The first thing we notice about the rankings is that mTw is sitting atop its rightful perch above the rest of the world. After securing five first place finishes at LAN events last year (the most for any team), including wins at World eSports Masters and WCG 2008, they completed the year with ten top ten finishes at LAN events and making them a fairly easy choice.

Rounding out the top three are SK Gaming and Mousesports, who both made nice gains up the standings. SK Gaming, fresh off their year-end win at Dreamhack and pulling in the 2nd most in earnings for the year, has them sitting at number two. Mousesports on the other hand came in with four first place finishes on the year, and essentially had the most consistent year, good enough for number three.

Places four and five appear to be the disappointing stories of 2008, but more so for different reasons. fnatic, despite making it to more LANs than any other team, and obtaining the most top ten finishes on the year, just didn't get the podium success that one would expect. They did, however, enjoy some modicum of success for a decent year overall; this result allows them to only lose one placing since the last ranking. With Meet Your Makers, the former #1, it's a different story. While they showed some consistency on the year, and got a win at a packed ESWC 2008, the performances didn't seem to be dominating. Even given their other victories, it wasn't enough to overshadow the other teams and their stellar performances, leaving MYM with a bitter fall down four spots.

e-STRO made a huge jump in this edition of the rankings, up four spots to number six after a solid year. While they don't attend many events, they attend the important ones and place at essentially every one. For Made in Brazil, it might be a year to forget. The team seemed to be battling themselves all year and their performances didn't change their place in the rankings this time around. With a recent roster change, they will look to turn things around for this year. For Gameplay (not really Gameplay anymore) and Team Alternate, there were flashes of what they are capable of, but it never really amounted to anything on the year for them, leaving them in the number eight and nine spots.

The top ten finishes off with Evil Geniuses. Not very much can be said here as they haven't even played a match yet, but on paper, it appears that this team has a lot behind them. Everyone will be watching closely when they finally suit up for their first event of 2009.

Editor's Note: Remember, voting is done by a panel of experts from around the globe. This panel includes managers from the top teams around the world, pro players and eSports writers and editors. These rankings are not chosen by GotFrag staff.


Just Outside: ATS.dk, Virtus.pro