(ESEAnews) - The two opening weeks of S12 are finally coming to a close. Gullywash was an especially long journey for many TF2 players in open, as 14 of our teams had to play a third gullywash match before week 1 started. That combined with the amount of practice teams put into the opening map of the season have players itching to start playing viaduct week for a change of pace. Gullywash week mostly consisted of lopsided matches among the upper open teams. We saw a few interesting results though, and some of the teams I expected to do well right out of the gate are looking at 0-2 or 1-1 records. Gullywash week also had its fair share of cleint and game issues. With TF2's massive MvM update, many players experienced HUD problems and unexpected crashes during their ESEA matches. I wouldn't say these crashes led to any obvious upsets, but a handful of potentially close matches were noticeably disrupted or flat out ruined.
Competitive TF2 Memes Anyone?
Only two gullywash matches are getting rolled over into viaduct week with all the reschedules going on. So those should be out of the way shortly. As for viaduct, I'm seeing a few potential big matches out of it from some of the top teams I will be talking about this week. Please keep in mind that this is the very first week of power rankings, and the teams mentioned and their position is still very tentative. This is especially the case in open, as we have many teams and players joining ESEA for their first season that might slip under the radar until match results start coming in. Enjoy this week's article.
TF2 OPEN WEEK 1 POWER RANKINGS
TEAM
RANK
COMMENTS
? Community Clown College
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
1.
Our very first power ranking leader is going to be none other than Community Clown College. This powerhouse of a team blew through their gullywash matches without much of a struggle. They defeated Old School Ballahs dropping only a single round to them. Next they defeated Shock Reloaded with a 5-0 result. I think one of C.C.C's biggest strength is the depth of their lineup. All of the players on C.C.C belong at the upper open level, and they aren't simply relying on one or two of their players to carry them through the season. Sure one of their players might happen to go big in a particular match or two, but all of their players are capable of doing so.
On viaduct C.C.C are looking at one easier opponent, and one that could potentially rustle some jimmies. Their first viaduct match with Gank and the Meisters should be an easy win for C.C.C. The Meisters had a tough opening week against some upper open teams. Despite being a rookie team, Meisters actually put up a good fight against both Power Rangers and Moebius Strippers. The scores were not pretty, but were able to come close damage and frag wise. Against C.C.C though, I think Meisters will have an even harder time trying to keep up. I heard that C.C.C plans on using their backup pocket for this match, but don't think it should impact the outcome of this match. Going to predict a 4-0 result. C.C.C's harder match is going to be against Ass Pounders, which I will detail in their section further on in the rankings.
? normalcool
East
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
2.
Normalcool is well deserving of a high spot this week having been one of the teams with three scheduled matches and winning all of them. Normalcool started the week off with with 5-0 wins against both Sassybuns and Goodbye20USD. Both matches were not particularly close, and Normalcool was able to win each in under 20 minutes. The challenge for them came during their third match against Cosmic Brownie Swag. Cosmic Brownie was able to take two rounds off of Normalcool before losing the match. Normalcool had a lot of help from Nspire on soldier that match. I was surprised to see him do so well on soldier considering he was playing scout in IM just last season.
Their upcoming matches don't look like will cause Normalcool too many problems. Their first viaduct match will be against Will Smith Fan Club, while their second will be against Classical Mixtape. Neither of those teams are looking like top open material at this point, and would be surprised to see Normalcool lose more than a round or two against either of them. If I had to guess, I'd say Fan Club will be the harder of the two opponents. I still feel that Normalcool will have an easy viaduct week, and think they will shortly be looking at a 5-0 record.
? Dragonball Jav
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
3.
Moebius Strippers are a strong open contender without a doubt. With IM experienced players like Mythikal and Jav on their team, Moebius is in a good position to do well this season. They started things off on the right foot with wins over Salamancer Must Die (5-0) and Gank and the Meisters (5-1). Meisters were actually able to give Moebius a big of a challenge and were almost neck and neck frag wise. Mangachu proved to quite an effective roamer that match, and I have to say I'm liking his roamer performance better than his medic work I remember from previous seasons. Timeless is another player on Moebius who I think has shown a lot of improvement from last season, and think that playing as a pocket now will turn out to be a good decision for him.
Moebius is going to be a strong viaduct team. Viaduct is certainly a scout friendly map, and both rastsy and Jav should be able to clean up a lot frags on it. Both of their viaduct opponents don't look like that big of a threat and I think that Moebius should be able to win both of them. Their first viaduct match will be against Brb Gotta Move My Mouse, who are looking like a solid mid-open contender. Mouse won't be able to do a whole lot against a top team like Moebius, but will still have a shot at getting a round. Moebius is also playing Classical Mixtape. Mixtape has some mentionable players like OtakuScott and Afro, but still look closer to low/mid open. I would have to go with a 4-0 Moebius win over them as a prediction.
