Blue Otter League Emerald Primer

Hello to Blue Otter League Emerald! For those of you who do not know me my name is CTRL ULT ELITE or Storm. I have been part of the amateur esports community for about 5 years now playing in various levels of competition and writing content pieces giving my takes on what I think the best teams are, the players to watch and who I think will make upsets. I am going to be the head content creator for BOLE this split providing weekly content drops that you will see here. This year I will also be hosting Otter Talk and also color-casting the games in our division. As always I am looking for the community to get involved. Throughout the year expect me to drop Google forms that I encourage everyone to fill out and I would love to hear from you on Otter Talk! As always feel free to reach out to me in DMs on Discord. 

This season in BOL Emerald we have 32 teams making 4 divisions of 8. The format of BOL Emerald will be the groups playing a round robin against one another for 7 weeks of regular season games on Tuesday nights at 8pm EST in the fearless format. Winning games will give your team points(see chart for detailed breakdown) 

and the top 4 teams from each group will advance to playoffs. In most seasons this means that to guarantee a playoff seed you need to be 5-2 in match score and around 4-3 to get in with tiebreakers. Check the BOL rules if you are unsure of what any of this means https://www.blueotterleague.net/emerald-rules. As playoffs get closer I will give you all a reminder on how tiebreakers work and as always will make the possible point graphs.  

Today's content piece will be my initial thoughts on all 32 teams competing this season. For every team, I will give you an overview, of who the team's solo queue point total and my overall tier list ranking of them. Again most of this content in my own opinion and mostly based on name recognition and solo que data. Solo queue points are a simple way for me to show how close to the rank cap every player on a team is. An average team of 5 emerald players would be 20 points and a full team of Diamond 4 players would be 40.

I have put every single team into a tierlist on where I think they will end the season. My tier list today is sorted into several tiers and does not reflect their groups. S-tier teams are the frontrunners to win BOLE this season and should finish first in their group. A-tier teams are playoff locks and will be able to challenge any team but might have a single team member who I have doubts about. Teams in the B tier are the teams I expect will finish third and fourth in their groups and are teams that will be first-round playoff exits just making it into playoffs having weaknesses as a team. C-tier teams are the teams that I think have a shot at punching up and claiming a playoff spot but will not be competitive in the playoffs if they make it in. D-tier teams are the teams that I do not think have any real shot at making the postseason, as I think most players on the roster have issues. 

Demacia

Monkeys Cheers

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 30 Emerald 2 Average 

Player To Watch: PacaPaul

Week 1 Were Winners

Those of you who played competitively will recognize most of the names on Monkeys Cheers. Paca Paul, Retail Row(aka Codis or whatever Fortnite-themed smurf), AllFire and Jakob are all players I have covered before and generally are strong players making it to the playoffs almost always. Everyone on this team is playing their main role(I am surprised to see Retail Row is now a support main) and has a deep champion pool except for INSTRUMENT the only player on this team I am unfamiliar with. My worry for this team is not how the individual players will perform but how this team fits together which is why I have them in B tier. PacaPaul is a carry-only jungler paired with Jakob a mid laner who almost always plays for late-game scaling. Does this mean that this is just always looking for cross-map trades and playing to the other teams tempo early game? All Fire and RetailRow roles look to be the weakside of the team down in the bot lane which is always a risky way to play. But with the amount of experience and individual outplay I expect Monkeys Cheers to finish towards the top of Demacia but I do not foresee a deep playoff run for them.

My player to watch on this team is PacaPaul. Being a carry jungler is probably the most polarizing way to play League of Legends in a competitive environment and PacaPaul has been playing this way for over 5 years. When ahead when you are playing champions like Kindred and Hecraim the game is smooth sailing invading constantly and taking over the game fighting your way out of 1v2s and letting your team have the additional threat to easily kill the enemy backline. But when these champions are behind they are worthless providing next to no utility and without the damage to threaten anyone they are easily kept out of the game. It will be interesting to see as the season goes if PacaPaul can keep the good times rolling for Monkeys Cheers. There are not going to be games where PacaPal ends the game with a 4.0 KDA. PacaPaul is almost always going to end up on my Sprinters of the Week or the KDA standouts and their individual performance will probably be the easiest way to see how Monkeys Cheers is doing.       

