Greetings all, my name is Alkaline and this is the Invite midseason power rankings, an article which has particular sentimental value for me since it was my first article, last season. I apologize for the late publication date (especially for a "midseason" article), but interview delays and personal stuff got in the way of an earlier publication. I hope you all enjoy!
Before we jump in, here's where to go if you've forgotten how the average team rankings works.
- Shade
- Serv0
- Blaze
- Duwatna
- B4nny
- Clockwork
Average Team Ranking: 1.125
Froyotech is really, really good at this video game. They’ve maintained, bar an unfortunate forfeit loss due to scheduling mishaps, their perfect record and very well could improve to a monumental 4 straight ESEA season titles. Although it was definitely a bit worrying when they dropped three rounds in a row to Ascent, they recovered nicely in what was their only close game so far. Their 5-3 margin of victory over their closest rival shows that they still are the team to beat. B4nny had this to say about his team’s performance so far:
“Overall, I am satisfied with our performance. We could have lost a few less rounds here and there but we're still the same team we've always been.”
The most interesting news relating to Froyotech is that Serv0 is substituting for Lansky in preparation for i55. Based on their recent matches, Blaze and Lansky have both been playing roamer at various times, with Serv0 a consistent fixture on pocket. Although Serv0 is clearly a very a talented soldier, I view him as a downgrade from Lansky simply because B4nny and his team have been playing alongside Lansky for two whole years now. That coordination and team chemistry will be hard to replicate over the next few months, but Froyotech still have by far the best roster consistency of any ESEA (or any team going to i55, for that matter). With that in mind, I believe it’s clear that Froyotech are still #1.
Froyotech’s rematch with Ascent will be covered next week, so for the time being let me just remind all the lovely readers out there that Froyotech needs your help to hop across the pond and compete at i55! Go to i55.tf to donate and keep track of progress!
- TheFragile
- Rando
- Ma3la
- Bdonski
- Decimate
- Shrugger
Average Team Ranking: 1.875
Ascent have had a solid midseason, and are, like Froyotech, basically locked in for playoffs. Not that there was really ever any doubt on that front, but it’s always nice to be assured of it at this point in the season.
TheFragile remains optimistic about his teams chances to pull even and beat Froyotech, and I agree with him entirely. TheFragile definitely put it better than I could, so I’ll turn the proverbial mic over to him:
“Yeah, I am. We are making a lot of progress, so I'm looking forward to see how much better we get. It sucks that we couldn't pull out a win against Froyotech, but that match came down to mistakes and overall strategy. Our DM is very level with theirs, so knowing how we need to execute certain situations against them can put us ahead.”
Of course, don’t forget that you can also donate to Ascent, to help get them to i55! I55.tf is your destination once again, so I will finish things off with another quote from TheFragile:
“Shoutouts to all of our supporters for sending us to i55! And of course, a nice shoutout to all of the cats. :3”
- dbw
- Boink
- Mangachu
- Milo
- ArticJoe
- Squid
Average Team Ranking: 3.5
Although all but one team ranking was done over the weekend and Monday of this week, The Five Dollar Club have since collapsed, with a loss to Street Hoops on Viaduct (a disappointment for one of their best maps) and The Grime, an apparently grossly underrated team, on Snakewater. I doubt they would have received the same average team ranking, were I to re-survey the players. Nevertheless, The Five Dollar Club have had their positive moments this season, assembling an all-star lineup of gamers and switching up their roster a bit, to optimize their chances. Team leader Mangachu has more:
“Viaduct week is the first week we've had a solid roster, the first week Boink was unable to play due to stuff going on in his personal life so Milo came in and played roamer versus cafe monster. We decided that Milo is a better pocket and I'm better at "gaying people", so we switched roles for our match vs. Street Hoops. On Metalworks, Arctic Joe had to take the week off due to finals so Milo came in on scout with Boink on roamer and myself on pocket. Then we didn't play a match for 3 weeks, Xalox left the team so Milo is on demo now, and I'm bad at pocket so we switched soldiers. I'm throwing on roamer now. Working out nicely so far.”
