By Blaze
Winners of the weekend
The clear winner of the weekend and surprise team to say the least are the guys from [REVO]Revolution. While they were struggling in the Relegation Matches last Cycle and had to work hard to get out from there, this weekend was a blast for them. They had four matches scheduled and they won three of them, giving them now a total of 9 points, which is certainly enough to stay in Diamond for sure without going to the Relegation, plus if you compare the points to earlier Cycles, these 9 points might also be enough for them to get into the Playoffs, which would be an amazing achievement for Revolution. And the wins they got were spectacular too, not only did they defeat their direct competition The Mystery Gang, they also defeated compLexity Gaming and Reason Gaming. Only Evil Corporation were stronger than them, but that was to be expected.
Speaking of Evil Corporation, they were also doing very well on that weekend. Two wins and one draw means 7 points and currently second place, but it seems a good bet that both rank and points will improve with the next matches they play. As always a strong performance in the Group Phase, ECx now has to show the same skill and strength in the Playoffs, where they should easily go again this Cycle. Sharing second place with them are Ex-Sync Esports, who decided to take on that team name again. Perhaps the name change actually helped them because this Cycle is going much better for them than the previous. Two wins and a draw means 7 points and a good chance to make it to the Playoffs if they can keep it up.
The Midfield
With so many winners of the weekend, there were also plenty of non-winners and only one team really managed to get a moderate amount of points out of the weekend. [coL]compLexity Gaming is this team and they had a win, a draw and a loss, which is not the best start, but compared to some other teams it's actually okay. And they are a very good team, they proved that by winning a Cycle twice so far. Their loss against Revolution was spectacular and unexpected and it is likely that this was just an one time event, compLexity usually does not have too many low points. They have four matches left and it is pretty certain that they will get enough points out of those to make it into the Playoffs, unless something really unexpected happens. But as we have just seen this last weekend, the unexpected happens - and more often than you would expect.
The Rear Guard
The four remaining teams all had a very bad weekend. All four together gathered a total of 3 points, which means that the next matches, especially those next weekend, will be a fight for survival for several of them. Luckily they all have plenty of matches still to play, so there is even the chance to go to the Playoffs, but for now, everyone needs to focus on getting away from Relegation. A step away from that are the guys from [BMG]BadMonkeyGaming. While they had a great Cycle last time, this one has been pretty thin so far, two draws and a loss means a total of 2 points and not a lot of hope to make it into the Playoffs. They already played against Evil Corporation, so that loss is out of the way, but there are several good teams still to come and it will be hard work if they want to make it into the Playoffs again.
[Mint]Fresh have one point less than BMG, with a total of 1 draw and 1 loss so far, but as they still have 5 matches to go, Fresh might be in a better spot than BMG. They will face a lot of challenges, but if they can get back into whatever trance they were in Cycle 2, everything is still on the table for them, they just need some wins.
This is true for the last two teams as well, they might both have two losses so far and a total of 0 points, but because of the 5 matches still ahead, they could in theory still make 15 points if everything goes their way. [Rea]Reason Gaming has dealt with tough situations before and it is very likely that they can get a win or two next weekend if they try hard, still they need to be careful, otherwise it's Relegation time in a week from now and that might not be pretty, especially after they managed to get to the Playoffs last time.
And the last of the eight teams, [MysT]The Mystery Gang, they might be in a bad spot right now because the last 3 Cycles, they had win after win after win every weekend and only in the Relegation Matches they lost. Having to deal with losses this early on and being last after the first weekend might affect morale in a bad way and morale is an important part of the game. But then again, The Mystery Gang has surprised us again and again, so everything is possible for them. Especially Evil Corporation need to watch out next Saturday, they underestimated players of The Mystery Gang once and it almost ended in a huge disaster.
As you can see, nothing has been decided yet. We got a few teams clearly ahead of the others, but nothing is written in stone yet and it can be heaven or hell for any of the four teams. The next matches will happen on Thursday. On Thursday, Evil Corporation will have Reason Gaming on their dinner plate at 12:00 EDT | 18:00 CET, followed by Ex-Sync eSports versus Revolution at 14:00 EDT | 20:00 CET, surprisingly enough the top match of the week. Honcast will cover all of these matches live as usual, so don't be late and tell a buddy!
BlahC 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, 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.
Coverage provided by
