Russ' Roundup - W1 Majors Power Rankings

1. A Blockwork Orange (3-1-0-1, +2)

But Russ how could the Capaliers not be first after dominating week 1? Unlike the college football committee I don't give out style points for beating up on weakened rosters. ABO was my pre-season #1 and they looked solid in w1. They focused on pups, died 39 times less than HOH and generally played smart tagpro. It wasn't an impressive performance by any means, but you take 11 standings pts anyday of the week. Also we already knew this... but mex is really not good at O, but excellent on D. Also Messi needs to figure out how to turn some of these holds into caps in future weeks. Over 11 mins of hold and only 1 cap? Was he even trying to cap?

2. Capaliers (4-0-1-0, +21)

The most impressive team of week 1 beat up on a phreak-less FWO squad. They are probably kicking themselves for dropping that moonbase game 3. I watched it back and twice they gave up caps to win tagpros. Obviously you want to win tps, but they only last 15 seconds and it's not that hard to live for 15 secs on moonbase. danp won 8 pups that game, but didn't do much with them. I'm nit-picking though, The Capaliers have a pretty easy schedule for the first 3 weeks. I expect them to be in 1st place for awhile.

3. Secure. Contain. Prevent. (3-0-0-2, +3)

Jig is a handful to deal with on O. This team has a good roster construction (Eashy - wall, ASAP - field general, ft - quartermaster, jig - spark) although Eashy probably needs to focus on pups a bit more, but I thought he played really well and I respect the defensive mindset. This team is going to thrive if they can generate outs as easily as they did on moonbase/shake. They might struggle on slower maps that aren't as fast-paced though, but I'm not sure we even have any defensive maps in rotation this season.

4. C.R.E.A.M. (3-0-0-2, +3)

CREAM is one of the mechiest teams out there and they were always going to do well on a moonbase/milano/shake week. OMB did his thing averaging 3 caps and 2+ mins of hold per game. Button (I'm gonna play O no matter what guys) averaged 30 seconds of hold and 2.5 mins of prevent. THS outheld CRM by a good margin which is surprising. And CRM only totalled 187 returns on the night (second lowest team return total). Pchip and button I think have a similiar playstyle that they probably need more time together to figure it out.

5. The Portland Tile Blazers (2-0-0-3, -3)

Decent W1, but always disappointing to lose the week when it felt very winnable. Powerup focus was good, but some of the holds could have been a lot smarter. And the lack of focus on getting resets and playing good anti were disappointing. PTB of course has the toughest early schedule in the league btw (SCP, CRM and ABO in the first 3 weeks + CAP in w7). Onward and upward.

6. The Holy Seehawks (2-0-0-3, -3)

BoldRoller played pretty well last night and is better than a 0 TC ball. But 20 NDPs is an abomination to the tagpro gods. This was the most interesting matchup last night in my opinion and I'm curious to see what these teams look like come playoff time. CREAM is probably not going to improve a whole lot week to week. While Alpha is gonna whip bold/nameless/irony into shape by week 7.

7. Heart of the Hold (1-0-1-3, -2)

Speaking of 20 NDPs… Doris... I said in the preseason this team will sink or swim on Doris's ability to unrust and become an elite defender again. And I'm not sure I loved what I saw last night on that front. Doris seemed too eager to run O and was also less involved in winning pups than the rest of his team. This team has the talent, but they need more from Doris or maybe less (dying).

8. Rolling for Poost (2-0-2-1, -2)

#8/9 are the rankings I will get the most hate for, but I just honestly do not think either team is very good. Arbybear was taking the worst grabs ever again. This team managed to win the series despite losing literally every major stat (including cap diff). Rina and fender are explosive on O and rina has some really impressive holds, but somebody besides fly needs to win some more pups.

9. Furballers (1-2-0-2, +2)

If syn plays normally (grabs more than 1 time in 50 mins) this team probably wins the week with realtive ease. Taurus probably should stay away from ranked during the season, despite his welcoming attitude in game. This was a good showing overall in W1 for the Furballers, but I just don't know how you lose the week here despite dominating literally every major stat.

10. Fastest Way Only (0-1-0-4, -21)

Look Gamma is good and very mechy, but there was 21 players in minors drafted for higher TCs than him + a handful of players who opted out of playing minors after the majors draft. Gamma has the mechs to hang in majors, but he needs more time playing at the highest level to know what he can and can't get away with and also know how to play a more complimentary playstyle. This team can still be very good, just gotta hope the mentals don't fall apart before phreak even gets back on the tiles.