BOL Gold’s Dean’s List

Hello everybody and welcome to the week 3 edition of BOL Gold’s Dean’s List! Last week came with some huge series with some massive league rankings. Let’s not waste any time and jump straight into things!

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Glacial Void (1-0) vs Fools Five Mercenaries (0-1)

Result: GV 2-0

The Glacial team had another impressive week while the Fools Five squad fell down to 0-2. The flexibility of Void is proving to be formidable, but let’s get into the match to see what went down.

The mid jungle duo of Tremington and Jel came out swinging to start, picking up first blood to set CurryMunch3r behind early. The game would settle down for a few minutes with both teams trading objectives and kills across the map. The relatively even game would start moving in the favor of GV when Tremington’s Taliyah was able to get the stone rolling a bit. Despite some skirmishes being relatively even in terms of bodies lost, Trem continued to pick up kills, which turned the Taliyah into a massive threat come the later stages of the game. The team was able to play around this by avoiding fair fights and picking up stray picks to secure objectives and towers, resulting in a 35 minute game win.

Game 2 actually saw the Fools Five squad come out to an early lead in terms of kills. Grubs and drakes were traded evenly until Void won a scrap around the hextech dragon. A few more minutes of back and forth play eventually went the way of GV until FFM found a massive 5-0 ace at dragon. It ultimately wouldn’t be enough, however, as Glacial was able to take Baron and ride the momentum into a nexus, securing the 2-0 victory.

GV is quickly becoming one of the scariest teams in the league. After listening into their comms, they’re one of the best communicating teams I’ve ever seen at the IBSG level. Trem and Jel are both excellent shot callers, which makes the game as easy as possible for everybody else.

Despite losing the series, FFM did show signs of life early in game 1. Their map play needs work, but they definitely do have the hands required to hang. If they can clean up some macro, they can still turn their season around to become a terrifying team.

Player of the Series: Tremington - Incredible Taliyah game in g1 with 43.6k damage dealt and a good Swain game with 29.3k damage. Pair that with only 3 deaths across the series and you have a PotS nod.

Ace of the Series: Temu1Zeus - Respectable damage on two carry tops (26.9k on Aurora, 32.7k on Urgot) and a rock solid lane phase + a massive Kennen engage in g2 to try and bring it back. Arguments can also be made for Wolven and Curry, but the top laner gets my shout this week.

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CB Impulse vs Hyperion White Rabbit

Result: CBI 2-0

I called it. Impulse without Accel is a completely different team than what showed up this week. His x-factor isn’t his mechanics, it’s his ability to mind control any team he’s on into not being headless chickens. Let’s dive in to figure out how.

Game 1 was actually incredibly even, albeit skewed towards the CB squad for the entire game. Both teams traded kills and objectives early before the ball started to roll against White Rabbit. It was a 1.4k gold lead at 16 minutes for Impulse which they cut down with a big fight win in the bottom river a few minutes later. Their last gasp would come with a suicide Baron play at 28 minutes that was squashed just a few minutes later.

The second game was somehow both more even and more one-sided. Hyperion would actually come out to an early lead, securing early grubs and an early dragon. As the game continued, however, fights started to go more towards the CB squad. Once the snowball started at 14 minutes, it never slowed down, leading to Impulse ending the 30 minute game with a 13.2k gold lead.

I cannot understate how much Accel added to this roster, not because he’s that much better mechanically, but because he’s that much better mentally. He’s a 2x BOL IBSG champ for a reason; he’s cool and composed under pressure and can drag his team out of any mental rut they might be stuck in.

Hyperion take another series L, though this one should honestly be viewed in a similar light to their JR match. There will be more cause for worry if this team loses again in week 3, but they still have plenty of time to course correct. Hopefully they can diagnose any issues and work towards improving their record going forward.

Player of the Series: Accel- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Accel is the only ADC in the league who can mind control an entire team into not inting. Respectable Sivir game and a monster 16/1/7 MF game gives him the nod this week. Now heck Accel.

Ace of the Series: Viyella - Series scoreline of 12/9/6 on two carry champs with respectable damage dealt in both games (considering game state). Hard to say how exactly this one went down, but for now I’ll give them the nod.

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Jolly Rogers Ghost Crew vs Fools Five Squires

Result: JRGC 2-0

Ghost Crew continues to be the top team in the league and absolutely nobody should be surprised by this. The Squires put up a respectable fight, but the voyage of the Jolly Rogers looks to be unstoppable once again.

