We have updated our Global Team Ranking—powered by EGB.com—for November 2017.

After a month headlined by the ELEAGUE Premier Finals and by EPICENTER, November had in IEM Oakland and BLAST Pro Series its biggest events, with two very different outcomes: the Danish event was topped by SK, a regular in finals, while the North American competition was won by NiP, who proved that one can always return to a place where they were once happy.

Apart from these two events, there were some smaller-scale offline tournaments since our last monthly update, most notably DreamHack Winter, which saw Natus Vincere win their first title with the new roster, and iBUYPOWER Masters, where Cloud9 reigned supreme.

SK move up to first following BLAST Pro Series win

SK and FaZe swap positions following the Brazilians' success in Copenhagen, while Astralis break into the top three at the expense of G2, who move down three positions to sixth. With their Oakland campaign, NiP are very close to the podium, with Cloud9 rounding off our top five.

Here's a summary of our ranking for new readers:

Our team ranking is based on teams' achievements over the past year (with severe decay in points throughout each month), recent form over the last 2 months, and performance at offline events in the last 3 months. Each team is required to have a three-man core in order to retain their points and online results are included but have minimal effect (only affecting 'Form') at the top of the table and mainly serve to put new teams on the map.

Here is the current top 30 table as of December 4, 2017, which goes more in-depth into the waypoints are distributed – or you can check our special page where you will be able to find the latest, weekly version of our ranking. You can see the lineup for each team by hovering over their name in the table.

Please note that the +/- gain on this table differs from our weekly rankings page, and it is related to the ranking update of November 6, 2017.

Top 30 Team Ranking Powered by EGB.com

Here's an explanation of the top 15 teams' history since our last monthly update:

1. SK

After losing their No.1 status to FaZe, the Brazilians were out to reclaim the top spot in the ranking in November. As expected, SK won the Brazilian WESG qualifier in convincing fashion, beating INTZ, BootKamp and TeamOne without dropping a single map.

Their next event took them to Oakland, where they looked shaky at first, finishing third of their group following two defeats on the second day of the tournament. After proving their doubters wrong with a comprehensive 2-0 victory over an underperforming OpTic side, the Brazilians were defeated by eventual champions NiP in an exciting three-map series.

SK are back at the top - but will they hold on?

SK returned to action at the very month's end, attending the BLAST Pro Series, in Copenhagen. Once again, the Brazilians got off to a slow start, being humbled by an Astralis side fielding a stand-in, but they still managed to come second in the group - a story that could have had a very different outcome had the tournament featured overtime in the groups as they could have found themselves level on points with FaZe, who had the head-to-head advantage.

The grand final began with Astralis taking the first map, but SK picked themselves up thanks to a vintage performance from FalleN, who has been doing a lot more work for the team since João "⁠felps⁠" Vasconcellos's exit, winning their second international title with their new roster.

Having failed to qualify for the ECS Finals, SK will put all their focus on the ESL Pro League Finals, in Denmark. They will need to be wary of FaZe, who are in close pursuit and will attend both events - which could potentially dent the Brazilians' plans to finish the year on top.

2. FaZe

FaZe gained some points compared to last month's update but still move down to second after failing to win a title - even though they came very close to doing so in Oakland, where they lost out to NiP in a five-map thriller after finishing at the top of their group with four victories from five matches.

The European mixture travelled to Copenhagen looking to get back to winning ways, but fell victim to the tournament's unorthodox format as a 15-15 draw with NiP prevented them from finishing in the top two in the group - with the additional $20,000 earned in the standoff match against North offering little solace.

FaZe came close to winning IEM Oakland, but lost to NiP

November showed that FaZe are not the mean machine that many had made them out to be and that there are still many flaws in their game, which tactical teams tend to exploit. With SK missing the ECS Season 4 Finals, karrigan's team may not even need to bring their A game in December to end 2017 at the top of the ranking.

3. Astralis

Astralis move up to third in the ranking despite a tough month all around. The Danes had to field coach Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen as a stand-in in their first match at IEM Oakland, which they lost to eventual champions NiP. With device back in the fold, the Danes did not fare any better, and placed third of their group, one point behind Cloud9 and SK as a result of the tournament's new points system.

