The halfway point of the first ever SEA HoN Tour season is already passed, now the halfway point of the third cycle is beyond us. Once again are Orange eSports, Turtle Master and Made in Thailand ruling the division, while iMpunity.Storm struggles yet again.
Two questions need to be answered in every G-League cycle: Who will reach the playoffs and who will get demoted. Right now the division is once again split in two camps with a large margin separating both sides. The one side is the glamorous and esteemed group challenging each other for the four available playoff seeds, while the rest of the division fights for their G-League life day in and day out.
Not surprisingly, the masters of the region in Orange eSports, Turtle Master and Made in Thailand.Sorry Sorry are in that first class of teams, comfortably sitting on top of the standings yet again. The two champions and the Malaysian powerhouse have not lost a series yet - the only three teams that can look at such a flawless record. Currently all three teams are also well on pace to shatter the 30 point milestone in a single cycle, while the 41 point single cycle record will not be reached by anyone this time. Still, those three teams are looking like sure candidates for the playoffs with the perfect seeding on the line. The massive advantage of a direct seed into the Grand Finals of the playoffs as a reward for the regular season championship is something all three squad long for, although it's not a guarantee to walk away with the championship after all.
The other teams in the discussion for the playoffs are Cycle 1 runner-up Neolution eSports, the Malaysian powerhouse Anti Moon Queen and the promotional team from Singapore in iMpunity.Earth. While the inclusion of MRR is no surprise here, the immediate impact that ImpE is having on the G-League is absolutely noteworthy. The team struggled to even reach the G-League twice before, but now finally seemed to have found their groove again. The first four matches all went their way, but lately their domination has mellowed a bit with only five points out of the last four games. The DreamHack proven leaders of ImpE with Rhonn and Air need to get back on the successful path to keep their hopes for an instant playoff berth alive against the chasing aMQ and MRR.
The lower portion of the bracket is fighting against demotion and a bunch of known teams are in the mix for that as well. Most notably is the presence of Insidious eSports and bRix at the very end of the standings, mostly due to a bunch of forfeits. Both teams have failed plenty of times to field five players, which made it impossible for them to compete in every match. As a result Insidious eSports only has one point after eight matches, bRix registered only four. Retaining their G-League spots will be a tough task for ISE and bRix, if they are not returning to have a stable and functioning roster.
iMpunity.Storm also struggles with a functioning roster, ever since they went into rebuilding mode for a third time. Initially the roster of Storm only featured NoVa and four Thai players, before Emperor joined the team after Cycle 1. During the entire second cycle they had a stable team, but decided to go into an overhaul after that cycle was done. Only BassStomp and NoVa are still on the team from the original five. Now, the arrival of NoX in Thailand will be extremely crucial for the team, as it was hinted on the HoN Forums. According to NoX's former teammate Pew, he will make his way to Thailand on Sunday - which might be too late for iMpunity.Storm to make a serious playoff push. Only six points after eight matches (including a forfeit victory over ISE) and an eleven point deficit to the playoff berth are turning this cycle almost into a lost cause. They now need to focus on avoiding demotion to make a real claim for a playoff spot in the fourth and final cycle.
The last point of interest is the performance of the other three promoted teams from Thailand. ROCCAT Air Quality, Few Nhor and jadT have not performed exceptionally well thus far, but they are in the middle of the pack and in decent shape to retain their G-League status for another cycle. rAq is looking at 11 points already, while the other two teams have nine points to their name. Those numbers are in no shape or form stunning, but setting all three teams up for a 20+ point debut cycle.
| SEA HoN Tour G-League Cycle 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Team | W-L-T | Points | |
| 1. |
| Orange eSports | 6-0-2 | 20 |
| 1. |  | Made in Thailand.Sorry Sorry | 6-0-2 | 20 |
| 3. | | Turtle Master | 5-0-3 | 18 |
| 4. |  | iMpunity.Earth | 5-2-1 | 17 |
| 4. |  | Anti Moon Queen | 5-2-1 | 17 |
| 6. | | Neolution eSports.MRR | 4-1-3 | 15 |
| 7. |  | ROCCAT Air Quality | 3-3-2 | 11 |
| 8. | | jadT | 2-3-3 | 9 |
| 8. | | Few Nhor | 1-1-6 | 9 |
| 10. | | KaiD | 2-5-1 | 7 |
| 11. | | iMpunity.Storm | 1-4-3 | 6 |
| 11. | | Open House Party | 1-4-3 | 6 |
| 11. |  | DC Fabulous | 0-2-6 | 6 |
| 14. | | Step Gods | 0-3-5 | 5 |
| 15. |  | bRix | 1-6-1 | 4 |
| 16. | | Insidious eSports | 0- | 2 |
To keep up with the action check out twitch.tv/epicgamingtelevision and twitch.tv/garenahonsea to witness the casting of the EGtv crew surrounding Babael, ABSTRACT,Larcsm and IceIceBaby with two of the exciting matches of the last day of G-League. Babael and Larc will take care of the GarenaHoNSEA stream, while ABSTRACT and will most likely be joined by IceIceBaby on the official egTV stream. On top of that, the Thai casting team around Winzy is streaming two games on their Youtube channel bringing the most attractive Thai matchups to you.
