Bduhmana & VampiricNarwhal’s Bot Lane Banter Presents: BOL Gold Week 8

Predictions

Top Tier Teams

Glacial Void; 7-0 (15-1) 41 points

Week eight is here, but I am STILL thinking about week 7–and not just because I predicted this series correctly but moreso how they did it. I really appreciated the creative drafting (looking at you, Bear) to execution in order to answer some of the individual power Jolly Rogers has on their team that no one else has figured out answers for really. Sitting undefeated (in series) at the top and I am wondering if anyone is going to have an answer for this team’s trust and teamwork.

Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew; 6-1 (13-3) 38 points

After a tough loss, Jolly Rogers still sits very comfortably at second in the top tier of teams. That being said, their game 1 definitely showed they have draft answers to hit Glacial Void right out the gate with that Irelia pick by Nas that still lets me confidently say this is the best top laner in the league. And although they are not playing with NoName isn’t playing out the remainder of the season, SAMURAI does have a great overlapping champ pool that can keep the team’s consistency and put up some fantastic numbers in the series he did play. Besides, their consistency is about being the best individual players on the rift and then collectively winning each game and that strategy works so well with them.

OSG Tactical Freeze; 5-2 (11-6) 33 points

Although someone finally had an answer to materium’s Voli, it just doesn’t matter for this team because their drafting really sets the whole team up for success–which is why I have them as the final top tier team in this league. From their experience playing together to being able to draft when there are subs and changes needed, this team is consistently winning series and adapting to losses against their opponents–which is something to pay attention to when we start getting to best of 5s.

Mid Tier Teams

CB Impulse; 4-3 (8-7) 30 points

 With a solid series win, Impulse gets to take hold of fourth place and put some distance between them and the teams that are trying to fight for a playoff spot. This is a comfortable(ish) place for them to be, and BuhRock and Accel seem very up for the challenge of carrying their team to victories.  Not only that, but their redside drafting has also improved to set their botlane up with better matchups than weeks prior drafting. This will be key for playoffs, so I am hoping this is an area where they continue to grow.

LE Prime; 3-4 (7-7) 28 points

With another tough series loss against OSG Tactical Freeze last week, I am hoping their mental is looking at the bigger picture–which is that even their series losses to strong teams have had solid wins and toughly fought losses. This shows me that this team shows a lot of adaptability potential in a best of 5. I still believe this is a playoff team, and I think there needs to be some drafting considerations to help players (newer in their roles/with smaller champ pools) feel confident with their picks, because this is fearless and I do see that as a possible weak spot for this team that teams have already punished them for.

CB Phreaks; 3-4 (8-9) 27 points

Although they lost the series to Squires last week, their first game was really strong and showcased to me why they did all their changes a couple weeks back. Typhoon and Toastfish really seem to be getting some synergy with certain drafts, and I look forward to seeing how that grows as we near playoffs. I will be looking to see how they can strengthen their weakside draft picks, however–because higher tier teams will punish that much harder moving forward and I would love to see how they answer bouncing back from losing weakside laning phase, because that will be essential if they want to move their resources to their strongside solo lane and botside. Especially if they want to keep themselves in this playoff spot, because right now they are sitting a bit too close to the edge of things for my liking and next week could end up really mattering against an opponent that has only lost three single games this whole split.

Fool’s Five Mercenaries; 3-4 (6-10) 24 points

NGL–Last week’s loss to Impulse directly halted them from being in a proper playoff spot. I am not counting this team out by any means–which is why I am keeping them in the mid tier spot even though they are sitting on the outskirts of playoffs. I think this team has a strong understanding of their individual skill level, as well as a great mindset of how to win as a team. Plus–they love playing together and you can see that on the rift. I also don’t think the point difference is that big of deal, and in the next two weeks they are playing teams they need topple so their fate is in their own hands. If we were betting on them making a playoff spot, I like those odds and would take that bet. Although they sit in 7th now, I have done some maths and want to predict they end up fighting for that sixth spot (and securing it if they can sweep both weeks).

Lower Tier Teams

Fools Five Squires; 2-5 (6-11) 23 points

Winning last week’s series against Phreaks was huge for this team–not just for points and making the playoff run more tangible, but also because they really bounced back from their first game loss. I do notice another shift in role swapping for this though, and that makes me nervous as we get closer to playoffs. We have already seen the damage that subbing and swapping can have for teams, but I am going to keep an open mind because maybe this is a strategy to deal with fearless drafting. If that’s not it though, then I have questions for the coach(?)captain/team, because this week’s matchup is just as important as last weeks (if not more).

