Hey guys, Toxin here! This week, BOL is heading into its first ever Mid Season Tournament, which is sure to be extremely exciting. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how well the East stacks up against the West and viceversa. For the MST, Wakka and I have decided to do a rundown of how we expect the tournament to play out, as well as some key factors for each game. Let’s get into it!
ROUND ONE:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs Reign Gaming(West 8th Seed)
Key matchup: Bot Lane
I think that if Reign Gaming wants a chance at winning this game, they need to attack GSG’s bot lane. The top lane matchup is pretty even all things considered, and the bot lane matchup is where Reign Gaming can find themselves a lead. That being said, I expect this game to be a mid/jungle diff in favor of GSG. Winner: Goon Squad Gaming Sigma
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Monkeys Rising (West 4th Seed) vs Singed Crab Shack (West 5th Seed)
Key matchup: Mid Lane and Jungle
I think of all the Round One matchup, this is the one that I’m the most hype for. I think that every lane can be considered a crucial one to watch, as the players are neck in neck in skill level. I think that for Monkeys Rising, the win conditions are bts jungkoop and Chinese Spy. If they can get the latter on a pick that SCS are unable to play against, the Monkeys can easily take over the game and win. That being said, Singed’s Crab Shack take the advantage when it comes to Top lane, with number one ranked VIN0 holding down the fort. This will be a close one and I can definitely make arguments for it going either way. At the end of the day, I took the safer route and chose Singed Crab Shack.
Winner: Singed Crab Shack
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CB X (West 2nd Seed) vs Literal Monkeys (East 7th Seed)
Key matchup: Bot lane
This matchup is really a tale of which roster with the Literal Monkeys throw out there. Will they use their best possible lineup? Or will they be scrambling last minute and throwing in Esubs? If we do end up getting the Riv60/NoName vs Wunderworld/Just Bobo matchup in the bot lane, I think that for sure is what I want to watch, as that could be an area that the Monkeys could have an edge in. But, I’m gonna stick with my gut feeling and have CB X winning this handedly.
Winner: CB X
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Limitless Excel (East 3rd Seed) vs Nitwits in Purgatory (West 6th Seed)
Key Matchup: Top Lane
I think where this matchup becomes lopsided is in the top lane matchup. C0nquers is one of the best top laners in the gold league, whereas xL PhYsiOloGY is a middle of the pack player that is still getting his feet wet in the league. I expect a sizable gold lead to come in the top lane in favor of Limitless Excel, which will lead to their victory.
Winner: Limitless Excel
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Conduit Esports (West 1st Seed) vs Revolution Gold(East 8th Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane?
I’m gonna be honest, Revolution Gold have not given me any hope that they will be able to win this game. There’s not really a lane on paper that I can look up that gives me a shadow of a doubt that they can take on and beat Conduit Esports. I’ll put Mid lane as the matchup to watch for now, but unless Conduit comes into the game sleeping, this should be a quick victory for them.
Winner: Conduit Esports
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Big Duck Entourage(East 4th Seed) vs Nails and Day Spa(West 5th Seed)
Key Matchup: Top and Mid lane
This is another matchup that I don’t really have a clue on who will end up winning. After only watching BDE play one match as a team, I’m not really sure what their win conditions are as a team. All I gathered from that match was that if JayJ does well, everyone else is struggling, and viceversa. On the opposite side of the coin is NADS, which have rumors swirling of a potential roster blow up in the near future. I think they are the better roster on paper, but if they don’t want to play with each other, one small mistake can cause a blowup where it normally wouldn’t. I think with both teams having unstable environments, I’m gonna give the edge to Nails and Day Spa. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if things went the other way.
Winner: Nails and Day Spa
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Radiant Storm Onslaught (East 2nd Seed) vs Krakens of Love (West 7th Seed)
Key Matchup: Jungle and Mid Lane
I think that if Krakens of Love want to stand a sliver of a chance in this matchup, they need to find a way to deal with MinuteMilitia. At the time of writing this, I have no idea who the starting jungler is for KOL, so that doesn’t really inspire much faith in me. I will say that the matchup of TheForgotten0ne vs Dark Evil Natsu could lean in favor of KOL and potential reason why RSO can lose. That being said, that’s a pretty large task for TheForgotten0ne, and I don’t think he will be able to clutch it out
Winner: Radiant Storm Onslaught
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Imperial Gaming(West 3rd Seed) vs NSG Gold(East 5th Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane and Top Lane
This is a matchup that I think will be decided solely by the solo laners. I think that on paper, Imperial Gaming is favored in every single lane. For NSG Gold, their bot lane is the most likely to be able to weather the upcoming storm ahead, but I don’t have as much faith in their solo laners. If they are able to hang on though, they could just as easily win. Imperial Gaming is a team that can be very coinflip, so perhaps NSG Gold will catch them on an off game and beat them.
