Official Top 10 UK Counter Strike Source Rankings for February.

The Top 10 in the United Kingdom, official rankings brought to you by Quickscope.

This is one subject which has always been heavily debated for years and years in the Counter Strike Source scene. There is usually a top 2 – 4 teams who are the UK’s finest, who can compete on an International level, and then there is a further 2 – 3 who can compete with the UK’s finest, and then it is the rest, that has really always been the case since 2005, and never really changed, many names have come and gone from the Top 10’s of the past, for example, Four Kings & Reason Gaming, and so on. Nowadays it is all about PowerGaming, Fragmasters TOXIC, Good Looking Gamers and then perhaps everyone else. Today we have the official rankings for the month of February, new for 2010!

In the last month, there has been around 6 threads posted on various sites about what is the Top 10 really, and what line ups play for them, and who thinks who is better. So now, we have your official guide to the Top 10, and each month these rankings will be updated to reflect what has happened in that month.

The Panel:

Mark “MCrossy” Cross

Mark “Crossy” Cross has been gaming since 2002, playing in top 5 ranked teams in Raven Shield and Blackhawk Down before moving to Counter Strike: Source in early 2005. He is perhaps best known for his Shoutcasting, hailed by some as ‘one of the best in the UK’. He is now Manager and occasional bench player for VATIC Gaming, and uses his old contacts to scrounge the odd shoutcasting gig or guest column in the hope of making sure he isn’t forgotten about completely.

First, a quick caveat – This was sprung on me a little quicker than I would have liked.  Picking a UK Top 10 feels like a harder job than it would have been a year or two ago. There are some players and team names that maybe would have been laughed at had they appeared in one of these lists back then. No matter how the scene is now compared to how it was, we’re seeing players who have been plugging away for years working their way to the top. With Dignitas folding, PowerGaming will be the team to beat at LAN and during the EPS. Over the last few years Re1ease is one of those players that has improved by a huge margin, combined with a great mix of skill and experience at a high level. The choice between 2nd and 3rd was tough; Toxic will have the edge as far as individual skill goes, but I’m getting behind the solid line-up of GLG to hold it together better down the stretch. TLR claim the 4th spot almost by default, leaving me to try and fill 6 more spots. There are a lot of teams that spring to mind, with AMDERS a definite possibility. I’ve placed my pick for the future in rive. I’ve known raii since my days of involvement with Infused, and can see him leading this team in the right direction. Time will tell, and as I come to make my picks for next month, I’ll be hoping my faith isn’t misplaced

Adam “Damage” Parkins

One of the most well known characters in Counter Strike Source, and one person who has been around for a long long time. He is known from Rasta Community, and cannot stop talking about them. Whenever anyone mentions Rasta he beams with pride and can certainly go into detail about how Rasta came about. Damage works for the iSeries & Multiplay online as well, so his knowledge of the UK Counter Strike Source scene, is very up to scratch.

I guess I should give some reasoning behind my choices. Judging the current top10 UK teams, was something I found harder the further I went down the list. Not because the teams are “unheard of” or “not very good” but simply because there are so many high end competitive teams out there now. Starting at the top it was easy and there is the standard Power Gaming, Fragmasters Toxic (with a very nice new line-up I might add) and GLG. TLR came next although it was a tough call against GLG. I’m expecting some really nice things from these lads and their position could easily change. Placing 5th, 6th and 7th was something I struggled with. I based my decisions on activity and recent results. Rasta (dot) taking 5th with their recent win over GLG and current performance. Rive in a very close 6th having toppled Rasta (dot) very recently in ESL but also losing to them previously. I’m waiting to see a bit more from the lads before perhaps seeing them higher in the rankings. GE Clan come in next purely because they are fresh and new; yet a very solid set of players. The remaining teams I chose purely based on talent and potential.

Darren “Yakkk” Ball

Darren is well known for his antics at Fragmasters, he manages and oversees all the teams there, including Fragmasters Toxic & the Portugese outfit of Fragmasters Sapphire, he knows his stuff, and he certainly adds a bit of charisma to the panel on Quickscope. If you have a problem, and no one else can help, then you should contact Darren Ball for anything you need.

OOOoo, well this is very cheeky trying to classify the top10. At the bottom there is a bit of flux. In my opinion AMDERS and INTEX will go higher, when or if, they sort out a stable 5th (4th and 5th for intex). AMDERS I think will follow a path all the way up to the top few. For me INTEX will never be higher than just getting in because they need their remaining players and to start practicing. Ex-WildLions may get back if they can sort themselves out too. But at the moment I don’t rate them in my top10.

George “hudzG” Hoskins

George Hoskins is our player on the Panel, and what a player he is. He is a player who spurs a team on when the team is falling apart in a match, and he pulls out some big frags in big matches. He is currently residing in Power Gaming, and will obviously be challenging for a major LAN win in April at the Copenhagen Games. He is also one of the nicest players you could ever talk to, and is a great addition to our panel.

Luke “avaLancHe” Hill

Luke has been around for a long long time, and had built leagues like GBGL, he also helped out at CCSSL, ESL and has had a helping hand at various other leagues. He is now writing for Quickscope, and covering events like EDCSSL & EAS, in which he has come close to almost studying the UK Counter Strike Source scene.

My ratings mainly have come from the default top4. The start of the fight for the last spots immediately boils down to rive. They have the people up and coming as well as more experience lan-wise than any of the other teams. I, unlike some of the other panellists put WildLions quite high because again the experience speaks volumes and they will be attending up and coming LAN events I believe. Even though they’re no-longer there I believe. A few of the EAS-1 teams for me deserve their spot in there thanks to the activity they display. And I believe the outsiders (People I didn’t have in my top10) would also come from there.

February Official QuickScope uk top10 rankings.

1. Power Gaming ( HenryG , hudzG , Re1ease , wilzOO , Helblinde )

2. Fragmasters Toxic ( ritch , hughsy , gem , nayden , mx )

3. Twisted Play Good Looking Gamers ( ShiGeru , Boostey , callisto , Gom8z , w1p , fearLess )

4. The Last Resort ( Carrel , Deathdisco , macky , peakz , Tucker )

5. Rive ( bash , BRAMLEY , Fudzx , raii , kmry , drazah )

6. Rasta. ( criM , Holl1s , surreal , Rass , foolio )

7. Masters Of The Game ( HippY , Dre^ , KingJah , oselly , larz , goosestepper )

8. AMDERS ( dN , SkiddY , ZooL , icebox , worZal )

9. Goddamn $exy Gamers ( Rain , maarc , f00b , Mercy , Exume )

10. GE Clan ( menengroth , Tenshi , jordy , Whindanski , Fury )

275 points in total are awarded, 257 of these were present in our top10, showing our panellists agreed almost unequivocally.

In our first outing. It’s nice to know there was a tie. As this was the first panel the tie-breaker (Between teams 8[AMDERS] and 9[GE Clan] was separated on the amount of votes they received. AMDERS received three votes to be in the top10, whereas GEClan only received two.) In future months, these tie breakers will be separated on their previous months position.

The Main outsiders were noREPLY + Wild Lions. Both of whom scored relatively high due to one or two panelists giving them the nod over others. MINISTRY also managed to score 3 votes! More than GEClan and G$G; Although this wasn’t enough to take them into the top10.

All the way down to position 7, our panelists agreed on with a full complement of five votes, showing that even though people may say the top10 is open after positions 4/5; The consensus is that the same sort of teams are appearing in or around the right areas.

As always if there are any concerns or issues please feel free to give us a comment or let us know some how, Especially in the roster naming, in which we have sometimes had to go off website registrations.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 20:27 and is filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.