Upon returning home, Astralis won two of their last four online matches in ECS to secure a top-four finish by the skin of their teeth, finishing above NiP solely thanks to round difference. It was around that time that the Danish team learned they would attend BLAST Pro Series without device, who was ruled out of the event due to medical reasons.

Astralis return to the top three

Losing their star player came as a heavy blow to Astralis, especially considering that it was the team's parent company hosting the event, but the Danes surpassed all expectations with Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman as a stand-in, topping their group and then losing out to SK in a keenly-contested final.

dupreeh has been able to fill in for device in the AWP role really well, but the team's chances at the ESL Pro League Finals and at the ECS Finals do not look good. They will have to attend these two events with Ruben "⁠RUBINO⁠" Villarroel, a much more passive player than dennis and one who has been quite underwhelming on dignitas, so it will not be a surprise if Astralis cannot hold on to their No.3 status, even though there is a sizeable gap between them and their closest suitors, NiP, Cloud9 and G2.

4. NiP

NiP were one of the winners of November after wowing the community in Oakland, defending their 2016 title against a stacked field that included most of the big-name teams in the scene. The Ninjas finished at the top of their group with a 4-1 record, and they followed that up with close wins against the top two teams in the world, SK and FaZe, to cap off a stunning campaign that had two major contributors: REZ and f0rest.

The Swedish team then swallowed a bitter pill as they failed to secure a spot at the ECS Finals, but made up for that by placing fifth in the online portion of the ESL Pro League, thus qualifying for the offline finals, in Odense.

NiP won their first big event in a while

NiP tried to repeat the performances from Oakland at BLAST Pro Series, but with the other teams wary of the threat posed by them, Xizt's side finished at the bottom of the round-robin stage, with the 15-15 draw against FaZe and the 16-2 thrashing of North being the only positives that they took.

The Ninjas closed off the month with a strong points gain, but they will find it extremely hard to keep their current spot in the ranking, unless they pull off another miraculous run in Odense. Be it as it may, NiP will end 2017 in a much better place than when the year started, and they can seriously look ahead to 2018 with hope.

5. Cloud9

The North American team continue to climb in the rankings, this time two spots from October's seventh place following an overall impressive month that included two domestic titles and a deep run at IEM Oakland.

At the ESL event, Cloud9 acquitted themselves really well and finished ahead of SK, Astralis and Envy in their group before edging past Gambit in the quarter-finals. A semi-final clash against FaZe proved too much for them to handle as they were outclassed by the European team, settling for a 3rd-4th place finish.

Cloud9 won the iBUYPOWER Masters last month

Prior to their Oakland campaign, Cloud9 had already given a good account of themselves in Santa Ana, winning the iBUYPOWER Masters after a solid run that included wins over Liquid and Renegades. And, to end the month on a good note, tarik's troops came out on top of the CyberPowerPC Extreme Gaming Series Winter after beating Torqued, SoaR and the ex-CLG squad.

With $92,000 in tournament winnings, November surely was a productive month for Cloud9, who surprisingly missed out on a spot at the ESL Pro League Season 6 finals. That will seriously damage their chances of leapfrogging NiP in the ranking, also considering that they have been placed in a very tough group in the ECS Season 4 Finals alongside Astralis, FaZe and Liquid.

6. G2

November was yet another disappointing month for G2, who could not get past the groups at either IEM Oakland or BLAST Pro Series, winning just three of the ten matches they played at these two events.

To make matters worse, they failed to qualify for the Pro League Finals and for the ECS Finals. This means that the next time we see G2 perform will likely be at the ELEAGUE Major Main Qualifier, next year.

With no activity in December, G2 will continue to plummet in the ranking, and they will end the year closer to the bottom of the top 10 than to the summit - something that seemed unthinkable when the roster was unveiled.

7. North

The Danish squad drop two spots in the ranking after losing a severe amount of points from their run to the grand final at DreamHack Masters Malmö, which fell away from the recent LANs threshold.

