1. New York Excelsior

2. London Spitfire (+1)

After a convincing win against the Seoul Dynasty last week, London Spitfire climbs despite them looking like the top 3 team to beat just a few matches ago, dropping a series to the Boston Uprising and Control to the SF Shock.

o

Whether they can remain #2 remains to be seen as they’ll be facing a Houston Outlaws that refuses to slow down and showed impressive strength against the Seoul Dynasty themselves after beating bottom teams for 5 matches prior.

For now however the huge rotations between the KongDoo and GC Busan cores paid off big time for coach Bishop, featuring 11(!) members against Seoul Dynasty alone, which means that coach TaiRong may face troubles preparing match-specific tactics in pursuit of a playoff spot.

3. Seoul Dynasty (-1)

4. Houston Outlaws (+1)

Bittersweet isn’t it? A sick LiNkzr was the difference-maker between the Houston Outlaws being ranked #3 and #4 on this week’s rankings, in a match up versus the Seoul Dynasty where his starplayer capabilities would have arguably made the result swing in America’s favor.

I did not like the narrative of Houston being a top 3 team after only beating bottom teams in the recent games prior, but a 3–2 result against a current top 3 team, narrowly losing out on the last Lijiang Tower round, certainly adds credibility to their recent punching power. Clockwork put on a solid performance in a time of need, but these rankings are based the team as a whole, not the potential of your go-to starting line up.

Perhaps TaiRong and the squad can find a top 3 breakthrough against the London Spitfire this upcoming week heading into stage 2.

5. Boston Uprising (+2)

Can’t stop, won’t stop! Boston headed to sweep city this week as they took down a poor-looking Los Angeles Gladiators squad and a Valiant team with two starting lineup members out sick. The positive results from the grind mentality instilled by president HuK as well as the rest of mid-table Overwatch League teams having experienced some sort of stagnancy or form-dip as of late means the Boston Uprising clinches the #5 spot on my rankings this week.

Striker has gone from solid, non-playmaking, Tracer in the preseason to lethal support-killing machine, and DreamKazper put on one of the most ridiculous performances in Overwatch history against the Los Angeles Valiant. My opinion remains that DreamKazper looked shaky at times in the Pharah vs. Pharah duels against a secondary Pharah player for the LA Valiant in Agilities, but his dragonblades and rocket barrages included multiple contenders for highlights of the entirety of stage 1.

However the 3–2 loss to San Francisco may come back to haunt them next week as their playoff chances are still looking grim given Seoul Dynasty doesn’t trip on the finish line, but with their current momentum, I would not be surprised to see them challenge and take down both the Philadelphia Fusion and Houston Outlaws this week.

6. Los Angeles Valiant (-2)

Missing uNKOE and Silkthread last week in crucial matches took its toll on the Los Angeles Valiant squad. After convincingly sweeping a Philadelphia Fusion that did not look like themselves with Hotba in the mix, they fell completely flat against a Boston team on the rise.

The fact of the matter is the Valiant narrowly managed to come back and reverse sweep a Los Angeles Gladiators team that has looked appaling as of late and delved from top 3 contender to mid-table team in a matter of few matches. The stoic Valiant are currently in power rankings limbo and could both climb or drop further depending on the results next week, even though match ups versus the Seoul Dynasty and Shanghai Dragons may not leave me any wiser going into stage 2.

7. Philadelphia Fusion (-1)

8. Dallas Fuel (+1)

1–7 later, Dallas Fuel climbs a ranking this week (“Wait, what?”).

As Reddit noticed, I for one indulged in seeing the EnVyUs magic shine bright once again after allowing Cocco to play Winston and Mickie on his renowned D.Va, granting Effect and the returning Taimou a bit more space to work with rather than further defensive protection, and I’m a firm believer in the fact that the scorelines last week did not simply do the boys in blue justice.

After inititally being fully held on Eichenwalde against the Philadelphia Fusion, experimenting with Effect’s Doomfist play, they continously fought back the entirety of the remaining series, and they continued to keep things close against the mighty New York Excelsior in a nail-biting series.

The currently biggest weakness forDallas Fuel seem to be on-the-fly adapting, and Cocco and Mickie’s ability to aggressively grab space in a Mercy meta that relies on suiciding Winston’s to find themselves ressurected or (or in rare cases your Gesture’s or Fate’s that push their limits incredibly well), but with Cocco having been on Orisa duty for the past 2 weeks prior and the Mercy meta on its way out. I’m doing it, I’m already proclaiming Dallas Fuel to be back, time to see the team climb the rankings!*

*= Given weird substitutions don’t occur again with xQc and aKm back, that proved to potentially mess with the core synergy within the team early in the season.

