Team Ranking: November 2016

As has become customary, November has been another busy month for the best teams in the world with tournaments taking place online and offline relentlessly. The two biggest events this month happened on North American soil: IEM Oakland and the ending of ELEAGUE Season 2. The points for the latter, which took place over the league's five weeks, will be tallied in this update with the exception of the form column which was updated as the tournament developed.

Some of the lower ranking teams, as well as higher ranked teams who braved the schedule, also had their chance to climb the ranks with tournaments such as Northern Arena and DreamHack ZOWIE Open Winter. 

With the main Major qualifier kicking-off in less than two weeks and the Major itself looming on the horizon, teams are starting to buckle down in anticipation. The only major roster change has been SK parting ways with Lincoln "⁠fnx⁠" Lau, taking away the player's points from SK in the ranking. Standing-in for him at this weekend’s ECS Season 2 Finals will be the old school Portuguese player Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco.

This month has seen what is known as the uncertainty or parity era crystalize. The level of competition between all of the top teams and even some of the lower placed teams has made it incredibly hard for analysts and fans alike to predetermine outcomes, and in many instances upsets have become the norm. With only eight out of 16 teams attending the qualifier being able to earn places at the next Major, it looks like the end of December will be one filled with thrills.

Keeping in tune with last month, we once again have six teams with over 600 points on the top. On the other hand, the most notable change from last month is at the helm of the ranking, as the new number one team on this update only has 881 points compared to last month’s 927, and the teams at the top of the table now have shorter distances between each other.

To summarize the ranking for new readers:

Our team ranking is based on teams' achievements over the past year (with severe decay in points throughout each month), recent form over the last 2 months, and performance at offline events in the last 3 months.

Each team is required to have a three-man core in order to retain their points and online results are included but have minimal effect (only affecting 'Form') at the top of the table and mainly serve to put new teams on the map.

We will always have a special page where you will be able to find the latest, weekly version of our ranking.

Here is the current top 30 table as of December 5th, 2016, which goes more in-depth into the way points are distributed. You can see the lineup for each team by hovering over their name in the table.

Please note that the +/- gain on this table differs from our weekly rankings page, and is in relation to the ranking update of October 2016.

Top 30 Team Ranking Powered by EGB.com

Rank	Team	Achievements	Form	LANs	Total points	+/-
1.	Ninjas in Pyjamas	412	169	300	881	+5
2.	SK	500	187	141	828	-1
3.	Virtus.pro	445	88	208	741	-1
4.	Astralis	332	160	218	710	+11
5.	Dignitas	325	123	197	645	-2
6.	OpTic	317	135	173	625	+6
7.	Cloud9	271	144	153	568	-2
8.	FaZe	228	200	135	563	+5
9.	Natus Vincere	312	57	165	534	-5
10.	G2	259	109	113	481	-3
11.	MOUZ	159	78	85	322	-3
12.	Immortals	111	131	58	300	+2
13.	Envy	132	98	64	294	-4
14.	Liquid	160	46	66	272	-4
15.	Gambit	84	111	43	238	+8
16.	fnatic	129	65	22	216	-5
17.	GODSENT	65	76	43	184	+8
18.	HEROIC	70	62	37	169	+1
19.	Renegades	53	80	29	162	+2
20.	FlipSid3	62	33	26	121	-4
21.	TYLOO	38	62	21	121	-4
22.	Kinguin	37	56	23	116	+2
23.	HellRaisers	41	44	28	113	-5
24.	Epsilon	23	51	20	94	+2
25.	VG.CyberZen	17	52	14	83	-5
26.	LDLC	13	40	13	66	+1
27.	Vexed	6	36	10	52	+2
28.	Space Soldiers	15	29	5	49	+2
29.	ALTERNATE aTTaX	11	33	4	48	-7
30.	TSM	21	25	1	47	+5

*Hover over each team name for the full lineup.

We will now discuss the top fifteen teams in the ranking and examine whether or not their fortunes rose or fell in the month of November.

