MVPs of the Week: Split 2 Week Eight

Tectonic: Value

Much like last week, we have a Tectonic game with a massive single-game performance from Value. Unlike last week, nobody else was good enough over two games to topple Value from the MVP spot.

In fairness to Value, the Varus game was absolutely huge, handing out crushing damage with the lethality Varus build as they pushed the Wolves out to 40 minutes. On the other hand, Tectonic are on an 0-8 run for a reason, and this is less a case of the Most Valuable Player for Tectonic and more a reflection of the Least Bad Performance. While I prefer to save this series for celebration of good play, they’re in a really tough spot right now.

Legacy: Claire

Claire earns another nod here in the face of strong competition from Decoy, who (as i’ve talked about in this week’s Power Rankings) turned in a strong week as he rose beyond his previous peak on a Rakan pick he’s struggled mightily with.

Through this strong play from Decoy, Claire still dealt monstrous damage, had the most presence and was the catalyst for so much about what went right for Legacy that he remains impossible to ignore when you look at Legacy’s play.

When you look at the schedule and the concentration of teams on the gauntlet bubble, we see a situation where Claire is the most important player to the gauntlet picture.

Bombers: Looch

Two strong performances from Looch and Tiger this week were not quite enough to get them over the line in what was a big match for gauntlet standings. They did, however, get a very important point out of it.

That point is where i’m looking to anoint Looch as the MVP. The kills might have gone to Sleeping, Tiger and Seb but Looch was everywhere, elusive and threatening and the driver of the win for the Bombers.

I had Tiger as the best player in game one by some way, and Looch as the best in games 2 and 3 so all in all it’s the nod to Looch with a very honourable mention to Tiger.

Chiefs: Babip

I was so impressed with Babip this series. It would have been all too easy to give this to ry0ma, who went deathless and had a massive 9-kill Yasuo game and call it a day. It would have been just as easy to give it to Raes, who had a FBI/k1ng-level Ezreal game and topped the damage charts in game 2 with a bot lane Orianna game.

But i’m going with neither of them, because Babip had such a complete performance. He barely gave Juves a sniff in both early games – he nearly put a flame horizon up in a 25 minute game two. Out of the jungle, that’s ridiculous. He dealt relevant damage in both games and on top of it all his vision game was understated yet exceptional. As the classic joke goes “Get you a man who can do it all” and in this set, Babip did it all, providing OPL junglers with a Taliyah masterclass.

MAMMOTH: Mash

Another rough week for MAMMOTH, who seem to be playing a gatekeeper role lately. I’m going to put game 2 in the bin and look purely at game one here where they gave The Chiefs their best shot.

In this game, they gave Mash room to work and he put incredible work in. In even situations he was enormous for them and while his damage numbers are amplified by pumping arrows into Swip3rr’s massive Cho’Gath, he was the major reason that some of these fights were even close. His ability to remain safe from damage while handing out this high amount of damage was impressive.

ORDER: FBI

There was a good case to be made for Spookz in this set, who was really good in both of ORDER’s wins but FBI was a cut above everyone this match, even in the loss. His game 2 numbers are a little higher thanks to the lethality Varus build into the low-armour Avant composition meaning that he could remain dangerous with poke, but his numbers are actually just ridiculous.

In both of his Varus games he deals more damage than the next two ORDER players, combined. In game 3 he does 200 fewer damage than the next two players on either side combined. That is a stupid amount of damage. Sure it might be poke, but in this set he was also mixing it up in skirmishes as well, so it’s relevant damage that is actively contributing to the team’s win. A massive match for ORDER’s young stud.

Avant Gaming: Frae

I had a hard time finding someone I was particularly enamoured with across the entirety of the set for Avant. Pabu was close but in the end i’m giving this to Frae for the way he took over game 2. We’ve seen games like this from Frae all year, notably his Ryze has been a signature pick where he’s been oppressive for Avant. He threw the LeBlanc into jeopardy time and again in their win, and time and again came away with kills and territory gained in Avant’s favour. He couldn’t bring them a win, but the point may turn out to be very important for them as there’s a plausible set of events that would see them reaching the gauntlet.