Quick Scope is a series of oftentimes short opinion pieces written by Steven Cropley.

** Keep your seat belt on, this one is going to get a bit “rambly” as we try to make sense of the current CS:GO scene and where I think it could end up come January.

In the current climate, picking the best team in the world is quite difficult. There are many teams in contention and none of them have been consistent enough at big events to push themselves above the masses. We can take a look at recent results in order to get a better picture of what the scene looks like.

Tier 1 international tournament wins from July – Present:

-BLAST Copenhagen: FaZe

-StarSeries i-League Season 8: Evil Geniuses

-DreamHack Masters Malmö: fnatic

-ESL One New York: Evil Geniuses

-BLAST Pro Series Moscow: AVANGAR

-StarLadder Major Berlin: Astralis

-IEM Chicago: Liquid

-BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles: Liquid

-ESL One Cologne: Liquid

Top four finishes out of the above teams in same time period:

Astralis: 5

Liquid: 4

fnatic: 2

EG/NRG: 5

AVANGAR: 2

FaZe: 2

In the conversation you have Astralis, Evil Geniuses, the thread of Liquid holding on, a resurgent fnatic, a better looking Ninjas in Pyjamas, and more who all seem to be closer than they’ve been in a long time.

Natus Vincere and mousesports haven’t lived up to their hype yet while ENCE struggles, 100 Thieves are on the upswing, G2 look to be on the edge of greatness once again and even FaZe picked up a dominant tournament win.

This is a wild west era in the CS:GO timeline as multiple teams pick up major international tournament victories and while one beats the other they soon lose to another.

With Liquid not attending IEM Beijing, they’re missing out on a chance to truly keep their hat in the ring. Should Evil Geniuses pick up their third out of four tournaments win it will definitely help to build their case regardless of whether they’ve battled against their North American rival.

Taking down Astralis yet another time during the run would simply be icing on top as that has been a matchup Astralis can’t seem to crack for some time now. However, should Astralis break the streak it could be exactly what they need to reclaim the throne they held for so long.

While I still think Liquid is a strong opponent who can take down Evil Geniuses, if they’re not there to stop them then EG is poised to take the crown and truly cement their place on top of the CS:GO scene as it stands.

Regardless of how the scene looks in mid-December, it’s due for another shakeup over the Winter holiday. If Valve comes through with a nerf to the Krieg during the player break I think we can expect an even bigger one than I’m already expecting.

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