Team ranking: October 2011 (original) (raw)
We continue the speedy return of our Team ranking feature with the month of October. After an eventless September came probably the busiest month of the year, as four LAN events took place which caused some reshuffling among the top 10 teams.
As we announced a couple of days ago, our Team ranking feature is making a comeback which will include all the updates from the missed months. If you have missed the previous updates, check out August and September, where you can also find the information about how this ranking is made.
Considering the amount of international events, October was actually the busiest month of 2011. Four tightly packed tournaments took place in the tenth month, and the biggest of them was Electronic Sports World Cup in Paris, France.
SK Gaming came out victorius ahead of previous year's champions Natus Vincere, while mousesports were the surprise of the tournament finishing in 3rd place.
| ESWC 2011 | |
|---|---|
| 1st |  SK Gaming |
| 2nd |  Natus Vincere |
| 3rd |  mousesports |
| 4th |  AGAiN |
| 5-8th | Alternate |
| 5-8th |  Moscow Five |
| 5-8th |  WinFakt |
| 5-8th | Lions |
In the second biggest event of the month, Samsung Euro Championship in Warsaw, Poland, the home team AGAiN showed impressive play to win over the Ukrainians Natus Vincere.
| SEC 2011 | |
|---|---|
| 1st | AGAiN |
| 2nd | Natus Vincere |
| 3rd | WinFakt |
| 4th | Fear Factory |
| 5-8th | SK Gaming |
| 5-8th |  eSuba |
| 5-8th |  eSahara |
| 5-8th | Moscow Five |
The two less competitive events were the Global Challenges in Guangzhou and New York. The one in China was won by the refreshed lineup of fnatic, while SK Gaming took 1st place in New York.
| IEM6 GC Guangzhou | IEM6 GC New York | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | fnatic |
1st | SK Gaming |
| 2nd | mousesports |
2nd | WinFakt |
| 3rd | WinFakt |
3rd |  mTw |
| 4th |  eFuture |
4th |  UMX.us |
How did these events affect the overall ranking? Did SK increase the lead on the Poles? Which team managed to attend all four events? Which major team called it quits during this month?
Before we get to the overall ranking, let's inspect the top 10 teams of October.
10. Alternate
In their first major LAN event of the year, German team Alternate showed surprisingly good play at ESWC, where they managed to defeat fnatic in the group stage, which effectively knocked the Swedes out of the tournament. Alternate was later paired up with AGAiN in the quarter-final, where they also showed a good performance, but in the end lost 2-1. Still, a top 8 placing at the biggest event of the month, plus an upset win over fnatic, gave them the 10th place in the monthly ranking.
| Top matches: | Alternate |
16-8 | fnatic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Results: | 5-8th at ESWC 2011 |
9. Anexis
Danish side Anexis didn't have a particularly successful month, but they attended two of the four events and recorded an upset win at each. Firstly, they traveled to China for IEM6 GC Guangzhou, where they defeated eventual winners fnatic in the group stage, but succumbed to home team eFuture which prevented them from reaching playoffs.
A similar fate expected them at ESWC, where they overcame the reigning champions Natus Vincere in the group stage, but a loss to Portuguese Defining Stars put an end to their campaign too early once again.
| Top matches: | Anexis |
16-14 | fnatic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anexis |
16-4 | natus Vincere |
|
| Results: | 5-6th at IEM6 GC Guangzhou |
8. Fear Factory
Thanks to a good performance in the quarter-final of SEC against Electronic Sahara, the Polish team Fear Factory almost reached the podium in their home country's biggest tournament. Although they later lost to AGAiN and WinFakt and finished 4th, that earned them the 8th place in the monthly ranking.
| Top matches: | Fear Factory |
2-0 | eSahara |
|---|---|---|---|
| Results: | 4th at SEC 2011 |
7. Moscow Five
Moscow Five, the Team of the month in September, had a somewhat unfortunate following month. They attended the two big tournaments SEC and ESWC, but at both lost in the quarter-final. In the Polish event, they were beaten by eventual winners AGAiN, and in Paris the finalists Natus Vincere took them out after a tight battle.
| Top matches: | Moscow Five |
16-9 | DTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Results: | 5-8th at ESWC 2011 | ||
| 5-8th at SEC 2011 |
6. fnatic
In their first event after the retirement of Harley "dsn" Örwall and the addition of Michael "Friis" Jørgensen, fnatic made an excellent start by winning IEM6 GC Guangzhou. However, they didn't build on that success right away, as their ESWC performance was quite the opposite, as two German teams mousesports, and especially Alternate, made sure the Swedes wouldn't pass the group stage.
