Team Ranking: December 2022

The final month of 2022 played host to the last Big Event of the year, the BLAST Premier World Final. There were a number of unexpected results at the million-dollar competition, with both IEM Rio Major finalists Outsiders and Heroic suffering early exits after going winless. G2, meanwhile, took down Liquid in the tournament’s grand final to hoist the World Final trophy and became the seventh and final Big Event winner of the year.

Natus Vincere and Vitality are the two biggest drop-offs from the previous top-ten, with the CIS team falling to ninth and Dan “⁠apEX⁠” Madesclaire‘s side suffering from ESL Pro League Season 16’s removal from the points tally. G2 gained the most places on the list, jumping up nine spots and into the top three after taking home the BLAST World Final crown.

For new readers or those in need of a refresher, here’s a summary of how the HLTV World Ranking by 1xBet works:

Our team ranking is based on teams’ achievements over the past year (with severe decay in points throughout each month), recent form over the last two months, and performance in recent events in the last 3 months.

Each team is required to have a three-man core in order to retain their points. Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, online results, which previously had a minimal effect, now carry more weight as they are also included in the ‘Achievements’ and ‘Recent Events’ sub-categories.

Below is the current top 30 table as of Monday, January 2 which goes more in-depth into how the points are distributed — or you can check our special page, where you will be able to find the latest, weekly version of our ranking. You can see the lineup for each team by hovering over their name in the table.

Heroic maintain hold of top spot

Heroic begin the year in the same place they’ve been since the final week of November 2022 — at the No. 1 spot. They overtook IEM Rio Major winners Outsiders following their triumphant BLAST Premier Fall Final campaign and have held onto first place for the last five weeks, marking their most successful period in CS:GO to date.

Casper “⁠cadiaN⁠” Møller‘s crew had Martin “⁠stavn⁠” Lund sit out the final event and had a dismal showing at the BLAST World Final with Kristian “⁠k0nfig⁠” Wienecke, which resulted in a swift exit from the tournament in 7-8th place. It was a disappointing end to the year considering their runners-up finish at IEM Rio and their BLAST Fall Final win.

They still hold onto the No. 1 status despite the poor result after those close to them in the world ranking faltered at the million-dollar event. Fellow tournament favorites Outsiders were also sent packing without a single win, while Natus Vincere and FaZe were eliminated in the quarter-finals and semis, respectively.

Heroic enter 2023 as the world’s No. 1 team

Even though the Danes’ final competition of the year didn’t go exactly as planned, their efforts in the prior weeks were enough to keep their status as the world’s highest-ranked team intact. Heroic‘s reign over the rest of the field isn’t just a return to the top for them after over two years, but their recent success at international LANs proved they can shine on the big stage and are more than just the ‘onliners’ they were once branded as during the onslaught of the global pandemic.

G2 clinch third place after World Final victory

For the last five years, G2 had been on a seemingly never-ending search for another Big Event trophy. They’ve come heartbreakingly close on multiple occasions, most recently at the PGL Major Stockholm and IEM Katowice 2022, where they finished runners-up on both occasions.

As 2022 reached its last few weeks, it seemed like another year would come and go for the European mix without a piece of silverware. G2 posted mixed results in the events following Katowice, but none were indicative of a team that truly had what it takes to go all the way against the very best. BLAST World Final was their last chance of the year at finally ending their title drought, and they didn’t let the opportunity go to waste.

Rasmus “⁠HooXi⁠” Nielsen‘s squad stumbled in their opening match and were sent to the lower bracket by FaZe in a 1-2 defeat, but secured a playoff spot after eliminating defending Major champions Outsiders in a sweep. G2 outlasted Vitality in a three-map series before exacting revenge on Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen‘s troops in the semis to book a spot in the grand final. Their opponents were a Liquid side that was rejuvenated after Mareks “⁠YEKINDAR⁠” Gaļinskis‘s addition, just as hungry for a trophy of their own.

G2 stomped Liquid as the attackers on the opening map, Inferno, which led to a comfortable 16-7 win for the Europeans. Mirage was a more competitive affair between both sides, but G2 remained steady in their tracks and wrapped up the map, series, and tournament 2-0 to claim their first piece of silverware since Champions Cup 2019 and the organization’s first Big Event since DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017.

NAVI plummet to ninth, Vitality out of top ten

Natus Vincere joined FaZe as the undisputed powerhouses during the first half of 2022, with the CIS squad picking up 3-4th place at IEM Katowice, second at both PGL Major Antwerp and IEM Cologne, and a win at BLAST Premier Spring Final. Coming out of the summer break, however, Andrey “⁠B1ad3⁠” Gorodenskiy‘s men never quite reached the heights they did early on. Natus Vincere finished top-three at BLAST Premier Fall Groups, but from that point on never returned to the podium at any competition.

They placed 5-8th at ESL Pro League Season 16 and IEM Rio, whilst only finishing 5-6th at both the BLAST Fall Final and World Final tournaments. Natus Vincere has experienced a steady drop which started in early September and now that all points gained from Pro League have expired, they find themselves at ninth overall — their lowest spot since January 27, 2020.

NAVI are at their lowest spot on the ranking in nearly three years

Vitality are another team heavily affected by the removal of EPL Season 16 from the points tally. Up until that point, the Franco-Danish mix struggled to put up a real fight at Big Events, with their best results coming in the form of a top-three placing at BLAST Spring Groups and runners-up at BLAST Spring Final. They brought in Lotan “⁠Spinx⁠” Giladi over the break in place of Kévin “⁠misutaaa⁠” Rabier, and in just the new-look roster’s second event together raised the ESL Pro League trophy.

They briefly held the top spot on the world ranking following their Pro League triumph, though Vitality‘s last two outings of the year wouldn’t bear the same fruit. They were knocked out of the Rio Major in 12-14th place and only bagged 5-6th at BLAST World Final. EPL was the lone shining moment of their year, and its removal from the tally ultimately caused apEX and company to fall out of the top ten.

Honorable mentions:

– Liquid improve to fourth after placing second at World Final
– OG jump six spots to No. 12
– Copenhagen Flames‘ new-look roster make their first top 30 appearance
– Imperial drop out of top 30