?The event, that was one of the online highlights from the past season is back - this time with an extended group stage. Through two months and six qualifiers, teams from North America, Europe and South East Asia had the opportunity to make it into the group stage.
Every group stage usually follows the schematic, that a couple of great teams are paired with mid tier teams - not in this Sound Blaster Heroes League season. Due to the limitation to only 12 spots, while four of those were reserved for South East Asia, only the top teams from the two regions made it into the second stage of the prestigious tournament. Those teams were now split up into two groups with six teams, resulting in stacked groups with a plethora of great matches ahead of us.
Group A is not only going to showcase two young teams from South East Asia, but also the absolute elite from the international teams. The reigning Diamond Division champion stayGreen is clearly the favorite, but teams like Team Excellent and Too Much Sugar have pushed them to exciting matches in the Diamond Division recently and are eager to topple the giant. Those three teams are forming the established head of the group, while Denial eSports, DC Fabulous and New Generation are rather new to the scene. For Denial eSports this tournament will be a preview for the Diamond Division, which they finally reached after spending the last three cycles winning Bronze, Silver and Gold in back-to-back cycles. Now they can go up against the best teams in the world, while also getting a peak at the youngsters from SEA.
DC Fabulous is here probably the more known team, as they are one of the shining examples of newcomers that the G-League has showcased. During the first cycle they won the D1 playoffs, only to rack up an impressive score of 21 points in their debut in G-League. They couldn't get close to the playoffs, but still were able to get a couple of impressive ties against the best teams from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Completely new are New Generation, although some players are known in the scene. The squad is lead by ``Davichi, who became famous as the drafter of Invasion eSports during the Garena Star League. His leadership was not enough to get Invasion eSports far in the tournament, but got his name out there. Now he has forged a new team with relatively unknown players, but still with successful results. This Sound Blaster Heroes League group stage marks their coming out party - the first real tournament the team attends.
Group B is even more top heavy, featuring Fade To Black, Lions eSports, Internet Gangsters, Justice League and the two Malaysian squads of Orange eSports and Anti Moon Queen. None of those teams is particular unknown and pretty much every roster can look at a very successful recent history. Lions eSports can look back at three Diamond Division Grand Finals appearances in a row - resulting in one championship. Internet Gangsters has been constantly improving and secured themselves their first ever Upper Bracket Finals slot and a spot on the podium. Orange eSports has just set a new point record during the regular season with 41 out of 45 possible points in the highest division of SEA HoN Tour. In the meanwhile Justice League has been consistently in the top six discussion of the Diamond Division, Anti Moon Queen finished both G-League cycles in the top half of the standings - only Fade To Black is a mystery.
The team around bkid and Riser_ is more or less the reigning SBHL champion, as compLexity Gaming won the first edition of the tournament, but the most recent news for the squad was their disqualification from HoN Tour. In the first three cycles they had to forfeit three matches, resulting in an automatic out for the entire tournament series. Most of the members have focused on Dota 2 recently, most likely making this the big farewell tour for guys like Tralfamadore and PeterPandam in Heroes of Newerth. The future of the other guys is unknown, but no one publically acknowledged any plans for the future.
Nevertheless, both groups are absolutely stacked and the week will be packed with intense HoN matches. Group A will start off with Too Much Sugar against Team Excellent, while Lions eSports and Internet Gangsters are debuting Group B with a bang. All the matches will be Best of One and will be played on the international server structure. Honcast will kick off the coverage tomorrow with three matches, coLcast will bring the action starting Tuesday. The best four teams are eligible to advance, so this round will cut down the field from 12 to eight.
Who will make it out of the groups? Who will get one step closer to the big prize pool and the prestigious Sound Blaster Heroes League title?
| Sound Blaster Heroes League Season 2: Group Stage | |
|---|---|
| Group A | Group B |
 stayGreen | Fade To Black |
 Team Excellent | Justice League |
 Denial eSports | Lions eSports |
 Too Much Sugar | Internet Gangsters |
 DC Fabulous |  Orange eSports |
| New Generation | Anti Moon Queen |
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