OWL Power Rankings: February 5

This article is part of our OWL Power Rankings series.

1. London Spitfire (Last Week: 3)
For the second time in as many weeks, the number one spot has changed hands and now London sits atop the table as the team to beat. They earned the top spot over the Excelsior after thrashing Seoul Dynasty to the tune of a 4-0 sweep this past week. Many will level the excuse that Seoul held Ryu "ryujehong" Je-Hong out of the fray, but London swapped out plenty of players as well and it's hard to believe Ryu is the sole reason Seoul didn't take a single map. -- Travis Elliott

2. New York Excelsior (Last Week: 1)
There are two main reasons NYXL lost their top spot for us: Dallas Fuel and the match against the Shanghai Dragons. While both teams beat them 4-0, the London Spitfire showed a level of dominance against those same teams that we just simply haven't seen from NYXL. Whether this was the Spitfire taking their opponent more seriously or difference of skill will be determined this Saturday. However, NYXL dropped Oasis to Dallas Fuel. They might have been known for their versatility at EnVyUS, but recently they've been lackluster at best. For NYXL to remain #1 they need to be consistent. -- Liam Craffey

3. Seoul Dynasty (Last Week: 2)
Seoul is looking the worse for wear heading into the final week of Stage 1, dropping both of its series to the other Korean teams. In spite of that, though, the Dynasty remains one of the top 3 teams in the world today through the personnel it brings to the stage. Seoul's adaptability in a series was shown against the Outlaws, which gives it an edge almost every other team in the league. Against London and New York, though, Seoul is still struggling to find an answer. -- Noah Waltzer

4. Boston Uprising (Last Week: 5)
It's hard to tell if Boston is punching above its weight class, riding the one trick pony or if they're just outright good, but whatever the answer is the Uprising are now 5-3 and vying for a Stage 1 title match spot next week. Boston robbed the Los Angeles Valiant of the Best in the West title this past week with a 4-0 clobbering and could silence the doubters permanently with a win over the Houston Outlaws, who have been on a bit of a hot streak. -- Travis Elliott

5. Houston Outlaws (Last Week: 6)
This week was unfortunate for Houston, but the Outlaws were never gonna prove how good it actually was by beating up low tier teams forever. A tough loss to Seoul showed that the Outlaws might be competitive enough to beat some of the Korean teams in the league, but more will be revealed next week when Houston battles Boston for the title of "Best in the West." -- Noah Waltzer

6. Los Angeles Valiant (Last Week: 4)
The Valiants seemed to have lost a lost of steam this week. Being down their starting support didn't seem to affect them much early in the week. While it was a little shaky, they did beat out Fusion 4-0, displaying a great amount of coordination in the last couple maps. However, they ended up getting swept by the Uprising who mainly played one style the entire series. Maybe Benjamin "Unkoe" Chevasson is a primary shotcaller and we'll see them come back next week. For now they only deserve the #6 spot. -- Liam Craffey

7. Philadelphia Fusion (Last Week: 7)
The Fusion came crashing down after being on a high by beating the New York Excelsior last week. Their 4-0 rout at the hands of the Los Angeles Valiant effectively dashed their hopes at claiming the Best in the West title and any chances of a Stage 1 title game appearance. They turned it around by smacking around the Dallas Fuel with a 4-0 sweep of their own, however. They will get the chance to play the spoiler against the Boston Uprising next week and improve their final Stage 1 rank. -- Travis Elliott

8. Los Angeles Gladiators (Last Week: 8)
The Gladiators have slowly been losing steam across Stage 1, but they've managed to at least keep their heads above water. This week was a rough one for the Gladiators as they lost to the rising underdog Boston Uprising and even dropped an escort map to Florida Mayhem. LA doesn't lack coordination, but they have a tendency to fall apart under pressure. Boston Uprising used this weakness to their advantage with their patented "Boston Dive" composition to dive on the backline to easily divide-and-conquer the confused Gladiators. -- Christiaan Kutlik

9. San Francisco Shock (Last Week: 10)
The San Fransisco Shock took a map off of Houston before slamming the Florida Mayhem 4-0, furthering proving that they are only capable of beating teams beneath them barring some glaring mistakes by an opponent (looking at you Boston). The Shock dont have much to play for aside from pride as they take on the Gladiators and the Dynasty next week. Consider the Shock just this side of irrelevant until stars Jay "sinatraa" Won and Matthew "super" DeLisi join the team in Stage 2. -- Travis Elliott

10. Dallas Fuel (Last Week: 9)
Dallas lost both of its games again but almost displayed a glimmer of hope in its match against New York. Taking a map off of New York and putting up a tough fight on Temple of Anubis, raises an interesting question about the team given its 4-0 loss to Philadelphia. Dallas is a very streaky team at this point in which sometimes they'll have incredible moments where Timo "Taimou" Kettunen or Hyeon "EFFECT" Hwang will strike hard, and long streaks where the team just won't function. It's hard to know what's going on behind the scenes other than pure speculation but there's still nothing saving the team at this point in time. -- Steven Nguyen

11. Shanghai Dragons (Last Week: 11)
The Dragons are in a bit of a weird spot going into the final week of the season. Sure, they still have zero wins after being blown out by the New York Excelsior and London Spitfire. Despite all that, however, the Dragons have admittedly been improving ever so slightly. Chao "Undead" Fang, especially, has shown evolution in his series this week. They've taken maps off of Philadelphia Fusion and Seoul Dynasty, both extremely tough teams to fight. This alone puts them above Florida Mayhem. -- Christiaan Kutlik

12. Florida Mayhem (Last Week: 12)
When all is said and done at the end of the day, the Florida Mayhem continue to excel in disappointment and terrible performances across the board. While it was never expected to be one of the top teams in the league, its presence at the bottom became less and less of a surprise by the week. Sure, they're bringing in another player into the lineup for Stage 2, but it's doubtful that simply another player would revamp the team and turnaround its losing playstyle without a lot more work done on the team altogether. -- Steven Nguyen