The Monarchs erupt for the highest score in the WRL, climb from No. 6 to No. 1, and become the fourth team in four weeks to sit atop the Power Rankings. Meanwhile, Bearcats, CHAOS and Rum Runners all lose their perfect records, leaving Brady Sits Down to #1 as the last undefeated team standing.
Last week, we welcomed everyone to CHAOS.
This week, the throne belongs to the Monarchs.
Four weeks into the road to the first Tri-Wizard Cup, the Wizard Redraft League has now produced four different No. 1 teams. THE Ohio River Monsters opened the season there. Bearcats took over in Week 2. CHAOS grabbed the crown after Week 3. Now the Monarchs have climbed from sixth to first after delivering the biggest score anywhere in the WRL in Week 4.
And they did not exactly sneak into the top spot.
The Monarchs scored 202.56 points, becoming the only team in the league to break 200 this week, and they needed nearly every bit of it because Mad Scientist answered with 185.02 in what became the most painful loss of the season. Elsewhere, all three of the other teams that entered Week 4 undefeated were tested. Bearcats lost. CHAOS lost. Rum Runners lost.
Only one survived.
Brady Sits Down to #1 is 4-0.
Four chapters into the season, the throne has changed hands again, the perfect field has been reduced from 36 teams to one, and the WRL is already making it very clear that nobody gets comfortable for long.
Red Dragon: The Monarchs Take the Crown
If Week 4 belonged to one region, it belonged to Red Dragon.
The Monarchs entered the week ranked sixth, coming off a 153.16-point victory over Boats N Hoes and carrying a 2-1 record into their divisional matchup with Mad Scientist. What followed was not simply their best performance of the season. It was the best performance anywhere in the WRL this week.
The Monarchs exploded for 202.56 points, defeating Mad Scientist 202.56-185.02 and vaulting all the way to No. 1 in the Power Rankings at .940. They become the fourth different team to occupy the top spot in four weeks, continuing a season in which the throne seems to come with an ejector seat.
Mad Scientist, meanwhile, may have a legitimate argument for the cruelest loss anyone has suffered this season. They scored 185.02, the third-highest total in the entire WRL for Week 4, and still walked away without a victory. After opening the year 0-3 against THE Ohio River Monsters, Rum Runners and Virginia Blackbeards, Mad Scientist finally delivered the kind of offensive performance that should end a losing streak.
Instead, they ran directly into the highest-scoring team in the league.
That earns Mad Scientist the Week 4 Heartbreaker, and perhaps the most painful one we have seen through the first month of the season.
The region's other major shock came from Garbage Points, who thoroughly handled THE Ohio River Monsters 180.34-113.54. The 66.80-point margin was the largest victory anywhere in the WRL this week. For Ohio River, the result continues one of the strangest early-season arcs in the league. They opened the season with 234.56 points and the No. 1 Power Ranking. Three weeks later, they have fallen completely out of the Top 15 and now sit at No. 17.
The throne they occupied in Chapter One feels considerably farther away now.
Red Dragon also lost its final undefeated team. Boats N Hoes defeated Rum Runners 161.36-134.48, handing the Runners their first loss after a 3-0 start. Rum Runners had been one of the league's steadiest early performers and entered the week ranked third. They remain sixth overall despite the defeat, but their perfect season is over.
The ranked matchup between Boss Hoggs and Virginia Blackbeards went to the Blackbeards, who scored 170.00 to beat Boss Hoggs 170.00-157.64. Both teams remain firmly involved in the early Red Dragon picture, with Virginia Blackbeards climbing to No. 10 in the Power Rankings while Boss Hoggs settles at No. 8.
Villains improved their position with a 153.22-142.32 victory over E-Thugs, moving back into the Top 15 at No. 15. And then there was the week's least glamorous victory.
Coolidge Scorpions defeated Nauti Dawgs 115.60-88.08, which means two things happened simultaneously. Nauti Dawgs produced the lowest score anywhere in the WRL this week, while Coolidge managed to win despite scoring only 115.60. That comfortably earns the Scorpions the current title of Ugliest Win of the Season.
There are no bonus points for aesthetics.
A divisional win counts exactly the same whether it comes with 202 points or 115.
Red Dragon therefore exits Week 4 with a new league-wide No. 1, the week's highest scorer, the week's largest margin of victory, the week's lowest scorer, the season's newest ugly-win benchmark, the end of Rum Runners' undefeated run and one of the most brutal losing performances we have seen so far.
Not a bad week's work for one region.