Nefarious Demons; 2-5 (5-12) 21 points

The Demons got their second 2-1 victory against White Rabbit, but that places them in a suboptimal spot for fighting for a playoff spot. And with another roster change against Jolly Rogers, they will need some stability with the players that have found some stability in their roles the past few weeks. And while the playoff seems out of reach, they do have the potential to create some upsets and maybe even knock a team out of playoffs if other stars align. Either way, it is nice to see this team on the upswing.

Hyperion White Rabbit; 0-7 (1-14) 15 points

Hyperion got a win in this last series! And while there were some hiccups for the other team, their draft for game one looked really solid. As another team not in the running for playoffs, they now have shown they are capable of upsetting teams out of their playoff hopes. That might be a tall task with the schedule they have, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Just hope they clean up their drafting, because some of these picks just don’t work against stronger drafts.

Week 8 Matchups

Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew vs Nefarious Demons: 2-0

Unfortunate for this newish iteration of Demons to go up against Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew this week. Even thinking outside of the reality that this ND roster swap only gave them less than a week to really prepare for this team, but that team is a team that has only lost to Glacial Void. I will be looking at how Nas will dominate top side, which will allow more attention to go to where Jolly Rogers loves to focus-their mid and botlane. 

How to create upset? LISTEN TO TRASHY. My advice–listen to the trashy even if your brain tells you it is trash. Better to win as a team with your leader, sure–but just as important to lose listening to him as well, yall… and Trashy already knows my advice to him, so I will just rub that in a bit right now…I BELIEVE IN YOU. 

OSG Tactical Freeze vs Fools Five Mercs: 2-1

This is my series matchup to watch, because the outcome of this series actually says a lot about playoff hopes for teams below OSG. If Mercs can pull an upset and take a win (or the series), that really gives a lot of play for the middle of the pack teams to try and grab a stronger spot for playoffs (Mercs especially want to sweep this in order to do just that). That being said, I think the consistency of this team predicts Tactical to take this series–but we all know I love a good underdog hype story.

 My players to watch for OSG Tactical Freeze to secure this win are materium and Feldroth (who is playing-right? Right…? right??). Materium has been great at creating tempo and Feldroth is in my top three for top laners in the league that can hold their own weakside but loves to dominate the strongside. If it isn’t, then my players to watch for Mercs is Temu (Froggers) and Moon, because Moon and materium both want to facilitate in order to get their lanes ahead and Temu is a beast unchecked.

Hyperion White Rabbit v CB Phreaks: 0-2

Although White Rabbit took a win off Nefarious last week, they are up against Phreaks this week and are still technically a team that hasn’t won a series all split. For them to create the upset (which would absolutely shuffle up playoff stats for middle of pack teams), I would like to see them have Lost Havok as jungle again. The facilitation pick looked good even if Graves would probably get banned out. However, my player to watch for Phreaks is this jg mid duo synergy again. They are looking good and I want to see them sweep a series confidently. I know Toastfish has the carry inside, and I want to see Typhoon bring it out just as much as Toastfish has been able to support Typhoon’s carry picks.

LE Prime v Fools Five Squires: 1-2

I am gonna go against my previous week’s of hyping up LE Prime and give this series to Squires. And while this looks like a flip flopping on LE, this is actually me recognizing how strong Squires have been. Although I did notice another role swap for this roster, and those make me shaky this late in the season–especially with them outside playoffs. My player to watch (because of this swap) is going to be WokeUpSigma–I think they did great at support when drafted effectively, but top is a whole different beast and I have seen many a toplane get eaten by the mafia man.

Now here is my counter for how LE Prime secures this very important series–focus on deeTdub and RedPanda getting their comforts and strongest picks over meta picks. I think my player to watch is gonna be RedPanda here, because he is new to this role and that can be hard when fearless drafting plays its hand. This is the test for this team–they are already in a strong playoff spot points wise, but I want to see them win through their player’s strengths. I am just not sure if they are drafting for that yet. If they can do that, then it opens up Compex to give more love to their solo laners and set them up for carrying success.

CB Impulse v Glacial Void: 0-2

It honestly hurts my heart to predict this series going 0-2, because I do see just how good Impulse has been growing throughout this split. That being said, Glacial has proven they have been unbeatable (aside from a single game) and it is time for my player to watch to be NOOCHE. I promise I am not sleeping one of the best supports in the league–I swear I am not. Nooche will be my player to watch because they are going up against Sword–which is a matchup I have been personally waiting to see the second half of the split.

For Impulse to create the upset here, I am once again putting all my chips into their botlane.  This is a botlane showdown for sure and I do think this will come down to Xiabao & NOOCHE vs Accel and Lswordv. Accel and Sword have already shown they know how to carry this team to playoffs. Now they need to prove they can beat the top botlane in the league. That will require help, of course–I do hope they watched last week’s games and learned as much as I did around how to win against Glacial Void.