We enter the closing stages of the Oceanic Pro League Split 2 regular season with some uncertainty — while Gravitas have been knocked out of contention, our seven other teams are still contending for the five playoff places and the race is tight.
With traditional power houses of Legacy Esports, the Chiefs, and the Dire Wolves stumbling in the past couple of weeks, Order and Pentanet have risen up to meet them, and guarantee us a race into the playoffs that will be as close as can be.
Without further ado, Snowball’s experienced analysts Emma van der Brug, Harry Taylor, and Andrew Wray break down their chosen featured matches for this critical week. Round 8 will begin with Chiefs facing off against Pentanet.GG at 4pm AEST on Friday.
Emma’s Feature Match of the Week: The Chiefs (8–6) vs Pentanet.GG (9–5)
Prediction: Pentanet win
Kicking off this weekend’s games is one that I, and everyone in the league, should be keeping one eye on. This match will be key for the Chiefs’ confidence — they’ve already suffered back to back defeats against Pentanet in Split 2 so far.
Pentanet, on the other hand, will be looking for that final round robin victory to seal the 3–0 sweep against the OPL titans, and head into playoffs with that shot of confidence.
Speaking of clean sweeps, PGG pulled off another seamless weekend results-wise last time out, which fired them over the Chiefs for the first time in Split 2. Jackson “Pabu” Pavone had two fantastic games on Sett, finishing 4/3/24 after both matches.
The Chiefs, on the other hand, haven’t had a smooth run in the past round of fixtures. They only managed to secure three wins from a potential seven victories, and have slipped down to equal fourth in the OPL standings alongside the Dire Wolves.
In fact, they’re teetering close to the edge of playoff contention; somewhere no one would have tipped the Chiefs to be in the run-in. There were flashes of brilliance against the Wolves as they took control early, but their outing against Mammoth was a rough ride.
I think history will repeat itself for the Chiefs this weekend. We should be in for a bloody, long battle on the Rift, but Pentanet should emerge victorious from the scrap. With playoffs on the line, the new contenders will be raring to lock that spot early on with a big win.
Harry’s Feature Match of the Week: Order (10–4) vs Legacy Esports (11–3)
Prediction: Order win
We have a split-defining match on our hands this weekend; Legacy and Order are both locked in a battle for the Pro League top spot, with the Melbourne team firing on all cylinders as they make a late bid for first place.
It was a slow start for Order in the second split of 2020, but one that’s been washed away after the boys in black put seven wins on the board in a row. Similarly, the early pace set by Legacy seems to have evaporated in recent weeks.
Both sides took home 2–0 results last week, and both had decent match-wins mixed into the pot as well. Order beat upstart surging Mammoth and the Dire Wolves, while Legacy edged Avant Gaming and arch-rivals the Chiefs.
If Order can claim victory against cellar dwellers Gravitas on Friday — something I’m sure all OPL fans are expecting by now — Order will come into this place with a massive prize up for grabs: equal first place in the Oceanic competition.
Not only do I expect them to sweep aside Gravitas with ease on Friday evening, but I believe Order will take that momentum straight into a second victory on Saturday as well. Their win streak cannot be denied; they’re the hottest team in the OPL right now. Not only that, but the wins they have chalked up have been fairly dominant too.
While Legacy will surely push them all the way to the limit in a bid to keep first place, and the valuable top seed, Order have become a solid unit throughout the middle run of Split 2, and those combinations will make it very hard to stop them now that they’ve got rolling.
Andrew’s Feature Match of the Week: Avant Gaming (5–9) vs Mammoth (4–10)
Prediction: Mammoth win
I’ll be the first to admit it: I didn’t see myself predicting a single Mammoth win this year, but… here we are. After a stellar two weeks from Mammoth, they find themselves just single win away from sixth-place Avant, who they have the chance to beat this weekend.
It’s a tough time for Avant to come up against the red-hot Mammoth outfit too. They’re most definitely on the other side of the scales, with just two wins in their past seven, including one against Mammoth before the former standings-base turned a major corner.
This match will be a form-check for both teams. Mammoth have been on an upward trend so far, yes, but can they prove that the huge upsets they’ve pulled off were more than flukes? If they can, Avant could be in danger of actually missing playoffs all together.
The contest this weekend will be decided in the mid lane. Avant’s Jesse “Chazz” Mahoney and Mammoth’s Jerome “Chungy” Chung have both proven they have pop-off potential and can run away with games, so whichever of the pair takes an early lead out of lane should be able to steer their team to the desired outcome of the match.
League of Legends is a game of mental strength and invisible decisions, and if you’ve been winning already that battle is already halfway won. That means Mammoth will have the edge this weekend, and won’t be second guessing themselves; expect them to level the standings against the perennial OPL finalists by the end of this weekend.
The Oceanic Pro League returns this Friday.
Follow @ammeplays, @ImHarryTaylor & @AWray7 on Twitter.
