Team Ranking: July 2019 and EPC winner
We have updated our Global team ranking - powered by EGB.com - for July 2019, highlighted by Liquid's unyielding dominance.
July was a busy month in CS:GO, witnessing three Big events in ESL One Cologne, BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles and IEM Chicago. All three of the aforementioned tournaments saw Liquid convincingly lift the trophies, furthering the gap between the North American squad and the rest of the competition.
Additionally, the month saw all four Minor precursors to the upcoming StarLadder Major Berlin played out, as well as the Minor Play-in, rounding out the participants' list of the first stage of the $1,000,000 tournament.
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 August 5, 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 July 1.
Liquid continue their reign
Liquid remain unmatched at the pinnacle of the world rankings, as the North American representatives closed out a further three LAN tournaments over July, securing first-place finishes on all occasions. Two of the events saw best-of-five finals, where Liquid bested world #2 and #4, Vitality and ENCE, in Cologne and Chicago, respectively. In the latter match-up, the Finns stood absolutely no chance against Liquid, as only five rounds were accrued in the first two maps by Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen and company, with only the third coming down to the wire.
Liquid have demonstrated unprecedented dominance in one of the most competitive periods of CS:GO, which is a testament to the gap between them and the rest of the competition. Five consecutive victories at Big events, coupled with an immense in-game cohesion has engraved Liquid as one of the most impressive squads to have graced the game since conception, and it would seem that there is more to come.
Cloud9 on the ascent
On July 3, Cloud9 announced a revamp of their roster, witnessing the addition of Damian "daps" Steele, Oscar "mixwell" Cañellas, Kenneth "koosta" Suen and Tyson "TenZ" Ngo as part of a massive restructuring, leaving only Timothy "autimatic" Ta from the previous iteration of the roster. Over the course of the month, the team demonstrated promising form, assuming #20 on our rankings after the roster rehaul left the team unranked. Their rise was a result of the team's performance at BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles, where Cloud9 successfully made the semi-final, subsequently falling to current #1 of the world rankings, Liquid. On their way to the playoffs, the roster tied against the likes of NRG and MIBR, while securing a victory and loss against FaZe and Renegades, respectively.
With a brand new spring to their step, a reinvigorated Cloud9 will look to improve as time goes by, and the squad has sufficient time to do so, as the team will not participate at the upcoming Major. With their next LAN tournament, Arctic Invitational, set to take place on September 14th, Cloud9 will seek to remind the scene that it is capable of contending against the best, something the previous iteration of the roster struggled with.
Natus Vincere return to top 10
Following the departure of Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev, a lull period void of LAN events followed, where Natus Vincere quietly grafted, working on integrating newcomer Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov into their system. The team's LAN debut took place at ESL One Cologne 2019, where the newly-adjusted roster was able to make playoffs in convincing fashion, losing to subsequent victors, Liquid, in two best-of-threes.
While it might be early days to make a call on the new version of the team, it is indeed apparent that Boombl4 brings much-needed firepower and a breath of fresh air to the Natus Vincere roster that has struggled to realise its full potential for some time. The team's closest event is the StarLadder Major, which will give a better gauge regarding their form and whether their new recruit has bought innovation to the playbook.
AVANGAR experience growing pains
AVANGAR are considered one of the fiercest contenders from the CIS region, however, as of late, the squad has experienced difficulties. In late June the team added veteran player, Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev, who was projected to bring much-needed firepower and experience to the relatively young roster. The team secured a spot in ESEA MDL Season 32 Europe, but faltered against FURIA at the EMF CS:GO World Invitational.
It is entirely feasible that AVANGAR are still working out their in-game system and adjusting to the arrival of AdreN. With just over a month elapsed since his acquisition, the Kazakh roster likely need more time to fully integrate their new addition into an established system, or if the task at hand is to restructure entirely, then even more time investment will be required in order for consistency, and as such, results, to be reached.
FURIA take a dip
FURIA burst onto the scene, assuming the #1 Brazilian roster position over established side MIBR. Shortly after, the team gradually cooled off, taken over by G2 and mousesports to place seventh in our July ranking update. Over the month, the Brazilians participated at three LAN events in ESL One Cologne, the Americas Minor and EMF CS:GO World Invitational, where they dropped out in groups, qualified for the Major via the lower bracket, and beat AVANGAR in a best-of-five showmatch, respectively. In between, the squad participated in online MDL and ESEA Global Challenge matches, dropping but a single best-of-one to Sprout over their run.
FURIA, despite dropping three spots, are still very much the #1 Brazilian contender in the international scene. Andrei "arT" Piovezan and his men have shown that they are a force to be reckoned with, and inspire respect from some of the most seasoned squads in CS:GO today. With time and experience, FURIA will look to cement themselves as a staple of the top competitive tier.
Cloud9 secure EPC Shooting Stars prize
Cloud9 are the most improved team of July, jumping from an unranked position, due to their roster rehaul, to #20 on the world rankings. The international mix is eligible for a seven-day bootcamp for six people at the Kinguin Esports Performance Center (EPC), a premier European esports bootcamp facility located in Warsaw, through a partnership between HLTV.org and Kinguin.
In the event Cloud9 either decline or are unable to redeem their EPC Shooting Stars prize, forZe are the second-most improved roster of July, jumping from #29 to #21. The Russian team recently showed a spectacular performance at the CIS Minor, qualifying for the New Challengers stage of the Berlin Major.
Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov
Buğra 'Calyx' Arkın
Ali 'hAdji' Haïnouss
Rory 'dephh' Jackson
Ricardo 'Rickeh' Mulholland
Dauren 'AdreN' Kystaubayev
Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen
Filip 'NEO' Kubski
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Rokas 'EspiranTo' Milasauskas
Timothy 'autimatic' Ta
Simon 'Sico' Williams
Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' Gantulga
Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev
Sanjar 'SANJI' Kuliev
Adil 'ScreaM' Benrlitom
Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellas
