(ESEAnews) - So after a long winter break, I am finally back with your week 1 power rankings for season 13. Now I would have had these rankings out a lot earlier but due to a large number of players taking vacations early and such, many of the open matches I was relying on analyzing got pushed back until after break. Teams such as Big Boys, The Baddies, and Basics Octopus Emporium, were just a few of the top teams I was depending on match results from to finish my writeup. Sadly, some of the viaduct matches have come and gone already with these match delays. But I figured you guys would value my complete analysis of the matches played, over my predictions of upcoming matches.
Medicing on viaduct is not a fun time.
Some of the results from process were a little surprising, but I still saw many of the teams I had my eye on end up performing quite well as a whole. And even though the first few weeks are against random opponents, some high level matchups still ended up happening right off the bat. Just two of these included In Dust We Trust vs. Astronerds and The Baddies vs. Big Boys. Viaduct week also seems to have a lot of top teams squaring off and we should be in store for a handful of 4-3 results. Please keep in mind that these rankings are only after one week of matchplay. This means that there will be LOTS of movement up and down the rankings in the weeks to come including teams entering and leaving the top ten frequently. I will also continue to write the "Just Outside" portion of my rankings, to give you an idea of some names I think have a shot at breaking into the top in the near future. Enjoy.
TF2 OPEN SEASON 13 POWER RANKINGS WEEK 1
TEAM
RANK
COMMENTS
? BIG BOYS
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
1.
Big Boys with some big wins this first week against two teams I thought were more than formidable opponents. First they beat The Baddies 5-3 with an impressive showing from Vile. Vile playing for Big Boys as pocket soldier led the match in both damage and frags. I think Foreign did a good job on medic as well, which is going to give Big Boys quite the combo. Foreign has quite a few seasons of ESEA under his belt, but this is the first time I have seen him come in as medic. In their second match, Big Boys defeated Wu-Tang Financial 5-2. Wu-Tang isn't in my top ten this week, but I could see them giving some of our upper open teams some difficulty in the future.
Now for viaduct Big Boys are getting a little bit of the heat taken off of them. Instead of two difficult matches like they had on process, I'm seeing one easy match, and one that might be just a hair harder for them. The easier match actually has already gone down which was against Radical Rhinos, who are a rookie open team. Big Boys won the match quickly 4-0 keeping the Rhino's players out of the double digit frags. Now their other viaduct match against Social Justice Bloggers could be a little closer. I am guessing they could take a round off of Big Boys before the end of the match and would be surprised to it get much tighter than that.
? LARGE Gamers
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
2.
Rush TF2 ended up playing some pretty low teams their first week on process, so I might have a little difficulty arguing for them up at second. Their first match against SuperLaserRacer was a quick 5-0 that had Reimu on scout taking away the most frags for Rush. Their second match against "Not Going to LAN" was an even more lopsided 5-0. While their opponents might have not had the toughest lineups, the huge score difference should let you know that Rush are not here to play around. If they can wipe the lower teams that hard I'm thinking that they will be able to have solid matches against some of the other upper teams I am talking about this week.
Rush's viaduct matches should be able to give us a sense of whether or not they belong among the upper open teams. Their first scheduled match against Friendship Quilting Club is going to be a tier up from Rush's process opponents. I don't see Quilting Club standing a chance at winning, but I think they do have a shot at taking a round. Now Rush's second opponent is a different story. Here against Reign of Terror, Rush could meet their match against this roster of veterans such as Oafmeal and Virulent. Reign of Terror are also sporting a 2-0 record and are likely to push this match into a close 4-3 result. I am still siding slightly with Rush however seeing as not all of Terror's players have been playing in recent seasons.
? Space Cadets
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
3.
I'm throwing In Dust We Trust up at three mainly thanks to their impressive 5-2 win over astronerds. Astronerds might not be in the rankings this week but I think they are still one of the stronger open teams, and beating them 5-2 is definitely a notable victory. Darkstar did solid work that match on pocket solider for Dust, especially for it being his first ESEA match. They COULD have had a second close match that week, but the Argentinians were unable to field players in time giving Dust the ffw.
