BOL Emerald Week 3

Hello again everyone and welcome back to another official edition of the Storm Watch. First of all sorry to the members of The Shattered Spire for not crediting your team with the finals win last season. That is my mistake and something I should have tried harder to have found before including misinformation. To any other teams that are mad about where I placed you feel free to be mad I will revisit power rankings in week 5(3 weeks from now). Come on otter talk to discuss things and fill out the content form for next week. 

As far as today's content piece we will have a more normal article going over my predictions for next week. Next week's article will be heavily focused on content replies from the people so please fill out the Google form when I post it!  

Mint Crashouts(1st Seed with 12 Points) Vs. Elysium Encore(4th Seed with 9 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 For Mint Crashouts

Lane To Watch: Mid Lane 

Mint has yet to drop a game this year in BOLE currently and have 4 of their players in the top 20 in stats in the league so they are the easy favourites coming into tonight's matchup. As I talked about in my primer when everything is going well Mint Crashouts are probably one of the best teams in the league and specifically are pub stompers being able to simply out lane most teams ensuring that the games they play are one sided. I will probably predict the Crashouts to 2-0 every team that do not have incredible laners. Elysium Encore I am expecting to struggle in this matchup as NBK and SodandaCox69 have not looked great this season both have over 5 deaths a game on average already and I feel these two players weaknesses will get exploited.

WaterCat Vs Zuiy is a hype matchup for me. Both are incredibly good at laning and knowing when they can push their own individual leads to get solo kills and have a meaningful impact in a game. Both teams rely on their mid laners to roam and impact the map so I kind of doubt that we will see a Karma vs Viktor matchup where both simply sit back and scale. I am expecting both teams to path towards the mid lane and ensure that they can get their own mid laner ahead to deal with the enemy ADC.    

Monkeys Cheers(2nd Seed with 10 Points) Vs. Conduit Sun(2nd Seed with 10 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 For Monkeys Cheers

Lane To Watch: Bot Lane

So why do I have two teams that are tied in points currently at 2-0? I think that Conduit Sun is in for a rude awakening this evening as they have played easily the two weakest teams in this group that have some flaws the Blue Saber Wolves and Draconic Spire and were unable to get the heavy wins that they need. Monkeys Cheers have the same record as this team playing 2 much stronger teams in Elusim Encore and Monkeys Paw. The other reason I have this series as a 2-0 is that I think these teams are very close to one another in how they play. ADCs that hyper carry, wave clear mid laners and frontline from your jungle and top lane. I just think that every individual player I trust more for Monkeys Cheers.

 I am not expecting that Domination2340 of Conduit Sun will continue to impress they will have less space and be focused harder. All Fire has shown that they are willing to switch it up and play a mage bot laner into less mobile enemies and I cannot imagine how you play the game as Aphelios into a poke lane it just sounds miserable. 

SYN TBD(5th Seed with 7 Points) Vs. Monkeys Paw(7th Seed with 5 Points)

My Prediction: 2-1 For SYN TBD

Well the good news for Monkeys Paw is that after their series this evening, they will have played arguably the 3 best teams in their group and should be able to bounce back. The bad news for Monkeys Paw is that I am pretty sure that they are going to start BOLE with a 0-3 record. Last week was not much of a contested series Monkeys Paw got outplayed pretty severely by the crashouts. Monkeys Paw needs to learn how to play from behind every one of their 4 losses are huge gapped games where the team is unable to get any objectives. They are averaging just 1 tower taken a game in their losses and 1 dragon. SYN has at least looked human in their losses and is as I predicted just a solid good team. Sean has been the standout player for SYN so far but both teams have had struggles. I think that SYN TBD has a more flexible draft and will be able to win games the later this series go but I think Monkeys Paw has their chance to use power picks early to pick up a win before their champion pools get pinched.

Draconic Spire(6th Seed with 6 Points) Vs. Blue Saber Wolves Reborn(7th Seed with 5 Points)

My Prediction: 2-X For X

Lane To Watch: Jungle 

Despite both of these teams being bottom of the table this matchup is incredibly important. Even though we are just entering week 3 this series has huge playoff implications. A win here can be the turnaround point, a comeback for your season and a loss here I feel all but eliminates your playoff chances. As far as who I think will win this evening I feel that the Blue Saber Wolves are a much more cohesive team overall and I think they should win if they can keep their draft to their teams strengths. Draconic Spire is still drafting towards individuals and less as a team. Their team compositions often have holes like no clear engagement or a lack of frontline or late picks that are simply lane counters and do not make sense overall in their team. Mystic for Blue Saber with tanks in front of him I still firmly believe in and I want to see that game plan I think it will be a winning combination this evening.   

