It seems like Croissant week brought a mix of close games and forfeit wins. It’s unfortunate to have three FFWs this early in the season, but hopefully teams can get things sorted out before too long and everyone will get to play each week. Until then though, I have to take FFWs into account while writing these power rankings, as well as the usual scrim/match results. As I said in my first power rankings, expect A LOT of shifting among the top this season, starting with this week. This week may be controversial, but based on how people are playing (or lack of evidence!) here we go:
1. Ginyu Force
Ginyu held strong over Quality Control this week, despite the latter team playing extremely well. Ginyu hit a groove on Croissant during scrims, managing to take many quick rounds off of skilled opponents. After playing DMS, TS, BFL, and BPM twice, the round win/loss record was a staggering 30-3. Quality Control definitely tested our resolve though, pushing us the full 60 minutes to only a 3-1 victory. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get a chance to play mTs this week, so I still can’t speak to that matchup, but Ginyu were decidedly dominant over the rest on croissant.
2. Quality Control
This may seem an odd choice, but despite losing a hard-fought match, QC had a very successful week of scrims on Croissant. They, like Ginyu, outperformed their opponents the entire week, with decisive wins over TS, BPM, GA, and others. With their 4-1 win on Lakeside pushing them into a tough week two match against Ginyu, QC have still proven themselves better than perhaps anyone expected forcing an hour long stalemate-centric match. Though they were no doubt helped by the very forgiving nature of Croissant, I expect QC to keep up the pressure to the highest in Platinum this season. The one thing standing in their way seems to be a rather hectic scrim schedule, but if they can keep up the pace, expect the performances to remain strong.
3. Menace to Society
mTs moves down a couple slots this week This is based almost entirely on the fact that they got a forfeit win in their match and I can only find 1 scrim for this week in logs. Though they played very well against KLite in their scrim I can’t really make a comparison to any other top team this last week. They definitely still belong on the list but I don’t feel like I can put them ahead of Ginyu or QC without seeing results first. They are currently tied with TS in terms of wins and match points, so we may be seeing an amazing matchup between the two on badwater next week. Next week should bring a lot of movement to the rankings, starting with mTs
4. The Syndicate
TS has had a bit of a rough preseason, changing their roster many times, but they seem to have finally gotten at least the Demoman spot locked down. Though initially tried out for engineer, Mangachu has stepped in at the last minute for Alfa, who was discovered not to have Monday night availability. The IM roamer has thus far put up better numbers for TS than anyone save b4nny, outdamaging BFL’s Enryu by almost 10,000 damage points. Also helping the team in a major way was this weeks reappearance of Ruwin on scout, though even his performance doesn’t seem to be reaching the heights of previous seasons. Syndicate still seems to lack solid direction and comms, but the fragging power is there now to lead the charge. Whether or not Ruwin stays is up in the air at this point, but if he does, and the teamwork starts to appear more, TS will start to rank up.
5. Baby Punching Marathon
BPM shifts down a couple this week, mostly just because of continuing roster issues. Puff hasn’t been making many scrims, which has definitely shown in poor performances against lower level demos. Pulse is still shootin hoops which brought GBB in on spy, and apparently Mouse couldn’t make their match either. Still, in my opinion BPM has the most potential of any Platinum team, they just need to work through some minor issues. The level of play was very high during Lakeside week, but dipped a bit this week. Their loss to mTs last week was rough, but net them an easier match this week. Expect BPM to continue their recovery and then rank up a bit more once they’re team comes together more.
6. Kimberlite Council
KLite currently leads the league in the standings, with 1 more match point than Ginyu. They’ve had a couple very close games against teams in the middle of platinum and have scraped away with wins both times. They’ve so far proven they belong higher than mid-plat but need to prove themselves against a high-plat team before they breach the upper crust. If standings are an indication they’ll get their chance to do just that next week against Ginyu Force or another top team.