Week 1 has seen the death of the first IM team in season 18, Goldman Sachs, probably because Goldfish bullied Monkey Suit because little Monkey wouldn't change the name. Now nobody can be the Sachs. Great job, Goldfish! Please change your team's name to Sachs Monster to continue the dream, thanks!

Wrech leaves the dead Sachs to now play for Mad Lux-Blue, which gets Huck benched and off to find a new team. Whatever team he will join won't be known for a hot second (about a week) but I'm sure there will be some eager mouth breathers ready to snatch him right up. Speaking of which, Pinoy Boys loses Chunkey and picks up Geknaiir on scout, Cloudmaker moving to roamer and trying really hard for that Gossip Girl award for season 18. Keep posting those chatlogs, dude! You'll get there! Sparkle Bunniis also make some adjustments, adding mystery soldier “chairuser” onto roamer before their week one matches, who has subsequently been revealed to be mason of wood pig and royalty fame. After a somewhat lopsided loss to Anteaters Chuckin Chairs and dropping two rounds to Wu Tang Club, Blew is also cut to be replaced by dingo. The roster has a good foundation to do some work this season, hopefully they can all get up to speed in time to have better games against the top of IM and some solid wins over the rest.

Last week, my manhood was questioned by some filthy Open writer. Listen, Shadowpuppet: real men write their own formats for Power Rankings. I would like to take this time to thank my friend Conductor for the patience and work he has put in over the last couple seasons crafting this format and keeping it relevant. Thanks buddy!

Here is a clip of Shadowpuppet taking it like a man last week!

• Jodd
• BroKing
• Ranga
• Jarrett
• Yeeegz
• Cheesy

Meat Market had a pretty chill week to start their season, giving away a round each to Subspace Emissaries and Champagne and Cocaine. The one thing that stuck out to me while watching them play this week was that it looked like broKing was initiating a lot of the fights, even going in for a force or two during stalemates. In this, I know that the team has their playstyle already down which a lot of teams in IM still seem to be struggling with, even teams like Cafe Monster and Mad Lux Gold. Thinking back to last season with Blockback Mountain, a team that was a favorite to win with a heavy playstyle, teams were able to “crack the code” of that playstyle by the end of the season, and it may even be what cost them the first place spot. I tend to think Meat Market is not as locked in as Blockback was to a certain player or playstyle, but its apparent the team plays to its strengths rather well. This week on process, Meat Market gets a forfeit win from Goldman Sachs, and Pizzagon gets to prove if they can play with some of the stronger teams in the division.

If you missed the matches by Meat Market last week, here are some clips of a few frags from week 1 by Ranga!

• Soapy
• Goldfish
• Purpleshirt
• Desca
• Highfive
• Yomps

Cafe Monster rolled right over both of their week 1 opponents, the only team so far to not have any rounds against them. What a great way to start the season! Goldfish becomes the player to watch on the team, doing a ton of damage and becoming the pocket this team needed last season, but I'm sure are happy with now. Yomps had a fantastic ESEA debut, becoming another play to watch on this team for me. Both matches were pretty much rolls, so unfortunately there isn't a whole lot to say about them. Looking to the future, Cafe Monster (or Sachs Monster as I will now call them) should have a fun process week. Both of their opponents, I THOUGHT SHE WAS 18 and Subspace Emissaries, will probably take a couple rounds off them, but with neither team having many answers the the challenges they will face playing Cafe Monster, I see Purple and the boys maintaining their win streak this week.

Yomps had a lot of decent plays last week, here is a clip of him turning a failed kritz into a round win versus Anteaters Chuckin Chairs!

• lucrative
• java
• hellbent
• pamphlet
• Dancenumber
• Fox

The father of the MAD LUX roster had some comfortable games for snakewater, much like the other two teams in the current top 3. Their game against Pinoy Boys wasn't too bad honestly, I expected it to be a lot more of a roll than it was. Deathy did a lot of work but kind of left his team out to dry to really come away with decisive fights. The turning points of those rounds would always be how much of a struggle pushing out of last was for Pinoy Boys, pretty much. The Subspace game was a lot less close, honestly. The way Mad Lux is playing right now isn't terribly exciting but they seem to be doing it rather well. Dance and Fox seem to be on permanent clean up role, while the rest of the heavy classes are in the front doing the big boy damage. We'll probably still see the occasional heavy or sniper, but in more conventional applications than last season. Shout out to Luc for starting the season off right with 3 kills in their match against Pinoy Boys, those needle kills that won the round were pretty great. Next week, Mad Lux will face off against their old teammate dingo on Sparkle Bunniis and should have a smooth win over topshot boys.

• Skye
• dingo
• mason
• unff
• Oobii
• Gls

Sparkle Bunniis comes in at a weird place in these rankings, mostly because I had them towards the bottom after their first week performance. As I mentioned before, the team has cut Blew from the roster and replaced him with dingo, and while I didn't think Blew was doing all that badly before, this is most definitely an upgrade for them. With this new line up I have to give Sparkle Bunniis the benefit of the doubt, now with a solid 6 that will be very competitive this season (at least on paper). Ignoring the matches for last week, the team has more than enough of a chance to prove themselves with their new pick up on process week. Their first match will be against Small and Soft, which will be covered in the MOTW. Their second match against Mad Lux Gold could honestly be an upset if Sparkle Bunniis can take mids without losing their med, mostly because I think Mad Lux falls apart during transitions at times (but thats every team, really). Both of the Sparkle Bunniis matches this week will be worth watching, either way. Whether or not they can hold on to this number four spot will have to be seen.

