Club Power Rankings [9/28/22]

Regionals light up all three boards.

September 29, 2022 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments

Each week, we’ll post an updated edition of our Power Rankings here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and help us share each week’s rankings via social media. The most up-to-date version can always be found on our permanent rankings page.

Men’s Discussion

• A trio of regional final upsets remake our top 10 this week. Seattle Sockeye once again proved to be the kings of the Northwest, crushing Vancouver Furious George before slipping past Portland Rhino Slam! to climb back into the top 5. Atlanta Chain Lightning‘s upset of Raleigh Ring of Fire in the Southeast final — only the second loss of the season for the defending national champs — speaks highly of the strength of Atlanta, earning the biggest rise of the week up to #6. Meanwhile, Austin Doublewide‘s South Central title bumps them up a couple places to #8 while dragging Denver Johnny Bravo down four spots.
• The largest regression this week belongs to Boston Dig, who couldn’t get it done in two games-to-go, falling to New York PoNY on universe point before capitulating to their neighbors to the North, Toronto GOAT. It’s a disappointing end to an otherwise promising season for Boston, who fall to #12 this week, while their Canadian foes ascend to their highwater mark of the year at #11.
• Pittsburgh Temper had fallen to new regional rivals Virginia VAult earlier in the summer, but their Nationals pedigree showed at Regionals, winning the rematch to earn the second spot out of the Mid-Atlantic and notching ahead of the Nationals new boys.
• Another first-time qualifier Madison Mad Men vanquished their longtime bugbear in ending Minneapolis Sub Zero‘s disappointing season. Madison climb three spots into the Top 20, as does Raleigh-Durham United who failed to earn a trip to San Diego, but acquitted themselves well in defeating Tennessee Tanasi.
• As was the case at the top, the Northwest also remade the back end of our Power Rankings this week. Utah Pando‘s pool play loss to Boise Sawtooth sees them drop three spots, though it was coupled with a win over Seattle Emerald City that still gave them a path in the backdoor bracket, where they played close to Furious George in the game-to-go-to-the-game-to-go. Emerald City was less successful on Sunday, suffering a bigger loss to Vancouver the round prior and then dropping the fifth-place game to Eugene Dark Star, who reenter the rankings this week at #24, just ahead of Seattle’s second team.
• Amherst Sprout drop out of the Top 25 after a tough weekend in Devens, losing a second straight Series matchup to their crosstown rivals TireBizFriz, before seeing their season come to a close at the hands of GOAT.

Mixed Discussion

• World Champions Seattle Mixtape regained their Northwest crown as well as the top spot in our Power Rankings with a convincing victory over reigning national champs BFG, though early-season struggles may doom Mixtape in terms of Nationals seeding that has traditionally hewed pretty close to the algorithm.
• Vancouver Red Flag fared decently well in their maiden Regionals bow by securing the Northwest’s third bid, though they were not quite as impressive as San Francisco Polar Bears‘ dominant run through the Southwest, seeing those two flip-flop in the middle of our Top 10.
• The biggest surprises of the weekend were undoubtedly found in the Southeast. Huntsville Space Force continued their undefeated season and are finally earning a bit more respect by climbing into the Top 10. Close on their heels are Atlanta Dirty Bird, unranked last week but immediately up to #12 thanks to a second-place Regionals finish including a win over former #8 Durham Toro. Toro may be disappointed by the loss and the subsequent five-spot drop in our rankings, though they will certainly be happier than Nashville ‘Shine, who have also been a Top 10 team at points this season but unfortunately see their season end at Regionals.
• After doing the hard work to earn a bid for their region with a strong regular season, Kansas City United once again came up short in the North Central, missing Nationals and plummeting seven spaces down to #20.
• Making their Power Rankings debut are another Southeast team, Durham Wingdings, after putting up a heck of a fight first against Space Force in pool play and then against Shine in the game-to-go-to-the-game-to-go, losing both by just a single point en route to a tied-fifth place finish in what proved to be perhaps the deepest region in the country this season.

Women’s Discussion

• Any discussions of Boston Brute Squad‘s demise may have been a bit premature, as the long-time powerhouse reclaimed their spot atop the Northeast with a win over Toronto 6ixers. It wasn’t quite enough to climb back into the Top 5, though they did inch up a couple spots to #6.
• The only other change in the Top 10 sees Portland Schwa swap spots with Seattle Riot at the back end thanks to a pair of wins over Riot in Lacey. Both sit just behind Northwest champs Vancouver Traffic.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, the glut of ranked teams in the Northeast made for some reshuffling in the middle of the pack. New York BENT proved to be the best of the rest in finishing third behind the powerhouse programs from Boston and Toronto, beating Quebec Iris twice on the weekend to make it clear; they move up four spots to #14. Those losses dropped the Canadians from their previous perch at #12, though they remain ahead of Boston Siege by dint of ending Siege’s backdoor bracket run.
• Atlanta Ozone seem to be rounding into their best form of the season in the Series, as they easily dispatched Gainesville Tabby Rosa in the Southeast game-to-go. They climb up three spots to #17 while the Floridians slip backwards.
• Despite a late start to their year that didn’t include any regular season action, Oakland LOL looked great at Southwest Regionals, pushing long-time qualifiers San Francisco Nightlock hard for the last bid to Nationals. Oakland push up to #21 as their season comes to a close almost as soon as it got started.