By Blaze

HoN Tour Season 3 has just begun and it is already brimming with action and excitement. The Gold Division in particular has been extremely active and many strong and promising teams have been fighting to get those 2 glorious spots on the top, looking to make it to Diamond next cycle. With four rounds done already, the number of teams still in the race has slimmed down from 16 to 6 and it's all about quality gaming now. Let's take a closer look at the teams thad made it this far and how they got here.

And we start with one of the strongest contenders for the Diamond Division: [Null]Blue Dingleballs. They have been going through the Winners Bracket like a hot knife through butter this last weekend. All their matches so far ended with a 2:0 and it seems that no team can stop them from making it all the way. At first [PpM]PepsiMaX were at the receiving end of the Dingleball skills, followed by another CiC Veteran, [SolC]The Solaire Club. Both teams did not stand much of a chance and had to hope for the Losers Bracket to continue their way towards the finals. Latest victims of the Blue menace were the guys from [iRex]Instant Reflex last Sunday. Instant Reflex have been looking very good lately, but they met their match in the Blue Dingleballs and were dropped to the Losers Bracket without taking a single game for themselves. With this, Blue Dingleballs are in the Winners Bracket Finals now and look hot to make it all the way through.

The other team in this WB Finals are [MOE]Moes Tavern. After a mediocre Carnage in Caldavar Season and not getting into Diamond on the first try during the Qualifiers, these guys are eager to make up for it and get things done. The teams of [GOD]The Gods, [EvAc]Evil Activities and [C]Crave agree with that, after they were taken out by the Tavern members with no real chance and no won game on their side. Now it is up to Moes Tavern to prove that they belong in Diamond, with the hardest of tasks yet ahead. Either them or the Dingleballs will qualify the easy way, the other has to take an extra lap in the Losers Bracket to make it to the Grand Finals and the Diamond Division.

Looking at the Losers Bracket, we see four teams that will be demoted to Silver Division next Cycle and four teams that are still swimming, hoping to get to the Grand Finals via the long road. Of the teams that did not make the cut this Cycle, three forfeited their second match last Saturday, and one who unfortunately lost their fight for survival. This team is, to the surprise of many, I am sure, PepsiMaX. In the first game of that match they fought very hard to win and had good chances, but after over an hour, their opponents, [FnoH]FROG No HIPPO, got through and defeated them. This was the third loss in a row for the Pepsis, so maybe this is the reason for their less stellar performance in the next game, which took only half as long and ended just like the first one. It's really too bad for PepsiMaX, they now have to play in the Silver Division next cycle even though it all seemed so promising just a few weeks ago. But all teams have to go through tough times and those that make it through are stronger than ever, so don't give up on them, they might end up in Diamond Division sooner than you think. Along for the ride to the Silver Division are [JABA]JabberMyHon, The Gods and [FIFA]Germany, who gave forfeit wins to their opponents.

Moving on to the brighter side of the Gold Division, [DNKE]DONKEKONG, Instant Reflex, [Ryss]Vodkagaming and [C]Crave are all still alive and kicking.
They will meet up this weekend and settle who will continue onwards and who will starve so close to the goal. First match will be the most interesting of the round, DONKEKONG versus Instant Reflex. Both teams spent some quality time in the Winners Bracket, but had to move down to the Losers Bracket eventually, with DONKE being a little faster, as they moved there in Round 2 already. And both teams are really promising candidates for Diamond, so this match will be as entertaining as it will be hard fought over. The other match between Vodkagaming and Crave will be just as entertaining of course, these teams have also done a lot of work and each met one of the other team in the winners bracket, where Instant Reflex triumphed over Vodkagaming and Crave defeated DONKEKONG in close matches.

As you can see, the Gold Division is ready to blast off into the second half of the cycle, and there is plenty of action to be seen. The next round will start on Saturday at the usual time, 12:00 EDT | 18:00 CEST with the Losers Bracket, followed by both Winners and Losers Bracket at 15:00 EDT | 21:00 CEST. Top two teams will go to Diamond, top 3 teams are in the money, so expect hard fought games to the last creep standing. Good Luck and Have Fun to all players!

About the author: Blaze