1. NiP

Player	Age	Rating
Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund	26	1.07
Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg	28	1.07
Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström	25	0.99
Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg	25	0.95
Jacob "⁠pyth⁠" Mourujärvi	23	0.90

For the first time in over half a year, since April, we have a new number one as SK ceded their spot after losing fnx’s share of points. This also translates into a very weak #1 with only 881 points. However, Ninjas in Pyjamas can make claims of their own having been the only team to win two premier events in recent times, at SL i-League StarSeries Season 2 and more importantly for our ranking at IEM Oakland this month. It is worth noting Ninjas in Pyjamas are the only team maxing out on recent LAN points.

While the other big event this month, ELEAGUE’s playoffs, was a bit of a disappointment—going out in the quarterfinals—it was against a revamped Astralis that made it all the way to the championship game.

With the legendary duo of GeT_RiGhT and f0rest getting back in form—the latter being the first to win two MVP titles—the Ninjas have made their mark at the top of the table obtaining the spot at the cusp despite having played most of the season with Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill as a stand-in and just recuperating pyth from injury. Another first will be the fact that the number one ranked team will have to qualify for a Major, which furthers the notion of parity amongst the top teams.

2. SK

Player	Age	Rating
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	22	1.23
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	25	1.14
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	25	1.04
Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	21	1.01

The Brazilian squad, despite being mired by fnx’s departure, have been so far a top 3-4 team at every tournament they play. Despite not winning anything since their last Major, this month they have taken a 3-4 at ELEAGUE and second place at IEM Oakland only behind the Swedes of Ninjas in Pyjamas, who usurped their throne.

Such a strong string of results, even with no victories, gives SK a maxed out achievement column, with 500 points, the only team in the ranking to have that. Furthermore, they are also the team with the highest form, with 186.5 points. 

The decision to include fox into the team has been a bit of a conundrum as the team already boasts one of the best if not the best AWPer and secondary AWPer combination. The Tuga has been lauded as a team player, though, and while glock dropping memes may be flying around a good teammate may be just what SK need at the moment.

3. Virtus.pro

Player	Age	Rating
Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski	23	1.07
Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński	22	1.05
Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas	30	1.02
Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski	28	0.96
Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski	29	0.94

Virtus.pro dropped one spot in our rankings since last month, not a huge change, in large part due to the fact that the points have been so spread throughout the field. The only LAN result for the Poles this month has been a 5-8 at ELEAGUE, which while nothing to call home about, is still making it to the playoffs as the first in their group in one of the biggest tournaments of late.

The Polish team has bucked the trend of oversaturated schedules by doing something not many teams have been considering which is pulling out of big tournaments, including most recently IEM Oakland. It remains to be seen, however, if this trend will improve the team as a quarterfinal exit at ELEAGUE is all we have to go with for now and if this competitive solecism could come back to haunt the team.

The Poles are now going to miss ECS Season 2 and are already qualified for the Major, so strong showings when they reappear in January will be necessary for them to keep their good achievements and recent LANs numbers and hold on at the top of the rankings.

4. Astralis

Player	Age	Rating
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	21	1.18
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	18	1.14
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	23	1.06
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	21	1.01
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	21	0.96

Astralis have made a massive eleven spot leap after culminating a great month on and offline making the ELEAGUE finals and nudging themselves back into the top 5 in our global monthly ranking since they were last seen in fourth place in May. Astralis aren’t topping any of the charts, but hold solid numbers across the board including a 218 in recent LANs, the second highest. 

A semifinal run at IEM Oakland where the Danes lost to the number one in the world team at the time, SK, and a second place at ELEAGUE beating teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas and SK gives a shining newfangled Astralis renewed credibility. Furthermore, Astralis won the online portion of ECS which they ended with a 10 map winning streak.

The ECS finals this weekend will be a perfect chance for Astralis to solidify their comeback into the top ranks, and with a spot secured at the next Major the Danes won’t have to worry about the Major qualifier the following week. If Astralis can pull off a good finish in Anaheim they’ll have the merriest of Christmases ahead of the Major.

