It’s Monday, which means it’s time for another set of Team Beyond HCS Power Rankings. After four more teams qualified for the Pro League at Burbank last weekend, most of the teams chose to take this week relatively lightly. Regardless, we do have a new set of power rankings for you so let’s get right into it.

First, let’s take a look at how last week’s top 8 ranked teams performed. As you can tell right off the back, a lot of teams took a Halo vacation with their Pro League spot guaranteed, while other teams who have yet to qualify (OpTic Gaming and Team Liquid) tried their best to get in as much practice as possible.

Next, let’s take a look at how each of the four power rankers ranked the top eight teams, and how those ranks aggregated up to determine the final rankings for this week:

#1 Counter-Logic Gaming | SnakeBite, Royal 2, Frosty, Lethul

Trending: — | Record: 5-0-0 (56-8)

Even when you are the best at something, it doesn’t mean you can’t get better. During a time when the other Pro League qualified teams have decided to take on a lighter schedule, CLG has maintained their practice regimen and are progressively making this upcoming season of HCS a fight for 2nd place amongst the remaining teams. In fact, you could combine the games played this week by Enigma 6, Renegades, Allegiance, and EnVyUs and they would only have a single game more played (65) than CLG did (64).

#2 Evil Geniuses | Snipedown, Roy, Lunchbox, Suspector

Trending: ▲2 | Record: 2-1-0 (16-18)

Fans of EG were disappointed last when the team was only able to log three scrimmages throughout the week, so it might come as somewhat of a disappointment that the team matched last week’s output. In their three scrimmages this week, the team was able to take down the newly formed eLevate (7-2) and Team Liquid (8-5), while dropping a scrimmage expectedly to CLG (1-11). All in all, some practice is definitely better than no practice, but we’re hoping to see more from EG in the coming weeks.

#3 (TIE) Renegades | Ninja, Commonly, Victory X, Penguin

Trending: ▼1 | Record: 1-1-0 (14-12)

Renegades drops from their share of the #2 rank last week to a share of #3. For the second time in two weeks, Renegades dropped a scrimmage to the new and improved eLevate (6-7). Their only other series this week was against Team Liquid, who they beat 8-5. Overall, it seems like Renegades has taken their foot off the gas for the time being like many of the other qualified teams, but this week would have been the perfect time for a team like Renegades to get ahead of the curve.

#3 (TIE) Enigma6 | Huke, bubu dubu, Cratos, Shooter

Trending: — | Record: 2-0-0 (16-10)

Sharing the #3 spot this week with Renegades is Enigma6. Despite only having played in two scrimmages this week, Enigma6 made the most of it by defeating nV (7-6) as well as OpTic (9-4). Regardless, it is a little disappointing to see any team go from playing 86 games one week prior and 67 games two weeks prior to just 26 games played this week, and we’re interested to see if Enigma6 and the rest of the top tier teams choose to amp up their practice schedules in the following week.

#5 Team Allegiance | Contra, PreDevonator, Ryanoob, Goofy

Trending: — | Record: 0-0-0 (0-0)

There isn’t really much to say about a team that logs zero games during a power ranking period. Despite their complete lack of practice as a team this week, the power rankers appear to remain somewhat optimistic of the team’s potential and have given them the benefit of the doubt and the #5 rank this week.

#6 Team EnVyUs | Mikwen, Pistola, eL Town, Rayne

Trending: ▲1 | Record: 0-1-0 (6-7)

Like Enigma6, Team EnVyUs saw a huge decline in their practice regimen going from having played in 76 games the week prior and 73 games two weeks prior to just 13 games this week in a single scrimmage against Enigma 6. Granted, nV did take 6 of those 13 games against the #2 ranked team. Team EnVyUs’s climbing up a spot in the power rankings is probably more reflective of the recent troubles of OpTic Gaming and Team Liquid, so take it with a healthy dose of caution.

#7 eLevate | Heinz, Randa, Swift Kill, Danoxide

Trending: NEW | Record: 1-2-0 (13-22)

After eLevate failed to qualify for the Burbank LAN with Hysteria and Aries on the team, Heinz and Randa decided to join forces with Swift Kill and Danoxide and have been opening eyes since. They’ve taken two scrimmages against Renegades in as many weeks (7-6 both times), and even played CLG relatively close in another (4-9). eLevate spent all of Saturday qualifying for the Last Chance Qualifier this upcoming weekend, where they will be competing against the likes of OpTic Gaming and Team Liquid for the final two spots of the Pro League.

#8 OpTic Gaming | Maniac, Ace, Naded, Str8 Sick

Trending: ▼2 | Record: 2-2-0 (17-22)

Nothing was the same after the Burbank LAN qualifier, where OpTic Gaming sputtered and failed to qualify for the Pro League. In the past week they’ve been able to split their four scrimmages, but their two wins have been against Team Liquid who currently are unranked and are trying to get their new fourth Assault acclimated. OpTic Gaming will need to take care of business during the Last Chance Qualifier, otherwise they will be sitting with views from the outside looking in when it comes to the pro league.

That wraps it up for this week’s power rankings. This weekend’s event is the Last Chance Qualifier, so make sure to tune in to Twitch.tv/Halo to find out which two teams will grab the final two spots in the HCS Pro League. Sixteen teams will compete for those final two spots, including OpTic Gaming, Team Liquid, eLevate, and many more.

If you would like to discuss our power rankings, make sure to head over to our forums!

Photos courtesy of David “Sandman” Doran and Lalo “Muggsy” Torres. Make sure to give David and Lalo a follow on Twitter!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the power rankings based on?

The Team Beyond Power Rankings are intended to reflect how the power rankers believe the top eight teams in the world would stack up against each other in a LAN environment, given every team’s performance in the past week in scrimmages, online tournaments, and LAN events.

Why do you include online scrimmage results in your data?

We believe that any available metric that allows the power rankers to evaluate a team’s recent performance is useful. However, the power rankers do put much more weight on LAN event and online tournament results, with obviously the former being the most heavily weighted and the latter being the second most.

Why do the power rankings only use the most recent week of data?

The power rankings being weekly allows us to strike a balance that allows them to be persistent and intriguing as opposed to overabundant and meaningless. However, it is important to note that although the power rankings are weekly, the power rankers are encouraged to give the higher ranked teams the benefit of the doubt after a relatively bad week and to err on the side of caution when a lower ranked or unranked team has an outstanding week. Generally speaking, it would take a very convincing performance at a LAN event (either good or bad) for a team rise or drop in the rankings a significant amount.

Why did you guys give ________ the #__ spot?

Sometimes the power rankings can yield somewhat surprising results. Often you will find vast differences in opinion amongst the power rankers, and variance can lead to a lower aggregate score compared to a team that receives a consistent ranking around the middle. Also, the nature of power rankings can be rather subjective despite their dependence on raw data. Different people can interpret the same data very differently, which can lead to a lot of variance.