CSGO Tier Rankings: FACEIT London Minors & DreamHack Valencia

After a long stretch we now know which eight teams will be heading to London for the FACEIT Major from the CIS, Europe, Americas and Asia minors. We also know that North took out DreamHack Valencia after a tight final battle against underdogs Luminosity Gaming.

Tier Rankings compiled by Jamie "PalmtopPitbull" Wert (@PalmtopPitbull on Twitter) and Grady Hooker (@GradyHooker on Twitter).

S-Tier

Astralis

A-Tier

FaZe

NaVi

mousesports

Liquid

B-Tier

Fnatic

MiBR

NRG

North

C-Tier

Cloud9

NiP

TyLoo

Space Sol.

HellRaisers

OpTic

BIG

Renegades

ENCE

D-Tier

AGO

Heroic

Red Reserve

Gambit

Grayhound

Rogue

compLexity

Imperial

Kinguin

Luminosity

Sprout

Reasons for Selected Teams (Movement or Roster Changes)

G2 - They showed flashes of brilliance in Cologne only to crash and burn in Valencia.

Renegades - Continuous improvement and some very impressive teamwork to win the Asia Minor earns them this spot.

ENCE - Again and again this team surprises everyone. Amazing form from the upstart Finns led to a great performance in the European Minor. They're here, now let's see if they can hold it.

Luminosity - Great fight from this team at Valencia, including beating G2 in two matches.

Sprout - Sprout showed they're still a team to watch out for as they made the playoffs of the European Minor.

LeftOut - We gave the ex-EnVyUs team the benefit of the doubt after EnVyUs exploded, but after an abysmal result at the Europe Minor - we decided to leave them out of the rankings.

AVANGAR - AVANGAR was full of promise and looked to be a CIS region powerhouse and then their results just kept shrinking and they fell back to being just another CIS team.

Explanation of Tiers

S-Tier: Teams you expect to win every tournament they are in. They are the current kings of the Counter-Strike scene.

A-Tier: Teams that can be expected to easily beat teams in the tiers below, and may even upset an S-Tier team once in a while. Regularly makes the playoffs.

B-Tier: Teams that; Have shown recent potential or Former A-Tier teams with recent and extended periods of poor play.

C-Tier: Teams that; Have had decent showings at recent international LANs or Teams that may have dropped off recently, but have historically decent placements and can potentially make the playoffs.

D-Tier: Teams that have appeared at a few international LANs recently, likely via qualifiers, but have not shown skill consistently on the level of the other tiers. Rarely make playoffs if they ever have.

These rules are not exact, and they are not hard and fast. There are always exceptions. If there were not, it would become impossible to rank teams due to the nature of the game.