Draconic Spire

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 34 Emerald 1 Average 

Player To Watch: Sealor

Week 1 Were: Losers

Draconic Spire to me looks like a team of just random players teaming up so I have them in the C tier I feel this team has a fair amount of issues and I can see them missing playoffs in their tough group. Draconic Spire again has a fair number of competitive experiences with Emearld ELO main stays in Gyser, AyeYoPenguini & Saelor alongside 2 players that are new to me in SCømm and epicRAMEN. SCømm the Draconic mid-laner looks to be an ADC player mainly who plays mid as their secondary so the team does have 1 player playing in their off role. There is not a lot of synergy between these players and there is a clear disjoint between the top side of the map and the bot lane. You have a top jungle duo that looks to play for early fights, with a mid-laner that is trying to play toward mid-game power spikes but a bot lane that only wants time to play back-to-front team fights and scale as late as possible.  

So Saelor should be the star on this Draconic Spire roster and be what brings this team together. Sealor won Titan Eternal(one of Titan's Emerald Leagues) very recently with a pretty dominant 3-0 win. Saelor plays more or less every jungle champion under the sun when you look at their match history constantly trying new jungle champions out and flexing to whatever the new meta picks are making him an invaluable asset in draft. Saelor is also incredibly geared towards early game generally having 4 successful ganks before 15 minutes. If anyone can allow Draconic Spire to get an early game lead it should be Sealor.  

Mint Gaming Crashouts

Tier: A

Solo Queue Point Total: 31 Emerald 2 Average

Player To Watch: Zuiy

Week 1 Were: Winners

A team filled to the brim with EGO, talent, instability and opinions Mint Gaming Crashouts are a team that on paper probably looks like BOLE favourites. I have played with a majority of this roster and can confirm that the ability to perform is not what holds any of these players back from climbing the ranks and winning leagues. It's the fact that their giant balls drag on the ground as they walk and slows down their ability to pivot and try fresh new ideas. This Mint Roster has played together for a while driving their chemistry together forward in the blue lock way of players consuming each other's ego and reforging themselves. Is Mint going to absolutely dumpster teams this season? Yes of course they are. Is someone going to crashout like their team's namesake and throw a series? That remains to be seen but my magic 8 ball says Signs Point to Yes. I want to say again if everyone on this team has a full happiness bar and are vibing they are probably winning every game they play but that happiness bar never stays full for long.

Zuiy is not just a top tier mid laner or even just the best mid laner in BOL Emerald this year. Zuiys is probably the best player in the league. There are so many picks that Zuiy plays that can just fuck up your game from Yone, Akshan, and Sylas that you need to throw bans every single game at him. Just wait till we have stats and see.

Monkeys Paw

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 22 Emerald 4 Average 

Player To Watch: Maze

Week 1 Were: Losers

Monkeys Paw is a team that I have been wanting to see for a while in Fearless. I see all the flex picks, large champion pools some solid veteran names and I am thinking to myself man this team looks like a breath of fresh air. Then the monkey paw curls. And suddenly I have been given what I wished for and have realized oh god this is a monstrosity of a team. Veterans on this team are older and crustier approaching elder status with players like Nahor(love you buddy) and Maze. The flex picks are due to players swapping roles like Metal who seems to have played a different role every split for the past year and a half. There is a ton of upside on this team with the potential to out draft and play champions that teams are not prepared for but I worry that the fundamentals on this team are not all there. Monkeys Paw are always going to be fighting an uphill battle I fear and the top 16 I feel is their cutoff point but I would be confident that this team is making playoffs in any group so they are in my B tier.

