This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　

19th December 2013 (Western)

Due to the time of the year the professional Dota 2 scene has started to slow down with the only main tournament being played at the moment on the Western side of the scene being the StarLadder Season 8 Round Robin stage. We also had the EMS One Fall offline finals which have played into the rankings and will be covered in more detail below.

　　The previous western power rankings can be found: here.

　　

1. Natus Vincere

Na'Vi remains in the number one spot after having a very successful run in the StarLadder Season 8 Round Robin stage and at this moment in time their record is now standing at 9-3 in which they are currently on a six game winning streak after defeating the likes of Mousesports, QPAD, Virtus.Pro and more.

　　Their most notable recent result will be from the EMS One Fall offline finals that were held in Poland on the 7th and 8th of December where Na'Vi finished third after first losing out to Vici Gaming in a best of one series and then ultimately to Fnatic in a best of three series 2-1. Na'Vi was able to beat Sigma.int on both occasions when they met in the best of one group stage.

　　

2. Fnatic

Fnatic has kept a tight grip on their second place and has yet to play the majority of their StarLadder Season 8 games where they are currently sitting 3-2 in the Round Robin stage. Looking back over the last two weeks Fnatic was also in Poland for the EMS One Fall offline finals where they were able to once again deliver a strong showing at an offline event but ultimately finished second after losing out to the Eastern giants Vici Gaming 3-1 in the Grand Finals best of five series.

　　In an odd fashion the extremely delayed RaidCall Dota 2 League Season 3 from earlier in the year's third place playoffs also took place this week which saw Fnatic go against Alliance in a best of three series that ended 2-1 in Fnatic's favour, a personal victory after recently losing the Fragbite Masters Grand Finals to Alliance the day before.

　　Fnatic also took part in the Netolic Pro League #4 where they beat Mousesports in a semi-final best of three series 2-1 and then clean out the Grand Finals best of five series against RoX.KIS 3-0.

　　

3. Alliance

The temporary absence of Speed Gaming.int from the Western scene sees Alliance move up to take the third position. Alliance have also been a prominent member in the StarLadder Season 8 Round Robin series and are currently sitting at the top of the group with a record of 11-3 which includes taking games off the big names such as Na'Vi and Fnatic with only a handful of the smaller teams like the Power Rangers being able to take a game off them.

　　Another member of the train that recently visited Poland saw Alliance finish in a joint 3rd/4th with Na'Vi after struggling in the group stage against Fnatic who they lost a best of one against and then ultimately against Vici Gaming in an extremely close best of three series in which they lost 2-1.

　　After the EMS One Fall event Alliance came home to play against Fnatic in the Fragbite Masters Grand Finals best of three series which they won in a convincing 2-1 series.

　　

4. Sigma.int

This edition of the power ranking sees the arrival of Sigma.int who have been relevantly hot in the scene after making their first major appearance at this year's MLG Columbus event. Like the previous three Sigma.int was another team who attended the EMS One Fall offline finals in Poland and faced a difficult group with the likes of Na'Vi and Fnatic who both took games of them during the best of one series. Their only victory was against the French team aAa.

　　After the EMS One Fall event Sigma.int have been actively taking part in the StarLadder Season 8 series where they are currently 7-2 in the Round Robin stage of the event with them only dropping games to Alliance and the Super Strong Dinosaurs squad.

　　Their most notable achievement in the last two weeks would be the best of five third place decider match for the Dota 2 Champions League which saw them go up against Team Liquid in a series they won in a very convincing 3-1 netting themselves a base prize of $7,000 plus the extra revenue from the Dota TV tickets which has yet to be announced.