By Fantasy
After a day of casual fun with Heroes of Newerth on Saturday the 21st, Sunday was all for the championships. The two titles were on the line, the four teams competing for it ready to seize their moment and shine brightest in the spotlight.
The start of the event was made by the female HoN players and the final bout between Twinkle Twinkle and Dominatrix. A few weeks ago this would have been a foregone conclusion, handing over the title to dMt. Most recently though, the once-so-powerful and unbeatable female team had gone down - twice even. After a winning streak lasting over two years, the third cycle of the HoN Lady Tournament spelled doom for captain `mmhod and her team of champions. Internal issues and practice shortcomings all added up to other teams not just catching up, but taking over.
Leading the charge in that revolution for the Ladies division was Twinkle Twinkle, quickly establishing themselves as the new team to beat. Even when dMt was dominating, Twinkle Twinkle almost stood a chance against them - becoming the second best female team after the Dominatrixes. Now with the five giants struggling, Twinkle Twinkle assumed their spot, winning Cycle 3 and entering the Grand Finals with all the momentum in the world. Ultimately, it ended up carrying them through to hoisting the big check and being the first female team to win a big HoN competition outside of Dominatrix in months.
Whether this is the beginning of a wonderful rivalry or just the start of a new era of dominance remains to be seen. Dominatrix still has amazing individual talent in their ranks, especially on the skill positions mid, carry and offlane. They’ve dominated the scene for two years not only based on their superior work ethic and better strategies heading into the game, but also due to the ability of being able to outplay and outsmart the rivals on the other side of the river. Now that invincible aura of the squad is almost gone. Twinkle Twinkle and their sister team Twinkle Twinkle 2 are looking stronger and more poised than ever, now fueled by having achieved the ultimate success - the HoN Lady Tournament 2024 title. They will continue to practice and improve, but the question is whether or not Dominatrix knows how to deal with defeat. They’ve never been in trouble or never struggled, so they might just evaporate in front of our very eyes, opening the door for new blood to stream into the upper echelon of the scene.
Final standings HoN Lady Tournament 2024:
- Twinkle Twinkle - 50,000 Thai Baht (~$1400 USD)
- Dominatrix - 15,000 Thai Baht (~§500 USD)
- Twinkle Twinkle 2
- Dc4t
- HcGL
- HoWG
Speaking of new blood, amongst all the veteran teams at the top of the HoN division with the males, Snoop Dogg are still the youngsters, still the new kids on the block. The complete “rookie” innocence has disappeared though, as the team made history on the 22nd.
For the first time in the long-standing history of the Thai competitive scene, they’ve managed to win three HoN Tour titles in a row and period. Heading into the finals it almost seemed scripted, picture perfect. Seeing the brackets, many had assumed and anticipated another chapter to the Grand Finals rivalry of Neolution eSports.MRR and Snoop Dogg, but what they got in the end was nothing short of spectacular for the storylines. As Snoop Dogg was going for the hattrick and the third HoN Tour title, they would have to succeed over the only team that had similar accolades - MiTH.Hybrid Gaming.
Back in the early days of competitive HoN in Thailand, MiTH.s2y was the team to beat, especially after the Team MRR star dropped at the GSL 2024 event. For the next year and a half, MiTH.s2y ruled the country, only interrupted by some Turtle Master hiccups and the SEA teams streaming in for a joint HoN Tour Season. Despite all those obstacles, MiTH.s2y did the unthinkable and became not only the first Thai HoN Tour Season Champion in the history, but also the first ever and only SEA HoN Tour Champion. Then suddenly their star faded, internal struggle disrupted the flow, personnel were changed and in the end we were left with two teams instead of the old MiTH.s2y. Legendary carry Tianza and offlaner Esc` went to Shooter eSports and later revived Sorry Sorry, while Peter_Yedsss and company picked up some laid off Neo.MRR players and called themselves Hybrid Gaming - meaning a hybridized version of the two elite squads in the country, MiTH.s2y and Neo.MRR.
For a while their success was questionable at best, but the team remained a contender and top team in the scene, even with Get Together and Snoop Dogg emerging into the Top 5. Still, making it to the Grand Finals was a surprise for everyone, most of all for Neolution eSports.MRR, who can’t get rid of the demon haunting and taunting them. Neo.MRR is going to go down in the history books as a team mentioned in the same breath as Fnatic.MSI and stayGreen - yet they will feel like Dan Marino, having no domestic title to their name.
On the other side, Snoop Dogg now added a third domestic title, making the clear cut case for best team in the country. Until then it was always a toss up, especially since Neo.MRR and Snoop Dogg never seemed to have a decisive winner in their rivalry matches. MiTH.Hybrid was not up to the test of the Dogg’s on Championship Sunday though, losing the game in a very quick and harsh manner. HBX ended up with a map victory after all, but it was only a short burst of success in the middle of total dominance and control of Snoop Dogg.
The Dogg’s now have three HoN Tour championships in Thailand to their name, as well as a DreamHack appearance. They were in the conversation before, but now they are truly in elite company in the HoN crazed country. Whether or not they are the best Thai team to ever play remains to be seen, as both MiTH.s2y and Neo.MRR have legitimate cases to be made for that as well. One thing is for sure though, no one in the history has more Thai HoN Tour titles than them - but bling is not the only thing that matters in these discussions, just ask Bill Russell.
Final standings Thai HoN Tour Season 4:
- Snoop Dogg - 250,000 Thai Baht (~$7000 USD)
- MiTH.Hybrid Gaming - 50,000 Thai Baht (~$1400 USD)
- Neolution eSports.MRR - 40,000 Thai Baht (~$1,100 USD)
- Get Together - 30,000 Thai Baht (~$800 USD)
- Turtle Master - 15,000 Thai Baht (~$500 USD)
- Kimochii.Tt eSports - 15,000 Thai Baht (~$500 USD)
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.
