Dust2.us Top 10: Liquid, NRG remain far above opposition

The third month of 2019 has concluded, and thus a new North American top ten is due. As usual, this ranking covers majority North American teams only, meaning MIBR, Renegades, and others are not included. The panel for this month was composed of:

• 2 Dust2.us staff
• 1 personalities/talent
• 4 MDL players

March saw BLAST Pro Series Sao Paulo, StarSeries i-League Season 7, and the WESG 2018 World Finals all take place offline. Additionally, the DreamHack Open Rio Open and Closed Qualifiers, ECS Season 7 Pinnacle Cup, ECS Season 7 Week 1, ECS Season 7 Week 2, the DreamHack Master Dallas Open and Closed Qualifiers, the Mythic Cup, and the ESEA MDL Season 30 playoffs  played out online.

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

Liquid continue to maintain their spot at the top of our standings, although they only played two events in the past month. A disappointing debut at ECS Season 7 Week 1 saw the team fall 1-2 to the now-defunct Rogue lineup in their opening matchup, leaving Liquid to await further weeks if they hope to secure qualification.

North America's finest also took their talent to São Paulo for BLAST Pro Series, managing wins over NiP, FaZe, and MIBR while falling to Astralis and securing a tie against ENCE to earn a spot in the grand finals. A 16-13 win on Dust2 granted Liquid a single map against the Danish CS:GO overlords before they were swept aside 16-8 on Inferno and 16-2 on Overpass, with Astralis continuing their incredible form to grab another title for themselves. 

Liquid will look to continue putting up solid results as they make their way to Miami this week for another BLAST Pro Series event, following up the two-day tournament in the inaugural offline season of ESL Pro League later in the week.

Liquid's current roster is:

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

2. NRG - 900 (-) / HLTV #10

NRG had a more packed schedule in March when compared to Liquid, competing in two weeks of ECS Season 7 as they looked to secure a spot at the LAN finals. Their attempt in the first week of play was cut short by compLexity in the semifinals, but wins over Spacestation, INTZ, and FURIA in week two ensured NRG a spot at the LAN as they prepared to make their way to Shanghai for StarSeries i-League Season 7.

In China, NRG secured a spot in the playoffs by working their way past North, MIBR, and BIG, although they did fall to the eventual grand finalists fnatic and Natus Vincere in the group stage for an overall 3-2 record. Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte helped to power NRG to a 2-0 win over Vitality in the quarterfinals, but a set of heartbreaking 17-19 losses to fnatic in the semifinals saw NRG eliminated from the running in 3-4th place.

NRG's current roster is:

• Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte
• Tsvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov
• Damian "daps" Steele
• Ethan "Ethan" Arnold
• Tarik "tarik" Celik
• Chet "ImAPet" Singh (Coach)

3. compLexity - 450 points (+21) / HLTV #23

Having been unable to secure an invite or a spot at any LAN event in March, compLexity were left to compete in the first two weeks of ECS Season 7 and the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier from home. Despite their victories over eUnited and NRG in the first week of ECS, compLexity fell to Rogue in the grand finals to narrowly miss out on a LAN spot.

compLexity's Week 2 run was halted in the second round as, after picking up a 2-0 win over Bad News Bears, they fell to FURIA 1-2 in the semifinals. FURIA continued to give compLexity trouble in the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier, sending the team to the lower bracket with a 2-0 victory in the upper bracket semifinals. The loss was compounded when they fell to Envy, eliminating them from the running.

Shortly before their loss to Envy, the team announced the addition of Hunter "SicK" Mims following the release of the Rogue roster. With SicK coming in to replace Jordan "n0thing" Gilbert, compLexity received some welcome news as they also secured a spot at the ECS Season 7 Finals by inheriting the spot previous earned by Rogue in Week 1.

compLexity's current lineup is:

• Rory "dephh" Jackson
• Peter "stanislaw" Jarguz
• Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan
• Ricardo "Rickeh" Mulholland
• Hunter "SicK" Mims

4. Cloud9 - 439 points (-118) / HLTV #142

Cloud9 had an uneventful month as roster woes continued to plague the team, leading to them dropping out of ECS Season 7 Week 2. Following the release of the Rogue roster, the organization announced the addition of Daniel "vice" Kim on trial, and most recently acquired the services of René "cajunb" Borg from OpTic to take the place of Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey, who was released from his contract.