| Top matches: | fnatic |
2-1 | mousesports |
|---|---|---|---|
| fnatic |
2-0 | WinFakt |
|
| Results: | 1st at IEM6 GC Guangzhou |
5. mousesports
The best German team, mousesports, had quite a good month overall. They started with a 2nd place finish at IEM6 GC Guangzhou, and later produced another podium finish at ESWC. After overcoming Lions in the quarter-final of the French event, mousesports gave SK Gaming a run for their money in a close semi-final loss. In the end, the Poles AGAiN fell victim to the Germans in the 3rd place decider, which paved way for mousesports to reach the podium and become 5th best team in October.
| Top matches: | mousesports |
16-6 | WinFakt |
|---|---|---|---|
| mousesports |
16-2 | TyLoo |
|
| mousesports |
16-8 | Alternate |
|
| mousesports |
15-15 | fnatic |
|
| mousesports |
2-0 | Lions |
|
| mousesports |
2-1 | AGAiN |
|
| Results: | 2nd at IEM6 GC Guangzhou | ||
| 3rd at ESWC 2011 |
4. WinFakt
The only team to attend all four tournaments in October was the fast-rising squad of WinFakt. The Finns had a great month as they reached the podium on three of those four occasions, at the two Global Challenges and at SEC. Their biggest success was the 3rd place at Samsung Euro Championship, where they faced a close loss to Natus Vincere in the semi-final and overcame Fear Factory for the bronze medals.
At the last and the biggest event of the month, ESWC, the Finns ended up only 5-8th due to a loss to SK Gaming, who also beat them in the final of the tournament in New York.
| Top matches: | WinFakt |
16-9 | TyLoo |
|---|---|---|---|
| WinFakt |
21-9 | AGAiN |
|
| WinFakt |
2-0 | Fear Factory |
|
| WinFakt |
16-9 | Anexis |
|
| Results: | 2nd at IEM6 GC New York | ||
| 3rd at IEM6 GC Guangzhou | |||
| 3rd at SEC 2011 | |||
| 5-8th at ESWC 2011 |
3. Natus Vincere
Although they were very close on two occasions, the Ukrainian giants Natus Vincere failed to win a title during October. They finished 2nd at both ESWC and SEC. In Poland they took out SK Gaming in the quarter-final, but were defeated by AGAiN in the final, while in France they knocked out the Poles in the semi-final and lost to SK Gaming in the last match.
They weren't better than either of those in the end, but the two second places cemented them at the 3rd spot in the monthly ranking.
| Top matches: | Natus Vincere |
16-5 | WinFakt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natus Vincere |
2-1 | Moscow Five |
|
| Natus Vincere |
2-0 | AGAiN |
|
| Natus Vincere |
2-0 | SK Gaming |
|
| Natus Vincere |
2-1 | WinFakt |
|
| Results: | 2nd at ESWC 2011 | ||
| 2nd at SEC 2011 |
2. AGAiN
In a turbulent month for them, the Polish team officially left the Frag eXecutors organization at the start of October, just after an impressive performance at SEC. They won the event on their home soil over Natus Vincere, but a few weeks later they finished in a somewhat disappointing fourth place at ESWC. The Ukrainians took their revenge at this tournament in the semi-final, while AGAiN also lost to mousesports in the 3rd place decider and missed out on the podium finish.
However, despite the sour taste of defeat in their last two matches of the month, the Poles won't be too disappointed, as the title at SEC and the 4th place at ESWC granted them the second place of the monthly ranking.
| Top matches: | AGAiN |
2-0 | Natus Vincere |
|---|---|---|---|
| AGAiN |
2-0 | Moscow Five |
|
| AGAiN |
2-0 | Fear Factory |
|
| AGAiN |
16-7 | ESC Gaming |
|
| AGAiN |
16-10 | Lions |
|
| AGAiN |
2-1 | Alternate |
|
| Results: | 1st at SEC 2011 | ||
| 4th at ESWC 2011 |
1. SK Gaming
The title of Team of the month goes to SK Gaming who won the biggest event in October, ESWC, and added another title from IEM6 GC New York. The impressive month of the Swedes didn't start too well though, as they underperformed at SEC, with losses to eSahara in the group stage and Natus Vincere in the quarter-final.
