Author: Nik Ranger

Three-time CSGO Major winner JW leaves Fnatic: “Excited for a new challenge” Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell has announced that he has ended his almost eight-year spell with Fnatic, with his future now up in the air. The Swedish player, Fnatic’s longest-serving CS:GO member, is leaving the organization to pursue opportunities elsewhere, three months after being benched as the team decided to get away from their Swedish roots and go international. JW led Fnatic to multiple titles – including three Major crowns – during his long tenure with the organization. Apart from a brief six-month spell with GODSENT, the ‘Black and Orange’ are the only team that he has played for since August 2013. “It feels super weird but somehow very motivating and fresh at the same time,” JW told Dexerto. “Being in the same team for the past eight years, giving everything that I have, trying to find solutions in rounds, lineups, events, and whatnot has been great, but I would lie if I said that I’m not excited for a new challenge.” Future Plans JW was an integral part of Fnatic’s CS:GO success over the years, helping them to make history as the first CS:GO Major champion (DreamHack Winter 2013) and as the first team to win back-to-back Majors (ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015). TACK @FNATIC – THANK YOU @FNATIC Read: https://t.co/Tnuk30hXXJ — Jesper Wecksell (@JW1) October 14, 2021 Even if no longer in his prime, he remained a very effective player in the years that followed, but he hit a slump in form in 2020 as Fnatic struggled to adapt to the online era caused by the global health crisis. The Swedish team signed Jack ‘Jackinho’ Ström Mattsson in January 2021 in a bid to turn things around, but results remained disappointing. In a recent interview with Richard Lewis, JW admitted that he struggled to get back to his old best and that his benching did not come as a surprise. Despite initially toying with the idea of switching to Valorant, JW has made it clear that he will remain in Counter-Strike to cement his legacy in the game. “My future is not really clear at all, besides the fact that I will stay in CS,” he said. “I have decided that I don’t want to leave the game that I love and have played for so long. “I really want to keep building on the legacy I have started. I’m looking to play again next year, so I would like to decide what to do around December/January. “Until then I’ll just play mixes and qualifiers, and make sure to stay in touch with the game, rebuild myself, and recover my confidence for my next task.”

Thorin’s Top 10 CS:GO Players of 2018 StarLadderCS:GO is a game of stars and it has become tradition for rankings to be created at the end of each year outlining who the best players in the game were. Determining who the best players in the world are and for the span of an entire year is not a simple endeavour, though. As a team game, Counter-Strike can only conclusively tell you who the best team is and even then it’s not always as simple as who won the most championships, with more factors to be considered. When it comes to individual play within the context of a team game, there is much to factor in and many angles from which to break down a players’ performance and its value. Criteria When creating any kind of ranking, one should outline the criteria considered and explain which one gives prefers or weighting to over others. With these guidelines in place, the author is free to explicate in the context of those factors and considerations. One of the first places people will begin when ranking players is their statistics. Whether that be simply looking at an overall rating calculation, based on a hidden formula, such as HLTV.org‘s “Rating 2.0” or more in-depth and focused statistical filters. The sentiment behind such thinking goes that the higher the rating or specific stat, then likely the better the player in question performed and relative to the other players being judged alongside them. Particular context I consider significant to bear in mind when looking at a player’s stats are the quality of the tournament, performance over the whole tournament, the number of maps played at the tournament and the opponents he performed well against. Stomping a tier two tournament clearly carries less weight than playing well at the major. These factors are also weighed against the context of the player’s role. As such, magisk may have better or more impressive numbers than dupreeh in many statistical contexts but I do not consider him a better performing player over the year, due to how much more key I judge dupreeh’s role and performance to be in Astralis and how much more difficult it is for dupreeh to get kills and avoid deaths, in direct relation to magisk. Similarly, with it being a team game, I think it’s important to look at how much help a player has from his team-mates. NiKo was one of the best players in 2016, yet played with team-mates who had no business being in the positions in tournaments NiKo could carry him to and arguably were the worst help any world’s best player contender has ever been surrounded by. As such, NiKo’s performance was actually more impressive than the raw numbers might have suggested. Looking at teams like Team Liquid, mousesports and FaZe Clan, all were stacked with highly skilled individual talents, but all were not required to perform at the same time for the team to win. So while a star on a small team may have his ranking limited by being unable to get enough maps under his belt at tournaments or place highly enough, so players in stacked line-ups should be docked if they had their stats inflated due to how good their team was and were sometimes carried to placings even when playing at an objectively poor level, eye test or stats-wise. This is most relevant when it comes to Astralis, the undisputed best team of 2018 and who won double digit trophies over the year. The sheer strength of their team and number of dominant map wins, rarely losing maps and being taken close, combined with factors like their exceptional team-work; great comms and revolutionary tactics, mean Astralis’ players ended up with their stats inflated beyond what the eye test or focused analysis would say was reasonable for their players’ actual performance level. Hence, I do not have most of the Astralis players in my top 10. Accomplishments are taken into account when considering players for this list, but in the context of chances to compete. I don’t take championships won into account for an individual’s level of play over the year, at least directly. If a player plays very well in finals, is the MVP or otherwise distinguishes himself with great play in the biggest moments then he gets credit for that, but not simply because it yielded a trophy for his team. This is an individual ranking, not a team success ranking. Finally, the eye test is a significant component of determining who the best is and, for my money, always should be. As such, I did my research, assessed the data and considered all of the factors I’ve laid out, but I also watched VODs to ensure an idea which sounds great was actually present when watching the player in the field of battle. Hence, I can say with certainty that I consider coldzera to have been a better player than dupreeh over 2018, even if dupreeh won many more championships and had tournaments where his numbers looked better. Matters of principle Taking into account the above outlined guidelines and principles of thinking, Astralis did not receive the three or four top 10 spots many others granted them. They had other great players as team-mates and the other factors mentioned. Likewise, a team like Team Liquid “did it by committee” in terms of fragging and star player performances, so some of their stars did not make the cut. A player like suNny had an exceptional few months, but was quieter earlier in the year and had a terrible latter portion of the year, so is absent entirely. Five new players entered my top 10 and I’ve put the change in ranking from 2017 next to each player’s name. Here are my Top 10 CS:GO Players of 2018. 10. GuardiaN (FaZe) [NEW] In some senses, GuardiaN’s form can be considered in the context of his initial period in Na`Vi, where he was a flashy player who would take over maps or series, but could also be less explosive and fizzle out in big matches. In FaZe, of course, he has much more help around him to secure victory or ensure the team is not eliminated early. GuardiaN’s general form in 2018 was that of a top 20 player who bordered on top 10 during his best moments and, hence, tipped over into cracking this list. For most of the year the battle over who the best AWPer was would have been between s1mple and device, also two of the very best players in the world generally. GuardiaN was more of a month-specific consideration, along with mouz star oskar, but would have been voted best over the year by very few experts if any. GuardiaN’s AWP is still very strong and his strengths of having a lightning quick firing speed and yet a high hit-rate remain both clear and relevant to CS:GO at the top end. Not only can he shut down CT halves from his chosen positions, making it no surprise FaZe often forced maps like train in their pool, but he remains one of the most clutch snipers CS:GO has been graced by. The best moments of the year for GuardiaN were largely when the team lost olof and had to operate using stand-ins. The two tournaments they won (IEM Sydney and ESL One Belo Horizonte) were supernovas of superlative sniping from GuardiaN, who legitimately put up MVP performances under difficult circumstances and was essentially only denied MVP awards due to playing with NiKo, legitimately one of the handful of god-like players over the entire year. FaZe almost certainly would have been taken to five maps or even beaten in the Sydney final without GuardiaN flashing back to his early 2016 prime against what we now know was the hands down best team the year would see. Certainly, GuardiaN plays with a lot of talent, including a number of players who have been the best or contenders for the best, but I think the inflation on his stats is less pronounced than for teams like Astralis or Team Liquid. FaZe were not a team marked by great comms, very tight team-play or a deep and effective tactical approach. With that said, playing with a player ranked higher on this list should be counted against GuardiaN, in as much as there were games and tournaments he was carried by a superior figure, right now. 9. KRiMZ (FNC) [NEW] FNATIC were up and down throughout the year, with more lows than highs overall but some of the highs being very prominent – such as winning IEM Katowice over FaZe and almost slaying Astralis at IEM Chicago. While the leadership of golden and some throwback performances from flusha might have been topics of discussion, the man allowing FNATIC to keep their heads above water during the hard times and push on to potential glory during the better days was without a doubt KRiMZ. It’s not exaggeration to point to 2018 as the stand out year in his long and decorated playing career. KRiMZ was winning MVPs and putting up monster numbers in late 2014, with his FNATIC team the dominant force, and was an admirable performer in 2015, playing alongside monstrous figures like olof and flusha. Nonetheless, he was not the player we witnessed last year. The old KRiMZ was a rock, masterfully playing the small site on inferno, owning the connector on mirage and ever the reliable soldier playing in an entry role when necessary. Here was a player revered for his consistency and positioning, not as a monster fragging force in the server. 2018 KRiMZ was a beast on another level and far and away the best Swedish player over the year. Not only were his stats big time, even on a team which often struggled to surround him with consistent or high level performers, but even his aim passed the eye test more, with his ability to frag out and produce highlight clips practically revelatory, in the context of his career. He was also clearly the best player in his team. The primary knocks against KRiMZ, which keep him lower down this list, are that his team didn’t have enough deep runs to give him the required amount of maps played against top tier opposition to prove his elite tier quality and that he did have a lull in form around the summer. The first four or so months of the year and the last few were exceptional, though. 8. dupreeh (Ast) [NEW] kjaerbye had seen his numbers drop over the latter half of 2017 and his team no longer won tournaments. With dupreeh increasing in performance level over a similar time-frame and then getting a chance to shine when he filled device’s role due to the super-star’s health concerns, dupreeh was the player Astralis could reliably pivot to in order to increase their chances of winning. After all, dupreeh had been a world class entry for many years and had given up the role to kjaerbye in the first place and when the latter was the player seen as having more potential in it. 2018 was a glorious return for dupreeh entirely, not just again positioning himself as arguably the best entry in the game, but delivering star power performances from the role, often a difficult one to build big numbers in, and even making a serious claim for MVP consideration himself at times. Playing in a team with device, for many the second best player of the year and winner of more than half a dozen MVP awards over the year, it’s no joke to have contributed as much as dupreeh did from a statistical perspective and in the context of his role. The eye test is an area where dupreeh really shines, not in terms of raw aiming ability or highlight kills but the context of the difficult entry positions, his ability to execute at a high level and his fearlessness forcing a way in when Astralis in poised to face stern defense from the opposition or in a make-or-break moment in the game. Without dupreeh’s ability to batter down the door, Astralis would have experienced much less success over the year and been stopped and beaten so many more times than occurred in reality. 7. coldzera (MiBR) [-6] The player I simply call “the master” was required to show a level of fortitude over 2018 that we had not yet witnessed from him. While he had dominated with MVP performances at the biggest tournaments in CS:GO, he had never played during his prime for a team that was at times far from a contender and often threatened with early eliminations from tournaments, rarely seeing semis or finals in the biggest competitions. coldzera even attempted to take over as IGL (in-game leader) at times in 2018, on specific maps at least. Despite all of the above, coldzera remained one of the best players in Counter-Strike. Sure, there were bad moments which were uncharacteristic of Brazil’s terminator, but there were also tournaments where he looked back to his best from 2016 or 2017 and would likely have won MVP awards had his team gone further or secured the trophy. coldzera was still the player who seemingly effortlessly racked up kills, while giving up few deaths and controlling the game at all stages while still alive. There were still very few players in the world as intimidating as coldzera in a 2vX situation and with a rifle. 2018 was a year to forget for MiBR as a team and most of his team-mates, but it was a character year for the best player that country has produced in CS:GO, and he passed the test with strong marks in most regards. 6. oskar (mouz) [NEW] The Czech AWPer was probably the most under-rated player of 2018, for my money, and there were many times I heard others not even refer to him as the best player in his team. Certainly, mouz was a team with a very solid trio of stars (oskar, suNny and ropz) and they would often seemingly share the fragging load, though more taking turns than all contributing at a similar rate. Over most of the big tournaments and in most of the big matches, though, oskar was the player who distinguished himself from the rest. He was the X factor who was needed to break through better teams or the potential MVP if mouz were able to reach at least the final. oskar’s AWPing style may appear brittle, as he seemingly either dominates the opponent entirely or can be shaken and not recover, but when he is locked in there are many overall better players I would without hesitation trade out for oskar. Such is his ability to take over a game and force opponents to summon an answer to his also under-praised skillset. Not only is he one of the very best AWPers in the game, but oskar has a much better rifle than most primary AWPers. oskar was a yo-yo statistically, able to go from a lacklustre 0.64 KPR performance one event up to the blistering heights of 0.84 KPR the next, as he did from IEM Chicago to ECS S6 Finals, but his highs were more impressive than many other names on this list. He also did it all without as much help as some of the other players on stacked rosters and with an in-game leader with no history of legendary success, unlike most other stars. 5. electronic (Na`Vi) [NEW] electronic went from a good player earlier in the year to one of the best in the world upon being activated fully, in a role and manner which suited him, around DreamHack Masters Marseille onwards. By the summer he had hit a level of form which made Na`Vi an exciting prospect at every tournament for more than just housing s1mple. Combined, the two were arguably the strongest duo of players in the entire world. As the year went on, electronic did regress and find himself far too often a player posting sub 0.7 KPR numbers for tournaments Na`Vi were considered among the best teams attending. Had he been able to given more, then Na`Vi likely would have won EPICENTER, at a minimum. Still, electronic is proof that a blazing peak can overpower dips in form, especially when they are as exceptional as some of his were over the year. Even playing with the best player on this list wasn’t enough to knock back electronic out of the top five. What a transformation, from strong potential on FlipSid3 at a lower level to helping be a carry of Na`Vi and winning championships over the best teams in the world and history, in some cases. 4. NAF (TL) [NEW] NAF’s performance over the first few months was the focal point of Team Liquid’s emergence as one of the world’s elite squads. Where they had so often seen stars go missing in big matches now they seemed to have a bold and unafraid young talent who could battle even the game’s best in big match play. It’s hardly any wonder Liquid were able to parlay that, along with their other strengths, into so many international finals and top finishes. Teams like Na`Vi and FaZe know well that NAF was a serious threat in 2018. A hybrid star, NAF was a strong volume fragger with a rifle, particularly an M4A4, and yet could also swap over to an AWP, when feeling in tune, and perform against some of the best teams in CS:GO. That versatility also allowed Liquid to rely on more than just nitr0’s AWPing or their deep rifle game to get wins or push through tough moments in matches. The eye is curious for NAF, as his aim often doesn’t look like the pin-point precision of a NiKo or s1mple, yet his ability to secure kills and in mass quantity was apparent and impressive. NAF is a player who makes god-like aimers seem as if they are showing off, where a kill could be secured all the same by shooting an opponent in the chest or spraying. Certainly, he is a very skilled player, but not in undeniable sense of team-mate Twistzz, for example. NAF’s ability to play without being phased in big games did seem to carry a dark context, though, as in the latter part of the year there were a number of tournaments where he looked disconnected from the important context of how badly Liquid needed him to help them win some of those trophies that could have been theirs. The most notable example being the ESL One New York final, where the team almost certainly lifts the trophy if NAF plays anywhere close to his normal level and his poor play over the whole series hampered their chances at victory. Taking the whole year into account reflects favourably on NAF. Never before has an NA CS:GO player been this good, this often, at a level comparable to the best Europeans and with his team so close to winning trophies on as many occasions. Truly a banner year for both NAF and his region. 