Valve release first ranking update of 2025

6-1-2025 21:04

The ranking will decide the invites for IEM Katowice, PGL Cluj-Napoca, and ESL Pro League S21.

The update will determine the invites for IEM Katowice

Valve has released its first Regional Standings update of 2025, which is set to dictate invites for three tournaments, namely IEM Katowice, PGL Cluj-Napoca, and ESL Pro League S21.

The ranking sees Major champions Spirit rise up to No. 2, while The MongolZ have shot up to No. 3 after their campaign in China. Meanwhile, Natus Vincere drop down to No. 7 after missing out on the playoffs in Shanghai.

The current top eight in Valve's Regional Standings will receive direct invites to the IEM Katowice main event, while teams ranked 9-24 will be extended Play-In invitations.

The top 12 will be invited to ESL Pro League S21 due to half of the participating teams already earning a berth through ESL Challenger Leagues in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania, as well as ESL Challenger winners from last year's Atlanta and Katowice.

PGL Cluj-Napoca will also award invites based on this update, with the top 16 teams receiving the chance to attend the $1,250,000 event.

In the event that one of the teams declines the invitation, it will be given to the next highest-ranked team in the VRS.

The invites will be distributed as follows:

IEM Katowice group stage: 1st-8th
IEM Katowice Play-In: 9th-24th
PGL Cluj-Napoca: 1st-16th
ESL Pro League S21: 1st-12th

It is worth noting that only one team from an organization can attend an event, meaning FURIA and FURIA fe can't accept invites to the same tournament.

Another anomaly are HEROIC, whose spot will go to Falcons after the Saudi organization secured the services of their three-man core earlier in January.

The top 30 in the Valve Regional Standings is as follows:

1. G2 - 1956
2. Spirit - 1933
3. The MongolZ - 1849
4. Vitality - 1834
5. FaZe - 1834
6. MOUZ - 1782
7. Natus Vincere - 1744
8. HEROIC - 1705
9. Liquid - 1646
10. FURIA - 1585
11. paiN - 1437
12. MIBR - 1428
13. 3DMAX - 1416
14. Eternal Fire - 1383
15. GamerLegion - 1364
16. Complexity - 1355
17. SAW - 1346
18. BIG - 1333
19. FlyQuest - 1325
20. Astralis - 1318
21. Wildcard - 1303
22. Virtus.pro - 1292
23. Imperial Valkyries - 1258
24. FURIA fe - 1258
25. Sangal - 1255
26. Nemiga - 1231
27. NAVI Javelins - 1216
28. Nexus - 1208
29. ENCE - 1205
30. Fluxo - 1200

g2 fail

2025-01-06 21:05

ik it's based on prize money won but volvo has to stop putting female teams this high until they play an actual team at a real competition, this list feels super unserious

2025-01-06 21:13

9 replies

Yeah and it will be just so sad when they inevitably have to change the ranking system after the fe teams get humiliated at multiple events

2025-01-06 21:28

5 replies

You do realize that after they get destroyed and continue to play in their impact leagues that they will fall out of the rankings right? They don't need to change anything

2025-01-06 22:31

4 replies

?? Didnt they get this high because of impact league and women tournaments Either way something has to change because also stuff like mongolz at 3 is questionable at best

2025-01-06 23:26

1 reply

Now that there are multiple events offering serious prize money, money that the female scene can't touch, it should correct somewhat. I imagine that if Imperial Female continue to dominate the scene that we may see them get a few invites still, but events like ESL Challenger offering *less* money than Impact is no longer a thing.

2025-01-08 15:22

No they will not fall out of ranking because Impact league doesn’t breaking Valve rules. All teams Invited by Qualifiers or by result of the last event. Valve doesn’t count only events with direct invites.

2025-01-07 07:07

The Female event prize pool is staying the same, while the total prize pool in tier 1 events is increasing (more events and in some cases more money). They won't disappear from the rankings, but they should drop somewhat unless they are surprisingly competitive. Also Impact will use a few VRS invites for the second season of 2025.

2025-01-08 15:28

And how will stickers work from now on? Are we seriously going to get Imperial Fe and Furia Fe stickers at the next major?

2025-01-07 02:16

2 replies

They wont be able to play with two teams at the same event. Cant you guys read?

2025-01-07 10:56

"issue" right now is that Imperial Fe is ranked higher than male Imperial, so they're the team receiving the invites.

2025-01-08 04:09

m0NESY will carry G2 all the way

mongolz third is absurd

7 replies

is based*

based? yes. accurate? not at all

2025-01-06 22:03

based AND accurate

2025-01-07 01:54

Mongolz 3rd, navi 7th lmao. This ranking is actually shit like what is this even based on.

2025-01-06 21:57

Mongolz is playing top 3 level CS since june

2025-01-06 22:40

is that why they lost to mouz who have been playing top 10 level cs since june?

