Hello once again everyone! For those of you who do not know me my name is Storm or CTRL ULT ELITE. Last season I competed in BOL plat on the Basement Dwellers(a plat team who failed to make playoffs) and was the primary writer for our platinum league. This season I am unfortunately not back to play due to a change in my schedule but I am back to write! Please give me feedback on what you enjoy or want to see more of from my writing! This season we have 16 teams split into 2 groups of 8. The Divisions are Shurmia and Targon. The top 5 of every group advance to playoffs. Seeds 4 and 5 will be put into the wildcard round. The 1st seed from each division will receive a 1st round playoff bye.
For this article I am going to be going over every team briefly and ranking them. I will give a short run down on each team and every player on how I think they will do based on their OP.GG from February 26th and any history of them that I know from other amateur leagues. I am also going to be ranking every team within BOL platinum into one of several tiers. The team in S tier is my hot take to win BOL Platinum this year. Teams in A tier I believe should be the teams that will place top 2 within their group and finish the year within the top 4. Teams in B tier I believe are solid playoff contenders and should finish the season in position 3/4 within their group. Teams within the C tier will be teams that I think will be battling for a wildcard spot in their group for playoffs. Teams that I have placed in D tier are the ones that I think will struggle this year to reach playoffs.
Without further ado here are the teams competing this year in BOL plat. Thanks Poptart for the infographic!
I think that Shurmia as a whole is going to be much easier to predict out of the 2 groups that we have. Shurmia has some standout teams for sure but I feel they also have more of the teams I would consider lower rated.
NWE Orion
Top: Ziyk
Jungle: Denali The King
Mid:Eazy ADC:Boogie Support:Mental Boom3r
The team that I am expecting to place 1st in Shurmia is NWE Orion. This team should have many familiar faces to you if you have competed in the amateur league scene. I recognize half of this team from my time in BOL last season. Denali the King, Eazy and Boogie have been on several rosters that I have covered and are all upper tiers players. Ziyk and Mental Boom3r are new to me though and I am eager to see how well they mesh with this team. Overall I think NWE Orion looks like a team poised to fight for the top spot in their group. This team does not have the crazy stacked roster that some plat teams coming into these tournaments do so that is why I have them in A tier. I think that NWE Orion will be a team that generally is going to play towards mid game going for aggressive invades and looking to stack dragons to force you to fight them.
Ziyk has the typical solo queue top laner champ list. It’s all fighter outplay champs and 1 random tank. Winning lane does typically make winning the game much easier(I know shocking analysis) and Ziyk is looking to win some lanes. They do tend to die a lot and hopefully they are less flip in this season of BOL. In comp play it's much easier to camp a flip player if they push all the time. On the other side of the coin though Denali The King does play a lot of early game champions. Playing 2 flip champions top lane is not just randomly flipping the game its called a strong side of the map. Fiora Elise is a winning 2v2 looking to dive not something that you try and fight.
Speaking of Denali the King they are the jungler for this team and the exception player on this roster. Denali I would say is going to be one of the top 3 junglers in BOL plat this year and probably going to be on the top 25 list(if we have it) again. Last season Denali was ranked 2nd overall out of every player on the stats sheet. For an actual jungle pool Denali plays a lot of different junglers from the ADC junglers of Kindred and Graves to the AP teamfight threats of Lilia and Fiddlesticks. Xin would be their most aggressive pick probably and a couple of seasons ago Denali was a tank jungle main so don’t sleep on him picking the priority Junglers like Sejuani.
Eazy if you are new to BOL is someone that you will know by the end of the season. Whether they are asking for god awful scrim times, posting random reaction gifs or tearing it up on the Rift, Eazy is very active within our community. For mid lane Eazy focuses on two distinct classes. Primarily Control mages but when the team needs it Eazy also has a couple of early aggressive options in the Yone, Tristana and Akshan. One of the best parts of CB white(the team Eazy and Denali were on last year) was that they simply farmed better than almost every team that they played. I'm expecting Eazy to be another top tier mid laner.
In the bot lane for NEW Orion we have Boogie and Mental Boom3r. Boogie is another player I recognize as being very active within the amateur league scene. They are a top/ AD player. In top lane Boogie plays primarily towards fighting early so expect them to contest bot lane and look to fight not just scale. In bot lane Boogie plays primarily Zeri, Varus and Ezreal. All 3 spike very hard at certain item timings so try and make sure you keep track of them when you play NWE Orion.
Mental Boom3r is someone who is retuning back to support as their main role. 2020 was the last season when they mained this role in solo que. Expect Mental Boom3r to play a lot more towards hard engage melee supports compared to most other supports this year in BOL. They have really good KDA values in solo queue and Im excited to see how that plays out for them on the rift.
First Class
Top: FC bruiser2012
Jungle: FC truest
Mid:FC Solem ADC: piece pipe 13 Support: FC peptic
The other team that I can see wining Shurmia is First Class. This is the type of roster I am talking about that when you load up scouting as you are getting into a league you look at and go oh that's a team we need to watch out for. Featuring 3 players currently in plat 1 I think we can expect First Class to be a solid A tier team. This team has really solid fundamental players with clear identities. You have a winning top laner, an early game high temp jungle and a control mage mid player giving you a really strong top side of the map. Their bot lane both play hard for scaling and have plenty of options between them. I think that this is going to work really well in BOL this season. The reason I do not have this team winning Shurmia is that two of the players on this team have swapped roles in the past couple of seasons.
FC bruiser2012 is another player who plays towards the dominant top lane style of league. Their champion pool consists of almost entirely of top lane duelists. Aarotx, Camiile, Jax, Darius, Yone need I go on? FC bruiser2012 is highly rated and is going to try and flip the game on you if solo que is any indication. Every game FC bruiser2012 plays they kill a lot of people, die a lot and farm a lot. Try and make sure your top laner when playing First Class can actually play the game save them a later spot in draft.
FC truest is a jungler who suits FC bruiser2012. FC truest plays for early game high tempo junglers like Viego, Graves, Xin Zhao and Udyr. They do lack a lot of the more seen junglers that we have seen this season in the tanks and various AP style picks. But with those getting nerfed just as BOL starts it will be interesting to see how the jungle meta shakes up. FC truest is the lowest rated player on this team by far(sitting at Plat 4 last season and currently Gold 3 as of writing this). They do not need to do the heavy lifting for this team, they just need to make sure that they can set up their team with early plays.
