Hello everyone it is time for playoffs and the yapping to commence. If anyone has not seen the bracket it will be shown below. For those who are wondering how was seeding decided here is a brief summary: The 1st seeds were all asked to list in order the fourth seeds that they wanted to play from other divisions. The 1st seed with the most points overall(The Shattered Spire) was given their first pick, the next highest seed Monkeys Reformed was given the same and finally Tilt Esports was left with just 1 team left that they could play in OEE drawing them giving XG Mint. The second seed teams were given a random draw to decide the third seed that they played.
My article today is going to be going over my thoughts on all 16 teams briefly talking about their team's overall style of play and who I worry about on every team for Fearless Best of Fives when champion pools get pinched(The Shallow Pooler).
Tier 1 Seeds
The Shattered Spire(Demacia)

Shallow Pooler: Eros and Synthwave
End Of Season Record: 12-1 39 Points
The Shattered Spire were nearly unstoppable in the Demacia Division losing only a single game in the regular season to AK Hearts and otherwise dismantling their competition. The Shattered Spire generally played towards the top side of the map this season in BOLE with Synthwave their top laner generally given counter pick. TSS played for the 1st set of Grubs nearly every game but would be happy to trade the second set for a Dragon. The Shattered Spire drafts did have some variance throughout the season some games Synthwave played a couple of tanks but Witchatblakmass and Wanderer at support generally had the most variance in their champion pools picking champions that complemented each other. When Witchatblakmass when playing for aggression on Xin Zhao and Olaf would have Wanderer play enchanters like Sona or Karma to turn Witchatblakmass into a raid boss. When Witchatblakmass was playing more engage and team fights with picks like Maokai and Amumu Wanderer would play more towards follow up engage as Boostus would play a hyper carry. Eros in the mid-lane spent the season on control mages that specialize in shoving waves playing lots of Azir, Talyiah and Hwei with some other control mages scattered in here and there. Boostus the team's ADC played much towards utility and weakside this season playing lots of Ashe, Jihn and Searphine with a couple of games of Jinx as well when TSS needed a hard carry.
The Shallow Pooler award for TSS is really hard to give out as the team generally stuck to the same picks nearly the entire season. The Shattered Spire did play fewer games than almost every other team and did not really need to show off anything as they kept winning but every player on this team(other than Wanderer) had 5 champions picked the entire season or less. I said early on in my power rankings that I do not think Fearless would be kind to TSS and it does not look like many teams tried to take advantage of our format no team this season spent more than 2 bans to a single lane of TSS. For example would what happen in game 2 of a series if TSS picked Azir in game 1 and you ban Hwei, Talyiah, and Ahri and what is Eros playing? A low-mobility control mage appears to be the answer like Orianna or Syndra that you can chain gank and take out of the game. The same applies to top lane if Synthwave is not playing Jayce, Mordekaiser or Camille what is his top laner pool? Are we afraid of Shen and Pantheon top or a Darius counter pick? Round 2 you get 2 more bans and Synthwave has picked his champion in the first rotation just 4 times and is blinding picks THERE ARE HARD COUNTERS FOR.
Monkeys Reformed(Ionia)

Shallow Pooler: Ferromancy
End Of Season Record: 12-2 38 Points
Monkeys Reformed are coming into playoffs as the tournament favourites it is fair to say. Having a dominant record in the hardest group is truly impressive and I believe that Reformed is the team that will make the finals for the left side of the bracket. On top of their regular season, Reformed also puts in the time in solo queue their team has by far the most games this split. Monkeys Reformed is the team that has played the most varied team compositions this year. Every player on this team has played a different type of game at least once and Refomed has picked the most unique champion this season of any team. To give you an example of how flexible Reformed is the team’s top laner Fourth Espada in one series played weakside tank in Ornn, into a team fight flanker in Kennen and finished the series playing split push as Fiora. The same is true of Mid where Codis(aka Retail Row or whatever stupid Fortnite name they are using) has played tanks, artillery mages, ADCS, AD Mids and Assians this season. They are also performing while playing these random one off picks the lowest KDA on Reformed is a 3.45 from their top laner Fourth Espada(that is also the third highest KDA of every top laner who played more than one series).
As far as a shallow pooler I do not think that Reformed really has one… Ferromancy at support is about the only person who you can potentially “ban out” as they only play about 5 supports with any sort of regularity and are mostly a Rell 1 trick in solo queue. But Ferromancy has played 18 supports this year in ranked and 10 supports in BOLE so that's probably not happening.
Tilt Esports(Freljord)

