MVPs of the Week: Split 2 Week Ten

Tectonic: Praedyth

Notwithstanding game three, in which it looked like everyone on Tectonic had a bit of a disaster, Praedyth was the major reason this series was close. He was a relevant side lane consideration whenever Avant wanted to do something elsewhere on the map, and he basically single-handedly punked the entire roster on the way to pushing down the nexus in game 2. Hopefully he can parlay these last two weeks into a starting gig and show some consistency on top of these high highs.

Legacy: Raid

Claire might have taken home all the plaudits, but we always knew that Claire was a monster. My single biggest criticism of Legacy (after we get past their sometimes rancid baron play) is that we don’t see consistent stepping up of the other players around Claire. Now, two games does not consistency make, but Raid was remarkable this series.

Historically he has been the poster boy for my issue with Oceanic Ezreals in that he played within the confines of Arcane Shift. But in this series he stepped forward, took risks to secure kills and push around MAMMOTH members, and actually Dared to Deal Relevant Damage, instead of just Q-poking and walking away. This was an Ezreal performance where some of the limits of Ezreal were sometimes pushed, instead of being used as a secure warming blanket, never to be touched.

MAMMOTH: Mash

I thought this was a fairly huge effort across all the MAMMOTH members this week. It wasn’t for lack of effort or production from one standout member that was the reason they didn’t win this match. It was small margins across key moments that turned this series around on them. Even when things started to go south, Mash was the one member who stood tallest and when you secure a pick like Varus for your veteran import, that’s exactly what you want from them. I can guarantee it will be of little consolation, but this was as monumental an effort as any five could have put in for a losing 0-2 series.

Chiefs: Ryoma

Once again, Raes and Ryoma go toe-to-toe here. Two incredibly early towers along with the Babip-assisted whipping that was inflicted upon the Bombers bottom lane cast a strong vote for Raes, and while it was a fairly standard Rakan engage, Destiny did also bring out a clutch teamfight.

But through it all I thought Ryoma played really well in both games. He had a commanding, controlling performance on his signature Syndra pick, and then when the Syndra was picked into him, broke out another fearsome Zed and went ballistic. It’s a really valuable weapon the Chiefs have shown opponents, this Ryoma Zed and gives them an extra element of mind games they can wield in drafts during the gauntlet.

Bombers: Looch

Individually, I thought the Bombers fell flat in this series. They definitely had their good moments, but it was off the back of some good team coordination, rather than individual brilliance. I’m sure they’ll take that though, good teamplay going into gauntlet is definitely A Good Thing.

Of the individual performances, I thought that Looch had the best two-game set. Sleeping was okay in patches, Seb had a nicely timed Lamb’s Respite around baron but neither matched Looch across both lanes. Unfortunately the bot lane had a bit of a disaster so hopefully for Bombers’ fans they’ll bounce back against Legacy and maybe beyond.

Dire Wolves: BioPanther

For my money he was manhandled a bit in their loss, but there can be no denying the unbelievably high height that BioPanther hit in game 2. Down 1-0 in the series and with game 2 not going all the way according to plan BioPanther reached…well…not deep into his Mundo bag of tricks, but for the same trick he did last time and cleaned up another mid lane teamfight with a delayed triple kill. Save for Griffin, nobody else in the world has come from their challenger league into their premier league with this apparent fluidity. It’s been wonderful to watch.

ORDER: FBI

FBI’s ability to deal big damage without standing out as going incredibly aggressive is remarkable. That’s usually the sign of a great positional ADCarry. While he’s known for his Xayah and Ezreal picks this season, I believe he can play basically anything and be incredibly competent on it, which I would suspect is what ORDER were trying with the Kog’Maw – and while it didn’t work out, I’m not looking at the pick or the draft being the main reason behind that.

What’s exciting for ORDER fans is that I think his best suite of champions are being patched back in now – I really enjoy watching his Ashe and Varus, and I predict ORDER fans will as well.