HoN eSports Weekly 7/8

The second Cycle of Carnage in Caldavar is well underway, and the action has showed no signs of stopping. With faces new and old showing great games there is a lot to talk about this week, so lets get into it!

Carnage Pro League – Week 3

The battle at the top of the Carnage Pro League continues, as Bad Monkey Gaming and Sync eSports top the charts once more. BMG took a direct win over their opponents with last week's 2-0 victory, but Sync remains in the overall point lead. While that point lead may change as BMG catches up in games, first place could hinge on the squads head-to-head meet up as the last match of Week 4. In the middle of the pack Reason Gaming and newcomers Willowkeeper are holding it down and look to be in a solid spot for next week's Playoffs. The American Hope, The Last of US, is fighting for one of those Playoff spots, but behind them the newest and most unknown Pro team, Shrek is Love has struggled to find even a single win. With just one point to their name from a 1-2 loss to Reason last week, the Ogres will need to take the rest of the Cycle to practice and get in form for HoN Tour Season 3.

Amateur Open #3

Another week and another Amateur Open in the Carnage event. Last Cycle there was a big race for the invites to the Amateur Invitational, as well as the top two spots, and this time around is no different. Teams like Burrito Gaming, Team Cheesecake, You Love To Party, and more are fighting for a spot in the Top 8, but at the top there is an even more fierce race going on. Top squads like Dawn, The Tyrants, Solaire Club are all in good shape, but newcomers Instant Reflex were the story of this past week. They made it all the way to the Finals of Amateur Open #3, but even the star-studded new squad wasn't enough to take down the top Amateur squad, Moes Tavern. The happy hour warriors maintain a firm lead on the Amateur Standings, and are the favorites in this week's event, and a strong contender for the second Amateur Invitational.

Variety Cup #13

This past week's Variety Cup took us on a trip down Midwars lane. Normally the Midwars Kings, Big Bux Money Crew, are winners in an almost foregone conclusion here, but this week it was not the case. The BUXxies showed up in the event, taking down their first opponent, but it was a relatively new team that managed to take the Champs down in the third round. That team, going by the name Alison, managed to squeak out a 2-1 victory, and made it into the Finals. There they met the EXCLUSIVES, a team that has made quite a splash in the last few weeks on the casual circuit. This time around the EXCLUSIVES proved their experience has been invaluable and took the win with a 2-0 victory, earning the Gold and glory in Variety Cup #13.

This Week's Events

The Variety Cup heads to Grimm's Crossing this week for a Banning Draft tournament. Be sure to sign-up for some fun 3v3 competition; registration is open until the event begins on Thursday. For some Forests of Caldavar action, the final Amateur Open begins on Saturday, so make sure to get some competitive practice in before the next big event is here! For those of you who prefer to watch, Carnage Pro League will wrap up the regular season this week. With BMG and Sync fighting for first, and Willowkeeper trying to fend off tUS for the final Playoff spot, there are sure to be some incredible games.

That's all for this week's recap, but as always, stay tuned for more HoN eSports news!

-Beef

HoN eSports Weekly 6/24

With the first cycle of Carnage in Caldavar all wrapped up, teams are taking the opportunity for a fresh start and looking toward the future. This weekend had the first matches in the new series of Amateur Opens and some exciting matches in Pro League, so lets take a look at how things shaped up.

Carnage Pro League – Week 1

After a dominating performance in the first regular season and Playoffs, BMG returned to Pro League with a dominant performance over the newly promoted Amateur squad, Shrek is Love. The Ogres weren't the only squad to come out of the first week without a win, as tUS managed to take down both new squads. Reason grabbed a win off willowkeeper as well, but narrowly lost to Sync eSports in Saturday's highlight match. Overall Sync and tUS are out in front with five points each, but with each having to face BMG this week the standings are anything but stable.

Carnage in Caldavar – Amateur Open #1

With the promotion of top teams willowkeeper and Shrek is Love, the Amateur scene is looking for a new top dog; favorites from last season, Moes Tavern, look to fill that spot. This weekend the bar buddies took the first Amateur Open by storm. While they faced impressive competition in the likes of resurfacing teams like Twisted Fusion and Dont die we win – formerly dawn – their experience and consistency was too much to handle. Teams The Tyrants and The Solaire Club made it a challenge in the end, but Moes Tavern is clearly improving with their consistent participation in each weekly event. The guys from Moes take an early lead in the Amateur standings, but next week they will surely have challengers in droves.

