CS:S Intermediate Power Rankings - Week Two


1. Crucial Connexion

Crucial Connexion maintained an undefeated record following another successful week of Intermediate matches. The team's record is a bit deceiving as both of their de_cpl_strike matches show up as 16-0 but only one of those matches was in fact a forfeit win. The other was a perfect 16-0 sweep of the Freaking Awesome Gamers. Crucial Connexion defined the word domination as the team manhandled their opponents, starting with a flawless 15-0 half on CT side. Crucial Connexion kept three of Freaking Awesome Gamers' players to three total frags or less. The team has rightfully retained first place in the power rankings.

Week 3
3:1 - Crucial Connexion vs. 1 Deagle Beagle Xpress
3:2 - Crucial Connexion vs. davemayne sucks


2. Fragstarz

Fragstarz climbed the charts to the team's highest ranking yet throughout the past two seasons. The team is 4-0 and taking into account Rounds For/Rounds Against, Fragstarz sits in third place of in CS:S-Intermediate. While two of those four wins are from forfeits, during Week Two, the team impressed with a huge 16-5 victory over Sure-Shot. Player to player, I don't think many would argue that Sure-Shot has the better known and more experienced line-up. But Fragstarz's advantage comes from the team's coherency. These players mesh extremely well together, even with a new addition to the team; ezpk. There were a few connection issues throughout this match with both teams, but even prior to that, Fragstarz had complete control of the match. This is surely one of the team's most remarkable wins as of late. With PC-Gamers Network coming up in Week 3, another 4-0 team, Fragstarz will have an opportunity to gain crucial ground in the standings early on.

Week 3
3:1 - Fragstarz vs. eXe
3:2 - Fragstarz vs. PC-Gamers Network


3. PC-Gamers Network

PC-Gamers Network's record for Week Two is nearly identical to that of Crucial Connexion's. PC-Gamers Network received a forfeit win against the now dead Devastation- team. Likewise, PC-Gamers Network demolished the Freaking Awesome Gamers 16-0 on de_cpl_strike. The only difference between these two teams is that PC-Gamers started the match on T-side of de_cpl_strike, which makes this win even more impressive. Generally, the offensive side is more difficult and one can expect the CT's to at least pick up a few rounds here and there purely based on the map layout and distance between bombsites. However, PC-Gamers were in complete control, plowing the bombsites with ease and planting the bomb on every round. PCGN has cruised through the first two weeks and have the record to prove it as well as the first place spot in the division standings.

Week 3
3:1 - PC-Gamers Network vs. Maine Event
3:2 - PC-Gamers Network vs. Fragstarz


4. soundHax

Like Fragstarz, soundHax also achieved an ESEA-career high power ranking following an undefeated Week Two performance. soundHax took to the grounds of de_cpl_strike to face off against insoMnia. From the get go, soundHax had complete control of the map. An often CT-sided map, soundHax dominated on T-side in the first half, winning eight rounds to insomNia's seven. The team kept up the pressure in the second half and cruised to a 16-9 victory. Next up was Sure-Shot and while the final score was a bit closer than in their first match, soundHax once again controlled the flow of the match. The team started off with a signficant 12-3 lead as CT's in the first half. soundHax's T-side wasn't nearly as dominant in comparison to the Week 2:1 match, but nonetheless, the team managed to pick up the necessary rounds to secure a 16-11 win. With an undefeated going into Week Three, expect this team to ride that winning momentum wave into the upcoming week.

Week 3
3:1 - soundHax vs. davemayne fucking sucks
3:2 - soundHax vs. The High Crew


5. Second Nature

Second Nature has only completed one of two de_cpl_strike matches thus far, with their match against insoMnia scheduled to be played in the coming days. However, judging by the team's match against Nigerians with Goggles, Second Nature has rightfully retained a position in the upper half of the power rankings. Second Nature began the match on the offensive side where the team scored rounds with ease. The first half flew by, with Second Nature scoring an impressive twelve rounds. Nigerians with Goggles attempted to close gap set forth by Second Nature, but that came to a halt as Second Nature picked up their remaining rounds with ease for a final 16-9 score.