FC Solem is someone who has swapped from jungle to mid over several years. They are firmly a mid-main this season and have a majority of their games on Orianna for the past couple of seasons. As well as the Orianna FC Solem plays Yone and Corki. They have a very interesting mid pool to say the least with weird pick thrown in here like Rumble. For other more traditional control mages FC Solem has games on Viktor, Syndra and Ryze. As long as FC Solem is able to play the waveclear that his team needs I think that First Class will be set up for success.
piece pipe 13 is a mid laner that has transitioned this split to ADC. They have certainly found their ideal ADC in Xayah having played 130 games of her so far this split. piece pipe 13 also plays Jinx, Trist Caityln and Kog’Maw. They are doing very well in solo que and look like they are coming into BOL in top form.
Rounding out First Class is FC Peptic. FC Peptic is a support main that found a lot of success last year in solo que and hit plat 1. This year they are already back up to the Plat 1 and look like they will easily climb into diamond. FC Peptic has a wide support pool playing hard engage like Thresh Naut and Rakkan but also has enchanters like Zilean, Nami and Lulu.
TE Abyss
Top: K7 showoff
Jungle: yuupi
Mid: CountDoku ADC: HENRYRØCKS22 Support: XTX viper
Overall as a team looking at their solo queue data this seems to be a team where everyone is looking to play forward and aggressive. I think that TE ABYSS is going to win more games by being better players than they are being a better team if that makes sense. TE Abyss has their best players on the team sitting in the bot lane and I hope that this team is going to be able to peel and not just dive forwards. This team is going to have to show me in drafts and gameplay that they can play multiple ways or be incredibly dominant before I would consider moving them up my tier list. TE Abyss I think are a very solid team but I do not expect them to win Shurima. I expect them to easily make it into the playoffs which is why I have them as the top of my B Tier. I think this team is going to act as a gatekeeper in Shurima. Take a game off TE Abyss and you show that your team has what it takes to compete in the playoffs.
HENRYRØCKS22 at ADC looks to be the standout player for TE Abyss from their solo que data. HENRYRØCKS22 plays towards hyper carries most seasons like Zeri and Jinx. This season they have also been playing some of the more lane dominant ADCs like Lucian and Caitlyn. The thing that stands out the most is not the KDA on HENRYRØCKS22. They die way too much for their KDA to be hight. The impressive part of HENRYRØCKS22 is that they have so many multi kills. Every season they get at least 2 penta kills and last year they had 8 quarda kills. HENRYRØCKS22 is going to make the risky play and go for it.
XTX viper is the support player on TE Abyss and completes their bot lane. I am expecting big things out of XTX viper as they are the cap exception player for this team. They need to be the glue that holds this roster together. Everyone on TE Abyss seems to be a go forward and fight kind of player and I hope that XTX viper can shot call for this team and dictate what fight his team should and should not be taking. In solo que XTX viper plays a wide mix of supports from enchanters like Nami to hard engage options like Amumu and Thresh.
Top lane we have K7 showoff for TE Abyss. K7 showoff to me looks like a mid/top main that has become an ADC/Top player. They have games on plenty of picks that flex in between top and mid like Irelia, Akshan, Yone, Swain and Aatrox. This season the have been playing a lot of ADC in solo queue more so than they are playing top lane. K7 showoff has a great pool for top lane with lots of lane dominant picks like most of BOL. I hope they are ready to brawl up in top lane.
yuupi last season was being a bit of a fill player in ranked but looks like jungle is their primary role firmly now. This season it's been all jungle with the majority of their games on the extremely high risk reward Sylas jungle. yuupi has already played 31 champions so far this season in ranked. Of those 31 I would say 20 of them were jungle picks so expect yuupi to play what the team needs.
CountDoku is listed as the mid for TE Abyss. They have played mid quite a few seasons ago and are currently an ADC main. I mentioned in various other parts of my article but switching lanes is not necessarily a bad thing. Every lane teaches you important concepts. ADC teaches you mostly about farming efficiently, positioning and outputting constant damage. Mid on the other hand is more about pushing waves, roaming and bursting targets. So hopefully CountDoku is a quick study and is ready to play a new role. Lissandra, Ahri and Sylas seem to be the mids that CountDoku plays the most.
Master McNasty
Top:pQ Papa Cooks
Jungle: 0 Quantum 0
Mid: Bongo Bong ADC: ChessDIE42 Support: nyseahawk000017
I do not recognize any of these players from the previous season of BOL or from any of the other leagues I am looking at. So almost all of my thoughts will be based on their solo que data. Master Mcnasty looks like a team that's going to surprise people. Just looking at their ranks and the fact that they are all new to amatuer(I could be off on this) it's easy to rank this team in D tier. Initially I thought this team was just going to play completely for the top side after briefly glancing at their ranks and champion pool. But after looking at everyone's individual OP.GG I think that this team has a lot going for it. Your top laner looks like they can play what you need, your jungle is well suited for the bot lane meta and your ADC might just be a sleeper. I have the most faith out of every C tier team to clinch a playoff spot to be Master McNasty. I think this team could even be a B tier team. But this team does need to prove themselves.
When I saw someone who was gold 3 last season and Silver 2 the season before and currently in Silver 2 my thoughts were why is this person on a plat roster? Then I looked at their stats and went oh thats why they are in a plat league. ChessDIE42 is the ADC for Master McNasty and I have a hard read. Coming back to league after a huge break in the past couple of seasons put you in smurf que which felt awful and heavily discouraged smurfing once you got detected. It also trapped people returning to the games there as well unfortunately like ChessDIE42. Last season this player played mid primarily, mostly playing Anivia. They had a 64% win rate and played over 75 games of the bird with 3.34 KDA. That's not a normal gold player. This season they have swapped to ADC and seem to be doing okay(other then Xayah don’t look at the Xayah). Zeri Samria and Kai’Sa are their 3 most plated champions in ranked. Despite getting hard nerfed because of pro play Zeri is still a hyper carry at 3 items she sort of starts taking over your game.
