Player Power Rankings - Hero, Week 4

Welcome to the first Player Power Rankings of both 2021 and the new THL season!  Longtime readers may recall that this used to be released via article back in the day and then switched to VOD form via HearthCenter.  With the content restructure we are back to good ol' print rankings.  

For those who are new to the column and our rankings in general I will offer a few standard caveats:

- We only start ranking once a series hits week 4.  Prior to that point, everyone is just essentially tied near the top and ranking becomes more subjective than objective.  Future articles will feature multiple series but since Hero is the only series to complete 4 weeks to this point, this will be a Hero exclusive article today.
- The rankings are not meant to demean any player in THL.  Rather, we are trying to celebrate those who are playing well.  Please do not take anything in this article as a slight or insult.  
- The official THL ranking formula takes multiple factors into account.  Match record, game record, significant wins over strong opponents and DQs.  DQs hurt a lot.  Don't get DQs.  They are not cash money.  You will see me referring to PAR which stands for "Points Above Replacement".  This is a play on a baseball sabremetric named WAR or "Wins Above Replacement".  In baseball a WAR of 0 is intended to denote that the average player could produce at the exact level that you do.  Thus a player that has a smaller contract and puts out equal (or greater) WAR would be considered a better value.  PAR was designed to help normalize performance across seeds.

Alright!  Before we start ranking, just a few stats:

There are currently 80 active players in Hero
The median PAR across all players is currently 2
The average PAR across all players is currently 3.2
There are zero DQs across all players in Hero (awesome!)

Honorable Mentions:
Each week we will shout out the 5 players who are closest to breaking into the top 10.  We won't go in depth but just know that these are players to watch.

Jimphilos 3-1 (10-5) 11 PAR
urmumked 3-1 (10-5) 11 PAR
RonMexico 3-1 (11-7) 10 PAR
BrushyTuna 3-1 (11-7) 8 PAR
Dusharmo 2-1 (8-4) 8 PAR

10. Heatshock 3-1 (11-6) 11 PAR

We start with a player who is quite familiar with the PPR.  Not only is Heatshock off to a...well Heatshock-like start in Hero, he is currently the top Crossover Player through the opening weeks of THL 2021.  He currently has an aggregate PAR of 25 across all 3 standard series (he does not play in Wild, at least not yet).  Oddly enough, Hero is the only series in which he currently has a loss.  Would not be (heat)shocked to see him on other PPR lists as the season progresses.

7 (tie). HockeyBoyz3 3-0 (9-3) 12 PAR
7 (tie). Duwin 3-0 (9-3) 12 PAR
7 (tie). Charip 3-0 (9-3) 12 PAR

A three way tie among identically statted players all jockeying for early position in the top 10.  Each player only averaging one game loss per week in the early-goings.  Also somewhat interestingly, all three of these players reside in the 3 seed.  Since Hockey and Duwin are in the same conference, only one record can hold.  Charip is the only undefeated 3 seed remaining in the Purple conference.

5 (tie). MrPython 3-0 (9-2) 13 PAR
5 (tie). DoctorBOMD 3-0 (9-2) 13 PAR

Another early tie among teammates with the same records in Hero series.  Both of these players are Crossover eligible with MrPython at an aggregate 15 PAR and DoctorBOMD at 14 PAR.  With how well they are doing in Hero, it seems to suggest we have a pair of players who feel most at home in Last Hero Standing this meta.  DoctorBOMD draws a huge matchup against the aforementioned HockeyBoyz3 this week making this one of the best series to watch across all of Hero in week 5.

4. Rizen 3-1 (11-3) 14 PAR

The highest ranked player on this list who has a loss.  Rizen has been dominant with 3 straight sweeps and 5 game series loss in the opening week of the season to Anfal.  He's doing work in what has been widely regarded as one of the more competitive conferences in THL.  Not to spoil anything, but we may see why in just a few more players here.
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3. mattyebs 4-0 (12-6) 14 PAR

Another member of MurderConferenceDeluxe aka Orange and the only undefeated player on a buzzsaw of a team in ATL.  Matty's rampage victims are only spared by the virtue of ATL having a bye this upcoming week.  

2. SKItLLeZ 4-0 (12-5) 15 PAR

Much like top 10 compatriot Heatshock, SKItLLeZ has been showing his stuff across all series INCLUDING Wild.  Currently ranked 3rd on the Crossover player leaderboard and tied for 1st in aggregate PAR with 26.  He's been a consistent strong performer over the last few seasons but this one could be his breakout into the THL elite.

1. Turtle 3-0 (9-1) 18 PAR

Hey look, it's Orange conference again.  Players have been lucky to take a game off Turtle, let alone a series considering that has only happened exactly once in the first 4 weeks and not since MartyB did it in week 1.  It remains to be seen if Turtle's Tonky boys can catch ATL but he's one of the few so far to put any dent in their thick armor.

Top 10 Breakdown:
2 Purple, 5 Teal, 3 Orange
Three (1) Seeds
One (2) Seed
Four (3) Seeds
One (4) Seed
One (5) Seed

See you all next week!

-Donde
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