DEAN'S LIST WEEK 6 (BOL GOLD RECAP & PREVIEW)

Hello everybody and welcome to the sixth edition 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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REV Eternal (2-3) vs BDE Corruption (3-2)

Result: Eternal 2-0

We are so back.

Eternal got a much needed win against a team who sits right next to them in the standings. While the unbiased “content man TheDean0” wants to talk about how well Corruption played, I’m gonna let “REV Eternal TheDean0” talk here; Corruption trolled and got their asses handed to them.

In g1, Corruption decided to role-swap their players, with XIL in the top lane, Pandorum in the jungle, and LostHavok in mid. 

This was their first mistake.

The BDE team then continued to make critical mistakes on both attempted ganks and objective setups, which really gave Eternal complete control of the game. M4ddness especially did a great job with his TP plays and weak side baits on the Gnar, successfully 1v2 killing XIL on a failed top gank. The game eventually ended in just under 26 minutes, which brought Corruption back to the drawing board.

Heading into g2, BDE.C again swapped their players around, with Swag in the jungle, Pando back in mid, and Havok moving down to support.

This was their second mistake.

While Corruption did actually have a gold lead for a majority of this game (accredited to early objective control and well-played ganks from Swag), a massive Eternal teamfight at 19 minutes cut that gold lead in half, giving the REV team footing back into the game. After some objective dances around Baron and Elder, Eternal completed a 6k gold comeback to secure the 2-0 series win. Worth mentioning is BillyBadass’ excellent g2 on the Jhin, pumping out 27k damage with a scoreline of 12/3/10.

While there’s a lot more that “player TheDean0” wants to say about how this series went, “content man TheDean0” has to step back in for a second to clarify something; this series really wasn’t that close. Corruption was playing tilted in g2 after that big teamfight win at Dragon (19min).

If it was just an off week, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for them, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Eternal moves up to 3-3 and Corruption moves down to match them. While both of these teams remain in the thick of the playoff race, one of these squads has a much easier schedule, and it isn’t BDE.

Player of the Series: M4ddness - Excellent weakside play on both the Gnar and Rek’Sai, with multiple clutch engages in both games, great TPs in both games, and several individual highlights in both games. All this paired with a series scoreline of 11/2/17 gets him his first PotS nod.

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Conduit Prime (2-3) vs Nameless Rising (1-4)

Result: Conduit 2-0

On the surface, it seems like Conduit won a series that wasn’t particularly close. Further investigation reveals that Nameless again did that thing where they were competitive for almost 20 minutes, then they lost a big teamfight and eventually lost the game. This happened in both games.

Prime started g1 with some early objective control that Nameless was able to trade back for. A few early picks led to an even trade of Grubs and Dragons by 10 minutes. A few skirmishes went in the favor of Prime, but nothing super definitive was lost until two kills at 22 minutes led to a Conduit Baron. This allowed them to spike their gold lead hard, which resulted in the rest of the game going their way.

G2 was, again, a similar story. Nameless found some picks early, but a big fight at 17 minutes cemented the game for Conduit. Despite pushing for some towers, Rising was simply unable to out-fight Prime, resulting in a 34 minute win for Conduit.

With this win, Conduit Prime moves up to 3-3 while Nameless fall further down to 1-5. This new roster of FinalCaptain top, HoodiemanX jungle, Razors4life mid, Valak ADC, and Heliumbamboo support, seems to be doing wonders for this org. Based on what little information I’ve been able to gather, they just seem to be a more coordinated team than they were at the beginning of the split. It really couldn’t have come at a better time, as they still control their own destiny for the postseason.

Nameless Rising, however, need a miracle if they want to try and make the playoffs. While they aren’t mathematically eliminated, their schedule is hard as hell going forward, but I’ll cover that later. Sad to say, but this team is all but out for this split.

Player of the Series: HoodiemanX - Close call between him and Razors, but Hoodie showed how flexible he can be. Good damage tanking on the g1 Maokai, good damage dealt on the g2 Brand, and solid objective control all series long help give him the nod.