Partnered with ChessDIE42 is nyseahawk000017. This is probably the worst username out of everyone in BOL platinum. Please change it. I do not want to have to type this multiple times a week. This is the part of Master Mcnasty I am worried about. Yes nyseahawk000017 was platinum last season. But they are a top lane 2 trick of Wukong and Garen who has swapped to support. I do not think either of those champions teach you much about support. Both are all about diving and tunneling on your enemy, not peeling for your backline(supports job for the most part). They have been duoing a lot with ChessDIE42 so hopefully they enter this season ready for their new role.
pQ Papa Cooks in top lane for Master McNasty is a jungle / top player. They are going to offer their team plenty of different options in draft. I'm hoping that we see this player play to their full potential this year in BOL with tons of different champions across the league.pQ Papa Cooks plays almost everything from the weak side tanks of Ornn and Sion to split push solo carry champions like the Fiora and Illaoi. With so many jungle games they play plenty of flex picks in top like Graves, Mordekasier, Sejuani and Olaf. My only worry when you spread yourself so thin like this is you never reach that true level of mastery that some players at Platinum ELO are able to develop.
In the Jungle for Master McNasty we have 0 Quantum 0 who seems to enjoy some of the least played champions in all of league. 0 Quantum 0 has almost all of their games in the past couple of seasons on Rek’Sai, Ivern and Nunu. If pQ Papa Cooks champion list is a wide but shallow pool 0 Quantum 0 is a deep well having tons of mastery on those 3 picks. This season they have started to pick up the jungle champions everyone has been groaning about all of this season in Maokai and Vi. I hope that we get to see some of these more unique early tempo junglers for 0 Quantum 0.
Bongo Bong is the last platinum player for Master Mcnasty. Looking at their Op.GG history Bongo Bong appears to be a fill player. They have plenty of games in multiple roles. Their mid lane seems to heavily favor burst playing lots of Syndra and various assassins. I feel that Bongo Bong’s champion pool will compliment his jungler quite well. Early game burst when paired with Nunu or Rek’Sai can very easily lead to repeat ganks and snowballed advantages.
Oblivion Esports Ruby
Top: Louis0717
Jungle: Quinntik
Mid: JSChaoTiC ADC: Ravensman Support: KneoStorm
Overall I have Oblivion Esports Ruby as a C tier team for BOL this year. This team does have a lot of very highly rated solo que players as of last year but many of them have role swapped this year. The two players to watch on this team are Louis0717 in top lane and Ravensman at ADC I believe. As a team I expect this team to play a lot of different team comps as most of this team has a wide champion pool. I am expecting more “standard” team comps out of this squad trying to play mostly around Ravensman with various engage options from Jungle/Top. Some games I think this team might pull out the supportive jungle double ADC thing for some spice and some games might be about playing through top.
Louis0717 in top is someone that I think is going to have lots of success within BOL plat. At platinum 2 last year and having a fairly diverse champion pool featuring lots of staple meta picks Louis0717 looks like they will be hard to pinch in terms of champion picks. Urgot is their most played champion and is something of an odd pick something that might surprise people who are not used to laning against the Crab god. Playing weakside tanks like Ornn is going to make your team's coach incredibly happy as having a go button for the team is something invaluable. Louis0717 also has several side lane threats like the aforementioned Urgot but also Camile Aatrox and Mordekiaser.
Quinntik in the jungle for Oblivion Esports Ruby looks to be a support player who has role swapped over to jungle this year. Role swapping always takes some time to get used to but support to jungle is at least something that carries over a lot of key skills like vision setup, roaming at opportune times(for ganks instead of roams) and coordinating dives. This season they of course have been playing a lot more of the supportive style tank junglers. So expect games of Ivern, Maokai and various other tanks.
JSChaoTiC is another player who has role swapped going from ADC to mid this year for this roster. I think that this is a much harder transition between lanes. ADC teaches you mostly about farming efficiently, positioning and outputting constant damage. Mid on the other hand is more about pushing waves, roaming and bursting targets. I think that JSChaoTiC is going to naturally gravitate more towards mid laners with lower CDS, like Azir, Cassiopeia and Ryze. This is currently what they are playing in solo queue and I hope they find their niche in the lane quickly. As an ADC main, don't be shocked if Oblivion Esports Ruby looks for more AP Jungle Top and plays something like the Tristana mid.
Ravensman is also another player on this team who has swapped their main role. Ravensman is a jungle primary player with ADC as their secondary. At least most years they have an ADC in their top 5 most played champs in solo que and they play a lot of Kindred so I expect them to quickly acclimate to being an ADC full time. As far as their stats and picks as an ADC Ravensman does not have any standout picks. Ezreal and Kai’Sa are their most played ADCs. They have solid KDA’s so far this year and already got a Penta in solo queue and several quadras so they look like they will be a great player for Oblivion Esports Ruby.
KneoStorm is a fill player that was on the grind last year in solo queue. I think they played more games of Ashe than I did of ranked last season. Being a fill player there are a lot of games of various supports or supportive mids. This year they have primarily been playing Renata Glasc, Nami, Zyra and various engage supports. Spending bans here is probably a mistake as KneoStorm has quite the wide champion pool.
TA Capybara
Top: Masoof
Jungle:SomethingKorny
Mid: Kaïten ADC: Yoey Support:Atöm
TA Capybara are a team that I am not sure where they are going to end this regular season. My guess is somewhere around the wild card position which is why I have them in C tier. They have some really high highs looking at their OP.GGs in top lane and ADC. I have questions though about the rest of this roster. 2 of their players have recently been promoted into platinum and Kaïten is sitting in low gold. Based solely off their solo que data my guess is that TA Capybara is going to heavily rely on Masoof and SomethingKorny to win top lane 2v2s, get heralds to break open the map and have their bot lane as the weak side of the map. I feel this is putting a lot of pressure on 1 player(who is nowhere near being a cap exception). If this plan fails about Masoof getting ahead and winning the game in side I think this team might be doomed.
Masoof has been mostly an Aatrox one trick for the past 2 seasons. They also have a lot of games in the past several seasons on Darius and Fiora. If you are looking to play through top these are probably the best picks you could think of. I think that with such a demonstrated shallow pool teams are going to need a game plan for Masoof. I imagine any game that Masoof is able to get his counter pick he should take over the game. But I mean if they do get Aatrox and does not pop off that's on him. These picks despite the weakness of top in the current meta demand respect and pull resources.
