Well, this is awkward. I went back and forth over whether I should actually do these without getting high first, and then i just had to muscle through it. Who knows if I'll do any more, it was fun to do power rankings for two seasons but its a lot of work to do by yourself. If anyone would like to spend the time to do more power rankings/predictions, I definitely encourage you to. You'll meet some cool people and you'll rest easy knowing that everyone hates you for not talking about their sweet airshots and killstreaks and accuse you of only looking at stat pages.

Here's round 1 guys, sorry if it seems a little lackluster but I can't smoke weed anymore.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539528]The Meat Market vs Ingenuity[/url]
The Meat Market has been practicing off and on through the break, but I sincerely doubt much has changed. Despite Zambler and Killemdeader having terrible internet, this team has been joined the prestigious ranks of teams to go 16-0. iNg is barely getting into playoffs off of the Fedora Flippers' death, and despite their good fortune from someone's demise I can't predict this match to be close at all. 5-0 Meat Market.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539537]Quantum Flux vs All in Without Allen[/url]
If Quantum has been practicing during the break I'd be pretty surprised. The majority of the wins this season were in most part because of the vast DM superiority over the other teams for qf, and when it comes down to it that’s one of the main components to being a decent team in Open. These teams didn't have a chance to play each other in the regular season, but All in Without Allen struggled against a lot of teams that are not even close to the caliber of Quantum. 5-1 in favor of Quantum Flux.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539530]BUDSQUAD vs Oh Boy Open Again[/url]
Despite the disparity between their seeds, this match will be closer than I think most people will give the former r5 credit for. While I think Sean has been spending a lot of time getting dat Hearthstone arena gold during the break, at this point everyone is pretty familiar with how their team dynamic plays out. Powah will have plenty of opportunity to make big plays even if they don't come out on top of the midfights, and if the going really gets tough I'm sure Seanbud will get back on scout and out frag everyone in the server. Downpour and crew probably haven't been practicing a whole lot if at all for playoffs, but I would hope just through raw talent that they can make some things happen. Obviously, they're just glad they don't have to play another season in Open. 5-3 in favor of BUDSQUAD.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539536]Flash Sharks vs The Smouldering Remains[/url]
The Flash Sharks are fast becoming one of those up and coming teams that brings an unexpected level of competition to a division, and are my underdog favorites to make it far in the playoff bracket. Cprice is a great addition to an already talented starting line-up, and Block is proving to be the demoman with the most presence in the division this season. On the flip side, the Smouldering Remains have had some issues with their starting roster, and with the absence of Preston and Typhus I do not think they will be as competitive as they have shown during the regular season. 5-1 in favor of Flash Sharks.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539531]Lonely Hearts vs Team Lockdown[/url]
Lonely Hearts looked to be back to form in their last three matches of the regular season, and got me pretty excited to see them for playoffs. At first glance I would write this match off as a one-sided roll but I forgot that Shwan and Coconut have been playing on Team Lockdown for a while now. Every time I have seen them play its been with moments of glory and teamwork mixed with some heartbreaking mistakes, so I can't really say how well they'll do against Lonely Hearts. To give them the benefit of the doubt for now, I'll say Sherman and the boys will come out on top 5-2 but not before Lockdown makes some big plays in the first half.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539534]AG Madboys vs Game of Throws[/url]
My first instinct when seeing this matchup is to say that Tankman is going to throw the game. Somehow, some way he'll do something that will just ruin their chances of winning crucial rounds. Lucky for him, he has Scarecrow and Snark to carry him through this post season. Game of Throws has shown some manic improvement throughout the regular season, with X and Smile being two talented players than can do some big damage. The first round has some pretty one sided match ups but this one should be pretty exciting. Seeing as how GoT lost to AG during the regular season 4-2 on viaduct, I'll predict 5-3 in favor of the Madboys.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539532]I am gucci u are crocs vs Society of Yomies[/url]
With the last name change of the season, Mesr has sealed the deal for the top 5 most awkward team names in the history of forever. While the team was the definition of inconsistency early on in the season, by the end they were proving to be a pretty well rounded team. Society of Yomies also made some strides throughout the second half of the season, most notably two extremely close matches against Quantum Flux and AG Madboys during snakewater week. While I would love to see the Yomies come away with an upset here, I expect to see Testify and Mesr do some big things on gullywash with a little help from Clorg and take the first round 5-4.

[url=http://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=3539533]Medical Geniuses vs Unannounced Pleasure[/url]
Besides the match between GoT and AG, this would be the likely candidate for MoTW as both of these teams are evenly matched. Freestate has proven to be a driving force on this team, and with guidance from Slin I think the whole team has improved as a whole. With that said, MD had a decent season and were able to roll through a lot of teams after a rough start in the beginning of the season. Coincidentally, the last time that UP and MD last met was during that rough start on the same map they will be playing this week, where UP came out on top 5-3. The conservative prediction would be to say that UP will have a repeat performance and come out on top with a similar score, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and give the win to MD 5-4.