On Wednesday, we released the Cup Write-up, and now, it is time for the other rough 40 % of the Heroes Lounge teams: the Championship Divisions, where mistakes are punished harshly, and where several teams openly have aspirations to join the pros up in their league. As per usual, stats are as of midday on the day this went up, but that’s all not important. What is important, is what you’ll find below the line on the page.
One thing immediately comes to mind when checking the Division 2 standings, and that is wonder at how so many teams have reached four wins already. Similar to Division 3 yesterday, it is a powder keg waiting to explode as direct matchups are going to blow everything in this division wide open. For now, though, let’s take a look at which teams are in the best position to come out of the explosions unscathed.
There is but one team left undefeated. BOOST BUS defeated the only other unbeaten team: The Forever Alones of Overwatch hatred and caster fame, leaving them with a perfect 10-0 mapscore and in by far the best spot so far. Nexus Junkies are the only other team on five wins so far, but that is only due to their Round 6 opponent dropping out of the competition.
There is, naturally, an incredibly large chasing pack. Voltag3 and Firewall Gaming bring some elemental fury, at least in their names, to the chase, while 25cm and BushBoysCollective close out the lot on four wins and nine maps, all out of five rounds played so far, and then we have the aforementioned TFA, TryHard, and Suplex eSports on four and eight. Nine teams mentioned so far have four or more wins, and with six spots…. The hopes and chances of at least three of these nine are doomed to die before the end.
Several teams have also jumped divisions between seasons. Oil Rig, formerly known as Oil Refinery, are the most successful of these teams, not only jumping two divisions, but also sitting neatly on a nice four wins from five matches; joining the chasing pack and ruining my Lord of the Rings metaphor above. Guess there was something to Tolkien's environmentalist message after all. Jaina The Frost Mage aren’t as successful as they could be, perhaps, but two wins and a very close Round 5 game aren’t bad results by any stretch. Feed and Greed are slotting in nicely: last season’s Cup participants have found themselves a 50 % score after six rounds. This leaves just Massive Anger Disorder, whose third place in the Cup is not bringing them luck this season. MAD finds themselves at a paltry one win out of four rounds so far.
There is one FAT in this division, and straight from the Upside Down, it’s FAT Mind Flayer. Two out of four is perfectly acceptable for these six randomly brought together players, and after a 0-2 start, their star is rising slowly. Let’s see if they can be a late game bossfight for any team looking to finish their campaign - or perhaps win the campaign themselves!
The pinnacle of Lounge; the best of the best we have to offer, and a place where ability often meets memery, this division has some eerie similarities to last season so far, yet also some differences. Let’s dive in, shall we?
Last season, Memeldor’s Meme Machines lost early on and then proceeded to win all the other matches. This season, they’ve skipped losing a match: at five wins out of five matches, they are one of only three undefeated teams; and that number will dwindle to two very shortly. Fellow current immortals Digital Mousquetaires and Throw The Advantage are facing off this Sunday, with DM and MMM then meeting in the sixth round. Perhaps, oh gods of matchmaking, a TTA vs MMM matchup in Round 7?
Leading the chasing pack are three well-known teams. Two of them were profiled in a recent piece here on the website: Open Division participants SFD-Gaming and EPG Frozen, whereas the third team, only losing to MMM, is none other than the resident bunch of memers of Don Our Fedoras. All of these teams are on four wins, eight maps; meaning nobody has yet gotten hold of that one crucial map win in a lost game that was decisive for qualification in the last season. Then again, qualification is there for the first ten teams, so perhaps it is not needed for these six teams on four wins.
Other Open Division participants Coinflip and Ryzing Gaming are also in this Division. Coinflip currently lie in ninth with three wins, seven maps, whereas Ryzing Gaming are making a habit out of losing (and winning, once) 2-1: they have only four games played, with a 50 % score, but they do have six maps to their name. They have a very real chance of making it to the Championship at the end of the season with enough wins, just on the basis of maps won being a crucial tie breaker.
Lastly, there are two Free Agent Teams hiding in this division. The Kraken hasn’t quite been unleashed, but it hasn’t been slain either: two wins out of five matches is perfectly acceptable, and getting matched up against EPG was a minor stroke of bad luck for the sea monsters. FAT Lich is less successful, however: at only one win in four matches from a bye, it seems that undeath and Division 1 do not particularly agree so far.
The board has been set in these divisions, and the pieces are most definitely moving, but even the very wise cannot see how everything will end up. There is but one certainty, that most cardinal rule of Heroes Lounge, that players and viewers alike can hold on to: everything is clownable.
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