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Flannel Zephyr (1-4) vs Flannel Ethereal (0-5)

Result: Zephyr 2-0

You’ll never believe it, but Flannel won!

Your boos mean nothing to me, I’ve seen what makes you cheer.

Zephyr earned a much needed 2-0 to keep their heads afloat in the postseason race while Ethereal, sadly, are basically done. Again, I don’t think they’re mathematically eliminated, but their odds of reaching the top six are essentially zero.

While I could talk about each of these games in insane detail, I genuinely don’t think I can do this series any more justice than what Quinntik managed. The mad lad showed three different perspectives from player streams due to the client being down, which is genuinely one of the most creative workarounds I’ve ever seen.

To give a brief summary, g1 was an absolute stomp from the gate while g2 was a much closer affair. The two biggest standouts for Zephyr were Regdor and Bagoot while Velses and Mina were just barely unable to stop them.

Seriously, go check out Quinntik’s VOD of the match. It’s way more entertaining and higher quality than anything I can write here. I’ll go more into what this series means for each team later on, but that VOD will give you better insight than I can. I can still give out a meaningless award tho!

Player of the Series: Regdor - Bro was on a mission to prove me wrong. 20k damage in g1, 33k in g2, a total of five deaths in the series, and some solid laning from the eye test give me more than enough to award him his first PotS award.

VOD link: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2117366807

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REV Regalia (4-1) vs MCG (3-2)

Result: Regalia 2-1

Honestly? Good for MCG. Taking a game off of a top team while you’re fighting for your lives is a great sign of life for this team.

Wait.

MCG continue their trend of taking a game off of top teams, which bodes very well for them in this playoffs race. Opposite them, Regalia move up to 5-1, which sets them up as the current #2 team in the league. This means they are almost guaranteed to make the playoffs in their own right, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

The first game was a very slow start before REV started to snowball their lead around 20 minutes. A big teamfight around 21 minutes saw them secure Baron, which they used to secure multiple towers, before ending the game about 10 minutes later.

G2 was one of the smarter drafts I’ve seen all season from MCG. After taking their carries on R1/2, Regalia ended up locking in Naafiri/Vayne on B2/3. What, then, was MCG’s response? Take Milio on R3, ban REV’s only two “enchanters” (Ivern and Taric), then take two picks that can completely shut down the dog. Not only did this plan work, it worked very well.

At no point in g2 did either team have a significant lead, which is the exact opposite of what Regalia wants to do with the Naafiri pick. There were multiple skirmishes throughout the entire game that went back and forth for either team, though MCG was finally able to get the lead they needed around 30 minutes with a Baron take. The game ended a few minutes later, bringing the series to 1-1.

It was in g3 that Regalia said “it’s Regalia-ing time” and Regalia-ed all over the Cats. Despite a decent early game from MCG, once REV started winning fights, they never stopped. Dragon Soul at 23 minutes, 22 kills to 6, and an almost 11k gold deficit at the end of the game, yeah. It was a controlled stomp from the REV squad.

MCG joins the 3-3 soup while Regalia set themselves further apart from the pack. While Regalia is looking to still contend for the first seed, the Cats are fighting for their lives to secure top six. They still control their own destiny, though it remains to be seen if their schedule will allow them that luxury.

Player of the Series: Ball Slap - I’m trying to not sell the Ball Slap propaganda too hard, but this series was hard to pin down one MVP performance for. Still, with a total of 78.1k damage in the series (Cook 65k, Lespanx 57.5k), a series scoreline of 15/5/23 (7.6 KDA), and respectable CS/M in g1 and g3, he just gets the nod.

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BDE Typhoon (5-0) vs Hyperion Esports (4-1)

Result: Typhoon 2-1

Two teams at the top of the table had a headlining series this week, which was more of a banger than I expected. Both teams had a lot to fight for, and both teams showed up in a big way.

