme suicide player - rocking his opponents on Wildsoul and other heroes ever since.

Chessie
Rasmus Blomdin, 19 years old, Stockholm, Sweden
At the end of 2024, Chessie was still a member of compLexity Gaming and received accolades such as the “Jungler of the Year” award by Honcast. Shortly after that he finished the coL chapter of his playing career, packed his bags and flew to Miami in order to chase titles with his new team Stay Green. His jungle play is injecting fear into the hearts of his opponents and there are numerous games in which Chessie prevailed as the most dominant force on the Stay Green roster - saving the day with ultimates, ganks or the pure micro of his Ophelia creeps.

sLiCKz
Trent Tucker, 21 years old, Melbourne, Australia
He has been a part of the old compLexity Gaming, Frenetic Array and Tt eSports with decent success and two runner-ups at DreamHack to show for. With the start of the HoN Tour season he brought his talents to Stay Green, later brought his talents to South Beach and is now wreaking havoc with minimal ping, but maximum skill. He is considered to be one of the best mechanical players in HoN, he has the ability to even make unconventional heroes work and now he even has an huge Offline Championship to showcase. That success will not stop him from showing up full force in Las Vegas to try to carry his team to yet another massive offline title.

The Champs Are Here

The early parts of the HoN Tour Season were a mixed bag of emotions for Stay Green and their members. It all started on a high-note with them reaching the Qualifier Grand Finals through the Upper Bracket - even beating Trademark eSports - but in that Grand Final they couldn’t compete with tdM. The same story followed in the first two Cycles of the Diamond Division: Stay Green was always performing, but in the end either compLexity or Trademark found a way to edge them out -- until their breakout in Cycle 3.

Cycle 1 : 3rd
Cycle 2 : 3rd
Cycle 3 : 1st
Cycle 4 : 2nd
Cycle 5 : 2nd
Cycle 6 : 1st
Cycle 7 : 1st
Cycle 8 : 1st

The results of sG are impeccable and might trigger awe, as the team has reached several milestones in the HoN Tour Season and never missed the spot on the podium. Ever since all the members arrived in the apartment complex in Miami, Florida, they seemed to have flipped a switch and were just stomping through the competition. The team around swindlemelonzz is the only team to ever win three Diamond Division Cycles in a row, they are the only team to not drop a single map during a Cycle, and they are the only squad that won a Diamond Division Title coming out of the Lower Bracket.

The perception of the team is pretty much like “Teflon” - nothing really seem to stick. Stay Green has the ability to overcome adversity, not go on tilt and always keep a calm composure. At some point in the early Cycles the nickname “Comeback Team” was attached to them, as they seemingly never reacted flustered after trailing in a big game or in a series.

With the recent surge in success of closing out HoN Tour with three Championships and being crowned the HoN Kings in Thailand, the team’s confidence is at an all time high. It is not so much the fact that they once again played a flawless tournament in Bangkok without dropping a single map(or in KheZu’s case without even dropping dead once on the first day), but it was more the confidence boost of a LAN Championship. All five members came close in the past, but always had to suffer through the agony of defeat in the end. They got over that hump now, and according to swindlemelonzz, will be a lot calmer and more relaxed in a LAN environment now.

From Thailand to Las Vegas

The Road to Las Vegas could almost be out of a Mission Impossible movie with tons of exotic locations and set pieces. Stay Green traveled from Thailand, back to Miami Beach, and is now taking flights all the way to the casino capital of the world - Las Vegas. One could say that the team is living the dream.

All this is directly related to the hard work they have put in ever since they gathered in Miami. Now they can reap what they’ve sown, as swindlemelonzz reports an amazing thing. Every time they are in the LAN environment now, they can just blend it out and literally have the mindset of them playing in their home in Miami. This makes a high pressure LAN experience a lot friendlier for the team.

In spite of their success, cockiness is not to be found within the team. They know they are at the top right now, but they have the utmost respect for their opponents -//- specifically towards Lions, one of the last teams to win a game against the successful bunch from Miami. In the SoundBlaster Heroes League, the Swedish team caught sG off guard and defeated them with an unorthodox draft involving a powerful Engineer, Rally, and Devourer combination. Quoting ZFreeK right before that match, "I always feed Devo."

This tournament is Stay Green’s to lose. They are marching in as the GSL Champions, as the reigning four-time Diamond Division Champion, and as the #1 team according to pretty much every ranking. The fact that swindlemelonzz says that they don’t feel pressure is honorable and good, but in this result oriented business, you are only as good as your last tournament result.

This is their moment to shine, their moment to follow up with back to back LAN tournnament victories, and their moment to not only be the SEA Champion, but also the Champion of the World.

-Sören "Fantasy"
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