power rankings week 4 (Lost City of Un'goro)

introduction

WE’RE SO BACK, BABY! As a reminder, we use internal data calculated into a formula called PAR to create these rankings. PAR calculates data such as win/loss, game win rates, and strength of schedule. If you would like to read more about how this is calculated, read the blog that Marty wrote explaining how it all works! Each week we will be updating you on how these players and teams shift throughout their respective series, as well as highlighting individuals and their journeys.

​legacy

As Mako stated, we are SO back! It’s week 4 and we have 12 undefeated players, 4 undefeated teams, and one of them is in tenth in power rankings (???). I will dive into all of this and more in my short paragraph (I have now finished writing, it is not short and it is not 1 paragraph, sorry!). First off are the teams, with a couple stories I want to highlight. Of course, there is an impressive podium of teams with BILL BILL BILL in first, ET C’Thun in second, and The Justining in third. They all stand at perfect 3-0 records and sit on top of their conference! A special shout out to BILL BILL BILL, as I believe this is the strongest early season performance I can remember from a free agent team. They have the most points in the league and already hold a comfortable 16 point lead in their conference. The Justining, on the other hand, barely headed their conference with a 1 point lead. Who is close behind? The Food Chain Ate Our Team Name (TFCAOTN for the rest of this season because I do NOT want to type all that again), of course, with the final perfect 3-0 record! Why are they at the very bottom of this list, then? There’s a couple reasons, with the first being the low scores from their opponents so far. An average opponent score of 29.3 compared to the crew of Justins’ score of 36.3 leads to significant differences in PAR scores early on. Also, 2 of TFCAOTN’s wins come from a subbed player, meaning that they don’t contribute to the team’s total PAR score. I’m sure we will quickly see them move into a podium spot if they continue to win every week, though! The other significant story here is the plethora of teams in red in this list. 5 out of 6 teams from the red conference, to be more specific, are included here, and they take up slots 3 through 7 on the list. This is because of their success in cross-conference playoff matchups in week 3, in which red teams won 5 out of 6. This not only leads to more wins, but increases the strength of their past opponents as well, so every team in red ends up with a significant boost in PAR. We’ll see if the chunk of red teams can maintain their majority after week 5, when a second round of cross-conference matchups occurs. I’m also interested to watch and see if this cross-conference success can help them pull off the difficult feat of snagging both wild card spots as we approach the playoffs!

As for the players, the race for the coveted MVP spot is nowhere near close to being finished. We have the 9 undefeated players shown on the graphic, including our podium of the iconic Hastur, the legendary Nejiboston, and our underdog hotshot 5 seed of the season, Inkycyanfrog. In addition to these 9 listed, I of course also want to acknowledge fellow 3-0 players Supersen, TwoStarMako, and Nvision who only miss this chart due to sheer PAR misfortune. In addition, not to float my own boat or anything, but there are 5 more players sitting at 2-0 due to subbing out a week. AlwaysJustinTime, Rumham, Samael, EPICat, and Tee3Cat, are all in this position, and could be poised to nab MVP titles if the 12 3-0’s all manage to be felled. I’m excited to watch this race narrow down in the coming weeks. Cheers to everyone who made it to the end of my rant, and good luck getting yourself and your team onto this ranking!
-EPICat

​hero

While Defy Us didn't get the blow out wins some other teams had, They had a very close match with Ashalons Mountain, and Unseen OP that resulted in them being in 3rd place on the Power Rankings with a 1-2 record.
This week SI:7 has the task of playing an undefeated Unseen OP. We will see if they can hold their top position. SI:7 had a dominant first two weeks, only to lose to ET Y’Shaarj week 3. 
Both Ashalon’s and Aristocratic Mountain are holding strong for APM. Aristocratic Mountain suffering their first loss to It/She Sweaters week 3 but are still tied for first in points with Unseen OP
Henry continues to be undefeated giving them the top spot in our rankings, with impactful wins over the likes of RonMexico and Lemur. NotBamity has contributed significant victories for Defy Us, establishing themselves in the talented field of this season’s 1 seeds. Vmprnighthwk has proven to be the most impactful 2 seed in Hero so far, I would not be surprised to see ET Y’Shaarj in the playoffs this season. Honorable mention to PROBIwan for being the only 50 on this list having only lost to Shoebacca, Chair42 for being an absolute beast, and Myself. My first Power Ranking!
-JudoChop​

​pro

Entering week 4 Brushy Tuna sits on top of the power rankings as they have four(!) undefeated players with RonMexico, McBanterFace, sunq being ranked in the top 10 and HeatShock is barely outside ranked at 11th. It is worth noting that despite what the graphic shows, Jagatari and RonMexico are actually tied for 1st. Jagatari leads Hearthstone Queens to number 2 on the team power rankings where they stand undefeated, only tying against F2L, led by No. 5 Dagda in the opposing conference. BrushyTuna aren’t the only team with four undefeated players however. No. 3 ranked Mid Zoom Crisis, the top team in terms of points in the Pink Conference,  hold the dubious honor of having 4 undefeated players in the first 3 seeds, as AlwaysJustinTime has subbed in for them for a couple weeks and contributed greatly for them (and making the Honorable Mention). They are by No. 3 ranked Nice Jewish Owl and No. 7 ranked Inzi. In the Black Conference, F2L lead by No. 5 Dagda and Krogassic Park, lead by No. 8 Pace holds on to at least a 20-point gap over the bottom 3 teams of the conference, making it seem like playoff teams are set in stone for Black Conference. There are many more weeks to be played however, so time will tell if this stays true or not. In the Pink Conference, the bottom 3 teams are within 7 points from Opportunistic Pro Players, who find themselves at the number 5 spot for having the highest quality losses among teams with a losing record, as they lost to both BrushyTuna and Mid Zoom Crisis. We shall see if No. 4 ranked BillSnyder or No. 10 ranked Memnarch can lead No. 7 ranked Unified Pet Tracking and No. 8 ranked Cheese Mongers United respectively to a playoff spot in the upcoming weeks of THL.
​-Trido2

​wild

It's time for the THL Power Rankings for Wild! ET N'Zoth start with a strong lead over the chasing pack with 62 points. They are followed by a densely packed field, with Super Cereal Clowns (47 points), Staff of the Five Dubs (45 points), and 😎 (44 points) all in striking distance. Unfortunately, this leaves Worgen Greasers (34 points) and WTF (25 points) trying to stay relevant but fading. As far as individual performances go, we have three undefeated players at time of writing. MartyB (the comish, rigged), Dory (CN Deck and meta enthusiast) and kleptomaniac (Reno Slop Pile Expert) are all 3-0.

This week, ET N'zoth can continue to put distance between themselves and everyone else by playing Super Cereal Clowns. Dubs can add to Worgen's misery and leave them winless, 😎 is trying to tee up full points vs WTF.

If I had to pick one match to watch this week, it would be Pers (1-2, Super Cereal Clowns) vs UsernameABCD (1-1, ET N'zoth). Both players are talented combo nerds that won't be 100% happy with their current 4th seed births. Pers pushes high legend regularly and Username has been one of our undefeated THL players to watch late in previous seasons. Someone is going to start the comeback, and someone else is gonna be left sobbing 😭.
-Schmoopydady​