Team ranking: April 2020
We have updated our Global team ranking - powered by EGB.com - for April 2020, the second straight month of pure online action.
After a month of great confusion as more and more countries adopted strict measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, players and fans are slowly starting to adjust to the new - and hopefully temporary - reality of a world without LAN events.
April witnessed the conclusion of Flashpoint 1, which had shifted from LAN to online midway through the first group stage because of the global health crisis. MAD Lions came out on top of the $1 million after beating MIBR in dramatic fashion in the final to pick up crucial points for their quest to enter the top-10 in the world rankings.

Meanwhile, fnatic were crowned ESL Pro League champions in Europe after edging out MOUZ, while Liquid reigned supreme in North America with a dominant performance against Evil Geniuses in the final. April also saw the start of the first Regional Major Ranking (RMR) competition of 2020, ESL One Road to Rio, with results not yet fully tallied as the tournaments are still underway.
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 two months, and performance in recent events in the last 3 months.
Each team is required to have a three-man core in order to retain their points. Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, online results, which previously had a minimal effect, now carry more weight as they are also included in the 'Achievements' and 'Recent Events' sub-categories.
Below is the current top 30 table as of May 4, 2020, 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 6.
Below are the five key takeaways from April's ranking update:
Game of musical chairs at the top
The current tournament landscape has made predictions more uncertain than usual and turned the scene upside down. Since the previous monthly ranking update, three different teams have sat at the top of the world rankings as online has become the new normal and results that barely had any impact before are now the only element to measure teams.
Astralis, fnatic, Natus Vincere and MOUZ are all within a 50 point-range, and it's anyone's guess who will be sitting on the throne in just a week's time. A disappointing week was all it took for fnatic to lose the No.1 spot to Astralis, who went 3-0, but the Danes' grip on the crown is tenuous.

Projections are all over the map and it's very unlikely that the situation will change anytime soon. This month, ESL One: Road to Rio will come to a close and DreamHack Masters Spring will start, so we are bound to continue to see more upsets and big changes in the ranking in the coming weeks.
G2 exit the top five
G2 peaked at No.3 in the rankings in March following a second-place finish at IEM Katowice and an impressive run in the BLAST Premier Spring Series. The French-Serbian roster carried that momentum into the first ESL Pro League S11 matches, starting off well, but losses to OG and MOUZ ended up costing them a second group stage spot and leaving them with 20 days of inactivity.

As their form dropped and other teams gained ground, G2 needed results fast, but they haven't secured any big wins in ESL One: Road to Rio to date, losing to the big dogs they have faced - MOUZ and FaZe. Nemanja "nexa" Isaković's men still look good to make the playoffs of the Regional Major Ranking tournament and have a chance to bounce back, but their latest results don't justify them having a place among the elite at the moment.
Spirit reach new heights
Spirit overhauled their roster at the end of September, seeing them dip to No.49 in the world rankings, but the Russian squad has been on an upward trajectory since then. Under the leadership of Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov, they impressed at the Champions Cup in December, placing second ahead of FURIA and BIG, and started the year ranked 25th.

After a small lul in February, Spirit picked up pace in the second half of March, defeating ENCE and Vitality in ESL Pro League, and carried that momentum into April, securing good results in online cups and ESL One: Road to Rio - CIS. In BO3 series within the last month, Viktor "sdy" Orudzhev and co. managed to take down their regional oponents FORZE three times, as well as North, Virtus.pro and OG, allowing them to secure a spot in the DreamHack Masters Spring tournaments.
With spots in stacked tournaments, good form, and just 15 points between them and No.16 BIG, Spirit could easily continue their climb in the coming weeks.
Complexity take another hit
Complexity slip down the rankings for the second month in a row and are now just 37 points above No.30 Heretics after spending three weeks inside the top-15 in March. This is yet another instance of the team's online struggles - a recurring theme since the roster's creation and a huge cause for concern at a time with no LAN events.

Benjamin "blameF" Bremer's troops are currently at the bottom of their ESL One: Road to Rio group, with just one victory from five matches, and their playoff chances look bleak ahead of a decisive clash with world No.2 fnatic. May could be another painful month for Complexity, who will be looking to pick up some form and momentum in the Home Sweet Home Cup 3 before DreamHack Masters Spring comes around.
Renegades, TYLOO out of the top 30
Renegades started the year on a positive note, strengthening their roster with Jordan "Hatz" Bajic and finishing second at DreamHack Open Leipzig, showing they could compete with second-tier European and North American squads. Things didn't go so well at IEM Katowice, as they lost 2-0 to both FaZe and fnatic, but at the time, with ESL Pro League S11 and the Minor to come, there was no reason to worry.
Their plans were soon derailed, as the outbreak of the coronavirus caused them to drop out of Pro League, while the Asia Minor ended up being canceled. As a result, Renegades were left with nothing to play for two months, losing all of their form points and falling out of the top 30 for the first time since April 2019.

Unlike Renegades, TYLOO didn't have a promising start to the year but got to attend IEM Katowice (as a last-minute replacement for ViCi) and ESL Pro League Season 11. They were handed a reality check as they were no match for their opponents, winning just one map over the two tournaments. TYLOO's ranking then took another hit as they announced two player changes, as removing WingHei "Freeman" Cheung and Seon-Ho "xeta" Son due to coronavirus outbreak-related issues lost them additional points.
Both teams will have a chance to gain some points back in their regional ESL One: Road to Rio events but can't expect big jumps in the rankings until the international circuit gets back up and running again - which doesn't seem like it is going to happen soon.