5. dignitas

Player	Age	Rating
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif	18	1.16
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke	19	1.13
René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg	26	1.12
Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel	22	0.97
Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen	21	0.88

It seemed for a while Dignitas had established themselves as the Danish team of reference, but now they find themselves behind Astralis once again. Last month’s win at EPICENTER: Moscow propelled Dignitas into the spotlight, but a 7-8 bombing out at DreamHack ZOWIE Open Winter and a 5-8 finish at ELEAGUE this month put their feet back on the ground. 

While the Danes were possibly the biggest disappointment in Jönköping where they fell to Kinguin and FlipSid3, ELEAGUE is a different story as they made it first place out of groups and an unlucky three map loss (16-14 in the decider) to SK which could have gone either way ended Dignitas's options early on.

ECS will be a good chance for Dignitas to bounce back. While Magisk had to fly back home for school engagements, Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså should be able to at least hold up in the firepower department despite a more than possible loss in teamplay.

6. OpTic

Player	Age	Rating
Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas	21	1.16
Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic	19	1.07
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	20	1.06
Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz	22	1.04
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	22	1.03

Possibly the biggest surprise to come out of this month’s competition has been OpTic winning ELEAGUE Season 2. While they had made an incursion into the top 10 on November 9, in 9th place, OpTic have solidified their top 10 standing winning a $1,000,000+ tournament in a solid team effort. While their strength of schedule in the playoffs wasn’t the greatest, lifting the trophy over Astralis gave them due credit. 

Despite a disappointing DreamHack ZOWIE Open Winter, where they bombed out last next to Dignitas, winning Northern Arena over G2 helped put them over the edge as the last team in the over 600 club, with 625 points. They now have a golden opportunity to get into the top 5 if they can keep their momentum going into ECS.

7. Cloud9

Player	Age	Rating
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	20	1.18
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	18	1.06
Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek	22	1.05
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	23	1.03
Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert	26	1.01

Before OpTic’s ELEAGUE win Cloud9 were by far and large considered the best North American team hovering in and around the top 5 for the past few months. Stewie2K and company had a great start to the season culminating in a win at ESL Pro League, but since then have been faltering on the big stages with a 7-8 place finish at IEM Oakland despite a good showing at the qualifier, the iBP Masters, and falling in 5-6 place at DreamHack Winter.

Not having made it out of groups at ELEAGUE was also a big blow, so a solid showing at ECS will be crucial for Cloud9 to maintain their place in the ranks and stay in the fight with OpTic for best team in North America.

8. FaZe

Player	Age	Rating
Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli	24	1.09
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	22	1.08
Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup	20	1.04
Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey	22	1.03
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	26	0.90

FaZe are another team that made a big leap from last month to now, breaking the top 10 barrier for the first time after a top 4 finish at IEM Oakland, which they qualified for with another top 4 finish at iBP Masters. The karrigan move seemed to solve a lot of issues, as ELEAGUE was the first time FaZe made it out of groups and they were then able to make it to a semifinal once again. These results have given FaZe a perfect score on the form column.

Having been a team closer to 15 than 10 for the last few months, if FaZe can keep these results up they have a shot at solidifying their spot in the top ranks, but they still have a long way to go before the year ends as ECS this weekend and the Major qualifier next weekend will be key for the European team.

9. Null element Natus Vincere

Player	Age	Rating
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	19	1.11
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	25	0.99
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	19	0.96
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	28	0.93
Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin	22	0.80

Natus Vincere blasted into the top 3 after s1mple joined the team a few months back. However, a lot has changed for the CIS team and they are now slowly gliding down the rankings. Na`Vi hit their peak form early in the season with at big win in New York and a top 4 finish in Moscow, but have been harmed by poor online play which has caused them to miss events. More recently and à propos to this ranking update, bombing out of groups at ELEAGUE and IEM Oakland has sped things up to a plummet. 

