Cloud
1. TA Day Spa First seed in the division for a reason. They are carrying most of the S4 championship team members (formerly called Oasis NADS) including 7rux, KizerCoolness, and Electricfiehouse. In addition, they have the Otter Power top ranked player in the entire league, ChessYi, as their top laner. While I think this team is strong, I definitely think that they are exploitable in the playoffs. I don’t think that the old guard players have been performing to their max potential yet; if they can get back to that level they can win the league, but until then, I don't expect them to go all the way. Expectation: Semifinals
2. Aftermath Esports I will say before going into anything that this team now plays under the TD banner (aka my org), so take everything I say with a grain of salt. But I think this team is a huge coinflip. On some days, they come onto the rift looking dominant with multiple carries on their roster. On other days, they legitimately lose to IBS teams. So with that said, it's really hard to rank where I think they are gonna finish. So instead of really trying to break down the mental state of Buckbee and Ikazuchi based on the positioning of the sun and reading their palms, I just flipped a coin a bunch of times and got my answer. Expectation: Quarterfinals
3. Rivals Ah yes Rivals. The only thing I know about this team is that they came into the Runeterra Academy chat complaining about CB Ibiza not being comp ruled yet after a scrim. I will say that since that incident, it looks like this team has really leveled up their play, with SimplyQue having the highest Kills Per Game and CBtheBarbarian having the most Assists Per Game. I think that this team should make it past the first round with relative ease, considering the fact that they beat Clown Gaming Aristocrats in the seeding round with subs, but in poetic fashion they will lose in the Quarterfinals to CB, this time it being the Rangers. Expectation: Quarterfinals
4. Literal Monkeys Fire It’s been downhill for LTMK Fire for the last few weeks as a result of multiple roster dilemmas within the team. First off, you have their Jungler, JesusJuice13, having to take an extended stay in the hospital. Then you have their ADC, Wunderworld, finally ranking out of gold and hitting Plat 3 this week. And on top of it all, you have players randomly deciding to role swap at this point in the season. Their EGL allstar award winning mid laner NoName has swapped to ADC in order to allow BuriedDonut to play mid lane (despite Donut winning championships at ADC). Even though NWE is using an esub and is losing 3 bans, i think this is the fastest series of the night and LTMK doesn't win a game. Expectation: Round of 12
Mountain
1. CB Ibiza Okay so CB Ibiza just wins the league. Boom, end of story. Oh you want an explanation? Okay so they have 3 Plat players on their roster, including iPraiseGod, Kaiten, and CB Wakka. They also have one of the best ADCs in the elo in ADISHAWN. But the one thing worth noting is that they no longer have a top laner since Kobita’s departure. That being said, L Dragon is on the roster, who is a fantastic top laner herself. If they can gel together with this new top laner, this team wins the league. That being said, it is a CB gold team, so the chances that they choke in BOL playoffs at some point are high, especially considering they could play Imperial Gaming for their first match after a bye (we’ve seen this story before). Expectation: Finals
2. New World Esports Mercury So this is another weird team for me in the sense that throughout their entire season, they were absolutely smacking everything that moved 2-0. They looked insane and potentially even a team that could rival CB Ibiza at the top of the division. Then they played CBI and CGA back to back and got rekted. In the qualifying round, the only game they won was against Aftermath Esports in a for-fun fiesta game. Despite these losses, I do expect them to make a bit of a resurgence against LTMK Fire, mainly due to the fact that their opponent is more of a dumpster fire right now than them. But I don't expect them to beat Conduit, especially considering they are already using an esub for their first round matchup. Expectation: Quarterfinals
3. Clown Gaming Aristocrats Honestly over the course of the season, one of the things that I have learned is that you can never really count out Clown Gaming… if CG Batman and POTATOTOMATO669 are on the team. That being said, all other Clown Gaming teams have not really done much to impress me. While I do believe they have some solid players on this roster, including the staples in the org Abound and Eastonn8, I think that the resources in the org are centered more around their Runeterra Academy team than this team. Rivals will most likely roll them over in round 1. Expectation: Round of 12
4. RPG Cubs RPG Cubs is a bit of a mixed bag this season as well. On one hand, I have heard teams such as Fever in Runeterra Academy call this team a legitimate threat. On the other hand, I haven’t really seen any results that would suggest that this team is gonna be able to make a deep playoff run this split. What I will say is that I can honestly see where the hopeium is coming from. If you can take down Imperial Gaming, you could probably catch CB Ibiza sleeping in the quarterfinals. Then you face the lowest rated 1st seed with momentum on your side, and finally you make it to the finals with everyone hyped up on your underdog story. That being said, RPG Drakenus goes god mode in the top lane and the rest of the team is able to stay even, I don’t think they are going to get past IG. Expectation: Round of 12
Ocean
1. CB Rangers
The Rangers are back and honestly they have one of the strongest rosters they’ve ever created. The dynamic duo is still there; CB Cooper and BuhRock go together like peanut butter and jelly. Is this finally the time for them to take home the coveted BOL trophy? Well the good news is that they are the number one seed, and they have one of the easiest roads to the finals. That being said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. CB has a finals curse for a reason, and despite getting to the finals, I think there’s a good chance they choke yet again, as much as I would love to see Cooper win a chip. If they can defeat their own inner demons, a championship can very well be in their cards.
Expectation: Finals
2. Conduit Esports
So I’m going to be honest here and say that Conduit Esports actually has the freest route to the finals of any team in the league. The two teams that I would say are most fragile right now (like these teams have the most negative momentum) are LTMK Fire and NWE Mercury, and whichever of those two wins their series will get the pleasure of playing Conduit. If Conduit can’t win that series, then I don’t think Conduit was going to beat any team in the playoffs. In addition, they also avoid playing CB Ibiza til the finals, so I would say that the odds are as favored for them as they possibly can be. That being said, this is not a team of rookies; this is a team of veterans in the scene, and as much as I like JJH and company, I don’t think they are magically going to improve enough to get the upper hand on the CB Rangers. Expectation: Semifinals
3. Imperial Gaming Seeing Imperial Gaming as the third seed was a little surprising to me based on this team’s pedigree. Last split they made it to the finals, so honestly there's a solid chance they could go above and beyond this split as well. I can already see a world where they repeated prior events and take down the CB super team in the quarterfinals, just like they did a few seasons ago. If they can do that, I honestly think Imperial Gaming would be my favorite to win the championship. But unfortunately, as much as I personally would love to see that storyline come to fruition for the sheer hype value, I don’t think it’s very likely. Expectation: Quarterfinals
4. Literal Monkeys Water With Literal Monkeys Water I’m a little torn. On one hand, you have Chinese Spy in the mid lane and Hide in Shrouds as the support, two players with championship pedigree that could very easily take this team on a run. In addition, you have Verszia, which is the #2 Otter Power player in the league as the ADC. I think if the org decides to put all of their eggs into the LTMK Water basket, this team very well can make a run to the finals. But also they are playing my org in round one and I’m biased, so I think their season will fall short. Expectation: Round of 12
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