Team Ranking: August 2017

August was a very quiet month for the most part due to the player break, but it still brought one Premier event - DreamHack Masters Malmö - and a number of high-quality online matches, mostly in the ESL Pro League.

After a disappointing showing at PGL Major Krakow, G2 proved yet again that they can never be written off by coming out victorious in Malmö in convincing fashion, despite some very close matches against Envy and SK that could have easily had a different outcome.

G2 won the first Premier event of the new season

In Sweden, Virtus.pro disappointed once again and returned to group exits, while FaZe's and Cloud9's first showing with their new rosters was hardly convincing. North were still not able to break their duck, but their impressive performances in Malmö have given fans a reason to stay positive.

Here's a summary of our 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.

Here is the current top 30 table as of September 4 2017, which goes more in-depth into the way points are distributed – or you can check our special page where you will be able to find the latest, weekly version of our ranking. 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 it is related to the ranking update of August 2 2017.

Rank	Team	Achievements	Form	LANs	Total points	+/-
1.	SK	500	86	300	886	-
2.	G2	365	150	222	737	+4
3.	Astralis	368	127	175	670	-1
4.	North	264	200	198	662	+4
5.	Gambit	253	177	228	658	-1
6.	Immortals	237	129	139	505	-
7.	Ninjas in Pyjamas	153	114	129	396	+2
8.	FaZe	159	63	111	333	-5
9.	Natus Vincere	156	59	91	306	+7
10.	Virtus.pro	162	73	68	303	-1
11.	Cloud9	117	44	91	252	-4
12.	Liquid	92	49	95	236	-1
13.	Envy	61	122	53	236	+4
14.	fnatic	81	85	61	227	-4
15.	BIG	73	68	77	218	-2
16.	Heroic	56	79	38	173	+3
17.	MOUZ	39	50	36	125	-2
18.	FlipSid3	27	66	27	120	+2
19.	Renegades	33	57	27	117	+4
20.	HellRaisers	38	44	18	100	-2
21.	Space Soldiers	12	62	16	90	+4
22.	CLG	34	29	27	90	-
23.	PENTA	17	32	26	75	-2
24.	passions	11	38	26	75	+2
25.	Kinguin	6	48	1	55	+7
26.	Vega Squadron	14	21	17	52	-2
27.	Misfits	18	25	9	52	+1
28.	Epsilon	1	44	1	46	+11
29.	OpTic	0	46	0	46	-15
30.	GODSENT	13	27	5	45	-

Here's an explanation on the top 15 teams' history during August.

*Hover over each team name for the full lineup.

1. SK

Player	Age	Rating
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	25	1.22
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	22	1.21
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	26	1.12
João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos	20	1.07
Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	22	1.00

The Brazilian side manage to retain their spot at the top of the ranking despite another 5th-8th placed finish at an offline event, this time at DreamHack Masters Malmö.

Talks about SK underperforming in Malmö are somewhat exaggerated, though; after all, they only lost to the two best teams of the tournament, North and G2, and against the Frenchmen they wasted five match points, allowing the series to go to a third map – where Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon’s men ran riot.

SK remain No.1, but the gap is shrinking

Online, SK were able to live up to expectations, as they sit at the top of the ESL Pro League table, with six victories from eight games, which goes to show that the Brazilians hardly have to break a sweat to better domestic opposition.

But SK’s incredible Summer run is in the past, and the fact is that they travel to Mykonos on the back of two straight quarter-final exits. There is some cause for concern, but the ESG Tour event comes just at the right time for FalleN’s men to get back to winning ways before ESL One New York, where they will measure up against the best of the best once again. Unless they turn up in September, SK risk losing the No.1 spot they worked so hard for during months.

2. G2

Player	Age	Rating
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	22	1.14
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	24	1.07
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	23	1.06
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	25	1.00 1.05
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	20	1.01

G2 move up four places to second following their success at DreamHack Masters Malmö, eclipsing their victory at the ESL Pro League Season 5 Finals, which had curiously also come at North’s expense.

After topping their group with close wins against Envy and Immortals, the Frenchmen proceeded to beat SK in a nail-biting series. The worst was now over as G2 went on to beat Ninjas in Pyjamas and North by 2-0 scorelines to secure their third international title after also winning DreamHack Tours and the ESL Pro League Finals.

G2 were all smiles after winning DreamHack Malmö

But it has not all been smooth sailing for G2, who currently have a 4-4 record in the ESL Pro League and missed out on a spot at ESL One New York after losing to Envy in the European qualifiers – a heavy blow, no doubt, also because the event will count towards the Intel Grand Slam, in which they and SK are the only teams with victories so far.