Maze made some deep playoff runs the last time I covered them and drew bans as an ADC which is normally a rarity. Being a Zeri player gives you so much of the ADC fundamentals and Maze plays mages as well. With Nahor as their partner in the botlane Maze has the freedom to play some wacky stuff and I am expecting Seraphine to probably get permmabanned from them all season. Having the best player on your team as the ADC is almost always the best thing it allows your team to always have a ray of hope.

Conduit Sun

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 25 Emerald 3 Average

Player To Watch: ProtoMorph

Are Conduit Sun the best roster I have looked at? No, no they are not. I do not want to put out a hate piece and I am simply going to say that Domination2340 does not look like they are an Emerald level player and would probably have a ton more fun in Platinum. Anyways Conduit Sun looks to be a team drafting towards more traditional team fighting. I see lots of engage options, tanks and scaling champions in the mid and ADC role. The top side of the map for this team looks elite Captfil is a talented top laner who is coming off an great season in Tian. Capftil plays mostly towards team fighting but has different ways of approaching from more busier orientated options like Jax and Wukong to the true tank of Ornn and Zac. Protomporh is the other carry for this team and the last time I saw them they were a support main on a bad team. I mean with a 2-1 win over Spire Conduit Sun showed that even without a botlane this top side of the map can win a series.

 Transitioning out of support to Mid Lane ProtoMorph I think will have the biggest impact upon this team. Playing a lot of pro play staples like Ahri, Azir & Galio as well as several more niche picks gives ProtoMorph a champion pool that has both flexibility, the ability to be drafted earlier than the typical mid laner and tons of utility to allow for roams. ProtoMorph has good solo queue stats while mid I just want to see them put the games to get the timings down.

Elysium Encore

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 23 Emerald 4 Average

Player To Watch: Dilly

Another team from Demacia and another team that features a lot of veterans. AquaFelis(aka WaterCat), Dilly and NBK all made playoffs the last time that I covered them and I recognize Duddybrainzz’s name as well. There are a couple of players on this team that are not playing their primary roles. NBK Auqa Felis and SofandaCox69 are all mid-laners primarily and only AquaFelis is playing mid lane for this team. For this entire split NBK has played just 4 games in solo queue as a top laner and SofandaCox69 has just 14 games as a support. It's not just that these 2 players are playing their secondary position but what looks to be their third role so I cannot rate this team any higher than B tier. I think this team will make the top 16 quite easily and probably matches up well with most mid tier teams but do not have the secret sauce to win a championship. With very little solo queue data to go off of the team comps, I can see this team playing are going to be leaning more late game with AquaFelis and Dilly as the primary carries almost always while NBK and Duddybrainzz will take turns being the primary engage and frontline.    

The last time I covered Dilly in season 12 of BOLE he had truly elite stats with a 5.53 KDA, was third in CS at 20 minutes in the entire league and had 70% Kill participation as an ADC. Dilly can play a wide variety of right clickers from Jinx and Kaisa to Varus and Sivir. IDK what else to say Dilly is just a good ADC they would easily have a spot in the top 10 ADC players in BOLE.    

Blue Saber Wolves Reborn

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 27 Emerald 3 Average 

Player To Watch: Mystic

The Blue Saber Wolves are most likely not making it out of this elite Emerald group unfortunately. I think the Blue Saber Wolves are probably somewhere in the C tier of this league. But this is not a group where a weaker C-tier team is making playoffs. The players that I do not recognize from this Blue Saber roster were not exactly powerhouse players playing mostly on teams that failed to make the playoffs and had mediocre stats. But the Blue Saber Wolves are not a bad looking roster. You have a really solid ADC playing with a disengage specialist support a mage that plays a lot of wave clear and an engage jungler paired with a split pusher in the top lane. That right there is a recipe for success and allows plenty of time and opportunity to win games in this league. If we had cross group games I think that this Blue Saber team could really show their stuff. 

