CS:GO Team Ranking: February 2013

After a quiet first month of 2013, February brought us the first big event this year and with it the first big changes in our ranking. Danish squad formerly of Anexis has just about reached the top three, while Natus Vincere's LAN debut helped them to finally get into our Top 20.

At the end of February we saw the main event of the month, Mad Catz Invitational in Vienna, Austra and most points that we distributed came from that tournament. But before that took place we also saw a lot of action in online leagues, such as ESEA Invite which finished its regular season, the playoffs of Fnatic FragOut League, three RaidCall EMS One cups and the first matches of SLTV StarSeries V.

All of those tournaments had some interesting results and at the same time some older events have lost value, which together cause a lot of changes in our ranking. Let's check out how it all looks after February.

Also worth noting is that in light of the recent banning of Epsilon from ESL and its RaidCall EMS One competition, we had to make last minute changes to the ranking by removing all of their results, even though the Swedish team had entered the Top 20 before that.

I. TOP 20 (2013-02-28)

Rank	Teams	Points	evo
1.	Ninjas in Pyjamas	762.33	-
2.	VeryGames	303.79	-
3.	ESC Gaming	155.83	-
4.	unu.AiN	155.04	+6
5.	Virtus.pro	84.09	+1
6.	Lemondogs	72.62	-2
7.	n!faculty	70.86	+5
8.	Imaginary Gaming	62.87	-1
9.	LDLC.com	62.43	+11
10.	Curse	61.61	-5
11.	Quantic	55.94	-3
12.	3DMAX	50.43	-3
13.	fnatic	47.71	-
14.	Anexis	46.25	-3
15.	k1ck	44.78	-1
16.	fm.TOXiC	37.75	+2
17.	Natus Vincere	32.70	+24
18.	Dynamic	32.17	+1
19.	mousesports	31.70	-4
20.	Absolute Legends	30.93	-4

 

 

I.1 Teams out of the Ranking:

ex-3DMAX Disbanded (previously 17th)
(former lineup: socN, tabaco, gravityy, Herden, dupreeh)

The team that finished 3rd in EMS Winter 2012 disbanded back in January, and they were marked for removal this month. All but one of their players have since then moved on in different teams. Firstly there is Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen who became a part of the new Copenhagen Wolves lineup, then there is Søren "socN" Falke who joined fm.TOXiC at the end of January, while we also saw Malte "Herden" Boelt in a new team that was picked up by Server-Forge a few days ago.

Kristian "tabaco" Simonsen most recently joined forces with former Anexis CS 1.6 players Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer and Danny "BERRY" Krüger in a new team named NP!.

I.2 Decreasing teams:

Absolute Legends -4 (previously 16th)
(pronax, lidde, olofm, rdl, dennis)

After a solid 4-place climb in January thanks to some wins in ESEA, Absolute Legends lost Andreas "schneider" Lindberg at the end of the month and haven't been very successful since. Although they added two more solid wins over fnatic and ex-Anexis, other than that they disappointed, especially in the first two RaidCall EMS One cups when they got knocked out in the first round.

While the loss to Overrated Individuals in Cup #2 wasn't that surprising, getting knocked out by dotpiXels in the first cup brought them enough negative points to anull the two wins from ESEA, so in the end they were leaped over by a number of teams, dropping back to 20th spot. On the last day of February, the team removed Jim "zneel" Andersson and replaced him with Olof "olofm" Kajbjer in hopes of achieving more stable results.

 

 Lemondogs -2 (previously 4th)
(Spitfire, zajp, twist, cype, waver)

Coming into the month as the 4th best team in the world according to our ranking, big things were expected of Lemondogs in their first tournaments of 2013. At the very beginning of February they finished out the Fnatic FragOut league with a quarter-final loss to Virtus.pro, which wasn't really a sign of things to come, as that match came down to the wire in the 3rd map and is still a good candidate for one of the most interesting clashes in CS:GO so far.

Three weeks later they attended Mad Catz Invitational in Vienna with hopes of a top3 finish, but instead they ended up as the biggest disappointment of the event. Grouped with 3DMAX, LDLC.com and former e-Sports.rs squad, the Swedes were expected to stroll through the group, but they completely shut down and left Austria as the only team without a point.

Since all three of their defeats came against lower ranked teams, they lost quite a lot of points in the ranking, which not only dropped them outside of the top5 for the first time since we started the ranking, it also allowed the rest of the top10 to get close and possibly jeopardize their new spot in the future.