? Monstarss
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
4.
Next up we have eGO. I would say eGO's main strength comes their heavy classes. Both Madoff and Wilsonn do well on soldier, while Joe is looking like one of the better demos in open this season. eGO's scouts and medic aren't pushovers by any means, but I feel as if their soldiers and demo are a big part of what has helped eGO launch themselves into the upper teams of open from having come out of S11 with a mediocre 8-8 record. eGO's first match went by quickly with a 5-0 win over The Awfuls. In their second Gully match eGO tackled Pwr Rangers, a much stronger opponent, and still came out of it 5-0.
Viaduct is going to be an easy week for eGO as well. Both of their scheduled matches are against lower open teams that I would be surprised to see take any rounds off of a team like eGO. Although the heavy dm map of viaduct creates some opportunities for upsets, calling one here on eGO would be out of the question. Neither Property of Mona nor Feces and Friends are in a position to win here against eGO. I think that eGO will be able to win both of their viaduct matches 4-0.
? There Will Be Justice
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
5.
I'm actually a little stumped about Brackets. I recognize both spadez and maniac as being top open material, but am not familiar with the rest of their lineup. Half of the team including Ques, novice, and Sunny came from the S11 team Spray and Pray who finished with a not very exciting 8-8 record. Their game has well improved with the help of Maniac and spadez and are now looking like a solid top ten team. Maniac is continuing his success on scout after an impressive run on the team Runaway5 last season. Spadez on the other hand had dropped down from IM to try his luck at a new class. I have seen spadez run demo a few times in casual pugs, and think he will be able to perform at a decent level on it here in open. Brackets won every one of their gullywash matches which happened to all be against solid teams. Ass Pounders, Treason, and 1-888-843-4564 all came up short against Brackets. Their match against Treason was the closest of the three with a score of 4-3. However client issues and crashes plagued the match heavily, and I think the score shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Brackets will continue their streak of playing formidable opponents with their first viaduct match against Nor Cal Cuties. While I did not include Nor Cal Cuties in this week's top ten, I see them potentially working their way into the rankings in the future. I'm actually thinking that Cuties have a small chance at actually taking this match. Cuties contain almost all of the players from the S11 team Grown Ass Men including ensomniac, haruki, heephop, lambert, and london calling. Brackets looks to be potentially stronger on scouts, but I think the rest of the players on Cuties look to be about even with Brackets. I'm going to call a 4-3 Brackets victory.
? Koala 6
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
6.
Ah, I was looking forward to writing about this team. Latinos are the daring Argentinian team, who despite unfavorable ping rates, decided to try their hand at a season of ESEA open. Not being the most educated on foreign players or leagues, I was not familiar with any of the players on their roster, and was curious to find out what kind of game Latinos was going to bring to ESEA open. They started things off with a 5-1 win against Ass Pounders showing off some impressive scout play. It was clear to me that nemo and javoO on scout were the biggest play-makers on Latinos, while their combo and roamer didn't impress me as much. Todosenuso seemed liked a decent demoman, but in comparison to the scouts was still lacking. I'm curious as to whether scouts in South America usually dominate the scoreboard, or if this team just happens to have such an unbalanced lineup. Latinos had their second match against Geoff Plus with a 5-4 victory. This match was very...bad to say the least. Crashes were frequent, and the match result may not be the skill indicator for these teams.
Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing them play throughout the season. On viaduct they will have to play Big Fun followed by Gank and the Meisters. Big Fun appears to dead....so that's one match in the bag. Meisters on the other hand could give Latinos a good match. While Meisters don't have a great record as of now, I think they are a solid mid-open team that have a shot at getting some rounds off of Latinos if they can shut down their scouts. Viaduct overall should be a great map for Latinos thanks to its scout friendly layout, and I'm going to say they will beat Meisters 4-1.
? The Preservation Project
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
7.
Disposable Heroes had little trouble with their three gullywash matches. They started things off with a quick 5-0 victory over Wu-Tang Financial followed by forfeit win over Big Fun. Their third match against Sassybuns wasn't very exciting either, as Heroes were able to win it 5-0 as well without any hiccups. One player I think I might have overlooked on Disposable Heroes is Hypnotoad. He has played a good three seasons of open before, and his damage output on soldier looks to be impressive so far sometimes overtaking that of his demo's. Disposable Heroes as a whole might not be able to take down the likes of Moebius or Normalcool, but I think they are a solid enough team to occupy a lower spot in the top ten this week.
