Team Ranking: April 2019
We have updated our Global team ranking - powered by EGB.com - for April 2019.
April was an action-packed month in CS:GO, witnessing a handful of Big events over its course. At the start of the month, Natus Vincere lifted the StarSeries i-League Season 7 trophy in Shanghai at the expense of fnatic, a much-needed victory for the CIS crew considering recent runner-up placements.
Less than a week later, FaZe asserted their dominance over Liquid in the grand final of BLAST Pro Series Miami, copping their second tournament title of 2019, their first at a Big Event. Concluding the month's Big Events was IEM Sydney, where Liquid achieved elation by dispelling their finals curse, having outlasted the Swedish roster of fnatic in a best-of-five grand final that saw all maps played out.
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.
Below is the current top 30 table as of May 6, 2019, which goes more in-depth into how the 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.
POINTS
Please note that the +/- gain on this table differs from our weekly rankings page, and it is related to the ranking update of April 1.
Liquid edge closer to Astralis
With their arch nemeses Astralis on LAN hiatus for the majority of April, Liquid looked to bridge the ranking gap, and managed to do so rather successfully.
A grand final run at BLAST Pro Series Miami, where a 16-14 win over Astralis was secured, followed by a much-needed victory at the recently concluded IEM Sydney 2019 yielded the squad a whopping 328 point gain. This places the aqueous quintet just 186 points behind the overly comfortable leaders.
The two rivals will next face off in June, come the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, for which both teams qualified with flying colours. It is here that Liquid will need to compose if they dare to seize the crown that has warmed to Astralis' dome, a feat only achievable if they are to maintain their current level. If the prophecy does come true, the aqueous quintet will become the first to do so in over an entire year.
Fnatic leap into #6
Over the course of the past month, the Swedish squad has demonstrated outstanding results in the form of two back-to-back grand final runs at Big events.
The first of the two events, StarSeries i-League CS:GO Season 7, saw Richard "Xizt" Landström and company surpass the likes of NiP, North and NRG on their way to the grand final, in which they subsequently fell to current No.3 team in the world, Natus Vincere. As for their recent-most showing, the team was recently seen facing Liquid in the concluding match of IEM Sydney, where they took the tournament favourites to all five maps before losing the series 3-2.
The performances demonstrated by fnatic in both Shanghai and Sydney send a stark message to all rivals who thought the roster a mere shadow of the team’s legendary past. All that remains to be established is whether this form will be maintained, a good gauge of which will be the team’s upcoming performance at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019.
Furthermore, the Swedes are currently in Group A of the second round of ESL Pro League Season 9 - Europe, where they stand a solid chance of qualifying for the $750,000 finals in France.
NRG regain top 10 status
The NRG roster returns to the echelons of top ten teams following playoff runs at both StarSeries i-League Season 7 and IEM Sydney. Curiously, on both occasions the North American roster was eliminated by fnatic, marking the beginning of a rivalry between the two squads.
In addition to convincing placements at two Big events, Damian "daps" Steele and his men secured qualification for the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals, to be held in Montpellier, France, having topped Group A of the Americas division.
NRG’s return to the top is an important reminder of the sheer potential contained within this roster. While occasionally struggling to outshine more seasoned rosters, the squad has shown the development of the consistency it once visibly lacked. Through further gathering of experience and application, there is little doubt that NRG will be able to deepen their future tournament runs.
mousesports back on the map
We previously mentioned mousesports in the March team rankings, where it was noted that the roster was gradually recuperating from their ranking loss post-Minor roster instability.
Since then, the reconstructed roster has reminded the scene of the associated red logo. The new squad made their LAN debut at ESL Pro League Season 9 Europe, where they surpassed all opposition in Group A with a 3-0 record, qualifying for the LAN finals in Montpellier. As for their Big Event debut, this took place in Sydney, where they reached the quarter-finals before being denied further progression by a focused MIBR side.
Still young, the mousesports roster is filled to the brim with youthful potential coupled with experienced leadership, suggesting vast room for improvement and development of synergy. Once these two factors are in check, the European mix will be well on its way to dealing damage at the highest echelons of CS:GO, similar to previous projects led by Finn "karrigan" Andersen.
China loses top 30 representation
Both TYLOO and ViCi have been purged from top 30 placements in our rankings, leaving MVP PK as the sole remaining Asian side on the list.
TYLOO kicked off the month with a disappointing showing at StarSeries i-League Season 7, where they sustained a 1-3 Swiss group stage record, able only to beat compatriots Panda over the course of their run. Shortly afterward, the squad once more butted heads with Panda, this time for a spot at the LAN finals of DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, which was successfully obtained by Kevin "xccurate" Susanto's squad.
ViCi, much like their countrymen, were present at the StarSeries finals in Shanghai. The squad sustained an identical record to TYLOO but were able to sweeten the blow by taking down eventual champions, Natus Vincere, on their way out. Afterward, the Chinese roster forfeited their lower bracket semi-final match against Vital Spark in the Chinese qualifier for DreamHack Masters Dallas and finished third in their ESL Pro League Asia group. Before the end of the month, ViCi also attended IEM Sydney, where they were humbled by NRG before losing to Chiefs in a three-map series.
While ViCi are unlikely to re-enter the top 30 in the foreseeable future, especially as the team are about lose star player WingHei "Freeman" Cheung, Chinese fans can confide in TYLOO to achieve this feat. The squad will be travelling to Dallas at the end of May looking to demonstrate their capabilities at this showpiece event. Additionally, TYLOO are one of eight squads to have made it to round 2 of ESL Pro League Season 9 - Asia, standing every chance to qualify for the tournament finals in Montpellier.
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekin
Andrew 'Kaze' Khong
WingHei 'Freeman' Cheung
Kevin 'xccurate' Susanto
Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad
Sean 'Gratisfaction' Kaiwai
Rokas 'EspiranTo' Milasauskas
Pavel 'COLDYY1' Veklenko
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' Gantulga
Finn 'karrigan' Andersen
Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' Dimitrov
Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Richard 'Xizt' Landström
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
