Gold Minor Week 6: Better Late Than Never

By: Cassidy and Acce1erate

We’d like to start off by apologizing for the lack of content for the league overall. Due to circumstances with the pandemic we lost a decent chunk of our content team and now are able to get back on our feet to start getting better content out for leagues outside of just Gold Major. While we’ve done our best to do our research, these power rankings come from information just found in the match history, as well as taking a brief look at roster changes.

1. Valor Bulls United (9-1)

Bottom of the pack Major teams should be sweating because this team looks pretty damn good. This team has the strongest mid/jungle duo in minor by a long shot. Their only loss this season comes from Flash to Harass which seems to have been a fluke because they haven’t lost a game since. They have likely the best players in each of their positions, and just seem to be a tier above the rest in their league. Their jungler is also the most cringe person in the BOL server by a long shot. Lets see if they keep it up and can push through as the top team and get a place in the Major finals.

Player to Watch - BestSuppØrtMain

Was tough to pick a player, however this guy has basically always been a rock for the team and I’ve seen him have more pop off performances than anyone else on his roster, but it was close. His champion pool is extremely annoying for enemy teams and is basically a drafting dream. Just an all around great player for his team.

2. Oasis Arrogance (8-2)

Oasis seems to be different than your typical org because there are two oasis orgs currently terrorizing their respective leagues. To say this team has had some roster shuffles would be an understatement. However, as inconsistent as the state of their roster may be, they seem to be able to have a very impressive record and have solidified themselves as the second place team, and a very formidable opponent. After doing a little digging, it seems like they have changed their roster AGAIN and it’s hard to judge whether it’s an upgrade or not. If this team would like the chance to promote to majors they should look to solidify a roster moving forward and focus on building synergy.

Player to Watch - AstruL

As far as I know, this is the only person on the original roster and I’m pretty sure he’s on his 3rd role swap as well. This guy is capable of playing multiple different roles better than the rest of the players in the league and has shown to have a good champion pool for competitive play.

3. Crowned Royal (7-3)

CR made some roster adjustments this past week and from what I’ve seen, this is starting to look like a team that can be a real competitor for Valor Bulls. They are decisive and have a ton of synergy you wouldn’t expect from a team that just made roster changes. It could be just that everyone is getting along really well as they haven’t had the time to recognize faults in each other yet but if they remain the way they are, I see them making a real run in the playoffs. Their Jungle/mid synergy is super strong and their support has wide flexibility in compositions. They have practiced some strategies in our scrims that I cannot disclose but this is not a team you want to take lightly.

Player to Watch - Crown Me Kidd

Crown is the captain of the team and seems like he has a big voice. From what I’ve seen, his ability to judge game state and make calls on rotations will prove to be very useful for this team to maintain their high standing and push for playoffs. 4. Reign (6-4)

Reign has had the most volatile BOL tenure out of almost any minor team this split. They have gone from some of the sloppiest games to some of the most one sided. From top of the pack to almost leaving the league. But they also made some recent roster changes that from what I’ve seen has made them way stronger. Reign has very solid mid and late games. If you allow them the time, they will take over the game. I don’t believe they are anywhere near their peaks but if the team can deal with their issues (I won’t be going into detail about what those are to maintain fairness in the league), they also have a shot at taking the whole thing. Player to Watch - Fresh

Fresh is their team captain and hasn’t seemed too interested in staying in the league. He’s a player with high expectations for himself and his team. If he’s able to keep his mind in the game and in the league, the team can go far. He handle’s their mid/late game shotcalling, so their success relies heavily on his mental state game-to-game. He doesn’t tilt easily, he just loses interest sometimes (for all the teams that will read this and think they can win from tilting him).

5. Chubby Babies Academy(6-4)

CBA started off really strong and proved they have the potential to be a top contender but the recent few weeks have shown where their weaknesses lie. With the limited resources available to the org as a whole (having my dumbass as their coach), they aren’t quite able to realize their peak performances. There will also be some roster changes being made going forward which may help or hinder their performance based on how quickly the new players are able to get acclimated to the new environment. If they aren’t able to shore up their weaknesses soon, they may lose their chance at making playoffs. This team will be heavily reliant on build synergy and figuring out their identity in the next 2 weeks.

Player to Watch - Dempsy

Dempsy has shown that he is one of if not the best players on this roster. When he gets to play his game, he takes over. He has a strong mental and a great understanding of the game. He’s made some poor calls recently, while his team has made the correct ones, but since they trust their shot-caller fully, misplays have happened. If the team is able to get in sync with him, they will begin taking games left and right again.

6. Flash To Harass (5-5)

We believe that this is the strongest team of the 5-5 tie clusterfuck that is Minor. They’re the only team to take a win off of Valor Bulls United and that only speaks to the ceiling of this team. Unfortunately it seems like they struggle with inconsistency and that most likely explains the 5-5 record. They had a strong showing last week with a 2-0 week and they should be looking to see what they did last week in draft and try to replicate it this week if they want to break apart from the tiebreaker from hell.

Player to Watch - Kappa Krusader

This was a close tie between him and his adc, but I got paired up with him in solo queue and this guy CLAPS. He seems to be very comfortable on the champions he plays, and has great pathing. I don’t know the team dynamic but if he doesn’t already have a vocal place on the team, he should.