After the heavy losses in Vienna, the team laid the blame on their in-game leader André "berg" Kjellberg and brought back Christian "Spitfire" Schiölde in his place.

Underachievements  (according to the ranking of January 2013):
4th	Lemondogs	vs New	iNation	8-16	Mad Catz group stage #1
4th	Lemondogs	vs 20th	LDLC.com	13-16	Mad Catz group stage #1
4th	Lemondogs	vs 9th	3DMAX	2-16	Mad Catz group stage #1
4th	Lemondogs	vs 6th	Virtus.pro	1-2	Fnatic FragOut 1/4 final

 

Curse -5 (previously 5th)
(natu, allu, KHRN, ScurK, reflex)

Just like in January, Curse was mostly inactive in February as well. Their only event remained to be ESEA Invite, where they had some cold and some hot days. As 5th in our ranking for two months straight, they were the favorites in most of the matches, so losses to ex-Anexis, mouz and n!faculty actually made them lose ponts. But they did get a few wins too, over Virtus.pro, fm.TOXiC, and most importantly a triple overtime 25-21 victory against ESC Gaming, which ended up being one of the main reasons we won't be seeing the Polish team in Dallas, TX.

Overall, the Finns remained at the similar amount of points as the month before, but they were skipped by five other teams who were far more active and successful so they now sit at the 10th spot.

At the end of the month Timi "aslak" Verkkoperä left the team, making place for Jesse "KHRN" Grandell. This change is expected to restore the team into activity, which can already be witnessed by their efforts to qualify for the last RaidCall EMS One cup. More interestingly, the Finnish team will finally attend a LAN event in 2013 at the end of March when they will travel to Copenhagen Games.

Underachievements (according to the ranking of January 2013):
5th	Curse	vs 10th	unu.AiN	12-16	ESEA Invite Season 13
5th	Curse	vs 15th	mousesports	8-16	ESEA Invite Season 13
5th	Curse	vs 12th	n!faculty	14-16	ESEA Invite Season 13

 

Imaginary Gaming -1 (previously 7th)
(shoxie, Uzzziii, mshz, Ozstrik3r, MAJ3R)

Second best French team, Imaginary Gaming, kept that "title" for the fourth month in a row despite having to deal with the loss of Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom, but in the overall ranking they dropped down one spot. In the main event of the month, Steeve "Ozstrik3r" Flavigni's team had a heart breaking campaign, dropping out after first group stage in Vienna due to a three-way tie which saw them finish just one round behind Nostalgie.

Before that Mad Catz disappointment, Imaginary had a solid campaign in the first two RaidCall EMS One cups, reaching the semi-finals and getting knocked out by the now banned Epsilon squad both times. Although in the first cup they didn't get any significant wins, in the second one they surprisingly defeated VeryGames in the quarter-final which brought them a solid amount of bonus points.

They also began their new campaign in SLTV StarSeries V, but not very successfully, with a draw and two losses, one of which came to Natus Vincere. They will continue being very active in March as they secured a spot in the main round of RaidCall EMS and are signed up for Copenhagen Games.

Underachievements (according to the ranking of January 2013):
7th	Imaginary	vs New	Nostalgie	10-16	Mad Catz group stage #1
7th	Imaginary	vs 41th	Natus Vincere	7-16	SLTV StarSeries V

 

Quantic -3 (previously 8th)
(semphis, DaZeD, tck, hiko, frozt)

Once again the best ranked North American team suffers for their inactivity, or rather their scene's lack of activity, since they only had ESEA Invite to play in February. Despite winning all 6 of their matches and securing the top seed for the Global Finals, they lost just as many points because their biggest achievement so far (3rd place at ESWC) is starting to lose value.

Therefore they drop down to the 11th place at the expense of some other teams that had more success this month. However, all that can change in March as they are signed up for Copenhagen Games and are looking to make a big boom in Denmark.

3DMAX -3 (previously 9th)
(GuardiaN, oskar, sneix, kap1, .PhP)

After spending two months at the 9th place, 3DMAX have now dropped down to 12th after a largely disappointing month. Although they did reach the second group stage at Mad Catz Invitational, the Slovakian-Czech team suffered three losses to lower or not ranked teams, ending up with a 1-5 record.

