For the sake of being able to compare my own power rankings to the captain-voted ones as done by Kimer, this season’s Power Rankings will feature 5 tiers. The placement of teams within a tier is in no particular order.
Tier 5
Cory
Amos, Melalez, Cilamo, Panther Lily, Diddi_2.0
As Cory ventured onto his Scottish journey, he managed to miss perhaps the most crucial piece of the puzzle — the one and only Bernard Humperdink. Jokes aside, This is a very underwhelming team skill wise, albeit one that is probably going to be pretty fun to be on for the players. The role setup doesn’t really make any apparent sense, with three offlaners and three support players. Still, I’m not excluding the possibility of this team pulling some upsets, as Amos continuing to play a core role, presumably mid, with Melalez safelane and Cory offlane makes for an overall decent core trio. Either way, I’d go ahead and say that on paper, this is one of the weakest teams.
Thronplunder
DNC, Frosty, Anderkent, Insidieux, Awakraise
The DNC first pick really mangled the draft position for Thron in further rounds, as Frosty and Anderkent aren’t particularly striking picks. This team will rely heavily on DNC, and while he is an amazing player, in the context of RD2L I believe he’ll struggle significantly to get something out of this team. You never know though, he might whip them into shape and they might thrive under his leadership, but I still doubt that this team has game-winning cores. Bright side, I’m sure many of the players on this team will appreciate the opportunity to learn from DNC, especially if they’re focused on doing so.
windo
Den’den, Scraggy, KillerPanda, Nonesk, ReaveR (Heaven? Neaven?)
Another underwhelming draft closes out my lowest tier. Denden+Scraggy is an unconvincing pair, especially if Scraggy is as washed up as many would have us believe. My expectation for this team is that they’ll look a bit lost in games and will underperform, but if someone does manage to take the reigns and dictate the pace of the game, they might be able to take some games.
Tier 4
Kalisdar
Cvaekt, Nibbles, The Real Roo, Laika the Astrodog, Charlie the Human
I expect that I’ll have this team lower than most, but hear me out. Cvaekt is a great mid player, but for his current playstyle to thrive, he’d need a high impact safelane player, and I don’t think Kalisdar fits that mold. Their offlane does seem quite strong, with the Fake Roo and the Real Roo presumably pairing up, but I don’t see which part of this team will win games consistently. Great bunch of names though, easily the best roster in that regard.
Muffinsan
ness, Fred, ___, Banebu, Jangri
With 4.1k Fred being this team’s second pick, one might’ve expected this team to end up worse during the draft, but I believe that ness and Muffinsan can make for a very potent pair and their supporting cast is also pretty stable. This team does depend quite heavily on Ness performing and shaking off the rust as soon as possible, but I do like this team and it seems fun. Given that they find some direction and figure things out fast, they could pull some upsets — but, again, Ness will have to step up for that to happen consistently.
BrainyGonzo
PLATY, Victoria, Holy Harry, Homeslice, Revenger
A team that I considered putting even lower, the pair of PLATY and Holy Harry convinced me to keep it here. Victoria doesn’t seem like the greatest of cores, so this team will rely heavily on their offlane, but we’ve seen PLATY take the reigns and lead teams to victory on Brewmaster and other high impact heroes. Still, as a whole, this team is still pretty underwhelming, and I predict they’ll struggle against both well-balanced teams and teams whose strength is focused in the midlane. PLATY’s the counter to safelaner reliant teams, but how many of those are there really in this season?
Lokie
Sitham, Judas, Viper, Mo0rBy, 5h1v
Lokie managed to experience the same process that I did when I drafted him last season — wanting to pick a strong midlaner, he ended up with a top tier offlaner instead. Judas is a wildcard, but Lokie’s shotcalling ability might just be able to get the best out of him, given the leash is pulled hard enough. My assumption here is that Viper will be playing a core role, which means that this team has a pretty lacking core duo, and they’ll rely heavily on Sitham and Lokie dictating the game’s pace.
