- Zend (Previous: 1)
Record: 12–2
Results: 2–0
Zend and the boys took any remaining doubt away. They’re the cream of PST. They dismantled the surging Neku this past Sunday, and I expect them to do more of that throughout the playoffs. I’m sure they can be strategized for, but I can’t think of ways. Their sidelanes are incredibly strong, with iFestor (who is perhaps a little sandbagged) and OneDay crushing the safelane, and then Vktr being a one man wrecking crew from the offlane. What’s more, despite Zend being somewhat under-badged (is that a word? whatever I’m going with it), he doesn’t seem to struggle against the high MMR mids that are so prevalent in PST this season. Idk man, good luck. - Pneuma (Previous: 2)
Record: 10–4
Results: 1–1
This is the only team that can possibly dethrone Zend. They managed to tie their series with Zend a few weeks back; although suffered a setback this week in a tie with CRAP. Here’s my bold prediction: they will ultimately meet Zend in the PST Grand Finals and lose in a tight 2–1 series. I just can’t favor them in that matchup. But hey, we’ll see. Maybe Ping-god will pull out the Bounty carry again. Or Linkdx will full send Jakiro mid again. This team just plays the most random shit, so I’ll always give them a chance. - Thrillhouse (Previous: 3)
Record: 10–4
Results: 2–0
Thrillhouse took a nice 2–0 against the climbing Burgeoning. Unfortunately they can’t really go higher than this, due to technically having an 0–4 record (FF in Pneuma matchup) against the two teams above them. I don’t think this team will fare as well in playoffs; their game-plan from what I’ve seen is to go full ape and just run at you. Which for sure works in the regular season, but with a likely increase in scouting teams will prepare for it. And they’ll prepare for the cheese support picks, which might hinder that strategy a lot. - CRAP (Previous: 5)
Record: 8–6
Results: 1–1
CRAP regained some of their form this past week, taking a 1–1 with Pneuma. Last week I said they needed to right the ship, and they’ve done that with the Pneuma result. Sure, it would have been nice to get the 2–0… but beggars can’t be choosers, and this team was begging for something good to happen. They’ve fallen hard from when I crowned them the top of PST, but #4 isn’t the worst place to be. You could be last! Man I’m a lousy kingmaker, all my predictions are wrong… for now. CRAP still has great MMR distribution and was my early season favorite for a reason. Don’t be surprised to see them make a deep playoff run. - MOCA (Previous: 9)
Record: 8–6
Results: 1–1
It’s all been said before. “Still not sure about this team.” “They don’t seem like a top tier team.” “Just kinda average.” And yeah those things kinda seem true… but whatever, they can have the #5 spot so MOCA stops bitching about their rank to me in general. And I guess they let me have Wind so I kinda owe them. - StonedSpirit (Previous: 6)
Record: 7–7
Results: 1–1
StonedSpirit has had a horrible schedule to this point, but they also haven’t ‘proven it’, so to speak. You would imagine a truly top tier team would hold a better record by now, even against the hardest competition. They need to at least go even against Burgeoning this Sunday to make playoffs. They can definitely make some noise in there, so don’t completely count them out even if they are lower seeded. - Neku (Previous: 4)
Record: 8–6
Results: 0–2
Neku should maybe be above StonedSpirit, especially considering they 2–0'ed them in their head to head, but I think StonedSpirit has a higher ceiling. Regardless, this Neku team has shown up in recent weeks, and we can’t fault them too much for losing their Zend series. They’re also playoff locked, and are now just fighting for a higher seed. Speaking of playoffs, I’m not totally sure how they will do. Like I said, they’ve been playing well recently, but if they get matched against one of the top 4 teams I can’t see them making it out of the first round. - Yfu (Previous: 8)
Record: 8–6
Results: 1–1
Yfu is back in playoffs again, and I can’t say it’s that surprising. I think I mentioned this awhile back, but the man has only missed playoffs once in like 10? seasons. Yfu is not the opponent anyone really wants to get in the first round, but his past teams have been much stronger… and those (at least the recent two) didn’t make it past the first playoff series. Maybe that will change? - Bsvhsvj (Previous: 11)
Record: 8–6
Results: 1–1
Bsvhsvjsafdag has been pretty overlooked this season, but that’s mostly because they haven’t really stood out. They were a stack that had expectations of being average to good, and they’ve mostly stuck around at average. But they made playoffs, so good for them. Now they just need to hope Treyn can carry hard enough to actually get wins in playoffs. - Forest Bear (Previous: 12)
Record: 7–7
Results: 2–0
Forest Bear has beaten some good teams, and they’ve lost to some bad teams. Idk. They could make some noise in playoffs if on form. But first they need to grab another win. They’re one of those weird teams that has a surprisingly high ceiling, but also a low floor. - Burgeoning (Previous: 7)
Record: 7–7
Results: 0–2
They’ve been pretty underwhelming, but this team is still a threat if they manage to make playoffs. I’d be pretty scared of any high immortal in a playoff series, and Odyssey is def a god gamer. - Ripley (Previous: 13)
Record: 7–7
Results: 2–0
Ripley’s team has been nothing short of mediocre in all honesty. They also 2–0'ed Doomcow’s team, so I can’t really give them much props for that. But the good news for them is that they likely only need a tie to make playoffs, so all is not lost. - Velvelvel (Previous: 10)
Record: 6–8
Results: 0–2
Pretty disappointed by Velvelvel, they had a few weeks where they looked like a top 5 team but have plummeted down the ranks since then. They need to win out to make playoffs, and given their recent results I’m not holding my breath. - Steven (Previous: 15)
Record: 6–8
Results: 0–2
Steven is still in playoffs, but only just. Like Velvelvel they will need to sweep their final series. They also tied against us last week (although I was not there) which is kinda a yikes; we haven’t won a real game since week 2. Wait was I the problem?
Eliminated From Playoff Contention:
(Actually not totally sure about this anymore, the playoff cut-off is still being decided.)
Jabinskiz
Jab is pushing Treebeard for a 16 team playoff but it seems unlikely. Honestly I blame myself. I’ve turned into a one hero player, and that hero gets banned every game, so I’m pretty useless. Jabinskiz has played like 50 hours of Temtem to every 1 of DOTA this season. Phoenix, Blakkout, and SteveyRuggles have done an admirable job attempting to carry our offlane’s corpse, but we are just too bloated. :Sadge:
