After a brief hiatus in the monthly top ten rankings, due to Felix not being able to compile rankings due to inactivity, I have taken over the Cadred Monthly Top 10 Rankings. 1 Birmingham Salvo 3 225 points 2 Four Kings 1 165 points 3 London Mint 4 147 points 4 Logitech.fi 3 141 points 5 Nameless 122 points 6 Team Alternate 94 points 7 Berlin Allianz 6 85 points 8 fnatic 3 75 points 9= Stockholm Magnetik 62 points 9= eSuba 4 62 points The first thing I decided to take a look at was the method. Options included sticking with the voting system, moving to a points for winning based system or combining the two. I decided to stick with the voting system primarily because I feel in the past the voting surveys have not been comprehensive enough. In this top 10 I have approached and received votes from over 25 people, ranging from respected scene journalists to top players from across Europe. I have also decided to keep the vote as transparent as possible, with the names of everyone who voted listed (minus a few people who wish to remain anonymous) as well as the total and mean scores each team received. The scoring system is as follows, each voter names 10 teams in the order 1-10; for each first place vote a clan receives it gains 10 points, second place 9 points, right through to 1 point for tenth place. The overall score is tallied and then ordered, it’s as simple as that. --- The timing of this article is a bit odd. Recently several top teams such as Reason Gaming and MeetYourMakers have folded, while a multitude of other teams have folded. The vacuum which has appeared, waiting for the teams that will be no doubt announced shortly to fill it, has left this one of the weakest top 10 lists for quite a while. Yet while the stars of old die out, new stars emerge to take their places, for example this month sees nameless (formerly creative) come in from nowhere into the top five. Another timing issue is LAN79, the pre-coverage which will start over the next few days, which sees half the top 10 in attendance, which may sound like a lot, but considering the commitment of nearly all ten before the LAN scramble for flights and money it looks weak.

The Teams

Birmingham Salvo

Despite a roster change after the i33 victory (Elliot “Wez” Welsh in for the stand-in Louis “Red” Nyberg) this team was a dead cert for the top spot, with only three people deciding not to put them first in their vote. A blistering performance at i33 reminding us why we pin our hopes yet again on this team to take the fight to the yanks at the CGS World Finals (Should they reach them). Ironically this line-up may change with ease at the CGS Combine & Draft, with Michael “ODEE” O’Dell deciding not to keep five, or a more likely option, new London Mint GM Ben Woodward deciding to poach one of the two stars O’Dell cannot possibly protect.

Disclaimer: The roster here is not the official Birmingham Salvo roster; it is the roster attending the CGS Combine & Draft where Michael O’Dell will choose the final squad.

Four Kings

Despite a third place I33 finish the team carries favour over from the Spring Invite second place and the Eurocup win. Yet despite the sterling results all is not as it seems on the Four-kings front, with Juha “aNgeldust” Kurppa destined for the compulsory Finnish national service shortly, the team has yet to make its intentions clear on the future plans for any replacement.

All Juha "Eversor" Tolonen can say is “Let’s see what happens.”

London Mint

Only Birmingham Salvo could stand between Mint and a second successive first place finish at I33, despite the runner up finish they’ve been put in third place possibly due to the a roster change, with stand-in Erik “HaZ” Holm being replaced by George “HudzG” Hoskins. Another roster at the mercy of a GM, with Ben possibly deciding he wants the team Mint had at IG5 and poaching back James “WilzOOO” Wilson.

Disclaimer: The roster here is not the official London Mint roster; it is the roster attending the CGS Combine & Draft where Ben Woodward will choose the final squad.

Logitech.fi

A surprisingly poor i33 has confused and perplexed a team that pre and post LAN did so well. LAN79 is an effort to change the ED Spring Invite winner’s LAN fortunes; with Juha “aNgeldust” Kurppa standing in for Marko “Owa” Mattila in what could be Kurppa’s last LAN.

New recruit Juho “Zaikovski” Sunnari seems to be fitting well into the roster, LAN79 will certainly determine where Logitech will place in next month’s rankings.

nameless

The highest new entry in our ten this month is nameless, formerly known as creativ, who have been setting the Counter-Strike: Source scene on fire with a string of surprising results as the underdog. A third place finish in the ED Spring Invite means this will no longer be the case and the upcoming LAN79 on “home turf” could prove the advantage to propel the French team to a huge upset.

French team, online, blatant, yet backed up with some strong performances at local French LAN’s the “OH NO ITS LAN” factor seems to be low with this outfit, LAN79 will be the test.

Team Alternate

Team Alternate, or Alternate aTTaX if you can’t be bothered with formalities like me, seemingly the only German team who dares to venture out of the clique that is the German EPS.

I33 was a good solid fifth performance, with an incredible triple overtime match against four-kings, the team will need to place top three at LAN79 to satisfy the fans back home who long to see a German team win something more than EPS.

Berlin Allianz

Not much is to be said about the Allianz, personally I’m surprised they’re this high as they’ve been involved in no major tournaments over the past few months. Yet the top players know something I don’t as they get to PCW against them, so on that note I’ll bite my tongue and move onto fnatic.

Disclaimer: The roster here is not the official Berlin Allianz roster; it is the roster attending the CGS Combine & Draft where Jonas Alasker Vikan will choose the final squad.

fnatic

If I said six months ago fnatic would be eight in anyone’s top ten I would be called an idiot. Well it’s happened. I33 should not be the judge of the drop, due to the fact they were playing Counter-Strike: Guitar Hero, a brand new fusion of two games which should never be mixed over at the fnatic stand. Can the danger of losing a title motivate this team into gear at LAN79, I hope so.

This is a team I think everyone wants to succeed now and prove people wrong.

Stockholm Magnetik

Pretty much the same story as the Berlin Allianz, inactivity, with the exception of Erik “Haz” Holm and Louis “Red” Nyberg, whom instead of waiting for the next season of CGS to roll around, have been actively playing with the British teams, and even making them win! Rumours indicate a roster change in the squad attending the roster, however I’m unable to confirm this so until the middle of May I’ll leave you with Holm, “We haven’t talked about it yet”.

Disclaimer: The roster here is not the official Stockholm Magnetik roster; it is the roster attending the CGS Combine & Draft where Emil Christensen will choose the final squad.

eSuba

“WT has the flu” said Marek ".PhP" Kádek on the Cadred forums recently. Luckily for the top 10’s credibility eSuba will be at LAN79 with WT. Cheating accusations have marred the team’s recent online successes, LAN79 will either put all that to a dead halt or intensify it further. A team I’d love to see do well at LAN79, with a lot more than just prize money resting on the result.

On an interesting side not neither of the eSuba players who voted placed themselves in the top 10.

Outsider

Guns4Hire - 48

Thanks to the following people who submitted votes;