Additional disappointment happened in the first RaidCall EMS One cup when they were knocked out by DRUCKWELLE, as well as in the third edition when Tomáš "oskar" Šťastný was late for their match vs Overrated Individuals resulting in a default loss. Luckily for them though, they managed to reach the semi-final in the 2nd cup which practically secured them a spot in the main round.

Underachievements (according to the ranking of January 2013):
9th	3DMAX	vs 20th	LDLC.com	14-16	Mad Catz group stage #1
9th	3DMAX	vs New	iNation	13-16	Mad Catz group stage #1
9th	3DMAX	vs New	TCM Gaming	11-16	Mad Catz group stage #2
9th	3DMAX	vs New	DRUCKWELLE	14-16	RaidCall EMS Cup #1
9th	3DMAX	vs 29th	ALTERNATE	13-16	SLTV StarSeries V

 

Anexis -3 (previously 11th)
(RattlesnK, Mx, RE1EASE, weber, prb)

Organizationless Overrated Individuals spent February by playing online as much as they could. They took part in all three RaidCall EMS One cups, starting with an unexpected loss to fellow Brits Infused. In the second cup they reached a step further but then ran into NiP, while they peaked in the 3rd cup during which they beat ESC Gaming and reached the semi-final.

Including the beginning of SLTV StarSeries V, they finished the month with a 5-4 record in all competitions, which coupled with two losses to lower ranked teams didn't exactly bring them a surpluss of points. Therefore the British squad dropped down to its lowest yet 14th place.

In the last day of February it was announced that they were signed by Anexis, which means that we will see them at Copenhagen Games and likely many other LAN events in the future.

Underachievements (according to the ranking of January 2013):
11th	Anexis	vs New	Infused	13-16	RaidCall EMS Cup #1
11th	Anexis	vs 20th	LDLC.com	10-16	RaidCall EMS Cup #3 1/2 final

 

mousesports -4 (previously 15th)
(Troubley, approx, karrigan, nooky, zonixx)

Another team in a constant decline since our November edition are the Germans mousesports. Despite an almost complete lineup overhaul since then, mousesports have found success hard to come by, having another month filled with losses.

They started February with a loss to Danes Anexis in the 1/4 final of Fnatic FragOut league, then adding 2-5 to their ESEA Invite record and finishing off with a loss to LowLandLions in the first round of RaidCall EMS One Cup #3. With that kind of a month it is no wonder they ended up losing a few points and sliding down to the 19th place.

Underachievements (according to the ranking of January 2013):
15th	mousesports	vs 30th	ASES	14-16	ESEA Invite Season 13
15th	mousesports	vs 18th	fm.TOXiC	12-16	ESEA Invite Season 13
15th	mousesports	vs 31st	LowLandLions	9-16	RaidCall EMS Cup #3

 

k1ck -1 (previously 14th)
(fox, mUttt, iNsider, emotioN, n3w)

Thanks to finishing in the top 8 of ESL Major Series Winter 2012, k1ck earned a chance to play each of the RaidCall EMS One cups, which turned out to be their only source of international matches in February.

Despite a one spot drop in our ranking, the best Portuguese team didn't waste their chances, as they ended up with a little over 9 points gained in the month. In the first cup they defeated ESC Gaming before losing to n!faculty, while in the second cup they got knocked out by the now banned Epsilon after overtime.

The third cup is when they shined the most, reaching the semi-final where they lost to the new lineup of fnatic, which was still enough to secure a spot in the main round. The RaidCall EMS One group stage will however be the only competition for k1ck in March, as they haven't signed up for Copenhagen Games, so they are likely to be skipped by a few more teams by this time next month.

 

I.3 Stationary teams (which are not in the Monthly top 10)

 

fnatic (remained 13th)
(MODDII, stingeR, trace, Friis, Xyp9x)

Following a somewhat successful first month of 2013 when they climbed to the team's highest yet 13th place, fnatic's all-Danish squad didn't justify the high expectations set before them. Out of their seven ESEA matches, only three were actually played and they managed to lose to Absolute Legends and fm.TOXiC, only beating ASES before that.

They also made a horrendous start in SLTV StarSeries V, losing to zNation and ALTERNATE, as well as ESC. In addition to that, in the middle of the month they had a disappointing 4th place finish at HKLAN, which however isn't counted in this ranking due to being a local event.

Having realized that changes are needed after those results, fnatic brought back Andreas "MODDII" Fridh and also added Lasse "stingeR" Midtstue. The effects were immediatelly shown when the new lineup participated in RaidCall EMS One Cup #3 just the day upon forming, managing to win it with Fridh in the role of in-game leader.

