By Enthozz

A much anticipated grand finals of HoN Tour Season 3 – Cycle 1 - has finally come and gone. Sync eSports and Bad Monkey Gaming squared off in an explosive best-of-5 series that left no questions unanswered. In this article we take a look at the lengthy Game 2 between the two current best Heroes of Newerth teams. With a myriad of close calls, rapid-fire exchanges, and Devourer hooks, both Sync and BMG were both fiercely determined to take home a cushy prize pool.

Mirrors of Opportunity

Leading into this match, Sync and BMG were both tied with one win apiece despite Sync starting the series with a one game advantage. Intending to end this game early, BMG opted for a draft with strong laning presence while foregoing a hard carry entirely. Their team composition was as follows: a first pick on Parasite followed by Empath, Torturer, Bubbles, and Moraxus. Sync followed a safer route by drafting Puppet Master, Tempest, Magmus, Rhapsody, and even Devourer, being played by none other than m`ICKE.

The game started with little excitement, but began to pick up speed following the Bloodlust. Six minutes of no action was finally broken in the bottom lane when Magmus erupted onto Bubbles with the aid of iNsania’s Rhapsody stun holding him in place. Following this kill, action began to snowball out of control with nearly every hero constantly switching lanes for ganks. Sync’s teamwork along with carefully placed wards from iNsania secured an early lead with a 9-5 kill lead in Sync’s favor at the 15 minute mark. Superkge managed to attain a portal key just before the 16 minute mark and was feeling a bit overzealous in the bottom lane against all five of Sync’s heroes. A quick hook from m`ICKE dropped Superkge and opened an opportunity for initiation onto BMG. Although Sync had a 5v4 advantage heading into this team fight, they were unsuspecting of the fact that Bubbles had also just acquired a portal key. Bubbles initiated onto Sync hitting all of their heroes with both his silence and Kelp Field. This crippling combination allowed BMG to make short work of Sync, resulting in a massive genocide. The scales were finally balanced at a 10-10 hero kill score, paving an even playing field for the burgeoning midgame atrocities.

Planet Of The Apes

BMG finally began to capitalize on their early game draft and constantly roamed the map as a team, while Sync fervently exhausted resources to prevent ganks and snag what few towers they could. BMG’s map control along with tower kills granted them a 5k/1k gold/experience lead by the 20 minute mark. Both teams capitalized on even the slightest of opportunities to secure pick-offs, with m`ICKE landing hook after hook to keep the kill score balanced. Meanwhile, Puppet Master continued to farm away as the minutes ticked by, thus preparing for a potentially dominant late game advantage. Kongor fell to BMG at the 28-minute mark and it was at this point that they finally found themselves able to push into Sync’s base. With Flensmeister pulling some strings in order to halt BMG’s advance in its tracks Sync refused to give any quarter. Despite this heroic stand, another base push from BMG resulted with the destruction of both mid rax which granted them 15k/15k gold and experience lead. Sync refused to give up hope with the knowledge that their late game presence was a daunting prospect for BMG’s carry-less composition.

As the game neared the 1-hour mark, Sync finally began to take control as each skirmish between teams concluded heavily in their favor. An incredible 4-for-1 exchange in the bottom lane finally turned the tide of the game in Sync’s favor, allowing them a Kongor kill and a 2k/15k gold/experience lead. Despite having a rax advantage, BMG realized that it was high time for some action before letting Sync’s late game draft bloomed into full fruition. BMG seized the opportunity when both their Parasite and Torturer were killed in the bottom lane. They instantly bought back, used Boots of Travel to teleport to the top lane, and joined the rest of their team in demolishing Sync’s top rax. Both teams played passively for the following fifteen minutes until Sync attempted to kill Kongor for his fifth spawn. A sneaky ward from BMG spotted this and Bubbles, now wielding a Savage Mace and Frostwolf Skull, initiated with no hesitation while the rest of his team followed closely behind. Without a Tempest ultimate available, Sync lost this skirmish in a 3-for-1 exchange. BMG hammered the final nail into Sync’s coffin by destroying the bottom rax, ending this sensational game at the 79 minute mark.