Unofficial Week 2 Gold Power Rankings - By Toxin

Hello again, it’s Toxin! Last week, BOL Gold started off with a bang, seeing rookies and veterans to the scene clash in some exciting matchups across the league. For those of you that don’t normally read my power rankings, let me break down the format real quick. First off, I start by keeping track of how well the predictions went, whether it’s mine or the commentators on Otter Talk. Then I go into how each match went last week in each division before handing out a power ranking at the end. Finally I’ll get into my predictions for the week, the Top 16 teams in the league, and the matches to watch. That being said, let’s go into the predictions from last week. The champ from last week with the most correct predictions goes to The Bully by far, as he basically wrote the script by getting all but one series correct. As for the others, BillyWillard and I both got 9/12 correct, with FB Jayke slightly behind us at 8/12 correct. Let’s get into the games.

North Division:

Final Esports (W) vs Gob Squad (L) 2-0

Final Esports started their season out strong with a 2-0 win over Gob Squad. I think the major thing to point out in this series is the dominant performance put in by Levi. Last week, I called him out as the player to watch due to him being an offrolled silver player, but he showed me up with dominant performances on Trundle and Urgot. In addition, he even was able to hit gold in solo queue, so congratulations to him! He should continue to be a win con for this team heading into week two against KQC. The player to watch for Gob Squad for the week is Raztastic, whose performance on Malzahar in game one really stood out to me. I think that the carries on Gob Squad really stepped up to the plate and have shown themselves to be strong win conditions. However, the pieces around them need to step up their game if they want to contend for a playoff spot. They play CB Rangers next week.

Imperial Gaming (W) vs KQC (L) 2-1

Next up, we had Imperial Gaming starting off the season with a win over KQC. What I find interesting about this result is the fact that KQC was able to take a game off of Imperial, considering that KQC is one of the lower ranked teams in soloq. This can mean one of two things: either KQC is better than we originally gave them credit for, or Imperial Gaming was “for funning” the second game in the series. Right now, I’m somewhere in the middle. On one hand, Imperial was playing champions that they don’t normally play, such as Draven and Twisted Fate. On the other hand, I think KQC had a standout performance from Creepin on Elise. This week, they can prove that win wasn’t a fluke when they go up against Gob Squad. As for Imperial, I think the player of the match was Azurexfire. Imperial always relies heavily on their captain to lead them to victory, and that has not changed going into this season. He stood out in both of their wins and was consistent in their loss. This week, they go against an Oasis NADS team that seems to be struggling internally. If they are able to pull out a win, they will be on the fast track to a top two spot in the division.

CB Rangers (W) vs Oasis NADS (L) 2-1

In one of the surprising outcomes of the night, CB Rangers was able to come from behind to reverse sweep the reigning champions in the first streamed game of the season. What an exciting series! I think the player of the match hands down has to go to Anderson Cooper. Not only was the man 3-banned every single game in the series, but he also carried game three with the amount of times he was able to catch ClassyNatsu. His play and shotcalling definitely was a large reason why the Rangers were able to pull out a win. That, along with continued strong play from the rest of his team, should go a long way in their series versus Final Esports this week. On the other side, I think the player to watch is ClassyNatsu, but not for a good reason. Going into the season, he was ranked as the number one mid laner due to his play from last season. That being said, he definitely did not show up last week, putting up average performance in the first two games, and attempted to get an 0-10 power spike in game three. If this team wants to regain their former glory, they will need him to snap back into shape this week versus Imperial Gaming. A final note is that the jungler from Oasis NADS was banned from the league and the result of this game has been changed from 2-1 to 2-0. Hopefully Kizercoolness will have enough games to play this week, or else they might use an esub.

Rankings:

1. CB Rangers (+1)

2. Oasis Nail and Day Spa (-1)

3. Imperial Gaming (=)

4. Final Esports (+1)

5. Gob Squad (-1)

6. KQC (=)

South Division:

Dead Orbit (W) vs NSG Amethyst (L) 2-1

For the first match of the South Division, Dead Orbit was able to narrowly squeak out a win in their first BOL series against NSG Amethyst. In my eyes though, the series seems unfinished. Unfortunately for NSG, they were unable to show up on time or plan a reschedule ahead of time, so they had to forfeit game one. In game two, they came back with a vengeance, with strong performances out of every member on their team. This wasn’t able to continue into game three, where Dead Orbit was able to answer with strong performances of their own. I would be curious to see how an actual third game between these two would have gone, but I guess we won’t find out until the second round robin. It’s hard to pick a standout player for each team due to this lukewarm result, as each team had one game where they all popped off and one where they all struggled. Next week, NSG Amethyst takes on their struggling sister team, and Dead Orbit takes on an undefeated CB Royal squad.