North started off the month with their last matches in ESL Pro League, where MSL & co. clinched five out of six wins over three lower-tier teams in the European division. After a two-week hiatus from competition, the Danes participated in their only LAN of the month, BLAST Pro Series in Copenhagen. However, North only came away with one win in the round-robin (against FaZe), as they drew with Astralis and G2 and lost to SK and NiP.

8. Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro have also conceded two spots following a busy month full of online matches, with WESG EU & CIS Regional Finals closing out November for the Poles. TaZ's men were unable to qualify for the ESL Pro League Relegation, losing to AGO and Space Soldiers in the spot-deciding stages of ESEA MDL Season 26 playoffs.

November was a disappointing month for Virtus.pro

After missing out on the ECS Season 4 Finals with just two wins in 12 matches throughout November, the Poles travelled to Barcelona for the aforementioned WESG, where they found little success, having been eliminated early following three ties and a loss in the group stage.

9. mousesports

mousesports climb from 12th to ninth place after a great November. The European mixture first finished ECS Season 4 Europe in third place thanks to seven out of eight wins last month, earning a place at the Cancun finals later in December.

mousesports have broken into the top 10

At the turn of the month, chrisJ & co. made the grand final at DreamHack Open Winter, beating Gambit convincingly before conceding the final series to Natus Vincere.

10. Liquid

The North American squad dropped to the brink of the top-10 from eighth place, largely because of their lineup change from Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz to steel in mid-November, which cost Liquid a portion of their points.

Despite that, they were able to put together solid results, all things considered. Liquid closed out ECS Season 4 with three out of six wins, placed third-fourth at iBUYPOWER Masters (still with stanislaw, however), and got two early wins, over Renegades and Gambit, at IEM Oakland shortly after the lineup change.

11. Gambit

Gambit lost a position in the rankings after a month which included the end of a very mediocre MDL season, in which they placed ninth, followed by a quarter-final exit at IEM Oakland despite a very shaky start with three losses in a row.

The Kazakhstani then travelled to Jönköping looking to defend their 2016 DreamHack Winter title, and things were looking up for them after they topped their group over Natus Vincere. However, AdreN's men were simply outclassed by mousesports in the semi-finals, with even star member Hobbit looking way off the pace.

Quarter-final run in Oakland the only highlight for Gambit in November

This was not the end of the road for Gambit: they will still attend ROG Masters 2017, in Kuala Lumpur, a tier-two event that could very well breathe some life into the current Major champions.

12. fnatic

The Swedes of fnatic had a good end to their online season, winning both ECS and ESL Pro League’s European divisions, and qualified for the WESG Finals in China after a fourth place at the EU & CIS Regional event, which they attended with Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin a stand-in.

fnatic have two offline events coming up, giving them plenty of chances to gather some points and end the year in the top 10, which would be a great achievement for a team still trying to adapt to the leadership of Golden.

13. Renegades

The Australian team had a healthy four-position leap in the rankings after making it all the way to the final at the iBUYPOWER Masters, where they lost to Cloud9.

Later in the month, Renegades were in action at IEM Oakland, where they finished just one point adrift of a playoff berth, taking solace from the fact that they were able to pick up wins over G2 and OpTic.

NAF has been in stunning form for Renegades

Having failed to qualify for the offline finals of Pro League and ECS, Renegades will turn their attention to the Major qualifier. However, the North America-based organisation will also need to worry about retaining the services of their most prized asset, NAF, who has been turning heads with his sensational form since joining the team.

14. Envy

After disappointing finishes online, missing out on the ESL Pro League and ECS Finals, and a 9-10th place exit in Oakland, Envy lost a spot in the ranking despite qualifying for the WESG Finals in China with 4/5 of their roster, and a semifinal run at DreamHack Winter where they went out to the eventual champions, Natus Vincere.

15. Natus Vincere

The Russian-Ukrainian side, Natus Vincere, remains in the same #15 spot from last month’s ranking update despite a victory at DreamHack Winter, where s1mple carried the team to victory.

Na`Vi remain 15th as a result of a point decay

Na`Vi’s point decay and low activity, combined with a 12th place finish in ESL Pro League, rendered their DreamHack Winter victory nearly moot.