Dust2.us Top 10: NRG break through the clouds

The Dust2.us Top 10 rankings of North American-cored teams returns for the month of May. As usual, the likes of SK, Renegades and OpTic aren't included. This month's panel included:

• 2 Dust2.us staff
• 2 Pro coaches
• 1 MDL coach
• 2 Pro players
• 1 Personality

The main events this past month to influence the ranking were IEM Sydney, ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals, StarSeries i-League Season 5, ESEA Season 27 Global Challenge, and DreamHack Austin. There were also some online events, including the end of the ECS Season, the Gfinity Winter Series, and the qualifiers for ESL One Cologne and DreamHack Valencia.

The full Top 10 ranking can be found over on the Top 10 page, here, alongside the rankings for both divisions of the Dust2.us Western Pro League.

It should be noted that Ghost and Torqued have been considered separately for the purposes of this ranking, despite rumors swirling about the rosters effectively merging.

1. Liquid - 988 points (+88) / HLTV #5

Liquid regain the top spot after only dropping down to second for a month. At the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals in Dallas they made their way to the grand final with victories over Space Soldiers, mousesports, and Natus Vincere. Then at StarSeries i-League Season 5 they followed up with another playoff placement, defeating NRG, GODSENT, and AVANGAR in series before losing to NRG in the quarterfinals.

Their only online play in the finale week of the ECS Season 5 North America division resulted in a 3rd place with a 10-8 record. This qualified for them the ECS Season 5 Finals in London beginning this weekend.

Here is Liquid's current roster:

• Nick "nitr0" Cannella
• Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski
• Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken
• Keith "NAF" Markovic
• Epitacio "TACO" de Melo
• Wilton "zews" Prado (Coach)

2. NRG - 888 points (+71) / HLTV #11

NRG have pushed ahead of Cloud9 to gain the second place spot on our ranking after being third for quite a while. They kicked off May at IEM Sydney, where they exited in the group stage, only securing a victory over B.O.O.T-dream[S]cape. They had another group stage exit at the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals only defeating MVP PK. However at StarSeries i-League Season 5, NRG made it all the way to the final, beating VG.Flash, HellRaisers, Renegades, Liquid, and North on the way.

The onliners of NRG actually didn't play any online games in this month, but with the conclusion of the ECS Season, they will attend the Finals with the first seed after a 17-1 record in the initial stage.

Here is NRG's roster:

• Jacob "FugLy" Medina
• Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte
• Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov
• Damian "daps" Steele
• Ethan "nahtE" Arnold
• Chet "ImAPet" Singh (Coach)

3. Cloud9 - 825 points (-158) / HLTV #8

After their results this month, Cloud9 sees themselves drop to third place. They also moved Pujan "FNS" Mehta to the bench presumably due to their lackluster results. At IEM Sydney, they exited in the group stage, only managing to defeat ORDER. At the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals it was another group stage placing, only closely taking down Sharks.

Cloud9 then finished off the ECS season with a 13-5 record to secure 2nd place in the online portion. This qualified them for the Season 5 Finals starting June 8th where they'll join Liquid, NRG, and Luminosity to represent North America.

Here is Cloud9's lineup:

• Timothy "autimatic" Ta
• Tarik "tarik" Celik
• Will "RUSH" Wierzba
• Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham
• Soham "valens" Chowdhury (Coach)
• Pujan "FNS" Mehta (Inactive)

4. Rogue - 506 points (+31) / HLTV #24

Rogue maintains their 4th spot but also gained some points over this past month. Their only LAN, which was also the debut of Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland on the team in place of Anthony "gMd" Guimond, was DreamHack Austin, where they made the final after defeating Fragsters in the semis.

They played the DreamHack Valencia closed qualifier but fell to Luminosity after beating Gorilla Gang. The end of Rogue's run in ECS Season 5 resulted in them keeping their spot for the next season with an 8-10 record.

Here is Rogue's current roster:

• Daniel "vice" Kim
• Spencer "Hiko" Martin
• Casper "cadiaN" Møller
• Hunter "SicK" Mims
• Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland
• Matthew "mCe" Elmore (Coach)

5. compLexity - 383 points (-34) / HLTV #39

Like Rogue, compLexity retained their 5th position, but this time they lost some points over the month. They played the ESL Pro League Season 7 relegation, using Alec "Slemmy" White and Andrew "Professor_Chaos" Heintz as stand-ins and took down Torqued and ex-Splyce to keep their spot in the league. coL also attended DreamHack Austin, where they failed to win a map and exited last place.