CB Royal (W) vs !Rawr Eternal Return (L) 2-0

One of the favorites in this division, CB Royal, came out swinging in week one with two 30 minutes beatdowns of the poor Rawr team. These games didn’t really look all that close despite the relatively long in game times, as every member on CB seemed to outclass their opposition in this one. The player I want to highlight is Lone Wind, who went up against a player I had in the top 10 for mid lane and made them look silly. If this continues, there’s no doubt that they will find themselves entering the top 10 player rankings at the mid way point in the season. CB Royal takes on Dead Orbit this week, where they can continue to separate themselves from the rest of the division. For !Rawr, the first two weeks are gonna be rough, as they have two of the better teams in the division back to back. If this team is able to weather the storm and build some synergy together, they should be able to start picking up some wins and make a second half comeback. If not, this could quickly spiral out of control. I’m looking at their captain, Hitstick, and player to watch, Wynter07, to keep things stable in the bot lane and keep the team afloat.

Crimson Dolphins (W) vs NSG Infinity (L) 2-0

“What happens if Crimson Dolphins 2-0s NSG Infinity this week.” “The whole group is in shambles.” Well i guess the whole group is in shambles because the Dolphins came back this season with a vengeance, taking out the predicted best team in the division with ease. Speaking of ease, this series was the first one done for the night, which really speaks to the magnitude of their victory. The player of the match in my eyes is SilantroKiller, who really stepped up his game from last split and took down two top 10 ranked players in the bot lane along with his duo partner Frozxen. I’m completely on the Crimson Dolphins hype train, but as much as I want to put them in first, I’m gonna hold back a little bit and see more out of them before I put them in first. They play !Rawr this week. I really don’t know what to say about NSG Infinity. I still rate all of their players highly in my head, but I think there is probably an adjustment period that this team still needs to go through with each other. I’m hoping that last week was just first series jitters and that they snap out of it this week against their sister team.

Ranking:

1. CB Royal (+1)

2. Crimson Dolphins (+2)

3. NSG Infinity (-2)

4. !Rawr Eternal Return (-1)

5. Dead Orbit (+1)

6. NSG Amethyst (-1)

East Division:

Twin Spirits (W) vs Classic Esports (L) 2-1

Starting off this close division is Twin Spirits taking on Classic Esports in the latter’s first series back in BOL for a while. This series was actually incredibly close, with all three games going 30+ minutes a piece, ending on a banger of a game three which went 40 minutes. Twin Spirits were able to come home with the win in this one, mainly on the backs of SmittyEh’s Viktor and Riv60’s Sivir. Both players excelled on these picks, which ended up being a major difference maker in the games. I’m a little concerned about the size of this team’s champ pools as a result, but I’m sure the Spirits can pull out some new picks this week versus the Literal Monkeys. As for Classic Esports, I think that the Scraptasatic and Silver Rookie put in some stellar performances that they can look to build on moving forward. That being said, this week will be a huge test for them as they have to take on Kral Sultan and Kaiten in their matchup versus VBU Argon.

VBU Argon (W) vs Team Nachos (L) 2-0 FF

In what can be considered one of the most upsetting things to happen to BOL in a while, Team Nachos have decided to leave the league after a scrim gone wrong. As a result, VBU Argon received a FF win. There’s not much to say about this, other than to welcome Mythos Purple to the league! There’s a few names that I recognize from Risen on this team, such as A Clogged Toliet and Best Plunger. This team also has a few silver players on the roster, which makes me think that this is a Risen Open roster that is getting slotted in. I definitely have high hopes for this roster, but they do start at a bit of a disadvantage. They take on NSG Gold this week, while Argon takes on Classic Esports.

Literal Monkeys (W) vs NSG Gold (L) 2-1

Completing the rough week for the NSG org is NSG Gold, which dropped to the Literal Monkeys in three games last week. On one hand, there are some positives to take away for them, as they did take a game off a top team in the league, which instantly moves them up in the division rankings. However, the roster that they won this game against was a little odd, as the went up against Wunderworld jungle (a callback to his time in the role two splits ago) and Kilestera ADC, which despite being a top player in ZGG’s IBS league had to go up against a top 10 ADC in BarbaricChampion. This thrown together was not up to par, which let NSG Gold, and specifically Waffle Sauce, capitalize and take the win. Then everything changed when PacaPaul decided to start playing, which completely turned the tides. Each game was a slaughter in the following two games, each ending in 23 minutes. My biggest question mark is whether or not this is going to start becoming a pattern for the Literal Monkeys. Sure, their roster with their starters is dominant, but if they are going to give themselves handicaps every game one, they might give up enough points to drop them out of contention for the top spot. They take on the Twin Spirits this week, and NSG Gold takes on the fresh meat in Mythos Purple.