Winner: Imperial Gaming
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QUARTERFINALS:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs Nails and Day Spa(West 5th Seed)
Key Matchup: Bot Lane
I think that for both teams, the most question marks come in the form of bot lane. I fully expect Physical vs Diete and BTG vs Trajen to be evenly matched in these games. Really what I’m looking at is to see if 7ruX and Kleio are able to punish ThatDeckerGuy’s roams. If they can get BaaMMM behind, they have a chance to win the game. The opposite side of the coin is also true: if GSG can topple their bot lane, the game will be smooth sailing for them. I think it's much more realistic that Sigma is able to accomplish their win condition than for NADS to leverage any sort of a lead.
Winner: GSG Sigma
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Conduit Esports(West 1st Seed) vs Singed’s Crab Shack(East 5th Seed)
Key Matchup: Top Lane
I think that there’s a decent chance that SCS can take home the victory here. Conduit has been known for occasionally dropping a game to teams much worse than the Crab Shack, and I expect Top lane to be the biggest area of contention. I think it goes a long way if Skwigg is able to hold on into VIN0 in the top lane. I think that in my eyes, I want to bet on the veteran presence on Conduit to put them over the top. But I can just as easily see SCS pulling an upset.
Winner: Conduit Esports
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CB X(West 2nd Seed) vs Limitless Excel(East 3rd Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane
Come on, you know I had to put the battle of the former Twin Disasters/VBU Argon mid laners as the key matchup. Buckbee currently holds the best IER of all players in the league, but was the benchwarmer to Kaiten the last two splits. I think LXX will come out the gate strong and should be able to match up well with their opponents, but I have a lot of faith in CB X just barely beating their opponents in every role.
Winner: CB X
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Radiant Storm Onslaught(East 2nd Seed) vs Imperial Gaming(West 3rd Seed)
Key Matchup: Bot lane
This should probably be the streamed match of this round. I think these two teams matchup pretty well in most lanes. What I’m most excited to see however is the bot lane matchup of Moekaizer/Wakka vs Paradigm/Rin. These are probably two of the best bot lanes in the entire league matching up against one another, so it really is anyone’s guess to decide which one will end up winning. I think that RSO has the advantage in the jungle, but Imperial has the advantage in the top lane. Mid lane is a wash in my eyes, so it really comes down to better bot lane wins. Although I think Imperial Gaming has a bigger chance to throw a draft and just lose to Minute diff, I think that I’m gonna believe in the ParadigmShift hopium.
Winner: Imperial Gaming
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SEMIFINALS:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs CB X(West 2nd Seed)
Key Matchup: Jungle
Now this is a matchup that I would love to see on stream: a rematch of CB Royal vs VBU Argon only this time with slightly different rosters. WIll this go the same way as last time? I’m not so sure. I think that Bot lane should go relatively even, as well as top lane. BTG is the Kaiten kryptonite, so I can see the matchup not amounting to much in the lane phase either. Then it comes down to the jungle matchup of two of the best in the role, Anderson Cooper vs Vandrahl. I think that whichever jungler is able to get the most out of his team in the early game will end up transitioning that into a victory. However, at the end of the day I think CB X is bound to completely fuck up a draft at some point, so I’m gonna say they do it here and get taken down.
Winner: Goon Squad Gaming Sigma
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Conduit Esports(West 1st Seed) vs Imperial Gaming(West 3rd Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane
The last time these two teams played each other, Conduit Esport was able to take home a clean 2-0 victory. That being said, Imperial Gaming did not have ParadigmShift at that time. Will that make a difference in the rematch? I don’t think so. I think that Conduit mainly won through their top side of the map and more specifically mid lane. If Imperial Gaming want to advance to the finals, they will need Azurexfire to step up and take down JJH. Personally, I don’t think that will happen.
