Five teams open the season with a perfect 4–0 record, and as such have taken four of the five spots in my first rendition of ESEA Premier Power Rankings. Keep in mind that the first maps of the season were Nuke and Dust 2 (not exactly meta-defining), and subsequently results thus far in the season should be taken with a grain of salt. As well, if any information below is false please correct me as I’m only human.

Rankings

eUnited — abE, DAVEY, resolut1on, mitch, Mainline

eUnited is already looking like one of the favourites to win out the season. New acquisition and seasoned veteran David “DAVEY” Stafford making a huge impact for his team and is also leading Premier in ADR currently. Reuniting with Abraham “abE” Fasli has paid dividends already as the team looks incredibly strong. Mitch and Mainline are two players who’ve shown their prowess in the Amateur scene before, but Resolut1on is the one raising eyebrows with four 1vX clutches in his first four games.

Top 5 ADR (Premiere)

2. Muffin Lightning — aKis, ichibaNNN, sancz, SileNt*, Professor_Chaos

Muffin Lightning are also performing well, but this was to be expected. Other teams in the division can’t and won’t be able to contest the wealth of knowledge and experience between Sancz, SileNt and Professor_Chaos. This roster will pose a threat to any team it faces moving forward in the season.

*Edit: this was written prior to RUSH signing SileNt. Muffin Lightning are taking a huge loss with this move, and unfortunately will need to find an adequate replacement quickly in order to maintain their position in Premier.

3. Denial eSports — anger, FEjtZ, fLokiii, maxie, XP3

Denial eSports has had questions flying surrounding their foreign talent acquisitions in the offseason. Max “maxie” Lönnström was signed on the advice of veteran player Alexander “SKYTTEN” Carlsson, and the fit couldn’t be better. Maxie has already showcased his raw skill, top-fragging in three of the four victories his team posted thus far.

4. Bees Money Crew — WARDELL, neptune, seb, bee, CoNnOrRr93

Bees Money Crew have been stealing LAN and tournament wins for ages now, and it’s no surprise that in their first Premier season that they’ve hit the ground running. Of course, their schedule hasn’t been as harsh as it could have been, but they’re certainly looking consistent enough to upset even the best teams in the division.

5. Ronin — cheK, Dallas-, emode, makka, REOVA

I’ve chosen to give the final spot to Ronin in lieu of Eclipse Lunar. Ronin faced a tougher schedule and fought hard to pull out two overtime wins on Nuke against formidable opponents. Once again it’s new talent stealing the show, as Mert “REOVA” Bayrak managed to drop 73 frags in his first two matches in Premier. Ronin have the depth and ability to compete with the best teams, whereas Eclipse Lunar will need to prove that later on in the season.

Three Players to Watch

1. DAVEY (eUnited)

2. REOVA (Ronin)

3. Maxie (Denial)

All three of these players have shown that they are incredibly valuable to their teams. Having players that can single-handedly take over a game are extremely important in this level of play, and each of these players have shown that they are consistent and skilled enough to do so.