Best Horse Racing App Conclusion - Sportsbooks Canada 2021

Sexy Space Babes is the creation of BlueFishcake, and I am writing in the SSB universe with their permission.
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“Hold on- You drive like a crazy person!” I honestly thought I was gonna die as uncle Bill tore between the trees in a truck that was, honestly, almost too big for the road.
“I know!” Uncle Bill jerked the wheel hard as… I don’t know it was some fucked-up alien tank or what- whatever it was, it had a hell of a suspension, rolling over rocks and logs with barely a bump.
And just like that, we were out of the strip of woods, and back on the road. This time, across the guardrail, the ground dropped away in a steep hill.. And coming up was another checkpoint. “Hold onto something!” uncle Bill yelled as he slammed on the gas.
Some of the Shil’vati soldiers scattered; others opened fire before running for it as the truck smashed on through. One bounced off the hood before flopping to a stop in the middle of the road. The crab tank thing, on the other hand, slammed right through as well.
Well that was enough for uncle Bill. He hit the brakes, spinning the truck around and gunning it right towards the tank.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled as the tank got closer and closer. “What the hell are you-” At the last moment, uncle Bill jerked the wheel, zooming to the left of the tank. The driver must’ve been distracted; the 8-wheeled vehicle busted through the guardrail with a quick swerve and rolled down the hill.
Uncle Bill skidded to a stop, and we observed the wreck below. The chassis was badly bent, and a fuel line must've been broken or something; a fire had started.
"We should probably get going." I could imagine what would happen once the fire spread.
"Yyyyyyyup…" uncle Bill got back in the truck. I followed as the fire started to smell. Whoever was still in there was probably done for.
Uncle Bill must not’ve had time to observe, because he turned back around and drove the other way.
It was then that I saw the dashboard. The Check Engine light was on, and the gas read less than a quarter tank. More like an eighth tank.
“Dude, I think you need to get gas.”
Uncle Bill looked at his gas gauge. “No kidding. Guess I wore out the old girl.” I could almost imagine my uncle him giving his truck a pat on the hood like a horse. The image made me chuckle.
“What’s so funny?”
I explained exactly what I was imagining, and was treated to a hard breath out of uncle Bill’s nose. “Ok, now. Know where to find a gas station?”
“Ok, yeah… let’s see, that’s Misery Lane there… make a left, then a right on Poplar road, and it’ll take you to the gas station just off Ninety Seven.”
“The Gas 'n' Grill” That old place had been my first job… probably uncle Bill's first job too. We both knew exactly how to get there. And what do you know? We got to the gas station perfectly fine… except even from all the way up the street, we could see it was crawling with Shil’vati.
“Shit. Um…” I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was a bad idea.
“Hold on- see that car there?” There was a red car right on the edge of the property. I could get there from the truck.
"Yeah?"
"You ever siphoned gas before?" Uncle Bill rooted through his bag and pulled out a plastic tube.
"I- uh- uh- I mean-" truth be told? I had never done that, and uncle Bill knew it.
"Don't worry, I'll keep them away from you! Just go get the gas. Here- take this." He pulled a set of radios out of the bag. I took one.
Alright…" I grabbed the hose and the jerry can and hopped out. Uncle Bill got up in a tree with the rifle.
"Any chance of taking the shotgun?" I figured it was worth asking, but uncle Bill shook his head.
"Not near a gas station."
Well, I guess with that, I was off. I ran to the parked car fast as I could before sliding to a stop.
"Alright. Thread the tube into the gas tank." I did as the radio said- pop open the gas cover and thread the tube down. I stuck one end in my mouth and sucked.
And spat the gas back into the can soon as I could. That shit was vile! It was like… steamed carrots… but spicy. I gagged long after the gas left my mouth. With a shudder that slowly calmed back down, I sucked some more- and what do you know? It wasn't as bad the second time.
Unfortunately I heard uncle Bill on the radio. "I think you've been spotted. Hold on- I'm gonna kill two birds with one stone!" A shot rang out, and I could see soldiers taking cover and looking around.
A little while later, uncle Bill spoke up again. "Had to change position. Keep sucking, this distraction won't last forever- shit! They saw me talking on the radio! Run! Run!"
Well that did it. I bolted, mentally cringing when I heard one of the Shil'Vati yelling. With that fate awaiting me, I ran through the door, diving behind the counter… which turned out to be a bad idea. I was cornered. Looking around feverishly, I grabbed the first thing my fingers closed on- a meat cleaver. Someone upstairs must've been looking out for me.
But I couldn't celebrate for long- I heard the alien coming. Uh- where to go… I wouldn't fit under the table- perfect! I tore open the fridge, throwing out the stuff inside before climbing in, stepping over sacks of frozen fries. It was a big walk-in fridge, ok?
And not a minute too soon; the alien was in the kitchen. She- yeah, with curves and boobs like that, the masked alien was most definitely a she- reached her hand under the tables and in the fridges, obviously looking for that pesky insurgent as she said something in a singsong voice. I didn't need a magic alien translator to know she was saying something like "come out, come out, little alien!"
My heart just about stopped as I saw the hand. The alien reached in, feeling around for the light switch. It was only a matter of time till she found me.
I had an idea. Let's see… what was a nice heavy swing in here… ah! I picked up a massive sack of jalapeño poppers and swung it, smashing the soldier's arm against the wall. Fast as I could, I swung the cleaver in my other hand, cutting off the top half of her hand. Her fingers and a good chunk of the hand behind the knuckles fell, dangling by a shred of skin. The tip of her thumb fell to the floor, splattering bright blue blood everywhere.
It took a moment for the Shil'vati to start screaming, almost as if her brain needed a bit to process this. When she did start, though, she sounded surprisingly human. I could imagine the tears as I heard her crying. I felt awful. When we'd been cat-and-mousing around the kitchen, she'd been the big scary alien I had to avoid at all costs.
Now she was an injured girl, probably younger than me, screaming and crying in pain.
"Let her keep screaming," uncle Bill said on the radio. "The others'll come to help. And now you can run."
Good idea. I got the hell out of there soon as I could. Even as I GTFO'd, I could see some of the others running in to help their hurt friend. I don't know if they saw me- a few gave chase. Yeah, they saw me as I burst through the door.
"Drop to the ground," uncle Bill ordered over the radio. I did as he said, and two shots rang out. I would later come to understand that nothing but larger bullets and maybe armor piercing bullets wouldn’t get through Shil'vati body armor, but at the time, I was just mystified that the soldiers weren't dead. They were just clutching their wounds and groaning. I figured uncle Bill had aimed to leave them alive. How nice of him. A few more shots rang out as I crawled away to the car.
"Just… fuckin' keep shooting while I get the rest of the gas!" I yelled into the radio. And that I did. I gritted my teeth, ignored the taste of the gas, the moaning of the Shil'vati soldiers, and my heart racing, and, well, slowly but surely, I got it! Soon there was a decent amount of gasoline in the can.
When I got back to the truck, I went to fill the tank straight away. Little as the tank read, it wasn't going anywhere else otherwise.
"Do you know what you did?" Uncle Bill asked, making me jump a little. Where'd he come from?
"What did I do?" I asked as I braced myself for a "don't get yourself backed into a corner like that" speech.
"You pulled off a decent bit of thinking on your feet and got yourself out of trouble."
Did I? I suppose I did.
"That's gonna come in handy if we ever have to fight the aliens. The- uh- what're they called? Shil'vati?"
"Yeah." I poured in the rest of the gas. "But you helped me out a bunch."
"Suppose I did. But don't you ever let yourself get cornered like that again, ok? That's how your dad died."
I dropped the jerry can. Uncle Bill had been… let's see… my dad's older brother's best friend growing up. He'd also been the first to let mom and I know about the guys cornering dad in an alley and beating him to with an inch of his life. He wound up dying in the ICU.
With that delightful thought, we got back in the truck and drove off.
"There's a bunch of cabins all through the woods," uncle Bill explained as we pulled off the road and made our way into the woods. "Some of these places are really elaborate, too. Generators, sheds with 4-wheelers…"
I wasn't listening. My mind kept going back to the soldier I'd mutilated. "Can we pull over real quick? I think I'm gonna throw up."
Uncle Bill pulled to a stop and I stumbled out. Soon as my head was out the door it came loose, the vomit stream narrowly missing the truck. I hadn't had anything to eat today, so after the first few splatters I just dry heaved.
Then I felt a hand on my back. "It doesn't really get easier."
Well that was a relief.
"You just get numb to it." Uncle Bill sat me down.
Well that was a relief.
"I can't stop just… fuck… when I was in that fridge, she was just some alien soldier I had to fight off… but then I felt guilty, like I saw her as a person. God, I don't know what to think anymore." I could feel the nausea again.
"Hold onto that feeling," uncle Bill said. "Feeling guilty means you're still human. But there's no use worrying either. What's done is done. All the guilt in the world won't bring back the dead." Something about the way he was saying all this made me think he still regretted some of the things he did.
"But right now we just have to concentrate on staying alive- hold on. You hear that?"
I didn't hear anything. Was I going deaf or something?
"I think they followed us into the woods."
Captain Rishi was not having a good day. All morning, she and her troops had been dealing with insurgents, with, admittedly, poor results. First, there had been an incident with an old man and a boy. From what she'd seen, private Creyxh'd had her arm pulled into their vehicle, then the window had closed on her. That little incident had left her where she was now, explaining why insurgents now had Shil'vati weapons.
"From what we're hearing, Captain Rishi, those under your command are unable to deal with two insurgents?" General Vreeh, and most of the high command, had expected this to be an easy conquest.
"No, it's not-" Rishi was fucked, and she knew it.
"Not even females! Males! For the Empress's sake! Males! An elderly male and one who's barely of age! Captain Rishi, if you are unable to deal with two males, perhaps you'd be better off somewhere else. The Icebox, perhaps? Or-"
"We're dealing with them as we speak!" Rishi elected not to mention the incident at the fueling station until later. The same two insurgents had stolen a container of the explosive liquid the people of this world used as fuel- and left half a bomb squad in the hospital in the process. One had even had her hand so badly mutilated the rest of the thing had to be amputated and fitted for cybernetics. Captain Rishi was not looking forward to explaining to the girl's parents why their baby was now missing her right hand.
"We're chasing them into the forest," Captain Rishi explained. "We've sourced a few Reex handlers." The reex was a useful animal with a hell of a nose. They'd sniff out the insurgents.
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Hello, friends. It’s me again. Eli. Been a while. I’ve been avoiding typing this out because at first I really didn’t want to talk about what happened, but I have now convinced myself that telling all of you might be therapeutic.
Sort of convinced myself, anyway. I won’t lie; I did stop and question my choices about four times when writing just those first two paragraphs. I think I’ve made it over the hump now, though. Too late to go back – I’m just gonna fucking write it, and then I can share it if I feel like it. Right? Right.
Well, let me lay it out on the table then: between my last post and this one, I almost died. Like, more than usual. I mean, I was bleeding and fading in and out of consciousness for several days. Maybe a week. I don’t really remember, to be honest. It’s all kind of a haze. I definitely hallucinated; I remember visions of my family dancing with some Brents and a pineapple king. Nine out of ten medical experts didn’t think I’d make it. (That’s a joke. All ten of ten medical experts have been dead for months).
Also, but just as I was coming out of it, then it was Christmas, and that was an interesting experience too. You know how there are monsters of lore that come out during the holidays, like Krampus or the Yule Cat? Yeah, we don’t have those – because God forbid we have a monster I’ve heard of before, that I could actually look up information about – but it turns out there is a monster around here that likes Christmas. Made its first appearance last week right as I was conscious again and made my headaches start all over. But more on that later. Today I’m talking about how close I seriously came to dying in the past few weeks.
And why did I almost die when I have such a carefully curated list of rules? Because I’m a fucking idiot and decided to forget all about Rule #5. And why did I forget about Rule #5? Because I was too focused on finding that girl.
I suppose I may as well go ahead and tell you what Rule #5 is, because it’s not very exciting. Not all my rules are. Some don’t deal with specific monsters; instead, they’re general guidelines for surviving in this hellscape, and though boring, they’re helpful advice against several varieties of monster, not just one. They’re the glue holding my more species-specific rules together, if you will.
Rule #5: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
I made that rule pretty early on, to prevent myself from having false hope. Between Ashleys and MJs and other deception-based monsters (though they didn’t all have names at the time), I figured a base rule for not trusting everything good I come across was in order. I believe I made it an official rule after another close call with an Ashley, followed by an encounter with the creature behind Rule #3. I’ll get to Rule #3 another time, by the way, so hold your horses. Today’s star is Rule #5, whether you like it or not.
Unfortunately, like the idiot I am, I forgot all about Rule #5 in my pursuit of the girl. Did she seem too good to be true? (Yes). Yet did I pour all my energy and heart into finding her? (Also yes). So am I a dumbass who can’t follow my own rules and almost died as a result? (Jury’s verdict: yes).
Let me explain.
See, she left me that riddle. After several suggestions and a lot of struggling thought of my own, I came to the conclusion that the most likely answer was echo. That wasn’t super helpful though, because it left the question of where echo was supposed to lead me.
So I then spent days walking around the part of the city she’d left her clues in, desperately scouring for anything that might relate to echo. I also combed the internet looking for answers; that took another day by itself, since my connection is so goddamn slow.
Ultimately, my best bet turned out to be a concert hall about three-quarters of a mile away from where I’d seen her. Old Google reviews mentioned its acoustics and the lovely echoing quality of the music performed there. It was a stretch, but it was the closest link I could find.
I went there about a week after my last post. That’s about two weeks ago, for those following along at home. And yes, I was prepared – or at least I thought I was. I ran through my rules in my head, making sure I had everything I needed both mentally and materially (though conveniently hurrying past Rule #5, apparently).
Once I had my lasers, voice recorder, knife, pistol, lighter, two Molotov cocktails, and of course, Mr. Bailey, we headed out. Everything was pretty quiet on the way to the concert hall, actually, and I made it there without incident. Maybe that should have seemed suspicious, but it’s not like it’s unheard of to get lucky and avoid monsters every once in a while, so I was really just grateful that I seemed to be having a stroke of luck, and hoped that it would hold.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Things only went downhill from there.
I stood outside the concert hall for a minute, Mr. B chirping on my shoulder. After a few deep breaths and a glance down at her note one more time – shockingly, there was nothing new written there – I stuffed the paper in my pocket and walked forward.
Steps led me up to the entrance, which consisted of a long row of glass doors. Instinctively, I pulled out my knife and gripped it tightly as I crept closer. It was still daylight, so you’d think I’d be able to see in through the glass, but the interior was completely dark, so all I really saw was glare from the sun. I didn’t like having such little visibility for what I was about to walk into. I may not have a formal rule for it, but a good general tip is not to enter somewhere blind. And here I was, about to do exactly that.
I hesitated, and man, I wish I’d turned back then. This was a high risk, high reward operation, after all: I could be rewarded with meeting the girl and befriending her, but I was risking entering a place that might be a hotbed of monsters, or being led into a trap, or guessing wrong on her riddle and exposing myself to monsters in an unfamiliar part of town for no real reason. If I’d been thinking of Rule #5, it would have occurred to my idiot self that the reward part was probably too good to be true. But as has been established, 1) I am a dumbass, and 2) I was too hopeful, and with my high hopes, I got careless.
So I went in, obviously. Mr. B dug his claws in as I pushed open one of the glass doors, stepping into a shadowy entrance hall where the only dim light came from slanted sunbeams behind me.
The foyer was empty, thank God. My footsteps echoed around the hall, which I guess was a good sign, since I was looking for echo, after all. Mr. B chirped again as I continued forward past an abandoned concession stand to the next set of doors, these ones wooden. Remarkably, most of them were still standing and unharmed; I only saw two that had been shredded to splinters and were hanging off their hinges. Maybe that meant monsters hadn’t been here much. A guy can hope.
Still holding my knife in front of me in my left hand, I reached out and pushed one of the intact doors open with my right. It swung easily, revealing a cavern of darkness. I cursed and pulled out my flashlight. I’d been hoping I could avoid drawing attention to myself with a light, but the hall was basically a black hole – and complete darkness was way more dangerous than showing my position but being able to see. If there were monsters here, they’d probably hear me regardless, to be honest.
I switched on the light and saw a carpeted aisle gently sloping down ahead of me. Rows of seats lined it on either side; the seats may have once been plushy and well-kept, but now they were coated in dust. Cautiously, I started down the aisle, feeling Mr. Bailey’s tail flick nervously against my neck. I didn’t blame him. I was nervous too.
Once I was close to the front, I could see more of the stage. It was impressive, if you’re into that sort of thing. Before all this, I would have said I’d be the last person to be caught dead in a concert hall, but here we were, and I wasn’t dead (yet). And honestly, I could kind of see the appeal. The stage was dusty like the seats, but still managed to portray a sense of majesty. The curtains hanging off to the sides were a deep purple with gold trim. It must have been nice, back before all hell broke loose.
I hadn’t seen anything helpful yet, so I figured I’d get up on stage. At the very least, I’d be able to shine my flashlight into the different sections of seats and maybe up into the balcony. See anything there was to see, you know. The carpeted aisle had muffled my footsteps, but as soon as I pulled myself up onto the stage (who has time to look for stairs?) that was all over. Every step was magnified tenfold, echoing around the entire hall. I’m sure you could hear my steps, even in the dust, up in the farthest seat in the balcony. Well, if this place was the correct answer for echo, it was certainly well-deserved.
This is where it all goes to hell. Strap in, motherfuckers.
I made my way front and center on the stage, and just as I began to shine my flashlight into the audience, I was blinded; a gigantic spotlight turned on, aimed directly at me. It was so sudden and so bright that I cursed and dropped the flashlight, using that hand to cover my eyes instead. Blindly, I stumbled back to escape its glare; it followed. My heart was racing a mile a minute, both because of the shock and because I’d realized that if the spotlight was following me, someone was controlling it.
Thankfully, it only took a minute for my eyes to adjust, but if you’ve ever been in a spotlight, you probably already know what I discovered then: with the light on you, and with the audience dark, it’s fucking impossible to make out anything in detail beyond the stage. This was alarming, since I now could see even less than I’d been able to with the meager flashlight, especially with my eyes adjusted to the damn spotlight and not to the darkness.
I considered calling out, but I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that calling “Hello?” is, at best, useless, and at worst, fatal. So I stood there, silent except for Mr. B’s swishing tail, waiting for something to happen.
I didn’t have to wait long. Suddenly another spotlight turned on, only this one was aimed up to the balcony. And in the circle of light was none other than the girl I’d been pursuing. My heart skipped a beat for a different reason, and for the first time, I started to feel a little more confident that this was the right decision, and that it was safe.
Big mistake.
“You figured out my riddle,” she called from the balcony. She was too far for me to make out many details, but by squinting I could see that she had brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and that she was wearing glasses.
“I appreciate the challenge, but was it really necessary? I’ve got other things to think about besides difficult riddles. Like, you know, surviving,” I yelled back.
“You thought it was difficult?” came her response. I could practically hear the smugness in her voice.
Well, I wasn’t giving in that easily. “No, I just wanted to make you feel good about yourself,” I called. Mr. B growled on my shoulder, and out of the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw something move. But I, stupidly, ignored both these things.
“Oh, right, obviously,” she answered. There was a pause, and then she added, “I’m so glad you made it here!”
Before I could reply, all of the house lights simultaneously turned on. And, well, it wasn’t pretty. I shit you not, the audience was full of monsters. All those dusty seats that had been empty on my walk up here weren’t empty anymore. Not even close. Where the hell had they all come from? Had they been hidden somehow before? Had she hidden them somehow?
Thankfully, even as my heart panicked, my body and brain more or less knew what to do. A quick scan revealed no Ashleys (there was no food here, so not surprising) and no MJs (also not surprising, since they’re really one-on-one type fellas). Didn’t really see Dylans either, which made sense – they don’t generally come inside, and it wasn’t night outside, so they were probably hibernating in their caves or something. To be safe, though, I reached in my pocket and turned on my voice recorder, allowing “blueberry” to echo repeatedly through the hall. It looked mostly like Calebs and Brents; at least they’re dumb, but I’d still need a hell of a lot of brute force to make it out of this. I’d never faced this many of either at once before, and they were all staring. Right. At. Me.
Keeping my knife pointed towards the crowd, I yelled over my recording up to the girl. “This was a trap!” I called, and even I could hear the anger clear in my voice. “What are you? Are you even human? Whatever you are, you’re a bitch.”
I glanced only briefly up at her, maintaining my gaze on the monster horde so I wouldn’t miss a move they made. So far, they hadn’t moved, which made me fear that they were waiting on a signal from – her, maybe? She must have set me up. A long con to betray and kill me, if you will. Was she a new kind of monster I hadn’t met before? Was she their leader?
“I am human, I swear!” she called back, sounding almost like was about to cry. “I swear I didn’t –”
And that’s all she got out before all of the lights went out. Yes, all of them: both the spotlights and the house lights. We were plunged into complete darkness, except for the single weak beam from my flashlight, which illuminated flashes of fur and skin and claws as the monsters simultaneously raced towards me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK,” I screeched, tripping over my own feet as I hurried backwards. Fumbling in the dark, I reached into my pockets and managed to find my lighter and one of the cocktails. Unfortunately, I only have two hands, so I had to hold the knife between my legs as I rapidly tried to ignite the cocktail without seeing it. The lighter flicked on, and by the glow of the flame, I could see both the rag (good) and the monsters, who were almost at the stage (bad). Frantically, I managed to set the rag on fire, and as soon as it caught, I flung it into the horde. Then I ran.
From behind me, I heard the explosion and the screeches of monsters – mostly Brents, probably – as it killed at least a few of them. Not that was as helpful as I wanted it to be.
I was holding the knife again now, the lighter in my other hand, but I didn’t have enough of a lead to stop and ignite the other Molotov cocktail, or to try my hand at lasers. For now, I just had to run. The lighter provided just enough visibility to not trip and kill myself as I raced backstage, shrieks and growls getting closer and closer behind me. Mr. B was on my shoulder, facing backwards and hissing, and while I appreciated his efforts, I’m pretty sure they were doing very little to deter our pursuers.
I guess there’s some mercy left in the world, because I came across a ladder. I was running out of backstage space as monsters swarmed closer from all sides (I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them), so without a second thought I climbed it as fast as I could. Thankfully, it led to – I believe it’s called a catwalk, I looked up it afterwards. You know, like a suspended platform above the stage where all the lights hang from. I ended up standing on that.
Apparently, Calebs and Brents weren’t used to ladders, because I had a blessed few seconds up there alone. I used them to ignite the second cocktail and throw it into the monster horde; seconds later, I could see the explosion as it tore apart several Brents. Nice. At least if I went down – and it sure seemed likely I would – I’d go down swinging.
I would have tried lasers, but I couldn’t see the Calebs’ eyeholes, and besides, there were way too many of them. And, as they figured out the ladder and eagerly began to climb up it, there was nowhere else to go. It was too high to jump safely, and even if I tried, I could hear the Calebs and Brents down below, waiting for me if I chose that option.
No way out. I cursed myself for being such an idiot and ignoring Rule #5 – because suddenly Rule #5 was very clear in my head – and said to Mr. B, “I love you, bud. Let’s go out fighting, huh?” He meowed in response.
So I fought. Armed with my knife, a pistol, and a cat, I fought. I held off the first few with only a few scratches and swipes, but then I ran out of bullets, and more of them had made it to the catwalk. I got bitten several times; claws were raked down my back, across my face, across my chest. I honestly don’t remember the details, but I know it was rough, based on the injuries afterwards.
I could hear shrieks and explosions below at that point, as if someone was fighting the monsters down on the stage too, but I didn’t have time to look. And soon it was too late; the monsters had overwhelmed me, I was spitting blood and barely conscious, and I’d run out of catwalk. As I swung the knife one last feeble time, a Caleb lunged at me, and I slipped backwards in a pool of my own blood, falling, falling, falling down to the stage, where I remember my head hitting the wood with a heavy thud (and yes it echoed) before I was completely unconscious.
(Man, fuck that Caleb. I mean, fuck all Calebs, but fuck that one in particular. That one that made me fall off the catwalk might actually be worse than original Caleb....on second thought, nah. He’s still the worst. Fuck Caleb the most.)
I really don’t know exactly what happened for the week after that. I remember flashes of someone carrying me down the street, but not a person; someone big, because I was far off the ground. Like Hagrid carrying Harry.
Then I was home, in and out of consciousness for days, in a haze and in a lot of pain. Most of my body was wrapped in bandages by someone. I think I was fed, too, because I remember soup. It’s all a weird blur of reality and dreams and agony. I’m still getting headaches and dizzy spells; I assume it was a concussion. Pretty serious blood loss, too, and a broken arm. Honestly, I’m probably lucky it wasn’t worse, all things considered.
But here’s the kicker: I wouldn’t be alive if the mystery person hadn’t gotten me out of there and into my home, if they hadn’t watched over me and cared for me and bandaged my wounds and even put my arm in a shitty makeshift sling. I would definitely have died on that stage, either from bleeding out or from becoming monster food. And I’m pretty sure the mystery person is, in fact, the girl I thought lured me into a fatal trap.
Why? Because when I finally woke up for good, I found a note left on the table. Once my head stopped swimming, I read it.
I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen; it wasn’t a trap. I realize it looks like that, and I don’t know how to show you otherwise. But I did what I could, and you should be okay now, though I can’t do anything about the scars. Best of luck to you and the cat.
P.S. If you ever decide to give me another chance, no riddles this time. You can find me in the bookstore on Sycamore Street.
P.P.S. My name is Zoe.
So, before you ask, no, I don’t know what to believe. It sure seems like she led me to a trap to kill me, but then why did she make sure I didn’t die? Is this all a multi-level trick? Or did she get ambushed by the monsters as much as I did? I just don’t know, and all the thinking in circles I’ve done about it has only made my head hurt worse.
I have no idea yet if I’m gonna go to that bookstore. It took me this long to even want to write about my first failed venture. And then things went to shit all over again at Christmas. At least I know her name, I guess. Though was it worth it? Who the fuck knows.
Anyway, I’m alive. And I sure as shit won’t be ignoring Rule #5 anymore. It seemed too good to be true, and whether it was intentional on her part or not, it was. Too good to be true, that is. So I think I’m retired from chasing her, at least for now. At least until my fucking arm can move again and words don’t swim on the page after writing for an hour. I do have long scars on my back and across my face that likely won’t ever go away.
But hey, I’m alive. And so is Mr. B. (I know he’s who you’re really worried about). I don’t think he fell with me; he probably snuck out between the monsters’ legs or something. But he was here purring on my lap when I woke up, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So cheers to me surviving despite my idiocy, and cheers to Mr. Bailey. I changed my mind about concert halls, though. You know how I said I could see the appeal? Yeah, fuck that. I’m never going back in one of those godforsaken places again .

