North American 6v6 - TOP 10

The NHL community loves to do top 10 rankings at each position. These are fun discussion starters for the community, but no one seems to be talking about the best 6’s teams out there. NHL 6v6 is all about chemistry and teamplay, but there isn’t any distinction to the best 6’s teams out there. It’s probably because teams rosters/teams change dramatically after a long event or a crushing defeat. With NHL 6v6 on the rise, and with more and more organizations/sponsors stepping into the space, let this be a PSA to try and maintain a roster for longer than a month. There will be good teams who won’t be ranked here, and that will simply be because they did not maintain a majority roster (3/6 starters) so their previous results cannot be pinned to an individual, and more so to the now-defunct roster. If you are switching your roster that drastically, you would assume they haven’t had success and probably shouldn’t be considered top 10 at this time.

This post will contain the top 10 North American teams from the past couple of events in NHL 20. Here are the criteria:

1. Tournament/Event Results will be heavily considered here. Events are long and hard to come by these days, and teams change so much that we will only cover LG S12 and Caps Gaming in this list, as they are the most relevant and most recent. Going too far back leads to too much roster shuffling, but also the meta changing from yearly installments. So we’ll only use those 2 tournaments I mentioned. I’m using a points system, similar to ATP rankings in tennis, or how ESL ranks CSGO teams. Caps Gaming is ranked slightly more (about 5% higher) than LG due to recency. You can learn about these systems here:

ATP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATP_Rankings

ESL CSGO: https://pro.eslgaming.com/worldranking/csgo/rules/

2. Opponents played/beat is also an important factor in these rankings. With both of the tournaments above being used, the quality of opponents can vary depending on scheduling/the format in general. In other words, some people may have an easier road than others, and best of 1’s versus best of 3’s+ are also a factor. Each team ranked here will have their notable wins in each category shown to get a grasp of the quality of opponent + placing. 

Best of 1’s (BO1) will only be a single game, while best of 3, 5 and 7’s (BO3, BO5, BO7) will be a series of wins over the same opponent, making them more noteworthy than a best of 1, where a bad or lucky bounce could change the tide of the game. Best of 7’s is the format of the NHL playoffs, where the first to win 4 games will ultimately win the series.

10. BBB

LG Championship S12 - Top 16

Caps Gaming Showcase - Top 16

Bo3: Prophecy 

Bo1: Resilience, Composure x2 

BBB was dominant in NHL 19, winning multiple 6s Championships. Unfortunately, it’s been too long since those events, and BBB hasn’t been able to replicate that same success in NHL 20. They bring back Flowmaster Joe, who was a key player in their previous success and will look to get that old BBB chemistry back and flowing. While they have been consistent in their placements, they’ll need to step it up in upcoming matches to jump in the rankings.

9. Dahlia

LG Championship Season 12 - T24 (from Royalty)

Caps Gaming Showcase - T8

Bo3: Prophecy, Phantoms, Entourage

Bo1: Resilience, Vertigo 

The Dahlia Type Beat was in full force during the Caps Gaming Showcase and rolled through most of the regular season without a series loss. They play a tight defensive game and can play any team no matter how much offense to close games. They changed @TheGreatMP7 with @KingClutch, who is a proven PSN player in his own right and should be a solid addition to the squad. They’re proving that the gap between Xbox and Playstation players is smaller than people think, and will look to build off their previous campaigns. 

8. Vertigo

LG Championship Season 12 - T4 (From Legacy)

Caps Gaming Showcase - N/A

Bo7: Prophecy 

Bo1: Hidden Potential, Composure, Entourage, Dahlia, Underdogs 

Vertigo is a recently formed roster, filled with plenty of veterans from the 6’s scene. The majority of this roster comes from Legacy, who had solid 6’s results prior to the switch, but ultimately dropped out of Caps Gaming.  They added the Turning Point duo of @Soy los 19 and @SamDelisle9, who you could argue were the two most impactful players on their roster. They then top it off with @Kernsy, @CaLL Me Jakoo, and @DDW4, who have been a part of very solid rosters in the past and are skilled players in their own right. This team has the potential to move up spots in these rankings in the near future, and the only reason they aren’t is because of the DNF in the Caps Tournament. 

7. Prophecy

LG Championship Season 12 - T8

Caps Gaming Showcase - T16

Bo3: N/A

Bo1: Dahlia, Entourage, Vertigo, Phantoms, BBB 

The long-running brand of Prophecy has had a decent amount of consistency in terms of placing, but nothing too high or noteworthy. They recently went through a rehaul of their roster, bringing in @McLxvinn, @Po1andsFinest and @Sorokin x 90. All three of these guys bring pedigree and experience to the team and look to make a deeper run in future events.

