Hello everybody and welcome to the eighth edition of BOL Gold’s Dean’s List! Before we get everyone prepared for the next round of games, let’s take a look back at the standout players and stories from this past Thursday.
~\\~
REV Eternal (4-3) vs Flannel Zephyr (2-5)
Result: Eternal 2-0
It was a much needed win for Eternal this week as they look to lock up the third seed for the playoffs. Their victory all but guarantees them that rank, as they currently have the points advantage over all of their immediate competition. On the other side, Zephyr officially falls out of playoff contention with this loss.
G1 was a largely back and forth affair, with Zephyr actually holding a small gold lead for a majority of the game. Several early kills and objectives went the way of the Flannel squad, until a massive swing at 18 minutes put Eternal in control. The two teams traded a few kills until a big 23 minute Baron helped Eternal end the game in just over 26 minutes.
By comparison, g2 was a much more REV-favored game. Zephyr never held a significant advantage in this game even though they did find some big kills to shut down General Danobi. What ultimately won the game for Eternal, however, was some massive picks from LeperKoopa’s Syndra, where he killed off Regdor’s Jinx and Akovi’s Viktor to ultimately help secure the 2-0 victory.
With this win, Eternal moves up to a 5-3 record with 39 points, meaning they control third place. Their opponent for round one of the playoffs is still up for contention, the atmosphere around this REV team has lightened up. Everybody within our team is beyond proud of what our subs were able to accomplish this week. With the starting squad back next week, Eternal is looking to finish the split strong.
On the other side, Zephyr is officially out of postseason contention. While they can still have an impact on the postseason standings (and therefore playoffs matchups), they unfortunately were not able to get to the winning formula in time. Hopefully this org is able to bounce back from this split going forward, and we’ll hopefully see some of these players back in summer.
Player of the Series: Leper Koopa - I was tempted to give this spot to Tracker for her solid objective control in g2, but Leper was overall more consistent between the two games. 15/3/14 series scoreline (9.67 KDA), 39.8k damage in both games, and that one big super play all earn Leper his first PotS shout. With this, Eternal is the first team to have all five starters earn a PotS award. Content man isn’t biased, I swear.
~//~
Conduit Prime (4-3) vs Flannel Ethereal (o7)
Result: Conduit 2-0
Conduit moves up to a 5-3 record with 34 points. As this match had the lowest playoff implications, I’ll keep my recap brief.
In g1, Prime basically always had a gold lead. Despite splitting grubs and trading early kills, Conduit slowly ended up getting the better end of trades and skirmishes, allowing them to slowly snowball their lead. To give credit where it’s due, Ethereal was never really out of the game until late. When Prime secured Baron at 30 minutes, they were able to push to end shortly thereafter.
G2 was a little bit more dynamic with Ethereal actually fighting back from a 1.1k deficit to grab an advantage around 16 minutes. Sadly for them, the Conduit topside was just too powerful, as Hoodie, FinalCaptain, and Razors were able to start taking over every teamfight. Both teams traded basically every tower on the map until the game ended in exactly 33 minutes, securing Conduit’s 2-0 win.
Conduit is likely to match up against REV Eternal in round one of the playoffs. Assuming no upsets in w9 (big assumption, I know), Conduit will be at a 5-4 record, with points lower than the other .500+ teams. Nothing is set in stone, however, so we’ll have to wait and see what to expect come this Thursday.
Player of the Series: HoodiemanX - Big tossup here between all three members of the Conduit topside, but Hoodie’s 69.5% series KP, solid as hell objective control, and flexibility (strong Poppy game in g1, strong Briar game in g2) prove that he’s a top tier jungler headed into playoffs.
~\\~
BDE Corruption (4-3) vs Mystic Cats Gold (3-4)
Result: Corruption 2-1
This is the matchup that decided so much of the postseason, as it decided which, if any, teams were going to lock a top 6 seed. With so much on the line, let’s dive into what all went down.
As is seemingly tradition in this league, g1 was close until one team randomly decided to skyrocket their gold lead. In this case, MCG and Corruption traded early Drakes and Grubs, with the first major advantage coming when Klug took down the first tower at 19 minutes. From there, kills were continually traded back and forth for several minutes until D3adpixel’s triple kill at 28 minutes gave MCG their largest foothold yet. A few more skirmishes, a few more towers, and a game-ending Baron push was all MCG needed to win g1 in just under 41 minutes.
