Bduhmana & VampiricNarwhal’s Bot Lane Banter Presents: BOL Gold Week 1

Top Tier Teams

CB Impulse

Right now, we* (for pronoun purposes moving forward: if i sounds cynical, it’s prob Narwhal. If i sounds like a pipedream, bduh is sending it with hype) got CB Impulse as Top Tier, because–well, Puffin buff: their team mentality and game understanding is strong and will be what I think puts this team a notch above competition on paper. To compliment him, Traumeri is a solid adc who knows how to play weakside if needed and LSword will only improve their laning phase. My only question mark is around their jg billywillard (thought he was a mid main?)--which leads to a bigger question: Who is Riku and why are they mid over billy? This tech will be found out soon enough I’m sure.

TD Harmony

As an org, they typically field top tier players but this team’s also got some role swaps which make me question what that means for individual player matchups. That being said, 1Hand looks like the player to watch for this team, so my eyes will be on them and RedPanda–who is mostly known as an adc, as well. Can two adcs equal a support? This support isn’t sold, but giving the benefit of the doubt for preseason rankings.

Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew

Ever since this org came onto the scene, It has made some huge waves–which is why their reputation puts them higher even if their roster only has one returning finalist. HardStuckBrotha is their best player that we know of, who won the previous split in a diff role. Speaking of more off roles, there doesn’t seem to be a jg anywhere on the roster, so the player to watch is TDD. I want to see if their role swap is the team cooking or maybe something they will need to revisit (or maybe practice in soloq so we have stats to go off of? lol).

Mid Tier Teams

Nefarious Demons

This is our team, so it’s a bit hard to remain unbiased–especially since we enjoy being a band of misfits that can keep players on their toes… On paper, we have some strong BOL contenders (lookin at you, Hoodie), some who have made playoffs and want that chip, and then we got Trashy as the player to watch, because everyone assumes he is a veteran but this will be his debut into BOL and will need to carry this lot.

Hyperion White Rabbit

While this org typically is well known for their well known players, they often field some exciting new recruits alongside them–which is why we think they fit nicely in the mid tier. They got some solid comp players (lost havok shiny mewlife & chubby) who are consistent, but our players to watch will be Viyella & Ghost’s (Atilla Atilla, the one and only Atilla) and here is why: their duo win record together shows they both know how to balance carrying their team in the soloq wild, and that makes me put more weight and responsibility on these two to make that translate into the competitive scene.

CB Phreaks

Narwhal and I had different takes on whether or not this CB was as strong as the other–with myself choosing Phreaks. If you know me through content or otherwise, you’ll know I am a bit of an underdog fan so do with that what you will. Although TheDean doesn’t have much to go off of for toplane role, I am excited to see him back in the scene. Revan is solid all around and my personal hot take:CB Typhoon has a fantastic jg pool for this meta and would be my player to watch for them to be a top tier team.

Fools Five Squires

Don’t know much about this team or the org, but Fugitive looks like they have a strong champ pool for this meta, but our player to watch is Qwerthe5, because those stats are monstrous and we want to see how that translates to competitive.

Lower Tier Teams

OSG Tactical Freeze

OSG as an org has been around a minute, but hard to rank them on reputation because they lack any chip success and, at least to my knowledge–we can’t remember ever having seen these players, so as of now they are a complete unknown for now, which is why they’ll be at the bottom of the tier list. But that could easily change once we get more competitive information (first hand) this week.

Glacial Void

We all know the horrors of Glacial as an org, but hopefully this time they can make it through the split. That said, I haven’t seen much of these players and am a bit skeptical of their ability until I see them play. Good luck to them, but for now they gotta be at the bottom of the full rosters for now.

Fools Five Mercenaries

How does one (let alone two) rank a team that only shows 3 starters on their roster?

TemuZeus is a solid toplaner that will create problems for opponents if left unchecked, so I want to give a shoutout to my boy for that.

Week 1 Matchups

CB Phreaks vs CB Impulse: 1-2

Not gonna lie, this was the streamed match we both were hoping for this week. I mean, who doesn’t love an org rivalry showoff?! And with Narwhal and I being split a bit on who is the better CB on paper, I am excited to see who got this right.

Dean0 vs Puffin, how am I supposed to choose? This a homie fight, but I think I trust Big Puffy more in the top lane just because I’ve actually watched him play the role - by the way, why is Dean playing top and not jungle anyway? Beyond the top lane matchups Phreaks mid laner isn’t in today because of a lack of games - honestly that change might be the difference maker. I think team cohesion is vital even at these low ranks and a last minute sub can spell disaster, so I’m going to say Puffin 2-1.

With Impulse being the favored team, I’ll be looking towards CB Typhoon to create the upset their team would need to flip this in their favor. If he can shut down a solo lane, pref mid, that gives their botlane a chance to create some prio for objective control–and we all know how volatile objective fights can be so it'll come down to execution or luck after that.

Fools Five Squires vs Fools Five Mercenaries: ?????

With one team only having three people on the starting roster, we will not spend much time on this. If it isn’t a reschedule, I expect the team who can practice to win this lol Surely that’s all this team needs, right?

Idk get a full team and I’ll write more…

OSG Tactical Freeze vs Nefarious Demons: 0-2

I’ll let Narwhal be biased here while I play the hype boi (which is my favorite boi I cosplay). “OSG never beat me before is all I’m saying - fast 2-0 and I get drinks and cigs” - Narwhal 2025

If OSG Tactical Freeze wants to create an upset, they will need to focus on who their carry potential is and double down on it. With a clear plan to execute, that gives Materium a better chance of trying to dominate through the jungle role. If they leave it up to hands diff, Its Tyler will be in his comfort zone and will punish it.

Hyperion White Rabbit vs Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew: 1-2

Obligatory who is Atilla and why is he typing at me? Anyway with that ghost out of the way, I think Jolly Rogers probably wins this, being champions from last split is a good start to any split, and while they have a different adc (who is role swapping) I think that the continued

If Hyperion wants to create the upset, they will need to shut down HardStuckBrotha so I am putting that responsibility onto Chubby–who I am a personal hype boi of. So if this duo comes with the warding and map awareness most supports hone, then this is quite doable.

TD Harmony vs Glacial Void: 2-0

Will Glacial field a roster the whole split? Jokes aside, this Glacial roster looks decent, but I don’t think just decent will be enough given the historic strength of TD. That said, I’ve never actually watched Toxin jungle, but 1hand is a good player and I think he can easily carry this team.

Glacial’s upset is going to fall into Jel’s hands this series, as they will need to punish this duo adc bot lane to make sure their carry potential isn’t just a given. Jel can also punish Toxin to try and create the advantages necessary to use tempo for objective control.