Written by: Cal "Deathanchor" Gruhlke
(ESEAnews) - With week six comes your regular top four teams, followed by the bottom six who appear to be playing the typical musical chairs routine they go through each week. Shuffling about as they will, we had a few matches end up being closer than I expected which I do take into account. It's easy to say a loss is a loss, but I value a good 4-5 loss against a superior team.
This week teams will be playing on the new map this season, cp_stadin_b5. I'd like to add just a little about the map itself. It plays somewhat like a cross between a 3 point capture map and a king of the hill map. There are three control points, and the first team to capture all three wins the round. However unlike a standard CP map, multiple points are open for capture at the same time. It plays fast and aggressive, and I don't expect matches to last that long. I first saw this map when I was a guest caster for the My Gaming Edge Cup, and the general opinion of it seemed to be, "meh".
ESEA TF2 SEASON 10 OPEN POWER RANKINGS - WEEK 6
TEAM
RANK
COMMENTS
? Move us to intermediate
East
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
1.
Snakewater week helped Sagan secure their rank this article, having won both of their matches 5 to 0. One of their biggest advantages I saw was how ctrlfmuffin played mid. During the mid fights, ctrlfmuffin would be sure to get his stickies onto annoying places that did a good job of crowd controlling Bestest during the fights. That had some difficulty pushing the last point in some situations, but that is to be expected with a map like snakewater. Their best round was by far the 4th, which ended in a matter of three minutes. In their match against Submit a Ticket, they won even faster. Well, the match itself took longer, but I felt like Bestest put up a better fight against this powerhouse of a team.
This week Sagan will play against Animals with Guns and Slay Mode. Against Animals they won't have much difficulty. Animals did turn out to be stronger during snakewater week than i expected, but they are nowhere near Sagan's level of play. That being said, I do feel Slay Mode stands a slight chance. I feel like standin's layout is going favor Sagan more than Slay because of its mult-point format. Usually on standard 5-cp maps Slay can push through the linear rooms with their strong combo. Standin has many doors and tunnels that interconnect, making a combo-based team like Slay Mode less effective. Sagan's scouts will likely have a blast with all the flanks that will open up from all those passages. I predict Sagan will win it 5-1.
? 22d
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
2.
Alongside Sagan, Muffin also had a successful snakewater week. I really hope they don't mind me still calling them Muffin, but I feel like that is the better/actual name when you compare it to Murder Death Homicide. My gut tells me they aren't changing it anytime soon. Anyway, they won both of their matches as well. This included wins over Bestest and the Immortal 6. Immortal got a quick 2-0 lead, but had a lot of trouble defeating Muffin's defense on last during the second round. Muffin was able to hold off three pushes before losing the round. I think phife was a big part of what helping get Muffin get back into the game during the second half. During the 1st half he sat back more, but during the 2nd I saw him really make an effort to stay up on roof at mid to deny jumpers. This in combination with stronger last-point pushes was what made the difference in the match. Against Bestest they succeeded as well having stronger last-point pushes, and in general not messing around with off classes as much.
On standin they will play 36 Chambers and SYOPS. Now even though 36 Chambers has been doing quite well recently, Muffin is simply out of their league. Their dm skills are not going to be strong enough to take down a top 5 team on this very dm-focused map. Similarly SYOPS will face this problem also. Muffin will be able to 5-0 or 5-1 both of these teams unless they absolutely don't practice standin.
? Australians
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
3.
So over the past couple of matches 22d has really been shuffling around their lineup, mainly with emperor, bl4nk, and pt-. All of which have sat out of at least one match over the past 2 weeks. Bl4nk even left the roster for a short period of time, having rejoined the day later. I tried getting the scoop on who to expect for standin week, but at this point I don't think even 22d know who they plan on fielding. Regardless, I think having Bl4nk in addition to Tragic on the same lineup is pretty cheesy. So yeah maybe they aren't the BEST ex-invite players, but still having two players with that kind of experience is going to greatly help an Open team. In conjunction I feel both pt- and emperor are more than capable of playing a starting position. So they only ended up playing one match this week, the other was a forfeit win over eVengeance. In their 5-1 over Animals, 22d captured the first two rounds with blazing fast speed. After that Animals started playing a little more cautious, which actually helped them draw out the match longer and start to get back into the game.
I would have to guess standin isn't a favorite of 22d's. Its hectic koth-style capture points are likely to favor their opponents Immortal 6 and Slay Mode. In fact, I'm going to go ahead a predict an upset this week. What Immortal 6 lacks in coordination they make up for in raw fraging ability. I do think the match will be close, so I'm going to guess and Immortal 6 win, 5-4. Slay Mode is going to come close, but I think 22nd should be able to come through.
? WELOVEANIME
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
4.