The lane to watch is just a player to watch Saelor for Draconic Spire is easily the best player on the rift in this series tonight and is being given the draft resources to play towards it. If your team needs 13 kills on Wukong Jungle to win a game by god Saelor will come through and do it.  

Monkeys Manor(8 Points) Vs. Team Mid Only(4 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 For Monkeys Manor

Team Mid Only has some of the worst KDAs in the league currently with no one having above a 2.0 KDA on this team and no one is doing over 500 DPM despite having games that are going over 30 minutes and are without a win. So I am more looking towards Monkeys Manor who proved last week that they can beat bad teams and was able to fix some of their drafting problems. I do think that there is a lot of room for Team Mid Only to take a win as that would involve them winning early and they seem to have started drafting toward late game threats and ensuring that they have scaling options.   

Maelstrom Esports(4 Points) Vs. Bing Chillers Winson’s Winions(9 Points)

Maelstrom was unable to play this matchup and chose to forfeit this series giving Winsons Winions the victory. 

Syndicate Soot Sprites(11 Points) Vs. Goon Squad Gaming( 4 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 For Syndicate Soot Sprites

I have no idea what Goon Squad gaming is cooking in their draft and frankly, I want no part of it. Why the hell are we playing Soraka Taric botlane when we have a team dedicated to burst? Why are we last picking Morgana and Xayah into Jinx Braum? Needless to say Goon Squad gaming has numerous issues as I thought and look to be waving their playoff hopes goodbye. On the other hand the Soot Sprites are coming into tonight's matchup off a great comeback in their game 3 against Winsons Winions last week and have shown that they have a dedicated strategy that can be played for an entire series that the team is confident in. This team trusts one another and is willing to commit to a risky play I think that tonight is a good chance to try out some new compositions and pick up what should be an easy 2-0 victory.  

The Shattered Spire(1st Seed with 12 Points) Vs. Original Syn(1st Seed with 12 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 For The Shattered Spire

Both Original Syn and The Shattered Spire have had a really easy road so far playing only the bottom teams in their division and winning every game that they have played. Both teams beat Mid Only quickly and had overwhelming gold leads in their victories. Both teams have the majority of their team in the top 20 players in the league as well so comparing player stats is not worth doing. So why do I have the Shattered Spire to win this series? It's not just that they are the returning champions playing with the entirely same roster. It is the fact that The Shattered Spire is a team built for Fearless and Original Syn is not. We all know going into tonight and every night what champions Original Syn is prioritizing and where picks are going to end up. There are no flex picks we will see a Diana that is going in the jungle Zedd is not playing that mid-lane. With the Shattered Spire everyone on this team takes turns playing as the strong side of the map and can adjust in the draft something I do not think Original Syn can.   

Team Solo Invade(11 Points) Vs. Dorado Gaming(9 Points)

My Prediction: 2-1 For Team Solo Invade

Lane To Watch: Mid

I called out at the beginning of the year that this Solo Invade team made no sense looking like a team of randoms and had some harsh words for Just RJ saying that they should be replaced. And this team is making me eat my words so far they are playing risky champions but are not afraid to throw some draft curveballs like Jungle Shen to give Smoke some incredible lane matchups. Just RJ is also playing very well making the most gold a minute of any player in BOLE and having some of the highest CS numbers. Dorado on the other hand is doing just as I thought they would but are playing better than I gave them credit for. Dorado is playing with tons of utility from their bot lane, staple mid laners and effective ganking junglers. I think it will be interesting to see how this teams year develops but with constant fighting this team has been able to avoid the late game so far and will probably thrive. I think Solo Invade just matches up well against Dorado and is the main reason I have the winning this series. Playing staple mage mid laners means that Sinja should have a field day with counterpicks mid lane playing to get solo kills and cary the game.

Streamed Match: XSV Greed(9 Points) Vs. Tilt World Enders(7 Points)

My Prediction: 2-1 XSV Greed

Lane To Watch: Top Lane

As the Steamed game of the evening we have an incredibly interesting matchup. Both XSV Greed and Tilt are teams that I and others(Like Espada) predicted to be fighting towards the top spots in this group and both teams have taken a loss already in their group. XSV Greed with 9 points had an incredibly close series with their sister team XSV Gluttoney in week 1 but in game 3 were unable to get deal with the poke but had a dominant win over the Jolly Rogers. Every game Tilt has played has been a stomp for them or against them. Just look at the kills in thier games Tilt has 45 kills in their 2 wins and in their 3 losses the team has just 20 kills. The deaths tell a similar story with the team dying just 12 times in thier wins and having 60 deaths in thier losses. Momentum is a hard thing to ignore and with a crushing defeat the week before I worry about how Tilit will play this evening and if they will be afraid to pick their more risky champions and instead try to play safe despite having red side counter pick in games 1 and 3.        