2025-01-06 22:42

HaHaHaHaHa

2025-01-07 19:44

mongolz top 3 letsgo ️‍🔥

Heroic LOL

Sjuush will play alone np

2025-01-06 21:16

skibidi

#23 and #24 lul

hltv users when women are successful

2025-01-07 02:00

No they are not.

2025-01-07 08:49

Go Imperial fe!

2025-01-06 21:06

LEGGO NEXUS

2025-01-06 21:07

still artificial inflated partner league rankings not representative of reality

It'll correct over time

2025-01-06 21:24

3 replies

Kek. That's what they said about competitive ranks and Premier. Yet you still have global elites and level 10s roaming around in the lower ranks

2025-01-06 21:52

yes it will but some of the “damage” will be difficult to “undo” y’know?

2025-01-07 00:00

>team is overranked >loses >is no longer overranked

2025-01-07 00:37

Navi Female>Ence Xddddddddddddd

2025-01-06 21:08

Now that's comedy

2025-01-07 13:29

mongolz top 3 we all cheered

KEK ranking

Navi javelins are orgless right now so perhaps...

Falcons directly to group stage xd

2025-01-06 21:09

Navi back where they belong until they -0m and awful

best team of 2024 and it's not close and there's no debate. if they had two bad players like you think then that would only make the accomplishments even more impressive.

2025-01-07 02:50

Why did you brought Spirit into conversation? He talked about NAVI.

2025-01-07 08:44

of course he was talking about spirit. "awful" -> I am mad my team sold a promising young awper to get washed shiro, only for that young awper to contribute to the best team of 2024 while MY team gets second place. when spirit fans talk about navi they're never really talking about navi. I leave it up to others to figure out why he hates iM. it doesn't matter.

2025-01-07 11:34

He talked about NAVI and you talked about top 1 team of 2024 which is Spirit. sh1ro is top 5 player of 2024, where is awful? The least impactful AWP in the game.

2025-01-07 11:51

lol

2025-01-07 17:53

no M80 lemao

Nexus top 30 what

Vp almost belov fe teams lul Also take mongolz outta there, wtf are they doing in 3rd place?

2025-01-06 21:10

Deserved, Respect TheMongolZ.

2025-01-06 21:41

Wheres Red Bull's team?

so sangal aka heroic will be invited to kato its assumed?

Correct.

2025-01-06 21:40

3 female teams + fluxo + nexus in top30 oh hell naw

2025-01-06 21:11

nexus won 240k prizepool iesf, obv they would be in the top 30

2025-01-06 22:05

thats same bullshit as when windigo won 500k on some mickey mouse wesg

2025-01-06 23:46

23. Europe Imperial fe - 1258 24. Brazil FURIA fe - 1258 25. Sweden Sangal - 1255 26. Russia Nemiga - 1231 27. Poland NAVI Javelins - 1216 28. Romania Nexus - 1208 29. Europe ENCE - 1205 30. Brazil Fluxo - 1200 Pro CS is cooked, what a trash ranking

6 replies

Dont worry this won't last long

2025-01-06 22:04

I dont think nexus is the tema he's complaining about

2025-01-07 02:31

why prizepool is something to take into consideration for the ranking? there is no strong correlation between money and level of the team, that's one of the reasons why VRS makes 0 sence

2025-01-07 13:11

There was like a billion dollar female tournament randomly, this isnt gonna last and I dont understand the expectation that moving to a new ranking system will have 0 hiccups, fe teams will have their appropriate ranks very soon and the rest of the ranking seems fine to me

2025-01-06 22:07

*responded to wrong person

2025-01-07 02:30

As long as m0NESY is in G2, they'll always be in the top 5 easily throughout the season.

2025-01-06 21:12

crazy rankings ngl. I dont even know where to start

2025-01-06 21:14

We better not see no damn FE team in Katowice play-in. It's 1 thing to give them a chance in irrelevant things like Blast. It's another to waste spots in 1 of the 4 major tournaments CS has in a year.

2025-01-06 21:15

We better see one and see them get destroyed so ppl understand whats the deal there.

2025-01-06 22:23

This ranking is so shit ngl.

2025-01-06 21:18

this ranking is so diffrent, it gives a lot of points for the $$ your team won. Its pure comedy, so if u win a tier 2-3 tournament with a high prize pool u gonna get into the top10 real quick. anyways, 2025 gonna be a good year for cs

not possible anymore, they have rules for prize money going forward, otherwise the event won't be ranked

2025-01-07 12:23

their mistake was forcing tournaments to use the ranking before it reflects those rules

2025-01-08 04:36

their mistake was to make the ranking public before forcing it, allowing TOs to exploit that rule

2025-01-08 12:25

where is T2alcons?

