Opinion

Because everything is being ranked now, including pro wrestling, we have decided to join the fray. Why call it ‘influence rankings’ rather then the more common nomenclature of ‘power rankings’? Let us explain.

First of all, Westeros already has its own power rankings. In order for things to be less confusing, we decided to coin a new term to denote what these rankings are all about.

Second, what we are measuring here is less brute strength and power, which is already reflected in the local and world rankings, but how much an alliance is able to dictate kingdom affairs and then some. Here are our criteria for the influence rankings:

The alliance must be in the world top 100 power rankings.

The alliance occupies King’s Landing in their home kingdom.

The alliance occupies a Great City in another kingdom aside from their home kingdom.

The alliance and/or home kingdom should perform well in major cross-kingdom events (War of the Kingdoms, Alliance Mobilization, Elite Trials, Alliance Conquest).

The alliance’s home kingdom should have relative peace and/or a working government.

Our coverage period is from Sunday to Sunday, Westerosi time. For this week, it covers this month’s War of the Kingdoms and the weekend’s Castle Siege event.

That out of the way, let us begin with our inaugural rankings. In our initial offering, we showcase the top five alliances of each War of the Kingdoms age tier.

K1-K20

1. ECLIPSE (ECL), K8 – K8 is far from hospitable, but give credit where credit is due. ECL, the second largest alliance in Westeros, holds the King’s Landing of the largest kingdom in the entire realm. Add to the fact that K8 is still undefeated at War of the Kingdoms, it is just right that ECLIPSE be given the number one spot of our initial rankings.

2. Unbowed (UBD), K19 – Why is a 40th world-ranked alliance going this high? Let us run down the facts: undefeated at War of the Kingdoms, owns King’s Landing in one of the biggest Ks, and have to manage the needs of larger alliances without neglecting the rest of the populace. All check.

3. RedDevil (ReD), K18 – Someone has got to give. If K18 won, then ReD gets top spot, no questions asked.

4. NovusOrdo (NVO), K12 – This kingdom is so stable, they have managed to acclimatize K6’s largest conglomerate of alliances without much of a hitch. That is already old news. What is new is this: it looks like K12 managed to rein in another world top 100 alliance from an older kingdom.

5. Burning (FoF), K6 – Winning four straight War of the Kingdoms matches is an achievement that can only be credited to three other kingdoms, and that is the primary reason why they are in the top five despite lording over a shrinking realm.

K21-K38

1. RoseIsle (RSI), K38 – Being the only one undefeated at War of the Kingdoms in their age tier, RSI is screaming to the entire world: notice us, senpai.

2. HearMeRoar (HMR), K30 – K30 might only be 2-2 at War of the Kingdoms, but HMR is here because of this: the highest scoring alliance in this month’s kingdom-versus-kingdom event.

3. HouseIronfield (FhL), K21 – A quiet kingdom in more ways than one, K21 is one of those unassuming domains that one would not give a second look, but hey, have you seen their win-loss record at War of the Kingdoms?

4. GloryStark (G1S), K28 – K28 has been meowmeow-less (they do have a castle owner with the name of iKitten, not sure if they are related) for two months now. Despite that, they have managed to surpass their War of the Kingdoms performance back when they were reinforced by a mega-whale. G1S might have relinquished King’s Landing for a while, but they are now back on the driver’ seat.

5. FiercelyUnited (FUN), K34 – Here is the thing. K24 and K37 lost, while K35’s lone world top 100 alliance is not at King’s Landing. This leaves us with FUN. And if you feel there is an alliance more deserving for the fifth spot, go ahead and tell us. We will wait.

K39-K52

1. Facelessmen (FCM), K40 – Won War of the Kingdoms without 0DiN, that is impressive. Their match was such a blowout that to make things fun, FCM was considering holding an inter-domain Castle Siege in the middle of War of the Kingdoms.

2. RiverLands (RLS), K45 – Third tier kingdoms might not be the biggest (see K1-K20) or the most exciting (see K21-K38), but they have formidable alliances that steer their respective ships steady. RLS is one of those guilds.

3. TrustAndHonor (TAH), K43 – This is the tiebreaker. Personally, all is fair in love and war, but in this specific case, the Old Gods passed judgement.

4. TangDynasty (Tan), K52 – Tan is the highest ranking alliance among its similarly-aged peers. That should count for something, right?

5. SonsOfVictory (Sov), K39 – Maybe because they have a 24-kingdom advantage over their contemporaries that is why Sov made it to the rankings. But being the big fish in a small pond is also a strategy. Look at K44.

K53-K62

1. HellfiresFault (IHF), K59 – K59 looked good in the last War of the Kingdoms.

2. hardwood (HHH), K61 – So was K61. But they had one chink in the armor.

3. KINGDOM (K54), K54 – It takes balls to name your alliance after your kingdom. We will leave this at that.

4. ReBelllion (REB), K56 – Hot take: K56 only won because they fought against a kingdom more dysfunctional than theirs. And despite that advantage, they almost lost their War of the Kingdoms match.

5. UnitedNationsKingdom (NK1), K53 – If only K53 won against K45, NK1 would have overtaken REB.

K63-K70

1. ATHENS (JHR), K66 – One word: YMspring. ‘Nuff said.

2. AlwaysBecool (ABc), K65 – Highest ranked alliance in their age tier and won War of the Kingdoms to boot. What is there not to like?

3. KingsOfSparta (K@S), K69 – And this is the part where we scrape the bottom of the barrel.

4. KOREA70 (KAT), K70 – An age tier with only eight kingdoms getting five slots. Because this is how ‘equality’ looks like.

5. INferNo (IFX), K64 – Definitely, we will make adjustments for next time.

Non-age restricted top ten:

ECL, K8

RSI, K38

HMR, K30

JHR, K66

UBD, K19

ReD, K18

NVO, K12

FhL, K21

FCM, K40

RLS, K45

What do you think of this week’s rankings? Share your opinion by commenting below.

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DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece and does not necessarily represent the views of The Raven Express in any way, shape, or form. The views expressed on it are solely responsibility of its author.