By Blaze
Round 1
[tUS]The Last of Us, one of the two teams to make it (back) from Gold Division had the honor to take on the Champions of last cycle, [SynC]Sync eSports. A tough challenge for the guys from The Last of US and it went was expected. Sync eSports came out of this match without dropping a single game, making it a quick round for themselves.
A little more exciting was the game between [BMG]BadMonkeyGaming and [W0P]WOP Gaming. BMG were clearly the favourites here, but they had to work much harder to defeat their opponents. WOP had a chance in both games, but in the end BMG were too strong and overcame WOP despite their best efforts.
The most interesting of the matchups in the first round was [tree]willowkeeper versus the newcomers of [TF]Twisted Fuzion. Here Twisted Fuzion managed to get ahead in the first game in a very impressive way. They were doing well and it took all of willowkeepers experience to turn this game around, forcing Twisted Fuzion to make mistakes and go from there, winning the game eventually. The second game was much less exciting, willowkeeper had finally found their rhythm while Twisted Fuzion seemed to fall apart. TwFu made an impression here, but it was not enough to win against the second strongest team in Heroes of Newerth right now.
Finally [Null]Nullstone Gaming and [Rea]Reason Gaming went at it to see who was better, and who should get the chance to challenge willowkeeper next round. Two games later Reason Gaming turned out to be the winner of this match and moved on while Nullstone Gaming were welcomed by the Losers Bracket. They fought well but this time Reason Gaming was stronger.
Winners Bracket
Following the first round, the Winners Bracket continued with another round to find out who was worthy to enter the WB Finals. Sync eSports and BadMonkeyGaming were the first of the two matchups. Only a couple of weeks earlier this would have meant a meeting of giants, but because of the changes in BMG, Sync was heavily favoured this time. And they showed it at every step of the way, making life hard for BMG and playing with superiority most of the match. Sure, BMG had their chances but to get to the level that BMG had before, they still have a long way to go. Sync continued on in the Winners Bracket while BMG entered the Losers Bracket and had a date for Sunday.
Willowkeeper and Reason Gaming was the other matchup for the round and to go back in time a little again, a few months earlier this would have been an uphill battle for willowkeeper, as Reason Gaming used to be stronger than them, but now they were the seemingly stronger team. Of course Reason Gaming wanted to remedy that, show willowkeeper that they could keep up with them and advance to the WB Finals themselves, so a long and entertaining match took place over three games, in which, in the end, willowkeeper managed to stay on top, but not without losing a few feathers in that match. Reason Gaming showed that they are still in this and no team should underestimate them.
Losers Bracket
Sunday was the day of the losers and it started with a battle for survival of four of the eight Diamond teams. The Last of Us was set to play against WOP DASH and Twisted Fuzion faced Nullstone Gaming. The Last of Us got a pass this time, as WOP DASH forfeited the match, but TwFu and Nullstone still had their match to play. Twisted Fuzion had a hard time in the earlier round after doing well in their first game but failing at the end of it, followed by a disastrous second game. This and their last minute roster changes might have been the reason for their performance in the LB match, as Nullstone Gaming pretty much rolled over them in both games, sending them back to the Gold Division to regroup and try again another Cycle. Still good luck to them, they made it here once and they have the skill and players to take another shot at becoming a proper Diamond team.
Next and last round for the weekend in the Losers Bracket was between established teams that all seek to make it (back) to the top. The Last of US had to work hard when they played against Reason Gaming. Rea was the favourite in this match but the Americans managed to do some amazing things in the match and actually won both games, ending Reasons hopes to play next weekend right there.
Nullstone Gaming and BMG made up the other match and here we had some great action. Losing the first game, the Stonies came back strong in the second, with an amazing Oogie play by BeaverBanger that amazed a lot of viewers. The third game saw BMG in the lead again and even though Nullstone Gaming kept fighting and did not risk anything, BMG were able to overcome their opponents eventually, allowing them to take the series and move on to next Saturdays match.
Championship Weekend
That was it from last weekend, a few surprises, some expected results and one American team still in the race. This weekend we will continue the ride when The Last of Us and BMG meet each other on Saturday at 12:00 EDT | 18:00 CEST, followed by the Winners Bracket finals, Sync eSports versus willowkeeper at 15:00 EDT | 21:00 CEST. Good Luck and Have Fun to all teams and see you on Honcast, where both games will be casted as usual.
About the author: Blaze
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