Id argue that due to arrows and scouts its possibly lower, the players just have a better understanding so it seems higher. Needles are at least as hard to use as the bow, and the scouts are a get out of stupid situations free card.

ESEA S30 POWER RANKINGS
WEEK 1 – FIRST GAMES PLAYED
PLAY MORE GAMES IF YOU WANT RANKS GUYS
Real talk, these rankings dont have much changed due to jank schedules and shit, but Tuesday is when I have time to do these.

#1 TEAM NOW [2-0] (saam, esper, digi, froot, earthworker, lolguy)
Team Now retains the top spot this week after only dropping 2 rounds in their first 2 games, not really a surprise nor news to anyone. That being said, the next 2 or 3 weeks will be a test as they will be playing pretty much all of the top ranked teams in that time.

#2 THEORY OF KNOWLADGE [1-0] (meatball, phone, reflecto, faust, stock, crate fab?)
They have only actually played a single match as of writing, but not much has changed in how they play or how they match up with anyone. **Was just told that Fab might be replacing crate on medic. Not really sure if this changes much at the end of the day because its just a Medic replacement, but I have a feeling calls and pushes for this team will probably be a lot more coordinated considering the upgrade in experience. Keeping them at #2 currently, but this might push them into a solid #1 spot. **

#3 EXCELLENT ADVENTIRES [1-0] (dippidy, nazara, dongus, hayes, mustard, pablo)
Another 1-0 with real tests coming in the next few weeks.

#4 DUNK MASTERS [2-0] (legit, shiny, saila, jeff, makkabeus, XBS)
The first change to the rankings as of now. I was very wrong about how these players matchup and how they play together. They have yet to really play any hard matches, but they are seemingly one of the stronger teams this season and should actually do quite well.

#5 THE TOTLINGS [0-0] (ringo, nate rivers, dylan, vaati, morsca, ???)
As of writing they have yet to play a single match for some reason. That being said, based off of the roster alone they should be top 5 in IM, possibly higher. Will look into them more after they play some games.

#6 OJAMA COUNTRY [1-0] (wish, perfection, crab_f, dev, lizar, toy)
Only a single FFW in the season for them so far, but scrims are still decent so no real reason to change much up at this point.

#7 GOBLIN ZONE [1-0] (jetz, rain, grape juice, unicorn wizard, hedge, charis)
Unsure if this team actually stepped up, or if FAINT just shit the bed but with a win over one of the strongest rosters on paper in IM this season, Goblin Zone jumps up 2 places from 9th to 7th this week. We will have to see if they are able to keep the levels of play up to a high enough standard.

#8 FAINT GAMING [1-1] (ninjax, link, june, crasian, exile, tino)
After a close 5-4 loss to the Goblins, FAINT is dropping down 4 spots, from 4th to 8th. This team is undergoing some roster changes already with spamfest stepping back and Link being picked up and put onto flank scout. We will have to see if this changes anything but currently this team is somehow less then the sum of its parts and is looking quite questionable.

#9 RHDP [1-0] (ult, cinder, ed, playmo, peniferous, mu)
Only a single game played against one of the bubble teams, the real test comes in the next couple of weeks with The Totlings, FAINT, Dunk Masters and Excellent Adventures all currently in there schedule. They will have to prove themselves to be put into playoffs.

#10 BD ENERGY [1-0] (raph, apt, SpaceCadet, aZn, jag, tsar)
Quick 4-0 on via against one of the Open move ups / IM save teams doesn’t really say much about where this team should sit, but it is possible that they will not be the playoff gatekeepers that I assumed based off of the teams that are currently there.

#11 REDEMPTION ARC [2-1] (cember, scratchh, shuckle, ekh0, tasheem, yoona)
With 3 games played we are starting to get a better look at this team. With a quick roll over a lower IM team, a closer 5-3 vs the Blacksiders and getting stomped by RHDP it shows they are above the bottom teams, but they are really unable to hang with the teams closer to playoffs or the bubble area.

#12 SPACE BUGS [1-2] (dflame, weeble, shiki, goldfish, mausy, beelthazus)
I VASTLY over estimated how well this team would do in my week 0 rankings it seems. They did take a single round off of Team Now, but they then FFL their next game and lost a round to one of the bottom IM teams. They might pick up later in the season, but they do not currently look great. Another team that seems to be worse than the sum of its parts.

#13 PANCAKE-WAFFLE RIFLE [0-2] (x3noxide, animus, Change, fygg, bowl, Tomato tom)
This team is actually a total enigma currently, with fygg, change and bowl they should be decent, if not good. But they are seemingly not. Not sure if they have team dynamic issues or something else going on but they will probably be the one team that is able to break out of the bottom 5 and move higher up, but they sit at 13th right now because they have yet to prove themselves.

#14 PORTLAND BLACKSIDERS [0-2] (chaseduck, syntax, botboy, screwb, azion, lorgon)
This team is probably going to be “The best of the rest”. I am unsure if the bottom 4 teams will be able to actually move up much considering the rosters above them, but the bottom 4 teams might actually produce some of the closest TF2 games this season.

#15 CLASSIC JELQUP [0-2] (owib, zanda, jelq, el farmo, ipaka, tuba_god)
Bottom 4 thunder dome team. Zero idea who any of these players are and zero idea if I am being memed or not.

#16 DOUBLEPLUSGOOD [0-1] (duke, lecrum, khil, prograde, arzt, osplo)
Not much to say other than thanks for the move-up to save the div. Have fun in the thunder dome of low IM.

#17 ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE [0-3] (aquila, drums, Jenkins, taiga, Lysol, sharkitect)
Sadly someone needs to sit at the bottom of the rankings and this week its these guys. It might change depending on who they play but I cant seem them getting out of the bottom 4 currently.

