Dust2.us Top 10: Cloud9 returns to their American roots, for now

The Dust2.us Top 10 rankings of North American-cored teams returns for the month of December. As usual, the likes of MIBR and Renegades are not included this month. However, due to Cloud9's recent addition of Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro to the squad, they return to our ranking. This month's panel included:

• 2 Dust2.us staff
• 1 personalities/talent
• 1 Pro coach
• 3 MDL players
• 1 Pro player

The main events that played out this month to influence the rankings include: ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, BLAST Pro Series Lisbon, ESEA Season 29 Global Challenge (and associated events), and the N3rd Street Gamers' Eastern Conference Championship. In addition to the LAN events, the IEM Katowice Americas Minor Closed Qualifier, and the StarSeries & i-League Season 7 qualifier all played out online.

1.  Liquid - 1000 points (-) / HLTV #3

Following their long overdue victory at SuperNova CS:GO Malta, Liquid looked to end the year with one more first place finish by attempting to claim the trophy at the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals. In their run to the grand finals, Liquid made it look relatively easy, claiming quick 2-0 victories over top opposition in the form of BIG, Natus Vincere, and MIBR. Nevertheless, in a now well-established narrative, Liquid's near-perfect run was once again shattered by the titanic power of Astralis. In a year which saw five title runs cut short by Astralis, many began to wonder if this Liquid lineup was ever going to be able to put a dent into the Astralis era.

Unexpectedly, this question quickly became a hypothetical situation as in the closing moment of 2018, Liquid's roster began to undertake a massive change. It started with a rumor that Epitacio "TACO" de Melo and Wilton "zews" Prado expressed a desire to reunite with their Brazilian colleagues on MIBR. These rumors quickly materialized into roster moves as MIBR acquired TACO and zews, with Liquid receiving Jake "Stewie2K" Yip in exchange. Shortly afterwards, Liquid brought back former player Eric "adreN" Hoag as their new coach.

These combined moves have brought a degree of skepticism as this move deprived Liquid of their long-time coach, and TACO who is considered an integral support player that filled a needed gap in the star-studded Liquid roster. As Liquid prepare for iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 and the upcoming IEM Katowice Major, they will look to prove that the formation of a deadly trio of players, along with the return of a familiar face will allow them to maintain their consistent level seen throughout 2018.

Liquid's current roster is:

• Nick "nitr0" Cannela
• Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski
• Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken
• Keith "NAF" Markovic
• Jake "Stewie2K" Yip
• Eric "adreN" Hoag (Coach)

2.  NRG - 888 points (-4) / HLTV #8

The month of December started off poorly for NRG as an early exit from the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals at the hands of MIBR and Ghost left NRG looking deflated when compared to their earlier second place finish at SuperNova Malta 2018. NRG were quick to turn around as they qualified to the IEM Katowice Americas Minor in decisive fashion, crushing iNTACT and Singularity. As the team have no events or matches scheduled in the leadup to the Minor, NRG will look to maintain form as not to repeat their disappointing exit from the FACEIT London Major Americas Minor last year. 

Little has changed for NRG's roster as it maintains a position of being one of the most stable cores in North America, but NRG did make one small change this month. The organization brought on Jan "Swani" Müller, an analyst who has experience working with two of NRG's rivals: Liquid and MIBR. Swani is expected to work with Chet "ImAPet" Singh as they look to increase the team’s tactical diversity.

NRG's current roster is:

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

3.  Cloud9 - 534 points (new) / HLTV #14

For Cloud9, the year has ended, and a new chapter has potentially started for the struggling organization. In terms of events this month, Cloud9 only attended one event, BLAST Pro Series Lisbon, which saw them forced to use yet another stand-in in place of Maikil "Golden" Selim. Surprisingly, while using ex-Fragsters member Ismail "refrezh" Ali, Cloud9 were able to scoop up the necessary best-of-one victories in order to claim a third place finish.

As Golden's illness has continued to incapacitate him and create problems for the organization as the IEM Katowice Major looms large, Zellsis, long-time member of Swole Patrol, has been thrust into the spotlight as a potential stopgap solution. The newly re-minted American team will have a lot to prove as they rebuild from a tumultuous 2018.

Cloud9's roster is for now:

• Timothy "autimatic" Ta
• Will "RUSH" Wierzba
• Robin "flusha" Rönnquist
• Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey
• Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro (Trial)
• Soham "valens" Chowdhury (Coach)
• Maikil "Golden" Selim (Inactive)

4.  Ghost - 516 points (-47) / HLTV #21

Ghost kicked off December with a strong performance at the ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals. Despite losing hard to mousesports in their opening match, the North American side went on to defeat ORDER, NRG, and take Natus Vincere to three close maps. Even though they took down NRG directly during the month, the Minor qualifier combined with previous results was enough to keep Ghost below Damian "daps" Steele's squad and Cloud9.

