As the first season of 2023 comes to a close and rostermania is underway, it's time to take a look at how the BLAST world ranking is shaping up.
Both Heroic and Vitality have won trophies towards the end of the season, but who comes out on top? Is it the Major champions, or is it the perennial finalists?
Lower down the ranking is also cause for intrigue, did any of the tier two sides that shocked the world in Paris force their way into a respectable position?
Read on to find out more.
It may come as a shock to people considering it was Vitality who won the BLAST.tv Paris Major, but an overall stronger season sees Heroic top the leaderboard in the June rankings.
There's not much in it, however, Heroic's second-placed finish at IEM Katowice and Vitality skipping IEM Dallas means that Heroic just pip them to the top spot.
Vitality are, of course, in second place, and we then see a reasonably large gap in ranking points between them and the third placed team, G2.
G2's placing is largely supported by a strong performance at BLAST Spring Groups and their win in Katowice, placing higher than ESL Pro League Season 17 winners FaZe due to their higher finish at BLAST Spring Final.
The top five is rounded out by NAVI, who might be disappointed by their season overall, but consistent high placings earlier in the season give them enough ranking points to place higher than teams below them.
Just missing out on the top five is ENCE, the first team to be mentioned that isn't a BLAST partner. ENCE have gone from strength to strength since the arrival of Nertz, and their win at IEM Dallas is reflected in their ranking in June.
Cloud9's season may have tapered off towards the end, but the fact they're in sixth place shows the quality of their team despite not featuring at the Major. Boosted by winning Sping Showdown and finishing second at Pro League, they'll be looking to push themselves higher in the second half of the year.
Behind them is BLAST World Final 2022 runners-up, Team Liquid. A team currently undergoing a huge roster revamp with the signings of Patsi and Rainwaker; while we don't know what to expect from their new team yet, we know they'll be looking to return to their trophy-winning ways of 2019.
In 9th place is GamerLegion. The best of the tier two teams in Paris, lesser results outside the Major prevent them from placing any higher. While rumours suggest that they may be losing their captain to MOUZ, an invite to IEM Cologne could see them still earn a respectable ranking later in the year.
Closing out the top 10 is Danish powerhouse Astralis. Bolstered by the return of device, Astralis had a reasonable season. Having recently enlisted the services of Staehr and b0RUP, we're excited to see what they can do in the second half of 2022.
Here is the BLAST Premier World Final Leaderboard tracker updated for June:
1. HEROIC | 9825 POINTS |
2. TEAM VITALITY | 8900 POINTS |
3. G2 ESPORTS | 6825 POINTS |
4. FAZE CLAN | 5800 POINTS |
5. NAVI | 4200 POINTS |
6. ENCE | 3600 POINTS |
7. CLOUD9 | 3525 POINTS |
8. TEAM LIQUID | 2925 POINTS |
9. GAMERLEGION | 2750 POINTS |
10. ASTRALIS | 2325 POINTS |
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