Besides winning both of their matches par usual, Slay Mode also had the closet match of week against Work in Progress, which unfortunately contributed to Work disbanding. You would think after such a close match with a top team like Slay, they would want to try to stick it out? Now Slay's match against Animals went quite well. Animals had a dominating first mid fight which put Slay on last right away. Animals almost capped it during their first push attempt, but Tiger managed to defended it alone and finish off the remaining two attackers. Zen also had a nice backcap on last to win the 2nd round. Now the first half was a lot of back and forth, and ended with Slay just one round ahead 3-2. But it was all downhill from there as Slay started to win mid fights more often and finished the match out strong.
For standin as I mentioned before, I think Slay will have some trouble being a more combo-based team. Their scouts aren't nearly strong enough to fend off the likes of emperor and blank from 22d, or scones/topshot from Sagan. Now mummy is the stronger of Slay's two scouts, but knowing him he will instead try to play sniper for much of the match. I'm hoping he doesn't, because standin really needs to be played with two scouts. Teams will need both scouts in order to maximize their capturing ability that is ever so important on standin. Not to mention, I really don't see many great opportunities to snipe on it. I would not be surprised to see a record of 9-3 after this week for Slay.
? Immortal 6
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
5.
Regaining their original spot at fifth is Immortal 6. Now even though they lost to Muffin, I have to admit winning three rounds off them is pretty impressive. One of i6's greatest strengths in this match was their mid fights. Despite losing overall, they actually won more midfights than Muffin did. I think one the primary reasons the lost was how they went about some of their pushes. I saw many a time i6 lead their pushes with their scouts running in first. In my opinion pushes should be lead by either the combo or the roamer, not the scouts. Because many times when the rest of the i6 got into the fight, their scouts were already lit or dead. I know i6's scouts are one of their strongest aspects, but that shouldn't justify having them lead a push. I mean, unless you are having them forward cap a 2nd point after a wipe. That's a different story.
Now I think standin is going to end up being one of i6's strongest maps. Not only does it favor their dm-heavy play style, but it also favors their scout carry. This is why I predicted a chance for i6 to upset 22nd in their writeup. Their other opponents this week will be Bestest. Bestest is right around i6's level, but once they get thrown into the world of standin, they are going to have a tough time fighting i6. I predict a 5-3 victory for i6.
? The Teenage Cucumbers
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
6.
This was the hardest week for Bestest to date, and it doesn't get much harder than having to play Muffin and Sagan back to back in the same week. Any Open team would be looking at a -2 to their record after having a week like that. Despite losing 0-5 to Sagan, I was some good things from Bestest. Ignoring the rounds that were won in 2 minutes, Bestest for the most part put up a good defense. This was especially true for the last round which lasted at least a good ten minutes before Sagan was able to capture last. During one point in the last round, Bestest managed to fend off a push onto last and turned that into a capture on 2nd and even mid. I think the biggest issue I saw with Bestest in both their Sagan and Muffin match was their ability to chase down kills. More often than not I saw them choose to stay and capture a mid or 2nd point with their combo instead of pressuring the weakened enemy and chasing down some kills. The rounds they did win off of Muffin actually had some good aggression by their scouts.
Standin should be a decent map for Bestest, although not the Best (see what I did there?) . I think their scouts are strong enough to make use of the flanks, and their team overall is not weak in the dm department at all. They somehow got scheduled to play Treason this week...don't ask me why. Treason is by no means a pushover when it comes to Open, but honestly I see them having very little chance against a top team like Bestest. Especially now that Treason lost one of their main soldiers. As I mentioned earlier, I don't think Bestest will do so hot against i6.
? slippin with slipz
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
7.
Holding out steady at seventh is Koreabros. They won both of their matches this week against Treason and Princeton Plainsboro. The 5-0 victory over Treason was actually seemed a lot closer than the score would suggest. Treason was almost neck and neck in terms of fragging ability. I think the members of Koreabros really had the advantage in the coordination department (for once in their lives) in addition to simply being a more experienced team. Their pushes were better timed, and they actually knew how to play the last point. Leaves me wondering how many Open teams ACTUALLY know how to play snakewater last. Oh wow, then there was Koreabros vs. Plainsboro. Now these are the typical snakewater matches I remembered from Season9. I think last season there were seven matches that had time run out, while this season there were only three including this one. Maybe more ADD ridden kids this season. I for one have no patience. Well despite hitting the time limit, the match itself was not particularly close. Koreabros had a commanding 4-2 lead and it seemed liked to me they were trying to run the clock down rather than risk an unsuccessful push and lose a round or two. They played great defense, and only got aggressive when they had a clear advantage.
