The past couple of weeks have seen a lot of action for the top teams in Oceania. With Genuine and Ground Zero returning home from Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Finals, Season 10 of ESL Pro League wrapped up, and the NVIDIA GeForce Cup in full swing, the competitive environment has been busier than ever.
Our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive panelists are:
1.) Grayhound Gaming (-)
“Grayhound Gaming have once again cemented themselves as the number one domestic team with 2-0 victories over all three of the other top four teams - half of which being single digit results for their opponents - the GH boys are looking as dominant as ever - this is possibly the biggest domestic skill gap we've ever seen between the top team and those below them. With their victory at EPL they've booked a spot at the Odense finals, so all eyes will be on them once more as they head international to test themselves against the best.”
- Tim "brainstorm" Dunne
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: dexter, sico, INS, malta and DickStacy
2.) ORDER (-)
“Order have recently defeated the majority of other teams in the region multiple times, with the exception of the Grayhounds. They handed out solid defeats to Chiefs and Avant in Pro League and beat Chiefs 3-2 in the ESEA MDL Grand Final (effectively 3-1 due to map advantage for Chiefs). Looking back further to the eXTREMESLAND qualifiers, Order came in second to GH after defeating Chiefs and Avant again and even managed a close series against the Grayhounds, though the Hounds did have a stand-in. Overall, Order are in a comfortable second place due to consistent defeats over other teams in the top of the rankings, but they - like the majority of others - have so far been unable to consistently challenge Grayhounds domestically.”
- Tim "brainstorm" Dunne
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: emagine, aliStair, hatz, USTILO and Valiance
3.) The Chiefs Esports Club (-)
“After the great effort the Chiefs showcased at the OMEN Challenger Series, ORDER have bounced back in the feud for the second position, which should lead for Chiefs to be hungrier than ever, as they know what they are capable of. I will be keeping my eyes peeled in this next sprint to see how the Chiefs strive for that second position.”
- Dion “Komodo” Pirotta
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: tucks, zewsyy, ofnu, Texta and BL1TZ
4.) Avant Gaming (-)
“Avant have been going up against 'The Top 3' time and time again, and unfortunately, haven't been able to secure a victory thus yet, locking them in at Number 4. Hopefully the current situation that surrounds Avant passes quickly, so the team can get back into the swing of things and bring forward some heated matches.”
- Dion “Komodo” Pirotta
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: J1rah, hazr, apoc, soju and strerl1ng
5.) Genuine Gaming (-)
“Genuine is that team who continue to show intense moments of beauty, but then trip and fall shortly after. Unfortunately, arguably the star player and IGL Tom 'apocdud' Henry has been struggling with illness and has been unable to attend recent events alongside the roster, such as the Omen Challenge in NZ and more recently Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Global Finals in Shanghai, where coach Pete 'oxey' Lo filled in. Oxey actually had a very strong showing in Shanghai, picking up the AWP & IGL role. The full team however was unable to show their best form and were quickly dispatched of by both TyLoo and Absolute, two very tough opening matches with TyLoo going on to win the event, and Absolute placing 4th. Both Chris 'Jinxx' Mosely and Daryl 'Mayker' May put up great performances in both matches, with Jinxx unleashing 26 kills against TyLoo, and a 1.23 rating against Absolute for Mayker. I believe once apocdud is back to good health, this team definitely has the capacity to challenge Chiefs and Order for 3rd/4th place. Despite the fact that there is a tonne of work to be done here, I believe Genuine have the mental strength to overcome this tough time and develop even further.”
- Mitch “Conky” Concanen
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: Jinxx, stat, apocdud, Skullhunter & Mayker
6.) Ground Zero Gaming (-)
“Ground Zero gaming have been that growth story which i've been watching from the sidelines for quite some time now. Initially coming into the market in around the div2/3 space, Ground Zero have made slow but gradual improvements to their roster over these last 12 months and now appear to be settled after trading out Tyson 'pan1K' Missak and Pete 'zemp' Renouf for Andy 'noobster' Zhang & Luke 'Llamas' Merchant. With Cal 'BURNRUOK' Henderson at the helm, another late addition to the Zowie eXTREMESLAND Asia Global Finals in Shanghai, Ground Zero did have a tough start up against B.O.O.T, going down 16-9 but able to bring a win through taking out Enzo 2-0. Unfortunately in the next match they were taken out 2-0 by the Turkish side of Demise, with experienced players such as ngiN and paz, but did manage to take them to overtime on Map 2. I managed to spend a lot of time with these boys especially whilst in Shanghai, and they have great personal chemistry inside and out of the server, and I think with some practice they will be able to deliver some great results.”
- Mitch “Conky” Concanen
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: bURNRUOk, zeph, void, Llamas & Noobster
7.) PC419 (+2)
“Consistent and steady improvement, they had a surprising top 4 finish in ESEA MDL for Season 32 off the back of a few forfeits, but they've continued to show their ability to compete with some of the region's higher ranked teams.”
- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: Wolfy, Doom, Muzoona, BeeTee and DuckyPanic
8.) Airborne Esports Club (-1)
“Still grinding out the final rounds of the ESEA Open finals, they find themselves 1 Bo3 from the grand final, and first shot at promotion for season 33 of MDL. A couple of missteps in the
NVIDIA GeForce cup, does show that there's still plenty of room for this roster to grow”
- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: pz, smooth_crim, JD, laes and swede
9.) SYF Gaming (-1)
“Decent placing in ESEA this season, and a competitive showing in their elimination match. They are certainly no slouches, but there's still plenty aways to go before they're considered a serious threat.”
- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: urbz, ekul, bedonka, ino and Teal
10.) MC Esports (-)
“A sporadic end to their ESEA run, with a continuously shuffling roster means this new lineup hasn't had time to impress just yet. Having booked their spots into a top 4 placing on the GeForce cup, they have a real opportunity to show us what they can really do in the back end of the Oceanic season.”
- Matthew “mattyB” Bowerman
Key Achievements:
Active Roster: Moey, Noisia, Oliff, tot and pnd
Don’t agree with our power rankings? Let us know where you would place the teams.
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