3. device (Ast) [+2] device’s billing as the best all-around player in the game was apt, though also perhaps needed some context added. As a very strong AWPer and one of the best rifle players, device did not outmatch s1mple’s overall skills and strengths, but was seemingly a better team-player, overall, and clearly fit his team in a manner practically no other star did. Dividing up whether Astralis fit device better or the other way around, I would likely come down on the latter side, as with a player of his wide skill-set and the other pieces the team had, I can see gla1ve and zonic had so much to work with. That is a discussion for another time, though. device was a player who maximised his game both statistically and in the context of Astralis. He frequently hit numbers which would have been apt for the prime of a stats monster like coldzera or even the mighty s1mple, with very high average kills and yet also staggeringly low death counts. The latter came as a result of device’s intelligent and coordinated saves, both knowing what battles not to take and working with his team to ensure he selected the right moments to save and thus bring a gun and potentially the chance to turn the game back around sooner over to his Danish squad. In short, device was a coach’s wet dream of a star player. There were no ego plays of constantly re-peeking into waiting opponents, ready to trade frag and neutralise advantages gained for Astralis. What device did was within Astralis’ system and at all times engineered to give his team the best chance to win the game. Ignoring the ELEAGUE Boston major, where he was still returning from injury and had his AWPing role given to dupreeh, device essentially didn’t have a bad statistical tournament over the entire year. Even his lesser performances, stats-wise, would have been considered good or strong performances for some of the players on this list. Now, some of those numbers likely were inflated by playing on Astralis, but as the best player on the team it can be argued that some of the advantages of playing in Astralis were also generated by device himself and his big impact upon the flow of a game. Without his AWPing and consistent, Astralis would not have been able to boast such a wide and deep map pool or so reliably dominate their home of nuke. Another strong point in his favour, which almost secured him the second spot on this list, was one made by Sam Delorme that device dominated consistently against Team Liquid, as has long been the case, and that ended up being of great significance for Astralis since they met TL in five different notable finals. The old criticism of going missing in finals was still at times a bugbear for the Danish star, but playing TL in so many finals and having such a strong team around him helped him both stay afloat during the difficult times and overcome his issues in other moments. Taking into account device’s excellent level for so many years of play he has now entered the conversation legitimately as a candidate for best CS:GO player of all-time. 2. NiKo (FaZe) [-] It’s no surprise to me that even during s1mple’s peak there have been players who have cited NiKo’s as the most skilled player in the game. From an opponent’s perspective, playing CT side against NiKo means holding a spot and having an opponent shoulder peek into you and instantly kill you with a perfect headshot burst. When you see NiKo’s name credited with the kill you don’t think “What the fuck?!?”, but rather simply “Well, it is NiKo. Not much I could have done.” With the days of NiKosports long behind him, NiKo has been surrounded by quality talent for over two years now, with most of the last two years seeing him teamed up with some of the best players to ever play this game. While on one hand, that does mean NiKo gets fragging help from his team, this is a rare example of team-mate strength further boosting the status of a player but with the team-mates theoretically being very good as opposed to very weak. FaZe Clan were a shadow of the team their names would suggest when it came to championships won, though some consideration is given to olof’s departure and their trying circumstances using stand-ins. Beyond some flashbacks from GuardiaN, NiKo was largely left to hard carry the team to relevance and their few championships over the year. NiKo is the primary reason FaZe won IEM Sydney, ESL Belo Horizonte and EPICENTER. Two of those tournaments he was playing with a stand-in as a team-mate, but you could not have guessed it based on his individual level of excellence. It’s also worth noting that NiKo took over as IGL in the latter third or so of the year and yet did not seem to individually suffer at all from it, even winning another trophy. s1mple was the best player in the world and device had the most MVPs and won the most trophies, but NiKo squeezes between the two. Only s1mple can boast a better year individually, the eye test especially confirming as much, and device had not only more overall help from his team, even statistically, but had less demanded of him for them to win. NiKo’s 2018 will likely go down as one of the most under-rated years in history, considering how strong the consensus was that device was the number two player over NiKo. 1. s1mple (Na`Vi) [+2] With the latter point seemingly put to bed entirely, s1mple and Na`Vi were able to make the former no longer a concern and give him his first real chance to be the consensus number one player in the game. It is telling that in a year in which Astralis created perhaps the most dominant era ever and won most of the trophies, with star device breaking the record for number of MVP awards won, that the consensus never truly swayed from s1mple being the best player, even with his peers. There was no strong argument formulated that anyone else was better. I’ve written at length about s1mple’s incredible career elsewhere and on many occasions. The Ukrainian has developed from one of the game’s unpolished prodigies into one of the hardest-working and yet most dominant individual carry players we’ve ever seen in competitive play. Even the concept of player strengths seem to disappear when s1mple’s skill-set is considered, as apt opening a round or playing with low econ as he is closing a round or using the expensive AWP. Over the first quarter or so of 2018, s1mple was a man tasked with an impossible burden, making a minimum of every semi-final and putting in MVP level performances, with numbers which left the galaxy in the context of world class standards, and yet denied the trophy so many times due to his team not being the best or capable of providing him with enough help. Such heartache did not break him, though, and he maintained his form so that when electronic began to deliver super-star performances of his own Na`Vi had a powerful arsenal of stars to pit against their opposition. s1mple is not just the best player of 2018, especially given that I don’t credit or punish a player for winning or losing the trophy outside of the context of his performance, but the best world number one CS:GO has ever seen. Even GeT_RiGhT had the likes of shox, f0rest and Dosia breathing down his neck. coldzera had NiKo, shox and s1mple, respective of the years in question. s1mple has nobody. Some of his worst event performances would literally be considered among the best for even his closest rivals and s1mple’s very best performances have no equal. For now, Counter-Strike is in a state of monotheism.

Thorin’s Take: Your Next Analyst Desk Talents When it comes to the analyst desk of big events, fans can expect to be greeted by the same usual group of names and faces. Beyond the big names, though, the drop-off in the frequency of hires and status within the scene has been noticeable. What’s more, tournament organisers (TOs) seem to struggle for the next names to give an opportunity to or promote to the big leagues, as it were. You may be forgiven for wondering how these circumstances differ from the commentary world, where there were famously three duos (Anders and Semmler, HenryG and Sadokist and Bardolph and ddk) for so many years. Put simply, two of those duos no longer exist and the Anders and moses duo have on numerous occasions been hired separately. As such, names like launders, scrawny, Harry, Hugo, Vince and pansy have all seen much more time at big events than many may realise, even if the last name on that list is sadly lost to the land of PUBG, for now. In this piece, I will outline the names and profiles who have the chops to make it at the big events, in certain cases with large gains to be made as they accrue experience at that level and in most cases for cheaper costs than some bigger names but not necessarily better analysts. If you’re a TO then here is your free consultation for talent hires in 2020. Pay heed or see that talent go elsewhere and establish themselves, increasing their day rate by the time you figure out they are a good hire. The lay of the land Up until a year to a year and a half ago the analysis role was locked down. I’ve worked something in the region of 65 LANs myself, YNk and moses put in a massive amount of work from 2015-2017 and SPUNJ has been a permanent fixture at all the biggest tournaments over the last year and a half, arguably establishing himself as the best in the game. Pimp and Maniac have battled to occupy the spots evacuated by YNk’s shift to full-time coaching and moses’s move to the colour commentary role, but are not quite the automatic hires those names were just yet, despite their skill sets. Still, they are hired to big events and so are not the subject of this piece. What makes the analyst desk so welcoming to newer talent is that it is a place where a person speaks for only a few minutes at a time, with a host and colleagues who can help cover slip-ups or initial wrinkles. If the individual in question has a strong analytical basis, then the question becomes how they convey themselves on camera and what kind of identity they can craft for themselves. The latter being arguably the most overlooked aspect of the job, one which I am ever pestering even some big names to pay more attention to since it is a core component of what has brought me so much success in the field. Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg – The most promising rookie Mauisnake is someone I discovered back in late 2017 when I was hiring for research positions. He quickly proved himself both highly knowledgeable about the North American scene, where he has played at the semi-pro level, and surprisingly apt at general analysis of team styles and player strengths. Known by some for his “Pro Player Analysis” series on his YouTube channel, where he analyses the demo of a pro and explains their strengths and decision-making, Mausinake wields the dual threat of being able to articulate his perspective on known players, having researched their play, and also falling back to the fundamentals of the game, having been a semi-competitive player himself, when discussing players or teams he is not as familiar with. When I found out EPICENTER were struggling to find a host for their recent Moscow event, I offered to take on the role almost entirely to ensure he got a chance to work a big event, so confident was I that he would deliver. He did not disappoint. At not just his first big event, but his first even vaguely significant offline tournament as an analyst, he was eloquent, capable of generating opinions on request and impressively smooth for a rank rookie. I know he is most eager to further test himself and make a career of this kind of work too, so TOs would be advised to reach out to him or me in order to secure his services for the year. Give this guy 10 events in the next year or so and he will be known as one of the best in the world by 2021 or 2022. Alex “Hawka” Hawkins – Talent trapped in another role Hawka is far from a household name, but has been able to work big events, albeit as part of his commentary duo with dinka and primarily on the B stream of said events, which are typically far less viewed. As a commentator, he has been progressing steadily over the last year and a half, but he has shown another aspect to his skillset via his content output on youtube. There, the young Brit has been breaking down specific tactics from top teams in an easily digestible but deep manner. Hawka does not get hired to the bigger events often, not least since his duo does not have the same status within the community and are competing against an incredibly tenured peer group, so it is his skills as an analyst that I am here to highlight. Had circumstances gone another way, he would have been my analyst at EPICENTER instead of Mauisnake. Here is another individual I was confident could not just do the role, but potentially grow into a more permanent fixture on the desk at notable events. The 21-year-old has also initially found a workaround for being a young nerd who has yet to develop his personality and professional identity by embracing his inner geek and owning it on broadcasts. Through his content, he has proven his drive to create meaningful analysis for the community and commitment to developing his own skillset and showcasing his analytical abilities. He seems a clear example of a good addition to a talent team being rounded out, after hiring bigger names to anchor it, and especially a name to develop for the future. Kory “SEMPHIS” Friesen – Guns ablazing; exiting playing SEMPHIS is a name many should know, especially if they followed the competitive scene for the first three years or have seen him in his role as a co-host of the “Peeker’s Advantage” podcast. He has made the playoffs at numerous early CS:GO majors, including a semi-final run at Dreamhack Winter 2013. Known as a supportive element and occasional IGL, as a player he built a reputation with team-mates for exactly the qualities that make him a viable analyst for desks. Since years back before he was close to a pro competing on top NA teams, SEMPHIS has been a dedicated fan of the game, even participating in forum threads back on the now-deceased-NA-hub GotFrag. As a pro, he has not just studied opponents but top pros throughout the scene. Ask him about a pro and he can tell you their role, their strengths as a player, how they are used within their team and speculate what they might do in another type of team. As a player, he was notorious for embracing the “scrimmy” style of play NA was infamous for, eschewing the standard meta of buying and positional map play for aggressive pushes and high variance gambles. This is reflected in his analysis, where he is open to new concepts and perspectives on players, even if he has his favourites he will defend to the death, albeit with good reasoning. SEMPHIS’s playing career hit a slide over the last year or two, but if the tournament is in the right location and at the right time then I’m sure he is open to working desks, as he has inquired about it to me directly in the past. It is naively assumed that most pros could become regular desk analysts, but it’s my experience and opinion that the vast majority are not just incapable of such a role, at least without massive amounts of effort and years of experience, but worse that many are inappropriate hires cynically taken for their name value and the novelty of seeing them still work after their playing careers. SEMPHIS, along with the big name analysts who come from the pro scene, is a rare example of a quality transition from the realm of headshotting. David “DAVEY” Stafford – The Canadian natural SEMPHIS’ fellow podcaster, former team-mate and Canadian, DAVEY is a natural to the desk analyst role. Having himself followed the broadcast and content side of the game for years, he has quickly transitioned into someone who understands the role of the analyst as pundit, developing a perspective of their own surrounding the top players and teams which is coherent and has a clear identity uniting it. The former Splyce pro, who once got smashed at a major, finds humour in the role comes easily to him, can offer concise and more in-depth analysis of players and teams and works well with others, a quality not even all top analysts share. Much like SEMPHIS, he is open to working in the space and his content output has shown his initiative to establish himself as a name people associate with analysis and opinions. Dustin “dusT” Mouret – Analyst in denial KAPPA dusT is well known on the tier two and three circuits for his work as a colour commentator, frequently paired with Vince in a duo. I don’t think I am breaking any hearts by stating that I don’t think that duo will ever break into the top tier and be seen at all the tier one events in a year, now or over the years to come. As such, I recommend dust as an analyst both for his skillset and the health of his career in the industry. dust is an example of an analyst who comes to every tournament with pages and pages of notes on the players and teams he will be covering. In lieu of dedicated statsmen getting a meaningful salary, he can add much to a desk even purely from a statistical or research perspective. As an analyst, he has followed CS:GO since the early days and his work as a commentator has seen him covering more than just his own native scene of NA. Read More: MonteCristo open to “exploring” CSGO – dust is not going to set a desk alight with his personality, but a good desk is balanced, for my money, so that one analyst’s strengths cover another’s weaknesses. Put him next to DAVEY or Pimp or SPUNJ and you will find his analysis and thoughts will be given the air to soar. dust has also shown an admirable dedication to creating content of his own for his youtube channel over years and years in which he has often dipped down again in obscurity, in that regard. If you want one last kicker then consider that he works at Dreamhack events, so you know he isn’t going to break the bank. Christine “potter” Chi –The Queen of Dreamhack potter is the most legendary name in female Counter-Strike competition, having won seven world championship level events over most of the 2000s. To call her a pioneer is almost to understate her accomplishments and the tenure of her time in a game that rarely provided enough prize money or salary to earn a good living each year. Over that time span, she is also a good example of a woman who branched out and competed with professional and semi-pro men where she could, earning her stripes in that regard too. As an analyst, potter broke out in 2018, as a result of being hired to Blast Pro Series tournaments, but 2019 was the year she made her name in the field. Working at six Blast events and an impressive nine Dreamhack tournaments, Potter was largely limited to those two circuits. It is only over the last four months she has been invited to work at bigger events, appearing at Dreamhack Masters Malmö in October and EPICENTER in the latter part of December. As a former professional who puts in the hours researching the teams she is often tasked with analysing, potter analyses the style of players and teams well and matches that with her perspective on the current meta-game and the fundamentals of the maps. She is at her best citing the win conditions of teams in a match-up, a useful analytical tool for making otherwise deep analysis digestible for even the most casual of fans. When I was researching her past work for our collaboration at EPICENTER, I noticed potter was still coming into her own as far as comfort on the desk went and ability to riff off others. As such, we discussed what kind of desk flow she preferred and how she wanted to be set-up. From there, I simply had to ask her during games for some of her initial thoughts and then throw her alley-oops near enough to the rim she should dunk them over and over. I think her work at that event stands for itself, but I hope future hosts she has will consider the additional attention given and how it helped open her up in terms of what she was able to get across and her comfort in doing so. Potter has not lacked for opportunities to work, but she has not been embraced outside of the two circuits cited previously. That could change in 2020 and I hope it will. Honorable mentions Once upon a time, I planned to write a piece such as this to outline a bevy of potential future analysts, most of whom you will almost certainly not know for that role. Sadly, many of them lost hope or their drive to progress and have taken a back seat from esports over the last few years. When I found myself with the opportunity to potentially invite them to work at EPICENTER, an event featuring some of the best teams and players in the world, they were found asleep at their post and as such were passed over. There’s a lesson there for anyone who dreams of making it into a highly competitive industry. As the Roman philosopher Seneca so aptly put it: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The host’s prerogative As well as highlighting less well established or known names for the role of analyst, hoping TOs will follow my advice and hire them, I also sought to analyse their skillsets as if they were the players we analyse on the desk. This is because a mixture of the hectic workload of hosts and burnout from constantly traveling has led to a “plug and play” mentality I dislike on desks. If the analyst in question is myself, SPUNJ, Pimp or Maniac, then certainly we don’t need targeted questions or much discourse prior to going on air to get the best out of us. We have our thoughts generally composed and can freely move to them with or without prompting, playing off each other seamlessly. There are a number of names on this list, though, who are lacking in that regard, for now, and would benefit massively from more directed attention from their host. Watch some of their past work and look at the kinds of circumstances in which they feel comfortable or look out of place. Talk to them during the matches they are watching and make notes of what they want to talk about or some of their initial opinions. Speaking of which, set them up loosely, leading them into that direction and then letting them make their point or state their conclusion. Don’t steal their thunder by revealing the punchline of the joke, as it were. It’s unlikely you’ll see me often playing the role of good Samaritan by taking on the desk host role, so I hope these words do not fall on deaf ears. A little additional attention from the right hosts will help some of these analysts shine in a manner which will open many eyes and ears to their work.

Thorin’s Take: Too hard for ENCE ESLFinland’s ENCE were riding a dream rise for most of 2019. After shocking the world and two of its best teams, taking down Team Liquid and Na`Vi at the IEM Katowice major, they overcame a brief stumble at StarSeries to prove themselves a truly elite tier side. Killing the Astralis era, ending the Danes’ unbeatable fortress of nuke and racking up deep finishes thrust them as high as world number twos in the rankings. Now, though, ENCE face the difficult proposition of a rapidly changing scene, bad omens in recent nerfs and the possibility of falling back to being merely a very good team and no longer a contender for every title at every event. Becoming the best looks to be too hard for ENCE. Fly, my beauties! Fly! ENCE began 2019 as a team far from contention for big trophies. They had won a StarSeries late the previous year which was offset by its depleted field, lacking most of the big names, but other than that they had only their initial miracle run in Cologne to boast about. Clearly, they were a team with some potential and who had shown great progress to even come close to a top 10 ranking, starting out as a bunch of nobodies surrounding an allu whose contract seemed more like a retainer to keep him in the Finnish scene than a legitimate chance to further his decorated career. IEM XIII Katowice, the 14th CS:GO major, was the glitch in the matrix that changed everything for ENCE. Paired up with the very same Team Liquid line-up in the quarter-final which is now the dominant force in the game, but back then still had questions surrounding the addition of Stewie, practically nobody gave ENCE a chance. Team Liquid’s core had made countless big finals, their roster was too stacked with skill and their style looked primed to bust open the more controlled tactical pace of ENCE. ENCE swept the North Americans and sent the a shockwave through the scene. Repeating their feat in the semi-final, facing a Na`Vi side featuring the best player in the world – s1mple – and who had been in the final of the previous major, they were against facing a seemingly loaded deck. Again, it was the Finns who emerged victorious and passed through to the final of the major, where a dominant Astralis ended their Cinderella run. Proving grounds It was easy to write ENCE’s run off as a fluke, especially since Team Liquid were still developing their new line-up’s chemistry and Na`Vi were famously apt to drop off as a team in big games and rely upon s1mple to find a telephone booth and turn into Superman – something he did with alarming regularity but didn’t help him this time around. Add to that some stand-out performances from xseveN, a support player in the team and a literal “Who?” name to most casual fans, and expecting ENCE to quickly regress to the mean of being merely a decent team seemed only fair. Impressive form in the Bo1s at Blast Pro Series São Paulo, where the format largely denied them a spot in the final, showed ENCE were not a mere blip on the radar. Losing to a very shaky Vitality line-up, yet to change IGLs, at StarSeries right after was a concern, but falling to a superhuman effort from Na`Vi’s stars in the play-offs, with the CIS squad going on to win the tournament, made their 5th-8th finish a little ungenerous for the Nordic side. Rather than fall further, Aleksib’s boys rose to their peak, winning Blast Pro Series Madrid and drawing a close to the Astralis era. Not only did they end Astralis’ unimaginable 31 game unbeaten streak on nuke, the home map and impenetrable fortress of the Danish dynasty, but they swept them 2:0, an incredibly rare occurance during Astralis’ era, and cracked their feat of never losing two tournaments in a row after having reached the top spot. Astralis had played their own part in the demise of their dominance, but ENCE had been the reverse grim reapers ushering their souls from Counter-Strike heaven back down to the mortal realm. Over a course of five international offline events, ENCE had earned their status as one of the game’s best and won over many fans with their feel-good underdog narrative, strong tactical play, under-rated team-play and stoic grit in the face of difficult challenges. Were this a Hollywood kid’s movie, they would no doubt go on to win the major, defeating Team Liquid in the final and then having allu dead-pan staring into the camera and saying “had to be done.” Life is not plotted by screenwriters, though, and the last nearly two months has seen ENCE shown signs of weakness that are cause for alarm. At ESL One Cologne, arguably the best event of the calender – though obviously unable, as yet, to overcame the prestige of a major, ENCE seemed a lock for a deep finish, but finish dead last. Losing to Vitality in the elimination match was no shame, as Vitality are one of the few teams better than them and had also been upset and thus arrived at that unlikely match-up, where so many other teams would merely have been fodder for ENCE, but that doomed match with the French came due to being upset in the opening Bo1 by Heroic. At IEM XIV Chicago, ENCE finished second in a field featuring both Team Liquid and Vitality, the top two teams in the game, but did not end up facing Vitality at all and were utterly crushed by Team Liquid. The Bo5 final was far from a chance to show they could challenge CS:GO’s new kings and more like a match between the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals, with the Finns playing the part of the latter and cast as the unlucky fall guys to be styled upon. Despite the first two maps being two of ENCE’s top four, win-rate-wise, allu and company needed 52 rounds of play to win their 10th. Even a close inferno third map could not stop the seemingly inevitable sweep and brought the humiliating debacle to a merciful end. Augmented reality An inescapable fact of ENCE’s rise was that it came during height of the AUG’s strength. The CT weapon had dominated the defensive side of the game, and often the offensive side in terms of match-ups, for many top teams over that time span, but ENCE were a side who clearly thrived with the weapon. As a team lacking in raw fire-power, relative to the elite company of their peers, ENCE utilised the weapon effectively with intelligent CT cross-fires and set-ups and relied upon their strong internal chemistry to collaborate and shut down rushes. Some may point out that ENCE made their name from strong T side play on maps like train and nuke, but as a team often played close by the top teams – a logical byproduct of being on the wrong side of the skill match-up – those monster T sides relied upon the AUG and the team’s aptitude with it to close out otherwise contested games. The difference is perhaps best evidenced by the play of xseveN, the hero of their Katowice run. A look at the timing of their recent results implies the impact of the AUG nerf. The first big offline event they attended since the nerf, on the 18th of June, was ESL One Cologne, where they floundered and were flushed in last place. As previously referenced, the next event was IEM Chicago and saw them play easier opponents and then get dunked on by seemingly every Team Liquid member in the final. Billy Batson found his power word less effective when it mattered most. Power level fading Along with the AUG nerf, there has been the rise of Vitality, a side which have had ENCE in their pocket for some time head-to-head, and Team Liquid leaving the solar system in terms of fragging power. Contrasted against their peers at the top, ENCE look a team lacking the raw skill to allow their tactics and team-play to push them over the line to big titles. It has been very rare for a team to ascend to the elite status of being a favourite to win titles at every event they attend without also being home to one of the top five players in the world. Team Liquid has EliGE and Twistzz battling each other for MVP awards and Vitality has the superlative ZywOo, who is engaged in his own ‘battle of the best’ with Na`Vi’s s1mple for the status of best solo carry in the game. Then there’s the matter of device, who has continued to output impressive performances even with Astralis’ drop-off. Put up against these titans, sergej, ENCE’s best, cannot be relied upon to be the best player in the server. The young Finn clearly possesses talent and great potential, but he is far more inconsistent in super-star carry performances than the names already mentioned. Consider the model of a team’s “big three”, the three players best suited to be stars and carry the load on the scoreboard. ENCE’s would be sergej, their young phenom; allu, the grizzled veteran still capable of strong LAN performances; and Aerial, who earned MVP honours at Blast Pro Series Madrid. Team Liquid could literally take any three players and best the output of the Finns and thus their ‘on paper’ best trio of EliGE, Twistzz and NAF practically laps ENCE in terms of fire-power. The aforementioned Astralis have seen a dip in individual form, but most I know would have their money on the trio of device, dupreeh and magisk to out-frag ENCE’s finest. Fall back! In all facets, ENCE are out-gunned, seemingly, in a post-AUG-nerf world. Now, clearly that is not the end of the team. Their fundamental strengths have not gone anywhere and they should still be a dark horse team at upcoming events, but their time as world number twos and consistent favourites looks to be fading out entirely. Their position is reminiscient of the mousesports and FNATIC line-ups of early 2018, who won events and rose to the top portion of the rankings, only to then fall back into being merely good or very good teams but not championship material in the following months, lacking just enough in the key areas required of a champion. Factors here outlined aside, ENCE has to contend with the returning form of Astralis; Na`Vi’s new line-up developing with Boombl4; and MiBR and FaZe both hinting at big roster moves in the coming months. Room at the top looks to get more contested and someone will end up squeezed out. What ENCE can’t do is increase their fire-power 5-10% overnight, the seeming reverse of the nerf’s impact, at least without a roster move. As such, many will look to the major as a fork in the road where the Finns must decide whether they will again embrace the uphill struggle or gamble, as teams like TL and NRG have done in recent history, with a skill upgrade by securing the services of suNny, their country’s best player last year. For now, winning looks too hard for ENCE, as much as aficionados of the tactical side of the game may wish otherwise.

