After one cycle of refreshing news on top of the HoN Tour Diamond Division with Lions eSports as the king, the old emperor of Newerth returned to capture their seventh Diamond championship. stayGreen was beaten by iG in the Upper Bracket Semis, but coming out of the Lower Bracket is a specialty of Swindlemelonzz and his squad.
The fresh breeze of change was floating over Newerth in the last couple of weeks, when Lions eSports first broke the winning streak of stayGreen in Best of Three matches, then later on also made the Grand Finals winning streak snap. Lions eSports emerged to become the third team to win the Diamond Division, while stayGreen looked to be overmatched by the aggressive style of the Swedish team. Adding insult to injury was the fact, that sG also got blanked by Internet Gangster during this cycle, sending them down to the Lower Bracket early again.
It seemed as if the dominance of stayGreen slowly but steadily faded away - something they stopped today with force. After toying around with The Law in the first matchup down in the Lower Bracket, they had minor issues with Too Much Sugar and also outlasted Internet Gangster to reach yet another Grand Final, but this time with Lions eSports being one game up. It was a Deja Vu of the third cycle, but also a reversed game of the latest Grand Final. In Cycle 4 Lions eSports got ousted by stayGreen in the Upper Bracket Finals, but rallied to an impressive 3-0 rout of sG in the actual Grand Finals. This secured themselves their first ever Diamond crown and propelled stayGreen into a minor crisis - at least in the eyes of some spectators.
Leader swindlemelonzz surely never doubted his squad, even after the clear loss to iG to close out the first HoN Tour weekend. sG came back with a vengeance and delivered a crushing blow to Lions eSports on the biggest stage, making their seventh title the most impactful yet. The doubts grew, the criticism increased, but the plays were still made. The two brother pairs in sG and Mynuts delivered an excellent showing on the final HoN Tour day before the break, sending a clear message to every single team in Newerth - we are still the gold standard. Just as expected, the squad needed a short period of time to adjust to unconventional and innovative hero picks, but seems to have figured it out by now. They even created their own "flavor" hero with Blitz, who saw playing time twice this cycle, after being sidelined for most of his stint in HoN. That, coupled with sG widening their draft array with heroes like Kraken and Ravenor boosted them back to the top.
They are now heading into the HoN Tour break as the reigning champion, while also claiming back the favorite position for the upcoming Sound Blaster Heroes League Season 2 group stage. The event with plenty of money on the line will kick off on Monday, leaving stayGreen not a lot of time for celebrating the newest achievement in their impressive trophy case.
| HoN Tour Diamond Division Cycle 5: Top 6 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Team | Ranking Points | Earnings |
| 1. |  stayGreen | 3,500 | $ 5,000 USD |
| 2. |  Lions eSports | 2,700 | $ 3,000 USD |
| 3. |  Internet Gangster | 2,300 | $ 1,000 USD |
| 4. |  Too Much Sugar | 2,000 | $ 500 USD |
| 5.-6. |  Team Excellent | 1,750 | $ 250 USD |
| 5.-6. | The Law | 1,750 | $ 250 USD |
