After the world team rankings were updated on July 11, Natus Vincere displaced FaZe from the top spot. FaZe managed to stay at the top for 13 weeks. The European team's drop in the rankings was due to a lack of big wins in recent times. She finished IEM Dallas and BLAST Premier Spring Final in 5-6th place, and finished only second at the Roobet Cup, behind BIG. NAVI is now 20 rating points ahead of FaZe.
Natus Vincere, on the contrary, has recently returned to its former form after Kirill «Boobl4» Mikhailov left the team and his place was taken by Viktor «sdy» Orudzhev. As a result, the team won the BLAST Premier Spring Final, having defeated FaZe in the quarterfinals of the tournament on the way to the first place.
At IEM Cologne, both teams demonstrated a convincing superiority over their opponents, advancing from their groups straight to the semi-finals of the tournament. Since Natus Vincere and FaZe start their playoffs in different parts of the grid, it is not excluded that both teams will meet in the grand finals, the outcome of which will determine who will occupy the top of the world ranking after the tournament. However, it cannot be guaranteed that the results of the semifinals will not bring any surprises.