Black Dragon: One Perfect Team Remains
Black Dragon entered Week 4 with two undefeated teams.
Only Brady Sits Down to #1 made it through.
Brady handled Maniax 151.72-102.70, improving to 4-0 and becoming the final undefeated team in the entire 36-team WRL. Brady's season began with an ugly 126.52-point win over Groot, but the weeks since have included totals of 190.50, 181.98 and now 151.72.
The methods have changed.
The result has not.
Brady is fourth in the Power Rankings at .898 and now carries the one thing nobody else in the league can claim: a perfect record.
Bearcats had entered Week 4 with that same distinction, but the matchup we highlighted last Wednesday proved worthy of the attention. Here For The Beer defeated Bearcats 157.42-148.82, handing the former No. 1 team its first loss of the season.
Bearcats remains one of the strongest teams in the league and sits third in the Power Rankings at .912, but the perfect start is over. Here For The Beer, meanwhile, gets one of its biggest wins of the season and climbs to No. 13 overall.
That single result also completes another chapter in the revolving-door history at No. 1. Bearcats held the throne after Week 2, CHAOS took it after Week 3, and neither reached Week 5 undefeated.
The rest of Black Dragon supplied plenty of movement as well. Teds Lasso defeated the Aviators 175.02-163.64, giving Lasso an important victory after enduring two of the biggest blowout losses of the season during the opening three weeks. The Aviators remain inside the Top 15 at No. 12, but their early 216.52-point Week 1 eruption feels increasingly distant after a 1-3 stretch since opening weekend.
Groot continued an impressive turnaround by beating Diablo Valley Detectives 151.44-106.70. Groot has now climbed all the way to No. 9 in the Power Rankings after opening the season with only 114.38 points and a loss. The Detectives, one week removed from delivering the largest blowout of the season against Teds Lasso, experienced the opposite side of fantasy football's weekly mood swings.
Lucky Ass Ferg defeated defending champion Turd Ferguson 153.92-133.40, giving Ferg another win in a region saturated with championship history. The Lunatics also delivered one of Black Dragon's stronger Week 4 performances, beating Music City Miracles 166.78-110.36.
For Music City, the season continues to be an exercise in extremes. The Miracles spent the opening two weeks scoring well and losing close enough to remain highly regarded in the Power Rankings. After finally earning their first victory in Week 3, they followed it with their lowest output of the season.
Black Dragon may have lost Bearcats from the undefeated ranks, but it still owns the league's final perfect team.
Everybody else is chasing Brady now.
Gold Dragon: CHAOS Comes Back to Earth
Last Wednesday's story was titled Welcome to CHAOS.
The Lone Rangers apparently took that personally.
CHAOS entered Week 4 as the No. 1 team in the WRL, carrying a 3-0 record and a .986 Power Ranking after scoring 210.94 points against Gridiron Grinders. Seven days later, the perfect record is gone.
The Lone Rangers defeated CHAOS 173.24-131.88, handing the league's top-ranked team their first loss of the season and knocking them from first to second in the new rankings.
CHAOS did not collapse in the broader picture. They remain No. 2 at .912 and still own one of the strongest cumulative résumés in the league. But the timing of the loss is almost too perfect for the ongoing story of this season.
Week 1: Ohio River takes No. 1.
Week 2: Bearcats takes No. 1.
Week 3: CHAOS takes No. 1.
Week 4: CHAOS loses.
Nobody keeps the throne very long.
The biggest Gold Dragon performance came from the NY Jackets, who scored 195.32 points in a 195.32-147.32 victory over Rochester Rabbits. The Jackets have quietly put together one of the league's best turnarounds after scoring only 109.84 in Week 1. Three consecutive strong performances have pushed them all the way to No. 7 in the Power Rankings, setting up one of Week 5's best matchups.
Crayon Crusaders also produced an impressive result, defeating Unicorn Legends 167.02-140.00. Unicorn Legends began the season 2-0 and looked like Gold Dragon's early pace-setter, but consecutive losses have cooled that start considerably.
Fast Johnnie Syndicate kept its momentum going with a 142.04-124.00 victory over Gridiron Grinders. Fast Johnnie now sits fifth in the Power Rankings at .843 and has become one of the league's most consistent risers after losing in Week 1.
Totally Turtley defeated Average Joes 121.94-111.36, while Mantis Mayhem handled Southern Sirens 152.94-122.18.
Gold Dragon therefore leaves Week 4 without an undefeated team, but with three clubs inside the Power Rankings' top seven: CHAOS at No. 2, Fast Johnnie Syndicate at No. 5 and NY Jackets at No. 7.
