Elo Ratings

Rank Team Name Elo Rating 1 KSV Black 1975 2 Team Dignitas 1779 3 Ballistix Gaming 1716 4 Fnatic 1674 5 Team Expert 1644 6 Super Perfect Team 1547 7 Tempest 1544 8 Tempo Storm 1538 9 Zealots 1538 10 ce 1500 11 Team BlossoM 1489 12 Diamond Skin 1487 13 Team Liquid 1479 14 Team Freedom 1469 15 Miracle 1469 16 Tricked Esports 1466 17 Team Twelve 1462 18 The One 1453 19 Heroes Hearth - NEW 1440 20 LFM Esports - NEW 1440 21 Leftovers - NEW 1440 22 Team Feliz - NEW 1440 23 Good Luck - NEW 1440 24 Team Ace - NEW 1440 Taiwan 1436 25 Gale Force Esports 1432 26 RPG 1416 27 Spacestation Gaming 1397 28 Old Gods 1394 Oceania 1391 29 Kudos Top 1389 30 Start Over Again 1388 31 Beyond the Game 1367 Southeast Asia 1354 32 Hots Lady 1344 Latin America 1299

Week 1 Preview

North America

Europe

Korea

A necessary caveat: these ratings are expected to be unstable. This is the start of the season, any many teams have new rosters, and we've seen surprisingly few rosters play. Further, because we have just left international play, some teams are artificially inflate for deflated, as it helps keep region averages in line. This is important, since the North American Elo average SHOULD be lower than Europe and Korea given recent international play.An even bigger caveat: I have no clue what's going on in China. There has, to the best of my knowledge, been no news on HGC China for 2018 published in English. Further, to the best of my awareness, China's Gold League website has no been updated since the end of the fall season. This includes nothing on the website about GCWC that I can see. So, in other words, I have no clue what China's doing. As China's rosters and teams are revealed, it could shift all remaining teams a few points up or down. In the meantime, I include previous Chinese teams as a point of reference.Because of these caveats, I will not simulate the season yet. At this point, results would just track linearly with Elo numbers, making them somewhat uninteresting.NA showed slow but steady improvement over much of 2017, before Team Twelve hit a disappointing run in GCWC. North America had a lot of rosters swaps, but despite, there are only a few truly new players in the scene. With several retooled rosters, some guys immediately be highlighted:- Right out of the gate is an intriguing match-up with a lot of players familiar with each other. Old God's King Caffeine and k1pro were on Gale Force in 2017, which can always create emotion. Further, bkid and bigEmpact on GFE were former teammates with Zuna on Old Gods. There are rumblings on the reddits and twitters of HGC that both teams will take step backwards in 2018. This is a chance to start proving the detractors wrong for both teams.- Jschritte took a leap of faith coming to NA. The absolute veteran of Latin America now finds himself immediately in the spotlight in NA. He will definitely be the focal point for many watching SSG this weekend. Both of these teams find themselves in the bottom half of the standings last season, and combine they changed 5 players. Similar to the first highlighted match, this will show us whether these roster changes paid off.- Both of these teams have a ton of buzz. HeroesHearth, featuring former pros and unique drafts, rose above the rest of the Open Division and became the first North American team to enter HGC via winning in the Crucible. Meanwhile, Tempo Storm added Glaurung and Fan, leading to huge roster buzz. Will the super team formula work, or will the team struggle to find identity? Tune in to find out.- Team Freedom upsetting Gale Force in phase 1 of 2017 set the tone for their rise in North America. However, Team Freedom lost their big assassins in daneski and kure to Team Twelve. With both rosters having retooled, this is a great matchup of veterans in the NA season vs. the young up and comers that surprised us last year.Europe had a strong 2017, but did not manage to close out a Blizzcon win thanks to the revival of KSV Black. After a level 5 rosterpocalypse devasted the European countryside, Dignitas and Fnatic are still viewed as the teams to beat. Meanwhile, Leftovers joins after beating The Good Guys in the Crucible. Any game in Europe can be an upset because of just how deep the region is. However, I want to highlight two games in particular.- Team Liquid started 2017 at the top of HGC Europe, but steadily fell down the ranks, failing to make either the Mid-Season Brawl or Blizzcon. Zealots didn't even start 2017 in HGC, but earned their way with a 4-1 victory over Synergy in the first phase Crucible. Zealots steadily improved throughout phase 2, and was on series away from Blizzcon, which they lost to Expert 3-1 in the Playoffs. With the roster changes, will these trends continue? Will one of these middle-of-the-pack EU teams rise up?- on paper, Dignitas is a huge favorite here after their fantastic showing at GCWC. However, Tricked Esports showed upset potential throughout 2017, and will come in hungry. We'll see if Dignitas is overconfident coming in to 2018.Three new teams join Koreas HGC, after Raven and Rrr lost out in the Crucible, and Mighty's players were scavenged by the remaining teams. Good Luck, Team Ace, and Team Feliz will look to add depth to a region that last year had very few upsets.- any time 2 of the top 3 in Korea go head to head, it's must see Twitch.tv. KSV Black looked simply dominant at GCWC, and will still have all 5 from their world championship roster. Tempest saw a couple roster swaps, after they were disappointed in their showing in Phase 2 and at Blizzcon.- Both of these teams hung around the 5th-7th place rankings last season. While Miracle had moments, mass roster changes and inconsistency took their toll. Team BlossoM steadily improved, but hasn't moved up enough to challenge the top teams in Korea. Still, with so many new teams in Korea, this match could have Crucible significance come the end of Phase 1.