Hello friends, and welcome to the most recent edition to the IM power rankings. This week we'll finally see some of the match-ups we've been waiting all season for which should make for some exciting matches on the new version of metalworks. Enjoy the read!

• Deltafox
• Dun
• Mangachu
• Cosa
• Bman
• Schnell

Chill to Good had a fairly uneventful gravelpit week with a forfeit win and a 2-0 victory over Cloud Nine. The first half of the season has left Chill to Good relatively uncontested for the number one seed, but that’s all going to change in the coming weeks. Our first match up will be against Knights of Grillz, which is the match of the week. Chaaz and crew have had a pretty easy schedule this season and this will be the match that will decide who deserves the top spot in IM. On metalworks, I'll give Chill to Good's combo the upperhand here as I expect Dun will do a great job of abusing the close quarters and corners all over the map. Mangachu and bman should dominate the flank but if anything, the Knights' scouts could be the tipping point in some of these fights. While I still expect this to be a close game, I think Chill to Good will come out on top of this 5-3. Next week, they'll be playing Dragonball Jav on granary which should be the match to watch next week, which we'll talk about in our next edition of the IM power rankings.

• WirelessFox
• Tone-Pot
• Sakura_
• Rex
• Jav
• Nja

Dragonball Jav didn't have much to fight against during gravelpit week where they went up against a pug incarnation of Playground Tactics that resulted in a forfeit and another forfeit win from the Wallet. They did have a close game against sal's canal on snakewater week where they ended up winning 3-2. It was filled with constant leapfrogging back and forward and some of the most impenetrable defenses filled with the most offclassing man has ever seen. nja had an incredibly strong performance going 43-26 and seemingly frustrating every player he bumped into. Now, sal's canal's scouts did not underpeform by any means. However, it was clear that in a game where the uber trades were basically even, it was the kills that Dragonball Jav's scouts were able to get that secured them the win. Now that the matchmaking has finally caught up to the records, Dragonball Jav have their work cut out for them facing against teams such as Knights of Grillz and chill to good ratio. After seeing their match against sal's canal, I expect to see good things to come from these matches for Dragonball Jav.

• Grillz
• SureShot
• Paddie
• Chaaz
• rb
• Dennis

Knights of Grillz had a great game against Rent-a-Homies, capitalizing on some mistakes and coming up with a 2-1 win. Sitting currently at the top of the standings, the boys will be looking at a very challenging metalworks week playing both Chill to Good Ratio and Dragonball Jav. The closer of the two matches will be against Dragonball Jav and to be honest I'm not sure who will come out on top. In the scout department, both pairs look pretty equal. Dennis and rb have played consistently all season but haven't really had a challenge in the other scouts they've played since their match with 6 cuties. Nja and Jav have been performing extremely well and have proven time and again that they can't be taken lightly. Both of their combos are smart and I would say SureShot and Tone-Pot are pretty evenly matched when it comes down to DM, with SureShot having a slight edge in terms of uber management and adaptability. This match is going to come down to how each team plays the map, where positioning mistakes can cost you a round if you're not careful. Next week, the Knights will be playing sal's canal and Tonight's Entertainment on granary which should also make for some great games.

• slipz
• SS
• Sparrow
• Phrakture
• zZa
• Sal

sal's canal was in a relatively unstable state during their gravelpit match, switching Phrakture and SS on their respective class multiple times during scrims. If you've watched zZa's stream in the past week, you could see there was some tension in the mumble. This led to a shaky loss against Fragophilia Gaming 1-2 where it was obvious that the roster mixup had weakened everyone's individual performance. Overextensions and inconsistent performances led to an eventual succumbing to HeepHoP's sniper rifle at the final push. However, sal's canal was able to redeem itself by going 2-0 against Blues Crus. zZa did a particularly great job almost top damaging with 44 frags with the next highest being 28. sal's canal are being matched up against Cloud Nine and New Faith Church Gaming for metalworks week which should end in their favor. As long as SS is back to his aggressive, heal-heavy, advantage-seeking form, they should be able to finish strong.

