Liquid overtakes Complexity in Dust2.us' August 2024 Power Rankings

The big story for North America heading into this iteration of Dust2.us' Power Ranking did not come until the very end of the month, with Liquid's new roster claiming a stunning 2-0 win against Virtus.pro on July 31st. This result right here completely flipped the script as their success came at the same time Complexity suffered an embarrassing loss to HEROIC with their coach standing in, leaving many to look at Liquid like an old flame.

Meanwhile in the domestic scene ESL Challenger League Season 48 has gotten off to a relatively slow start, however early days have shown Wildcard and NRG to be much improved, with the two teams throwing the rankings into chaos in their own way.

As always, we assembled a panel of players, coaches, analysts, journalists, and talent to give their opinion on the state of the scene, with 20 responding to our call to arms. Let's see what they think of the scene with Liquid, M80, and Wildcard's new rosters taking the stage. One thing worth noting is we allowed our panel to consider the entirety of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups as when the form went out the event had already wrapped, with it being impossible to wipe Liquid's incredible run from their memories at that point.

#1 Liquid (NAF, YEKINDAR, Twistzz, ultimate, jks | Coach: mithR) (+2) 972 pts

Is Liquid claiming the #1 position in Dust2.us' Power Rankings pure hype? Yeah, almost certainly. However... it is easy to see why more than half of the panel gave Liquid the top billing as their wins over VP and NAVI at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups were truly spectacular, with the new additions in particular shining brightly. In their first event with Liquid, Justin "jks" Savage and Roland "ultimate" Tomkowiak gave much to be excited about, while Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Keith "NAF" Markovic were up to their old antics.

It must once again be reiterated that this is still extremely early days for the lineup and we need to be wary of a honeymoon period, but NA's excitement for this roster is built on solid foundations and we may just have an exciting rivalry between Liquid and Complexity in the coming months.

July Events: BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024

#2 Complexity (JT, floppy, Grim, hallzerk, EliGE | Coach: T.c, JamezIRL) (-1) 930 pts

For the first time since Dust2.us revived its Power Ranking in October 2023 Complexity has lost their long-held position in first place. This massive shakeup in the ranking comes as America's team has suffered something of a malaise since returning from the summer player break, with the team being eliminated from the Esports World Cup without a single win before going up to have a really shaky run at the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, starting off the event by losing to HEROIC with their coach in action. While the team would eventually rally and take down OG in a close fashion their later loss to NAVI likely sealed their fate in the rankings as Liquid on the other hand bested them twice.

It is pretty much inarguable that Liquid's position in the ranking is largely built on hype from precisely three matches, however having a proper domestic rival will hopefully give Complexity some extra motivation heading into IEM Cologne 2024, where they will hope to make the main event for the first time since 2021.

July Events: Esports World Cup 2024, BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024

#3 M80 (Swisher, reck, slaxz-, s1n, Lake | Coach: dephh) (-1) 820 pts

This month saw M80 begin the process of integrating Mason "Lake" Sanderson into their ranks after losing Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa to G2 in mid-June. Within that context, the team's run at EWC 2024 was a bit scrappy, with the squad exiting the event relatively early, but not before eliminating Complexity via an overtime 16-14 win on Anubis. While the strange format does not give us much to go on, M80's ability to play close to Complexity along with their one-sided wins over middle of the road ECL teams gives the impression M80 haven't fallen off a cliff and will maintain competitive when we really see them get into action in August.

July Events: Esports World Cup 2024, ESL Challenger League Season 48

#4 Wildcard (stanislaw, JBa, Sonic, susp, phzy | Coach: vinS) (+2) 467 pts

Wildcard's international roster had an absolutely fantastic month, only losing a single map to LAG while claiming wins over Party Astronauts, Elevate, and NRG. Considering the squad's Swedish imports are still playing from Europe, this suggests a really strong team will only improve more once all five of their players are on good ping. Considering the team is already doing so well, early days suggest that Wildcard's international pivot is going to pay dividends.

July Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#5 NRG (oSee, Brehze, HexT, autimatic, nitr0 | Coach: daps) (+3) 426 pts

NRG were the most improved in this month's Power Rankings, jumping up three spots while gaining nearly 100 points. The credit for NRG's turnaround from mediocre to might largely rests on the shoulders of Nick "nitr0" Cannella who has seemingly cracked the code to make this roster of experienced pieces perform to expectations. While NRG's results this month weren't insanely impressive, consisting of wins over Nouns and BOSS this month and losses, losses to Wildcard and Party Astronauts, A lot of the excitement likely lies in nitr0's fragging ability at this level combined with the overall change in the team's form. With nitr0, things are starting to lookup for NRG after two false starts in their return to CS.

July Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#6 Nouns (nosraC, cJ, junior, Jeorge, RUSH | Coach: adreN) (-2) 413 pts

Overall, Nouns had a fantastic month with their only losses in July being a Bo1 versus E-Xolos LAZER and a Bo3 versus NRG. As such their tumble in the ranking our their long-held fourth place spot squarely rests on Wildcard and NRG's new rosters having such great months while Wildcard especially much even more dangerous on paper. However, the scene being as impressed as they are with Wildcard and NRG may mean that Nouns will struggle to climb back up the rankings should they simply maintain their current trajectory in the scene. With that in mind, the team will likely need to do something impressive, perhaps at the Americas RMR Closed Qualifiers, to steal some of the attention back.

July Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#7 Legacy (latto, dumau, NEKIZ, b4rtiN, saadzin | Coach: chucky) (-2) 341 pts

Quite frankly Legacy are lucky we even left them on the Power Ranking as they spent the entire month in Brazil enjoying opportunities that NA teams could only dream of having. However, beyond that petty grievance Legacy had a decent month down South with wins over RED Canids and a smattering of smaller Brazilian teams. Outside of saying they did a decent job in their own backyard there is not a whole lot to say as it is unknown how these results will translate once they finally decide to head back up to North America.

July Events: None

#8 Party Astronauts (ben1337, cxzi, WolfY, Infinite, FaNg | Coach: Viathan) (-1) 303 pts

Party Astronauts lost a significant number of points this month and it isn't immediately clear why, especially as the squad found wins over NRG in ECL S48 while also playing a close series against Wildcard in the first NA Revival Series. A possible explanation for this is that downward pressure from NRG and Wildcard climbing the rankings led PA to garner fewer votes for the 5th-7th range than they usually do. Regardless, should PA maintain their current form it is exceedingly unlikely they fall any further down the rankings, with the team possibly surpassing Legacy next month if they continue their Brazilian sabbatical much long.

July Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#9 Elevate (snav, dare, shane, Peeping, dea) (—) 267 pts

In the Dust2.us Power Ranking, Elevate has maintained a relatively stagnant position in ninth place for some time, having found quality wins here and there but lacking the consistency to climb the table. However, they did walk away with +11 points this month potentially thanks to their wins over Nouns and NRG in the NA Revival Series #2, although their losses to Wildcard and Nouns in ECL likely prevented a larger increase.

Elevate have continued to be a reliable sparring partner for some of the better teams in the league, however their slow improvement has left them out of the conversation to a degree, especially when other rosters are bringing in new star players. Additionally, the whole saga of cutting Deni "dea" Ediev to just bring him back a few days later was plainly weird and may suggest chemistry issues within the lineup.

July Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#10 BOSS (Cryptic, freshie, d4rty, SLIGHT, mirco | Coach: Warden) (—) 155 pts

Ahead of the start of ECL 48, BOSS overhauled their lineup by adding Keller "SLIGHT" Nilan, Jack "micro" Ryan, and Matt "Warden" Dickens, the latter as the team's coach, to return to full strength while quashing fears the lineup would disband in the off season. While this new roster is impressive on paper, BOSS made no movement on the rankings this month likely due to their poor results in ECL. The team only managed to find wins against Mythic and LAG while suffering comprehensive losses to NRG and Nouns.

For the moment their position in the rankings is safe as the likes of LAG and E-Xolos LAZER are more than 50 points away from eclipsing the team. However, should BOSS wish to climb the rankings and become a true competitor in NA again, they will need to hit their stride sooner rather than later.

July Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48