With no ESG Tour Mykonos or ESL One New York on the horizon, G2’s focus will be on ELEAGUE Premier, in which they will be in action this weekend already. It will be extremely hard for the Frenchmen to challenge SK for the top spot this month, but retaining their No.2 status should be doable – unless Astralis return to their best in New York.

3. Astralis

Player	Age	Rating
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	21	1.16
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	24	1.11
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	21	1.06
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	19	1.05
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	22	0.98

The Danish side drop down one place after a disappointing showing at DreamHack Masters Malmö, where they finished 5th-8th – the first time that they have failed to finish top four at an event since gla1ve took over, in October 2016.

Astralis got off to a flying start in Malmö, easing past Renegades and Natus Vincere, but then they were outplayed by Gambit in the quarter-finals, especially on their own map pick, Mirage, where they put in one of their weakest performances on LAN ever.

Astralis had plenty of reasons to smile in Malmö - until the playoffs came

In the coming weeks, the Danes will have plenty of opportunities to redeem themselves – they will be at ESL One New York and at ELEAGUE Premier. At some point, they will need to start taking these chances: it has been six months since Astralis last won a relevant title and five months since they were in a final. Unless they pick up form, gla1ve’s men will lose their spot on the podium – with North and Gambit just four and 12 points adrift, respectively.

4. North

Player	Age	Rating
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke	20	1.20
Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså	22	1.16
René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg	27	1.04
Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup	21	1.00
Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen	22	0.95

North were perhaps the biggest winner of DreamHack Masters Malmö (apart from G2, of course). Heading into the event, no-one knew exactly what to expect from the Danish team, and they certainly proved their doubters wrong with some great performances, beating the new Cloud9 roster, the Brazilian duo of SK and Immortals, and the tricky challenge that is Gambit.

Without surprise, valde acquitted himself really well at his first event with North, averaging a 1.12 Rating – the second-highest of his team. But precious contributions also came from aizy (1.08 Rating) and MSL (1.06, his highest since DreamHack Masters Las Vegas), proving that, with Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif out of the picture, everyone on the team is more comfortable with their roles, even k0nfig, who now has all the freedom he needs to showcase his talent.

North are just inches away from Astralis

Just one event makes for a small sample size, but it is hard not to be excited about North. While they had also finished runners-up to G2 at the ESL Pro League Season 5 finals, this time they had a much tougher route to the title decider, both in the group stage and in the playoffs.

It has been a wild ride for North, who have yet to claim a title since leaving dignitas. This weekend, they will have a great chance to do so as they will be in attendance at DreamHack Open Montreal, where only Immortals and Cloud9 should pose them a threat. Come the end of the month, it is very possible for North to leapfrog Astralis in the ranking, but they will also have to be wary of the threat posed by Gambit.

5. Gambit

Player	Age	Rating
Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	25	1.12
Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov	23	1.10
Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	27	1.09
Bektiyar "⁠fitch⁠" Bahytov	25	1.06
Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	29	0.98

Gambit showed to the world that, sometimes, adding just a bit more firepower to the fold can yield positive results as they went out in Malmö in the semi-finals, beating MOUZ, FaZe and Astralis along the way.

No-one watching Gambit play would say that fitch was a rookie in tournaments of his caliber, such was his impact. The 25-year-old had a 1.06 event rating and was ranked fifth for total kills (221) and fourth for headshots (111) and opening kills (37), doing exactly what he had been asked to do.

fitch acquitted himself really well in Sweden

But perhaps worrisome is the fact that AdreN, who has taken over in-game leadership duties following Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko’s departure, had a below-average 0.97 Rating event, which is worlds apart from his 1.26 Major Rating.

The Kazakh team will now put all their focus on ESG Tour Mykonos and on qualifying for ECS via the Development League. Given their online woes, Gambit will need to rely on getting invites, which could severely hurt their chances of re-entering the top three in the ranking in the future.

6. Immortals

Player	Age	Rating
Henrique "⁠HEN1⁠" Teles	22	1.12
Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass	20	1.10
Vito "⁠kNgV-⁠" Giuseppe	22	1.08
Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes	23	1.06
Lucas "⁠LUCAS1⁠" Teles	22	1.05

Immortals survived the off-season drama about their line-up and travelled to Malmö hoping to prove that their runner-up finish from PGL Major Krakow was not just a fluke. Back-to-back victories over fnatic earned the Brazilians a playoff spot, but they still had to settle for second place in the group following a hectic three-map series against G2.

The draw for the quarter-finals was not kind for Immortals, who had to face North, with the series coming to a close on just two maps, the first of which with steel's men being outclassed by the Danes. 