7. NSG Amethyst (5-5)

This squad is the academy level team to the NSG squad in Major. Not much to say about this team as it seems that they’re having a hard time getting a squad together for gameday. The other game they played was a seemingly rough stomp that wasn’t in their favor. This team is just a huge question mark to me and I hope they’re able to get it together and get some wins in time for a better place in playoffs.

Player to Watch - ToniTop

After a rough week for them, it seems like he was the only person on his team that wasn’t outclassed as hard as the rest of them, especially when he was offrole. He seems to be the most consistent player on his roster currently.

8. No Name’s Goons (3-3)

Just call them the Goons now because NoName is off to greater pastures (like an 8th place Major team lul). Jokes aside, this is a pretty good roster. I think that this squad is going to pass the 5-5 bunch and probably be a top 4 team. They however were dealt a pretty rough loss against Oasis this week, losing by a massive 14k gold deficit in 23min.

Player to Watch - Nobyl

This guy had a massive performance on his Ahri. Although it was against BDFH, he still popped off. It will be interesting to see if he can keep it up and be a good replacement for NoName as the season comes to a finish.

9. Glacial Solar (5-5)

Personally believe this team should be a little higher on the list. They had what I’d consider a very successful week. They were in a pretty close game vs Oasis, and they smashed Chubby Babies Academy. They should be looking to play around their bot side if they aren’t already as Buzz Lightyear seems to be a very good win condition for the team. Their jungler also seems to be a very proactive player and seems to be one of the very few junglers in this league that know anything about proper pathing.

Player to Watch - Buzz Lightyear

His Caitlyn last week was a very standout performance for his team. He seems to have some good synergy with his support and I feel like he opens up a lot of room for the jungler to have priority on dragons.

10. ISU Academy (5-5)

ISU is coming off of a 2-0 week. They won one game against BDFH, and had another win by FF against NSG Amethyst. I’d almost consider that to be two free wins based on who they actually did play, but they all looked pretty good in the game against the Dolphins. What’s slightly concerning to me is that this game went on for 32min and it doesn’t look like they went for a single baron. I’d like to see this team put more of a focus on setting up for important neutral objectives in future games if they want to get wins against higher rated teams.

Player to Watch - Giorno Giovanna

Didn’t have too much to go off of, but from what I can see the jungle diff this game was massive. He kept BDFH from getting any dragons, as well as securing the only herald in the game. As I stated above, I’d like to see him put some priority on getting baron in order to push his leads.

11. Feed The Dream Blue (3-7)

FTD Blue is coming off a 2-0 week and had probably the hardest schedule of any team this week. They played the 1st and 3rd place teams, and they showed some signs of life in both games, but it was just a pretty massive outclassing in both games. The playoff run is also looking grim unless they’re planning on picking it up and finishing out the last 3 weeks strong.

Player to Watch - Vizay

This guy has a champion pool that probably pisses off enemy teams. He also seems to be the shining star on FTD Blue. He played Lissandra very well against VBU, and seemed to be the only person on the team to perform in that game. I look forward to seeing him more and I hope his team plays around mid and I’d like to see him on stronger late game carries.

12. Unreal Esports (2-8)

Another struggling team that I struggle to really see where they’re capable of winning a game through. A big part of this seems to be from the jungler’s champion pool. It seems that he’ll often resort to Xin Zhao and I personally just don’t find the champion to be nearly as impactful as most other champions unless he gets a massive lead. While playoffs are out of the picture for them most likely, they do look like a team that could grow with more practice and some players playing for the team rather than drafting like it's a solo queue game.

Player to Watch - Frosty

While his team seems to be super coin flip, he seems to really show up and play well every game. His champion pool is very much a “I want to fight a lot in lane” style, and I think with more jungle attention in the bottom lane, they could be a way for their team to look for wins. Overall, I think Frosty is very promising and the most consistent player on his squad.

13. Badass Dolphins From Hell (0-10)

Gotta respect a team that hasn’t won a game and still shows up 5 weeks in. I don’t think there is anything this team can do at this point and they should be looking toward some definitely necessary roster changes for the next season. Hopefully they’ll at least get one win sometime this season, but it’s looking grim.

Player to Watch - Everyone

Don’t know if it’s a lack of interest or maybe they just genuinely can’t get a win, but something's gotta change with this team if they wanna get wins.

14. Scarlet Pups (0-0)

SF is an org whose owner is very focused on success. If they made an academy team to play in minors, the only possible reason is that the org saw potential in the players but felt they weren’t ready to perform at the level needed for Majors. I believe this is a sort of training ground for these players to prove they have what it takes to move up and take over positions for the Majors team as the split goes on and players begin to reach their peak ranks. I also know this team will be competing and have competed in other leagues in the past few months, so they bring a lot of competitive experience while also remaining a bit of a dark horse. The only reason I have them listed so low is because their accomplishments outside of BOL may not transfer directly into this league. I would rather watch them for another week or two before making my final verdict. Player to Watch - Fireturtle

Fireturtle has been out of the competitive (and even the normals/ranked league) scene for a while. As the jungler, he will have arguably the most agency on the team. If he’s able to get back in shape and quickly, they can definitely take some games of some of the higher rated teams. But I don’t expect it to happen this week or even next week.