NA and Variety Cups - Week 11

It was a Midwars week for the NA and Variety Cups – paging Big Bux Money Crew! Wait, whats that? BUX lost?! That's right, after an impressive streak of six double wins in NA and Variety Cups the Bux Crew was defeated on in the NA Cup's second round on Thursday. The hay maker was delivered by Silent Division, a team that has been playing in Weekly Cups for over two months, but had yet to make any real noise. Unfortunately they were once more eliminated in the third round, this time by thinkQUICK v2,  but they had made their statement in a Bo1. thinkQUICK v2 went on to defeat Midwarriors Unity in the finals, taking home the gold in the NA Cup.

In the Variety Cup the Buxxies looked to defend their honor, and they breezed through the early rounds. Notably, they took down The Tyrants, while the Midwarriors Unity were taken down by a rather unknown team going by the name of EXCLUSIVES. The new kids on the block were able to taken it all the way to the finals, but here the Big Bux Money Crew showed they've still got it. With a 2-0 victory BUX put their train back on the tracks with yet another Weekly Cup win.

This Week's Events

Registration for this week's tournaments are now open. The Variety Cup heads back to Grimm's Crossing this week, so get your 3v3 on starting Thursday. It's still early in the cycle, so be sure to register for this weekend's Amateur Open #2 and start racking up those important points. Registration for both events is open until just two hours prior to the first round. For those that prefer to watch some high level action, Pro League Week two begins on Tuesday! With exciting matches during the week, and showdowns like BMG vs Rea and BMG vs Sync this weekend, there's something for everyone. Be sure to tune in to Honcast for all the Carnage.

See you next week for another HoN eSports Weekly!

-Beef

HoN eSports Weekly 6/17

The last two weeks have been a proving ground for both Amateur and and Pro teams. As the first cycle of Carnage in Caldavar draws to a close we can look back on the proud victors, the great matches, and some new faces.

Carnage Pro Playoffs

After four weeks of regular season play, four squads had emerged as our Playoffs contenders. In the first Playoffs matches Bad Monkey Gaming took on Reason, and Sync eSports took on the rising stars, REXXARS. Ultimately the more experienced and favored squads – Sync and BMG - took the semifinal matches, though the games were closer than the 2-0 scoreline might reflect. With those wins Newerth's top dogs were once more set to square off for high honors. In a straight best-of-five anything could happen, but on this day the Monkey's reigned supreme. The squads went blow for blow, but BMG was able to capitalize a bit harder, and brought home the series 3-1. With that they took first place, and the Lion's share of the $8000 Playoff prizepool, as well as the undisputed title of best team in HoN.

Carnage Amateur Invitational

With four weeks of Amateur Opens behind us it was time for the best up-and-coming teams to duke it out for cash, pride, and a shot at the big leagues. The heavy favorites were Willowkeeper, winners of the first three Opens, but teams like Shrek is Love, Moe's Tavern, and other wildcards were aiming for an upset. The top three teams were able to make it to the semifinals of the eight team event, and while willowkeeper had the higher seed and easier road to the finals, Moe and Shrek had to fight for advancement. Shrek is Love pulled what could be considered an upset, besting Moe's Tavern 2-1, and securing a spot in the Finals. In that match willowkeeper proved once more that they were the team to fear, as they took down Shrek in a 3-2 series that showed the best of both teams. Each of the Finalists walks away with a piece of the $500 Amateur prizepool, and now look forward to competing with the big dogs in Pro League starting this week.

NA And Variety Cups – Weeks 9 & 10

There seems to be a recurring theme in this part of the recap: Midwars dominated by one squad, Grimm's Crossing dominated by another. This was no different in the last two incarnations of the Weekly's Cups. Week 9 showed off Midwars once more, and the Big Bux Money Crew had showed such domination that they even fielded a second team – Med Bux Money Crew. Unfortunately the second squad wasn't able to live up to their namesake, as they were taken out rather early on. Eventually it was WarcraftGamerz and Original Gangstas each fighting against the 10-time champs, Big Bux Money Crew. The Champs proved their worth and brought home the Variety Cup and NA Cup once more, showing there is really no contest for the Midwars crown.

