Alex Cascio

February 24, 2020

This edition of Counter Strike Power Rankings welcomes back The Chiefs Esports Club in the form of the previous team 'team' roster. In addition to The Chiefs, Ground Zero have received a warm welcome back by recently announced their Counter Strike roster for 2020 which we covered earlier this month.

Our panellists are all looking forward to the action this weekend with the ESL AUNZ Open Qualifiers. Several of the teams listed below are definitely kicking themselves into gear and ready to make a statement.





Our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive panellists are:

Geordie “ Mac ” McAleer

” McAleer Dion “ Komodo ” Pirotta

” Pirotta Tim " brainstorm " Dunne

" Dunne Mitch “ Conky ” Concanen

” Concanen Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman





1.) Renegades (-)



“The Renegades haven't played an official match since our last edition of the power rankings due to their travels to and from DreamHack Leipzig, but this is nowhere near enough to topple them as the top dogs of Australasian CS. Especially considering ORDER now are down a man. The next game scheduled for the boys is their opener against Fnatic for IEM Katowice at the end of this month, and I for one hope to see them continuing to impress overseas.”

- Tim "brainstorm" Dunne

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Key Achievements:

2-1 vs Mad Lions (DreamHack Leipzig)

2-0 vs Cloud9 (DreamHack Leipzig)

3-1 vs Team team (IEM Katowice Quals)

2-0 vs ORDER (IEM Katowice Quals)

Active Roster: dexter, sico, INS, malta and Hatz

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2.) ORDER (-)

“ORDER have continued a successful MDL campaign in recently, going undefeated in their first 9 games. While their most recent games against top 4 teams were during the IEM Katowice qualifier (discussed in the last power rankings) it's still been a good run from the squad. The main thing we're after from ORDER is who they'll bring in to replace emagine, who recently announced his retirement. Emagine was the ingame leader for ORDER and one of the most experienced players in the region. The organisation is yet to announced a replacement for Emagine, but have announced the signing of Tyler “tucks” Reilly to coach, and using J1rah as a substitute in the meantime. Tucks brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the roster, and J1rah is a sharp player who has experience on several talented squads. Coupled with the permanent signing of Rickeh, the new look ORDER looks quite exciting - it will be interesting to follow their matches and see how they settle.”

- Tim "brainstorm" Dunne

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Key Achievements:

19-16 vs Chiefs (MDL S33)

16-2 vs Formidable (MDL S33)

16-10 vs Airborne (MDL S33)

16-11 vs Paradox (MDL S33)

Active Roster: aliStair, Rickeh, USTILO, Valiance and TBA

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3.) Chiefs ESC (-)

“The Team Team line-up has deservedly been picked up by Chiefs ESC after some rock solid performances. Playing a lot and winning a lot, keeping those reps high has been their key to success here early in 2020. I'm very excited to see where they can go from here since word on the street is they are more motivated to improve than ever before.”

- Geordie “Mac” McAleer

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Key Achievements:

16-5 vs Ground Zero (MDL S33)

16-5 vs Paradox (MDL S33)

16-12 vs Incept (MDL S33)

2-1 vs ORDER (IEM Katowice Quals)

Active Roster: Jinxx, stat, apocdud, SkulL and Mayker

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4.) Avant Gaming (-)

“Avant continues to be a team that is ‘almost’ there. Things were looking good before their roster changes, but the additions of Ofnu and Blitz are yet to yield results that match those of the previous roster. Avant maintain their rank at 4th based on the strength of the roster on paper, and their reasonable performance in the IEM Katowice Qualifiers, but they will need to ensure the new roster meshes well as there are a few teams hot on their heels.”

- Geordie “Mac” McAleer





Key Achievements:

16-3 vs Formidable (MDL S33)

16-6 vs Trident (MDL S33)

16-14 vs MC (MDL S33)

16-9 vs PC419 (MDL S33)

Active Roster: BL1TZ, HaZR, ap0c, ofnu and sterl1ng

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5.) Ground Zero (new)

“Ground Zero are almost taking on the former Genuine Gaming (now Chiefs) rollercoaster of taking it to dominant teams in qualifiers & LAN environments, but dropping the ball completely in some online best of ones. Now that MDL feels like it's being taken more seriously with the ESL Pro League connection, it was a shame to see Ground Zero fall both 7-16 to Madlikewizards, 5-16 to Chiefs & 17-19 to Trident in some of their more recent results, with a strange 16-1 against Airborne thrown into the mix. With events like WESG Global Finals & the ESL One Rio Oceanic Closed Qualifiers on the horizon, and a boot camp to prepare for these events, the Cal 'bURNRUOk' Henderson led roster needs to lift and find that team synergy because when they are firing on all cylinders they can cause some serious damage.”

