Recap

The dynasty has fallen. If there's anything you should've picked up from last week, it's that Froyotech is no longer undefeated. Exertus snapped b4nny's regular season streak of 66 wins on Wednesday night with a 5-2 game. There was also a plethora of coverage from TFTV, cbear, and Ggglygy, streaming matches all across the Invite division (and some CEVO-P, too). With such a competitive season of Invite, it's awesome to see so much coverage so shoutouts and thank you to all the casters, camermen, and organizers. Keep up the good work, everyone.

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1. Froyotech (3-1)

Undefeated in the regular season no more. Froyotech suffered their first (regular season) loss in the last 4 seasons against Exertus, before cleaning up Mixup shortly afterward. The decision to keep XTS below Froyotech was something I struggled with the entire week. Clckwrk underperforming at 19-30 isn't something you see every day. Whether this was clckwrk playing sloppy or being contained extremely well by XTS remains to be seen, as he did play to form in the CEVO-P rematch. I will reserve judgment until their second meetup later in the season on Viaduct. Froyotech have only to play Wood Pig on Gullywash, where I suspect each member will be too much for their counterpart to handle. I'll try and predict some more in these Power Rankings, so I'll call a 5-1 win for Froyotech.

2. Exertus TF2 (4-0)

If there's a team to remain undefeated in this season, it's Exertus. They've topped Mixup, and they've toppled Froyotech. With the way this team has been playing, seems that only the two aforementioned teams should present a threat now. Fragile had to ring in place of cozen who was on vacation, and his survivability really earned a lot of advantage for XTS, supported by the powerful play of Bdonski and Decimate. Gullywash week brings Br0nzing with Br0nze and Mad Men to their doorstep, and I expect XTS to walk away from both games without much worry. Bdonski should be ridiculous on midfights and alfa will surely try to get a power play going over on Sniper. Mad Men should be able to take a few rounds but not before XTS gets the win. 5-2 Exertus.

3. Classic Mixup (1-2)

During the 5-0 loss Mixup received from Froyotech, I remember a quote from cbear or yuki on how “Mixup tends to coast through the season and then turn things up at LAN” (paraphrase). This quote rings familiar to me for what people said about Tyrone back in the day, before his retirement. Combined with Platinum's statement that apparently most of Mixup is going to retire after this season of TF2 (ESEA, CEVO, i52), you really gotta wonder how much effort Mixup will put in for their “last stand.” That being said though, Mixup still showed they're not going to let the bubble teams walk over them, as they 5-1'd Wood Pig in 13 minutes (for a cute statistic, 3 people outscored harbleu in that match). Mixup plays Mad Men and The Hurricane this week, and I'd assume the result of the Mad Men game to not be all that different from whatever the XTS vs. Mad Men game is.

4. Wood Pig (1-2)

Wood Pig didn't have quite the week as I thought, since they played Classic Mixup for their only Granary match, and that was as quite the short game. There's nothing to talk about. I could say that meb took exactly 43 heals that match, and was probably the player who made harbleu drop uber but really looking at numbers from that match is so irrelevant it's best to stop here and look forward. Wood Pig's Gullywash opponents will be Froyotech and The Hurricane. Based on Street Hoops' performances against The Hurricane, I'd hope about the same out of Wood Pig, but The Hurricane really proved me wrong on Process week, perhaps they'll surprise again. 5-3 for Wood Pig.

5. Street Hoops Esports (2-2)

What a season it's already been for 20b. Starting off the season with a narrow 5-4 loss in overtime to another narrow 5-4 in overtime this past week, but this time on the winning end. The hype is clearly from that Mad Men game, where grape and cyzer played out of their minds, but not to be overshadowed was deadbolt's consistency in getting those crucial Medic picks with Kritzkrieg. Both of 20b's opponents this week have had rough starts (Br0nzing wit Br0nze and Ding Dong Daddy). Should they keep riding off grape's superb play, I see no reason for Street Hoops to be 4-2 at the end of this week. 5-2 win for Street Hoops against Ding Dong Daddy, and a 5-0 against Br0nzing with Br0nze.

