Upvote Upvoted 1 Downvote Downvoted
ESEA-Open Power Rankings Week 8
posted in News
conductor
July 15, 2013

It's the last week of the season, and our power rankings are seeing some of the most changes we've made yet. Some of these moves may seem questionable, but most of them were made based on our opinion of who was more likely to make playoffs at this point after looking at individual schedules. Good luck to everybody this week, with such a large division every round will count.


1. undefated at rastlemnaia (14-0)

by London
  • Dingo
  • Wrech
  • coconut
  • pot
  • slinky
  • arctic joe

Alright, so the roster shakeup for rastlemnaia doesn't seem to have really slowed them down at all, with wrech top-fragging in their match against we kings now. The match was pretty short and had dingo grabbing the quick fix during the second round to make some pretty entertaining plays. One instance saw we kings now ubering through big door into the quick fix combo, and dingo and wrech just jumped away up to choke and took the fight into second. The team moves pretty fast already, and the quick fix just gave them a little more mobility. Next week, the dream continues with matches against the Flying Circus and Lzuruha Pandamonium. The Flying Circus has had some sloppy matches lately; unfortunately I don't see them being much of a challenge for rastlemnaia, but they might get a round or two. Pandamonium are the last challengers to contest rastlemnaia's perfect season this week, and although Panda has been looking strong recently I don't see them being much of a threat on a non-5cp map. Regardless, Pot and the boys are pretty much guaranteed the first seed for playoffs unless they somehow beef the match against Pandamonium.


2. Fried Green Tomatoes (12-2)

by conductor
  • OMZ
  • tshirts
  • Buckweet
  • mASTER
  • North^star
  • Bape

Fgt had a gullywash week that went about as expected with a 5-2 showing over Bretty Bueno and a forfeit win from big hams, but viaduct is looking like it's going to be a fair bit tougher for them. They face off against we kings now and Dango Daikazoku - we kings now should be a relatively easy win and the match against Dango will be discussed for this week's MOTW.


3. Dango Daikazoku (13-1)

by conductor
  • Screwball
  • Sneakypolarbear
  • testify
  • DifferentColors
  • icTus
  • reilly

The big question mark for me with this team is whether the former invite all-star ducky will continue to play. Dango rolled through Echelon and squeezed out a 5-4 win over Animus Victoria last week on gullywash, bringing their record to an impressive 13-1. They have already secured their playoff spot pretty handily, but the results of viaduct week have implications on where they will be seeded. Viaduct is going to be the toughest week yet for this team with matches against Fried Green Tomatoes, our current number 2, and Pandamonium, who will also be looking to get a good seed.


4. Animus Victoria (11-3)

by London
  • Cheeriss
  • blue
  • Fearless
  • Blackymonster
  • kraka
  • Noko

Cheeris has been mending well with Animus, but the roster mixups just keep coming. Their recent match against Bubble Buddies ended 3-2 in their favor with Blacky on pocket, Blew on roamer, Fearless on demo, and bunnies and kraka on scout. Fearless changed with blew in the middle of the second half which gave them enough a boost to steal the win. This week will be a little easier on Animus with matches against a struggling Team Echelon and a complacent Bretty Bueno. I'm curious to see if we'll get to see a return of Blackymonster on sniper after his stunning performance during playoffs last season, and if Noko will be returning. With so many questions it's hard to say where Animus will end up when it comes down to final seeding or how consistent they will be, but playoffs are definitely in their future as they look to secure a 13-3 record.


5. Bretty Bueno 5 out of 5 (11-3)

by London
  • soggypancake
  • aim
  • hle
  • eddeh
  • antwan
  • vkr

Bretty Bueno had a pretty predictable week, losing 5-2 against Fried Green Tomatoes and a grabbing a painless 5-0 against Yoshis Island. They'll have to be careful on viaduct though, their final seeding could be decided by how well they do against Street Hoops eSports who are coming off a big win against the Flying Circus. Neither of their matches will be a cakewalk, but as long as they can get away with a 12-4 record by the end of the week they'll be looking to seed around the middle of the pack.


