Good Morning Readers!

Welcome to the 3rd edition of The Weekly Classic, where we’re going to take a deeper dive into what happened in Week 3 of the Advanced League, what we can expect in next week’s games, and some looks at the general rankings of the teams in this league. My name is Ulrum, and I’ll be taking you all through this bit by bit each week, but feel free to message me in the discord server or hit me up @UlrumLoL on twitter for additional updates throughout the week.

Joining Ulrum for the predictions and power rankings is me, Guster Posey! I’m excited to contribute to the Weekly Classic! Likewise to Ulrum you can find me on twitter @GusterPosey or here on discord.

Game Results:

TA Nebula 2-1 The Crabs Radiant

Game 1: TAN Wins

This is sincerely one of those games in which a single player was able to not only put the team on their back, but also show why the ADC position is honestly overloaded this split. Personally, a lot of what I dislike about the TCR draft here is shown off by the end result. There really just wasn’t a coherent way for TCR to consistently threaten the carries of TAN, so while they had a massive amount of scaling and damage, they had it in the form of immobile carries who had to hope for the best as champions like Lee Sin and Nautilus bring more consistent, easier to stack forms of CC and engage. 

Game 2: TCR Wins

This game shows a lot of solid adjustment from TCR. The Ornn and Wukong bring in those “go button” tools that were just missing in game one, and with the Lulu waiting in the wings, there was just a ton of added safety for the Cassiopeia and Zeri. I don’t necessarily mind most of TAN’s draft here, but if it were up to me, I would have traded in at least one of these solo lakers for someone who could really follow up on and take full advantage of the early ganking power of J4. There seems to just be too much scaling and not enough wombo.

Game 3: TAN Wins

And once more on this concept: the team that has the ability to take the initiative is more likely to win the game. The ability to actually choose when and where to fight is massive, and unlike TCR, whose main engage is a Mega Gnar, TAN have multiple strong tools for not just fighting, but closing those fights out. I think that this is one of the better drafts of the series overall.

TDK Blue 2-0 NWE Penguins

Game 1: TDK Wins

In the match above this one, I mentioned that the team with initiative has an inherent advantage. In this case, TDK were about to draft just an absurd amount of engage tools, to the point where even I might have wondered if it was too much. However, the commitment to the full teamfight comp and the absolutely destructive performance from CypherSoul on Zac spelled out the win for this one.

Game 2: TDK Wins

Once more, I love the commitment to teamfighting coming out of TDK. There are a few odd pieces to NWE’s composition here that I’m not sure work together, like the laning pair of Caitlyn and Zilean, whose poke I think is a bit sub-optimal into the Xayah/Rakan duo, or the Lee Sin top, which to be honest I’m just waiting to leave the meta as soon as possible. All around interesting draft from NWE, but even an 8-2 Kassadin can’t necessarily trump an entire coordinated team.

BCS Younglin’s Kittens 2-0 UR Esports

Game 1: BCS Wins

You know what I would absolutely hate about playing into this matchup as UR Esports? The fact that any time Viego gets a kill, he gains at least one of seven different movement abilities no matter who he killed, and he gets to reposition constantly. I’m not saying that the Viego was the deciding factor here, especially with Akali and Xayah right there, but I felt like it was necessary to point out how annoying that had to be.

Game 2: BCS Wins

I have historically not been the biggest fan of Ahri. I feel as though she is often dealt with very effectively by proper tank champions. However, in the absence of any proper tank champions, it had to really suck to play into her this game. To be honest, dealing with any carry champion who has gotten to 12-1 is rough, but one who can dash around your screen with impunity is particularly rough.

Comfy Gaming Shield 2-1 USC JV

Game 1: CGS Wins

The usual answer to Zeri, who has been overrespresented in the current meta due to her consistent ability to be both way too good at carrying and way too good at running away, has been to hard cc her into oblivion, and that is where I feel as though Jokage029’s Blitzcrank comes in handy. After all, how better to deal with a running, shielding, zapping champion than to simply pull her in, blow up her shield, and let the people with damage around you delete her?

Game 2: USC Wins

This one looked very heavily like a Little Luck kind of game. With survivability and armor shredding galore, one finds oneself asking how CGS actually intends to deal with this Wukong. The reality of the matter is that I really don’t think AP Varus was the call this game, especially with the Fiddlesticks able to supply the appropriate magic damage. On hit Varus or even just a different ADC capable of tank shred would have had more of an answer to Wukong and benefitted the team significantly more.

Game 3: CGS Wins

And of course we finish out the series with a good old fashioned “Clear camps and press r” special. I’ve never enjoyed Karthus jungle because it feels like damn well near the least interactive playstyle in all of League of Legends, but given that most of the members of USC simply weren’t able to survive Karthus bombs, it does make sense to pick it here.

Lit Esports Red 2-1 Dorado Gaming Tau

Game 1: LIT Wins

Overall this wasn’t the heaviest kill game every played, but it was definitely a dominant performance by LIT. Tragically, Goatbm and Living Phoenix have outted themselves as filthy win traders by feeding heavily into the other team (dropping a single death each) and falling wildly short of expectations (still having large individual gold leads above their laning counterparts). This shameful display must be stopped.