Mystic to me is the obvious bright point on this team and the whole roster seems to be built around them. With the ability to have uptime and click on people in front of you while having teammates whose sole focus is keeping you alive I can see Mystic having a better season that a lot of the preconceived top tier ADCs in BOLE. Mystic played 2 very different yet potent lanes last week sticking to the classics and out-damaging his counterpart Dilly both games despite losing both games. If they keep this up and can get their top laner some more playable matchups expect to see Mystic carrying Blue Saber Wolves to some wins.    

SYN TBD

Tier: A

Solo Que Point Total: 25 Emerald 3 Average

All I have to say is that this SYN team looks solid. You have veteran players in every role on this team there will be no random throws from players getting nervous. Almost every player on this roster has the option to play for the weakside and utility like Cally G on Ornn or swapping to strong side and picking Renekton or Camille. My only worry for this team is that Sean in the mid lane plays best when they are able to role swap with their top laner and turn tanks into flex picks. Guo should give this team some of that X-factor carry performance in the jungle allowing Sean to play less damage when they want to without throwing this team into disarray. Just solid engage across the board and players I trust makes me think that SYN TBD is going to make a playoff run this year and I have no issues putting them in my A tier.

Team Mid Only

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 21

Despite their name Team Mid Only there is just 1 mid lane main on this roster no one on this team is auto filled except for EVA the only player I have seen this season who has played every role this season(and has played over 50 games of every role). This is greatly disappointing to me. ImSoCheeky is the only player on this roster that I know from somewhere. As far as how this team fits together and plays I think Team Mid Only is going to try their best to be flexible between Poke Comps and general team fight compositions. Nothing on this Mid Only roster is a standout in a good or bad way. I currently have them in the C tier as I can't see this roster getting past the top 16 and they do not have the issues of a team in the D tier.  

For my player to watch I went with GGNoRematch just because they play interesting counter picks that can change how the map plays out. Sure I am expecting most games that GGNoRematch is in he will be playing the normal picks of Jayce, Ksante and Rumble but the possibility of a Yorick, top lane ADC or some other crazy counterpick is always there.    

Maelstrom Esports

Tier: D

Solo Queue Point Total: 12 

With not a single player I recognize and 80% of this roster currently being hard stuck in platinum(players have sub-40% win rates in the roles they are playing in BOLE) I am not expecting a lot from Maelstrom Esports this year in BOL Emerald. Maelstrom took just 2 towers in their opening series and had some pretty terrible drafts taking hard commits like locking a full dive team into an Ezreal first-pick Everyone on this team is winning their solo queue games by just fighting their opponents and winning skill checks. I am expecting Maelstrom to keep playing this way and I doubt it's going to work they will get snowballed upon so they are a D-tier team to me.

Syndicate Soot Sprites

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 32 Emerald 2 Average

The Soot Spires are a team new to BOL Emearld no one on this roster played in the last season of our league(although I have seen QERW and Thrasherxd56 somewhere). Every player on this roster is in their main role and there are no one tricks here. What we do have is a team that appears to draft counters and execute them well. The Soot Sprite has a dominant 2-0 victory playing 2 very different team compositions one based around disengage and the other a late game team fighting team. Flexibility looks to be the main strength of the Soot Sprites and I can't wait to see what drafts they come up with this year. I am putting the Soot Sprites in my B tier I think they should be one of the better teams coming out of Noxus and I can see them making the top 8 pretty easily.     

Goon Squad Gaming

Tier: D

Solo Queue Point Total: 0 Gold 2 Average

Goon Squad Gaming looks like a team that belongs in BOL Platinum with 2 players that have never reached Emerald before and a team average of Gold 2. No one on this team has auto-filled or role-swapped in the past year so they have that going for them. As far as how the team should play together Goon Squad are drafting towards team fighting and wombo combos. Expect to see this team draft tons of engage and burst whenever possible. The key to this team is how well these players can all synergize with each other. There's not a lot of room for your enemies to outplay when they can't move. But with less than stellar numbers across the board in solo queue in regards to CS and DPM numbers as well as having to fight an uphill battle in terms of talent. I don't know how much lipstick I can put onto a pig Goon Squad Gaming looks like a mess.    

