Nouns returns to the Top Five in in Dust2.us' September 2024 Power Rankings

This month's Power Rankings was heavily influenced by the Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier, with teams like Wildcard and BOSS triumphing with their new roster while NRG and Elevate/timbermen missed out to add more failures onto their relatively mixed form. This month also saw IEM Cologne played out which proved to be a great event for Liquid despite missing out on playoffs while it was a frustrating and underwhelming event for Complexity.

Outside of this, the domestic scene was relatively calm, however Party Astronauts losing three pieces definitely affected the bottom half of our Power Rankings.

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.

#1 Liquid (NAF, YEKINDAR, Twistzz, ultimate, jks | Coach: mithR) (—) 996 pts

This month saw Liquid attend IEM Cologne 2024, with the international roster besting a mix of Brazilian and American opposition but missing out of playoffs due to two losses to FaZe. Elsewhere they qualified to IEM Rio after trading series against Legacy. While this may not be the perfect report card Liquid is looking for, it is evident that the squad is currently playing really strong CS and are continuously trending upwards. This is what likely secured them the top spot as the panel almost unanimously agreed that Liquid are in far stronger form than Complexity heading into the back half of the year.

August Events: IEM Cologne 2024

#2 Complexity (JT, floppy, Grim, hallzerk, EliGE | Coach: T.c, JamezIRL) (—) 902 pts

Complexity had a decent month at IEM Cologne 2024 with notable wins over Eternal Fire and Virtus.pro, however losses to MOUZ and Liquid denied the team at a chance at playoffs while the latter also has given Liquid the lead in their renewed rivalry for the region's best team. With Complexity overall having a rough period as they struggle to truly find tier-one form, talk of roster changes and the future of this squad have begun to bubble up, with the Shanghai Major likely being a make or break event for Johnny "JT" Theodosiou's current quintet.

August Events: IEM Cologne 2024, BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024

#3 M80 (Swisher, reck, slaxz-, s1n, Lake | Coach: dephh) (—) 784 pts

M80 had a relatively quiet month, only playing ESL Challenger League Season 48 CCT, and the BLAST Showdown. In those latter two events the team took online losses to Wildcard and Falcons, however those results feel relatively insignificant compared to the team's overall progress since adding Mason "Lake" Sanderson, with the young gun being a strong addition to the lineup recently, making us really excited for the team's continued run in EPL S20 and the upcoming Americas RMR.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024

#4 Wildcard (stanislaw, JBa, Sonic, susp, phzy | Coach: vinS) (—) 566 pts

Wildcard maintained their position in fourth place while gaining around 100 points in the power ranking. With the team making the Americas RMR, qualifying to ESL Challenger Atlanta, and going on an impressive win streak this month, it has been a fantastic period for the organization in CS2. We'll get to see the team on LAN more in the coming months and depending on how they do there it is possible they could close the gap and join the elite trio of Liquid, Complexity, and M80; or at the very least make M80 sweat a bit.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier

#5 Nouns (nosraC, cJ, junior, Jeorge, RUSH | Coach: adreN) (+1) 441 pts

Nouns have returned to the top five of Dust2.us Power Ranking largely thanks to their qualification to the Americas RMR, which they achieved by cruising through FLUFFY AIMERS, Party Astronauts, and NRG. While the team has been unable to best Wildcard in the three times they have recently met, and are still liable to have upset losses to NRG, our panel seems confident that Nouns are showing steady improvement.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier

#6 Legacy (latto, dumau, NEKIZ, b4rtiN, saadzin | Coach: chucky) (+1) 392 pts

Legacy's return to North America saw the squad come in and secure a spot at the Americas RMR in a relatively close fashion, while also going 1-1 in series against Liquid in the IEM Rio Closed Qualifier. While there isn't a ton of data to pore over with the Brazilians, their results this month makes it clear they are still a peer of teams like Nouns and NRG even if their time in South America may have led some to forget about Gabriel "NEKIZ" Schenato and co.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier

#7 NRG (oSee, Brehze, HexT, autimatic, nitr0 | Coach: daps) (-2) 354 pts

NRG are a team that likes to get your hopes up just to dash them in spectacular fashion. The team dropping two positions in our power ranking feels justified after the team bombed out of the Americas RMR Closed Qualifier while also missing out on ESL Challenger Atlanta. NRG aren't a bad roster per se, but their continued failure to live up to the expectations of the names on the team explains why they aren't rated particularly highly by their peers.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier

#8 BOSS (Cryptic, freshie, d4rty, SLIGHT, Fruitcupx | Coach: Warden) (+2) 258 pts

It goes without saying BOSS had a fantastic month, qualifying to the Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR while also finding a potential future great in Gavin "Fruitcupx" Norman. As the only orgless roster to qualify to the Americas RMR BOSS will be hoping and praying that this feat is enough to finally land an organization, especially as the core built around Matthew "Cryptic" Whitmore has demonstrated their resilience and ability to find results even after being the victim of recent roster turnover.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier

#9 timbermen (snav, dare, shane, Peeping, dea) (—) 212 pts

The former Elevate lineup have been left homeless once again as Elevate has parted ways with the journeymen roster. With Elevate/timbermen missing out on the Americas RMR and failing to qualify from other LANs, our previous assessment about the team stagnating seemingly holds. It is fortunate for them that Party Astronauts had a mini-implosion because otherwise the gap between the two teams would likely be even smaller, perhaps even seeing PA forcing timbermen down to tenth place.

The future of this squad requires them now to have a good ECL S48 season especially as they are once again trying to find a new organization to call home.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier

#10 Party Astronauts (ben1337, Infinite, FaNg) (-2) 126 pts

August was a terrible month for Party Astronauts, seeing the orgless squad miss out on qualifying to the Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR while also losing Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk, Adam "WolfY" Andersson, and Luke "Viathan" Carstens in short succession. The team's ability to narrowly hold onto their spot in the top ten likely comes down to the community's confidence in Ben "ben1337" Smith to build a new roster as he has done before, while also understanding that the likes of FLUFFY AIMERS and LAG aren't quite ready yet to overtake such an experienced core.

However, Party Astronauts continued survival will come down to the team's ability to rebuild and show the storied tag has a future in the NA scene.

August Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Perfect World Shanghai Major Americas RMR NA Closed Qualifier