Online, they topped the ESL One Cologne open qualifier taking down Dignitas. They made the semis of the DreamHack Valencia closed qualifier defeating ez money crew (seangares, ptr, and friends), but lost to eUnited. Due to the roster troubles, they ended up forfeiting all of their ECS matches and finished in last place.

Here is compLexity's roster:

• Rory "dephh" Jackson
• Bradley "ANDROID-X23" Fodor
• Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker
• Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan
• Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz
• Ronald "Rambo" Kim (Coach)

6. eUnited - 375 points (+83) / HLTV #29

eUnited sees themselves gain quite a few points in May, but not enough to overtake compLexity above them. At the ESEA Season 27 Global Challenge, eUnited won MDL over Swole Patrol and secured themselves a spot in ESL Pro League Season 8. They also placed top four at the Global Challenge itself, losing to Spirit. In DreamHack Austin, they fell in the group stage with a loss to Fragsters.

eUnited topped the ESL One Cologne open qualifier over Mythic, and in the closed qualifier they defeated Luminosity but lost to OpTic. In the DreamHack Valencia closed qualifier, they beat Swole Patrol and compLexity but lost to Luminosity in the final. Their ECS season ended with a 9-9 record, securing themselves a spot in the next season.

Here is eUnited's current lineup:

• Brandon "Ace" Winn
• Kaleb "moose" Jayne
• Will "dazzLe" Loafman
• Skyler "Relyks" Weaver
• Michael "dapr" Gulino
• Jared "osorandom" Hartman (Coach)

7. Ghost - 188 points (-31) / HLTV #91

Ghost have actually played no officials in May, which is a likely reason for their loss of points even if they kept their spot. Their appearance in the news has been a result of their imminent signing of the Torqued core.

This would mean that Ghost will attend ESL One Belo Horizonte later this month. They also have the ZOTAC Cup Master North America closed qualifier to play on the 9th.

Ghost's current roster is:

• Sebastian "seb" Bucki
• Matthew "Wardell" Bowman
• Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik
• Andy "vSa" Xu

8. boxr - 157 points (+84) / HLTV #52

This squad moves back up two spots in the ranking during May, despite playing little. Their only event was the ESL Pro League Season 7 relegation, where they used Rickeh as a stand-in. There they defeated Swole Patrol twice to keep their spot in the league.

Like Ghost, boxr will play in the ZOTAC Cup Master North America closed qualifier. They will also be using Kristjan "FejtZ" Allsaar as a standin for their upcoming matches.

Here is boxr's lineup:

• Taylor "Drone" Johnson
• Kory "SEMPHIS" Friesen
• David "DAVEY" Stafford
• Stephen "reltuC" Cutler
• Zachary "Eley" Stauffer (Coach)

9. Swole Patrol - 81 points (new) / HLTV #68

Swole Patrol make their debut in the Dust2.us Top 10 in an impressive 9th place after their results in May. Their only LAN outing was the ESEA Season 27 Global Challenge. They placed second in MDL, putting them in relegation, where they only beat Torqued and failed to qualify for the ESL Pro League. At the main event, they failed to win any maps and went out last.

Swole advanced past the DreamHack Valencia open qualifier but lost to eUnited in the closed qualifier. They also passed through the first Americas Minor open qualifier, taking down Whatever It Takes and iNTACT. The closed qualifier will be on June 22nd to 24th. In MDL Season 28, they have yet to play any games.

Swole Patrol's current roster is:

• Samuel "SileNt" Portillo
• Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir
• Austin "Cooper-" Abadir
• Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro
• Derrick "LILMAN" Boyne

10. Torqued - 75 points (-123) / HLTV #45

Torqued lost two players during May, which is probably a big factor in their drop, but also some key poor performances hurt the team. They played at the ESEA Season 27 Global Challenge, where in the relegation portion they failed to win a map and moved back down to MDL (granted, a different team has acquired their MDL spot now). At the main tournament, they exited in the group stage, losing to Windigo. At DreamHack Tours, they were unable to win a map and exited in last against AGO.

Online, Torqued played in the ESL One Cologne open qualifier, but failed to advance to the closed. The same goes for the DreamHack Valencia open qualifier.

Here is Torqued's "current" roster:

• Matt "Pollo" Wilson
• Joshua "steel" Nissan
• Kenneth "koosta" Suen
• James "JamezIRL" Macaulay (Coach)

In 11th place, only 6 points behind Torqued was Dignitas, who recently added Peter "ptr" Gurney to their roster.

June's LAN events include the ECS Season 5 Finals, ESL One Belo Horizonte, and DreamHack Summer. For online, ESEA MDL Season 28, the ZOTAC Cup Master North America closed qualifier and regional finals, and the Americas Minor open and closed qualifiers.