Recap

Week 1 is always a little bizarre since not every team gets to play 2 matches (or any) yet. In addition, I haven't had much time to stalk SizzlingStats or gloss over VODs of matches so Power Rankings for this week will be slightly off, but that's okay! We opened up S17 Invite with a treat: Wood Pig vs Street Hoops which went to 5-4 in Golden Cap / overtime, along with another 5-4 from Classic Mixup and Exertus. These series showed us that anything can happen this season of Invite, which should make every match down the line all the more exciting. Flame and Taggerung also made their casting debuts, essentially starting their careers as professional casters and will hopefully be casting more throughout the season. Speaking of future Invite matches, Killing has enforced a rule that all Invite players be aliased to what they're known as, to relieve casters from not knowing who “Youmarmvondustfah” and “6yrsofhighschool” are the entire cast. Thank you Killing.

-

1. Froyotech (1-0)

Froyotech opened up the season with a 5-0 victory over Street Hoops. It's the first sentence and I'm already at a loss of words. Every member pretty much outperformed their counterpart, especially on the flank where clckwrk and b4nny could push and collect frags almost at will; clckwrk nearly doubling any teammates' frags. Froyotech still has another Process match to play against Ding Dong Daddy before heading into Granary week. I think b4nny and friends will be able to walk away with a similar result to the match against 20b. Duwatna seems to have molded into the 4G machine quite well and the team really isn't missing a beat coming off of the heels of their championship. Froyo's opponents on Granary will be the other LAN teams XTS and Mixup, and I'd venture a guess that one of these may be worthy of Match of the Week, perhaps both.

2. Classic Mixup (0-1)

Alright alright, I know what you're thinking. “XTS defeated Mixup so shouldn't they be ranked higher?” Yes, Mixup lost a very close game. No, Mixup shouldn't be ranked lower. If we just used match results to order teams we wouldn't need a Power Ranking. I could just link you to the ESEA Invite standings page each week and we could call it a day. Anyway, Mixup went into their match against Exertus with hardly any scrim time, and still put up quite the fight. Doing a little research on SizzlingStats tells me that they didn't scrim much in the last 2 weeks leading up to their matches. I feel that if Mixup had been readily scrimming, that match may not have been as close. However, if they want to avoid close matches and contest Froyotech (and eventually the Europeans) they'll have to start putting more time in now, especially since they're going up against Froyotech this upcoming week.

3. Exertus TF2 (2-0)

I realize I labeled this team as “Exertus Esports” in the Invite Preview when they are actually “Exertus TF2” but I digress. With TheFragile stepping down from TF2, cozen was immediately their next best choice for a Medic, and this slightly new XTS is off to a good start in Season 17. A convincing 5-1 against Wood Pig followed by a 5-4 thriller vs. Mixup leaves XTS at a comfortable 2-0 at Process week's end. In the Mixup match, Bdonski outplayed Platinum with over 100 more DPM and nearly doubling his frags (with 1000 less heals mind you) at the end of the day. Going into Granary week, Exertus will be facing off against Froyotech and Blame Game. If XTS want to keep their momentum rolling, toppling the 4G monster would be one hell of a way to do so. Should a miracle not be in the forecast, I see them putting up a strong showing, taking a few rounds, before going on to face Blame Game which should be an easy win.

4. Wood Pig (1-1)

Now with what I just said about the Mixup vs. XTS match and rankings, this placement may seem contradictory, but hear me out. A key difference between the Mixup / XTS 5-4 and the Wood Pig / Street Hoops 5-4 is the momentum. I think the quick 3-1 half for Mixup was still anyone's game at that point, whereas the Wood Pig comeback was exactly that, a comeback. The 1st and 2nd halves were like night and day, with Wood Pig stringing 4 consecutive rounds before claiming the win in overtime. The key players of that match were surely bape and dingo, who put on superstar performances. Bape in particular really impressed with his Pocket play, considering he is mostly known as a Scout. Wood Pig also lost to XTS, but have fared better in some recent scrims. Another reason is that I don't think the current Street Hoops could do better than what Wood Pig has done so far. Nonetheless Wood Pig has arguably the toughest Granary lineup, squaring off against both Mixup and Froyotech. Come to think of it, Wood Pig has had to play all 4 LAN teams for their first 4 matches. What a fun way to start the season.

5. Street Hoops Esports (0-2)

Street Hoops barely had time to settle in with their new roster before Wood Pig came knocking on their door. They had a very convincing 1st half before everything started to collapse on them in the next 4-5 rounds. Something many people took notice of was ninjanick's 3 drops. Now uber drops in TF2 is a very controversial topic and many people disagree about how they should be handled, but I think at least 2 drops caused their momentum to come to a sudden halt, including one where ninjanick dropped to a roller somewhere in lobby as they prepared to assault last. Other than that though, Street Hoops just needs time. Time for grape to continue experimenting with Concheror pushes and deadbolt to get settled in on the Demo class (which he has been doing quite well). The hoopers take on Blame Game and Mad Men on Granary in the upcoming week, and I think now that they've had enough time to adjust to all the player and class changes, they should see a solid rebound (unintentional I swear) in Week 2.