Apparently that “working out nicely so far” comment has entirely jinxed The Five Dollar Club, since, as I mentioned above, they have since lost to their closest rivals [i]and[/i] The Grime, a team which has looked solid but, until now, has never really threatened the top teams. The Five Dollar Club now need to get their act together quickly, or they could be threatened The Yomies or Cafe Monster.
I will close with Mangachu’s stated team goal for the rest of the season, which his team would appear to be having a few difficulties with:
- Ninjanick
- Showstopper
- Ash
- Deadbolt
- Cyzer
- Paragon
Average Team Ranking: 3.75
Street Hoops had a rough start to the season, starting with a loss to Froyotech (expected) and a loss to The Five Dollar Club (unexpected). Although they’ve since recovered nicely with a revenge win over The Five Dollar Club on Viaduct, it remains to be seen whether Street Hoops can compete with Ascent and Froyotech, come playoffs. Speaking of playoffs, Street Hoops should be pretty much set at this point, having beaten The Five Dollar Club… With a perfect score against the lower and mid Invite teams, they will most likely have an 11-5 record at the end of the regular season. Ninjanick had this to say about Street Hoops’ performance so far:
“We're a little disappointed about our early loss in the season to mangachu's team. Aside from that we've pretty much won every game we were supposed to and lost every game we expected to lose. Our game vs ascent certainly could have been closer but we've had major issues with viaduct in the past that still need to be addressed.”
Luckily for them, Street Hoops have proven that they have solved their Viaduct problems, by beating The Five Dollar Club 4-1. Now it’ll be up to them to put in the effort needed to make it to the finals, come playoffs. Here’s Ninjanick with some very eloquent and beautifully descriptive final words on Street Hoops’ play this season:
“We still have memelord for some reason.”
- Zilly
- Goldfish
- PurpleShirt
- Desca
- Highfive
- Yomps
Average Team Ranking: 5.375
Cafe Monster tied with The Attack of the Yomies with an average team ranking of 5.375, but Cafe Monster won their head-to-head so I give them #5 spot. Indeed, their 5-0 victory against their biggest rivals in mid-Invite has been the highlight of their season so far along with an incredibly close game against The Five Dollar Club. Cafe Monster is a team filled with scarily good players with deathmatch skills that rival the very best. Highfive and Yomps have proven particularly effective; here’s Goldfish to corroborate that:
“I am extremely satisfied with our performance so far. Especially our scouts. At the beginning of the season I was bragging about them pretty hard, so seeing them perform this well even after I talked them up is very satisfying.”
Speaking of Goldfish, he has done an excellent job of taking a lot of heals but using them effectively: he is currently second only to Lansky in league-wide DPM at 328. For their first season in Invite, Cafe Monster have done excellently so far. However, their lack of upsets against top teams means that if they want to make playoffs, they will need to score wins against The Five Dollar Club and The Yomies. Even then, they might not make the cut... But they can certainly make The Five Dollar Club sweat. Here’s Goldfish again with more on his team’s goals:
“Our main goals for the rest of this season are mostly just to get better. Of course it would be nice to finish 4th but right now we're all focusing on improving rather than trying to win and beat specific teams.”
I like that attitude. If Cafe Monster continues to work hard at getting better, I believe they could be on the cusp of the top of Invite by the end of the season (much like Street Hoops in Season 16). And as for next season? If their performance so far is any indicator, the sky is the limit for Cafe Monster. To close, here’s Froyotech's B4nny with an outsider’s perspective on the season as a whole, and Cafe Monster:
“The season has been alright so far. It's always a shame to see a team die midseason, though. Every team has shown some promise and potential, and I think there is a pretty good spread of talent in invite from top to bottom, so if the rest of the teams just stick together we will have a pretty great division by next season. One team I've been particularly impressed by this season is Cafe Monster, they have a lot of great DM players who will only get better once they have more invite experience under their belts.”
- Phorofor
- Grape
- Rekuso
- Yeremy
- Freestate
- Ringo
Average Team Ranking: 5.375
Late edit: Grape is now starting in place of CJ; more on this in the next power rankings!