Dropping out of ECS will also harm the CIS team, as they will be unable to earn any more points before the end of the year and with an already poor form column, Na`Vi can’t afford to have their achievements and recent LAN numbers fall, which they will.

10. G2

Player	Age	Rating
Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom	22	1.11
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	24	1.09
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	19	0.97
Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy	27	0.93
Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux	27	0.89

Rounding out the top 10 are G2. The French team that was able to make it into the top last season has had a rough time since the break. With the exception of a second place finish at Northern Arena, they bombed out of groups at ELEAGUE and finished 5-6 at IEM Oakland.

While G2 have a hefty 100+ point lead over the next team in line, MOUZ, that gap could soon be closed as the 12th and 13th ranked teams, Immortals and Envy, will be at ECS while G2 will be watching from home.

 11. mousesports

Player	Age	Rating
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	19	1.13
Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong	26	1.07
Christian "⁠loWel⁠" Garcia Antoran	19	1.01
Timo "⁠Spiidi⁠" Richter	21	0.96
Denis "⁠denis⁠" Howell	22	0.89

It seemed as if the European team were on an upward path after loWel’s signing, making it out of their groups for ELEAGUE without a problem and taking a semifinal finish at ESL Pro League. Reality started to settle in, though, as an 11-12 place finish at IEM Oakland with five straight losses and a 2-0 defeat to OpTic in the ELEAGUE playoffs has put MOUZ in a tight spot. Not having made it to ECS, MOUZ will have a lot of work to do this week ahead of an incredibly stacked Major qualifier where they will have to play against several teams ranked higher than them for a spot in Atlanta.

12. Immortals

Player	Age	Rating
Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles	21	1.24
João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos	19	1.14
Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass	19	1.13
Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes	23	1.03
Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles	21	1.01

Immortals have been a solid top 15 team for several months, hovering right outside the top 10. They have lately dominated smaller North American events without much weight in the ranking, but being present and playing tournaments like IEM Oakland where they finished 5-6 keeps the team around the outskirts of the ten best teams. They also made it to the ECS finals, where they will keep fighting to get their recent LANs numbers higher as only Gambit is worse than them in the top 15.

13. EnVyUs

Player	Age	Rating
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	21	1.18
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	23	1.05
Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer	25	1.01
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	22	1.00
Christophe "⁠SIXER⁠" Xia	25	0.90

For a while it seemed Envy were making a comeback in the ranks breaking into the top 10 last month, but bombing out of ELEAGUE and losing to G2 at Northern Arena put a stick in their spokes. The French side will now have a chance to redeem themselves and earn some points at the ECS Season 2 finals in Anaheim. If they can place well they could find themselves back in contention around the top 10.

14. Liquid

Player	Age	Rating
Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski	19	1.10
Jacob "⁠Pimp⁠" Winneche	21	1.02
Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano	26	0.99
Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella	21	0.98
Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin	26	0.94

Liquid have been going nowhere very quickly. With 5-6 and 7-8 placings at Northern Arena and IEM Oakland respectively, and missing ELEAGUE completely, Liquid keep taking punches. Liquid will also miss ECS giving them ample time to try and figure out how to revert the situation before the Major in January.

15. Gambit

Player	Age	Rating
Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	26	1.20
Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	25	1.15
Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov	22	1.10
Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	29	1.01
Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	28	0.98

Closing out our top 15 are Gambit, the unlikely winners of DreamHack Winter ahead of teams like Dignitas and OpTic and the winners of the not so relevant Predator Masters Season 3. The now Kazakh team hasn’t been ranked higher than 20 since September 19 when they were holding on to those points from becoming Legends. Moving forward they will have to prove they can keep up these results against stiffer opposition in Atlanta if they want to keep moving up in the rankings. 

December will close out an incredibly busy year the with ECS Season 2 Finals taking place in Anaheim next weekend followed by the main qualifier for January’s ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta, where the most prestigious event in counter strike will return after a six month hiatus. 

You can also see which teams round up the Top 20 over at our dedicated team ranking page.