Whew, 20 teams in MD2L. The most we’ve ever had before is 9, so this should hopefully make for the most exciting season yet! I’ll be doing the power rankings by division to make it a little easier on myself (and also be as unbiased as possible.)
Apex Division
Power Rank 10: UMN.Gophers
Shout out to these guys who have signed up way below average mmr so that they can get competitive practice in for their school’s Dota program. Hopefully they can learn by playing in the league and they become better Dota players because of it. With that being said however, I think having the lowest average mmr as a team in the league will be hard for these guys to compete week to week. But I don’t think they care, they’re just here to have fun.
Power Rank 9: Dog-Eater
Dog-Eater or Fatloser22 should probably give himself better names. But that’s not why I put this team at power ranking 9 on this list. Most players are new to MD2L on the roster and while this team does have some value pick ups in Jey and cpA, they have their highest rated player in a support position, and that’s hard to win league games with in my experiences. They also have the second lowest mmr average in the division which doesn’t help. Wkm is a 6k position 4 player and is going to have to have tremendous impact in the early game to propel this team to wins.
Power Rank 8: Snow
Another new to MD2L min-max team, this team has 2 sub 2k players and a 2 immortal players, a carry and a support. Either the immortal support TurtleKing will need to play core or this team will have a sub 2k core player, which can be difficult to win with in my opinion. Their mid, a divine 2 player in Snow, seems more like an offlane player. Lots of questions with this team that they might not have answers to.
Power Rank 7: Plupo
The returning champs of MD2L minus staples. Can they pull an OG and win two tournaments in a row? My bet is no. Plupo went from a legend one to an Ancient 5 (I think he decided he would finally take Dota seriously) during the course of last season and this offseason, and Staples left the team so it left them with much less mmr to work with in their budget. This team also has the biggest puddles that I know of on any team and that can be abused in the draft. They do have reigning MVP Peepeepoopoo returning to the team so perhaps they can make another impressive run.
Power Rank 6: MxGuire
Another team completely new to the MD2L scene, this team has a couple 1k players teamed up with some 5kish+ players. With a little min-maxing going on, it never really seems to work out for too many teams. It also appears that some of these players will be playing unnatural roles.. the 1k players look to actually be mostly core players and the high mmr players are support players probably playing core roles. MxGuire, a 6k mid player, will have to carry them pretty hard to win games in my opinion.
Power Rank 5: AvgPeen
Will this season be the season that something finally clicks in Amp’s brain that helps him grind to 6k like he says he’s going to do at the start of every season? This team is middle of the pack when it comes to average mmr and has good distribution among their positions. Amped, AvgPeen, and Hzsound are teaming up for the second season in a row so their familiarity might help them do better than 6th place. Merci seems like a really nice pick up and a really nice person. Alpha is a 5.5k carry that should provide some stability to this team. However, I’m going to need the 3 stack of Amped, Avgpeen, and Hzsound to really step up their game compared to last season if they want to be better than middle of the pack.
Power Rank 4: TShear
TShear from what I’ve heard is one of the best captains in MD2L if not the best. He’s an amazingly positive guy and his teams are almost always top 3 in the league every season, including a strong second place finish last season. This season however might be more of a struggle for this team. Maddog and Pierce rank’s are closer to their actual skill, has made them a lot less “value,” and forcing TShear to edit their roster. Now having low legend player Epii instead of divine 3 Naratheen. Epii is a great teammate (she was my teammate last season) but she’s playing position 4 on this team instead of her natural 5 role. While I think this team will be a very solid team, I don’t think they have the pieces this season to finish top 3.
Power Rank 3: Legacy
My team has scrimmed this team twice now and they seem very impressive. They’re the highest mmr team in the entire league this season and while they don’t have a player over 4.5k, they also don’t have a player under 3.5k. They’re all approximately similar rank and they like to play fast paced coordinated Dota, which in leagues like this, is a very good recipe to win games. They’re also new to the league and it might take weeks of game planning before other teams might know what to do in the draft vs them. I suspect they’ll be in the top half of the Apex Division standings at the end of the season and has the pieces to make a deep run in the playoffs.
Power Rank 2: Matty
I’m going to throw myself in the same realm of captainship with TShear. I have now finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the last 3 seasons of MD2L, and I think I’ve learned quite a bit from last season captaining and drafting. Each season has had their struggles but I am very exciting about my team for the upcoming season. We have solid playmakers in the 2,3,4 positions and Rope and I are very consistent in the 1 and 5 roles. We have ideal mmr distribution in our roles and I think we will be a top 3 team, perhaps even the top team at the end of the season.
Power Rank 1: SickNasty
The Dream team or the Meme team? We will see. I have this team ranked first in the Apex Division overall because of several reasons. First reason is the comradery that this team has. The easy free flowing play styles that SickNasty, Tommy, Twa, and Staples have will be a force to reckon with. Each player is in their comfort roles and I believe Aro and Tommy are very value for their mmr. They are all approximately the same rank and should play at the same speed. Staples won MD2L last season so we will see if he has the same magic this season.
