#HSH Week 8: Group D Preview
The last group of #HomeSweetHomes final week is upon us and as always we preview the teams. AGF Esport, Complexity Gaming, Hard Legion ...
#HomeSweetHome has ended the second day of play in the second week of the competition, which means group B has moved two teams onwards to the playoffs, while two others has been eliminated. Group B consisted of Syman Gaming, Movistar Riders, Virtus.Pro and the runner-ups from week 1 - Team Spirit. This made the group very top heavy with two clear favorites in Virtus.Pro and Team Spirit, but could they handle the pressure? Each week the tournament awards $40,000 in prize money and at the end of the 8 week stretch of mini tournaments a grand final playoff will follow. If you want to read more about #HomeSweetHome you can head over to our event page! Movistar Riders started the second week of play just like they ended the first - with losing. The opening game was never really close and Syman showed why Inferno is one of their favorite maps and the only question was why Movistar Riders let it end up there? We will not get an answer, but it set their team up for another disappointing week as the opponent in the elimination game would be Virtus.Pro or Team Spirit, both heavy favorites against a weak looking Movistar Riders, whos struggles continues. Both Virtus.Pro and Team Spirit could call themselves unlucky to have to play such a strong team in an opening game, but for the viewers this was a treat. Team Spirit managed to secure a 9-1 lead on their CT side on Train before Virtus.Pro started the plow and ran over he game completely. The 8 round lead quickly crumbled as Dzhami “Jame” Ali and Alexey “qikert” Golubev pulled out some heroic rounds to save their Virtus.Pro. After a strong showing on their CT side Virtus.Pro could eventually close the game out, 16-13, but it was definitely close to could have gone either way and both teams can bring positives from this game moving forward. In the winners match between Virtus.Pro and Syman we would get one competitive map and one snoozefest. Overpass looked to be an easy win for Virtus.Pro for bigger parts of the map, but Syman fought heroically to grab some CT rounds towards the end to push the game to its full 30 rounds. Nonetheless it wouldn’t be enough as Virtus.Pro grabbed a deserved victory and it’s hard to name one or two players as the heroes, as the whole squad stepped up when the team needed them too. Symans hopes were left to their own map pick of inferno, and as good as the map has been for the team who rocked a 10 map win streak on it - as bad did it look today. After massive struggles on their CT side they ended the half down 4-11, which meant a map win was close to impossible and it also turned out to be. Virtus.Pro showed their strength in this series as they grabbed their playoff spot as the winner of group A. That should mean that the teams chances to win it all this week are much better, as they won’t have to face another group winner in the first round of playoffs. In the elimination game between Spirit and Movistar Riders it’s hard to determine if the shutout from Spirit is based of their own strength, or if this was just due to Movistar Riders depressive play right now. Both Overpass and Mirage ended in one sided affairs as Spirit secured their spot in the decider game against Syman, and as such the team was one step closer to the playoffs. Spirit could once again reach a final, that much is for sure, but there was still one wall to overcome. For Movistar Riders #HomeSweetHome has been a tragic story as the team hasn’t gotten close to any wins at all in the first two weeks. It’s hard to see this team turning that around, let alone reach playoffs at some point. Before that can happen, there is a lot of work to be done... Spirit was apparently not done with brutal beatings after the show against Movistar Riders, but continued as they manhandled Syman in this decider match. Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov, Nikolay “mir” Bityukov and Viktor “somedieyoung” Orudjev had a field day on Dust2 as it looked more like a practice range than an actual game and Spirit grabbed an easy win to take the lead. Inferno would be no different and Syman once again looked like target dummies, but this time Boris “magixx” Vorobiev would also be let in on the fun as he eliminated the desperate tries of Syman time after time. An easy win for the runner-up from last week who once again looks to have what it takes to reach a final, and this time around, maybe go all the way. In conclusion this group ended exactly as one would expect with Virtus.Pro and Team Spirit on top, even if we predicted their placings to be switched. As much as we gave Syman some hope to do damage here in the second week of #HomeSweetHome, they fell short when facing the big dogs and maybe it just showed that they simply aren’t ready yet. However, their group draw once again is brutal and some better luck with group draws in the future would definitely help. Someone who needs help beyond this world is Movistar Riders who once again looks absolutely helpless. The brutal truth is the team is not performing at all and looking forward to coming weeks it’s close to impossible to find some kind of reasoning for that changing. Virtus.Pro and Team Spirit moves on to the quarter finals which will be played on Saturday and it’s fair to assume both teams will have exceptionally good chances to move forward whoever they have to face. In the first week of #HomeSweetHome we saw a final between the two teams from group A, which that time was BIG and Spirit, and it’s definitely no stretch to believe that could happen again. If you wish to read about the latest news from us and from the esports world make sure to check out our Twitter! If you wish to read about betting tips, we deliver them through our esports betting Twitter! Janne Kouva
#HomeSweetHome Week 2: Group A
Opening games
Winners and losers match
Decider match
Final standings Group A
Virtus.Pro 2-0 +14 Team Spirit 2-1 +40 Syman Gaming 1-2 -27 Movistar Riders 0-2 -27
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