Legacy enters Top Five in Dust2.us' October 2024 Power Rankings

This month's Dust2.us Power Rankings saw few changes, with two sets of teams swapping positions on the rankings. This is potentially due to the NA scene being in something of a "calm before the storm" before the RMRs while the top teams also all performed fairly well at ESL Pro League Season 20 and the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. With ESL Challenger League Season 48 being a bit of a "ho hum" affair it is also fair to assume results there won't be changing too many minds until playoffs.

As always, we assembled a panel of players, coaches, analysts, journalists, and talent to give their opinion on the state of the scene, with 25 responding to our call to arms.

#1 Liquid (NAF, YEKINDAR, Twistzz, ultimate, jks | Coach: mithR) (—) 965 pts

Liquid comfortably held onto their number one position this month thanks to decent performances at ESL Pro League Season 20 the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. At these events Liquid secured notable wins over Virtus.pro and Spirit while taking losses to Vitality, G2, and FaZe (again). This shows they can comfortably beat teams ranked around them in the top fifteen while struggling against the truly elite teams in world Counter-Strike. With the team beating Complexity again, it is unlikely Liquid will lose the throne anytime soon.

September Events: ESL Pro League Season 20, BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024

#2 Complexity (JT, floppy, Grim, hallzerk, EliGE | Coach: T.c, JamezIRL) (—) 891 pts

Complexity had a fantastic month at ESL Pro League Season 20, securing a top-twelve finish before being knocked out by Liquid. Prior to being sent packing by their domestic rival, Complexity managed two wins against MOUZ, two wins against Astralis, and a win against FaZe, which is really great to see after a few months of struggling from COL. While the Liquid loss will keep them out of the throne for now, as previously mentioned, the Major and its RMRs right around the corner have the chance to change everything.

September Events: ESL Pro League Season 20

#3 M80 (Swisher, reck, slaxz-, s1n, Lake | Coach: dephh) (—) 842 pts

M80 also had the privilege of securing a win over COL at EPL this month, while also finding wins over Fnatic and Imperial before being felled by MIBR. On the Homefront, M80 have continued to be largely bored by ESL Challenger League, sweeping aside all but NRG in matchups this month. They're clearly a squad that has outgrown domestic online competitions and that's what matters most when compared to teams like Wildcard or NRG.

September Events: ESL Pro League Season 20, ESL Challenger League Season 48

#4 Wildcard (stanislaw, JBa, Sonic, susp, phzy | Coach: vinS) (—) 524 pts

Wildcard held onto their fourth place position this month largely owing to their attendance at EPL S20 and strong results in ECL S48. A loss to Legacy in the IEM Katowice Closed Qualifier to miss out on the Polish demonstrated that the team is still mortal against the ECL crowd, however Wildcard have continued to show remarkable progress with their new roster. Now if they can just get Love "phzy" Smidebrant's visa sorted out they may truly be cooking with gas in the last few months of 2024.

September Events: ESL Pro League Season 20, ESL Challenger League Season 48

#5 Legacy (latto, dumau, NEKIZ, b4rtiN, saadzin | Coach: chucky) (+1) 466 pts

Legacy leapfrogged Nouns this month, continuing their climb through the NA scene. The team's prominence in the mind of our panel is likely influenced by the team playing 16 maps in ECL this month while winning most of them in a confident fashion. Going 6-0 in maps against Nouns this month and 3-3 against Wildcard were their best results and demonstrated Legacy can tangle with the best of the best in NA's domestic scene.

September Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#6 Nouns (nosraC, cJ, junior, Jeorge, RUSH | Coach: adreN) (-1) 396 pts

Nouns have reached a new low at sixth place as their stagnant results have continued to trouble the team. Some may argue that the panel is a bit too bearish about this team, however with Nouns failing to qualify to any LANs outside of the RMR recently and overall having a quiet month there's just not a lot to say about this team to seriously argue they deserve a better spot. Sure they won Fragicago 2024, but with the team being massively overqualified for that event we would really need to see them shine at the Americas RMR to significantly change the narrative around this team.

September Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48, Fragicago 2024

#7 NRG (oSee, Brehze, HexT, autimatic, nitr0 | Coach: daps) (—) 376 pts

Speaking of teams struggling with being stagnant and relatively boring is NRG. Despite being a strong team on paper and being capable of strong wins here and there, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who considers them more than an NA "also ran". This project just does not qualify for LANs or do anything interesting to make someone say "wow" when thinking about the future of this team. Perhaps a strong finish in ECL could start to shift the narrative, but with NRG missing out on the RMR they have no more LANs for the year meaning it may be well into 2025 before the LAN curse is broken.

September Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#8 BOSS (Cryptic, freshie, d4rty, SLIGHT, Fruitcupx | Coach: Warden) (—) 232 pts

BOSS did not get up to a whole lot this month and were overall posted a mixed record in ECL with a strange 13-1 loss to Limitless being a true head scratcher. However, the team did not completely implode like PA and especially timbermen so it's quite obvious why they are ranked above the two teams. With the team already starting October in better shape, maybe better days are yet to come for the BOSS gang.

September Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#9 Party Astronauts (ben1337, Infinite, FaNg, ogwizard, Peeping) (+1) 193 pts

The additions of Bogdan "ogwizard" Savula and Jaxon "Peeping" Cornwell are undoubtedly good additions for PA, however these moves have yet to bear fruit in the server. At this stage losses to Legacy and NRG are to be expected, however a Bo1 loss to MarcaRegistrada is strange to say the least. I wouldn't really worry however, as this roster is still in a gestational stage and has the potential to improve given time.

September Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48

#10 timbermen (snav, dare, shane, nero, aleph) (-1) 121 pts

This very well may be the last time we see timbermen in the top ten as the last-minute additions of Matthew "nero" Seymour and Christopher "aleph" Froden are not working at the moment while the team itself seems to be falling into a toxic rut without an organization. In a world where FLUFFY AIMERS have been posting strong results with a rotating cast of their coach and ringers, the timbermen roster needs to find a way to come back online without two key pieces if they want to continue being considered a top team in NA.

September Events: ESL Challenger League Season 48