Revisiting the results last week and I noticed something rather familiar. When it came down to the semi finals, all the matches and teams that participated in them ended up being the same with one exception. FreeBurger looking to make it back to the semi finals and more, was short changed by the new Rebels roster, which many believed would be a super team out of the gate. Make no excuses, as the Rebels roster is going to be one of the multiple teams in the challenger point tournaments that will be on top, but after the tournament from last week, I think it is safe to say we have an official super team in the Winter Quarter.

Soaked? Although they are pretty decent and made up of veteran players, this team is having the same issue this quarter as it did last. It is being beat up and outlasted by a young new team. Last quarter it was Oxygen Supremacy (now Parallax Gaming), but now enter Incontrol. If you have a team from the quarter standings that feels like an underdog in every fight, but wants the chance to come out and show what they have in store for the whole Gears community to see, don’t look any further than this team. Speaking of which, you might find some shake ups in the rankings below, one being a new top dog. Let the discussion begin!

Power Rankings – Week 3 – NA Winter Quarter

1. InC – InControl (Checked In for Week 2) (+1)

Roster: Acells, HNC Precision, Exist JC, God Dazed, QG Rocky (Purpatrate)

Welcome to the throne Incontrol. The clock didn’t strike midnight and this team isn’t going to be riding home in a pumpkin anytime in the near future. Can you believe this young team cut through the competition last week like slicing a tomato? The only time they were contested throughout the tournament was against another team of young players in OneForAll. Nothing was going to stop this young roster this week, as they continued their great gun play, slick rotations, and just bullying the opposition for many rounds in a row. The heroics from Soto last week when he clutched up on Training Grounds was a good play, but Incontrol has shown that without those clutch plays, Soaked currently doesn’t know how to handle this team. Which is a scary statement to say for the rest of the teams playing when a team of veterans are officially looking lost on the battlefield against a dominant team like this. Going into this week, both teams are deadlocked for first. I expect to see Soaked either have an earlier exit this week or yet again, they will crumble against this confident and excited young squad.

Question of the Week: Although Soaked couldn’t do it last week, now we wonder if Incontrol make it back to back weeks? Usually if we see a team win back to back weeks in the Challenger tournaments, we start to see the true champion of the quarter as they start to run away with the number one seed and more. I truly believe Incontrol will come out and knock all other teams around. Yet lightning does strike and we did almost see them go out in quarter finals.

2. Rebel (Checked In for Week 3) (+2)

Roster: Krash, Sleepytime, Zerpting, ReziK, Jerppy, (Eskamani)

What a difference one week can make for a team. Although Jerppy and Zerpting were added on to this roster, that isn’t the only thing that made this team start havoc during last week’s tournament. It was also the week they got to practice with the new roster alongside coach Eskamani. This roster is the next dangerous one in the quarter finals, as the whole team is made up of veteran professionals that are all still young and ready to ball out any given round. Although they started off slow last week with the old roster, it only took a few changes and a couple of days for them to get into the semi finals. Depending on how the bracket falls into place this week, I could see a Rebels vs. InControl final. That would be extremely entertaining to watch even though Soaked did knock them out last week in 2-1 fashion.

Question of the Week: Will Rebels rise to the next challenge and punch their way into the championship game for this upcoming week? They got a roster full of star power and one that can make a great run at the tournaments in the many upcoming weeks, so will they excel or falter?

3. FreeBurger (Checked In for Week 3) (0)

Roster: Hudsonz, Eternity, Emissive, Speedy, hndles

FreeBurger played well in last weeks tournament, but was caught in the crossfire of the new Rebel roster. Now going into the second week straight with the same roster, I’m imagining this team will catch a run and make the most of it. When you got a prior champion and multiple pro veterans on your squad, you don’t go down easy and normally the team can be made in a few weeks to be a even high competitor than it was before. Expect FreeBurger to finish in the semi finals this week or higher.

Question of the Week: Two weeks together, will that be enough for the chemistry to have grown substantially enough for the FreeBurger squad to make the true push we all know they are capable of? They will eventually run into a team that is ranked higher than them on the list, so it’ll be fun to watch that battle go down.