The region lost perfection.
It did not lose relevance.
Power Rankings: The Monarchs Rule
There has now been a different No. 1 team after every week of the season.
THE Ohio River Monsters opened at No. 1 with a .921 rating. Bearcats took over in Week 2. CHAOS climbed to the top in Week 3.
Now the Monarchs sit above all 35 other teams.
Their 202.56-point performance pushed them from sixth to first at .940, while CHAOS and Bearcats sit dead even at .912 behind them. Under the WRL tiebreak procedure, CHAOS receives the No. 2 position because their cumulative scoring total of 691 points exceeds Bearcats' 671.
After Week 4, the Top 15 is:
- Monarchs — .940
- CHAOS — .912
- Bearcats — .912
- Brady Sits Down to #1 — .898
- Fast Johnnie Syndicate — .843
- Rum Runners — .810
- NY Jackets — .787
- Boss Hoggs — .764
- Groot — .745
- Virginia Blackbeards — .708
- Garbage Points — .699
- Aviators — .667
- Here For The Beer — .648
- The Lone Rangers — .593
- Villains — .574
The movement from Week 3 tells the story almost as clearly as the rankings themselves. The Monarchs rise from sixth to first. NY Jackets jump from 15th to seventh. Garbage Points enters the Top 15 at No. 11 after dropping 180.34 on Ohio River. The Lone Rangers move into the rankings after knocking off CHAOS.
Meanwhile, THE Ohio River Monsters — the team that began this entire season ranked No. 1 — now sit outside the Top 15 entirely.
Four weeks.
Four different rulers.
The Last Perfect Team
Thirty-six undefeated teams became seven after Week 2.
Seven became four after Week 3.
Four became one after Week 4.
Bearcats lost to Here For The Beer. CHAOS fell to The Lone Rangers. Rum Runners lost to Boats N Hoes.
That leaves Brady Sits Down to #1 standing alone at 4-0.
There is still a long way to go before the playoffs and an even longer road before somebody lifts the Tri-Wizard Cup, but perfection becomes more meaningful every week it survives. Brady now enters Week 5 carrying the only zero remaining in the loss column.
Thirty-five teams are no longer perfect.
One still is.
Week 5 Preview: One More Divisional Test
Week 5 keeps the WRL inside its divisions for a second consecutive week and completes the first trip through each team's three divisional opponents. After this week, teams will not return to divisional play until Week 9.
That makes the upcoming slate an important early checkpoint. By Monday night, every team will have seen each divisional opponent once.
Gold Dragon gives us perhaps the best ranked matchup on the schedule when No. 2 CHAOS faces No. 7 NY Jackets. CHAOS is trying to recover from its first loss of the season, while the Jackets have climbed from the lowest-scoring team in Week 1 to seventh in the league four weeks later. A month ago, this matchup would not have looked particularly important.
Now it is one of the games of the week.
Black Dragon sends No. 3 Bearcats against No. 12 Aviators. Bearcats is trying to respond after losing its perfect record, while the Aviators need to rediscover the form that produced 216.52 points in Week 1. Both remain inside the Top 15, but they arrive with very different momentum.
Red Dragon features No. 10 Virginia Blackbeards against No. 15 Villains, a matchup between two clubs sitting squarely in the early divisional race. Both have already shown they can beat quality opponents, and another divisional victory could become extremely valuable when these teams meet again later in the season.
Then there is a game that does not technically qualify as Top-15 versus Top-15 anymore but may carry more narrative weight than almost anything else on the slate.
No. 1 Monarchs face THE Ohio River Monsters.
The current No. 1 meets the Week 1 No. 1.
The Monsters have fallen to 17th in the Power Rankings after beginning the season on top, while the Monarchs have just climbed into the position Ohio River once held. That alone makes the matchup worth watching. If the Monsters want to remind the league what Week 1 looked like, knocking off the new No. 1 would be a pretty effective way to do it.
And finally, every set of eyes should remain on Brady Sits Down to #1 against Diablo Valley Detectives. The Detectives are capable of producing huge weeks — their 195.58-point Week 3 performance proved that — and now they get the opportunity to take the last undefeated record away from the league.
Brady enters Week 5 at 4-0.
Nobody else does.
Week 5 will tell us whether perfection survives another chapter.
For now, though, Chapter Four belongs to the team that climbed higher than everyone else.
THE Ohio River Monsters had the throne first. Bearcats took it next. CHAOS followed.
Now the Monarchs wear the crown.
