Week one of group stage in the Overwatch NGE Winter Premiere is in the books, and we have a pretty good idea of where these teams might end up as eight teams vie for six spots in the second stage.
The tournament will pick up once more on Jan. 10 and conclude phase 1 on Jan. 12. Remember, you can follow the tournament at WinterPremiere.com and watch live or recorded footage at Twitch.tv/Overwatch_NGE.
For now, here are the power rankings for all eight teams heading at the conclusion of the first week of the round robin group play. (Remember this is a ranking of the team's relative strength – not necessarily their records.
1. The Detroit Renegades
Looks like what I learned from the first day was spot-on: The Detroit Renegades are for real. They took their upset 2-0 victory over FaZe Clan in round one and parlayed that into a 4-0 victory by the time the week was out. More impressive is that no team has even managed to take a game off the Renegades, and day three saw them battle through adversity and comeback in several games to show that they aren't just a snowballer.
There is an old adage in the NFL: Defense wins championships. If that carries over into Overwatch, the Winter Premiere better start etching the trophy with The Detroit Renegades name on it. They've won three rounds against good teams by a score of 1-0, which means they didn't even allow the opposing team to take the first capture or payload point.
2. Immortals
I'm more skeptical about this Immortals team than I probably should be. They are also undefeated (although they've only played three games thus far, as opposed to the four played by the Renegades), and they beat Luminosity and Team Liquid, who are no pushovers. They haven't been quite as dominant, though, with both of those victories coming by a 2-1 margin. Their only 2-0 victory is against the lowly Citizen 7 who still hasn't won a game.
Regardless, we'll know more in the first game of next week: a powerhouse showdown between Immortals and The Detroit Renegades. If Immortals can pull off the upset, my skepticism will go down the drain and I'll be leading the Immortals bandwagon.
3. Luminosity
Luminosity is tough to rank. Thus far, they've beaten everyone you expect them to beat and lost to everyone to whom you expected them to lose. It's hard to get excited about a team that will never surprise you.
That being said, their record of 2-2 is good enough for third place in the standings, and I think it warrants a similar power-ranking, especially since they came as close as anyone as to taking a game off the Renegades.
4. Kungarna
Kungarna actually showed some defense yesterday, something they hadn't done throughout the whole tournament, especially not in there high-octane showdown with compLexity, which they ended up losing.
But, if Kungarna lost to compLexity, why are they ranked above them? Well, it's still early in the tournament, and Kungarna was likely one Blizzard server crash away from taking it to compLexity. Kungarna has shown improvement looked more competitive in each of their games.
5. Team Liquid
Team Liquid might very well play themselves out of this tournament if they aren't careful. Kungarna is great, offensively, but they have no business getting a 2-0 win against anyone, since their defense is essentially a wet tissue square.
That being said, Team Liquid did 2-0 FaZe Clan to respond back and they'll have a chance to better their position come next week when they face compLexity.
6. FaZe Clan
I'm sure you think I'm crazy by now, since, if Phase 1 ended today, FaZe Clan would find themselves eliminated. Well it's a good thing Phase 1 doesn't end today, isn't it?
Faze Clan has had a pretty rough schedule so far, starting off against the Renegades and facing the struggling, but talented Team Liquid. It's easy to forget that this is largely the same team that took home second place in MLG Vegas last month. I like FaZe Clan to make it into the next round – and it's a whole new season from there.
7. compLexity
Bottom line: compLexity's one win in this tournament came on the heels of a dubious and controversial server crash, and they've looked borderline dreadful since.
And they also haven't shown much improvement, relying heavily on an offense that looked nigh-unstoppable on day 1 only to sputter out when face against any team with any true talent. While I could see compLexity coming back and pushing Team Liquid into the losers circle, I don't like their long-term odds this tournament.
8. Citizen 7
Here's the thing: I'm a Platinum-ranked Roadhog main. Everyone on Citizen 7 is better at Overwatch than I could ever hope to be, but they simply don't belong in this tournament. I recognize that they've had a difficult schedule, facing the all three of the top teams at this tournament thus far, but they haven't even been close in any of their losses.
Remember how no one has taken a game off the Renegades, well the reverse is true for Citizen 7: they haven't taken a game off of anyone. They will really have to turn a corner to avoid elimination, almost certainly requiring them to win out, but they will also need a little help from other teams. I picked this before, and I'm sticking to it: Citizen 7 will be eliminated by the end of Phase 1.
