Last time there was no shift in our rankings - this time after ZOTAC Cup Masters and a shocking DreamHack Masters Stockholm finale we see two new teams debut in the rankings as well as five teams shifting around in the ranks!

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
 
North
B-Tier
 
Fnatic
 
MiBR
 
NiP
C-Tier
 
NRG
 
G2
 
Cloud9
 
TyLoo
 
HellRaisers
 
OpTic
 
BIG
 
Renegades
 
ENCE
 
Heroic
D-Tier
 
Space Sol.
 
AGO
 
Red Reserve
 
Gambit
 
Rogue
 
compLexity
 
Imperial
 
Kinguin
 
Luminosity
 
Ghost
 
AVANGAR

Reasons for Selected Teams (Movement or Roster Changes)

North - North have been on a tear lately and after a huge upset victory at DreamHack Masters Stockholm it is impossible to deny it anymore, they beat NaVi, mouz and Astralis...TWICE!

Ninjas in Pyjamas - With the recent roster shuffles the Ninjas have started to show shades of their old selves and have had some impressive outings as of recent.

NRG Esports - NRG shot up out of nowhere and now their bubble has burst as they slowly fall back down. NRG landed at the bottom of their pool in Stockholm and the Shanghai win was against lower tiered opponents.

Heroic - The Danish boys can't decide if they want to be a C or D tier team, but they were pretty impressive this past weekend in Stockholm and may be on the rise again - let's wait for Montreal.

Space Soldiers - The team form Turkey has disappointed as of late, falling out of the IEM Chicago European qualifier to teams ENCE and Gambit, but even before then it has been a rough patch for Space Soldiers.

Ghost - Ghost has some very surprising performances against some top teams; taking down NaVi and OpTic as well as taking a map off NiP. They have been on the radar for awhile, now they make their debut.

AVANGAR - AVANGAR has only just recently fallen off the rankings, but now they are coming back and starting to show the dominating performance that we have seen from them before.

Sprout - Roster changes has added instability to what was already a very shaky team. We will continue to watch Sprout and see how they perform as they settle into their new roster.

Grayhound - It pains me to remove them, but two teams had to fall out of the rankings and this was purely mathematical. If it were a best team jersey competitive they would be S-Tier.

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.

    Header image thanks to HLTV.org