Season 4 Early June
The first of three stages of Season 4 Lads is done. The seeding tournament to determine 4 groups of 4 took a little longer than expected, however was exciting nonetheless. Rather than determining groups by Admin opinions these results made these groups:
Group A:
- Nearly Tilted
2. Quarantine Gamers
3. Remove Radiance
4. Purdue University
Group B:
- The Knights of Albert
- WeirdHead
- Meat Sweats
- Streamer Simps
Group C:
- East Side Echidnas
- West side Wombats
- Banana Hammock
- Smooth Steve
Group D:
- Eternal Kings
- Polar Ass
- Moonlight
- Animal Control
Unfortunately, two teams will be playing each other for a second time (possibly Weirdhead vs the Kings). Since we made a slight error with who is in each group, the Quarantine vs Radiance series that was supposed to be played in the seeding tournament will just be played as their group stage match.
For the final playoff format all 16 teams will make the playoffs, finishing top two in your group will land you in the upper bracket.
The playoff format will look like this (similar to TI format except no BO1s).
Seeding Tournament Statistics Leaders
I have plans for better and more impact stats for future weeks, as you will see by the leaders of the stats I have on this medium these two teams: Echidnas and Nearly Tilted, dominated their opponents so hard this week, that they put up some really insane numbers. So once everything starts to even out I will include more into these and will take suggestions on what to add as well.
Kill Average Leaders:
- Near 16.5 (4 Games Played)
2. F8Lness 12.0 (6 Games Played)
3. Fume 11.2 (5 Games Played)
4. Beast Unit 10.8 (8 Games Played)
5. Garda 10.2 (5 Games Played)
Lowest Death Leaders:
- IceYeti 0 (2 Games Played)
2. Filski 0.5 (2 Games Played)
T3. Pattern 1.0 (4 Games Played)
T3. Brightside 1.0 (2 Games Played)
5. Strykers 1.3 (4 Games Played)
Assists Average Leaders:
- Reza 23 ( 2 Games Played)
2. Pike 21.5 (4 Games Played)
T3. USSGuam 21.0 (6 Games Played)
T3. Smack 21.0 (2 Games Played)
5. Cuh 20.8 (6 Games Played)
GPM Average Leaders:
- IceYeti 669 (2 Games Played)
2. Doss 624 (4 Games Played)
3. UltraGunner 617 (5 Games Played)
T4. F8Lness 613 (6 Games Played)
T4. DoubleKing 613 (7 Games Played)
Last Hits Average Leaders:
- UltraGunner 385 (5 Games Played)
2. DoubleKing 383 (7 Games Played)
3. Jah 375 (7 Games Played)
4. F8Lness 362 (6 Games Played)
5. IceYeti 358 (2 Games Played)
Before I get into the rest of the medium it is time to say goodbye ……….
Team Toilet Vel has unfortunately had to leave League of Lads after only one series this season. This team of FatSloth, Polo, Clueless, Malefic, and NO! have been a staple team over the last two seasons of Lads. Coming over from the RD2L community in season 2 they had a rocky start to the group stage, eventually finishing 12–10. Heading into playoffs upsetting higher seeded Liquid.Skyward to earn a top 4 finish in season 2. In season three, we saw nearly the same story, after going 7–5 in groups, the defeated us Wombats (Who were 10–1 at the time) in the upper bracket, eventually finding themselves in the finals where the suffered a 1–2 loss to the Middle School Bullies ending in 2nd place.
One of the most entertaining teams to watch, FatSloth was an extremely consistent carry, Polo came into the team in the middle of season two and shined right away. Clueless has given the league some of the funniest moments and is possibly the best low MMR player in the league. Only divine 1, but has dominated so many games for this team. Malefic had some incredible plays throughout both seasons, excelling with team fight heroes such as Enigma and Earthshaker. NO! was one of the best and most wack supports in the league. Position 5 Void Spirit, Zeus, the list goes on.
Hope to see these guys back again eventually.
The Power Rankings
At this point, you should know this is just my opinion. I watch every series of the league and I think every team is a capable team, this is just how I think the teams rank at the current moment. If anyone wants to discuss the rankings with me just DM me on discord. This is a league focused on improvement so I think hearing other opinions on teams and DOTA is always productive for myself and others. For the stats and averages at the bottom of each team the averages are in bold.
