NRG take a dive in Dust2.us’ March 2024 Power Rankings

With the PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR starting right as this piece goes out, Dust2.us back with our powering ranking for the month of February. While this month only saw modest changes, primarily in the bottom five, compared to January's power ranking, we have seen subtle but potentially significant changes as the NA scene of 2024 has begun to take shape. As always, we assembled a panel of players, coaches, analysts, journalists, and talent to give their opinion on the state of the scene, with 19 responding to our call to arms. Let's see what they think below.

Here's a reminder on how our power ranking functions:

Our team rankings are determined based on a series of measurements where each team is allocated points, which are dependent on where they rank compared to their peers. This measurement is determined by the opinion of our panel, teams' relative HLTV ranking compared to other NA teams, and teams' tier of play. A team garners a higher tier depending on how frequently they compete internationally and in what division they play in during domestic competitions (ECL, Advanced, etc.). For the sake of our power ranking, we consider a team to be NA if they either have 3+ NA players and/or they spend a significant amount of their time competing in North America.

#1 Complexity (JT, floppy, Grim, hallzerk, EliGE | Coach: T.c, JamezIRL) (—) 940 pts

Complexity had a fairly sleepy month, only playing three series at IEM Katowice 2024. While the loss to eventual champions Spirit is understandable, I'm sure the loss to the new Falcons lineup was none too inspiring to many an NA fan. However, for the moment, Complexity have retained their undisputed first-place position, likely due to Liquid having a mixed month. Looking at the numbers though, should Liquid get their act together and Complexity continue to perform modestly, they very well may be dethroned in the near future.

February Events: IEM Katowice 2024

#2 Liquid (NAF, YEKINDAR, skullz, cadiaN, Twistzz | Coach: zews) (—) 858 pts

Speaking of Liquid, here they are keeping a pretty safe holding position as NA's second-best team. With Liquid, there is not a ton to say that we haven't already said, especially as Liquid won every single series this month outside of a loss to Nouns they quickly avenged. The upcoming RMR will be interesting as they will finally be back on LAN, where the squad's work can be expressed.

February Events: None

#3 M80 (Swisher, reck, malbsMd, slaxz-, dephh) (—) 573 pts

To be completely transparent, I'm not quite sure why the panel managed to help M80 cobble together enough points to stay in third place. Perhaps they don't consider it fair to judge the roster with Rory "dephh" Jackson, which is possible. If that's the case, they may need a chance of perspective because if this is to be the state of affairs for some time, M80 just does not look great with dephh. The IEM Katowice 2024 Play-in was basically a wash, and it's highly unlikely they do anything at the RMR. Still, a panel can reminisce and dream about Marcus "maNkz" Kjeldsen's eventual return, I suppose.

February Events: IEM Katowice 2024 Play-in

#4 Nouns (nosraC, cJ, MarKE, junior, Jeorge | Coach: SEMPHIS, adreN) (+1) 551 pts

This month, Nouns and Wildcard changed places with Nouns finishing not insignificantly ahead of Wildcard. Even though the squad lost to Wildcard in an online BO3 this month, there is some excitement this squad is finally hitting their stride as they managed to best Liquid this month... before being smashed by Liquid the next day. However, a win is a win is a win, and it never hurts. Additionally, the addition of Eric "adreN" Hoag may have also had a minor effect as adreN is a well-respected coach, and adding another brain to a squad never hurts.

February Events: None

#5 Wildcard (stanislaw, Infinite, JBa, SLIGHT, Sonic | Coach: horvy, Warden) (-1) 426 pts

Wildcard were busy bees this month, playing a ton of open qualifiers, doing quite well on average in them. Despite that, their ranking actually fell, which likely has more to do with Nouns than it does Wildcard. The main thing is the losses to arch-nemesis BOSS and to Liquid definitely didn't help their scorecard, though the Americas RMR may see these two squads continue their dance next month.

February Events: None

#6 Elevate (snav, dare, shane, Peeping, dea) (+2) 317 pts

timbermen, now Elevate, have continued their steady climb through the rankings with a number of quality scalps in 2024 already. The big news for them this month is their impressive run through the Ace North American Masters Spring 2024, which saw timbermen best BOSS, Nouns, and Wildcard to earn a spot in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups. Unfortunately, their next two events will see them play with stand-ins, so March likely won't do much for their ranking, but they are still a team to watch out for in the future.

February Events: None

#7 Party Astronauts (ben1337, chop, cxzi, WolfY, Walco | Coach: Viathan) (+2) 315 pts

Party Astronauts rose this month in the rankings as they have seemingly finally found their way with Adam "WolfY" Andersson, while also making yet another change which saw Wesley "viz" Harris step down and be replaced by Colby "Walco" Walsh. A weird decision to have two IGLs not known for fragging, but they seemingly know what's good as they took a map off Liquid right after adding Walco. Once again, the future of this squad is seemingly bright.

February Events: None

#8 BOSS (Cryptic, freshie, brett, d4rty, PwnAlone | Coach: Axed) (-2) 314 pts

BOSS slipped two positions on the rankings, however once again my take is that Elevate and Party Astronauts' climb had more to do with this than anything BOSS did on their own, especially as the three teams are within three points of each other. Overall, the addition of Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue has proven to be an effective replacement, and the squad will now look to the RMR with the real possibility of doing some damage should they click at just the right time.

February Events: None

#9 NRG (oSee, daps, Brehze, HexT, FaNg) (-2) 282 pts

NRG once again fell in the rankings, nearly falling off of the top ten cliff, and the reasons are fairly obvious to see. A mix of uninspired events plus legitimate concerns the squad can't get all five players playing well at the same time have set off panic stations for a lot of people about this time. With their surprise invite to the Americas RMR, they have a slim chance of proving us all wrong, but at this stage the roster only has a few months left to get back on track before changes may be needed.

February Events: None

#10 Carpe Diem (Seb, Lake, wiz, micro, arcade | Coach: Valkenn) (+1) 87 pts

Carpe Diem have been a bit of an unstable mess when it comes to their roster, but the panel seemingly digs their core and are overall quite happy to give them some shine on the top ten. While the squad only won a single map against FLUFFY AIMERS, the future prospect of a team with Jerric "wiz" Jiang, Jack "micro" Ryan, and Mason "Lake" Sanderson on all is an entertaining prospect. Additionally, while Ashlynn "Valkenn" Brady was announced way way too late to factor into the minds of much of the panel, having a proper coach to buff up their strat book is a definite plus.

February Events: None