The Halo World Championships have concluded and Counter-Logic Gaming stands at the top of the mountain as the undisputed #1 team in the world. However, the question remains on how the other teams stack up against each other. Several teams did not meet at all during this past weekend while others got entangled in a rock-paper-scissors circle of who beat who. Enter this week’s power rankings, which aim to provide some clarity and insight on how the HWC field stacks up against each other. First, let’s take a look at how the teams at Halo World Championships performed against each other this week:

Although online scrimmage records are included in this week’s performance records, it should be noted that each team’s performance at the Halo World Championships was obviously given infinitely more weight, and in some cases was the only consideration for power ranking performances. With this in mind, this is how each of the power rankers ranked the top eight teams following the Halo World Championship:

Halo World Championship Power Rankings – Week of March 14th through March 20th

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

It is without a doubt now that Lethul’s decision to leave Evil Geniuses a couple of months ago for CLG was the right decision. The team didn’t drop a single series during the Halo World Championship, and managed to only drop a total of three games the entire weekend. It will be interesting to see the adjustments and team changes that will occur in the coming weeks as a result of and as an answer to CLG’s dominance. Interestingly enough, it was the addition of SnakeBite and Royal 2 to the Status Quo roster that brought the end of the similarly dominant Instinct “god squad” back in the final year of Halo: Reach.

#2 Team Allegiance ▲2 | Naded, Suspector, El Town, Cratos

After suffering two quick losses to Renegades in the first round of bracket play and after going down 0-2 in the clinching game for Renegades, it looked as if Allegiance’s weekend was coming to an abrupt end. However, Allegiance dug deep and stormed back to not only win that game, but to also complete a reverse sweep to advance to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals they met eLevate, who had not dropped a single game up to that point, and beat them 4-2 to advance to the finals against CLG. In retrospect, it shouldn’t have been surprising to watch CLG decimate Allegiance in the finals, but the hope that Naded would secure his first event win blinded us all for just a short moment to the reality of CLG’s dominance. All in all, Allegiance’s HWC run was extremely impressive and telling of the team’s talent and potential and it would be a shame to see this team opt for roster changes instead of building on their chemistry.

#3 Denial eSports ▲3 | Contra, Huke, bubu dubu, PreDevonator

Despite Denial’s 2nd place finish at the U.S. Regionals, skepticism of Denial’s ability to perform well at the Halo World Championship grew week by week as they performed gradually worse in scrimmages leading up to the event. Elumnite’s veteran presence proved to be a true key to victory for Denial, as they were able to make it all the way to the semi-finals before losing to CLG. Even in defeat Denial looked impressive, as they were able to take CLG all the way to the sixth game of a seven game series. This young team will only prove to be more and more dangerous as they accumulate more event experience under their belts, and we’re excited to see what’s next for this team.

#4 Renegades ▼1 | Ninja, Spartan, Victory X, Stellur

Renegades’ continuous upward trend continued earlier in the week with decisive scrimmage wins over eLevate and Denial, as well as tying for the best scrimmage performance against CLG in the past three weeks by taking four of thirteen games from them. At the Halo World Championship, Renegades started off the weekend with a clean 3-0 sweep of its group, including a 3-2 win over Evil Geniuses. Expectations were extremely high heading into bracket play, but they ultimately fell short after losing 3-2 to eventual runner-up Allegiance in the quarterfinals.

#5 eLevate ▲2 | SwiftKill, Calm, Penguin, Rayne

If one thing was clear by the end of the Halo World Championship, it was that the new faces of eLevate and Denial are here to stay. eLevate solidified their spot as a top tier team after a flawless group stage in which they didn’t drop a single game, including a 3-0 sweep of Denial. In the quarterfinals eLevate faced off against Epsilon, who arguably had just as much momentum as any other team coming out of the group stage. eLevate maintained their squeaky clean record with an impressive 3-0 sweep of the Europeans. Their run came to an end against Allegiance in the semi-finals, but they put up a good fight by taking Naded and the rest of Allegiance to the sixth game of a seven game series. Many people expect Penguin to receive tons of offers from other top teams, and it will be interesting to see if he decides to bounce for another team or if he opts to stick it out with his current teammates.

#6 Evil Geniuses ▼4 | Snipedown, Roy, Lunchbox, Commonly

After Evil Geniuses drew and lost to CLG in the first round, many fans expressed their discontent with the format of the HWC. But in all likelihood, even double elimination wouldn’t have saved Evil Geniuses from advancing any further, as they did in fact lose two series this weekend. However, the question does remain on how differently EG would have performed had they beaten Renegades in pool play and secured the #1 seed. Rumblings of a potential Lunchbox retirement has fans speculating on what this roster could look like in the near future, but there are certainly a ton of a great options out there if Lunchbox is indeed planning on hanging up the controller.

#7 Team Liquid ▼2 | Ace, Heinz, APG, Unlegit

In the previous two weeks, Team Liquid had failed to impress the power rankers. In the few days leading up to the Halo World Championship, Liquid turned the corner and secured convincing scrimmage wins against Cloud9 (17-5) and Evil Geniuses (8-7). Team Liquid rode that momentum into the HWC and finished group stage as one of two teams to not drop a single game. After securing their #1 seed, Liquid drew Group C runner-up Denial and after four very back-and-forth games, the series was tied 2-2. In Game 5 the teams found themselves at a standstill in Plaza Slayer, but after a couple of missed opportunities by Liquid, Denial secured the 50-46 win and Liquid was eliminated from the tournament. It’s a shame that a team that only lost three games all weekend was eliminated as early as the quarterfinals, but it shows that you have to win games when they matter the most.

#8 Epsilon eSports | BUK57, BUK20, Snipedrone, Jimbo

If there was one thing last week’s power rankings were heavily criticized for, it was Epsilon taking the #8 spot. After the past few days, Epsilon has proved why they deserve to be considered a top 8 team in the world. In one of the first series of the weekend, Epsilon shocked viewers across the world by defeating Cloud9 3-1. In their second series, Epsilon faced off against CLG and after a quick 3-0 defeat in Fathom CTF, many expected Epsilon to face the same fate every other team does when they face CLG. Instead, Epsilon roared back in Game 2 and won a convincing game of Coliseum Slayer 50-37. In Game 3, Epsilon was able to overcome a large deficit in Empire Strongholds and came within four points of taking another game off of CLG before losing in heart-breaking fashion 100-96. In Game 4, the two teams traded flag captures in Truth CTF until the score was 2-2, and there were times when viewers across the world watched as Epsilon came close to putting in the third and final flag. In the end, CLG closed it out (as they always do), and took the series 3-1. Epsilon would sadly fall to eLevate in the quarterfinals without taking a game, but their performance throughout the weekend certainly cemented their place in the top 8.

That wraps it up for this week’s power rankings. As you could tell from personal power rankings and from the twisting and winding who-beat-who matches at the Halo World Championship, it was very difficult for our power rankers to agree on the #3 through #7 spots this week. There is undoubtedly going to be a hurricane of roster changes in the near future, and we’re looking forward to seeing those come to fruition. If you saw things a bit differently or have a crazy team change to suggest, drop by our forums and share your thoughts.