EST-Sun Week 7 BBB

Badger's Budget Briefing is back because both Redondo has a job and a life as well as by popular demand.

Power Rankings:

Badger Puck Tier

(=) 1. Nuttybuttys 2.0 (Nuttypizza, 11-3): This team is my pick for the best in the division currently and they're unarguably one of the elite right now. NEAR has been playing lights out Dota and a team with the likes of NEAR and Dark at the 1/2 is going to strong going into playoffs. After a convincing 2-0 win over former division leaders Enigma Stole Our Bikes (Riles, 9-5), they fought hard for a 1-1 against cosmiK's Dad is 4K (TheOctane, 10-4). Game 1 was a somewhat close loss where they made out well in the lanes but ultimately fell in the midgame, but they made sure to get a win in Game 2 that silenced the doubters of this team. They only have a series left against Finding Shea Dr (Yak, 10-4), where at that point they have a strong shot of securing #1 seed from EST-Sunday.

(+1) 2. Geographically Challenged (Mikel, 11-3): Geographically Challenged outmaneuvered their opponent Enigma Stole Our Bikes this week, winning decisive midgame teamfights with Loves Naga Siren Game 1 and Mikel Kunkka Game 2. "[3:57 PM] Mikel: I think I picked wd at least 4 games in a row, Braindead hero" says the captain himself as he has gotten four straight wins picking Witch Doctor en route to becoming the arguable best team in the division.

(+1) 3. cosmiK's Dad is 4K (TheOctane, 10-4): Despite cosmiK and Payday being outclassed on paper against their opponents in NEAR and Dark, it clearly didn't look like it in their Game 1 win against Nuttybuttys 2.0. cosmiK's Templar Assassin dominated both the networth charts and damage charts as premier support player Noah played one of his signature heroes in Kunkka. Despite once again doing well in the lanes Game 2, it ended up being a convincing loss, but still a 1-1 they should be happy with.

Badger Gyrocopter Tier

(+1) 4. Finding Shea Dr (Yak, 10-4): Yak is back in the the support position again and once again put in work with his support partner in Mylan. Speaking of things that were back this week for this team also involves the return of their midlaner Gohan, who performed well on Queen of Pain and Invoker, tallying one death in each of the wins against Solitude Stack (NuSolitude, 6-6). One of the big storylines going into this game was who would perform better among the elite offlaners in this game - Shea Dr or Redondo. While Redondo suffered from the fatigue of work travel, Shea made his opponents suffer to his Venomancer and Brewmaster, easily achieving the games top damage on each of them.

(+3) 5. Gucci Gang (We, 9-5): Despite the 2-0 series win over Why Are They Here Again (McFatSauce, 6-8), it is extremely hard to describe said series win as clean - they almost threw Game 1 away in the midgame to a Tidehunter/Zeus focused teamfight lineup and they had to make a significant comeback in Game 2, with We playing his signature Juggernaut in both of the games. I'd reckon Killerkarate was sad about ending Game 1 with 28 duel damage on Legion Commander but at least he both didn't feed any away.

(=) 6. The Boys (DongerClose, 8-6): A somewhat back and forth series ends up with a 1-1 draw against Do You Know Da Way (Ricers, 8-6). Gyrocopter won both games and Zypher played Witch Doctor both games.

(+5) 7. Anthony Fantano Here (Xccepted, 8-6): It took them 73 minutes to beat Draft Stank (Goahitle, 6-8) without their rank 189 leaderboard Divine 5 Goahitle Game 1, yet they were able to beat the reunited team in just 42 minutes, racking up 60 kills in that time. Dota 2 is a confusing game sometimes. We saw the usual strong performance out of the offlane from Alpaca as well as a great series from Xccepted and Paprika. Overall a super chaotic series that would have been a sight to witness.

(+9) 8. No Sana No Life (Shmeezzy, 7-5): Question - Hey Badger, when are you going to stop arbitrarily moving a team down 8-9 ranks one week and then reinstating most if not all of the ranks loss the next week like how you did with Ricers and now Shmeezzy? Answer - That's a good question! No Sana No Life had a convincing 2-0 over Weird Drafts Incoming (Zamolxes, 6-8) with Treat Yo Self going off on a Game 1 Queen of Pain and Skkip going super off on a Game 1 Morphling and Game 2 Ember Spirit. His Ember in particular did over 50% of his teams hero damage that game, what a performance.

(-7) 9. Enigma Stole Our Bikes (Riles, 9-5): ABANDON SHIP! ABANDON SHIP! MAYDAY!

Badger Lina Tier

(=) 10. Do You Know Da Way (Ricers, 8-6): A somewhat back and forth series ends up with a 1-1 draw against The Boys (DongerClose, 8-6). Gyrocopter won both games and Boog played Earth Spirit both games.

(+5) 11. Waifu Hunters (Minah, 8-6): Minah won the battle of the BRR guests with a 2-0 win over Vanilla Acoustic of Low Expectations (5-9). It was ultimately a fairly close series but Minah happened to perform extremely well on the Storm Spirit and Pugna, pushing his team into a decent place to make playoffs.