Heroes may meet their match coming into their first viaduct match. While not quite a top open team, 1-888-843-4564 has some skilled players like Magus and Guan who should give Heroes a run for their money. As their first higher ranked opponent, I think 1-888-843-4564 should be a good test as to whether or not I'm overestimating Heroes, or if they really do belong among the top of open. Heroes second match will be against...wait Heroes don't have a second viaduct match on their schedule. Let's all blame Killing.
? GEOFF_PLUS
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
8.
Well, here is where my rankings get a bit iffy. Having lost both of their gullywash matches, I think a lot of players have blown Geoff Plus off as no longer being a potential top team. They had some rough client issues against Latinos and I feel that the match result might have gone the other way had that not been an issue. Geoff Plus then went on to lose to Nor Cal Cuties 5-1. Despite these losses, I think Geoff Plus still has some fire in them and are ready to start up a win streak with their upcoming matches. Duwatna, Geoff's demoman, is still one of if not the strongest demo in open this season. As long as Duwatna hasn't actually gotten worse, Geoff Plus is bound to bounce back into the top of open.
Sassybuns shouldn't be a hard team for Geoff Plus to crack, and wouldn't expect the score to be anything other than 4-0 in Geoff's favor. Sassybuns does have one very strong player by the name of Cole who might be able to prolong the match at the least. After Sassybuns, Geoff is going to have to step their game up to play against 1-888-843-4564. 1-888-843-4564 should have their full lineup by the time this match is played, as Magus's ban will have run out by then, putting them at full force. Geoff Plus should be able to come out ahead if they can get out of their funk. I'm going to go ahead and predict a 4-2 Geoff Plus victory for that match.
? AG Unagi
East
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
9.
I'm confident that Marijuanauts are a strong open team, but it's hard see exactly where in the upper half of open they belong right now. At the start of the season I was thinking they would be as high as top five, but am now backing off a bit and putting them down at nine. I can't gather a lot from their gullywash matches, as both were badly lopsided in their favor. Marijuanauts beat both The Awfuls and Shock Reloaded 5-0. As of right now, I'm most impressed with disengage on soldier. I kinda assumed FFG would have taken that spot as sort of the French Canadian ringleader, but as it turns out FFG is just backing up. Not really the FrenchFrogs2.0 I assumed they would be with Wintersun also just being a backup.
I was hoping Marijuanauts would get the chance to play a stronger team this week on viaduct, but it looks as if I will have to wait till snakewater for that. They will first play the rookie team Looking For, followed by the slightly stronger Beast Mode. Beast Mode is also mostly composed of rookie players, but they did manage to score a decent three rounds off of Sunday Funday in one of their gullywash matches. Marijuanauts should 4-0 Looking For, but might drop a round to Beast Mode. Just to make things a little more interesting, I'll go ahead and throw Beast Mode a round and predict Marijuanauts win it 4-1.
? Grilling in the Game
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
10.
I think a lot of teams could get put at tenth, but I honestly was impressed by Ass Pounders 5-3 win over Nor Cal Cuties. During their first gullywash match against brackets, Pounders played an unfavorable 5v6 and really didn't stand a chance being a man down. In their second match Pounders were able to field six players but got wrecked by Latino's scouts. In their third and final match, Pounders added Sal onto their lineup as scout. With Sal now helping the team out, they were able to 5-3 Nor Cal Cuties with big plays from both Sal and Auburn. Had Pounders had Sal for the Latinos match, they might have stood a better chance.
Going into viaduct week, Pounder's matches look to be split. In one match they will have to play one of the strongest teams in the league, Community Clown College. Then in the other match they will be playing a much lower team, The Awfuls, who aren't looking like a high enough open team to handle Pounders. The match against C.C.C however could be interesting. My initial thought was that C.C.C would 4-0 roll Pounders, but now that Pounders have a scout like Sal on the team, things might be a bit closer. I'm going to predict Community Clown College takes the win, but that Pounders will be able to take a round before the match is over.
JUST OUTSIDE:
Nor Cal Cuties
Ermahgerd
1-888-843-4564
Medic in a Box
Cosmic Brownie Swag
I wrote quite a bit more this article because of gullywash taking up two week on top of it being the first power ranking for the season. I might cut back a few hundreds words in upcoming weeks. Let me know what you think about me throwing a competitive TF2 meme into each power ranking article from now on. I thought the one I made this week was clever.
Originally published on ESEA on 8/22/2012, 3:33 PM by Deathanchor.
Archived from TF2 Open Week 1 Power Rankings 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.