Liquid claim No.1 world ranking spot with Dallas victory

Liquid have knocked Astralis off the top of the world rankings following Sunday's victory at DreamHack Masters Dallas.

The North American side hit the summit for the first time in the organisation's history after the most recent ranking update, reaching a perfect 1000 points on the back of two title-winning campaigns, the most recent of which at last weekend's DreamHack Masters Dallas, and a runner-up finish.

Astralis leave the No.1 spot after 406 days at the summit - the longest reign since the ranking was introduced, in 2015. During this period, the Danes won 11 LAN titles and created an era in Counter-Strike, setting a new standard that other teams have tried to emulate.

But the current Major champions ended up paying the price for skipping a handful of international events. Since IEM Katowice, they have attended just four LANs - the BLAST Pro Series stops in São Paulo, Miami and Madrid, and the first stage of ESL Pro League Season 9 Europe -, missing out on StarSeries Season 7, IEM Sydney, cs_summit 4 and DreamHack Masters Dallas. Liquid either came out on top or placed second at the latter three, also taking the lead in the race for the $1 million Intel Grand Slam prize with their victories in Australia and Texas.

Astralis will return to action this week at the ECS Season 7 Finals, where Liquid will not be in attendance. This will give the Danish side the chance to make up ground on their opponents, but with 242 points separating the two teams, it is unlikely that they will be able to reclaim the top spot next Monday even in the event of a victory in London.

Liquid and Astralis will both compete at the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, scheduled for June 18-23. After that, the Danish side will play at ESL One Cologne, for which the North Americans will have to qualify via the GG.BET Cologne Invitational after initially declining an invite to the German event due to a heavy schedule.