The month of July is usually a very dull, hot and unpleasant month for mankind, but for Heroes of Newerth enthusiasts, it offered the culmination of the Carnage in Caldavar event which was the reason why the summer months so far have been rather enjoyable. Both Amateur and Pro Division had their showdown last weekend, with the four top Pro teams playing the Playoffs that would not only decide who gets what part of the prize money, but also who would start at what place in the coming HoN Tour Season 3. Let's see how that went:
RO4
Since it was only four teams, the start of the tournament was also already the semi-finals, and since it was single elimination BO3, every mistake was potentially deadly. [SynC]Sync eSports and [tree]willowkeeper were in the top bracket and faced off first. The first game saw some solid heroes on both sides, with the odd pick to finish off the lineup. Both Moraxus and Dampeer had seen plenty of action in previous HoN Tour seasons, but nowadays, they are a somewhat rare sight on the battlefield. When the game started, it quickly looked bad for willowkeeper, as Sync eSports were able to force their game onto them. Sync continued to be dominant and despite attempts to break this, willowkeeper fell short in every attempt. In the end it was a relatively short match, just 20 minutes until willowkeeper called it and conceded. The second game was very similar to the first, solid picks and an oddball on both sides, Sync ahead quickly and dominant throughout the whole game. 17 minutes later, willowkeeper had to concede once again, with only 4 kills on the scoreboard in their favour and the tree was cut down. Sync eSports proved once more that they were one of the two best teams currently out there, and that by quite a bit.
The other match of this round was between [BMG]BadMonkeyGaming and [Rea]Reason Gaming. Reason had a bit of a not ideal second Cycle behind them and them placing fourth overall in the Pro Division must have been a surprise for them, if not for everyone. And now they were set to play against the most dominating team in competitive HoN. Just like the other match, the teams here did not experiment too much with heroes, although the number of heroes used certainly have increased since HoN Tour Season 2 and heroes once considered unplayable have become much more common these days, in part thanks to these four top teams now playing Pro Playoffs. Getting back to the game, this was a complete rout for Reason Gaming, they did not stand a chance at all and decided to concede at minute 15 with only 3 kills on their scoreboard. The second game was much better in the sense that both teams had a chance to win. Revenant did plenty of work for Reason Gaming and it took BMG a while to adjust to their tactics. It was enough to win the game though, it only prolonged the inevitable to the 38th minute when BMG overpowered Reason completely and the game consequently ended. Onwards for BMG, down to the third place match with Reason Gaming
Third place match
Both teams here must have been a bit unhappy. Sure, they were the underdogs in the previous matches, but they at least had a chance, yet were unable to grasp it. Now was the time to make up for it and to at least grad a bit more of the money and a good, although not ideal place in the upcoming Season 3. Game 1 saw an interesting lineup on both teams, as expected. Reason Gaming decided to skip agility heroes completely and rather have Intelligence support and three big Strength heroes to do damage, Devourer, Warbeast and a wild Berzerker were called into service. willowkeeper chose to have Doctor Repulsor around and added Midas to their lineup for intense pushing and strong ganking. The plan went very well for willowkeeper, as Doctor Repulsor wreaked havoc on the opponents somewhat slow heroes. And while it took them 40 minutes, they did win this game in the end, despite the mighty Berzerker doing his best to pillage and plunder.
Game two saw a Valkyrie on the side of willowkeeper, while Reason Gaming tried their luck with Bombardier and Electrician, two rather unexpected heroes. This match was very long and not exactly the most exciting to watch, but it had some nice scenes and while both sides had chances to win, it was Reason Gaming who came out ahead at the end, willowkeeper seemed unable to end it properly, thus allowing their opponents to come back into the match.
A third match had to be played to decide the winner here. Reason Gaming brought out the big guns again, selecting Moon Queen again and adding Scout, while willowkeeper had a somewhat standard lineup, which was somewhat unexpected of them. Another long match followed, 50 minutes of suspense and some action. Both teams were doing well, but Reason Gaming was doing a little better again, with their Moon Queen being more and more dominant with each passing minute. In the end it was too much for willowkeeper to stop and after 50 minutes they had to admit defeat. The result was a nice comeback from Reason Gaming, who made up for their somewhat lacking performances of earlier days and weeks. For willowkeeper it was a bit disappointing that they were unable to finish their opponents off when they had the chance, but they are still a young pro team and this is exactly the thing you learn from. Both teams are now looking forward for the HoN Tour Season 3 to begin, knowing that they have great starting places and do not have to worry about anything other than practicing until then.
Grand Finals
And now for the main event of the evening: The Grand Finals between Sync eSports and Bad Monkey Gaming! Being a BO5, it was certain that neither team would get out of this easily, and that they had to put in a lot of work to earn the $4000. The first game saw Sync eSports getting ahead early in the game and making life very hard for the monkeys. Especially their Swiftblade pick paid off over and over again. BMG managed to stay in this game for quite some time despite being behind by quite a margin, but Sync pressed on relentlessly and finally overwhelmed BMG in the 35th minute, winning the game in the process.
The second game followed quickly and this game was more open as it developed, as both teams were doing well, with BMG slightly ahead. Sync eSports had their chances in this game but were unable to make something out of it, as the monkeys seemed to be in the zone now, especially Xibbe and the always ham going Jonassomfan, who both scored an impressive kill number while both of them together only died 3 times. KheZu of Sync was able to match them somewhat on Madman, but overall BMG had the upper hand and it seemed like they just made magic happen everywhere. The game ended after 34 minutes, after BMG won another teamfight and there was no point in continuing on.
Moving on, both teams picked a rare hero in their third game, Witchslayer for BMG and Pollywog Priest for Sync. And while Witchslayer proved to be an asset, Pollywog did not work out very well in the lineup that both teams had, despite the expertise and skill of Insania, who commanded the huge frog. As a whole, the game was not as fast as we might have gotten used to by BMG, but it was still full of action and very entertaining, despite it taking 50 minutes. Xibbe displayed tremendous skill once more and BMG was able to keep all of Sync contained, getting a huge advantage over them in the course of the game. And after 48 minutes, the last teamfight was followed by BMG winning the game, moving them in a good position to take the whole series in the next game.
And the next game followed quickly. This time Syn elected to add Slither and Behemoth to their lineup, trying something unexpected to throw BMG off balance and to get back into the match. But BMG knew what they were doing and found an answer quickly: utter dominance. With a whopping 2 kills per minute, BMG had the upper hand in this match quickly. They allowed their opponents no room to breath, no chance to come back. Flensmeister was able to score a few kills himself, but it came at a high price, his teammates fell victim to BMG ganks again and again and it was time to stop this uneven match after 15 minutes, when Sync eSports decided to concede the game and allow BadMonkeyGaming to win this game, match and tournament. Despite their recent terrible loss and lineup change, BMG won this tournament in style and are worthy Champions of the Carnage in Caldavar event. Congrats!
The Carnage in Caldavar event has now ended, but worry not, more HoN is right around the corner. For several weeks we will have the Xfire Midlane Masters[/b] going and HoN Tour Season 3 is right around the corner, with the Qualifier starting this weekend already. Don't forget to register your team, now is the chance to skip some Divisions if you are skilled enough to do so, joining HoN Tour later is of course always possible, but then you have to go through all the brackets to reach the top. Good Luck and Have Fun to all teams participating and thanks to the Pro Division teams for providing us with so much entertainment during the Carnage in Caldavar Cycles.
About the author: Blaze
