The Bickle Breakdown: Week One Review

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Bickle Breakdown, where we’ll be looking back at how Week One went for our IBS teams, as well as looking forward to what we expect coming into week 2. Before we begin, let’s take a look back at Week One and see how the games went:

(Have any suggestions/ideas/topics you’d like to see me cover? Feel free to DM me!)

Piltover

SNC Sunset Ravens 1 - 2 Revolution X

GSG Iota 2 - 0 Hyperion Galaxy

Wooper Academy 2 - 0 ICONIC

BYE: Revolution Anarchy

Zaun

TE Aeon 2 - 1 GSG Psi

Feed The Dream 0 - 2 TD Syndicate

Glacial Academy 1 - 2 Eden’s Blazing Stars

BYE: Knight’s Of Thunder

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Note - I tried to avoid giving it to multiple players on the same team

TOP: Clukerduk (HM - Terriermon/Pac)

JUNGLE: SuperSquare04 (HM - ihatepeople0192/Timik)

MID: MidMaster (HM - JustFritz/LemonSap)

ADC: AznSoulSniper (HM - ArcanzE/Crokpot)

SUPPORT: Reximus (HM - Rymezz/HailieVictoria)

Piltover

Rank 1: Revolution X (-)

Roster Changes - None

This past week was both good and bad for the squad known as Revolution X. Why good? You got the victory in the end, and we saw the carry potential each member has, with Fritz popping off on the Orianna game 1, and AmazingSpice/Reximus showing off the Lover’s Duo. Why bad? Being one of the favorites, they had likely wanted this to be a clean 2-0, not a hard fought 2-1, and we saw a rare occurrence of RainingWolves struggling top side. There may be other factors that we don’t see as outsiders, but at face value, that’s a bit worrying. However, what matters in the end is we saw the high points this team can have, and they’ll look to make a statement against Iconic this week.

Rank 2: GSG Iota (-)

Roster Changes - Add PrinceStyx (sub)

Coming out with a victory in the streamed game this past week, things looked really good for GSG Iota, though upon closer inspection, not much can be taken from the series, with their opponents falling prey to the enemy of all of us - Bad Internet and Overheating Computers. Due to some technical issues, GSG’s opponents weren’t able to put up much of a fight, with Teriermon taking an uncontested Top Tier 1, and Timik having free reign due to a constantly DCing jungler. This led to them only playing one game unfortunately. However, if GSG continue to look this good against opponents with working internet, they’ll be title contenders no doubt.

Rank 3: Wooper Academy (↑2)

Roster Changes - None

Wooper Academy came into week one looking to make a statement, and they certainly made a dominant 2–0 victory over Iconic, though considering the game state, I’m curious if they were playing safe, or just missing potential win conditions as the games went later. However, if my biggest criticism is “They didn’t win faster”, that’s absolutely nitpicking. In both games, the bot duo popped off with a Zeri/Seraphine pairing, putting their team in solid control the whole time, and giving the team an easy lane to play through. They’ll look to continue this upward trajectory as they take on GSG Iota in what is sure to be a fun series.

Rank 4: Revolution Anarchy (↓1)

Roster Changes - None

Anarchy has not yet come to the rift, having a bye this past week, meaning they had no way to move up in the rankings. However, as they make their debut this week, expect to see big things from ValorHasEgo and TheYesParade in the bot side, as they look to stake their claim to being one of the best bot duos in the league.

Rank 5: SNC Sunset Ravens (↑2)

Roster Changes - None

How do you lose a series and still move up in power rankings? By putting up a hell of a fight against one of the strongest teams, and that’s exactly what SNC Sunset Ravens did. The most notable shout out has to go to Clukerduk, who, despite being the teams substitute top laner, went toe to toe with Raining Wolves, and even came out on top in some games. SNC Big and Grim both had their moments in the games SNC won, and will likely look to build on that synergy going forward. Despite taking the loss, this was absolutely a notable and positive performance by SNC Sunset Ravens, and they’ll look to hopefully take the win against Rev Anarchy.

