We’re finally at the end! With this last qualifier finishing up it is time to announce the last invited team as well. Pikachu will join the top Heroes of Newerth squads worldwide to compete for their share of $40,000 in cash and prizes.
The mostly Danish team was formed in the spring of 2012. Featuring a HoN veteran, Buch, the team quickly gained notoriety as one of the stronger teams in a time of emerging talent. With a 3rd/4th place finish in the DreamHoN Summer qualifiers the team narrowly missed going to the LAN event. Failure to qualify for DreamHack did not stop the team from training as they consistently made it to the later stages of multiple tournaments including successive MSI and It’s Gosu events. When HoN Tour rolled around Pikachu managed to qualify as one of the top 16 teams and was placed into the Diamond Division. While they’ve generally maintained Diamond status Pika has had a couple of rough brackets, falling into Gold, but taking the elevator back up each time. Despite having no major tournament victories to their name, Pikachu is a team that has showed remarkable consistency in the last 6 months, and with a bit of luck they can surely make upsets happen.
The Pikachu roster consists of:
21 – Denmark
The suicide player for Pikachu boasts an impressive resume in competitive Heroes of Newerth. Throughout the last 3 years Buch has been part of teams Binary Evasion, TXL, and most notably, Infused Tt Esports. With these teams he attended multiple LANs, taking first in the huge Insomnia event in the UK, a bronze finish at DreamHack Summer 2011, and fourth in the first HoN DreamHack event, losing 4v5 to KD gaming. With Pika he is a capable suicide laner, excelling with initiators in the long lane like Pharaoh and Keeper of the Forest.
19 – Uppsala, Sweden
While he got started a bit later than his rather historic teammates Buch and SemiJew,MisterP has had his fair share of successful teams. In late 2011 MisterP was part of the from Pubstars team with future tdM members Limmp and noobG. He also had a stint with DmSn, filling in the role that zai` would eventually take in the team. Since joining Pika MisterP has proven to be a valuable asset, farming his way to victory on key carry heroes like Silhouettte.
21 – Denmark
Also known as TPSPriceless, the team captain of Pikachu manages the drafting and strat calling for the team while playing the support role in game. While Zhichi does not have a lengthy past of competitive HoN he has made his team a success, bringing home top 4 finishes in multiple MSI cups. While fourth place seems to be his comfort zone the self styled “Best in the world” is looking to make a run in the upcoming SBHL finals.
23 – Copenhagen, Denmark
Nir is one of the new breed of HoN players that came into the scene approximately a year ago. With early teams like You should Ran and ayyyy man Nir was able to hone his skills and make a name for himself. He was able to secure 3/4th place finishes in multiple It’s Gosu tournaments and eventually a slot on the up and coming team S00N (Soon Tour). From here the jungle player was picked up by Pika, quickly adapting and contributing to the teams success over the last half year.
23 – Malaysia
Semijew is yet another Pika player with a long history within the competitive Heroes of Newerth Scene. After breaking into the HoN scene with team iLx along future superstars NoVa, N0Tail, and Fly he was left behind as his teammates left to form the most dominant squad in HoN history, Fnatic. Semijew didn’t take long to find a new team, joining up with KD Gaming and then Evil Geniuses in mid 2011. After EG disbanded Semijew was once again teamless but returned with Team EZ in late 2011, where the all star team participated in DreamHack Winter 2011 with little success. Though Semijew’s history is studded with successes he has only just returned to the competitive HoN scene 2 months ago after yet another extended hiatus.