The Yomies have by far the most confusing record of any mid-Invite team; a series of close losses against top teams such as Ascent and Street Hoops was seriously marred by a 0-5 loss against Cafe Monster. Although CJ indicated that the result was a combination of a poor night for the Yomies, a good night for Cafe, and playing on one of their worst maps (Badlands), a 0-5 loss in particular is worrying for just about any team that aspires to make playoffs. Here’s the Yomies’ pocket CJ with more:
“We are not entirely satisfied with our performance so far. We did really well in a bunch of matches against good teams but were unable to come out with the win. These are all teams we can probably beat on the right day, we just haven't done it yet.”
For the Yomies, it is, as CJ said, turning the close losses into wins. With a dominant record from here on out, The Yomies could still have a shot at playoffs. It’s within reach for them, but with a tough rest of the season laid out before them, the Yomies will have to really step up their game. Here’s Street Hoops' own Ninjanick with some closing words:
“ Yomies have been doing really well against the top teams and I hope they stay together after this season. Even though their record isn't amazing at 4-6 they've had some really close games that could've gone either way and experience just seemed to pull through. Everyone on that team has potential and I think will only get better. Plus they have grape on backup and I miss grape :(”
- Kig
- Farnsworth
- Lunacide
- Jarrett
- Corsa
- Kev
Average Team Ranking: 7
The Grime have recently come up with the biggest upset of the season, by beating The Five Dollar Club 4-3 in over time. Although I’m inclined to chalk that victory up to The Five Dollar Club choking (they were up 3-0 at half time) more than The Grime’s improvement, there’s no doubt that their new pickup Lunacide definitely contributed, coming up with five medic picks. Regardless of why The Grime won, the result is what it is, so The Grime are now looking like they could be solidly mid-Invite (or even higher?!) next season. Although playoffs are realistically out of the picture, they’ll have the opportunity to spoil the hopes and dreams of The Attack of the Yomies and Cafe Monster. They clearly have the potential to make waves with the rest of their season: now they need to prove their upset wasn’t just a fluke. Here’s The Grime’s demoman Jarrett with more:
“ Overall I think the team wants to go at least 4-12; some striving for 5 or even 6 wins at the end. We'll continue to try to get rounds off of more established teams that we can't beat, and attempt to upset a team above us in the rankings.”
Keep in mind that I interviewed Jarrett before their upset over The Five Dollar Club… It’s clear that they’ve already succeeded at their last goal! I don’t much else to say here; it’s just a matter of The Grime gaming hard and finding a way to make some more magic!
8. hawaii beach vacation (2-8)
- Miwo
- Tooth
- Topshot
- Marmaduke
- Sezco
- Thorn
Average Team Ranking: 8
It’s been a tough first season for hawaii beach vacation, who have had trouble making an impact despite an impressive scout combo in Sezco and Thorn, and solid talent across the board. I’ll turn things over to Miwo right away for his thoughts on his team’s performance thus far:
“I am satisfied with my team's performance. Our improvement has equaled our effort almost exactly, which is far more than most teams can say.
It's sort of like when you are in your last semester of college, taking a class that is mandatory but not part of your major, and you get trashed the night before the final, then get a D but still pass the class.
Why choose to get drunk before a final? I don't know. Why choose to pay $85 to ESEA? I also don't know.”
Hawaii, at this point, needs to work hard on getting close games with The Grime, The Attack of the Yomies, and Cafe Monster. I do believe they have it in them to win at least one of those matches… They certainly have the deathmatch talent to do so, and I do approve of their decision to switch Marmaduke to demoman. Time will tell, but hawaii beach vacation, despite their record, do show great promise.
RIP: Champagne and Cocaine
I don't have much to say about Champy's death, other than to restate what B4nny said: "It's always a shame to see a team die midseason." At the very least they did get a win under their belts over hawaii beach vacation, but Muma's big goals for his team proved impossible as the season went on. Some of their players have scattered across Invite, most notably Seymour, who recently played a match for The Five Dollar Club (but is not a starter). RIP Champy, you will be missed.