Team Ranking: August 2022

The first half of August was quiet due to the summer break, but action on the server quickly returned in the latter part of the month. BLAST Premier Fall Groups was the first notable event that took place after the break, which was followed by each region’s respective IEM Road to Rio Qualifiers. ESL Pro League Season 16 has also begun, where Group A teams such as Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Vitality have already competed.

The PGL Major Antwerp and IEM Dallas’ removal from the ‘Recent LANs’ sub-category, as well as roster changes for a number of teams, had a huge impact on the points tally in addition to the aforementioned competitions.

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, September 5, 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.

Please note that the +/- gain on this table differs from our weekly rankings page, and it is related to the ranking update of August 1.

FaZe and NAVI remain neck-and-neck

FaZe entered the summer break as the No. 1 team in the world with Natus Vincere a close second place. The international squad stayed on top for five weeks, until Denis “⁠electroNic⁠” Sharipov‘s side overtook them in the August 22 weekly update. It marked exactly three months since the PGL Major Antwerp, which meant that points earned from the Valve-sanctioned competition were no longer counted in the Recent LANs subcategory.

FaZe are ahead of NAVI by a mere four points

Natus Vincere were able to retain their spot for another week after finishing the BLAST Premier Fall Groups in 1-3rd place. FaZe, on the other hand, didn’t enjoy the same success and were sent to the Last Chance stage by OG in the playoffs’ second round. Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen and company were then able to defeat Astralis, which granted them 4-6th place and a spot in the BLAST Premier Fall Final.

By the time ESL Pro League Season 16 came around, Natus Vincere were ahead in the world ranking by a mere three points. The CIS side kicked off the group stage with back-to-back victories, but faltered in their last three matches against Endpoint, Vitality, and Ninjas in Pyjamas. The successive losses were detrimental to Natus Vincere‘s No. 1 spot, and in the end FaZe took back the crown without firing a single bullet.

FaZe will be competing next in Group B of ESL Pro League, where they can either extend the lead over Natus Vincere or suffer the same fate as their Russian-Ukrainian rivals.

Liquid jump to third place

Liquid entered the season break with a strong 5-6th place finish at IEM Cologne, and it seems they carried the momentum over to the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. Nick “⁠nitr0⁠” Cannella‘s squad clinched a second-round berth after defeating G2 and Complexity in Group B’s bracket. The North Americans had a shot at direct qualification to round three of the second stage, but were defeated by Natus Vincere, 4-16, in a one-sided group final.

The North American side emerged victorious over Ninjas in Pyjamas, 2-0, after two tightly-contested matches. In the final round against Heroic, Liquid stomped the Danish team and wrapped up the tournament in 1-3rd place, which guaranteed them a spot in the BLAST Premier Fall Final.

Liquid are now at their highest spot in the world ranking in over two years dating back to February 2020, a time when Jake “⁠Stewie2K⁠” Yip and Russel “⁠Twistzz⁠” Van Dulken were still part of the team.

Cloud9 drop out of top ten following IEM Dallas’ points expiration

One of the biggest drop-offs from the previous month’s ranking is Cloud9, who now reside in the No. 11 spot. This also marks the first time since February 2021 that Vladislav “⁠nafany⁠” Gorshkov‘s crew isn’t part of the top ten on the world ranking.

The largest contributor to Cloud9‘s fall down the ranking is the expirations of points gained from IEM Dallas, where the team were crowned champions. The Russian-majority side struggled at their next Big Event, IEM Cologne, where they failed to make it out of the group stage and had to settle for 9-12th place.

Cloud9 are out of action until September 21

Another factor in Cloud9‘s descent from the No. 3 spot is the fact that they have no matches until September 21st, which is when Group D is set to begin at ESL Pro League. Their last appearance on the server was in the Group B lower bracket semi-final of IEM Cologne, nearly two months ago.

OG and Vitality gain after roster changes

OG had a rough start to 2022, in which they bombed out of IEM Katowice and failed to qualify for the PGL Major Antwerp. The team made a change in the AWPing department over the summer break, and brought in Abdul “⁠degster⁠” Gasanov as Mateusz “⁠mantuu⁠” Wilczewski‘s replacement.

The European mix had a slow start at BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where they fell to Vitality and Astralis in the Group A bracket. OG defeated Complexity in round one of the gauntlet-style playoffs, setting up a second-round showdown with FaZe. Nemanja “⁠nexa⁠” Isaković‘s men continued their impressive run by taking down the international powerhouse 2-1, and finally exacted revenge on Astralis in a 2-0 sweep to lock in 1-3rd place.

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Vitality is another team whose ranking improved following a roster change. Kévin “⁠misutaaa⁠” Rabier left the Franco-Danish side to join Falcons early in August, and a week later Lotan “⁠Spinx⁠” Giladi was announced as his replacement.

Though the team only placed 7-9th in Copenhagen and dropped to the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, the best was soon to come for Dan “⁠apEX⁠” Madesclaire‘s crew. Vitality went undefeated in Group A of ESL Pro League Season 16, which played a large part in their rise to fourth place in the world ranking. In addition to their flawless run, Vitality‘s newest member, Spinx, shined in the group stage and was consistently amongst the top fraggers on the server.

paiN land at highest-ever ranking

paiN looked nearly unstoppable in their first three events coming out of the break. The Brazilian squad topped the first IEM Road to Rio South America Open Qualifier by defeating Isurus, ODDIK, 00NATION, and MIBR. paiN also came in second place at CCT South America Series 1 and took home the gold at ESL Challenger Melbourne after a close grand final against Imperial.

Their two newest additions, Felipe “⁠skullz⁠” Medeiros and Romeu “⁠zevy⁠” Rocco, were paiN‘s statistically-best players across all three events. Vinicios “⁠PKL⁠” Coelho‘s men have made a complete turnaround from their form in July, and now hold the organization’s highest-ever spot on the world ranking.

Honorable Mentions:

– ENCE fall to 16th after roster shake-up
– fnatic gain 15 spots following EPL and open qualifier run
– Entropiq and Endpoint return to top 30