Going into g2, XIL returned to his jungle origins and secured all six Void Grubs while SinfoniaJon secured the first two Drakes. This game then turned into a low action slow burn, with Corruption winning largely through map play of all things. Six towers before 20 minutes with two more before 22, what won the BDE team this game wasn’t any big flashy fight or any crazy team comp. They won through playing the map better, which is far from usual for this squad.
Headed into the pivotal g3, the first half of this game was a complete scrap. Neither team was able to hold onto a significant gold advantage until a late game Baron play by Corruption. Kills were traded back and forth all game, but it was once again BDE’s superior map play that gave them a 2-1 victory over the Mystic Cats.
There’s a lot that I can talk about with this series, but I’ll start with this; Corruption won in atypical fashion. The fact that they won this series with relatively normal drafts (g2 Nilah is a bit strange, but even that’s normal-ish) in unbloody games is shocking to me. It makes me wonder if they’re somehow a more complete team since their roster rearrangement. The jury’s still out on that one, but bear with me.
Corruption moves up to 35 points, only one ahead of Conduit. While they have secured top 6, they desperately need to at least take a game if they want to end with the highest possible seed. These two teams are neck and neck to determine the 5th and 6th seeds, which makes the final standings race all the more exciting.
The Mystic Cats are officially out of postseason contention. At 3-5, they can no longer end with a record high enough to make it to the playoffs. This roster really did have flashes of greatness (taking a game off Regalia, beating Eternal), but they ultimately weren’t able to hold onto their momentum for long enough.
Player of the Series: Pandorum - I value consistency whenever I hand out PotS, which makes it all the more baffling that Pando gets the nod this week. A series scoreline of 9/3/12 (7 KDA), average damage/game of 20.2k, and generally consistent KP makes him the most consistent player from their win.
~//~
Hyperion Esports (4-3) vs Nameless Rising (1-6)
Result: Hyperion 2-0
Hyperion debuted a new starting jungler this week. I have not heard anything as to why the move was made, and I won’t speculate on it here. Regardless, this was probably the best time for them to try to come together with a new piece to their puzzle, as this squad is still fighting for that third seed.
Say it with me folks, g1 was a slow start until Hyperion found a gold lead that they never got rid of. Okay? Okay.
Jokes aside, Nameless was able to find some early kills and objectives, but it was ultimately Hyperion who found the first major gold lead. Despite trading even on grubs, HYP ended up with Herald, Soul, and eventually Baron in order to win the game in 32 minutes.
The next game actually saw Nameless come out to a massive gold lead. I’m not kidding, their advantage peaked at 8.3k at 27 minutes. Seemingly everything was going their way, including an early Baron. Where things started to slip away from them, however, was at a 28 minute Baron fight, where Hyperion managed to secure Nash in a 2-for-2 teamfight. Despite Sea and GhostFingers having a career game, Hyperion managed to find the miracle fight at 37 minutes to get themselves a second Baron. From there, Nameless was simply unable to regain their gold lead, as Hyperion finalized their comeback win in 43 minutes.
Hyperion moves up to 35 points, though they are currently behind BDE Corruption based on their current head-to-head. While it’s currently looking likely for this team to be in the 4th/5th match, it’s also possible that they can end up as the 6th seed if they get upset next week. Should all matches go to seed, however, they would end with the 4th seed based on points.
Player of the Series: Atilla - Super close call between him and Dione, but Atilla barely gets the nod here for having more damage in the series (61.3k vs 50.4k), higher series KDA (9.5 vs 8), and even more cs/m. It was overall the best series he’s played from a purely statistic point of view.
~\\~
BDE Typhoon (7-0) vs REV Regalia (6-1)
Result: Regalia 2-1
BANGER.
All three games were insanely well played with both teams adapting to each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Even though Regalia was the team that won this match, I can fully see this series going the other way if this ends up getting run back.
Both teams started off g1 trading objectives and picks until Regalia started pulling ahead via tower gold. Kills and towers went back and forth up until a 30 minute Baron play by REV allowed them to pull even further ahead. The game finally came to an end after a few big late game fights allowed Regalia to push down the Typhoon base, ending g1 in just under 44 minutes.