Tier 3
moyoneighs
Crayon, Grapes, Innocent Bubbles, Deoksi, rekt
Moyo managed to make great use of his good placement in the pick order, grabbing a couple of good players, firstly with top tier mid Crayon and then experienced offlaner GreenBin. The worry for this team is their safelane, and perhaps they might struggle in making up for that through Crayon, whose hero pool is arguably a bit limited, which is worsened by their apparent reliance on him to win the game for the team. Still, Bubbles also seems like a decent pick, and if they can figure out how to balance their lanes, this could be a decent team overall.
haraway
Omegasaw, Snow, schuffi, Timitson, borninbronx
Haraway once again ends up with Snow, and the two of them once again end up as a tier 3 team in my rankings (won’t even have to make a new ingame team, huh?). Admittedly, Tier 3 this time around means decent teams, rather than the worst, and that’s exactly what this team is, with Omegasaw mid and the 2nd cutest pair in RD2L (after KTZ & ElNino) in Haraway and Snow in the offlane. The variable here is the new guy, schuffi, and if he performs, this team could definitely do quite well. He also has a good foundation to do so, with highly praised support player Timitson in his lane.
Rinkusaur
eXceL, harpake, MoltenKnight, Sora no, PAIERS
Rinku managed to snag what is at first glance a very strong team, with a top tier carry in Excel, good offlaner in harpake and strong supports MoltenKnight and SoraNo. The question here, once you think about this team a bit more, is what happens with the midlane. One of the farming cores in this team is going to suffer, and Excel and Harpake are going to need to make up for it heavily. Still, if those two work well together and lead their team, this could also be a pretty strong team, and I’d consider even putting them higher if this was guaranteed to be the case.
Fancy
Paju, PONPO, Darba, mitsu, noXius-
A team that I could see myself putting both higher and lower, Fancy managed to grab an amazing offlaner in Paju and a great carry in Darba. PONPO’s impact in standard RD2L seasons has been a bit underwhelming, but this is his chance to prove people wrong. Overall, this could be a pretty damn decent team, but the biggest question is just how rusty Paju and Darba might be. If they’re not, this duo can win games on their own if PONPO holds his own, and overall could turn out to be a strong team. If they are? Well. They have the entire group stage to shake off rust, right?
Tier 2
Tautology
look alive, SwagMander, Dazza, Ben, beach please
I considered putting this team lower, but between the Look Alive in mid, who has an amazing Dotabuff and — provided he lives up to expectations — could be one of the better picks this season, and the seemingly experienced Tautology, this team could do very well. Probably one of the hardest to predict teams, they also have SwagMander for the safelane, who’s managed to climb a bunch in recent times despite being quite underwhelming in RD2L, and highly praised supports in Dazza and beach please. Overall, if Look Alive and Tau are good enough, this team could end up being a contender.
Booty Lizard
Sca1ar, qsadsd (Adolf Tilter), sbx320, Bear Thrills, Lewis
I love this team. Not for the roster, but for the fact that German Linail picked German admin Sbx for German Admin+Captain Booty Lizard, but also managed to snag the, uh, fittingly named Adolf Tilter. Some things are just destined, you know? Bonus points for first picking Israeli Sca1ar. This series of happy coincidences aside, it’s a bit worrying that both of the WED admins are on the same team (shiftyeyes.png), but with captain Booty being a high MMR core, the first pick of high level 3/4 player Scalar could work out very well. If Adol-uh, qsadsd proves to be a good core player, this could be a very strong team, with Scalar shotcalling them to victory, Booty carrying, sbx doing his thing in the offlane and valuable support players Bear and Lewis following along.
