Hello everybody and welcome to week 5 of BOL Gold’s Dean’s List! Before we get everyone prepared for the next round of games, let’s take a look back at the standout players and stories from this past Thursday.
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Mystic Cats Gold (3-1) vs Hyperion Esports (3-1)
Result: Hyperion 2-1
I’ll intro it here, literally every single series this week ended with a 2-1 scoreline. Out of all of the matches to end this way, this is the one I personally am the least surprised by.
G1 saw Hyperion’s jungler, Ziggie, take early control, securing both the first Dragon and all six Void Grubs to give his team an early advantage. A few small skirmishes around 13 minutes saw the gold equalize. Both teams then traded two towers to allow their junglers to trade Herald to MCG and second Dragon to Hyperion. After what appears to have been a sneaky Baron at 25 minutes, MCG took control of the map and didn’t let go, with D3adpixel carrying a 4-for-2 teamfight win before the cats worked together to ace their opponent at 33 minutes, ending the game.
Before loading into g2, Hyperion did something I haven’t seen in a while; a mid-series role swap. Atilla was forced out of the series due to an Act of God (storm cut his power), so Dione Atlas moved into the ADC role. Filling in for mid lane was ThelordJK, who stepped up in a big way.
Both teams traded objectives early , leading to a scrappy early game. A few big fights in the mid game saw gold get funneled into the hands of Dione and JK, which allowed Hyperion to eventually find the game winning teamfight at 28 minutes. G3 was a surprisingly similar story for Hyperion. Despite D3adpixel getting ahead early, Hyperion’s jungler and mid were able to help facilitate key fights to keep Dione alive, leading to another decisive 28 minute game win.
While there’s a lot that could be dissected in this series, I honestly don’t feel like it’s worth going into too much detail about since Hyperion had an E-sub situation. In the one game sample size of intended starters vs intended starters, MCG did look like the stronger team, so what happened in games 2 and 3 that led to them not being able to close it out?
My best guess is that the playstyle difference between Dione and JK in mid was just different enough to completely throw off their gameplan, but that’s complete speculation. At the end of the day, Hyperion moves up to a 4-1 record, and MCG drops down to 3-2. Both still remain well in the playoff race, and both still have a lot of room to improve before the postseason.
Player of the Series: Dione Atlas - Perhaps a bit unconventional, but role swapping to help your team when God himself seemingly wants you to lose is a big play for the team. Paired with respectable damage output in all three games and Dione earns her second PotS nod.
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BDE Corruption (3-1) vs Conduit Prime (1-3)
Result: Conduit 2-1
I will eat my words from last week, Conduit really did step up. I will add, however, that if I was aware of their roster swap before I finished last week’s article, the analysis would have been much different.
In what I can confidently call the most surprising upset of week 5, Corruption fell to Prime in a grueling series. While this could be the sign of a Conduit bounceback, it might also signal difficulties for Corruption as they get into the thick of the hardest part of their season.
For what it’s worth, g1 was actually a very solid game for Corruption. XIL had a good game on the Sylungle, Pando’s Sion mid appears to have done its job well, and VampiricNarwhal did 63.8k damage on the Varus. It was a brutal and ugly 55 minute game, filled with scraps, throws, and three whole Baron dances, but BDE.C was finally able to win it out.
Going into g2, Prime realized that something had to change if they wanted to stay alive in the postseason race. Realizing this, they locked in Smolder Mid and Rammus to attempt to counter the dual marksman/scaling comp Corruption had drafted. Despite never having a meaningful gold lead in the game, Conduit managed to find the crucial teamfight win late in order to take Elder and win another 50+ minute game.
With everything on the line, g3 saw Corruption again end up with a strong early gold lead. Several early kills and objectives went their way before Conduit finally started getting some steam back around 20 minutes. Still down 7k gold, however, Prime ceded Baron and looked to be in rough shape leading up to the 29 minute Soul fight. Through some miracle, however, they were able to find the picks on LostHavok and Narwhal to stop Soul, which bought them just enough time to regroup and ace Corruption at 34 minutes. With momentum finally on their side, Prime won the next two teamfights to complete their comeback victory in 39 minutes.