The Shattered Spire

Tier: A

Solo Queue Point Total: 23 Emerald 4 Average 

A team everyone in BOL Emerald should be familiar with The Shattered Spire are once again running back their roster with no changes to their lineup. This team made the finals last season with this roster and was just one game away from being champions. The strength of this team has always been that they play well together with each other. Players know who is getting allocated resources in the game due to their draft and who is the carry. Everyone on this team has a wide champion pool playing both strong-side options and more utility carries. Synthwave and Eros are both very strong carries and I expect them to step it up and carry this team once again. As always try and make sure that you don't hyperfocus in bans while some players may look like one tricks but no one on this roster has a shallow champion pool. The Shattered Spire is one of the teams to be afraid of in a fearless format and with a proven track record I have no problem throwing them in my A tier. 

Bing Chillers Winsons Winions

Tier: S

Solo Queue Point Total: 24 Emerald 4 Average

By name recognition and results in other leagues, I think that this horribly named team is probably my favourite to win BOL this year. Every single player on this roster is a League of Legends addict, they play constantly, engage the community and are all in on winning. Most of these players have played recently in playoffs or collected a chip. As for what to expect from the Winsons I see tons of dives and getting in your face. Expect ADCs that are looking to dive in like Kaisa and Triatana, mid-lane champions that are incredibly mobile like Sylas and Ahri. Winsons Winions are all about fighting often a sort of controlled chaos, getting leads and trying their best to make you play sub-optimally. I am expecting Winons to have a gold lead in most early games and hope that this team does not disappoint me.   

Original Syn

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 23 Emerald 4 Average

Original Syn is another roster full of veteran talent every single player on this roster I have covered before in leagues. I am expecting Original Syn to be a team that is dedicated to the late-game playing champions that scale incredibly hard like Jinx and Syndra in their solo lanes and the rest of the team acting as the engage and frontline. My worry for original Syn is how well their individual carries can perform under pressure both Butrzz and Zedd have always played best when they are the secondary carry on their teams and they are both going to need to step it up this year. As Always Turpz will be a rock in the top lane and ensure that Orignal Syn will have some sort of frontline no matter the game. As far as my tier placement I have Oringal Syn in my B tier as I think they should make playoffs but I doubt this team's ability to step up and be the difference maker. 

Monkeys Manor

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 25 Emerald 3 Average 

When I look at Monkeys Manor I see a team that looks to be a little bit of a mess. This Monkeys Manor team has some individual great players on it but other additions to this roster have me shaking my head in confusion so I have them in my C tier I doubt they get past the top 16. Chinese Spy and Goommi are players that I respect and have seen make playoff runs before I think that they are a great base for a roster to make. Where I am a little confused is the pieces placed around them. MITE is an incredibly aggressive-looking support who looks to play a very heavy roam-focused style not something that meshes well with the low mobility high damage ADCs that Goommi plays. Similary Ferromancy(a role swapped support player) plays generally towards high tempo early ganking junglers something I don't understand when you have solo lanes that are looking to play to scale. This is reflected in their week 1 draft where you have some incredibly disjointed team compositions and I wonder if this team will even make the playoffs in this group.

Ionia

XSV Gluttony

Tier: S

Solo Queue Point Total: 33 Emerald 2 Average 

With one of the highest solo queue point totals in the league and currently having an impressive season in AEL I think that XSV are probably one of the teams I would be hoping to avoid playing in the playoffs. I recognize a few of these players in xBKP and Matty but according to the Aegis stats, everyone on this team is a stud. MelloDelvis is the only player on this roster who is playing an off role being a mid-laner thrust into top lane but with the playstyle of fight to the death they belong up there. As of any great team XSV Gluttony plays several different styles but mostly play towards team fighting. Expect to see lots of AOE wombo combos, hyper carry marksmen and tanks from this team but the ability to draft poke is always an option as well. 

