CS:GO has always struggled for a consistently updated and coherent set of World Rankings, with so many teams attending different events and the difficulty of judging the context of which event’s results should count for more than another. Rather than construct some kind of elaborate point system and place my expertise into the task of allocating which would receive how many points, I’ve instead looked back over the recent form of each of the teams out there and determined, according to my own analysis and intuition, which team ranks where in my global top 10.
Offline results are the only ones I take into consideration. In general, I consider the results of a team across a range of around three months, with those at the beginning of that period being weighted a little less, in contrast to more recent tournament results. Finishes, consistency, current form and opponents faced are all factors to be weighed up and considered.
Since the last edition of the rankings, PGL Season 1 has been played.
These are my CS:GO Top 10 World Rankings for the 26th of October, 2015.
1. EnVyUs (kennyS, Happy, kioShiMa, apEX and NBK) [+1]
Recent form:
IEM X Gamescom (1st)
ESL One Cologne (2nd)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (5th-6th)
Dreamhack London (1st)
Gfinity Champion of Champions (1st)
For the third time in the history of these rankings someone has displaced FNATIC as the number one team in the world. For the third time, that team is EnVyUs. Neither team has been in action since the last edition of the rankings, but the passing of the last 23 days has seen FNATIC lose their ESL ESEA ProLeague title.
Yes, FNATIC has the major, but EnVyUs finished runners-up there. Dreamhack London was not a stacked event, but it required defeating TSM to win. Speaking of which, nV have beaten TSM in three series in the last three months. In series won, nV in truly incredible form. They can boast Bo5 series wins over Virtus.pro, FNATIC and TSM.
The last two times EnVyUs took the top spot, they lost it in the very next edition. With the next event being the major, that’s understandably a legitimate possibility again for Happy’s boys.
2. FNATIC (KRiMZ, JW, olofm, Flusha and pronax) [-1]
Recent form:
ESL One Cologne (1st)
Fragbite Masters Champions Showdown (1st)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (3rd-4th)
Gfinity Champion of Champions (2nd)
PGL Season 1 (3rd)
When you consider FNATIC have been in the worst slump of their time together, since becoming the best team in the world, it says a lot that FNATIC have still continued to rack up top four finishes. The problem for pronax and his men is that FNATIC haven’t looked in event winning form in quite a while, with even their win in Cologne being miraculous and unlikely.
If FNATIC can’t win the major or some more titles soon, it’s a very realistic possibility that EnVyUs can open up the gap at the top and TSM can even overtake the Swedes for the first time in history. FNATIC has never been as vulnerable as they are now.
3. Team SoloMid (device, dupreeh, cajunb, Xyp9x and karrigan) [-]
Recent form:
Acer Predator Masters (7th-8th)
IEM X Gamescom (2nd)
ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th)
Fragbite Masters Champions Showdown (2nd)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (2nd)
Dreamhack London (2nd)
PGL Season 1 (1st)
FNATIC’s major title keeps them ahead of the Danes, with TSM only managing to secure a single title of their own in the last three months. What TSM has going for them is their impressive consistency, finishing top four at the last six tournaments, with four finals appearances and a title at PGL Season 1. In Romania, they beat Virtus.pro in two Bo3 and FNATIC in one, going a flawless 6:0 in maps to win the tournament.
TSM look as good as they ever have an they are the only one of the favourites at this major not to have won a major, so now seems like their best ever chance to be crowned at one of the game’s biggest events.
4. Virtus.pro (Snax, byali, pasha, NEO and TaZ) [-]
Recent form:
CEVO-P S7 Final (1st)
ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (1st)
Gfinity Champion of Champions (3rd-4th)
PGL Season 1 (2nd)
VP’s CEVO title will expire after today, but for now they are one of the few teams in the top 10 to have two recent titles to their name. VP’s old form track record of dipping after a couple of big LAN performances has been bucked, with the Poles remaining an elite level team event after event. Amazingly, they’ve now managed five straight top four finishes in the last three months.
Runners-up at PGL Season 1, that campaign saw them scoring yet another Bo3 series win over FNATIC, in revenge for that crushing loss at the major. VP are clearly hungry to win and a title in Cluj-Napoca would be quite the way to strike back at nV and TSM’s runs of form.
