Utility Monster and JeffGodGamer’s Week 0 Helios Power Rankings
8/15/2021
“Hey everyone! It’s time for the first installment of the weekly Helios League power rankings. We are Utility Monster and JeffGodGamer, the slightly above average jungler and superstar ADC player for the defending champions, Yuumiversal Basic Income (YUBI) in the Luna League. We’ll be bringing you a new installment of these rankings every week throughout season 4 of the Friend or Foe Invitational, and if you don’t read every single one then you’re a fucking loser missing out on a lot of entertaining insight into this league.
Obviously, since this is the first power rankings of the season, we have limited information as to the true capabilities of each team. We’ll do our best to evaluate everyone with the information we have at hand, but expect wild changes as the season goes on. To make up for it, we’re also judging teams based on the artistic qualities of their logos, as interpreted by JeffGodGamer. Let’s jump right in!”
- Utility Monster
8th - PTP
Logo rank: 3rd, Teemo looks very lifelike. Beemo probably would’ve been a better choice.
PTP had a rough season 3 in FoF competition, going 0-14* in mostly one-sided losses. (*Technically, 4/5 of their members did win a game, but it involved borrowing their opponent’s top laner at the last minute so it didn’t count in the standings.) They’ve since lost a few players, including some who defected to other teams (GURL TheProDH and BBZ Teph). The remaining core of Lets Do Vaynal, Graviel, and Pure Llama is learning some new roles and trying to integrate two new solo laners, Brown Jesus and BIGGUSDEEKUS. All these players are ranked gold at least, with Pure Llama hitting platinum, so the individual talent should be enough to at least be competitive in the league. Additionally, the competitive 5s experience on this roster is nothing to scoff at. That said, it’s easy to imagine these players falling back into the same bad laning habits and poor macro decisions that made last season so hard for them, so PTP will start the season at 8th in the rankings.
8th - GURL
Logo rank: 7th - the gorilla is ugly and will be hard to parody in Microsoft Paint for future rankings. It also looks more like a cupcake than a muffin and I don't like strawberry frosting.
This is a team full of returning FoF veterans and fan favorites, many of whom took season 3 off. They now look to prove they’ve aged more like fine wine than moldy muffins, despite their team name. The roster is headlined by top laner BAKINPANCAKES, a platinum-ranked bruiser player who will play any champion as long as it’s melee and has good base stats. Unfortunately, the rest of the roster is not ranked as highly, with most players’ ranks hovering around silver and low gold. Team captain xNek0x and everyone else on the 10 person roster have a tough challenge ahead to maintain team synergy and decision-making at a level that will allow them to overcome the individual skill deficits that exist on paper. Time will tell, but for now GURL doesn’t inspire enough confidence in us for them to escape starting the season ranked 8th.
8th - CFG
Logo rank: 5th, points for cuteness. The bunny looks familiar...
Now we come to our first team full of players brand new to Friend or Foe. It’s always hard to evaluate completely new teams, since there’s so many unknowns about their individual skill, play style, and communication. This roster is especially hard to pin down, as CFG has no standout players by individual rank, so they will live or die based on their team cohesion. While we are very impressed with Dust’s winrate on Yuumi, it appears that several other players are playing secondary roles. The added difficulty of learning on the fly while maintaining a high level of team play will be a challenge. It’s also a worrying trend that most of these players haven’t played much flex 5:5, perhaps indicating a lack of practice together. Since coordination will be so important for their success, and the indicators so far don’t look the best, we have to rank CFG at 8th for now.
8th - TG
Logo Rank: 8th - In the words of my girlfriend: “Is that supposed to be a marshmallow?” I’m very sad about this one - their sister team’s logo looks great, but this one leaves much to be desired.
While the org’s name has changed and shuffled players between their two teams, Art of War Esports (previously Shield) has put together a roster of primarily returning players and created Terracotta Gaming. Aquapear has returned to his main role in top lane, and the late season dynamic mid/jungle duo of Cam and Jovie will look to see what they can accomplish with a full season of practice. The bot lane is a bit more of a question mark, as is the team synergy; last season, both teams from this org struggled with midgame macro and rotations, and it seems unlikely that a new bot lane carry player will change that. If they can show consistent improvement in these categories, they’ll be a solid team, but until that happens they’ll be ranked 8th.
8th - AGS
Logo Rank: 4th, clean and modern and boring. Perfect for a business, loses lots of points in my ranking.
Our second brand new team, Aegis Gaming, is our dark horse candidate in the Helios League. Individually they look good, though not great, but their history suggests they play premade 5s with relative frequency. This is a great sign for their team synergy coming out of the gate, and was also a big part of why we on team YUBI were underrated coming in last season. If they can prove their gameplay is greater than the sum of their already promising parts, AGS could become a serious contender. However, there’s also a world where this never comes to fruition, and AGS turns out to be just a pretender. Without the individual skill to blow other teams off the Rift consistently, it could turn out that Aegis is just not quite good enough when it matters. We don’t want to get our hopes up too high just yet, so we’re starting these guys at 8th in the league.
8th - REX
Logo Rank: 1st, dinosaurs are awesome and if you don’t like them you didn’t have a childhood.
Our third and final team with exclusively FoF rookies is Rex Regalis, consisting of a few NA Academy casters and their close friends. We’re familiar with most of this roster, having played with them before (Joushi is also a top lane sub for team YUBI), and we can confidently say that we hope they lose. This roster has the individual ability to not get run over by anyone, but it’s their game sense and macro capabilities that will define them as the season progresses. All these players approach League of Legends from a cerebral perspective, and that will make them a dangerous opponent for anyone. However, stylistically these players can clash, especially when Joushi’s boring do-nothing macro meets Raafaa’s bloodlust. We also know that this team will have a lot of scheduling conflicts trying to cast professionally and play in an amateur league, so they might not have time to work out all the kinks before playoffs. Due to the potential communication issues and resulting tilt, as well as the scheduling difficulties, we have to keep REX ranked 8th until they prove otherwise.
8th - RLS
Logo Rank: 6th, I like that the L has legs that go all the way up, but this is a no foot fetish zone.
The team formerly known as Ruby’s Light-up Sketchers is back, and this time they’re in a league with an appropriate Elo bracket instead of getting smashed in lane by masters players every game. They were more competitive than their individual talent would indicate last season, which was good because their individual talent would have left them winless. In this league, though, we expect them to be capable of great things. Fan favorite caster Ahntye should be a big impact in teamfights from the top lane, and their macro will allow them to close out most leads they get. Does that mean they can avoid being ranked 8th in the league? No.
8th - INT
Logo Rank: 2nd, it’s my favorite non-YUBI logo from season 3. Trees are good for the environment. I prefer palm trees though, so INT falls to second.
The only roster in Helios to run it back without changes, INT will start the season as the team to beat. Led by captain and star player BoExplode87 in the jungle, this entire roster is a force to be reckoned with. They proved they can win it all in season 2, and are looking to prove they can do it again after a 3rd place finish in season 3. The main question with INT is always how they are doing - on their good days, they lose to no one, but they lose to themselves more than most other teams. They’ve been taking a well-earned break from the game over the offseason, so don’t be fooled by a slow start should it happen. There have been rumors of lack of motivation, though, and those could prove more concerning. INT has the potential to win it all, but nothing is guaranteed. We have to rank them 8th until we guarantee they’re practicing the correct Riot game. Hint: it’s not the one that starts with “V” and rhymes with Valorant (though stay tuned for the upcoming FoF Valorant league* - https://www.fofesports.com/sign-up).
*Working on it. -Chris Sunga