Winner: Conduit Esports
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FINALS:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs Conduit Esports(West 1st Seed)
Key Matchup: Bot Lane
It all comes down to this, the number 1 seed in the East taking on the number 1 seed in the West. Who will take home BOL’s first ever MST gold title? Let’s breakdown the matchups:
I think top lane favors GSG slightly, though I expect this to be a farm lane for the most part. In the Jungle, I think that this also favors GSG, as I have more confidence having seen Vandrahl play more than I do with Kappa Krusader at the time. I think Mid Lane favors Conduit Esports slightly, as long as they are able to ban out the problematic champions in BTG’s champ pool. Finally we get to the bot lane, which should be Conduit favored. Conduit is a team that will be able to punish Decker’s roams, which could end up being catastrophic for GSG. At the end of the day, I think that Conduit is just a team that is hungry to prove itself as a top team in the league, and that drive will be able to lead this team to the title.
Winner: Conduit Esports
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MVP of the Tournament: Vandrahl
I think that while Conduit will find collective success throughout this tournament, Vandrahl will stand out as the best player. I believe he will be a large reason for his team’s success throughout the early stages, and despite losing in the finals, he will stand out the most.
Sup, it's Wakka! Doing super mega fast predictions on how I think the Mid Season Tournament for Season 6 BlueOtterLeague Gold. not even 100% sure if the bracket will follow this format or if they will do minor reseeding other than that. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how well the East stacks up against the West and vice versa. For the MST, Toxin and I have decided to do a rundown of how we expect the tournament to play out, as well as some key factors for each game. Let’s get into it!
ROUND ONE:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs Reign Gaming(West 8th Seed)
Key matchup: Mid lane
If Reign wants to compete in this game SmittyEh needs to not get behind vs BTG and then have a single pop off game in this best of one series if Reign wants it. Otherwise GSG wins everywhere else Winner: Goon Squad Gaming Sigma
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Monkeys Rising (West 4th Seed) vs Singed Crab Shack (West 5th Seed)
Key matchup: Bot lane
Botlane is the match difference in this single game. Whoever has a better game between Killgar and BuriedDonut could decide this best of one. Also there needs to be a good game out of Poison57 because they were really disappointing last week vs RSO which cost them botlane giving over too many kills.
Winner: Singed Crab Shack
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CB X (West 2nd Seed) vs Literal Monkeys (East 7th Seed)
Key matchup: Bot lane
Which Literal Monkeys are gonna show up? If the best possible roster shows up and the bot lane matchup is Riv60/NoName vs Wunderworld/Just Bobo that is one of my favorite bot lane matchups of the entire tournament. Mid lane gap is gonna be big on CB X side just calling it now whether it's Kaiten or not.
Winner: CB X
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Limitless Excel (East 3rd Seed) vs Nitwits in Purgatory (West 6th Seed)
Key Matchup: Jungle
The matchup between Abound and TheycallmeREX should be fun to watch as both the jungles are playing well going into the MST. Abound is one of my favorite up incoming junglers playing well but the team around TheycallmeREX is just better and that will be the difference really
Winner: Limitless Excel
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Conduit Esports (West 1st Seed) vs Revolution Gold(East 8th Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane
Rev gold loses in under 25 minutes with Conduit having soul and every tower, might be kind of a hot take but Rev gold has shown nothing all season and Conduit has played great. JJH should look to just smash and run around being about to just do whatever they want.