Jolly Rodgers Flying Dutchman

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 13 Platnium 2 Average

Player To Watch: FlowingReaper

This JollyRodgers team looks to be incredibly interesting if nothing else. With a top laner that has a completely off meta champion pool, a diamond mid laner and then 3 warm bodies in the rest of the map I have 0 idea how this roster is going to do. I will start by saying that SuperSqaure and Seraph is probably the worst bot lane pairing I have seen out of any non D tier team as both of them are not really mains of their roles and are playing completely towards utility. SeaCat the teams jungle is another stand in. They have decent stats but with having fallen from plat 1 all the way down to nearly demoting out of gold something is clearly going wrong and are getting forced onto tank engage duty. I have this team in C tier as I think they have the ability to punch up and make it to the playoffs.

The one bright spot on this team is in the mid lane with FlowingReaper. With a 58% winrate in mid, solid CS numbers and doing over 850 DPM in solo queue they look like the real deal. Do I worry that Flowing Reaper seems to only play about 3 mid laners? Yes. Do I worry that they play mostly utility carries and are on a team with 4 mouth breathers? Much more so. If any team lets FlowingReaper get a good pick that's on them scouting this player and by extension, team looks to be a breeze.    

TILT World Enders

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 22 Emearld 4 Average

TILT is a relatively new organization with a ton of wins so every team they field needs to be respected. Is this a TILT team that I think will dominate like the others? No, I doubt they will be World Enders. TILT is a team based completely around mid game skirmishing going for aggressive small-scale fights and trying to ensure that they can end games before they get outsacled. Weatherneck is the spearhead of this team being a player that is going to look for outplays, invades and to try to make the winning play. They have all the backup in the world with Say10 a great early game jungler and Star Burrito they mid lane roaming player. Slater and Neglect in the bot lane will be looking to provide the team more utility and ability to execute dives. I have Tilt in my B tier as I think this roster will make playoffs quite easily but has no shot at actually winning a chip this year. 

TTM Aegaeon

Tier: A

Solo Queue Point Total: 29 Emerald 2 Average 

With an incredibly varied champion pool a high solo queue average and some good-looking KDAs I can see this TTM team taking some teams by surprise. VF Dlambo and SeeU look to be one of the stronger duo lanes in BOL both play a huge variety of champions from engage threat and kill lanes like Samia Leona and Lucain Nami to more scaling-orientated picks like Smolder and Seraphine I think these 2 plays alone qualify TTM as an A tier team. Add on a jungler that plays aggressively and a mid laner with all the right staples as well as the option to flex some ADCS and you would have a team I would throw into the S tier if not for their top laner. I do not think highly of Tauny2k and believe that they will be the weak point of this team. A great Urgot game and then playing a game of Stion shows me that Taunty2k knows that his place on this roster is to be a lane equalizer not a win condition and hope that they can let the rest of this amazing roster shine.   

XSV Greed

Tier: A

Solo Queue Point Total: 26

XSV Greed is another XSV team that looks to have nearly everything you would want for a deep playoff run. Spoobert, Brother Otter and Kazz have been around the block and bring shot calling and leadership to this team. This team has flex picks going for them, front line, scaling team fighters and some more unique picks that teams might not be prepared for like Velkoz and Brand mid. I am expecting XSV Greed to play mostly front to back team compositions with a focus on diving in. Do not be surprised if this team plays towards early game tower demolition style as well. My main concern for this team is how well their early game goes. Greed is like their name and seems to be playing a lot of champions that require resources to function. Teams that can keep the game short against Greed will probably do well. 

