By Blaze
[Rea]Reason Gaming - #3 Seed
Reason Gaming is a team that anyone who plays in or watches HoN Tour should know by now. They have been playing ever since the first season, back then known as QsQ 777 in a somewhat different lineup, and continued in Season 2 as Justice League, evolving as a team and getting better and better every step of the way. In Season 3 now they fully matured and even though there was trouble in the middle of the season, they played very well overall and managed to challenge their biggest competition, [tree]willowkeeper, for their number 2 spot, even taking two Losers Bracket Finals in the last two cycles. These are the exact rankings they achieved during Season 3:
Cycle 1: Diamond 4th placeThe team has vastly improved over the years, getting ahead step by step and finally getting where they are now: in a great position to fly to Thailand. Of course that is only if they can keep up their current strength, they have been known to fluctuate in their performance, leading to some rather terrible losses in the past. But if they are at their A game, they are certainly the favourite to go to Thailand, and getting to the Final Four should be a mere formality for them. Their lineup has changed several times in the past, but is now stable with the following team members set for the Playoffs:
Cycle 2: Diamond: 5/6th place
Cycle 3: Diamond: 5/6th place
Cycle 4: Diamond: 7/8th place
Cycle 5: Gold: Champions
Cycle 6: Diamond: 3rd place
Cycle 7: Diamond: 2nd place
Cycle 8: Diamond: 2nd place
[Rea]ImbaBoy: Captain, Carry
[Rea]Z4NE: Suicide
[Rea]Mbrei: Initiator
[Rea]Nir: Jungle, Secondary Support
ChaoIy: Support
Tankafett: Substitute Support
[Rea]OwnedMe: Substitute Initiator
As mentioned before, Reason Gaming are a favourite to make it to Thailand, right along with their rivals of willowkeeper. With the trees now placing second in their group, this might be a chance for Reason to face them head on if they place first here and get the biggest competition out of the way. But with that said, they first need to actually get through the group phase and this might be a little harder than some think, we have seen upsets before in Group A and the guys from Reason Gaming are no strangers to unexpected failures. This first matchup may not be the hardest they will face this week, but it will be an outlook into what to expect of them for the Playoffs; if they struggle here, they will have a hard time, but if they win easily, the rest of the teams are in big trouble.
[Hoo]Team Who - #8 Seed
Team Who has had a colourful history in HoN Tour so far, dating back the beginning of Season 2, where they started out as The UberGimps, turning into Team Cheesecake shortly after. Going into Season 3 after a mediocre performance in the Carnage in Caldavar event, they fused with DONKEKONG and played under that name for a while, doing very well in the Gold Division. After Cycle 3 they decided to get a new name, allowing other members of DNKE to get the team name back. From that day on they were known as Prime Icarus and entered Diamond Division known as such; there they would play for several cycles with short breaks in Gold. All in all they had a solid Season and by spending half of the cycles in Diamond Division, they may as well be considered a Diamond team now, rather than Gold. Here are the exact rankings they achieved in Season 3:
Cycle 1: Gold 3rd place (as DONKEKONG)One of their main problems in the past to stay in Diamond was that they had to go up against much stronger teams right from the start, which certainly did not help with their morale. But overall they improved in all areas, managing to win two of the desperate first rounds in the Losers Bracket in Diamond Division against teams of equal strength or even better. As a team they have good synergy and while they may not be that special of a team, they show passion and innovation, which should make their matches at quite entertaining to watch. And speaking of things to watch: Watch out for Oogie! Their lineup for the Playoffs is a follows:
Cycle 2: Gold: 4th place (as DONKEKONG)
Cycle 3: Gold: 2nd place (as Prime Icarus)
Cycle 4: Diamond: 7/8th place (as Prime Icarus)
Cycle 5: Gold: 2nd place (as Prime Icarus)
Cycle 6: Diamond: 5/6th place (as Prime Icarus)
Cycle 7: Diamond: 5/6th place (as Prime Icarus)
Cycle 8: Diamond: 7/8th place (as Prime Icarus)
[Hoo]Shorkan: Captain, Jungle, Secondary Support
[Hoo]sertas: Carry
[Hoo]YUGOBIC: Support
[Hoo]JlmCarryYou: Suicide
[Hoo]Slaskedyret: Mid
With their increased performance, Team Who have absolutely earned to be in the Playoffs again, after having a great time in the Season 2 Playoffs as well, where they got quite far, just short of making it to the Final Round. This leaves them now in a good position to stir up some things in the Playoffs, maybe take a game from the big teams, like Reason Gaming, and then try and get to the Final Four via the Losers Bracket and an upset win against whoever they will encounter there. And all the while, expect to have a lot of fun watching them play, just as they will have fun playing here.
There you go, two hot teams ready to get things done! Their match is set up for Tuesday at 12:00 EST | 18:00 CET and will just be the start of another full week of HoN at it's best, so make sure to tune in to Honcast at the right time, as BreakyCPK and Mini will cover all of the Group matches once more. Good Luck and Have Fun to both teams!
Blaze is a senior Hontour.com writer focusing on the NA/EU Diamond and Gold Divisions. After making a name for himself in the Dawn of War 1 scene, he began his career in journalism at DawnOfWar.de. As one of the first HoN Tour writers, Blaze has focused on the less known teams, bringing their name to the forefront. When he isn’t writing about HoN, Blaze enjoys playing RPGs, writing fiction, and listening to Metal, Avantgarde, and Neofolk music.
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