Earlier in the year when UKCSGO first launched, one of our goals was to create a monthly UK top ten, keeping track of the progress of all teams and promoting some friendly competition between British sides. We started off with a top ten system that included votes from each of the notable teams in the country, gathering votes from over ten individuals to provide a top ten ranking. Over time, we realised this to be an unsustainable system and we had to give the idea a rethink.

However, we have now turned to a new system, whereby our in house CS:GO pundits and writers have formed a panel that each submit their rankings for the teams they see as the top ten. By assigning points to each team, the UKCSGO top ten panel have now consolidated a top ten for the month of July, based on their form this month.

10. 2Sexeh2Perform (Bodkin, chz, vpr, carrot , s1deh, MonsterCobra) 7 pts 9. uFrag (HyPeIsBack, cookeh, Bunny, adamxoxo, m1tchen) 8 pts 8. The Last Resort (Charley, dUdLeY, medic, spandex, will) 15 pts 7. Reason UK (kARMA, CINDER, Surreal, Jonny, fisher) 27 pts 6. Curse these metal hands (quiver, Boaster, mortism, BeNKoFK, crazycat) 30 pts 5. Molotovs and Marshmallows (vertiGo, paynt, JT, b3n, aqua) 33 pts 4. EZSkins.com (RattlesnK, Weber, mole, Puls3, fearLess) 44 pts 3. CAZ eSports (jakem, REAZN, decclan, tsack, ?) 47 pts 2. Choke Gaming (Immi, MiGHTYMAX, Esio, Powell, Peggyyyy) 56 pts 1. Team Infused (redSNK, ZED, AaroN, KritikaL, Whindanski) 57 pts

A fact that appears evident from the votes cast is that there appears to be three clear tiers within the top ten teams alone. There are those who have recently started showing some promise, but are yet to prove that they can fully compete with the best, sitting at the lower end of the rankings. These teams are then followed by mid-range teams who each have around 30 points, hovering between the star teams and the emerging talent. Finally, four teams can be seen around the 50 point mark, and represent the top four teams that the UK currently have to offer.

The first place came down to a toss-up between Choke Gaming, a team with a very strong LAN performance at the recent epic LAN 15, and Team Infused, a well established UK team who have been putting in work to edge their way into the European scene, as well as topping the Gfinity UK Champs along with EZSkins. After much deliberation and debate, Infused have taken the top spot by just a single point after being named number one by four of the six panelists. Trailing behind the top two are CAZ eSports and EZSkins, who are both teams with an unprecedented amount of promise but some signs of inconsistency. The CAZ team fell short in the Epic Fifteen final and also lost out to EZSkins in the Gfinity UK Championships, losing their qualifying spot for the LAN final. EZSkins are a team who are set to do great things within UK CSGO and beyond, and given time it is a given that they shall. However, with struggling to qualify for the ESL UK Premiership and being a little behind on their practice in comparison to other teams, they have been handed the fourth place position.

The next tier of teams contains those such as Molotovs and Marshmallows, Reason UK and Curse these metal hands. Whilst MnM and CTMH were both present at Epic Fifteen, the Reason UK line up are yet to show their true colours in a heated competition. Their seventh place position within the top ten likely arises from the promise that the team holds, with a number of talented players who will be chomping at the bit to get in to the action. The three point difference between MnM and the Metal Handed has-beens comes from their respective placements at Epic LAN, where despite coming fifth, Tom “quiver” Griffiths and his team of old schoolers managed to turn some heads after posting up a win over fish123 in the groups and taking a map off of CAZ eSports.

Completing the top ten are three up and coming sides that will be deserving of some recognition. The Last Resort, formerly under the name of Xpra, shocked many by coming through the ESL UK Premiership qualifiers late last month with a win over CAZ eSports en route. However since then, the team have lost out to GLG in the promo tournament, and then were knocked out by CAZ just last night. uFrag and 2Sexeh are teams that have shown some online promise recently in the Gfinity Championships. The 2s2p lot are no strangers to the limelight after having quite a successful past, and will be looking to sail up the rankings once more.

A few members of the UKCSGO panel have shared their thoughts behind their UK Top 10 ranking.

Tom “vertiGo” Rockliffe:

Despite Infused not attending epic LAN, they have been very active in online leagues showing some good results against some well regarded EU teams and also qualifying for Gfinity UK. Choke were an obvious next choice, having seen off everyone at epic LAN and proving they are the next big thing in the UK – all it will take is for them to replicate that form and prove themselves vs the likes of EZSKINS and Infused to solidify themselves as the best team in the UK. EZSKINS have the best lineup on paper but have yet to prove it in practice – they are yet to attend a lan and lost online to United Estonia in the ESL Premiership qualifiers.

Ethan “HolyCupcake” Cull:

For me first was Infused, even after the recent line up change they seemed to be able to dominate through the Gfinity UK Championship. Even when faced with Choke, they took both maps, including the overtime in Dust 2 where they won without dropping a round. Choke Gaming came second with beating CAZ eSports at Epic Fifteen to take the grand final, despite being knocked into the lower bracket, whilst also showing strong form in the ESL UK Premiership. For third I went with CAZ as their LAN results were incredibly strong, but the rest of the results they have posted aren’t coming up as strong yet, holding on in 1st round losers of ESL UK Premiership and with the defeat to EZSkins at Gfinity.

Who do you think is missing from the rankings? Let us know in the comments below.