SomethingKorny is a player who has recently moved up into platinum. Last season was their 1st season finishing plat and they have already climbed back to plat 4 this season. SomethingKorny has been playing plenty of early ganking junglers playing mostly Gragas, J4 and Viego. Last season they also played some power farming junglers in the Udyr and Hecarim and this season has picked up the Bel”veth for when his team needs a late game carry.
Kaïten is a big question mark for me. Kaïten has been a superstar in various gold leagues but now he is in a plat league now. They look to be a mid/AD player who is low gold. In a plat league this might be a huge issue. From gold 3 to plat 4 you go from top 30% all the way down to the top 9% of the playerbase. Of course solo queue is not the end all be all but is a generally pretty decent indicator of individual skill. Kaïten plays a lot of the picks you like to see in comp play with games on Control Mages to give your team wave clear and teamfight prowess like Syndra & Azir. For the more individual 1v1 Kaïten plays Yone, Irelia and Ekko giving this team some side lane threat as well.
Yoey is an ADC player who also plays some top lane. They seem to mostly enjoy playing much towards hyper scaling marksmen like Twitch, Jinx and Sivir but plays almost every normal ADC as ADC players do. Yoey also has some mage bot lane picks in his pool like Ziggs, Searphione and Lux. With almost every player on this team playing mostly AD I could see some of these picks being brought out in series to come.
Atöm is a Renata Glasc player. A support pick I saw almost everyone drop after her nerfs I believe Renata has some incredible teamfight value and pairs very well with hyper carries. They have a lot of other support options playing lots of hard engage things like Naut, Thresh and Leona as well. They play few enchanters but do play some things that play for push like Lux, Karma and Seraphine.
ShadowZ Plat
Top:Yung Rat
Jungle:PeterGriefer
Mid:Moowy
ADC:Archêr
Support: ???
I have been covering ShadowZ Plat in CCS and mostly throwing the same thoughts I had on them here. In CCS ShadowZ are currently 0-2 and are the only team in the league without a game win. I am not confident that ShadowZ Plat is going to make playoffs this season in BOL Plat either. The top half of the rift for this team is lower rated than most of the competition in this league with champion pools centered around snowballing the game. The bot lane for ShadowZ plat is also currently finding a new support player so hopefully they are able to get their new roster sorted soon and ready for this season of BOL.
The player I expect to improve the most this split on ShadowZ Plat is their jungler PeterGriefer. They are a top lane tank player that has swapped to a more farming carry oriented style in the jungle this season. PeterGriefer are primarily two tricking Udyr and Karthus with a few games of Maokai(as a jungler does in season 13). PeterGriefer has already climbed to his rank of last season and will need to continue to climb to get practice in against players who are more towards the skill level of BOL Plat. I hope that PeterGriefer picks up one of the early game ganking junglers that are so prevalent throughout the pro scene like Vi, J4 or Sejuani to give his team some more options in draft. Even though your top and Mid are both play AD skewed champions it is imperative that you can fight early as a jungler this season with how much jungle gold and exp has fallen.
Speaking of the rest of the top side of the map Yung Rat is ShaowZ’s top laner. They primarily play towards the strong side according to their solo queue data. Yung Rat has a wide champion pool as well but seems to be dedicated more towards AD split pushers. They have most of their games on Jax, GP and Fiora. These picks when ahead all offer incredible value but when behind can be a detriment to your team. As one of the lower rated top laners in Bol Plat I hope that Yung Rat will show that he can win lanes and carry games on his style of league.
Moowy in mid for ShadowZ has a very aggressive mid lane pool playing less towards the traditional control mages that we see in most mids and more towards AD skirmishers like Yone, Irelia and Veigo mid. I worry a bit for Moowy they seems to have very high death averages as well as kills. Flipping a game is fine in solo queue but im comp play roams are harder to pull off and people actually peel for their teammates. Moowy has not hit platinum and I worry that they are not going to be winning as many individual duels as they are used to. Most of the flex picks on this team seem to be the shared champion pool that Moowy and Yung Rat share I hope that they can catch some teams off guard with swapping lanes.
In the bot lane for ShadowZ we have their highest rated solo queue players in Archêr. Archêr plays much more towards early game and the lane with games on Tristana Jihn and Varus this year. Last season Archêr primarly played MF but also has some games of non-traditional AD carries like Seraphine. When they need to carry Twitch and Jinx are Archers preferred hyper scaling characters.
GE Emerald
Top: 2006HondaInsight
Jungle: Snakevenom645
Mid: Shockwave53 ADC: Soprych Support: aesthetîcs
GE Emerald have made their return to BOL plat this season. I recognize a few players from this roster from last year and hopefully they will do better this year. Last year they narrowly missed out on Advancing into playoffs. I am not optimistic for them though. No one on this team other than Snakvenom645 is having a good year in solo que and they have a few non platinum players on the main roster. This team is full of 1 trick players who are not the highest rated which is why I have them in D tier. I think if teams do their research GE Emerald has some very obvious bans and playstyles between their players.
In the top lane we have 2006HondaInsight. 2006HondaInsight has never been platinum. They swapped to top lane last season and look to be a Mordekaiser 1 trick in this new lane. I’m going to be blunt here I think that 2006HondaInsight is going to have a bad time. This player dies a lot and is a 1 trick. Sure last season they had an awesome win rate on Mordekaiser and a great KDA. Mordekiaser was also S tier for the majority of last season and has fallen due to almost every bruiser AP items getting repeatedly nerfed this season. It's fairly easy when scouting GE Emerald to go we should probably ban Mordekaiser every round 2 we ever play against this team. For non mordekaiser picks 2006HondaInsight plays Jax, Olaf, Garen and Cho'gath.
Snakevenom645 looks to be the bright spot on an otherwise unimposing roster. They are mostly a Kayn one trick and I can see that pick getting banned almost every game. But Snakevenom645 plays almost exclusively carry style junglers with other picks of Veigo, Eveylnn, Master Yi & Rengar. If my jungler was the best player on my team I would hope they played this way if I am being honest. Picks that get ahead, kill people and win the game are what Snakevenom645 needs to do and what he is set up to do. I wish them the best.