Just looking at the stats between players on this team and 1 thing immediately jumps out. Weatherneck the top laner of Tilt World Enders is the lowest-rated player currently in BOL Emerald who has a game win sitting in the bottom 10 players in the league(number 149) according to the stats and is number 28 when you sort by top laners. Spoobert the top lane is in the top 50 by comparison out of all players, is number 3 among top laners and has always been one of the better Emerald players. Spoobert can stonewall matchups with their tank play and disengage champions like Gragas and go for fighters when given the chance so Skyswitch needs to turn their season around this evening It is time to lock in and become the World Ender. Take tonight as a test and see if you are ready to climb up the mountain. 

Monkeys Goons(4 Points) Vs. TTM Aegaeon(12 Points)

My Prediction: TTM 2-0

So I seem to be one of the only people believing in TTM this season. Espada has this team ranked 7th in this group and I have them in my A tier. With 0 games dropped and a dominant 2-0 win over a good TILT team last week it looks like TTM is the real deal. TTM are playing different champions every game, drafting towards different win conditions but staying strong overall. Monkeys Goons have also looked horrendous this season they have taken 3 towers or less in their games so far. According to the stats this should be a stomp for TTM and I am inclined to agree. The goons have not played how I expected them to play at all committing much more towards team fights and drafting incredibly low damage compositions. Maybe with another easy 2-0 win and the players continuing to rise up the ranks we will see some respect put on this team.  

XSV Gluttony(8 Points) Vs. Jolly Rogers Flying Dutchman(4 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 XSV Gluttony

The Jolly Rogers are a team that looks lost. The drafts we have seen from this team are again all about individuals nothing fits together and ends up that the team is not playing together. Gluttony on the other hand has an understanding of who should be receiving the majority of their draft and in game resources ensuring that xBKP and Matty can flourish with a solid frontline. Without a solid direction I do not see the Jolly Rogers being able to put enough pressure on the map even if these games go to the late game I feel that Gluttony should be in control and know what to do. The Jolly Rogers I fear simply lack the fundamentals to be a competitive team currently in Emerald.     

Chosen Inters(8 Points) Vs. AK Hearts(9 Points)

My Prediction: 2-1 AK Hears

I think this will probably decide the team that is emerging from this group as the last playoff seed and it comes from 2 teams that are almost complete opposites of one another. The Chosen Inters are a team that is all about synergy with one another and trying their best to improve as a whole team with Slayer Jinx being the only player in the top 20. The AK hears are a team that is all about the individual. AK Hearts are looking for counterpicks and Pentakills looking for highlights in their wins and having fun. I have always been a fan of this team and I will continue to believe in them so I am giving them the series prediction. Okami is a monster in the mid lane doing 1100 DPM right now across games they are not even winning as a team.    

Glacial Spectre(8 Points) Vs. Definitely Not Hurakan(4 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 For Glacial Spectre

As one of the D-tier teams and having tons of Issues I think that Definitely not Hurakan will probably have to win a series to get me to predict them to win against anyone besides the Golden Geese. Glacial has smooth sailing from this point out in this Division and has been competitive with the best teams in their group so far. A dominant win tonight puts this team on the map for most teams and will be someone teams will have to know going into playoffs.

Bloom Gaming Wisteria(11 Points) Vs. Golden Geese(4 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 For Bloom Gaming

Lets just all be honest here if Bloom Gaming is not the first team to post a 2-0 win this evening thats probably a failure on their part. This series is between easily the best team in this group Bloom against probably the worst team in Emerald in the Golden Geese. 

No Quarter Gaming(8 Points) Vs. Conduit Gremlins(12 Points)

My Prediction: 2-0 for Conduit Gremlins 

Conduit Gremlins so far have appeared to be the real deal drafting together as a team and transitioning in draft to winning plays. Conduit is doing everything right beating teams quickly and efficiently and showing that they are flexible. NQG has 8 points because they beat up on Gold Players and got such huge early game leads the games should have been finished by 30 minutes and somehow took 37 minutes to win a game and are drafting towards the things we expect of them. Conduit should destroy this No Quarter Gaming Roster and prove that having No Quarters is a detriment when you are playing video games.