6. Mad Men (1-0)

Turns out Broking sabotaged this team name (Bl4nk is Bad) so I'm assuming once it is possible, YouMustMike will switch the team name back to Mad Men. Anyways, Mad Men came off of a win against 6cuties with good play out of pretty much everyone, including a quadruple airshot by Chriztafah. Recent scrims seem to show mixed responses, with a 3-4 loss against XTS but a 0-5 loss against Street Hoops as well. I guess Mike was really accurate with his quote for the Invite Preview. Mud Men will need to do better than that in their official match against 20b, but should have enough firepower to take down Ding Dong Daddy.

7. Ding Dong Daddy (0-0)

Just as the center of Invite is tricky to figure out, so is the bottom. Again, the combination of not many matches played and Sizzling searches leaves me with a small mess to untangle. Going into Week 2 Ding Dong Daddy will take this spot for now. If for nothing else, a 4-1 scrim against 6cuties will be sufficient evidence for now until they actually play matches. Speaking of, their Process opponents will be Froyotech and Blame Game, and their Granary opponents will be 6cuties (oh hi) and Mad Men. Ding Dong Daddy's flank should be able to overpower Blame Game and 6cuties, and those are the matchups I expect to see them come out on top. After that, a respectable showing against 4G and Mad Men leading to a 2-2 start seems likely.

8. 6cuties (0-1)

Unlike Mad Men, I don't think this team is planning on changing their name anytime soon. So I'll commit to calling them “Br0nzing with Br0nze” by the next week...maybe. As mentioned earlier, they lost 2-5 vs. Mad Men, but individually it seemed each player performed quite well. Shrugger actually went ham for his team, and Smaka also made plays on the flank, including getting an uber drop on indust. This team has the curious situation where they have to play another Process match (against Blame Game) and only one Granary (against Ding Dong Daddy). If Br0nze can step up his game and Shrugger continues to murder players, I can see 6cuties winning both matches to finish 2-1.

9. Blame Game (0-0)

This is a list, which unfortunately mean someone has to occupy the bottom. Blame Game is arguably the team with the most to prove this season, as I would consider any victories an "upset win" for this group. Curiously enough, they matched Ding Dong Daddy 3-3 a few days ago but have also been scrimming teams like Goldman Sachs and Mangachu Sux, and is the only team in Invite that I've found with any scrims against IM teams. Blame Game has also not played any matches just yet, so they'll be rattling off against 2 bubble teams (6cuties and Ding Dong Daddy) and 2 LAN teams (Exertus and Street Hoops) in roughly that order. I'd guess the game against 6cuties will be the closest, as the LAN teams seem to be out of reach for them currently. Going to make my first prediction in this Power Rankings by calling a 5-4 in their favor against 6cuties.

-

Match of the Week

Froyotech (1-0) vs. Classic Mixup (0-1)

Okay. I want to believe. I want to believe in this matchup. This is the tried and true formula for exciting close matches. We've seen this during the regular season, and we've seen this at LAN. It's the most famous rivalry, the rivalry in TF2: b4nny vs. Platinum. On paper, this should be the match to watch, and without a doubt has the most implications, considering Mixup are coming in on the heels of a loss against XTS. But preparation is something that b4nny takes extremely seriously, whereas Mixup goes through the season with varying levels of dedication. Mixup has scrimmed a few times this past week and I can only hope they'll be able to put on a show for us, and that's why ignoring this match just wouldn't feel right.

These are nearly the exact same teams who have faced off against each other at LAN weeks ago, the only changes being duwatna on Demoman instead of dummy. Both the Froyo and Mixup flank will be strong, you can't take your eyes off clckwrk or Seagull, but you can't forget about the rest of the flank either. TLR will be going for many many frag video moments, and the various dancing and juking of both Medics should be entertaining to watch. I don't think this will be as drawn out as the last map of the Grand Finals, but I do think b4nny's group will once again come out with the win. Perhaps a surprise Kritzkrieg switch from shade will cause some chaos and swing a round.

Prediction: Froyotech – 5, Classic Mixup – 3

Players to Watch: clckwrk, duwatna, squid, Seagull

I'm also going to wimp out and say that if this match turns into a flop, perhaps Froyotech vs. Exertus or Mad Men vs. Street Hoops will be the MOTW. Promise this won't happen again though (the wimping out part).

-

Final Glance

1. Froyotech
2. Classic Mixup
3. Exertus TF2
4. Wood Pig
5. Street Hoops Esports
6. Man Men
7. Ding Dong Daddy
8. 6cuties
9. Blame Game