Thorin’s Take: There’s No Quit in NEO and TaZ Helena KristianssonIt was yesterday announced that Counter-Strike hall of fame locks Filip “NEO” Kubski and Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas would return to active professional play in a new project named HONORIS. Both had washed out of the top-level literally years ago, with TaZ hustling but failing to elevate a newer generation of Polish talent and NEO making an embarrassing comeback as a toothless IGL and poor individual player in a pointless FaZe experiment. Yet here they are, back again.[jwplayer OreL5w0U] Winners and losers “Why don’t they just give it up already?” was not only a common refrain from even some of their fans, hardly a small group considering their former teams’ historic successes and famously exciting playing styles and personalities, but even most in the industry. Experts and enthusiasts alike knew it was over for NEO and TaZ, so why didn’t they? Put simply, as someone who has followed their careers since the early 2000s, it’s because that sentiment goes against everything that makes up their competitive DNA. None of us would ever have heard of the names NEO and TaZ had they listened to realistic predictions and likelihoods for their success in previous ventures. The world would know “neo”, but only the German great who had starred in a-Losers in 2003 and later pushed mouz to elite status over the coming years. Perhaps the Polish NEO would have been an oskar – a great individual player trapped in a scene with no resources to prove as much internationally. TaZ would have simply been a guy who played some Counter-Strike in Poland and maybe went to a few international tournaments and finished poorly, as was the case early on. Instead, every reader of this article likely knows, or at least has heard, of NEO’s status as the greatest CS 1.6 player in history and has a sense of the Pippen-esque role TaZ played as primary in-game leader and second star of most of the championship teams the two paired up on in the older version of CS. These men won six or seven majors, depending on how you define those tournaments, in an era when the absurdly skilled f0rest won “only” three; the impossible markeloff captured four; and Danish master trace finished with zero to his name. Moving into CS:GO, both had brief periods of individual form, but were each written off as players and expected to be phased out of relevance in the early years. They responded to that early curtain call by recruiting the best of the next crop of Polish stars and reinventing their own games to become some of the shrewdest and most selfless role players in Counter-Strike. The result was a CS:GO major win out of nowhere, in dominant fashion; years of relevance as an elite side and half a dozen additional cracks at majors that so often yielded close losses in the semis or beyond. NEO and TaZ don’t listen to critics or naysayers. That mentality has at times hurt them and made them stubborn in the face of necessary change, but it has also elevated them beyond their rank in the world into a class of winners that few will ever match in terms of world championships. Both are older than 31, but inside their belief remains absolute. We did it before and we’ll do it again. When the winged Hussars arrived Prior to 2005, Polish Counter-Strike was entirely irrelevant on the international level. Outside of the Nordic dominance of championship level play there would be occasional North American teams who could match up with the best from the North and some teams from Germany and then 4kings from the UK. My first experience of the Poles came when I lived in Finland as now ENCE co-founder and then top Finnish player natu’s room-mate in the latter part of 2004. He went off to play in a small tournament in Czech Republic called the “Invex Euro Cyber Cup”. natu’s Destination Skyline team were one of the elite squads in the game, having finished fourth at the CPL Summer 2004 major, and were on a mini-tour of Europe attending smaller events that had hefty first place prize money. With $10,000 for the champions of this event and the only other vaguely relevant team being Germans a-Losers, who weren’t even a contender domestically in EPS, he departed with the expectation his squad would easily capture the top prize and return home. Instead, he returned with a fourth place finish and scant prize money to show for it. Losing to a-Losers had been one thing, but when I saw he had lost to the Polish team Pentagram in the group stage I was baffled. Shock at the results of NEO and TaZ would become a common theme in my career following top level Counter-Strike. The next year they continued to tweak their roster and would again produce international upsets, winning SEC 2005 against a limited but theoretically superior field of opposition. NEO himself had begun to accrue acclaim for his POV demos, which showcased his ferocious fragging capacity and already polished playing style. Golden time The same Poland which had never been a factor in Counter-Strike, but now had a dark horse, saw that premise accelerated beyond anything approaching reasonable or even optimistic expectations. When “the Golden Five” line-up, as they would later be labelled, of NEO, TaZ, LUq, kuben and loord was set, almost immediately they began winning significant titles and against anyone and everyone. A few months after putting the team together they became major champions with a gold medal victory at World Cyber Games (WCG) 2006. The following year they captured two majors, if you count the first Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) as one, with wins at IEM I and the Esports World Cup (ESWC) 2007. 2008 again saw them transcending everyday form at the biggest events, winning ESWC to go back-to-back for the first and only time that feat was accomplished in history. After battling through a nightmare funding collapse of their organisation MYM in 2009 they still broke cArn and f0rest’s hearts to steal away the WCG gold medal and make it two from that major alone. With LUq kicked, the team brought in pasha and experienced a much more dry year, despite still making some deep finishes in majors. In 2011 they powered up with strong year-long form and finished with glory and a third WCG gold medal. For 2012, the last stanza of the game itself, they would produce one last miracle and win the IEM VI Global Finals, five seasons after taking their first IEM title, and exit the game with six or seven majors to their names. Hey! You’re not supposed to be there! When one hears tales of such greatness year in and year out, winning the biggest tournaments in the history of the game, it might be easy to imagine NEO and TaZ’s sides were favourites or intimidating presences for all their peers battling them. Every year until 2011, when they had changed a player already, they were never the most dominant team over the whole year. Often, they would have tournaments they entirely bombed out of early, even on the heels of or prior to a major they would win. For some reason, Counter-Strike’s ultimate dark horse produced their best at the majors. Where in other tournaments their peers knew they could break and collapse in a tornado of internal fighting, when a major was on the line this core elevated in the way only truly great sports dynasties like the Chicago Bulls or Boston Patriots have become famed. Read More: The 5 Youngest CSGO Major Winners in History – The latter even stands as a great analogue for this gritty band of Poles. Just as the Patriots won their super bowls by such small margins and relying on clutch play down the stretch, NEO and TaZ’s teams would enter majors underdogs and win most of the time against all-but-coronated team-of-the-year opposition and in close fashion. Over those seven major victories, they were a big favourite on only two occasions, one of which – ESWC 2008 against the Koreans of eSTRO – they will barely won in a close three map series. On two occasions they were big underdogs, facing the NiP of 2006 and FNATIC of 2009 who were the dominant teams of their years. NEO and TaZ are the main reason Sweden, the most overwhelmingly successful CS 1.6 nation, can boast only one WCG gold medal in its history. The other three times these impossible Poles were slight underdogs and yet still left with the trophy. Qualitative analysis will tell one NEO and TaZ should probably have won two or three majors at most. But that kind of analysis cannot factor in the heart of a champion and time and time again they would withstand the pressure of history where some of the game’s best to ever play withered or simply participated. During all of those successes and failures, they battled organisational homelessness and periods when they made far less than their peers who they were besting for said championships. These men played for something more than magical paper rectangles. New game; same drive When CS:GO came out, the Poles had hung around in 1.6 for too long, trying to capture the last championships but failing to take any more titles of any kind after their last major. They entered the new version of Counter-Strike with the same line-up they’d finished 1.6 with and lagging far behind the top sides in terms of play in the next game. NEO was non-existent as a star and some early form from TaZ meant little. Even so, they still conjured up a minor miracle by taking a mix team featuring young French talent kennyS and apEX, who could barely speak English and thus played separate to the Poles, and winning the Prague Challenge in 2013, besting elite side Na’Vi in the final. Forming a new line-up with next gen players Snax and byali in late 2013, they role-swapped to become the setup men, anchors and supports of this new-look Polish side. Failure at the first major was followed by a completely-out-of-left-field dominant win, dropping only a single map and in overtime at that, at EMS One Katowice, the second major in CS:GO. From then on, Virtus.pro – their new organisation, would get a taste of Polish magic, as “the plow” activated countless times over many years and ensured all the great teams in history had to face NEO and TaZ in their quest for major titles and eras. Beyond the heart-breaking narrow defeat of the ELEAGUE Atlanta Major final to Astralis, VP also played in the semi-finals of majors, ignoring their Katowice win, five more times. Despite what some cynical marketers might say, they weren’t “the Golden Five”, capturing most majors as underdogs, but they also weren’t inconsistent regular season performers in the same way either. Barring a few slumps, which practically never affected the majors, they were a firmly elite team for around three and change years. Even after having seemingly collapsed as a relevant top team in 2017, there was still the dramatic last gasp run to the final of EPICENTER 2017 that almost saw them steal the crown from then world number ones SK Gaming. Never tell me the odds! Achieving the impossible and defying the odds has been a way of life for NEO and TaZ over their careers. These mental monsters could never understand when they were supposed to lose or expected to step aside as other greats were crowned. Here were players who made themselves legends for their grit and heart in the matches with the highest of stakes. For a decade they were meant to finally fade away only to resurrect themselves each time until the last. Seven or eight majors combining both versions of Counter-Strike is a feat nobody comes close to matching. Astralis’ four in CS:GO is incredible and there were great players with four or five in 1.6, but nobody at NEO and TaZ’s major gold medal count. “I’ve never lost a game. I just ran out of time.” -Michael Jordan, six time NBA champion You and I may know that NEO and TaZ can’t win again, but they don’t and probably never will. You’ll have to take the mice from their hands. Until then they are practicing and scheming on their most improbable escape yet; their golden hearts still beating.

Thorin’s Take: The tragedy of k0nfig Adela Sznajder / DreamHackKristian “k0nfig” Wienecke is one of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive‘s lost talents and tragic cases. While the OpTic Gaming player is still considered the star of his team, it is largely by virtue of the reputation attached to his name, as he barely even stands out statistically in a team that is fighting to even earn top 10 status. Asked to theory-craft reasons OpTic would have a chance against Team Liquid, arguably the most skilled line-up in history, at Dreamhack Masters Malmo, many experts would suggest k0nfig having a big individual game as a potential win condition. In reality, his team accomplished their big Best-of-1 (Bo1) upset win with k0nfig posting only 11 kills, second worst in the server behind only NAF from the losing team. One would struggle to find any credible expert who’d pick him as even a top five individual player in Denmark right now. Matters used to be very different for k0nfig and the teams that fielded him, though. A time to shine k0nfig is a player who had others within the Danish scene talking about his potential and raw skill level upon his rise to join the SK Gaming line-up in the latter part of 2015. A year later and he was considered one of the strongest young stars in the game, winning HLTV’s MVP award for Dignitas’ surprise win at EPICENTER, a stacked competition featuring only series play. Another year after that, in late 2017, k0nfig was considered one of the best individual players in the entire world and a strong contender for best Danish player, with device’s health issues understandably taking him off the board. North (as Dignitas’ line-up became known) were not often at the level of Astralis, but k0nfig could shine individually at a level equal to or above Astralis players on many occasions. As such, his reputation as a stud quickly grew and fans even anticipated the potential for him to be the player who replaced Kjaerbye in Astralis, an opportunity eventually offered to k0nfig’s former Dignitas/North team-mate Magisk. Instead, his story has largely been a downhill fall from grace since, not a consolidation of the experiences and trials undertaken thusfar and building into a hall of fame level career. For now, k0nfig is a “what if” for most CS:GO fans and someone they have practically given up on. Yet the Danish prodigy is only 22 years of age. High praise Most will have heard the old adage that “hard work beats talent when talent refuses to work hard” and there are few players in the scene that saying fits better than k0nfig. Every former team-mate of his I ever asked about him, whether they liked him or disliked him, has told me essentially the same story: he is the most skilled player they have ever played with, in a pure ability and mechanical aptitude sense, but his mentality has been and will be the limiting factor to his success. We’re talking about players who have played with device, dupreeh, Magisk, cajunb, Nico and other individually spectacular players, depending on their relevant time in history, yet k0nfig ranks at the top for potential and ability. What would have been a wonderful compliment is transformed into a gnawing feeling that something is wrong in the house of k0nfig and a yearning sensation for the return of the player who began to tear up the scene at the highest level in late 2016. The Danish scene is not known for super-star talents like s1mple, ZywOo or Twistzz – unbelievable raw aimers whose freedom in the game makes them roving tornados of destruction. Instead, the Danish scene has built its success on systems-based approaches and more regimented roles. k0nfig is the exception to that rule, where even device has been a dominant player more for his ability to play within his specific team and add extra value rather than as a routine highlight clip generator, a characterisation more fitting to those other names. Talent vs. work k0nfig is a player who embodies the dilemma of talent. Talent can get a player like him to the top level but then hard work and diligence, in and out of the server, will determine whether he can stay at that elite level or whether he will fall back into the pack of average-to-good players that make up most of the professional scene. Too often, as seen with names like kennyS and f0rest, talent can become a crutch to allow a player to still perform at a good or even sometimes great level, in contrast to his peers, but means they can get away without being as dedicated as others, especially graded against their own staggering potential, which often far outstrips their rivals and peers. In contrast, a player like ENCE’s xseveN has already accomplished so much that would have been deemed near-impossible for a player of his raw skill level, which is visibily far lower, and, as far as one can tell from the outside, such success has come as a result of diligent practice and a productive mentality towards team-mates. The great contrasting example to f0rest’s erratic but superlative individual level, which was attenuated by wavering motivation over the years, has always been long-time team-mate GeT_RiGhT’s exceptional drive and dedication to practice and thus his enduring consistency for the better part of a decade. One can even see these differing backgrounds and paths taken in the playing styles of players on different ends of the spectrum. Xyp9x is a player who essentially gave up focusing upon his raw skill in order to become the greatest supportive player in CS:GO history. His movement, decision-making and firing style all boast of his intelligence and the heavy practice hours he has dedicated to becoming excellent from a position of consistency for his team. A player like k0nfig is beloved for his aggressive and risky playing style, which aligns with his strengths but also leaves far less margin for error than that of a Xyp9x. Put simply: give Xyp9x k0nfig’s aim and he’d be the best player in the world, nearly unbeatable. Put k0nfig’s brain into Xyp9x’s body, though, and you will have a player you would likely never hear of or consider a relevant CS:GO pro. This is where the dilemma of talent arises, though, as one is forced to question whether k0nfig would have been as slipshod with his dedication to improving if he did not have the crutch of talent to prop him up. One suspects this dynamic is at play on both ends of the spectrum. Limitations What makes k0nfig a unique figure in the CS:GO scene is he is one of the very few players who is held back almost entirely by himself. For a player like gob b, literally hours and hours of CSDM (deathmatch) a day could not make him a strong individual player. No amount of demo study will make Dosia the smartest player in clutches. Yet for k0nfig, the power to succeed and excel lies largely in his hands and his alone. Here is a player who has repeatedly, over the years, been cited as having attitude problems as far as practice hours, quality of practice and general attitude towards his place in the team go. In that sense, he stands as a Danish s1mple, more talented than practically all of his peers and yet excluded or overlooked for attitude alone. In some senses, k0nfig should be judged even more harshly than s1mple, since the Ukrainian never let his individual level of dedication slack and arguably lashed out at his team-mates largely from frustration at them not being good enough, where k0nfig’s negatives have seen him let his own game slip in an irresponsible manner. Even k0nfig’s playing style leaves one asking questions about how he conceives of his place as a professional. In North he was eventually moved out of the entry pack and even spent some time secondary AWPing. This is a player who stood as one of the best stars in the game while playing as an entry; one of the most deadly follow-up players that could be found, near certain of trading the first player ahead of him and tearing open the site from there. With a pure first bullet AK headshot the likes of which few even star players ever possess, k0nfig could be unstoppable and thus cranked up his teams’ chances of success significantly. In his time under the OpTic banner some may have noticed a similar approach seemed to disappear. Even with niko, a player who had played as a hard entry in North briefly, k0nfig didn’t seem to go in second or utilise his team-mates in the same manner. Sometimes he would go in as the hard entry himself, to much less success, and sometimes he was simply an above average player in games he, by all rights, should have dominated. Yet still, there would be a deagle headshot or an instant AK kill that reminded spectators of what k0nfig was capable of. The turn k0nfig stands at a crossroads. If he can improve his mentality and dedicate himself to greatness, then there is still time to turn these last two years into a blip on the radar, reinventing himself as one of the great players in the manner Magisk has done in Astralis, where so few even remember his own period in OpTic prior to joining the juggernaut team he has won three majors with. The other alternative is more of the same or worse, as Denmark’s most talented son fritters away his gifts as just a good player and who is left to simply tell tales of years ago, when he was someone and could have been one of the greats. I know which I’m pulling for, but it’s the outcome that’s looking increasingly less likely as the months pass. In the end, k0nfig will have to put in work between his ears if he wants to earn a career as exceptional as the abilities at his disposal.