16. Animal Control (-)
Group D 4th Seed
Record: 0–4
Staying at the bottom of the rankings from the last medium is Animal Control. As the lowest MMR team in the league they faced the highest MMR team in their first series “Nearly Tilted”. As one would expect the lower MMR team lost 0–2, playing with a standin as well. In their second series versus newcomer “Remove Radiance” they played with their full roster, but also came up short in this series. Animal Control is officially the first team this season to pick Techies, i’m sure that almost all of us would have had our money on our lord KLANK. Pos 1 player Luka had a nice second series averaging nearly 10 kills.
Looking at their group match up, the teams first round will be against “Eternal Kings” which will be a tough team for sure, however league veterans JJ and Drag0 have shown us before that they are capable of upsetting teams at the top.
15. Streamer Simps (-3)
Group B 4th Seed
Record: 1–4
In this teams first series they faced off against of “The Knights of Albert”. Once again a lower MMR team versus a higher MMR team. In the first game of this series, the Simps claimed victory behind the “Slendy” Ursa. One of the best games of the season that I have watched so far, back and forth throws, mixed with some weird hero picks: Pos 5 Tide, Pos 3 Chaos Knight. Game was really fun to watch. Despite this win, they did not look very good in the rest of the series. Their second series was against “Polar Ass” where they faced similar problems. Either drew or lost every lane in the last four games.
This team is clearly better than what they showed in the seeding tournament, the question is, when will they return back to good form?
14. Purdue (+1)
Group A 4th Seed
Record: 1–2
After forfeiting their first series against the Echidnas, Purdue University faced half of the season 3 winners: Meat Sweats. I would have moved them up more if they played their 2nd series. They played easily their best series that I have seen against Xeri and Co. Despite losing the series 1–2 they had many chances to win game 1. Having nearly a 10k lead, winning the lanes against a team much higher MMR than them. Carry player “Miharu” and mid laner “TreeHard” had some really nice performances all series. Being coached by Blitz definitely has definitely shown in their play.
Will be exciting to see the potential of this group moving forward in the season. They will play another high MMR team in “Nearly Tilted” as their first round in group A.
13. Smooth Steve (-)
Group C 4th Seed
Record: 2–4
Despite losing both series in the first stage of the season, this team has looked pretty good. Two time Lads champion “Nedd” alongside zero time Lads champion “Fred” had some really nice games in all of their series. Game 1 against Quarantine Gamers was a long 54 minute game, Fred posted up a 17/3 scoreline on Dragon Knight which led them to a win against the second highest MMR team in the league. The rest of the series was close, but Baker and co fell short in the end 1–2. Their second series versus WeirdHead also went all three games. Thanks to big brain Nedd one of the games was not ticketed so I will post the game here.
I might be a little biased, but Group C seems to be a really tough group so I am unsure where this team will end after groups, but Bakers Team is more than capable of beating some of the top teams. Will just have to wait and see.
12. Moonlight (-2)
Group D 3rd Seed
Record: 3–5
Lots of series to cover for returning team “Moonlight”, starting off versus Toilet Vel, they ended up winning 2–1 in the longest series of the season so far. Roughly a 2 hour 43 minute series. The shortest game of the series being the 3rd game (43 minutes) which closed out the series with a win for these guys. BeastUnit had an average scoreline of 18.3 kills, 5.3 deaths, and 13.0 assists across these three games. One of the best series from an individual that I have seen in the four seasons of Lads. In their next series versus “Nearly Tilted” they kinda got destroyed. They were out fragged 22 to 73 in kills across this series. Definitely one to forget for Moonlight. Their 3rd series versus WeirdHead was also a nail-biter, a three game series where offlaner Jax had some monster games. 10/6 on Void Spirit, 16/1 on Night Stalker, and 7/2 on Legion Commander. Despite a great series from him, Moonlight did fall 1–2, claiming the a 3rd seed for groups.
Watching this team play, I think the proper word for them is inconsistent. Several times have they been absolutely on fire, playing at a really high level and sometimes they just got pushed over easily. If this team finds their consistency I would not be surprised to see them in the upper bracket of the playoffs.
11. Remove Radiance (-)
Group A 2nd or 3rd Seed
Record: 2–0
The replacement team for Toilet Vel, features carry player “Staylin”, mid laner “Itachi”, offlaner “Regie”, position 4 “Reza”, and position 5 “Clare”. The Toilet Vel replacement actually had Vel himself standin for Staylin in their first series versus Animal Control. This team won the series pretty handily 2–0.