This one requires a VOD review, which neither team has provided to me. Throwing a 7k lead in week 5 is a bad sign for the BDE squad. I’ll give Prime the same praise I gave Eternal and Typhoon earlier in the season, that managing to stay cool until you could come back from a 7k lead is impressive in its own way, but this somehow feels like more of a BDE throw than it does a Conduit clutch.
Player of the Series: HoodiemanX - I am of the opinion that Hoodie’s a better jungler than he is a top laner, and this series shows why. He absolutely map-gapped XIL early in g2, which eventually led to his team getting Soul. Pair this with two good tank performances, and you have a strong, stable jungler that any team would be happy to have.
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REV Regalia (3-1) vs Flannel Zephyr (1-3)
Result: Regalia 2-1
Honestly? Good for Zephyr. Taking a game off of a top team while you’re fighting for your lives is a great sign of life for this team.
The first game wasn’t particularly close at any stage of the game. Despite the gold being relatively even until 16 minutes, Regalia just tore the Flannel squad apart once they secured Herald. The only two things that went Zephyr’s way after that was Tyler taking a tower and also somehow picking up a kill onto Chubby Chernobyl. No notes, clean game for Regalia.
Then, we have g2.
sigh
Riddle me this, Batman. You have one of the best carry mids in the league. And you put him. On Sejuani. Simply, why?
The second game was much scrappier, with both teams trading early objectives and skirmish wins until Zephyr finally got their feet under them around 18 minutes with a massive teamfight win. The Flannel team didn’t take their foot off the gas until a big DIG Baron at 29 minutes let Regalia back into the game. It was all for naught, however, as Zephyr was able to ace them at 33 minutes to immediately push for game.
Regalia seemingly locked in for g3, as they traded a bit in their bot lane before Scrambles and Lespanx worked together to accelerate the game to a point where the Flannel team just couldn’t keep up. While Zephyr was able to find three picks around 25 minutes to stall out the game, that was the last meaningful thing to go their way, as Regalia secured Baron at 29 minutes before taking their time to end in a controlled 39 minute game.
I just.
Why Sejuani? I almost don’t even want to talk about the actual series, just. Why Sejuani?
To give credit where it’s due, Zephyr managing to snag some points here is actually massive for them. If they can pick up a few key wins towards the end of the split, they could well sneak their way into playoffs with the way Eternal, Corruption, and Conduit are looking. For Regalia, guys, please. Just play your stuff and win. You aren’t allowed back into the kitchen.
Player of the Series: Scrambles - Damn solid objective control and two phenomenal games on the Ivern and the Amumu. Even in their g2 loss, he still managed to find the few fights that breathed life into his team for just a little bit longer. I take back anything bad I’ve said about you, you’re a damn good jungler.
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Nameless Rising (0-4) vs Flannel Ethereal (0-4)
Result: Nameless 2-1
Somebody had to win this series. That somebody was Nameless.
Ethereal took g1 in dominant fashion, ending the game with a 15k gold lead that never really felt like it was out of their hands. G2 was the closest game of the series, with Nameless having an early lead that, despite giving up Baron at 30 minutes, they never really lost. This resulted in them tying the series before winning g3 in extremely lopsided fashion.
There’s a part of me that really hates where both of these teams are at, but for wildly different reasons.
I like some of the individual pieces on Ethereal, but straight up, there are some glaring weaknesses that need to be fixed. Whether that’s getting a new player in that position or working with them more to help them grow, I can’t help but feel like Ethereal would be 2-3 with like two changes.
For Nameless, I’ll be honest, I just hate what’s been happening with their roster. There is no stability here. Sea and Akira have been the two most consistent points on the map, having held their own in most of their games, but even they’ve been forced to play too many different styles this entire split. They’ve tried multiple top laners and multiple supports when that doesn’t feel like the issue here. Without comms, I genuinely don’t know what this team needs to do to fix their more underlying problems.
Though Rising was finally able to earn themselves a series victory, I can’t help but feel like this will ultimately be the end of their success this split. At least you’re not last?
Player of the Series: Akiramenai - Out-damaged their ADC throughout this series (~71.1k vs ~57.6k) and was there for all of their biggest teamfight/skirmish wins. Realistically, both Akira and Sea deserve a nod here for being the brightest spots on this roster, but since there can only be one, I’m going with Akira.