However, on their way to first place they didn't beat any favorites so that result alone wasn't enough to help them move up from the 13th spot or reach the Monthly Top 10. Nevertheless, the new lineups has shown potential and everyone will be eager to see how they will perform at Copenhagen Games.

I.4 Increasing teams (which are not in the Monthly top 10)

 

fm.TOXiC +2 (previously 18th)
(Whindaski, BARBARR, nEiLZiNHo, socN, smF)

As the calendar turned to February, fm.TOXiC's new roster strengthened by two Danes, Søren "socN" Falke and Danni "smF" Dyg, was one day old. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have many chances to prove themselves since then, only finishing out the ESEA Invite season which had already slipped away from the team.

In their first few matches they managed to take three significant scalps, recording overtime wins against ESC Gaming and n!faculty, as well as a 16-7 win over fnatic. That brough them enough bonus points to eventually advance in the ranking despite not playing any other competition. We will be able to see the new lineup on LAN soon, as they were one of the 16 teams to receive an invite to Copenhagen Games.

Versus teams higher ranked in the Ranking of January
18th	fm.TOXiC	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	22-20	ESEA Invite Season 13
18th	fm.TOXiC	vs 12th	n!faculty	19-17	ESEA Invite Season 13
18th	fm.TOXiC	vs 13th	fnatic	16-7	ESEA Invite Season 13
18th	fm.TOXiC	vs 15th	mousesports	16-12	ESEA Invite Season 13

 

Dynamic +1 (previously 19th)
(n0thing, swag, AZK, adreN, Volcano)

Despite losing to Quantic in February and ending up 3rd in the ESEA Invite NA standings, Dynamic gathered the most points out of all North American teams this month. They had a 7-1 record which gave them a slight boost from 19th to 18th place in the ranking, but as they are not going to Cph Games they are a likely candidate to drop out of the Top 20 in our next update.

 

II. Monthly Ranking

Top 10 of February 2013  

 

 

Rank	Teams	Points
1.	Ninjas in Pyjamas	183.86
2.	unu.AiN	111.67
3.	VeryGames	40.35
4.	LDLC.com	39.33
5.	n!faculty	36.93
6.	Virtus.pro	32.33
7.	Natus Vincere	29.63
8.	iNation	20.83
9.	ESC Gaming	20.54
10.	TCM-Gaming	20.48

 

 

 

10.  TCM-Gaming (New Entry, 24th)
(TORNADOTONI, fl0w, stavros, strux1, X)

 

Achievements:
 -
Total prize money: -

 

At the end of January, former mousesports member Dimitrios "stavros" Smoilis formed a new squad which was picked up by TCM-Gaming. Their one and only goal was attending Mad Catz Invitational, and Smoilis spoke about hopes of a top five finish.

With some fortune they reached the second group stage, where they recorded their two significant wins against 3DMAX and logiX. They were knocked out in the quarter-final by Anexis, but the goal had been reached at that point. However, Anil "cLy" Gülec thought otherwise and he decided to leave the team shortly after, leaving TCM-Gaming's future in question.

As they were a new team in the ranking, those two LAN wins brought them a solid amount of bonus points which put them on the 10th spot of our Monthly ranking, and 24th overall.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus higher ranked teams in the January Ranking
New	TCM-Gaming	vs 9th	3DMAX	16-11	Mad Catz group stage #2
New	TCM-Gaming	vs 21st	logiX	16-6	Mad Catz group stage #2

 

9. ESC Gaming (overall -, remained 3rd)
(TaZ, Neo, pasha, kuben, Loord)

Achievements:
4th at Mad Catz Invitational
Total prize money: -

Two months in a row ESC have been placed second in our Monthly Top 10 and they've been slowly catching up to VeryGames in the overall ranking. But February hasn't been very kind to them as they finished only 9th this time, with not only the French increasing the lead but also Danes unu.AiN catching up to them.

The Poles did achieve 4th place at the only international LAN event of the month, but they didn't record any spectatular wins as they lost to their main enemies, NiP in the semis and VG in the 3rd place decider.

While that LAN performance did bring them enough points to perhaps be even higher in the monthly ranking, a group stage loss to n!faculty, as well as their online results made them lose a significant amount of points to keep them this low. The biggest disappointed was surely their failure to qualify for the ESEA Global Finals, which aside from the fact they had to play against VG and NiP twice (and lost) was a result of double overtime losses to fm.TOXiC and Curse.

