Honcast Community Rankings 11/10

Phil "The Thrill" Haller at Thu, Nov 10, 2011 02:40 - PST

To formulate this list, a list of the most competitive Heroes of Newerth teams was sent to several prominent community members and professional players. The first ten responses were added together and, using a scoring system (1st gets 10 points, 10th gets 1 point), the final rankings are compiled.

Please note that these polls are purely for entertainment purposes and in no way are we trying to state that these are the official rankings for Heroes of Newerth.

List of Voters for this week; Mag1X, Sunsfan, breakycpk, The_Thrill, XanderK, Jah`, Shinkz, StreeT, mynuts, Buch

1.  Fnatic.MSI [MSI] - 83 (2)

Moving up from #4 in our last poll (almost a month ago!) MSI retakes the crown it has been without over the last couple of months. An impressive performance in the NASL over former #1 Team EZ might have something to do with it, but being undefeated in ESL Major Series XI certainly helps as well. Will Fnatic continue their winning ways as we enter the most prestigious event HoN has yet seen and go for the 3peat at DHW? And how will NASL finish off? Currently sitting at 2-2, Fnatic must put a rough start behind them to focus on the goal, as teams like EZ and tdM sit comfortably atop the rankings.

2.  Trademark eSports [tdM] - 81 (2)

tdM moves up from #6 to #2 this week, garnering 2 first place votes as well. Despite the heavy roster changes and other oddities that seem to follow this team around, they continue to win where it matters. Despite having taken losses to a rather unknown team in the Newegg Wanfest as well as being bested twice by fpbs and once by PORT in the CSN Points Cup, their performances in the NASL and EMS IX keep them high on our poll. They recently made the statement that they would begin to focus on DHW 2011 for the next couple of weeks, so expect Swindle and crew to be hitting HoN pretty hard.

3.  Online Kingdom [OK] - 80 (3)

OK drops down from #1 after some losses in the NASL (2-2) and their recent inactivity in other tournaments (such as CSN) however they are currently 1-0 in EMS IX. Their players continue to be active, pubbing and whatnot, but will need to have some strong wins in the NASL as well as continuing their win streak in ESL. Surely this team remains a favorite to win DHW2011, and as we being to close in on those dates, I expect this team to get more active.

4.  LION eSportsklubb [LION] - 74 (2)

LION moves up from the 5 spot receiving two first place votes this week. Currently on a 2 win streak in the NASL after a rough 0-2 start, LION has been showing some real signs of life. Scrimming almost daily over the past couple of weeks, they have been one of the most active teams in the HoN scene recently. They have yet to play in the EMS IX group stages, so some wins there might help to bump them up a bit. This team is perhaps one of the favorite teams to win Dreamhack, but with minimal LAN experience, their offline abilities will certainly be put to the test.

5.  Team EZ [EZ] - 56

EZ drops down from #3 this week, and its kind of hard to make a case as to why that is...but I guess it's the roster changes. They had a rough start in the NASL going only 2-2, with losses to Infs and MSI. However, they also just took tdM down 2-0 (which occurred after the poll was taken) so maybe our next polls will reflect that. Outside of the NASL, they placed first in the CSN Points Cup #2 and have yet to play in the EMS IX tournament. As one of two North American teams attending DHW2011, a lot of interest is building around not only the tournament, but the issues both NA teams seem to be dealing with. Will EZ make DHW look easy? We'll find out in a couple of weeks.

6.  Infused eSports [Infs] - 53

Infs climbs from #7 to #6 perhaps mostly due to their results in the NASL. Great victories over LION and Team EZ, and an amazing 1 game match vs tdM has certainly kept them moving up. However in other events, they have been tested by some. Being knocked out of the Newegg tournament by a relatively unknown team as well as a FF loss to PORT in CSN #1 keeps them from moving up further. This team has undergone quite a few changes recently, and most seem to be working, but AstonL and crew need to continue to practice to move up in future polls.

7.  HoNportal.org [PORT] - 46 (1)

PORT moved from #10 to #7 as they continue to have strong results in the CSN Cups. Two first place finished and a second place finish, losing 2-1 to TEAM EZ. They are currently 1-0 in EMS IX and are waiting for the winners of OK v EZ in the Esports Heaven tournament to play the finals. PORT is possible the fastest team to come up on the competitive scene, having already received one first place vote! Also, PORT was recently invited to attend DHW2011 as a qualified team, being allowed to forego the BYOC portion of the tourney. A top 3 finish at DHW is what this team needs to move up higher, and I'm sure many of you out there have this team picked as the dark horse.

8.  Frenetic Array [fray] - 27

Fray continues to hover around on the Top 10 with some nice matches in EMS IX. They recently announced they would definitely be attending DHW2011, and many people are quite interested to see it. They also recently released a Dreamhack vLog on the HoN forums ( you can find it in the Competitive Discussion forum) that you can check out to see more of what they are all about. Outside of DHW, this team just needs more exposure to international tournaments to move up, but anywhere on the top 10 is still a pretty good accomplishment.

9.  Reason Gaming [Rea] - 18

Reason gaming continues to be on the top 10 after their fantastic start in the NASL. Now since then, they have dropped 3 in a row all 0-2. Their non participation in other events like EMS IX and CSN will continue to keep this team in the 9 or 10 spot. Reason needs to get more active in tournaments and have a marvelous finish in either the NASL or DHW2011 (where they are one of the invited teams) to move up.

10.  Deal With It [DWi] - 15

DWi holds on tight at #10. No one is really sure what is going on with DWi since they dropped their sponsors over at CompLexity Gaming. Rumors abound that after finishing up NASL as well as the Newegg Wanfest (they are currently in the finals waiting on the winners from the losers bracket) that they are leaving HoN to move on to DotA2. They have had a rough start in the NASL going 1-4 with their only win coming from Reason, as well as losing to PORT in the Esports Heaven and also losing to DRzO in EMS IX (which they dropped out of and EZ took their places after the loss.) Unfortunately, this is probably the last week we will see DWi on the top 10 here at Honcast. And its been a long LONG time since they haven't been on it, so it'll be sad to see them go. Good night, sweet princes.

Others on the list;  fpbs (7), dskb (5), DRzO (4)