Hero Series Power Rankings - Week 5

Week 5 Hero Series Power Rankings

By Ultimate, Itachi, and Aviously

Welcome back to another week of Hero Series Power Rankings! The rankings jumps are a bit strange this week, and that's because last week, since we didn't end up posting an article, our internal rankings were a bit more erratic than usual. I'd recommend focusing on the numbers on the left and not the right just for this week. Playoffs continue to march ever closer, and a clearer picture of the Hero Series playoff bracket is emerging.

Key highlights for the week:

• AskHS vs TBH JOOD may be the best match in Hero Series this entire season.
  
• BBY drops from their number one spot.
  
• A new #1 team has appeared.
  
• The Spell Stoners surge to declare themselves true title contenders, and will face off against 3-2 DadLegend to prove they're here to stay.
  

1. AskHS (+4)
AskHS simply has the best resume of any Hero Series team so far. They've toppled Tan Pam's Surf Slam, slain The Cult, and their only loss has come against the Yacht Club. Fuel, Tri, and RCIX are all have monster seasons, sporting an insane combined 72% game winrate, and only have two series losses between themselves. In addition, their middle seeds in Khell and Altenberg have been holding up their end of the bargain, making this possibly the scariest team in all of Hero Series.

2. TBH JOOD (+1)
The team with the most meaningless name in Hero Series has continued their dominance throughout the season. Their new player in Starden has filled the shoes of what the roster needed, and they'll be facing off against our #1 team AskHS this week. If they can pick up a win against the 1, 2, 5 seed combination of AskHS, we expect them to have a strong chance to win. Their most important matchups are surely iCon and Durden against Khell and Altenberg, as without them they'll have to do what no team has done so far this season: Take two wins off of AskHS's dominant trio.

3. Tap Last (+1)
What more needs to be said about Tap Last? Their convincing 4-1 victory over DTD proves that they aren't to be trifled with, and they were able to do that with two subs in their lineup! Right now, we have each week left in the season penciled in as a win for this squad, with the possible exception of a new Purple Conference challenger: Spell Stoners.

4. Spell Stoners (+4)
With the fall of DTD, the Purple Conference needs a new Robin to Tap Last's Batman, and right now that team looks to be the Spell Stoners. Right now they're matched with Tap Last in points, and only a single player on their roster has a Win/Loss under .500. This week they'll face a challenge from DadLegend, a very similarly constructed team. The most exciting match may be Rizen vs Freeloader, two players who have rizen (heh) in seeds this season. Neither has a ton of recent experience in the two seed, so while this may not be a "conventional" two seed matchup, both players have proven themselves with a combined 8-1 record so far this season.

5. Booty Bay Yacht Club (-4)
The Yacht Club were able to escape last week with a tie, and survived as our #1 team last week since so many top teams lost. However, the preseason wave carrying them has crashed. They've dropped to third in points in Teal Conference, and that's where they are ranked by us among all Teal Conference teams. The big stories of this team so far are definitely the under performance of MeMyselfandI and BOOZASAURUS. MMI's struggles can be blamed on inexperience in the LHS format, but BOOZASAURUS' losses are especially surprising considering that he won 6 matches in the 1 seed last season. We believe both players are among the best in Hero Series at their seed (their experience speaks for themselves), but so far they haven't been putting up wins. If the two of them return to the form expected of them in preseason, BBY will likely be the strongest team in Hero Series once again.

6. Ugly Mucklings (+5)
The Mucklings have bounced back from our previous rankings, and their new players in Starlax and Icer have proven themselves so far. The strength of this team now lies in their bottom two seeds and their consistency as a whole. Them barely squeaking out a win against the Big Deck Bandits isn't the most impressive week they've had this season, but we've seen enough of their new roster to believe it has playoff potential just the same as their prior one.

7. Tan Pam's Surf Slam (+5)
The Surf Slam have been surging all season in our rankings, and they've been putting up a lot of points as well. Their only loss this season has come to top ranked AskHS, and they tied our prior #1 team in BBY. We think they can ride this wave of momentum to the playoffs, as they have already faced three of Teal's top teams in AskHS, BBY and The Cult.