Dorado Gaming

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 17

Player To Watch: 

Dorado Gaming was always an organization in the past fielding teams full of ELO sitters and elite talent. This roster does not seem to share the same pedigree of these past rosters and looks to be a team struggling to break into playoffs. Dorado has some pieces that look good individually but dont seem to mesh together into a cohesive team. There is a lot of champion overlap as the top laner, jungler and mid-laner of this team all play top lane in solo queue primarily. Bans are going to be very effective vs this team and AP damage looks like it might be hard to come by. On top of that, none of these players are very tank-oriented and with a bot lane focusing on super late game options and a lack of mobility I am scratching my head to figure out how Dorado plans to play. C tier is where I think this roster belongs as I do not foresee them being able to challenge many teams for playoffs. 

Monkeys Goons

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 19 Emerald 4 Average

Monkeys Goons looks to be a team based around early-game fighting with aggressive jungle options, lane bullies galore and a skirmish-heavy style. I am a little worried about the top side of the map as alvs2 is almost entirely a jungle player having just 21 games as a top laner in solo queue this year. If Monkey Goons can ensure that they are to unlock the map for Rendelamn and allow them to play long side lanes where they can get the farm they need this team has the chance to take wins off of any team. My major worry for the Goons is that there are not a lot of stabilizing forces on this team. There is no typical wave clear mage the ADCs this team looks to favour are short ranged and junglers are more gank focused. If the Goons get behind ever I don't see them making many comebacks. For this reason I have Monkeys Goons sitting solidly in my B tier. Playoffs are for sure in this teams grasp but advancing further than the top 8 looks like a reliance on getting a good matchup.    

Team Solo Invade

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 23 Emearld 4 Average

Team Solo Invade was the late addition to BOL Emearld and has made waves by dropping NitroDax5 as their starting top laner in favor of adding CZI. I also do not understand this teams main roster as they are basically playing without a support player on their team as BaconOP is a much better ADC than their current listed ADC. I think Solo Invade is just going to try and play competitively like they do in solo queue. Expect to see a lot of risky mid lane picks from Sinja in the mid lane like Zed, Karatrina and Leblanc paired with an aggressive team fighting junglers like Viego and Wukong. CZI as always will play whatever the counter pick on U.gg tells them is good that game. Honestly Team Solo Invade has a chance to make playoffs. There is talent on this roster and with the moves they have already made who knows how this team will shape up.   

Freljord

Chosen Inters

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 15 Plat 1 Average

The Chosen Inters are a team where I know a lot of their players which is not something I can say about a lot of the team in the Freljord. Soez Slayer Jinx and DevilsRizen are all players I have seen compete before in BOLE on Kittens with Mittens playing with a former sub and a new ADC. What little we saw of Chosen last year was not great they went 0-2 with a 1.55 KDA. The Kittens last year were a surprise to most of us when they were able to make a push to get into the playoffs. I think they are in a similar spot this year as a C-tier team having a chance to make playoffs but being first-round exits if they do get there. Expect this team to draft for counter picks when possible throwing Slayer Jinx and DevilsRizen out early to try and secure good lane matchups. The Chosen Inters are playing towards team fights mostly there are no crazy off the wall picks on this team just fundamentals.   

Golden Geese

Tier: D

Solo Queue Point Total: 4 Plat 3 Average

Best of luck this season! The Golden Geese as far as I can tell are here to get their eggs taken away from them every week and to angrily squawk at the teams beating their asses. Most of this team looks like they should be in BOL Platnium with just 2 players in | Amp | and I Am Bubble having been in Emerald this year. It does not help that BlueKarma4 the team jungler is a Gold ADC player with a 24% win rate in the jungle this year. Everywhere I look on this Golden Geese roster I just continue to see problems so into the D tier they go.    

AK Hearts

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 21 Emerald 4 Average 

The AK Hears have returned yet again running back their roster. AK Hearts are a real team, they have some of the best individual talents in BOL Emearld. XSoccer25X was the MVP of the regular season according to the stats last year and Okami in the mid lane is easily a top 3 mid laner in BOL Emerald having hard carried several games on their signature picks. But this team does have issues like their reliance on certain picks making them worse as a series continues, their inability to win 2-0 and well the fact that Raijin is on this roster as they are a fill player. But with such highs and a really weak group I can see AK Hearts coming out near the top of the Freljord beating a weak team from another group and making the top 8 so into the B tier they go. 