4. Soaked (Checked In for Week 3) (-3)

Roster: VitalTheOne, ProPeLLs 24, Kryo TYB, k3soto, Aversuh

They get to the finals the second week in a row, only to fall to the top competitor in the rankings this week. That’s not the disturbing part, as it is good to have healthy competition at the top of the standings. However, one loss from viewers perspective and we see Soaked pull the trigger on Terminu5. We won’t know from an outsider perspective and can only imagine, but it seems Terminu5 was dropped as a scapegoat candidate in this latest act from Soaked. Nevertheless, the beat goes on, as they bring in a young player in Aversuh, who played for The Jackson 5 last week. So it’ll be interesting to see if this roster after having two straight weeks of almost the best success in the bracket, falters this week.

Question of the Week: Will dropping Terminu5 for Aversuh pay off? The truth of the matter is simple, if the team fails to make it to the finals this week, then we got another issue to deal with. Aversuh getting anything less than championship match this week would likely b on the chopping block if the team feels they need to make another adjustment. If so, why drop Terminu5 last week? I think there is more to this story than we can imagine, but I do sense an affect on this team from the roster change. Let’s see if they prove me wrong.

5. IDK (Checked In for Week 3) (+1)

Roster: REPSOLID, Flash Movez, Not Grump, Bloodated, Heavy Bodies

The team that keeps on breaking ice, but now needs to find a way over the next hurdle. IDK has a lot of player awareness and presence on it. They are the type of team that if you walk into a match and not take it as serious as you should, you will be ran into the ground without any hesitation. Yet this roster has shuffled players for all weeks of the tournament so far and the question of consistency and who will make this roster in the end is worth noting. Players that have been on the roster including this week looks like this: REPSOLID, Flash Movez, Not Grump, Bloodated, Heavy Bodies, Murhz, Exceedingz. They also had a roster change every week (even though last week was a player for coach swap). So with now bringing Not Grump onto the squad, we will see if this is their final transformation to get over that next step to greater success

Question of the Week: We will stick with the narrative and want to ask if IDK can make the run to get into the championship match. They’ve been consistently placing top 4 even without the same roster from week to week, so now is the time to rise above and make a statement.

6. OneForAll (Checked In for Week 3) (+2)

Roster: Scavzy, Yachtyy, FYC Flash, blastgod, Envyz4871

Young guns are back in the house and they are ready to rumble with the rest of the teams. One of the feistier teams on this list, OneForAll made an impact in last week’s tournament just by being a nuisance to most of the teams they had to plow through. Such an issue that they were the only team in the overall tournament to take a map off the champions InControl. So what happens if these two teams tangle again in the tournament? Speaking of which….

Question of the Week: OneForAll only lost to the team that took home the bread last week and is the best team in the tournament, so if they meet with them again, can they take them out? Even better, can they be on the other side of the bracket and meet them in the finals?

7. #THEGRIND (Checked In for Week 3) (0)

Roster: Advanced iP, Movemxnts, AhToMic, SickestGOW, Xelerates (TraMa Said No)

Knocked out by IDK, #THEGRIND is another team that I can’t truly put my finger on. They got players on the team that have experience, can put in the work, and truly upset a lot of the higher seeded teams week in and out. Yet like IDK, they’ve been consistently switching out rosters every week, which can lead to a roster not holding onto chemistry like you would want to have going into the long run. So like IDK, this team needs to find their steady five to take the next step or even more awkwardly, might play better with a substitute that’s in for TraMa Said No right now, and decide they are better to continue with said player.

Question of the Week: What’s the bar for this team this week? I would say they are going to make a Top 8 run, but will the constant roster switching catch up to them? That’s about all I got for this team, as it is harder to dissect a team that consistently changes their roster.

8. TEAM ROCK (Checked In For Week 3) (NR)

Roster: Nunez, Hydra Re7ro, Death VViish, Subjec7ion, Vq

From the dead comes the Pokemon loot man himself and his friend. Nunez and Re7ro at it yet again on a roster. This time, they are assisted with Death Wish, Subjection, and Vq. Just based from the skill of the trio, combined with the duo that has a ton of experience and has constantly proven the masses wrong, we should have a team that comes out and makes a strong effort into getting a Top 8 or higher position. However…

Question of the Week: Will the duo make the trio toxic? Nunez is a drill sergeant on most teams, one that wants to make his team perform at a high level whether he is right or wrong. This can lead to frustration and issues with teammates, as we saw the fall of Parallax after San Diego. So stay cool or get blown?