Rank 6: Hyperion Galaxy (↓2)

Roster Changes - None

Hyperion lost their series twice this week - once to GSG, and once to their ISP. With top lane e-sub Ares being out of commission early game, and jungler Khaizuo seemingly DCing every few minutes, Hyperion didn’t have much of a chance, and ended up FFing game 2. However, not everything was negative this series, with their bot duo looking solid and even having a leg up on their opponent at times. With a bye week to fix their internet, hopefully they come back ready to show their true potential.

Rank 7: Iconic (↓1)

Roster Changes - Add Exotic Fox (Coach)

Iconic unfortunately did not start out too hot this season, dropping their first series to Wooper Academy in what looked to be a rather one-sided affair. AlternativeCrow and Minaemi tried their best to push back against the Wooper onslaught, but it wasn’t enough.

However, you can never judge a team based solely on one series, and a change in coach may be exactly what they need, now bringing in Exotic Fox in to try and help the team find the synergy and style they need. However, they’ll need to make it fast, as their next opponent is not one to take lightly in Revolution X.

ZAUN

Rank 1: TD Syndicate (-)

Roster Changes - None

Coming out of the gate against a supposed tough opponent week 1, TD Syndicate showed why they should be the favorites of Zaun, and one of the biggest threats to take home the BOL IBS Title. Led by SuperSquare, TD handedly beat Feed The Dream, with both games clocking in under 30 minutes each, doing so despite needing to bring in an E-sub for game two and take a few ban losses. Crokpot and LemonSap showed this is more than just the SuperSquare show, picking up 17 and 11 kills respectively across the series. As a reminder, this was them without 2 of their starting players. TD is going to be a very difficult team to take down.

Rank 2: Eden’s Blazing Stars (↑2)

Roster Changes - None

While Eden’s Blazing Stars move up in the power rankings, they also move up in my “I like this team” rankings for working with their opponent, letting Glacial take time to find a sub jungler instead of just taking the FF-win, which they had every right and ability to do. In the series, ihatepeople had a great performance in the jungle, but it was the tenacity of top laner EDN Praetor that most impressed me. After a very rough game 1 on Jax, where he was flame horizoned, Praetor kept a level head, changed their playstyle and picked a tank in Dr. Mundo, and proceeded to control the matchup against a champ that gave him trouble last game. I always love to see players bounce back after a rough game, so consider me a fan of EDN Praetor. They’ll look to continue their winning ways in our steamed game against Knight of Thunder.

Rank 3: Feed the Dream (↓1)

Roster Changes - None

Despite dropping 0-2 to TD Syndicate in convincing fashion, I think that’s more a testament to the strength of TD as opposed to any weakness in FTD. All 5 names on this squad are veterans, have faced tough losses before, and bounced back. I expect that to be the case here, especially with the likes of Chubby Chernobyl and MysticAzzy to keep the team’s emotions in check and on track. They’ll look to rebound against TE Aeon this week.

Rank 4: Tenebrous Esports Aeon (↑3)

Roster Changes - None

In what ended up being our closest and most back and forth series, Tenebrous Esports Aeon were able to take down GSG in the end to secure a statement win against a well known org in the IBS scene. Winning a game while being down in gold is also extremely impressive, as I’m curious what the turn-around was like in game two and what caused it. However, after losing game 1 and being on the verge of being 2-0’d, they were able to keep their cool, make a plan, and execute it, which led them to a hard fought victory in the end. Playing from behind is never easy, but being able to do it is such an important skill. Also important is knowing your style of play, and looking at the drafts, it seems TE Aeon has a solid foundation there too. They’ll take on FTD this week as TE Aeon looks to keep climbing.

