Heading into Week 9, we have a very solid idea as to who is going to the playoffs, and are getting close to knowing exactly what seed they will be as well. There were a couple of interesting upsets last week, so this week I will be following the same format for this as I did last week. We will be looking at each team's road to playoffs and games remaining. For 2 weeks left of games, the maximum points a team can receive will be 12 points, while the minimum points would be 4 (assuming no FFs). North Division: CB Rangers 7-1, 14-2, 44 Points Highest Possible Points - 56 Lowest Possible Points - 48 Matchups Remaining: Imperial Gaming, KQC CB Rangers have won their week 7 matchup, making their run to secure first seed a lot easier. They are secured for playoffs, as no amount of possible points remaining drops them out of the top 3 from this division. All CB Rangers need to do to secure first seed, is secure at least 1 map win in both week 9 and 10. They could lose both series 1-2 and still maintain the first seed for the North.
Oasis NADs 5-3, 11-7, 36 Points Highest Possible Points - 48 Lowest Possible Points - 40
Matchups Remaining: Gob Squad, Final Esports
Oasis NADs is looking to hold on to a playoff seed in these final weeks. With the final 2 weeks on their schedule being teams battling to steal a playoff seed from them or Imperial Gaming, they need to clutch up and secure some good wins here. Winning these matchups will not only help them secure 2nd seed going into playoffs, but also help Imperial Gaming try to hold on to their 3rd seed.
Imperial Gaming 5-3, 12-9, 34 Points Highest Possible Points - 46 Lowest Possible Points - 38
Matchups Remaining: CB Rangers, Gob Squad Given the fact that Imperial Gaming face currently ranked 1st seed CB Rangers next week, they are relying heavily on either getting an upset victory, or having Oasis NADs finish the season strong. A slipup to Gob Squad in week 10, especially if they cannot secure a victory over CB Rangers, could knock Imperial Gaming out of playoffs. Gob Squad 4-4, 9-9, 32 Points Highest Possible Points - 44 Lowest Possible Points - 36
Matchups Remaining: Oasis NADS, Imperial Gaming Gob Squad’s final 2 weeks are the most important matches of the season for them. They hold their destiny in their hands. Seeing as Oasis NADs is currently 4 points ahead of them, and Imperial Gaming is only 2, winning these final weeks matchups sends you from just out of the playoff picture, into a 2nd seed slot.
Final Esports 3-5, 7-11, 28 Points
Highest Possible Points - 40
Lowest Possible Points - 32
Mathups Remaining: KQC, Oasis NADS
Final Esports final 2 weeks has one match, that SHOULD be a relatively free win, which will make their chance at playoffs a bit easier. However, the match to win here is the Oasis NADs match, and picking up that win with some good fortune from other mid tier teams matches, could allow this team to sneak in a 3rd seed playoff birth.
KQC 0-8, 2-16, 14 Points Highest Possible Points - 26 Lowest Possible Points - 18 Matchups Remaining: Final Esports, CB Rangers
As we mentioned last week, KQC is unable to make playoffs. Given that, KQC needs to look to rebuild/grow as a team in these final weeks. Picking up a win against Final Esports can crush their dreams of sliding into playoffs, and an upset against CB Rangers could have insane effects on both playoffs and the mentality of KQC moving into future seasons.
South Division: Crimson Dolphins 6-2, 13-5, 40 Points Highest Possible Points - 52 Lowest Possible Points - 44 Matchups Remaining: Dead Orbit, CB Royal After NSG Infinity lost to CB Royal last week, and seeing that CD is 3-2 against NSG Infinity in game score, they secure 1st seed going into week 8. Their final 2 week matchups are difficult ones, as both Dead Orbit and CB Royal have been stepping up lately. If Crimson Dolphins want to secure this first seed, they need to clutch up and shut down both of these rising South Division teams. Crimson Dolhpins have secured a playoff seed alongside NSG Infinity, but both teams could be anywhere from 1st seed to 3rd. NSG Infinity 6-2, 13-5, 40 Points
Highest Possible Points - 52 Lowest Possible Points - 44 Matchups Remaining: Mad Rawrs, Dead Orbit After taking a close and unfortunate loss to CB Royal in week 7, NSG Infinity lose their 1st place standing. However, a solid final 2 weeks could put this team back in 1st seed for playoffs if they have better match records than Crimson Dolphins last 2 matches. NSG Infinity just need to shake off the loss of last week, and buckle down and fight to secure their 1st seed they fought so hard from week 1 to get. NSG Infinity have secured a playoff seed alongside Crimson Dolphins, but both teams could be anywhere from 1st seed to 3rd.