• Xattuu
• KTB
• Tankman
• Mustard
• Phlps
• Rooks

Here is where the rankings start getting pretty messy. I feel pretty confident with the top 4 right now, the rest is honestly up for grabs. Of the teams that didn't go 0-2 and almost die in the first week, the team formerly known as the Fantazzmagazzlers have changed their name to a more offensive and “still annoying to type out” option, I THOUGHT SHE WAS 18. Their win over Pizzagon eSports at 5-3 after losing to Small and Soft 5-2 more or less put them in at 5th place if I wanted to include Pizzagon, so here we are! The team still is figuring themselves out, although Tankman seems to be pretty decent at roaming, and KTB is doing some rocket wizard magic with 16k damage in their match against Pizzagon. Phlps and Rooks both had decent games in week 1, but I just didn't see the big plays I remember coming from Rooks that gave the team momentum in matches from last season. Mustard has been racking up the damage and frags, but I'm not sure if the team will be able to adapt to his playstyle before they get hit with too many losses. This week on prcoess they'll be playing Cafe Monster, who they have a chance against but probably won't take more than a couple rounds, and Hate Being Sober. Hate Being Sober is another team I would like to see more from, but SHE WAS 18 should make this a close match that could get either way.

• xdma
• Botmode
• Unwitty
• NomCompsky
• Sen
• Scarecrow

Pizzagon had a nailbiting match against Hate Being Sober, with an OT finish at a score of 5-4, and then had a 5-3 loss to I THOUGHT SHE WAS 18, which I thought they were going to win in all honesty. What this tells me is that this team may be ranked a little prematurely at this time, but with what probably felt like such a big win I'm going to give them the 6th spot until they play some more matches. This week will be a great opportunity to see how the team plays against a team that outclasses them in a lot of ways (Meat Market) and a team that they should beat pretty handily (Pinoy Boys). The season is still fresh, anything could happen! But losing to Pinoy Boys is going to be an automatic ticket off this list, but no pressure! Looking forward, their whole schedule is a rollercoaster of skill levels, and will pit the team against a lot of different types of teams. To say the least, Pizzagon is in for a very exciting season if they can pull off some upsets.

• Kig
• Farns
• Walka
• Dagger
• Corsa
• Rummy

Before they get their panties all in a twist, Hate Being Sober lost a very close match while having to play with a ringer, my boy Bully Bil over here. I honestly think that match should have probably gone the other way, but its in the books and there is no replaying the match (unless its during the post season). With that said, its a little weird why this team is even in the rankings at all with a forfeit win and a 5-4 loss to a team they probably should have beaten. The good news for this week is the team will have a shot at showing their true mettle with a match against I THOUGHT SHE WAS 18, but unfortunately will have to take a forfeit win from the dead Sachs. If this team does as well as they are projected to (on paper) and they don't run into any more issues with ringers and people swapping classes, they should be steadily climbing the ranks to the middle of the pack which is where I see them ending the season. Don't make me look dumb, boys. I do a damn fine job of that myself already.

• Radium
• Xan
• June
• Reimu
• Stochastic
• Spamfest

This is another team that is pretty shaky this early in the season, but one that has a good amount of experience with some good potential. But seeing as how they took an upset victory over Sparkle Bunniis and put up a fight against Cafe Monster (sort of) I think it would be worth it to start them at the bottom and seeing if they can work their way up to the top. Xan is proving to be a good pocket soldier, dealing out almost as much damage as he would on demo. We got to see a little Zalfy action last week, but unless someone else is absent I don't think we'll see too much of him in the future. Either way, the team is dedicated to improving in their new roles with some new faces. It will be fun to see if this team will be able to soak up their losses and come up with some solid wins to make the top 8 this season, but at this point its a little too early to tell how well this team really stacks up. Congrats on the win guys, lets hope y'all stick around in the top 8!

• London
• Doll
• Lunacide
• Conductor
• Kev
• Ringo

• Skye
• dingo
• mason
• unff
• Oobii
• Gls

by Valkeri

The first Match of the Week for ESEA S18 IM is Small and Soft, formerly Japanifest Destiny versus Sparkle Bunniis. Small and Soft (S&S) are a returning Intermediate team, fielding a stellar line-up with Doll, Kailey, Luna, LondonCalling, Kev and RingoStarr. S&S finished the S17 IM regular season in second place and ended playoffs in third place. With a good start this first week, 2-0, this team is looking playoff bound and should even have a chance to take home the trophy this season. However, there is some new blood in IM that is looking to make it to the top as well, Sparkle Bunniis. An Open move-up team, Sparkle Bunniis is looking to prove themselves in IM this season. Sparkle Bunniis are a relatively new team, yet they bring quite a bit of experience together on their team with the three ex-Invite players mason, dingo and Unf. With these three, they should be able to mold Sparkle Bunniis into a formidable team that has a good chance of seeding high in playoffs. As Radium pointed out in the IM Happenings thread, this match should give us a good idea on what to expect during playoffs as well as determining playoff positioning.

Prediction 5-4 in favor of Small and Soft

Players to watch: Kev, Doll, mason, dingo

JUST WONDERING! I've wanted to expand on content for awhile now, and with the help of a few people, we're getting closer to making these power rankings a little more interesting and fun to read. My question for you, my friends, is this: Would you prefer individual clips or more of a "top 10" style with a bunch of clips as one video? Leave a comment with some feedback please! Also, if there is a particular frag or sequence that you want to share with me, feel free to add me and let me know!