DreamHack Winter is the pinnacle of every single HoN year with the best teams across the world coming out to showcase their talent. The path to the prestigious event is long and tough, but two teams from Europe and an international mash have clinched their ticket and the coveted travel stipend to Jönköping, Sweden.
128 teams started the journey, eight made it to the group stage, but only six came out of that alive. The ensuing Deathmatch format saw little to no surprise or upsets and so the three favorites going into this event are also the three shining teams that can start planning their trip to Sweden.
The first of the trio that punched their ticket was Group A winner Lions eSports, who have been on a roll recently with three HoN Tour Diamond Division Grand Finals appearances and one Diamond championship. It was their ticket to lose, while going up against the absolute underdog in Absolute Legends around Kookiez. The team from America originally announced their departure from HoN as a functioning Hon team, after not receiving a direct invite the HoN Tour Diamond Division back three months ago. For the DreamHack qualifier and a chance for a free trip to Sweden, they formed back up and even managed to go through the two initial stages all the way to the Deathmatches.
Unfortunately for them, one of the best teams in HoN awaited them their and did not allow the Legends to get anything going. All three matches of the scheduled Best of Five were rather one-sided and in the end the Swedish team got their ticket to the home event. They will now try to continue their recent success on Swedish soil in a month - finally stepping out of the shadow of the first legendary Lions eSports team, that went on to place third at DreamHack Winter 2011 and score the NASL Season 2 Championship.
The second and third deathmatch of the day was a lot closer on paper, with all four teams being Diamond Division competitors. Judged by the recent performances and direct duels, the favorite role still went with Too Much Sugar and Internet Gangsters in their bouts.
The closest of the Best of Five matches was the match between tmsR and the German-Danish team of Justice League, who tried to secure their first ever DreamHack ticket in the history of the team. Unfortunately the odds were stacked against them, because of the obvious mismatch that tmsR seems to create with them. Ever since the all-star team around DreamHack Summer 2013 champions KheZu and sLiCKz formed, DCx never won an official tournament match against them. This didn't change on Thursday and so all the reigning DreamHack champions return to the side of their biggest success - albeit on different teams.
Completing the trio from NA/EU is the mainly Swedish team of Internet Gangsters around DreamHack Winter 2012 champion iNsania. The match of the Gangsters against Team Excellent was the closest on paper, but got deminished due to Excellent being a team in turmoil and in flux - roster changes and substitutes included. For today's match Pewe couldn't show up, so markusmoi stepped into that carry role, while the departure of NoX to Thailand was already looming over the team.
Ultimately they couldn't snap out of their recent slump and Internet Gangsters secured themselves the spot in the DreamHack tournament as the fifth team in total. For the team it will be a completely new experience, although four out of the five members have already been participating in a DreamHack event. iNsania and Sender have multiple appearances at the biggest HoN stage of the year, while Xibbe and zergo` got a taste of the action just last summer. Only the Greek youngster FibEli3 will join DreamHack as a rookie, as he qualified for the DreamHack Summer tournament with Vietnamese Dream Team, but couldn't attend. Now it is his time to shine and perform, as one of the best and most talented players that the HoN scene currently has.
Participants
stayGreen
Made in Thailand.Sorry Sorry
Lions eSports
Too Much Sugar
Internet Gangsters- 1 additional Garena teams
- 2 Swedish/Nordic teams through online qualifier
- 2 BYOC teams
