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.
Rankings:
Honestly these rankings are also a bit of a mess this week due to the Arcanists imploding. The top two teams are for sure NSG Black and Oasis Octane. Crimson Dolphins also fall to last due to them being the first team eliminated. For the remaining four teams, none have really proven themselves as a third place team, but with the Arcanists falling apart, I like Primal for the 3rd place spot. Arcanists take the 4th place spot solely because they have 2 match wins, otherwise they would be in 6th to be honest. Finally, I like Cinder’s chances of winning out in the final weeks over EOU.
Division 3:
NSG Black (=)
Oasis Octane (+1)
Primal Gaming (+2)
Arcanists (-2)
Chubby Babies Cinder (-1)
EOU Midnight (+1)
Crimson Dolphins (-1)
Division 4:
Scarlet Miracles (W) vs VBU Argon (L) 2-0
The major talking point with VBU Argon leading into this season is that their best player, BestSupportMain, has hit platinum 2 this week and subsequently is unable to participate in BOL Gold for the rest of the split. Honestly, in my eyes this was a death blow to the team, and their performance in this rescheduled game confirms it. Even with their jungler and support swapping roles, this team was unable to find any semblance of a lead. I think the final nail in the coffin is the fact that Scarlet Miracles’ Jungler, Poobin, played machine gun Lulu jungler in game two and still styled on them. Frankly, unless they can find a superstar to help them against Chubby Babies Frost, this is the team that will finish 5th. Otherwise, the only player worth watching after that performance is their top laner Lord Sema. For Scarlet Miracles, this was an extremely convincing win, but it was done with Lunari Riv60 on the team, a player that can only compete if the match is rescheduled. I would be interested to see if they would be able to take down 3-0 Esports with this roster, but I don’t think we’ll see that come to fruition. The player of the match goes to Healthy Ego, who is the major carry on this team.
Scarlet Miracles (W) vs Chubby Babies Frost (L) 2-0
Speaking of the Scarlet Miracles, they also played Chubby Babies Frost this week and handed them their 2nd loss of the season. After what I heard on Otter Talk last week, my hopes for this team have dwindled quite a bit, as I can only assume how mentally boomed they are after two losses in a row. The good news here for them is that they already have 3 wins, so they really don’t need to do much in order to hold a playoff spot. However, if they lose 2-0 this week versus VBU Argon, they should be genuinely worried about their playoff hopes. The player to watch for them is their captain NotABraumMain, who either needs to set his team straight after two losses or cut out and replace where the toxicity stems from. As for the Miracles, they have finally sorted out their roster issues by having HowIMetYourTable play ADC and having Protts come in for the top lane position. Speaking of which, I thought Protts played exceptionally well on both Poppy and Kled, which shows that he can play both tanks and carries. He earns my player of the match vote. I fully expect the Scarlet Miracles to finish 2nd in the division and make a deep run in the playoffs.
NSG Amethyst (W) vs Titan Esports (L) 2-0
NSG Amethyst proved this week that they will not be the worst team in this division, with them barely edging out Titan Esports in a three game slugfest. All I’m going to say is there was no post game screen shot for any of these games, and therefore I have no idea which players actually played in the match. Due to this, I won’t be giving out a player of the match or a player to watch. But let’s face it, Titan Esports is already eliminated so there’s no need to watch any of their players, and NSG Amethyst aren’t going to win a single game for the rest of the year. 3-0 Esports will officially eliminate them from contention this week, and that will be that.
3-0 Esports (W) vs Hyperion Gaming (L) 2-0
I feel like with 3-0 Esports I can just copy and paste everything that I write about them from last week and call it a day. Yada yada yada they win 2-0. Something something they are the best in the division and the favorites to win the league. You know the deal by now. This time their victims were Hyperion Gaming, which got bot gapped pretty hard in both games. Jeffrey Eepstein is the player of the match with his play on Ashe throughout the short lived series. I think that Dobs did very well despite the loss however, and with his performance I have high hopes in them taking the third seed in the division when the dust settles.
Ranking:
I think that Scarlet Miracles roster is solid moving forward, and they should be the ones that emerge as the second best team in the division. With VBU Argon losing their best player and Chubby Babies Frost mental booming, I think Hyperion Gaming is able to reap the benefits and move into the 3rd spot. Finally, I don’t think VBU will be able to overcome the loss, which will cause them to miss the playoffs.
Division 4:
3-0 Esports (=)
Scarlet Miracles (+1)
Hyperion Gaming (+2)
Chubby Babies Frost (-2)
VBU Argon (-1)
NSG Amethyst (+1)
Titan Esports (-1)
Matches to Watch This Week:
There is one standout match this week in my eyes, which is the Literal Monkeys taking on Oasis Nail and Day Spa in a battle for first in Division 1. Like I said above, it would be criminal for this match not to be streamed, as this is 100% the most exciting match of the night. For the second streamed match of the night, there are a few great options this week, including NSG Black taking on Oasis Octane in a battle for first in division three. However, both teams have already been streamed, one of which being recent, so I’m not sure if the admin staff will choose this match. Another option would be Dawnbreak Gaming vs Vitamin X, which is a very important match to deciding which team ends in 3rd. The problem is that I don’t think they would air two games from the same division. I think the match they ultimately choose is the one between NSG Gold and the Collective Esports, as it should be close and both teams have not been streamed yet this split.
Top 16:
There’s a ton of movement this week, and for good reason. To be completely honest with you, there’s really two lists here. I think there is a clear top 8 in the league, and then there’s the other 8, which you can put in any order. I think tier list wise the top 3 teams are in their own tier in terms of strength, but I’m gonna give the nod to Mad Rawrs with how badly I got beat this week. I think the next five are all of the same tier, but I don’t think they will take games off the top three. The Literal Monkeys are the closest team to doing so in my eyes, and they could possibly move into the top 3 next week. Scarlet Miracles was dominant this week, so they got a huge jump in the rankings as a result. I’m still unconvinced about Division 3, so NSG Black sits in 6th. For the supposed “other 8”, I think it’s a crapshoot. Dawnbreak Gaming jumped six spots this week due to the amount of new additions and with how sure I am of them making the playoffs in their group. Hyperion Gaming, The Collective Esports, and Primal Gaming slot in next despite them being new teams to the rankings not due to their strength, but rather because of how bad other teams looked in their divisions. Those teams, which are Chubby Babies Frost and Arcanists, slot in towards the bottom, dropping seven and eight spots respectively. Vitamin X still sits in last, as I still don’t think this team is better than any other team in a playoff spot.
3-0 Esports (=)
Mad Rawrs (+1)
Oasis Nail and Day Spa (-1)
Literal Monkeys (+1)
Scarlet Miracles (+5)
NSG Black (+1)
Twin Disasters (-3)
Oasis Octane (+1)
Dawnbreak Gaming (+6)
Hyperion Gaming (NEW)
The Collective Esports (NEW)
Primal Gaming (NEW)
Chubby Babies Shock (=)
Chubby Babies Frost (-8)
Arcanists (-7)
Vitamin X (=)
Dropped out: Chubby Babies Cinder, NSG Gold, VBU Argon