An updated list of the 30 best teams in competitive CSGO according to HLTV.
Somewhat expectedly, 2023 has gone off to a blistering start for the CSGO scene. The HLTV World Rankings of the top 30 teams have been updated as of February 7, and are a testament to the constantly shifting status quo that makes the pro scene great. With BLAST Premier Spring Groups finishing up in January along with a bunch of online tournaments — some of which are still running — there has been a considerable movement within the table.
There’s been a pretty major shake-up of the table, with some teams climbing at the expense of others. Teams such as G2 and FaZe have come back even stronger, proving themselves a force to be reckoned with.
At the same time, not every team has lived up to expectations in the last few games. Teams like Cloud9 have not been in their best form after returning to the scene, while FURIA have been struggling since making the Semifinals of the Rio Major.
That being said, the table will likely undergo many more changes by the end of February due to both IEM Katowice and the start of ESL Pro League 17.
Before getting into the nitty gritty, new fans and readers may need a brief guide to the typical HLTV x 1xBet team ranking system. Performances of the different teams across the board are assessed through their endeavors within the last two months, along with their performance records in the other recent tournaments that have taken place in the last 3 months. Moreover, for teams that have re-emerged to participate in the events, there is a rate of decay per month that is also taken into account.
HLTV Rankings as of February 7, 2023
Here’s a list of the 30 best teams at the moment, according to HLTV, ranked in order based on their achievements, form and LAN scores as of February 6.
G2 Dominates the Chart
G2 lead the HLTV team ranks courtesy of their incredible form since winning the BLAST Premier World Final. Winning 15 tournament matches in a row, they have earned the top spot with some exemplary gameplay and teamwork. Leading the squad is Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen, and together with star player Nikola “NiKo” Kovac — who is in his own lane of excellence — the duo have reshaped G2. Justin “jks” Savage” and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov have also left indelible marks on these performances, assisted by the proactive Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac.
G2 went all-in at BLAST Premier Spring Groups, where they played and won twice against Ukrainian giants Natus Vincere and once against German underdogs BIG. Most recently, the squad bested multinational superteam FaZe Clan to qualify for the IEM Katowice playoffs.
Given their record in 2023, G2 remains unbeaten and if they continue in this fashion, they could easily dominate the rankings in the months to come.
IHC Become a Force
IHC could not make it into the 20 best by an inch despite their remarkable rise over the last few weeks and months. However, from being a decently performing team to shaking up the gaming community with some tremendous recent upsets, IHC has become a team to be watched.
The team has sealed its position as the best in the APAC region. Not only did they secure a spot at two Majors in a row, but their name commonly appears in the top two places at regional events. IHC have also set a new standard for themselves at LAN tournaments by defeating the likes of South American hopefuls paiN, Brazilian S-Tier mainstay FURIA and CIS beasts Cloud9. By taking these teams down, the Mongolians have become the de-facto representatives of their region for the time being.
The plucky underdogs couldn’t push past the might of FaZe at IEM Katowice to crack the top 20, but they had fans at the edge of their seats even with Baatarkhuu “Bart4k” Batbold standing in for Bat-Enkh “kabal” Batbayar. This led them to be ranked 21st among the very best teams in the world, according to HLTV.
While FaZe turned out to be a bite bigger than what IHC are currently able to chew, that is not to say that the tables won’t be turned at the next Katowice tournament if the Mongols mature their play style.
Aurora Secures 28th Place
Winners of the CCT South Europe Series, Aurora has the community cheering for their wins against teams like GamerLegion and Bad News Eagles. Aurora’s roster saw some changes since the European Regional Major Rankings qualifiers, but their record has been pretty solid lately.
They poke into the top 30 by way of a recently-broken 15-series win streak, thanks largely to the promising Viktor “Lack1” Boldyrev. Two of their constants, Evgeny “Norwi” Ermolin and Aleksandr “KENSI” Gherkin have also been instrumental in landing the team their first B-Tier win with a triumph at CCT South Europe Series #2. Another player worth mentioning is AWPer Vladislac “latt1kk” Vydrin who came through for the squad with some big plays.
Sadly for Aurora fans, the up-and-coming team’s streak was finally put to an end by four-time Major winners Astralis in the final of CCT North Europe Series #3.
Cloud9 Off to a Messy Start
Moving on to Cloud9, they have been underwhelming in terms of performance despite having the likes of Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, Abai “HObbit” Hasenov and Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov in their squad.
Recently, they replaced Timofey “interz” Yakushin with former Outsiders rifler Timur “buster” Tulepov, and although they qualified through the Katowice Play-In, the team suffered an early exit after being defeated by Natus Vincere and IHC.
When interz was benched, there was a lot of speculation and doubts about buster floating around. This doubt continues as C9 is yet to resolve their player crisis, with buster’s 0.85 rating at his first tournament being a cause for concern for the Eastern Europeans. The removal of longtime player interz will continue to haunt them until they are able to find a worthy replacement.
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