They will have some good viaduct matches though, as both of their opponents look to be capable of earning some rounds. Playground Tactics will be their first match, which I am seeing as a 4-2 win for Dust. Viaduct being a very scout friendly map, should give Dust the edge they need with Mumbo and Billuster. Tactic's scout aren't shabby, but their heavy classes are in my opinion their real strength. Then in their second match, Dust will play Trans-Autistic Railroad. I probably overestimated Railroad's strength thinking that they were going to be easily top ten material. I still think they could break into the top ten later on, but here against In Dust I don't see Railroad making off with more than a round. 4-1 Dust.
? baby dick gaming
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
4.
Basic's Octopus Emporium played Trans-Autistic Railroad right out of the blocks and were able to win handily 5-1. I was surprised the score was this lopsided even though Railroad were keeping up with them frag and damage wise. I think that Octopus ended up having the advantage thanks to their roster's depth. Everyone on the team was able to pull their weight and keep up with one another. Railroad might have also done well, but they had conductor on pocket carrying pretty hard with the most frags of the whole match. Octopus also got a ffw over Prove It that week.
Octopus's viaduct matches should be a cake walk for them. First they play Suddenly TF2 followed by Mom's Spaghetti. Both of these teams look to be mostly made up of rookies and am not expecting any surprise upsets from either of them. If I had to pick, I'd say Suddenly TF2 is slightly stronger given that they do have a win already, but they shouldn't score more than a round off of Octopus and am leaning towards none. Going to predict a 4-0 win for Octopus on both matches.
? Hell Xpress
East
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
5.
Coming in at fifth we have Reign of Terror. As I previously mentioned in Rush TF2's writeup, these guys stick out as having quite an assortment of veteran players. Strangely enough, four of their players haven't been in ESEA since season 6 and as far back as season 3. This include former invite player Zambino. Along with these old players is Virulent and Oafmeal, who in contrast have kept up with ESEA for quite some time now. One interesting note is that Virulent is not playing his main class of medic. Virulent could easily medic for an IM team, but has instead chosen to scout here for Reign of Terror. Terror won both of their process matches with a 5-2 score against Not Going to LAN and 5-0 against Team Skiff.
So their big match this week is going to against Rush TF2. As I mentioned earlier, these teams look to be closely matched in skill. I am much less familiar with the older players on Terror, so I could be overestimating them a bit thinking they were not entirely inactive while not in ESEA. So just to be safe, I'm going with Rush as my prediction 4-3. Terror's second match will be against My Noodle Is Moist, who I have avoided mentioning until now. I still would rather not even bring them to attention until I absolutely have to due to their debatable status, so I'm just going to predict Terror will beat them 4-2 and move on.
? Hanky Panky
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
6.
I didn't look at Hanky Panky in my season preview, and probably should have considering I now realize that while they might not not all have the best win history among their players, they all have played a few seasons and even have Collide and HughLaurie with them bringing a little bit of IM experience to the team. Their first match was a less than exciting 5-0 win over Mom's Spaghetti. What really caught my attention was their recent match against The Baddies. Here they beat a team I consider to be top ten material with a score of 4-1 on viaduct. They juggled their schedule a little, so that's why they ended up playing a viaduct match before their second process game.
So Hanky Panky will play their second process match against Wu-Tang Financial. I'd rate Wu-Tang as a higher open team, but not quite up to Hanky Panky's level. If they play anything like they did against The Baddies, Wu-Tang should go down without too many problems. Predicting Hanky Panky will win 5-2. Now for their second viaduct match they will play SuperLaserRacer. I'm guessing this will be an even easier one for Hanky Panky, and don't think that SuperLaserRacer will come anywhere close to winning this one. Going with a score of 5-0 Hanky Panky. Going to cover their prediction against Rep in the team writeup directly below.
? rep
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
7.
Yay, the Argentinians changed there really strange name to an incredibly simple one. I guess I am putting Rep down a little lower than I was planning on, but shouldn't take their loss as meaning much since it was a forfeit. So yeah, they ended up forfeiting to In Dust We Trust which would have been a hell of a match I think. Especially seeing as process is such a great map for scouts with all of its flanks, the Argentinians would have gone huge on it. Rep went on to steamroll their second process opponent Mom's Spaghetti 5-0. Both scouts outpointed their medic and generally dominated the match.
