?They needed the detour through the Lower Bracket after an upset during the Upper Bracket Finals, but this just prolonged just the inevitable - stayGreen wins another tournament. The Sound Blaster Heroes League crown switches from compLexity Gaming to the boys from America and Sweden.
The Sound Blaster Heroes League Season 2 was a massive success and concluded yesterday with a great audience and two of the best teams squaring off in a grudge match. The history between stayGreen and Too Much Sugar is nothing short of "iffy" to say the least, with former teammates KheZu and sLiCKz facing off against swindlemelonzz, ZfreeK and Chessie. That used to be the old stayGreen roster that won the first ever HoN Triple Crown with a Garena Star League title, the HoN Tour S1 championship and a DreamHack Summer 2013 ring. After that a public implosion caused a lot of drama and divided KheZu and sLiCKz from the former teammates for good - especially from the Freedman family members.
They went on to form different teams and usually the established team of stayGreen had the number of the young Too Much Sugar squad. The record was pretty one-sided, until tmsR pulled out the upset in the Upper Bracket Finals of SBHL to reach their first ever Grand Finals with that team. The All-Star roster including not only former sG members, but also fan favorites and ex-compLexity Gaming member MoonMeander and Haxxeren in addition to Tankafett. They finally reached a final, while also having the satisfaction of sending their nemesis down to the Lower Bracket to fight for their tournament lifes.
In that last elimination match before the finals, sG met a familiar foe in Lions eSports. Those two teams have dictated the HoN headlines for the last couple of weeks with three consecutive HoN Tour Diamond Division Grand Finals matches and several other prolific clashes. sG looked shacky at first, after just getting crushed by tmsR in a very unexpected fashion, so Lions jumped out to a massive lead in the first game. Usually sG had no business winning that contest, but massive ultimates by jungle player Mynuts salvaged that bout and brought sG back on the right path. They went by Lions eSports without dropping a map, setting up a huge grudge matchup in the Grand Finals with a rematch character.
The conclusion of the Sound Blaster Heroes League was scheduled as a Best of Five match, but unfortunately didn't quite reach the climax of a full series. It took stayGreen only four maps in total to win the coveted tournament championship and collect another big purse for the successful HoN team. Overall showcased the matches two things: stayGreen is still the best team, but other teams can make it interesting by now. Other than Lions during the last HoN Tour Grand Finals, tmsR avoided the clean 3-0 sweep and was able to showcase their improvements exceptionally well. In the end it wasn't quite enough, but the team has managed to get passed their demons and become successful in a hurry - giving them good momentum heading into the second part of the HoN Tour season.
Still, it isn't quite good enough for a completely plugged in sG, that brings great plays to the table - as they did yesterday. Chessie as always made some impressive plays during all the matches, swindlemelonzz set up his team for success in the drafting stage more often than not and Mynuts once again played terrific games on his jungling heroes - even on his unloved Keeper of the Forest in the second game. The last match then saw the undefeated Limmp Kraken smashing and splashing across the battle field, wreaking havoc throughout the contest. In the last 11 tournament games Limmp got his Kraken, he has not lost a single one of those matches. Maybe teams should address that sooner or later.
| Sound Blaster Heroes League Season 2 Final Standings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Team | Earnings |
| 1. |  stayGreen | $7,500 USD |
| 2. |  Too Much Sugar | $3,500 USD |
| 3. |  Lions eSports | $2,500 USD |
| 4. |  Internet Gangsters | $ 1,500 USD |