A gay was born in a brahmin family. My sister would dress me up as a girl and would show off her makeup skills to the neighborhood. I was a 3 year old so no one cared. Fast-forward to eight grade one of my friends from school comes to my house and asks me, "You know what they say about you right?" I knew what he was talking about but not exactly. Next day I go to my Sanskrit class and I hear some guys call me napunsak (impotent, neuter) apparently my Sanskrit teacher has used me as an example for napunsakling the third gender in Sanskrit which is used to refer to inanimate objects and also means no sex. I was a nerd and I would much rather read about Newton's law and Trigonometry rather than pay attention to the buffoons in my class. I did start imitating the so called masculine boys in my class and started to act like them, at one point I even tried to deepen my voice which was immediately noticed by everyone and made fun of and I regretted my decision.
Fast-forward to 17 years old I get into my dream college (IITs) and after all the stress of cracking the engineering exam like any other kid in India I had more time to think about myself. Everyone around me was trying their luck with romance and unfortunately the only romance I was having was with Johnny Sins. Why *Johnny Sins and not Tim Kruger like it is now? Well watching gay porn was such a blasphemy in my head. I did open up a little bit in years to come where i would retain my "straightness" by watching three straight porn after watching one gay porn. At this point I still believe I am the only gay person in India who hails from a background like me because I am yet to see any lgbtq person in real life from India. Mind you watching gay porn was a whole process of making sure no one sees me since being gay was illegal and you could have served a sentence of upto 10 years!! Come 4th year or senior year I find out about Grindr so you can imagine my surprise when I find out there are at least 15-20 people in 10 mile radius around me on this app. I sleep with a military guy, "Wohoo!!" I think but he was terrible at sex. I meet another guy whom I would go and cuddle with at exactly 1 am in the morning and come back to my dorm room by 3 am and we would discuss the what ifs.. which would generally end up with us being dead. He wouldn't acknowledge me outside of those two hours and it would hurt but it was what it was and it was better than nothing. I joined a secret lgbt group on facebook but it was filled with sad stories and I didn't want a life like that for myself and so I decided to tell my father.
I wrote a letter to my father since coming out to him by looking into his eyes was straight out of my nightmare. I waited anxiously in the other room for hours before he came to me and said lets go for a walk...
He asks me why do I feel like this and tells me what I feel like isn't real, mind you I didn't tell him I have slept around at this point as sex is such a taboo in India, we talk about the cons of such a life including HIV, not being a part of the family and how I might possibly give my mother a heart attack. He comes to the conclusion internet is the reason of why I think I am gay. He asks me to not use internet too much but I knew that wouldn't do horse shit. So I tell my sister on phone and she just acts like I didn't give her a heart attack and instead says ohh how was it? I get tested for HIV because my father told me gay equates to having HIV and I had unprotected sex with the military dude. I felt like a real slut getting tested back in India because the people who were testing me kept smiling at me
Fast forward I come to US for my masters, I am of course tempted to go to the LGBT center at my university but I can't until one day I hide behind the bushes and eucalyptus trees making sure no one sees me entering the facility, not that anyone would have cared. Entering the center I expected unicorns and gay boys riding them in thongs (that was the mental image in my head of what gays are, who are out and proud!) It was surprisingly and to my relief pretty normal filled with grad and undergrad students doing work. I meet a guy now my husband who is a chef. He is uncomfortable but patient with the fact that i am still in closet and I would lock him in the room or bathroom to hide him from my Indian roomate. On our first date he asks me if I am into drag race, I didn't know what it was I thought it had something to do with car racing because of the word drag, and I wanted to act cool so I said yeah totally! So you can imagine my surprise when I reach his house and I realize that he is a drag queen. But I had a motto by that time to not judge anyone so I roll would it and I am so glad I did. After a night with a bottle of tequila I come out to my best friends and they are both super supportive. I move in with my then boyfriend and I am having the best time of life. But then the reality kicks in....
I need to tell my Indian parents about myself since they have already started talking about arranging my wedding in the future with a girl. My biggest concern was that my Mom might have a heart attack or might faint from hearing the news. But I decided to rip the band aid off and I come out. My father's immediate reaction was he isn't sure if he could call me his son anymore and I still had a lot of explaining to do to my mom, who didn't understand the difference between gay and trans. Their first concern was if I told about myself to anyone, I lie to them about it. My mother tells me the same thing that my father told me and asks me not to say the word "Gay" anymore. She thought maybe if I didn't say that word it would change things. She cries and tells me she has been given the worst pain a parent could possibly imagine. Meanwhile I am also having the best of time in the gay pride parades with my new lgbtq friends. So I am having a roller coaster of emotions where I am extremely happy with my fiance and extremely sad with what my parents have to say to me. My mom tells me she wants to kill herself because of me, that I am a big disappointment, that I should marry a girl , marry a lesbian get operated , that I am the most selfish person and that I am the reason why she thinks of killing herself. Whereas my fiance tells me he loves me and cuddles me to sleep each night, gives me roses and sings songs to me.
Fast-forward to two years which is now, I am happily married. With the support system from my husband, his beautiful mexican family and my sister in India my parents have actually started talking to my husband. Even though they still refer to him as my "friend" they are starting to be okay with the fact that I am gay and that I am having a good life with my partner.
Geez it was a long post so if you read it thank you :)

Welcome back to DotaRanks Power Rankings (Week 3)
Thank you as always for spending part of your week with us as we reset before another exciting week of NA/SA DPC action. One quick note before we begin. We will likely take a break from NA/SA Power Rankings next week to provide adequate time for our team to update our EU/CIS Power Rankings. Which are now sorely out of date. This was always the plan for us as Week 4 seems like a natural break in the action as matches for those two weeks have not yet been scheduled by the league organizers. We hope you’ll join us for our Week 4 EU/CIS Power Rankings, before we return to NA/SA for Week 5.
Toplines from Week 3
First, we want to express our deepest condolences to the family Anderson "Bob" Santos for their loss. The community lost a talented player, way too soon. Our thoughts are with 444’s family and all of the families who have lost loved ones this year to COVID-19.
Next, we want to level our disappointment at OGA Dota Pit, the league organizer for SA’s DPC Region. The fact OGA has stayed silent in the face of a pro-player in its league using overt racist language against a fellow pro-player in a pub match this week is inexcusable. What are the OGA's DPC player policies for racist, sexist, and general unprofessional behavior? If none exist in writing, why? If we want e-sports to be considered serious they need to be run like professional sports. This goes for the whole of the DPC. If the community wants the game and professional scene to grow, it must be more inclusive and welcoming to new/returning players and fans. If racist behavior is tolerated by tournament organizers what precedent does that set for the rest of the community? OGA, do better. The community is watching.
That’s it, here’s where all of the NA/SA teams stand after Week 3.
Power Rankings
1. Evil Geniuses (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #1] 4-0 (8-2)

