THL Power Rankings Week 6

There has been a lot of change within Hearthstone with the new expansion and introduction of Standard but some things have stayed the same.  Zoo and Aggro Shaman are still good decks, and Priest is still Priest.  Similarly we see some things have stayed the same in THL; Team Rank Five, the Hairy Generals, and Soupreme are still pretty good.  Along with that we see some teams repeating the same pattern they traced just last season.  If you're a fan of new things and change, don't worry though, there's plenty of that too.  
  
1. Team Rank Five (=) - After a two week absence Moxie returned to THL and what a return it was, sweeping DeerJason on Salty Saturday and giving Team Rank Five an early start in their series against Soupreme.  Also winning this week was TheTownDrunk, his first win of the season coming at an important time for TR5.  With this win there is little doubt as to who the current top team is and not only are they the only remaining undefeated team, they also have a healthy lead within their division.  

2. Xnergy (+4) - I expected the Xnergy and Dream Team series to be a great one, sure to be close as both teams seemed to match up evenly at each seed, but that wasn't the case as Xnergy took every match and won by seventeen.  Xnergy now leads all teams in terms of points and is the only team where every player has a winning record.  That balance as a team will be put to test next week when they take on a N.W.A team looking to bounce back from a recent loss.

3. The Hairy Generals (+2) - After talking about the Orange and Green division leaders, now we look at the team leading the Blue Division--the Hairy Generals.  The Generals had no problem dealing with Boom Squad in week five and move to 4-1 on the season.  It's a different team than the one which won the championship last season but it seems the Hairy Generals are still a contender and a team not to be overlooked.

4. Soupreme (-2) - Everyone is aware of how strong Soupreme's top three seeds are but Team Rank Five was able to keep even with them in points and then win at the lower seeds.  It is the concern over the lower seeds which puts Soupreme at four on the rankings this week.  In THL each seed counts for the same amount of points and sacrificing one part of your roster can be risky because it means the other part is not allowed to stumble.  Of course you don't expect Soupreme to stumble at 1-3 very often and they can win 4-5, but it is a weakness teams will look to exploit.

5. N.W.A. (-2) - N.W.A. was on a bit of a winning streak but that ended this past week losing to the Gosu Casuals by a single point.  Craeon received a win through disqualification and is now one of a handful players still remaining at 5-0 .  Even with the loss they are able to keep their position as first in the Red division but Archon Storm is right on their heels.  In what is the series of the week, N.W.A. will battle it out with Xnergy in week six.

6. Team Avatar (-2) - Team Avatar came into week five as the only 4-0 team in THL but left it 4-1 after Archon Storm handed them their first loss of the season.  With this loss and the explosive week Xnergy had, Team Avatar is now second in the Green division but enjoy a comfortable lead over the third place team.  Gnetz suffered his first loss of the season but is 4-1, along with his teammates PumbaasBFF and Leumer.  The season has been a little tougher for Odeffen who was disqualified this past week.

7. Archon Storm (+2) - Speaking of Archon Storm, the win over the previously undefeated Team Avatar has them just two points behind N.W.A for first in the Red division.  Similar to Team Avatar, Archon Storm also has three players who are all 4-1: Viridae, ClarkKent, and n00basaurus.  Next up for Viridae's squad is a divisional opponent in the Dream Team.

8. Dream Team (-1) - The Dream Team is probably focused on that upcoming matchup with Archon Storm so they can forget this past week where they only managed to collect three points against Xnergy.  This was a tough loss and certainly hurt them in terms of the playoffs where every point matters but sometimes a team can just have a bad week.  As of now this seems to just be an anomaly and with four weeks left they have to hope this doesn't cost them too much.

9. Noob Central (-1) - Another team with an uncharacteristic bad loss in week five was Noob Central, losing by ten points to Netherstorm.  The only win in the series came from Nade who is now 5-0 and continues to cement his role as the two seed for the Noobs.  Nade and his teammates will need to regroup quickly with Team Rank Five next on the schedule but with that series is an opportunity to make some headway in the Orange Division.