CB Royal 5-3, 11-8, 33 Points Highest Possible Points - 45 Lowest Possible Points - 37 Matchups Remaining: NSG Amethyst, Crimson Dolphins CB Royal last week, was one of the teams alongside Dead Orbit and Mad Rawrs that were looking to secure the last playoff seed in the South. With a big win over NSG Infinity 2-1 in week 7, their final 2 weeks gives them hopes of securing at least a 3rd place seed. This week 10 match will be important in determining how this division shakes up in the end.
Dead Orbit 4-4, 9-10, 31 Points
Highest Possible Points - 43
Lowest Possible Points - 35
Matchups Remaining: Crimson Dolphins, NSG Infinity
Dead Orbit is looking to secure that final playoff seed in the South Division, but have to play against the current 1st and 2nd place teams above them. Any wins are huge, but to have a shot, they need to go 2-0 both weeks and hope that CB Royal does not pick up anymore wins.
Mad Rawrs 3-5, 7-11, 28 Points Highest Possible Points - 40 Lowest Possible Points - 32 Matchups Remaining: NSG Infinity, NSG Amethyst Mad Rawrs is still barely in the running for playoffs based on points, and need to pick up wins in these final weeks. One week will be difficult, as the last time they came up to the plate vs NSG Infinity, they lost 0-2. If they can flip the matchup vs Infinity, and secure the easier victory against NSG Amethyst, they will have completed their best attempt to make playoffs, and just rely on how the CB Royal and Dead Orbit matches go to determine if they can sneak into that 3rd seed or not.
NSG Amethyst 0-8, 2-16, 18 Points Highest Possible Points - 30 Lowest Possible Points - 22 Matchups Remaining: CB Royal, Mad Rawrs Last week NSG Amethyst still had a small chance to make a playoffs run, but they went 0-2 in their matchup, and that unfortunately cuts their chances for playoffs from slim to none. Given that they cannot make playoffs, they can spoil playoff chances for both CB Royal and Mad Rawrs. Picking up wins vs either team could hurt that teams chances at playoffs. Build some synergy and crush some dreams to close out this season of BOL.
East Division: VBU Argon 8-0, 16-2, 46 Points Highest Possible Points - 58 Lowest Possible Points - 50 Matchups Remaining: Literal Monkeys, NSG Gold First place in the East Division looks to go towards VBU Argon. After losing their star player Kral Sultan, I was concerned that their matchup vs Twin Spirits last week could slide them out of 1st place. However, they proved me wrong (or Twin Spirits proved me wrong) and continue to look relatively strong going into these last 2 weeks. I believe, due to head 2 head vs Twin Spirits (the only team that could match VBU Argon in points at the end of the season) they still secure the playoff round 1 bye as the first seed for the East. At this point, just play to prep for playoffs, as no amount of bad games can knock them out of playoffs, or their 1st seed.
Twin Spirits 6-2, 12-6, 38 Points Highest Possible Points - 50 Lowest Possible Points - 42 Matchups Remaining: NSG Gold, Mythos Purple After a disappointing loss to a slightly weakened VBU Argon, Twin Spirits find themselves in a position to either stay 2nd seed for playoffs, or even slip out of playoffs altogether. Given their opponents being lower then them, and also being opponents they have beat in the past, they should be able to close out the final 2 weeks and secure both a playoff seed, and 2nd seed for the East Division
Literal Monkeys 4-4, 10-10, 32 Points Highest Possible Points - 44 Lowest Possible Points - 36 Matchups Remaining: VBU Argon, Classic Esports Literal Monkeys are in danger right now, they lost last week to Mythos Purple, which puts them within 1 point of losing their playoffs slot. This week they play VBU Argon, the best team in the division, and then they fortunately get to play the lowest ranked team in their division. For Literal Monkeys, an upset match win, or even a game win over VBU Argon would help them hold on to their 3rd place playoff seed.
Mythos Purple 4-4, 8-9, 31 Points
Highest Possible Points - 43
Lowest Possible Points - 35
Matchups Remaining: Classic Esports, Twin Spirits
After defeating Literal Monkeys in week 8, Mythos Purple is looking to close out these final 2 weeks and take that 3rd place playoff seed away from Literal Monkeys. This week they play Classic Esports, which should be a relatively free win, but next week they need to battle up again, and upset another top 3 seeded team from their own division to help them secure that 3rd place playoff seed.
