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The CS:GO scene right now is in perhaps more turmoil then it’s been in years. With dozens of roster moves made and pending, Liquid and Astralis going back and forth for dominance, up and coming teams like the new Evil Geniuses vying for the top spot, it’s a great time to be a CS:GO fan. Unfortunately, it’s a tough time to be a CS:GO bettor. The scene has a lot of variance in it, with all these fresh rosters and contentious best of threes, which can make it hard to find an edge.
So, to help out anyone interested in CS:GO betting, here are our power rankings for October. They’ll be sorted by tiers, and the order within each tier won’t matter.
S Tier
Liquid
It’s been a rough month for Liquid. After their sweep in the middle of this year, taking home the trophy at DreamHack Masters Dallas, ESL One Cologne, and IEM Chicago, they’ve been stopped dead in their tracks by Astralis twice since September, for a 5th-8th place at the Major and 3rd-4th at ESL One New York.
That being said, they’re still dreadfully effective against everyone else. Despite a slump from Stewie2k, the rest of the team has been firing on all cylinders. NAF had a Rating of 1.26 over eight maps in New York, Twistzz had a 1.21, nitr0 a 1.16. Surprisingly enough EliGE was the second worst performer, with a 1.06, which can be attributed to his poor performance against G2 in the decider game of their group.
Liquid has always relied on stand out individual performances, especially when they were at their peak. They haven’t looked up to task on an individual level since the player break, which led to them falling apart in Berlin.
Despite their shortcomings, they’re still one of the best in the world. They’re favored against just about anyone, except for maybe the other two names in S Tier. They’re probably the team I feel worst about in this tier, but their resume speaks for itself.
Astralis
The Danes have had a Major return to form since September. While the player break seemed to degrade Liquid’s play and chemistry, it did the opposite for Astralis. They came into Berlin like a team possessed, and dominated the group stage and the playoffs. They’ve eliminated Liquid in both of their last two LANs, and won one of them. The other, obviously, they lost to Evil Geniuses.
Astralis’ play is fueled in large part by device. While the team does work most effectively as a unit, device’s performance is a great predictor of how well they’ll do in any given map, game, series, or tournament. He finished the StarLadder Major with a 1.23 Rating, which is absurd.
device is helped by one of the most star studded supporting casts in the history of the game. Xyp9x, the clutch minister, magisk and dupreeh, two players who could be the number one option on their own team, and Gla1ve, one of the best IGLs in the world, all combine to elevate device to the highest possible highs, which is what you see when they’re winning.
It still feels like, in some matches at least, that Astralis is knocking the rust off. They had a tough time of it earlier this year, and are starting to get back into the groove it seems. DreamHack Masters Malmo [LINK HERE] will be a good measuring stick to see where they are exactly, relative to everyone else.
Evil Geniuses
I’m not surprised to see EG here. I’ve been singing their praises since before the Katowice Major [Link NRG team preview], and have been due for a big break out event for a while. It may seem a little premature to put them in S Tier, but they’re clearly a cut above everyone that follows. Their resume is a little thin still, but it just wouldn’t feel right putting them in the A Tier.
In the short time that this roster has been on EG, they’ve picked up some impressive wins. They have five map wins over Astralis, and two over FaZe and G2, which is respectable. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen this roster play Liquid in a best of three yet, which will be a telling game.
Easily the most exciting thing about this team is what Stanislaw has done to CeRq. Stan has turned the formerly inconsistent ball of potential into a beautiful sculpted player, capable of AWPing in tier one and going toe to toe with players like device. In their best of five against Astralis, CeRq had ratings of 1.15, 1.10, 1.23, and 1.31, which is all very impressive. In fact, he stayed positive all event, with a 1.63 Rating against FaZe on Vertigo, and a 1.71 against G2 on Dust 2.
I wouldn’t blame you if you disagreed with me here, but I Evil Geniuses belongs in the S Tier. They don’t have as many wins as I’d like to see for a team going this high, but ultimately the eye test outweighs the resume here, for me at least.
A Tier
Vitallity
It feels like it’s been years since we’ve seen Vitality in action. When last we saw the Frenchmen, they had just gotten their ticket home stamped by AVANGAR at the Major, earning them a 5th-8th place finish at the Major. Since, they’ve made a pretty big roster change, swapping out NBK for shox. As I’ve said before, my feelings about this move are complicated to say the least, but it could certainly be an improvement.
The reason Vitality go here is that they have ZywOo. It’s easy to forget just how good of a player the young Frenchman is, so let me remind you. He has a career LAN Rating of 1.32, has yet to go negative at a LAN tournament, routinely styles on some of the best teams in the world, and is still just 18 years old. In theory, having him on the team makes Vitality an instant title competitor, no matter what.
Which is why I’m (cautiously) optimistic about the prospect of shox joining the team. Regardless of how he fits in the system, how he plays in the context of the team, yadda yadda, he is certainly good at shooting people. Him and ZywOo on the same team is a lot of firepower, enough to potentially overpower just about anyone.
Unfortunately, they don’t have the consistency they’d need to make S Tier, and the supporting cast still pales in comparison to that of Astralis or Liquid.
Mousesports
Mousesports are another team that feel strangely absent from the lives of CS:GO bettors right now. After narrowly missing out on a playoff spot in Berlin, they’ve played just one tournament, the V4 Future Sports Festival, which we are going to ignore completely because what a silly tournament.
Mouz continue to be one of the most potential laden teams in Counter Strike, with three incredible young talents under the leadership of karrigan. The distribution of stats on the team looks about like what you’d expect, with frozen leading the pack, followed by ropz and woxic.
To be honest, I still haven’t seen nearly enough from this team. They’ve played in just a handful of Tier 1 LANs, with moderate success. A near miss at the Major, a 3rd-4th finish at the EPL Finals, all of these are solid results. DreamHack Malmo will be important for Mouz as well, an give themselves a chance to solidify themselves as a team deserving of the spots we keep giving them.
Na’Vi
It’s hard to rank Na’Vi, mostly due to their drastic roster changes they’ve made. Kicking your IGL and bringing back your ex star player, whose prime might be far gone, is an interesting choice for sure. I have hope for the upside for the CIS superstars, but it’s far from a sure thing.
At this point their best asset might be electronic. Obviously s1mple is the star of the show, but he can’t do it alone. Electronic has been integral in pushing this team as far as possible, and now it’s up for GuardiaN and Boombl4 to pull their own weight.
B Tier
ENCE
I grow more worried about ENCE every day. Adapting to a new system is hard for the best of players, and sergej is still a relatively inexperienced guy. There’s a chance that he can’t play in a system like this, which would be catastrophic for ENCE.
G2
I like their new roster moves. Picking up part of the CR4ZY core and pairing them with KennyS isn’t a bad idea, especially now that they’ve dumped shox. Kenny should absolutely be the focal point of this team, which is hopefully what’s going to happen.
MIBR
I love this team, a lot. They’re underdogs for the first time in a while, FalleN is able to play fun and fancy free, kNg has tons of untapped potential, waiting for someone like FalleN to draw it out, fer has been unleashed once again. These guys could get dangerous fast.
These rankings are likely to change fast. Several of these teams have made big moves recently which are still shaking out, so they may move up and down in the rankings. Make sure to check back here for our updated rankings next month.
