Team Ranking: July 2022

July may not have been the most action-packed of months given the player break taking up the latter half, but it did feature the million-dollar IEM Cologne tournament, which saw FaZe raise the trophy after an exhilarating five maps and cement their place on top of the world.

Naturally, Cologne would have the biggest impact on the world rankings as well as many teams losing places on the board due to points gained from past events expiring, along with pre-break performances.

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, August 1, 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 July 4.

FaZe solidify their status as the world’s best

It seemed almost destined that both FaZe and Natus Vincere would meet in the best-of-five grand final at IEM Cologne, with the whole competition, an Intel Grand Slam notch, and the #1 spot on HLTV.org’s world rankings on the line for both squads.

Natus Vincere were coming off the back of a massively successful BLAST Spring Final campaign, where the Russian-Ukrainian side ultimately took home the gold. FaZe could do nothing but settle for 5-6th place, having also been eliminated in a completely one-sided manner at the hands of Denis “⁠electroNic⁠” Sharipov‘s crew in the quarter-finals. This run of form carried on to IEM Cologne, which also saw Natus Vincere overtake FaZe for the top spot in the rankings right before their grand final series, ending the international mix’s 13-week streak.

FaZe are one event away from the Grand Slam

On the other hand, FaZe were in a slump of their own prior to the million-dollar tournament, having struggled at IEM Dallas and the aforementioned BLAST Spring Final. As soon as IEM Cologne rolled around, however, the international squad quickly went to work and scored decisive 2-0 victories in their four matches on the way to the grand final showdown versus Natus Vincere.

With their backs against the wall as the series reached a 2-1 score in favor of Aleksandr “⁠s1mple⁠” Kostyliev and company, FaZe showed unrelenting form in the succeeding maps, comfortably taking home Ancient to force a fifth and deciding map, and capping off their breathtaking comeback with a historic performance on Nuke in an all-time classic. FaZe ended the season by bringing home the IEM Cologne trophy, increasing their Intel Grand Slam tally to three wins, and recovering their spot on top from Natus Vincere.

Astralis land in the top five

It goes without saying that 2022 hasn’t been the best of times for Astralis, with the Danish side’s most notable placings having been second at both the BLAST Spring Showdown EU and the Pinnacle Cup Championship prior to IEM Cologne.

Lukas “⁠gla1ve⁠” Rossander‘s men first had to battle it out in the play-in stage of the German event, where they placed 5-8th and secured a spot in the group stage. From there, Astralis delivered impressive performances against higher-ranked opposition such as FURIA and Cloud9 in Group B, which guaranteed them a spot in the playoffs.

The Danes went all the way to the semi-finals after dropping their group’s spot-deciding match against eventual winners FaZe, and subsequently ended MOUZ‘s dream run in the quarter-finals. Although their own campaign came to a halt at the hands of Natus Vincere, the team went home with a 3-4th placing, undoubtedly the highlight of their year so far and one they can build on during the break.

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trace: “There’s not going to be any changes”

Astralis now hold their highest spot on the world rankings in over 11 months, from when the lineup still featured Peter “⁠dupreeh⁠” Rasmussen, Emil “⁠Magisk⁠” Reif, and Lucas “⁠Bubzkji⁠” Andersen way back in August 2021.

Movistar Riders reach best-ever ranking

Movistar Riders have certainly been one of the biggest surprises this year, and the Spaniards kicked off July with yet another stunning performance by claiming victory at ESL Challenger Valencia in front of their home crowd.

Fresh off their ESL Valencia win, Movistar Riders hopped straight into IEM Cologne’s play-in with all the momentum in the world, successfully fending off MIBR in their opening series and taking down Vitality 2-0 to clinch 1-4th place. Movistar Riders‘ run through their Group A bracket would see them overcome G2 in two swift maps, as well as once again defeating Vitality in a series that secured their playoff berth.

Movistar Riders make their first top ten appearance ever

Although they missed the chance to qualify for the semi-finals automatically after losing to Natus Vincere in their group’s upper bracket final, Alejandro “⁠alex⁠” Masanet‘s side would go on to eliminate Liquid in the quarter-finals, and set up a true David-versus-Goliath semi-final against FaZe.

Even if Movistar Riders ultimately fell to FaZe in two maps, finishing in 3-4th place at IEM Cologne would serve as a huge boost to their position on the world rankings, jumping from 14th all the way to seventh and attaining the highest rank the organization has ever achieved.

MOUZ gain after Cologne surprise run

MOUZ find themselves up the rankings after an extremely productive month saw Christopher “⁠dexter⁠” Nong‘s crew finish in 5-6th at IEM Cologne, with the result being a big step forward for the squad at the end of a rocky season as they make their first top ten appearance of the year.

Just like many of the teams in this article, MOUZ had to go through the play-ins of IEM Cologne for a shot at reaching the main event. They defeated paiN in their preliminary series, suffered a 1-2 defeat to Heroic afterwards, and finally scored a 2-0 win over TYLOO to qualify in 5-8th.

Despite being sent to their group’s lower bracket early by Natus Vincere, they clawed their way through and took revenge by eliminating Heroic 2-0, followed by 2-1 victories over Vitality and NIP to claim the final playoff spot on offer, but were unable to progress any further than the quarter-finals after being defeated by Astralis.

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torzsi: “I hope we can bring this momentum into the next season”

After months of dismal results at various tournaments, MOUZ finally have something to look back and and build upon in the form of their IEM Cologne run with the team unquestionably looking to bring their momentum into the following season, their first challenge being ESL Pro League Season 16.

Honorable Mentions:

– 00NATION surge to 18th after completing roster
– 9z break new ground in top 20
– Imperial and MIBR both drop six places
– Endpoint fall out of top 30