By Fantasy
After the fifteen matches in the regular season, the reigning Thai HoN Tour champs Snoop Dogg were topping the table with a tremendous amount of 41 points to their name. Thirteen times they were able to defeat their opponent flat out in the Best of 2 series, only conceding a total of two games in the two draws they recorded. As always, the clash with rivals Neolution eSports.MRR was a tightly contested but ending in a split decision, with the other usual outlier against Quadratic Access on the resume as well. Throughout the several cycles Snoop Dogg is now relevant in the Thai HoN division, this schematic has always held true. The team tends to lose matches and games against the real big threats of the league, or tumble against a smaller opponent towards the end of the regular season - when their playoff seed is more or less locked already.
This time it was Quadratic Access in the 14th round of the competition. qAc was more or less irrelevant up until that point, finishing their season in the secure, yet unexciting midfield of the table. Up until the thirteenth week the team had recorded wins against the mediocre teams of the division, while getting 0-2’d by the powerful teams such as Kimochi.Tt eSports, Turtle Master or Hybrid Gaming. That all changed from the thirteenth round forward, when they clawed their way to three total points against three of the toughest opponents. Three consecutive draws against three top-tier teams of the Thai division might mean that the team has more upside than expected, steadily improving throughout the cycle. Current top victims are Get Together, Snoop Dogg and Neolution eSports.MRR - but that list might expand in the fourth cycle soon.
In the upper territory of the standings, those draws were only a nuisance, without really big consequences of any kind. Get Together had already slipped up too much to reach the playoffs at that point, Snoop Dogg had their first spot locked in, while Neolution eSports.MRR could take the foot off the gas with the second seed already secured.
Now the final act of the third cycle with the Semifinals between Neolution eSports.MRR and Turtle Master, followed by the winner going head-to-head with Snoop Dogg has to wait quite a bit. The way the schedule is designed now, the Grand Finals events for the third and fourth cycle will be hosted on the same weekend - namely November 7th and 8th. The 7th will be hosting the Cycle 3 Grand Finals, the 8th will present the fourth and final clash of the best Thai HoN warriors before the Grand Finals playoff stage starts on November 9th.
In that the six best teams from the standings will try to secure their spot in the offline Grand Finals event to crown the fourth Thai HoN Tour Champion. So far it’s the usual suspects on top of the leaderboard. Snoop Dogg, Neolution eSports.MRR and Turtle Master seem like locks for this postseason, as well as Get Together and MiTH.Hybrid Gaming to an extend. Only spot of contention is the sixth and final berth into the postseason at the moment, which is held by Kimochi.Tt eSports currently. The team that showed a spark towards the end of last season has been flirting around the Top 6 all season long, but only managed to put 500 points between themselves and EDMs after two fully recorded cycles. In the third cycle they’ve placed significantly higher than EDMs though, so only a colossal collapse of KcTt and a massive burst in success for EDMs or For Change can push Kimochi off of their playoff seed.
Ultimately, everything will be known on November, 8th - when the playoff bracket with the six remaining teams of the Thai HoN Tour will be released. For now, all math games and little hypothetical imaginations can be put on hold, as the action of Thai HoN Tour is already raging through Caldavar again.
With the quick turnaround of the Thai HoN Tour division, the fourth cycle has already been started and so far it sees Neolution eSports.MRR and Hybrid Gaming on top, EDMs on the third spot, with Snoop Dogg, Seven Sword, Avenge Cosmic and Kimochi.Tt eSports following. Only major letdown to start the season was recorded by Turtle Master, only occupying the 12th place after the first few matches. As the cycle goes on, the HoN Tour website will keep you updated on the standings as the Thai HoN Tour division moves closer and closer to crowning it’s fifth champion.
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.
