By Blaze
Playoffs
Of the our teams made it into the Playoffs of Cycle 4, only one was really expected to make it here.[ECx]Evil Corporation has done amazing in the past Group Phases and it would not be a Season 4 Cycle without them in the Playoffs. With that said, they did not preform as well as previously and although they did not lose a single match, four of them resulted in a draw and they only gained a total of thirteen points this Cycle. Enough for making it to the Winners Bracket, but also only two points away from not making it into the Playoffs at all. It was that close this time.
The only team who left no doubt about their skills and prospects was [xSy]Ex-Sync eSports. After an all time low last Cycle, they completely remade themselves and dominated this Cycle, winning five games and having with two draws. Seventeen points were easily enough to become Number 1 and are ready to face any competition to become the Champions of a Cycle for the first time this Season.
The fight for the Loser’s Bracket entry was a hard one indeed, with three teams doing everything in their power to get there. The first team that made it was [Mint]Fresh, a bit of a surprise, they had looked weak last Cycle, but managed to get their skills back together and secure a spot in the Playoffs. Three wins, three draws and a loss was their total, which means twelve points for them. Not bad, and almost as good as Evil Corporation.
The real surprise team this Cycle was [REVO]Revolution. They scored four wins this Cycle and made it into the Playoffs, which is nothing short of a sensation, as they were struggling with Relegation just 3 weeks ago. Now they face Fresh in the Playoffs right away, a rematch of Sunday’s match where they lost both games, barely missing the Winners Bracket and allowing Fresh into the Playoffs as well. Once again a high stake match, this should be interesting for sure!
Days Off
The team that just missed the Playoffs this Cycle is another big surprise. [coL]compLexity Gaming had a rather meager Cycle of three wins and two draws, which was not enough to get them past Revolution or Fresh. The Americans are probably extra unhappy about this, as they had it in their hands to get to the Playoffs. The very last match of the Group Phase was them against Ex-Sync, and even with only one won game they could have made the difference. But they lost and now it's time for a break. But hey, they’ve struggled before and came back big time in the following Cycle.
The other team to have the week and weekend off are [BMG]BadMonkeyGaming. And to be honest, they can be glad they have some free time, because their performance this Cycle was below average - with one win and three draws, that's six points, almost Relegation level. Luckily for them, their competition at the bottom managed to get even fewer points, so the monkeys have some time now to collect their thoughts, sort out their bananas, and prepare for next Cycle. If they showed us last Cycle how good they can be, this Cycle was the opposite of that. Hopefully next Cycle will be a good one again.
Cut off
At the bottom of the Group in Cycle 4 we have two teams that really did not have a good time. For [MysT]The Mystery Gang it was to be expected, they just made it here after not having played on the top level for several months, and survival was their only focus. That didn’t work out too well and it's Relegation time for them now, but at least they still have this chance to stay in the Diamond Division. It would be a tragedy to see them drop to Gold Division back so quickly.
The other team with one point of failure is[Rea]Reason Gaming. They played great in Cycle 3 , but this Cycle was simply not for them. Interestingly enough, they managed to get a draw against Evil Corporation, one of the stronger teams of this Cycle, but this does not really make up for anything. They will now be facing the Gold Division Champions and have to hang on for dear life. Good thing they have experience in this, it is not unlikely that they will remain in Diamond Division once more, much to the chagrin of the Gold Division hopefuls that want to play with the big boys too.
Next stop now will be the Relegations this Tuesday and Thursday. On Thursday, [Rea]Reason Gaming will play against [NiK]Nightmare Knights, a team with several high level players like Superkge and Shorkan. The match will start at 12:00 EST | 18:00 CET and it will be quite a tough one, as both teams seem equally strong and Nightmare Knights certainly have the motivation advantage - they won all Cycle long and don't plan on stopping now.
Thursday will then see the other Relegation match, [MysT]The Mystery Gang versus [gcm]gochaosmaster, sertas' next attempt at making a top Diamond Division team. It's been going quite well for them so far, they only lost in the Grand Finals on Sunday, so the next step is to take out The Mystery Gang and enter Diamond Division. If that will happen remains to be seen though, while the gang landed in the seventh place, they did have some really good games and lesser teams would have been destroyed by them. We will find out what happens at 12:00 EST | 18:00 CET, when Honcast covers this match, just like they will the other on Tuesday. Good Luck and Have Fun to all four teams!
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.
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