This week we saw Astralis win $1,000,000 for the Intel Grand Slam to continue their dominance on top of the mountain. We also had another DreamHack event as well as SuperNova Malta over in St Julian's. This week we also see for the first time only 29 teams entering the tier list.

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

S-Tier
 
Astralis
A-Tier
 
FaZe
 
NaVi
 
Liquid
 
MIBR
 
mousesports
B-Tier
 
NiP
 
NRG
C-Tier
 
North
 
BIG
 
ENCE
 
HellRaisers
 
Fnatic
 
compLexity
 
OpTic
 
Renegades
 
Ghost
D-Tier
 
TyLoo
 
G2
 
Heroic
 
Cloud9
 
ex-SS
 
Rogue
 
Vega
 
AVANGAR
 
Luminosity
 
Vitality
 
Bravado
 
x6tence

Reasons for Selected Teams (Movement or Roster Changes)

mousesports (+1) - mousesports showed they could hang with other A tier teams again in Odense.

North (-1) - North continues their plummet through the rankings due to an embarrassing showing in Odense.

Renegades (+1) - Renegades seems to have returned to the form we saw at IEM Sydney, which means that if they continue to regain that form, they might be able to challenge higher tier teams again.

Ghost (+1) - After a decent run at DH Atlanta, Ghost again showed they can at least hang with mid-tier teams on a regular basis at ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals.

Bravado (Debut) - Bravado, the first South African team to be showcased in our rankings, do so by their fantastic performance at DH Open Winter.

x6tence Galaxy (Debut) - x6 proved themselves at DH Open Winter to be deserving of a spot in the rankings.

We only have 29 teams in this edition of our rankings due to the fact that Esports Kingdom does not feel that any other teams are at the level we could consider worthy of D-Tier.

Also, three teams have fallen off the bottom of the rankings due to recent results; Gambit, LDLC and Kinguin.

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.