Article written by: Mike "Nartouthere"
Counter Nature is happy to release our latest and final Power Rankings for the 34th season of ESEA Advanced. Season 34 has been a great time, with some wonderful stories. We're happy to prepare for the playoffs with our final Power Rankings of the season. These rankings are also available on our normal Power Rankings page.
#1 RBG Esports (13-3)
RBG Esports AKA The Astralis of Advanced. These guys put a lot of time into the game. It would be a shame if they didn't qualify for MDL.
Recently, they played Chaos in a bo3 in Winners League Playoffs. RBG played very well. They were able to take a map off of Chaos and brought it to the last map where they almost won.
RBG Esports retains their #1 position with a big win over a top 5 ranked team, ImPerium Esports. Will they get upset in first round playoffs by Savage like last season's loss to SKDC? Or, is it RBG’s time to shine? It would be a huge failure if RBG does not qualify for MDL this season. I have them qualifying but if they don’t--maybe it's time to break up the core or make a roster change? They have been together for 3 seasons now.
#2 Kinship (14-2)
Kinship finishes the season 14-2 record and the#1 seed in Advanced. In the Counter Nature Power Rankings, Kinship moves to #2 after two easy and calm wins over teef (16-4) and Addice Inc. (16-6). No sweat. Kinship benched their IGL vein and reactivated naes who was sitting out for Wolffe. Under this new lineup, they qualified for the DreamHack Open Summer 2020 North America Closed Qualifier, after beating the MDL team Levitate 2-1. They have a great shot at making MDL if they keep up their performance.
They play the last seed SKDC in Round 1 of Advanced Playoffs. They should 2-0 them but don't underestimate OCEAN and gang as they did pull off an upset on RBG last season in playoffs.
#3 Lethal Divide (12-4)
Lethal Divide are looking to right their wrongs from last season in the MDL Regulation tournament, where they fell short against AA and blood, sweat, and tears. The same core from last season look to qualify for MDL this time around. They are one of the favorites in Advanced to do so.
#4 Big Chillin (12-4)
Can Big Chillin take the next step and qualify for the MDL Regulation tournament? They were so close last season, losing 1-2 to Serac. Heaty is a better player than blackpinklisa (BPL), who was replaced by Heaty at the beginning of this season. Is he enough to get Big Chillin over the edge? We’ve seen them take maps off MDL teams in other leagues. And Big Chillin did have an impressive win over RBG this season... I say Big Chillin will be chillin against teef, 2-0.
#5 ImPerium Esports (11-5)
ImPerium Esports are a team that Coach KayJay from RBG spoke highly of during our interview. He said that if they qualified for playoffs, they would be top 5. They had a great season. My only concern from them is that they haven’t beaten a top contender this season. They will have their chance to do so against Lethal Divide in Round 1 of playoffs.
#6 Thunder Logic (11-5)
Thunder Logic had a really impressive first half of the season. The second half--not so good. In their last 5 games they went 2-3. Granted, their losses were all close and all to the top teams in Advanced (RBG 14-16, Lethal Divide 13-16, and Kinship 10-16). I am not too concerned for them coming into playoffs. They meet The Survey Corps in the first round and beat them in the regular season 16-14 on Nuke. It should have been closed out much sooner with TL up 15-9. TL’s puggy playstyle can cause troubles for their opponents. Despite their 9th seed in playoffs, they should not be underestimated.
#7 Imperium Gaming (12-4)
Imperium Gaming are coming into playoffs with the third seed. I have them a little overrated as a third seed. They are in hot form with winning 11 of their last 12 games. However, none of the top Advanced teams were on their schedule. They have not proved themselves yet but that doesn’t take away from the fact that BRANTED and fype had a great regular season. If these two play well, look out! Supernova (Ekasi Esports) have a great matchup. I have Supernova upsetting Imperium Gaming here based on seeds. We have seen flashes of greatness from Supernova, who beat Big Chillin and Lethal Divide during the regular season.
#8 Third Impact (12-4)
Third Impact are seeded 4 in playoffs and they are ranked 8 in my power rankings because their strength of schedule is weak compared to the other teams. They have not played the top teams in Advanced. They have however won 10 of their last 11 games. Their one loss was when they played with their coach. They are coming in hot. They should take a win over Addice Inc., who have looked horrible their past 7 games (2-5). Let’s see how they perform in playoffs.
#9 The Survey Corps (11-5)
This team had impressive wins over these playoff teams: ImPerium Esports, SKDC, Addice Inc., Savage, and Supernova. All their losses are pretty close. They’ll put up a fight. Thunder Logic are their first hurdle in playoffs. They almost pulled the comeback vs TL down 9-15 in the regular season on Nuke. Thunder Logic aren’t looking too good right now and it’s possible TSC can pull off the upset.
#10 Team Hyperrr (11-5)
Luckily for this team, they play FrontGG in the first round of playoffs--who they can definitely beat. However, FrontGG are no slouches either, with close losses against Big Chillin 14-16 and Third Impact 12-16. FrontGG do have an odd loss to CLG Red 20-22. FrontGG hasn't played an official match since June 16th. I don't know if they have been practicing but they could show some rust coming into this game.
Honorable Mention
Savage are not listed in my rankings but don’t sleep on them. You have two insane fraggers in SwahN and Turismo. SwahN is a former MDL player and was with Turismo as a part of the Intact team that won ESEA Advanced Finals Season 29 beating FURIA 2-1. Don’t forget valens. He is a former Pro that has a lot of experience. They can definitely upset RBG. RBG should not underestimate them.
Good luck to everyone in the playoffs!