The team are slated to debut with their new roster on April 12th as they take on Astralis at BLAST Pro Series in Miami, with their first match set to kick off at 5 PM EDT.

Cloud9's current lineup is:

• Timothy "autimatic" Ta
• William "RUSH" Wierzba
• Maikil "Golden" Selim
• René "cajunb" Borg
•  Daniel "vice" Kim (Trial)
• Ron "Rambo" Kim (Coach)

5. eUnited - 429 points (+97) / HLTV #50

The first showing of the new-look eUnited roster was at the start of the month in the DreamHack Open Rio Closed Qualifier, with the team managing best-of-three wins over LiviD, Swole Patrol, and INTZ to top the qualifier and secure a spot at the $100,000 event, set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from April 19th-21st.

The team were initially unable to maintain momentum as they fell to compLexity and INTZ in the first and second weeks of ECS Season 7, respectively. As the fourth and final slot at the LAN is determined by total prize winnings, the last place finishes leave the team in a tight spot if they hope to redeem themselves in the final two weeks.

eUnited attempted to redeem themselves in the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier as they initially secured wins over Envy and Denial, but a 0-2 loss to FURIA in the upper bracket finals sent the team down to play against Denial. A repeat 2-0 win allowed for eUnited to progress past the South African squad, but once again they found themselves unable to work their way past FURIA as the Brazilians dominated for a 3-0 series victory.

eUnited's current lineup is:

• Kaleb "moose" Jayne
• Austin "Cooper-" Abadir
• Edgar "MarKE" Maldonado
• Anthony "vanity" Malaspina
• Victor "food" Wong
• Armeen "a2z" Toussi (Coach)

6. Ghost - 339 points (-36) / HLTV #17

Following their decision to keep Joshua "steel" Nissan on the active roster, Ghost decided to withdraw from the ECS Season 7 Pinnacle Cup. This left the roster with little to do in March, with their sole appearance being in the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier.

The team continued their downward trend as immediate losses to Denial and Envy saw Ghost sent packing early on, leaving them to await the start of their group for ESL Pro League. Ghost will make their LAN appearance for the league as a part of Group B, with their first match seeing them take on compLexity at midnight EDT on April 16th. Also in their group are Liquid and Lazarus, resulting in steel going up against former Torqued compatriot Braxton "swag" Pierce in Ghost's second matchup.

Ghost's current lineup is:

• Matthew "WARDELL" Yu
• Joshua "steel" Nissan
• Kenneth "koosta" Suen
• Jason "neptune" Tran
• Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir
• James "JamezIRL" Macaulay (Coach)

7. Envy - 250 points (+54) / HLTV #47

Envy made a massive change to their roster at the start of the month, dispensing of  the services of Taylor "Drone" Johnson and Stephen "reltuC" Cutler. To replace them, the team enlisted former NRG member Jacob "FugLy" Medina, compLexity streamer Sam "s0m" Oh, and former compLexity member Bradley "ANDROID" Fodor in an effort to revamp their roster.

The team debuted in the DreamHack Masters Dallas Open Qualifier, where wins over Thunder Logic and Party Astronauts allowed for them to advance to the Closed Qualifier. An initial loss to eUnited saw the team attempt to work their way through the lower bracket, managing wins over Ghost and compLexity before falling 1-2 to Denial in the lower bracket final to be eliminated from the running.

Envy are slated to compete in Group C of ESL Pro League Season 9 alongside Cloud9 and MIBR, with a fourth team yet to be determined following the disbanding of the Rogue roster. Their group is set to kick off on April 19th as they take on Cloud9 in their opening matchup at midnight EDT.

