Team Ranking: January 2017

Counter-Strike is back in full force in the new year and the rankings have taken shape as the month of January comes to an end. This month featured the $1.5 million WESG World Finals which took place in China but the main event was the ELEAGUE Major.

The lower ranked teams had their chances to shine and climb the ranks in two tournaments: DreamHack Leipzig in Germany and ESEA Season 23 Global Challenge in Burbank, California. BIG debuted in DH Leipzig to enter the Top 30 while FlipSid3 won the tournament to keep themselves around the Top 20.

February will host DreamHack Masters Las Vegas which will offer $450,000 to sixteen teams. While that will be the only big LAN of the month, qualifiers for IEM Katowice will take place during February and the fifth season of ESL Pro League will kick off. Also shuffles and roster changes after a Major are quite common.

Since October, the #1 spot has been held by SK, Virtus.pro, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Astralis. The competition for being the best team in the world was rigid and none of the teams were able establish themselves as the undisputed kings. That changed with the result of this Major and the challenging teams now have a target to dethrone.

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 January 30th, 2017, 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 December 5th, 2016.

Top 30 Team Ranking Powered by EGB.com

Rank	Team	Achievements	Form	LANs	Total points	+/-
1.	Astralis	500	200	300	1000	+3
2.	Virtus.pro	425	130	150	705	+1
3.	SK	410	105	188	703	-1
4.	OpTic	287	96	154	537	+2
5.	FaZe	237	96	123	456	+3
6.	North	274	61	75	410	-1
7.	Ninjas in Pyjamas	228	25	143	396	-6
8.	fnatic	163	93	139	395	+8
9.	Natus Vincere	230	79	62	371	-
10.	Envy	180	101	74	355	+3
11.	Cloud9	163	31	75	269	-4
12.	Gambit	113	76	63	252	+3
13.	G2	158	48	45	251	-3
14.	GODSENT	77	76	47	200	+3
15.	MOUZ	91	56	28	175	-4
16.	Liquid	100	34	28	162	-2
17.	Kinguin	45	80	24	149	+5
18.	Immortals	67	33	38	138	-6
19.	FlipSid3	50	50	18	118	+1
20.	HellRaisers	39	53	23	115	+3
21.	Space Soldiers	20	62	21	103	+7
22.	HEROIC	46	36	18	100	-4
23.	Epsilon	23	51	20	84	+1
24.	Renegades	31	32	21	84	-5
25.	iGame.com	12	53	8	73	+12
26.	BIG	14	43	16	73	+5
27.	LDLC	17	35	13	65	-1
28.	TYLOO	18	37	5	60	-7
29.	Vega Squadron	11	37	8	56	+4
30.	VG.CyberZen	15	34	6	55	-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 months of December and January.

1. Astralis

Player	Age	Rating
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	21	1.24
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	18	1.14
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	23	1.07
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	21	1.06
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	21	0.97

The Danish squad have won the tenth Major in an astounding fashion, tightening their grip at the helm in the rankings. They claimed the #1 spot after defeating OpTic in the ECS Season 2 Finals in December and their renovated style with gla1ve won them the ELEAGUE Major.

It wasn't easy for Astralis in the group stage as their loss to SK, the last Major winners, put the Danes in an elimination match. They eased past Liquid in the last group stage match and beat Natus Vincere, who looked on impeccable form, 2-1 in the quarter-finals.

device & company played their old nemesis fnatic in the semis and almost crumbled in the first map, letting the Swedes come back from 15-10. But Astralis were resilient and won the map and later the series to arrive at the grand final.

Virtus.pro—the team that only lost one map throughout the tournament—was their opponent. After losing the first map, Astralis won the next two 16-14 and were crowned the Major champions despite being behind on the last map.

There is no denying that gla1ve changed this team completely when he joined on October 24, 2016. The slow and methodical T-side style Astralis adopted under his leadership won his team two trophies in two months: ECS Season 2 and ELEAGUE Major. Kjaerbye joined device as a reliable superstar, dupreeh and Xyp9x are their usual selves, and gla1ve is the best leader this team has ever had. The next time we will see them on a LAN will be at DreamHack Las Vegas where they will be the favorites.

2. Virtus.pro

Player	Age	Rating
Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski	23	1.15
Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas	30	1.08
Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński	22	1.05
Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski	28	1.04
Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski	29	0.93

TaZ & co. kicked off January in China where they came third at the WESG World Finals and finished it off by placing second at the ELEAGUE Major. They are barely in the second place in the rankings as only two points separate them and SK.