If that wasn't enough, they also suffered early losses in RaidCall EMS One cups one and three, firstly to k1ck and then to Overrated Individuals. The only bright side of their online play was the start of SLTV StarSeries V where they beat Virtus.pro, fnatic and 3DMAX.

All in all, they collected just enough points to stay a fraction ahead of unu.AiN for now, but unless they do better than the Danes at Copenhagen Games they will have to relinquish the 3rd place.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus teams from the Top20 of January Ranking
3rd	ESC Gaming	vs 9th	3DMAX	16-12	Mad Catz stage group stage #2
3rd	ESC Gaming	vs 20th	LDLC.com	2-0	Mad Catz 1/4 final
3rd	ESC Gaming	vs 5th	Curse	16-8	ESEA Invite Season 13
3rd	ESC Gaming	vs 16th	Absolute Legends	16-5	ESEA Invite Season 13
3rd	ESC Gaming	vs 6th	Virtus.pro	16-14	SLTV StarSeries V
3rd	ESC Gaming	vs 9th	3DMAX	16-1	SLTV StarSeries V
3rd	ESC Gaming	vs 13th	fnatic	16-8	SLTV StarSeries V

 

8. iNation (New Entry, 22nd)
(kassad, YNk, k1Ng0r, emi, NiKolinho)

Achievements:
-
Total prize money: -

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the month was the Serbian team iNation, formerly known as e-Sports.rs, who took Mad Catz Invitational by surprise when in their first two matches they defeated two teams from our top 10, Lemondogs and 3DMAX.

The Serbs made it to the second group stage where they recorded one more win, against TeamCRG, before losing to Nostalgie and VeryGames and ending their journey. All of their points that make them 8th in this ranking came from those 3 wins on LAN, while aside from that they unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the RaidCall EMS One cups.

At the beginning of March they severed ties with their former organization e-Sports.rs in hopes of attracting a new one that could send them to international tournaments.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus higher ranked teams in the January Ranking
New	iNation	vs 4th	Lemondogs	16-8	Mad Catz group stage #1
New	iNation	vs 9th	3DMAX	16-13	Mad Catz group stage #1

 

7. Natus Vincere (overall +24, from 41st to 17th)
(Starix, Edward, markeloff, Zeus, ceh9)

Achievements:
-
Total prize money: -

The team that everyone has been waiting to enter our Top 20 since we started the ranking has finally done so. Natus Vincere made the biggest jump in February, advancing 24 places to become 17th. That should come as no surprise as this was the month they made their LAN debut in CS:GO, at which they reached the quarter-final and lost to VeryGames in the closest possible manner, 30-34 in the first map and 14-16 in the third map.

In that Mad Catz adventure Na`Vi defeated TeamCRG and n!faculty, while also drawing versus ESC Gaming. In addition to that, just before their trip to Vienna they started playing SLTV StarSeries V where they gave signs of good form by defeating ESC and Imaginary.

With Copenhagen Games looming ahead, the Ukrainians will be the team to watch based on what they've shown at their LAN debut and they are expected to continue climbing on our ranking in the future.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus higher ranked teams in the January Ranking
41st	Natus Vincere	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	16-9	SLTV StarSeries V
41st	Natus Vincere	vs 7th	Imaginary	16-7	SLTV StarSeries V
41st	Natus Vincere	vs 12th	n!faculty	16-4	Mad Catz group stage #1

 

6. Virtus.pro (overall +1, from 6th to 5th)
(AdreN, Dosia, kucher, ANGE1, Fox)

Achievements:
2nd at Fnatic FragOut
Total prize money: ~578 

Virtus.pro was the only team from our Monthly Top 10 that didn't attend Mad Catz Invitational, which means they gathered all of their points online. And exactly how this CIS mixture did that is mainly thanks to an impressive display in Fnatic FragOut league at the very beginning of the month.

Firstly they beat Lemondogs in an extremely close game of the quarter-final, and then they made a big surprise by taking out VeryGames in the semi-final 2-0. NiP was of course too big of an obstacle in the end, but this 2nd place finish brought them enough points for this position in the Monthly ranking.