Thorin’s Take: The Immovable ELiGE Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski is the super-star force of Team Liquid, the squad with the most championship titles won in a year still featuring the Astralis line-up widely considered the best in CS:GO history. A mere year ago he was still labeled, appropriately, as a choker and someone who could not be relied upon in a big final. Indeed, he had never won one until this year. 2019 has seen EliGE turn around his team’s fortunes, his personal reputation and his mentality as a competitor. He now stands as one of the very best players in the world; a titan of Counter-Strike. An overwhelming majority of MVP (Most Valuable Player) medals awarded by HLTV.org have gone to players from the winning team of a tournament, so EliGE’s failure to secure a big trophy until this year precluded him from entering that conversation for many. The North American stud has caught up quickly enough, though, as his three from this year alone sees only 18 players in the game’s seven plus year history boasting more over their entire careers. Stewie2k brought the rebellious fighting spirit Team Liquid needed to transform them from perennial runners-up to dominant champions and super-star talent. Twistzz displays a streaky but unparalleled skill ceiling for a North American player, but it is EliGE’s elite baseline level of consistency that has been the foundation upon which Team Liquid’s would-be era has been built. Seven titles won, five in a row at one point; the $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam bonus and a nearly unrivaled 22 series (Bo3 and Bo5) streak of match wins in a row offline stand as monuments in time for the play of the most consistent player North American Counter-Strike has ever produced in any version in the franchise’s history. The gradual climb EliGE is not a player who came out of the womb dominating offline play and whose play screamed that he must be the next great star. For the first few years of his career, he was just another name in the server, with his initial success coming as a byproduct of helping enable nitr0’s carry potential, working as part of an eventually deceptively strong entry duo and creating space for nitr0’s streaky but spectacular aim – think Twistzz’s mechanical ability but with more variance in performance level. When nitr0 failed to fully become North America’s next CS:GO star, the inheritor of the mantle Hiko first established and swag was denied the opportunity to embrace and Skadoodle could only manifest as for around a year, the field looked bleak. North America had plenty of good players with strong aim, but nobody with a game which could legitimately be contrasted against the best the world had to offer. Certainly, nobody around whom a potential era of dominance could be established. Team Liquid were not a squad shy of spending money to get talent or a big name, as their initial investment into Hiko had shown, and so NA borrowed its super-star talent, as Team Liquid brought in s1mple, the greatest gun-for-hire Counter-Strike will ever see and considered by many experts to be the best player in the game’s history now, almost four years later. The fiery Ukrainian prodigy delivered in the server mechanically and Team Liquid rode him to a major semi-final at MLG Columbus 2016 and then a step further, reaching the final of ESL One Cologne, the following major. In the latter performance, EliGE was a worthy side-kick, delivering key performances offline against some of the game’s elite squads, stacked with star talent and veterans. A carry is born s1mple’s greatest limitation was always his attitude towards team-mates and inability to communicate in a productive manner. During this run of form, that no North American line-up had ever come close to at the game’s most important tournaments, s1mple was tearing his own team apart emotionally with a similar unabating ferocity as he was obliterating opponents inside the server. A vote was held to determine whether the NA side should commit to this phenomenally talented but unbroken wild beast or if they should let him go and chart another course. Hiko, the motivating factor behind s1mple’s acquisition, wanted only to win at all costs and voted in favour of keeping the CIS boy. Another member was willing to ignore s1mple’s attitude at that time. One more team-mate was on the fence but acknowledged that if they wanted to win then s1mple was likely the player to select, but was waiting to see what the tally would be before coming down one way or another. EliGE, as it was relayed to me later, was firmly of the position that he did not want to play with s1mple, even suggesting it was a “him or me” scenario. The obvious counter was to ask “well who will carry us to the championship if not s1mple?”, with the Ukrainian having just posted a god-like 0.80 KPR (Kills Per Round) to only 0.69 DPR (Deaths Per Round) at the recent major. “Me” came back the answer. Perhaps that story is apocryphal, taking an overall sentiment and verbalizing it in a manner that seems to come right out of a Hollywood script, but the premise and the actors outlined are in line with the people I knew and the information my sources gave me. Regardless, on that day, EliGE the future Hall of Fame player was born. Few knew, though, that he had his own demons to overcome before he would be fully unleashed, a similarity he ironically shared with the departing s1mple. Teething problems What EliGE did not know or perhaps was oblivious to at the time was that he was no ideal team-mate himself. Certainly, he did not shout and explode upon his comrades as s1mple was wont to do, but he had his own way of corroding the squad’s atmosphere and inhibiting their collective progress. EliGE was a player who would shut down when he seemed uncomfortable in a match or felt frustration with a team-mate’s play or the direction of the score-line. Where s1mple was brash and decisive enough to challenge team-mates directly in practices and team meetings, seeking to resolve an issue at its first instance, EliGE was more likely to complain and point out problems privately and to an unrelated team-mate, building unacknowledged resentments in the core. Where s1mple’s issues were clear and forced the team’s hand eventually, EliGE’s were more pernicious and subtle. Few will know or perhaps remember that in 2017 EliGE was essentially cut from Team Liquid behind the scenes, and after a failed transition to Cloud9 found himself awash and even considering joining the newly returned DaZeD and swag in their new team, which would be prohibited from competing in majors due to the aforementioned players having indefinite bans for match-fixing. To the public, EliGE was a premier NA CS:GO talent, and to insiders, he was living up to his commitment to be the carry Team Liquid could build around. Circumstances aligned so that EliGE could rejoin Liquid without any fanfare or need to inform the public and Liquid soon hit their second patch of strong form, partnering EliGE’s consistent and powerful play with rising talent Twistzz’s wildly erratic but massively promising peaks of form. A step back After TL’s Autumn explosion, reaching two straight finals at ESG Mykonos and ESL One New York 2017 and defeating world number one team SK Gaming twice along the way, Liquid again struggled to contend for titles and top placings. The following year they would shell out for more talent, as Renegades star NAF arrived in blazing form. With a more passive game, NAF established himself as TL’s star for his first few months but seemingly at the expense of EliGE’s game. With Twistzz and NAF producing runs of super-star level play, it appeared EliGE was content to take a back seat and allow these younger names to flourish. The result was a then never-before-seen level of consistent accomplishment from a North American CS:GO side. Where past NA squads had either been one tournament wonders, as far as true championship form went, or strong performers for a period of a few tournaments in a row, Team Liquid established themselves as arguably the second best team of 2018, a year in which Astralis dominated in epic fashion. Sacrificial lambs In five of their six big finals appearances, Team Liquid would fall to Astralis, leaving them in the unenviable position of being the Karl Malone to Astralis’ Michael Jordan – the truly great figure more than capable of championship glory but forced to always come up second best due to inhabiting the same era as the best to ever do it. With the other big tournament final seeing TL fall in a fifth map heart-breaker to underdogs mousesports, many again spoke in louder and louder tones about TL’s choking and inability to get over the finish line and win “the big one”. Most frustrating of all was that Team Liquid were one of the best semi-finals teams in the game. In 11 meaningful semi-finals appearances, they had progressed six times to the finals stage. Such victories came against elite squads like Na’Vi and FaZe, the former being a team they never lost to in series play – despite the CIS line-up boasting the best player in the game in s1mple – and the latter a side which won three titles in their own right that year. Astralis were obscenely dominant over the scene and Team Liquid were one of the sides who matched up against them well, even if TL never secured the series victory they obsessively chased. The other elite squads might beat Astralis, only to be trounced the next time around. For Liquid, victory was always seemingly in sight and yet just too far, conjuring up images of an elite running NFL team stopped short of Superbowl glory at the one-yard line on fourth down in the final minute. Despite not being the team’s best player at the time, EliGE’s own mentality seemed to uncannily mirror TL’s lack of belief when they had been beaten down by Astralis enough times. After impressive semi-finals performances they would be asked the usual questions from stage hosts like “are you going to win this tournament?” or “can you beat Astralis this time?”. The answers were far from satisfying, as EliGE, in particular, seemed to settle for vague noncommital statements like “I sure hope so” or “we’ll do our best”. Hope they might have had, but their best was never good enough. The turn Just as EliGE’s ultimatum back in 2016 and commitment to become the team’s new s1mple showcased a level of drive that promised much for his future, it would be mirroring another super-star’s journey that would bring him to the promised land of a stocked trophy cabinet. Astralis’ many victories had seen them forge perhaps the most cohesive and efficient Counter-Strike machine ever witnessed, yet the key role and fragging of long-time star device ensured that, despite surprising parity among performers, it was the sniper taking home the majority of the MVP medals that year. That was a staggering turnaround from the player device had been in previous years. Since 2015 he had been vying for the top spot individually in the game, with a fantastic all-around skill-set, but had been largely held back by his own mentality. Notoriously fragile under pressure, as evidenced by carrying Astralis to their first major final in early 2017 only to need youngster Kjaerbye to keep them alive in the most important series and thus costing himself an MVP medal, device could not be relied upon when the stakes were at their highest until Astralis’ most successful year, 2018. device had been a player who had seen himself as “just” another player in his team, which was admittedly highly skilled and with a strong distribution of talent from 2014 through to 2017. Why should he be burdened with carrying? Wasn’t that a selfish mindset? Such was the dilemma of CS:GO’s most reluctant super-star. When the Dane transcended such worries and instead reframed them as accepting the responsibility of carrying where others could not and overcoming situations his own mind largely held him back in, Astralis saw a flood of trophies flow their way, including what would eventually become three straight majors, totaling four for device – a new accomplishment for a super-star. Inability to win the big one had cost device a number of years which would have made his case as the best player in history, thanks to his superb consistency and work ethic, but now he solely occupied the top spot as the game’s greatest winner. EliGE similarly bested his demons, helping Team Liquid become the best team in the world this year and leading them to numerous championships and himself an impressive haul of MVP medals. Reasserted as the dominant force in the team, EliGE’s transformation could be seen in his words as well as his actions. After winning the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals in June, he told HLTV “We’re 100% the best team in the world”. Even during Team Liquid’s difficult Starladder Berlin major run, where they came in as the biggest favourites to win in history but floundered, his numbers were spectacular. Facing Astralis, who had spoiled Liquid’s major run, again at ESL One New York, the following tournament, he was bold enough to promise to perform at his peak in the match. EliGE is now the complete package, in body and mind and North America may never see another player like him. As well as the trophies and MVP medals of this year, his accomplishments include a major finals appearance and two additional semi-finals. The chosen one has delivered in all but handing NA another major trophy and there’s still plenty of Counter-Strike yet to be played. A most under-rated set of skills Speak of skill in Counter-Strike and discussion will centre around players like s1mple, NiKo and ZywOo. Even extending outside of those players, a name like Twistzz is more likely to leap to mind than EliGE. That’s because EliGE’s skill, similar to device’s own talents, manifests more subtly and with less raw flair. Make no mistake, though, EliGE is one of the most skilled players in CS:GO. pimp was EliGE’s team-mate in 2016 and 2017 and has himself played with the likes of Magisk, dupreeh, Nico, Hiko, cajunb, aizy and kjaerbye. Yet the former TL import proclaimed this summer: Elige is the most talented player I’ve ever had the honer of calling my teammate. He didn’t always got to show it in my time in Liquid, but my god has he stepped it up a notch. The dual between him and device as the two top performers for respective teams is essential 🇩🇰🇺🇸 — Jacob “Pimp” Winneche (@PimpCS2) June 21, 2019 EliGE’s spray has always been hailed as impressive, but the power of the Aug and Kreig this year has shown how devastating the consistency of his aim is. Those imagining he was boosted by such weapons are in for a shock when they see his M4A4 or AK, though. EliGE is not just a strong contender for best spray in the world, but has in my opinion the most under-rated first bullet accuracy in the game. It’s not the wild flick of Twistzz, but rather smooth tracking and unwavering accuracy. If EliGE does not kill an opponent he is certainly doing damage to them and his style makes him appear to be the great 1.6 player we never had, as he hits the head with the first bullet so often and then seemlessly transitions into spraying to secure the kill or rack up an assist. With pistols, practically any of them, he is a foreboding presence and this consistency paired with the wild Desert Eagle aptitude of the rest of his team helped them turn so many poor starts immediately around during their unbeatable run of the summer. Indeed, consistency is the primary mark of EliGE’s game and the strength upon which he builds his MVP performances. EliGE is one of best damage dealers Counter-Strike has ever seen. Kill or die. Win or lose. EliGE gets his shots in and is rarely left empty-handed. At big events this year (as classified by HLTV.org) he has averaged 86.4 points of damage per round. Best player in the world contenders ZywOo and s1mple, considered by most fans to be more skilled but admittedly with worse team-mates, average an inferior 86.1 and 83.7 respectively. Considering EliGE has played in 10+ additional maps to ZywOo and double-major-winner-this-year device and played in 10 finals to their four each, those numbers become even more emphatic that he is a player who can make an argument he is the best we have. Even looking back in history, EliGE’s numbers remain massively impressive. s1mple’s 2018 form, which enshrined him as the god of the game, only had him averaging one point higher. device’s 2018 run, in which he was awarded MVP of an event a record seven times, saw the dynamic Dane average over three points less per round. How about prime coldzera, voted best player in the world for 2016 and 2017? The former year he averaged 3.6 points less and the latter he was still unable to get within three points average of EliGE’s body of work in 2019. The Team Liquid star is so durable and impeccable because his understanding of the game’s fundamentals, on an individual level, is close to the best in the world, again mirroring device’s foundational strength. This is most obviously noticeable in EliGE’s superlative sense for when to spam an opponent through smoke or wall without having seen them and his sense for when terrorists will hit the bombsite he is playing. Where such fundamental in-game intelligence cost players like EliGE and device in big moments, over-thinking or finding themselves paralyzed by chaotic and uncertain decision trees, with their confidence built upon a stronger mindset and the results to prove their case, the two are now two of the game’s great closers and big game performers. Such is the power of the mind working with you as opposed to against. Moving at the speed of the game EliGE’s style begins to stretch the limits of description in as much as he appears to move at his own pace in the server, never rushed or forced into uncomfortable scenarios anymore and yet endlessly successful and not simply baiting or saving over and over. EliGE lets the game come to him, because it empowers him like so few other figures. An elite passive player, he is an incredible CT side player; one of the best big site players in the game; and stands as an immovable object blocking entry to his sites or enemies exiting chokes. Opponents peeking into the angle he is holding quickly discover the nightmare that is not only attempting to get the drop on him but especially trying to trade frag him – follow up the death of a team-mate by immediately attacking the player who killed him. On the offensive side of the game, EliGE still displays the instincts that helped him build his name in another life as an entry player, either securing an area on the outskirts, with a view to pressuring the map, or going in with the entry pack directly. With a player like Stewie2k charging in ahead to create space, EliGE is secured a pocket – in the NFL quarterback sense of the term – from which to operate and from such circumstances will deliver. Whether it’s entrying a site or retaking, EliGE is one of the world’s best at working off a team-mate to gain ground. The intelligence that allows him to play off a team-mate to such a degree also shows up in late round scenarios. A prime candidate to win a clutch, his lurking instincts ensure he is rarely caught off-guard and can decimate opponents one at a time. His one-versus-two clutch at the B site on mirage to all but seal the ESL One Cologne 2019 final against Vitality, winning Team Liquid the Intel Grand Slam and one million dollars, is a memorable example. Greatness To borrow the Chess premise of an “immortal game”, a flawless example of the style and strengths that made a historically great player exceptional, EliGE’s performance against Astralis at ESL Pro League S9 Finals stands out. Team Liquid were already three title champions at that point, but this would mark the first time they would again meet Astralis in series play since the Danes had taken their few months off largely attending events not labeled as part of the Blast Pro Series circuit. On inferno, one of the two home maps Astralis had built the game’s greatest ever era upon, EliGE was impossible to deal with. His CT side play was so impenetrable and his spray so deadly that Astralis could not execute upon the A site and were consistently forced into B hits. After a 14:1 CT side stomp against one of the game’s best-ever T side line-ups, EliGE and company closed out the game, winning a cool 16:6. Astralis had not just lost their map pick in the series, but been unable to breathe and gain any footing in the match. This was not the Astralis of the previous year, but also not the EliGE of yesteryear. EliGE is a complete player and the best his region has ever birthed in CS:GO. While he has yet to win a major, that already seems a point of discussion as to why not rather than an obvious answer that he wasn’t good enough. Not only does he have many more trophies to win, but he is one of a handful of players in the world a truly great team can be built around. If you want to hold a shy boy down then don’t ever let him find true confidence or you may find it was the only thing holding him back from his potential.

