RGL S6 Advanced Power Rankings, Pt. 1 of 3
5/31/2020
Roster Spreadsheet
Video Commentary with je'mond and alfredodan
The latest season of RGL is under way and while a few teams have risen to the top, no one has completely established themselves as unstoppable yet. The middle of the table is also ripe with talent vying for one of the spare playoff spots. It should be an interesting season as always.
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#1 Una limonda por favor (4-0)
The latest MILKIES spin-off sports another great scout duo with Saila/Dunker who have both placed well in Advanced/ESEA-IM, a sick demoman in Kobe1920, powerful soldiers in Damn/Slugmundo, and the rare example of a player who actually likes playing medic in Luddy (psychopath). I expected this team to dominate and while they're definitely at the top right now, I don't see them as being unbeatable looking at current results. I could see them making it through the regular season 16-0, but I could almost as easily see them not.
#2 GlobalClan Lightning (3-1)
The electric-type GlobalClan fell inches short of making it through the Invite qualifier and dropped to Advanced alongside the Portland Burnsiders. It's little surprise then that they've made quick work of most teams they've played since their roster is packed with recognizeable names who have proven themselves at a high advanced or better level. Metalworks wasn't their best week as they dropped a game to Anglerfish Holdings and gave away two rounds to the theoretically much weaker Chicago Kids. In the grand scheme of things, though, I doubt it's much of a hinderence and shouldn't stop them from finishing the regular season in the top 5.
#3 Lombre (2-2)
This team is a bit of an oddity as every name is recognizeable as a high advanced/Invite level/Invite champion player in 6s, Highlander, or both except for Caban who has only played a couple of ESEA matches and a season of Amateur. Having him rise to the occasion will be a big storyline for this team as if he can keep playing at a divison average level or better, they've got a serious chance of winning it all with all this talent conglomerated together. It's also important to note this team looks way different without Exile. Without him, they didn't look nearly as strong in their Week 2A match as they lost to THE GOBLIN ZONE 1-5.
#4 THE GOBLIN ZONE (4-0)
With the death of Lobsters.tf, THE GOBLIN ZONE is one of few teams left to have played every season of RGL (plus some time in ESEA)*. Bringing Magma and Bear (as scouts) into the zone has also been a more than adequate replacement for Bloompi and Waldo (with saam moving to medic). Really though, the story looks like the same as last season. They might not be the scariest team to scrim against, but time and time again, they've shown that they show up on match day as they're off to a 4-0 start, including a dominant win over Lombre (sans Exile, though).
*If you consider THE GOBLIN CONES as THE GOBLIN ZONE.
#5 RHDP (2-2)
Starting out 0-2 was shocking for this team considering they're coming in with a pretty stacked roster. Cirumstance wise, it's forgiveable as they had to play two great teams in the opening week and only lost by one round in both games. On top of that, one of the losses was in part caused by serious technical issues which have reportedly been resolved. With that in mind, I don't think this stumble out of the gate is going to hurt their final standing too much.
#6 Anglerfish Holdings (4-0) (Placed by je'mond and alfredodan)
My team, biased, no comment, etc.
#7 anilist.co (3-1)
Safrix and his disciples have had a tough strength of schedule so far and claimed wins over BLANC and RHDP already. Their first Metalworks match featured a series of unfortunate events that led to bleeding rounds. However, that appeared to be an off night and otherwise, they've looked sharp. The one risk seems to be that when Safrix isn't in the fight, the team's coordination takes a hit. The upside is that when he is, they can really shine.
#8 BLANC Esports (2-2)
At least on paper, this edition of BLANC looks to be one of the strongest ever. No player is an apparent weakness and even though this exact line-up is pretty new, most of the guys are at least acquainted with each other. The only real kicker keeping them from the top seems to be a lack of aggression, maybe it's a playstyle thing or a comms issue. All the pieces are in place - it feels like all they need is the right voice to activate them.
#9 Journey (2-2)
It's been a while since they took home the Season 3 Main Bronze. A year later, they're back with Cadet taking the reins at combo scout, freeing Souyant to make the big plays on the flank. In their second week, they've missed their first two chances to make noise and upset top level teams. Not a huge concern early in the season, especially since Metalworks is one of their weaker maps. However, I'm sure the chance will rise later in the season and they'll need to answer that call if they want to make their mark as contenders. It could be hard considering their low volume of scrims.
#10 TAINTED Gaming (3-1)
Last season this core group, formerly known as Abby Shapiro's Mommy Milkers, had a hot run at the end of the season to finish 8-8 and barely fall outside of the playoffs. This season kicked off with a fun rivalry match-up as they faced off with Cadet's new team (a 2-5 loss). Since then, they've got on another streak and ended week 2 with a promising 3-1 record albeit against mid tier competition. If they want to take it all the way to the post-season this time, they'll need to get the ball rolling early and start knocking off some other contenders. With Anglerfish Holdings and anilist.co coming up, they'll have that chance.
#11 GUTTER BAZOOKA: ONLINE (2-1)
Trux and Mak are a low-key powerful scout duo. The rest of the team ain't bad either. They've also proven that can take the pressure as they scraped a tight 4-3 win over Nazara's crew. I have yet to see them really have a coming out party against any of the playoff contenders, but I'd keep an eye on them as they could dominate the middle of the table and potential parlay that into a playoff seed with a touch of scheduling luck.
#12 Fresh Installs: Black (2-2)
The newest and crudest edition of The Notorious Segamw's FRESH INSTALLS (now sans Segamw) is coming off a Main championship, defeating the rival VideoGameHighSchoolDropouts to bring home gold. Most critically, they've added Jetz on scout to the roster who brings excellent comms, tons of meatshots, and high level experience to a still fairly raw team. His impact was shown in full display in the match versus watchThis as he took home 66 kills and top DPM in the server.
(Continued below due to char. limit)