I don’t have a lot of knowledge on this team, which is primarily why I have them this low in the rankings, my predictions on most new teams are normally wrong, so I guess we will have to wait and see where this group ends up.
10. WeirdHead (+4)
Group B 2nd Seed
Record: 5–3
In their first series versus the “Eternal Kings”, this team got kinda wrecked in quick fashion. They did have a stand-in: season 2 finalist and ex admin “Snow”, this did change their roles around. No knock to Snow, but they looked a lot better on their preferred roles with support player “Aurora” back in the lineup. Their other two series versus “Moonlight” and “Smooth Steve” were 2–1 wins as stated above.
Only reason this 2 seed is this low is because they teams they beat don’t strike me as top teams (yet). However I know this is not in their control, but their group is a good group where they will definitely be able to prove themselves as a top half team.
9. Quarantine Gamers (-2)
Group A 2nd or 3rd Seed
Record: 2–3
In their first series versus “Smooth Steve” they started off down a game after putting their mid player on Phoenix. They responded well despite dropping a game, Fume played two greats games of Riki and Ursa. Their 2nd series of the week was not very close versus “Eternal Kings”.
Just like the Radiance team, it’s a little too early to confidently say how good they are. Fume, DeVoiden, and Voldrox, all looked really strong in their games, will be interesting to see them moving forward.
8. Banana Hammock (+3)
Group C 3rd Seed
Record: 3–5
In their first series versus “Meat Sweats”, carry player “Jah” had an absolute monster series, averaging 14.0 kills, 2.5 deaths, and 12 assists across the two games. A really impressive result which was followed by a really bad result. Going 0–2 against the “East Side Echidnas” in really quick games. A polar opposite series to their first one. Their third series against “Polar Ass” was a tough 1–2 loss.
I moved them up three in the rankings this week, because they are definitely stronger than I originally placed them, however I’m not going to put them too high yet. Beating the Meat Sweats and putting up a good fight with Polar Ass definitely signals that this team of capable of big results.
7. Meat Sweats (-5)
Group B 3rd Seed
Record: 2–5
In all three series this week for the Meat Sweats versus “Banana Hammock”, Purdue, and “Wombats” the results were a little unexpected for the Meat Sweats. Xeri definitely tried to switch up some heroes and strategies. Opting for Luna + Visage cores twice. Unfortunate for these guys that their roster did have a change throughout the seeding tournament. Despite losing 2 of their 3 series the main trio of DoubleKing, RiceBoi, and Xeriscape did put up some good numbers.
Although they are 2–5 I think it would be disrespectful to move this team into the bottom half, this rough stretch will likely end by the next series.
6. Polar Ass (-)
Group D 2nd Seed
Record: 5–3
In the first series versus the “West Side Wombats”, this team put up their worst result of their three series losing 0–2. Game 2 of this series was one of the better games this season so far. A bounce back 2–0 win for Polar Ass against the “Streamer Simps” was exactly what these guys needed. Mid player “Zer” had an average scoreline of 16.5 kills, 2.0 deaths, and 13.5 assists. An really nice performance from them. To close out the seeding tournament for this group, Polar Ass defeated Banana Hammock 2–1 behind some great games from one of the best offlaners in the league “Cellomello”.
Despite being in the bottom half of teams in terms of MMR, Polar Ass has been a solid team who I definitely see finishing top 2 in their group.
5. West Side Wombats (-2)
Group C 2nd Seed
Record: 4–2
WOMBAT NOAH DOES IT AGAIN!!!!!
except……..
WOMBAT NATION WILL ALWAYS RISE UP TOGETHER!
Our first series versus Polar Ass was a 2–0, game 1 was not very close, but game 2 was tense game. In a critical moment of the game nearly threw the game by using my Euls on the enemy Sven RIGHT as F8l used abyssal on him. Thank god Noah was there to carry us in the end like he always does. Our 2nd series versus the Knights of Albert was a tough series we lost 0–2. The first game was absolute high robbery as we were up 20k networth, F8L was 17/1 on Phantom Lancer, but at the end of the game we made some mistakes and the Alberts capitalized. Game 2 they kinda wrecked us, but was still a good series. In our final series of the week against “Meat Sweats” we won 2–0, the games were pretty close games, Xeriscape was playing really well game 1 on Chen which made teamfights really hard to play.
Despite not being a 1 seed, I’m still happy with how the team played, being in a group with the “East Side Echidnas” is perfect for the East Side vs West Side showdown, as well as all five season 1 and 2 champions being in the same group with F8L, Noah, Baker, Nedd, and I.
