THL Power Rankings: Week 2

5/19/2016

by TeamHearthLeague AP

As I mentioned last season, I believe following week one might be the most difficult time to rank teams as you begin to factor in results but have such little data to go on. You also have to be careful in not letting one series dictate too much. Complicating matters is the fact a lot of teams made changes in the period between when the preseason rankings were finished and now. As such there are a few teams whose rise or fall may seem a little extreme.

One other note on the power rankings: I don't take a team's division or schedule into consideration. If I thought Blue had the five best teams, I would rank them one through five, but obviously they couldn't finish like that. The best way to look at how I come up with these power rankings is to think of a 20 team tournament in THL right now, how would you seed them? Would N.W.A be bottom half because they lost or Team Avatar top half because they won? Maybe, maybe not.

But enough about the process, let's look and see what happened with the start of Season Corruption.

1. Soupreme (previous ranking 4)

Shortly before the season started the final roster for Soupreme was unveiled and what a roster it is. The wildly successful duo of Cheesee10 and DeerJason returned and were joined by none other than Vicious Syndicate's Rayc591, a player with an impressive resume of his own. There is no question this is the strongest one through three we've ever seen in THL, but being that top heavy does leave you less flexibility at the bottom of your roster. The strategy seems to be working out well so far though after putting up eighteen points against the Super Heroes in week one.

2. Team Rank Five (previous ranking 1)

Speaking of top heavy teams, the top three seeds of Team Rank Five (Moxie, Imbolc, MVParker) all came away with wins this week but coming up a little short were JesusC and Iamplanb. There is still a lot of talent and balance to this team but it is a different looking TR5 than the one we're used to.

3. Pure Strategy (previous ranking 9)

Few teams made a bigger statement this past week than that of Pure Strategy who steamrolled past a very respected N.W.A. team. Alexstrasza picked up right where he left off from last season and seems he will fill in the hole left by YuruYuri quite nicely.

4. The Hairy Generals (previous ranking 8)

The reigning champions came out swinging in week one and on the receiving end was Team Golden Wisp. The newcomers ArcaneFu and Vicarious both had a nice debut, sweeping their opponents and helping the Generals secure the win.

5. Xnergy (previous ranking 17)

Taking a tremendous jump in the power rankings this week is Xnergy, though there were was a roster change since the preseason rankings with Aroy replacing TheSacredJew. There also wasn't much known about rookie RedMarsh but a win over SmokedSalmon is a pretty nice introduction. As the only team to win all five of their matches this week I suspect they have gained the attention of much of the league.

6. N.W.A (previous ranking 2)

The highly regarded team of N.W.A didn't start off the season as they hoped as they struggled to find wins against Pure Strategy. One person who was able to find wins was Craeon who continues to make a case as being one of the best four seeds in the league. It was a rough week for N.W.A. but they are still a strong team and it's only one week, no need to hit the panic button just yet.

7. The Dream Team (previous ranking 11)

The only loss this past week for the Dream Team came from their substitute player. Substitution seems to be part of the Dream Team however, as not only used a substitute for week one but will use two for the following week as well. Not having the consistency that other teams have can put you at a disadvantage but it's still early in the season and not a big concern yet.

8. Aeon (previous ranking 3)

Another highly ranked team to fall this week was the new team of Aeon. Only one member, captain Detrucci, has any experience in THL so much of their ranking comes off expectation and potential. It's only one week and that potential is still there but they will need to adapt quickly in such a competitive league or risk falling behind.

9. Gosu Casuals (previous ranking 5)

Last season Team Rank Five started their season off by facing the wrath of the consensus last ranked team and now it was the Gosu Casuals turn to suffer that same fate at the hands of Team Avatar. It was a surprise to see consistent players like Slimsch, Mykel19XX, and ADKT struggle but TheAnarchist getting a sweep in his first game as a Casual is a silver lining.

10. Noob Central (previous ranking 6)

It was a close series but Noob Central's Orange narrowly lost to division foe in Boom Squad. It's still way too early to begin thinking about things such as playoff races but one does have to wonder if there has been a power shift within the division.

11. Damaged Ones (previous ranking 15) -

There was a lot of hype and excitement surrounding the new team of Aeon but that didn't deter the Damaged Ones who gained the victory over them this past week. When the preseason rankings were published the Damaged Ones had a vacancy at the top seed, but that has since been filled by Bytes who seems to have been a nice find on such a short notice.

12. Boom Squad (previous ranking 16)

Another team to change their one seed between the preseason rankings and now is Boom Squad, who added Pizza to their roster in place of DannyWu. Pizza grabbed a win in his first THL match and along with Dlineman and Asuna's wins was enough to push them past the Noobs.

13. Team Avatar (previous ranking 20) -

Due to many of their players being unknown and their low team PR, Team Avatar was ranked last in the preseason rankings but ignored that as they shocked the league and upset the Gosu Casuals. It's important not to overreact over one series but getting a win over such an established team will raise eyebrows and have people looking to see what comes next from THL's PR underdogs.

14. Entropy (previous ranking 7) -

When the rankings were rolled out there was still a lot up in the air in regards to how Entropy would look for season three. Since then we have seen the originally planned roster has stayed in tact and Delta4one has signed on as the one seed, last seen in season Kappa. It was a rough opening for them taking on Xnergy but we've seen this team bounce back from bad losses before.

15. Archon Storm (previous ranking 12) -

Past MVPs ClarkKent and Hertzdonut, along with n00basaurus, snagged big wins week one in what looked would be a win over Yogg Champs until a forfeit caused the two teams to tie. With the disqualification and some missteps in another match it's still hard to tell exactly what we should expect from Archon Storm.

16. Yogg Champs (previous ranking 10) -

As just mentioned, Yogg Champs was possibly bailed out with a forfeit and avoided taking a loss against Archon Storm. LightW8 playing in her first THL match was the lone win outside of the disqualification.

17. Super Heroes (previous ranking 13) -

The Super Heroes had first crack at slaying Soupreme's three-headed monster but were ultimately unsuccessful. Rookie Crono did pick up his first win and it's not often you'll have to face a team as stacked as Soupreme so I don't think you can tell too much from this loss.

18. Netherstorm (previous ranking 14) -

Although Netherstorm didn't match up well against the top half of Team Rank Five, their four and five seeds in Crovan and Gemini earned nice wins. Like many teams there isn't much difference in PR between some seeds and it will be interesting to see which players settle into the different seeds or if there will be constant movement.

19. Team Golden Wisp (previous ranking 19)

Team Golden Wisp started off their season getting reacquainted with their division pal and defending champion Hairy Generals. Hupnar and Vtiioma claimed victories but as they were only ones to do so the podcast team was unable to seize the win.

20. Danger Zone (previous ranking 17)

New team Danger Zone looked for their first win against the Dream Team but were unsuccessful in doing so. Gideoneko and V.Clique will swap seeds going into week two and we'll have to see if this will help the Danger Zone in their next series.

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