Game 1 was incredibly controlled and dominant for the JR team. They really just kinda won every lane and never lost any significant teamfights. The Squires would pick up stray kills here and there, as well as a few grubs and a dragon, but they were ultimately outmatched, as JR ended the game in 27:53 to go up 1-0 in the series.

Game 2 was definitely a different story. Despite Ghost Crew jumping up to a massive gold lead early on, the Squires were able to cut it all the way down from a 4.2k lead to a measly 400 gold lead with a massive quadra kill from qwerthe5’s Lillia. With the game balanced on a knife’s edge, the Jolly Rogers would manage a baron sneak at the cost of their top laner’s life. They wore the purple buff to take multiple towers, again trading players lives for it, until the two big hopes for Fools Five got caught in Cracen’s event horizon. The Ghost Crew would go on to win the game shortly after, ending the game in 34:34 to close out the series.

FFS definitely looked better in game 2 than they did in game 1. I really like having qwerthe on a carry-style champion (Viego, Lillia) with the rest of his team playing to enable that style. Fugitive as well is a great complimentary carry coming from the bottom lane, so hopefully the squad is able to continue to build around this type of playstyle.

However, I cannot stress how much JRGC just feels inevitable. The addition of NoNameX last week seems to have elevated this team even further than they were last week, even if he is only a sub. Whichever jungler they continue to start, I’m sure they’ll continue to look impressive and dominant. They’re the benchmark for success right now, but maybe they’ll be challenged in week 3 for their spot.

Player of the Series: Dolo - Dolo has a fantastic series where he enabled so much for his team. His Seraphine in g1 had a perfect KDA and the highest vision score while his Milio in g2 played next to the Lucian almost perfectly.

Ace of the Series: qwerthe5 - There are a couple players on the FFS roster that earned a shout, but qwerthe was once again the most consistent player on his team. He had a very difficult Ivern game in which he still looked good and a Lillia game where he managed to swing the gold back to favor his team in a big way. Also jungler bias LMAO. 

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Legacy Esports Prime vs Nefarious Demons

Result: LEP 2-0

Oh, NGD (yes that’s their abbreviation). At this point, I’m kinda stuck on what to say about this match. LEP deserves praise for winning in 2-0 fashion, but both teams come out of this looking like they need to make massive changes. Luckily for the Demons, that is coming in week 3, but we still  have to recap this match before we get there.

Game 1 was a slow build for the Legacy squad. Complex secured both early objectives, and his team was able to win several early skirmishes. The Nefarious team would do work to split grubs and keep the game as even for as long as they could, but 1Hand found a massive quadrakill at 19 minutes in the bottom river. From there, LEP was fully in control. A few stray kills and a few towers falling would give NGD some gold, but it wasn’t enough, as Legacy Esports Prime took the game in 32:14.

Game 2 was a slugfest. Despite LEP securing early grubs and picking up a ton of early kills, NGD got the first drake and started the snowball on their Illaoi. Trashy was everywhere in the early game, rocking the Xin Zhao to get both side lanes ahead for the early game. As things kept moving forward, Prime kept finding angles to get gold on their carries all the way up until a massive 29 minute 5-1 ace slingshotted them into the lead. It was a clean close from there, as the Legacy squad took multiple winning fights as well as several towers until they were able to close the game out in 37:45.

Neither of these teams will be fielding the exact same rosters for week 3, but to give props where they are earned, both teams had strong players in individual roles. LEP’s mid 1Hand had a strong debut in his new role, but NGD’s Vampiric Narwhal had a massive bounce back in the bottom lane.

Going forward, Nefarious Demons will be starting Tyler in the jungle and Trashy in the mid lane. Speaking from past successes, I do think this will be an upgrade for this roster, as Tyler is a great supportive jungler and Trashy as a player is more comfortable (and better) in the solo lane. LEP will also not be fielding their starting roster in week 3, but hopefully they are able to keep their head cool and find success against CBP.

Player of the Series: 1Hand - Fantastic series from the roleswapped mid. Series KDA of 22/4/19, 48k damage in g1 and 36.5k damage in g2, and success on two different styles of champions showed a great look for the championship level ADC.

Ace of the Series: VampiricNarwhal - Series KDA of 12/6/13, 12.9k damage in g1 and 29.9k in g2, and overall managing to make use of his early leads to try and keep his team in the game. Trashy and Hoodie also deserve mention for their contributions to the team’s success, but the nod just barely goes to the ADC.

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CB Phreaks vs OSG Tactical Freeze

Result: CBP 2-1

The only match this week that went to game 3 was an absolute turbo banger. Not only did the autofill top laner get outed as a complete fraud (3/24/14 series KDA baby!), but both teams showed great looks in an intense series that instills confidence in both squads going forwards. Why no, I’m not biased at all!