1. Arteezy 2. Abed 3. Iceiceice 4. Cr1t 5. Fly

After a slow start in the first week of the DPC saw a shaky Evil Geniuses win two hard fought series against 4Zoomers and Sadboys, Evil Geniuses looks better and better with each passing week. Make no mistake, Undying was in both of these games and the outcome could have swung in their favor if not for Evil Geniuses superior prioritization of gold farm and team fight positioning throughout the series. Yes, Evil Geniuses has superstar individual players, but they all operate as a single unit when it comes to team fights, and now with a few more weeks to incorporate new member iceiceice and reincorporate Abed (after a long forced break from the team in 2020) Evil Geniuses looks worthy of the title "Kings of NA," and possibly "Kings of the Americas." Evil Geniuses is NA/SA #1 team for three weeks in a row.
2. Quincy Crew (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #2] 3-0 (6-0)

1. YawaR 2. Quinn 3. Leslão (Lelis) 4. MSS. 5. LoA (SVG)

Another week, another series blowout for Quincy Crew as they take care of business while awaiting inevitable matchups with fellow unbeatens Undying and Evil Geniuses, as well as the current fourth placed SadBoys. Quincy Crew has had one of the easier schedules in the first three weeks of the season, but they have shown little sign of weakness as they have yet to drop a game in any series. The road to the Major Tournament still runs through EG, and Undying still could be a threat, but those big matchups will have to wait until Week 5 and Week 6, as it's Black N Yellow in Week 4 for Quincy Crew.
3. Beastcoast (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #3] 4-0 (8-0)

1. K1 2. Chris Luck 3. Whisper 4. Scofield 5. Stinger

Talk about anticlimactic. After the enormous hype around the Thunder Predator vs. Beastcoast matchup, the series between what are SA's two best teams served little more than a reminder that Beastcoast is clearly in a class all its own in South America. Book the tickets to Singapore and the year's first Major Tournament, it will take a massive collapse for Beastcoast not to secure a top 2 finish in SA's Upper Division.
4. Undying (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #4] 3-1 (6-2)

1. Timado 2. Bryle 3. SabeRLight 4. MoonMeander 5. Dubu

Undying's run as an undefeated NA superpower has come to an end at the hands of Evil Geniuses. We still have Undying as the #4 team in NA/SA, you can't blame them for running into the buzzsaw that is EG in Week 3. For the first two weeks of the DPC, Undying's individual talent and chemistry made them strong contenders, but in Week 3 matched against the best NA has to offer, Undying could not match Evil Geniuses’ team fight coordination. Undying still needs to develop a better feel for mid and late game fights against quality opponents, which understandably will take time as this team only formed a month ago. If Undying can improve its team fight coordination and tempo play, there's no telling how good this team can be. Until then, the question becomes if Undying can put this first loss behind them and get back to its winning ways against the second tier teams in NA (Sadboys and 4Zoomers), not to mention a Quincy Crew squad some argue is even better than Evil Geniuses. The answer will determine whether this team can make it to the first Major Tournament of the year. We'll get a partial answer right away in Week 4 when Undying takes on Sadboys.
5. SadBoys (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #7] 2-1 (5-2)

1. Fear 2. dnm 3. Moo 4. Sneyking 5. ppd

A safe and cautious Sadboys proved age and experience can beat youth anyday in Dota. Taking on the young and winless 5ManMidas, Sadboys play conservatively, never leaving Position 1 Fear unprotected. Both games in this series probably took a little longer than expected, but the outcomes were never in doubt. Sadboys’ conservative play could be designed to prevent unforced errors to the Upper Division's lesser teams. With one series loss already to Evil Geninuses, though, ppd and crew know another loss will likely end their chances of qualifying for the season's first Major Tournament. Survive in advance, it's the experienced play. We'll see if they can hang around in the top 2 race with a win against Undying in Week 4.
6. Thunder Predator (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #6] 2-2 (4-5)

1. Mnz 2. Leostyle- 3. Frank 4. MoOz 5. Mjz

After falling to defeat either Infamous or Beastcoast, Thunder Predator could have been in a much more dire situation when it came to qualifying for the first Major Tournament, but with Infamous dropping series left and right, Thunder Predator finds itself still with a chance to lock down a top 2 finish in SA's Upper Division. This one is very close, but we have Thunder Predator (after already beating SG e-sports and Team Unknown) holding on to our #2 spot in SA, with Team Unknown and SG e-sports nipping at their heels. However, with two losses already in league play, Thunder Predator can't afford to drop another series. We'll see if they can get back on track in Week 4 against the new roster of NoPing e-sports.
7. Team Unknown (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #8] 2-2 (5-4)

1. Berna 2. Robo-Z 3. Drakeel 4. Wij 5. Yadomi

It was an under the radar week for Team Unknown as they took down EgoBoys 2-0 without much fuss. They are trailing SG e-sports by one game in the standings, but Team Unknown already played Infamous, Beastcoast, and Thunder Predator, leaving only the bottom of the division for Team Unknown to play the last three weeks. Except, for an inevitable showdown with SG e-sports. It will be Latam Defenders for Team Unknown in Week 4 as they look to keep pace in a tight SA race for #2.
8. SG e-sports (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #11] 3-1 (6-3)

1. Costabile 2. 4dr 3. kingrd 4. thiolicor 5. KJ

The current second place team in the SA Upper Division standings, SG e-sports, checks in as our third best team in SA for this week's power rankings. Knocking off Infamous in Week 3 would have been a whole lot more impressive if Team Unknown had not done it themselves in Week 2. SG e-sports is turning heads sitting at 3-1 in league play, but with Beastcoast and Team Unknown still on the schedule it's unclear if SG e-sports will continue to hold on to second place in the standings.
9. 4Zoomers (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #9] 2-2 (5-4)

1. Sammyboy 2. Gunnar 3. Brax 4. Ocean 5. Husky

After dropping games to Quincy Crew and Evil Geniuses, 4Zoomers is out of the conversation for top tier status in NA. Though, a win against Black N Yellow in Week 3 has solidified their middle of the pack standing. For the latter half of 2020, 4Zoomers were often considered the second best team in NA, behind Quincy Crew. Now with the return of the DPC in 2021, and the formation of strong teams in Undying and Sadboys, 4Zoomers is in danger of finding themselves slipping down in the pecking order. The Zoomers hold steady at #9 this week.
10. Infamous (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #5] 1-2 (2-4)

1. Pakazs 2. Mr. Jeans 3. Papaya 4. Michael 5. Accel

How the mighty have fallen. Infamous came in as our #1 team in SA and our #3 team overall in NA/SA. Hopes were high for a strong DPC season from Infamous after a Week 1 blowout of Thunder Predator, but the wheels have come off the car for Infamous after back to back series losses to Team Unknown and SG e-sports. With hopes of qualifying for the first Major Tournament of the year quickly evaporating, Infamous will need to turn things around soon if they want to stick around in the Upper Division, let alone challenge for a top 2 finish. Week 4 will be the make or break week for Infamous with a series against Beastcoast first, and then NoPing e-sports to finish the week.
11. simply TOOBASED (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #12] 5-0 (10-2)

1. boris 2. iAnnihilate 3. monkeys-forever 4. zfreek 5. empyreaN

"Simply toobased... simply too good" - @rkryptic
simply TOOBASED left no doubt in their stomp fellow unbeaten, The Cut, they are the best team in NA’s Lower Division and should run the table. Position 5 empyreaN, and former The Cut player, had an extra edge to his play in this one. His Clockwerk was critical to pressuring The Cut in lane during both games, as empyreaN set up multiple kills with his fantastic use of Cogs. However, after a very civil build up to the game from both teams, empyreaN unloaded on his former teammates in his post-game interview displaying very little respect for the team he helped dismantle. There must be some backend drama there, regardless, simply TOOBASED can likely start looking forward to the Upper Division. We'll see if they can be more competitive against the top of the region compared to the current bottom of the Upper Division barrel, A-Team and 5ManMidas.
12. NoPing e-sports (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #18] 1-2 (4-5)

1. Mingatte 2. Darkmango 3. Oscar 4. Matthew 5. Panda

It's been a disappointing start to the DPC season for NoPing e-sport, but their win in Week 3 against Latam Defenders could be the turning point. However, they will need to complete a turnaround with a new Position 1 as it was announced mingatte, due to health concerns, would be leaving NoPing e-sports and will be replaced by hFn. We wish mignette a safe and speedy recovery. For NoPing, they add TI experience in hFn and arguably the best SA player not on a current DPC roster. Chemistry will be a concern as NoPing is now forced to build comradery with a new player while playing a must win series in each of the next three weeks. A demoralized Infamous squad will be the first test for the new lineup in Week 4.
13. Hokori (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #20] 3-1 (7-3)

1. Lumière 2. near 3. Vitaly 4. elmisho 5. Gard1ck

Clean, that is the word that comes to mind when thinking about Hokori's Week 3. Hokori was clinical in their 2-0 series win against the folding Crewmates. Hokori is sitting second in the standings of SA’s Lower Division, but can be proud they have dropped as many games (3) as the top team in standings. Hokori is in control of its own destiny as the team looks to hold off the rest of the pack in SA's Lower Division. Hokori gets a breather with a bye week in Week 4.
14. Latam Defenders (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #11] 1-3 (3-7)

1. Cucahook 2. Sueño 3. Valqui 4. Moonlight 5. Aretes

Unfortunately, Week 1 for Latam Defenders, when they took down EgoBoys, is turning out to be an outlier not the norm. Last week Beastcoast rolled Latam Defenders in straight games 2-0, this week it was NoPing e-sports and SG e-sports delivering losses to Latam Defenders to drop them to the bottom 2 of SA's Upper Division. Thankfully for Latam Defenders, six teams have at least two losses in the division already, leaving the door open for them to work their way out of the bottom 2. Latam Defenders could help their cause in Week 4 with an upset win against Team Unknown.
15. Black N Yellow (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #10] 1-3 (2-7)

1. YamSun 2. Ryoya 3. zero 4. FLee 5. Jubei

Another tough week for Black N Yellow earned them two more losses, dropping them to 1-3 and sixth place in NA's Upper Division. Early in Week 3 against Undying, it was guest caster ppd (of Sadboys) that proposed Black N Yellow's struggles seemed to be due to a lack of practice. The trend of discombobulated play continued in their series with 4Zoomers, YamSum looked lost and Ryoya looked over it. Remember Ryoya stood in for Abed of Evil Geniuses for much of 2020 and was the only Mid Laner to dominate Quincy Crew's Quinn when Ryoya led Team Zero when they took down QC in the Grand Finals of 2020's DOTA Summit 13 Online: Americas, but 4Zoomers' Gunnar constantly got the better of Ryoya in this one. With all hope of a top 2 finish gone for Black N Yellow, they are now in a fight to avoid a bottom 2 finish and relegation to the Lower Division. It's a doubleheader for Black N Yellow in Week 4, with a must win matchup against A-Team followed by a likely blowout at the hands of Quincy Crew.
16. 5ManMidas (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #16] 0-4 (1-8)

1. Lies 2. RRL 3. Monster 4. Aikster 5. Shoe

There are six competitive teams in NA's Upper Division, unfortunately, that leaves the young 5ManMidas squad on the outside looking in. After another 0-2 series loss to Sadboys, 5ManMidas has only won one game in the 9 they have played. They are certainly destined for relegation to the Lower Division after Week 6, but they could still pick up a series win against fellow win-less squad, A-Team. Until then, they'll be batting practice for the top NA teams still in the hunt for a top 2 finish. 4Zoomers are up to bat in Week 4.
17. EgoBoys (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #17] 1-3 (3-7)

1. NaoG 2. Alone 3. Sacred 4. Ins 5. Prada

EgoBoys were a dark horse coming into SA's Upper Division after fighting their way through the Closed Qualifier mini-tournament. However, the organization that has served as a difacto academy team for many top South American players (Timado, sl4d1n-, Mr. Jeans are all alums), only has one win to show for its efforts through the first three weeks of league play. EgoBoys also finds themselves in an even tougher spot when it comes to working their way out of the division's bottom 2, as they have second place SG e-sports in Week 4 and then a desperate Infamous and Thunder Predator to be scheduled in Week 5 and Week 6. EgoBoys will need to pull more than one upset in the coming weeks to avoid relegation to the Lower Division.
18. Incubus Club (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #23] 3-1 (7-3)

1. Benny 2. mini 3. Jupiter 4. MahhxD 5. Nuages

Incubus Club continues to hang around just outside of the top 2 in SA's Lower Division, after a victory in Week 3 against the lowly Inverse. Incubus Club has already lost its series to the current second place team, Hokori, but Incubus Club still has a shot to break into the top 2 with a win against 0-900 down the road. Week 4 should see Incubus Club continue to keep pace for a possible top 2 finish as the winless Mad Kings are on the schedule.
19. Infinity Esports (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #24] 2-1 (5-2)

1. Arms 2. PiPi 3. LittleBoy 4. Pamplona 5. SexyeYogye

After a shaky Game 1 in Infinity Esports' Week 3 series against Inverse, Infinity Esports' Mid Laner PiPi rebounded to set a DPC record Orchid purchase timing (10:51) en route to a quick win in Game 2, with Inverse GGing after just 13 minutes and 1 second. The series win in Week 3 sets up a massive, make or break Week 4. If Infinity Esports wants any shot of a top 2 finish, and promotion to the Upper Division, they will need care of business against the fast falling Crewmates, and steal a series off of current first place team 0-900, Infinity Esports with two wins this week could be in the driverseat heading into the final two weeks this regional league season. Two losses would see their chances of a top 2 finished doomed.
20. The Cut (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #14] 3-1 (6-3)

1. Scrooge McDuck 2. Lil Nick 3. Cyg3n 4. versatile 5. pingu

It was a meteoric rise for The Cut through the first to two weeks of NA's Lower Division, but they were knocked back to earth by simply TOOBASED in Week 3. Now at 3-1, The Cut still has a chance to make it into the Upper Division if they can rebound and take care of business the rest of the way. A matchup against last place Byzantine Raiders seems like just what the doctor ordered for a young team looking to bounce back in Week 4.
21. A-Team (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #19] 0-4 (0-8)

1. Rises 2. Princee 3. TheBloodSky 4. Szabo 5. old Yoda

After powering themselves through the Closed Qualifier mini-tournament to earn their spot in the Upper Division, A-Team has not been able to muster even a single game win in any of their four series. They have a chance against Black N Yellow in Week 4 to pick up a game or even a series win, but not a very good chance. Black N Yellow have not played well in the early going of the DPC season, but still have a ton of talented players. If A-Team can somehow beat Black N Yellow and then win against 5ManMidas in Week 5 or Week 6, A-Team could still play themselves into sixth place and avoid relegation to the Lower Division.
22. Felt (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: 21] 3-0 (6-2)

1. kom4rt 2. solji 3. Zore 4. Theyna 5. Justus

Felt continues to make the most of its unlikely opportunity in NA's Lower Division. With The Cut's defeat in Week 3 at the hands of simply TOOBASED, and Felt's win against last place Electronic Boys, Felt find themselves as one of only two unbeaten teams left in NA's Lower Division. But, after Week 4 there will be only one unbeaten team as both simply TOOBASED and Felt will look to claim sole possession of first place in the division when they square off against each other in Week 4.
23. Gorillaz-Pride (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #26] 2-2 (5-4)

1. Timo 2. TaO 3. Benjaz 4. D1smar 5. Cara

At 2-2 and a stout Hokori up next in Week 4 for Gorrilaz Pride, it seems this Benjaz led Peruvian squad is doing enough to avoid elimination from the Lower Division, but not much else. Three wins in the Lower Division should be enough to prevent a team's elimination, and Gorrilaz-Pride still has a matchup with last placed Inverse to look forward to sometime in Week 5 or Week 6. Moving up 3 spots this week, Gorillaz-Pride is our #23 team.
24. Arkosh Gaming (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #25] 2-2 (5-5)

1. Pale Horse 2. Canus Vulpus 3. Gremlo 4. Crow 5. G.O.A.T.

Arkosh Gaming almost gifted the lowly Byzantine Raiders their first series win of the season, but were able to rally to take the series 2-1 this week. Bonus points from us to Arkosh Gaming for calling out the past racist behavior of one of their opponents this week. Racism has no place in the Dota community, especially the pro-scene. But, those bonus points won't help Arkosh suddenly awaken in the top 2 of NA's Lower Division. Arkosh will look to stay middle of the pack in Week 4 and hope for a win against the winless Jiang Hu.
25. Team DogChamp (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #27] 2-2 (5-5)

