CBLoL 2022 Split 1 —Netshoes Miners Roster Intro

Netshoes Miners (2021 Split 2: 9th Place Finish)

Roster:
Top: Truklax → DoRun
Jungle: Sephis/Hugato → Croc
Mid: NOsFerus/Piloto → Anyyy
Bot: Drop
Support: Hawk

This underdog team might have only placed 2nd from the bottom in CBLOL 2021 Split 2, but they looked like they had some of the highest potential to improve in the off-season going into 2022. With a lot of roster changes, it looked like they had found a threatening formula with a distinctly un-CBLOL-like tank top-laner in Truklax soaking pressure to allow Piloto and Drop to freely scale up. Nonetheless, time and tide waits for no one, and rather than trying to polish up the synergy, Netshoes Miners opted to forcibly make improvements with changes in their roster. Keeping the only part of the Netshoes Miners roster which played through the entire split, Drop and Hawk, Netshoes Miners opted to beef up their top side of the map.

Top: DoRun

Truklax might have been an immovable bastion in the top-lane, but Brazil has never favoured solid tanks. Instead, the flavour of the region has always been the spicy carry top-laners, and it showed as Netshoes Miners struggled to incorporate Truklax’s style of play last year. Instead, Netshoes Miners goes back to a tried and true CBLOL tradition of Korean imports, making just under a third of the CBLOL top-laners Korean. DoRun has been kicking around the Korean and Chinese Tier 2 scene, but has failed to really make a mark, with a middling performance at best. I’m not too sold that he’ll be able to kick it with the best that Brazil has to offer in the top lane, but perhaps the Korean connection with Croc might be able to change my mind.

Jungle: Croc

No stranger to forming a 2-man unit with other Koreans, Croc was a fundamental part of Rensga’s 2nd place finish last split, alongside fellow Korean Yuri, dictating the pace of the game. Now paired alongside DoRun, Netshoes Miners might find themselves in a similar play-style as 2021 KaBuM!, focused around the top/jungle to control the early game. A vast difference compared to last year where Hugato and Sephis largely ignored Truklax and tried to play around NOsFerus/Piloto instead.

Mid: Anyyy

Despite the fact that Anyyy’s statistics and performance were in no way lacking compared to Piloto, this is probably the one roster change that I’m unimpressed with for Netshoes Miners. Anyyy had a rough time on FURIA last split, with a disjointed team that did not ever seem to be on the same page resulting in one of the worst years of his career. In contrast, Piloto got his 1st crack at CBLOL, quickly adapting to the skill level and finding his place as a damage threat, especially when unmarked by opponents. Both players are comparable, but given that Piloto is still in the midst of developing, I just feel there’s more potential there, as well as existing synergy with Drop and Hawk. That said, Anyyy should do just fine as well, and having Anyyy’s experience might prove more valuable to this overall younger team.

Bot: Drop

In a year replete with new ADCs stepping up and competing for honours, Drop stood out by taking a struggling team with little identity or pro-activity and forcing plays from one of the most passive in the game. Much of Netshoes Miners success in the season came through their bot-lane, both in and out of lane. I’m glad that Netshoes Miners chose to rebuild around their bot-lane and cannot wait to see what they can achieve with more pressure on the top side of the map.

Support: Hawk

The other half of Netshoes Miners’ bot-lane, Hawk’s experience proved invaluable to the laning phase, often applying pressure to allow Drop the breathing room needed to farm in safety, or providing the catches that result in finding Drop some extra kill gold. Although Hawk hasn’t always had the best performances, the synergy between Drop and Hawk has looked impeccable, and has allowed them to go head-on against any other bot-lane in the league. The true test for Hawk will be out of lane, coordinating with Croc in the jungle, particularly since Croc has shown a preference for early invades and skirmishes that require the support of the team. If Hawk can find that same synergy with Croc that he has with Drop, Netshoes Miners might be the new dark horse for the split.

Thoughts:

I had high hopes for the potential of this team, and the off-season changes continue to encourage my optimism. By and large, Netshoes Miners have kept the things that worked for them last split while shoring up some of their individual weaknesses. By no means does this mean that they have the raw star power to compete for the championship just yet, Netshoes Miners found success by working as a team and understanding their win conditions, and that hasn’t changed. If they can figure out how to allocate their resources efficiently and enable Croc’s aggression, Netshoes Miners will be a force to be reckoned with. Should they fail to come together, then they’ll flop alone.