Updated European ESL Road to Rio rankings after CS Summit 6

Jul 9, 2020

Reading time: 6 min

With Valve’s summer Regional Ranking tournament CS Summit 6 all wrapped up, we’ve put together the updated standings heading into the fall CSGO season.

The professional CSGO scene’s top teams are still holding onto their spots at the top of the game’s Regional Major Rankings, but a bunch of upsets over the course of CS Summit 6 means that there are new contenders entering the arena.

BIG made a huge jump in the European rankings after their surprise victory over Team Vitality at the Summit finals, while Evil Geniuses is living its best life after crushing Gen.G in North America. The instability of CSGO’s top teams like Europe’s Astralis and North America’s Team Liquid means that there’s a ton on the line heading into the fall RMR tournament.

Fans still don’t know what that tournament will be or what whether it will take place on LAN or in an online setting. That’s an important distinction to make, as online play has given new life to CSGO teams that might otherwise struggle on LAN.

CSGO’s Updated RMR Standings: Europe

1. Team Vitality

Even with Vitality’s loss to BIG at the CS Summit 6 grand finals, it still holds the number one spot in Valve’s rankings by a huge margin. With 3535 points, it currently leads the second-place G2 Esports by almost 1,000 points. That said, points awarded in Valve’s third Regional Ranking tournament are worth more than the first two combined, meaning that Vitality’s top spot may not yet be safe.

Even with star player Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, Vitality didn’t look great against a BIG team that seemingly came out of nowhere. They’ll have to tighten up their game further.

2. G2 Esports

G2 did not play well at CS Summit 6, dropping out of the tournament in ninth place after dropping series to both fnatic and GODSENT. It’s unclear where the team that made waves at IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 11 has gone, but they certainly didn’t show up at CS Summit 6.

At this point in career, Kenny “kennyS” Schrub shouldn’t always need to have standout games in order to carry G2 to victory. Instead, the team’s younger players in Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač and François “AmaNEk” Delaunay need to pick up the pace.

3. Astralis

Astralis fell from first to third after declining to take part in CS Summit 6. Its spot at the Major should be safe as long as they participate in the third RMR, but rumors have circled about Astralis’ players being unhappy with the conditions the organization is forcing them to work under.

Additionally, there are signs that the Astralis group knew of BLAST Entertainment’s plans to allow substitutions prior to BLAST alerting other participating teams. With two of its essential players, Lukas “glaive” Rossander and Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth, taking a leave of absence and a potential scandal brewing, Astralis could be in trouble.

4. GODSENT

GODSENT came into CS Summit 6 out of nowhere after removing veteran Mikail “Maikelele” Bill from the roster in favor of Asger “farlig” Jensen back in May. The move has paid off, as GODSENT looked like a team on the rise during CS Summit 6.

It will be interesting to see whether GODSENT can keep this momentum moving forward, as right now they’re sitting in fourth place above theoretically much stronger teams. It’s a solid start for a team that has always played second fiddle to Sweden’s best.

5. ENCE

ENCE ended CS Summit 6 with an impressive 2-0 win over FaZe Clan before falling 0-2 to G2 in the ninth-place decider matches. While it didn’t manage to make much headway in terms of overall performance, its placement was good for 875 RMR points.

They’re barely ahead of the next pack of teams that includes FaZe and fnatic, meaning that they’ll almost certainly have to do better than ninth place in fall’s RMR if ENCE wants to keep its Challenger spot. That said, both Sami “xseveN” Laasanen and Miikka “suNny” Kemppi looked solid throughout the tournament. If the rest of their team can follow suit, fans should see ENCE in Rio.

6. Ninjas in Pyjamas

NiP started off CS Summit 6 strong with wins over Heroic and x6tence before dropping three 0-2 losses in a row as they left CS Summit with an eighth-place finish. The new-look NiP had impressed many over the past several months, shrugging off the loss of Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg and managing decent placements and wins against some of CSGO’s top sides.

CS Summit 6 was an off tournament for many of the participants, including NiP. With a month off ahead of them, fans should expect NiP to come back ready to impress.

7. FaZe Clan

FaZe is a confounding team given its talented roster, but their seventh place in the rankings isn’t bad when fans look at the team’s situation. Even though Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer wasn’t performing up to expectations, his taking a break from CSGO is a blow to FaZe. Olof’s replacement, Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras, played exceptionally well as a stand-in. Given enough time, Bymas should fit in nicely to a FaZe team that needs a shot in the arm heading into the fall.

8. BIG

In addition to getting itself on the board with 2,000 RMR points with its CS Summit win, BIG also became the top-ranked team in the world for the first time in its history. After remaining off the ESL One Rio radar for the first half of 2020, BIG has exploded in recent months thanks in part to a roster built around Florian “syrsoN” Rische and Nils “k1to” Gruhne, who joined the team in January.

Since then, BIG has slowly risen through the CSGO ranks. It isn’t a flashy or exciting team, but BIG’s core fundamentals are winning them game after game. Teams both above and below them should be worried.

9. North

North continued their trend of being a middling team at CS Summit 6, placing seventh and underwhelming once again. Someone always has to be the team sitting between bad and good, and that’s where North found themselves once again. But despite their underwhelming finish, North still has a place at ESL One Rio. For now.

10. fnatic

The fnatic that won ESL Pro League Season 11 is gone. Something is amiss inside the Swedish team, but its fall from the month-long fnatic era has been swift. On paper, fnatic belongs in the top five of the regional standings, but two poor tournaments at ESL One Road to Rio and now CS Summit 6 have fnatic in tenth place and on the cusp of falling out of contention entirely. Like Astralis and Team Liquid, fnatic seems to rely on crowds and the LAN environment to play its best game. If the fall RMR has an audience, fnatic should keep their spot in Rio. If not, fans might see fnatic miss Brazil entirely.