In five days the words will still echo in the ears of the listeners and viewers, but the answers and real statements will be dished out on the Garena Servers. The big conclusion of Project Smackdown will take place November 10 in the Garena Stadium, were both teams already showcased their skills in the last couple of weeks.
The build up process for the match was superb, with exhibition matches ranging from Zenith and iMpunity taking on regional teams, playing beloved figures of the SEA community or iMpunity having to concentrate on the DreamHack Qualifier match - all that was added to build up the epic clash between HoN and Dota 2.
Probably the biggest contributing factors were the statements and interviews that Zenith captain iceiceice uttered on several occasions. The tone of those statements went from overly confident, to concerned and defensive, but now as the match approaches, he found his confidence again. In the most recent interview he stated, that iMpunity is nothing more than a "s**t team," that does not really belong in the conversation of top teams. He witnessed Orange eSports dismantle the iMpunity squad to secure the ticket the DreamHack and he plans on beating iMpunity like ORGE did.
The final rehearsal still went badly for Zenith, who were scheduled to play the sub-team of MuFC, Eclipse, featuring the beloved MuFC manager PixieBaby as a support player on the team. The team from Singapore showed a lot of improvement in all three matches that were played, but ultimately flaws were still obvious. Still, Zenith was able to keep the games wide-open and close for the early and mid game before falling apart in the later stages.
The main observation is definitely that Zenith is getting used to the game more and more, as they did not only rely on the direct DotA ports as hero choices, but featured a variety of S2-created heroes as well. They showcased their skills on exclusive HoN heroes like Balphagore, Chipper, Draconis and Moraxus. That, plus the fact that they look improved in various aspects of the game keeps this challenge interesting. That in addition to the conventional wisdom, that the first appearance goes well when the final rehearsal fails gives Zenith some confidence boost for the big event.
The opponent of iceiceice and his team, PixieBaby, offered her thoughts about the competition, Zenith and Project Smackdown towards GosuGamers.
What were your thoughts about Zenith? And their plays in-game?
As a team that just started HoN, I think they are really better than what we expected.
How do you think they will fare against iMp this weekend?
I think eventually Zenith can become a strong team, if they continue their HoN career. But at this moment, personally I think that Zenith lacks experiences in HoN. Thus, Impunity is still the hot pick of the winner.
How serious were you and your team when playing against iceiceice and his team?
e played seriously and had a lot of fun during the game. Playing with a Dota professional player is an honour to me. Well played by both teams!
What were your thoughts about Zenith? And their plays in-game?
As a team that just started HoN, I think they are really better than what we expected.
How do you think they will fare against iMp this weekend?
I think eventually Zenith can become a strong team, if they continue their HoN career. But at this moment, personally I think that Zenith lacks experiences in HoN. Thus, Impunity is still the hot pick of the winner.
How serious were you and your team when playing against iceiceice and his team?
e played seriously and had a lot of fun during the game. Playing with a Dota professional player is an honour to me. Well played by both teams!
The final battle between Zenith and iMpunity will kick off on November, 10th at Noon CET (6 AM EST). Not only the pride of the teams is on the line, but also a purse of $5,000 SGD. Tune in to twitch.tv/garenahonsea to see the epic conclusion of the challenge.
