Team Ranking: April 2022
As a new month dawns, it's once again time to look at the most significant ranking changes of the past four weeks.
An extremely competitive four-week period has come and gone, which saw April play host to a number of important events such as the ESL Pro League Season 15 Playoffs and the PGL Major Antwerp Regional Major Rankings for the Americas, Europe, and Asia regions.
The above-mentioned competitions have naturally played the largest part in the rankings which saw big changes in the bottom half of the table, including some fresh faces in the top 30 as well as a new name at the No.1 spot for the first time in almost nine months.
For new readers or those in need of a refresher, here's a summary of how the HLTV World Ranking by 1xBet works:
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 Monday, May 2, 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 4.
FaZe end NAVI's 37-week reign
After 37 consecutive weeks on top of the world rankings, a streak which started all the way back in September, Natus Vincere were dethroned by FaZe as the No. 1 team in the world after the latter's outstanding form saw them emerge victorious at the two biggest events of the year so far: IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 15.
The achievement marked the first time FaZe has held the top spot in four years, having last attained the feat in April of 2018, right before the beginning of Astralis' record-setting 58-week streak as the world's highest-ranked team.
Following a dominant end to 2021 from Natus Vincere which saw them win almost everything on offer including the coveted Intel Grand Slam title, Aleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev's men haven't quite found the same levels of success early on in the year, finishing only 3rd-4th at IEM Katowice and 5th-8th at ESL Pro League. On the other hand, FaZe have cemented themselves as a legitimate contender for titles at Big Events after having achieved victory at both aforementioned tournaments.
Their EPL outing found themselves pitted against Natus Vincere in the quarter-finals, which Finn "karrigan" Andersen's squad won in two maps to knock out their Russian-Ukrainian rivals before eventually taking the entire tournament home, bagging enough points to overtake Natus Vincere as the world's best team following the event's conclusion. After qualifying through the RMR, FaZe will undoubtedly be heading into the upcoming Major with hopes of retaining their place on top of the ranking.
ENCE jump to fourth place in the ranking
It was a strong four weeks for ENCE who posted good results throughout the whole month as they continue to shine alongside their newest addition, Pavle "Maden" Bošković. Their success at the recently-concluded BLAST EU Spring Showdown and at ESL Pro League helped them improve by six spots in the world ranking, where they were previously sitting at tenth overall.
Their playoff run at ESL Pro League saw them take convincing wins over fnatic and Group C winners Movistar Riders, before eventually meeting Hampus "hampus" Poser's squad in the semi-finals. They won the series after two hard-fought maps to reach the grand finals of the event, where they ultimately lost to FaZe 1-3 after a thrilling four-map contest between the two sides, finishing at second place overall.
In addition to their EPL result, ENCE also achieved a first-place finish at the BLAST EU Spring Showdown, taking down Copenhagen Flames and Heroic before setting up a grand final versus Astralis. Although the first map didn't go ENCE's way, falling to their Danish opponents 3-16, they were able to complete the reverse sweep and cap off the tournament, claiming victory and a spot in the upcoming BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022.
Liquid move closer to top 10
After revamping their roster at the end of last year, Liquid find themselves currently 13th in the ranking, their highest position since the additions of Nick "nitr0" Cannella, Josh "oSee" Ohm, and Richard "shox" Papillon to the team.
Having started 2022 outside the top 30 following the departure of three members of the squad, the North American team has showed signs of promise, finishing 5th-8th at ESL Pro League after beating Heroic in the first round of the playoffs and making the quarter-finals, eventually losing out to NIP.
Although their results haven't seen consistent success yet, the lineup is still quite young and they've proven to have gotten stronger as time progresses. Currently, less than 100 points separate Liquid from tenth-place Outsiders, and with the Major coming up it will be crucial for nitr0's squad to put up a good result if they want to break into the ranking's top 10.
paiN and 9z make the top 30
The latest world ranking sees paiN and 9z break the top 30 for only the second time this year after an impressive showing from both teams in the Americas Regional Major Ranking, expanding South America's representation in the ranking to five teams.
paiN gained 24 places after a successful month for them saw them clinch a spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Final, along with a seventh-place finish in the RMR, only falling short in the sixth-place decider to 9z. Despite not qualifying for the Major, their performances were enough to merit them a spot as the 21st highest-ranked team in the world.
Meanwhile, 9z capped off an impressive month by earning the 30th spot in the ranking. This comes following their excellent run at the Americas RMR after finishing a remarkable sixth, overcoming Marcelo "coldzera" David's 00NATION and Sao Caetano in their elimination matches before besting Evil Geniuses in the eighth-place decider and fellow South American side paiN to ultimately claim the final Major spot on offer.
Audric 'JACKZ' Jug
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Timur 'buster' Tulepov
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' Gaļinskis
Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković
Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Christopher 'dexter' Nong
David 'frozen' Čerňanský
Jon 'JDC' de Castro
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás
Aurimas 'Bymas' Pipiras
Rigon 'rigoN' Gashi
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Alex 'ALEX' McMeekin
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Santino 'try' Rigal
Maximiliano 'max' Gonzalez
David 'dav1d' Tapia Maldonado
Håvard 'rain' Nygaard
Robin 'ropz' Kool
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Melting
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Mosh0
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