So Avast today on stream gave what he thought were the rankings of each team in OWL going into next season, based on what information we do know about the teams so far.
(you can see the full list at the 2 hour mark in this video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/517136453)
I figured, if an actual respected(?) community figure says its not too early for power rankings, I'm giving a shot at them myself.
1. Shock: Returning all of the core players from a championship team that showed great flexibility and individual skill. With Mei apparently being a large part of the meta after the shield nerf, Rascal should be set up nicely for a run at the MVP trophy. They are set up well to deal with the stress of long-distance travel with a solid bench, although they don't have any backup support players. The only way I can see Shock not being a top team is if Viol2t or Moth break their wrists a in skateboarding accident.
2. NYXL: New York keeps most of the roster that led them to a 22-6 record and a 3rd place finish in 2019, with the exception of Meko who has been sent to Houston for what I assume must have been an incredible sum of money. In his place are Hotba coming over from the Charge and Bianca from XL2. From what little we saw of Hotba during the playoffs, I trust his Sigma enough to believe he will be a capable replacement for the team. Jjonak is still a player you can build a team around, and his consistency and ability to avoid mental boom should anchor NYXL throughout the season.
3. Reign: A strong core from 2019 with the addition of a potential superstar in Edison makes Reign a force to be reckoned with. Gator and Hawk give the team a deep and flexible tank line that should be able to adapt to any meta. Their dominance in the Stage 4 Mei-Reaper meta shows flashes of a team that on any given day have the talent to beat any other team.
4. Dragons: You take a team with some of the most talented and flexible dps players in the league and then you add Fleta to it. Sounds like a recipe for success. Losing Gamsu might hurt, but other than that I don't see any holes in the lineup. Their performance at the Shanghai Masters showmatches may not have been quite indicative of their true skill in relation to the other teams, but they did make a statement by rolling both Spark and Hunters.
5. Titans: They are as high as they are because this team has more experience than any other and every one of their players has shown at one point that they are capable of playing at the highest level. They are as low as they are because, well, Fissure. If Fissure plays like 2018 MVP candidate Fissure, they'll probably be a championship caliber team. If he implodes (again), well, there's always the ryujekong.
6. Spark: The Spark have a solid foundation with guxue being fully integrated into the mostly Korean lineup and IDK booping everyone off the map. GodsB and Bazzi seem to be a highly capable dps duo, and if Bazzi's hero pool falls out of sync with the meta, Adora can also fill the flex DPS role well.
7. Dynasty: Gesture and Profit were arguably the two best players on a championship winning team. Fits and Illicit were both good compliments to Fleta in 2019 and I don't see why things would be any different with Profit. Losing jehong is a tough break for the team, but with the addition of the typical genius wizardhyeong they should be able to find their footing fairly quickly. I don't see them having as high of a ceiling as some of the other teams, but no team with Profit could possibly miss the playoffs, right?
8. Fusion: The management of the team appears to be somewhat insane (unlucky), and Sado isn't necessarily the best main tank in the game. Other than that, Fusion seem to have made some significant upgrades in the form of Alarm and FunnyAstro. Also, they apparently decided they needed 2 all-star off tanks, which is cool, I guess. Depending on how events go, this team could finish anywhere from like 4th to 15th.
9. LA BigGeese: Space and OGE are an excellent tank line (and lhcloudy is about as good of a bench player as you could ask for), Shaz and BigGoose are one of the most accomplished and dependable support lines out there, and Mirror and Birdring are... something. If anything holds this team back, it would be the dps duo. Birdring is notoriously inconsistent and Mirror wasn't super impressive for uprising academy, being outshined by his teammates Asking and, to a lesser extent, Klaus.
10. Charge: With the additions of Neptuno and Wya, Charge can finally run the fabled 2-2-2 of Western, Chinese, and Korean players. Happy and Nero should make a great DPS duo, and Shu and Chara can be a solid if not outstanding support line. Their tanks aren't necessarily the best out there, but Rio at least never seemed to be exceptionally bad. They can be a scary team if Nero and/or Happy are able to play their best heroes.
11. Justice: As much as I want to believe in this team, I'm going to be cautious in my ranking of them. Corey and Stratus are good, I think, but I have no idea exactly how good. Same goes for the tank line, where you've got two players you signed as a package and who have played together for years... and then a big name Korean who played nearly every map for a top 5 team last season. I'm not sure if I trust Aimgod 100%, but at least this should be a much better environment than Boston.
12. FLORIDA MAYHEM BAYBEE: Heck yeah, this team should be almost average! Welcome to Sayaplayer's world, the weather is awful here. The hole in this team seems to be Kris, but he isn't awful, and its fairly easy for a team to have at least some success without perfect play from their main support. GangNamJin and Yaki are solid pickups, and they didn't lose anybody relevant from the squad that went 4-3 in stage 4.
13. Hunters: They didn't lose anybody, and they didn't gain anybody either. I guess I'm putting them below where they finished last year because the Mayhem and Justice improved so much with the end of GOATS. I have no idea what heroes they are going to play, but I do know that they'll be fun to watch. Probably. Ameng.
14. Spitfire: I don't really have much to say about Spitfire, since I've never seen most of their players actually play. Highly was ok but slightly worse than Jehong. That's about all I can say.
15. Fuel: I'm not super high on Unkoe and closer, or Note for that matter, but Decay and Doha are good pickups, and Gamsu is probably an upgrade over OGE. Mei could be an issue, since Decay didn't look great on that hero during stage 4 last season, but if the meta isn't so oppressive as to make Mei an absolute requirement, Decay is flexible enough to find a hero he'll be able to play well.
16. Outlaws: The fact that Outlaws are going from having the worst off tank in the league by a wide margin to having one of the best and I'm still projecting them to finish where they did last season speaks to how much the league has improved as a whole. Blase and Hydration are solid pickups, but one of them (or Danteh) is inevitably going to have to ride the bench unless Hydration main tank is an actual thing.
17. Eternal: Similar to how Mayhem was going into the 2019 season, Eternal have an odd mix of players centered around an incredibly mechanically talented Korean dps. This team will go as far as Sp9rk1e can take them. Until his 18th birthday on May 31, they'll probably struggle to find their rhythm. Their best hope until then is that Soon regains his mojo and plays well enough to carry and NoSmite gets back to being a top tank again.
(continued)
Discord