1. Fayde (MightyMarcus) 2. raylalisa 3. lukiluki 4. yarintheslayer 5. Bloody Nine

After back to back series losses to Arkosh Gaming and simply TOOBASED in Week 1, it would not have been a shock to see Team DogChamp completely fold and call it a season. But, Team DogChamp has rebounded against the weakest teams in the division and after a 2-0 series win against Jiang Hu in Week 3 have given themselves some breathing room from the bottom 2. Look for Team DogChamp to continue their new found winning ways in a Week 4 matchup with Byzantine Raiders.
26. Crewmates (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #28] 1-3 (2-6)

1. Fcr 2. 4nalog 3. H1j4ck 4. Kaffurtado 5. Flash

Picking up a big, confidence boosting win against Inverse in Week 2, Crewmates had an opportunity to shock 0-900, the current top team in SA's Lower Division. Crewmates managed to put up a little fight, but the outcome of the series was never in question as 0-900 took it 2-0. Now Crewmates will be in a fight to avoid a bottom 2 finish and elimination from SA's Lower Division. A win in Week 4 against Infinity Esports would go a long way to helping their chances of sticking around in the Lower Division.
27. Jiang Hu (formerly “Freedom”) (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #22] 0-3 (2-6)

1. YouZhi 2. P1 3. OldWhite 4. stormcici 5. Haoyuduan1995

Jiang Hu was looking strong in the first two weeks of the season, despite dropping both of their series, Jiang Hu had a chance to get their first series win against the 1-2 Team DogChamp. However, it would be Team DogChamp taking the series and keeping Jiang Hu winless in DPC play. Week 4 is Jiang Hu's chance to turn their game winning potential into series winning potential as winnable matchups with Arkosh Gaming and Electronic Boys on the schedule. If Jiang Hu can't find a win in Week 4 it will likely be relegation for the once promising Jiang Hu.
28. Electronic Boys (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #30] 0-4 (2-8)

1. Speeed 2. Mio 3. Giant 4. DoublA 5. abinozebra1

Despite having GameLeap contributor Speeed as their Position 1, Electronic Boys have found no success in NA's Lower Division. They have managed to take a game here or there off opponents, but a series win continues to elude them. There's clearly a bottom three (Jiang Hu, Byzantine Raiders, Electronic Boys) now in the Lower Division, with the bottom two teams doomed to elimination from the DPC. Electronic Boys will get a real chance to pick up their first win against fellow bottom 3 team, Jiang Hu, in Week 4, a win could put them out of the danger zone for another week, but the threat of elimination is looming.
29. Inverse (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #29] 0-3 (0-6)

1. Sweettam 2. NoaHGod- 3. Meley 4. dededo43 5. Slaw

Dealt another 0-2 series loss, this time at the hands of Infinity Esports, Inverse finds themselves squarely in a bottom 2 fight to avoid elimination from SA's Lower Division. Inverse will take on their fellow bottom 2 team, Mad Kings in Week 4, with the loser surely condemned for elimination. Unfortunately, Inverse's Infinity Esport series, which saw a 13 minute game, may have broken the spirit of Inverse heading into the last three weeks of this regional league season.
30. Mad Kings (formerly “blood for blood”) (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #32] 0-4 (1-8)

1. Drakeshit 2. Ñengoflow KELOKE 3. RePicantekp0 4. EzAqeghj 5. Negga

After qualifiying for the Lower Division through the Open Qualifiers, the roster of "blood for blood" was signed by the newly returned from hibernation Peruvian organization, Mad Kings. Now playing under the Mad Kings banner, the squad is finding DPC play much more difficult than Open Qualifier competition. The only SA team in the DPC to not win a game in any series it has played, it looks like Mad Kings’ DPC run will be short lived. They have a chance to win their first game in Week 4 when they take on fellow bottom 2 team, Inverse.
31. Byzantine Raiders (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #31] 0-3 (1-6)

1. Murderer 2. AlienManaBanana 3. Quebe 4. Froogoss 5. Lightshader

Week 3 saw a valiant effort from Byzantine Raiders, they managed to win their first game of the season against Arkosh Gaming, but were not able to pick up their first series win and drop into the bottom 2 of NA's Lower Division. Despite being the demonic, evil team, it was Arkosh Gaming calling out the historic racist behavior of one of the Raiders' players in All Chat as they fountain dove in Game 2. Good on you Arkosh, call out racism wherever it can be found. Byzantine Raiders will need to find some upset wins in Week 4 if they want to avoid elimination from the DPC. It will be a tough task with a stronger looking Team DogChamp and The Cut both looking to pick up an easy win against the last place Byzantine Raiders.
NR. 0-900 (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #13] 4-0 (8-3)

1. Madara 2. kxy 3. Greedy 4. Sl4d1n- 5. Jericho

0-900 got it's first clean series (2-0) of SA's DPC Lower Division beating Crewmates 2-0 to close out the week for the Lower Division schedule. However, we at DotaRanks denounce racism in all its forms. Racism has no place in the Dota community and as role models for the Dota community, pro-players should be held to a higher standard. Read more about the issue here. As such, DotaRanks will not be issuing a rank this week to 0-900 and our team will be boycotting all 0-900 games going forward until the behavior of the player in question is sufficiently addressed by the team itself, OGA Dota Pit, and/or Valve.
The Big Finish
So there's your DPC Week 3 Power Rankings for the North America and South America UppeLower Divisions. For more information on everything Pro-Dota 2 head over to Liquipedia or follow along with Valve’s companion app.
Be sure to follow us on twitter (@DPC_NASARanks) for the latest news, scores, and upset alerts.
Let us know what you think we got right and more importantly what we got wrong in the comments below. We will see you soon.

Welcome back to DotaRanks for Week 2
We’re handling our Power Rankings a little differently this week. We have a brief "toplines" segment (what are the biggest stories from the week, etc.), followed by our Power Rankings and team breakdowns. Hopefully, this will provide casual readers a little more context week to week.
Toplines from Week 2
We’ve been treated to a number of competitive matches so far this season, but no blockbuster upsets, until Week 2. Team Unknown finally broke through in SA’s Upper Division and upset our previous #3 team in NA/SA, Infamous, in a blowout 2-0 series. Long may the chaos in SA reign.
Anything you can do, we can do better. That seemed to be the message to Evil Geniuses from Quincy Crew this week as Mid Laner Quinn and the boys routed 4Zoomers in their first real NA Upper Division test. Quincy Crew appears to be firing on all cylinders and taking their one and only chance (a top 2 finish in NA) of qualifying for the season’s first major, very, very, very seriously. Lookout NA, Quincy Crew is coming for the throne.
Does South America now have four teams in contention for a top 2 finish? It sure seems that way after the first two weeks of Upper Division action. Team Unknown was competitive against both Beastcoast and Thunder Predator, and Team Unknown has had the toughest schedule of any SA team through the first two weeks of the DPC. If they run the table the rest of the way it’s not out of the realm of possibility they could find themselves in a tie for second place (and a Major Tournament berth) at the end of the season. We’ll see if Team Unknown really is a contender in the coming weeks as they begin to face lower tier competition.
Despite being a disappointing 0-2 in NA’s Lower Division, Jiang Hu, is this week’s biggest climber as they move up 8 spots to #22. Jiang Hu has faced two of the top teams in NA’s Lower Division so far pushing both, Felt and The Cut, to a full three game series. They may be falling out of contention for a top 2 finish, but they have proven they won’t be an easy out in NA’s Lower Division.
And now, it’s Week 2 rankings time!
Power Rankings
1. Evil Geniuses (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #1]

1. Arteezy 2. Abed 3. Iceiceice 4. Cr1t 5. Fly

As the returning "Kings of NA," Evil Geniuses (3-0) was thrown into the fire of NA's Upper Division taking on 4Zoomers and Sadboys in Week 1. Evil Geniuses would take both series, but not cleanly, dropping a game to both 4Zoomers and Sadboys. Week 2 would see another strong opponent for EG in the Position 2 Ryoya led Black N Yellow squad, but finally, Evil Geniuses delivered the dominant performance we expect from the top team in NA/SA. Winning both games in under 30 minutes in their series with Black N Yellow, Evil Geniuses set up a battle of the unbeatens with Undying in Week 3 as the clear Game of the Week in NA/SA. Evil Geniuses is our #1 team for the third week in a row.
2. Quincy Crew (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #2]

1. YawaR 2. Quinn 3. Leslão (Lelis) 4. MSS. 5. LoA (SVG)

Let the NA proxy series war begin. With every team in NA’s Upper Division playing each other once in the first part of the season, it gives an opportunity for the top teams to compare their performances against the lower tier teams before the inevitable showdown between the top tier teams. With Evil Geniuses and Quincy Crew (2-0) appearing to be top dogs (with Undying not too far behind), Quincy Crew can claim the first major victory in this conflict of over-analyzation. Taking on their first serious challenger, 4Zoomers, Quincy Crew routed the up and coming NA squad 2-0, while Evil Geniuses had a little more trouble (EG won 2-1) when they took on 4Zoomers back in Week 1. What does this really tell us about the state of NA’s Upper Division? Not much, other than Evil Geniuses is really good, Quincy Crew is really good, and it’s on the rest of NA to pull an upset against one of these two teams to have any shot at a Major Tournament spot. Quincy Crew gets a bit of a breather in Week 3 with an A-Team that looks destined for a bottom 2 finish and relegation at the end of the season.
3. Beastcoast (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #6]

1. K1 2. Chris Luck 3. Whisper 4. Scofield 5. Stinger

Beastcoast stands alone at the top of the Upper Division in South America with a perfect 3-0 (6-0) record through two weeks. After a disappointing 2020 for Beastcoast saw the rise of Thunder Predator and Infamous in South America, it was Infamous and Thunder Predator with the most hype heading into the 2021 DPC season, despite Beastcoast returning the five player roster that finished 8th at TI in 2019. Slow starts have plagued Beastcoast in the early going of the 2021 DPC, but it's hard to argue with final results so far this season. If there is one knock to be made against the 2021 Beastcoast squad it would be they have not played Infamous or Thunder Predator, yet, and have one of the weaker schedules thus far. Thankfully for fans of NA/SA Dota, this will be remedied in short order with a series against Thunder Predator in Week 3 and Infamous in Week 4. Buckle up, SA could be decided in the next two weeks.
4. Undying (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #7]

1. Timado 2. Bryle 3. SabeRLight 4. MoonMeander 5. Dubu

Through two weeks, Undying (2-0) are undefeated at 2-0 and have appeared completely dominant in both series they've played in NA's Upper Division with an average game time of 24 minutes and 21 seconds. However, this undefeated Undying team has not played any of the top tier teams in NA (only A-Team and 5ManMidas), so there's still a question if this newly formed team is truly ready for primetime. Undying's first test is the biggest there is in NA as Evil Geniuses is on the schedule for a battle of the unbeatens in Week 3.
5. Infamous (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #3]

1. Pakazs 2. Mr. Jeans 3. Papaya 4. Michael 5. Accel

In the fiercely competitive Upper Division of South America, there's always a target on the back of the top team. If you do not show up ready to play for every series you can and will lose, and Infamous (1-1) learned this lesson the hard way in Week 2 as they were dropped by Team Unknown 2-0. The high of knocking off Thunder Predator in Week 1 was short lived for the former #3 team in NA/SA, Infamous, who find themselves losing control of their own destiny and in a fight for second place with Beastcoast holding down the top spot in the division through two weeks. Something was not quite right this week for Infamous with even their sensational Mid Laner, Mr. Jeans, being outclassed in both games by his Team Unknown counterpart, so Infamous will look to put this one behind them and get back on track with a win against SG e-sports in Week 3.
6. Thunder Predator (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #4]

1. Mnz 2. Leostyle- 3. Frank 4. MoOz 5. Mjz

After a flat opening series performance against Infamous in Week 1 left Thunder Predator (2-1) with an 0-1 record in the Upper Division, Thunder Predator needed a strong Week 2 performance to stay in contention for a top 2 finish in SA. Thunder Predator managed to weather a strong Team Unknown coming back from a Game 1 loss to win the series 2-1, before Thunder Predator blew out SG e-sport 2-0 with both games lasting less than 30 minutes. Thunder Predator will get the opportunity to claim a share of first place when they take on SA's new #1 team, Beastcoast, in a Game of the Week matchup in Week 3.
7. SadBoys (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #5]

1. Fear 2. dnm 3. Moo 4. Sneyking 5. ppd

Not much to say about Sadboys' (1-1) dismantling of an out classed A-Team in Week 2, other than hopefully it was a good confidence boost after a tough series loss to Evil Geniuses for ppd and Fear’s new stack, especially for their young and inexperienced Mid Laner dnm who went a combined 31-3-13 in the two short games of the A-Team series. Also, ppd should be flexing after his Game 1 performance (1-1-19) on his comfort pick, Treant Protector, and their experience plus talent should be enough to make them a threat in the inevitable show downs with Undying and Quincy Crew later in the season. Sadboys will look to go 2-1 in NA’s Upper Division with a win in their Week 3 series against undermanned 5ManMidas.
8. Team Unknown (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #12]

1. Berna 2. Robo-Z 3. Drakeel 4. Wij 5. Yadomi

Welcome the new giant slayers of South America to the scene, also for the first time we have four SA teams in the top 8. Team Unknown (1-2) delivered the biggest upset of the young DPC season in Week 2 when they knocked off last week's #3 team in NA/SA, Infamous. While the 2-0 series win for Team Unknown was certainly an upset, it should not be considered as a complete shock. Team Unknown showed it was capable of punching above its weight class in Week 1 when it gave Beastcoast a competitive series before they took a game off of Thunder Predator in the hardfought opening series of Week 2. Infamous came out flat in the series and Team Unknown capitalized, and now Team Unknown has a signature win against one of NA/SA’s best teams. Team Unknown may have a 1-2 record through two weeks, but this team was forced to deal with the toughest schedule in South America through two weeks. Expect a convincing performance from Team Unknown when they face EgoBoys (1-2) in Week 3.
9. 4Zoomers (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #8]

1. Sammyboy 2. Gunnar 3. Brax 4. Ocean 5. Husky

No team has had a tougher schedule in NA than 4Zoomers (1-2). Facing Evil Geniuses in Week 1 and Quincy Crew in Week 2 may have been a brutal stretch, but it was also an opportunity for 4Zoomers to catch the top NA teams napping and make a case they belong in the conversation of top tier NA teams. Unfortunately, this team just isn’t there yet, and seems to be falling off in the competition for a Major Tournament spot after back to back losses. Even an inventive draft with a Position 4 Naga Siren (though OG ran this in Week 1 over in EU) could not throw the focused Quincy Crew off their game in Week 2. 4Zoomer did manage a consolation win against A-Team to get one in the win column in Week 2. The best 4Zoomers (1-2) can do now is play for third place, and their road to “Best of the Rest” status in NA starts with Black N Yellow in Week 3.
10. Black N Yellow (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #9]

1. YamSun 2. Ryoya 3. zero 4. FLee 5. Jubei

Despite fielding a roster full of established NA players and a new diamond in the rough in Position 3 in zero, results have not been all that convincing for Black N Yellow (1-1) in 2021. Warning alarms started going off in Week 1 when Black N Yellow were pushed to the brink by 5ManMidas. Black N Yellow managed to win the series, but needed the full three games and two 50 minute plus maps to do it. Faced with NA’s biggest test in Week 2, Evil Geniuses, Black N Yellow was outmatched by the top team in NA/SA. Black N Yellow will hope they can be more competitive against the second tier of NA teams if they want any hope of a top 2 finish, but it’s a brutal Week 3 with both undefeated Undying and the always capable 4Zoomers looking to build their own top 2 finishes against Black N Yellow.
11. SG e-sports (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #10]

1. Costabile 2. 4dr 3. kingrd 4. thiolicor 5. KJ

It was a tough week for SG e-sports (1-1) as they were the unfortunate team to face Thunder Predator a week after they suffered an opening season defeat to Infamous. The hungry Thunder Predator proved to be a buzzsaw making short work of the now 1-1 SG e-sports, and in Week 3 SG e-sports has the same duty as they did in Week 2 when they take on the recently defeated Infamous to start the week before closing with a must win Latam Defenders matchup.
12. simply TOOBASED (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #13]

1. boris 2. iAnnihilate 3. monkeys-forever 4. zfreek 5. empyreaN

A 10th pick Broodmother from Position 3 Monkeys-Forever won a make or break Game 3 for simply TOOBASED (3-0) against Arkosh Gaming in Week 2 to keep simply TOOBASED undefeated in NA's Lower Division. simply TOOBASED claimed to throw Game 2 in the Arkosh series to give the fans a Game 3 and seemingly the Broodmother pick. Welcome to NA Dota. It's nuts. Call it arrogance, call it confidence, but we'll see if simply TOOBASED really is head and shoulders above the competition in NA's Lower Division when they face their fellow undefeated team The Cut in Week 3.
13. 0-900 (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #15]