4. The Knights of Albert (-3)
Group B 1st Seed
Record: 4–1
Despite dropping a game in their first series against “Streamer Simps” this team looked really good in the other games. UltraGunner did really well in games 2 and 3. In their 2nd series vs Wombats (Rise up) they made a wild comeback in game 1 behind the “Garda” Queen of Pain, going 21/4. I’ve never seen man have absolutely no cares about playing Pangolier, us Wombats picked Grimstroke early on so Klankers would not pick Pango, but this man was not phased.
I’ve moved them down three this week in the rankings only because other teams looked stronger. This team is primed to win their group, only time will tell how far Garda mid will carry them.
3. Eternal Kings (+6)
Group D 1st Seed
Record: 4–0
In both series this week, the Eternal Kings cruised through their series. 2–0 against Weirdhead and 2–0 against Quarantine Gamers all in one day.
I had my doubts if this team would play at the same level as last season in my preseason rankings, I was clearly in the wrong, they absolutely dominated in there games. The numbers speak for them self in the first four games for this team.
2. East Side Echidnas (+2)
Group C 1st Seed
Record: 2–0
In their only series this week the dominated “Banana Hammock”, position 4 player “Smack” was 10 of the teams 17 total deaths in that series. Brightside had a game of Jakiro where he went 11/0/10. Absolutely insane performance from the Echidnas
Without a doubt a top two team so far, maybe even the best team, probably would have them at the 1 spot if they got to play their other series.
1. Nearly Tilted (+4)
Group A 1st Seed
Record: 4–0
Two series victories of 2–0, where all four games were not close. They even switched roles in one of the games where mid player “Pattern” played Riki in the safelane. All five of their players put up ridiculous numbers in their first four games.
This exact same thing happened to Near last season where his team dominated the first week of play. Will they keep up this domination for the rest of the season?
Standout Players of the Week:
I’m not going to rank the players, going to leave that to Xeri and Smack, but I’m going to highlight which players in the seeding tournament really owned for their team.
Stats from left to right = Kills, Deaths, Assists, KDA, GPM, Last Hits, Games Played
ForTheSwarm (Eternal Kings)
In this weeks games for “Eternal Kings”, ForTheSwarm (Offlane) had some dominating performances. Starting off the season with a 7/1/6 game on Centaur Warrunner. He was very pivotal in being the initiator for his team during their dominate stretch this week. In the teams closest game against “Quarantine Gamers” he was the guy for his team who stepped up to win them the game on Legion Commander, finishing the game with 13 kills and 2 assists. This is especially impressive because ForTheSwarm is not a high MMR player in this league. It always makes me happy to see players play up to the level of their teammates and opponents. Well played.
BeastUnit (Moonlight)
As I touched on before in the rankings, Moonlight mid laner “Beast Unit” had one of the best individual series in Lads history. Despite Moonlight ending this week with a losing record, this guy owned regardless of result. Consistently first staging Ember Spirit, playing into a countered game, did not matter for Beast Unit. He really owned this week.
Nephilim (The Knights of Albert)
Through five games position five player “Nephilim” has only died 18 times. That is extremely impressive considering he has been playing position based heroes such as Shadow Demon, and Bane. Having the 2nd highest KDA on his team as position five is also pretty nuts. Neph played five different heroes as well throughout the seeding tournament, having a good game each time. Well played Neph.
Cellomello (Polar Ass)
Back in the days of the Nameless Dota League, I think Cello was the best player in league history so it’s not a surprise to me that he is dominating once more. Averaging 8.3 kills from the offlane is the highest in the league for all offlaners. He is consistently playing the best on his team while also being targeted in the draft by his opponents.
League Meme of the Week:
Garda is the meme maker of the league and this week he has decided to make one about ME. This narrative that I can’t play other heroes other than Earth Spirit is false. You can ask Brightside to vouch for my Phoenix, Smack can vouch for my Void Spirit, and my entire team and camp can tell you about my skills on Nyx Assassin.
Shout out to these people for helping me out with the Earth Spirit Arcana Vote
every individual vote put to Earth Spirit will be how many seconds I go AFK against them in the league this season
BullJax — 60
Brightside — 60
Tee — 60
Xeri — 119
Skater — 50
Garda — 36
Next weeks medium will include more stats and hero picks, bans, and winrates. Let me know if anyone else has anything they want to see in the medium. Thanks to the league for reading!
