By Fantasy
Souce: Dominatrix Facebook
The male scene in Thailand might go through ups and downs, upsets, changing winners, as well as rising and descending super powers. The female scene on the other side can easily be summed up by mentioning one team and one team only: Dominatrix.
The team around carry mmhod` added yet another item of jewelry to their already impressive trophy display by winning the first ever cycle in the Lady HoN Offline Tournament 2024 - a slightly altered HoN Tour version for the ladies. Back a few weeks ago in the first bracket stage, the girls from Dominatrix and the rising stars of Twinkle Twinkle played their way through to end up with the chance of playing for the title in front of the excited crowd at the 4th year anniversary showdown last weekend.
A few thousand Thai Baht were on the line, as well as some valuable points to collect over the three cycles in order to advance to the Grand Finals at the end of the year. Just by reaching the finals of the first cycle, Dominatrix and Twinkle Twinkle had already clinched at least 250 points and 10,000 Thai Baht for their trouble, as well as a chance to play the game how eSports was meant to be played - in front of a roaring crowd, excited and passionate for the games.
In the end it was the experienced team of Dominatrix that was cheered by the fans, winning the first ever cycle in the big tournament. Going forward, the tournament is already seen as another big step towards an actual HoN Tour for the growing female scene in Thailand.
It was a lot closer than expected though. As the Dominatrix team has grown accustomed to winning their games in landslides and beatdowns, barely making it past the 25 minute mark in most of their games. In that sense, the fight Twinkle Twinkle offered them was unique. Over the past couple of months Dominatrix barely had to really go toe-to-toe with an enemy. Ever since GSL 2024 and their win in the Midwars tournament, they’ve been cruising from title to title without much resistance. The competition in the monthly cups played at the Garena Studios in Thailand as a part of the G-League Offline Cycle finals got tougher and tougher each time, but they very rarely reached a level in which any spectator really had the feeling of Dominatrix being in a losing spot.
Now Twinkle Twinkle seems to be poised to push the Neolution eSports ladies to their brink. The finals on the main stage at the anniversary event lasted almost 50 minutes and showcased the scoreline of an even slugfest with 28-22.
In the end it was once more mid player EMoOKuK` with spot on initiations and carry player mmhod` on Klanx dishing out extreme amounts of damage with her farm throughout the game almost eclipsing the 600 GPM mark. Alongside supporting cast Por_Naja and Lynx, as well as suicide player PRAEWIIFREAK, the team pulled through rough stretches in the game to get the title.
While the score paints one picture, it may actually have been a bit of fool’s gold. At the end of the day Dominatrix was the much better team, mostly because of resource management and a better game plan. The team might not always completely roll over an opponent and utterly destroy them with early ganks, decisive early team fights or just by pouncing on mistakes of the opposition, but they are also following through on advanced mechanics of pushing their farm. Composed pushing, waiting for the big items, taking advantage of the full map and executing on a bigger game plan, not rushing in and searching for a fight - all those are attributes that still separate Dominatrix from the rest of the female division. Case in point is the 40 minute mark in the bout against 7ink. While the kill score was slightly tilted towards Twinkle Twinkle with 16-17, the gold and experience advantage was on the side of dMt. Especially EMoOKuK once more outplayed the opposing mid, becoming more and more into the MVP of the Dominatrix operations. Overall dMt is sharing the wealth, getting their crucial team fight supports to the important levels and items, before taking huge engagements and start to push down lanes.
If they keep it up, the reign of the Dominatrix girls might not stop soon and the first ever Ladies HoN Offline Tournament 2024 will be a one-sided parade of skill. Until that point, the road is long for the female champs. Every team now has a few weeks to regroup and prepare for the next cycle on August, 9th. No matter what happens, Dominatrix will be the favorite to win once more, but Twinkle Twinkle, HowGirl, Dion Cat or First Sight Girlx will have time to study and improve their skills.
Final standings of the first cycle in the HoN Lady Offline Tournament 2024
1st - Dominatrix - 12,000 THB (~$350 USD) + 400 points
2nd - Twinkle Twinkle - 10,000 THB (~$300 USD) + 250 points
3rd - Dion Cat - 5,000 THB (~ $150 USD) + 200 points
4th - Hybrid Gaming - 3,000 THB (~$90 USD) + 150 points
Fantasy is a journalist with four years of experience working in various eSports. He is currently the HoN Tour correspondent for the CIS and SEA regions, as well as an editor for both ESL Gaming and compLexity Gaming. In addition to his online endeavors, he studies Publicity and Communication, plays American football, and loves movies.
