By Fantasy
This new phenomenon is haunting the two established teams of Hybrid Gaming and Shooter eSports, ironically the two squads that used to be one - Made in Thailand. Sorry Sorry. While captain Peter_Yedsss, DYSCor, and MrSunz stayed with the pseudo sponsorship of MiTH and made Hybrid Gaming, Tianza and Esc` tried out their luck with Shooter eSports as an organization. The track record so far holds a huge plus on HBX’s side with a G-League title in Cycle 1 and two Grand Final appearances. On the other hand, Shooter eSports has been the odd man out twice in a row, placing fourth in both cycles and being forced to watch the playoffs on stream.
This time it might hit both teams hard, as neither of them is sitting on a playoff berth right now. The two established names in Neo.MRR and Turtle Master are in front, just like the “newcomers” Get Together, Qv Gaming and G-League rising star Snoop dogg. All three teams are staging a revolution and try to change up the elite scene in Thailand.
For the longest time that scene was dominated by MiTH, Neo.MRR and Turtle Master with the occasional visit of KaiD or Kimochi in the playoffs. Even when the top teams from Southeast Asia joined them for a HoN Tour season, those three names were consistently on top of the standings, with a combined number of 10 playoff appearances that season. If the season would end today, Neo.MRR would continue their impressive postseason streak, Turtle Master would barely make it and Hybrid Gaming would miss the cut entirely. In their place would be Get Together, a team that sounds new, while actually having a well known core. Several players that got together in the team have been playing HoN in a team for ages. Few Nhor and 3MMM were previous names - those names should sound familiar.
Few Nhor was in SEA HoN Tour for the third cycle, only to be demoted again right away. 3MMM on the other side was an earlier version of this squad, being a competitor in the first ever Thai HoN Tour season. They never achieved flashy results as 3MMM barely made it into the Top 12 in Thai HoN Tour, Few Nhor only gathered a total of 12 points in their short stint in the highest level of HoN in SEA.
Now they are back with a brand new name and seemingly brand new success. The team is not only in second right now, they are also in serious pursuit of Neolution eSports.MRR. Every other team might have slipped and tumbled already, but not those two teams. Both are the only undefeated teams remaining - only difference is one more tie on GET2’s side. However, a point of concern and emphasis should be the remaining schedule for the boys of Get Together. Sure, 26 points out of ten games sounds great and looks nice on paper, but thus far they played most teams from the bottom of the standings. From Top 7 they only faced two teams - Hybrid Gaming and Qv Gaming. With a win over Qv and a tie against HBX they almost made it through that unscathed, tough tasks like Neo.MRR, Turtle Master, Snoop dogg and Shooter eSports are still on the horizon.
This scenario of GET2 fighting against every remaining top team might open the door for Qv Gaming. With only one point deficit to the second and third place, the team is occupying prime real estate in the standings right now. A win over Shooter eSports and a tie against Snoop dogg are their resume against top opponents, now they go through back-to-back games against TurS and HBX. If they can make it through that stretch without losing much ground, they would boost themselves straight to the third place at least, while building up a comfortable cushion against HBX as well. The following four matches after those two are manageable if not wins in their books, until the final day of G-League Cycle 3 has them pairing up against Neolution eSports.MRR. If everything goes according to the plan of Qv Gaming, the boys would be sitting on the third place by that time, hoping that the opponents slip up and decimate each other.
A prime option for decimation in this top group is Snoop dogg. The team that has been the fifth team in the previous two cycles has been giving the big teams headache ever since the Thai HoN Tour officially kicked off again. This cycle is no different, as Snoop dogg already defeated TurS and took points away from Hybrid Gaming and Qv. Their only loss came against Neolution eSports.MRR, but everyone in the playoff race is looking at this squad. They might not intervene directly and challenge everyone for the slot themselves, but they sure are not going down without a fight. Shooter eSports and Get Together are left on their schedule, giving them a good opportunity to shake up the standings once more. To make a push for Top 3 themselves is still possible, although unlikely, considering their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot. In both cycles before they had a chance to be in a close race to the playoffs, but both times messed it up against seemingly weaker opponents. This time the self-destructive notion started in Round 1, when they surrendered a map against Kimochi Tt eSports. With three ties out of the first three games the ship had already sailed, especially after the additional loss in Round 8. At the moment they are five behind the playoffs spots, which seems to be too much.
Another team five points back is the squad of Jad3. The bottom team is currently holding the red lantern, marking the absolute end of the G-League. Not only are they the 18th team in the standings, they are also yet to win a single point. In ten outings the team has had to concede a loss on all 20 maps, making it a desperate storyline. Their fate is likely already sealed, as they will have to go to D1 for the fourth and final G-League cycle. The question remains which team will share the same daunting fate. At the moment it would be Intelligent eSports, the new version of KaiD and KN5 - keeping in mind that Neolution eSports Cyber Cafe can’t be demoted. For anyone wondering, the Cyber Cafe might retain it’s spot on paper, but a completely new team will be wearing that name for the next cycle.
The other teams mentioned are still not down and out, they all have a fighting chance. All the way up to the tenth placed team Kaff the teams are still in jeopardy with only one or two points of a cushion - respectively. So the Thai scene once more is not only getting energy and excitement from the tense race to the Cycle 3 playoffs, but as usual the race for the G-League spot is creating intrigue as well. Who will get the chance to fight for the title? Will Hybrid Gaming make a comeback? Can Get Together hang on to their spot? Is Qv Gaming the laughing third? Can the veteran team of KaiD avoid elimination? Is Jad3 able to secure a single point at least? The answers are following in the next eight days.
About The Author: Fantasy
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