Jesson Club Championships Seeding Predictions: Mixed Division

1. Polar Bears
2. AMP
3. Chad Larson Experience
4. The Ghosts
5. Slow White
6. Mischief
7. Drag’n Thrust
8. Wild Card
9. DOH Abides
10. Ambiguous Grey
11. Cosa Nostra
12. Cahoots
13. 7Express
14. Odyssee
15. 7 Figures
16. Steamboat

Tier 1: Polar Bears, AMP, Chad Larson Experience, The Ghosts, Slow White

The Polar Bears are ranked #2 by USAU and just finished first in the competitive Southwest Region, after winning the Pro Flight Finale. Their main competition for the top seed is AMP. AMP may be ranked #1 by USAU, but they haven’t had nearly as an impressive season as the Polar Bears, largely because they haven’t played the same level of competition. AMP won their hometown Philly Invite, and finished third at the Emerald City Classic. Polar Bears won the Pro Flight Finale, and finished third at the US Open, going 6-2. Given their string of impressive performances in Sarasota these past few years, they should come in as the top seed. Up next is Chad Larson Experience, a team with only two losses this year, one to AMP and one to Polar Bears. They finished second at Philly Invite and Pro Flight Finale. Fourth is The Ghosts, who didn’t play a tournament after the Philly Invite until Sectionals. They finished third in Philadelphia, and beat Slow White to win the Northeast region. Slow White is up next at fifth. They haven’t lost to any teams ranked beneath them, and have quality wins against Drag’n Thrust, Cosa Nostra, and Wild Card.

Tier 2: Mischief, Drag’n Thrust, Wild Card, DOH Abides, Ambiguous Grey, Cosa Nostra

Here is where it gets more interesting. Mischief finished second at the US Open and won the Emerald City Classic, so they’re a step above the rest of the competition here. Drag’n Thrust had disappointing Regionals performance, losing their pool to Bird, and thus they were unable to play for the championship against Chad Larson Experience. Other than that loss to Bird (who they beat 15-7 in the game to go) they haven’t lost to a team ranked beneath them other than Odyssee. Drag’n Thrust has beat Cosa Nostra, Ambiguous Grey, and even gone 1-1 against Mischief this season. Teams 8-11 are a little messier, because it is difficult to seed DOH Abides. They beat Ambiguous Grey twice at Emerald City Classic, and are ranked #8 by USAU, whereas Ambiguous Grey is only at #18. So it would seem unreasonable to put DOH Abides beneath Ambiguous Grey. Cosa Nostra is a Pro Flight team, that beat Wild Card at the Philly Invite but lost to Ambiguous Grey, as did Wild Card. Both teams are ranked higher than Ambiguous Grey, and Wild Card did beat DOH Abides at the Emerald City Classic. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cosa Nostra come in at 8 instead of 11, but USAU should try to avoid placing Wild Card ninth, since that would put them in the same pool as Slow White and The Ghosts, in a virtual replay of Northeast Regionals.

Tier 3: Cahoots, 7Express, Odyssee, 7 Figures, Steamboat

Cahoots is the clear choice at the twelfth seed here, ranked #15 and having beat Odyssee and Ambiguous Grey at the US Open. 7Express finished fourth in the Northeast, so they have to be ranked above Odyssee. Their best win so far this season was against Ambiguous Grey in the Chesapeake Invite. Odyssee is ranked #5, but must be below 7Express. In the five bid Northeast Regionals they took the fifth bid, without ever playing any of the top four finishers. 7 Figures is next, having lost to Odyssee at the Philly Invite, where they only came with one win. Despite a poor regular season performance, 7 Figures took down Blackbird and American BBQ to take the final bid out of the Southwest. Steamboat played some quality competition at Emerald City Classic, but their best win was against BW Ultimate, who finished ninth at Southwest Regionals.

That would give us pools of:

Pool A: Polar Bears, Wild Card, 7Express, Cahoots

Pool B: AMP, Drag’n Thrust, Cosa Nostra, Odyssee

Pool C: Chad Larson Experience, Mischief, Ambiguous Grey, 7 Figures

Pool D: The Ghosts, Slow White, DOH Abides, Steamboat