4 real tho

LeTs HaVe AnOtHeR wHiTeLiSt DiScUsSiOn

Nice to see that the rest of the world knows how to properly play 6s

Dont touch a chromebook, they are piles of junk that will make your life hell.

What kind of work are you doing? Are you in a program that requires a lot of tech work or is the laptop going to be used less for heavy processing and more for average note taking and projects? When I got my laptop I had to go into a heavier "gaming" style laptop because I am in a broadcast program and doing a lot of video / audio editing, but you might not require something like that if you are in a business program.

Real talk, you can't exactly call players from a team that went 3-13 with a single non FFW a "IM sandbagger".

I love how almost half of the players in the division are on that list

Zero idea, I just pulled the rosters from the roster thread/excel sheet.

Realktalk I have no idea who like 2/3rds of these players are anymore or how good or bad they are. This list comes directly out of my ass.

ESEA S30 POWER RANKINGS
WEEK 0 - BLIND GUESS

#1: TEAM NOW (saam, esper, digi, froot, earthworker, lolguy)
Currently putting this team at #1 spot in IM due to the fact that they have had a full offseason of scrims and the fact that they have multiple players that have invite experience. Not sure if they will stick at the very top once other teams get scrimming and playing matches, but they hold the top spot for the start of the season.

#2 THEORY OF KNOWLADGE (meatball, phone, reflecto, faust, stock, crate)
Very solid team that is looking really good. Not too many scrim results to go on but they should be up at the very top of the rankings due to the players and experience on this team alone.

#3 EXCELLENT ADVENTIRES (dippidy, nazara, dongus, hayes, mustard, pablo)
Another team with proven players and proven experience, should make playoffs at the end of the season, and so far early season scrims are showing decent results.

#4 FAINT GAMING (ninjax, spamfest, june, crasian, exile, tino)
Actually super hard to place this team currently, if they step up and mesh well they should take all of IM, but that remains to be seen. Made 5 hours before the deadline there are currently no scrim results to look at but everyone on the team except the returning crasian has Invite experience.

#5 DUG1 (ringo, nate rivers, dylan, vaati, morsca, ???)
Another team with possible strong players that will do well if they are able to mesh and find a med that works with them (not sure if they have one at time of writing). Scrims have been decent but have been losing to teams higher up.

#6 OJAMA COUNTRY (wish, perfection, crab_f, dev, lizar, toy)
Seem to be having good scrim results vs the teams below them in the rankings but have yet to really scrim or put numbers up against any of the higher level teams.

#7 RHDP (ult, cinder, ed, playmo, peniferous, mu)
I feel like this team could possibly be ranked higher and might upset some of the teams in the top 5 if they click and have a good season. Probably the dark horse this season due to the experience of the players and the possibility but that remains to be seen.

#8 KNUTTY KNIGHTS (raph, apt, SpaceCadet, aZn, jag, tsar)
As is tradition with jag this is going to be a solid mid IM team this season, more or less the gate keepers of IM playoffs. Teams above them should have little issues against them, but teams below will have to work against them due to the experience that this team has.

#9 GOBLIN ZONE (jetz, rain, grape juice, unicorn wizard, hedge, charis)
This team almost looks better on paper than the results show. Currently trading maps and rounds with the knights and due to the fact that they seem to be playing below what they should be able to do as a team I am placing them just outside of playoffs. If they wake up they will make playoffs.

#10 SPACE BUGS (dflame, weeble, shiki, goldfish, mausy, beelthazus)
Some really oldschool players that have all proven they can hang at the top of the game at one point in time, but they seem to be very rusty and I am unsure if they will be able to de-rust or if they are actually gunning for the top this season. They could possibly make playoffs if they shape up but that seems to be a long ways off currently.

#11 DUNK MASTERS (legit, shiny, saila, jeff, makkabeus, XBS)
Might be able to break into a playoff spot by the end of the season depending on how they play throughout the season. Might be able to take games and rounds off of higher up teams but unsure if they will be able to consistently put up results.

#12 REDEMPTION ARC (cember, scratchh, shuckle, ekh0, tasheem, yoona)
Not really sure where this team should actually fit as their scrims seem to be against random teams that don’t really show much. Putting them at 12 because I don’t have a better ranking for them currently.

#13 DOUBLEPLUSGOOD (duke, lecrum, khil, prograde, arzt, osplo)
Team has been scrimming some of the lower IM teams with decent results, but there is no indication that they will be able to really compete with the top 10 or so teams.

#14 PORTLAND BLACKSIDERS (chaseduck, syntax, botboy, screwb, azion, lorgon)
I think this is a move up team to save IM (could be totally wrong though). Either way I think they will be hanging around in the bottom of IM and will be competitive down there but I do not seem them beating many teams above #12.

#15 ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE (aquila, drums, Jenkins, taiga, Lysol, sharkitect)
(I think) another save IM/moveup team. Same as previous.

I am not ranking the last two teams PANCAKE-WAFFLE RIFLE (x3noxide, Change, Franklin, Tomato tom) and CLASSIC JELQUP (owib, vlad, ipaka, tuba_god) as neither of these teams have full rosters so I do not know want place them as of yet. My guess is they will both be in the bottom 1/4th of IM but I would love to be proven wrong.

If you have 4 paid and more than 5 people on the roster just pay a rando up for the deadline. We still technically have a week to fill rosters out

Realtalk, next season we should just remove every single map from rotation and re-vote for all of them rather than just fucking around with a single one.

Fuck it. Paid up for IM, team died 3 hours later let's see if anyone wants me.

Weebs out

Somehow convinced me to play again after a year away, and get me to pay fees only to kill the team 3 hours later.

Would recommend.