See if you can spot the trend but Shockwave53 is an Anivia Mid one trick. They are really good at Anivia. I will give them that. They play some other less seen mids as their secondaries like Xearth, Swain and Veigar. Again I have to say being a one trick is awesome for solo queue. It's probably the best way to climb. But you need to diversify your pool. Being a 1 trick lets you focus less about individual skill as it becomes second nature and focus on the macro game aspects. The idea is after you one trick a champion for a season to grow as a player you start playing similar champions and learn their unique skill impression and see how your 1 trick translates. Things like how can I line up my AOE for teamfights. It's not great for comp as people can scout you and ban you out. I would be shocked if Shockwave53 got to play Anivia this season once. If they do that's a draft mistake if there is not a clear counter provided by the opposing team.
Soprych is not a 1 trick ADC; they have a shallow ADC pool. Ezreal, Xayah, Zeri and Jinx are their most played champions. That's a really solid foundation for ADC. In previous seasons they have 1 tricked Kai”sa just to fit in with everyone else on GE Emerald. Their KDA is much closer to 3.0 on most of their champions which is good and where I think a plat ADC should be aiming for. WIth your top and jungle not playing traditional team fight champions I imagine teamfights will be much harder to play for Soprych. With your support being a Lulu one trick and your jungle playing so many hyper carries themselves I expect that most lanes Soprych will also be playing mostly to scale.
Aesthetîcs is also, you guessed it, a 1 trick! Lulu has had over 70% of their solo que games for the past 4 seasons. They also play Rakkan for when their team needs hard engage and Annie and Lux when their team is looking for push. Aesthetîcs has had a rough couple of seasons in solo que. I hope that they are able to quickly climb back up to platinum and start practicing against players of their own skill level once again.
And with that we have finished Shurmia and talked about half the teams so far in BOL plat. You may have noticed I have not shown my S tier pick to win BOL. That is because I think Targon is a much stronger looking division then Shurima. Here are the rest of the teams in BOL introducing Targon
XG Lightning
Top: XG Kartanah
Jungle: Fenixflare
Mid: Juiiceboxx ADC: Prím Support: Improvise
I was worried going through every single team that I was not going to find the S tier roster that I am used to seeing in plat leagues. You know the team type I mean. The team average is plat 2 or plat 1, they have several disgusting win rates picks, everyone has a win rate contract, everyone plays like 10+ champs. Well the last team covered I finally found that type of roster. XG lightning has an average ELO of plat 2, 4 of their players are going to be on winrate contracts, they have 5 things from a simple eye test I would want to ban round 1 and everyone plays over 10 champions. I think XG Lightning look like the best not just in Targon but all of BOL. While I do not know everyone on this roster I do recognize a couple of their players. This team on paper looks incredible but we need to have the eye test on stream to see if this is the S tier team I think it is. My other slight is that they have the most boring logo possible.
XG Kartanah at top lane has almost the dream champion pool for competitive play. We have the early game dive buddies to punish laners in Renekton, split push threats in Camille, Gnar and Fiora and the wholesome tank boys of Sion and Ornn. If XG Kartanah does not want one of those picks I listed they play plenty of other options. I think XG Kartanah should be a standout top laner in BOL platinum this split.
Fenixflare is the lowest rated player on this team at plat 4 but has several lethal looking picks based on their OP.GG history. Wukong, Trundle and Veigo for Fenixflare have above 60% win rates over the past 2 ranked seasons with a decent amount of games played. They even had several pentakills last season in ranked. Fenixflare also plays a lot of other junglers from the early temp of Elise, j4 to the teamfight AOE jungle staples of Amumu and Diana. Again flexibility in draft alleviates a ton of pressure on your team.
Juiiceboxx was the highest rated player last season on XG Lightning and they are back to plat 2 already. An ADC/Mid player Juiiceboxx has games on lots of champions every year. In mid Juiiceboxx prefers to play much more towards wave clear with control mage options. Viktor and Anivia are their most played champions in ranked. Again lots of options for XG lightning here. Scaling picks are what I am expecting to see the most.
Prím is this teams ADC. They have always played ADC as their off role and this season they have fully swapped to ADC full time. I pray for their mental as being an ADC in solo que looks absolutely fucking miserable. Prím seems to be taking to ADC well and has 120 games of solo que and has a 57% winrate this season and 2 pentakills. Varus, Lucain and Cait are the top 3 most played but they have 6 wins and no losses on both Ashe and MF. Prím looks like another play who should be a star or standout player I am expecting them to be in the top 25 stats.
Improvise is the last player I am covering for XH Lightning. Sitting at platinum 2 currently after swapping to support this year from mid. Improvise is climbing steadily through ranked with Rell and Heimerdinger. They also play lots of other utility style supports like Zilean and Thresh. Being a mid main that has climbed several seasons shows that Improvise has hands which more than I can say about the lot of support mains I see.
Dorado Gaming Nu
Top: MøonShot
Jungle: Eqq
Mid: SLEEPCALL NOW ADC: swbf Support: Zend12
The team I expect most to challenge XG Lightning for the playoff bye in Targon is Dorado Gaming Nu. With lots of veteran players Dorado Gaming Nu are a team looking to play for late game team fights and to scale. Dorado Gaming Nu plays plenty of late game scaling monsters, GP, Kayle, Lilia, Hecraim, Viktor, Aurelion Sol, Kai’Sa the list just keeps going and going. Look for Eqq to dictate the draft ideas for the team. Early pick on Wukong or Lilia we are looking for Wombo Combo teamfights. Trundle this is going to be a pick based comp. For early game expect MøonShot in the top lane to be the primary fighting before 15 minutes or the bot lane if things are calling for it.
MøonShot is a top/jungle player. GangPlank is their main champion and something I am fully expecting teams to ban. In 17 games this season MøonShot has 3 Quadra kills on GP. I hate GP as does every top laner who does not play him I feel. Other than GP MøonShot plays Irelia, Darius and this season Kayle. MøonShot has a great pool for playing on the strong side of the map. In previous seasons there are some more weak side picks if that is how Dorado Gaming Nu want to take this though.
Eqq is a jungler that like to play a lot for teamfights. They main Lilia and have secondaries in Wukong, Trundle and Hecraim. Eqq to me has almost the ideal jungle pool for organized play. The only thing that they are missing is one of the early game chain gankers like Vi or Elise. Eqq is definitely not focusing jungle ganks on the top side of the map. Everyone on the top side of this map is looking to scale. I guess if MøonShot is more on the Darius or Irelia angle that is the lane you can play for.