6. Bubble Buddies (10-4)

by conductor
  • braz
  • peyton
  • tophu
  • crux
  • ghostac
  • djinn

Bubble Buddies had a decent gullywash week; they easily took a 5-1 win over a scattered Never Stop Greeting and had a close 3-2 game with Animus Victoria (although they appeared to be holding roster experiments yet again). They have matches against Get Wrecked and The Mad Boys on viaduct, the former of which should be an interesting one. The Mad Boys will surely put up a furious struggle, attempting to keep their playoff dreams alive, but I really can't see them taking more than a round or two. Get Wrecked should be on a much more even playing field in terms of dm ability, but with their scattered playstyle and heavy dependence on Tiger I doubt they will pull a win in the end.


7. Lzuruha Pandamonium (12-2)

by conductor
  • OmnisEvrae
  • Gravegun
  • SocialistFish
  • Hippo
  • NateRivers
  • DZK

Managing to get far and away the toughest schedule of the week, Pandamonium faces off against both undefated at rastlemania and Dango. They're going to have to scratch and claw their way through both of these matches if they want to have any hope of pulling a win, and to be honest the chances are looking pretty bleak. On the more positive side of things, Pandamonium finally has a shot at establishing themselves as much more threating playoff contender if they can put on a strong showing in these two matches.


8. Never Stop Greeting (9-5)

by conductor
  • Dart
  • Breloom
  • Hellbent
  • kwazi
  • Let it Riot
  • Bigwill

Never Stop Greeting has been on the verge of imploding these past few weeks with internal issues galore. They face off against Get Wrecked and The Mad Boys this week, and their biggest obstacle will likely be themselves. They sport some of the most experience and most talented dmers in the division, but their lack of (or total absence of) scrim time really shows in their play, which has been sloppy and incredibly out of sync. They might be able to win these matches if they just force their opponents into dm fights, but who knows what will happen.


9. GET WRECKED (11-3)

by London
  • creeep
  • Tiger
  • ninjitsu
  • kingrab
  • nrage
  • n1mble

Get Wrecked has been on a mid-open warpath as they've crushed the playoff dreams of a couple teams this week, but some of the plays coming out of this team have been less than smooth to say the least. Tiger continues to try to do all the work for his team, doing almost 20k damage during their last match against the Grime and showing a strong presence. Nrage was a +forward machine during both matches, which sometimes got him some good picks and other times ended in him dying uselessly. Despite this team's strange play style, they were able to grab two wins and hopefully a playoff spot as they prepare for their last matches of the season against Never Stop Greeting and Bubble Buddies. The obvious threat to Tiger and friends will be Bubble Buddies, particularly their demoman Crux. However, even two losses this week for Get Wrecked shouldn't rule out their chances of making playoffs unless they get 4-0'd by both opponents, which seems unlikely. I'll be expecting them to finish in the lower half of the pack and hopefully make some waves during playoffs.


10. Street Hoops eSports (11-3)

by London
  • crespi
  • ash
  • vacationer
  • Skyrolla
  • Deadbolt
  • Paragon

This team has been off the radar for most of the season until their recent win against the Flying Circus. Most of their wins have come from fighting their way through the mid-open bubble, but last week they've shown they belong in the top ten with an easy 5-0 win over the Mad Boys and an action packed 5-3 victory over the Flying Circus. What strikes me the most about this team is that not one player really stands out in particular as a hard carry; the team seems pretty well rounded all together. This week they'll be playing Team Echelon and Bretty Bueno. Both of these matches could go either way, but with the way Echelon is playing lately I don't know how safe of a bet it is that it will be an easy win. Bretty Bueno will be the harder of the two opponents, with two DM heavy scouts and a demo that can put out some big damage. Even though it doesn't seem like a combo-centric map, I think what could tip the balance here is how the ubers are used and how well each team understands the flow of viaduct. I'm hoping to see another upset win for Street Hoops this coming week. They should end up seeding in the bottom half of the top 16 when all is said and done.