Thorin’s Take: No Company for Young Men Valve Software, the current development team of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, have long established a zero-tolerance policy towards those who receive VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) bans on their account in the game. While the rest of the tournament circuit has the option of allowing these players to participate, they will never play in Valve majors, the most prestigious competitions on the calendar. “Once a cheater; always a cheater” is the common refrain which has been heard from seemingly the earliest times in Counter-Strike, but that’s neither true nor a fair standard by which to judge banned players, especially when they are capable of competing at a professional level and thus denied a career over what could be a very mild example of cheat abuse. There is no jury or nuance allowed on this matter; Valve’s ruling is absolute and all-encompassing. To the detriment of our community and scene. Worst of all, the young and naive are the ones punished most harshly, in the context of their age, as there is no age threshold at which it applies. Clipped wings Were it not for Valve’s VAC ban ruling, Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen – a talented Finnish prospect whose play elicited murmers of top professional potential – would very likely have been announced as one of the five founding members of OG’s first CS:GO team four days ago. Playing with the likes of major winner and veteran NBK, break-out in-game leader of the year and fellow Finn Aleksib and elite tier Danish main-stay valde, Jamppi’s talent and potential could well have served as a raw but potent weapon in the arsenal of one of Europe’s next top five teams. Instead, the disgraced Finn will seemingly play out his level at tier three or four Counter-Strike competition, with practically every professional level squad aspiring to one day play in the majors. But Jamppi did not get banned for cheating during the period the eventually-to-be OG were considering him, nor did he cheat any time in the last few years leading up to that point, when he was entirely irrelevant and unknown. No, his situation becomes much more alarming when one knows the details surrounding it. Jamppi’s disqualifying VAC ban comes from 2013, when the now-18-year-old would have been 12. Discussion over whether or not it was him on the account at the time are considerations to be left to Valve to investigate, as they admittedly have for a number of players who initially claimed they had been incorrectly or unfairly VAC banned. Jamppi’s age seems a reasonable piece of context to factor into determining his motives, the severity of his actions, and an appropriate punishment, especially as relates to competing as a professional potentially. Lucky for the linear loophole Jamppi suffers the great misfortune of growing up and attempting to play professionally in the age of CS:GO. Were Valve to extend their ruling back to previous versions of Counter-Strike, 1.6 and Source, and investigate for multiple accounts of singular pro players, the current and early CS:GO scenes would have looked like the rapture had hit and taken the faithful, or in this case the wicked, away from our petty mortal realm. There are many CS 1.6 and Source pros who are either on record as having cheated and a multitude more who had credible rumours surrounding them for much of their careers and, perhaps wisely, chose not to address or affirm such rumours. France’s most decorated CS:GO leader is Happy, with two major trophies in his cabinet and many other excellent accomplishments to speak of, but a 1.6 ban, despite being better known as a Source player, would have prohibited any of those marvelous feats. Those behind the scenes have heard countless stories, some even from the players in question, of top professional players, including players who would make a “Top 10 players of all-time list” for both CS 1.6 and Source, who messed around with cheats at some time, either on public servers or in early competitive play. Luckily for those players, they benefit from the arbitrary mercy of Valve essentially announcing an amnesty for those who had cheated prior to the newest game in the franchise. Who’s looking? Then there’s the not so small context to consider that VAC was universally derided in 1.6 for being woefully poor and with some famous cheats even working for years and years before being analysed and added to the database, if some ever were. During these periods, players could legitimately have been cheating in top competitive play, most likely online. North American 1.6 players only had one vaguely significant competition outside of the three or four big LAN tournaments a year, which was the CAL (CyberAthelete Amateur League) invite division. Here the best teams on the continent battled each other largely for pride, though seeding at the CPL majors could be slightly elevated based on strong performance eventually, and no prize money, at least until many years after it was founded. Rumours were rife of even top pros using cheats at some time, in an era with no third-party anti-cheat software being used, and it was not uncommon to see teams perform absurdly well online only to accomplish next-to-nothing offline at big events. Clan Rival were able to win a CAL-i championship relatively early on and yet flunk the following CPL to a laughable degree, not accomplishing meaningful offline success until years later and numerous roster moves that made their line-up practically unrecognisable. Similarly, W.E.W. (Weekend Warriors) were a team resurrected with no original members and filled with young up and coming West Coast talent that won a later season of CAL invite, only to never again achieve any kind of relevance. Did they teams cheat in any capacity? I cannot say, nor do I have evidence, but it’s easy to see why, in such a climate of open access to cheating technology and little chance of punishment, many top pros had their suspicions. Even into CS:GO, where a VAC ban would instantly trigger life-time disqualification from majors, it was rare to hear of a famous pro being banned by the in-built software. Indeed, KQLY, a big event champion and a star of top 10 team Titan, caught his VAC ban in part, apparently, due to ESEA and a cheater who had been caught aiding in helping Valve dive into an undercurrent of new cheat trees. All bans are not equal Then there’s the story of s1mple, a strong consensus for the greatest individual CS:GO player in history and perhaps the best player right at this moment. The Ukrainian prodigy infamously had a ban, but not from VAC. Rather, his came from ESL – the biggest and most significant tournament organiser in the game – and so ESL decided to simply ban him for a finite period. When he attempted to qualify for the EMS One Katowice major, in early 2014, his attempted ban evasion caused them to add two years to his ban period. This legitimately hamstrung his career as a pro, as he was already a difficult character to play alongside and now could not compete at any of ESL’s majors. This meant he missed out on the ESL One Katowice and ESL One Cologne 2015 runs of FlipSide, the team he later played for and is fondly remembered for hard carrying. It wasn’t until 2016 that his ESL ban was lifted and in his first ESL major after, he went all the way to the final and was a strong contender for the MVP of the competition. s1mple’s ban has no impact on his further professional career because it came playing on ESL’s anti-cheat system and not VAC. I’ve heard it said that legally Valve could face a minefield if they banned a player based on someone else’s case. Whether that’s accurate or not they do not incorporate ESL’s bans. Snax became a major champion and legendary super-star player in CS:GO, but if Valve went back in time and took his 1.6 ESL Wire anti-cheat ban into account then he would fade from history like a member of a family photo of the McFlys. Fellow Polish professional Hyper, best known for his play in teams like eBettle and Vexed and appearing at two majors in 2015, was also banned by ESL and thus able to pursue a fairly successful career years later. natu, ENCE Marketing Director and former professional player in both CS 1.6 and Source, who earned numerous accolades and helped pioneer esports in the former title, was banned by the iconic Clanbase online platform for using a wallhack in a meaningless online Finnish ladder match. Despite playing in a mixed team and the game being from a competitive venture, natu’s ban meant he could not compete in future Clanbase Eurocups, their big online tournaments. Aside from that, though, there was no price to be paid and natu continued on as a top professional and kept playing at a respectable level right through into CS:GO and attended the ESL One Katowice 2015 major. Arbitrary and without nuance While natu was no young buck at the time of his Clanbase ban, I’d argue if it had been a VAC ban that it would have been unduly harsh if he had been prohibited from competing as a professional 1.6 player beyond that point. He cheated in a meaningless online match in frustration due to playing against an allegedly blatant cheater on the other team. In no sense did he attempt to use cheats in competitive play. It seems arbitrary and cruelly blunt that an individual of any age could go into a CS:GO public server, play a few games, see someone who is cheating, ask what the cheat’s name is, download and install it, load up a match and then find himself banned due to being trolled into downloading an old cheat. It’s bad enough for him that he can never again play the game he has purchased, but outrageous that he can now never compete as a professional at Valve tournaments under any circumstances. That seems like beheading someone for the theft of a candy bar. Hell, it would theoretically even be possible to install a cheat on your first instance of opening Counter-Strike, while playing in your own empty server, with nobody to actually cheat against. Should such behaviour prevent you from ever playing at a major? I’d say that’s a wild conclusion to arrive at. Now you’re beheading someone for stealing a candy bar from his dad’s shop. If we are to survive numerous young men being struck down before their professional careers can ever begin, there must surely be some consideration given as to the circumstances, intent, and age of the player in question. If the cheating was done in a public server, not even match-making, then already it seems absurd that this could end a professional career instantly. Even in match-making, if the player in question is under the age of 18 then surely some clemency can be granted? Scientific studies will show that teenagers brains do not function the same way as those of adults, due to not being finished in their development, and are apparently more susceptible to impulsive and potentially self-destructive behaviour. Should a 25-year-old man, who may have experienced so much and could by then have even sat out many years of a potential finite ban, not be allowed to have a career playing in Valve’s majors on the basis of his silly and impulsive exploits as a youngster? A similar thread runs through many of the names I reeled off earlier. Snax was 18, but Happy was around 16 or 17 and s1mple was 16. Their differing circumstances, Snax and s1mple being caught by ESL and Happy cheating in a previous version, meant they were free to pursue epic careers. Yet 12-year-old Jamppi is all out of luck due to being born too many years later. How much is too much? Many sports have to deal with instances of cheating, minor or major. In the UFC, some famous current and former champions have been caught using performance-enhancing substances, given bans and then allowed to compete again. Typically, a ban will look like a period of around a year for an early infraction. Some of the very same champions and elite-level fighters have even been popped again and again in their careers. In a sport in which any edge in strength, speed or recovery could mean not just a greater chance at success but also of doing significant damage to another human being and their future livelihood, it seems strange the punishments are far more lenient than a video game in which nobody can die from an opponent having a wallhack, no matter how stressful it may feel at the time. I would like to see a hierarchy of bans established and some kind of committee with a public-facing component, to not just oversee bans from competitive play but also explain to the public the reasoning behind the punishment and keep official track of the banned players and their ban length. I think ESL’s current approach of banning someone caught by their system for two years seems much more reasonable and productive than life-time bans. That would allow the stupidity of youth to be put aside and overcome, just as it would also show serious commitment to the game for pros caught now but who continue to hone their skills for the next two years and fight to work their way back into the professional scene. Once upon a time, pros competed for years without knowing if each was the last year of their professional career or the game itself. Now, a professional player may well get a decade under his belt, with CS:GO players who began in 2012 having just hit the seven year mark. Certainly, repeated offenses, I would hope gauged against age and circumstances playing in, should be dealt with heavier sentences. Perhaps jumping up to four or five years. Even a three strikes policy, issuing the life-time ban on the third instance, assuming it is not absurdly egregious from the first, would be a better set of guidelines to follow and be spread through the community. Just as at the beginning of CS:GO, perhaps an amnesty can be given to those underage. Does Valve care? A primary concern for me in this matter is whether Valve even cares. As it is their game it is certainly their prerogative, under the current IP rights context, to ban whoever breaks their Terms of Service (ToS) and for however long they please, without appeal or review. If Valve wants to encourage a healthy and strong competitive scene, though, it is dangerous to set such a brutal and unmerciful standard towards those naive or stupid enough to make a mistake during their youth or outside of competitive play. It’s painful to imagine 1.6 without some of its legends because they were idiots in a public server in their early days, prior to becoming a professional. Yet that’s exactly what is happening and will continue to in CS:GO. There’s also a serious concern in the lack of communication and transparency from Valve. We are simply left to assume that if they VAC ban someone and then do not overturn it due to his contact that he was actually cheating and its all proven. This is an issue for me since Valve has already shown some questionable decision-making when it comes to pursuing punishment and dispensing it previously in the game’s history and for different offenses. The notorious life-time ban for match-fixing that four of the iBUYPOWER players received is often misunderstood in the chain of events leading up to it. It had already been reported by Richard Lewis, a journalist now working here at Dexerto, months prior to the ban that he had sources and evidence to suggest iBUYPOWER had thrown their now infamous game against NetCodeGuides. This was not enough to motivate Valve to act. It wasn’t until he presented further evidence, which made it practically impossible to deny, that Valve corroborated his findings and issued the heaviest of blows to the careers of those individuals. Then there’s KQLY’s VAC ban. It not only ended his professional career, but cost his team a spot at the Dreamhack Winter 2014 major, which was only seven days from the beginning. Titan was not just disqualified but even prohibited from competing in the Last Call LAN qualifier held at Inferno Online in Stockholm, the same country as the major, five days before the major to determine who would receive Titan and Epsilon’s evacuated spots, with the latter team having players banned for match-fixing. When I put it to Valve developers attending the major that it had been unreasonable to not even allow Titan to bring a stand-in and compete again for their spot, with their clean team members, I was, as I’ve relayed the story many times, told that those Titan players must have known KQLY was cheating and it was implied they not only condoned it but potentially used it as part of their strategy to succeed as a squad. When I pointed out that the team featured the likes of Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans, one of the most decorated players in Source and CS:GO history at that time, they didn’t seem to even understand or acknowledge the significance of my statements. For them, Ex6TenZ, apEX, Maniac and kennyS must have known KQLY was a cheater. As someone who has gotten to know all of them since, I am more outraged by such a stance today than I was at that time, and I far from took it quietly at the time. I think it’s time we had some progress made on a more lenient but still clear and decisive set of bans for cheaters, dependent on factors like their age, their intent and the competitive circumstances of the play which yielded the ban. Everyone can make a mistake, but few teenage follies will bring about such a harsh punishment. Then again, this appeal and opinion piece will fall into the abyss of irrelevance if nobody from Valve is listening or cares. Prove me wrong. Some of the greatest players in Counter-Strike history would not be known right now if these rules and standards had existed back in their day and some of the next great players may well be cheated out of a career right now if the current ruling is not altered.