However, those would turn out the be the only two losses for SK Gaming in the month, as they picked themselves up and won IEM6 GC New York convincingly, and shortly after that ESWC as well.
| Top matches: | SK Gaming |
16-7 | DTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| SK Gaming |
16-13 | Moscow Five |
|
| SK Gaming |
2-0 | WinFakt |
|
| SK Gaming |
2-1 | mousesports |
|
| SK Gaming |
2-0 | Natus Vincere |
|
| SK Gaming |
16-7 | WinFakt |
|
| SK Gaming |
2-1 | mTw |
|
| SK Gaming |
2-0 | WinFakt |
|
| Results: | 1st at ESWC | ||
| 1st at IEM6 GC New York | |||
| 5-8th at SEC 2011 |
Let's take a look at the overall table with the top 10 teams of the month.
| Place | | Points | | Teams |
| ------- | | ---------- | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | | | | | |
| 1. | | 404.35 | | SK Gaming |
| 2. | | 321.64 | | AGAiN |
| 3. | | 320.37 | | Natus Vincere |
| 4. | | 249.70 | | WinFakt |
| 5. | | 218.01 | | mousesports |
| 6. | | 197.55 | | fnatic |
| 7. | | 69.12 | | Moscow Five |
| 8. | | 57.55 | | Fear Factory |
| 9. | | 53.75 | | Anexis |
| 10. | | 47.93 | | Alternate |
Although the top 3 teams remained at their positions after this busy month, there were some changes in the overall ranking.
First and foremost, it must be mentioned that this would be the last time we see the name mTw in the ranking, who disbanded during the month as the 5th best team in the world. In their last hurrah, they did manage a 3rd place finish with their incomplete lineup at IEM6 GC New York.
Thanks to winning IEM6 GC Guangzhou, fnatic managed to leap over the Danes and take over as the main challenger to the big three.
The biggest climber in the top 10 is WinFakt, who went up 4 places to become 6th best ranked team in the world at this moment, not only thanks to their perfect attendance, but also due to three podium finishes.
mousesports also had a good month, which reflected in them leaping over ESC Gaming and Moscow Five.
The only new entry in the top 20 is Fear Factory, the 4th place finishers from SEC, while Germans Alternate continued climbing after entering the list last month and are now 16th.
Let's take a look at the overall table with the top 20 teams, including total amount of points and position change compared to the previous month.
| Evo | Place | | Points | | Teams |
| --------- | -------- | | ----------- | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| | | | | | | |
| - | 1. | | 1368.34 | | SK Gaming |
| - | 2. | | 1128.55 | | AGAiN |
| - | 3. | | 1024.39 | | Natus Vincere |
| ****+1** | 4. | | 584.05 | | fnatic |
| **-1 | 5. | | 475.26 | | mTw |
| ****+4** | 6. | | 420.73 | | WinFakt |
| ****+1** | 7. | | 402.38 | | mousesports |
| **-2 | 8. | | 344.89 | | ESC Gaming |
| **-2 | 9. | | 343.20 | | Moscow Five |
| **-1 | 10. | | 232.78 | | Anexis |
| - | 11. | | 197.90 | | Lions |
| - | 12. | | 120.28 | | DTS |
| - | 13. | | 115.42 | | eSahara |
| ****+2** | 14. | | 79.89 | | Evil Geniuses |
| **-1 | 15. | | 76.38 | | KerchNET |
| ****+4** | 16. | | 75.22 | | Alternate |
| **-2 | 17. | | 73.05 | | 
x6tence |
| ****+41** | 18. | | 65.28 | | Fear Factory |
| -2 | 19. | | 63.31 | | Virtus.pro |
| -1 | 20. | | 59.07 | | TyLoo |
Evolution of the Top 10 Teams (points per months)
If you are wondering which events were included in the making of this ranking, here is a list in 3 levels (although there are in fact 9, but we merged them for displaying purposes).
| High: | IEM5 European Finals, IEM5 World, Xperia PLAY, DreamHack Summer, GameGune, e-Stars, ESWC, SEC 2011, GC Guangzhou |
|---|---|
| Medium: | IEM5 American Finals, ICSC 7, ASUS Winter, OSPL Spring, ASUS Spring, ICSC 8, GC Guangzhou EU qual, ASUS Summer, GC New York EU qual, GC New York |
| Low: | WGF, Digifest 2011 Solaris, ESEA Invite Season 8, Adepto BH, Balkan Challenge Summer, GC Guangzhou US qual, GC New York US qual, DreamHack south Europe |
If you have any questions about the ranking, feel free to ask in the comments below and of course stay tuned to HLTV.org for the November update which is coming soon.