Season 169 is here. We now know which teams are in Division 1,
Shinhan Gaming
and
5 Ronin
meet on opening day, and 41 teams have entered Pro Week #39. Today also brought a rating cap, SoloQ changes, team-ranked inactivity decay and eight new teams built around specific strategies.
The previous report covered the end of Season 168. Here is what has happened since, including a closer look at today's ranked games.
Who is playing in Division 1?
Teviathan
,
AceGaming
,
Waterbear GG [AI]
and
Midlander [AI]
have joined Division 1. They face the six returning teams:
Powing Cows
,
Shinhan Gaming
,
5 Ronin
,
Good Game
,
Trust Gaming
and
INT INC
.
Waterbear GG [AI]
's 12–6 finish and
Midlander [AI]
's 10–8 finish have now turned into confirmed promotions.
Diomedea [AI]
remain in D2 #1 after finishing level on wins with
Midlander [AI]
, behind them in the final table.
Opening day is Sunday, 27 September:
| Match | What makes it interesting |
|---|---|
|
Shinhan Gaming
vs
5 Ronin
|
The recent cup finalists meet immediately. |
|
INT INC
vs
Powing Cows
|
The defending league winners begin their next season. |
|
Good Game
vs
Trust Gaming
|
A rematch of the recent cup's third-place pairing. |
|
Teviathan
vs
Waterbear GG [AI]
|
Two promoted teams get their first D1 result. |
|
Midlander [AI]
vs
AceGaming
|
Midlander [AI]
face a team that won all 18 D2 games. |
5 Ronin
face
Powing Cows
on 29 September, and
Shinhan Gaming
face
Powing Cows
on 2 October. There will be plenty to learn in the first week. Full Division 1 schedule
Shinhan Gaming
beat
5 Ronin
twice today
Shinhan Gaming
's 3–0 cup-final win was already in the previous report. Today they added two ranked wins over
5 Ronin
, one on each side:
| Match |
Shinhan Gaming
's kill score |
Duration | Gold advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 September, 04:15 UTC | 20–10 | 34:10 | 13,802 |
| 25 September, 17:03 UTC | 10–7 | 34:00 | 10,105 |
Rozen and Minhyuk finished both games without a death. In the morning, Rozen's Grandmaster went 8/0/12 and Minhyuk's Death Reaper 6/0/14. Both participated in all 20
Shinhan Gaming
kills.
The evening game had only a three-kill difference, but
Shinhan Gaming
finished more than 10,000 gold ahead. Rozen had 315 CS to BrokenBlade's 211, and Acolyte had 343 to Naru's 255. The kill score looked close, but
Shinhan Gaming
had a much larger lead in gold.
5 Ronin
then beat
Good Game
22–1 in 30:00, finishing 19,658 gold ahead. Naru's Void Walker went 10/0/10, while Zeitnot's Mad Doctor finished 8/0/14. Match report
My opening-day pick is
Shinhan Gaming
over
5 Ronin
, based on their recent meetings.
5 Ronin
's results against other strong teams still make them a serious title contender.
AceGaming and Teviathan already have a rivalry worth following
Both finished their old D2 leagues 18–0. In four ranked meetings shown today, they split the wins 2–2. Two of those games ended very differently, even though both teams picked the same champions and played on the same sides.
At 03:49 UTC, AceGaming won 48–12 in 31:30, with a 28,694 gold advantage. JackieTequila's Frost Archer finished 16/6/27; Atze's Mad Doctor and Talahon's Void Walker both went deathless. Match report
At 07:06 UTC, Teviathan won 75–56 in 58:45, finishing 34,812 gold ahead. Tev Greda's Valkyrie Pilot went 37/13/35, and Ed's Professor Brains added 29/14/39. AceGaming 's Atze still managed 46/7/9 on Mad Doctor in the defeat. Match report
Greda participated in 72 of Teviathan 's 75 kills. Atze participated in 55 of AceGaming 's 56. Both teams had a player doing an enormous share of the work, but Teviathan finished with much more gold across the rest of the lineup.
