CSGO Tier Rankings: ESL One Cologne

Team Liquid took out ESL One Cologne 2019 after a hard-fought battle against the French side of Vitality. This win let them take home $1,000,000 and become the second Intel Grand Slam winner, but what did it do for their tier ranking?

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

S-Tier

Liquid

A-Tier

Astralis

Vitality

NaVi

B-Tier

ENCE

NRG

mousesports

FURIA

NiP

C-Tier

FaZe

MIBR

Fnatic

Renegades

North

BIG

Heroic

D-Tier

HellRaisers

AVANGAR

CR4ZY

Windigo

Grayhound

Cloud9

OpTic

compLexity

Ancient

GamerLegion

Reasons for Selected Teams (Movement or Roster Changes)

Team Liquid (+1): Welcome to the Liquid Era.

Vitality (+1): French CS is back and Vitality showed their grit battling all the way back through the lower bracket to compete with Team Liquid in the Grand Finals.

NaVi (+1): NaVi proved they haven't lost a step with their roster change and time off. Look to see them fighting for upcoming titles.

ENCE (-1): ENCE just looked bad. They have shown the ability to be an A Tier team, but not if they continue to perform like they did in Cologne.

NiP (+1): NiP's run was a pleasant surprise and gave a lot of long-time fans hope to see them in top form again.

FaZe (-1): The roster change clearly isn't working out for them.

BIG (+1): Though not as good as they were at last year's Cologne, BIG performed admirably at their home event.

Heroic (+1): Heroic continues their impressive run of play in recent appearances.

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.