Two days away from the big Garena Star League 2013 spectacle in Bangkok, Thailand the groups were drawn. Stay Green and Orange eSports will square off in Group A, while Trademark eSports will meet Cats Gaming and MiTH.OHP in Group B.
| Garena Star League 2013 Group Stage | |
| Group A | Group B |
 Stay Green |  Trademark eSports |
 Orange eSports |  Cats Gaming |
 SSOP |  MiTH.OHP |
| Raiders by EMP | qmp Eiieiz |
| Cyber Zone | Xunwu Team Work |
| Khun Seuk Sadood Ruk | Turtle Master |
| Group C | Group D |
 nxL Focus eSports |  FriendForever |
| Invasion eSports |  iMpunity |
| Yamaha.s2y | Thailand Kai Gor Dai |
| Paroma | Neolution eSports.MRR |
| Kimochi | Shooter eSports |
| Disco Oh Yeah | Perfect XXX |
Stay Green will have a rematch with Orange eSports, this time on a better ping for the Malaysians. Both teams met a couple of days ago in the SoundBlaster Heroes League - Stay Green pulling slightly ahead in that one. Last time both these teams met at a LAN event was in Jönköping,Sweden when the Malaysian powerhouse secured a tie against the strong North American and European mix, becoming the first SEA team to ever reach the playoffs at a DreamHack event in HoN. Now the next chapter in the fighting history of these two teams will be on SEA soil.
In addition to those two favorites the Chinese team of SSOP will make their competitive debut against the prime examples of the international and the Malaysian scene. A tough test for the rookies in this event. Raiders by EMP, Cyber Zone and KooN are completing the Group A - one of the stronger groups in the first round of the tournament.
Trademark eSports on the other hand will also have to deal with at least one familiar name - Cats Gaming. The Russians secured their way to the GSL event through the G1-Series and are now looking to represent the CIS region to the best of their abilities. While Trademark eSports dominance in their region has decreased lately, the Russians are still on top of the CIS region, winning three straight G1-Series.
They will have to deal with four Thai teams, most notably the MiTH.OHP team. The name of that team is circulating around in the HoN scene for a while now, this tournament will be their chance to shine on an even bigger stage. Alongside them are their fellow Thai teams from qmp, Xuwun Team Work and Turtle Master - all completely unknown to the international audience. tdM might be in for a surprise, you never know.
The last two groups feature known names, but mostly not the widely popular names. Group C is highlighted by nxL Focus eSports and Invasion eSports, two recognizable names in the HoN community. While nxL could gather first experiences on the international scene with their play in the SoundBlaster Heroes League, PixieBaby and her squad will showcase their skills to the international audience for the first time. Them and the four Thai teams Yamaha.s2y, Paroma, Kimochi and Disco Oh Yeah will fight over the two top seeds in that group.
Last but not least we have Group D with three somewhat familiar names. The Vietnamese team FriendForever proved their talents in the Smackdown Challenge against both iMpunity and Zenith already a couple of month ago. They will now get the rematch against the Singapore team of iMpunity, as they both will compete in Group D. On top of that the DreamHack Winter 2012 participant Neolution eSports.MRR will join them, opening up fierce competition for the top spots. Joining that competition as well are KaiD, Shooter eSports and Perfect XXX, all located in Thailand, all fighting in front of their home crowd.
The tournament starts March,30th with the regular Group Stage. Then we will get to know more about the teams from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and China - how will they perform without ping issues? Will the favorites prevail or will we see huge upsets by the hands of unknown competitors? The next days will show.
