1. New York Excelsior (+2)

And so we find ourselves with Saebyeolbe and the gang at the top of the rankings following their 3–2 win over the Seoul Dynasty, completely in line with the red thread of the Korean “underdog” story we were presented with when Pine stepped up at the start of the season, and put the spotlight on the perhaps undersold New York team. They did however also lose narrowly to the Philadelphia Fusion earlier in week 3, but the lack of preparation was obvious, and the defensive approach of fielding Janus as their main tank rather than utilizing Mano’s aggressiveness to limit ShaDowBurn and Carpe’s space fell flat. A rare mistake, or under-evaluation.

You can twist this narrative either way you’d like, but I prefer moving forward from week 3 with the notion that when it comes down to it, New York Excelsior will be a heavy — if not now, the heaviest hitter.

2. Seoul Dynasty (-1)

After their loss to the ever rising New York Excelsior in week 3, Seoul Dynasty are no longer the ones occupying the throne. It’s been clear thus far this season that coach alwaysoov and the rest of the coaching staff has several aces up their sleeves in terms of diversifying their playstyle, but after their loss to New York, it’s worth questioning if the aces mentioned are nothing more than simply jacks. Saebyeolbe pushed back against Munchkin and Bunny’s Tracer play, and Kuki was not able to facilitate Fleta’s on-going campaign for best player in the league. Still, I don’t see a reason to sell Seoul short looking at their recent performances, it’s up to them to prove their worth this upcoming week with matches versus the Houston Outlaws, and the London Spitfires.

3. London Spitfire (-1)

4. Los Angeles Valiant

5. Houston Outlaws

The form runs strong in the Houston camp, carrying on their 4–0 streaks and now maintaining a 16–0 map score streak. That being said, it has been four straight games against arguably the worst teams in the league.

Shanghai Dragons, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem and Los Angeles Gladiators, all teams you’re expected to beat at this point if you want to maintain a mid-table spot, and the rampage will continue tomorrow against the San Francisco Shock.

It is up to TaiRong’s men to prove themselves versus the Seoul Dynasty on Friday the 2nd, and the London Spitfires the week after. Otherwise they’ve only been nothing but consistent in their performances against the bottom teams.

6. Philadelphia Fusion (+1)

The Philadelphia Fusion are carrying on with ShaDowBurn and Carpe leading the way. Featuring an impressive win against the the New York Excelsior, the squad is now ranked 6th in my power rankings, just slightly above other rather inconsistent performers. It’s clear the the lack of dominating, consistent, match results unlike the Houston Outlaws, stems from the notoriously high amount of resources that are fed into the DPS players, but you can’t help but mention that neptuNo, Poko and Fragi and Boombox are doing one hell of a good job doing their part.

7. Boston Uprising (+1)

Placing the Boston Uprising at just 7th after upsetting the London Spitfires, I can’t help but feel that President of Gaming, HuK would not be happy with me. A team not to be taken lightly, but the inconsistencies are still there, and I have a feeling that London Spitfire just picked the wrong opponent to experiment with Hooreg’s Pharah play, despite perhaps a strategic play to force DreamKazper onto the hitscan role, rather than his projectile preferences. Not too shabby though I would argue, there’s definitely more potential here than we initially anticipated during the preseason. Let’s see if the grind pays off further or if it takes it’s toll on the hard-working Bostonians!

8. Los Angeles Gladiators (+1)

9. Dallas Fuel (-3)

I think no one is happy to see the recent under-performances from Dallas team who came into the Overwatch League with an outstanding legacy in their EnVyUs’ past, but the technical analysis out-weighs the fundamentals at this point, and my perspective on the Dallas Fuel unfortunately remains “bearish” moving forwards. Their passive, slow-style, favoring the Orisa more than anything remains out-dated in my opinion, and would only suit itself against teams like the over-eager, match-making inspired dives of the San Francisco Shock, and arguably the Los Angeles Gladiators with Hydration unsheathing the purple blade.

Going into their match-up against the Boston Uprising I predicted Boston’s patient play and ultimate management to be the difference-maker, and while it wasn’t clean, the series proved Dallas Fuel has partially lost their magic to close out the narrow games with a win. With HarryHook returning for the next week of games following a time of sickness, one can only hope for the Dallas Fuel to show some kind of life or strategic diversification against the Philadelphia Fusion, or their inevitable defeat against the New York Excelsior later on in the week won’t be any prettier.

Custa went on to defend his team sticking to the anti-dive composition on his stream, but if you actually take a look at the few seconds following the viral Twitch clip on the VOD itself he acknowledges that it’s perhaps not the preferred way of playing — but they have their private reasons.

Despite the fact that I disagree with the general consensus that Cocco’s Winston or Mickie’s D.Va isn’t good enough to generate more space for the designated carry in Effect, thus seemingly disagreeing with the coaching staff in question, one can’t help to wonder what gives.

I would have liked to dive deep and perform an autopsy on the team which prevailed against the Koreans alongside Rogue back in 2016, and being the western flag-bearers throughout most of 2017, but at this time I’d rather refrain from making any sweeping statements or judgments as I feel that there’s more to the downfall of Dallas Fuel than meets the eye.

10. Florida Mayhem

11. San Francisco Shock

Last week I received criticism regarding ranking the San Francisco Shock 11th, below the ever jolly-spirited Florida Mayhem in my power rankings, and I suppose that in itself was the catalyst for this blog post.

Thus far, the San Francisco squad has yet to shock the world ironically, and their only scalps are of the Shanghai Dragons and grinding out a 3–2 win versus the Boston Uprising. They also poached maps of the ambitious Philadelphia Fusion and London Spitfires, yet I can’t help but feel that the only times San Francisco has looked like they’ve performed on par with the rest of the teams in the league is when their opponents play right into their hands, allowing sleepy and dhaK to roam freely in the back-line, pocketing a wildly streaky player in BabyBay.

At the very least when it comes to the Florida Mayhem, there is some method to the madness. The way TviQ flanks on the Widowmaker on their assault point set-ups, how they’ve consistently challenged top teams on Dorado, taking maps from the Los Angeles Valiant and the London Spitfire, and narrowly dropping it to the Seoul Dynasty with 5 seconds remaining.

You can call me out for supposedly being biased in my analysis of the European squad— however preposterous I find it given our history. But I’ve found myself to at least acknowledge the strategic and tactical efforts put in, despite my lack of faith in the core of the team itself.

Let it be known the 10th spot is heavily contested, and I don’t really consider there to be any kind of gap between the two teams. A San Francisco Shock win on Friday between the two bottom teams in question would be unsurprising given how evenly matched they are, but until said win is secured, I’ll leave my rankings as is, for now.

12. Shanghai Dragons