1. Madara 2. kxy 3. Greedy 4. Sl4d1n- 5. Jericho

Living on the edge, it's what we've come to expect from our top SA Lower Division team, 0-900 (3-0). Despite dropping a game in each of its three series, 0-900 enters Week 3 of DPC Regional League play as the Lower Division's only undefeated team. You never know map to map, which 0-900 team will show up. The 0-900 team that blows out their opponents in under 20 minutes or the 0-900 team that carelessly drops games to the bottom team in the division. We'll see which version of 0-900 shows up in Week 3 when they take on Gorillaz-Pride.
14. The Cut (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #19]

1. Scrooge McDuck 2. Lil Nick 3. Cyg3n 4. versatile 5. pingu

The ascension continues for NA's young and talented, The Cut (3-0). Blowing out Electronic Boys in Week 1, and putting the hurt on Arkosh Gaming to start Week 2, The Cut faced their first real resistance later in Week 2 in their 2-1 series win against Jiang Hu. It would be Position 1 Scourge McDuck's Riki (15-3-8) that would rally the Cut from a 5.8K Net Worth deficit to explode to a Game 3 win, series win, and 3-0 (6-1) record. If Evil Geniuses had a seed or academy team (as the only NA sponsor), this The Cut squad would be a contender for such a signing, but EG doesn't. So, it's all on this young squad to pull together a top 2 finish in the division and promotion to the Upper Division. The potential is there, and we'll see if it can be realized in a big time matchup in Week 3 against simply TOOBASED, a team that knocked The Cut out of Day 3 of Open Qualifiers just a few weeks ago.
15. Latam Defenders (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #11]

1. Cucahook 2. Sueño 3. Valqui 4. Moonlight 5. Aretes

Latam Defenders (1-1) undefeated run lasted only a week as they were smashed by Division leader Beastcoast in Week 2. After taking a hotly contested 2-1 series off of EgoBoys in Week 1, Latam Defenders showed they are not quite ready to challenge the top tier teams in SA, as they dropped their only series of the week to Beastcoast 0-2 in a combined 51 minutes. The Latam Defenders will look to rebound in Week 3 as they take on winnable matchups against SG e-sports and NoPing e-sports.
16. 5ManMidas (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #16]

1. Lies 2. RRL 3. Monster 4. Aikster 5. Shoe

Facing one of the toughest early season schedules in NA's Upper Division (Black N Yellow, Quincy Crew, Undying), the deck was stacked against the young 5ManMidas (0-3) squad. Taking another series loss from Undying in Week 2 has sent 5ManMidas to the bottom of division with an 0-3 record. 5ManMidas will be hard pressed to find wins in the Division given their recent results, and Sadboys certainly won't be interested in giving 5ManMidas any easy win in their Week 3 match up.
17. EgoBoys (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #18]

1. NaoG 2. Alone 3. Sacred 4. Ins 5. Prada

It will be a tough battle to avoid relegation for the bottom 4 teams in a strong SA DPC Upper Division, but EgoBoys (1-2) took a positive first step in avoiding a bottom 2 finish by beating NoPing e-sports and avoiding a dreaded 0-3 start. EgoBoys will have a tough task in Week 3 as they look to go .500 in the division with a win against a Team Unknown squad that just took down our former #3 team in NA/SA (Infamous) in Week 2.
18. NoPing e-sports (Formerly “Omega Gaming”) (SA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #14]

1. Mingatte 2. Darkmango 3. Oscar 4. Matthew 5. Panda

We caught heat last week for ranking NoPing e-sports (0-2) so low at #15 in our Week 2 NA/SA Power Rankings. Despite coming into SA's Upper Division with a roster loaded with strong regional tournament experience, NoPing e-sports (formerly Omega Gaming) had not produced any results that would make them worthy of a top 10 ranking. Week 1 was tough for NoPing e-sports, losing a close series to a strong SG e-sports team, but now NoPing is in complete free fall after another loss to last place EgoBoys in Week 2. A long climb back into contention looms, but it does start off with a winnable matchup in Week 3 against the 1-1 Latam Defenders.
19. A-Team (NA Upper Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #17]

1. Rises 2. Princee 3. TheBloodSky 4. Szabo 5. old Yoda

You have to feel for the outmatched A-Team (0-3) in NA’s Upper Division, especially after a forced roster change left A-Team scrambling to build team chemistry while also playing NA’s toughest teams. I guess we should mention Sadboys ran over A-Team in Week 2, and Quincy Crew appears poised to do the same in Week 3, with Evil Geniuses waiting in the wings for Week 4. Brutal.
20. Hokori (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #22]

1. Lumière 2. near 3. Vitaly 4. elmisho 5. Gard1ck

Another solid week for Hokori (2-1) as they fight for a top 2 finish in SA's Lower Division. After falling to Lower Division favorite, 0-900 (1-2), in a back and forth series, Hokori rebounded with a win against the listless Mad Kings (2-0) in a combined 45 minutes and 40 seconds of game time. Hokori will look to hold on to 2nd place in SA's Lower Division with a win against Crewmates in Week 3.
21. Felt (replaced disqualified “It’s Okay”) (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: 24]

1. kom4rt 2. solji 3. Zore 4. Theyna 5. Justus

Think back to our NA/SA Pre-Season Power Rankings, Felt (2-0) was not even a qualified team when our first rankings came out (just days before the start of the DPC season). Now, the team trying to make the most of their unlikely opportunity look like a team to beat in NA's Lower Division. A hard fought victory in Week 1 against a stout Jiang Hu team proved to be a sign of things to come for Felt as they blasted Byzantine Raiders in Week 2. Felt have a strong chance to remain unbeaten for another week as they will only challenge Electronic Boys in Week 3.
22. Jiang Hu (formerly “Freedom”) (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #30]

1. YouZhi 2. P1 3. OldWhite 4. stormcici 5. haoyuduan1995

Say what you will about this Open Qualifier team, Jiang Hu (0-2), but they certainly have some fight. Yes, this Lower Division team is 0-2 through the first two weeks of the season, but they have managed to win a game against both The Cut and Felt, two teams that are separating themselves from the rest of the pack. It's shaping up to be a three team race for a top 2 finish, with Felt, The Cut, and Simply TOOBASED all looking like contenders. We'll see if Jiang Hu can avoid an elimination battle at the bottom of the Lower Division. They can get ahead of the curve with a win in Week 3 against Electronic Boys.
23. Incubus Club (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #23]

1. Benny 2. mini 3. Jupiter 4. MahhxD 5. Nuages

Taking on fellow Lower Division Direct Invitee, Infinity Esports, in Week 2, Incubus Club (2-1) got a signature win early in the season. It would be stellar play from Mid Laner, mini, on Tiny (15-0-15) in Game 3 that would clinch the competitive 2-1 series. Incubus Club has been competitive in its three series, taking at least one game in each. With a likely outmatched Inverse on tap in Week 3, look for Incubus Club to keep pace with the top 2 teams in the Lower Division, at least for one more week.
24. Infinity Esports (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #20]

1. Arms 2. PiPi 3. LittleBoy 4. Pamplona 5. SexyeYogye

After blowing out Mad Kings in Week 1, Infinity Esports (1-1) faced a much tougher test in Week 2 against Incubus Club. Despite a strong performance from Mid Laner, Pipi, on Invoker (11-1-8) in Game 1, Infinity would lose the game in under 30 minutes. Infinity Esports would bounce back in Game 2 before ultimately falling in Game 3 to drop the series. Infinity will get sometime to regroup and get back on track in Week 3 as they take on winless Inverse.
25. Arkosh Gaming (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #21]

1. Pale Horse 2. Canus Vulpus 3. Gremlo 4. Crow 5. G.O.A.T.

Since they burst onto the scene in December for the BTS Pro Series Season 4: Americas with as much hype as could be mustered by self proclaiming themselves the "saviors of NA," results have been mixed at best for Arkosh Gaming (1-2). A rumored backend roster change did produce a team that claimed an Open Qualifier spot for NA's Lower Division and claimed a Week 1 win against Team DogChamp, but faced with two of the best teams in the division during Week 2, The Cut and simply TOOBASED, Arkosh could not find a signature win and instead find themselves drifting towards the middle of the pack. If Arkosh wants any shot at a top 2 finish, they'll need to run the table the rest of the way and it starts with a much needed win against Byzantine Raiders in Week 3.
26. Gorillaz-Pride (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #25]

1. Timo 2. TaO 3. Benjaz 4. D1smar 5. Cara

Things were looking good in Game 1 for Gorillaz-Pride (1-2) in their Week 2 matchup with Lower Division favorite, 0-900. Despite trailing in Kills and Net Worth, Gorillaz-Pride would win a series of engagements around the 30 minute mark to swing momentum in their favor and cut down 0-900 Position 1 Madara's farm on Riki to surprise 0-900 in Game 1. However, 0-900 would rally in Games 2 and 3 to send Gorillaz-Pride packing for their second loss of the young season. Gorillaz-Pride face a must win series against Mad Kings in Week 3 if Gorillaz-Pride want any chance of staying in contention for a top 2 finish.
27. Team DogChamp (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #26]

1. Fayde (MightyMarcus) 2. raylalisa 3. lukiluki 4. yarintheslayer 5. Bloody Nine

In the fight to avoid elimination from NA’s Lower Division, series wins will be few and far between for Team DogChamp (1-2), but they got a critical win in Week 2 from their 2-1 series with last placed Electronic Boys. Position 1 Ritsu continues to stand in for Team DogChamp’s Fayde, and it’s unclear how many more matches Ritsu will appear in with a hard cap on the number of stand-ins available to a team in regional league play. Byzantine Raiders in Week 4 will be Team DogChamps’ next best opportunity at a win in NA’s Lower Division with the stout Jiang Hu squad Team DogChamps’ only opposition in Week 3.
28. Crewmates (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #32]

1. Fcr 2. 4nalog 3. H1j4ck 4. Kaffurtado 5. Flash

The much maligned Crewmates (1-1), got a much needed win against bottom of the pack Inverse in Week 2. The Direct Invitee to SA's Closed Qualifier, Crewmates, underperformed in SA's Closed Qualifier and in Week 1 in a 0-2 loss to Gorillaz-Pride. A win against Inverse, may be the boost this team needs to start getting their confidence going, but it's a tough Week 3 for Crewmates as they will take on the top 2 teams in the Lower Division, 0-900 and Hokori.
29. Inverse (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #27]

1. Sweettam 2. NoaHGod- 3. Meley 4. dededo43 5. Slaw

Taking a game in Week 1 off of the only remaining undefeated team in SA's Lower Division appears to be this Inverse (0-2) team's highwater mark as they were blown out by an underperforming Crewmates squad in Week 2. The road doesn't get easier with Infinity Esports in Week 3 as it’s clear now Inverse will be in a fight to avoid a bottom to finish and elimination.
30. Electronic Boys (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #28]

1. Speeed 2. Mio 3. Giant 4. DoublA 5. abinozebra1

Electronic Boys (0-2) is running out of runway to avoid elimination from NA’s Lower Division after their 2-1 series loss to Team DogChamp in Week 2. Despite the Electronic Boys taking advantage of Team DogChamps’ Io Carry in Game 2, a more sensible (and easier to execute) draft in Game 3 from Team DogChamp ended any chance of an upset. Week 3 will be tough as Electronic Boys will play warm up act for simply TOOBASED, as the top team in NA’s Lower Division will also face The Cut later in the week.
31. Byzantine Raiders (NA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #29]

1. Murderer 2. AlienManaBanana 3. Quebe 4. Froogoss 5. Lightshader

There's not much to say about Byzantine Raiders (0-2) this week, except another week, another 0-2 series loss. They have an interesting team name, but that does not seem to be helping a team that has yet to win a series in either the Closed Qualifier or league play in the 2021 DPC. Maybe fortunes will turn in Week 3 for Byzantine Raiders, but it seems unlikely with a desperate Arkosh Gaming on the schedule.
32. Mad Kings (formerly “blood for blood”) (SA Lower Division) [Last Week's Ranking: #31]

1. Drakeshit 2. Ñengoflow KELOKE 3. RePicantekp0 4. EzAqeghj 5. Negga

Mad Kings can only hope its 0-2 start in league play is due to a strong early season strength of schedule. Playing top 4 division competition in Infinity Esports and Hokori in Week 1 and 2, a rough start is understandable. But, Mad Kings have yet to win a map in four tries. Mad Kings best chance to get a win so far this season comes in the form of 6th place Gorillaz-Pride in Week 3.
The Big Finish
So there's your DPC Week 2 Power Rankings for the North America and South America UppeLower Divisions. For more information on everything Pro-Dota 2 head over to Liquipedia or follow along with Valve’s companion app.
Be sure to follow us on twitter (@DPC_NASARanks) for the latest news, scores, and upset alerts.
Let us know what you think we got right and more importantly what we got wrong in the comments below. We will see you soon for our NA/SA Games of the Week (Week 3) and another midweek post. Happy ganking!

***Updated to reflect the results of the final NA Closed Qualifier match in which A-Team defeated Team DogChamp 2-1. A-Team qualifies for NA's Upper Division and Team DogChamp will start the season in the Lower Division.**\*
Welcome to DPC NA/SA Rankings
After the long wait of 2020, the DPC is back and the regional league system is here for its inaugural season. We here at Dota 2 Ranks NASA care deeply about the North American and South American regions: the players, the teams, and the rivalries. With so much coverage of EU/CIS expected this season, we’ve taken on the challenge of shining a light on two undercovered regions. Besides, EU/CIS may have better teams overall, but NA/SA is total chaos right now with drama and numerous competitive teams looking to use this chaos as a ladder to the first Major Tournament of the season.
So, we don’t want to hear about how bad NA is compared to EU. We’re here for the intrigue, and we hope you are, too. Also, if you’re completely new to the Dota Pro Circuit or want a refresher, be sure to read up on the league’s structure here.
A quick note on Power Rankings. Obviously, you can go check the DPC Point Rankings and such, but those rankings do not tell you how a team is performing at this very moment or the potential a team has compared to other teams in the hemisphere. Enter power rankings, an assessment of where each of the 16 teams in the UppeLower Divisions of NA and the 16 teams in the UppeLower Divisions of SA stand heading into the DPC season.
We hope to release new ranking systems eventually (see the bottom of this post for more details). Also, a simple plug. Rating teams between region leagues, such as rating an NA team vs. an SA team becomes easier the more those teams play each other and the same competition (wink wink hint hint, schedule more interregional tournaments Valve).
And now, without further ramblings here are where things stand before the first week of DPC Leagues kickoff in NA and SA.
Power Rankings
1. Evil Geniuses (NA Upper Division)

1. Arteezy 2. Abed 3. Iceiceice 4. Cr1t 5. Fly

What’s there to say about Evil Geniuses? EG finished a respectable 6th (despite being on hiatus for much of 2020) in the OMEGA League: Europe Immortal Division, arguably the biggest tournament of 2020. EG have reloaded a depleted and scattered roster by adding SEA standout Position 3 iceiceice and returning Abed as Mid Laner. EG still has Arteezy at carry. EG is the heavy favorite to dominate NA’s Upper Division and has the talent to be the best team in the hemisphere. Sure, there are questions to be answered. Arteezy wasn’t enough to power EG to wins in June 2020 when they finished a disappointing 3rd in both the BTS Pro Series Season 2: Americas and ESL One Birmingham 2020 - Online: North & South America. Also, we won’t know how the chemistry of this newly reloaded EG team will work until they start playing games. Regardless, it won’t be a surprise if this team ends up at the top of NA again.
2. Quincy Crew (NA Upper Division)

1. YawaR 2. Quinn 3. Lelis 4. MSS. 5. SVG

The kings of the online tournament scene in NA/SA during 2020, Quincy Crew played in the Grand Finals of every tournament they competed in. Quincy Crew benefited greatly from Evil Geniuses taking a hiatus from regional competition, but even more from the addition of Lelis (formerly of Ninjas in Pyjamas) at the Position 3. Headlined by arguably the best solo mid player in the hemisphere, Quinn, Quincy Crew also laid claim to having the best position 4 and 5 in NA during much of 2020. The only major question will be if YawaR’s play can carry this team into the first Major Tournament of the year and a top two finish in NA’s Upper Division.
3. Thunder Predator (SA Upper Division)

1. Mnz 2. Leostyle- 3. Frank 4. MoOz 5. Mjz

The top team in South America during 2020, Thunder Predator wasn’t satisfied playing for second in tournaments with Quincy Crew almost always coming out on top. So Thunder Predator looked to upgrade where they could. Adding more players with Major Tournament experience in Frank and MoOz, Thunder Predator has rebuilt itself into the dominant favorite to win SA’s Upper Division. Only Infamous proved to be a consistent challenge for Thunder Predator in SA towards the end of 2020. But, Thunder Predator finished 2020 strong by winning the BTS Pro Series Season 4: Americas, the final tournament of the year.
4. 4Zoomers (NA Upper Division)

