The conclusion of yet another championship weekend in the ongoing CS:GO Champions League brought some major changes to the league table. Team Virtus.Pro.CS from Poland, the team that held the number 1 spot for more than 2 weeks, lost its place to Natus Vincere. The heat was already on as far as the Polish team was concerned. Even though the team had 4 wins in 7 games, it was overtaken by its counterparts from Ukraine. Quite surprisingly, however, the performances put in by Natus Vincere have not been anything to write home about.
Although some might argue that Natus Vincere finally played up to its billing and it’s on paper strength, going unbeaten in the Round Robin (the only team to do so) of the CS:GO Champions League and making the number 1 spot its own speaks volumes. The team currently has 3 wins and 6 draws in 9 matches played, with 15 points in total in the league table, while the Virtus.Pro.CS has 14 points from just 7 matches played. However, the move from the 6th place last week to 1st place this week has been quite a jump from the
team from Ukraine.
Coming to the rating table, Virtus.Pro.CS, despite losing out in the CS:GO Champions League, performed quite well elsewhere and its recent streak of wins helped the team move up to 1351 points. More importantly, the Polish team is now ranked 3rd in the world and 1st in the EU East. The leaders of the CS:GO Champions League table, Natus Vincere, have a rating of 1332 points, with a world rank of 5 and an EU East rank of No.2
CS:GO Champions League – A Quick Summary of the Week:
Although team Virtus.Pro.CS has continued to perform quite brilliantly in other tournaments, it’s performance in the CS:GO Champions League has been somewhat of a letdown in recent weeks as shown by the move down the table. The round of matches this week were anything but a letdown. In what was perhaps the most anticipated match of the Champions League until now, Virtus.Pro.CS faced off against Natus Vincere! The two teams faced off against in a Best of 2 match and the first game was played at de_mirage. Electing to be Counter-Terrorists first, Virtus.Pro.CS lost the round with a score of 7-8. However, as the teams switched, Virtus.Pro.CS showed great resolve to beat its opponents with a score of 9-3, thereby winning the game with an overall score of 16-11.
In the second round of the 2 matches played, it was Natus Vincere that won the affair. Playing at de_cobblestone, Natus Vincere was first put in as Terrorists and managed to win the round with a score of 8-7. The winning trend continued even as the teams switched, with Natus Vincere winning the CT round too with a score of 8-7. The result of the match showed how closely the two big players were matched, with none of the teams allowing the
other an inch of breathing space. However, as it turned out, the draw was enough for Natus Vincere to move up to the top of the charts.
Although it has now moved up to the Number 1 spot in the CS:GO Champions League table, Natus Vincere has truly made the rounds. In the last 3 Champions League matches that it has played, Natus Vincere has drawn all 3, and 1 of the draws came against the team ranked Number 7 in the league table (CPH Wolves).
Rules and Prize Money:
The CS:GO Champions League includes comprises of a total of 10 teams and a single group. The top 6 ranked teams progress on to the Play-Offs. The teams ranked 1st and 2nd at the end of the group stages get to play in the 2nd round of the Play-Offs. In the Play-Offs, 6 teams compete with only the top 3 making it. The teams progressing to the Grand Finale play 5 matches in a best of 5 scenario, with a 1 map advantage.
The prize pool for the event is a $30,000; however, individual team pay-outs have not been revealed as yet.
Rankings:
The world rankings table too saw a major shift in the power stakes. Team Solomid, which was ranked number 1 in the world with a rating of 1474 points last week, slipped to the 2nd spot and 1432 points. The drop in position comes as a result of a series of 3 losses, all of which came in the same tournament (ESL ESEA Pro League) and on the same date (12th of May). Taking advantage of Solomid’s loss was the Swedish team Fnatic.The Swedes
currently have a rating of 1460 total points, and its performances in the month of May have been outstanding to the say the least. Out of the 13 matches it has played in May, Team Solomid has won 12 and lost just 1, resulting in a win ratio of 92%.