HTS3 Stats Preview - Teams

By quincy0191



As we continue taking a look at the numbers from Carnage in Caldavar to get ready for HoN Tour Season 3, let’s take a look on a team-by-team basis, starting with the reigning champions and clear #1 team in competitive HoN.



Bad Monkey Gaming



What’s Going On? BMG are on the upswing heading into HTS3. After winning 80% of their games in Cycle 1, they won 90.5% in Cycle 2, and generally looked a lot more in control. Average game time in CiC was around 30 minutes, and in Cycle 1 43.3% of their games went longer than half an hour, with “just” 76.9% turning into wins. But in the second cycle, just 36.7% of their games lasted longer than 30 minutes, and they won a whopping 90.9% of them anyway. BMG are looking unbeatable.



Best Player: Jonassomfan. With Limmp gone, it’s much more of a contest than it used to be. But relative to his peers, there’s a clear winner; the average suicide line is 3.9/4.1/6.9, with 318 GPM and 439 XPM. Jonas has managed a 5.2/4/7.6 mark, with 371 GPM and 497 XPM.



Best Hero: Rhapsody. BMG are 18-1 with the songstress, their second-most played hero behind Empath.



Worst Hero: Madman.Hard to call this a “worst” hero, as they’re just 1-2, so sample size plays tricks.



What to Look Out For: Vulnerability. As dangerous as the monkeys have been since sG disbanded, there are questions about their roster. Superkge is back, and while he’s a great player, it’s hard to replace Limmp. Xibbe is the replacement for fUzi, and the same goes there. BMG lost two of their best players, arguably their two best players, so their performance in CiC may not be repeatable.





SynC eSports



What’s Going On? SynC played the most minutes of any team in CiC, finishing second in games played (55; Reason had 57) and average game length (35.74 minute; tree averaged 36.41). As a result, they played about an hour more than Reason, but six hours more than third-place BMG, where match cancellations no doubt played a factor. SynC might be more prepared for a long season than any other team.



Best Player: Zlapped. KheZu was a close second, but the jungle/second support has done an admirable job in both roles. As a support, he places 8.1 wards per game, exactly the average for all supports, which is atypical for his role. Most interesting, though are his K:D ratios; in both roles, he is twice as good as average. Supports average a 0.5 K:D, while Zlapped carries a ratio of 1.0, and junglers average a 1 K:D with Zlapped coming in at 2.0. He also managed about 40 GPM over the average on both roles.



Best Hero: Kraken. SynC managed a 12-2 record on the hero, besting BMG in three times as many games.



Worst Hero: Bubbles. Small samples about again, as SynC went 1-3 with the turtle.



What to Look Out For: Hunger. BMG’s questions mean opportunity for SynC. They’ve been staring up at first place for far too long; SynC is a balanced team, with each of its players consistently above-average, and any weakness shown by BMG could easily result in some cycle victories for the perennial silver medalists.





Reason Gaming



What’s Going On? Reason looks like a team on a lot of edges. Finishing third in Cycle 2 of CiC was critical for them, as their 4.0/3.8/7.5 average line put them just above average, and a 43.9% win rate put them just below .500. Willowkeeper are hot on their heels, but once again potential instability in the teams above them could open the door for a surprise. A consistent also-ran, Reason might not have a better opportunity to win than right now, or they might be passed on the way up.



Best Player: probusk. Reason Gaming as a whole is slightly below-average, thanks to the dominance of BMG and SynC; their relatively spectacular numbers mean everyone else looks less impressive in comparison. Bucking that trend was probusk, as initiators overall went 4.7/4.2/8.7, 347 GPM and 451 XPM, but he managed a 5.2/2.8/7.6 line with 397 GPM and 466 XPM.



Best Hero: Engineer. One of AddroW’s two heroes (he played Rhapsody or Engineer in 60% of all games), Reason managed 14 victories in 22 games.



Worst Hero: Swiftblade. Just two wins in seven tries for the popular and powerful carry.



What to Look Out For: Movement. Reason has steadily been climbing the ladder, working their way up to third place thanks to a combination of better play and teams above them disbanding. But they’re now at the point where teams are looking to unseat them, and they could fall or rise with equal ease. Then again, they could do what they’ve been doing and stay put. That pretty much covers all the bases.





Willowkeeper



What’s Going On? The REXXARS of Cycle 2, willowkeeper have been a remarkably consistent second-tier team. They had a strong performance in the HTS2 playoffs, and just missed the cut for Cycle 1 of CiC. An exciting victory against BMG showed their potential, and more losses than wins showed their problems. Like SynC, they played a lot, with the highest average game length and the most games per cycle.



Best Player: baltazar`. This could really go to a few guys. Fusen led CiC in wards, BOXl is a hell of a playmaker, RootOf_z is extremely versatile in his jungle role, and Kracke is one of the most involved initiators. baltazar` wins by default, though, because he led all players in CK and finished third in GPM; tree’s lengthier games certainly helped with that, but it’s nonetheless impressive.



Best Hero: Engineer. 11 heroes had a 100% win rate in one or two games, but Engineer went 6-3 for the highest non-perfect score.



Worst Hero: Aluna. A 2-7 record was enough to beat out Wretched Hag, who was winless in four games.



What to Look Out For: Innovation. You probably remember RootOf_z for jungling with odd heroes, a strategy almost exclusively employed by willowkeeper, and probably the most novel tactic we’ve seen in a long time. They’re also not afraid to try out new heroes; they were playing Sir Benzington and Chronos in the suicide lane before the HTS2 playoffs, and in Cycle 2 they experimented a lot, perhaps adding Riftwalker to the pool of viable supports.





Shrek is Love



What’s Going On? Oof. Ogr had a rude introduction to high-level competitive play, as a late-cycle victory against Reason was the only win they walked away with. Against mid-tier teams in scrims and in the amateur division, they showed significant potential, but it’s hard to get past a 1-20 record.



Best Player: Kluckmuck? It’s hard to pick a best player on this team, not only because of their record but because they didn’t have a true fifth player. Kluckmuck, their captain, played all 21 games, while DemStratZ, CountCrapula, and Petthan played 19 each. They used ringers like Mekx (fifth-most with ten games played), ArchiTigeR, and DR0GEN. Kluckmuck’s support was generally solid, and considering he could have been stomped into the ground as an under-geared hero who regularly lost, things weren’t that bad. Mostly, though, he gets credit for being the only one to play each of Shrek is Love’s games.



Best Hero: Rally and Rhapsody. Both went 1-3, combining a small number of games played with an appearance in their win for a team-leading 25% win rate.



Worst Hero: Drunken Master. Out of all the heroes that didn’t pick up a win, Drunken was played ten times, more than anyone else. Engineer and Empath both went 0-8 as well.



What to Look Out For: Improvement. Well, it’d be hard to do much else. But I’ve seen Ogr play outside of CiC, and they looked like a much more confident, impressive team. Now that they’ve got some experience in the competitive atmosphere – and some lower-tier teams added to the pool – they should turn in a better performance.



More on this topic:

HTS3 Preview - Players

HTS3 Preview - Heroes on the Rise

HTS3 Preview - Heroes on the Decline

