Team Ranking: February 2018

After a month in which the headlines were dominated by the ELEAGUE Major, February featured multiple international events, the biggest in terms of prize money being IEM Katowice, which saw fnatic end a two-year title drought after beating FaZe in a five-map thriller.

Just days before the Polish event, Kiev played host to the fourth edition of StarSeries i-League, which had $300,000 on offer. MOUZ surpassed all expectations and beat Natus Vincere to silence the frenzied home crowd despite a great showing from Aleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, who claimed the MVP award.

fnatic move up one place after winning IEM Katowice

At the beginning of the month, Beyond the Summit hosted at its Los Angeles house/studio the second edition of cs_summit, featuring eight teams and a $150,000 prize pool. Liquid, fresh off adding Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic to their ranks, claimed the top prize after defeating Cloud9 in an all-North American final, with SK completing the podium - their deepest run in what was a disappointing month for Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's men.

There were also two medium-sized international events, both of which had Polish champions: the Legends Cup, topped by PRIDE, and the Play2Live Cryptomasters, which saw AGO defeat Space Soldiers in a nail-biting final.

Following their title-winning campaign in Los Angeles and their deep runs in Kiev and Katowice, Liquid have broken into the top ten and are within touching distance of MOUZ and fnatic, who are just five points apart in the table. Meanwhile, G2 saw their ranking tumble once again and are now just barely inside the top 10, with Renegades and Heroic both sitting on the periphery of this elite group after impressing in February.

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 March 5, 2018, which goes more in-depth into the waypoints 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.

Rank	Team	Achievements	Form	LANs	Total points	+/-
1.	FaZe	500	137	300	937	-
2.	SK	418	93	215	726	-
3.	Cloud9	313	200	193	706	-
4.	MOUZ	237	134	226	597	+1
5.	fnatic	248	123	221	592	+1
6.	Liquid	211	197	150	558	+5
7.	Natus Vincere	185	126	192	503	+2
8.	Astralis	234	104	123	461	-1
9.	G2	202	83	98	383	-5
10.	NIP	138	55	67	260	-2
11.	Renegades	73	71	57	201	+8
12.	Heroic	54	80	42	176	+8
13.	North	83	44	36	163	+3
14.	Gambit	79	46	32	157	-4
15.	HellRaisers	28	59	48	135	+6
16.	Quantum Bellator Fire	40	36	56	132	-4
17.	Space Soldiers	37	52	33	122	-2
18.	Vega Squadron	30	44	28	102	-4
19.	Virtus.pro	70	21	11	102	-1
20.	AGO	17	38	19	74	+2
21.	AVANGAR	8	50	9	67	+3
22.	TYLOO	14	33	16	63	+11
23.	Spirit	7	36	15	58	+7
24.	BIG	19	25	14	58	+3
25.	NRG	9	9	37	55	+4
26.	Luminosity	12	17	24	53	-
27.	Torqued	8	28	16	52	+34
28.	Envy	25	14	5	44	-5
29.	GODSENT	7	21	9	37	+2
30.	Epsilon	0	34	0	34	+7

Please note that the +/- gain on this table differs from our weekly rankings page, and it is related to the ranking update of February 5, 2018.

Here's an explanation of the top 16 teams' history since our last monthly update:

1. FaZe

Player	Age	Rating
Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač	21	1.21
Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács	26	1.11
Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard	23	1.09
Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer	26	1.03
Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen	27	0.99

FaZe retain their spot at the top of the pile despite a disappointing month - at least by their own standards. After letting the Major crown slip through their fingers, karrigan's men licked their wounds and prepared for the two battles ahead, knowing beforehand that by skipping cs_summit they would have more time than SK to cut out mistakes in their game.

But the Brazilians were not FaZe's executioners in either tournament. Instead, the Europeans were bested by a Natus Vincere side featuring in-form duo s1mple and Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev in the semi-finals of StarSeries i-League Season 4, and then by fnatic in the grand final of IEM Katowice.  

FaZe could not win either event they attended in February

In Kiev and in Katowice, FaZe looked to be in prime position to win the title, only to crumble under pressure when things got hot. The IEM final drew parallels with the Major title decider as karrigan's side once again struggled in the final stages of games, could not put matches to bed and wasted championship points.

FaZe will not have the WESG World Finals to worry about in March due to the tournament's single-nationality rule, so they will turn their attention to the V4 Future Sports Festival, a medium-sized event that will have over $600,000 on offer. The Budapest event is far from being the most prestigious competition out there, but winning it will be paramount for a FaZe side still looking for their first title in 2018.