SLEEPCALL NOW has played ADC and mid for several seasons. Last season they finished plat 1 so again I would think this lane should be a point of strength for Dorado Gaming Nu. In mid where we are focusing on them they play mostly traditional control mages like Viktor, Syndra and Sylas. This season they are bringing out the spice and have started to play Annie and Aurelion Sol. Listen if your team is not practicing with or against these 2 picks I would be worried. Both are very strong currently.
Swbf is another strong looking ADC. They do play some of the more early game style ADCs like Kalista and MF. Zend12 at support does have a lot of games on Leona and Maokai so I could see this team playing that way in some games. But for the most part I also expect that swbf is looking to scale on things like the Jinx, Kai”sa and Xayah that are all S tier right now.
Zend12 is a support player with lots of options. Looking to scale, Sona is their main champion and they have teamfighters like Renata. Early fight we have Leona and Maokai. Looking for more picks and vision denial Annie. Need an enchanter Lulu. I hope that Dorado Gaming Nu adjust their draft a little and try to take Zend12 a little later in the draft so we can make sure that they are getting whatever the team needs to succeed not just a strong lane combination.
Elysium Blaze
Top: Nicklolz
Jungle: ELY Chihuahua
Mid: OpKillswitch ADC: Idrees Support: Bean Chillin
Elsyium Blaze has put together a solid roster for BOL plat this season. With lots of players from previous seasons, an exception ADC, a top 5 mid form last BOL I have high hopes for this roster. I think that they are going to be battling for the top 3 in this division so I have them in A tier. I do not think that this roster is top 2 level like the teams above them. This team does have flaws and have lost series in other leagues that I am covering to teams that I do not think were as good as them.
Idrees as the cap exception player for Elysium blaze should be set up for success. Idrees is an ADC that shockingly plays every standard ADC. Ezreal is the main champ being played 2-3 times more then any other ADC. Listen the only interesting thing about Idrees pool is that he plays Zeri and Ahpelios. There are some mages in here from when he plays mid which you love to see for potential flexes. As someone who has been diamond multiple seasons I have to hope that they can shine and put some games for elysium blaze on their back.
OpKillswitch is the other superstar player for Elysium Blaze. Last season in BOL OPKillSwitch was one of the best mid laners and finished the regular season at number 3 in damage dealt a minute. OpKillswitch has got the spicy champ pool. Diana, Talyiah and Ziggs were his top 3 last season in ranked. Rounding out that pool was Zac, Ekko and Talon. OpKillswitch is someone I am excited to cover again and someone you should let your mid take note of. Asking with 30 seconds hey whats your pick into X might be met with panic. It has been in the series that we played against them.
Toplane for Elysium Blaze is Nicklolz. A dedicated arcane fan Nicklolz mains Jayce from the hit show arcane. Nicklolz plays a lot of top laners. Other strong side picks include Jax, Irelia, Gwen and Morde. For more tank oriented picks Nicklolz plays Shen, Ornn and Malphite. With plenty of AD options as well as strong side picks is welcome for this team especially when your mid laner often plays poke style mids.
Jungling for Elsuyim Balze is ELY Chihuahua. ELY Chihuahua has been maining whatever is S tier in jungle every season. I think that's a great idea if you are doing it for a season and not a patch. Udyr and Maokai have been really powerful this year. Last year ELY Chihuahua played Veigo, Graves and Trundle mostly. This gives his team lots of options. Do we need to gank early and get Nicklolz ahead on the Jayce? Lock in the maokai or Udyr and look for dives. Are we playing more for scaling lock in trundle as a tank buster or Veigo for chain resets.
Bean Chillin is the partner for Idress in bot lane. Playing primarily towards enchanters I expect that Idrees is going to have a great time late game. Soraka Karma and Janna are not trying to win lane they are there to ensure that your ADC is safe for late game. When Bean Chillin needs some more early game and aggression they play Leona, Braum and Thresh.
Dorado Gaming Sigma
Top:NuFFies
Jungle: banger
Mid: Slooter ADC: matg Support: Griffun
Scouting and ranking Dorado Gaming Sigma is very hard. After looking at every team in Targon I think I could throw this team into just about any placement within this group/ tier on my tier list and people would go oh yeah makes sense. I eventually decided to alot them into B tier and this is the ranking I am least confident about. The 2 stand out names on this team of Banger and MatG are both great players. But the top and mid for this roster are complete unknowns for me. I have no idea what this roster is trying to do. Is this a top lane focused team and you rely on your bot lane's huge pool to give them a decent lane every game? Is this team all focused on a jungle carry and supplementing them through mid roams? I do not know and I pity the teams that play Dorado Gaming Sigma the first couple of weeks and need to scout them.
NuFFies his nightmare to skip based off of their OP.GG NuFFies I think it a mid lane main but has game on so many different roles. NuFFies has very few games of top lane in their solo queue history but If I had to guess at their champion pool I think it's Sett, Gangplank and Fiora as his 3 most played top laners. But I have no hard read on NuFFies at all; they could be a weak side tank top laner for all I know.
Banger is a BOL veteran. Last season they were Stunna for Iceborn Chaos. This season they are in the jungle has a very hard carry orientated pool with their primary champions being kindred and graves. This season they've been continuing on with the early pressure and have started playing Sylas Jungle a lot as well. Banger is someone I am expecting a lot of for Dorado Gaming Sigma.
In mid lane for Dorado Gaming Sigma we have Slooter. Slooter is a mid main with a very wide champion pool. They have no main pick over the past 3 seasons whatsoever. Slooter is currently gold 2 but has been as highly ranked as platinum 2 in previous seasons. Other than playing Ahri and Lux I have 0 read on what Slooter is playing mid this season in BOL.
Matg is a name a lot of people from other amateur leagues might recognize. matg plays a lot of different lanes but AD carry seems to be his home for the most part with lots of games on Cait, Varus and Ezreal this year I expect Matt g and his partner to play for push down bot. Matg always plays over 90 champs every year in solo que so expect them to break out some interesting picks this year.
