Week 1 of season 19 is nearly in the books, and open fans had some pretty great matches to get the season started off right. 2Wycked barely knocked off john wayne kayc, Blue Elephant gave a surprisingly strong performance against a bsc-less Sad Men, and Tip of the Toucans narrowly edged tony jawk in an incredibly entertaining match. While not all of the matches of week 1 have been played yet, I'd like to take a quick look ahead to week 2 to talk about some of the interesting storylines that are developing. But first, let's take a look at some power rankings.
Week 1 Power Rankings
1. 6cuties2: NO CHANGE: The announcement of a half offclassing lineup and solid wins by teams below them isn't enough to knock 6cuties off their throne despite not having played any matches yet.
2. slowbr0: NO CHANGE: Their 15 minute drubbing of b4nny's Flaccid Flamingoes is just enough to keep the second place spot for this team.
3. xfinity weight loss: +3: The addition of DM superstar Nicholas gives this team plenty of ways to kill their opponents. Two 5-0 wins in about 10 minutes each is a great start.
4. Clam Bake: -1: TechDude filled in admirably for Tri on scout in their match against GKND, but they missed their star in dropping 3 rounds to the HL players. The roster changes of this team are promising.
5. -bird noises-: +6: After watching them play, it's clear that I massively underrated this team. Their matches were expected rolls, but their scrim results have been spectacular as well.
6. Five Knights With Freddy: +1: capnfapn did his best owl impression in their 6v5 win over We Pause for Pizza, with 2 frags and 13 caps. Pie_hero looks to be absolutely on form, which bodes well for his team.
7. The Sad Men: -3: Yes, bsc was missing for their first match against Blue Elephant, but even with backups, dropping 3 rounds to a bubble team is inexcusable for a true contender.
8. 2wycked eSports: +1: An insanely entertaining game against john wayne kayc bumps 2wycked up a spot. Market impressed me quite a bit with his play under pressure.
9. Tip of the Toucans: NEW: Check out the writeup below for my thoughts on this stream team's strong week 1 showing.
10. tony jawk 44 kickflip: -5: A narrow loss to a team I didn't even have ranked in the preseason perhaps proves that I was too high on tony jawk. April put up a very strong cleanup performance in the match.
11. TragicServers: -1: Alec and co. drop a spot more due to the achievements of others rather than any personal failing. Tatuwah and jermang look to be a very dangerous scout combo.
12. Elite Pwnage Squad: NO CHANGE: A quick 5-0 and an even faster 3-0 that ended at halftime means that Elite Pwnage Squad are sitting at 2-0 with under 20 minutes of play time.
13. Shredded: +2: Dropping 2 rounds to Strafe Power wasn't great for Shredded, but their match tonight against The Sad Men should be very good if Shredded are as good as Syath thinks they are.
14. Aliasing Lefty: NO CHANGE: Phone and moolkey managed to do a ton of work in both week 1 matches, despite being forced to play without Procreative in their second match.
15. SASABE: -2: A closer than expected game against Cool Sloths means I'm a little more down on SASABE than I was last week, but 2-0 is a good weekly record for any team.
16. bad joke: NEW: Check out my full thoughts on this team just below.
OUT: john wayne kayc, Galactic Kids Next Door
Team Capsules
There were four teams that I came very close to inserting in last week's preseason rankings. This week, two of them have cracked my top 16 and I decided to give them a full writeup.