Rankings:

1. VBU Argon (=)

2. Literal Monkeys (=)

3. NSG Gold (+1)

4. Twin Spirits (-1)

5. Classic Esports (+1)

6. Mythos Purple (NEW)

West Division:

CB Obsidian (W) vs VBU Plutonium (L) 2-0

Damn what a series of events. First off, I will say that I watched this series on a separate twitch stream since I didn’t have a match last week, and CB Obsidian looks like the team to beat. They made short work of VBU Plutonium despite them having an account sharing Platinum player in the mid lane. It was so easy for them that this loss, along with the comp ruling on Duero, caused the entire roster to implode. My player of the match goes to Triple Cute, who popped off in their offrole against a player I had in the top 10 for top lane. For VBU Plutonium, I’m gonna overreact a little and drop them down to last place in this division. Looking at their new starting roster on paper, it does look quite good at first glance. That being said, they are going to need to prove that this team can not mental boom and replace an entire roster after a single loss before I move them up the rankings above teams that they should probably be above on paper. CB Obsidian will look to continue their conquest of the division this week versus Silverline, while VBU Plutonium hopes to gain some momentum versus Shrimp Fried Rice.

Limitless Chaos (W) vs Silverline (L) 2-0

In the second lopsided match in the West Division, we had Limitless Chaos dismantle Silverline in a two game series. This turned out to be a total mismatch, as Limitless Chaos only died a TOTAL of ten times the entire series, while averaging twenty kills a game. On top of that, Flatzoner did not die a single time in the series, currently averaging a 25 KDA. We’ll see if he can keep it up this week versus one of the biggest competition for second place in the division, Collective Cosmic. As for Silverline, I will say that this roster is better than I originally gave them credit for, as they slaughtered one of the top teams in ZGG’s IBS league the other day, so they definitely belong here in a gold league. I’ll be curious to see if they can continue to improve to a level where they can compete with some of the other teams in this division, but they’ll have to earn every inch they can in this group of death. Things don’t get easier this week, as they take on the top dogs in CB Obsidian.

Collective Cosmic (W) vs Shrimp Fried Rice (L) 2-0

In the most impressive win of the league, Collective Cosmic was able to take down Shrimp Fried Rice without a single first round ban. Honestly, that’s quite amazing, especially considering how close these two teams are on paper. Strong performances out of Sayjoe, habloufough, and LunsBuns in both games really stood out to me as players that need to be respected in this division. That being said, this week is going to be an even bigger test for them, where they will face their greatest competition for second place in this division when they go up against Limitless Chaos, but the sky's the limit for this roster. Shrimp Fried Rice had a rough first week in the league, as they weren’t able to capitalize on the ban loss for the other team. Each player on the team struggled pretty heavily in this series, and there’s not a lot to praise here. I think that if they can be more consistent in their play, they should be able to find more success when they take on VBU Plutonium this week.

Ranking:

1. CB Obsidian (=)

2. Limitless Chaos (+1)

3. Collective Chaos (+1)

4. Shrimp Fried Rice (+1)

5. Silverline (+1)

6. VBU Plutonium (-4)

Matches to Watch This Week:

I think the most important match to watch this week is Limitless Chaos versus Collective Cosmic. Now that VBU Plutonium is out of the picture, these two teams are now the ones fighting for second in the division. Both teams had pretty easy opponents last week, so this matchup will be a proving ground for both of them. Outside of that, the streamed game for this week will be the Literal Monkeys taking on the Twin Spirits. I think that this matchup will come down to the mid/Jungle 2v2. Mr. Lean is a player that is known for neutralizing the top lane, and I think both of the bot lane duos are equally strong. The real question mark then comes down to whether Emperor is able to match PacaPaul, or if Smittyeh can beat up on Ball Slap, who is still transitioning back into the role after his short stint in the top lane. I’m really interested to see how my two ex teams are able to do against each other, and this should be an exciting series to watch.

Top 16:

Instead of writing out a paragraph highlighting a few of the changes I made, I think that this method of giving a small explanation on the side is better. This way, every team knows the reason why they moved up, down, or stayed the same. If there’s any questions, feel free to @ me in general chat for clarity or trash talk to argue what you would change about my list!

1. CB Obsidian (+1) - Made a top team drop out, visually looks the best

2. CB Rangers (+2) - Beat the defending champions

3. VBU Argon (=) - Didn’t play, can’t move up or down

4. Oasis NADS (-3) - Internal struggles and a loss drop them down

5. Limitless Chaos (+5) - inconsistent play by the teams around them move them up

6. Collective Cosmos (+8) - strong wins with no bans in the first round

7. Literal Monkeys (-2) - inconsistent roster, but still a top team with starters in

8. CB Royal (=) - got an expected win versus a weak team, no change

9. Crimson Dolphins (NEW) - upset victory places them in the top 10 instantly

10. NSG Infinity (-4) - starting off with a loss drops them a good amount

11. NSG Gold (+1) - took a game off of a top team moves them up a spot

12. Imperial Gaming (-2) - close series versus a team they should easily beat

13. Final Esports (+3) - beat Gob squad, so they swap places

14. Twin Spirits (=) - Close series versus Classic keeps them here

15. Classic Esports (NEW) - VBU Plutonium imploding helps, plus they won a game

16. Gob Squad (-3) - Didn’t win a game, so they drop

Dropped out: Team Nachos, VBU Plutonium