Dust2.us Top 10: Cloud9 and Liquid still hold top spots in North America

Another month passes and we head into a new year evaluating last months performances from all of the top North American CS:GO teams. To reiterate from last months post, you won't find the likes of SK, Renegades, or Luminosity in these rankings as they are not majority North American teams, despite competing in the region.

This months ranking panel is comprised of:

• 2 Dust2.us Staff members
• 3 EPL players
• 2 EPL coaches
• 1 MDL coach
• 3 personalities/talent

The full points breakdown can be found on our Top 10 page, and you can always see the most up-to-date ranking at this link.

1.  Cloud9 - 1000 points (No change) / HLTV #5 

Cloud9 maintains their lead position on our monthly North American rankings. After a convincing victory over ex-CLG to win the CyberPowerPC EGS 2017 Winter Invitational and a 5-6th finish at ECS Finals, they solidified their #1 ranking again. 

The team looks to prepare for the upcoming ELEAGUE Major Qualifier being held in Atlanta January 12-15 as they hope to make it to the main event.

Cloud9's roster consists of:

• Tyler "Skadoodle" Latham
•  Jake "Stewie2K" Yip
•  Timothy "autimatic" Ta
•  Tarik "tarik" Celik
•  Will "RUSH" Wierzba
•  Soham "valens" Chowdhury (Coach)

2.  Liquid - 900 points (No change) / HLTV #16

Coming in at #2 on the Dust2.us ranking is once again Liquid as they hold steady through the years end. Despite their high North American ranking, Liquid finished December in a downward trend as they tied for last place at both ECS Finals and ESL Pro League Finals.

Liquid will now be preparing for the Major Qualifier in Atlanta as they look to recoup themselves after a long holiday period and re-establish themselves as a formidable contender for international titles. However, being forced to field coach Wilton "zews" Prado at the event does not bode well for their chances.

Liquid's roster consists of:

•  Nick "nitr0" Cannella
•  Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski
•  Josh "jdm64" Marzano
•  Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken
•  Lucas "steel" Lopes
•  Wilton "zews" Prado (Coach)

3.  Misfits - 696 points (+6) / HLTV #13

Misfits is another team that has maintained their position on the North American leader boards as they continue to slowly trend upwards in performance. After several surprising upsets during the ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals, including wins over North and NiP, they claimed a respectable 4-5th place at the event and took home $60,000.

After a solid finish to the year, Misfits will also be competing in the upcoming Major Qualifier in Atlanta.

Misfits' roster currently consists of:

•  Sean "seang@res" Gares
•  Hunter "SicK" Mims
•  Shahzeb "ShahZaM" Khan
•  François "AmaNEk" Delaunay
•  David "devoduvek" Dobrosavljevic

4.  NRG - 606 points (-31.5) / HLTV #20

NRG has maintained consistency in the latter half of the year as they again take 4th place in our December ranking. This is attributed by notable performances during ESL Pro League Finals with a close victory over NiP and a decisive win over North that netted them a 7-8th finish in a heavily stacked international LAN.

NRG's roster currently consists of:

•  Jacob "FugLy" Medina
•  Vincent "Brehze" Cayonte
•  Damian "daps" Steele
•  Allan "AnJ" Jensen
•  Cvetelin "CeRq" Dimitrov

5.  compLexity - 355 points (+17.5) / HLTV #35

compLexity recieved a bump up in our December rankings after a stagnant holiday period in which they didn't participate in any events or online matches. Due to roster shifts within Unemployed for Christmas (ex-CLG) and instability with their current line-up, the panel adjusted the ranks accordingly.

As compLexity continues forward, they prepare for the upcoming season of ESL Pro League, and will once again try to regain a spot in the Esports Championship Series.

compLexity's roster consists of:

•  Rory "dephh" Jackson
•  Bradley "ANDROID-X23" Fodor
•  Alec "Slemmy" White
•  Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker
•  Peter "ptr" Gurney 
•  Matt "Warden" Dickens (Coach)

6. Unemployed for Christmas - 336 points (-219) / HLTV #43

The core of Unemployed for Christmas performed well during the CyberPower PC EGS Winter Invitational in the early part of December. After toppling GX and tearing through Splyce with ringers Zack "XotiC" Arnold and Ronnie "ryx" Bylicki they found themselves in the finals against a complete Cloud9 where they fell short. Unfortunately, despite their commendable performance, the uncertainty regarding the teams future and whether or not the core will stick together has knocked them down in ranking.