5. Na`Vi (GuardiaN, Edward, Seized, flamie and Zeus) [-]
Recent form:
CEVO-P S7 Final (2nd)
ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
Gaming Paradise (2nd)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (7th-8th)
Na`Vi are quite a bit removed from team which was so consistent and hot this Summer. Their victories are all gone and now they only have two runner-up finishes at smaller events to their name. The CIS team don’t drop in the rankings thanks to the teams below them nose-diving even harder, but GuardiaN’s guys have never looked further from an elite team.
That Na`Vi only have a single Bo3 victory over a top 10 ranked team at that time, with their semi-final win over mouz at CEVO, shows how difficult times have been for Zeus and company.
6. Ninjas in Pyjamas (GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, friberg, Xizt and allu) [+1]
Recent form:
ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (3rd-4th)
Gfinity Champion of Champions (3rd-4th)
NiP are back down to a lone Bo3 victory over a top 10 ranked team, but that was over the EnVyUs which just took the number one spot. NiP move up a spot thanks to C9 being caught up by father time. It would take a monster performance at the major for NiP to climb in the near future, though over-taking Na`Vi and returning to the top five is a possibility. On the other hand, this very likely will be the last major for this group.
7. mousesports (nex, ChrisJ, denis, NiKo and gob b) [+1]
Recent form:
CEVO-P S7 Final (3rd-4th)
Acer Predator Masters (2nd)
IEM X Gamescom (4th)
ESL One Cologne (13th-16th)
Gaming Paradise (5th-6th)
Dreamhack Stockholm – Qualifier for Cluj-Napoca (Qualified)
mouz have not been in action, but their runners-up finish at APM is more impressive than anything C9 has managed in the last few months and mouz did beat C9 in a Bo3 series at CEVO. With vulnerable teams above them, now would be the ideal time for mouz to come with a strong major performance, something they failed to do massively last time around.
8. Cloud9 (Skadoodle, Shroud, n0thing, fREAKAZOiD and sgares) [-2]
Recent form:
CEVO-P S7 Final (3rd-4th)
ESL One Cologne NA Qualifier (Qualified)
ESL One Cologne (9th-12th)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (7th-8th)
Dreamhack Stockholm – Qualifier for Cluj-Napoca (Qualified)
To say Cloud9 has been humbled is an understatement and the disappearance of those obnoxious vocal fans many of us remember speaks volumes. C9’s three tournament streak of runner-up finishes have been wiped off the books and suddenly their resume doesn’t look anywhere close to top tier. Their lone top four finish at a decent sized LAN came as a result of winning two Bo3 over a CLG with a stand-in. C9 have no Bo3 series wins over top 10 ranked teams in the last three months.
9. G2 (Rain, Maikelele, dennis, jkaem and fox) [-]
Recent form:
ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
Gaming Paradise (1st)
Dreamhack London (5th-6th)
G2 are narrowly holding onto their top 10 ranking, after changing their line-up, but their win at Gaming Paradise is still enough to edge out anyone else. The last major saw G2 shock with a top eight run, but this next tournament sees them without ScreaM and facing lots of hungry teams.
10. Titan (shox, SmithZz, ScreaM, Ex6TenZ and RpK) [NEW]
Recent form:
ESL One Cologne EU Qualifier (Qualified)
ESL One Cologne (13th-16th)
Gaming Paradise (3rd)
ESL ESEA PL Invitational Dubai (5th-6th)
Dreamhack Stockholm – Qualifier for Cluj-Napoca (Qualified)
Titan make their return to the top 10. With so many teams undergoing roster moves around the bottom end of the top 10, Titan can proudly state that all of the above listed results were with this five man unit. They haven’t played any tournaments since the last edition of the rankings, but their third place finish at Gaming Paradise, top six in Dubai and qualification for Dreamhack bring the French-Belgian side back to where they belong.
Bo3 wins over VP, mouz and HR are also more impressive than many of the bottom five.
Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, the seventh CS:GO major, begins on Wednesday.