8. DadLegend (+6)
DadLegend were able to put up a 20 point week as well as improve their record to 3-2. This week against the Spell Stoners won't be their toughest week yet, but it might be their most important. If they can take points away from a fellow playoff contender, as well as bolster their own chances with a good win over a top team, they'll be most of the way there in terms of their road to making the playoffs.

9. The Cult (+0)
The Cult didn't have the most exciting of weeks (a narrow defeat over Bomb Voyage), but they've been improving week-to-week throughout the season. They've gone from 1-2 to 3-2, and are nearly a playoff team in the extremely competitive Teal Conference. The Cult hass been showing why they were so highly touted in the preseason, and they'll be able to pick up even more wins if their 5 seed and team captain qUAZ is able to turn around his 0-5 start. We believe that having a strong 5 seed is perhaps the most important spot on the entire roster, and a couple wins here towards the tail end of the season will show that he will have potential to beat opposing 5 seeds in the playoffs.

10. Diffuse To Dharma (-8)
Looks like Dharma has come back to bite this team. There's no shame in losing to Tap Last, the new kings of purple, but we were hoping to see more points put up by DTD. Only Davpetm was able to prevail over Diamond, but at least they were able to pick up 9 points total. Luckily for them, they've already faced every single one of the top four teams in Purple Conference, so they have had perhaps the most difficult schedule so far in the entire conference. There's currently an eleven point gap between them and the Mucklings, and if they want to make playoffs they're going to have to go on a run the rest of the season. This week against ATL and next week against the Big Deck Bandits may make or break this season, let's see how they can respond to the pressure of midseason.

11. The Fearless Hearth (-4)
The Hearth had a solid showing against AskHS, being able to pick up more points than most have against the squad. We may have overranked them a bit last week, but they are still solidly within the playoff picture in the Teal Conference. They also have a pivotal match this week, going up against The Cult, who they are only two points behind so far this season. If they're able to snag a win, they'll be guaranteed to pass The Cult and likely into our top five Teal conference teams. There's still a long way to go, but the Hearth's tough remaining schedule will make it more challenging for them than most to put up points and secure a playoff berth.

12. ATL (+1)
Some may be surprised to see ATL this high on our rankings. After all, they dropped a week to Spell Stoners this last week and are only sixth in purple conference's standings. However, they have been putting up a solid amount of points against top teams like Tap Last (21 in fact!), the Ugly Mucklings and now the Spell Stoners. They are another t

13. Xplosive Sheep (-7)
The Sheep suffered an explosive loss this past week, losing against previously winless (and 20th ranked) B12. This is a major setback in their road to the playoffs, as teams such as Tap Last have put up in excess of 20 points against B12. They also have yet to win a week since they rocketed out of the gates 10-0. Luckily, they still started 10-0, so they're only two measly points out of the playoffs for purple conference. They're now entering the most difficult gauntlet of their schedule, facing off against Ugly Mucklings, Tap Last and Diffuse to Dharma in successive weeks. If they can come out of this stretch with at least two wins, they'll be in a fantastic spot to compete for playoffs.

14. Big Deck Bandits (+2)
The Bandits have jumped a couple spots with their tight loss to the Ugly Mucklings this last week. They're in a similar situation to a team like ATL, but have had some setbacks that other teams haven't. Their marquee achievement so far this season is definitely their win over the Spell Stoners, but they don't yet have a lot else to show off from a resume perspective. Taking down Tap Last this week would be the statement they need to become a true playoff contender, but even putting up double digits would go a long way. Unfortunately, one of Purple's myriad of strong teams has to be further down the list, and this week that happens to be the Bandits.

15. Booty Bay Boners (+0)

16. Hero Power Rangers (+0)

17. 65,340,285 Boars (+0)

18. B12 (+2)

19. Bomb Voyage (+0)

20. Team Black Lotus (-2)