10. Super Heroes (+1) - Last season Archon Storm was the team we couldn't figure out as one week they'd win easily, another week they would lose easily, and every week you weren't sure if all their matches were going be played.  It seems the Super Heroes have assumed that role this season and are a bit of an enigma.  After two big losses and two big wins they had two disqualifications in week five but were still able to tie Aeon as their remaining three players all won their matches.  Not only is this team hard to figure out but so is where to rank them, maybe that will become easier over the next few weeks.

11. The Gosu Casuals (+3) - Season proliferation was one in which the Gosu Casuals started out slow but as the season wore on they began to gain momentum and ended up with a division title.  It seems history is repeating itself as the Casuals have now won their last two games after dropping their first three.  The most recent win was a big one over N.W.A. which ended their three game win streak.  astei688 picked up a key win as a substitute this week and the other two wins came from Slimsch and TheAnarchist, the bookends for the Gosu Casuals which have been a big part of their success.

12. Netherstorm (+1) - While Soupreme and the Hairy Generals get most of the attention in the Blue division there is a team quietly going about their business and is only two points from Soupreme and four points off from the Hairy Generals.  That team is of course Netherstorm and a big part of their advancement within the division was pulling in seventeen points this past week against Noob Central.  Next for Twizz's team is the up and down Super Heroes.

13. Yogg Champs (-3) - Danger Zone presented Yogg Champs a chance to help themselves in the Red division after a close loss to N.W.A. the week before, but they were unable to win and slid further down in the division.  One positive has been Lordforehead who just won his fourth game in a row and will square off with another 4-1 player in Leumer when the Yogg Champs play against Team Avatar next week.    

14. Damaged Ones (+2) - I said the Damaged Ones needed to be careful or risk falling behind in the Orange division and they are no longer behind after a nice victory against Team Golden Wisp the same week that both Noob Central and the Super Heroes stumbled a little.  Now second in their division they have a tough task ahead of them with Soupreme on the schedule for week six.

15. Team Golden Wisp (-3) - The podcast team came up a little short against the Damaged Ones and will hope to do better next week against Boom Squad.  There has been a lot of change on Team Golden Wisp with not only new members coming in during the season but their top three seeds are so close in PR that there has been a lot of shuffling in their positions from week to week.  Will this change continue or will the roster settle down before the season ends?

16. Danger Zone (+1) - Danger Zone found their first win last week and found their second win this week against the Yogg Champs.  b0rck and Gideoneko both earned their first wins on the season and they came at a good time as those matches helped secure the win for their team.  After a rough start Danger Zone will look to keep turning things around next week against Entropy, another team who has started to do the same.

17. Pure Strategy (-2) - I mentioned that history seemed to be repeating itself when looking at the Gosu Casuals and it seems the same may be true of Pure Strategy, a team which starts off strong but begins to fade towards the end of the season.  Hoping to end a three game losing streak Pure Strategy went up against the winless Entropy in week five and have now lost their last four games.  If there is any hope for a turnaround it will have to start next week against the Gosu Casuals.

18. Entropy (+2) - Taking advantage of Pure Strategy's slide, Entropy obtained their first win of the season in week five.  Part of the reason for that win was Delta4one and Xaether both getting their own first wins this past week.  If Entropy wants their second win next week it will have to come against Danger Zone, who is also playing better now than they were when the season started.

19. Boom Squad (-1) - Putting together a nice season for himself is Pizza, the only member of Boom Squad to win against the Hairy Generals in week five.  Outside of Pizza things have been tough for Boom Squad whose only win came during week one.  They can stop their current losing streak if they are able to beat Team Golden Wisp next week.

20. Aeon (-1) - Aeon was able to tie the Super Heroes this past week but that's a little misleading since Aeon was the beneficiary of not one but two forfeits.  The last team still searching for a win, Aeon will need an upset to achieve it next week playing against their division leader in the Hairy Generals.