Team Secret dominates Dota 2 player rankings, eLeVeN rises up

Steven Rondina Published 20/10/2020

Since the debut of the WIN.gg rankings, a lot has happened.

The Chinese Dota 2 scene has emerged from its shuffle and begun some intense competition through the OGA Dota PIT League and China Dota 2 Pro Cup. The Southeast Asian scene has been turned upside down as teams overhaul their rosters. The CIS region looks almost completely different now than it did a few months ago.

One month removed from the previous installment, it’s worth checking out where things stand and what the scene looks like with a number of major shifts in the Dota 2 landscape.

Catch up on WIN.gg’s rankings:

• How the WIN.gg rankings work
• Last month’s Dota 2 player rankings
• This month’s Dota 2 team rankings

Team Secret reigns supreme, but not without challengers

In the first installment of the WIN.gg Dota 2 player rankings, Team Secret lorded over the rest of the Dota 2 scene with all five members of the team sitting in the top six of the player rankings. That’s still the case, but there’s quite a bit more competition this time as a number of Chinese players have jumped up into the top 10 and are in position to start climbing over members of Secret.

The other big change when it comes to Secret is a shuffling of the top placements. While Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat topped the list last time, “Nisha” Jankowskihas has since jumped into the top spot, followed by fellow Secret cores Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen and Ludwig “zai” Wahlberg.

Though there is plenty of other exceptional talent in the top 10, it will take a whole lot of work to see Secret pushed out of the top five. 

Chinese teams return to the top after break

Chinese Dota 2 saw a halt in competition and a massive roster shuffle in August and September. As a result, Chinese teams and players were almost completely forced out of the top 20 in the inaugural installment of the rankings. With the roster shakeups over and tournaments starting back up in Asia, Chinese players have jumped up the rankings with some landing deep in the top 10.

Ren “old eLeVeN” Yangwei, Wang “Ame” Chunyu, and Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang all jump into the top 10. The trio all enter with very different backstories. old eLeVeN is a veteran who has bounced in and out of the tier-one scene for years, Ori is a mainstay of Vici Gaming’s top-notch lineup, and Ame is returning to PSG.LGD after an ugly breakup earlier this year.

Outside of these three, just one other Chinese player is currently ranked in the top 20. That player is PSG.LGD’s Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida at rank 19. That’s likely to change in the near future, though.

Newly minted Four Angry Men players Lu “Somnus丶M” Yao and Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun have the right stats to rank in the top 20, but are suffering from 4AM not yet making its competitive debut. If the team returns and puts forward even a reasonably strong effort, the duo is primed to leap back up.

Evil Geniuses players skid out of top 10 as roster questions linger

Evil Geniuses had not one, but two players in the top 10 in the inaugural installment. Neither of them are there today.

Though Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen recently made the news by becoming the fifth player to hit 11,000 MMR, he’s now well outside the top 20 after an underwhelming performance in Omega League’s European Immortal Division and a month and a half of inactivity. Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev also slipped out of the top 10 as rumors began to swirl that he was poised to return to Virtus.pro.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as Evil Geniuses’ future is currently in limbo. Social media chatter has suggested RAMZES666 and Abed “Abed” Azel L. Yusop are both set to leave, and the team could be gearing up for a move from North America to Europe.

Either way, Evil Geniuses could be shaping up to be a very different team in the near future.

Ceb peaks into top 10 after return to full-time status

Earlier this year, Sebastian “Ceb” Debs returned from retirement to become OG’s starting off laner, a move that knocked Syed “SumaiL” Hassan into free agency. Ceb has been in three events since then, and has really helped OG return to form after a spotty spring.

A third-place Dota PIT League Season 2 performance followed by a grand finals berth at Omega League helped to reestablish OG as a top team despite an early exit from Dota PIT League Season 3.

Though Ceb being the top-ranked player on OG might come as something of a surprise, OG has proven to be more consistently successful with him than without him. It’s also worth noting that he’s not necessarily going to hold that position forever. Johan “N0tail” Sundstein and Topias Miikka “Topson” Taavitsainen could step past him at any point, with the pair sitting at No. 12 and 13, respectively. That trio could be shaken up at any point moving forward.

Team Nigma, Quincy Crew round out top 20

The top 20 in features a smattering of players from a handful of strong teams. As mentioned, OG, PSG.LGD, and Evil Geniuses all have some representation between 11 and 20. Outside that, Team Nigma and Quincy Crew both have multiple players in the top 20.

For Nigma, Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi stands at No. 14 while Maroun “GH” Merhej sneaks in at No. 20. Longtime Dota 2 fans need no introduction to the duo, and no explanation of how good they are individually. The pair could reasonably have placed higher, but the whole of Team Nigma is in an awkward place at the moment due to the extended absence of Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi.

At No. 15 and 16 are Quincy Crew players Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos and Avery “SVG” Silverman. Lelis joined Quincy Crew in June and helped the team kick off its white hot summer that led to seven straight tournament wins. SVG has long been an incredibly underrated talent and has really cemented himself as a top caliber support player over the last several months.

Steven Rondina

About Steven Rondina

Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.

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