True power rankings might be more up-to-date when looked at week-to-week. However, without an active global league, the optimal window in Counter-Strike for power rankings is closer to a month. A month is enough to consider a couple of offline tournaments, as well as some online results. HLTV.org and Duncan "Thorin" Shields's world rankings take a longer-term view of usually around three to six months, so these power rankings will focus on a significantly shorter time period. Editor's Picks ESPORTS

Will PAL shake up Melee matchups at DreamHack Winter?

Reignover set to join Team Liquid, sources say 2 Related

Online play is only taken into account when and where needed, i.e. when there are no offline results or teams are otherwise dead even, and even with such a short time frame the latest results are more important than ones from four weeks ago, to focus on teams' forms. With these guidelines in place, let us take a look another round of ESPN Counter-Strike: Global Offensive power rankings. These come just in time for DreamHack Winter and ECS Season 2 Finals, where many of these ten teams will be competing for their share of the prize money.

1. [Brazil] SK

Despite failing to win an event since Fernando "fer" Alvarenga's return from his surgery, the defending major champions boast the best recent resume in Counter-Strike, with two second places at their latest events and an older semi-final exit at Epicenter: Moscow. They also made the playoffs at ELeague, though admittedly after losing to Astralis. Finally, the squad topped the Esports Championship Series (ECS) Season 2 in North America, qualifying for the Finals in Anaheim with a top seed. Currently the team to beat, but partly thanks to the relative inactivity of Virtus.pro.

2. [Sweden] Ninjas in Pyjamas

Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg's side won Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Oakland over SK in the grand final, building on the semifinal finish at ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals in Sao Paulo - though the latter was with Mikail "Maikelele" Bill, before Jacob "pyth" Mourujarvi returned from his injury. The Swedes also made playoffs at ELeague, where they will face off with Astralis next week for a spot in the final four at yet another event. NiP will not be at DreamHack, but still have a shot at qualifying for ECS Season 2 Finals, and will attend the major qualifier in mid-December. They often perk up after roster moves, so it remains to be seen where this team stabilizes after more events with pyth.

3. [Denmark] Dignitas

Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke and Team Dignitas compete during Season 1 of ELeague. Turner Sports-USA TODAY Sports

The Danes's placing has been hurt by time as their Epicenter: Moscow win is nearly expired now. The team also had a poor showing at ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals, and had to skip IEM Oakland due to scheduling issues with their ELeague group. But inactivity can only hurt you so much in an era where many teams seem all but equal to one-another. Topping its ELeague group helped, even versus easier opponents, but Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen's team needs a good result in at least one of DreamHack Winter and ELeague playoffs to hold onto this ranking going forward.

4. [Poland] Virtus.pro

The Polish side of Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski took down SK at Epicenter: Moscow to place second and topped the ELeague group over NiP, but have not attended tournaments since. The team chose to not attend ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals (EPL) at the last minute, and withdrew from IEM Oakland. Traditionally the Poles have been at their best at the largest events, and with the $1,000,000 ELeague playoffs in the horizon next week, are expected to be nearing the peak of their powers. They could skyrocket to the top of the list by end of next week, but right now they are hurt by their inactivity.

5. [Denmark] Astralis

Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander's team has only attended two tournaments after he joined, topping group C of ELeague over SK and placing top four at IEM Oakland, losing to the same SK team in a close series. It is still early with gla1ve having joined in late October, but early signs are promising - the new Astralis could finally go back to competing for titles, something superstar Nicolai "device" Reedtz seems destined for. The Danes will next be tested at ELeague in the quarterfinals against NiP, and are hoping to secure a spot at the ECS Season 2 Finals in Anaheim in the final rounds of online play.

6. [USA] Cloud9

Team Cloud9 stayed atop the North American League of Legends Championship Series with victory over EnVyUs on Saturday. Edward M. Pio Roda/Turner Broadcasting System via USA TODAY NETWORK

While the best team from North America went out in groups at IEM Oakland, it had 17-19 and 14-16 losses against FaZe and NiP, respectively, which could have gone either way and catapulted the squad into the playoffs. Worryingly, the iBUYPOWER Masters loss the previous weekend to Immortals shook the ground below them, but none of this is enough to discount the title at EPL Season 4 Finals with series win over SK. Timothy "autimatic" Ta's team needs results at DreamHack Winter and ECS Season 2 Finals to stay afloat though, or we may need to reconsider whether the honeymoon period might be over.

7. [Europe] FaZe

When gla1ve joined Astralis, the Danish side benched Finn "karrigan" Andersen, who had led them since January 2015. Now karrigan leads FaZe, who also brought back Fabien "kioShiMa" Fiey in November to replace Norwegian Joakim "jkaem" Myrbostad. With jkaem the team placed 7th-8th at EPL Season 4 Finals and qualified for ELeague playoffs, and with kioShiMa they qualified for IEM Oakland at iBUYPOWER Masters, and placed top four at the event. The team is trending up, but after withdrawing from DreamHack Winter this week will need results at ELeague, or to qualify for and to do well at ECS Season 2 Finals, to keep up the momentum. Otherwise they are in the danger of slipping out ahead of the major qualifier.

8. [Brazil] Immortals

Brazil's number two team took a huge gamble on former SK coach Wilton "zews" Prado, but after some of weak results, culminating in last place finishes in Sao Paulo at EPL Season 4 Finals and ELeague, chose to replace him with former SK player Lucas "steel" Lopes. The team proceeded to win iBUYPOWER Masters over Cloud9 - though admittedly in a match with little at stake - and then placed top six at IEM Oakland, with a 4-1 record in the group stage. Immortals is similar to Cloud9 on a smaller scale - honeymoon period producing elevated results, which they now need prove can become the new norm. Its next shot will be at ECS Season 2 Finals.

9. [CIS] Natus Vincere

Natus Vincere's Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev plays during the championship match against Luminosity Gaming. MLG Columbus set a new CS:GO viewiership record with 1.3 million concurrent viewers during the finals. Kyle Grillot for ESPN

The fall of Na`Vi after the ESL One New York championship and the top four placing at Epicenter: Moscow has been odd to watch - and no matter how you cut it, the results have simply not been good. Na'Vi skipped ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals and failed to qualify for ELeague playoffs, and last weekend went out in 9th-10th place at IEM Oakland. In short, it's fair to say they have a lot to work on ahead of the major in January. Na`Vi missed out on ECS Season 2, and will not have meaningful offline tournaments before the major, giving them plenty of time to practice.

10.[North America] OpTic

The second North American team, and fourth team residing in the Americas, to be on the list is OpTic, whose roster also features a Spaniard in Oscar "mixwell" Canellas. OpTic placed 5th-6th in Sao Paulo, won Northern Arena over G2, and qualified for ELeague playoffs by besting EnVyUs. This seems to be a team on the rise, with slowly improving results ever since they first turned heads during ELeague's inaugural season earlier in the year. OpTic is also heading to DreamHack Winter this week, qualified for ECS Season 2 Finals, and will also attend the major qualifier to close out the year. Busy period ahead as they try to scale up their ranking.

For more CS:GO analysis and discussion, check out Tomi on Twitter @lurppis_.