Week 6 Gold League Power Rankings
Hello again, it’s Toxin! I just want to apologize for the late drop of the power rankings last week before I go into this week. The mid-season reflection that I did definitely gathered a lot of discussion, but it took up WAY too much time, leaving me very little to actually write up the rankings. However, now I know that if I’m going to start an additional piece of content, I should do it after I finish the power rankings. Last week really just was an off week for me, as on top of the late content, I only went 7/12 on my predictions, which is the worst I have ever done in a week. Also hopefully no one watched the bonus stream on Thursday where I inted my ass off. At least in terms of predictions I wasn’t alone in my mediocrity, as Mohawk only went 6/12 ( yes I’m counting him not making a pick as an incorrect guess), Minute went 8/12, and TheRunicBlade also only got 7/12 correct. I’ll look to right the ship this week, where you’ll also find me on Otter Talk for the first time. Make sure you tune in to flame me!
Division 1:
Bye: Pod of Dolphins
Pod of Dolphins had their bye last week, and with the way their season had been going, it should have proved to be a nice breath of fresh air. Going along the theme of righting the ship, this team still has a chance to make the playoffs. If they are able to defeat Quake this week, and if Vitamin X loses this week, this team will end up jumping into 4th, which leads into a winner take all matchup in week 7.
Oasis Nail and Day Spa (W) vs Vitamin X (L) 2-0
Oasis continued their onslaught of Division 1 this week with another 2-0 smackdown, this time versus Vitamin X. Also worth noting is that this win was done with three new players on the roster, including Diete, Socks and Thighs, and AintEZBngCheezy. These subs showed that they deserve to be starters, especially Diete, who takes the player of the match honors. I thought he did exceptionally well versus K2 Revival, who I have said in the past to be one of the best players on Vitamin X. They obviously don’t agree with me, as they have moved him to the sub role on the roster following this defeat, however I have to assume this was due to something not related to his in game performance. My player to watch is iStretchMoms, who is going to be role swapping from ADC to Jungle next week in a very important matchup versus Dawnbreak Gaming.
Literal Monkeys (W) vs VBU Krypton (L) 2-0
What can I say other than this was to be expected. What was not expected about this matchup was the role swap done by VBU Krypton’s best player Revan Storm, which marks the second ADC player to swap roles in this division. Regardless of which role he plays, he is the only player to watch on this team. I’m not sure why he role swapped, but maybe they did that to avoid Wunderworld, who seems absolutely unstoppable in the bot lane. He earns the player of the match honors with his play on Senna and Ashe, posting double digit kills and under two deaths per game. Next week they will face their only real opponents in Oasis NADS, which should 100% be the streamed game or I’ll riot.
Dawnbreak Gaming (W) vs Quake (L) 2-0
Dawnbreak Gaming came out swinging this week, making it clear that they are a cut above the bottom of the division with a quick 2-0 victory over Quake. But to be fair, it's not like there’s really much there for their competition. Quake itself has had an avalanche of a season, as they never really put together any of the pieces that they assembled for the roster. Sure they beat VBU Krypton, but with them being one of, if not the worst team in the league, I can’t really say this is an accomplishment. Hopefully they are able to pull themselves together for one final match, where they can play spoiler to the Pod of Dolphins’ playoff hopes. If not, well at least they won’t lose in BOL any more this season. I will say that Neosword did a good job in his debut game, earning him the player to watch. As for Dawnbreak, their player of the match is their support Therealtoombsb, who did consistently well on both of their Nami games. Next week they look to clinch a playoff spot with a win over Vitamin X.
Rankings:
Division 1:
Oasis Nail and Day Spa (=)
Literal Monkeys (=)
Dawnbreak Gaming (=)
Vitamin X (=)
Pod of Dolphins (=)
Quake (=)
VBU Krypton (=)
Division 2:
Bye: The Collective Esports
The bye this week in Division 2 goes to The Collective Esports, who did not make any changes to their roster this week. Honestly, now is the time to buy in on this team’s stock, as they are a genuine contender to taking a top spot in the playoffs. Their final two matches of the year come against NSG Gold and Twin Disasters, with both looking vulnerable after their losses last week. A win this week would be huge.
Chubby Babies Shock (W) vs Poro Snaccers (L) 2-1
The one thing I will say about the Poro Snaccers is that this team finds a way to get wins, as most of their matches end up being 2-1s. This week was no exception, as they fell to Chubby Babies Shock in this manner. The player to watch for them is their new ADC Itz The God, who did great on his game of Caitlyn. On the other side, I think the Babies used this week to experiment with their roster, choosing to go with BuhRockObama in the mid lane and trying out Le Shuriken ADC. I’m not quite sure why they decided to go with this change, as I would say that Le Shuriken playing mid lane is their best player from what I’ve seen in the two matches against them. With that being said, CANMaple definitely outclasses him in the ADC role, and he is my player of the match. Him and his team now find themselves in the middle of the 2-2 cluster, however they still need to get their 0-2 handed to them by Mad Rawrs this week. I expect their playoff hopes will be decided in their final match of the year.