Game 2: DoGT Wins

When in doubt, of course, simply draft “run at you” champions alongside enchanters and watch the magic unfold. This game in particular was a really strong one by Zohair and Sev3rd, and while they still had to deal with the spacey wizard lizard, they dealt with him handily and closed out this game.

Game 3: LIT Wins

Of the three games in this series, this was by far the most competitive in terms of score line. Unlike the other two rounds, this time there was at least a viable win condition on both sides, with at least Sivir on the side of DoGThaving enough gold and fighting power to give a fighting chance. Ultimately, though, one strong player is nice, but three is nicer.

Akuma’s Katanas 2-1 TA Blaze

Game 1: TAB Wins

I hate Rumble. Ask anyone who knows me. Hate the champion with a fiery passion, and if there were a single delete button in the game, I would use it on Rumble. That being said, clearly the only person whose carry performance on TAB was worth mentioning was HTK777. That Fiora play was the major reason why this team won, without even having to mention a certain incel yordle in a mech suit who won mid lane solidly. Yup. That sounnds like correct analysis to me.

Game 2: AK Wins

Yup. Just yup. That’s a fed Tristana for you. Who on TAB was actually going to manage to do anything about that? That’s just one of those champions who you have to ff away from  if they get a few kills ahead. I kind of like the Vex into it, but simultaneously I kind of believe that if the Tristana were bad enough to jump into my fear shockwave, I wouldn’t need a specific counter pick to deal with her.

Game 3: AK Wins

To round out the first win of the season for Akumas Katanas, we have Kimchi On Rice popping in with the surprise Kennen pick. It feels like a solid pick to commit to the teamfight alongside Viktor and Xayah, and while I would normally be concerned about the J4 in this game, cute eboi had it covered on Poppy.

Nameless Goobers 2-0 OC Esports

Game 1: NG Wins

I really find this bot lane matchup fun. We have the very traditional Caitlyn/Lux lane facing off against the more current meta combination of Xayah/Blitzcrank. I like the slightly more “pick and lock down” style of the Xayah/Blitz, but properly played, I don’t have a major problem with either style. It helps, of course, to have Red Milk Tea fed on Vi and punching people to death nearby, and the game ultimately fell in favor of the slightly better thought out comp of NG.

Game 2: NG Wins

Pulling out the Xayah themselves this time, NG manage to continue their style of supportive mid lane and powerful side lanes in order to get a huge amount of damage and split pushing power available to them. I would have liked to see a proper tank out of OC Esports in order to better deal with the mostly mono damage type comp coming from NG, since the Lissandra was not dealing enough total damage to really make the MR purchase necessary, but lacking that, this match honestly seemed closer than the 2-0 scoreline would have suggested.

CB Diamond 2-0 Oversoul Esports

Game 1: CBD Wins

It is an extremely rough moment when you have one clear carry on your team, and ⅗ members of the other team outdamage them. That being said, while the execution wasn’t there, I don’t totally hate this comp from Oversoul. The main problem comes in where the damage necessary to just get rid of Olaf as he tries to run in wasn’t there. It’s incredibly difficult to front line against someone who shrugs off your damage and cc. Between that and the double adc setup standing behind a chunky Cho’Gath, it’s hard to see how Oversoul could really get back in once the plan for early game dominance failed.

Game 2: CBD Wins

In a really interesting flip, I think that this was a cool way for CBD to pull off a comp that is essentially the same base idea that OE had in Game 1. They ran melee champions in all three lanes with a Sejuani, but interestingly enough pulled out a Ziggs bot lane to balance out the AD/AP spread of the team. Given the circumstances, I think this was a situationally better version of the same idea, proving that a team can definitely make good on this type of comp.

Dorado Gaming Alpha 2-0 Vaporwave Resonance

Game 1: DoGA Wins

Top side dominance.

That is the only real thing that comes to mind this particular game. Bel’Veth is a truly disgusting champion when she gets ahead, and in this case she certainly got ahead. Factor in a Renekton who’s thousands of gold ahead of everyone in the game and you create a situation in which there really isn’t much counterplay available. Some leads are just unassailable.

Game 2: DoGA Wins

And here they do it again. Honestly, one could argue that the strategy didn’t even change much switching out Renekton/Bel’Veth for Jax/Kindred, but this is what I mean when I tell people that you do not have to throw out your whole comp when bans come out. You just have to consider the jobs being done by champions and bring in the next in line that you want. Great adaptation to bans here, and I actually really like the double support in this specific situation because the comp specifically has the tools to otherwise snowball the victory without an adc.

Horizon Gaming Rats 2-1 Mint Rocky Road

Game 1: MRR Wins

Similarly to the second game for DoGA this week, I don’t necessarily mind the idea of double support here. I don’t mind the idea of betting on your top side and saying “we believe that they will carry this game if we give them the tools”, but as always I see Kayn and I sip on my hater-ade. I despise this champion and I can’t help but enjoy watching the champion fall behind. 