Due to the unfortunate circumstances of Joshua "steel" Nissan's Valve ban, Ghost obviously could not field him during the Minor qualifier, and instead used coach James "JamezIRL" Macaulay. They managed to defeat the Brazilian team oNe, but proceeded to fall to eUnited and Test Takers to be eliminated in 9th-12th. This will be the second Major cycle in a row now where Ghost has failed to qualify for the Minor after using a stand-in for their in-game leader.

Shortly after this, it was reported that Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik would be stepping down with Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir being the likely replacement. While the move has not officially come to fruition yet, there continue to be hints and questions about freakazoid's joining.

Here is Ghost's current roster:

• Matthew "WARDELL" Yu
• Yassine "Subroza" Taoufik
• Joshua "steel" Nissan
• Kenneth "koosta" Suen
• Jason "neptune" Tran
• James "JamezIRL" Macaulay (Coach)

5.  compLexity - 467 points (-39) / HLTV #30

compLexity slip down one spot from the previous edition of our ranking with the return of Cloud9, although their results also left a lot to be desired. The Major legends were unable to qualify for either ECS Season 6 or ESL Pro League Season 8 Finals, leaving their end to the year rather uneventful. 

After failing to impress at both DreamHack Open Winter and DreamHack Open Atlanta in November, compLexity attempted to earn a spot at StarSeries i-League Season 7 after receiving a direct invite to the playoffs stage of the qualifier. After only narrowly edging out a win over oNe in their quarterfinal matchup, compLexity found themselves eliminated by Envy 2-1 in the semifinals despite managing a comeback in the first map and holding a 12-5 lead in the second.

Not long after their elimination, compLexity made changes to their roster with the benching of Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker and announcing that they would not be renewing the contract of coach Ron "Rambo" Kim. Just two days later, Bradley "ANDROID" Fodor was also moved to the bench, leaving compLexity with just three players — a majority that they would have to hold on to for their Major slot. 

It was finally revealed, in two separate announcements just two days before the IEM Katowice roster lock, that the team would be fielding Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert and Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland at the Major, with n0thing being brought on board "for a limited time only" according to the organization's tweets. 

As such, compLexity's roster for the IEM Katowice Major and iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 is:

• Rory "dephh" Jackson
• Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz
• Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan
• Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland
• Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert (Stand-in)
• Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker (Inactive)
• Bradley "ANDROID" Fodor (Inactive)

6.  eUnited - 332 points (+43) / HLTV #32

In December, eUnited had mixed success, easily qualifying to the Americas Minor after beating out a steel-less Ghost. However, eUnited were unable to maintain their good form as they ended the year with an early exit from the StarSeries qualifier, losing out to eventual champions Rogue. 

Over the last month, eUnited's event placing became of secondary interest among a major scandal and general roster upheaval. First, on December 23rd, eUnited released long-time coach, Jared "osorandom" Hartman following a series of inappropriate pictures he sent to a female graphics designer.

Then, after previously being benched in favor of Skyler "Relyks" Weaver, it now appears that Will "DazzLe" Loafman is set to return to the roster. With these large changes happens in close proximity to the Americas Minor, eUnited will have to find their footing and prove that the core is able to overcome the various roster changes that have greatly shifted the roles within the team.

As such, eUnited's roster for the IEM Katowice Americas Minor is:

• Kaleb "moose" Jayne
• Will "dazzLe" Loafman
• Michael "dapr" Gulino
• Pujan "FNS" Mehta
• Austin "Cooper-" Abadir
• Dan "clerkie" Clerke (Stand-in Coach)

7.  Rogue - 291 points (-109) / HLTV #37

For Rogue, like many teams in the rankings, the last month has seen a mix and successes and failures that will shape their direction for 2019. The month started off on a positive note for Rogue as the team were able to defend their EPL spot even after being required to use Michael "Uber" Stapells in place of Rickeh. After this successful defense, Rogue surprisingly continued to use a stand-in even after Rickeh was successfully able to return to America. The team brought in Jesper "TENZKI" Plougmann who joined up fellow Dane Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen.

During this strange trial/stand-in situation, Rogue were unable to successfully qualify to the IEM Katowice Minor, losing out early in the Closed Qualifier to oNe. However, things began to look up for the team as they qualified to StarSeries Season 7 after beating out Envy in clean fashion.

The largest shock of the month for Rogue came in the closing moments of 2018 as the team lost Rickeh to compLexity. With the move initially being reported by Dust2.us, compLexity eventually confirmed the addition of the Australian, thus seeing Rogue's star AWPer depart the team. This move has created a large hole in Rogue's lineup which was the main factor contributing to Rogue's slip from 6th place. As they prepare for 2019, Rogue have nearly two months before their next event, which should give the team ample time to consider their next move, whether it be TENZKI or a domestic option. 