Imperial Gaming (W) vs NSG Gold (L) 2-1
Imperial Gaming shocked the community this week with their incredible 2-1 victory over NSG Gold, of which no one on Otter Talk saw coming at all. Each game in this series was a long, drawn out brawl, with two of the three games lasting over 40 minutes a piece. With this win, they were able to rise to the 4th place spot in the division, catapulting them into playoff discussion, rather than being that 6th place team that some thought them to be. The player of the match goes to whoever was able to rally the team after game one, as the game two performance was the only convincing win of the series. My best guess is that it was their captain Azurexfire, who’s back to back performances on Neeko stand out to me as a lynchpin to the team’s success. For NSG Gold, they now find themselves in the same spot Imperial Gaming was last week, as they are slowly slipping out of a playoff spot. With two hard opponents left in Twin Disasters and The Collective Esports, TheRunicBlade will need to step up to match his bot lane competition, or they will be the next team eliminated from the division.
Mad Rawr (W) vs Twin Disasters (L) 2-0
What can I say about this game, other than the fact that one team showed up to prove that they are the top team in this division, and the other was barely able to put up a fight. On the Twin Disasters roster, I’m pretty sure their new addition Kaiten was the only player to show up to play, as he did well on both of his Azir games. However, it's hard to win a game when your entire roster is imploding around you. The player of the match definitely goes to Kral Sultan, as he is in consideration for one of the top two junglers in the entire league, and he seemed like he was everywhere at once. Mad Rawrs should finish this division 6-0, and I’m looking forward to seeing them in the playoffs. I fully expect the Disasters to rebound this week, when they take on Imperial Gaming.
Rankings:
There’s actually movement in the rankings for once, nice! Mad Rawrs still sits at the top, and since Twin Disasters has only lost to them, I’m gonna leave them in second. There’s really no logical way to sort the next 4 teams, as they all beat the Poro Snaccers and they are all 1-1 within the group. Therefore, I’m just gonna rank them based purely on my own speculation on how the final two weeks will go. I currently expect Imperial and NSG to go 0-2 in their remaining matches, and since Imperial won this week, they slot in 5th. For the remaining teams, I have them going 1-1 with their series going about the same way. Therefore, since The Collective Esports is already up on points, they get the 3rd seed. However, it really is anybody’s game to make it out of the group.
Division 2:
Mad Rawrs (=)
Twin Disasters (=)
The Collective Esports (+2)
Chubby Babies Shock (=)
Imperial Gaming (+1)
NSG Gold (-3)
Poro Snaccers (=)
Division 3:
Bye: Oasis Octane
Not much to report here for Oasis Octane. They didn’t make any changes, and their 2nd place position seems pretty secure. If they are able to beat NSG Black 2-0 this week, they might even be able to slide into first. Hopefully they can step up to the challenge.
Primal Gaming (W) vs Crimson Dolphins (L) 2-0
In an unexpected turn of events, Primal Gaming finds themselves sitting in 3rd place in the standings after a win over the 6th place team in the division. To be honest, with how terrible the Arcanists have looked the last two week, there’s genuinely a great shot that Primal can stay in this spot. Speaking of which, they get to play them next week, and a win would be absolutely massive for them. That being said, this roster changes by day, with two more players being added to the roster this week, so I’m not completely convinced. I will say they absolutely slaughtered the Dolphins last week (don’t tell PETA) with two quick claps. The player of the match goes to Nunu and Willump,who did not have a death in the series. His play on his namesake champion also especially stood out. For Crimson Dolphins, you have officially been eliminated from the playoffs with this loss, however you still have one more match to go against the Arcanists in a spoiler match that can ruin their playoff hopes, so I hope that they can go through a training arc this coming week to finish the season with a win.
EOU Midnight (W) vs Arcanists (L) 2-0
Ok seriously, what is up with this Arcanist team? Someone please tell me how a team that starts 2-0 against two pretty strong teams in this division ends up losing to the last place team in the division. Did they actually just mental boom themselves off the face of the earth? To be fair, the writing was on the wall for this team, as they won both of their matches while behind on gold and went to three games for each match. In addition, their best player Dragonic70 was not in attendance last week, so Otherkin had to fill mid. However, the players on the team just could not perform, even when they were given good team comps. The player to watch is Numbers, as he did his best to keep his team afloat. For EOU Midnight, props to you guys for starting what could be the S04 comeback of the BOL. The player of the match goes to bananajetski, doing what he does best to the sub top laner of the Arcanists. Hopefully they can keep this going next week versus the Chubby Babies.
NSG Black (W) vs Chubby Babies Cinder (L) 2-1
NSG Black finds themselves one win away from having an undefeated season after last week, which is a statement I could not have fathomed at the beginning of the split. To their credit, they played exceptionally well last week, with their bot lane leading the way in all three games. The player of the match goes to Warning Shots, as he is for sure their best player and the reason that they win games. For Chubby Babies Cinder, you guys have had 3 really close matches that ended up in losses. The biggest thing about this team is that they need to not tilt out. They have two more matches to go, and both are must-wins. I’m 99% certain that this team will earn a spot off of points if they can end 3-3, but they still need to win two more series in order to make that happen. I have faith in them, but EOU Midnight and Primal Gaming both looked very good this week, so neither should be taken lightly.