2. SK

Player	Age	Rating
Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David	23	1.23
Fernando "⁠fer⁠" Alvarenga	26	1.15
Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo	26	1.12
Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass	20	0.95
Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo	23	0.94

After SK reached the semi-finals at ELEAGUE Major Boston, which the team attended with João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos as a stand-in, Brazilian fans breathed a sigh of relief as boltz returned to the fold, with cs_summit looking like the perfect tournament for FalleN's men after it had marked the beginning of a sensational run in 2017.

But in Los Angeles, SK had to settle for third spot, with the victories over Torqued and the new North lineup not enough to erase the memories of the defeats to Cloud9 and Liquid - who were clearly a class above the other teams in attendance.

SK are still second in the ranking - but for how long?

At the StarSeries event, SK looked like a serious candidate after winning three of their four Swiss matches, but then a quarter-final clash against Liquid turned out to be more than they could handle. Then, in Katowice, they could not even reach the playoffs as they were bested by Astralis and Cloud9 - two teams who would be defeated by the Brazilians' biggest rival, FaZe, in the playoffs.

Things are looking bleak for SK, who ended 2017 at the top of the world but are still title-less in 2018 after four events. coldzera revealed that some of the team's players are going through personal problems - something that they will have to fix quickly as they will soon attend the WESG Finals, an event for which they will be highly favoured. To kick-start their year, SK will need to bring out the best in boltz, who finished February's events in the red.

3. Cloud9

Player	Age	Rating
Timothy "⁠autimatic⁠" Ta	21	1.19
Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip	20	1.05
Tyler "⁠Skadoodle⁠" Latham	24	1.04
Tarik "⁠tarik⁠" Celik	22	1.00
William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba	23	0.99

After a dream start to the year, with the Major title, Cloud9 were given a reality check as they could not achieve the same level of success at any of the three events they attended in February.

The North Americans looked set in stone on their way to another title when they reached the cs_summit 2 final after breezing past Heroic, Liquid and SK, but then they were surprised by their North American rivals, who overcame a one-map disadvantage to win the title, just days after picking up NAF.

But that was nothing compared to what was to come for Cloud9, who went out of the StarSeries event in the Swiss stage, although they could have cursed their luck after being paired with heavy-hitters FaZe and SK in consecutive rounds, and then with eventual tournament winners MOUZ in the final round.

Cloud9 remain in third place

At IEM Katowice, Cloud9 made their way through the group's lower bracket following another defeat to Liquid, but the damage was done - they were pitted against FaZe in the quarter-finals and could not repeat the performance from the Major final. 

Questions have been raised about Cloud9's ability to replicate their success from the Major, but the North American team will have the chance to prove their doubters wrong at the upcoming WESG World Finals event, where fnatic and SK seem to be their biggest threats to the title.

4. MOUZ

Player	Age	Rating
Miikka "⁠suNny⁠" Kemppi	23	1.17
Tomáš "⁠oskar⁠" Šťastný	26	1.17
Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool	18	1.14
Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong	27	1.11
Martin "⁠STYKO⁠" Styk	22	0.95

MOUZ continue their steady climb since late last year, solidifying their spot within the top five in the world following a great month, despite only attending one of the three big international tournaments that took place in February.

Since the team's win at ESG Tour Mykonos, chrisJ's men have continuously improved, but titles eluded them up until StarSeries as FaZe stopped their great run at ECS Season 4 Finals as well as at the ELEAGUE Major.

mousesports' triumph at StarSeries pushed them to fourth place in the ranking

In Kiev, MOUZ' route didn't collide with the world's best team, and oskar & co. took advantage of that fact, bringing home their first big trophy after defeating several top-ten teams on the way: SK, Cloud9, G2, Liquid, and finally Natus Vincere in the final, in which a red-hot s1mple wasn't enough to stop the European squad.

5. fnatic

Player	Age	Rating
Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson	23	1.18
Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist	24	1.16
Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson	24	1.06
Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell	23	1.04
Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim	24	0.91

The Swedes are hot on MOUZ' heels in fifth place, only five points away from the next step on the ladder. Things weren't looking good for fnatic half-way through the month, however, as they first attended StarSeries and finished last after losing three straight matches, two of them against teams who ended up missing out on the playoffs - Gambit and TYLOO.