2025-01-06 21:22

Read article

i cant read im from usa

2025-01-07 19:42

then stay un-informed

2025-01-07 19:46

this ranking is so trash I can't

2025-01-06 21:26

Shit ranking

2025-01-06 21:31

All three Brasilien teams for eternal fire is Nonsense.

2025-01-06 21:32

are valve seriously leaving female teams this high up....

2025-01-06 21:34

Falcons lol

Brain damage ranking, really impressive even for valve standards

2025-01-06 21:35

imperial fe in katowice great stuff

2025-01-06 21:36

So new Heroic (Sangal 25th) will get invite for Playin, which is at least sth. dont even wanna know how female teams are up there, they prolly wouldnt get a single round against top100.

2025-01-06 21:37

Because of the IESF female championship and the ESL Impact finals were held during the RMRs and no even CCT cups were played, for many teams the season had already ended back then. The same reason of why Nexus is up there. The IESF prize money were absurdly high.

2025-01-07 03:59

HAHAHA wake up valve

2025-01-06 21:39

the most delulu rankings ive ever seen

2025-01-06 21:43

ez for fluxo

2025-01-06 21:47

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Imagine winning a Major, EPL, IEM Rio, Esports WC and playing in 7 finals only to finish below Mongolz who had one fluke top 8 finish in Shanghai xDDD What are they smoking in Valve?

Its because valves ranking system give tons of points for won prize money. Mongolz won $500k in november at thunderpick event this gave them a huge boost as we can see ^^

2025-01-06 21:54

It still doesn’t make any sense since NaVi won more in prize money than Mongolz. Total scam, but prize money for tier 2 tournaments has been fixed.

2025-01-06 22:06

I agree. I think hltv ranking is better by far. Blast.tv about valve ranking: “Heavy focus on recent matches. Teams are initially ranked by prize money won. Ranking position is affected by the prize money won by beaten opponent, as well as the teams they have beaten.“ This shortly describes the 5-10 criterias of how valves system ranks the teams. After reading the criterias you can easily tell that money (the money you win in a tournament + the money your opponent won that you beat) is like the most important indicator for their ranking.

2025-01-06 22:29

VRS is already better in 2025, Valve changed it. HLTV ranking is heavily biased and subjective. Moreover, it’s no longer relevant.

2025-01-06 23:07

Its no more relevant true and I think its better that TO’s use valves own ranking system now heavily biased?? 3/8 You can see ranking details which are well calculated Navi javelins imp fe furia fe in top30 and mongolz 3rd and navi 7th = vrs already better sure buddy maybe it will be better in 2025 with the new system of no more partner tournaments and the new prize pool rules, I agree

2025-01-06 23:45

You can say that the ranking is based on current form. And the rampaging Mongolians have had some solid results towards the end of 2024, while Na'Vi were not so good in the final two events of the year.

2025-01-06 23:41

let's see what you'll have to say when mongolz 2-0s your fluke vincere

2025-01-07 07:21

Lmao mongolz

2025-01-06 21:48

Heroic will be #25, below Imperial Fe and Furia Fe

2025-01-06 21:53

imperial fe getting even more chances damn

2025-01-06 21:58

Xd imperial & furiabfe

2025-01-06 22:22

navi javelins kek. Women get good looking point booster, i guess

2025-01-06 22:41

+1 exactky :)

2025-01-07 02:07

What in the f is this ranking lmao I dont even know where to start

Joke rankings

2025-01-06 22:45

3 FEMALE TEAMS XDDDDDDDD

2025-01-06 23:08

saw #17 after all the roster changes xDD yeah this rank is great volvo, please keep it up

2025-01-06 23:40

Yeah, saw is really lucky to have a good rank after all the changes.

2025-01-07 10:50

They changed 1 player since winning esl katowice, what do you mean?

2025-01-07 13:13

Yes, they don't even read the rules, yet they comment as if they know what they're talking about just to make a pointless argument.Falcons is really lucky to have a good rank, after all the 4 changes...

2025-01-07 13:50

Navi 7th deserved

2025-01-07 00:48

lol i thought primier ranking

2025-01-07 01:07

Three female teams here, how?? HOW?? Also, #31 will get Furia Fe spot, I wonder what team is it

2025-01-07 01:28

read again it's #25 that will get that spot (for kato only), for the others no female team will be invited (unless some teams refuss the invite)

2025-01-07 12:28

2 navi lets go

2025-01-07 01:37

They really gotta rework the prize money system and 3 person core Like maybe scale points based on the avg vrs of teams present sadness make it -10-20% per player so you don't get shafted like sAW and have to buy a core everytime

2025-01-07 01:59

i miss when teams weren't international. EU CS is boring as fuck

2025-01-07 04:26

what makes cs boring? people being from european union? lol

2025-01-07 09:20

It was great when we had a team full of .swe .dk .ru .uk .kr etc etc thats one of the biggest reasons viewership is so trash, no personality, no nothing.

2025-01-08 22:42