By Blaze
Playoff Candidates
Four teams are currently the most likely ones to make it to the Playoffs Of course this can easily change with just a few wins by one of the other teams, but for now, let's check in on the top four teams and call them candidates. And out of those four, [ECx]Evil Corporation seem to be the team that already booked the ticket to the Playoffs: They had three matches so far and won all of them, putting them in the lead before anyone else, even those with way more matches played. This is very promising and when you think about how the last two Cycles went, the team with the most dominant streak always made it at least to the Grand Finals, so Evil Corporation must feel good. With one more win they should be able to secure guaranteed entrance to the Playoffs, but their aim should be to become #1 in the Group, taking the easy road next weekend in the Winners Bracket.
Right behind ECx are two teams: [BMG]BadMonkeyGaming and [Mint]Fresh. Both of these teams have their own demons to take care of this Cycle. BMG has had a terrible last Cycle and they underperform for a while now, so they want to get some better results this time. With 8 points out of 5 matches, this has only been partially accomplished and even though they seem bound to enter the Playoffs, this is as much because of the competition failing as it is because of good BMG plays. They have two matches left and need to make these count if they want to prevent yet another early out this Cycle. Fresh on the other hand had a brilliant last Cycle, they basically won everything there was and then some. But this Cycle it was back to the old ways, several terrible games and no luck for them so far, netting 8 points in total in 7 matches. Now they are in a dreadful position: they finished all their matches and only got 8 points, which was not enough in the previous Cycles for any team to make it to the Playoffs, so they now have to hope that the competition starts hibernating early and fails to get more points, leading to a whole lot of teams with few points. This is the only way that Fresh can make it into the Playoffs.
And finally there is [coL]compLexity Gaming. The Americans have done well again, three matches, two wins, a total of 7 points. Four more matches to go and rivaling teams doing badly, it seems that compLexity are bound for Playoffs Winners Bracket this Cycle. A few more wins should secure that, and we will get a preview of what seems to be the future Grand Finals at this rate, compLexity Gaming taking on Evil Corporation on Sunday in the late evening as last Group match. This should be fun!
Relegation Candidates
This may sound a little harsh, calling these teams candidates for Relegation, especially with several of them still having plenty of matches to go, yet so far the teams that fell behind early never really made it to the top the last weekend. [PanY]Pannys Boys are the first in this mix. The remnants of Ex-Sync had some trouble these last few match days to get their teamplay and strategies on point and so they lost two matches out of four, giving them a meager 4 points for now. Of course there is still time, three matches mean 9 possible points and with Fresh stuck at 8 points, it seems that it's quite likely that they could make it, but then the other teams aren't sleeping either and we might have some interesting results here in the end. Biggest competition for taking over Fresh and getting into the Playoffs would be the new [Rea]Reason Gaming, they have a total of 5 points, also with four matches played and three more to go. Either of them don't seem like Relegation Candidates, but right now anything can happen and if the other teams get a little more luck or skill on their side, even 6 or 7 points might not be enough to get on the safe side.
At the bottom of the Group are the last two teams, [REVO]Revolution and [REXZ]Rexxars Reborn, both with two points. Revolution seems especially beleaguered, as they have lost three matches now and two draws, leaving only two matches left, hoping for a maximum of six points. They certainly seem to be the most likely team to go to Relegations and should prepare for that mentally. The other team, Rexxars Reborn, still have plenty of chances. They have only lost one match and gotten two draws, which leaves them with four more matches to play, a possible 12 points for them, which might even land them in the Playoffs. This however is not very likely, their future matches are going to be quite tough and 2, maybe 3 points gained in total are more realistic. Still, depending on their form, it can easily be Heaven or Hell for them, or anything in between, they have their own fate in their hands.
Well then, the stage is set for a furious ending of the Group Stage this weekend. Make sure to tune in to Honcast when the matches will be covered live and in color, starting with Pannys Boys versus Evil Corporation on Saturday at 12:00 EDT | 18:00 CEST and on Sunday we start once more at 12:00 EDT | 18:00 CEST with Evil Corporation versus BadMonkeyGaming. Good Luck and Have Fun to all teams and players!
BlahC is a very hungry 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, BlahC has focused on the less known teams, bringing their name to the forefront. When he isn’t writing about HoN, BlahC enjoys playing RPGs, writing fiction, and listening to Metal, Avantgarde, and Neofolk music.
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