MDL Recap Week 5 - A Triumphant rise
Week five in MDL Season 33 has come to a close with the playoff picture becoming ever clearer. Some quick league news, Under 21 and Bad News Bears are the only teams that still remain undefeated. Additionally, Envy will not participate in Season 33 and have forfeited all of their matches due to their participation in FLASHPOINT Season one.
The biggest storyline this week was undoubtedly Triumph, who played eleven matches and won ten of them to shoot up to the top of the league standings. Their blowout win was a dismantling of New England Whalers, 16-2 on Overpass. They didn't just whale on teams at the bottom of the MDL standings though, they also found quality wins against Mythic and Big Frames. Their only loss came at the hands of Recon 5, who bested them in 30 rounds on Nuke.
The undefeated teams fared well this week, as Bad News Bears won all three of their matches against In The Lab, Mythic, and eUnited to bring their record to 9-0. Under 21 won all five of their matches, besting Monstars, Station 7, LiViD, Divine, and In The Lab to go to 10-0 as well.
This week's biggest upset was the New England Whalers finding their first win of the season against Big Frames in overtime late Sunday evening. Big Frames currently sit in the top half of the standings, teetering in playoff position. Needless to say that they cannot afford losses like this one if they want to remain in the postseason hunt. The Whalers win leaves Team oNe alone at the bottom of the table as the only team that is still winless in Season 33.
With one week to go before the deadline, the coming week is already packed and is getting more full by the second. So far there are 67 matches scheduled for the coming week, with more that are yet to be added.
With so many to choose from, here are some notable matches to keep an eye on this week:
| Matchup | Date | Time |
 Bad News Bears vs. Big Frames |
Mar. 9th | 9PM EST |
| Mythic vs. Swole Identity |
Mar. 10th | 8PM EST |
| Triumph vs. Under 21 |
Mar. 11th | 9PM EST |
| Mythic vs. Bad News Bears |
Mar. 12th | 8PM EST |
| Triumph vs. Chaos |
Mar. 13th | 9PM EST |
It is now the home stretch before the regular season deadline on March 16th. Here are the current standings before the chaotic final week unfolds:
| Team | Matches | Wins | Losses | RD | Points |
| Triumph |
14 | 13 | 1 | +89 | 39 |
| Mythic |
15 | 11 | 4 | +60 | 33 |
| Under 21 |
10 | 10 | 0 | +89 | 30 |
| Recon 5 |
12 | 10 | 2 | +73 | 30 |
| Bad News Bears |
9 | 9 | 0 | +91 | 27 |
| Swole Identity |
13 | 8 | 5 | +58 | 24 |
| Big Frames |
11 | 7 | 4 | +46 | 21 |
 Oceanus |
13 | 7 | 6 | +20 | 21 |
| Rugratz |
10 | 6 | 4 | +53 | 18 |
| Chaos |
8 | 6 | 2 | +47 | 18 |
| Monstars |
14 | 6 | 8 | +15 | 18 |
| Station 7 |
12 | 6 | 6 | -10 | 18 |
| Swole Patrol (ex-eUnited) |
7 | 5 | 2 | +42 | 15 |
| LiViD |
12 | 5 | 7 | +26 | 15 |
| Divine |
12 | 5 | 7 | -24 | 15 |
| In The Lab |
8 | 4 | 4 | -5 | 12 |
 Infinity |
15 | 4 | 11 | -28 | 12 |
| Thunder Logic |
9 | 3 | 6 | +12 | 9 |
| New England Whalers |
10 | 3 | 7 | -16 | 9 |
 Team oNe |
4 | 2 | 2 | +16 | 6 |
 |
21 | 1 | 20 | -320 | 3 |
| |
21 | 0 | 21 | -336 | 0 |
Up to date standings throughout the week can be found here.