Rounding out Dorado gaming sigma is Griffun. Griffun at support plays a lot of enchanters. For their non enchanter picks they are on Annie, Naut and Heimerdinger. Griffun most played champion last year was Yummi so I dislike them a lot. Hopefully with both MatG and Griffun in bot Dorado Gaming sigma will have some flex opportunities within their drafts and utlize both of these players very wide champion pools.
Degenerates Exiles
Top: HajimeNoGildo
Jungle: Shado
Mid: Saeruman ADC: Waymade Support: EQ Otto
Degenerates Exiles are another team that looking at their strength of roster and style are going to have a good time in BOL. My worry for this team is that Targon is looking a bit like a group of death. I think they are going to be battling hard for a top 4 finish and I cannot see them in the top 2. I think that this has less things that worry me about them and they have some standouts which is why I have them as the last B tier team. If the draw went any different I could see this team in playoffs easily. This team has some players that mesh quite well together in their chosen play styles. As I see it this team is going to have a fairly aggressive top lane pick and jungle. Mid will be mostly looking for shut down roam opportunities and bot lane for Degenerates is probably playing a lot of aggressive lanes as well. If this team is able to get their early leads I have faith that they are going to be able to close out games with the champions that they normally play. If this team needs to switch it up and play for later they are more than capable of it as well so it's not like they are forced into this early tempo that I am talking about.
HajimeNoGlido isa top laner with an interesting pool. I repeat we have a top laner with an different champion pool. HajimeNoGlido mains J4 top this year as well as Olaf. Last year they played Poppy and Lilia top as their most played. As someone who has not been plat for he past 3 season HajimeNoGlido is on their way back to our awful green chroma land. I hope that they are great for Degenrate Exiles and show everyone in top who mains Fiora, Camille and Jax that there is another way to play top lane.
Shado is a jungler that has a lot of AP picks in their pool. Shado’s most played champion is Elise, but they also enjoy Kathus, Fiddlesticks and Zac. When Shado needs to play for early aggression and AD Shado plays Reksai and J4. Shado should be the strong point for this team and what brings the top side of the map together. Both your top and mid on this team bring a lot of gank setup so there should be lots of opportunities for Shado to get ahead early.
Saeruman is someone else with a different mid pool. Very few of the prevalent control mages and AS Skirmishers are in Saeruman’s pool; instead they play a lot of poke mages and assassins. Xearth Leblanc and Sylas are their 3 most played ranked champions with lots of games on Akali and Ahri as well. Saeruman ends every season with at least 50 champs played so I hope that they are able to flex a unique pool and get some cool counter picks.
Waymade is an ADC who has transitioned to the role from mid over several seasons. Zeri is their most played ADC the past 2 years but they also play for lane with things like Samira, Lucian and Cait. Waymade dies a lot less on average than a lot of the ADCs I look at. They seem to have stepped into their new role quite well. Waymade has a really strong looking support partner in EQ Otto.
EQ Otto is a support main who plays jungle secondary. This year they are back to support full time. EQ Otto is tank support player who has picked up some enchanters this year and is having an amazing time in solo que. Expect lots of engage options from support like the Nautilus, Alistar and Leona.
Mystic Cats Black
Top: Shòvy
Jungle: Washing Hands
Mid: FWESH ADC: CornStar Support: Tambö
I recognize a lot of the players from Mystic Cats Black. I believe that this team was in BOL together last split but have a new support this season. I have Mystic Cats Black at C tier as I have worries about FWESH in mid and I think this team is battling with Gp’s Oranges, Degenerate Exiles for the last couple of playoff spots. I think the rest of this team is really solid. This is one of the best bot lane duo I have looked at in Targon but I am not as confident about their top and Mid. I expect the bot duo of CornStar and Tambö are going to be the players to watch on this team. FWESH in mid is going to play more of his supportive style and either Shovy or Washing Hands will take turns swapping for main initiation on the team.
Shòvy in top lane for this team is someone who is dramatically shifting their champion pool. Last season Shòvy played lots of mid but his top laners of choice were Ornn Gwen and Sejuani. These 3 picks are nowhere to be seen this year in their solo que data. Instead they are playing much more towards early skirmishing with Jayce Fiora and Rekneton. I hope that Shòvy is able to keep up their old picks just in case the team needs the teamfight options.
Washing Hands in jungle is the highest rated played for Mystic Cats Black sitting at plat 1 last season. Washing Hands played primarily Viego last season and is a champion slowly creeping back into meta relevance. Washing Hands seems to enjoy playing farming junglers with lots of games on Graves and Lillia. When they need to go for more for early game they do for Lee sin and Elise. Washing Hands has lots of great places to gank on this roster. Top and mid often play champions with CC setup.
FWESH right now is grinding solo queue and not having a good time. Last season they ended the year at gold 3 after finishing plat 4 the year before. This year FWESH is sitting in SIlver 1 with over 200 games played and a sub 50% winrate. That's not a great look. But hey maybe it's just all experimentation. The things FWESH climbed with in previous years like Anivia and Zilean still have really good solo que stats. FWESH plays much more teamfight style mids with most of their games every season on the aforementioned Zilean, and Anivia but also lots of games on Heimerdinger Seraphine and Neeko. FWESH brings to this team the CC and setup that is needed the later a game goes.
CornStar is back to BOL and back to ADC it looks like. They were maining support at 1 time this season and I am glad to see them back. I expect this player to draw some bans as the league progresses; they have some lethal pocket picks. With the recent changes to ADC playing through bot with snowballing champions has become much stronger and I am eager to see if CornStar is able to have some repeat performances from last year and 1v9 some games.
Tambö is the player on this team that I do not recognize and they look to be a great pick up if so. Finishing last season at platinum 2 and already being platinum 3 this season Tambö is highly rated in solo queue. They also play a lot of picks I think are excellent for team play with lots of game on Rell, Nami, Lulu and Renata Glasc. This season Tambö is dominating on Taric of all things. I love playing Taric and thought that he was almost unplayable this year due to all of the random poke lanes but I guess Tambö knows something I do not.