- Idrae
- KevinisPwn
- dashner
- WhiskerBiscuit
- Auzzie
- dippidy
When it came time to write last week's article, Tip of the Toucans had not solidified their medic spot, and I left them out of my rankings because of it. Now, they've picked up Idrae, who just won open a season ago with The Muffin Men (now Z Fighters). That great pickup, as well as a statement win over tony jawk 44 kickflip is more than enough to vault these players into the top 16. WhiskerBiscuit and Auzzie both have previous experience on season 15 open champions Budsquad, giving half this roster an open championship. Add to that Dashner, who has notable experience going back to season 13, and this roster has a lot of experience with winning in open. Dippidy on scout and KevinisPwn on pocket are the two unproven quantities. Neither put up amazing numbers in their week 1 matches, but neither of them seemed hopelessly lost or actively detrimental to their team either. Hopefully for the Toucans, both can fill their role appropriately and help their team climb the ranks. Both week 1 matches for Tip of the Toucans were against strong rosters and some recognizable. Game 1 was against tony jawk 44 kickflip, and while I dislike using the word epic to describe things, it's hard to find another word that fits the bill. While both teams had some serious difficulties deciding how to push on even ubers, Tip of the Toucans kept their patience and managed a 3-2 win. Their second match was against Le Chatelier's Principle, a team with wildly differing experience levels. Amongst players with no prior ESEA experience are R1CKY, who has invite experience, and typhus, who has been playing in ESEA since Season 10, most famously with Playground Tactics. Despite strong performances from both of their stars, Le Chatelier's Principle fell short against the Toucans, 5-3.
- Wonko
- Sleeping Life
- Waldo
- Joradn
- davidb
- Niko Jims
I have to admit, I missed this team when I did my preseason rankings. If this roster of players looks familiar to anyone who has been a fan of open for a while, you're likely remembering Tune Squad, who bounced around the lower part of open for 4 seasons before taking a break. That roster had Sleeping Life, davidb, Waldo, and Niko Jims. Of course, while david and Niko sort of fell off the map for a season or two, Sleeping and Waldo had a brief time in the spotlight playing with Muma on Champagne and Cocaine. Of course, the allure of Mason and Dingo proved to be too much for Muma, and Sleeping and Waldo were left on the roadside to rebuild their old team. That IM experience has proven very helpful to both soldiers, with Sleeping Life especially able to have a lot of presence against less-disciplined open teams. Rounding out the roster is Wonko on medic and Joradn on demo, both of whom have scattered past experience. Week 1 was favorable to bad joke, with a 6v5 win over Dave's Dangerous Dudes, and a less-close-than-the-score-indicates 5-2 win over Klickin with Klicka. Week 2 will hold another opportunity for Sleeping and friends to climb in the rankings with a matchup against SASABE. Look for that to be one of my matches of the week.
Open Spotlight
Hey, it's Tetro here. As the Pangy to Owl's London I'm bringing you a new segment of power rankings, the weekly Open Spotlight. In an effort to make sure that everyone has a chance to get highlighted I'm going to be picking a random open team each week and featuring them in this section. This week I talked to Washington Wizards leader Raxozellet to get his thoughts on the upcoming season, some standout moments, and bets on who wins it all.
- frilly
- crab
- sharlike
- dysfunctional
- Trox
- raxozellet
So what got you guys into open?
We didn’t do too badly in our first season of Open last season. We finished with a 7-9 record and we had a blast doing it. So we decided let’s try and break even this season!
What are some of your goals for the season?
We want to finish positive in record and we think if we try our butts off we can do it. We also don’t want to have any forfeits even if this results in us getting rolled. We’re not big fans of forfeits.
How did you come up with your team name?
We were thinking of great team names to inspire us and we hit on the greatest team of all, but we decided on The Washington Wizards instead. Then I bought everyone wizards hats and we'd wear them on match night.
Who are your strongest players and why?
I asked my team this and they answered that our roamer Sharlike (who lives on bball servers) and our scout Dysfunctional (who is a dm lord) are our strongest points. Also our medic, Frilly, who somehow has put up with us for so long.
Who do you want to beat; do you have any rivals?
One of the first teams we ever scrimmed was Dave’s Dangerous Dudes so I’ll say them because it's nice to see that they're still around.
What teams are you scared of right now?
6cuties 2 looks insane and so does Clam Bake. Those would be 5 minutes matches against us.
Bets on who wins it all?
If 6cuties 2 stays they will win without trying.
Any funny stories so far?
For some reason we play better when we make calls in stereotypical italian accents.
Shoutouts?
Huge shout to Paddie for helping us last season as we got into Open and shout out to all open teams (please scrim us). Also shoutout to frilly for paying for a server for three years!
Matches of the Week
MOTWs coming soon!