Bduhmana & VampiricNarwhal’s Bot Lane Banter Presents: BOL Gold Week 5

Power Rankings

Top Tier Teams

Glacial Void

Sitting at the top of the standings halfway through the tournament, with an undefeated record, is Glacial Void. Watching them show up week after week, game after game, one thing I will continue to stand by is that this team’s consistency is within your team synergy and ability to work together. Whether they leave lane phase with leads or not, Jel is able to make sure their team still has what they need to find picks and take objectives through their teamfighting. 

Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew

Jolly Rogers is also still in top tier, and I know there have been speculations on whether or not this team belongs at the top of the standings over Glacial Void, and while the argument around individual player rankings does make them a strong top tier team, I am not convinced yet that they will beat Glacial Void’s teamwork when they do finally have their showdown. I am gonna shout out that their weekly roster changes seem to only enhance their play, and that might make them the most flexible team on paper.

LE Prime

It’s week 5, and LE Prime has swept their way into the top tier. There has been some rumblings that this is also the best roster in the league based on individual players, so they have a lot to prove this week (which I will discuss more in the matchup section). For now, I have them below JR (who is below GV for me) and I will require them to make me eat my words before I change that. 

Mid Tier Teams

OSG Tactical Freeze

The mid tier teams feel very middle of the pack, and I think OSG is no different after their week four games. Both losses against JR did shed some light, however, on some draft comps that could be reviewed and cleaned up for week five. I will be looking at Feldroth, as I want to see more consistency around drafting for this top laner so that the in-game execution is easier. This might give materium more opportunity to focus on their botlane (something I have been saying and will continue to say, because this is where they have the strongest carry potential but also a struggle point when they leave the laning phase behind).

CB Phreaks

It is funny because Narhwal has spent all split mixing up these CB teams (in name only), but both CB teams do seem to actually be interchangeable in the mid tier at this midway point in the league. With Phreaks giving up a win against Mercs last series, it showed me more how they lost the game then anything else. This team knows how to create leads, so it really is going to come down to cleaning up their objective fights and knowing how to capitalize on the leads if they want to move out of the middle of the pack. Plus with lower tier teams only being a few points behind, that does (or should) light a fire under them from here on out. I put that responsibility on The Dean0 and A1phaSairou.

CB Impulse

While I already said Phreaks and Impulse are interchangeably tied on paper, what I do want to say is where I think this team has the potential to change that. Also losing a game in the series to a Fool Five (Squires), they did showcase how strong BillyWillard and BuhRock can be if drafted with the agency they need to pull the trigger on fights. Unsure if it is the Fearless Drafting that makes that hard for a bo3 series (which means bo5 definitely needs to be a topic to discuss in the coming weeks) or what. Not sure what that “or what” is, but it matters because these tied midtier teams are only a few points behind the lower tier teams and playoffs will be contentious at this rate.

Lower Tier Teams

Fool’s Five Mercenaries

On paper Mercs is at the top of the lower tier list, but only by a single point–which means this is the tier list that can have a lot of shake up potential in the coming weeks. This is the Fools Five that has had a lot of roster shakeups, and last week’s just didn’t impress against Phreaks. I do they think have a solid botlane duo and their midlane swaps seems to be working, so my eyes are going to be on them to create a cohesion necessary to ensure they can hear a playoff spot in the coming weeks.

Fools Five Squires

Similarly to Mercs, this team is tied for seventh place midway through the league. Unlike Merc, Squires has only really moved the same players around and that switchup does seem to resonate with the team synergy (for the most part). My eyes are gonna have to be on Derpy and GoogleMop. When they do well, their team has a much higher percentage of winning the series than if they do not. This will matter in the coming weeks, so I will be looking at these players to see how they can play from behind. 

Nefarious Demons

A new week, a new Nefarious roster and this week’s midway point is no different. There has been  differences that have been identified and the changes are moving towards an overall goal, but this is the midway point so these coming weeks are all about working as a team and using their strengths. Because focusing on what doesn’t work is a good surface level strategy that needs to be transformed into a more positive team mindset. If the focus in on how they win, it shows very obviously in their in-game execution so I will be looking at that these next coming weeks, because on paper they can very easily make playoffs–they just have to believe it to achieve it.

Hyperion White Rabbit

Hyperion White Rabbit is in a similar place to Nefarious, as far as weekly roster swaps happening while trying to find an identity for their team. The difference is that Nefarious has shown they can win games once they get that identity and Hyperion hasn’t found that just yet. This week will be important, as the only roster swap I have seen is around coaching–which is a pretty good call since this roster also has strong individuals that have done well in past splits, so I want to see that cohesion shown in drafting first, and then I will look to see how they execute it in series before I can make any leaps around how they pull themselves up in the standings.

Week 5 Matchups

OSG Tactical Freeze v CB Impulse: 1-2

With the past few series, Impulse is expected to win this series on paper and with vod reviewing. The roster is solid and BillyWillard is looking great in jungle and I think Puffin can and will punish Feldroth this series.

If OSG wants to create an upset, they need to find a way to give Feldroth a survivable lane matchup so it unlocks materium to get trainergain ahead. Bonus points if BillyButhole plays something that also gives mid prio to do rotations to support weakside or strongside

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Fools Five Mercenaries v Hyperion White Rabbit: 2-0

This is a series that could potentially go either way, but since Mercs have shown a better record all league and have taken games off teams then I expect this to be a clean sweep. A clean sweep would also show that Mercs isn’t intent on staying tied and wants to start fighting for a mid tier playoff spot. My player to watch is QBall, as I do think they are the strongest player on this team and would love it if their voice was a guiding light mid to late game.

LE Prime v Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew: 2-0

This might be a hot take, but I have LE Prime as the favorite to win this week’s series. This is also my game to watch, because this LE Prime hasn’t lost a game in the series and Jolly Rogers has only lost one game in a series. That being said, I think PizzaPastaMafia and Complex are a really strong top/jg duo that 

If I am wrong (which I guess sometimes happens), then Jolly Rogers win condition for this series will be HardStuckBrotha and Dolo. I think DeeTdub is a fantastic adc but I do think Dolo has an edge over RedPanda so if they can get some love and attention to get this botlane ahead, then the carrying is easy after that.

Fools Five Squires v Nefarious Demons: 0-2

This week’s series has the potential to be anything (2-0/2-1/1-2/0-2), but both teams really need a sweep to start the second half of this league strong. With the newest edition of Nefarious including Pando, I think that opens up a lot more possibilities for them to finally get a series win. In general, jungle mid synergy has been very important for almost every series win all tournament long, and I think this series will be no different.

For Squires to hold onto their point lead, I think they need to invest more time and energy into their strongest player, Fugitive. When he gets ahead in lane, they do well as a team. If he ends up even or behind, the team struggles. I am just not sold on the idea that the team has figured this out yet, which is why they are the upset in this prediction.

Glacial Void v CB Phreaks: 2-0

Glacial Void is the strong favorite to win this matchup and continue their top tier stronghold. I am excited to see Bear face off Typhoon, though, because Bear is good good playing weak and strongside and would love to see how he matches up against Typhoon.

For Phreaks to create the upset that no other team has done all tournament long, Dean0 needs to give his botlane some love early and often. They are such a strong duo and can carry this team to a win–they just need to be clean around objective control and fighting because Jel knows how to punish teams from ahead and behind because their teamfights are just that strong and Jels seems to always know when to take them.