Tavern Talk Mid-Season Review - Legacy Series

By Mayanadon, Boozasaurus, and TwoStarMako

New Team Breakdown:

OH SN4P- (1558)
1-Aliensanta (489)
2-Itachi (427)
3-Xkingxcarnagex (325)
4-Hydralisk (267)
5-QuirkyTurtle (50)

Currently sitting at 4th in the standings OH SN4P looks to be in a good position to make a run for the playoffs. They managed to secure a big 12-11 win over the 2nd ranked Dirty Mike and the Boys last week despite 2 DQ’s against them. This win does come with a caveat however, only one of the players (Itachi) making up this new team participated in this big win, the other two wins came from Starlax (a temporary sub) and Rebobson (no longer with the team). With that being said and the fact that many of the players on this squad are new to THL, including some rookies, it’s hard to tell exactly how they’ll do these last 4 weeks, but they will need to bring their A-game to remain in the playoff picture.

Flat Earth Global- (1251)
1-LiquidOx (475)
2-Solojazz (450)
3-Hoyboy (226)
4-DuBis (50)
5-Chubbspetersonshand (50)

Flat Earth Global is a lot of new faces to THL, the only player who’s played the whole season so far is Hoyboy who is currently 1-4. Last week they faced Evil League of Evil, didn’t win a single match, resulting in a final score of 24-3 in favor of Evil League of Evil. There were 2 dq wins for them last week, however it is still not a good sign. With that being said, they are currently 17 points out of the playoffs and still have to face two of the top 3 teams. Their remaining strength of schedule looks pretty tough, so if they want to make the playoffs they have their work cut out for them.

Season Awards Race:

MVP-
Gold: Smeer (5-0), Everside (4-0), DoctorDr8del (4-1)
Red: Aves (5-0), Mattyebs (5-0), Coppertalon (5-0)

The MVP race this season is looking extra tight in both conferences. In the Gold conference, we have Smeer leading the race with a 5-0 record but Everside and the man, the myth, the legend DoctorDr8del are right behind him. In the Red conference, we have three 5-0 players looking to win that MVP spot. As it stands right now, Aves is ever so slightly ahead but it still remains anyone's game at this point.

BGH-
Buse > Tyfoon:  407 > 503
Guyangon > Icyfini: 102 > 256
TerdHerder > Blak:  -226 > 157
Doomsday > Aeo:   29.50 > 157

We've been told that negative PR will be factored in for the race for the Big Game Hunter award so as it currently stands, TerdHerder is leading the pack by a very large margin with a 383 PR difference in his win.

Rookie-
Aves (5-0)      15-5 76.36%
Smeer (5-0)   15-6 67.62%
gcttirth (4-1)   13-8 62.57%
Snake (4-1)    13-9 60.61%

At 5-0 with a 76.36% win percentage in the 4-seed, Aves is currently looking like a favorite for Rookie of the Season. However, he has tough competition right behind him with Smeer, gcttirth, and Snake not too far behind. One bad week for any of these rookies could turn the tides.

Playoff Picture and Predictions:

Key: Green=top 3, Orange=middle 4, Red=bottom 3

Gold-
Lyondenn Warriors: 97 (+25) vs. Prep/Stubbs/Dads/SN4P
Dirty Mike and the Boys: 75 (+3) vs. Mox/Mambo/Stubbs/WetBoys
Wet Boys: 74 (+2) vs. SN4P/Mox/Mambo/DMB
OH SN4P: 73 (+1) vs. WetBoys/Pod/Prep/Lyondenn
Prep is for Rogues not Pilots: 72 (+0) vs. Lyondenn/Dads/SN4P/Mox
Team Mox: 69 (-3) vs.DMB/WetBoys/Pod/Prep
DadLegend: 68 (-4) vs.Pod/Prep/Lyondenn/Stubbs
The Pod People: 62 (-10) vs. Dads/SN4P/Mox/Mambo
Mambo No. Smorc: 61 (-11) vs.Stubbs/DMB/WetBoys/Pod
Da Stubbs: 58 (-14) vs. Mambo/Lyondenn/DMB/Dads

What this breakdown may not show is that only one team, Lyondenn Warriors, can feel fairly safe in their playoff berth at a 24 point lead over the bottom playoff spot (barring back to back to back horrible weeks). The following 6 teams in the standings differ by only 7 points and with 4 weeks remaining it looks to be anyone's game. For these middle 6 teams, strength of schedule may play a key factor in who makes it to the coveted top 4 spots. Dirty Mike and the Boys and DadLegend seem to have the easiest schedules going forward, facing two bottom teams and only one top 3 team for the rest of the season. On the opposite side of things, Team Mox and OH SN4P have the hardest schedules, both facing two top 3 teams, and only one bottom 3 team in the next 4 weeks. They will need to accomplish some big wins over several strong teams to clinch their playoff spots.This is not to say that the bottom 3 teams who lag by over 10 points from the final playoff spot have no chance, but it will take some doing to get there, of these bottom 3 teams, The Pod People seem to have the best schedule to accomplish this, having already faced the top 3 teams. With these factors taken into consideration, we predict Lyondenn Warriors, DMB, Wet Boys, and DadLegend will make the playoffs.

Red-
McBombald’s: 86 (+10) vs. AskHS, SPG, Evil League of Evil, FEG
Big Decks Small Mechs: 81 (+5) vs. Evil League of Evil, FEG, :birb:, Xnergy
Evil League of Evil: 81 (+5) vs. BDSM, Xnergy, McBombald’s, CAT
Xnergy: 76 (=) vs. SPG, Evil League of Evil, FEG, BDSM
Saronite Pain Gang: 75 (-1) vs. Xnergy, McBombald’s, CAT, Boom Co.
Card Advantage Tempest: 74: (-2) vs. Boom Co, AskHS, SPG, Evil League of Evil
Boom Co.: 72 (-4) vs. CAT, :birb:, AskHS, SPG
AskHS: 69 (-7) vs. McBombalds, CAT, Boom Co., :birb:
:birb:: 63 (-13) vs. FEG, Boom Co., BDSM, AskHS
Flat Earth Global: 59 (-17) vs. :birb:, BDSM, Xnergy, McBombalds

The red conference is extremely close, with teams as low as 8th still only out of playoffs by single digits in points. In red, week 6 is crucial for anyone who wants to make it to playoffs. With that being said, we think some of the teams in the top 5 have their work cut out for them if they want to make it into the playoffs. McBombald’s looks almost like a lock as of right now, with a 10 point lead on the 4th place spot. Their remaining schedule also looks relatively easy compared to some of the other playoff contending teams, with two bottom 3 teams, a middle 4 and only one top 3 team. Big Decks Small Mechs is in a similar position, however they are only 5 points ahead of 4th place and they play the 3rd place team this week. If they can get past Evil League of Evil, we think they’re set as well. Evil League of Evil has the hardest remaining schedule left, still needing to face the other two top 3 teams as well as two middle 4 teams. If they can survive this tough schedule these last 4 weeks they look to be in a solid spot. Our final prediction for playoffs though, is McBombald’s, BDSM, CAT, and Boom Co. Even though CAT and Boom Co. play this week, their remaining schedules seem like a much simpler path to playoffs than what Evil League of Evil, Xnergy, and SPG have yet to face. The race will still be close, but those are our hot takes.