Shallow Pooler: CTRL ULT ELITE
End Of Season Record: 11-2 37 Points
So I do not like to write about the teams I play on or myself as it feels egotistical. So the section on Tilt will be shorter. TILT is a team that plays around team fighting and snap engagement. The main carry for them is odd as TILT extensively plays through their jungler Rat Queen Delilah who plays much more towards carries than most junglers in BOLE. AlbinoSunBear in the mid lane often plays champions with gank assistance or skimrishing power to set up mid-game plays allowing the bot lane of Butrzz and CaCollin to ramp up and dominate in Team Fights. CTRL ULT ELITE in the top lane plays on an isolated island in most matchups simply content to farm and out-team fight his opposition.
I have the shallow champion pool top lane on this team as all of my teammates are freaks and play a huge variety of champions. It should come as no secret to just about anyone that I generally stick to tank top laners and have for several seasons. I have the shallow pool on this team by playing about 7 champions constantly but like everyone have some pocket picks.
XG Rataoskr(Noxus)

Shallow Pooler: Kazz
End Of Season Record: 11-2 37 Points
In my week 4 article covering XG I was not exactly flattering in my review of this team but XG made it in as the first seed in Noxus dropping just 2 games to TFF. XG as a team who won almost every game they played has some insane team stats like a 4.74 teamwide KDA, the most gold a minute generated of any team, the most inhibitors taken a game of any team in BOLE, 8.2 towers taken a game(third overall). XG did not have a standout lane as everyone stood playing their squirrel out from Spoobert in the top lane to Mcfeeds at support. As far as drafting XG generally drafted more reactively trying to ensure that they were countering whomever they were playing. Enemy team have lots of engage threats? XG drafts champions incredibly hard to dive into like Braum, Sivir and Gragas. The enemy is going for side lane threats XG takes hard engage combinations like Jarvan Ziggs, or Yasuo combos. Counterpick on this team was generally given to OFT27 who probably was the team's MVP overall this split but you could honestly give it to anyone.
As far as the Shallow Pooler Kazz seems like the potential weak link for XG. Kazz was the jungler for XG in 4 series and played just 4 champions Lilia, Jarvan, Kayn and Viego across 9 games. Kazz also does not play much jungle in solo queue they have just 23 games in the role on 3 champions and their last jungle game was over 3 weeks ago.
Tier 2 Seeds
ELY On Ice(Freljord)

Shallow Pooler: Kpepps
End Of Season Record: 9-6 31 Points
ELY On Ice crashed out in the final two weeks of BOLE. After beating Tilt and the rest of their season being Mint and HydroPump (two teams that were not in the playoff race) everyone assumed this team would cruise to an easy first place and finish the season as one of the highest-rated teams. Instead EOI went 1-4 in their last 2 weeks losing 2-1 to Mint and then was swept by HydropPump Zebra a team that had been swept by every other Freljord team besides the Thunder Raptors. Was this tactical throwing on the side of ICE to avoid playing against OEE? Maybe it was and if so I applaud their acting they looked like dog water in their last 2 series of the year. But the last 2 weeks was not ICE's whole season. ICE had the best team stats of everyone in the league in week 5 they were so good in fact that ICE finished the season with a team wide 4.05 KDA(6th) thanks to the fact that ICE had the 2nd least deaths a game of any team in BOLE, they took the 2nd most dragons of any team, and have a top 5 CS a minute score as a team. ICE played back to front team compositions most of this season relying on Dilly and Naysayer (ADC and Mid respectively) to outperform other damage dealers using Kpepps as their main tank alongside Rudy310 at support. CZI in the top lane played either split push when given red side counter pick or frontline tanks when on blue side.
The only person on ICE that might struggle with Fearless is Kpepps in the jungle. It is not that Kpepps has only 5 champion picks but every other member of ICE has over 30 champion picks in solo queue whereas Kpepps has about 10 champions they play. Am I worried about Kpeeps not at all but maybe they are forced to play a jungler they have less confidence in as most of the time Kpepps sticks to the S-tier tank junglers.
Syndicate Crashouts(Noxus)