9. Los Angeles Gladiators (-1)

10. San Francisco Shock (+1)

11. Florida Mayhem (-1)

San Francisco Shock took over the #10 spot that I gambled on in my earlier power rankings editions with some kind of trust in that Florida could translate their skill on Dorado to any other maps. Rumors has it that after being sweeped 4–0 in a shocking (hah!) performance against the San Francisco Shock, the Florida Mayhem staff put the foot down for real this time.

The struggles this squad is experiencing is now worse than initially anticipated and it’s an entertaining thought to wonder how many maps Shanghai Dragons would be able to snatch if their match was played today.

When Zappis was originally announced as a new signing heading into stage 2 I was met with confusion because Manneten is one of the most consistent and better performers on the squad alongside TviQ, but then I realised an upgrade to the existing core in terms of emotional stability and leadership might be a smart idea in these times of worshipping the original Dallas Fuel, Lunatic-Hai core and London Spitfire just swapping between two different squads to retain team synergy. Then again, we don’t even know what hero he will mantle, because realistically Florida Mayhem were not primarily looking for a new D.Va player… I hope.

TviQ remains one of the most consistent players for Florida Mayhem

But at this point I’m not even sure an upgrade to “the core” (Zebbosai, TviQ, Manneten, CwoosH) is the game-changer. Things seem seriously wrong, with Zebbosai not being able to take on the support role in the current meta and continously lead the team in-game, TviQ going from engage-calling Genji in Contenders to jack of all trades isn’t in a position to shotcall consistently, and CwoosH who has proven to naturally play a decent Winston, but with serious questions regarding his capability to have fundamental understanding behind the role to improve further, especially in a potential Reinhardt/Zarya meta around the corner.

“Communication” is such a lame excuse when we’ve surpassed the 1-year anniversary of putting the all Swedish Misfits squad together, and reflecting on it I almost find it hilarious at some point, because the issues the Florida Mayhem are now facing are the exact same ones we experienced when I got kicked last summer, and there’s essentially been no progress since then, with just a few players dipping in form.

Photo Credit to FOMOS and kenzi 🇰🇷. https://twitter.com/kenzi131

In hindsight I wish I could have made a few things different durings my time in Misfits, just like Stewie2K in the CS:GO Major final against FaZe was 1 kill away from a life-changing 5K in a deciding round (even more mental had they lost), those “what ifs” keep torturing you and never seem to leave your mind alone. Communication was one of those “what-ifs”.

Before Zebbosai was moved back onto the main support role, and TviQ was still flanking around on a Tracer, I was tired of underperformances and declared myself the new main shotcaller with Mineral our ultimate manager, and I honestly think (excuse the arrogance) I was a great shotcaller at the time. The underlying issue being that on stage I unconciously shifted my focus away from shotcalling to being more focused on my gameplay (call it “choking” if you will), and had I realised at the time I could have improved that specifically, and increase our LAN performances overall drastically.

The pre-fight dive preparation wasn’t communicated, and we looked lost. Comparing it to the World Cup 2017 team in Sydney, the differences were astounding with TviQ back on the Genji which I loved diving alongside with, and Zebbosai on his famous Lucio, but again we found ourselves with that meta long gone, with no improvements in sight. The current performances of Florida Mayhem are eerily reminiscent of the Misfits I was part of over half a year ago.

If simply just buying out the Runaway or X6-Gaming squad is not an option, the list of additions necessary at this point is long if Florida is seriously considering to challenge the current mid-table teams. Indulging myself to take on a theoretical general manager role, I would first and foremost look for a stable and flexible main tank with shotcalling capabilities, a new mechanically gifted hitscan player to compete with Logix with him not being able live up to expectations on stage, and a more stable support player to organize the backline alongside a Zuppeh that simply put does his job well consistently. Many of these new additions are to establish a new, consistent, core themselves that can then be subbed in and out sporadically for match-specific strategies, and also I think we’ve surpassed the “friendship is #1” territory.

Wishful thinking for a bigger roster? (pick any)

MT: ChrisTFer/Fearless*, **

Flex: Manneten/Zappis*

DPS #1: TviQ*

DPS #2: Sayaplayer/Kragie

Main supp: Gambler(!)*

Flex supp: Zuppeh/Lucid/BeBe

Coach: BlossoM’s experiened coaching staff with Spawn and Agape.

Analyst: Mineral (Mineral is a very good, detailed, analyst from my time in Misfits with him)

*= Core player. Rarely rotated to maintain team synergy and structure. **=People seem really keen on FCTFCTN, and while I recognize his skills, I know for sure ChrisTFer would take on a necessary leadersship role and has the perspective necessary to “wrestle” with TviQ’s ego and achieve in-game perfection.

12. Shanghai Dragons