G2 was a controlled outing from Regalia for a majority of the game. Both squads ended up trading the first round of Grubs and the first two Drakes, though the BDE squad was able to secure the first tower via Herald. The REV team started to push ahead around third drake, amassing a 6k gold lead at 26 minutes. It was at that moment that Typhoon came in like a tidal wave, winning a 4-0 teamfight to claw their way back into the game. With momentum and confidence on their side, BDE.T was able to come back and win g2 in just under 34 minutes.
The final game saw both teams take the gloves all the way off. Both teams ended up with some of their signature picks (Naafiri, Lillia, Maokai for REV, Azir, Kayn, Poppy for BDE). How humorous is it, then, that this was the most standard BOL Gold game of all time.
Early Drakes went to Regalia, while all six Grubs went to Typhoon. Both teams were trading kills relatively evenly until Regalia simply decided that they didn’t want to die anymore. From 22 minutes on, the REV squad went deathless, only losing a few towers while otherwise sweeping control of the map. While it might be seen as an anticlimactic ending for a totally unbiased spectator, it really did make for an enthralling overall series.
Based on the match score, Typhoon (43 pts) still sits ahead of Regalia (41 pts) in the standings. While it is still technically possible for Regalia to end the split in first place, they would need Typhoon to get upset by Corruption in order for this to happen. As long as Typhoon wins this week, they secure the top seed in the playoffs.
Player of the Series: Chubby Chernobyl - In his career best split, Chubby had a career best series. While the series KDA of 4.5 might not seem overly impressive, average damage taken per game of 22.3k (total of 67.9k), and even some impressive warding stats help give him the nod. This makes Regalia the second team where every starter has won a PotS award. Content man isn’t biased, I swear.
~//~
With last week’s recap done, it’s time to take a look at what I currently project to be the power ranking of all the starters in the postseason! Keep in mind that this is an arbitrary list not based in any science. Let’s have a friendly discussion over this and not get too out of hand with anything.
~\\~
TOP:
BeanMG - Tossup, but Bean barely edges it out. His Poppy and Sett are both worth fearing, as he has the potential to completely take over a game. His laning is good, his teamfighting is good, he’s just good.
Cook - More of a 1a and 1b, as Cook is both a great tank and carry player just like Bean. While his pool is a bit more flexible, it can sometimes feel like he doesn’t have quite as much impact, but it’s a game of inches between the top 2.
M4ddness - Arguably the most consistent laner in the league, M4dd is essentially Gold Impact. He’s an incredibly strong weakside player that knows his limits well. Paired with great teamfight awareness and his consistency lands him at number 3.
Indigo - Indigo is a little bit flippier than everybody above him, but he can more than hang with all of them. He’s volatile in the sense that he can both win you and lose you the game, but his coin has landed on heads more often than not.
FinalCaptain - I have a much smaller sample size for Final than for any of the five above him, but based purely on the stats I’ve seen, this guy absolutely cannot be slept on. Doing 26k damage on Shen is insane.
XIL69 - A bit of a coinflip like Indigo, but with less sample size. He’s looked great in some games while also appearing invisible in others. He’s debatably a better jungler than he was a top laner, but only time will tell if this roster move was the right one.
JUNGLE:
0. Ya boi Kevin - Not a starter, but he’s still top 1.
Scrambles - Bro is damn solid. He’s not only usually in the right place at the right time, but his objective control this split has been top notch.
HoodiemanX - Super stable, and apparently good enough to turn a team around. Conduit before Hoodie and Conduit after Hoodie are two different teams, even before the rest of the roster swaps.
TheDean0 - A bit more of a coinflip than last split, but when he’s on, he’s on. He can hang with the best on an individual level, and he’s taken over enough games to prove that he’s still worth respecting.
Swag - Not a demon. A bit of a tendency to overforce, but his team can often match his high tempo.
Checkurminimap - Bro has played in one series so far, and it was against Nameless. It’s hard to rank somebody who has basically zero games going into the postseason, but he’s above Novo because he’s at least played.
Novokaine - Has not played in a series so far. Maybe he’s top 1, but since I have legitimately no sample size for him, he goes at the bottom.