Rogue's roster is:

• Daniel "vice" Kim
• Spencer "Hiko" Martin
• Hunter "SicK" Mims
• Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen

8. Envy - 164 points (+2) / HLTV #42

Although it was a relatively quiet month for the North American Envy squad, two pivotal and according to some, unexpected events happened this month. First, Envy were able to survive relegation after defeating Singularity in a back-and-forth 2-1 series. Then, to the surprise of many, Envy overcame Rogue to qualify to the IEM Katowice Minor after winning another 2-1 series.

After a November which saw the Envy squad fail to impress at DreamHack Atlanta these appeared to be positive steps for the organization which has largely floundered since moving to America in September last year. These combined victories are what factored into Envy retaining its 8th place spot along with posting a very modest gain of two points in our rating system.

Moving through January, Envy are looking to make a solid impression at the IEM Katowice Americas Minor, and with significant help. In a move that surprised many, former FaZe in-game leader Finn "karrigan" Andersen has been acquired on loan by the Envy organization in order to give the team a massive boost as they prepare for the Minor. Whether the replacement of stand-in Matt "Pollo" Wilson will give the team the boost they need in order to qualify to the Major is yet to be seen, but regardless of the outcome this move suggests that Envy is serious about investing into the future of their challenged CS:GO  team.

Envy's roster for the moment is:

• Taylor "Drone" Johnson
• Stephen "reltuC" Cutler
• Noah "Nifty" Francis
• Josh "jdm64" Marzano
• Finn "karrigan" Andersen (Loan)
• Zachary "Eley" Stauffer (Coach)

9.  Swole Patrol - 117 points (-71) / HLTV #52

The end of 2018 saw a massive success for Swole Patrol, along with some disappointing failures. In terms of events this month, Swole Patrol were able to finally qualify for Pro League, beating out cantwinalan in a crushing 2-0 series. However, this month also ended on a sour note for the Swole Patrol squad as they were knocked out early in the Global Challenge by Virtus.pro, and they failed to qualify for the IEM Katowice Americas Minor due to a 0-2 loss to oNe. 

The big story for Swole Patrol this month did not focus on their qualification to the EPL, and instead focused on the near-total transformation the squad has undertaken. First, Swole Patrol decided not to continue with Brandon "Ace" Winn even after he helped the squad make EPL. Then, the shocks continued as Swole Patrol lost one of their founding members, Zellsis to Cloud9. Along with these tremors, freakazoid continues to be linked with a potential move to Ghost, which has the potential of depriving Swole Patrol of its last original member.

The squad continues to transform after these losses, acquiring Singularity players Anthony "vanity" Malaspina and Victor "food" Wong. As it stands right now, Swole Patrol have no events lined up until the start of the EPL season in April, and they will be likely looking for a fifth member to replenish their roster, along with an organization that can help solidify their position as an up-and-coming North American CS:GO team.

Swole Patrol's roster is for now as follows:

• Braxton "swag" Pierce
• Omar "MarKE" Jimenez
• Anthony "vanity" Malaspina
• Victor "food" Wong

10.  Singularity - 44 points (-64) / HLTV #41

December started off very strong for Singularity, with the team qualifying to the Global Challenge after a 3rd place finish in the MDL. At the Global Challenge itself, Singularity were able to punch far above their weight, taking three maps off Virtus.pro, and only falling to eventual champions 3DMAX. However, later in the month, Singularity failed to make it into ESL Pro League or the Americas Minor after falling to Rogue and Bravado in two decisive series. 

Things appeared to look up for Singularity as they were able to mount a 3rd-4th place finish at N3rd Street Gamers' Eastern Conference Championship, losing out to eventual runner-up FURIA; however, this event would mark the beginning of the end for the current Singularity squad.

As food elaborated in an interview at the Eastern Conference Championship, the team felt "pretty defeated" after failing to make Pro League, and it was this disappoint that likely played into food and vanity's decision to leave for the Pro League-bound Swole Patrol. With the loss of two key players, Singularity tumbled 64 points in our standings and will be looking to rebuild for 2019. 

Singularity's current roster is:

• Cameron "hydrex" Kern
•  Josh "oSee" Ohm
•  Ryan "ryann" Welsh
•  Jared "MAC-1" Schneider (Coach)

Rounding out the rankings, though out of the top ten spots, are Vireo.pro and Spacestation, with the former being the topic of much recent discussion.

After a relatively busy December, January is shaking up to be far less eventful with the first half of the month seeing no matches played. However, with Season 30 of the MDL slated to start on January 14th along with the upcoming iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 and the IEM Katowice Americas Minor, the second half of January is sure to thrill as Liquid, Envy, eUnited, Cloud9, and compLexity will look to impress as they debut their new rosters.