Game 2: RAT Wins

Skarner, though? I love that guy. I enjoy the heavy pick comp idea here, with some solid teamfighting options for later in the game given the champions like Xayah and Sion that were drafted.  The one saving grace for MRR in this game is that Mr. 200 Years himself was sporting the highest gold total in the game. I would have liked better tank frontline though if the strategy was protecting the adc.

Game 3: RAT Wins

Obviously the answer was always more Skarner.

This was just a solid game all around for RAT, with great side laning and pick potential all around. This honestly feels like a full commitment to the strategy adaptations from Game 2, which you love to see. Adjusting and refining is how you win, and I think that RAT did an excellent job of it this game.

Next Week’s Predictions

Guster Posey here, what a week we had, we had some upsets and close matches, and the landscape has shifted a little bit, but here’s what I’ve got this next week for predictions. If you want to catch up with me on Twitter you can catch me @GusterPosey or on Discord.

Group A Games:

Game 1: Nameless Goobers vs New World Penguins - 2-0 GOOB

Nameless had a popoff performance this past week, capped with great performances from SHD and RareADC, both sidelanes playing well means things look tough for the Penguins, who got 2-0’d by TDK. I’m taking the Goobers here.

Game 2: Bing Chillers Younglin’s Kittens vs Akuma Katanas - 2-1 BCYK

The Katanas struck true against TA Blaze, finding AK their first win thus far in CCS. Unfortunately for them, their opponents look to live up to their name and remain Bing Chilling. I’m going to throw the Katanas a bone here because they’ve shown that they’re able to take games off teams, but I think the Chillers will remain chilling after this one.

Game 3: Team Ambition Blaze vs Dorado Gaming Alpha - 2-1 DoGA

Dorado cracked the code to the Vaporware, just don’t engage botlane. Ritty and Hazeem just dominated the topside of the map and brought Dorado to the top of the standings. Things won’t be easy against a TA Blaze that lost to AK however. Look for Blaze to be fired up in this one and make things rough on the new top dogs.

Game 4: TDK Blue vs UR Esports - 2-0 TDK

TDK is coming off a fantastic performance vs NWE. DuhhDiamond had a fantastic series, and I expect this to continue. With TDK rallying around their ADC, I don’t think they will have too much trouble against a team still trying to find a footing in the league. CKG had a good performance on the Samira this week, but UR needs to figure it out a bit.

Game 5: Vaporwave Resonance vs OC Esports - 2-0 VAP

Vaporwave will be out for blood this week after losing 2-0 to DoGA. OC hasn’t shown that they can do what Blaze did and play through the topside and not involve Knightmare and Sai in the game for as long as possible, so I think that Vaporwave will be back on track unless AJOSU and OCE find a couple popoff performances.

Group B Games:

Game 1: Lit Esports Red vs Mint Rocky Road - 2-1 LIT 

I said Lit needed to live up to their name against Dorado Tau, and they did, managing to take them down 2-1. They only gave up 2 kills in the first game, and when they won GoatBM and Ruko were the ones popping off. Mint did take a game off of RAT, but they’re going to need to step it up to get LIT to come down a little.

Game 2: USC  vs CB Diamond - 2-1 CBD 

The CBD topside has become its wincon. They smashed through OE 2-0 with VirginityHaver taking down Hagen in both games. Littleluck is the linchpin for this USC team, and if the topside goes the way CBD wants it’s going to be hard for him to do much.

Game 3: RATS vs Comfy Gaming Shield - 2-1 RATS

Ulvaric and Zanazerge are going to need to keep their thumb on Gawdomelo and Jokage in this one. Fox was making CaptainFlowers proud this week popping off on the Trinity Force Skarner. This will be an interesting one because Punjabi Munda has a penchant for the picks like Karthus and Fiddlesticks, so things could get freaky in the jungle here. This is going to be an ugly one but at the end I think we’re going to be hearing what the Fox says.

Game 4: CRAB vs DoGT - DoGT 2-0 

As of this writing CRAB has yet to play their match against TA Nebula, but they have 2 tough opponents back to back in TAN as well as Dorado Tau here. If the crabs can look strong against these 2 frontrunner teams then they’ll be looking good for the rest of the season. I’m expecting Dorado to refocus and come back looking strong here though after taking one on the chin from LIT.

Game 5: Oversoul Esports vs Team Ambition Nebula - 2-0 TAN 

As of this writing TA Nebula has yet to play their match against CRAB. Oversoul is in a bit of a rough patch, getting roughed up by CBD, with everyone getting a little roughed up in their matchups. I look for TA Nebula to continue their uncountable way and make things hard on their opponents.

Players To Watch Out For

Here we’ll take the opportunity to discuss some players who have had standout performances, or who may be important to watch out for in the upcoming week’s games.

Standings and Power Rankings

This is where a brief discussion regarding the current state of teams in both of the groups are doing. Some notes regarding player/roster moves, current team trajectories, and any changes in the standings belong in this section, which will inevitably couple with the predictions to annoy players.

Group A Standings/Power Rankings

Group B Standings/Power Rankings