Week 3
3:1 - Second Nature vs. mainLineGaming
3:2 - Second Nature vs. ZebGamers


6. eXult

The reigning champions have dropped to 2-2 and eleventh place in the Intermediate standings. eXult defeated their opponent, Maine Event, in match 2:1, but the score was later overturned and the win awarded to Maine Event. Despite the loss on their record, eXult avenged the devastating result by topping ZebGamers in overtime. The pressure was on from the start as ZebGamers took eight rounds on T-side of de_cpl_strike, a rather embarrassing half for eXult. Still, eXult managed to mount a comeback with the team's own eight-round offensive half. In the end, eXult was victorious 21-18 but as the Season 3 champions, one wouldn't expect the score to be nearly as close, which is why the team has dropped in the power rankings. Nevertheless, the team is very capable of moving back up as they take on NwG in Week Three.

Week 3
3:1 - eXult vs. Nigerians with Goggles
3:2 - eXult vs. Devastation-


7. ZebGamers

ZebGamers once again went one for two, this time on de_cpl_strike. The team's first match was against Synchronous, a team that was undefeated heading into the match. Rounds were traded back and forth between the two teams throughout regulation play until the match eventually went into overtime. It was ZebGamers that finally got a leg up as the team won their T-side overtime half 4-1 which secured the 21-19 victory. Next up was a match against eXult, which was nearly identical to the match against Synchronous except for the fact that it was eXult that took the win. Once again, the lead changed hands numerous times until eXult finally claimed victory by winning 21-18. Despite the loss, by taking the Season 3 champions into overtime proves that ZebGamers are a contender against any opponent in the division.

Week 3
3:1 - ZebGamers vs. insoMnia
3:2 - ZebGamers vs. Second Nature


8. Synchronous

Synchronous fell just short of a 4-0 start, following a 1-1 record on de_cpl_strike in Week Two. In their first strike match, Synchronous took on Maine Event. The match was about as balanced as possible, with both teams winning their defensive sides by a score of 9-6. It was Synchronous that managed to squeeze by in the end to secure the 21-19 victory. The team's second match nearly identical to the first with a final score of 21-19 and a CT-side score of 9-6 for both teams. However, Synchronous was on the other end of that score in their loss to ZebGamers. As the highest ranked 3-1 team in the standings, Synchronous is still very much a top contender this season. The team should start to pick up more wins by scores similar to their Week One match against Freaking Awesome Gamers as opposed to their close overtime scores during Week Two.

Week 3
3:1 - Synchronous vs. The High Crew
3:2 - Synchronous vs. Sure-Shot


9. davemayne sucks

Davemayne sucks, aka, NeFarious Gaming as they like to be referred to now, improved to 3-1 following an undefeated Week Two. The team advanced in the power rankings but didn't surpass teams that were 1-1 in Week Two because both of their wins were extremely close and they came against teams that have been absent from the power rankings. NeFarious' took on eXe in their first de_cpl_strike match. The scores of each half were nothing out of the ordinary - eXe won the first half as CT's by a score of 10-5. In the second half, NeFarious barely topped that by earning eleven rounds on CT for a final score of 16-14. Next up was a match against The High Crew, where NeFarious improved upon their T-side performance by earning seven rounds. While the The Crew kept the pressure up in the second half, NeFarious picked up the remaining rounds late into the second half for a 16-12 win. With two 4-0 teams coming up on their schedule (Crucial Connexion and soundHax), NeFarious will have their hands full considering the team narrowly topped eXe and The High Crew.

Week 3
3:1 - davemayne sucks vs. soundHax
3:2 - davemayne sucks vs. Crucial Connexion


10. Nigerians with Goggles

Nigerians with Goggles dropped one spot in the power rankings, following a 1-1 record on de_cpl_strike in Week Two. The team's first match against Second Nature was a rather embarrassing defeat. While starting on CT-side, NwG was only able to pick up three total rounds. There was a huge variance on NwG's scoreboard as well with zgilbert scoring seventeen frags while opt1x bottomed-out with only two. The team doubled their first half score by earning six rounds on offensive, but their efforts weren't enough as Second Nature took the match by a total of 16-9. NwG gained a place in the standings however, due to their close 16-13 win against Hugs and Kisses on account of an improved defensive side. To avoid falling off of the power rankings in the coming week, NwG will need to come out strong as they take on eXult on de_nuke.

Week 3
3:1 - Nigerians with Goggles vs. eXult
3:2 - Nigerians with Goggles vs. insoMnia


Check out the ESEA League schedule page for SourceTV information, match times, and scores throughout the week.

- Article by Heather "sapphiRe" Mumm