Bloom Gaming Wisteria

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 17

Player To Watch: Wren

With the support finalists from last years BOLE and some other veterans Bloom Gaming has fielded a decent roster this year. As we can see some from the first series that this team played Bloom Gaming is all in on their bot lane. Wren was Him last week and had a ridiculous series farming 9 CS a minute and dealing over 1000 damage a minute because he had a team of tanks to peel him with no damage and supports to keep him alive. Gabriel Leo took some of the pressure off and was a real player in game 2 but will have to continue to step up if Bloom Gaming wants a shot. With a solid plan it remains to be see if the ADC and 4 wards strategy will work. Teams have crashed and burned multiple times in BOL trying it but maybe Bloom Gaming can pull it off.  

Glacial Spectre

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 20 Emerald 4 Average 

Player To Watch:

Glacial Spectre are a hard team to judge with some issues. Spectre has a top laner who is auto filled, an ADC player who is listed on their main roster that is worse than their bench player an almost exclusively AP jungler and a fill player in mid. This team did beat AK Hearts last week with a dominant game 3 win but looked shaky in their game 1 win and got thrashed in game 2. Glacial Spectre drafted for teamfights in all 3 games taking engage and frontline from their jungle and mid while trying out counter picks top lane. Grimgar had a fantastic series and we will have to wait and see if teams figure out the draft linchpins on this team.    

Definitely Not Hurkan

Tier: D

Solo Queue Point Total: 20 Emerald 4 Average 

Player To Watch:

Definitely Not Hurkan is a team I do not believe much in. With basically 4 support players 2 being off role in Sore Emperor and Winfree as well as KappaOne who plays support more than jungle and not having a high team ELO I think Definitely Not Hurkan are going to struggle to be competitive this season in BOL Emerald. It is a really bad look when you play in week 1 with 2 subs. My other issue is the drafts for Definitely Not Hurkan made little sense there was very little cohesion mostly it was picks that were good in lane. All eyes will be on Kappa One Tonight as NwE Kaylor had a terrible series last week as their jungle. 

Conduit Gremlins

Tier: B

Solo Queue Point Total: 15 Platinum 1 Average 

Conduit Gremlins I think are the obvious pick to emerge from this group as the number 1 seed. If they do not I will be dismayed as there is everything you need for a good team here. Mei, GVG, Vidrathi and Penei are all playoff level players who can step up. Aes is the new player to me and a mid lane main I hope they enjoy getting put onto tank duty. Why on Earth LordiSama the terror of BOL last year and Omega Carry is not the starting top laner I have no idea. Conduit as a team looks to be flexible drafting things that make sense together. Have Viego on our team okay we draft lanes that provide CC and tons of burst damage to get the reset train rolling. Enemy team picks all disengage Conduit pivots to pick champions and trying to create small-scale skirmishes. Vidyarthi should be able to provide whatever Mei wants to ensure that Conduit can play through their bot side of the map and watch Pinei nessa poha to hard carry from the jungle with GVG acting as their helper. 

No Quarter Gaming

Tier: C

Solo Queue Point Total: 30 Emerald 2 Average 

Player To Watch:

No Quarter Gaming has never done well as an organisation. Hoping to break the curse this roster has mostly new names the only player I recognize being Muzzrah. I will be honest I do not like this NQG roster for the most part. This team is very early game focused with assassin mid laners, a very aggressive jungle pool of Rek'Sai and Pantheon jungle with a top laner that is also entirely AD focused. I see very little wave clear and AP options for NQG. With their loss in week due to being unable to kill an immobile carry for basically 2 games straight it shows me that NQG is uncoordinated. Maybe Yogi and Kindred Hot Picks can play more to their style and blow a game open but as a team getting forced to adapt to a way they do not like to play I worry that NQG will miss playoffs in an easy group.