G1 saw Typhoon get a lead early and snowball from the word “go.” Multiple kills in lane from their solo lanes enabled Kevin and BeanMG to secure early Grubs and Drake. After a 2-for-2 skirmish in the bot lane, Typhoon used the momentum to secure the second round of Grubs, second Drake, and Herald. While they did lose the first tower, they won every teamfight they took after the 20 minute mark, which is what really took Hyperion out of the game. The game finally ended in 30 minutes in dominant fashion from Typhoon.

Eager to prove that they weren’t to be taken lightly, Hyperion went into g2 swinging. With Ziggie finally on his prized Hecarim, it was the second place team that managed to snowball their early lead. It was almost a complete flip of g1, as Typhoon wasn’t able to find any early objectives or fights. Ziggie and Dione were able to completely shut down the mid/jungle of BDE.T, which resulted in a 35 minute win for Hyperion.

Looking to continue their momentum, Hyperion came out to an early lead in g3. Both teams traded early objectives, with Kevin focusing on Dragons and Ziggie focusing on Grubs. Despite multiple fights being taken, the BDE team wasn’t able to find their footing until a massive fight at 19 minutes swung the 3k gold deficit into their favor. Following that fight, it was all Typhoon, as Hyperion would only find one Drake, one tower, and one kill throughout the rest of the game. Everything finally ended just before 28 minutes with the BDE squad securing the 2-1 series win.

Typhoon extends their lead even further while Hyperion fall to 4-2. While mathematically I think Hyperion can technically still fight for first, this week basically makes it a two horse race for the #1 seed. Hyperion are still in a good spot to lock their playoffs spot, but they need to not completely fumble the ball if they want to do so.

Player of the Series: Ya boi Kevin - This is my official decree that Ya boi Kevin is the best jungler in the league. Incredible objective control, strong ganks, and only one death in their game wins while soaking the most damage on his team gives him the nod.

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With last week’s recap done, it’s time to look ahead at each team’s remaining schedule! The order is based on current standings.

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BDE Typhoon (6-0) - 34 points

Remaining Matches: w7 MCG, w8 REV Regalia, w9 BDE Corruption

Typhoon has a fairly tough strength of schedule in the last three weeks, with the spotlight on their week 8 match against REV Regalia. They are currently the favorite to secure the first seed, but it’s still not quite locked. While a top 2 seed remains a near certainty, BDE Typhoon are the current favorite for playoffs.

Player Spotlight: Giraffe Rider - While every single player on this team can carry them to victory, Giraffe is the one who enables so much. Strong laning, good teamfighting, and great synergy with his jungler opens up so much for this team. This roster would still be good if it had any other mid laner, but Giraffe really does bring them to that next level.

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REV Regalia (5-1) - 30 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Ethereal, w8 Typhoon, w9 Conduit

Regalia’s strength of schedule is on the easier side with the big exception of their week 8 match against Typhoon. If they win that, then they could sneak into first place, though there are some other things that need to go their way. Like Typhoon, they’ve all but locked in a top 2 seed, they just need to keep their momentum rolling.

Player Spotlight: Ball Slap- Predictable choice is predictable, but Ball Slap does a lot to take the pressure off of his team, particularly in draft. With so many other rosters seeing several of his picks as “must ban”s, it allows the rest of his team the freedom in draft to pick advantages they can play for. Plus his Naafiri is sick.

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Hyperion Esports (4-2) - 27 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Corruption, w8 Nameless, w9 Zephyr

Hyperion has one of the easier remaining schedules based on standings, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. This team can still sneak into a top 2 seed if they win out and Regalia drops their w8 match, but it is technically out of their control.

Player Spotlight: Indigo - In a team as dysfunctional as this, Indigo remains one of the players who can consistently get everybody behind him. He’s had his share of strong carry games as well as good weakside games, so it isn’t like he’s a boom or bust player.

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REV Eternal (3-3) - 27 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Nameless, w8 Zephyr, w8 Ethereal

Eternal has the easiest remaining strength of schedule based on standings, and, much like Hyperion, it couldn’t have come at a better time. While, yes, there is technically a way for this team to finish top 2, it’s much more likely to see them battling for the third or fourth seed. Regardless, winning out would put them at the head of the current 3-3 teams, which is a big return to form for this roster.

