Jen's Journal - BOL Masters League Week 2

Hey, welcome to Jen’s Journal’s Week 2 Recap! 

Daylight Savings is messing me up this week. Can't believe it hasn't been outlawed yet. If any of this ends up being nonsensical, you know what to blame!

Two teams changed their names. Are you trying to confuse me?

The offenders are The Crabs Radiant (previously known as ID Eclipse) and BCS Demolishers (previously Bing Chillers TBD).

Week 2 Recap

Demacia

The Fraud Team	2-1	The Crabs Radiant
DZG Styx	2-1	Goofy Goobers
Omega Akuma Pairing Knives	2-0	Dorado Gaming Beta
Khan Esports	-	BYE

The Fraud Team vs The Crabs Radiant (2-1)

Congrats Crabs, you were defeated by the team I placed last in the Week 1 power rankings! Tbf I said ID Eclipse would go 2-0, and you decided to be difficult and change your name, so I think karma did her work here. 

None of the games look particularly close. Looks like chifuyu snowballed Game 1 with Xin, and The Crabs Radiant couldn’t do anything to come back. In Game 2, Crabs secured every single drag up to and including Elder, suggesting they crushed every bot river skirmish and decisively closed the game. 

Game 3 is the most intriguing. Verticality popped off on Darius with Seraphine, Orianna, and Senna behind him. Imagine what they could have done with an Ivern jungle? ID EddieBoy put up a good fight that last game, unlike the rest of their team. With only one death, it’s safe to say they did not int to Darius, and it was a teamcomp diff in teamfights. 

Another player to call out is That1guysBro, who did consistently well every game. It looks like mid and top did work. Btw another defense of my incorrect prediction—Verticality was not the top laner last week. They might be the game changer ;)

Just based on these games, the Crabs seem to love utility, but they might need to bring more heavy hitters next time. 

DZG Styx vs Goofy Goobers (2-1)

Okay, so I was wrong again. I’ll be honest here. I actually liked DZG Styx better last time, but I couldn’t fight the numbers in good faith. Yeah, I have excuses for everything.

Makimas Dawg took over on Smolder in game 1. But otherwise, it was smooth sailing for DZG Styx. Rapidfire did great this week, and Failz did a lot to enable that.

On the other side, it doesn’t look too good. Most of the Goofy Goobers were steamrolled in the latter two games. rAndOmCaPitALs deserves some cred for holding it together better than the rest.

Omega Akuma Pairing Knives vs Dorado Gaming Beta (2-0)

Hey, I was finally right about one! Solid Smolder bans from Dorado both games. Noatak was on Lux and Hwei this time, and he did a great job just like last time, but it wasn’t enough. Game 1 looked like a slow bleed-out. King Koney (top) must’ve been a split-push menace, and there was nothing Dorado could do about it. Mid 2 EZ and Ritty kept up the pressure well. 

Game 2 was 41 minutes long and looked close, but I think Dorado’s draft was questionable from the start. Fizz mid is an interesting blind pick and Omega had far more utility overall. What can the assassins do against Mid 2 EZ’s Lissandra? And there was Maokai on top of that. Alaskan Kodiak did pretty well, and it was them and Noatak that probably kept Dorado in the game for a while. 

Omega successfully outdrafted and outplayed Dorado in both games. Kudos to them! Maybe not just Smolder abusers after all...? But I’m confused af about who is who on their team because of the King Koney nonsense. Is the Smolder abuser the one who Maokai abused this week? I’m not taking the time to look into this any more, but you guys know what you did. Please, someone beat Omega so I can flame them because they deserve it.

Noxus

Leash the Dog	2-1	USAE Academy
BCS Demolishers	0-2	Lane Zero Maelstrom
Death Cards	2-0	Nameless Tritium
Dorado Gaming Gamma		BYE

Leash the Dog vs USAE Academy (2-1)

Okay I was wrong again here, but y’all know I barely had anything to work with. At least I got the 2-1 part right :)

Leash the Dog’s members put out good performances overall. StefStef Supreme and Xevel in particular looked amazing every single game. Game 2 looks like a throw from Leash the Dog/comeback for USAE. YUNOHANA was a presence that game with 96% KP. Genre did their part, too. 

It’s potentially worth noting that USAE had a sub on ADC this game, but given how stompy Game 1 and Game 3 looked, I’m not so sure it made a significant difference. 

BCS Demolishers vs Lane Zero Maelstrom (0-2)

Lane Zero Maelstrom stomped BCS, thanks to negative karma for their name change. This is the second 2-0 for Lane Zero. I’m curious to see if any of the other teams in Noxus will give them a run for their money, or if we’ll have to wait for playoffs.