NSG Gold 2-6, 7-13, 26 Points Highest Possible Points - 38 Lowest Possible Points - 30 Matchups Remaining: Twin Spirits, VBU Argon NSG Gold got an FF win last week, helping them have a chance at playoffs. Unfortunately, they have a mountain to climb as their final 2 weeks matchups are the 1st and 2nd place teams in their division. NSG Gold just need to play their best, and let the cards fall where they fall.
Classic Esports 0-8, 3-16, 15 Points Highest Possible Points - 27 Lowest Possible Points - 19 Matchups Remaining: Mythos Purple, Literal Monkeys Just like KQC, and NSG Amethyst, Classic Esports has absolutely zero paths to playoffs. Victories over either Mythos Purple or Literal Monkeys would impact which team has the better shot at getting 3rd seed in this group though.
West Division: CB Obsidian 8-0, 16-2, 46 Points Highest Possible Points - 58 Lowest Possible Points - 50
Matchups Remaining: Collective Cosmic, Limitless Chaos
CB Obsidian, alongside VBU Argon, are the one of the only 2 teams in BOL Gold still undefeated in match record. However, unlike VBU Argon, if they lose any matches in their final 2 weeks, especially vs Collective Cosmic, they could lose their round 1 playoff bye. CB Obsidian need to stay strong to prove why they are the number 1 team to look out for from the West Division.
Collective Cosmic 6-2, 13-5, 40 Points
Highest Possible Points - 52
Lowest Possible Points - 44
Matchups Remaining: CB Obsidian, VBU Plutonium
Collective Cosmic have a rough final 2 weeks here, as CB Obsidian have not dropped a match yet, and VBU Plutonium just beat Limitless Chaos. An upset win over CB Obsidian could give them a shot at the 1st round playoff bye, so long as they then follow that upset with a good shutdown over VBU Plutonium. These final 2 weeks could show us just how strong Collective Cosmic are going into playoffs.
Limitless Chaos 4-4, 11-9, 34 Points
Highest Possible Points - 46
Lowest Possible Points - 38
Matchups Remaining: Shrimp Fried Rice, CB Obsidian
Limitless Chaos, after losing last week to VBU Plutonium are now going from likely to secure 3rds seed for playoffs to, oh shit, we may drop to 4th place if we are not careful. Luckily for them, they get to matchup vs Shrimp Fried Rice which should be an easy pickup for them, but if they lose to Shrimp Fried Rice, they really have to bring it in week 10 vs CB Obsidian.
VBU Plutonium 3-5, 6-12, 26 Points Highest Possible Points - 38 Lowest Possible Points - 30 Matchups Remaining: Silverline, Collective Cosmic VBU Plutonium is on a surprise run after beating Limitless Chaos last week. If Limitless Chaos have more losses in these final 2 weeks AND VBU Plutonium finishes out strong, we could be seeing 2 VBU teams enter the playoffs.
Shrimp Fried Rice 2-6, 6-12, 26 Points
Highest Possible Points - 38
Lowest Possible Points - 30
Matchups Remaining: Limitless Chaos, Silverline
Thanks to VBU Plutonium defeating Limitless Chaos last week, Shrimp Fried Rice is now in the same boat of potentially sneaking into that 3rd place seed. All they need is for Limitless Chaos to continue their slip ups in their final 2 weeks, and luckily for them, one of those slip ups could be against them.
Silverline 1-7, 2-14, 20 Points
Highest Possible Points - 32 Lowest Possible Points - 24 Matchups Remaining: VBU Plutonium, Shrimp Fried Rice Unfortunately for Silverline, there is no way into playoffs. Looking forward though, either week could be a chance for them to crush the dreams of VBU Plutonium and Shrimp Fried Rice, as both teams are looking for miracle runs into playoffs.
