It was a tough road for iMpunity.Storm through the third cycle of SEA G-League, but in the end they come out alive and ready to fight another day. Only two point and the benefit of three forfeit points are saving NoVa, Emperor and NoX from the humiliation of going down to D1 for the last cycle.
The regular season of G-League is over and iMpunity.Storm just barely escapes the dreaded demotion down to D1 with a victory on the last match of their cycle. The odds seemed to be stacked against the team around NoVa, as they had to win at least one map to stay in contention to save their G-League status and the opponent was none other than Made in Thailand.Sorry Sorry. The MiTH squad was already a lock for the postseason at that point, but still not sure which seed they would take over - a victory would have secured the second seed, a loss or a tie would have left the door open for iMpunity.Earth to take over the coveted second spot. In the end iMpunity.Storm won the first game and then received a forfeit in the second one, giving themselves a boost out of the danger zone, while MiTH.s2y forfeited all their hopes for a direct semifinal seed away.
Still, the international squad with some Thai hints was not completely save at that point, as KaiD, FewR and jadT still had the opportunity to gather more points and send ImpS down to D1 after all. The margin of error for those teams was rather small though, as just one map loss from either one of those teams would have ultimately secured the G-League stay of ImpS. Based on that fact, the waiting wasn't as dreadful as it could have been, seeing as both FewR and jadT lost their initial match against rAq and aMQ, which send a sigh of relive through the team house of iMpunity.Storm and their newest addition NoX. It would have been a disaster for the team, the sponsor and most likely the young Swedish carry to make the trip to Thailand only to wind up playing against the second tier of Thailand's pro teams for a total prize of $800 USD for the entire team. That monumental disaster was averted and ImpS can try yet another run at the postseason in the fourth and final G-League cycle.
So technically the regular season is over, but the demotion struggle is still not ended just yet. As Few Nhor and jadT both failed to get a single point in today's games, while DC Fabulous won their match against bRix by forfeit, another three-way tie will determine the fate of the three teams. This was already done last time around, but back then two teams were saved and only one received the boot - this time two will go down, only one can hang on by the skin of their teeth for another cycle. The deciding matches will go down on Sunday with all three teams playing each other. If a team manages to win both matches, it will automatically be saved, while the other two teams will go down to D1. If another three-way tie occurs, the team that wins their match the quickest will stay in G-League.
Completely removed from those problems are Orange eSports, iMpunity.Earth, Made in Thailand.Sorry Sorry and Neolution eSports.MRR who can plan for the postseason by now. The last day of battles shifted the second and third place around and gave iMpunity.Earth the right to enter the playoffs in the Semifinals, but other than that no real shockers involved the four best teams of the cycle. Orange eSports is automatically seeded for the Grand Finals, ImpE goes from D1 directly into the playoffs - just like MiTH.s2y last cycle - and MiTH.s2y and Neolution eSports.MRR add another match to their impressive Thai rivalry. The only noteworthy point is, that the SEA region will have two teams on the podium this time around, something that hasn't happened before. Now the playoffs will determine whether this cycle will write history with two SEA teams squaring off in the finals or if MiTH.s2y and Neolution eSports.MRR can rain on the parade.
For the rest of the league a couple of other notable things are worth to point out. Positive was the performance of Anti Moon Queen and ROCCAT Air Quality, who finished the G-League cycle on the 5th and 6th spot. aMQ with ZergRush and a bunch of old ORGE players not only came close to the playoff spots, but they also posted their best ever point score in G-League with 28 points. Overall aMQ ranks fifth in total points, making them one of the most successful teams throughout the entire G-League cycles - but yet the only team in those top 5 without a playoff appearance. ROCCAT Air Quality on the other side has made a lot of progress, but finished their "Royal Road" just short of a miraculous playoff berth. The team that won D2 and D1 without a single loss had to learn a humbling experience with their first four losses and three ties, but overall the Thai squad has played themselves into a good spot with 27 points and a sixth place to finish their first ever G-League campaign.
Not so nice is the world of Turtle Master right now, who tied their score of 27 points from the September cycle, but have missed the playoffs for the very first time. With MiTH.s2y and ImpE taking over the playoffs spots, TurS is not the odd-man-out and needs to regroup to get back in shape. 27 points and a 7th place is too less for the pride first ever G-League cycle champion back in August.
| SEA HoN Tour G-League Cycle 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Team | W-L-T | Points | |
| 1. |
| Orange eSports | 12-0-3 | 39 |
| 2. |  | iMpunity.Earth | 10-1-4 | 34 |
| 3. |  | Made in Thailand.Sorry | 10-3-2 | 32 |
| 4. | | Turtle Master | 8-1-6 | 30 |
| 5. |  | Anti Moon Queen | 8-3-4 | 28 |
| 6. |  | ROCCAT Air Quality | 8-4-3 | 27 |
| 7. | | Turtle Master | 7-2-6 | 27 |
| 8. | | Open House Party | 4-6-5 | 17 |
| 9. | | Step Gods | 3-6-6 | 15 |
| 10. | | KaiD | 3-7-5 | 14 |
| 11. | | iMpunity.Storm | 2-5-8 | 14 |
| 12. | | Few Nhor | 1-5-9 | 12 |
| 12. | | jadT | 2-7-6 | 12 |
| 12. |  | DC Fabulous | 2-7-6 | 12 |
| 15. |  | bRix | 2-11-2 | 8 |
| 16. | | Insidious eSports | 0-14-1 | 1 |