As surprising as their big low point was, the biggest shock was yet to come. Mere days after their early exit in Kiev, fnatic traveled to Poland for IEM Katowice, and the difference was like night and day. The Swedes disposed of Heroic and G2 in the first two rounds, already making it to the playoffs, and topped it off with a huge win, a quick 2-0 against FaZe to clinch first place in the group.

fnatic re-enter the top five for the first time since mid-2016

The semi-finals saw the Swedish side ride on the confidence from their previous win, getting another 2-0 triumph against Liquid before meeting FaZe once more in the grand final. fnatic got off to a slow start on Cache, but a double-overtime victory on Inferno breathed life into the heavy underdogs, who proceeded to clinch a 2-1 lead in the series after a comfortable affair on Overpass.

FaZe replied with a confident showing of their own on Mirage to force map five, Train, where flusha's incredible plays helped fnatic battle their way to overtime and grab their first trophy in two years.

6. Liquid

Player	Age	Rating
Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic	20	1.22
Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski	20	1.09
Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken	18	1.06
Nick "⁠nitr0⁠" Cannella	22	1.04
Lucas "⁠steel⁠" Lopes	24	0.93

Liquid made the jump from 11th to sixth place this month as just one of three who attended all three international tournaments in February: cs_summit 2, StarSeries, and IEM Katowice.

Moving away from the traditional setup that features a dedicated AWPer seemed to be paying off for the North American team from the get-go. With their newest addition, NAF, at the helm, Liquid lifted their first big trophy ever, defeating SK and Cloud9 in the last two stages of the tournament.

With great play in February, NAF has certainly proven to be a fantastic addition to Liquid

Proving it wasn't just a fluke, nitr0's side continued to do well during the following week at StarSeries, making their way to third place in the week-long tournament after clinching another win over SK in the quarter-finals, as well as against FaZe in the third-place decider following a loss to MOUZ in the semis.

IEM Katowice saw Liquid grab a semi-final finish, beating their North American rivals Cloud9 once more in the groups before adding another scalp in the form of NIP in the quarter-finals. The eventual champions fnatic ended up being too tough to handle after two maps, but Liquid still had to be happy with their first month alongside NAF, particularly as they didn't have much time to practice as the month progressed.

7. Natus Vincere

Player	Age	Rating
Aleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev	20	1.34
Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev	20	1.06
Denis "⁠electronic⁠" Sharipov	19	1.06
Ioann "⁠Edward⁠" Sukhariev	30	1.00
Danylo "⁠Zeus⁠" Teslenko	30	0.90

Natus Vincere made significant headway in February as well, overtaking Astralis, NIP, and G2 after gaining nearly 200 points despite only attending one of the three notable tournaments of the month, StarSeries.

Na`Vi jump two spots on the back of second place at StarSeries

Powered by s1mple's godlike performance, Na`Vi made their first big grand final since the core's title-winning campaign at ESL One New York in October 2016 on the back of victories against Astralis and FaZe in the playoffs. In the end, the superstar's efforts weren't enough to overcome MOUZ, who snatched the StarSeries title away from the home favorites.

8. Astralis

Player	Age	Rating
Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz	22	1.17
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen	24	1.15
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander	22	1.08
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif	20	1.06
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth	22	1.01

Astralis moved down one position in the ranking, but, considering that Magisk was brought on for Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye with the subsequent point loss, it was not a bad month for the Danes, who came from a poor run at the Major in January to get two playoff finishes in February. 

Astralis showed potential in Katowice

The first tournament they played was the StarSeries Season 4, where the Danes had their first run with Magisk. After beating Liquid, Gambit, and Heroic, Astralis made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament, in which they were defeated by Natus Vincere. In Poland, they went even further, ending in 3rd-4th place following victories over Renegades, SK, and Liquid. Ultimately, they lost out to FaZe in a tournament in which device started to show signs of his old self.

9. G2

Player	Age	Rating
Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire	25	1.12
Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub	22	1.08
Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon	25	1.06
Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt	23	0.98
Alexandre "⁠bodyy⁠" Pianaro	21	0.88

The French side are another team who have fallen in the rankings, from fourth last month to ninth in February's update. The French side lost form points as they were unable to get good results on LAN, bowing out of the two events they attended in disappointing fashion.  

G2 kicked off their month at StarSeries i-League Season 4, where they went out in the quarter-finals after a 0-2 loss to MOUZ. A few days later, the French team competed at IEM Katowice, where they went out in 9-12th place after being unable to beat fnatic or NIP to make it out of groups.