Looking forward, Rep will have to play Team Skiff followed by Hanky Panky. Team Skiff should present no real threat to Rep and am guessing that Rep will finish the match 4-0 without even blinking. Now their second match against Hanky Panky is going to be what I think is likely to be the match of the week. Reign of Terror vs. Rush TF2 is a pretty big match, but I have a better feeling about this match being close. I am leaning towards Rep just an inch thanks to their resent improvements. Rep's heavy classes have without a doubt improved over the last two seasons, and while their is still an obvious gap behind their scouts I think it has closed enough to allow Rep to start winning some of the top open matchups. 4-3 Rep.
? The Wallet
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
8.
Now here comes I team I have been wanting to talk about. Zaboomacrew didn't stick out to me as a team to look out for in the preseason, so I was presently surprised to see them take a win off of the well experienced team Tonights Entertainment. Featuring an all rookie lineup except for their one scout misque. They won the match 5 to 1, and all of their players seemed to perform at a solid upper open level. In their second match they beat Lost Peripherals Gaming 5-0. They match was decently close for a being a 5-0 result, but Shlaner came away with some big numbers as their pocket and was well ahead of everyone else in the match frag-wise. Will have to see if he carries again.
Now if Zaboomacrew are as good as I am making them out to be this week, they should have little issues dealing with Point n Click and Pre-Game Callers in their viaduct matches. I would say that Pre-Game Callers is going to be the easier of the two for them and am going with a 4-0 prediction for Zaboomacrew. Point n Click does have some experienced players, so they will be a good test for Zaboomacrew as to whether or not their victory over Tonights Entertainment was as impressive as I am making it out to be and that they belong in the top ten. Predicting Zaboomacrew take that one 4-2.
? LAZER BRYANS
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
9.
Lazer Bryans are up next having taken both of their process matches fairly quick. The beat Radical Rhinos first 5-0 allowing them to let off only a single uber before the end of the match. Their other match was against Thigh Unity which ended 5-1. This match was a bit closer with Thigh Unity putting some decent damage and frags on the board along with their one round. I wouldn't say Lazer Bryans have any obvious carries from what I have seen so far, although I know Swedes is a particularly strong pocket and would not be surprised to see him stand out in future matches.
One of Lazer Bryan's viaduct matches looks interesting. Their first one against NyQuil PM shouldn't be anything special, and am expecting Bryans to take it 4-0. Now their other match against Tonight's Entertainment should be quite a close result. Now Tonight's Entertainment did have a bit of a trip up against Zaboomacrew, but am still weighing them in as at least "Just Outside" the top ten. I'm actually going to go with Tonight's Entertainment for this one. I know they were having some roster issues over the break but I think they have straitened them out since and are ready to move themselves into the top ten rankings. 4-3 Tonight's Entertainment.
? deadground tactics
Central
0-0-0 (.000)
Streak N/A
10.
Playground Tactics don't seem to pack quite the same punch as their season 12 lineup did. While they most certainly seem like a top ten team for now, they did not dominate their process matches quite as hard as I thought they would. They did win both of them, but I was surprised to see them drop two rounds to Kawaii Raptors in their first match. Kawaii Raptors aren't by any means a bad team, but I wouldn't place them anywhere higher than mid-open. So props to them for doing as well as they did. Tactics second match went a little more according to plan with a 5-0 win over Just the Tip.
I really want to move Tactics up higher in the rankings in the weeks to come, but it might not be as soon as next article. I say this because of thier first viaduct match against In Dust We Trust. As I said in Dust's writeup, I am predicting Dust to win 4-2. Dust for sure has the advantage in the scout department, and even though Tactics might actually have a stronger combo and demo I don't see that being enough for them to win the whole four rounds off Dust. Their other viaduct match however shoudl be no problem for Tactics which will be against Gone Till Friday. 4-1 Tactics for that one.
OTHERS TO WATCH:
Tonight's Entertainment
The Crunchy Bunch
Trans-Autistic Railroad
Astronerds
Not Bad For Offclassing
Back on track with rankings next week!
Originally published on ESEA on 1/10/2013, 5:15 PM by Deathanchor.
Archived from TF2 Open Season 13 Power Rankings Week 1 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.