Shallow Pooler: Frozen Supds
End Of Season Record: 10-3 35 Points
Syndicate Crashouts are an interesting team their team that is totally built around getting a lead from their landing phase and winning off of it. Ehese players tilt like there is no tomorrow but holy God damn fuck are they good at laning. Syndicate have made some roster changes throughout the year replacing their top laner Stuckk Darro and adding a new jungler as well in IceIceBabyLOL. These players fit in the Crashouts style of fight to the death kill them all like God's sort them out that syndicate has developed. There are not many other teams in the league playing picks that require you to be ahead other than the Crashouts. Akshan, Yasuo mid, Riven and Jayce Top Lane and Master Yi, Rengar jungle are just some of the picks that I expect from Crashout. The weakness of the Crashouts is that if they lose they lose hard. In the 3 losses the Crashouts had this year they had less than half the towers they normally take(3 towers taken in losses vs 8.2 in wins) and a teamwide 2.31 KDA in losses compared to their 4.27 KDA overall this year(4th overall). The crashouts are a blood thirsty team they finished BOLE regular season with the most kills of any team and are 2nd in kills a game.
As far as the shallow pooler I think it's Frozen Spuds. Frozen Spuds himself does not have a weak champion pool but Spuds is getting drafted melee engage supports every game. Spuds has played one game of non-engage melee support this season as Soraka every other games Spuds has been playing hook supports all season. I think that taking Spuds off of engage and forcing Stuckk darro to play more weakside focused is something that teams will look to try and do in the playoffs.
AK Hearts(Demacia)

Shallow Pooler: Florgato
End Of Season Record: 10-6 32 Points
AK Hearts are an odd team as they are a team that has a clear weakness despite being a second seed. AKH has had a bad bot lane this season of BOLE. Florgato and Raijin have started to play more and more towards utility as the season has progressed and Florgato is currently the lowest-rated player in playoffs taking the most damage of any ADC this season. But why is AK Hearts in second seed if they have such a bad bot lane? AK Hearts top side of the map with Okami mid lane, XSoccer25X in the jungle and Sychoghost have started to step up and play carries to get this team over the finish line. AKH has played and I think will continue to play around this mid jungle duo. If Synchghost in the top lane continues to play more of the secondary carry style on split pushers expect XSoccer25X to play more engage and frontline but be wary of XSoccer25X’s Kindred and carries. Okami I think is probably a top tier mid laner and I would ban Asol every game I could.
As far as the shallow pooler award it has got to go to Florgato. Florgato was more or less a Smolder 1 trick this year in solo queue and looked horrendous the one game he got his hands on the pick. Florgato has very few ADC games this season they have played a lot of Seraphine and the ADCS that Florgato are playing is much more around utility like Varus and Ashe. I really worry about Florgato in later games are they going to start playing Hwei and Lux to provide utility it is what Florgato is practicing.
Conduit Gremlins(Ionia)

Shallow Pooler: N/A
End Of Season Record: 11-6 33 Points
The Gremlins coming into this year I rated as one of the biggest potential dark horses and they have proved it. GREM is a team defined by their solo lanes it is fair to say LordiSama and yoloswagftwR have had some of the highest highs in BOLE. NotSoDark and Viyarthi have not been slouches either but they are the weakside effectively on this roster playing most games on ADCs like Jihn Ashe and Seraphine. It's reflected in the stats where NotSoDark is doing less damage a minute than almost everyone on this GREM roster less than their jungler and considerably less(around 30%) than their solo lanes and finishing the game with gold deficits on average. The jungler of GREM is playing whatever the team needs mostly playing front line champions that like to engage. LordiSama is the one of this team making a lot of the differences and they are doing it in an incredibly risky matter. LordiSama has some of the highest damage-a-minute numbers among top laners but is also taking the most damage-a-minute of any playoff player. YoloswagftwR has been dominant more or less their entire season and has only played Anivia more than once this season and has over 7 kills a game on average.
For the Shallow Pooler of the Gremlins it is hard to choose someone. Everyone on this team has played over 7 unique champions this season and teams are banning picks that GREM actually play. I don't really know who you can effectively pinch on this team I can make a case on focusing on NotSoDark and banning weakside options but that probably completely screws your top side of the map.
Tier 3 Seeds
TTM Ageon(Freljord)

End Of Season Record: 8-5 31 Points
TTM has become a new team since the introduction of FallN in the jungle becoming a team very similar to Tilt Esports. TTM is playing with tank top laners, mid lanes who can get priority and skirmish and jungle carry kingdom. Necro and Seeu the teams bot lane duo have played a very wide variety of champions and mostly are playing towards utility and range but Necro is willing to pull out Vaybe at the drop of a hat. TTM has some of the lower team stats they are making less gold than most teams in a longer time thanks to their low CS a minute scores overall.
Monkey Fever(Ionia)

