By: Cassidy, Acce1erate and FNC Clutch
1. Valor Bulls United (10-2)
Even a god can bleed. VBU has taken a loss to Oasis this past week proving that they are not unbeatable. Though it was still a 1-1 week for them and it wasn’t exactly a hard smash, the loss does show their vulnerability. All that said, VBU is still the top dog. Anyone can argue their loss could have been OA playing out of their minds or that VBU was limit testing. But regardless of how it happens it doesn’t change that fact that after 6 weeks this team has only dropped 2 games! There is a very real possibility that not only do they end the split 1st in Minors but also knock out a current Majors’ team and take their spot in the playoffs. And they’ll have the chance to prove it going into week 7 with arguably one of the harder weeks they’ve had this split. They will be facing a new CBA roster as well as No Name’s Goons (a team that was late to join but not late to raking in the wins).
Player to Watch: Golden Gauntlent
Normally our players to watch reflect the players that will most likely win the game for their respective team, but in this case it's the opposite. Last week their loss to OA came from the dominance of the enemy top laner. So this week we will be looking at whether GG is just unable to hold his own against the tougher top laners or if it was just a bad game.
2. Oasis Arrogance (9-3)
Oasis this week goes 1-1, tying for second place in BOL Minor League. Game number one they had a lead, but it seemed that they really couldn’t close out the game, which was apparent in both games. I think this team is still one of the best in the league, with their star studded lineup from top to bot. They seem to play very well around their win conditions and it was apparent in the games against Chubby Babies and Valor Bulls United, picking up a win against VBU and doubling their losses. Look for this team to stay around the top of the standings and they’ve got a tough match against Crowned Royal this week to see who the real number two team is.
Player to Watch: Lovecraft
The ADC for Oasis, Lovecraft, played out of his mind in both the games. His Ashe and Aphelios should be feared by every single team in this league and he proved with resources, he is a top AD carry in this league. Look for him to continue his dominance in the bot lane.
3. Crowned Royal (9-3)
The 2-0 week over Glacial Solar and Reign has now put Crowned Royal in in a tie for 2nd place. This roster has continued to impress us and with VBU and OA dropping games, the top 3 for minor league is a lot closer than people think. While it takes 5 players working together to pull out the win, the shining stars of this roster has been their bot lane who seems to consistently dominate their lane and transition that to victories.
Player(s) to Watch: ineffable and Crown Me Kidd
As long as the rest of the roster doesn’t lose too hard, these two will most likely use the resources they get to carry the game. Playing a bot focused playstyle seems to work well for them because those two are able to perform when the team needs them to.
4. Chubby Babies Academy (7-5)
After going 1-1 again, CBA has continued to be a big question mark. They seem like they are just an incredibly volatile team. This week was especially jarring considering they were able to take a game from one of the favorites of the league but lost to a team that entered late in the game. They have made some more roster changes this week which only adds to the difficulty of actually gauging the power of this team. But just as last week, if these changes do not cause any synergy issues, they could look to lock in a playoffs spot and fight for the chance to prove they deserve to be there. Player to Watch - devil hosting
After playing most of the split with NFG (pour one out), he has joined onto the CBA roster. He proved he was a capable player during his time at NFG, but he is now role swapping over to Bot Lane. This is another big “huh?”. If he performs the way he did while in the top half of the map, it can definitely shore up the weaker bot side CBA has had. But it could just as easily blow up in their face. CBA when will you provide the league with some definites?
5. NoName’s Goons (5-3)
NNG is hot right now! They just had a 2-0 week beating CBA and Iowa State. This just shows that if nothing else this team has consistency. Now that they are done warming up, I’m excited to see how far they can go. And what better way to prove their strength than to face off vs the number 1 team in minors and the other up-and-comer in F2H. There have been arguments made that NNG is down played considering they entered the league late, arguments that Flash to Harass is slept on, and that VBU is in a completely different level of play than the rest of minors. All these arguments get their resolutions this week! Player to Watch - Deadly Quills and Other Kin
Picking two is a cop out I know. But honestly these guys are so in sync. They have wide variety in their playstyles and if one does well so does the other and when one gets smacked so does the other. Next weeks’ games will depend highly on what state these two are in.
6. Flash To Harass (7-5)
Flash to Harass coming off of another 2-0 weekend, they are on FIRE. I guess the beginning of the season for them was a fluke. They took down BADFH and ISU Academy, which I guess isn’t the best of teams, but they’ve proven that they can take down teams they're supposed to. This week they play No Name’s Goons and Scarlet Pups and they should look to continue their win streak. In my opinion, when this team is on, they are a top 4 team in the league, but they have yet to prove to us if they are always going to be on, or if they’ll have a mishap like they did at the beginning of the season.
Player to Watch: Kappa Krusader
This player has proven that he is one of the better junglers in BOL minor. He came off of two games playing wukong and ekko, showing that he is a force to be reckoned with. Make sure to keep your eyes on this player as he flashes his way to victory this week.
7. Reign (7-5)
Reign seemed to have lost their footing this week after a convincing loss to Crowned Royal. It looked like their only real performer on their team this week was KillaTron100 who almost needed a back brace after that Mordekaiser game. I was extremely unimpressed with their draft, and I hope for their sake that they’ll head back to the drawing board and try to fix the mistakes for this week to keep their footing in the standings. There really isn’t much time left in this season, and losing games in this fashion has to be disappointing for them.