At the WESG World Finals, they were eliminated in the semi-finals by Kinguin who came second in the tournament. The Poles defeated Space Soldiers in the third place decider match and took home $200,000 which was more than they got for coming second at the Major.

Virtus.pro came out swinging in Atlanta and finished the Swiss group with a 3-0 record after winning against OpTic, G2, and Gambit. They eliminated North in the quarter-finals and ousted the defending champions SK in the semis. After a great start to the grand final against Astralis, VP were unable to close out games and ended up in the second place.

Like a fine wine Virtus.pro get better with age. pashaBiceps had one of his better tournaments and Snax dominated almost every match. They are 295 points away from the first place but will have their eyes on the sky as the Poles will be at DH Las Vegas alongside Astralis.

3. SK

Player	Age	Rating
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	22	1.23
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	25	1.08
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	25	1.06
Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	22	0.97
Ricardo "⁠fox⁠" Pacheco	30	0.95

The Brazilians who won both the Majors in 2016 are in the third place after a semi-final run at the ELEAGUE Major. They used fox as a stand-in at the ECS Season 2 Finals in December and the Major.

SK got through the group stage in Atlanta with three wins and a loss and then defeated FaZe 2-1 in the quarter-finals. They gave Virtus.pro a good fight in the semis, taking the first map to overtime and losing the second one 16-14. fer and especially coldzera had good performances but the other three players averaged less than 1.00 ratings.

Although it is not official yet, according to rumors João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos will be SK's new fifth. They certainly need another player to help carry the load and felps has shown that potential during his time with Immortals. They are only two points behind Virtus.pro and can pass the Poles if they perform better in Las Vegas.

4. OpTic

Player	Age	Rating
Oscar "⁠mixwell⁠" Cañellas	21	1.12
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	22	1.07
Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic	19	1.05
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	20	1.04
Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz	22	1.00

The most lackluster showing by a top five team at the Major came from OpTic as they got knocked out in the group stage. The North American team climbed the rankings after winning ELEAGUE Season 2 and coming in second at the ECS Season 2 Finals but their Major performance didn't resemble their old self.

They got unlucky with the draw however as their first two games in the Swiss group were against Virtus.pro and Astralis—the two grand finalists. After losing both of those games, they eliminated FlipSid3 from the tournament but couldn't provide a challenge for GODSENT. After only winning one map, they were out.

tarik and mixwell were the two worst performing members of the squad as they averaged 0.74 and 0.83 ratings, respectively. If OpTic are to stay in the Top 5 portion of the rankings, they must make sure these two players are back on from by the time DH Las Vegas kicks off.

5. FaZe

Player	Age	Rating
Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli	24	1.09
Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup	20	1.06
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	22	1.03
Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey	22	1.01
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	26	0.91

The other Danish in-game-leader that revitalized his team was karrigan whose FaZe earned Legends status at the ELEAGUE Major. Closing out games will have to be one of the points they must focus on however as they lost two winnable games in the group stage against SK and Gambit.

FaZe lost to SK in the quarter-finals despite winning the first map and finished the event 5-8th. They will be at DH Las Vegas as well and will be looking to do damage to stay in the top five.

6. North

Player	Age	Rating
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif	18	1.12
René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg	27	1.06
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke	19	1.05
Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel	22	0.96
Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen	22	0.80

The situation looked grim for Magisk & company at the ELEAGUE Major after they lost their first two matches to Gambit and fnatic. North were on the verge of elimination in the first tournament they attended with their new organization but they prevailed.

They beat HellRaisers in a match that went to overtime, defeated G2 16-9, and eliminated GODSENT—a team which features four Major winners among their ranks—with an overtime win.

North's quarter-final best-of-three series against Virtus.pro was tied at 1-1 and the Danes were up 12-3 on the last map Cobblestone. They lost the map after getting only one round on their T-side, exiting the Major with disappointment.

It took time for the Danes to get going but they showcased the damage they can do. Like all the teams above them in the rankings, North will be at DH Masters Las Vegas.

7. NiP

Player	Age	Rating
Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg	28	1.11
Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund	26	1.01
Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström	25	0.92
Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg	25	0.90
Jacob "⁠pyth⁠" Mourujärvi	23	0.89

The Swedes are the only team inside the top ten that weren't at the Major. They haven't played an official match since the ELEAGE Major Main Qualifier in December and the first LAN they will attend will be DH Masters Las Vegas and if they can't put up results, their fall will continue.