9. Simplicity (Checked In for Week 3) (-4)

Roster: Yogurt, Toti, Ozby Romero, Cellz, Jackal Tenebris (Victoreez)

This is a hard fall. Simplicity being a Pro League team just recently, just fell from grace last week. However, they went against champions InControl. Yet still, this team’s roster this week makes them possibly disqualified from even playing. Their coach Jackal Tenebris is a player today and Victoreez is the coach according to their roster. Jackal lives across the pond in United Kingdom, so that would be an out of region player. If Victoreez tried to play, he wouldn’t be allowed because he is a coach. So in a full circle, they would be dead in the water.

Question of the Week: If Simplicity goes into this tournament with the above statement, will any team challenge it? Jackal does travel a good bit, so maybe he is in United States? Highly doubtful, but this roster which was on the verge of something great had two players leave without warning and ever since, have been in a rut. So does it continue today?

10. The Jackson 5 (Checked In for Week 3) (-1)

Roster: Tristan Dougherty, GODPLAY5, Kyle, ClizzYClouts, Demo Beezy

Another team that had bad luck last week. You go against Simplicity outside the Round of 32. Now, they lost Aversuh, but they got Tristian in his place, which is making this team look like a familiar team from the starting of Gears 5. One that made some noise before multiple members of the team was dropped and left in the dust. So this week, does a team full of old professionals make noise in a comeback statement or do they sit on their thumbs and don’t make sound.

Question of the Week: Tempers. Tristian and Jarid, will you get heated during the game and that will be the down fall? GODPLAY5 is in the same boat as well. It’ll be up to Kyle and Clouts to not have the fortress fall.

Update: Demo Beezy was on the roster today and not Jarid. Sorry for the incorrect information.

11. Papis (Checked In for Week 3) (NR)

Roster: Pinstra, I704s, Wobb7726, Who is Peter770, elamz (Chulo CA)

On paper, this team can make your head spin with many great amateur players from Gears of War 4 and now Gears 5. Strangely enough, Chulo CA is on the sidelines as a coach this time around. So when looking at the rest of this roster, it’ll be likely up to Wobb to try and be the shot caller. All of these players got great gnasher and head down capabilities, but running into the wrong opponent at the start could make the exit early. Or even worse, signing up for the tournament and not able to play it, which has happened to this team already before.

Question of the Week: No show this week and if not, will a leader for this team come forward and direct the pack correctly as an IGL? What can we expect when the supposed leader for this team isn’t in the game this week?

12. TechniqueV2 (Checked In for Week 3) (NR)

Roster: CREA7i0N, Outsider Del, Cee Tips, Vo1kZ, OZ

Technique is back after a week of being absent and they got some new toys. Cee Tips  has found a new home for the week and one that I believe he will fit into to make the team around him better. Twinning is winning with Crea7ion and Oz, which they are as a great duo in game as they are brothers on the outside. There is only one player that needs to show up to work today and that player is….

Question of the Week: Vo1kZ. A complete menace when he is playing at the top of his game, but his consistency has been a huge issue. So does he come out with the powerful plays and stay on top of his game to help his team to victory, or will he become the exposed piece of this team? Also, will Cee Tips fall into this category since he only had limited time to get ready with the new squad?

13. PublicEnemys (Checked In for Week 3) (0)

Roster: KILLEM SZN, QG Reliant, Zizel, QG Zet, Dizect YKTV

I’m not going to throw this roster down the drain yet, but last week was an embarrassment for a team that just played in the pro league qualifier only a few weeks ago. Yes, they lost a few players from that squad, but they looked lost last week losing to a New Goons squad that was assembled as a pickup team. There is nothing lower to a player than losing to a pickup team, unless you lose to a team that substitutes in a coach, but I digress (shoutout to Vora from Mazer who is honestly a great player, but a coach?). This team needs to dig down deep and play back to who they are.

Question of the Week: One more bad week and is this team done for? Last week was completely underwhelming and if we are to see this team not falter, I think they need a better showing this week. Maybe I could be wrong and they were not even playing last week, but I want to see heart this tournament from a team that has played as a former shell of itself lately.

Update: PublicEnemys didn’t play last week and forfeit their game. So that’s why they had an early exit.

14. GorillasOD (Checked In for Week 3) (0)

Roster: Ezinagi, BU Vibah, Bouncey Moves, lI Fusion ll, Arise Optimus (Antics SSJ)

Drama alert from last week. This was the team that played with a coach substitution, wasn’t called out for it, and advanced to the next round because of it. Rip the dream to OptimumGG, as that should of been an automatic forfeit from the other team. Listen, if you go against a team in a tournament and they are not playing by the rules, you got to put them in their place. You will get smack talked, posted on the timeline, but in the end, rules are rules and the integrity of the sport relies on it. So with subbing a coach and making it further into the tournament, I can’t advance them higher or drop them this week. Show me with your full roster, not a sub.

