The first month of 2022 has come to an end, and many teams that have performed well at PGL Stockholm Major, such as FURIA, ENCE and Copenhagen Flames, have all dropped their rankings due to the decline in Major points. Meanwhile, teams like BIG and OG rose to prominence in the BLAST Premier Spring 2022. The top spot hasn't changed much, the biggest difference being that Heroic, who didn't play in the spring race, dropped three places. Natus Vincere remains firmly at the top, even though their lead has declined over the past few weeks.
The newly signed HEET team won Malta Vibes Knockout Series #5
The World Team Rankings are based on a team's achievements over the past year (points are gradually decreasing each month), performance over the past two months, and results from recent events over the past three months. Each team needs to maintain a core of more than three to retain their points. In addition, due to the ongoing impact of the epidemic, online events that were previously less influential now have greater weight. Here are the top 30 teams in the world as of February 7:
Rank down the team
The biggest factor this month was that PGL Major's results were no longer valid, which led to many teams that performed well in Major because they didn't perform well later, or lost a lot of places such as playing less recently. The biggest victim of this change, of course, was FURIA, down 17 places. After the end of major, the Brazilian only played in the recent Pinnacle Winter Series and lost to Wisla Krakow.
Many other teams that had had a standout in Stockholm also fell, including Heroic, Copenhagen Flames, ENCE and Movistar Riders. Heroic, in particular, ended the previous year with a tough finish, bottoming out in the last two races (IEM Winter and BLAST Global Finals) before losing to K23 in January's Pinnacle Winter Series.
Following their dark horse performances at Major, the Copenhagen Flames have gradually returned to their average level, performing mediocrely in the second tier events they competed in in November and December. Despite numerous reports at the time that the team had been signed by a larger organization (especially Complexity), no deal was reached and the Copenhagen Flames retained their current squad.
Heroic sought to get a good result at Katowice
Impact of BLAST
The only Tier 1 event to take place in January was the BLAST Premier Spring 2022, which featured a new format with the two biggest entrants being OG and BIG, both of whom achieved satisfactory results in their new lineups. In the debut of nemanja "nexa" Isakovi, the swap owner, OG remained unbeaten in the group stage, losing only a map to NIP in the knockout stage. BIG also managed to qualify for the Spring Finals, beating Astralis twice convincingly. The all-German team also competed in the Funspark ULTI 2021 Finals and finished third, beating fnatic and K23.
BLAST Spring 2022 also saw Robin "ropz" Kool make his debut in FaZe. FaZe got off to a strong start under karrigan, who made it to extra time on all three maps of the Group C group stage and eventually narrowly won overtime to reach the knockout stage with the top seed. He then beat BIG in Bo3 to secure a spot in the spring finals. Ropz's addition helped FaZe immediately, and he was the highest-rated player in the team and one of the highest rated players in the tournament.
K23 and HEET have risen steadily, and Apeks have made a strong appearance
The new CIS Challenger K23 has undoubtedly been one of the focal points of the past three months. After a major lineup overhaul, the team began to rise rapidly, beating teams such as Entropiq, Copenhagen Flames and Dignitas to win the Funspark ULTI European Playoffs. In the Funspark ULTI Finals in January, they beat Astralis in their first match. K23's outstanding performances continued throughout January, including the Malta Vibes Knockout Series #5中击败了ECSTATIC和SINNERS and the Pinnacle Winter Series 1 after beating Heroic and Spout.
HEET won the aforementioned Malta Vibes event in a four-game winning streak on its debut, and the Frenchman, who qualified in December, will have the opportunity to take it a step further in the upcoming ESL Challenger February event.
Apeks' debut was rewarding
As a brand new team, Apeks secured a place in the top 30 with their impressive performances in the Pinnacle Winter Series, a European team that made it all the way from the regional tournament to the finals, beating teams such as SKADE, Endpoint and fnatic.