10. NIP

Player	Age	Rating
William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin	22	1.17
Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman	27	1.10
Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner	20	1.08
Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg	29	1.02
Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund	27	0.99

NIP hang on to a top 10 place thanks to some points going into the form column, although they move down two positions as a result of points decay from their IEM Oakland win as well as a poor showing at cs_summit 2. On top of that, the Ninjas underwent a roster change, making them lose a portion of their points.

dennis helped NiP back to the playoffs in Poland

On the positive side, the Swedish team showed potential with their new roster in Katowice, reaching the quarter-finals, in which they lost to Liquid after three maps. Their Pro League start has not been the best, losing two maps to fnatic, but they went back to a .5 win-rate after taking two maps off Space Soldiers.

11. Renegades

Player	Age	Rating
Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage	22	1.12
Joakim "⁠jkaem⁠" Myrbostad	24	1.08
Karlo "⁠USTILO⁠" Pivac	24	1.03
Aaron "⁠AZR⁠" Ward	25	1.02
Noah "⁠Nifty⁠" Francis	20	0.99

Renegades are another team that make the leap back into the Top 15 after a good month in which they qualified for both StarSeries i-League Season 4 and IEM Katowice. Renegades then had a particularly good showing in Kiev, making it to playoffs before losing to FaZe, although they weren’t able to follow it up in Katowice, where they lost to Astralis and Cloud9, winning only against AVANGAR. Their form and recent achievements columns, particularly, are what gave them the particularly strong boost.

12. Heroic

Player	Age	Rating
Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen	20	1.10
Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen	19	1.01
Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer	27	0.94
Andreas "⁠MODDII⁠" Fridh	28	0.93
Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel	23	0.91

Coming in 12th place are Heroic, one of the teams with the highest leap in points since last month’s update, when they were ranked 20th. The Danish team followed up on some good online results with a solid fourth place on LAN at cs_summit 2, which would be their last event with Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen, who had to make way for RUBINO.

With the Norwegian player, Heroic had rough showings at StarSeries and IEM Katowice, going out of both tournaments in the first stage despite getting a few wins against teams like HellRaisers and Virtus.pro. In EPL, they have had an average start, taking two maps against Astralis but losing two to Space Soldiers.

13. North

Player	Age	Rating
Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså	22	1.19
Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye	19	1.07
Daniel "⁠mertz⁠" Mertz	19	1.04
Mathias "⁠MSL⁠" Lauridsen	23	0.89
Philip "⁠aizy⁠" Aistrup	21	0.86

The Danish team based out of the Parken Stadium are back in the top 15 after sitting just one spot shy of it in January’s ranking update following the arrivals of Kjaerbye and mertz, which caused a dip in points. After a good run in the European qualifier for IEM Katowice, beating teams like Natus Vincere, HellRaisers, and AGO, the Danes went to the LAN in Poland, where they fell just short of the playoffs after losing 1-2 to NIP for a 7-8th place finish.

North back in the top 15 with two new players

Before that, North had gone out in the groups at cs_summit 2 after losing to local rivals Heroic and SK, with their only win coming against a misfiring Vega Squadron side.

14. Gambit

Player	Age	Rating
Rustem "⁠mou⁠" Telepov	26	1.06
Denis "⁠seized⁠" Kostin	23	1.00
Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev	28	0.97
Abay "⁠Hobbit⁠" Khasenov	23	0.97
Mihail "⁠Dosia⁠" Stolyarov	29	0.90

After a lineup change, with seized taking over from Bektiyar "⁠fitch⁠" Bahytov, and two poor outings this month at StarSeries i-League Season 4 and IEM Katowice, Gambit went down four places in the ranking.

In both tournaments, the Kazakh-Russian team went out in the first stage, finishing 12th-14th in Kiev and 9th-12th in Katowice. Online, Gambit have had mixed results, beating teams like Natus Vincere and MOUZ in qualifiers but losing against the likes of EnVyUs Academy, PRIDE, and Spirit in MDL.

15. HellRaisers

Player	Age	Rating
Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker	19	1.18
Issa "⁠ISSAA⁠" Murad	21	1.10
Vladyslav "⁠bondik⁠" Nechyporchuk	24	1.08
Kirill "⁠ANGE1⁠" Karasiow	28	1.05
Bence "⁠DeadFox⁠" Böröcz	23	0.84

HellRaisers are back in the top 15 after sitting just outside the Top 20 in last month’s ranking update. At the beginning of February, ANGE1 & co. qualified for StarSeries i-League Season 4, where they were eliminated in the Swiss stage with a 2-3 record, although it must be noted that two of those losses came when ISSAA was ineligible to play. 

Online, HellRaisers had a solid month, beating fnatic and trading maps with Natus Vincere to secure a 3-1 record in the ESL Pro League.