End Of Season Record: 9-5 32 Points
Monkey Fever is the team that I think has the most worries heading into best of 5 fearless. If this league was not fearless I think Fever would probably be one of the favourites but with the team unable to repeat picks and having such easy to scout and draft later games in a series will be a huge problem for Fever. Fever as a team generally plays towards mig game power spikes instead of full scaling often relying on Saelor their jungler to hard carry fights with champions like Viego and Graves. Maze and Metal929 in the bot lane generally play much more towards weakside looking to play for late game but have never really carried. Maze has the lowest kills a game of almost any ADC they are listed as a support thanks to their Senna and Seraphine games. Turpz and EvilZara are both veterans to provide the shotcalling.
Spire Cats(Noxus)

End Of Season Record: 9-4 31 Points
The SpireCats are a team defined by POOPSOCKSBOSSMAN at ADC. The guys stats are ridiculous and no one else on this team generally has stepped up against the real teams that they have played. I thought Storm in the top lane would be playing some split push threats but has been regulated to tank duty where they are struggling. Watercat in mid is trying their best but when you have 2 picks that you play no matter what and most of yor mastery on teams are generally no longer surprised by the Serpahine and Zoe mid.
TFF Aftershock(Demacia)

End Of Season Record: 9-5 32 Points
TFF is easily the best third seed now that they have a roster together. However is it playoffs and now we get into the territory of can a Rutledge team make a playoff run? Keorra is the other player to watch out for on this team. They are a little more cautious than I want to see but have great positioning giving them some insane stats. Wock Warlock in the top lane is playing for dominance ojn picks like Illaoi. Make sure you have some sort of plan cooked up to ensure that Mid game is not a disaster vs this Team.
Tier 4 Seeds
Final Boss Alpha(Noxus)

End Of Season Record: 7-9 26 Points
Final Boss Alpha has the worst record of every team in playoffs barely making it in over their sister team and the Star Weavers in Noxus. Alpha is a team defined by two players to me LIMBLESS FREAK at ADC and Doctor Shrouds in the mid-lane. I am not a huge fan of Doctor Shrouds but they have done well when playing against other Noxus teams. The test remains to be see if they can compete against upper emerald mid laners as Zuiy and OFT27 both dumpstered Docotr Shrouds. LIMBLESS FREAK and Spicy Tuna Fish is the lane that has looked best in the wins for this team on various picks like KogMaw and MF wombo combo setups.
Kittens With Mittens(Demacia)

End Of Season Record: 7-7 28 Points
KWM made playoffs by beating AK Hearts by staking their bot lane and playing for tempo. This team has had a lot of roster issues this season and I hope that they have found a roster that they are comfortable with coming into playoffs. SoEz in the top lane I hope is given more time to shine and not relgetaed to Ornn duty as his Darius and Renketon have both been major power picks for this squad. The other 3 members of this team have all changed at various points of this season so who knows who shows up?
Optimal Esports Enigma(Ionia)

End Of Season Record: 7-7 28 Points
The Boogyman of the fourth seeds Optimal is the super team stacked to win a title. The only worry for Optimal is that they are running an autofilled Jungler All Gucci is playing another role yet again stepping out of the bot lane to ensure that OEE is playoff ready. Sean and Yeetloaf the two swapping mid and top laners play tons of annoying champions and effectively making bans much harder to annicipate vs this squad. Civil was brough in as the ADC superstar mercenary that OEE needed as Enviy at support is a dedicated enchater player looking to magnify the talents of whoever is bot lane. Expect this team to play for back to front fights with Sean as a dedicated tank.
Mint Gaming Mafia(Freljord)