Game 1 was a great look from the OSG squad. They got an early lead and basically never let it go. Even though Typhoon was able to make some noise early, the entire map went the way of Tactical Freeze. Materium owned every neutral objective after the 15 minute mark, and the Phreaks were never able to find a successful fight. The game ended in 31 minutes with a 14k gold lead for the OSG squad.

Game 2 was a Jim Ross certified slobberknocker. The gold graph is a rollercoaster, and the game itself reflected that. Typhoon and A1phaSairou were massive in their fights, with the Vi setting up multiple big plays for the Miss Fortune to capitalize on. All the while, Feldroth and Materium were accumulating massive leads for themselves on the opposite side of the map on the Tahm Kench and Lillia. Multiple fights went both ways until OSG found a massive Baron play at 28 minutes. Sairou would find another series of kills while TheDean0 took down multiple towers to bring the gold back to favoring the CB squad. CBP would end up securing Baron at 38 minutes, and from there, Typhoon would perform in a massive way to win a 4 v 5 teamfight while the Illaoi took down the base. The Phreaks ended up taking the game in 39:26 to bring the series to 1-1.

In a critical game 3, CBP would secure an early game lead that they almost never let go of. Materium would secure early grubs, but the Sairou Lucian looked unstoppable from a very early point in the game. The Phreaks were able to secure multiple towers and win multiple fights, but Tactical Freeze would look to turn things around at a 23 minute 4-kill Drake fight. In the end, it all came down to a 26 minute baron play to give the CB squad the lead again. A few stray kills would go back towards OSG, but a great string of play at 32 minutes would end up giving the Phreaks 5 kills and the nexus. CBP wins 2-1.

This series was a total banger to play. It truly felt like both teams were slugging it out in a battle of wills. Even though OSG did end up losing, they could just as well have won in the end. Their pieces seem to mesh well together, and it’ll be exciting to see them try to bounce back in week 3.

The Phreaks will be starting their week 1 mid laner Toastfish going forward. Their test against LEP should speak to their ability to continue their momentum, and I for one am incredibly excited to see how that match shakes out.

Player of the Series: A1phaSairou - Series KDA of 32/18/18, total series damage dealt of 115.7k (26.6k g1, 46.3k g2, 42.7k g3), and some clutch teamfighting gives him the nod from me. Plus he was strong enough to carry a 10 death Illaoi to a victory, and that’s pretty impressive.

Ace of the Series: Materium22 - So many objectives taken in all three games, plus good individual looks on Shyv, Lillia, and Zac (three very different champions). Series KDA of 14/11/42, total series damage tanked of 147k and series damage dealt of 48k gives him another big nod for this week.

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With that done and dusted, let’s quickly break down next week’s matchups!

• JRGC (2-0) vs CBI (1-1)

  • The old GOAT vs the reigning champs!

  • Two teams with momentum looking to cement the standings!

  • Can CB make the upset?

  • Can JR remain undefeated?

  • Prediction: JRGC 2-1

• LEP (1-1) vs CBP (2-0)

  • Two teams with big roster changes!

  • Can Toastfish match his week 1 performance?

  • Can LEP’s substitutions make for a winning formula?

  • Prediction: CBP 2-0

• FFS (1-1) vs GV (2-0)

  • The surprise undefeated team vs a team looking to bounce back!

  • New mid lane look! Can FFS’s new laner stand against an early MVP candidate?

  • Will GV continue to be a multi-lane threat!

  • Prediction: GV 2-0

• FFM (0-2) vs NGD (0-2)

  • Two teams with big roster shuffles!

  • Will NGD’s revamped mid/jungle be able to find success?

  • Will FFM’s new ADC bring more firepower?

  • Prediction: NGD 2-0

• OSG (1-1) vs HYP (0-2)

  • Two squads looking to prove a point!

  • OSG is looking to remain a top team!

  • HYP trying to reestablish themselves in the league!

  • Prediction: OSG 2-0

And while we’re here, let’s have a quick ranking of all 10 teams!

1. JRGC (2-0) [0]

2. GV (2-0) [+3]

3. CBP (2-0) [-1]

4. CBI (1-1) [0]

5. OSG (1-1) [-4]

6. FFS (1-1) [0]

7. LEP (1-1) [+1]

8. HYP (0-2) [-1]

9. NGD (0-2) [+1]

10. FFM (0-2) [-1]

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That will do it for this week’s edition of The Dean’s List! I’ll be back next week to cover all of the matches and news ahead of week 4’s games. Until then, good luck, have fun, and I’ll see you on the rift!