Some things are unavoidable, but it’s this routine we’re tied to that makes the hectic back and forth bearable. It’s comforting, it’s reassuring, it’s FUCKING WOO IN THE TOP 10 AGAIN FOR FUCKS SAKE.
Welcome to the COVID Chronicles, where I’ll be fiending the IHL leaderboards for content.
Today we’ll be looking at the best teams you can put together based on the leaderboards, as well as briefly interviewing some of the most active players of the IHL season about their peers.
The Theoretical Top
The methodology for choosing these lineups is simple. Going down the leaderboards from the top downwards, players are assigned into a roster based on their main role — not the one they’ve played the most in the IHL, but the one they tend to play most and identify with in general. The highest ranked natural carry goes into the first team, the second highest into the second, and so on. This is very likely to change by the time this post is out, but at time of writing, the results are as follows:
The formatting is [Position — Player — Leaderboard Rank — Winloss — Winrate].
1. The Leaders of the Pack
- Kk (#2, 29–16, 64%)
- Acid (#6, 21–13, 62%)
- Mewes (#12, 8–1, 89%)
- Lokie (#3, 24–12, 67%)
- Nappa (#1, 29–15, 66%)
Rejoice fellow braindead carry players, for the reign of the offlane is coming to an end. As such, you need to go all the way down to spot #12 on the leaderboards to encounter a natural offlane player in Mewes.
2. Runners Up
- Woo (#7, 14–6, 70%)
- Waloo (#8, 31–23, 57%)
- BrainyGonzo (#13, 8–1, 89%)
- Zakke (#5, 21–12, 64%)
- Play (#4, 25–16, 61%)
The support players of RD2L are shining brightly in the IHL, with both the 4th and the 5th ranked players on the board failing to make the top cut due to their support peers being more successful. Funnily enough, the second offlaner on our list is tied exactly with the first, with Gonzo and Mewes sharing the same 8–1 score. FaceIt lists Mewes above, though, so direct any complaints to them.
3. Bronze Medalists
- Szajtek (#14, 19–13, 59%)
- Glete (#10, 31–24, 56%)
- Blackjack (#20, 22–17, 56%)
- ikki (#9, 14–6, 70%)
- OKdota (#16, 9–3, 75%)
Ironically the strongest team of the bunch, in large part due to Glete being just lower than Waloo, having lost only one single game more than he did. Tied on score but with marginally higher winrate, Glete manages to push out ProphetX for the spot of third midlaner here. Once again though, it’s a dropoff to find an offlaner, with 20th ranked Blackjack being the closest thing to one in sight for at least another 5 to 10 spots.
The Faithful’s Favorites
In a shocking turn of events that surprised almost no one, the revival of the IHL during a worldwide pandemic which sees everyone stuck at home for the most part has turned out very well, with over a dozen games being played daily on average, and more than a hundred players participating to various degrees of success. Credit where credit is due, certain players do their part to keep the league alive and active, so to find out what keeps them coming back, I decided to ask 5 of the most active IHL players who some of their favorite teammates are.
All of them were asked three simple questions:
Who are 3 players that stand out to you in this season of the IHL, in terms of being:
a) enjoyable to play with;
b) just really good;
c) very surprising in terms of play.
This is what KTZ, Dildawg, Darba, ProphetX and Burtoth had to say!
KTZ
a) Enjoyable to play with?
TOP. Really fun guy to play with, no matter if losing or winning.
b) Just really good?
Probably Glete. His drafts are the best by far, winning games by themselves, and obviously it’s Glete so he’s a really good player mechanically.
c) Very surprising in terms of play?
TeaGuvnor. Everyone knows he’s really good but his shotcalling is the best I’ve played with, ever.
Dildawg
a) Enjoyable to play with?
Burt — never bitches, can carry from time to time, isn’t toxic.
Nappa — does his job, keeps quiet most of the time, can ask for stuff he needs.
Glete — he so cool he makes me wanna be a better person
b) Just really good?
Szajtek — better than I thought and can carry games even against decent enemies.
Woo — a menace to stop.
TeaGuvnor —a space creator and a good mix of skills I respect.
c) Very surprising in terms of play?
Valchers — kid stepped up big time and is not afraid to try to carry, took him a while to adapt.
Darba — can and wants to play everything in order to win, can carry.
Kuroame — it’s actually surprising how fucking bad he is.
Darba
a) Enjoyable to play with?
ProphetX, Waloo and Burtoth. If I had to pick one, Waloo is just a really PMA guy overall, doesn’t really tilt and I’m good friends with him.
b) Just really good?
Thunderdyne, TeaGuvnor and Woo. Picking one, Thunderdyne knows Dota really well and laning with him is just really fun.
c) Very surprising in terms of play?
Valchers, Kimer and Kuroame. With Kuroame, everyone flames and blames Kuro, but I never really had problems with him and if he has a good game he will do really well. Really underrated player, in my opinion.
ProphetX
a) Enjoyable to play with?
Nappa is just too positive and memes a lot, even when I have a bad game or rage he calms the game down.
b) Just really good?
Glete. He is mechanically the best player I’ve laned against.
c) Very surprising in terms of play?
Valchers. His bounty hunter is just too surprising.
Burtoth
a) Enjoyable to play with?
Paul is really fun to play with usually. I had two games with him where I was in tears laughing…proposing to him with a Ring of Protection. So he’s my nomination for most fun. The other thing I can think of, there was a 4k captain — I think Luke — saying “I’ve won so many games what should I do” and I told him that I was bad so he would have to micro me and he told me “take tower and don’t be afraid to dive” so him and Iran down our lane, under enemy t1 before minute 1 and somehow Paul ended up first blooding the enemy team.
b) Just really good?
I think this is the hardest one since there’s a lot of good players and a lot of answers will be obvious and easy. I think I’d like to mention TeaGuvnor. I’m a player that benefits from not being a shotcaller and Tea is definitely winning to do that — really enjoyed him sharing his map awareness and it’s definitely got me thinking about how to abuse tp’s more and take fights differently.
c) Very surprising in terms of play?
I think Nappa is surprising in terms of play, he’s super high on the leaderboards too. I played with him on my team for last mini season and we ended up coming second. Naturally I assumed it was entirely because of me but I’ve laned against him a couple of times and he’s a really good support! I’ve always rated him but he’s even better than I realised. Fun playing against a former teammate for sure although he is good at banning me out. Then again that’s not exactly difficult.
My writing routine, more often than not, is to take a walk and grab a coffee somewhere. If you want to support my content, you can buy me a coffee, but I’ll keep writing as long as there’s stuff to write about, no matter what.
Thanks for reading!
