There isn’t much more we can say about these guys, they’re as lethal and consistent as we’ve seen in NPL thus far. All four players seem to be clicking with one another at the right time, executing their mid-game rotation to set themselves up for a Top 5 almost every round. To help put it into perspective, Tempo Storm ended with a 21 point lead over second place on Sunday. The points in their lead alone, would have beat out more than half of the teams competing in the Finals. With that being said, every team has something they can improve on, and Tempo Storm is no exception. The team may disagree with this, but the biggest thing I’ve noticed is they aren’t emoting. Seriously, could we get one front flip before the end of their next sixteen kill-first place finish?
C9 rolled into Sunday’s Finals with two wins during group play, placing them second behind Ghost Gaming by one point. After their strong showing on Saturday, it appeared the team was firing on all cylinders as they snagged the first of four chicken dinners to kick off the Finals. They followed it up with a 10th, 8th, and 4th place finish to round out their NPL Royale weekend. Which left us with a familiar sight atop of the leaderboard, Tempo in first, C9 in second. Due to their 16 point win in Match 1, and the solid rounds that followed, the boys were able to bring home a cool $20,000 check.
After an incredible performance on Friday that consisted of winning two of four matches and outshining the NPL leader in Tempo Storm, a lot was expected of STK during Sunday’s finals. They had really put on a clinic during group play, but how would they do against the other 15 finalists with money on the table. Turns out, pretty well. Although they weren't among the Top 3 prize pool winners, the team showed us in moments that they’re a team who can really put it together against the heightened competition. They’re a team I know will continue to improve while challenging C9 and Tempo at the top of the NPL leaderboard.
During group play on Friday, Endemic effectively paired consistent placement with decent kill points to land themselves in a tie for second with Overconfident. Unfortunately, they lost their momentum heading into Sunday’s Finals, unable to to keep that pace! Ultimately, they finished 10th in the Finals and sit at 7th on the NPL leaderboard. Endemic is a team that I believe could surprise people, we’ve seen glimpses of their effectiveness during late game where decision making is critical. Personally, they’re a team I’ll continue to keep an eye on as they become more and more comfortable as a four man team.
After a third place finish during week three of NPL, it seemed SSG was heating up at the right time. All things considered, their week three placement, their sixth place spot in NPL, and even their performance during NA Scrims, leads me to believe that the team could make a run during the back half of NPL. We’ll get a good idea this weekend, but just looking at the numbers, it’s tough to place either SSG or Endemic above one another. They have had similar results through three weeks of NPL where the two are placed 6th and 7th. After another weekend, the two teams land next to each other on the Royale leaderboard at 10th and 11th. So, simply because SSG placed beneath them in the most recent weekend, they’re in the fifth spot on these power rankings.
Envy is the team I’m picking to come out on top during week four, and even if I’m wrong I would have to believe they'll be in the conversation. They aren’t a tough team to pick when you consider they’re sitting at fourth in the overall standings, but when I look at their results, everything is trending up. Through three weeks of standard NPL action the team has exited their weekend in a better standing than when they entered. Starting the season out in 10th place, improving to 4th in week two, and most recently placing 2nd in week three directly behind the NPL juggernaut, Tempo Storm. We’ll see how the team does as we get back to standard pro league action coming off a ‘no-show’ in the NPL Royale finals.
Why Tempt Fate flew out of the gates during week 1 of NPL with 77 points, and a first place finish. Quickly reminding everyone about how talented this team is. Among the four players, they have all the bases covered with a solid IGL, support players, and an absolute fragger. Unfortunately, this can be said about a large majority of the teams. Why Tempt Fate was unable to qualify for the NPL Royale Finals last Sunday after a somewhat poor performance during group play. Luckily, the NPL Royale has nothing to do with the main goal, which is winning Phase 1 of NPL. After three weeks of play, they currently sit at 5th with the same point total as SSG.
It’s been somewhat of a roller coaster ride for Simplicity in terms of placement this season. The team was impressive during preseason where they dominated the round robin, but apart from their two wins and third place result in week two we haven’t seen them put it all together. They currently sit at 10th in the overall rankings, but after a better showing during NPL Royale I’ve got them at number nine.
If prior to the season I was told eUnited wouldn’t place higher than seventh in three consecutive weeks, I would have never believed you. But here we are after three weeks of NPL with eUnited placing 16th in week one, 7th in week two, and most recently 13th in week three. A good sign is that they made last Sunday’s NPL Royale finals, as one of the nine pro league teams to advance from group play. They looked great through four rounds and placed fourth overall. This is a team with a ton of talent, and a team I definitely assumed would be ranking higher, but while it seems they play well during fights, they aren’t in a favorable position a lot of the time. Hopefully some adjustments have been made over the week and we’ll see some similar results to last Sunday.
Up and down accurately sums up Ghost Gaming’s season thus far. They played well during round robin, not so well during finals and the first week of NPL, played well during week two, before a complete collapse during week three placing 16th. They took first in NPL Royale group B, but couldn’t keep it going in the finals this past Sunday placing 12th. Shortly after that they announced a roster change, releasing Frolicer and plucking Shrimzy from top Contenders team, Overconfident. We’ll see what the roster change does for Ghost from here on out, I’m sure we’ll see some growing pains as well.
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