Standin should actually be a decent map for Koreabros. Their raw individual talents will likely prove to make this map easier for them. Unfortunately their opponents this week are not going to be as nearly as easy Plainsboro was for them. They will have to play the up and coming Anime is Cartoons (formerly Goku) followed by the always decent Submit a Ticket. These are both hard to predict, but if I had to choose I would go with Anime winning theirs, but Koreabros being able to beat Submit. I think Anime is stronger given they just picked up Frio, and practice a lot more than Submit. And on a new map like standin, practices could be the difference.
? Animals with Guns
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
8.
Well it looks like Animals with Guns wasn't quite as weak as I predicted them to be. However I think it is clear they are no longer at the strength they once were. Now granted Zen didn't perform terribly, but I think reemix still would be a much better choice to run for both of the matches. Clorg didn't do fantastic either. On the bright side I actually thought Aristotle did really well and helped Animals quite a bit. I noticed he was the last to ready up after both halftimes, so maybe he is also the one making the tactical decisions for them. I always remembered him as a knowledgeable player, so I would not be surprised. Animals had one really nice push against 22d that ended up winning them their one round. They had their combo actually move from 2nd through window room to get to last while the rest of their team moved in through the regular ramp. This combined with the fact that 22d was down a player really helped this two-pronged attack work. I can't believe think got into window room as medic, mad jumping skills.
For standin they will play against Sagan follow by SYOPS. The Sagan match should be a no brainier in Sagan's favor. While the SYOPS match could potentially be one of the closest matches of the weak. If you asked me who would win SYOPS vs. aWG about two weeks ago, I would have said 5-0 Animals, no sweat. But now that SYOPS have really established themselves in my rankings, I'm not so sure anymore. I think I will decide later in the SYOPS's writeup.
? IM Illuminati
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
9.
Both of SYOPS's matches really surprised me this week. I mean it shocked me they would lose 0-5 to i6, but to top it off, I would have never guessed they would roll Work in Progress 5-0. In the first round SYOPS completely blitzed Work, and won the round in under three minutes. Work was really out of the match until the 3rd round where they managed to hold off three pushes before eventually losing last. I noticed a lot of teams used a heavy or engineer on defense last, but SYOPS actually used a heavy for offense on last. They plopped him right in front of the point with uber, and it ended up really helping tear down Work. The fifth and final round was painfully long as not only did Work defend last for an absurd amount of time, they also managed to push out to 2nd twice. SYOPS match against i6...not so pretty. SYOPS struggled at mid and never backed off right away in order to have a chance at defending 2nd. Instead they lost too many players and were forced to hold last most often than not.
Their standin week looks to be fairly challenging. First they will face Muffin, who will probably end this match with a 5-0 result. Then they will play Animals with Guns. Now I think SYOPS will have a good chance at this match. SYOPS have a strong combo, which unfortunately not help them a ton on standin's domination style format. However I think their scout pair as a whole will be stronger than Animal's and untimely give them that edge they need in this match. 5-4 SYOPS.
? Watch The Throne
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
10.
I knew I would see Slanted Eyebrows again in my rankings, I just didn't think it would have to be because my former #10 team died. In fact Work in Progress actually died in the middle of this writeup. Maybe this disband was their "work in progress". So I picked Slanted Eyebrows mainly because of their wins over fairly competent teams on snakewater. I was tempted to choose Starburst because of their clutch win over Anime is Cartoons, but I didn't feel I'd seen enough of them to really justify a ranking spot. Slanted's best performance would have to be their 5-3 victory over Submit a Ticket. Weegee, their pocket soldier, did an impressive job leading his team's pushes and overall did better than I expected based on the last matches I had watched of Slanted. I think I actually dozed off during their match vs. Treason...mainly because it was 4am. Don't ask.
Another great reason Slanted is got into the rankings is because of their upcoming matches. I have confidence that they will take both of their standin matches. Well, one is against a dead team...but I do think they will have a good match and win over Garbage Plus. Slanted's scouts are both stronger than anything Garbage has, athough Garbage does have a demoman that is likely to rival the likes of mustardoverlord. Soldiers I have to give the advantage to Slanted, same for medic. I predict a 5-3 victory in Slanted's favor. Hrm, maybe I should call them Eyebows, Slanted sounds....wrong.
Honorable Mentions/Teams to Watch: 36 Chambers, Anime is Cartoons, Starburst
Deathanchor's random thoughts: RIP Work in Progress.
I have started taking notes while watching matches, I had three solid notebook pages of em for Snakewater week. I am taking this too seriously.
Originally published on ESEA on 12/12/2011, 6:51 PM by Deathanchor.
Archived from ESEA TF2 S10 Open Power Rankings - Week 6 as part of tf2esports.com's preservation of ESEA's TF2 coverage. All rights remain with the original author and ESEA; reposted for historical reference.