Thorin’s Take: device – The Coach’s Dream Astralis super-star Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz is a coach’s dream primary star. The CS:GO player with the most majors won in history, taking MVP honours at the recent Starladder Berlin major, the Dane requires little in terms of resources, is self-directed, can play numerous positions on most maps within the same game and maximises the effective cost of giving him his sniper rifle like no other elite player. zonic, worthy Coach of the Year winner at this year’s Esports Industry Awards and the Game Awards, has in his possession a jewel which may not appear as large or gaudy as some others, but is priceless in its value. A great hybrid becomes a great primary A hybrid player is one who is comfortable both using the traditional rifles, the AK or M4s, as well as the AWP sniper rifle. Plenty of players are proficient within one domain and can dabble in the other, but often only when they have “the feeling” or on specific maps and in specific positions. Where CS 1.6 had a dedicated class of primary AWPers who took the weapon every time, CS:GO has seen a number of its great rifle stars showcase world-class AWPing with regularity. Names like olofmeister, s1mple and NAF could at their peaks be argued to be as good with either style of weapon and often were. device was always in that conversation of the best hybrid players, but a mixture of confidence issues in big matches and playing in a team overflowing with hybrids meant in his earlier years he often defaulted to a rifle unless on certain maps. In TSM, the first squad he won championships with, device would AWP on maps like Train or Overpass, but karrigan began his tenure in the team as a solid Mirage CT side sniper and cajunb was famously streaky but sometimes utterly deadly on Dust2, a go-to map for the team in 2015. As the team began to spiral down from near-permanent contender status to facing identity issues in 2016, device essentially became the primary AWPer. He would carry numerous series, sometimes posting massive numbers, only to still see his team defeated. When gla1ve arrived to save the squad’s championship aspirations in late 2016 device became an incisive tool in the reclaimed IGL’s arsenal. device would hold T mid on Train often simply just to punish peeks into that area by inquisitive CTs and let the rest of his team either rotate inside or setup for an alley push. Under gla1ve and in particular with the current line-up featuring Magisk, considered the consensus best five-man team to ever play CS:GO, device has become arguably the best sniper in the world over the last two years. s1mple may be a better fragger with the AWP, due to his prodigious talent and penchant for taking absurdly aggressive angles and still killing enemies, but he is far from the paradigm established of a primary AWPer. device conserves the values of what has made a great sniper in history and his past as one of the world’s best riflers ensures he is still effective even when denied the weapon. Moves like devve The most immediate and obvious hallmark of device’s sniping style is his high mobility. Players like HEN1 or woxic are very mobile around the position they play, with their games relying so much upon incredibly quick firing speed and re-peeking a spot, but device has an AWPing style that is unique in the game’s history. An opponent can never truly know where he will be on the CT side of the map. He does not have to play one site or one spot within that site, as one thinks of when considering AWP legends like GuardiaN or kennyS, but switches up entire sites seemingly at will. The difficulty of playing more than one CT side spot at a world-class level, the standard expected from Astralis and the opponents they face deep in tournaments, cannot be overstated and it is no surprise few players, even great snipers included, fully commit to such a philosophy of surprise over stability. s1mple is again a bizarre example, since he just kills everyone in every site at any time seemingly, and his attempts at such rotations seemed to be largely to cover zeus, whose poor fighting skills made him an easy target to be singled out on certain maps. Given his choice, I suspect s1mple would have stayed and covered his original positions and site. device is a tool gla1ve and zonic can work with to great effect because he not only is self-directed in his style, putting in much preparation individually, but has honed himself into a fantastic plug-and-play piece from so many CT positions. zonic must feel entirely at home with such a rare and powerful ace up his sleeve, as his mTw.dk line-ups of 2008-2009 utilised sniper Sunde in a similar fashion to bamboozle and frustrate opposing offenses. When a team, even the best or most skilled in the game, cannot be certain if a CT position contains an AWPer or a rifler, it can change entirely how they must mentally and tactically approach attempting to take certain fights and control that area of the map. This can often mean free utility is drawn from offenses, who must waste flashes, smokes and even molotovs trying to clear out a potential sniper. Any time it is not device there, they are down utility headed towards the site. More often than not device’s style has been one which has focused upon harnessing the often underestimated depths of the game’s fundamentals. Despite being one of the most skilled players in Counter-Strike, device’s AWPing is famed far more for its sturdy consistency than flair. He will go for the high percentage safe tracking shot over the wild flick that if missed causes the AWPer to reposition, potentially fall back, give up ground or even die immediately. This aligns near perfectly with gla1ve and zonic’s philosophy for the team and its general style, which has always been a model of playing out the numbers of man-advantage situations and finding the high percentage plays. When teams or players attempt to rush him, device has developed one of the most consistent and terrifyingly clutch close range noscopes. This gives Astralis a sniper who can move around the map, take the highest percentage angle, kill a player and fall back and is highlight clip bait if the opponent attempts to push him en masse. The coach’s dream becomes the opposing IGL’s nightmare. For a sniper, device is also one of the most clutch in the world. As a player formerly with a reputation of being a choker in big games and under pressure, device has been a strong clutch round player for many years now and his exploits in such scenarios have helped Astralis win many a game and trophy over the last couple of years. The master craftsman One of the most admirable traits device has brought to the sniping world has been his intensive dedication to the craft of both sniping and analysing how it fits into the context of general match play. While players like kennyS and GuardiaN are known for hitting you faster and more often and locking down a spot with their intimidating skills, device is both one of the best AWPers and one of the smartest to ever play. That AWP intelligence comes as a result of diligent preparation and study. device has previously mentioned in interviews that he studied both demos of opponents, MiBR’s FalleN as a particular example, and also heat-maps of the opposing team and his own. When studying said heat-maps, device is both learning where the opposing team’s sniper likes to position himself, helping the Dane determine the most effective angles to use, but also, and so intelligently, looking at his own positioning. Knowing where he himself has a tendency to go and makes the most shots from means he can counter-act attempted scouting by an opposing IGL or coach. This scenario is reminiscent of a story told by the legendary all-time great NFL Safety Ed Reed, a Super Bowl champion with the Ravens in 2012 and the 2004 Defensive Player of the Year. Reed was a phenomenal pick-off artist and this was known by opposing quarterbacks who faced him. Peyton Manning, the great tactical QB of Reed’s era, was known to be someone who put in untold hours watching game film of opponents to determine how he would play against them in the coming week. Reed, thanks to team-mate and fellow defensive great Ray Lewis, had become a film junkie himself and in a game against Manning’s Colts used Manning’s reputation for study against him. Manning noticed when studying that when Reed lined up at a certain position in the middle of the field he would go to Manning’s right, so the Colts’ star waited until he saw Reed there, pump-faked a pass and then threw it to his left. What Manning could not have known, is that Reed intentionally on this occasion lined up there, had a tell that when Manning pump-faked in a direction he often threw that way and then instead wheeled left and managed to intercept the ball. What your opponent thinks he knows can be a powerful tool to use against him, as any chess great can tell you. Similarly, when SK Gaming came into the PGL Krakow 2017 quarter-finals, they were the number one team in the world and expected to beat Astralis and go on to win a third major for the core. Instead, IGL and sniper FalleN found himself picked apart by device on Overpass, often considered the Brazilian’s home map, and to the extent he had to tip his hat after the game and acknowledge he had been taken to school. An economist with an AWP The knock on device earlier in his career was not just that he was a choker but that, with similar implications, he played too scared and saved or took conservative angles more often than one would expect from a super-star player. This criticism had some merit from 2014-2015, but in 2016 was often more a function of his team falling apart in key matches and forcing him to need to play for himself and hard carry the ailing Astralis somewhere towards a victory. From 2018 onwards, this narrative has been transformed, as device is arguably the smartest in the game at calculating when to save the expensive sniper rifle. With the AWP capable of killing an opponent in a single shot and thus sometimes without taking any damage, even a half buy around one can be a game-changer. Certainly, one can imagine he collaborates on such calls with his IGL and coach, but it is in line with his own past tendencies as a player. Experts of CS:GO would be unable to name a player who better walks the tightrope of saving and giving up chances to win a round, the latter being the infamous knock on 2019 break-out Jame of AVANGAR, and going for a round with a numbers disadvantage. device is never baiting when he saves his weapon; instead selecting the right time to keep the weapon alive in his team’s arsenal so that, coupled with his team’s always impressive economic control, they can steal more buy rounds than they would otherwise get. As a strong clutch player, it’s not as if device is afraid to go for a 1vX situation. Let me clear my throat device’s past as a choker seems largely behind him, with only the occasional flare-up and even then with him often coming back strong into series if his team can extend to a third map. Those who saw him play in the FACEIT and IEM Katowice major finals will see that he is a player who has begun to thrive in the spotlight of the game’s most important matches. Indeed, he was the driving force and MVP of the recent major primarily as a result of his play-off excellence and against even some of the world’s best teams. Beyond the weight of big game pressure and strain of expectations, device has conquered the mental game in a manner that is both inspirational and even admirable. During Astralis’ most dominant runs of form, the Dane has been suffering from stomach issues that have made traveling difficult, made eating tricky, and increased his potential pain on stage, with stress being a trigger for his condition. Despite no clear cure in sight, those only observing his play in the server would never know he was dealing with a lot more than practically anyone else in the building and is sometimes even literally in pain as his team are on their way to hoisting another piece of silverware. A champion plays the cards he is dealt. Is it any wonder device is essentially the game’s greatest winner now? What’s more, at age 23, he is the coach’s dream star and sniper and as long as he has his game right, Astralis will contend for the top spot in world Counter-Strike and many major titles to come.

Thorin’s Take: Aleksib the Redeemer ESL / Adela SznajderAleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, in-game leader (IGL) of ENCE, has redeemed the dormant or dying Finnish Counter-Strike scene. During CS:GO’s history the country’s only significance had come in the form of its imports, the talented and experienced few who flew the flag by working with top teams from other countries. Under Aleksib’s leadership, however, ENCE rose up with four unproven players to accomplish astonishing feats and now find themselves poised to potentially become the world’s best team. You used to be beautiful In the early days of the Counter-Strike franchise, Finland was among the key players in the global scene. While their scene lacked sponsorship opportunities early on, denying them the opportunity to attend some of the early North American CS majors, namely the CPLs, within the European scene Finland was always a viable source of solid sides. At their lowest points, Finland’s finest would still be a top 10 side in the world and at their best they produced elite tier sides, even briefly boasting the best team in the world in early 2007. Certainly, no majors were won by Finnish sides and rarely were big international tournaments of any stripe, but that spoke more to an issue of mentality as opposed to skill or depth of quality players. Names like zet0r and ruuit were rightly considered some of the very best players of their days, stars to be pitted against the likes of HeatoN and f0rest, respective to each’s era. While Finland typically only had one elite level side, their talent pool allowed for at least two who would compete at a notable level of play. Hailing from the Nordic region, Finland cannot reasonably match up to the epic accomplishments and dominance of Sweden, nor can it point to an era-defining team like Denmark’s mTw.dk. Even Norway’s best imports, such as elemeNt or XeqtR, have much more decorated careers and longer-lasting names than Finnish legends like mysse and natu. Nevertheless, Finland was in the mix in 1.6 and had its highs when its top teams fought the titans of CS history and ever was the country relevant, even up until near the very end of the game’s competitive life-span. 69N-28E seen winning NGL One S2 in 2007. Finns on the road In CS:GO, Finland was nothing for a long time. In the early years, natu was a part of some line-ups who showed brief flashes of competence but with nothing exceptional and over a span of time in which the number of teams capable of competing at the top was significantly less than currently. Instead, Finland’s relevance was maintained through the efforts of its exports. Natu became one of the first real coaches in CS:GO, following up on the more friend-orientated relationship pita had manifested as NiP’s first official coach, and helping guide NiP during their transition from revitalised world contender into solid top 10 team with decaying once-world-class components. Under him in that edition of NiP was allu, the last remaining link from the top Finnish teams of 1.6. The last year 1.6 had been allu’s arrival onto the international scene, a 19-year-old rookie learning under experienced IGL lurppis and tasked with replacing the special all-around talent naSu. In CS:GO, allu had come into his own as a player. In mousesports he was one of the best players gob b had at his disposal. When NiP decided the fiery Maikelele was too much strife they benched the Swede and brought in the icy cool allu to take over his sniping duties and replace his “hype” style with a more serious and calm demeanour. While allu seemed a successful addition to the Ninjas, their results could not maintain at such a stellar level, where they had been contenders at every tournament prior to his addition. NiP’s slide from relevance meant there were not big international titles during allu’s tenure in their team, but the Finn was able to next find a home in FaZe, a flawed project of international talents who had yet to make any kind of meaningful headway into the play-off portion of big tournaments. When karrigan finally joined allu in FaZe, the team took off and with later roster moves would eventually vy for the number one spot in the world, become a Legends status team at the major and win a big title at StarSeries S3. The final name of note in this tale is, of course, suNny. The former mouz starter, who even featured in an ENCE line-up years ago, broke out in PENTA, an internationally-mixed line-up akin to FaZe and mouz but on a smaller scale of resources. Parlaying this into a call-up to mouz itself, suNny went from being a solid member of the team’s trio of star talents, along with oskar and ropz, to legitimately establishing himself as one of the very best riflers in the world by the middle of 2018. For the first time in CS:GO, a Finnish player had one of the elite talents in the game. Redemption arc That Finnish Counter-Strike history lesson is to establish the context of the world Aleksib emerged from. Finnish CS:GO was not considered a hotbed of potential talents. The assumption was that anyone good enough would either show up in FPL and find themselves an international team or be recommended by the likes of suNny and allu. The notion of an entire team of Finns rising up together to battle the world’s best, eventually prove themselves consistently worthy of similar status and even go on to win international titles would have been dismissed as delusional and rightly so. Under Aleksib, ENCE has managed many wonders in the last 14 months or so. It all began with their shocking big international debut at ESL One Cologne, qualifying for the event and then besting NiP and mouz, losing only to Astralis and Na`Vi, two of the best teams in the entire world. When most top teams skipped StarSeries S7, ENCE pounced on the opportunity and took the title at an event featuring teams like mouz, North, OpTic and BIG, who would all have been more likely candidates to rush into the vacuum of world beaters and take the trophy. While 2018 was about impressive debuts and early upsets, this year has been the true coming out of the ENCE line-up and Aleksib’s impact on the squad. At IEM Katowice, the first major of the year, ENCE would have been celebrated merely for exceeding expectations by making it to the Legends status of the play-offs, but sergej and company went much further than that, taking down tournament favourites Team Liquid and previous finalists Na`Vi in Bo3 series play. Upon reaching the final, an unthinkable feat already, ENCE could not hold up against Astralis, but who could blame them? Since then, ENCE has shown strong performance at two Blast Pro Series events, most notably winning the Madrid edition in spectacular fashion. Aleksib’s boys not only reached the final this time, but broke Astralis’ seemingly impossible 31:0 nuke LAN streak, gave them a rare series sweep loss and also ended the Danes’ run of not losing two tournaments in a row since reaching world number one