How the World+ Power Rankings Differ and Why
Previous AF Power Rankings often took 3 to 4 upcoming events into account when positioning players on the list and the tiers. Typically, Power Rankings are based on a month of events be they Major, Elite, or Silver events. Often players’ power (or higher ranking) was based on how many of the events they were playing in. Those playing in 1 or fewer events were routinely ruled out of previous Power Rankings.
AF was late in publishing Power Rankings for the recent GLO event. Had AF published before the GLO, it would’ve slated 4 upcoming events as fantasy relevant, 1 Elite, 2 Silvers and the biggest event and Major – Worlds. With GLO passed up, that leaves 3 fantasy relevant events, or so AF thought.
After GLO, a whole lot of elite players dropped from AFDO, the first of 2 Silver events in this period, and the last 2 Silver events of the season. This rendered the AFDO as non-fantasy worthy, which is odd, but it happened – the event was removed from season draft leagues the same week the Power Rankings were published. That leaves 2 fantasy relevant events. Yet, like many in the fantasy world, AF thinks the 2nd Silver event, and final of the season, the Discmania Open will see huge drop in elite pros that actually play the event, as it is the first week after Worlds. And even if they all play, season draft leagues do not have this event on the schedule, and standard fantasy leagues for redraft also exclude it. Which means, Worlds is really the only fantasy worthy event in the mix. And so the delay to publish this month’s Power Rankings suddenly makes good sense.
What began over a year ago as a new type of ranking list on Art’s Fudge, and only Power Ranking for fantasy disc golf being published, has evolved. It’s become a regular part of the AF ranking lists, based on consistent data points. And after World’s, AF intends to return to typical Power Rankings.
With Worlds Power Rankings, a player playing only 1 of the 3 events isn’t just allowed, but is the norm as over half the players in this update are just playing Worlds. And of the list of 39, only Matt Orum is still registered for all 3 events.