Week 8 BOL Plat Power Rankings

Entering the final two weeks of the season, the top six has almost pulled away from the rest of the teams. While week seven saw the dropping of M1, SPK, and New York Monkeys from the league, five teams have found themselves in confident playoff positions besides Mammoth and Classic. Week Seven left us with even more questions than answers, as teams continue to leave us puzzled. PLATLAS, the dominant force so far of the split, surprisingly dropped a game to Literal Monkeys. Meanwhile, Tempest got beat by a Classic team who had just been crushed by Illumination in 20 minutes. On the other hand, Literal Monkeys found themselves in a 2-0 week while Mammoth’s hot streaked ended with 2 losses. Overall, teams look even more inconsistent than originally shown so at this point, this is anyone’s league.

Title Contender? – PLATLAS (A Tier)

PLATLAS dropped a game last week to Literal Monkeys and while that doesn’t scream disaster, it does show some vulnerability of BOL’s top team. Even though there are currently no real dominant title contenders, PLATLAS would be the team to fill that spot. Regardless, one bad game against a Turtles led Literal Monkey’s team isn’t something to be concerned about, especially in a best of five playoff situation. While PLATLAS is certainly beatable, are they 3 games out of 5 beatable? From what I’ve seen from the rest of the league, No. As of right now PLATLAS is still the team to beat and the favorite to win the league.

At the Cusp – Crosspoint (B+ Tier)

Crosspoint find themselves 2nd on our tier list and climbing. While Crosspoint didn’t have any impressive wins last week, they didn’t have any major gaffes. For the top teams in the league, what may be more important than fielding an impressive win against PLATLAS, would be not dropping any unnecessary losses. The biggest difference between PLATLAS and many of the other high ranked teams in the league is the quality of losses. However, Crosspoint may be that team who can do that. The dynamic core of Furdi, Aero, and Gus are performing extremely well while Dalals continues to be a strong asset along with Synplistic. These five may have the talent needed to potentially beat PLATLAS in a best of 5 but will need to continue to show consistency over the next two weeks. With a bye this week due to the NYM dropping, their only match is against Classic, a team who they lost to before and cannot afford to again.

Playoffs – Illumination (B Tier), Tempest (B Tier), and Literal Monkeys (B- Tier)

For the rest of the playoff teams, their ceiling is the playoffs. While none of these teams look to be in real fear of dropping out of playoffs, even though its possible and crazier things have happened, they still may need to reassess their season. Regardless, we should see all of these teams in the playoffs and if any of them can recoup, they have the talent to win it all. Out of all three of these teams, Illumination is the one in the best position to crack out of purgatory. With Euler stepping it up recently, and still being led by the strong solo lanes of DripX and MrScruffNinja, Illumination may find themselves in potential top two spot. They handled their albeit easy matches last week in dominate style against Classic and Avengers. Their only match this week is against PLATLAS which will show the true potential of Illumination. Literal Monkeys came off last week with an extremely impressive 2-0 which was crucial considering the past disappointing weeks. Turtles, on the “ADC” role, led Literal Monkeys as they looked like a completely different team with YRU running mid and Turtles bot. Time will tell if this is beginning of a resurgence or just a blimp. Regardless, they face off against Classic and Avengers in what should be a 2-0 for any title contender. Finally, Tempest has seen themselves displaced from their original title contender position. While still in a strong position in the standings, their lost against Classic left some question marks. While teams drop games, they looked outmatched by a 5-8 team. Last week was another week to test out the new Tempest roster after the departure of the big three. Without GreatJace, Ducksolo, and Kardi, this Tempest team just isn’t the same.

6th – Mammoth (C Tier), and Classic (C+ Tier)

Last week completely changed the dynamic of the 6th spot for BOL Playoffs. Classic eSports needed to snatch a win against Illumination or Tempest and Mammoth needed to prove themselves against Crosspoint or beat newly formed Autofilled. The key to this is control. If Classic were able to go 1-1 while went Mammoth 0-2, Classic would have technical control over their fate. That was exactly what happened. Classic sits a game back Mammoth, who are both in a coinflip battle for 6th. While most leagues would usually write off the last playoff spot, any playoff team can make a run with the rollercoaster ride known as BOL Plat. To continue the coinflip trend, Classic eSports “coined” as BOL’s biggest coin flip had a 20 min loss against Illumination and a 25 min win against Tempest. Meanwhile, Mammoth’s hot streak ended as they experienced a rather surprising loss against recently formed Autofilled and a more expected one against Crosspoint. This week can be game changing as both teams prepare to face off in the last match of the season during week 9. Classic faces against two hot teams in Literal Monkeys and Crosspoint, who lost to Classic earlier in the season. Meanwhile, Mammoth faces title favorite PLATLAS and a spiraling !Rawr team. Like their power rankings, both these teams’ fate is intertwined. A week nine matchup may determine a playoff bid.

BOL PLAT Season 3 - !Rawr (C- Tier), The Avengers (D Tier), Autofilled (C Tier)

The final teams coming into our rankings have all been eliminated from playoff contention. For various reasons, each of these teams find themselves looking towards the future. While, Avengers have continued to show minor improvement every week, that has not yet been translated into a definite win. However, credit to the Avengers who have continued to stick through the season despite the rough ride. A point made in previous week’s power rankings is the importance of playing through a tough a season and rebuilding for next split. We saw three teams drop out last week and while Avengers have not been as competitive as other BOL Teams, they have played through it. The ability to be able to play through a losing season is something that should be respected and shows a lot about Nakra’s leadership. Our next two teams both entered the league late and have a relatively interesting background. !Rawr came into split and made an immediate splash. Unfortunately, that roster is gone. A team that looked to be a playoff contender for next season has completely vanished. Some due to unfortunate circumstances and some due to being Autofilled. Yes, Doki himself has lost players to the recently formed team, Autofilled. These players, who were considered to be the stronger players on the roster, were Athena and Peter Zaroll. That, along with other roster drops, has led to a completely different roster for !Rawr. While this is no surprise for !Rawr management, who thrive on ten man rosters, this keeps their potential ability to upset the top teams to a minimum. However, that may still happen for !Rawr as they face off against 7-7 Mammoth who is fighting to hold 6th place. Their other game is against Autofilled. A roster of familiar faces, Autofilled includes plenty of veterans in the amateur gold scene. They came into last week ready to rumble and they delivered with a win against Mammoth. Autofilled may be the new !Rawr, in terms of danger, and top teams need to be ready for them. Featuring a roster of Pete Zaroll, bunnyoflove, Sibel, Cmonshootfaster, and Athena, if this team sticks together through the offseason, they will be in a playoff position next split. For all three of these teams, the goal is to finish strong and have a solid basis to work on going into next season. The importance of the offseason cannot be understated. If taken seriously, anyone can make a run in season 3.