Question of the Week: Sorry to put it on blast, but will GorillasOD try this again? They switched their coach this week to a new player, maybe one that can play this week if all goes down hill and someone can’t make it on? So yeah, take a step back and realize that you need to set your roster right to play. Carry on.

15. Grinders (Checked In for Week 3) (+1)

Roster: Br KeNz, eden montes, Distract, Zeantre, Aiplex

Grinders. A roster change for the better? We will see. Zeantre is a good player. The trio of the team that’s been together for the whole circuit so far is just trying to find the last pieces to the puzzle. This is more of a methodical team with the last installations of it, but are they pressing to be a more aggressive team now with players like Zeantre and Aiplex. It will be fascinating to see the pace the team sets this week. Crosses or chunks?

Question of the Week: What will their play style be? That’s what should be in the heads of an opponents going against them today. We are use to seeing one outlook, but now with a few new players to their roster, the whole meta of Grinders can switch in a blink of an eye. Let’s watch the fireworks fly this week.

16. #StayDeviant (Checked In for Week 3) (-1)

Roster: Abyss, BDG Vibiez, TD Poetic, Elemxntals, WP Jippery (Jippery McCloud)

You lose a match early in the tournament against a more experienced team, but haven’t stopped with working on the team for the next run. The truth of the matter currently is this, #StayDeviant when playing as a full team can make moves. This week alone, they have shown some strides, but will it be enough going into the tournament this week? On top of that, this team wouldn’t have made the rankings this week, but most the teams that would of ranked above them didn’t check into this tournament or some of the teams are brand new this week. Some of them might have a better roster, but no points to show for it.

Question of the Week: Do they get a bracket that is manageable? Starting off against a team that is better overall won’t help, but a team around their skill range, that could be the start of something that will catch fire. Play methodical, you got it. Play chaotic, your out.

Just Missed Out

Teams: Atomic eSports, Optimum GG, Lucid Gaming, Red Rockets

Omissions and Extra Information

Atomic eSports is in the tournament today, but are no showing. They are collecting some extra points just to stay in a good seed. Optimum GG doesn’t have Plucksy this week. Can they reproduce another week of growing and success? Lucid Gaming has a substitute today. Will they make work with it? Red Rockets can truly be an underdog this tournament, but also make a lot of noise. Will Pushyz make this team grow in a hurry?

5 teams in the Top 20 of the challenger standings didn’t show up today (We are Farmers, Anxiety Gaming, Fire, and Life is Good. Public Enemys is a defunct team.) This will result in them losing position to other teams that are playing.

28 teams are playing this week, but a minor dip was expected from it being Super Bowl Sunday. Which most people in North America use as an excuse to party or more commonly, get together and have some good grub and memories.

5 new teams registered this week. Mind you, a third “New Goons” has appeared. Speaking of which….

The trouble was smelled and it happened. PGL didn’t  differentiate the two teams last week and mixed up their points. OOF.

Multiple teams that are playing today, have prior pro player(s) on their team (Simplicity, FreeBurger, Rebel, The Jackson 5, #THEGRIND, Soaked, Team ROCK).

What Was Their Team Name?

With open online tournaments, we get the excitement of going against or seeing some of the most random and strange team names on the opposing side of the battlefield. These are team names that made either players head scratch, laugh, or brought a grin from ear to ear. Observe the names of the holy!

Red Rockets
What Would Floyd Do?
10in Wide Pipe
New Goons (third team with that exact name)

#CaseClosed

Good luck to the Chiefs and 49ers in the Super Bowl today. Also good luck to the 28 teams competing today in the Challenger tournament. I find it funny that the Pro League ended up making sure they got to play yesterday to avoid having to put the time into Gears on Super Bowl Sunday, but the rest of the community is playing today, as it wasn’t rescheduled. This alone could create an issue for some teams that had prior plans and couldn’t be here today for that reason. This reminds me of the first Gears 4 event, it was held on Thanksgiving. Still had a full amount of teams, but horrible planning. Nevertheless, please stopp by streams today and enjoy the Gears before you see the Super Bowl! Drop follows and likes to streams, Twitter, and anything Gears related. Till next time… #getjipped.

Posted: February 2nd, 2020 (03:00 PM EST)