Every sporting event is a story, with antagonists and protagonists, story boards and plot twists, dreams fulfilled and hearts broken. The Collegiate StarLeague is no exception; the climax of the story is fast approaching as we near the playoffs. Teams are fighting hard to make it into the top four for a shot at the post season, hoping their story can be like Cinderella and that the ashes can be wiped from their cheeks and they can bask in the glory of a championship.

The Immortal division is far from decided, each team in the top four appears to have saved their toughest matches for the last few weeks. The University of California Davis currently holds the top spot sitting with an 11:1 record, but there’s still a lot of games to be played, a lot can happen and I expect it to happen.

Here’s the rundown:
#10 Duke and #9 Michigan gain honorable mention, but any team with five or more losses is hard pressed to expect the top four teams, with no more than two losses, to bow out and for the other 4 teams ahead to choke and crumble with playoffs so close. Great season to Duke and Michigan as well as the rest of the Immortal division and thanks for all the great matches!

#8 The Ohio State University, 8:4. OSU was an early favorite to seal their fate in playoff glory. Three difficult losses in a row to Michigan State, Utah, and Berkeley left the school reeling. A bye gave them time to regroup, but a loss to Indiana the week after has soured their grapes. There’s a lot of pressure on a couple key players to win out the rest of the season. If they can manage to finish 13:4, they have a small shot at the playoffs. I bleed Scarlet and Gray, but I’m concerned about how things may turn out here.

#7 University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has a record of 8:4, three of those wins being from teams who have forfeited, so they’re honestly 5:4. Their biggest win being at Indiana University, which was a glimmer of expert play but they’ve failed to maintain that composure through the depth of their season. Losses coming from Toronto, Cal Tech, Duke, and Michigan, it’s interesting to see if this inconsistent team can regain consistency through the remainder of their trials and bring down opponents UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Ohio State, and Utah. They need to win out and also need Berkeley to lose at least one more to have a chance of slipping into the playoffs.

aPs of UNC warps in some Zealot reinforcements inside of Rohan Warriar's base, which led to the victory over Indiana in week 1.

#6 University of Utah is 9:3 but their biggest win is against Ohio State. They lost to Duke in week three, then Michigan in week six. They also fell to #1 UC Davis and have yet to play the rest of the current top four teams: #2 Indiana, #3 Toronto, and #4 UC Berkeley . If they can beat Berkeley on the 5th of February, they can jump in front of #5 Cal Tech and take the fourth seed, but they’ll have to win out to keep their playoff hopes alive.

#5 California Institute of Technology, 9:2. Cal Tech started their season strong by beating UC Berkeley in week one, but fell to Indiana in week three and then Toronto in week five. They’re currently on a four game win streak (I don’t count Lawrence or Lincoln since they forfeited their season) but they’re quickly approaching rough waters. Coming up against Ohio State on February 19th, UC Davis the next week and finishing their season against Utah on March 12th. Cal Tech is looking pretty, but nothing is in stone here.

#4 University of California Berkeley, 10:2. This team is scary, they have a ton of depth, only two losses coming from Cal Tech and UC Davis. The loss from Cal Tech didn’t feature Berkeley’s best players and the Davis match went to the ACE. There’s a lot of buffer between Berkeley, #3 Toronto and #2 Indiana. If this team can maintain composure and stare down the rest of their schedule, they’re likely to sneak into the #2 spot.

Here is a Berkeley Golden Bear showing it's intense, playoff-seeking, fury against a demon fish that would try to force it from the top four.

#3 University of Toronto, 10:1. This team looks fairly safe, but looks can be deceiving. Their one loss comes from #2 Indiana, which was hard fought and ended 2:3. Their only mentionable wins are against #5 Cal Tech (which they won 3:1), #7 UNC(close, 3:2) and #9 Michigan (handily, 3:0). Toronto still needs to play some more games before a determination of where they’re going to end can be established but they’re rightfully filling the #3 slot at the moment.

#2 Indiana University, much like Toronto, is still waiting to play the top teams of this division. They have made it to 11:1 and suffer their one loss from UNC. Indiana has beaten Toronto which either speaks to Indiana’s talent or Toronto’s lacking thereof. Indiana has also toppled #5 Cal Tech, #9 Michigan, and #8 Ohio State. They’re behind the number one spot by one set point and will be facing UC Davis for the top of the division on February 5th.

The number one spot is held by The University of California Davis but the light at the end of the tunnel is merely a glimmer for this team. They’ve already faced and beaten Michigan, Utah and Berkeley, their one loss comes from Ohio State and they’ve yet to face Indiana, Toronto, and Cal Tech. I believe UC Davis is rightly number one, but can they hold it? Their next match will be instrumental in determining who deserves to wear the crown in the Immortal division.

If you haven’t already noticed the trend in the Immortal Division, allow me to take this moment to point it out. There is no resounding favorite to win this division. The top teams have barely played each other, there is so much room for movement that an accurate guess as to who is who would require a crystal ball. I don’t believe the current standing is an honest reflection of where each team deserves to be, but it does give a nice peek into the future. Is it safe to say that UC Davis has clinched the #1 seed? Absolutely not. But would it be good to guess that they stay in the top four? Sure, I wouldn’t bet the barn, maybe just a zergling or two.
I look forward to seeing how this division plays out and I hope that you’ll keep track with us.

Written by Mike “Ebola Za|re” Walter