Arthur wasn’t particularly impressive last week, but he was amazing in week 2! Massive top diff. Everyone on Maelstrom was solid. Enabled by Brash and NA Stallion, perhaps?

Props to Demo and Younglin from BCS for putting up a fight in these games. Joker, sorry about the Xin suggestion. I think you can blame me for Game 2 :/

Death Cards vs Nameless Tritium (2-0)

The first game was an FF. No idea what happened there, but I’m not complaining about only having to look at one game! Thank you Nameless Tritium for granting me this blessing.

There’s even less than usual to say since it was a one game stomp. Everyone on Death Cards won lane and did well. ShredMan3 and Shayden walked out with no deaths. A jg diff by 2004 Lexus GX470 again.

Power Rankings

Wild how just another week makes power levels a lot more clear. The biggest question mark is probably how stacked one bracket might be vs the other, which we won't really know until playoffs.

But I'll do the best I can with what I have.

1. Lane Zero Maelstrom

Lane Zero Maelstrom stomped hard both this week and last week. Only two other teams have the same record now. They edge out Omega since their games were much more decisive, and edge out Death Cards since they've beaten teams that can win. I'm curious how they'll look against stronger teams.

2. Omega Akuma Pairing Knives

Currently the strongest looking team in the Demacia bracket by far. They won without Smolder this week, so I have to acknowledge their skill. I just wish they had unique names. Is that really so much to ask?

3. Death Cards

Our last team with a pristine record. There isn't much bad to say about Death Cards, but they haven't proven themselves as much as the teams above. I wish the first game this week had played out properly, but there will be more to come. I want more adversity to make the standings more clear. And so I can flame the weak links on the team.

4. DZG Styx

Maybe my theory last week isn't so far off the mark? Another game 1 loss to reverse sweep for DZG Styx. And just like last week, every game was shorter than the last. It's good to see the rest of the team doing well this week, since I was wondering if there was power outside of mid.

5. Goofy Goobers

They were looking so good last week, but was it just an ez matchup? Everyone kinda fell apart in this week's losses. The Goofy Goobers have some work to do. Next week might show us where they truly stand, but they'll have a tough matchup in Omega.

6. Dorado Gaming Gamma

We didn't get to see these guys this week, so it's a little hard to place them. Curious about what they have in store this week after the TF nerfs. Will it still be a utility bot lane? Or was that just to abuse TF?

7. Khan Esports

The other team that didn't play this week. I think Khan might actually be a lot better than they look right now, since they lost to powerhouse Omega but almost turned one of their games around. I'm putting them above Beta since I liked the teamplay vibes I got from their game 2 last week, in which they were great at taking objectives.

8. Dorado Gaming Beta

Hmm I might be placing Dorado Gaming Beta high considering they've lost both weeks so far, but they've been against powerhouses. I liked that their top showed strength in game 2 this week. They have potential, but imo they really need to draft and coordinate better.

9. BCS Demolishers

They're up here since they put up a fight against Dorado Gaming Gamma last week. This week was awful, but Lane Zero Maelstrom might just be the strongest team in the bracket. BCS may be another victim of tough matchups.

10. The Fraud Team

Alright, I might just be overcompensating for trashing them last week and being wrong, but what's wrong with that? At least I wasn't wrong about the mid laner being solid, win or lose.

11. Leash the Dog

See, in hindsight... they lost to thee Lane Zero Maelstrom beasts last week, so maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh on them. Maybe I should be putting Leash the Dog one spot higher, but I was meaner to the Fraud Team last week and have to make up for that right now.

12. The Crabs Radiant

I want to flame this team even more for bringing shame upon my week 1 power standings and predictions, but, they do look better than the teams below them. I'm always a fan of solid teamwork, and I liked how they demonstrated that in game 2 this week.

13. USAE Academy

Sadly, the support and top laner are still not performing well. At least they got a win this week, but it was against a weak-looking team (and they still lost in the end).

14. Nameless Tritium

Bye the first week, then FF game 1 and lose game 2 this week. I don't want to be harsh on them when I haven't seen what they can do, but it's hard to justify playing them higher when there's no evidence of their potential yet. I hope they show up next week.

Week 3 Predictions

Demacia

Goofy Goobers vs Omega Akuma Pairing Knives: Omega Akuma Pairing Knives 2-0

Khan Esports vs The Crabs Radiant: Khan Esports 2-1

The Fraud Team vs DZG Styx: DZG Styx 2-1

Noxus

Dorado Gaming Gamma vs Death Cards: Death Cards 2-1

Nameless Tritium vs Leash the Dog: Leash the Dog 2-1

Lane Zero Maelstrom vs USAE Academy: Lane Zero Maelstrom 2-0