Also importantly, they managed to qualify for the ESEA Global Finals that will take place in April, but before that we will be able to see them at Copenhagen Games.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus higher ranked teams in the January Ranking
6th	Virtus.pro	vs 2nd	VeryGames	2-0	Fnatic FragOut 1/2 final
6th	Virtus.pro	vs 4th	Lemondogs	2-1	Fnatic FragOut 1/4 final
Versus teams from the Top20 of January Ranking
6th	Virtus.pro	vs 15th	mousesports	16-13	ESEA Invite Season 13
6th	Virtus.pro	vs 12th	n!faculty	16-12	ESEA Invite Season 13

 

5. n!faculty (overall +5, from 12th to 7th)
(Kirby, asmo, disruptor, qk-Mantis, smn)

Achievements:
1st at RaidCall EMS One Cup #1
Total prize money: ~154€

One of the strangest entries in our Monthly ranking in February is definitely n!faculty. The German team failed miserably at Mad Catz where they were knocked out by TeamCRG in the first group stage despite beating ESC, but they had a more than impressive online campaign which made up for it.

After losing to fm.TOXiC in their first February match in ESEA, they went on a five-game winning streak to secure a spot at the Global Finals in front of ESC, which could be considered their biggest achievement of the month. During that streak they once again defeated VeryGames, and only two days after they also took down NiP in the semi-final of RaidCall EMS One Cup #1.

That made them the only ones to defeat each of the top 3 teams so far, and they did it all in one month, which is the main reason they find themselves almost doubling their point count from the month before and climbing to the 7th place overall.

They ended up being the champions of the first RaidCall EMS One cup due to Epsilon's ban, whereas they also lost to those Swedes in the quarter-final of the second cup. In March, we will be seeing them in the main round of RaidCall EMS One, as well as at Copenhagen Games.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus higher ranked teams in the January Ranking
12th	n!faculty	vs 2nd	VeryGames	16-12	ESEA Invite Season 13
12th	n!faculty	vs 5th	Curse	16-14	ESEA Invite Season 13
12th	n!faculty	vs 1st	NiP	16-12	RaidCall EMS Cup #1
12th	n!faculty	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	16-14	Mad Catz group stage #1
Versus teams from the Top20 of January Ranking
12th	n!faculty	vs 14th	k1ck	16-9	RaidCall EMS Cup #1
12th	n!faculty	vs 18th	fm.TOXiC	16-2	ESEA Invite Season 13
12th	n!faculty	vs 16th	Absolute Legends	16-12	ESEA Invite Season 13

 

4. LDLC.com (overall +11, from 20th to 9th)
(apEX, Happy, Maniac, Sf, atLaNtis)

Achievements:
3rd/4th at RaidCall EMS One Cup #3
Total prize money: ~154€

Another one of the more pleasant surprises in February was LDLC.com, formerly known as eXtensive. Thanks to a 4th place finish at EMS Winter 2012, the French team sneaked into the last spot of our Top 20 last month, but they didn't really look like a threat at the time.

As we now know they were having lineup problems throughout February, so we only saw them play one official match before going to Vienna, and it was a disastrous 16-1 loss to LowLandLions in the second RaidCall EMS One cup.

They came to Mad Catz with a standin for Mathieu "MaT" Leber and took their group by surprise. After defeating 3DMAX and Lemondogs in two very close clashes, they beat e-Sports.rs and secured the top spot of the group and a playoff participation. They couldn't make it further though, but they put up an excellent fight to ESC Gaming as well.

Upon their return from Austria they took part in the third RaidCall EMS One cup, where they recorded another couple of impressive wins, over VeryGames and Overrated Individuals. They finished 2nd to fnatic in the end, which secured them a place in the main round, and also brought them some extra points in our ranking to make them a close 4th in the month and 9th overall.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus teams higher ranked in the Ranking of January
20th	LDLC.com	vs 4th	Lemondogs	16-13	Mad Catz group stage #1
20th	LDLC.com	vs 9th	3DMAX	16-14	Mad Catz group stage #1
20th	LDLC.com	vs 2nd	VeryGames	16-10	RaidCall EMS Cup #3
20th	LDLC.com	vs 11th	Anexis	16-10	RaidCall EMS Cup #3 1/2 final

 

3. VeryGames (overall -, remained 2nd)
(Ex6TenZ, ScreaM, NBK, kennyS, SmithZz)

Achievements:
3rd at Mad Catz Invitational
3rd at Fnatic FragOut league
Total prize money: ~1,385€

Forever second in our overall ranking and for the third time in a row third in the monthly ranking, VeryGames seem to be allowing others to get closer to them instead of closing the gap towards NiP.