(-3) 12. The Wisp Who Shagged Me (Vynil, 7-7): A 1-1 is not what this team needed, and especially not one in the fashion that it occurred this week - with a convincing Game 1 loss and a back and forth Game 2 win. In Game 1, Cesario outperformed Melliflox and Wuba demolished Daywalker middle, two things that probably shouldn't be happening. For them they at least can take solace in taking away one win, but that one win didn't look very convincing at all.

(-6) 13. Solitude Stack (NuSolitude, 6-6): I mainly covered this series against Finding Shea Dr in their section, but there is something to be said about fatigue on Redondo's part. He wasn't able to play any Dota in the week previous and that ultimately won't bode well for this team. Playoffs are still possible but they're in a much harder spot now.

(+1) 14. 4 Players and a Feeder (Autoattacks, 7-7): This team was missing their carry player, Sparki, in their game 1 loss and proceeded to have a fairly close game 2. At least there wasn't a rapier in their 1-1 draw against Big Mike Mercy (Zipper, 6-8).

(+4) 15. Tier 999 (Silou, 7-7): I covered their series against No Sana No Life above, but as far as this team goes they certainly exceeded my expectations. They're a potential playoff team if Silou can neutralize Goahitle early on in the coming series this week.

Badger Earthshaker Tier

(-3) 16. Draft Stank (Goahitle, 6-8): I'm not sure how I'm supposed to evaluate their 0-2 loss to Anthony Fantano Here this week. I tried to cover it above but now that I'm looking at this series an hour or so after writing the description above I'm still confused.

(-6) 17. Weird Drafts Incoming (Zamolxes, 6-8): They picked Sniper and Dark Willow and lost Game 2. They actually lost quite hard this week. "There are improvements that need to be made or this team will lose Week 1 Playoffs with a whimper instead of a bang." - Badger, last week. With a 0-2 loss to No Sana No Life, the odds of playoffs are now slim. They no longer are in control of their own destiny yet still need a 2-0.

(-4) 18. Why Are They Here Again (McFatSauce, 6-8): They did not convert on big teamfight wins in Game 1, and they did not hold onto their lead in Game 2.

(+1) 19. Big Mike Mercy (Zipper, 6-8): Game 1 was a fairly straightforward win, with everyone playing fairly well and Econ's 0 deaths on Lich boosting my RD2L fantasy points. Game 2 we saw a similar situation to other losses this team has had, where Big Mike did not show mercy on his 19-4-9 Sniper, but the team crumbled around him.

(+4) 20. We Are Platinum Gods (Jakou, 6-8): This is the point where I remark that I cannot laugh at this team this week because they had a 2-0 win over Pizza Nation (Kyrox, 5-9) with ibelieve playing a great Juggernaut both games, Patience playing a great Elder Titan Game 1, and Jakou picking up an Aghs Refresher Octane Mid Luna win in game 2 in addition to his Division 2 RD2L Tiny win.

Badger Invoker Tier

(-2) 21. Low Expectations (Vanilla Acoustic, 5-9): I covered this series above. I confidently declared this team would win 2-0 on both of the last BRR episodes. They have gone 0-4 since. No Dickens references this time, just sadness.

(=) 22. 420 Gucci Gang (LTH, 5-9): Forfeit win.

(-2) 23. Pizza Nation (Kyrox, 5-9): For the first time since Week 4, they didn't forfeit win or loss.

(+1) 24. Don't Cramp My Style (Malakai, 4-10): Forfeit win.

(-2) 25. Teamwipe (Arty Boy, 3-11): Forfeit loss.

Rank Shift from Highest to Lowest

+9 No Sana No Life (Shmeezzy)

+5 Anthony Fantano Here (Xccepted)

+5 Waifu Hunters (Minah)

+4 Tier 999 (Silou)

+4 We Are Platinum Gods (Jakou)

+3 Gucci Gang (We)

+1 Geographically Challenged (Mikel)

+1 cosmiK's Dad is 4K (TheOctane)

+1 Finding Shea Dr (Yak)

+1 4 Players and a Feeder (Autoattacks)

+1 Big Mike Mercy (Zipper)

+1 Don't Cramp My Style (Malakai)

0 Nuttybuttys 2.0 (Nuttypizza)

0 The Boys (DongerClose)

0 Do You Know Da Way (Ricers)

0 420 Gucci Gang (LTH)

-2 Low Expectations (Vanilla Acoustic)

-2 Pizza Nation (Kyrox)

-2 Teamwipe (Arty Boy)

-3 The Wisp Who Shagged Me (Vynil)

-3 Draft Stank (Goahitle)

-4 Why Are They Here Again (McFatSauce)

-6 Solitude Stack (NuSolitude)

-6 Weird Drafts Incoming (Zamolxes)

-7 Enigma Stole Our Bikes (Riles)

Predictions

Not going to go into detail because I went 4/13 and one of those was a predetermined forfeit win, so I went 3/12 (25%) for the actual series of unknown outcome.

I am also going to abstain from making predictions and leave that to the predictor extraordinaire, Redondo, when the PPP comes later this week.

Disclaimer

If you or anyone you know is salty about me thinking your team is worse than you think it is then prove it by beating my predictions by winning.

Thank you for reading. Catch some more BRR with special guest MrMatieu, head admin of the RD2L at https://www.twitch.tv/badgerpablo/ on the 15th of March at 8PM EST.