For what’s the most important statistical tool for the CS:GO community, it often feels like the minute details don’t pass the eye test. This isn’t a question of methodology per se – Lord knows the whole stats-versus-scouts discussion has gone on long enough in baseball and other sports –, more of a discussion starter about certain anomalies on the current leaderboards (last updated on April 15th at the time of writing).

For me, the situation of MiBR embodies all issues I have with the current HLTV rankings system. From an everyday perspective, the team has essentially reset itself after the removal of tarik and Stewie2K, marking the end of an experiment with English comms and players with very different gameplay styles compared to what would come later. Not only would they go on to reform their old world-conquering lineup, they’ve also poached a coach, something which is a fairly new element in the organization’s setup. And yet, seventeen other events are included in the ranking calculations for MiBR, albeit at limited relevance (42.8% at most with the Pro League Season 8 finals). In a game where a twelve-month dominance is widely considered to be an era, it feels like a very conservative approach, perhaps somewhat akin to the way the major invites take a bit too long to adjust to the realities in the scene.