Week 9 Predictions:
Gob Squad (L) 0 - Oasis NADS (W) 2 CB Rangers (W) 2 vs Imperial Gaming (L) 0
Final Esports (W) 2 - KQC (L) 1
Crimson Dolphins (W) 2 vs Dead Orbit (L) 1
NSG Infinity (W) 2 vs Mad Rawrs (L) 0
NSG Amethyst (L) 0 vs CB Royal (W) 2
NSG Gold (L) 1 vs Twin Spirits (W) 2
Mythos Purple (W) 2 vs Classic Esports (L) 0
Literal Monkeys (L) 0 vs VBU Argon (W) 2
CB Obsidian (W) 2 vs Collective Cosmic (L) 1
VBU Plutonium (W) 2 vs Silverline (L) 0
Shrimp Fried Rice (L) 0 vs Limitless Chaos (W) 2
Top 16:
Any changes from last week will be shortly described next to the team. 1 - CB Obsidian (=) 2 - CB Rangers (=)
3 - VBU Argon (+1) After winning without Kral Sultan, this team goes back into the top 3, and may be competing for 1st or 2nd as we head into playoffs.
4 - Collective Cosmic (+1) In my eyes, this team looks to be the strongest of the current 2nd seed playoff teams.
5 - NSG Infinity (-2) A 1-2 defeat to CB Royal moves NSG Infinity down, but unless they lose more, it could have just been a bad week.
6 - Twin Spirits (+1) Despite losing last week, they still look to be a strong team going into playoffs.
7 - Oasis NADs (+1) Oasis NADs and Twin Spirits are fighting to be the 2nd best 2nd seed after Collective Cosmic, at least in my eyes.
8 - Limitless Chaos (-2) After the loss last week, this team has a slim chance of losing their playoffs seed.
9 - Crimson Dolphins (+2) I think I dropped this team a bit to far when they lost to NSG Infinity, but from 5-10, these spots are all super close.
10 - CB Royal (+4) A big upset vs NSG Infinity gives this team a shot at playoffs, and a shot at catapulting up this list.
11 - Mythos Purple (+4) Mythos Purple is looking strong in these final weeks, and are looking to steal some playoff seeds away from other teams in this list.
12 - Gob Squad (-3) Gob Squad honestly looks the same to me in Power Rankings, but move down simply to other teams just stepping their game up.
13 - Imperial Gaming (-3) Just like Gob Squad, they look the same from last week in power level, but other teams just stepped up this past week.
14 - Literal Monkeys (-2) A slipup in games last week to Mythos Purple means you cannot stay above Mythos Purple in the current Power Rankings.
15 - Dead Orbit (-2) Other teams stepping up push Dead Orbit a little further down, similar to Gob Squad and Imperial Gaming, but Dead Orbit still remain higher than Mad Rawrs.
16 - VBU Plutonium (NEW) A huge win over Limitless Chaos pulls you guys from Just Out, to Just In.
Just Out - Mad Rawrs (Dropped Out) Mostly due to other teams stepping up their games, Mad Rawrs drop out of the top 16, but could sneak back into the bottom half of the top 16 list.
Just Out from Just Out - Final Esports, Shrimp Fried Rice Closing Thoughts
The final 3 weeks of this league were set up to potentially be spicy, and to me, so far, week 8 lived up to the hype. NSG Infinity slipped up and lost to CB Royal, which moves CB Royal into a good spot to secure a playoff seed, and in the West Division we had a massive upset with VBU Plutonium defeating Limitless Chaos. Despite that West Division upset, I think Limitless Chaos have enough of a point lead to maintain their 3rd place playoff seed. Literal Monkeys find themselves in a tricky spot, given they are only 1 point ahead of Mythos Purple thanks to losing to them last week. And finally, the North Division still has some of the closest matchups from 2nd-5th place, however Oasis NADs is starting to look pretty safe as 2nd seed. North Division: South Division: 1st - CB Rangers 1st - NSG Infinity 2nd - Oasis NADS 2nd - Crimson Dolphins
3rd - Gob Squad 3rd - CB Royal East Division: West Division: 1st - VBU Argon 1st - CB Obsidian 2nd - Twin Spirits 2nd - Collective Cosmic 3rd - Literal Monkeys 3rd - Limitless Chaos
Teams Battling for Playoff Seeds/Knocked Out of Playoffs:
Teams with Playoff Seeds Guaranteed: CB Rangers Crimson Dolphins NSG Infinity VBU Argon CB Obsidian Teams Likely to not miss Playoffs: Oasis NADs Twin Spirits Collective Cosmic Teams Battling to Keep or Steal a Playoff Seed: Imperial Gaming Gob Squad Final Esports CB Royal Dead Orbit Mad Rawrs Literal Monkeys Mythos Purple NSG Gold Limitless Chaos VBU Plutonium Shrimp Fried Rice
Teams Eliminated from Playoffs: KQC
NSG Amethyst Classic Esports Silverline
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