1. Sammyboy 2. Gunnar 3. Brax 4. Oceania 5. Husky

The young guns of NA Dota return after an up and down first season in 2020. 4Zoomers broke onto the NA scene in a big way knocking out a substitute filled EG squad and pushing Quincy Crew to a full five games in the Grand Finals of the BTS Pro Series: Americas Season 2. 4Zoomers would turn in several more respectable 2nd and 3rd place finishes, but they hit a rough patch of poor tournament performances in the fall. As a result, a change on the squad had to be made.
The final decision raised more than a few eyebrows when it was announced veteran “boomer” and Position 3 Monkeys-Forever had parted ways with the team, and not 4Zoomers’ immature and hot headed hard carry SammyBoy. After a tryout with Zero (now with Black N Yellow) did not end well, 4Zoomers lucked into convincing Brax, one of the best Position 3 players in the hemisphere to sign up for the DPC season. With Brax onboard, 4Zoomers found themselves in the Grand Finals of the last tournament of the year, but fell to Thunder Predator in a close series. If Brax can bring some maturity and top tournament experience to the more junior members of 4Zoomers they might be able to take the next step towards becoming a consistent challenge to NA’s top dogs, EG and Quincy Crew.
5. Infamous (SA Upper Division)

1. Pakazs 2. Mr. Jeans 3. Papaya 4. Michael 5. Accel

The biggest surprise of 2020 in South American Dota, was Infamous. Infamous comes into the DPC as one of the hottest teams, but Infamous did not start 2020 nearly as well as it finished. Inconsistent results in both SA and NA/SA tournaments plagued the squad for much of the year. The team determined kxy (Faker) to be the cause of the inconsistencies and parted ways with the young and often tiltable Mid Laner. In kxy’s place, Infamous added Mr. Jeans from EgoBoys. With the change at Mid Laner, Infamous showed immediate improvement making it all the way to the Grand Finals of Realms Collide: The Burning Darkness, knocking off 4Zoomers and Thunder Predator along the way. In three months this team went from an afterthought in South America to a top threat to the traditional NA/SA powerhouse teams.
6. Undying (NA Upper Division)

1. Timado 2. Bryle 3. SabeRLight 4. MoonMeander 5. Dubu

It was not surprising to anyone that a team with TI experience (Timado, Moonmeander), the former coach of SEA powerhouse Fnatic (Dubu), and [as of writing] the number 1 ranked player in EU (SabeRLight) would be competitive. What was surprising was how absolutely dominant Undying looked in NA’s Closed Qualifiers. This team has only played together for two weeks and already looks ready for primetime. With so much talent, so much potential, it will fall to less heralded Mid Laner Bryle to determine how far this team can go. Often outmatched by top NA/SA Mid Laners like Quinn, Leostyle, and Chris Luck, it will fall to Bryle to hold his own in the Mid Lane to create space for his stellar Position 1/Position 5 combo of Timado and Dubu. Already showing results beyond the sum of its parts, Undying with SabeRLight could find themselves in the fight for Major Tournament qualifying against the likes of EG and Quincy Crew.
7. SadBoys (NA Upper Division)

1. Fear 2. dnm 3. Moo 4. Sneyking 5. ppd

Call it a comeback. ppd is back from a short lived retirement and he’s brought fellow TI winner Fear along for the ride. The former Evil Genius TI winners have assembled an NA pubstar team of sorts bringing on Moo and Sneyking from recently disbanded Team Zero (the only team to defeat Quincy Crew in a tournament Grand Finals in the second half of 2020). Newcomer Mid Laner dnm rounds out the SadBoys lineup as they head into their first NA Upper Division Season with a direct invite. SadBoys have been a work in progress during their formation. The team made significant strides in terms of chemistry and results during the last tournament of the year. If SadBoys continue to improve, they could make the race for a top 2 finish in NA’s Upper Division very interesting.
8. Beastcoast (SA Upper Division)

1. K1 2. Chris Luck 3. Whisper 4. Scofield 5. Stinger

It’s remarkable in a year with so much player turnover beastcoast was able to retain and reassemble the 5 players that powered it to an 8th place finish at TI9 in 2019 (back then this roster played under the Infamous banner). Beastcoast dominated South America early on in the year, but for one reason or another, beastcoast lost their momentum and never finished higher than 4th place in any NA/SA tournaments. Still, beastcoast brings talent, experience, and familiarity few teams in NA/SA can match. It would not be surprising to see them recapture their competitive stride this year to challenge Thunder Predator and Infamous for the top spot in SA. It would also not be surprising for beastcoast to drift along in mediocrity.
9. Black N Yellow (NA Upper Division)

1. YamSun 2. Ryoya 3. zero 4. FLee 5. Jubei

An NA “pubstars” team if there ever was one. Black N Yellow have formed around talented Mid Laner Ryoya. Ryoya spent much of 2020 as a Mid Laner for hire finding success as a stand in for Evil Geniuses and then dominating Quinn (Quincy Crew Position 2) during the DOTA Summit 13 Online: Americas as a member of Team Zero. Team Zero would be the only team to beat Quincy Crew in a Grand Finals after Lelis joined them as a permanent member. Team Zero’s success against Quincy Crew would be short-lived as the team disbanded a few weeks later due to “personality conflicts” between its players. This left Ryoya looking to fill out a team for the DPC. That team, Black N Yellow, has talent, but looks like it needs some time to figure out chemistry and playstyle. YamSun is the biggest question mark for Black N Yellow, bringing the least experience and accolades to the team. NA’s Upper Division will be a trial by fire for Black N Yellow’s hard carry. It’ll be a tough spot, compounded by the side-by-side comparisons he’ll attract to other established carry players in the Upper Division including Arteezy, Fear, YawaR, and even SammyBoy.
10. SG e-sports (SA Upper Division)

1. Costabile 2. 4dr 3. kingrd 4. thiolicor 5. KJ

The former Team Brasil roster, now signed with SG e-sports, earned an Upper Division direct invite from league organizer Dota Pit on the back of a first place finish in November’s Movistar Liga Pro Gaming Season 6. While SG e-sports found success in SA action at the end of the year, they were not competitive in NA/SA competition during the rest of 2020. This SG e-sports team doesn’t lack TI or Major Tournament experience, but they were not able to translate it into much success. Can the clean slate created by the start of DPC season be the opportunity they need to build momentum?
11. Omega Gaming (SA Upper Division)

1. Mingatte 2. Darkmango 3. Oscar 4. Matthew 5. Panda

The top finisher in SA’s Closed Qualifier, Omega Gaming may have found its missing piece in Matthew (the former Position 4 for Thunder Predator). After receiving a direct invite to the Closed Qualifier, this new look Omega Gaming went undefeated in round robin play to clinch an SA Upper Division spot. After limited success in 2020, their best finish was 6th in Realms Collide: The Burning Darkness, Omega Gaming looks to break into the DPC in a major way.
12. Team Unknown (SA Upper Division)

1. Berna 2. Robo-Z 3. Drakeel 4. Wij 5. Yadomi

Team Unknown had a quiet 2020 to say the least. Focusing on building a team around its core players with Major Tournament experience (Berna and Wij), Team Unknown competed almost entirely in local tournaments and SA regionals. Team Unknown tested the NA/SA tournament waters during Realms Collide: The Burning Darkness, but were eliminated immediately by finishing in the bottom four of the round robin phase. Hype for this team is slowly growing after they finished 2nd in SA’s Closed Qualifiers, beating every team except for first place finisher Omega Gaming. We’ll see if this under the radar team is up to the task in SA’s Upper Division.
13. EgoBoys (SA Upper Division)

1. NaoG 2. Alone 3. Sacred 4. Ins 5. Prada

EgoBoys assembled a completely new roster of players to head into DPC 2021. Picked from other SA teams and organizations, this EgoBoys squad is built around Position 5 player Prada (the only player on the roster with Major Tournament experience). This current incarnation of EgoBoys did show flashes of talent, and clearly play together at a talent level beyond their individual rankings. After a lackluster round robin phase of the Closed Qualifiers, EgoBoys started to click taking down Infinity Esports and Latam Defenders on their way to qualifying for SA’s Upper Division.
14. 5ManMidas (NA Upper Division)

1. Lies 2. RRL 3. Monster 4. Aikster 5. Shoe

A surprise addition by league organizer Beyond the Summit to the slate of direct invites to NA’s Closed Qualifier. But, the 5ManMidas core of RRL, Monster, and Shoe and newly added NoPango alums Lies and Aikster took care of business defeating Electronic Boys and It's Okay on their way to qualifying for NA’s Upper Division. This new look 5ManMidas will be hard pressed against their fellow Upper Division opponents not to find themselves in a fight to avoid relegation as one of the bottom 2 teams in the Upper Division.
15. simply TOOBASED (NA Lower Division)

1. boris 2. iAnnihilate 3. monkeys-forever 4. zfreek 5. empyreaN

It took a few tries, but NA veteran and journeyman monkeys-forever has found a competitive team to compete with in the 2021 DPC. After two days of failed attempts to qualify through NA’s Open Qualifiers, many teams reshuffled lineups. The best players of floundering teams organized themselves into “pubstar” teams to have a better chance of qualifying into the Lower Division. Of these Open Qualifier pubstar teams simply TOOBASED is probably the best, and proved as much by smashing their way through the third day of Open Qualifiers while also beating fellow Lower Division qualifier the Cut along the way. It will be interesting to see how a team that scrambled to assemble itself will develop chemistry over an entire year of competition. If simply TOOBASED can figure it out, they could be a team to watch for a top 2 finish in the Lower Division.
16. Latam Defenders (SA Upper Division)

1. Cucahook 2. Sueño 3. Valqui 4. Moonlight 5. Aretes

It seemed Latam Defenders, after receiving a direct invite to SA’s Closed Qualifiers, was destined for Lower Division mediocrity. Made up of mostly inexperienced players with limited regional tournament experience and success, many did not think much of Latam Defenders’ chances. But, Latam Defenders had other ideas. After squeaking through the round robin phase of the Closed Qualifier, Latam Defenders caught fire, knocking off Incubus Club twice and taking a game from EgoBoys in the knockout playoffs on their way to secure the last slot in the Upper Division. We’ll see if Latam Defenders can rise to the challenge of competition in SA’s Upper Division.
17. 0-900 (SA Lower Division)

1. Madara 2. kxy 3. Greedy 4. Sl4d1n- 5. Jericho

SA standouts kxy (Faker) and Sl4d1n- formed this stack after parting ways with their respective teams in 2020. Their former teams would go on to receive direct invites into the Upper Division and Closed Qualifiers. Faced with a difficult bracket in the one and only open qualifier for the SA regional league, 0-900 dominated. The cherry on top was taking down One Million in the finals of the Open Qualifier. The Brazilian squad of One Million, stacked with talented players and Major tournament experience, was no match for this hungry 0-900 squad. 0-900 has the pieces to put together a top 2 finish and promotion into the Upper Division. Playing with chips on their shoulders of being dropped from teams and denied direct invites to the DPC from league organizer Dota Pit, we’ll see if Faker, Sl4d1n-, and the rest of 0-900 can challenge for a top 2 finish in the SA Lower Division.
18. A-Team (NA Upper Division)

1. Rises 2. Princee 3. TheBloodSky 4. Szabo 5. TBD

The biggest unknown when it comes to teams in NA, A-Team stands at a crossroads. After blasting through the second day of Open Qualifiers, A-Team secured a Closed Qualifier spot. A-Team was outmatched by Undying in the first round of the Closed Qualifer, but were able to rebound and knock off Electronic Boys to make it to a finals showdown with Team DogChamp where the winner would clinch the last NA Upper Division slot. However, the day before the match, league organizer Beyond the Summit (BTS) and Valve announced A-Team’s most well known player (position 5 DeMoN) was banned from the DPC for previous, substantiated misconduct at past Dota 2 tournaments. It was a shock for the ban to come so late into the qualifiers and another example of BTS poor decision making when it comes to NA Dota 2 players with personal connections. It appears Valve had to step in and enforce a ban which BTS was either unwilling or unable to implement themselves. This lack of conviction and consistent leadership has left BTS in full on damage control.
We’ll see in the rescheduled match with Team DogChamp on January 13, 2020 [Update: A-Team Defeated Team DogChamp 2-1] if the remaining members of A-Team can pick up the pieces, find a suitable replacement, and regain competitive form in either the Upper or Lower Division.
19. Incubus Club (SA Lower Division)

1. Benny 2. mini 3. Jupiter 4. MahhxD 5. Nuages

The former players of Jaguares Esports have reformed for this incarnation of Incubus Club ahead of their first DPC season. In 2020, these player’s best results came around December in the BTS Pro Series Season 4: Americas tournament. Knocking off Infinity Esports in the SA Open Qualifier for the last tournament of 2020, Incubus Club found limited success in the tournament itself finishing last in the round robin stage, but were able to win a series 2-0 against Arkosh Gaming. This result was enough for Dota Pit to send a direct invite to the CQ for the DPC regional league Incubus Club’s way. Incubus Club found some success in the round robin portion placing 3rd out of the 8 CQ teams, but lost two separate series to Latam Defenders in the knockout playoffs to wind up starting the season in SA’s Lower Division.
20. Infinity Esports (SA Lower Division)

1. Arms 2. PiPi 3. LittleBoy 4. Pamplona 5. SexyeYogye

Hard Carry Arms headlines Infinity Esports as they look to move up from the Lower Division in SA. During the Closed Qualifiers, Infinity Esports found moderate success and managed to win a game against Upper Division bound Ego Boys in the round robin stage. That success was short lived as a rematch with EgoBoys in the knockout bracket of the Closed Qualifier forced Infinity Esports into SA’s Lower Division. Still, this team has shown they can compete and will not be an easy win for teams looking to make a run in SA’s Lower Division.
21. Team DogChamp (NA Lower Division)

1. MightyMarcus 2. raylalisa 3. lukiluki 4. yarintheslayer 5. Bloody Nine

The breakout team of the first day of NA Open Qualifiers, Team DogChamp blew through the competition (including a 2-0 victory over Arkosh Gaming) to earn a spot in the Closed Qualifier. After losing in the first round of the Closed Qualifier to eventual Upper Division qualifier Black N Yellow, Team DogChamp knocked out the Closed Qualifier direct invite Byzantine Raiders before setting up a finals match with A-Team. Winner of this one (to be played Jan 13) goes to the Upper Division, the loser is knocked down to the Lower Division [Update: A-Team Defeated Team Dog Champ 2-1].
Time and time again our rankings team tuned into SammyBoy’s (4Zoomers Position 5) streamer coverage of the NA Open Qualifiers to hear him criticize Team DogChamp’s Position 3 lukiluki’s play, only to have Team DogChamp win, and win again, and again. With lukiluki a known entity in the Dota 2 streaming sphere it will be hard for this team to shake the mantle of “lukiluki’s new team.” But, let’s be clear. Raylalisa, BNine, Marcus, and yarin can compete, and with a constant chip on their shoulders from the dismissive attitude shown by more established NA teams, this might be an underDogChamp story to follow.
22. Electronic Boys (NA Lower Division)

1. Speeed 2. Mio 3. Giant 4. DoublA 5. abinozebra1

Electronic Boys comes into the NA Lower Division with a big question mark hanging over their heads. How competitive will this team be? After falling to A-Team in the finals of the Open Qualifiers on the second day of competition, Electronic Boys managed to make it into the Closed Qualifier by winning a third place match and filling the vacancy left by a disqualified VirtusProPolar squad. It was 5ManMidas and then A-Team again dealing losses to Electronic Boys in the Closed Qualifier, forcing them into the Lower Division of NA. This NA squad has players ranked in the top 250 in the region, but it’s unclear if this squad will capture any magic in the Lower Division.
23. It's Okay (NA Lower Division)

1. Ifrit 2. esk 3. Sword 4. Niqua 5. KKT

It's Okay had two strong days in NA’s Open Qualifiers. On the first day It's Okay made it all the way to the finals before falling to VirtusProPolar. VirtusProPolar would lose their qualification spot for using an unapproved substitute the next day. On day two of the Open Qualifiers It's Okay would find success knocking off Hawksmash in the finals to secure a spot in the closed Qualifier. Closed Qualifiers proved too much for It's Okay losing all four games they played in route to being bounced into the Lower Division. Semi-Pro players Ifrit and esk have found success in local tournaments in Mexico, but have never really broken through open qualifier brackets when it came to bigger tournaments. Now add in Niqua who has major (but limited) experience with European powerhouse Alliance, and we may have found a Lower Division team capable of pushing for a top two finish in the Lower Division.
24. Hokori (SA Lower Division)

