Salty Storylines for Season 7

Mid-Season Edition

​HeyGuys, and welcome to the Mid-Season review of THL Season 7: Resurrection. In case you missed it here we (Markshire, FollowDurden, and Nade), wrote a Preseason edition of Salty Storylines just after divisions were rolled to talk some league lore and predict how the divisions, teams, and players might perform. Now that Week 5 has passed and we’re halfway through the season, let’s take a look at how many predictions Markshire got right, how many of Durden’s opinions were wrong, and if Nade still has a bulge in his pants over the Blue Division.

Durden: For all of the hype leading up to their Week 5 showdown, TGW made it clear this is their division to lose by beating down Aeon 20-7. TGW’s 1-3 seeds (Theflyestlai, Seohyun, AlecGW) are currently sitting at a combined 11-1 record for the season, and Avatar is no slouch at 3-2. It’s still too early to call Aeon a disappointment despite their dud versus TGW, but they’ve got work to do if they want to stay in playoff contention. They face Dirty Mike & the Boys in Week 6, and Prep Coin Concede in Week 7. Durden has been their strongest performer at 4-1 so far, but he still has to face Sirlos, Krakshot, and Arcane to finish the season. Nothing is ever a given in THL, and Aeon still has much work to do and has to at least take down DMB to have any chance at living up to the preseason hype. Thermic Whims find themselves in an interesting situation: with most of the hard lifting on the their schedule behind them they find themselves only 12 points away from a playoff spot. This is just a well-rounded team with no single player jumping out record-wise, but Bloodhunter has been holding his own in the feared 1-seed despite being new to THL, and he already has names such as Theflyestlai and Dwayna he can claim for notches on his belt. NWA is not completely out of the playoffs, and they’ve already faced the big 3 in TGW, DMB and Aeon. Their Week 6 match with PCC will go a long ways in determining their fate. Bonja takes over their 1-seed, and if he can replicate his undefeated feats in SHL for NWA they might just be able to pull off the unthinkable. Starden has emerged as a contender for Comeback Player if he can close out the season on a hot streak. Get Off My Lawn is just happy to be here another day, drawing that pension and keeping that grass manicured. 

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Markshire: The #008080 division has a nearly linear point difference between the 5 teams, but of course Dirty Mike and the Boys had to go screw that up with their 16 point division lead. Here’s the stat of the day: every player on this team is ranked top 3 in their seed by game win %. They’ve been absolutely dominant after their Week 1 loss to Prep Coin Concede. Prep Coin has had an extremely strong showing in the first half of the season, with good performances from THL newcomers Rebobson and JetLaw in the 1 and 2 seeds. The Pod People are currently only 10 points out from a playoff spot and have benefited from the performance of Mojopowell, who is the only 3 seed in the league that has earned 4 match wins. 
    Sitting at 4th are the reigning THL champs Hearthstone Academy, who are off to a rough start to the season. The only player with a winning record on HSA is their 1 seed, MemyselfandI, whose skills include a deep understanding of the overall Hearthstone metagame and careful channel selection for his discord comments. At the bottom of the pack is Defias Brotherhood,  who has fallen at the hands of one of hardest first half schedules in THL: they faced off against Team Golden Wisp, Dirty Mike and the Boys, and Prep Coin Concede as their first three opponents. It’s difficult to see anyone but Dirty Mike or PCC taking the division at this stage, but there’s still half of the season to go. 

Nade: Well, well, well - where to begin? Let me start by saying this: Blue Division, just like any other old rundown freakshow strip joint, you have not disappointed me.

This division has turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be: a solid stage of exciting performers strutting their stuff on top of a hot pile of garbage. My gut told me we might be looking at Xnergy, Texas Stubbies, or Philly Hearth topping this division come this point of the season, and so I’ve learned that my gut is made of two parts Nostradamus and one part Y2K. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is underway, and boy has it been ugly. A whopping 31 points over third place in Blue, the Texas Stubbies are sitting pretty in 1st in their division and 3rd in the league. Closely behind them we find the bros of Xnergy putting themselves in position for the playoffs as they currently stand 5th in the league overall. That’s a dom top if I’ve ever seen one. It’s at this point where Blue then begins to crumble. Three of the bottom six teams in the league flesh out the remainder of the division as Netherstorm, ATL, and Philly Hearth struggle to find wins, availability, or the THL Class Selection Form. It’s a shame that these remaining three teams aren’t as dominating as their talent may suggest, but the dance isn’t over just yet. A lot can happen in the next four weeks, and there’s still time left to shake what their mamas gave them.

Markshire: Purple has emerged as the most competitive division, with only 22 points separating the 1st and 5th place teams. However, one team has risen above the pack - Swagoi is currently leading the division, having benefited greatly from rookie Earl’s 67% game win percentage. The former SHL team The Dog House comes in second in Purple, and will look to maintain their playoff spot as they take on the Blue-division leading Texas Stubbies this week. Noob Central is cruising comfortably at the middle of the pack and are hoping that new pickup Inkd will be able to translate his SHL success to the conquest format. The H*ckbois haven’t quite lived up to expectations despite having many of the players from last season’s championship roster - and their schedule will only get harder going forward. Only a mere 3 points behind them are the Bad Hombres who have shocked everyone by winning 2 whole series up to this point. Playoffs are still a distant dream, but the Hombres have shown THL that memes are here to stay. 

This is a season far from over, if you like living in denial. The Tier One teams have made themselves known (TGW, DMB), competitors have risen in Swagoi (duh), and the Stubbies (who would’ve fucking thought, right?), and disappointments are becoming clear (we haven’t given up on Aeon yet, but we’re just saying). Each conference is looking at four teams a good bit above the rest, but even as we’re writing this piece teams are closing the gap. Is this real? I mean, the three of us are the experts here, and these are our final playoff predictions (so you should probably listen to three badasses like us):

Black/Teal

1. TGW
2. DMB
3. Prep Coin Concede
4. Aeon

Purple/Blue

1. Stubbies
2. Swagoi
3. Xynergy
4. Noob Central

But if you think we’re wrong, click here.


The pleasure was ours,
Markshire, FollowDurden, and Nade