They still got their top three finishes at Mad Catz and at Fnatic FragOut league earlier in the month, but they suffered more defeats than ever before. In ESEA it was n!faculty that once more got the better of them, in FFO it was Virtus.pro in the semi-final, while in the RaidCall EMS One cups #2 and #3 they lost to their countrymen Imaginary and LDLC.com.

Most importantly though, former Anexis team beat them in Vienna two times, firstly in the group stage and then in the semi-final.

On a brighter note, they are still keeping ESC at bay, recording another three wins against the Poles who are yet to beat them. They also came out on top of the epic quarter-final clash with Na`Vi at Mad Catz, so the French giants are still the team to beat aside from NiP.

They remain 2nd placed overall with a big advantage, so it will take many more hits before someone is able to knock them down from that position.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus teams from the Top20 of January Ranking
2nd	VeryGames	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	2-1	Mad Catz 3rd place decider
2nd	VeryGames	vs 10th	unu.AiN	2-0	Fnatic FragOut 3rd place decider
2nd	VeryGames	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	16-11	ESEA Invite season 13
2nd	VeryGames	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	16-3	ESEA Invite season 13

 

2.  unu.AiN (overall +6, from 10th to 4th)
(gla1ve, Pimp, MSL, Nico, Nille)

Achievements:
2nd at Mad Catz Invitational
4th at Fnatic FragOut
Total prize money: ~3,000€

The second best team of the month has by all accounts been the former Anexis squad, now temporarily known as unu.AiN, who finished 2nd at Mad Catz Invitational. That was their biggest achievement so far and it came on the back of two impressive wins against VeryGames.

At the beginning of February they finished 4th in Fnatic FragOut league, losing to NiP and the same French men they later beat on LAN. Aside from that, they finished out ESEA Invite, in which they had already failed to qualify for the Global Finals, as 9th in the standings, adding two solid wins over Curse and Virtus.pro in the process.

As one of the new teams that reached the final of a big international event, the Danes have now become a part of the "big four" and they only fall behind ESC Gaming by a fraction of a point. That's why it came as big surprise when they announced their departure from Anexis only days after the big success, but they have since stated they have some offers and that they will be joining a new orgainization soon.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus higher ranked teams in the January Ranking
10th	unu.AiN	vs 5th	Curse	16-12	ESEA Invite Season 13
10th	unu.AiN	vs 6th	Virtus.pro	16-8	ESEA Invite Season 13
10th	unu.AiN	vs 2nd	VeryGames	16-4	Mad Catz group stage #1
10th	unu.AiN	vs 2nd	VeryGames	2-1	Mad Catz 1/2 final
Versus teams from the Top20 of January Ranking
10th	unu.AiN	vs 15th	mousesports	2-1	Fnatic FragOut 1/4 final

 

1. Ninjas in Pyjamas (overall -, remained 1st)
(Xizt, GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, friberg, Fifflaren)

Achievements:
1st at Mad Catz Invitational
1st at Fnatic FragOut league
1st at RaidCall EMS One Cup #2
3rd/4th at RaidCall EMS One Cup #1
Total prize money: ~7,694€

No one is taken by surprise with the fact that Ninjas in Pyjamas are once again topping all the charts, being the best team of the month for the 4th time in a row and even further increasing their lead in the overall ranking.

They did have one dark spot in February, which was a loss to n!faculty in the semi-final of RaidCall EMS One Cup #2, but aside from that they notched up only wins in their other matches. First they won the Fnatic FragOut league, and later in the month the second RaidCall EMS One cup. They also finished out ESEA Invite and started SLTV StarSeries V without a loss, and at the end of the month they climbed to another podium on LAN, taking the title at Mad Catz Invitational.

The Swedes seem to be showing no signs of complacency and they will remain the team to beat for a long time as their advantage at the top has reached new lenghts. Copenhagen Games will be the next big test as all the top teams will be looking to be the first ones to take them down on LAN, but whether that is going to happen remains to be seen.

