LAG enter Top 10 on Dust2.us’ April 2024 Power Rankings

The Dust2.us power ranking is back following the conclusion of Counter-Strike 2's first Major. While it was an incredibly important event for the CS scene at-large, it ultimately did little to shift the balance of power in North America. This is of course because only Complexity made it to Copenhagen after a poor showing for NA at the PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR. This resulted in the rankings moving very little, with the first seven positions actually remaining the same as they did in the March Power Rankings. However, there have been some interesting changes towards the bottom of the standings.

As always, we assembled a panel of players, coaches, analysts, journalists, and talent to give their opinion on the state of the scene, with 21 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 or they spend a significant amount of their time competing in North America.

#1 Complexity (JT, floppy, Grim, hallzerk, EliGE | Coach: T.c, JamezIRL) (—) 1000 pts

Complexity was unanimously ranked as the best team in North America, surprising absolutely no one. With the team being North America's sole squad at the PGL Copenhagen Major, this was to be expected. While the team broke our hearts by not making playoffs after starting their run in the Elimination Stage, they are very clearly our only hope on the world stage at the moment.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024, PGL Major Copenhagen 2024

#2 Liquid (NAF, YEKINDAR, skullz, cadiaN, Twistzz | Coach: zews) (—) 895 pts

Liquid ended March looking a bit foolish as their "superteam" failed to make the Major. While their road through the RMR was equally as bumpy as Complexity, there's something to be said about the divergent roads each team took to formulating their current roster, and who probably had more expectations in Mexico. Since the RMR we really haven't seen much of them, and honestly this squad needs to get back into the server and start winning to regain the community's trust.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024

#3 M80 (Swisher, reck, malbsMd, slaxz-, s1n | Coach: dephh) (—) 592 pts

M80's extremely painful IGL interregnum with Rory "dephh" Jackson is finally over, with Elias "s1n" Stein being enthroned as the team's new IGL. M80 have been able to hold onto their third-place position thanks to an above average performance from dephh this month and with the squad almost making the Major with him, the future is extremely bright once s1n and Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich get their visas sorted and are finally able to both be in North America.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, ESL Challenger League Season 47

#4 Nouns (nosraC, cJ, MarKE, junior, Jeorge | Coach: SEMPHIS, adreN) (—) 553 pts

Nouns weren't able to accomplish much at the RMR, however as one of the most consistent squads in ECL, their ranking did not budge. The only concern for the future is that with Nouns losing out on LAN spots in the coming months, their calendar is quite empty, potentially raising fears of other NA squads leapfrogging them.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, ESL Challenger League Season 47

#5 Wildcard (stanislaw, JBa, SLIGHT, Sonic, C4LLM3SU3 | Coach: horvy) (—) 440 pts

Wildcard also had a poor RMR, leading to both Gage "Infinite" Green and Matt "Warden" Dickens being shown the door. With this, Wildcard have elected to gamble their future on Chinese upcomer Qihao "C4LLM3SU3" Su. While it is still extremely early days, this move has already been quite exciting and has the potential to elevate Wildcard. Their upcoming appearance at IEM Chengdu 2024 also cannot be discounted, even if they have to play it with a sub in the form of Ian "motm" Hardy.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, ESL Challenger League Season 47

#6 Elevate (snav, dare, shane, Peeping, dea) (—) 338 pts

Elevate's month was also fairly lackluster, however one must keep in mind they had to use Adam "nbgee12" Zanzoul as a substitute for most of it. With the team performing well with Deni "dea" Ediev online, it just leaves you wanting to see this squad actually get a chance on LAN.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2024, ESL Challenger League Season 47

#7 Party Astronauts (ben1337, chop, cxzi, WolfY, RUSH | Coach: Viathan) (—) 328 pts

Unlike almost every other team on this list, Party Astronauts missed the RMR, a massive loss for the team after recent strong performances. However, after having Colby "Walco" Walsh poached by NRG, they can be happy that William "RUSH" Wierzba's addition has gone well. With multiple LAN events in the future for this team, there's a lot to be excited for with PA.

March Events: ESL Challenger League Season 47

#8 NRG (oSee, Brehze, HexT, autimatic, Walco | Coach: daps) (+1) 300 pts

NRG fell completely flat at the RMR, leading to multiple changes, including Damian "daps" Steele ending his experiment as a player. This may pay off in the end as they brought in Walco to be the team's IGL while also replacing Justin "FaNg" Coakley with Timothy "autimatic" Ta. The team already looks better for it in ECL, so perhaps this is the beginning of NRG being a competitive squad in the NA tier two scene? Only time will tell.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, ESL Challenger League Season 47

#9 BOSS (Cryptic, freshie, d4rty, PwnAlone, FaNg | Coach: Axed) (-1) 296 pts

BOSS dropped a position this month despite a great showing at the RMR. The orgless squad punched above expectations and may have made the Major if they did not have to play Complexity immediately followed by LIquid. While they performed well, the squad still felt fit to replace Brett "brett" Rhein with FaNg, and we'll have to keep an eye on their development.

March Events: PGL Major Copenhagen Americas RMR, ESL Challenger League Season 47

#10 LAG (ogwizard, Experative, based, Nyyx, nicx) (+5) 98 pts

LAG have entered the top ten after a great performance at Fragadelphia CS/DO and a strong start to ECL. While Fragadelphia CS/DO was largely against Advanced level talent, the team put on a great showing and Deniz "Experative" Mutlum seems to be a very capable IGL. While the will of the panel may knock them out of the top ten next month, they are definitely a team to keep an eye on.

March Events: ESL Challenger League Season 47, Fragadelphia CS/DO