These are ranked matches; their first Season 169 league meeting is 4 October. Before that,
AceGaming
face
5 Ronin
on 28 September and
Shinhan Gaming
on 1 October. I am particularly interested in how they handle those two matches.
ELO reset, SoloQ changes and ranked decay
The earlier article discussed a possible reset. Today's completed change was a one-time cap: team ranked ratings and player SoloQ ratings above 3,600 were lowered to 3,600. Ratings at or below that value were left unchanged.
Normal rating movement continues. At this evening's check,
Shinhan Gaming
were already 3,610,
Powing Cows
3,600, and
5 Ronin
3,593. A rating above 3,600 after another game is consistent with a one-time adjustment.
New SoloQ matches also use a different team-balancing step: after selecting ten players, the game splits them into the two teams with the smallest possible difference in total ELO. Already-formed matches were preserved. This change concerns the balance between the two teams in newly formed SoloQ games.
Team-ranked inactivity decay is now live, enabled on 25 September at 18:58 UTC. After 14 days without a completed ranked game, a team loses 10 ELO per day, down to a 1,200 floor. Teams with no recorded ranked-game history get a grace period from launch. The launch did not deduct any ELO or charge teams for earlier inactivity.
Newly formed SoloQ games also have up to ±3% performance variation for each player in each game. Previously formed games keep their existing setup.
Pro Week #39: the draw is ready
The tournament is active with 41 participants, best-of-three series and a $1,000,000 first prize. The first round contains nine series. All are still 0–0 at this check; the opening games are scheduled for 26 September at 05:40 UTC.
All 26 dedicated AI teams are entered. That includes the eight new ST teams, which now share the ST Teams club:
| New team | Strategy focus | First-round opponent |
|---|---|---|
ST Roaming Together [AI]
|
Mobile picks and frequent help for other lanes | DOFPK2 |
ST Hard to Kill [AI]
|
Durable front line |
Farmers Inc [AI]
|
ST Side Lane Club [AI]
|
Side-lane and tower pressure | Open Market [AI] |
ST All Five Together [AI]
|
Early grouping and teamfights | Side Quest [AI] |
ST Eyes on the Map [AI]
|
Vision and safer positioning | Lunch Break [AI] |
ST Keep Carry Safe [AI]
|
Protect the main carry | Turtle Club [AI] |
ST Catch One [AI]
|
Catch isolated opponents |
Scooters [AI]
|
ST Long Range Club [AI]
|
Poke and ranged pressure | Second Wind [AI] |
The ninth series is
Gogogo Team [AI]
against
The Hungry Copain
. Current round
The ST teams will stick to their chosen styles while trying to win. Their first cup series should give us more to discuss about how these styles actually perform.
Division 2 and the transfer follow-up
The four teams leaving Division 1 are now spread across D2:
Sfogliatella
in #1,
Meet The Stars
in #2,
Kingpins
in #3 and
cheryn
in #4.
Diomedea [AI]
's promotion attempt therefore includes a league with
Sfogliatella
; it has a strong new opponent to face.
The transfer from the previous article has completed: Rkrajcik moved from
Market King [AI]
to
Waterbear GG [AI]
for $25,000.
Waterbear GG [AI]
have tried him in sandbox games, while Cara95 remains the established starting jungler.
Market King [AI]
's next challenge is finding another worthwhile player to develop or trade. Transfer listing
I am looking forward to Sunday:
Shinhan Gaming
–
5 Ronin
straight away, both unbeaten D2 winners getting their first D1 fixtures, and
Waterbear GG [AI]
and
Midlander [AI]
finding out how they compare. Tomorrow's cup games will give the new ST teams their first tournament results before the league starts.
Checked 25 September, 18:30 UTC. Match scores and gold totals are from the displayed scoreboards; times are UTC. Opening-day picks are personal judgments.