Top matches (according to the ranking of January 2013):

Versus teams from the Top20 of January Ranking
1st	NiP	vs 7th	Imaginary Gaming	16-9	Mad Catz group stage #1
1st	NiP	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	2-0	Mad Catz 1/2 final
1st	NiP	vs 10th	unu.AiN	2-0	Mad Catz final
1st	NiP	vs 10th	unu.AiN	2-0	Fnatic FragOut 1/2 final
1st	NiP	vs 6th	Virtus.pro	2-0	Fnatic FragOut final
1st	NiP	vs 11th	Anexis	16-9	RaidCall EMS Cup #2
1st	NiP	vs 11th	3DMAX	16-6	RaidCall EMS Cup #2
1st	NiP	vs 15th	mousesports	16-5	ESEA Invite Season 13
1st	NiP	vs 6th	Virtus.pro	16-4	ESEA Invite Season 13
1st	NiP	vs 16th	Absolute Legends	16-8	ESEA Invite Season 13
1st	NiP	vs 15th	mousesports	16-7	ESEA Invite Season 13
1st	NiP	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	16-7	ESEA Invite Season 13
1st	NiP	vs 7th	Imaginary Gaming	16-10	SLTV StarSeries V

 

III. Main Stats 

 

III.1 Ranking by prize money

 

The amounts of prize money is based only on the events included in the ranking:

 

Monthly prize money Ranking						Overall prize money Ranking
1st	NiP	~7,829€				1st	NiP	~62,123€
2nd	unu.AiN	~3,000€				2nd	VeryGames	~21,115€
3rd	VeryGames	~1,385€				3rd	4Nothing	~10,780€
4th	n!faculty	~578€				4th	ESC Gaming	~10,200€
4th	Virtus.pro	~578€				5th	Lemondogs	~6,486€
6th	fnatic	~462€				6th	3DMAX	~4,697€
7th	Imaginary	~193€				7th	k1ck	~4,552€
8th	LDLC.com	~154€				8th	Anexis	~4,081€
9th	3DMAX	~96€				8th	Imaginary	~3,579€
						10th	Dynamic	~3,080€

 

III.2 Other Top Matches from teams outside of the Monthly Top 10

 

5th	Curse	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	25-21	ESEA Invite Season 13
7th	Imaginary	vs 2nd	VeryGames	16-12	RaidCall EMS Cup #2
9th	3DMAX	vs 4th	Lemondogs	16-2	Mad Catz group stage #1
11th	Anexis	vs 3rd	ESC Gaming	16-13	RaidCall EMS Cup #3
15th	mousesports	vs 5th	Curse	16-8	ESEA Invite Season 13
16th	Absolute Legends	vs 10th	unu.AiN	16-13	ESEA Invite Season 13
16th	Absolute Legends	vs 12th	fnatic	16-3	ESEA Invite Season 13
24th	zNation	vs 13th	fnatic	16-14	SLTV StarSeries V
29th	ALTERNATE	vs 9th	3DMAX	16-13	SLTV StarSeries V
29th	ALTERNATE	vs 13th	fnatic	16-7	SLTV StarSeries V
30th	ASES	vs 15th	mousesports	16-14	ESEA Invite Season 13
35th	Netcode	vs 34th	WE ARE LIONS	19-15	ESEA Invite Season 13
31st	LowLandLions	vs 20th	LDLC.com	16-1	RaidCall EMS Cup #2
13th	fnatic	vs 12th	n!faculty	16-8	RaidCall EMS Cup #3

 

III.3 Graphics

 

			TOTAL RANKING			TOP 20			TOP 10			TOP 4
NiP			30%			35%			43%			52%
TOP 4			54%			66%			82%
TOP 10			69%			81%
TOP 20			85%

As we can see on the graph below, four teams have separated from the rest by claiming 54% of all points, so we can now expand the "big three" into the "big four", adding unu.AiN to the group.

In the second graph we see how each of the top 10 teams fared throughout the past four months, with VeryGames getting the early start, but then ESC stepping up in December and now unu.AiN in February.

Events

As always, at the end we present you the list of events that were included in the creation of this ranking. Note that older events lose value as time goes by.

 

High:	DreamHack Winter 2012, ESWC 2012, Mad Catz Invitational
Medium:	DreamHack Valencia, SLTV StarSeries IV, NorthCon, THOR Open, AMD Sapphire
Low:	ESEA Invite Season 12, DreamHack Winter international qualifer, ESL Major Series, ESEA Invite Season 13 North America & Europe, XLParty, RADEON Offensive, IEM Poland, EMS Winter Season 2012, Fnatic FragOut league, RaidCall EMS One Spring 2013 cups #1-#3

 

With this we end our analysis of what was a very interesting month and we turn to March, which will bring us an even more exciting major LAN, Copenhagen Games, at which 17 of our Top 20 teams are expected to make an appearance.