Yesterday in the LB Ro8, we saw many teams leave us for the remainder of the cycle yet again, with only one forfeit this round.

[Due1]Do You Even Lift gave way to [PPWN]Pwning Pwnies, who have been looking strong all cycle. [cTi]Perfection Esp has been looking just as strong as they take a 2-0 victory over [BLZE]Team Blazin EU. Who would have thought this up-and-coming team would be looking so strong in their first Gold cycle? Iif they continue to impress, I will need to sit down and talk with these guys to discover their secret to success. We also saw [DonD]DoberOnDamp take out [WSD]Slash Defenders in a rematch series from Silver. DonD took the victory yet again but this time in a much closer series going the full three matches, 2-1.

As for the [QsQ7]QsQ 777 and [SePP]Seeking Perfection game, Beefpotpie was able to cast it and everyone had the chance to see some big manning up with a ThunderBringer/Nymphora mid by QsQ 777 in the 2nd game. It certainly is something you should watch. At about 15 minutes, in there were over 30 kills between the two teams. Neither squad was afraid to be aggressive and I think it says a lot about the way some other teams play.

There are people who say that there are only that many kills because they are lesser teams and are making mistakes. To a degree, that is true, but it was their choice to be aggressive and to try for a kill in the first place. When teams make this kind of choice, it is normal for fights to quickly turn around and other times they will get steamrolled by proper initiation and pick-offs. When teams sit back and farm versus one another with proper warding, there are rarely attempts to stop each other's carry from farming. When it comes down to a Draconis against a Silhouette in a Diamond league match, we often see both carries sit back and get 400-500 GPM with barely any ganks from the rest of their team. These line-ups are often based around winning one major team fight to take the game.

Only the top few teams play this way while the rest of the teams still rely on their active play style. QsQ 777 was in Diamond League for two cycles and with yesterday’s victory, they have proven to Seeking Perfection and the rest of Gold Division that they are worthy of being called a top team. They will take on Perfection Esp in today’s match. Can cTi shock us once again by taking out a strong competitor, putting themselves one win away from Diamond? We’ll see!

Pwning Pwnies takes on DoberOnDamp in one of the other matches. I expect DonD to take this match up but Pwning Pwnies may surprise us with a strong showing.

In the Winner’s Bracket, [zhiT]Shit Happens is taking on [Dmsn]AnotherDimension in what is bound to be an action packed game between two hyped teams. The victor moves on to the Winner’s Finals and a guaranteed spot in Diamond Division next cycle.

And then in the other Winner’s Bracket match, we have [DoP]Domain of Pain, arguably the favorite of many to win Gold this cycle. They will play against [SOZO]Team Please in what will be an interesting match.

“We've been trying different things in our games. Really, our matches are our practice,” said ZoSo_oSoZ of Team Please. “It’s just like ‘Hey, let’s try this now!’ and we do it and it works.”

I’m not sure I can call this match but I feel like Team Please has the potential to surprise some people if they play their best. Hopefully we will see Honcast cover this, so tune in to www.honcast.com for live coverage.

In the end, I really think that the Winners Bracket Ro4 teams will be the ones to make it into Diamond this cycle, despite the strong teams in Losers Bracket. There is too much to overcome for those teams and they will have to wait for another opportunity to break into HoN’s top league.

- Crowslaw
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