The G1-Summer group stage has come to a conclusion with an epic three-way-tie overtime setting, but in the end the shining team is Cats Gaming. The flagship team of the CIS region has recovered and is now looking like a lock for their fourth G1 title.
The CIS region is historically ruled by one team, the flagship team of the region that has represented them at DreamHack and the Garena Star League 2013 already, but went through some struggles lately - Cats Gaming. The franchise has been around for ages and is looking to get to the old shiny success once more. After the very weak G1-Spring group stage and a resurgence in the playoff stage, the Cats took care of business in the G1-Summer group stage right off the bat and finished with a perfect score. Seven matches played, seven matches won, a total of 21 points and the first seed heading into the playoffs are the statement they make to their opposition.
Three of those rivals remain in the contention for the sixth overall G1 tile, as the coveted series was won by Cats three times, GA.ru won it once, same as the reigning and defending champs of iTS. Those boys put themselves in a position to succeed once more with the second finish in the group stage. In the first round of the playoffs this will allow them to avoid Cats Gaming, possibly setting up a tremendous rematch in the Grand Finals. iTS needs to overcome SW4G first though, while Cats Gaming gets to meet Awake in the first round.
The fact that Awake is even in the postseason is the biggest surprise of the G1-Summer so far, as they were one of the unseeded teams, that had to go through the rough two-day qualification to even join the group stage phase. In said group stage they achieved seven total points, tying them with Meka and 5bit for the fourth and final slot leading towards the playoffs. This set up an extra day of breaking that three-way-tie, which saw Awake blanking their opponents and receiving the right to challenge Cats Gaming for the ticket to the Grand Finals.
It also gives Awake the honor of being part of the Gold Division of the first HoN Tour cycle in the CIS region, the same goes for the other three playoff bound teams. All receive a direct invitation for the highest division of the CIS HoN Tour, waiting for the other four slots to be filled through the regular qualifiers.
HoN Tour is a second thought now though, as all four teams want a piece of the $6,000 USD and the honor of being called a G1-Champion. Cats Gaming could claim their fourth trophy, iTS could emerge as the new powerhouse for good with a successful title defense, while SW4G and Awake could make plenty off noise and gain loads of momentum for the HoN Tour opening with a title run in G1-Summer.
The first round of the playoffs is scheduled to happen September, 5th 5 PM CEST with Cats Gaming against Awake, followed by SW4G versus iTS at 7:30 PM.
Source: hon.garena.ru