Player Spotlight: M4ddness - If Leper is the martyr, Billy is the X-factor, and Booter/TheDean0 are the enablers, M4ddness is the rock of the team. He never really loses lane super hard, and he’s had his share of carry games that have usually come from his own play. I’d argue he’s a top 2 teamfighting top laner in the league on any of his picks.

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Mystic Cats Gold (3-3) - 25 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Typhoon, w8 Corruption, w9 Nameless

What can I say, Mystic Cats have hands! Their schedule is fairly tough, which puts them in an awkward spot if they want to stay in the top 6. Their most important matchup is their week 8 match against Corruption, which feels like their sink or swim game.

Player Spotlight: Super Hoagie - Hoagie has had a quietly very good split. Some very good Milio performances and some good Maokai games have made them one of the better supports in the league.

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BDE Corruption (3-3) - 24 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Hyperion, w8 MCG, w9 Typhoon

Corruption has far and away the hardest remaining strength of schedule. After their performance in week 6, they’re more or less in “win out” mode, as they have two top 3 teams and one of their direct competition for playoffs.

Player Spotlight: XIL69 - XIL is the most explosive jungler in the league, which comes at a cost. When he’s on, he’s on, making him one of the harder junglers to play against. On a more stable roster, he’d be the kind of x-factor that could push for a top 2 seed. On this roster, it feels like he’s gonna have to roll hot in order to even make top 6.

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Conduit Prime (3-3) - 22 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Zephyr, w8 Ethereal, w9 Regalia

Conduit has one of the easiest remaining schedules. Yeah, week 9 vs Regalia is going to be tough, but having the Flannel teams prior to that is theoretically one of the better draws they could have gotten. At 22 points, they can still make it to the postseason, and they have full control of their destiny.

Player Spotlight: Hoodie - I said it on the week 6 pre-show, but I genuinely believe Hoodie is a top 3 jungler in the league. He brings a consistent voice and a consistent playstyle that sets a good floor for his team to play off of. While I didn’t hate the initial Conduit roster at all, it’s hard to call at least this move anything other than an upgrade.

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Flannel Zephyr (2-4) - 22 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Conduit, w8 Eternal, w9 Hyperion

By the graces of God, Zephyr is still in position to make top 6. While they have a harder schedule, they technically control their own destiny. If they win out, they end at 5-4 (points based on wins), which might just be enough to sneak in. Pair this with their schedule being easier than Corruption and arguably MCG, and there’s a real world where they sneak in.

Player Spotlight: Regdor - You did it. You crazy son of a bitch, you did it. Jokes aside, Regdor has really stepped up his teamfighting in these last few weeks. Looking ahead, his biggest lane test is in week 8, so if he wants to end the split as an upper-end marksman, that’s where he’ll have to prove it.

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Nameless Rising (1-5) - 15 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Eternal, w8 Hyperion, w9 MCG

Nameless has a very doable schedule. While there are some big strengths and weaknesses on this roster as a whole, if they can come together and string together some massive upsets, they could potentially play for a miracle run. It isn’t super likely, but hey, an underdog story can be nice.

Player Spotlight: Sea - Sea is the token “madman who plays Samira,” and they’ve been earmarked as one of the better players on this Nameless roster. While I have issues with their champ pool, I can’t really blame them for trying to make something work.

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Flannel Ethereal (0-6) - 14 points

Remaining Matches: w7 Regalia, w8 Conduit, w9 Eternal

Ethereal is all but mathematically eliminated. Like Nameless, their schedule is technically doable, but they’d really have to come together in a way that they haven’t shown capable of this split.

Player Spotlight: Minæmi - The single most elo-helled player in the league. Mina does more damage than several ADCs on teams above him in the standings, which makes this run even more tragic. He’s been a consistent bright spot in all of his team’s losses, which not many players can say.

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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!