MID:
Ball Slap - It’s hard to not put the best player on the best team at number one. He’s a much more well rounded player now than he was at the start of the split, too, having tempered his aggression with more teamfight-oriented mages. Bro has that dawg in him, what else is there to say?
Giraffe Rider - Without a single doubt in my mind, Giraffe is the most clutch player in the league. In the metaphorical fourth quarter, he will always find that miracle engage to completely flip a game. Good laning, great teamfighting, just a beast.
Leper Koopa - Leper’s stinker games have been because he was abandoned on an island by his jungler (my b). His laning is consistently solid, and his teamfighting is usually reliable as hell. He’s overall a more consistent player than most of the rest of the field, which makes him an incredibly valuable player.
Dione Atlas - I was debating putting her at 3, but the tiebreaker between her and Leper in my head was their h2h against Pando. Dione has completely ran away with multiple games in multiple series, but her losses have generally looked a touch worse. When she isn’t first timing a dragon in a tournament match, she’s damn scary to play against.
Pandorum - Mr. Coinflip himself, Pando has had some games where he’s invisible while also having games where he’s too wacky to ignore. He can definitely punch above his weight class, but it depends on which version of Pando shows up to play that day. Stay blocked, nerd.
Razors4life - Razors just does what needs to be done. It’s hard to say how much better they’ve gotten since week 1, but a majority of what I’ve seen from timelines and stats is that they usually weather through the early game to provide teamfight value late. This might prove to be a weakness in playoffs, but we’ll have to wait and see.
ADC:
Billy Badass - The best laning ADC in the league, the best teamfighting ADC in the league, the most badass ADC in the league, if he isn’t first team all pro, then it’s because Trashy rigged it for Mina.
Lespanx - Another 1a and 1b situation, but Lespanx hasn’t had as many of the 1v9 moments that Billy has had. This is arguably better for Regalia as a team, but it does reflect in my arbitrary player ranking.
Kidacus - While he may not be the most lane dominant ADC, he more than makes up for this with his late game teamfighting. Multiple pentakills this split and several quadras are very flashy stats for the worst kept secret on the Typhoon roster.
Vampiric Narwhal - I’d rank him higher, but memories of the Malphite cosplay in g2 of Eternal v Corruption hold him back for me. Jokes aside, Narwhal is solid in lane and solid enough late. His Varus is very good, but it begs to be asked if he can provide enough consistency for the rest of his volatile team.
Valak - I will be 100% honest, I have not seen anything about Valak. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I have no opinion because I haven’t heard anything one way or another about them. Maybe they’re cracked, maybe they’re ass, but I strongly doubt it’s the latter.
Atilla - Atilla will not win you games, but he will not lose you games. He will be a consistent DPS machine if set up to do so, but his laning and teamfighting are very standard.
SUPPORT:
Booter Scooch - The other half of the best bot lane in the league, Booter is a very lane dominant player who has shown incredible flexibility. Her Zyra is terrifying, and the depth of her pool makes her almost impossible to ban out.
Rocky - Rocky is the best possible support for Typhoon. He makes it incredibly hard to prepare for that team in draft, as his flex options almost always work out with his team.
Chubby - Chubby is the secret engine for Regalia. His roam timers are usually on point (emphasis on “usually”), and his focus on engage champs gives some freedom to both Cook and Scrambles in draft.
Moonlight - Moon is a very strong laning support with a good eye for the clutch. While she may not be the absolute standout best player in her role, she can more than hang with everybody above her. Support is really close, y’all.
HeliumBamboo - HydrogenBologna is another player on Conduit that I don’t have any form of read on. Maybe they’re cracked, maybe they’re ass. Much like the rest of Prime, I strongly doubt it’s the latter. I look forward to playing against them to see how they stack up!
Lost Havok - I genuinely don’t have any read on Havok since he’s roleswapped to support. I’m gonna leave him here for official content so Narwhal can flame me and tell me why I’m wrong when we do the pre-show tomorrow.
~//~
That’s it for this week’s edition of The Dean’s List. Remember, this is all meant to start discussion and to be taken with a grain of salt. If you disagree or if you have any notes on things I may have missed, please be civil and respectful. With that in mind, good luck, have fun, and we’ll see you on the rift!
Comments