Unemployed for Christmas now looks to round out their roster before the upcoming Season 7 of ESL Pro League which begins February 13th.

Unemployed for Christmas's roster currently consists of:

•  Kenneth "koosta" Suen
•  Ethan "nahtE" Arnold
•  Steve "Ryu" Rattacasa (Coach)

7.  Splyce - 293 (+36.7) / HLTV #40

Splyce struggled towards the end of the year as they were knocked out of the CyberPowerPC EGS Winter Invitational in the semifinals by Unemployed for Christmas shortly after sweeping Gale Force in the previous stage of the bracket. It's worth noting that Splyce was the only North American team in attendance at the ROG Masters in Kuala Lumpur where they tied for last place after falling to TyLoo.

The team's performance in both events have helped them maintain their spot at #7 on our rankings and they can be seen next competing in ESL Pro League in February.

Splyce's roster consists of:

•  Kory "SEMPHIS" Friesen
•  Daniel "roca" Gustaferri
•  David "DAVEY" Stafford
•  Taylor "Drone" Johnson
•  Mitch "m1tch" Semago
•  Zachary "Eley" Stauffer (Coach)

8.  Rise Nation - 214 points (+43.2) / HLTV #33

Rise had one of the more eventful ends to the year, putting up spectacular results that helped them maintain their spot as #8 in the region. After earning themselves a spot at Dreamhack Open Winter they stood among giants as they entered their first major international competition. While they tied for last place with North Academy, the experience from competing among tier 1 teams is an invaluable asset they will bring with them in 2018.

Shortly after Dreamhack, Rise went on to win CEVO Main as well as take first in the inaugural Dust2.us Masters. The team will be attending the ESEA MDL Season 26 Global Challenge in New York on January 5th, where in addition to the main event, they will play fellow youngbloods SoaR for a coveted spot in the next season of ESL Pro League.

Rise Nation's roster consists of:

•  Andy "vSa" Xu
•  Will "dazzLe" Loafman
•  Jonathan "Jonji" Carey
•  Kaleb "moose" Jayne
•  Brandon "Ace" Winn
•  Jared "osorandom" Hartman (Coach)

9.  Rogue - 112 points (+24.5) / HLTV #79

Rogue wrapped up their 2017 by competing in our Dust2.us Masters event in mid-December where they went 2-1 in the single-elimination bracket. They took home a 3-4th placing after they fell to Rise 2-0 in the semifinals, which helped net them the points to boost them in this months rankings.

The team is still in need of finding a 5th player to round out their roster as they head into this new year, but they will be using Michael "Uber" Stapells as a stand-in for the upcoming ESL Pro League Relegation matches beginning January 7th.

Rogue's roster consists of:

•  Josh "shinobi" Abastado
•  Daniel "vice" Kim
•  Spencer "Hiko" Martin
•  Casper "cadiaN" Møller
•  Garett "Grt" Bambrough (Coach)

10. SoaR - 101 points (New) / HLTV #52

SoaR continued to make waves as they kept a very busy schedule throughout December. The team advanced to the semifinals of the CyberPowerPC EGS Winter Invitational before being knocked out by Cloud9, placing 3-4th alongside Splyce. A few days later they went on to narrowly fall to Gale Force in the lower bracket of CEVO Main, which resulted in a third place finish for the season. They closed out the year by placing second in the Dust2.us Masters where they fell to fellow MDL rivals, Rise.

A strong statement was made by SoaR with their performances that closed out 2017 and the roster is expected to perform well at the ESEA MDL Global Challenge..

SoaR's roster consists of:

• Matthew "mCe" Elmore
• Jack "xCeeD" Holiman
• Logan "Voltage" Long
• Ryan "Snakes" Amann
• Michael "Grim" Wince

Falling out of the top 10 were Ghost, another Pro League side who has been plagued by roster uncertainty. No other team garnered over 100 ranking points from our panel, but the MDL quintet of GX, Ghost Academy, Mythic, ex-Naventic, and F1-racecar-PEEK all received points. Both GX and Ghost Academy will be in attendance at the ESEA MDL Global Challenge this week.

The events that will impact January's rankings will be the ESEA MDL North American Finals, ESEA MDL Global Challenge, Legend Series North American Finals, ESL Pro League Relegation, IEM Katowice Open /Closed Qualifiers, and ESEA MDL Season 27 matches.