- Mitch “Conky” Concanen

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Key Achievements:

16-5 vs FURY (MDL S33)

16-1 vs Airborne (MDL S33)

Active Roster: bURNRUOk, PEARS, void, Llamas and Noobster

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6.) Paradox Gaming (-1)

“Paradox are a fundamentally great team, but unfortunately when a handful of members are feeling the cold, they just can't put up the numbers that they need to be to start pressing into that top 5. After being under the SYF banner for quite some time, the roster relatively recently was taken on by the Paradox organisation. Ever since bringing on Luke '1ukey' McMillan, the team has had some inconsistent results, showing amazing promise, but falling behind when it's do or die. With a 14-16, 14-16 knockout to fall just short of the ESL One Rio Oceanic Closed Qualifiers, and a relatively one sided affair at WESG Sydney LAN finals, both times at the hands of Ground Zero Gaming, Paradox have fantastic amounts of potential if they can improve their tact and mental strength in high pressure situations.”

- Mitch “Conky” Concanen

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Key Achievements:

16-8 vs Trident (MDL S33)

2-1 vs Ground Zero (IEM Katowice Quals)

2-0 vs unfortunate circumstances (IEM Katowice Quals)

Active Roster: urbz, ino, ekul, 1ukey and bedonka

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7.) MadLikeWizards (-)

“After what one would describe as a cruisy start to the ESEA MDL season, the competition has continued to heat up for mLw. After continuing their run of form with wins over Skyfire and Airborne, and finding themselves qualified for the Asia Minor closed qualifier, the real test will be over the next week.

With expected matches against Ground Zero, Avant and ORDER (Pending scheduling for ESEA) - now is the time for them to really impress the region.”

- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman





Key Achievements:

16-7 vs Ground Zero (MDL S33)

19-17 vs Airborne (MDL S33)

16-6 vs Skyfire (MDL S33)

2-1 vs Ground Zero (GeForce Cup)

Active Roster: chelleos, ju1ces, flaw, DannyG and nettik

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8.) Airborne EC (-2)

“A rough patch has developed for one of last year's hottest prospects. They failed to qualify for the Asia Minor Closed Qualifier, and have now found themselves on a 3 game losing streak for ESEA against teams where - one could argue - are right on their level. Despite this, they have an opportunity in the coming days with expected matches against ROCK CANDY and The Chiefs, as well as the LPL circuit returning for 2020.

All eyes will be turned to see if they can reignite the spark they showed in late 2019.”

- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman





Key Achievements:

16-14 vs Formidable (MDL S33)

16-12 vs Esper (MDL S33)

16-7 vs Incept (MDL S33)

Active Roster: pz, smooth_crim, JD, Chub and swede

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9.) MC Esports (-1)

“MC has started to have some close results against the teams of higher ranks in MDL this season, which is a great sign for things to come, hopefully.

MC are going stable thus far, and if they can figure out the missing element that seems to be their detriment at the moment then I am sure they will start to have some really good results as they do have some very experienced players in the lineup.”

- Dion “Komodo” Pirotta





Key Achievements:

16-12 vs Airborne (MDL S33)

16-13 vs Paradox (MDL S33)

16-13 vs Formidable (MDL S33)

16-7 vs Incept (MDL S33)

Active Roster: Moey, Noisia, tot, ferg and TBA

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10.) Skyfire (-1)



“Skyfire had a stint of some great wins, although their results have started to go down hill a little bit, but this is only if you look at face value. They have recently played against some strong contenders in the scene so they shouldn't be too discredited.

Skyfire just have to keep up the practice and focus on what they want to achieve, they are a young team with lots of room to be nurtured.”

- Dion “Komodo” Pirotta





Key Achievements:

16-12 vs PC419 (MDL S33)

16-3 vs Incept (MDL S33)

16-14 vs Airborne (MDL S33)

Active Roster: affiNity, LikiAU, lato, Mizzy and Gumpton





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Does our Top 10 differ from your opinion on the current Top 10? Let us know where you would place the teams.







Credits:

Photos by Renegades