Teams to watch:
  • French Canadian Cuisine
  • Rice Guys Finish Last
  • The Flying Circus
  • we kings now
  • manly maws

Match of the Week: Fried Green Tomatoes vs Dango Daikazoku
by conductor
  • OMZ
  • tshirts
  • Buckweet
  • mASTER
  • North^star
  • Bape

  • Screwball
  • Sneakypolarbear
  • testify
  • DifferentColors
  • icTus
  • reilly

Dango is coming into what will likely be one of their toughest matches of the season against Fried Green Tomatoes. Individual player dm is going to come into play much moreso than on a normal 5cp map, and I think that fgt's scouts are going to win it out for them in that regard. The thing that the tomatoes are going to need to watch out for is to make sure that their aggression doesn't get the best of them, part of me is expecting bape and northstar to get overeager and die at unfortunate times. If fgt can maintain their composure then they should be able to take this, but it will be a hard fought win. Fried Green Tomatoes wins 4-3.

1
#1
3 Frags +

and as always, remember to

http://i.imgur.com/RMlfVjd.png

and as always, remember to

[url=http://twitter.com/dumpdates][img]http://i.imgur.com/RMlfVjd.png[/img][/url]
2
#2
4 Frags +

ikpure was just pot in alias this whole time

ikpure was just pot in alias this whole time
3
#3
-2 Frags +

good write-up

good write-up
4
#4
0 Frags +
Wowzersikpure was just pot in alias this whole time

master ruseman

[quote=Wowzers]ikpure was just pot in alias this whole time[/quote]

master ruseman
5
#5
2 Frags +

no...pure stole the roster from me

no...pure stole the roster from me
6
#6
3 Frags +

tf2 is fun

tf2 is fun
7
#7
3 Frags +

london is the master of observation, fixed accordingly

london is the master of observation, fixed accordingly
8
#8
3 Frags +

mgib just rang for antwan because he didnt scrim gully with us over the week, there are no changes in the roster.

mgib just rang for antwan because he didnt scrim gully with us over the week, there are no changes in the roster.
9
#9
7 Frags +

street hoops to win both viabutt matches :>

street hoops to win both viabutt matches :>
10
#10
4 Frags +
SocialistFish is the only thing holding Pandamonium back, the fact that he gets kills is nothing short of pure randomness that should not be chalked up to anything but luck. it's a miracle he hasnt been cut yet.

just say it already

[quote]SocialistFish is the only thing holding Pandamonium back, the fact that he gets kills is nothing short of pure randomness that should not be chalked up to anything but luck. it's a miracle he hasnt been cut yet.[/quote]

just say it already
11
#11
7 Frags +

street hoops finally on the fucking map

street hoops finally on the fucking map
12
#12
5 Frags +

.

.
13
#13
5 Frags +

THE GAMING TWINS 2STRONG

THE GAMING TWINS 2STRONG
14
#14
5 Frags +

inb4 Paragon plays sniper on Viaduct and makes the qq happen.

inb4 Paragon plays sniper on Viaduct and makes the qq happen.
15
#15
0 Frags +
aimmgib just rang for antwan because he didnt scrim gully with us over the week, there are no changes in the roster.

well you might want to talk to him about that, since he was the one who told me he got benched. oh well! good luck this week!

[quote=aim]mgib just rang for antwan because he didnt scrim gully with us over the week, there are no changes in the roster.[/quote]

well you might want to talk to him about that, since he was the one who told me he got benched. oh well! good luck this week!
16
#16
0 Frags +

noko was only gone for 1 day

noko was only gone for 1 day
17
#17
Momentum Mod
4 Frags +

Street hoops! fuck ya

Street hoops! fuck ya
18
#18
0 Frags +

I think ducky will be playing for just this last week, until Sneaky gets back from vacation.

In all honesty though, I'd prefer to have Sneaky playing. ducky plays like 2 hours a week, he kind of just walks around and DMs whatever he sees, and doesn't comm much. Not to mentions he's only really had one game with us where he's actually done super good.

Chillest guy on earth though.

I think ducky will be playing for just this last week, until Sneaky gets back from vacation.

In all honesty though, I'd prefer to have Sneaky playing. ducky plays like 2 hours a week, he kind of just walks around and DMs whatever he sees, and doesn't comm much. Not to mentions he's only really had one game with us where he's actually done super good.

Chillest guy on earth though.
Please sign in through STEAM to post a comment.