And here it is, the recap for the ultimate finals of the Las Vegas HoN Tour finals, for all those who missed it ot like to read up on it. In this finals we had [tdM]Trademark eSports taking on [sG]Stay Green in a best of 5 match. 48000$ were on the line and the winner would take 32000$ home with them.
Game 1
In the first game we had Stay Green on the Legion side. swindlemelonzz picked Deadwood, KheZu got Scout, Zfreek played Aluna, sLiCKz picked Pebbles and Chessie played Ophelia. On the other side, tdM picked Tempest for Mynuts, Limmp got Bubbles, Fittske played Empath, zai` selected Master of Arms and finally noobG with Pollywog Priest.
This first game of the finals started with some very unusual picks, Pollywog Priest and Scout have been rarely seen on the scene in recent days, but were picked this time. This also created some interesting lanes. Right away, Legion blocked 4 of the 5 jungle camps in the Hellbourne jungle, greatly ruining the early game of Tempest. And Scout continued to be a decisive factor. For one he was chased by several heroes near the 4th minute, barely escaping them and allowing Pebbles to kill Pollywog Priest, giving the first blood to the Legion. Legion started to put on pressure on tdM now and a few minutes later, the first tower was destroyed. Another tower on both sides followed quickly after and after changing lanes, Scout also got some creep kills finally.
Indeed it looked pretty good for the Legion team, both Pebbles and Deadwood got their Portal key around the 12th minute and the pressure on tdM increased. tdM tried to react with a tower push and gank attempt in the middle, but were defeated by the quickly reacting Legion force. With the momentum clearly on their side, Stay Green now took the fight right to the doorsteps of the Hellbourne, fighting in their jungle and picking off heroes. tdM was caught flat-footed and was unable to react at all, opting for a quick concede to not let morale drop too much or boost the morale of Stay Green by a prolonged dominating game.
And with this Stay Green takes the first game!
Game 2
Game number 2 had tdM on the Legion side this time, with Mynuts picking [URLhttps://www.heroesofnewerth.com/heroes/view/194/Parasite#hero]Parasite[/URL], Limmp on Rally, Fittske with Pyromancer, zai` on Wild Soul and noobG playing Bubbles. On the Hellbourne side were Stay Green waiting, swindlemelonzz played Pebbles, KheZu with War Beast, sLiCKz on Master of Arms, Zfreek played Aluna and Chessie got Ophelia again.
The second game had once again heroes that we haven't had in awhile, Warbeast and Wild Soul. And with this, both teams went into the game more focused than last time, especially Stay Green seemed to be in their serious mode now. First Blood came out in favor of Stay Green again, this time when Parasite tried to hinder Ophelia a little too much and got caught by her and Master of Arms in the fifth minute. tdM answered by killing a hero themselves and razing the first tower with Wild Soul. Compared to last game this one was a little slower, but Stay Green still had the early pressure on and it slowly but steadily went their way.
And so they were able to push a tower themselves around the 12th minute, followed by a very fast Kongor kill at the 15 minute mark. Stay Green seemed on fire and continued to apply pressure on their opponents, attempting to increasing their advantage before Wild Soule would get his Mock of Brilliance. And indeed that worked out, at the 18th minute, the Hellbourne pushed the mid lane, caught Wild Soul out of position and killed him. It was followed by a continued push and the destruction of melee barracks in the middle. Motivated by their success and tdM's inability to find an answer to their aggression, they pushed the top lane just 4 minutes later. The Legion got crushed again and another melee barracks turned into dust.
The game seemed to be over for tdM and another teamfight after a desperate Legion push in the middle proved that, as Stay Green turned a teamfight around and only lost Pebbles during that fight, who easily had enough gold to buy back again. Now back to full strength, they killed Kongor once more, just in time for tdM to show up in the Kongor pit to get destroyed once more, killing 4 Legion heroes with no losses. Admitting their defeat, tdM conceded the game.
And so Stay Green also took the second game!
Game 3
In the third game, Stay Green was back on the Legion side. swindlemelonzz picked himself Tempest, KheZu played War Beast again, Zfreek took Torturer, sLiCKz payed Pebbles and Chessie played Keeper of the Forest this time. Ready on the Hellbourne side were the tdM players, with Mynuts picking Legionnaire, Limmp with Demented Shaman, Fittske on Nymphora, zai` with Revenant and noobG on Master of Arms.
This was the last chance for tdM now, and they selected the odd Legionnaire to win the game for them, using a creep skipping tactics on the bottom lane. This however was somewhat countered by Keeper of the Forest, who stood his ground for several minutes, before the at that time 550 gpm Legionaire and his little helpers made a move on Keeper and killing him around the fourth minute. Not only that, the bottom tower of the Legion fell right after, boosting Legionnaires gold even further, allowing him to buy a Helm of the Black Legion at 4:30. On the other fronts it looked much better for Stay Green though, all their other heroes were doing just fine. A teamfight around the tenth minute was rather inconclusive and both teams retreated without any losses.
tdM was betting everyting on their Legionnaire and now tried to get him into a more active playstyle. But a failed attempt by him led to a nasty teamfight for his team and allowed Stay Green to win the teamfight and push a tower. This was repeated five minutes later, when Legionnaire went into the middle of the enemy team but Stay Green did not panic and instead turned the game around, causing heavy losses on the Hellbourne side, while remaining intact. tdM was scared now, their strategy had failed and they seemed to be unable to adapt to a new one. When Stay Green was pushing the top lane at the 20 minute mark, tdM instantly ran all the way back to their main base, and even then lost a hero.
This did not look well and the Hellbourne needed a sign of life, so they attempted a gank attempt with Nymphora and Revenant, teleporting near a lone Warbeast. But a naughty neutral Minotaur ruined the party and the ganking party got eaten instead. Stay Green used the opportunity to kill Kongor and pushed mid again. At the base they engaged in a full out teamfight and even though Legionnaire used his Portal Key to get right into the middle of the action, a well placed Keeper and Tempest ultimate ended all hopes of a comeback. And so it was no wonder that tdM conceded the game at that time.
Stay Green wins the third game, making them the overall Champions of HoN Tour! Congrats guys, you earned it!
- Blaze