• Caspian
• serv0
• fuuzi0n
• Nomadic
• John Milter
• goku

Rent-a-Homies have played the games exactly as it'd go according to paper. They lost a close game to Knight of Grillz on gravelpit 2-1. While serv0 has been showing his proficiency with ubers and directs, it seems in the match they used their ubers a little bit too aggressively causing them to lose their advantage. This becomes somewhat awkward on a map such as gravelpit which encourages turtling. Against Fragophilia Gaming, John Milter was able to get some key picks as sniper which helped them crack the engie-pyro-heavy defense to earn their 2-0 victory. Rent-a-Homies will have some close games on metalworks against Story Time with Marxist and New Faith Church Gaming. Metalworks seems to be a roamer friendly map with plenty of hiding spots unexplored and abusable. I expect fuuzi0n to get some key picks that can gain his team the momentum they need. As I've said before, Rent-a-Homies is one of the most well-balanced teams in ESEA-IM. Their scouts goku and John Milter are one of the strongest scout combos in this division. As long they play well, Rent-a-Homies should be able to control the after-ubers with buffed scouts playing off of their heavies' damage.

• Cozen
• Cprice
• cbn
• shrt
• Kev
• Crypt

New Faith Church Gaming shows up for the first time in the power rankings after beating Tonight's Entertainment in a decisive 5-1 on snakewater and 6cuties 2-1 on gravelpit. This team has been around since season 12 in Open with their roster relatively unchanged, which is certainly respectable. So far, they seem like the best Open moveup from last season. They play a grindy style of TF2 that is similar to HRG in which they like to punish teams for being over-aggressive and create advantages to push off that way. Cozen plays well off this style by having good mechanics as a medic and surfing rockets proficiently. Kev or “imoutofan66” has been putting up good numbers and is a destructive scout on the flank. shrt has been putting up impressive damage in all of his matches, outdamaging every demo he has played against. They will get the true test of teamwork on metalworks as they will be matched up against Rent-a-Homies and sal's canal. The advantage that New Faith Church Gaming have coming into these matches is that they have a strong combo with Cprice and cozen, which is important on the tight corridor-filled map that is metalworks.

• Sakura
• R1cky
• Remedy
• Pharaoh
• Br0nze
• snailboat

Losing a close match to New Faith Church Gaming on gravelpit last week, the Cuties are looking at some teams they can beat in the next two weeks. They'll only have one match on metalworks this week against Story Time with Marxist. Pharaoh will be going up against Chriz Tah Fah and his former teammates Marxist and Sezco in what might be a close match up. Alas, I think the Cuties will pull ahead in this one with both remedy and r1cky outclassing Marxist's soldiers in just about every category and Br0nze has gotten exponentially better throughout the season which didn't seem possible before. Next week on granary they'll be up against Fragophilia Gaming and Keep Calm. Fragophilia has had a somewhat lackluster performance this season and Keep Calm has just recently lost to teams that you wouldn't expect them to lose to, so it is unclear if either of these teams will put up enough of a fight to overcome 6cuties. Most of the obstacles that could prevent these little kitties from making playoffs this season have already been met, and as long as they don't beef any of the games for the rest of the season, it should be smooth sailing into playoffs.

• Bopper
• KTB
• Thrasher
• Mausy
• Dflame
• Cole

Our second newcomer to the power rankings, Tonight's Entertainment has proven to be one of the stronger teams of the open move ups. Last week they squeezed out some wins over Down to Pound and trans-autistic railroad after a tough loss on snakewater to New Faith Church Gaming. Their next three matches look far from easy with them playing both Knights of Grillz and Chill to Good Ratio on granary and Cloud Nine on metalworks. For this week's match, I expect Cloud Nine to put up a good showing but will inevitably succumb to the raw damage output of mausy, who is undoubtedly Tonight's Entertainment's most valuable player. I don't see much hope for either of their granary matches, but with gullywash and viaduct coming up afterward, I expect to see mausy dominate these demo-friendly maps and give Tonights Entertainment a playoff spot by the end of the season.

• Deltafox
• Dun
• Mangachu
• Cosa
• bman
• Schnell

• Grillz
• SureShot
• Paddie
• Chaaz
• rb
• Dennis

The battle for the top seed in IM starts off with what is looking like the best match up of the season with both teams boasting an undefeated record so far. Knights of Grillz has been looking great all season, bulldozing over their competition with only four rounds given up all season. Chill to Good is right behind them with only one more round given up and one less game played at that. It wouldn't be hard to argue that Dun is a powerhouse and that may be the deciding factor over these two teams. It will be fun watching Mangachu roam on metalworks with all of its ledges and ramps and see how creative he can get, while the scouts for Knights of Grillz will surely make some big plays. This match will be tonight at 11pm EST, don't miss it!

Thank you for reading! We're finally getting our format locked down and should be delivering IM power rankings every week instead of every other week from now on, so keep an eye out for them for the rest of the season. Feel free to comment and speak your mind!