6. Mad Men (2-1)

I honestly have no idea how Mad Men didn't walk away from the match against Street Hoops with a 5-2 win. The backcap play was perfect. Mike and Memphis on 2P while the combo stalled midpoint with their uber. Whether they were just unlucky or somehow couldn't capture last in time is up in the air but they surely lost momentum from that point which led to their defeat in overtime. Still, everyone played exceptionally well and if not for that failed backcap and untimely deaths to Kritzkrieg from indust, Mad Men should've come out on top. Mad Men continue with the LAN team tour this week with Classic Mixup and Exertus, and despite the near win against 20b, I don't think they will be able to pull off the same in front of these giants, but hey, Blame Game certainly proved me wrong last week. Maybe its Mad Men's turn to get the upset wheel rolling.

7. The Hurricane (2-2)

This is what I get for putting Blame Game in last, apparently. The newly branded “THE HURRICANE” punched Ding Dong Daddy and Br0nzing with Br0nze in the mouth on Process. My boy icTus showing me to not underestimate him as he played like a monster in both games, alongside insom's onslaught of damage. They had respectable showings against Street Hoops and Exertus on Granary. In particular, ChinGoo went 20-15 with over 300DPM in their 2-5 loss against XTS. Since they put up strong showings against the LAN teams, I'd guess around the same results for their matches against Wood Pig and Mixup.

8. Ding Dong Daddy (1-3)

Ding Dong Daddy is off to a rocky start with a forfeit win against Br0nzing with Br0nze, and 0-5, 1-5, and 3-5 losses to Froyotech, Blame Game, and Mad Men respectively. Unfortunately there isn't much to write about. I think that they would've been able to beat Br0nzing with Br0nze either way, and the other results are about what I expected. This upcoming match against Street Hoops should reveal a lot about these newcomers. Given their match results against Mad Men, I believe it's entirely possible for Ding Dong Daddy to win against Street Hoops. Showstopper vs. Grape, and alec vs. cyzer will be the key matchups in that game.

9. Br0nzing with Br0nze (0-3)

Br0nze and friends take home the “Most Boring Granary Week” award going into Gullywash. Their single matchup turned into a forfeit loss due to roster struggles. The departures of both blink and Broking leave the team with just 5 paid players on the roster: Br0nze, Pharaoh, Shrugger, smaka, and snailboat. Researching SizzlingStats show Ibby and thrill playing in their most recent scrims so perhaps those are possibilities. Smaka was kind enough to divulge that the roster's status is still up the air so hopefully they live. It'd be tragic to see a team death this early on.

Match of the Week

Classic Mixup (1-2) vs. Mad Men (2-1)

Good news: I predicted the best match of last week. Bad news: Only from my honorable mentions list. Anyway onto this week. Honestly this pool of matches seems more difficult than the last, with a lot seemingly volatile. They could be close games or they could be worlds apart. Classic Mixup vs. Mad Men will have serious implications, however, so we'll go with them. Mad Men is looking to claw their way past the bubble teams and have been doing so, trumping Ding Dong Daddy and Br0nzing with Br0nze and just nipplehairs away from winning against Street Hoops. On the flipside, Mixup has been reeling from their losses to XTS and Froyotech. Mad Men could use this opportunity to kick Mixup while they're down, or Mixup can be assertive and say, “We're not going to let you walk over us.”

All the talk from Mixup has been coming from their flank. Enigma, squid, and Seagull are all dangerous and just letting one out of control can spell trouble for your team. However, YouMustMike, MemphisVon, and bl4nk will be doing their best to not let that happen. I do think bl4nk will be the weakest Scout of the group but Mike has been really strong. If both flanks lock each other down then this battle will come down to combo play. Naturally, I have to side with TLR and Platinum here, but this gives marmaduke and Chriztafah the chance to step up and show they can hang with the top. Harbleu and indust likewise should be an even matchup, and any drops from either Medic could be huge momentum swings in the other team's favor. But like I said above, these matches all seem so unpredictable that I wouldn't be all too surprised if Mixup just destroys Mad Men (not that exciting) or if Mad Men come out on top.

One thing is for sure, Classic Mixup really needs this victory or they'll be the most vulnerable they have ever been in a long, long time, and boy would Mad Men want to be the team grabbing a win here.

Prediction: Classic Mixup – 5, Mad Men – 2

Players to Watch: TLR, harbleu, YouMustMike, marmadukeGRYLLS

Final Glance

1. Froyotech
2. Exertus TF2 [+1]
3. Classic Mixup [-1]
4. Wood Pig
5. Street Hoops Esports
6. Mad Men
7. The Hurricane [+2]
8. Ding Dong Daddy [-1]
9. Br0nzing With Br0nze [-1]