1. Lumière 2. near 3. Vitaly 4. elmisho 5. Gard1ck

Hokori did not fare well in the SA Closed Qualifier after receiving a direct invite from league organizer Dota Pit. Hokori finished 7th out of 8 teams in the closed qualifier, but having received a direct invite the team is still qualified for the Lower Division. However, Hokori was able to dominate the worst team in the closed qualifier (Crewmates) and took a game off of Infinity Esports. Make no mistake, it will be on the 37th ranked player in NA (pos 3 Vitaly) to pull this team through SA’s Lower Division.
25. Crewmates (SA Lower Division)

1. Fcr 2. 4nalog 3. H1j4ck 4. Kaffurtado 5. Flash

One of the few unsponsored teams to earn a direct invite (and guaranteed Lower Division placement) for the SA Closed Qualifier from league organizer Dota Pit, Crewmates did little to prove worthy of a direct invite. Crewmates finished dead last in the Closed Qualifier only managing to steal one game from Latam Defenders. Latam Defenders, would move on to the knockout round and find their stride by qualifying for the Upper Division, while Crewmates have yet to find their stride. Will they find it in the first season of the DPC, or will this direct invite continue to haunt Dota Pit as teams with more experienced players failed to make it through Open Qualifiers.
26. The Cut (NA Lower Division)

1. Scrooge McDuck 2. Lil Nick 3. Cyg3n 4. versatile 5. pingu

​
The Cut is an appropriate name for this group of young and inexperienced NA players. Many of the Cut’s players found themselves scrambling for new teams during Open Qualifiers as they were dropped from their original teams or were left teamless after a team disbandment. Somehow this scrappy team put it all together on the final day of NA Open Qualifiers in order to clinch a Lower Division spot. Only pos 4 pingu has recent tournament experience from his stint with NoPango in the DOTA Summit 13 Online: Americas. After qualifying, the Cut find themselves in the position of proving they belong in the DPC, as they look to avoid a bottom two finish and elimination from the DPC.
27. Arkosh Gaming (NA Lower Division)

1. Pale Horse 2. Canus Vulpus 3. Gremlo 4. Crow 5. G.O.A.T.

We won’t relitigate the NoPango vs. Arkosh Gaming controversy, but if you need a primer read on here. Arkosh burst onto the scene as the brainchild of Dota 2 streamer and content creator SirActionSlacks. As the team’s manager, Slacks built up what hype he could for his new team by calling them the “saviors” of NA Dota 2, promising to dominate the competition with insulting videos and social media. The team itself is allegedly composed of players who are streamers, casters, and professional coaches. Players who out of fear of smearing their own brands with poor results have fought to remain anonymous behind the pysudonym player names above.
After embarrassment after embarrassment in show matches and the BTS Pro Series Season 4: Americas (Arkosh received a direct invite to the tournament on the back of personal connections between Arkosh and tournament organizer Beyond the Summit) the narrative from Arkosh turned from the “saviors” to the “villians” with Slacks claiming his plan for the team the whole time was for NA to unite around its hatred of Arkosh and therefore save it...or something. Issues with the creation and running of this team aside, Arkosh Gaming has not been a good team in competition, only managing to squeak through the third day of Open Qualifiers with direct qualification into the Lower Division. Avoid the spin from its manager, and expect Arkosh to be in a fight to avoid elimination from the Lower Division this season.
28. Byzantine Raiders (NA Lower Division)

1. Murderer 2. AlienManaBanana 3. Quebe 4. Froogoss 5. Lightshader

Another example of NA DPC organizer Beyond the Summit’s questionable judgement when it comes to organizing events in NA. Beyond the Summit (BTS) is known for running tournaments with a frat house mentality of giving direct invites to friends of the organization and “established” figures in the NA scene while forgoing the spirit of open competition. So eyebrows were raised when BTS extended a direct invite to caster and semi-pro player Froogoss’ inexperienced squad. A direct invite that would guarantee the Raiders a spot in at least the NA Lower Division. While the other three closed qualifier direct invite teams were dominating open qualifier teams on their way to qualifying for the Upper Division, the Raiders could barely put up a fight, only winning one game while losing both of their series against teams thought to be lesser competition. But, thanks to BTS, and its direct invite, the Raiders lost their way into the NA Lower Division while stronger looking teams failed to qualify through the open qualifying bracket. The Byzantine Raiders will have a lot of work to do to prove they belong in the DPC. If they find themselves at the bottom of the pack at the end of the season, it will only result in further embarrassment for BTS.
29. Gorillaz-Pride (SA Lower Division)

1. Timo 2. TaO 3. Benjaz 4. D1smar 5. Cara

It’s not totally unsurprising to see sponsored Gorillaz-Pride so far down the ladder in SA heading into the season. Gorillaz-Pride never lived up to any of its potential in 2020, crashing and burning in their only NA/SA tournament action when they went an abysmal 0-7 in matches during the group stage of ESL One Thailand 2020: Americas. Player turnover is one factor to point to in the less than stellar 2020 results. Gorillaz-Pride has reloaded itself ahead of the season, however, adding TI experience in the form pos 3 player Benjaz. Perhaps a consistent lineup will enable G-Pride to reach their potential. For now, they will have to fight to prove they can be competitive in SA’s Lower Division.
30. Inverse (SA Lower Division)

1. Sweettam 2. NoaHGod- 3. Meley 4. dededo43 5. Slaw

Inverse relied on Sweettam to carry them through to SA’s Lower Division in their best of 3 Open Qualifying final by going 14-2-13 and 12-2-8 against Anoobs Gaming. Will this team be able rise to the occasion in a hyper competitive South American Region or will they be relegated after their first DPC season? Questions abound for this new Peruvian team.
31. blood for blood (SA Lower Division)

1. Drakeshit 2. Ñengoflow KELOKE 3. RePicantekp0 4. EzAqeghj 5. Negga

The only South American Open Qualifying team to lose a game during their run to the Lower Division, blood for blood finds themselves on the bottom of a stout Lower Division in SA.
32. Jiang hu (NA Lower Division)

1. YouZhi 2. P1 3. OldWhite 4. stormcici 5. haoyuduan1995

Jiang hu managed to qualify on the fourth and final day of NA open qualifying by taking down VirtusProPolar, a team that dominated the first day of Open Qualifiers before losing its spot for using an unauthorized substitute during the qualifiers. Jiang hu has some work to do in order to not be on the chopping block of relegation at the end of the season.
The Big Finish
So there are your DPC Pre-Season Power Rankings for the North America and South America UppeLower Divisions. We hope this served as a good primer to get you up to speed on the teams and storylines for the upcoming DPC season kicking off on January 16, 2021. For more information on everything Pro-Dota 2 head over to Liquidpedia or follow along with Valve’s companion app.
You’re still here? What’s next for the Dota 2 Ranks NASA Team? Well, if even one person finds our rankings interesting and throws us a follow on twitter (@DPC_NASARanks) we are planning on updating our Power Rankings weekly, as well as releasing an RPI Rankings and Fan Vote Rankings after the second or third week of competition.
Be sure to let us know what you think we got right and more importantly what we got wrong in the comments. Hope to see you next week for our Week 1 NA/SA DPC Power Rankings.

Notes and Highlights of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s Live Update February 1, 2021
Notes by mr_tyler_durden and Daily Update Team
Watch here:

• Youtube: Update (YT Channel)
• Facebook: Update (FB Page)

Headlines

• 364,507 Cases (+1,623), 3,780 Deaths (+35)
• New cases by county: 284x Jefferson, 114x Fayette, 111x Madison, 83x Daviess, 58x Kenton, 51x Warren, 49x Boone, 39x Shelby, 38x Franklin, 32x McCracken, 32x Oldham, 28x Bullitt, 28x Campbell, 27x Grant, 26x Boyd, 24x Floyd, 24x Jessamine, 21x Pike, 21x Pulaski, 21x Trigg, 19x Caldwell, 19x Graves, 17x Hardin, 16x Laurel, 16x Mason, 15x Hopkins, 14x Scott, 13x Calloway, 13x Grayson, 13x Henderson, 11x Powell, 11x Simpson, 11x Spencer, 11x Whitley, 10x Greenup, 10x Harlan, 10x Knox, 10x Taylor, 9x Barren, 9x Butler, 9x Henry, 9x Nelson, 8x Ohio, 7x Allen, 7x Boyle, 7x Clark, 7x Edmonson, 7x Logan, 7x McLean, 7x Marshall, 7x Washington, 6x Bell, 6x Breathitt, 6x Breckinridge, 6x Carter, 6x Clay, 6x Fulton, 6x Hart, 6x Letcher, 6x Lincoln, 6x Marion, 6x Woodford, 5x Crittenden, 5x Harrison, 5x Livingston, 5x McCreary, 5x Muhlenberg, 4x Christian, 4x Estill, 4x Green, 4x Hickman, 4x Johnson, 4x Pendleton, 4x Union, 4x Wolfe, 3x Anderson, 3x Larue, 3x Nicholas, 3x Russell, 2x Ballard, 2x Carlisle, 2x Carroll, 2x Garrard, 2x Hancock, 2x Knott, 2x Lee, 2x Leslie, 2x Meade, 2x Mercer, 2x Montgomery, 2x Trimble, 1x Bracken, 1x Casey, 1x Cumberland, 1x Fleming, 1x Gallatin, 1x Lewis, 1x Lyon, 1x Martin, 1x Menifee, 1x Metcalfe, 1x Monroe, 1x Perry, 1x Rockcastle, 1x Wayne
• New deaths by county: 88 F Adair, 67 M Boone, 69 M Boone, 71 M Boone, 56 M Boyle, 72 F Bullitt, 89 F Bullitt, 78 M Bullitt, 79 M Bullitt, 81 M Bullitt, 81 M Bullitt, 67 M Calloway, 76 M Clay, 74 F Clinton, 97 F Fayette, 87 M Fayette, 94 M Fayette, 79 F Grayson, 81 F Harlan, 60 M Harlan, 60 M Harrison, 45 F Jefferson, 78 F Jefferson, 59 M Jefferson, 67 M Jefferson, 71 M Jefferson, 77 M Jefferson, 78 M Jefferson, 79 M Jefferson, 95 M Jefferson, 68 M Kenton, 79 M Kenton, 90 M Lawrence, 88 F Madison, 68 M Monroe
• Good News.
  • ​

1. So a year ago, during Black History Month, I posthumously promoted Colonel Charles Young to the rank of Brigadier General in the Kentucky National Guard. I wrote to President Biden on Friday, asking that Kentucky National Guard Brigadier General Charles Young be granted the honorary title of Major General in the United States Army.

• 2. AppHarvest, today they did something really exciting, in that they became a publicly traded company. That's right, from right here in Kentucky, from Morehead, Kentucky. And they were featured today ringing the NASDAQ bell to open up the market.
• By official order I've extended the option of renewing or replacing standard issue driver's licenses by mail or dropbox with local circuit clerks. It applies to licenses that have expired or will expire by June 30th, 2021. If the standard license is your preferred card version and you qualify to renew or replace it remotely, I encourage you to do so. <...> forms you will need can be downloaded from the website of the Kentucky court of justice that is http://kycourts.gov. Not every license qualifies for renewal. For example if you require driver testing by the Kentucky State Police, you're gonna have to apply for that in-person. If you've had a change of address or your name has been legally changed, you must apply in person. Real ID licenses must be applied for in-person.
• Also, pretty important today, we have extended the mask mandate.
• So two weeks into our speed test, I'm happy to report that 44,000 households have participated so far, and that's great news. To give you an idea, in just these first two weeks we have actually outpaced states who have had their speed test going for longer than six months.
• let's start with our stair stepper chart. Let's start with good news. The trend on new cases, new weekly cases, continues to move in the right direction. We have now had three straight weeks of decreasing numbers of total cases. Folks, that's only happened twice in this entire pandemic. <...> We have a graph on positivity rate. <...> Let's look at the inpatient census. <...> In more good news, the ICU numbers continue to decline. <...> Ventilators are also down from what we have recently seen, <...> When we look at our hospital capacity map by region: Today we have four regions in the red all because of ICU capacity, but when you look at areas close to them, that can help these regions, you see, really fairly low ICU numbers of percentages of ICU beds that are full.
• What I'm going to show you is the thing that we are really trying to track the closest is how many unique people, how many new people, are we getting vaccinated each week in a race to get people vaccinated. <...> And just to give you an idea of demand, and also what it takes to put up one of these regional centers, I just read that Ephraim McDowell in Danville, got 170,000 calls for their first 300 slots of being a regional vaccination center.
• You and Secretary Gray have talked a lot about not letting any of these doses go to waste. If some do become available and these locations can move into one see what is that window of opportunity and how will people be notified? [...] -- [...] For the larger sites what we're working on is having digital waiting lists. [...] As we continue to build this we will get better, especially digitally, at what we are able to do, how we're able to screen and order people. I hope that we're a couple weeks away from being able to have 1B and 1C sign up for these sites, but 1B is automatically prioritized. That's going to take some work on the digital side but that would at least get somebody in a queue that is in 1C, that when they open up, we can get in there. We're also working on being able to schedule further out into the future now that we have guaranteed minimum supply for three weeks.
• Many have received incorrect 1099 forms on benefits they say they didn't receive. [...] -- [...] On the other forms being sent out, there are both, we know issues of fraud that are occurring, I believe that there was an email that was provided by Amy Cubbage last week we can provide that to you for people to send to, but there's also a lot of misunderstanding for those that are getting them and may think the numbers are wrong, there is information up on the labor cabinet website right now to help people work through that, and we're gonna do our best to help people understand what they've gotten.
• So my question is [..] I know that last week you said that limited supplies is related to you know why this state may not be ready for a FEMA center but given the fact that the goal is to have Kentuckians travel at most one county away for their vaccine, do you foresee a time where you will you would need that federal help to set up those centers [...]? -- So we want, and are willing, to have a FEMA center whenever FEMA can provide us additional supply of the vaccine, right? [...] So we want a FEMA center, we're talking to FEMA about it, [...] the moment the FEMA says, “We will supply our centers with additional vaccine.” We want one.
• Slides from Update