Immortals remain in sixth place in the ranking

In terms of online play, Immortals got off to a slow start in the Pro League, with two victories from four games, but they made up for that by qualifying for ELEAGUE Premier. Before travelling to Atlanta, however, they will be in action at DreamHack Montreal, where they will hope to go one better than in Austin.

The road will not get easier for Immortals in the coming months. It is too early to say if the internal issues that plagued the team are a thing of the past or if they will come back to haunt the players. A statement victory at DreamHack Montreal could be just what they need to regain confidence ahead of the tougher events that lie around the corner.

7. NiP

Player	Age	Rating
Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund	27	1.18
William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin	21	1.18
Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg	29	1.14
Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner	19	1.05
Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström	26	0.98

Slowly but surely, the Ninjas are grinding their way back to the elite. By looking at Ninjas in Pyjamas's recent results, it is hard to remember that, just three months ago, they were sitting outside the top 20 in our ranking. But the only way is up for the Swedes, who are showing the kind of hunger and desire that they had missed for so long.

After closing the curtain on the tournament season with a victory at DreamHack Valencia, Ninjas in Pyjamas returned from the break eager to do more. The team had already shown promise at ESL One Cologne, but this time around they took it one step further.

NiP are slowly returning to the top

It is a fact that Ninjas in Pyjamas were the defending DreamHack Masters Malmö champions, but given their issues since the start of the year, no-one really expected them to defend the title, so they went into the tournament without that added pressure. After dismantling FaZe, the Ninjas edged past Gambit and Natus Vincere, two very tactical teams, showing that there is a lot more to them than just wild firepower.

Ninjas in Pyjamas were then beaten by eventual champions G2 in the semi-finals, but the players certainly left the tournament with the feeling of mission accomplished. For the Ninjas, it is all about taking baby steps towards the goal of being a top five side again - and with f0rest and GeT_RiGhT putting in solid displays again, that is perfectly possible.

8. FaZe

Player	Age	Rating
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	20	1.24
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	26	1.15
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	23	1.12
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	25	1.02
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	27	0.90

FaZe's slide in form continues as they drop down five places - the most of any team in the top 30 apart from OpTic - after a double roster change and a disappointing campaign in Malmö.

After a dismal group stage exit in Krakow, FaZe opted to make two roster changes in a row, signing GuardiaN and olofmeister, seemingly two improved versions of Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli and Fabien "⁠kioShiMa⁠" Fiey. But as many had predicted, the team will take some time to gel, so success is not a guarantee right off the bat.

FaZe will hope to bounce back at ELEAGUE Premier on Friday

FaZe barely rose a finger against Ninjas in Pyjamas in their opening match, and while they did beat MOUZ - who are experiencing similar issues - in convincing fashion, they ran out of steam against Gambit in the decider match.

There's hardly any reason to be excited about FaZe just yet. They are a team in the making and things may get even worse before they get better. This weekend's ELEAGUE Premier test, against G2, Natus Vincere and Renegades, may come too soon for FaZe, who have a lot of work ahead if they plan to recover from the big hits they have taken in the ranking.

9. Natus Vincere

Player	Age	Rating
Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	19	1.26
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	20	1.05
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	29	0.97
Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin	22	0.93
Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	29	0.92

Natus Vincere responded to the frustrating campaign at the Major by bringing Zeus back and making s1mple the designated AWPer following GuardiaN's departure. And while a quarter-final exit in Malmö was still not what they expected, it was enough to see them return to the top 10, mostly because of the teams around them undergoing even more dramatic changes.

In Sweden, Na`Vi demolished Virtus.pro, lost to Astralis and then beat Renegades for the second spot in the group. In the playoffs, they came close to seeing off Ninjas in Pyjamas but ultimately lost the series after allowing the Swedes to do a reverse sweep.

Zeus says Na`Vi were not prepared enough for Malmö

As Zeus wrote on Twitter, 12 days of practice were "not enough" for the team to get everything ready in time for the event. This weekend, the team will be in Atlanta for ELEAGUE Premier - where the second spot in the group seems to be a close race between them and FaZe -, while they will also attend ESL One New York, the event that gave them their last title. Natus Vincere are bound to regain their status as a top five team - just give Zeus more time to prepare his troops.

10. Virtus.pro

Player	Age	Rating
Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski	24	1.08
Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski	29	1.05
Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński	23	1.04
Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski	30	0.96
Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas	31	0.89

What to write about Virtus.pro that has not been written and said before many times? Fans of the Polish team erupted in joy as the team reached the semi-finals of the Major, with TaZ promising that the team would be back stronger after the break.

