As the season gets closer to its conclusion, it's only natural for the playoff race to heat up in a hurry and every week teams have to forfeit their dreams of getting to the big dances. So before we start to also take a look at the bottom of the standings, this week is all about matches between teams who are in a good spot and could almost claim a playoff spot by taking out their equally good opponents. Prepare for some high quality Heroes of the Storm with the following series in week 7 of Heroes Lounge action!
The Good Guys vs. Griefers on Safari
If the recent trend continues, six wins will be enough to earn you a playoff spot in division 1 and both The Good Guys and Griefers on Safari have a shot at claiming their fifth win in this series, which would make advancing to the post-season very likely. The teams would also be equally deserving as their rosters are stacked with talent, like Nikurasu on The Good Guys and former division 5 player (rigged!) Scionox for the Griefers on Safari and both teams have also only lost to the very top teams of Heroes Lounge. But that's not where the similarities end. If you've watched the mockdraft tournament last Thursday, you may have noticed that three of the judges, Nikurasu (as a substitute judge), Cascon and Denker, are also a part of either of those teams. The only thing that could separate them right now is the fact that The Good Guys have so far been the only team to defeat last seasons Heroes Lounge Champions SFD-Gaming, who are also looking strong in the Open Division. To be honest, it is pretty likely that both teams are going to make the playoffs eventually, but whoever wins this game also gets the bragging rights after this clash of popular Heroes Lounge players!
Things are a bit different when looking at the history of division 2, where even with seven wins you are not guaranteed a shot at glory in the Heroes Lounge Championship, so every match is even more important. Team TryHard have been really tryharding so far, losing only one series in six weeks and even defeating The Forever Alones on the way. Want more proof of their relentlessness and commitment to trying hard and getting better? Grey and Leiraner even added their team handle tYh to their Battle.Net names! So all is looking well for TryHard to make a lasting impression on Heroes Lounge after their first attempt in season 5 came to an early end after just one game. For team Oil Rig, the most impressive thing is probably how easily they were able to adapt to life in division 2. It was only a season ago when they were still in division 4, where they did well in the regular season but had a surprisingly early exit during the Cup. But don't worry you Oil Rigs, it looks like you'll be able to get an opportunity to redeem yourself, but this time for the Heroes Lounge Championship. They have also won five out of six and if they can manage to also take out TryHard, who knows what else they can accomplish.
For The Murlocs vs. Sloth Sanctuary
Continuing our trip through Heroes Lounge history, the magic number of wins for division 3 is six (and some fancy tiebreakers) and one of both For The Murlocs and Sloth Sanctuary can reach that plateau after this series. For The Murlocs have done everything right in their first Heroes Lounge season, except for not picking Murky even once of course. Their only loss of the season came at the hands of that very strong FAT team that starts with L (I won't even bother with trying here) while all their other games have been relatively comfortable 2-0 victories. However, they will surely face their toughest test yet as they have to go up against one of the most famous, most rigged and most loaded with popular Lounge people ever team in Sloth Sanctuary. Captain Dentro's squad has also now shown that they are one of the most talented teams in division 3. For some reason they've lost to Elite A.I. and a source that wants to remain unknown told me that TinyOwl was to blame, but other than that they have shown almost flawless play so far this season. The question remains if they can finish the season as strong as they have started it and if they will continue to play together next season (...in division 2?).
Division 4 can be a really rough place if you want to make it to the Cup, as has been proven last season where even teams with seven wins were denied entry. So with CoB Saltshakers and HotSTough we are looking at two teams who have been a part of Heroes Lounge for a long time but who are also coming from different directions to finally clash head-to-head. The Saltshakers have just been demoted from division 3 but they have already surpassed last season's win total and are showing strong play. Their only losses so far came against the division 4 juggernauts of Jormungandr and Death By Monkeys, who they had to face with an underperforming substitute player. For HotSTough on the other hand, it's their first season outside of division 5 where they have enjoyed a lot of success over the seasons with playoff participations in both season 4 and 5. Their four wins out of six games show that promotion was well deserved for them and their chances of getting to the playoffs once more are still intact. Those chances will increase dramatically for the team that will be able to claim a victory here.
Southgate Boiz vs. Klondike Express
In terms of cruelty towards playoff contenders, division 5 is just as hard as division 4, also historically requiring at least seven wins to grant you a postseason spot. The Southgate Boiz made it there last season as one of the many new surprise teams that took the Heroes Lounge by storm and they don't show any signs of slowing down. They started the season with five consecutive and convincing victories before the only unbeaten team of division 5, Sköna Lirare, beat them in a close three game series. Making it to the playoffs looks like a formality for them right now, if they can however, unlike some other Southgate Boiz, bring it home, remains to be seen. First they have to take out the team of Klondike Express, who not only have an awesome team logo, but also defeated some long-standing Heroes Lounge teams on their way to getting to four out of six in their very first season. Even in their two losses, they surely didn't make it easy for DUET R and Earthworm Defence Force, putting up a good fight. So the Southgate Boiz would be best advised not to take the Klondike Express lightly.
Do you think we missed the most crucial match-up of the week or ignored a certain team for too long? Feel free to let us know by writing a kind DM to juliandoom on Discord and we'll consider fixing the issue immediately!
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