Full Notes

• Good afternoon everybody, good afternoon Rachel. It's four o'clock on Monday, we'll come to you three times this week so that we can all remember that we will get through this, and we'll get through it together. Today, we're going to give you a lot of information on the positive direction many of our numbers are going in COVID, both nationwide-- but we'll talk about here in Kentucky. We'll go over more vaccine information, remember, we are vaccinating people faster than we get doses from the federal government. If you're having a hard time signing up, it's because there just aren't enough doses, but we are working hard and everybody is going to get their turn.
• But let's start out with some of our news of the week, and good news of the week. So, it's February 1st, which means it's the beginning of Black History Month. And I believe that in Black History Month we need to not only look back on our history, but also try to correct some wrongs that occurred in it. So a year ago, during Black History Month, I posthumously promoted Colonel Charles Young to the rank of Brigadier General in the Kentucky National Guard. Colonel Charles Young is a native Kentuckian, who was born into slavery in 1864. He went on to become just the third black graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the first black military attache to a foreign country. Colonel Young remained the highest ranking black officer in the United States Armed Forces from 1894 up until his death in 1922. I truly believe his service to our country was invaluable and but for the racism of his time, Colonel Young would have been properly promoted to the rank of General, he would have been the first black American to do so, and we would have had the pride of that individual coming from our great state of Kentucky. I wrote to President Biden on Friday, asking that Kentucky National Guard Brigadier General Charles Young be granted the honorary title of Major General in the United States Army. This was an important thing to do, brought to me by so many others actively serving in our armed forces who had. And it was shortly after that we did this that I was in DC, walking through the African American History Museum, and ended up right in front of the exhibit on Colonel Charles Young, someone who brings so much honor to this state. And I think it's time that we work to make sure he gets the honor that he is due as well. So as we strive to end racial injustices that persist to this day we must recognize the contributions of those like Charles Young to the successes and the freedoms that we all enjoy as Americans. He is more than deserving of this rank, and I support his promotion to Major General. I'm hopeful this new administration will grant our request to honor Charles Young’s service to our country.
• Alright, the next piece of good news is we've talked about jobs of the future, we've talked about some exciting new developments, we’ve specifically talked about a company called AppHarvest. AppHarvest opened the largest greenhouse in North America, one of the 10 largest buildings in the world with the most sophisticated LED lighting system that I believe it's ever been created this year, and they've just provided their first crop of tomatoes to grocery stores all across the east coast. But today they did something really exciting, in that they became a publicly traded company. That's right, from right here in Kentucky, from Morehead, Kentucky. And they were featured today ringing the NASDAQ bell to open up the market. I want to give you a look at this great day, not just for this company, but for us in Kentucky. You know the newest publicly traded company that rang that bell on the NASDAQ, something that everybody looks to, was from right here in Kentucky, homegrown, this is pretty special. Take a watch
• <Video> On behalf of everyone at AppHarvest we would like to thank the NASDAQ team in making today possible. This marks a major milestone in being able to achieve our overall mission to sustainably grow fruits and vegetables at an affordable price for every American. Utilizing technology and infrastructure, we can build systems to grow a fruit and vegetable with 90% less water, getting 30 times more yield per acre, getting the harsh chemical pesticides out of the growing practice and not using genetically modified seeds. This is critical as we all move forward to build a global food system to meet the rising demands. The UN has predicted by 2050, we would need up to 50 to 70% more food to meet a rising population and growing middle class, and it can take up to two planet Earths to grow food the way we currently grow it to produce the amount we need in 2015. Right now I'm standing inside of our flagship facility in Morehead, Kentucky, nearly 2.8 million square feet under glass which will produce up to 45 million pounds of tomatoes annually. We set a target to build 12 facilities by 2025. We believe it is critical that we bring fruit and vegetable production back to the US, and here in the heart of Central Appalachia, we can get to nearly 70% of the US population in a one-day drive. I'd like to thank our partners, our investors, our board members, community members all across the region, and the AppHarvest family, who've helped make this possible. Together, we will rebuild a global food system that puts people and planet first. Appalachia, let’s grow.
• So, pretty exciting day when one of the markets started with a great story, a great company, from Kentucky. We're committed in this next year to find the next AppHarvest and the next one after that and the next one after that, because we've got a chance right now to compete for the jobs of the future. There's a lot of excitement out there, and when we stop doing silly stuff, when we stop fighting with each other, and when we focus on the future there's so much we can do and so much potential here in Kentucky.
• Alright, a couple other housekeeping things. By official order I've extended the option of renewing or replacing standard issue driver's licenses by mail or dropbox with local circuit clerks. It applies to licenses that have expired or will expire by June 30th, 2021. If the standard license is your preferred card version and you qualify to renew or replace it remotely, I encourage you to do so. That's a way to reduce in-person contact, and that's how we help to stay safe during COVID-19. The forms you will need can be downloaded from the website of the Kentucky court of justice that is http://kycourts.gov. Not every license qualifies for renewal. For example if you require driver testing by the Kentucky State Police, you're gonna have to apply for that in-person. If you've had a change of address or your name has been legally changed, you must apply in person. Real ID licenses must be applied for in-person. We're continuing to offer essential in-person services, but when you can renew through the mail through dropbox without having to have that person to person contact, you should. This order only focuses on driver's license, not vehicle registrations, there's no more extension at the moment for vehicle registrations.
• Also, pretty important today, we have extended the mask mandate. Again, it’s absolutely critical that we all wear these, and as you'll see when we talk about our COVID numbers, they are working. To lift this mandate now would leave us vulnerable at a time that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and where we are headed for victory. We cannot let that happen. So continue to mask up, it goes for another 30 days, but we're going to be wearing these until enough people in the Commonwealth have been vaccinated to where we can protect the most vulnerable. With that, I'll turn it over to our lieutenant governor on our continued push to get broadband high speed internet to every single house in Kentucky.
• Thank you Governor. Speaking of jobs of the future, and as you know our administration is committed to bringing broadband internet connectivity to every home in Kentucky. Because closing the digital divide is critical for economic development, for education, and for creating those jobs of the future. So two weeks into our speed test, I'm happy to report that 44,000 households have participated so far, and that's great news. To give you an idea, in just these first two weeks we have actually outpaced states who have had their speed test going for longer than six months. So that's really impressive, but we again need to keep pressing forward and get as many folks involved as we can. The counties with the highest participation rates so far are Scott, Harlan, Caldwell, and Lyon counties. On the opposite end of the spectrum we need you to help us spread the word in counties: McCreary County, Meade County, Elliot and Owsley counties. And I'm going to impress upon you again: we need everyone, no matter where you're from, to participate in this because this speed test is the first step to bringing internet connectivity to every Kentuckian. It takes 30 seconds and it is completely anonymous. We'll take this data, and we'll build a map of Kentucky highlighting the areas that are in most need. And once that mapping is complete we will work with our partners, both public and private, to bring fast, reliable internet connectivity to the areas that are most in need. So one last time, please visit http://speedtest.ky.gov to take this test. Thank you so much Governor.
• I heard Elliott county in there, I take it that Rocky's in trouble? Alright. We want to make sure, even if you're in those counties, it's mentioned just because we need your help, we want you to have that high speed internet just like everybody else. The more people that do this, the better our map will be, and the more people we will ensure that we can get that fiber to the house-- that high speed internet. We all want this to be really successful so please do your part; and thank you to lieutenant governor, the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet for doing a great job and pushing it and take that to all the states that we've already passed in just a couple weeks that have been at this for a ton of months. Yes, yes we're competitive.
• Alright, let's turn to our COVID report and let's start with our stair stepper chart. Let's start with good news. The trend on new cases, new weekly cases, continues to move in the right direction. We have now had three straight weeks of decreasing numbers of total cases. Folks, that's only happened twice in this entire pandemic. Just about every time that we have had a surge, think about it, we've had three major waves, we have stopped it, but it's primarily plateaued. What we're seeing both in the state and in the country right now isn’t a plateau, it is a decrease and as you look at it it's a significant decrease. Now we've got to make sure that we admit and we feel that we are still at a dangerous time, because if you compare last week, even to the summer in the pandemic, we have a lot of cases, which means we're gonna have a lot of people who we lose because of those cases. But, three straight declining weeks, for only the second time in the midst of this pandemic, is a real positive sign, and we want to see these cases continue to fall.
  • We have a graph on positivity rate. Again, we're seeing the same thing here. It's not quite as dramatic, but it shows you, especially after this last surge, that we have seen our positivity rate decreasing. That shows you that our decrease in case numbers isn't because of any change in testing, there is less disease out there, there are fewer people by percentage are getting the virus week over week over week. And as you'll see today we are under 9% for yet another day.. So, cases are decreasing, positivity rate is decreasing, so are the number of people in the hospital.
  • Let's look at the inpatient census. We are now seeing, as you see that graph went way up, which was our major concern, and then it leveled out, and now we're starting to see a real decline. Today's numbers continue to bear that out.
  • In more good news, the ICU numbers continue to decline. And again, we got to put this in context right? They’re a lot higher than they were in the summer, or back when we were doing Healthy at Home. But with everything we've been through, and the country has been through, I think seeing a decrease, hopefully being optimistic that it will continue, but remaining vigilant, is where we should be. What it should tell you is when you follow all these good practices when you wear a mask, when you remain socially distant, we see results. We see results in people being protected, fewer people getting the virus. And what that means is a month or two from now, we will see fewer deaths. You're doing your part to say save lives.
  • Ventilators are also down from what we have recently seen, I think we have just a couple of extra people today as compared to yesterday.
  • When we look at our hospital capacity map by region: Today we have four regions in the red all because of ICU capacity, but when you look at areas close to them, that can help these regions, you see, really fairly low ICU numbers of percentages of ICU beds that are full. So, thanks to your work, and thanks to a lot of tough steps we had to take, thanks to the sacrifice of things we did in November into December, we have for the moment preserved our healthcare capacity. We did not end up where Florida and Texas and Arizona did in the summer, which was in many instances bringing in morgue trucks. We didn't end up where North and South Dakota were in this fall, where they did the same. We're not where LA County was, which I think had 88 different refrigeration trucks at one point. You know, each time we've stepped up to do the right thing. And folks, this isn’t over. We may face another increase before we get through this and we’ve got to make sure that, given that we have known how to stop it three straight times, we don't do something silly and remove our ability to do what works, and what's worked three straight times. Again, right now we are in a difficult time with a lot of loss but we've been more successful than virtually all of our neighbors, and most of the rest of the United States.
• Positive cases today: 1,623 - That's up a little since last Monday, but last Monday and today are significantly lower than what we have seen, really, for the past several months.
• Probable cases: 513
• Total confirmed cases: 364,507
• Children Under 18: 220
• New cases by county: 284x Jefferson, 114x Fayette, 111x Madison, 83x Daviess, 58x Kenton, 51x Warren, 49x Boone, 39x Shelby, 38x Franklin, 32x McCracken, 32x Oldham, 28x Bullitt, 28x Campbell, 27x Grant, 26x Boyd, 24x Floyd, 24x Jessamine, 21x Pike, 21x Pulaski, 21x Trigg, 19x Caldwell, 19x Graves, 17x Hardin, 16x Laurel, 16x Mason, 15x Hopkins, 14x Scott, 13x Calloway, 13x Grayson, 13x Henderson, 11x Powell, 11x Simpson, 11x Spencer, 11x Whitley, 10x Greenup, 10x Harlan, 10x Knox, 10x Taylor, 9x Barren, 9x Butler, 9x Henry, 9x Nelson, 8x Ohio, 7x Allen, 7x Boyle, 7x Clark, 7x Edmonson, 7x Logan, 7x McLean, 7x Marshall, 7x Washington, 6x Bell, 6x Breathitt, 6x Breckinridge, 6x Carter, 6x Clay, 6x Fulton, 6x Hart, 6x Letcher, 6x Lincoln, 6x Marion, 6x Woodford, 5x Crittenden, 5x Harrison, 5x Livingston, 5x McCreary, 5x Muhlenberg, 4x Christian, 4x Estill, 4x Green, 4x Hickman, 4x Johnson, 4x Pendleton, 4x Union, 4x Wolfe, 3x Anderson, 3x Larue, 3x Nicholas, 3x Russell, 2x Ballard, 2x Carlisle, 2x Carroll, 2x Garrard, 2x Hancock, 2x Knott, 2x Lee, 2x Leslie, 2x Meade, 2x Mercer, 2x Montgomery, 2x Trimble, 1x Bracken, 1x Casey, 1x Cumberland, 1x Fleming, 1x Gallatin, 1x Lewis, 1x Lyon, 1x Martin, 1x Menifee, 1x Metcalfe, 1x Monroe, 1x Perry, 1x Rockcastle, 1x Wayne
• Total tests conducted: 4,071,029 (PCR: 3,621,461, Serology: 108,391) - We're now over 4 million total tests. I mean we have 4.4 million people in Kentucky. We've administered 4 million tests over the last, less than a year. I mean these tests didn't exist until we started working on this problem and now the ability to do that is an incredible testament to so many across Kentucky.
• Positivity Rate: 8.85% - Our current positivity rate is up four hundredths of a percent, which statistically I'm not sure it's significant, but it remains below 9% again at 8.85%.
• Total hospitalized: 16,725
• Currently hospitalized: 1,314 - That’s down
• Total in ICU: 3,568
• Currently in ICU: 337 - That’s down
• On a ventilator: 178 - Up by about 5, but overall those numbers are down from what we have recently witnessed.
• Total recovered: 43,492
• New deaths today: 35 - We do have more deaths though today, and continue, than we want to see. We're reporting 35 new deaths. This is again the results of that exponential increase that we saw and certainly the post-holiday bump.
• Total Deaths: 3,780
• New deaths by county: 88 F Adair, 67 M Boone, 69 M Boone, 71 M Boone, 56 M Boyle, 72 F Bullitt, 89 F Bullitt, 78 M Bullitt, 79 M Bullitt, 81 M Bullitt, 81 M Bullitt, 67 M Calloway, 76 M Clay, 74 F Clinton, 97 F Fayette, 87 M Fayette, 94 M Fayette, 79 F Grayson, 81 F Harlan, 60 M Harlan, 60 M Harrison, 45 F Jefferson, 78 F Jefferson, 59 M Jefferson, 67 M Jefferson, 71 M Jefferson, 77 M Jefferson, 78 M Jefferson, 79 M Jefferson, 95 M Jefferson, 68 M Kenton, 79 M Kenton, 90 M Lawrence, 88 F Madison, 68 M Monroe
• And for the first time, only six individuals from here right now, we believe, were in long term care. I hope that's a sign that our early vaccinations and steps in long term care are making a difference. But again, it should be a warning to all the rest of us, this can impact you whether you are in a long term care facility, or are not.
• I hadn’t provided race and ethnicity updates, they've been on the website, but we've seen significant movement from where we were in the summer, when especially our black Kentuckians were dying at twice the rate that they make up the population, to certainly a better place. And I think it's thanks to a lot of leadership, a lot of interventions.
• Racial breakdown of all cases: 85% White, 8.5% Black, 5% Multiracial, 1.2% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific Islander
• Ethnicity breakdown of all cases: 94.3% Non-Hispanic, 5.7% Hispanic
• Racial breakdown of all deaths: 87.8% White, 8.8% Black, 2.7% Multiracial, 0.6% Asian, 0.1% American Indian
• Ethnicity breakdown of all deaths: 98.2% Non-Hispanic, 1.8% Hispanic
• Long Term Care Facilities (PDF): 18 new residents and 30 new staff positive from yesterday, and 9 more deaths. Again the growth there as our overall percentage of deaths, it's not growing, it's actually decreasing, which means we're doing a better job, especially as the vaccinations happen.
  • Total facilities: 330
  • Total deaths: 2165
  • Active cases: 576 residents, 322 staff
  • Total cases: 16568 residents, 12172 staff
• K-12 Update (PDF): Update on our last week's experience in schools. We had 1330 students, K-12, test positive last week, and 563 staff members. Newly quarantined students last week: 6886. Newly quarantine staff: 911. We currently have 18 high school sports teams that are quarantined.
• University Update (PDF): PDF update only
• Alright, let's move to vaccinations which will be where we'll go until questions. I first want to start by trying to give you a way to view our progress, and where we've gone to date. From not having the machinery in places, the vaccines were sent to us, and then out to hospitals for health care workers, but without a dedicated infrastructure, like the one we're building right now, to where we are. What I'm going to show you is the thing that we are really trying to track the closest is how many unique people, how many new people, are we getting vaccinated each week in a race to get people vaccinated. The second doses when they come in, they are for a specific person and we're going to get them to that person. It may take a little longer than we would normally do in our first dose, but Dr Fauci, CDC, FDA all say you got to get that second dose to the person. But the real question to how we're doing, I think, is how quickly we are getting a first dose that we get in into a Kentuckian's arm, now a newly vaccinated Kentucky. And so as you can see, the first two weeks, when we were building this airplane while we were flying it, and when everything that came in was for long term care, and remember we had to give Walgreens and CVS enough for the whole program right away, which, in hindsight I wish they would have planned very differently. And then the hospital system took a little longer than we would have liked to get their vaccines out, but you can see in the first two weeks that our process was moving slowly. By week three we started humming, and then the last four weeks we have vaccinated more people than we received first doses that week. In fact, if you look at the weeks of January 12th and 15th, we were vaccinating significantly more people than we received doses. What this shows you is how we have been able to build the system, how we've been able to increase capacity over time, and how, right now, the problem is not that we can't get a dose to someone, it's that we don't have enough doses, compared to the people who are currently eligible, and certainly the people that want one of these vaccines. And in our regional centers, which we are building out, the goal is to have capacity to do even more than the 250,000 vaccinations we believe we can do right now. And to have an efficient system where in any region you know where your provider is, you know how you sign up. But that's not to say that there's an appointment available, because that depends on how many vaccines that we have. So we can tell somebody where they'll get it. We can tell somebody how to sign up, but what we can't do is provide a vaccine that we don't have. We have three problems right now. They are: supply, supply, and supply because, as you can see from the last four weeks, we can distribute them faster than the federal government can provide them. Overall, you can see we are making up for lost time. We are at a 86% seven-day utilization for really the entire, for the entire, time that we have been vaccinating. We want to be at 90%, but remember we set the 90% goal after the first several weeks. So I think that this is really good progress. I think this is a transparent way to show you the weeks that we could have been doing better, but also where we are right now. So to continue to walk through this system we're building out I want to turn it over to Jim Gray, who is our Transportation Cabinet Secretary, but our project lead on this very critical project. Jim?
• Governor. Thank you Governor, and you asked me Governor to talk about the site that has been stood up at the horse park that we'll be opening for vaccinations tomorrow. But, before that, you asked me to talk about where we are in the full build-out across the state of our vaccination sites. And I'm going to ask James, if he can, to pull up the map of the vaccination sites across the state. This is from our website and what it illustrates is that there are, today, 34 vaccination sites across the state. Now, more will be announced but let me say a few things about the focus, where we are today in the focus, and what is really driving these site selections. First it’s population density, and then equity, vaccine throughput, and then drive time. Now, importantly, what we're talking about in terms of drive time is that the goal is that no one will have to drive more than one county away to get a vaccine. Now we're not there yet, but that is the goal.
• Now let's shift over to talking about the horse park and the site at the horse park opening tomorrow. The first regional vaccination, high-volume vaccination site. Setups are underway as we speak today, in fact, I just got off the phone with Kroger's project manager at the site, very optimistic about where things are. Now that doesn't mean that everything's gonna be perfect on the launch. But this is an image of the Alltech Arena where the first regional site will be located.

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