In the last week of the Diamond Division, we saw former champions lose for the first time in months, a team who was considered “dead” at one time reach the Winner's Finals, an exciting winning streak that captivated the scene and, finally, a brand new HoN Tour Diamond Division Cycle Champion.

Not bad.

After one of the most riveting events in recent memory, [sG]Stay Green managed to hold off the hot hand of [357]QsQ to take Diamond Division Cycle 3. As great as the Grand Finals were, the story of the tournament was told in the earlier rounds, beginning with [TteS]Tt eSPORTS.

Since losing their long time captain, sLiCKz, the team was thought to be headed for obscurity. Despite those predictions, the squad has stayed in the Diamond Division, posting solid results. Cycle 3 would prove to be their coming out party. In the second round of the Winner's Bracket, Tt eSPORTS posted an impressive 2-1 win over QSQ. Many were surprised by this result but nothing could prepare the community for the huge upset in the following round. Two time defending Diamond champion [tdM]Trademark eSports ran into serious trouble against Tt eSPORTS and dropped their first series since before DreamHack Winter 2024 in November, 2-0. Serious praise is due for the team's hard work, led by new captain wyt`, who has seamlessly replaced sLiCKz as the team's drafter.

“I think the team was at a great level of play while in the Winner's Bracket. We were on fire and everyone was playing really well,” said wyt` of his squad. “The wins against QsQ and tdM were definitely a sign of things to come. Look forward to seeing more of this TteS strength in the future.”

While Tt eSPORTS was ruling the upper part of the bracket, QSQ was busy scheming in the Loser's Bracket. Clearly motivated by their earlier loss, the team caught fire. In one of the most surprising and exciting runs in HoN history, QSQ managed to consecutively 2-0: [PNIS]Pencils, [N9g]N9 Gaming, [coL]compLexityGaming, Trademark eSports and Tt eSPORTS, eliminating all five teams. The team, led by veteran support player NoVa, was always thought to have a lot of potential but never really lived up to their hype. In this cycle, it was QSQ who brought the hype making it all the way to the Grand Finals.

“I honestly think we're quite surprised ourselves,” said Style. “Everybody in the team is really happy about the results since it showed that us practicing everyday finally payed off.”

Once QSQ made the final, they ran into perhaps the hardest working team in HoN: Stay Green. Swindlemelonzz and crew have had their noses to the grindstone for the past few months, working to improve their game and take the next step as a team. In past cycles, they've made strides towards that goal but never really got over the hump. This week, they were able to take down compLexityGaming in the Winner's Semifinals and Tt eSPORTS in the Winner's Finals to make their first Grand Finals appearance. Thankfully, they wouldn't squander it. QSQ took them to the final game but Stay Green was able to secure the win.

With their victory, Stay Green takes home $4000 and 4000 HoN Tour points to bump them up to 2nd place overall in the rankings. For placing second, QSQ earned $2500 and Tt eSPORTS got $2000 for 3rd. A new cycle begins this weekend so it won't be long until we find out how the momentum of the past event will carry over. Will Stay Green find a way to repeat? Will QSQ continue their impressive streak? Or will the duo of compLexityGaming and Trademark eSports rise to the top once again? All the action will soon unfold before us and, to be honest, we can't ask for much more than the stellar play and exciting series that we saw during Cycle 3.