Gp’s Oranges
Top: Riseofthefallen
Jungle:Cal1burn
Mid:ImJustinAGame ADC: SL0BRAH Support: TheComplimenter
Overall Gp’s Oranges are a team that has whelmed me. I am not excited about anyone on this roster. The only concern I have on this roster is their top laner and how many people have swapped roles. My prediction and why I have this team in the C tier is that they are going to beat every team below them in the standings and lose to every team above them. When I was covering this team originally I though oh this group probably also will have 3 C or D tier teams. I don’t think there is to be honest. They are going to be the constant in Targon. And this team is going to need an upset I think to make it into playoffs. This team plays Degenerate Exiles in week 3 and I think that is the battle for the wildcard seed right there that early. I wish I had something more interesting to say that spicy picks but the je ne sais quoi I feel is missing for Gp’s Oranges.
Riseofthefallen is the top laner for GP's .I'm a little worried about them because they are an ADC from what I can tell from their solo queue history and have just hit platinum for the first time. Top and ADC are probably the roles in the game they have the least in common with one another. Top is pretty much the opposite of ADC. The only top champions I see in this player's pool are Gangplank Fiora and Gnar. Hopefully they are able to practice and get ready for BOL and show us what they've got. Who knows maybe we see a pop off Vayne top game from someone who knows how to space properly.
Cal1burn also does not appear to be in their main role at least according to last year. Last year they seem to split their time in between both bot lane positions playing a lot of AD carry and support. They did have a couple of games last year in the jungle on champions like Diana and Ivern. This season they are playing much more of the heavy team fight junglers in jarvan maokai and wukong. Hopefully Cal1burn shows his warding knowledge he learned as a support for creative ganks paths and is able to get his team into a comfortable mid game position.
ImJustinAGame is a player with a wide pool as they are primarily a fill player. They have everything from the aggressive Zed and Irelia to the more controlling Azir and Viktor. They have a couple of games on Aurelion Sol as well, something that I think is going to be very high priority until he is changed. Nothing about this player truly excites me but I'm not worried about them either if you know what I mean. I'm not expecting pop-off games but I'm also expecting them not to feed.
SL0BRAH is another player that I am just not that excited about. MF Jihn, Kai’Sa and Jinx are the preferred carries for SL0BRAH. Jihn last year was SL0BRAH best character by far. Everything else they have decent stats but still average over 5 deaths a game as an ADC. Getting that number to below 4 is when the magic starts to happen and you get excited. They do have about a 3.0 KDA in past seasons on a number of their mains which is awesome to see but again 4.0 KDA is awesome and what you want to see.
TheComplimenter is an ADC/Support player that has switched to full time support this year. They play a much more aggressive support pool very few enchanters which should mesh well with SL0BRAH’s style of play. Also playing as an ADC helps your support game tremendously. It makes you understand what an ADCS wants the support to be doing to set them up for success.
CB Rangers
Top: Cramma
Jungle:Black Eyed Peas
Mid: BuhRock ADC:Level 1 Rattata
Support:Peacemaker9669
So If you look at this roster you might wonder what is this team doing in plat? CB Rangers won last season of BOL gold and are looking for a new challenge in the platinum division. I applaud their bravery but wonder if they will be able to compete at this new level. Black Eyed Peas and Peacemaker9669 are the only players on this team who finished platinum last season. I have this team in D tier for a reason and it's simply the level of play they experience in platinum I think will be much higher than they are used to. The best thing that CB rangers have going for them is that they are a Roster that has played together before. I think if this Roster can rely more on team play and less about individual outplays that will be the key to their games and series wins.
In top lane we have Cramma. I recognize this players name but I am not sure where from. Anyway Cramma is a solid top laner playing mostly strong side picks with good KDA. Jax Gwen and Rentekon are their 3 most played this season. For weak side picks they play Shen and Gnar. They have never reached platinum but look like they are about to for the 1st time. Cramma has lots of side lane potential in their kit as well as more teamfight approach in draft. I wonder how CB Rangers are going to take things as the year progresses in top lane.
Black Eyed Peas in jungle plays with things that I would not really consider meta picks. Trundle, Bel’Veth and Warwick are his most played. This season Black Eyed Peas has picked up more tank junglers playing lots of Amumu and Zac as well. Trundle should be a pick in the current meta with all of the tank junglers like Sejuani so high priority but the base attack speed nerf killed this champion and it has still yet to be reverted. Top lane is probably the lane to gank for Black Eyed Peas if he is looking for someone to get ahead early instead of equalizing pressure on the map.
Bruh Rock is a Mid/AD player who finished last season gold 4 and is currently silver 3. Again like I mentioned with Kaina solo que is not the end all be all of stats but I am worried if BuhRock can cut it in plat. Top 50% down to top 9% is quite a gap of players. Solo que is currently not going well for them. As far as mid lane picks BuhRock have very little to go by off their OP.GG. I think that BuhRock is going to have to start stepping it up considerably. My advice would be to narrow your champion way down and find the mid laners you love to play. Orianna and Ryze were your most played several seasons ago. As long as you are below mid diamond in league comfort is probably the most important factor in your success.
Level 1 Rattata is someone who grinds solo queue and is a dedicated ADC main. This season they are closing in on 300 games already. Ezreal, Xayah and Cait are their 3 most played this year. Ezreal has been their historic main champion. I would suggest looking for somewhere else to spend your bans. Level 1 Rattata has some pretty decent KDA scores not great but fairly close to 3.0 on average. They have very few games of bot lane mages(which is nuts to me) so do not expect flex picks here.
Peacemaker9669 is someone else's going to have to do some heavy lifting for CB Rangers to get them some wins. Peacemaker9669 has a champion pool of very aggressive supports like Pantheon Renata and Brand may catch some teams off guard in the early game. I hope that peacemaker and Rattata can do their best in the bot lane to create leads for this team. I'm not confident the top side of the map is going to make them.
Conclusion
So that is every team In BOL and what I think about them. Again always looking for feedback. Let me know what you liked and what you did not. If you tell me I did not rate you how I wanted tough luck it's my opinion. Anything other than that let me know. Hate the fonts? Want more pictures? More sophisticated vocabulary? More hot takes and flame? Less focus on X? TELL ME.
Now we get to the fun part that is every team ranked without the groups that they were drawn into. I have used a tier list maker and I am going to publish what I think is the strength of BOL plat as a whole. Disagree with me post yours in general chat here is the template: https://tiermaker.com/create/bol-plat-2023-winter-15301500
Reminder of tiers: S tier is Winning BOL, A tier is finish the season in top 4, B tier made playoffs easily, C tier Wild card team, D tier will not make playoffs. I hope you all enjoyed!
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