THESPIKE.GG Rankings Update - 25th February 2021

Welcome to the latest THESPIKE.GG rankings update! We’ve made a few massive changes to what we had previously, and we’re very excited to share with everyone.

New Rankings

The community has been asking for new rankings for some time, and we’re excited to share that they’re coming! Brazil and LATAM rankings will be added by the end of this week, while we hope to make Oceania happen in the near future.

Restructuring Asia

Another big change you may have noticed is that our previous “Asia” ranking is gone, now being split into three categories: Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia (to be added shortly). With the VALORANT Champions Tour in full swing, we found teams from these three regions were playing each other less and less, and that, when it did happen, the best of the best teams in Asia were never taking part. So we’ve made the decision to split them up into three separate rankings.

With that all in mind, let’s take a run-down of where each region stands!

North America

After a massive surge in Challengers 2, Envy find themselves very secure in their second-place position, and place just barely behind Sentinels. The top five is rounded out by the three new, rising rosters, of XSET, Luminosity Gaming, and Immortals, with 100 Thieves tying Immortals for fifth. The order of these essentially goes by who has had more time as a core and who has played more events - Immortals, being the newest of these rosters and not playing any events between First Strike and the VCT, place just barely in the final spot out of these three despite having some of the biggest success. Several teams that have participated in Challengers finish up the top 10, namely FaZe Clan, Gen.G Esports, NRG Esports, and NYFU.

One of the biggest moves has to be TSM falling out of the top 10 for the first time ever. With poor performances lately, failing to qualify for either Challengers event, their First Strike finals appearance wasn’t enough to keep them up. Another big faller is T1, who have made major roster changes lately on top of having poor performances in the VCT open qualifiers.

Europe

Europe has far-and-away it’s biggest mover in the form of Ninjas in Pyjamas. After impressing in both Challengers and securing a spot in Masters, taking down G2 Esports both times, they’ve moved up to second and are only 7 points off of the first-place Team Heretics. G2, despite disappointing in Challengers, still find themselves third in part thanks to their Red Bull Home Ground victory, while FunPlus Phoenix complete the top 5.

New teams, in the form of Alliance and OG Esports, make a big first showing, while one of the biggest stories in Europe, Wave Esports, move up a grand total of 17 places. The top 20 is rounded out by Turkish and CIS teams, who are slightly behind on their VALORANT Champions Tour events, as well as two of the unsigned teams that surprised in Challengers 2 by pushing some of Europe’s best teams, Illuminar Gaming and Animel.

Korea

DRX becomes the first team ever to reach 1000 points upon the splitting of Asia into three regions. While the gap has been closing - that can be seen in the scorelines of maps and the amount of draws and 3-game series they’ve had to go through lately - their undefeated streak still hasn’t been broken and they’re the top team Korea has. Some 200 points back are First Strike finalists TNL Esports - though a recent roster change has given them some difficulties, as they had to play with their coach in Challengers 2, RyZzi’s arrival for Challengers 3 is sure to make them a favourite for Masters. The other 3 Masters participants round out the top 5 - NUTURN and Rio Company are no surprise to see here, while GOnGO Prince have jumped far up the rankings. However, ZFGaming are only 2 points behind them after impressing in Challengers 2, but falling just short of Masters. World Game Star and Dplus round out the top 8, and Challengers 1 participants Hamtories and GOMA place top 10, though the future of the former is uncertain with Jinx having joined Japanese organization FENNEL.

Japan

While ZETA DIVISION don’t quite reach 1000 points, they come very close, at 991. The gap is smaller here than in Korea, with FAV gaming hot on Jupiter’s heels after great, consistent performances recently. Japan has only played one round of VCT events so far, unlike the rest of the world who have played two. This keeps First Strike performers, such as BlackBird Ignis, quite high in the rankings. Lag Gaming, at 8th, have recently picked up some new players, and have to be one of the teams to watch as they settle in.

We know plenty of criticism has been levelled at our rankings lately. These changes are our first step into making them something that we and you can be proud of, and we’ll continue to monitor how else we can improve them. But for now, that’s all we have to share this week. Keep an eye out for the Brazilian, Latin American, and Southeast Asian rankings, which should be added by the end of the week.