Aratil posted another weekly update on the top teams on the US Tournament Realms, with last week's number one BARKSDALE CREW remaining stagnant at 2501 rating, allowing last week's third placers well then to move past them into first place. Curiously, well-known pro gamer Serennia's We Met on eHarmony, another Death Knight/ Paladin/ Warlock comp, which was fifth last week tanked to 43rd place. Interestingly, Serennia openly dissed NO LIGHTNING GEN BRAH in his blog as "not-so-surprisingly horrible," while taking a potshot at less popular Battlegroups. The players of NO LIGHTNING GEN BRAH currently hold the top spot of the 3v3 bracket on the Rampage Battlegroup and maintained status quo in the rankings on the Tournament Realms.

Of course, it's important to note that none of these rankings really matter at this point. As Serennia noted in the same blog entry, players only need their teams to be in the top 1000 to qualify for the invitational phase of the tournament. Standings right now are merely observational benchmarks and Aratil's regular updates are nothing more than that -- updates. Although the US Tournament Realms indicate a trend towards the Death Knight/ Paladin/ Warlock team comp, the European side has a fair share of Rogue/ Mage/ Priest teams. That said, the top team in Europe as of this writing is also a DK/Pally/Lock comp that wasn't in the Top 10 last week. In Korea, where teams are still working their way to crack 2000, the most popular comps are the expected RMP with the current top team being a Death Knight/ Paladin/ Hunter. Yep, it's almost the same dominant setup with a Survival Hunter instead of a Warlock.

Some players attribute the dominance of the composition in US Tournament Realms to the absence of quality RMP teams, as RMP is a known counter to it. Others blame the sheer overpoweredness of the Death Knight class and point to the glaring absence of other classes, notably former Arena powerhouses Druids and Warriors. Holy Paladins are extremely viable in Arenas, as well, leading to the current nerfs on the PTR. Whatever the case -- it can be all or none of the above and it's certain that many factors contribute to the phenomenon -- Death Knights have certainly made an impression in the current season and the ongoing tournament.

Tags: Aratil, Arena-Tournament, Arena-Tourney, Blizzard, Death-Knight-Paladin-Warlock, RMP, Rogue-Mage-Priest, Tournament-Realms

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Arena