Envy's current lineup is:

• Noah "Nifty" Francis
• Josh "jdm64" Marzano
•  Jacob "FugLy" Medina
•  Sam "s0m" Oh
•  Bradley "ANDROID" Fodor
• Zachary "Eley" Stauffer (Coach)

8. Lazarus - 134 points (+98) / HLTV #94

Swole Patrol spent much of March finalizing their roster. As a result, the team only competed in two online qualifiers, falling short at the start of the month in the DreamHack Open Rio qualifier to eUnited and narrowly missing out on a spot in the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier with a 14-16 loss to Luminosity in the quarterfinals of the open qualifier. 

The qualifiers gave the team a chance to test out new players, with the roster eventually being completed with the additions of Yassine "Subroza" Tauofik, Gage "Infinite" Green, and Michael "dapr" Gulino. The team were signed by Lazarus at the start of April, just ahead of the start of ESL Pro League Season 9.

Lazarus' current lineup is:

• Braxton "swag" Pierce
• Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro
• Michael "dapr" Gulino
• Gage "Infinite" Green
•  Yassine "Subroza" Tauofik
• Danny "fRoD" Montaner (Coach)

9. Singularity - 121 points (+42) / HLTV #40

Singularity began March in good form, finishing their MDL season with wins over oNe and Party Astronauts. A forfeit victory over Luminosity and narrow 15-19 overtime loss to FURIA rounded out their results, with the team also managing to secure the first seed in the ECS Season 7 Pinnacle Cup with a 3-0 record.

The team then made their way to Chongqing, China for the WESG 2018 Grand Finals, where their sole win came in the form of a dominant 2-0 victory over the Vietnamese side of Revolution. Singularity were unable to pick up a map against G2 in their group stage match, going on to be eliminated 0-2 by Valiance in the Round of 16.

Singularity's return to North America saw them fare little better as, although they earned a spot in the DreamHack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier, where they were swiftly eliminated with losses to compLexity and Luminosity. Singularity's run in MDL Season 30 playoffs was also cut short as, after picking up a win over iNTACT in the quarterfinals, they were dispatched 0-2 by FURIA, who then went on to win the season.

With a number of losses under their belt, the team made a change as the month drew to a close, opting to dispense of Ian "motm" Hardy. Former iNTACT in-game leader Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman was brought on board for the Mythic Cup, with the team easing past LiviD, Party Astronauts, and Chris and the boys to win the online event. 

Singularity's current lineup is:

• Josh "oSee" Ohm
• Cameron "hydrex" Kern
• Ryan "ryann" Welsh
• Ricky "floppy" Kemery
•  Alan "Shakezullah" Hardeman
• Jared "MAC-1" Schneider (Coach)

10. Bad News Bears - 50 points (NEW) / HLTV #52

Bad News Bears had a solid run in March as they finished the regular season of MDL in second place with an overall 12-5 record, going on to dominate Mythic in their quarterfinal matchup before handily defeating Luminosity 2-1 in the semifinals. Despite their results, FURIA was too big of a challenge in the grand finals, with the Bears falling 0-2 to the Brazilian super-squad for a second place finish in the season.

The team also managed to secure themselves the fifth seed in the ECS Season 7 Pinnacle Cup, playing one of the longest online North American matches in recent memory during the tournament as they picked up a 34-32 win over Infamous during the Swiss stage. compLexity were quick to cut them down in the first week of ECS Season 7, with Bad News Bears falling 0-2 in the quarterfinals as they now await the start of week 3, where they will get another chance at a spot in the LAN finals.

Bad News Bears' current lineup is:

• Tyson "TenZ" Ngo
• Peter "ptr" Gurney
• Josh "shinobi" Abastado
• Mitch "mitch" Semago
•  Jeff "RZU" Ngo

April's ranking will include ESL Pro League Season 9, BLAST Pro Series Miami, DreamHack Open Rio, Copenhagen Games, IEM Sydney, ECS Season 7 Week 3, ESEA MDL Season 30 Relegation, and the start of ESEA MDL Season 31.