The first weekend of the HonTour competition in all divisions is in the books, with four rosters no longer part of the Diamond Division either due to losing by forfeit, losing on the servers or through disbandment.
The competition in the Diamond Division is rough with top dogs like Trademark eSports, Gary Johnson 2012, Tt eSports, compLexity Gaming and Tt eSports roaming throught the brackets. Some teams have managed to retain their status in the Champions Division of the HonTour, but some have already lost that premier status after the first day of competition.
The first ones to be eliminated from the Diamond Division was the European team around BetterLookingThanYou, also known as FiT, who disbanded before the Diamond Division officially started. In some ways this disbandment is still a little bit weird, since members of the team did not really knew anything about the disbandment and got ready to compete as a team against the number one seed Trademark eSports in the first round of the Upper Bracket. That match of course did not happen and FiT got demoted to the Bronze Division, as they had to refound the team, while tdM got a bye and moved right to round two of the UB.
The second team that suffered a similar, but not as tragic fate as FiT was the Swedish team around Akke, Loda and S4, registered under the name of Experience Gaming. The team did not show up for their first round match against Gary Johnson and therefore forfeited both their scheduled matches on the opening Saturday by default. They know have to play through the Gold Division in order to get back into the Sweet 16.
The two teams that got eliminated on the servers were Vitriolic Gaming and Pencils. Vitriolic suffered defeats against QsQ 777 and QsQ (357) and therefoer had to drop to the Gold Division. Vitrolic at least recorded a map victory in the elimination match against QsQ 357, an accomplishment that Pencils did not get and who got eliminated from the competition and the division with two clean and clear sweeps against compLexity Gaming and Tt eSports. The Swedish teams around fan favorites Zetpro and PabloMcDad now have to regroup and find their inner strength back to claw their way back into the shining Diamond Division, where the teams are stronger and the prizes are higher.
Can tdM win the next big check after their recent success in the HonTour Qualifiers and at the big stage at DreamHack?
Aside from those eliminations, the competition in the Division progressed and the Upper Bracket is down to the final that will be played this Saturday 21:30 CET between Trademark eSports and Gary Johnson. The Lower Bracket will thin out over the next two days, as Tt eSports and Lions eSports will clash today in a rescheduled match in order to determine the next opponent for compLexity Gaming. In the lower portion of the Lower Bracket, QsQ and Dendis jungledevos have the final map left to play (scheduled for Tuesday 21 CET). Winner of that clash has to face Fortune Bakery.