Trident Division
Power Rank 10: UMN.Maroon
Same story with this UMN team. They have signed up at way below average mmr so that they can get competitive practice in for their school’s Dota program. While this team is significantly higher mmr than the Gopher team, they are still way below the league average and I believe that will show up in the standings. Hopefully these guys learn and become better Dota players playing in MD2L like the Gophers.
Power Rank 9: Cloudy
How can 3 6k players be so low? Because they’re teamed up with a 2k flat player and a 70 mmr herald 2 player. It’s the ultimate min-max of a team and it could work or it could fall flat on their face. While the 3 6k players are obviously extremely talented, it’s going to be hard to have all 5 players playing at the same speed and be on the same page. Cloudy will also be playing a position that he’s not comfortable on, so it will lead UnUnDefined and JustJordan left to hard carry this team. While I think it is possible and could be a broken line up, I think it’s more likely this team really struggles to play as a team.
Power Rank 8: THE CHAZZ
While this team has pretty even mmr distribution, this team doesn’t have great mmr distribution across positions and at first glance they have 3 support players. I believe Jaspr will be trying out offlane this season and THE CHAZZ will be playing mid being a low ancient player. Jaspr is a very good field general and can help teams succeed by his presence in the game, and maybe he can do that from the offlane position instead of the usual support role he plays. Hopefully this team can play the same speed and be on the same page to find success. It’s going to be difficult to find consistent success in my opinion for this team with the highest mmr’s being in the support roles.
Power Rank 7: Corey
With immortal rank Kurwa who doesn’t play Dota a lot and previously ranked high divine Zenbino deranking to almost ancient, this team will have performances that will be very inconsistent. This team has decent players but is also very unconventional. Kurwa wanting heroes like offlane Lycan and Corey playing only a couple carries well, in addition to their mid’s best hero being Dark Willow, this team will either thrive or dive with their unconventional hero picks. While playing unusual Dota can win a cheap game or two, at some point good teams will force you to play actual Dota and that’s where I think this team will struggle.
Power Rank 6: Bluntman
My guy Bluntman has had varying success in MD2L. I know a lot of teams were scarred of him last season because of his Arc Warden among other cheese strats that they’ve ran, and I think this season will go similarly to last season. This team position-wise is awkward too, because they have 2 mid players, 2 carries, and a low mmr player playing support who also prefers the core roles. It will be interesting who will be playing what position and how comfortable they’re actually in it. Bluntman always finds a way to beat the best teams though, that’s for sure.
Power Rank 5: Jon
This team has decent mmr distribution and are all pretty similar rank with the exception of Jon, who is a value position 4 pick up in my opinion. Their safelane duo, both mid divine, will be one of the strongest in the league and their mid, TheRealSawyerGreen, is a divine 2 and will hold his own. They have their two lowest mmr players in the offlane, so if that lane can win or at least draw, they should have a pretty clear path to success. Overall this team has middle of the pack average mmr and is a stack put together last second, but I definitely think they have tools to have some success in the league.
Power Rank 4: Mossflower
While this team is min-maxing to some extent, most of the players have familiarity with each other and they have pretty good distribution of mmr across the positions. Even though his individual performances last season were exceptional, Mossflower was on the only team that didn’t make playoffs.. so he might be back with something to prove this season. We will just have to see if the difference in mmr will make a difference in their play as a team. Sauce historically has been a position 4 player but he’s been playing carry in league play enough that I think he should blend well this the other 4 teammates who were already friends. I expect this team will be very difficult to contain and they will make at least top 4 in Trident Division.
Power Rank 3: RuskDaddy
Put Rusk in the same boat with TShear and I when it comes to captaining teams. This guy puts teams top 3 almost every season, and he seems to do it with a new team every single time. He’s told me that they’ve practiced as 5 more this preseason than they did all of last season, so he’s very excited about the upcoming season. They are average when it comes to overall team mmr average and has decent distribution among positions. They’re also the other brother stack in the league with my team being the superior one ;) Crucial is always a solid offlaner and BobbyPMA seems pretty value for his rank. Jackson will be the backbone of this team and should be able to do a lot with the space that Crucial and Bobby will make.
Power Rank 2: Apache
I love this team, and it was a very hard decision not to team up with them again. Last season our team lacked leadership in game and the pick up of MattJoMan should help with that, as he appears to be a good in game shot caller and has taken over drafting. DevJ is a god gamer chess player and Apache will almost always draw or win mid, and they have very solid players in each position for their rank. Apache, DevJ, and Nance have solid familiarity with each and they have above average mmr compared to the rest of the league as a team. My only question mark on this team is Hex, who appears to play a good amount of support and isn’t a true position 1 player.
Power Rank 1: Naratheen
The villain of MD2L returns. This is mostly a meme, because Naratheen hasn’t done anything wrong. While having the second highest mmr team average in the league in addition to very solid players at every position, this team will be a very strong contender for the top spot in the Trident Division. Naratheen, Pizzajr, and Muggsy are all very true to their positions, and Blakebran and Mothman are very value for their mmr. They have pretty perfect mmr distribution and similarity. The only possible thing I can think of that could hold this team back is Naratheen being captain. I heard through the grapevine that he threw many RD2L games with some of the heroes he drafted for his team. As long as these guys get their heroes and get to play Dota, they will be a very challenging opponent for any team to face.
GLHF this season, and thanks for the read!
