This edition of Counter Strike Power Rankings sees a slight shuffle at the podium as Avant have found a serious surge in form. ORDER have defended their MDL title and take away first place for Season 33 and have booked themselves a ticket to the Global Challenger Series (read more here).
But on a more sombre note, we say goodbye to Team Skyfire from the rankings as Affinity & Lato move on. We look forward to seeing the remaining players back in action soon.
Our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive panellists are:
1. Renegades (-)
“It’s no surprise to see Renegades once again at the top of the pack. They haven’t been playing much domestically, but by beating both Order and Avant in the Asia Minor Qualifiers, their form is enough to keep them solidly pegged as the Kings of Oceania. That said, Order and Avant were both able to take a map off Renegades, perhaps boding well for the future of ANZ CS.”
- Jordan “Elfishguy” Mays
Recent Results:
Active Roster: dexter, sico, INS, malta and Hatz
2. ORDER (-)
“There has been much discussion over the 2nd spot in ANZ, with both Order and Avant’s name being thrown in the ring. The difficulty, of course, being that both have taken a series off each other on numerous occasions. We think Order has the edge though, by virtue of their qualification to the Rio Minor (ahead of Avant/Chiefs), and their wins in Season 33 of MDL. With ANZ Champs Finals on the horizon, there will be another opportunity to see the developing rivalry between Avant and Order go head to head, and the next edition of these rankings may look very different based on that result.”
- Jordan “Elfishguy” Mays
Recent Results:
Active Roster: aliStair, Rickeh, USTILO, Valiance and J1rah
3. Avant (+1)
“Finally starting to hit their stride, Avant have managed to get revenge on Order twice recently and taken pole position for ANZ Champs Split 1. Unfortunately they were unable to back it up again in MDL but if they keep growing as a team they may be able to grab that 2nd position in the rankings.”
- Geordie “Mac” McAleer
Recent Results:
Active Roster: BL1TZ, HaZR, ap0c, ofnu and strerl1ng
4. Chiefs ESC (-1)
“A bit inconsistent as usual. The Chiefs managed to knock Avant down a rank a few weeks ago but have since slipped back to 4th after dropping some games to teams they should have dead to rights. Hoping that the boys can continue down the path of improvement again, and start to challenge the top 3 on a regular basis.”
- Geordie “Mac” McAleer
Recent Results:
Active Roster: Jinxx, stat, apocdud, SkulL and Mayker
5. Roosters (+2)
“Ok, I’ll admit that initially, I was not convinced by Roosters’ ability to climb through the region’s ranks. But they’ve had an exciting patch of form recently with some thrilling matches including the 78 round marathon against The Chiefs, and a surprise 3rd place finish in ESEA MDL Season 33, so I'm starting to believe. A little more structure, and this hot lineup could find themselves really beginning to shine against some of the region’s classier teams, otherwise we may see them run out of steam and we’ll have another, potential-filled roster begin a fast decline.”
- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman
Recent Results:
Active Roster: chelleos, ju1ces, flaw, DannyG and nettik
6. Ground Zero Gaming (-1)
“Ground Zero had an exciting start to the new year, with an early qualification to the WESG World Finals, and a decent patch of form heading into the minor. Since then, we’ve seen a slight dip, and a roster I once had primed to sneak its way into the top 4, now finds itself in a slump. And with a 4th place exit at the hands of closely-ranked rivals, Rooster, it's back to the drawing board now for Ground Zero”
- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman
Recent Results:
Active Roster: bURNRUOk, PEARS, void, Llamas and Noobster
7. Paradox (-1)
“Since we last talked about the Paradox boys, they've had some good results. Their MDL Season 33 campaign continued with success outside of clashes with the top 3 teams, and even more impressive is their recent results inside of ESL ANZ Champs. They lost 0-2 to Avant, but have since taken series wins against the likes of Ground Zero and The Chiefs.
However, more concerning for Paradox is their recent roster change, with the removal of 1ukey - they're currently using Teal in his place but we have no info as of the time of writing to indicate whether he's just filling in or will be joining the lineup. With Teal, however, they did manage a 2-0 over Skyfire (albeit with two overtime maps) so in these early stages, he seems a decent fit.”
- Tim "brainstorm" Dunne
Recent Results:
Active Roster: urbz, ino, ekul, Teal and bedonka
8. I Sleep (+1)
“I Sleep (formerly MC Esports) are, I feel, going through a rough time. Their results have been very inconsistent lately, with some strange performances from key players. One moment they’ll be absolutely abysmal, then they’ll bounce back to have a stellar performance. Recent results have shown them coming close to top teams such as Chiefs, going into multiple overtimes on the Chiefs map pick, but then losing their own map pick by a large margin. With very seasoned players on the roster, and very individually talented players, I think I Sleep haven’t found the one key factor that sets them apart from the competition. Their main focus should be on getting some consistency as a team, because until then, they’ll struggle to string many wins together.”
- Dion “Komodo” Pirotta
Recent Results:
Active Roster: Moey, Noisia, tot, ferg and Dirty
9. Airborne EC (-1)
“Airborne have been struggling to find a collection of wins recently. Their MDL run saw them finish in 11th position with 7 wins and 10 losses, meaning they failed to make the finals. This was a very disappointing result, as they’d had shown a lot of promise last year. They are however, not yet knocked out of the LPL Circuit, and can still make a good run of it despite ending up in the lower bracket. Hopefully Airborne can continue to get more wins under their belt, and show us why they were the team to look out for in 2020.”
- Dion “Komodo” Pirotta
Recent Results:
Active Roster: pz, smooth_crim, JD, BRACE and swede
10. Trident Esports (new)
“With Skyfire finding themselves down two players and being ineligible for our rankings, Trident find their way back into the top 10 once again. Trident have just finished an MDL run, winding up in 7th-8th place after BO3 losses to Chiefs and Skyfire in the finals bracket. Their season included BO1 victories over Chiefs back in January and Ground Zero in early February, and saw them finish the group stage with a 10 wins/5 losses record, putting them right behind the likes of Order, Avant, Rooster, and Chiefs. Trident don’t have any other CS coming up, so we’ll have to see how they go once competition resumes. They’ve been able to stay competitive even against the top teams in the region, and I look forward to seeing them continue to improve.”
- Tim "brainstorm" Dunne
Recent Results:
Active Roster: JP, MDK, nope, QuasarGT and Versa
Don’t agree with our power rankings? Let us know where you would place the teams.
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