Rank 5: GSG Psi (↓2)

Roster Changes - None

Losing is never fun. Losing when you were on the verge of a clean win is even harder. Unfortunately, that’s the experience GSG Psi went through this past week, as a clean 2-0 victory fell through their fingers and ended in a 2-1 loss. After a clean game 1 win thanks in part to Pac’s Lillia, it looked like GSG were riding high on the backs of a 18 kill Veigar and a 13 kill Twitch, but whatever happened in game (I don’t know, I don’t have the replay files), they just couldn’t close out, letting TE Aeon claw back and steal a victory despite being down in gold. Possibly still hurt by their loss in the previous game, GSG weren’t able to muster up the strength to take game 3. This is the type of loss a team can dwell on, but luckily for GSG, they have a bye this week, and are likely looking to use it to regroup mentally so they can come back with a vengeance in week 3.

Rank 6: Glacial Academy (↓1)

Roster Changes - None

When you need to FF game one of your series because you can’t find an e-sub to use for your already full 10-man roster, it’s not a good look. However, once they were able to get on the rift, Glacial did show some positive moments, specifically from HumbleDarius on the Nasus game 2, as he absolutely ran a top kingdom, ending the game with a Flame Horizon. However, that success did not seem to last, as an attempt to run the same top lane game 3 did not end in their favor. With time and a consistent roster, I expect Glacial to improve, however, TD Syndicate is not the team they want to face off with now.

Rank 7: Knights of Thunder (↓1)

Roster Changes - Add KO Vesuvius (Jungle)

Sadly for Knight of Thunder, when the only team below you wins their series, and you have a bye week, the only place to move is down. However, as they make their BOL debut this week with a new jungle in KO Vesuvius, look for KOT to make some noise as they hope to move up the rankings.

Week 2 Piltover Predictions:

GSG Iota vs Wooper Academy: GSG Iota 2-1

Now here is my match to watch in Piltover this week, as the breakout stars of week one in Wooper Academy look to continue their winning ways, this time going up against a much tougher opponent in GSG. While I do think Wooper’s bot duo is more than capable of leading this team to a win, I expect the top trio from GSG to be too much to handle in a close series.

SNC Sunset Ravens vs Revolution Anarchy: Revolution Anarchy 2-1

Here, we finally get to see the debut of Revolution Anarchy, as they come into this week taking on the team that just put up a great fight against their sister team but came up short, SNC Sunset Ravens. While the top side may be something SNC can try to handle, the bot part of Anarchy will be extremely difficult for them to shut down, and I believe it’ll take Rev to victory here.

Revolution X vs Iconic: Revolution X 2-0

Now this looks like a series that will not be close. Rev X is coming into this week wanting to show that last week was just them getting adjusted and that they should be feared, while Iconic are looking to bounce back from a rough 0-2 loss to start the season. However, I don’t believe Rev X is where Iconic will find their first win.

Week 2 Zaun Predictions:

TD Syndicate vs Glacial Academy: TD Syndicate 2-0

Glacial may be looking to make a statement with their full roster, but it will certainly be hard to make it against this TD juggernaut. If Glacial wants a chance here, they need to come in with a plan of how to shut down the lifeblood of this team, SuperSquare. If you can’t set him behind, you’re going to have a bad time.

Eden’s Blazing Star vs Knights Of Thunder: Eden’s Blazing Star 2-1

In our Streamed Match of the Week, KOT finally debut, and they do so against an opponent coming off a win in Eden’s Blazing Star. While Eden’s is looking to ride the momentum of taking down Glacial, The Knights are hoping to stop them in their tracks. The jungle matchup is one to absolutely keep your eyes on, as ihatepeople0192 takes on KO Vesuvius.

TE Aeon vs Feed The Dream: Feed The Dream 2-1

TE Aeon made a great debut this past week, taking down GSG in a hard fought series. Now, they face off against an extremely veteran squad in Feed The Dream, who are hungry for their first win and are looking to take back some momentum after falling to TD. I expect this to be our closest series of the week, but in the end, I give the edge to experience, which falls to FTD.