But we all saw a very different story in Malmö as Virtus.pro were dismantled by Natus Vincere and Renegades - two teams who had recently changed players -, while picking up just 11 rounds in the process.

The future looks dark for the Polish team. They have three big events around the corner - ESG Tour Mykonos, ESL One New York and ELEAGUE Premier. If they are unable to quickly figure out what went wrong in Malmö, they are in for a rough period, and there is no telling just how low they will drop in the ranking.

11. Cloud9

Player	Age	Rating
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	21	1.20
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	20	1.12
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	19	1.11
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	24	1.06
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	23	1.06

Cloud9 refused to be bystanders in the off-season and chose to revamp their roster with the signings of tarik and RUSH, bringing an end to a longtime association with Jordan "⁠n0thing⁠" Gilbert and Mike "⁠shroud⁠" Grzesiek.

DreamHack Masters Malmö was the first real test for the North American lineup, which could not fend off the threats posed by North and SK - two teams who, at this moment, are on a different level. In the ESL Pro League, Cloud9 have also looked shaky as they currently sit in 11th place on a 1-3 record.

Cloud9 sit just outside the top 10

With the in-game leadership duties having been transferred to tarik, it seems logical that the team will take some time to click. This week's DreamHack Open Montreal will be extremely important for them to get more comfortable before ESL One New York and ELEAGUE Premier, two tournaments with a much more stacked playing field.

12. Liquid

Player	Age	Rating
Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken	17	1.23
Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski	20	1.18
Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella	22	1.11
Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz	23	1.09
Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano	27	1.06

The North American team had a very quiet August, which partially explains their slight drop in points. Having failed to qualify for Malmö, Liquid only competed online, racking up four victories from six games in the ESL Pro League to secure a top-three place at the end of week one.

Much like Cloud9, Liquid have an event coming up, in their case ESG Tour Mykonos, which will be important to evaluate their situation before they get into the big events - ESL One New York and ELEAGUE Premier.

13. EnVyUs

Player	Age	Rating
Adil "⁠ScreaM⁠" Benrlitom	23	1.17
Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy	28	1.15
Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer	25	1.13
Alexandre "⁠xms⁠" Forté	20	1.05
Christophe "⁠SIXER⁠" Xia	26	0.99

Unlike most teams in the top 20, Envy had a packed month of August, in which they took part in a series of online qualifiers, managing to earn spots at ESG Tour Mykonos, ESL One New York and ELEAGUE Premier this way.

Sadly for them, they were unable to translate that online success into victories in Malmö as they were sent packing after just two matches following close losses against G2 and fnatic. The French derby was a particularly heavy blow for Happy's men as they wasted a sizeable lead.

As Happy said in a recent interview, the team will have plenty of opportunities to prove their worth in the future. The first of them will come this week already as they will compete in Mykonos, where they will be desperate to show some of that early August form.

14. fnatic

Player	Age	Rating
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	24	1.10
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	22	1.09
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	23	1.06
Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim	23	1.06
Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson	24	1.05

The Summer season also brought changes to one of Sweden's biggest teams as fnatic bid farewell to olofmeister and Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman, promoting Academy member Golden and re-signing Lekr0 from GODSENT to fill the two vacant positions.

In Malmö, fnatic played a close game against Immortals (14-16) in their opening match before defeating Envy in the group elimination match. They were then paired with the Brazilians once again, this time losing 0-2 in a largely one-sided series.

fnatic bombed out of DH Malmö in the groups

Adapting to a new ingame leadership style can be a painful process, but fnatic have already shown that the potential is there - just look at their near-flawless record in the ESL Pro League. They will not be present at either ESG Tour Mykonos or DreamHack Montreal, which will give them more time to prepare for ELEAGUE Premier, where you should be able to see a much more well-oiled machine.

15. BIG

Player	Age	Rating
Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz	22	1.24
Johannes "⁠nex⁠" Maget	25	1.13
Fatih "⁠gob b⁠" Dayik	30	1.03
Kevin "⁠keev⁠" Bartholomäus	25	1.03
Nikola "⁠LEGIJA⁠" Ninić	26	0.91

Just like Liquid, BIG sat out DreamHack Masters Malmö and had little more than online qualifiers to play for in August. Unfortunately for them, skipping ESL Meisterschaft Summer did not pay off as they failed to secure spots at ESL One New York and ELEAGUE Premier.

Currently with a 2-4 record in the ESL Pro League, BIG will travel to Mykonos hoping to play on the surprise effect again after it proved so successful at the Major. The pressure will be on them as they know that anything less than a deep run in Greece could result in a freefall in the rankings as they will have no other events to fall back on for the rest of the month.