6. Phantoms

LG Championship Season 12 - T16

Caps Gaming Showcase - 4th

Bo3: Entourage 

Bo1: Vertigo, Dahlia, Composure, BBB, Entourage 

Phantoms have been a pleasant surprise of the 6’s scene recently, being a newer roster/brand formed in NHL 20. The French squad surprised plenty in the early going, but then topped it off with a dark horse run in the Caps Gaming Showcase, making it to top 4 and the LAN experience. These guys can’t be considered dark horses anymore and will look to continue their consistent success. 

5. Underdogs

LG Championship Season 12 - T4

Caps Gaming Showcase - T8

Bo3: Composure, Dahlia 

Bo1: Dahlia, Composure, Entourage, Prophecy, BBB, Phantoms 

This French squad is by no means an underdog at this point, as they have been consistently a solid contender in all the events they play in. The Underdogs like to play a high powered offense and have the skill to match any top team goal for goal. They had a tough run in the Caps Gaming tournament, as they had forfeit wins and forfeit losses all over the place, which messed up their swiss ranking and eventually their seeding for playoffs. They have however been one of the more consistent teams in placings, and look to make a run in an upcoming tournament to jump in the rankings. 

4. Composure

LG Championship Season 12 - 1st

Caps Gaming Showcase - T32

Bo7: Phantoms, Underdogs, Resilience 

Bo3: Resilience, Prophecy 

Bo1: Prophecy, Dahlia, Hidden Potential, Phantoms, Underdogs 

Composure is one of the few rosters that’s stuck together for a significant period of time. While they have had success in the past that aren’t mentioned here, the results look a bit hot and cold for the squad. I don’t think that the top 32 placement in Caps doesn’t tell the full story here, as they came up against another top 5 team in Underdogs. They have had wins in all series formats, and with an event win under their belt this year, they know how to get it done in NHL 20. 

3. Hidden Potential

LG Championship Season 12 - T8

Caps Gaming Showcase - 2nd

Bo7: BBB (LG)

Bo3: Composure, Dahlia, Prophecy, Underdogs, Phantoms 

Bo1: Prophecy, Underdogs, Dahlia, Phantoms, Entourage, Vertigo 

Hidden Potential is a relatively new team, but has made waves in NHL 20. They started off with solid placements and results early on in NHL 20, beating a lot of top 10 teams, and then followed it up with a 1st place regular season in Caps Gaming, and a 2nd place overall finish. They have depth in all positions, adding players like @rickchel, @YungGren, @Remi l9l and IHuskie to round out the utility positions.  The next step for this team is an event win. 

2. Entourage

LG Championship Season 12 - T16

Caps Gaming Showcase - 1st

Bo5: Hidden Potential 

Bo3: Composure, Resilience 

Bo1: Phantoms, BBB, Resilience, Dahlia, Composure

The most recent champion, Entourage looked significantly more prepared for the LAN environment than the other attendees. This showed in their results, as they didn’t drop a single game on their run. Their event win is plagued by their slow start in the beginnings of NHL 20, but their ranking is nothing to discredit. This team is solid top to bottom, have the firepower to run up the score or play a tight 1 goal game. The addition of @Regs84 has proven beneficial in spades, as he brings a puck-moving side to the right defense spot not seen from too many other teams. 
 

1. Resilience

LG Championship Season 12 - 2nd

Caps Gaming Showcase - 3rd

Bo7: Hidden Potential, Vertigo 

Bo3: BBB, Phantoms, Underdogs

Bo1: Underdogs x2, Phantoms, Hidden Potential, Composure, Vertigo, Prophecy, BBB, Phantoms 

As much as people may feel it’s strange to have a team that hasn’t won an event at number 1, it’s tough to not put Resilience at the top spot. They have been the most consistent, being the only team to get at least top 4 in both events. They also have the best track record in terms of beating top 10 teams, which comes from those deep playoff runs. The Resilience boys have bounced around with different wingers from time to time, but they brought back Stifmeister x7 and @Thibodd, who are arguably 2 top 5 wingers right now. They have one of the most well-rounded rosters and have done everything except win a big event. It feels like the only thing left for this team is to get that coveted trophy. Unfortunately, this team has spread itself out for NACL, joining various top 10 teams to bolster other rosters, so they will not be looking to raise the NACL trophy as a squad.

Do you agree with our ranking? Let us know your TOP 10 in the comments below.