End Of Season Record: 7-7 28 Points
Mint Gaming is a team with a new coach who are looking to show that their upset over ELY was not ELY throwing but Mint playing well. This team has had tons of issues with substitutions even in their last week playing Mint had their third top lane sub play this season. Him and Mollywhopps have been the rock for Mint, Him especially has shown up big for the squad and hopefully Molly can be rangled into the right position to give Him the space he needs to carry. Kappaone and Inguyen have both had flashes of brilliance this season but mostly have been average.
Predictions
Left Side
The Shattered Spire(Tier 1 Seed Demacia) Vs. Final Boss Alpha(Tier 4 Seed Noxus)
My Predictions: 3-0 The Shattered Spire
I honestly feel that Final Boss Alpha might as well be a bye for this first round this team is not playoff competitive. Alpha has the worst stats of every team in the playoffs and worse stats than some eliminated teams as well. They have more deaths a game that kills on average, 4 towers taken a game while having one the longest average win time showing they do not know how to close out a game cleanly. The Shattered Spire has been beating up on teams like this all season in Demcaia so tonight should be no different then normal. There is no superstar player for TSS to look out for Alpha is a mediocre team.
Ely On Ice Vs. Monkey Fever
My Predictions: 3-2 ELY On Ice
If ELY gets their act together and does not play like Riot Enforced Solo Queue Loss Agents they should have this series. Monkeys Fever is a team that will start strong I am convinced will blow all of their supposed power picks early and falter as the series continues. With tons of Flex picks Fever are going to burn through what they are strong and good at and I do not believe that they can go the distance just like against conduit. ELY is a team that studied and produced some great drafts when given time and I am confident that they are going to have counters prepared like they did when they Played Tilt.
Monkeys Reformed Vs. Kittens With Mittens
My Predictions: 3-0 Monkeys Reformed
KWM is another team that I do not believe is real and should not put up any sort of a realistic fight against Reformed. The best player on this Kittens roster Pisi is going against Paca Paul of Reformed who is easily an all pro lock in and probably a top 3 jungler in BOLE this season. The Kittens do not have the overall team synergy together either this team has played with tons of different players using over 5 subs as the season has gone on and KWM has the worst KDA of every playoff team at 2.58. Reformed is simply going to win this game in the laning phase and take over by the third dragon I predict without fail.
Syndicate Crashouts Vs. TTM Aegeon
My Predictions: 3-1 Syndicate Crashouts
The Crashouts I think have the best early game potential out of any team in BOLE and match up inceridbly well against TTM. TTM is a team that is also all about the early game fights and skimishes trying to get FallN ahead so that they can flank and find angles to one shot players. But Crashouts are going to fight invade and not give TTM the time that they need to scale. Eveylnn is not exactly an expert early game duelist and this follows the trend on a lot of the picks that TTM favors.
Right Side
Tilt Esports Vs. Optimal Esports Enigma
My Predictions: N/A
As the top laner of Tilt I do not enjoy writing about my own team and refrain from making predictions.
AK Hearts Vs. TFF Aftershock
My Predictions: 3-2 TFF
I feel that this is probably the closest series out of the entire first round. Both of these teams have insane strengths but I favor TFF as I think that they have a more consistent bot lane. Wock Warlock should have a hard time just bullying Sychoghost as both play rather niche counter picks and side lane champions. Where this series of course will be decided however is in the mid lane. Both Okami and Rutledge share champions and are the premiere carriers for their teams so expect most of the roams and bans to target here. AK Hearts should have a stronger 2v2 mid early but I am unsure if they will be able to effectively shut down Rutledge and Keorra as the game goes on and one will wreak havoc that lives.
XG Rataoskr Vs. Mint Gaming Mafia
My Predictions: 3-1 XG
I do not believe in Mint Gaming or XG very much but Mint has lost so much more and I do not know who is showing up. XG has at least shown with the Noxus beatdown streak that they know how to close out games where they get leads. Mint has struggled a lot when behind early so XG seems like the clear and easy favorite to me. Expect Dragon to be the point of contention this game not Grubs as Mint heavily prizes and plays whenever possible for soul point. Mint is coming into this series with some swagger they did win against ELY and XG lost their last series so I would not be surprised to see Mint take an early lead in this series.
Conduit Gremlins Vs. The Spire Cats
My Predictions: 3-1 Conduit Gremlins
Conduit I think is probably the best team on the right side of the bracket and I would predict them to beat almost every team in BOLE. The Soire Cats I do not think match up very well either. CATS are relying on POOPSOCKSBOSSMAN and trying to play flights slowly as possible. GREM on the other hand has the fastest average game in BOLE playing at the point of the game where ADCs are weakest and ineffective without their items. GREM has played a lot of champions that can 1 shot someone as well like Fizz and Xearth. I think sadly that Storm is going to get absolutely gapped in one game where they attempt to match skill playing Jax into Camille or something similar and then be relegated to Malhpite and Ornn giving LordiSama all the time and space to farm up. If GREM does not take these games early I think that the CATS can make it back in off the back of their deathball but I worry as the series continues how effective that deathball will be and what it will do when GREM splits the map.
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