Winner: Conduit Esports
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Big Duck Entourage(East 4th Seed) vs Nails and Day Spa(West 5th Seed)
Key Matchup: Top and ADC
The tail of booming rosters, NADS has looked hella shaky and inconsistent of any team i've seen all season but they are still together. Other side BDE has also boomed the roster a couple times so I guess we will see if Diete and Trux can have a strong mental and take at least 1 win in this tournament. Because that's my key to the series strong mental from all players really on either team
Winner: Big Duck Entourage
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Radiant Storm Onslaught (East 2nd Seed) vs Krakens of Love (West 7th Seed)
Key Matchup: Jungle and Mid Lane
This matchup would have been a lot larger but I guess Krakens finally figured out how to mute chat and emote which is a pretty neat thing riot does. Now that they know that though it should be maybe kinda close but not really. Yes midlane matchup will be fun to watch and could swing either way but every other part of RSO is way stronger and will dif rest of the game
Winner: Radiant Storm Onslaught
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Imperial Gaming(West 3rd Seed) vs NSG Gold(East 5th Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane
This will be a game of which neat pick will Azure take one in the best of one that could help them win just a single game. Last season during the opening winter tournament it was the Kindred mid, maybe some odd cheese pick mid can go wrong and give NSG a chance. Otherwise every other spot on IG is really solid and if they play their game it should be a good win
Winner: Imperial Gaming
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QUARTERFINALS:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs Singed’s Crab Shack(East 5th Seed)
Key Matchup: Bot Lane
Same thing as before I'm really stuck on Killgar and Poison needing to play well if they want to win any games this tournament and now that they go against the number 1 team from its own division will be a good test. But BaaMMM and friends should still take this game in a close 40+ min game where Brinticus gets picked before Elder Dragon
Winner: GSG Sigma
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Conduit Esports(West 1st Seed) vs Big Duck Entourage(East 4th Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane
JJH should have their hands full in this matchup as BDE swapped out some new players again but Lotuss is a good mid laner and if JJH is able to take them out and continue running through these other mid laners could come out as tournament MVP
Winner: Conduit Esports
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CB X(West 2nd Seed) vs Limitless Excel(East 3rd Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane
Come on, you know I had to put the battle of the former Twin Disasters/VBU Argon mid laners as the key matchup. Buckbee currently holds the best IER of all players in the league, but was the benchwarmer to Kaiten the last two splits. I think LXX will come out the gate strong and should be able to match up well with their opponents, but I have a lot of faith in CB X just barely beating their opponents in every role.
Winner: CB X
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Radiant Storm Onslaught(East 2nd Seed) vs Imperial Gaming(West 3rd Seed)
Key Matchup: Jungle
This should probably be the streamed match of this round. I think these two teams matchup pretty well in most lanes. What I’m most excited to see however is the bot lane matchup of Moekaizer/Wakka vs Paradigm/Rin. Should be a banger of a game would be great as a best of 5 but the Bo1 format is needed for single day tournaments really up to any team think RSO edges it out from jungle diff and top being even mid being slightly ahead in RSO and then Moekaizer plays well enough to just oust Season 1 Plat BOL Champion Paradigmshift
Winner: Radiant Storm Onslaught
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SEMIFINALS:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs CB X(West 2nd Seed)
Key Matchup: Jungle
Think if this is a best of 3 or 5 CBX could pull it out so if they have a bad game they can just brush it off but its not that its single Bo1 and I feel like Anderson Cooper will play lights out games 1 and 2 and then come in and have one of his off games in this series where Vandhral will get the best of him
Winner: Goon Squad Gaming Sigma
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Conduit Esports(West 1st Seed) vs Radiant Storm Onslaught(East 2nd Seed)
Key Matchup: Mid Lane
After already going through 2 other strong midlane matchups from Natsu and JJH, I think Natsu will be in better tempo as he’d have faced 2 better mid laners and should have another good game vs JJH. also could just be another case of Minute Jungle gap or even Moekaizer and Wakka diff
Winner: Radiant Storm Onslaught
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FINALS:
Goon Squad Gaming Sigma(East 1st Seed) vs Radiant Storm Onslaught(East 2nd Seed)
Key Matchup: Bot Lane
It all comes down to this, the number 1 seed in the East taking on the number 2 seed in the East. Who will take home BOL’s first ever MST gold title? Let’s breakdown the matchups:
The rematch of week 1 GSG vs RSO in the first match up Wakka and Moekaizer were quite out of sink and the team of RSO had even scrimmed or practiced yet, whereas on the other side this GSG formerly CB Royal who was even GSG before that had been playing together from quite some time and had all the synergys down. This time will be different RSO has looked super dominate even with a rotating lineup of SussyWakka and Charanko in the support role and even Wakka in the midlane and swapping top laners RSO has been on a good tear the last couple weeks were as GSG had just dropped a series to the 6th best team in the East the week before. Top should be slightly GSG favored but Basting the 2nd should be able to handle and at least go even. Jungle would be close in most people's eyes as Vandrahl is a good jungler but Minute is THE best jungler in the league. Mid should be pretty 50/50. Botlane will have its synergys worked out and should just win in lane and the first ever Mid Season Tournament.
Winner: Radiant Storm Onslaught
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MVP of the Tournament: MinuteMilitia
The Connor Hive Mind will take over the MST and should lead his team to victory. He would have had to go through some good tough jungle matchups and teams but people like to talk about his weird picks he always brings out but that's when games are able to be given if it messes up. In a Bo1 setting everyone will be facing Minute at his strongest and toughest playing his best champs running over the entire MST. Jg Dif. Diffy in the Jiffy.
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