8. fnatic

Player	Age	Rating
Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman	26	1.06
Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson	22	1.01
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	25	0.96
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	22	0.94
Joakim "⁠disco doplan⁠" Gidetun	21	0.80

olofmeister and his team make one of the highest jumps in this edition as they gained eight slots since December. Their group stage wins came against North, MOUZ, and Envy while they moved past Gambit in the quarter-finals. They were finally stopped by Astralis in the semi-finals.

KRIMZ had a throwback tournament full of clutches and brilliant bomb-site defense moments but it wasn't enough to take fnatic any further. If they keep winning games against teams that are on their level such as Envy and Gambit, fnatic will have a better place in the rankings than they had for the last couple of months.

9. Null element Natus Vincere

Player	Age	Rating
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	19	1.13
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	19	1.09
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	25	1.00
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	29	0.99
Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin	22	0.86

Na`Vi were on winning form to start the Major but it all came crashing down in the quarter-finals. After beating MOUZ, Envy and SK in the group by conceding only 12 rounds in total, Natus Vincere faced the best team in the world Astralis in the playoffs. Although they managed to get one map on the board, Natus Vincere were outplayed on Overpass and Dust2.

In the last three tournaments they attended—ELEAGUE Season 2, IEM Oakland, and ELEAGUE Major—Natus Vincere failed to get in the top four. If they continue this streak at DH Masters Las Vegas, the CIS team might look for a change.

10. EnVyUs

Player	Age	Rating
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	21	1.16
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	23	1.08
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	22	1.03
Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer	25	0.97
Christophe "⁠SIXER⁠" Xia	25	0.94

The Frenchmen started the month by winning WESG World Finals in China where they earned $800,000. Envy finished the Swiss group with a 2-3 record and were unable to earn Legends status.

With the rumors of a French super-team in the air, the future of this Envy squad that won a Major in 2015 is uncertain.

 11. Cloud9

Player	Age	Rating
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	20	1.18
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	23	1.07
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	19	1.03
Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek	22	0.98
Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert	26	0.97

Like Ninjas in Pyjamas, Cloud9 haven't played an official match in 2017 as they were unable to qualify for the Major and didn't attend any other tournament. DH Masters Las Vegas will be a great opportunity for the North Americans to redeem themselves and get back in the Top 10.

12. Gambit

Player	Age	Rating
Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	26	1.25
Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	25	1.21
Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov	22	1.15
Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	28	0.99
Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	29	0.96

Zeus' team made a playoff run at the ELEAGUE Major and retained their Legends status. AdreN was one of the best performers at the event as he averaged a 1.26 rating and Gambit will look to repeat this performance in Las Vegas and contest the top 10.

13. G2

Player	Age	Rating
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	24	1.13
Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom	22	1.09
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	20	0.97
Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy	27	0.92
Edouard "⁠SmithZz⁠" Dubourdeaux	28	0.88

After beating fnatic in their first match in Atlanta, things went horribly wrong for shox & company. They lost 16-14 to Virtus.pro and couldn't even get ten rounds against Astralis and North. shox and RpK performed well individually but the team as a whole fell apart in the last two matches they played and lost three spots in the rankings.

14. GODSENT

Player	Age	Rating
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	23	1.10
Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson	23	1.07
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	21	1.07
Andreas "⁠znajder⁠" Lindberg	23	1.06
Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten	25	0.81

The Swedes had a great start to the Major as they beat Astralis 16-6 to kick things off but back-to-back losses against Gambit and Envy put them under pressure. They ended up playing against North in the last elimination match and lost in overtime. Despite showing flashes of brilliance, they weren't at the level of other playoff teams and were eliminated in the group stage, therefore they only gained three spots in the rankings.

15. mousesports

Player	Age	Rating
Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný	25	1.27
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	19	1.10
Christian "⁠loWel⁠" Garcia Antoran	20	0.96
Timo "⁠Spiidi⁠" Richter	21	0.92
Denis "⁠denis⁠" Howell	22	0.87

The European team were eliminated from the Major with a 1-3 record and did not wait around to make roster changes. They benched Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong as oskar returned to the active roster. They will attend DH Las Vegas where Spiidi will be the IGL for the first time.

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