Top 4 Power Ranking - Hero Series Week 6

Altenberg is working triple overtime to give you Power Rankings for Hero Series, enjoy!

Are you ready for some more HAWT TAEKS?  The “Top 4” Power Rankings looks at every team in Hero Series and analyzes how well each team is doing relative to their peers, with special attention to average ranking during the season and strength of schedule.  These are teams that may or may not be in the current Top 5 of the standings, but they are teams that have done well so far this season and are poised to either make the playoffs or are on the cusp of it.

Purple Conference
1. Tan Pam’s Surf Slam
With the best record in all of Hero Series at 4-1, the most points in all of Hero Series with 82, and a win against a Top 4 Power Ranked team already under their belts (Mighty Birbs), Tan Pam’s Surf Slam gets the #1 spot. All that said, there are some potential weak spots as all players are under 400 PR, and two of their five players have losing records currently, including a 1-4 start from their #1 seed. Still, they’ve had an excellent start to the season on the whole and are as well positioned as any team for a playoff spot.

2. The Mighty Birbs
The Mighty Birbs have been up and down to start the season beating a pair a top ranked team in AskHS and mid-ranked team in GOOD Samaritans, but also losing to a low-ranked team (Xplosive Sheep). They put up a good fight against Tan Pam’s Surf Slam, but ultimately lost to the #1 team. Their signature win though was against Big Deck Bandits. This is a solid team getting some excellent play from a now 70PR 5-seed who has opened the season 3-2. The team sits 2nd in the standings and owns a 3-2 record, but they’ve spent 4 out of 5 weeks ranked 3rd place or higher.

3. AskHS
Like the Mighty Birbs above them, AskHS has also had an up and down start. They’ve beat some solid mid-ranked teams like Big Deck Bandits and GOOD Samaritans, but also dropped a series to an underrated team, The Cult. With another loss to a power ranked team in the The Mighty Birbs, AskHS is still looking for that signature win, something more impactful than a narrow Week 3 win against the lowest ranked team (Diffuse to Dharma). They sit in 4th place in the standings, but they are 1 point behind 3rd place and have a respectable 3-2 record. If they can start getting some consistent wins out of their 50PR 5-seed, look out.

4. The Cult
In what may come as a surprise, I have The Cult ranked #4. While they sit in 6th place overall in the standings, this is largely due to one uncharacteristically bad week where they put up a stinker against the worst ranked team. But, ignoring week 5’s result, they have notched some important wins against Tan Pam’s Surf Slam, AskHS and Big Deck Bandits, three VERY good teams. They still have a 3-2 record and are only 4 points back from 3rd place. That said, their individual records will need to improve as only one player on the team has a winning record. If they can put last week behind them, look for them to build off of some excellent early season wins.

Honorable Mention - Big Deck Bandits
The Big Deck Bandits currently sit in 3rd place in the standings, which should have been enough to warrant a spot in the Top 4.  But, their overall losing record of 2-3 is a concern, and those two wins came against the two lowest-ranked teams in Diffuse to Dharma and Xplosive Sheep. Still, they’ve had maybe the hardest schedule of any team having to face three out of the four top power ranked teams so far.  And somehow, they are still in 3rd place overall despite that. Their schedule should get easier going forward, so I expect this team might make some noise down the stretch.

Teal Conference
1. We Go Agane
BIASED HAWT TAEK ALERT!!, or is it?  I know I’m on this team and it’s easy to dismiss this ranking as biased, but there’s an objective reason why I’ve got my own team ranked #1, and it all comes down to who they’ve beaten. While We Go Agane currently sits in 4th place in the standings, and have a 4th place record at 3-2, they have two signature wins under their belts knocking off both Tap Last and Ugly Mucklings already this season (the #1 and #2 teams in the standings). They also scored a decisive victory against the lowest ranked team Hero Power Rangers last week. Their two losses were by a single point to B12 and DadLegend; low and mid-ranked teams. If those two losses (basically decided by a single game each) had gone the other way, then we could be talking about We Go Agane as the 1st place team outright, because they are only 4 points back in the standings.  It’s just too difficult to rank either Tap Last or Ugly Mucklings ahead of We Go Agane, because of how close they are in points, and based on the fact that both teams lost to We Go Agane, so they get the top spot.

2. Tap Last
Tap Last is tied for 1st place in the standings and sports a 3-1-1 record. They have solid wins against a mid-ranked team in DadLegend, as well as the top team at the time 65 million Boars (now replaced by Tap First after their team quit). They also pulled off a tie against the #3 ranked team, Advanced Tactical Lackeys. And they also lost to the top power ranked team We Go Agane. Still, they are narrowly holding onto the top spot and should be well positioned for a playoff spot down the stretch, and that is after an impressive showing with a tough opening schedule.

3. Advanced Tactical Lackeys
Like Tap Last and Ugly Mucklings, ATL sports a 3-1-1 record. They sit 1 point back from both in the standings in 3rd place. They’ve had an easy schedule to open the season notching wins against the two lowest ranked teams (B12 and Hero Power Rangers) as well as a good win against a mid-ranked team DadLegend. They lost to the top team at the time, 65 mil Boars (now replaced by Tap First when their team quit) and tied the current 1st place team Tap Last. But their spot in the Power Rankings is not secure based on that easy schedule.

4. Ugly Mucklings
Like Tap Last and Advanced Tactical Lackeys above, Ugly Mucklings also has a 3-1-1 record. However, they happen to be tied for 1st place in the standings, which might make you wonder why they are ranked so low. Well, unlike Tap Last, Ugly Mucklings don’t really have a signature win under their belts.  They have wins against the two lowest ranked teams (B12 and Hero Power Rangers) and beat the replacement team Tap First last week. That’s not a strong resume, and their schedule will only get harder from here. Seeing as how they lost to We Go Agane and tied a mid-ranked team in DadLegend, their hold on the 4th spot in the Power Rankings is shaky at best.  They have had an almost identical schedule to Advanced Tactical Lackeys, except they tied DadLegend instead of beating them, hence they sit one spot below ATL in the rankings.

Honorable Mention – DadLegend
DadLegend currently sits in 5th place in the standings with an even 2-2-1 record. They have literally had the toughest schedule so far as 4 out of their 5 games have been against all of the Top 4 Power Ranked teams.  They put up a valiant effort going 1-2-1 against that bunch, beating the top ranked team We Go Agane and tying the 4th ranked team Ugly Mucklings. They also picked up a win last week against a low-ranked team B12 and find themselves only 9 points out of 3rd place. With a much easier schedule in front of them, they could make some noise on their push to the playoffs.