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BDE Typhoon (4-0) vs REV Eternal (2-2)
Result: Typhoon 2-1
Eternal remain undefeated in g1s while Typhoon remains undefeated in series score. Honestly? I’ll take it. Those guys are really damn good.
The first game honestly felt like a draft kingdom for Eternal. They got all of their key power picks, including the LeperKoopa A.Sol and TheDean0 Maokai. This led to an early Soul at the cost for all topside neutrals, though a 29 minute Elder paved the way for Eternal ending g1 in 33 minutes.
G2 saw a shift in priority Typhoon, which resulted in them getting their hands on their power picks. While both teams stuck to the same neutral objective handshake from g1, it started to go more the way of BDE.T when Giraffe started to accelerate around 17 minutes, picking up some crucial shut downs. Some big kills in the 19-20 minute range helped Typhoon snowball the game more into their favor until Kidacus was able to clean up with a 31 minute Pentakill.
The third game honestly wasn’t even close. No lane for Eternal went particularly well except for bot, and Kevin was simply too on-the-map with his Taliyah. They were able to get every fight they wanted, and REV just wasn’t able to answer them.
The biggest takeaway: Typhoon is mortal. They’re a very strong team, but they aren’t invincible. This was their first really big test as a team, and their success shouldn’t be discredited. All I’m saying is that this team can bleed.
The other biggest takeaway is how good Eternal are… in g1. In g2, yeah I got nothing. I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, there’s a lot that we need to fix “on stage.” I won’t say anything to leak what we’re doing behind the scenes, but I will say this; a cornered viper is the most dangerous viper. We’re 2-3, now. If we want to make the playoffs, every series matters.
Bring it on.
Player of the Series: Kidacus - I really wanted to give it to GiraffeRider, I really did. Out of all the mid laners, I am convinced that he is far and away the best. I, however, cannot ignore the fact that Kidacus got both a Quadra and Penta in this series. To the best of my knowledge, that is the first Pentakill of BOL Gold, and it was well-earned.
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With last week’s recap done, it’s time to look ahead at next week’s matches!
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Mystic Cats Gold (3-2) vs REV Regalia (4-1)
Regalia are favored in every lane. The Cats aren’t frauds, they can definitely hang, but I think that a focused Regalia should be a clear favorite over MCG. Keep an eye on the jungle here, as that’s the matchup where I can see the most spice coming from.
Prediction: Regalia 2-1
Player to Watch: Scrambles
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Conduit Prime (2-3) vs Nameless Rising (1-4)
I have no idea what roster Prime will field, but I don’t think it matters too much. As long as Hoodie is in the jungle, then it should be a victory for Prime. Nameless can definitely come out swinging for a game, but Conduit are looking to build as much momentum as possible in this critical series.
Prediction: Prime 2-1
Player to Watch: Hoodie
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Flannel Ethereal (0-5) vs Flannel Zephyr (1-4)
I predict that Flannel is going to win :)
Real talk, Zephyr are the more cohesive unit. As long as they don’t just randomly int, it should be a strong win for FNL.Z. That felt so wrong to type, but we’ll go with it.
Prediction: Zephyr 2-0
Player to Watch: Bagoot
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Hyperion Esports (4-1) vs BDE Typhoon (5-0)
Typhoon are a much more stable team than Hyperion. I don’t think anybody gets hard gapped in lane, and I don’t think that Hyperion’s jungler is good enough to break the mid/jungle duo of Typhoon. In addition, with how hard BDE.T is to ban against, they’re going to have to give up a lot to shut down one single player in draft. It’s not doomed for Hyperion, but Typhoon is just the better unit.
Prediction: Typhoon 2-0
Player to Watch: Giraffe
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REV Eternal (2-3) vs BDE Corruption (3-2)
BIG MATCH ALERT! (why is every Eternal match the most important match of the week?)
Winner gets more crucial points in the playoffs race, loser officially moves into the danger zone. With how things are shaping up, this could easily decide which of these two teams miss playoffs. Sorry Narwhal, but you’re just not badass enough to hang.
Prediction: Eternal 5-0
Player to Watch: BillyBadass
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That’s it for this week’s edition of The Dean’s List. Remember, this is all meant to start discussion and to be taken with a grain of salt. If you disagree or if you have any notes on things I may have missed, please be civil and respectful. With that in mind, good luck, have fun, and we’ll see you on the rift!