For Weekly Cups 10 the Grimms United crew had homefield advantage in these Banning Draft tournaments. In the NA Cup it came down to the Champs, Grimms United, against Burrito Gaming in a 'delicious showdown'. Ultimately Grimm's proved worthy of their namesake, and took the victory. The followed that performance with an impressive run in the Variety Cup, taking down The Tyrants, and community-star FJ's team, Patience. With yet another double-win the Grimms United crew truly are the masters of this 3v3 battlefield.

This Week's Events

Registration for this week's tournaments are now open! The Weekly Cups head once more to Midwars in a Banning Draft format, so get ready to challenge the Kings – Big Bux Money Crew. The event's start on Thursday, so get practicing if you wanna take down the big dogs. The second cycle of Carnage in Caldavar is starting as well, so be sure to sign up for the first Amateur Open, and challenge for the newly vacant spot of best Amateur team. The event starts on Saturday, and sign-ups are open until just two hours before the matches begin. If you're in for a viewing experience, Pro League starts again this week! On Thursday BMG takes on the new kids, Shrek is Love, and with six matches this weekend the standings will start to shape up quick! Be sure to tune in for some familiar faces, new challengers, and as always, action packed HoN!

See you next time for another HoN eSports Weekly!

-Beef

HoN eSports Weekly 5/20

The past week has been an action packed one for HoN eSports. With competition ranging from the high octane Carnage Pro League, to exciting events on Midwars, there is certainly something for everyone. Lets take a brief look back and see how the events played out.

Carnage Pro League – Week 2

The second week of Carnage in Caldavar just wrapped up, and things are certainly getting heated in the Pro Division. While many expected that newer squads like REXXARS and The Last of US could be outclassed by the more experienced opposition, the competition has been remarkably close. This week Team Excellent was able to grab their first wins, while Reason dropped two matches, falling to last place in the standings. The Last of US and REXXARS both netted important wins, moving into the middle of the pack, while Sync took home their only match of the week with a 2-0 over Team Excellent, creating a three way tie for second. The one consistent factor has been Bad Monkey Gaming, sitting pretty at the top of the pack with a perfect record and double the points of any other team.

Carnage in Caldavar - Amateur Open #2

While the top dogs fight it out in the Pro Division, newer teams are gathering important competitive experience and practice in the weekly Amateur Opens. In this week's tournament new challengers arose , but were still unable to take down the reigning champions. dawn was the breakout team of the week, taking down experienced squads like Team Cheesecake and You Love To Party in the third and fourth rounds. Unfortunately for the heroes, they were taken out by Sjukt Tradigt in the semi-finals, ending what could have been a Cinderella story. Sjukt Tradigt made a valiant effort in the finals, but in the end it was once again willowkeeper that brought home first place, a prize purse of 8,000 Gold Coins, the important Carnage points, and the glory of another big win.

 NA And Variety Cups – Week 6

The week's Variety and NA Cups took us back once more to Midwars, this time for some Banning Draft action. After a week long detour to Grimm's Crossing, teams were ready for action, and came out with guns blazing. In the NA Cup teams Magikarp Splash and Public Virgins, led by HoN Community Casters Narcy and Diglet, put up a strong fight, but were ultimately no match for the Big Bux Money Crew. After winning both the NA and Variety Cups in Week 5, Midwars, Bux was looking to do it once more. Opposing them in the Variety Cup was future Amateur Open breakouts, dawn, as well as welcome to my world, but ultimately neither team could stand the heat. Big Bux Money Crew walks away with first place in both events once more, and are now well on their way to becoming the stayGreen of Midwars.

This Week's Events

Registration for this week's tournaments are now open. If you're in the mood for some Midwars and are looking to challenge the Big Bux Money Crew, sign up for the NA and Variety Cups. The tournaments start Thursday, and will feature some awesome Banning Draft action. If you're looking for a slightly more competitive experience be sure to register for this weekend's Amateur Open #3 and see if you can bring down willowkeeper, claiming the title of Caldavar's Amateur Champion. And of course there will be more Carnage Pro League as well, with matches Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and all weekend long. Be sure to stay tuned for coverage of all these events from Honcast, coLcast, and the HoN Community Casters!

See you next week for another HoN eSports Weekly!

-Beef