8. NSG Amethyst (6-6)
NSG Amethyst ended this week 1-1, and ended up beating the question mark that was Scarlet Pups while losing to a team below them in FTD Blue. I’m still not entirely sure what their roster is, and I don’t think they are either. Either way, it looks like ToniTop is the swiss army knife player of Minor. This guy has played Jungle, ADC, and Mid for this team in the 6 weeks they’ve played. The addition of Dilly Dilly is proving to be a very good acquisition as the team now has a solid rock in the bot lane who has performed well in both games this week. They are one of the only teams in the middle of the pack that aren’t tied with another team, but the main question here the same one we had last week and its whether or not they can finally settle on a starting five, because it’s hard to build synergy with when you’re swapping players like you’re playing hot potato.
Player to Watch: Dilly Dilly
I remember playing against him in the qualifiers, and he’s definitely pretty good. I think that the pickup of Dilly Dilly is a big win for NSGA. He’s got a champion pool that works very well in competitive. Personally, I feel if they keep the same roster that they did for the Scarlet Pups game NSGA can be a top 5 team.
9. Feed the Dream Blue (5-7)
The previous 3-7 FTD Blue surprised us with a 2-0 this week. Although the game against Unreal Esports was expected, they took down NSG Amethyst which I personally found surprising. In a close 37min slugfest, IamBadVibes and T3NAC showed up big for their team and we saw what could be the start of a late surge from this team. While top 3 is out of the question for this team, I’d like to see them push for a higher placement and hopefully a slot in the playoffs. The roster has shown that they are capable and it’s just a matter of finding their groove and this week has me excited to see where this team ends up at the end of Week 9.
Player to Watch: T3NAC
The game is a lot easier for your team when you have a smart jungler who has better awareness than the enemy jungler. Both games look like it was pretty much jungle diff, and he should be happy with his performance this week.
10. Scarlet Pups (1-1)
We finally have an idea of where to place this team now. Losing to NSG Amethyst gives us a pretty good idea of the strength of this roster and I’m honestly a little disappointed. While they are still new as a roster, I don’t see how this team has a chance at taking down any team in the top 5. They beat the free Badass Dolphins From Hell, but it took 42min and seemed to be a much closer game than they probably hoped. They play against F2H and ISU Academy and I think that another 1-1 week is what they’re going to be hoping for.
Player to Watch: Da Chels
This team would have been roasted beyond belief if they lost to BDFH, but Da Chels wasn’t going to let that happen and had a stellar performance on Ahri going 15/3/9. Definitely a lane that you should be looking to play through if you’re Fireturtle.
11. Glacial Solar (5-7)
While any 0-2 week is pretty disappointing, this one was to be expected. They faced VBU and Crowned Royal which I’d honestly expect any team out of the top 4 to go 0-2 here. The biggest question mark for me about this team this week was their draft. Their top laner also had a very disappointing week and unfortunately wasn’t much help on top of the already strange drafting choices. This team isn’t in the worst spot standing-wise, but you should really be trying to take wins where you can if you want to make playoffs.
Player to Watch: Luhmo
After a 2/13/15 week, he needs to step up his game for this team to start winning games. I put him as the player to watch for this roster because I wasn’t really impressed with anyone on this team this week, and if Lumho can play around vision better and overall be more aware of what’s happening on the map, this team can cut off a lot of the gold that they’re bleeding in the top lane.
12. ISU Academy (5-7)
ISU Academy coming off of an unfortunate 0-2 week, which slides them further down in the rankings. I think a lot of people had high hopes for this team coming into BOL and they really haven’t delivered. ISU Academy has had points where they looked like a playoff team, but also had points where they look like a bottom tier team. This team is like flipping a coin, heads or tails, and that’s how you're going to determine how they’re going to play this week. However, look for them to try to pick up wins against FTD and Scarlet Pups this week to bring them back to .500.
Player to Watch: Giorno Giovanna
This player day in and day out has proven to be the most consistent, strongest player on ISU Academy. He is also the highest rank on the team and each game in and out, he has proven he can tango with the best. Look to see this week if he can put his opponents in a cyclone and take the victory.
13. Unreal Esports (2-10)
Unreal Esports have another disappointing weekend. At the beginning of the season when they were streamed against Chubby Babies Academy, you saw a lot of good things from this team. You expected possibly for this team to be a middle of the pack team, but that’s where you were deceived. Unfortunately, this team really hasn’t gotten their groove together and it shows. This week they’ll be playing Glacial Solar and the juggernauts Oasis Arrogance. If they want to win these games, they’ve got to come up with something, and fast, otherwise they’re going to have another 0-2 weekend.
Player(s) to Watch: Unreal Esport’s Botlane
It’s hard to pick a player or player(s) to watch on a team that’s struggling. However, Unreal Esports botlane has shown that every now and then, they are able to win lane. I think if Unreal wants to win a game, they need to play through their bot lane, otherwise they might have a hard time. We’ll see if their bot lane is actually unreal, or if they’re just a fluke after this week.
14. Badass Dolphins From Hell (0-12)
Another week, another 0-2. They were honestly really close to a win this week over Scarlet Pups and I think that the current roster that they ran with on Wednesday can possibly take a game off of any middle to bottom of the pack team if they can manage to get a lead. They play FTD Blue and Reign this week, so while I think it’s unlikely that they win, I just want to see this team get one win this season.
Player to Watch: Frozxe
This guy was actually impressive to watch this week. He gave the bot lane for both teams a struggle, and if the other four players can just resist the urge to run it down, this guy can probably carry this team to a victory.
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