G2 Esports only jumped one position after IEM Cologne

G2 Esports dismantled all opposition at IEM Cologne, a $1 million tournament that finished just several days ago. The teams they defeated were Astralis, FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, and ENCE. But despite this great performance, G2 only climbed one position in the global rankings.

One may ask: why? They were ranked 1^st from early February until mid April. After that, they dropped to number 6 and started climbing again. In June and July, they were 4^th. Now, after winning an epic CS:GO tournament, they’re back in the top 3. But it doesn’t feel right, at least from a fan’s perspective.

HE DID IT pic.twitter.com/qLUm2zzp0b

— G2 CS (@G2CSGO) August 7, 2023

About CS:GO’s ranking system

CS:GO’s ranking system works in a way that favors teams with a great average performance over the course of 3-4 months. One victory, no matter how important, is not always enough to turn a team into the number one competitor in the game.

Before winning this tournament, G2 had a lot of modest results. Since February, they hadn’t done anything significant. Meanwhile, teams like Heroic and Vitality have had amazing results during this time.

Vitality won the Paris Major and finished 2^nd at BLAST Premier: Spring Final. Heroic finished 2^nd at IEM Rio, 3^rd – 4^th at IEM Dallas and BLAST.tv Paris Major, and 1^st at BLAST Premier: Spring Final.

With these kinds of results, both teams have accumulated many points. Some of those points have started to decay and will become useless in one or two months. But in the meantime, G2 will have to be satisfied with being ranked the 3^rd best team in CS:GO.

Upcoming tournaments

CS:GO is full of amazing S-tier tournaments these days. Just in the next four weeks, two $1 million competitions will take place. One in Riyadh and one in Chorzow, Poland.

We do not yet know who will attend the second of these tournaments. All we know is that it will feature eight teams, two of which are 9INE and ENCE. Given G2’s recent result, it would make perfect sense for the organizers to invite them. But Heroic and Vitality could also receive an invitation, based on their global ranks.

As for Gamers8, that tournament will feature 16 teams and we already know that G2, Heroic, and Vitality will compete in it. If G2 manage to finish in the top eight and ahead of the other two teams, they will likely receive the number 1 spot in CS:GO again.

Header: ESL