Myst
Waloo, Mango, Dolemite, legitsplit, bernard humperdink
Another team which is heavily reliant on the performances of new faces in Mango, Dolemite and legitsplit, Myst’s team could end up being a very well balanced lineup, able to have decent lanes across the board. This all depends on how they set up role wise, but I believe that if Myst plays core to the standard he showed last season, alongside Waloo doing his thing, we could have a pretty decent team on our hands. Dolemite, Mango and legitsplit had decent Dotabuffs from what I remember as well, so overall it’s a nice draft.
GabePork
Severe, Astolfo, Karma, BentonNelvar, tmp
The most volatile roster on the list, as there are already rumors of Severe quitting, GabePork is a very good core player and alongside Severe (or his possible FA?) and Astolfo could make for a very good foundation for this team. Karma and Benton also seem to be quite value, leaving us with tmp, who I won’t comment on, and will instead let his blogs about Drums Morph and first item Radiance DK in bot-spam do the talking.
Fan7asy
Nsphere, Blackjack, kkm, Zuplexx, Raudichris
An interesting team to say the least, Nsphere is a very good player and Fantasy is a very dedicated mid player who has climbed a lot recently. They also have one of the better looking 4s in kkm and a seemingly valuable support in Zuplexx. This leaves Blackjack, who’s historically been underwhelming for his MMR and it’s hard to predict what role he’ll play in this team, both position wise and impact wise, considering he’s not sure himself. Still, this is a high MMR draft, and should, on paper at least, do quite well.
Tier 1
3005
Tuturu, Col. Nils Olav, Elpieee, Jim Dangle, Yung Hoe
YaBoi was fashionably late for every round of his picks, but I’ve heard rumors in the grapevine that Tuturu helped him with the rest of the draft after he picked him first, and it shows. With Tuturu being an elite mid player and NilsOlav being a very high mmr support, this team has an amazingly solid foundation, which is only built open further with value picks in Elpieee and Jim Dangle. Definitely one of the best teams — on paper, that is, since that’s an important distinction with Tuturu teams , as I learned last season. Either way, should be a contender just based on Tuturu and NilsOlav.
Madsen
Thunderdyne, ruskomsnusk, Mad Scientist, Nappa, Adoro
It might start to seem cocky that I rate my teams consistently high, but there’s always good reason. Thunderdyne is a highly experienced, versatile and therefore valuable player. My opinion on ruskom has been explored in depth in past Medium posts, but overall I still maintain that he’s an incredibly valuable pick and I’m as such very happy to get him. Mad Scientist is another experienced and versatile player, with a lot of time in competitive Dota games, and the draft is rounded out by two valuable and praised supports in Nappa and Adoro. Overall, I managed to get many people who I valued highly on my sheet (which I’ll go over publicly soon in case my process interests anyone), and between Thunderdyne and MadSci we have a lot of competitive Dota experience in the team, which in addition to the team’s overall eagerness to get going makes me highly optimistic and I do believe my team is, once again, a contender for the title.
Anstar
Boelens, kalimoo, Nyk, Cheshire Cat, Crioliix
Anstar managed to tailor a great draft around himself, getting his (and mine!) first choice pick in Boelens, which already gives this team a very stable core duo. This was followed up by Kalimoo and Nyk, who should make sure that the supporting cast of this team is very strong, with them presumably playing offlane and support respectively. This is overall just such a well-balanced team, and I expect very good things from them.
Joll
KTZ, ElNino, Low Expectations, Spicy, Dark Eagle
I’m quite confident in saying that, along with my team (obviously lol), this is the best team in the division. I say this because 2 things happened for this team that never should’ve been allowed — firstly, DNC managed to draft ElNino second pick after getting KTZ for Joll, which is already really good, as they have an huge amount of games together, but then, secondly, Pawel third pick? We’re talking about a position 4 who was arguably the deciding factor in the S14 champions winning the league, one of the most high impact 4 players in the league, and he goes third round. Incredible. Either way, this is an incredible team, balanced in all aspects and roles, and it’ll be a shocker if they don’t reach top 4 at minimum. They do have Spicy though. Eh. Might be overrating them.
Thanks for reading!