status. ENCE had arrived in Katowice, but now they had made a permanent home among the world’s best teams. As irrelevant had Finland had been for so many years in CS:GO, in terms of producing entire teams to compete at the international level, now the country stands behind one of the most exciting and intense sides on the circuit, capable of theoretically winning any tournament, though many more trophies are still required for the push to the absolute summit of the scene can be realised. ENCE has a more impressive resume of results over the last three months of play than Astralis, the team whose era only just ended. Victories over Team Liquid, Na`Vi and Astralis represent the biggest scalps a team can collect in the game. Astralis were the dominant force of 2018 and are the two-time reigning major champions, fresh off arguably the best era in Counter-Strike. Team Liquid are perhaps even stronger than the stellar form of 2018, having themselves beaten Astralis and now won a number of tournament titles of their own. Na`Vi have been far more flawed than last year, but still boast the best player in the world (s1mple), possibly ever. Quite the resume of victories for an IGL who hasn’t even been competing at this level for an entire calender year. What we have to work with It’s not as if Aleksib was given his own FaZe-esque set of talents to craft into a cohesive and effective side. The only proven piece at his disposal was allu, the man ENCE’s CS:GO team had essentially been resurrected to provide a home for. Certainly, allu has been a very competent player at the international level and at times verged upon star level play, but his time in FaZe and later OpTic did not have many expecting him to be a hard carry of a team at the level ENCE now occupy. Indeed, he has not been that kind of player and has instead contributed strong sniping form, his years of unique experiences and a strong mentality to offline play in a stage environment. All of that cannot be easily overlooked, but the point to be emphasised is that the presence of allu has not given Aleksib a super-star level player to operate around. The other four names, Aleksib himself included, are new to the top level of competitive play in CS:GO. Stand out sergej was barely 16 upon joining ENCE around the same time as Aleksib. The young Finn has had super-star level tournament performances from time to time, but has not been a hard carry force in the vein of s1mple or NiKo. As much potential as seems clearly present within the youth’s game, ENCE’s epic run to the major final, for example, came with him in a relative slump. Aerial will, understandably, being mistaken for a young player himself, due to how fresh his name is at this level, but is in fact 26 and would have been categorised as a “never was” up until recently. Nevertheless, echoing the arrival to the Danish scene of the similarly older-than-you-would-assume valde, Aerial has been a surprise performer for ENCE, even earning MVP honours in their victorious Blast campaign. Was this really a talent nobody else could identify within the Finnish scene? Perhaps, but Aleksib’s use of him as an entry component and working directly with him on the T side has developed Aerial far beyond the level many could have anticipated. XseveN is the final name rounding out ENCE’s quintet and looked set to become the man singled out for replacement when the team reached the major play-offs. With mouz having failed the minor and ENCE’s rise being so surprising yet exhilerating, many would have eyed xseveN as the player who should be sent to the bench to allow the team to bring in suNny, the best Finnish player, into the best Finnish team. XseveN’s heroic performances in the play-offs put such thoughts to one side. Playing a supportive role, xseveN’s contributions are hard to argue against, when one considers how cohesively the team has played and their string of strong finishes. It would have seemed a certainty that suNny would have been a part of any Finnish team which could rise into the top five and especially one which could best teams like Astralis and Team Liquid and win titles of their own. Instead, Aleksib and ENCE have done it on their own, for now. ENCEstralis It is a compliment of the highest order than fans have at times jokingly referred to ENCE as “ENCEstralis”, highlighting the Finnish sides similarities with the mighty Astralis as teams whose tactical style controls the game, empowers their map pool and makes their players more than the mere sum of their individual parts. Their map pool showcases their unique status as a tactically-powerful side, as their strength on the normally troublesome nuke and train T sides attests. ENCE are still not a team with a player who would be considered a top five talent in the world, with sergej perhaps cracking the top 10 for more experts. Man for man, they are not a line-up who exude raw skill or monstrous fire-power, especially in a scene with the likes of Team Liquid hanging around, yet they routinely defeat and outplace more high profile names, more decorated players and more skilled opponents. ENCE are a team who win through their tactical control of a match and their admirable team-work, often colloquially referred to as “team-play” in Counter-Strike. ENCE also mirror Astralis in how strong their understanding of the fundamentals of the game are. They do not exhibit the wild moves of FURIA or the power fragging of FaZe. Here is a team who use core CS principles like the trade frag, map control and utility usage to repeatedly engineer victories against even the best teams in the game. Such qualities begin with the in-game leader. Teams who explicitly commit to a tactical style and play with the controlled approach of ENCE live and die by their tactician’s aptitude at preparing his troops, calling within a match and ability to read and vary his approach as a game develops. In these areas, Aleksib scores highly and can now be considered the best IGL in Counter-Strike. Calm hand at the wheel A primary descriptor that comes to mind when watching ENCE play is “poise”. For such an inexperienced and arguably under-powered squad, the Finns do not seem rushed or brittle in their mental state. When down in a match, they continue to grind and limit the damage until a break is found and a chance to come back secured. When leading, they are not prone to wild mistakes and nervous gambles in an over-eager effort to close a match out or halt an opponent battling back. This is a team with a champion’s understanding of the key rounds which decide a match, understandably very rare for a team who had not meaningfully been champions at this level before. That mindset is more inspiring when ENCE are facing an uphill struggle in a match. When under the gun and fast facing an incoming loss, ENCE are certainly capable of being blow out, but on many an occasion they have displayed “sisu”, a Finnish concept of tenacity and grit under trying circumstances. As such, it is no wonder they have fast accrued a legion of dedicated fans for their play. Not only do such qualities eminate from the leader of a team, but can be seen in the mentality and attitude of Aleksib himself. He is a man who seems under control during his games and at home in both games in which he is comfortable with the setting of both teams but also in wild matches which veer into chaotic territory and force rapid adaptations. This is a rare quality within the lineage of Finnish Counter-Strike history. Game changer The top Finnish 1.6 teams spoke of previously were practically always limited by their lack of poise when in control of a match and composure under the pressure of a big stage game or difficult battle. They were fantastic front runners and had teams of skilled players, some of which worked well together, but in the big moment could be reliably expected to fold. There are so many stories from the great Finnish 1.6 players of the maps they “almost won” and the times they “were so close to beating [the best teams]”. Certainly many more than the tales of accomplishments which actually took place. Stylistically, Finnish teams were practically never considered among the best tactically. They played to the strengths of their individual talents, often giving them free reign and basing the rest of the game on the whims of their best players. Finnish Counter-Strike was early on known for rushing and up-tempo play, as a result. In later years, primarily under the leadership of lurppis, the IGL who accomplished the most top finishess for the country, Finnish Counter-Strike sought to allow the best talents to coexist and simply hoped they would not combust on a personal level, as sadly was often the case. Hence why I have singled out Aleksib as the most important and integral part of ENCE. As skilled as sergej may be, there are other young talents in the world who can showcase similar form and arguably even better, as Vitality’s ZywOo is showing us. allu is a wily veteran with a sturdy mindset, but is hardly unique in the qualities he possesses. Aerial has been a relevation from the Finnish scene, but is not even always a starring presence in ENCE’s wins. xseveN has exceeded all expectations, yet does record poor statistics for his performances with regularity. No, ENCE’s best piece is their leader. A strong case could be made that ENCE are the second best team in the world right now. They don’t have the best star, the best veterans or the best supportive elements. They do have the best in-game leader, though. Aleksib has redeemed the Finnish scene and elevated them to heights as yet unseen and the promise of a future in which Finland is remembered as a country of winners and land of a never-say-die attitude. For fans of Finnish Counter-Strike and even ice hockey, this is reason enough to celebrate Aleksib as the redeemer of their hopes and dreams.

Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – 4th January 2020 When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and an explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three-month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher-ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth-ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 4th October 2019 – 4th January 2020 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Oct 01 – Oct 06 DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 – Oct 21 – Oct 27 StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 – Nov 01 – Nov 02 BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 – Nov 07 – Nov 10 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing – Oct 08 – Nov 18 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Europe – Oct 08 – Nov 18 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Americas – Nov 20 – Nov 24 CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 – Nov 28 – Dec 01 Esports Championship Series Season 8 – Finals – Dec 03 – Dec 08 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Finals – Dec 12 – Dec 14 BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 – Dec 12 – Dec 15 cs_summit 5 – Dec 17 – Dec 22 EPICENTER 2019 – B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. Ninjas in Pyjamas [REZ, f0rest, Lekr0, Plopski and twist] [-] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (5th-6th) StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (7th-8th) BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (2nd) ECS S8 Finals (5th-6th) BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 (3rd) Bo5: Bo3: EG (SLTV S8), Vit (EPL), FaZe (BLAST Global) One map: Ast (BLAST Cop), TL (BLAST Cop), EG (ECS) NiP’s placing over the BLAST tour this year allowed them the more favourable match-up of facing FaZe Clan, which was bizarre considering FaZe were the top-ranked team, and thus managed to snag third place and a ranked win over said super-star line-up. NiP have a decent level of consistency, but have not shown anything approaching championship form. Their final at BLAST Copenhagen was the result of some Bo1 wins. 9. Natus Vincere [s1mple, electronic, flamie, GuardiaN and Boombl4] [-] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (3rd-4th) StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (13th-16th) BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (3rd) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (3rd-4th) EPICENTER 2019 (5th-6th) Bo5: Bo3: EG (EPL) One map: Vit (DH Malmo), TL (BLAST Cop), FNC (EPL), Vit (EPIC) Na’Vi had a real chance to push up the rankings, but blew it with a near dry run to only a top six finish at EPICENTER. Had they beaten Vitality in the group stage or EG in the playoffs, they’d have had at least a ranked series win and a minimum of a top four finish. Instead, the newer look Na’Vi continue to have fantastic looking maps and occasions when they run completely out of gas. 8. FaZe Clan [NiKo, coldzera, rain, olof and broky] [-] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (1st) Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (3rd-4th) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (9th-12th) BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 (4th) Bo5: Bo3: NiP (BLAST Cop), Vit (EPL), FNATIC (EPL), EG (IEM Beijing), EG (IEM Beijing) One map: Ast (BLAST Cop), Na’Vi (BLAST Cop), Vit (IEM Beijing), TL (BLAST Global) While the BLAST Global Finals was a much better tournament format-wise than past events, with every series Bo3 and a double-elim bracket in place, a down-side is that qualification came from success at the BLASTS of 2019 and there were only four teams at the finals. Hence, FaZe’s fourth place is actually last place and all they accomplished there was losing two series and winning a single map against Team Liquid. They still retain a ranking spot, with their placings from earlier in the examined time period, but FaZe need to prove themselves again soon if they want to avoid dropping out. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favourites 7. 100 Thieves [jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction, Liazz and AZR] [-1] Recent form: StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (4th) Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (2nd) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (7th-8th) Bo5: Bo3: FNC (SLTV S8), Vit (SLTV S8), ENCE (IEM Beijing), ENCE (IEM Beijing), Vit (IEM Beijing) One map: 100T were inactive since the last edition of the rankings and drop a spot, with Vitality leap-frogging them. The Aussies have a solid set of placings and résumé of ranked wins. With so many teams as potential championship contenders, this next phase of their time together should prove the most challenging as they push for a top spot. 6. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [-1] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (9th-12th) BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (5th) ECS S8 Finals (2nd) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (5th-6th) BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 (2nd) Bo5: Bo3: Ren (EPL), EG (ECS), FNC (ECS), mouz (EPL), FaZe (BLAST Global), NiP (BLAST Global) One map: NiP (ECS), Ast (ECS), Ast (EPL) Despite finishing runners-up to Astralis at BLAST Global Finals and adding a couple more ranked series wins, Team Liquid drops a spot, by virtue of Vitality’s trophy-winning campaign at EPICENTER. TL are a very close fifth behind them, with a better résumé of wins. TL have to be one of the strongest sixth place teams these rankings have ever seen. 5. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, shox and RpK] [+2] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (2nd) StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (7th-8th) Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (3rd-4th) EPICENTER 2019 (1st) Bo5: Bo3: mouz (DH Malmo), Na’Vi (DH Malmo), Na’Vi (EPIC), mouz (EPIC) One map: 100T (IEM Beijing), FNC (EPL) Just when Vitality looked to have fully underwhelmed, at least in terms of championship aspirations, they take a big trophy to close out the year. Sure, there was no Astralis, Team Liquid or FNATIC; but EG and mouz were top four teams and the latter was riding three trophies won in a row. Vitality came close to losing the final, but did not and secured a much needed piece of silverware. Their win over mouz helps round out their résumé a little, which is admittedly somewhat bare for a team with their placings. S Class – Elite Teams 4. FNATIC [KRiMZ, brollan, JW, flusha and Golden] [-1] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (1st) StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (2nd) ECS S8 Finals (3rd-4th) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (2nd) Bo5: Bo3: Ast (DH Malmo), Vit (DH Malmo), mouz (SLTV S8), Vit (SLTV S8), Vit (EPL), 100T (EPL), TL (EPL) One map: EG (SLTV S8), TL (ECS) FNATIC keep a top spot, but drop to fourth. That’s still contextually impressive as they have been inactive since the last edition of the rankings and all of the other teams in the top 10 aside from 100T have played tournaments. Their placings are strong and their series wins will drop a little in a few days, but are still sturdy. 3. mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [+1] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (5th-6th) StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (9th-12th) CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 (1st) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (1st) cs_summit 5 (1st) [NaToSaphiX + Rejin two maps] EPICENTER 2019 (2nd) Bo5: FNC (EPL) Bo3: AVAN (CAC), EG (CAC), ENCE (CAC), EG (EPL), Ast (EPL), EG (EPIC), EG (EPIC) One map: Vit (DH Malmo), ENCE (CAC), TL (EPL), Vit (EPIC) The rich get richer, as mouz continue to win ranked matches and place highly. Their win at cs_summit didn’t mean too much, being as the rest of the teams were unranked, but a runners-up finish at EPICENTER had them beating EG twice in a tournament featuring the likes of Vitality and Na’Vi too. That win and those series edge mouz over FNATIC for the third spot by a pretty small margin. Incredible to think what karrigan has accomplished with this line-up over the last three months, and especially since they were so unable to secure top placings prior. This win also moves them up into S Class status, which is entirely appropriate considering their recent scalps and placings. 2. Evil Geniuses [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [-] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (15th-16th) StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (1st) Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (5th-6th) CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 (5th-6th) ECS S8 Finals (3rd-4th) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (5th-6th) EPICENTER 2019 (3rd-4th) Bo5: Bo3: Ren (SLTV S8), FNC (SLTV S8), FNC (SLTV S8), NiP (ECS), 100T (EPL), Na’Vi (EPIC) One map: AVANG (ECS), Ast (ECS), FNC (EPL), mouz (EPL) As much as activity has been cited as a reason hurting EG’s results, their attendance of EPICENTER allowed them to add another top four finish. They’re still being chased by FNATIC and Team Liquid, but their résumé holds for now. 1. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [-] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (3rd-4th) BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (4th) Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (1st) ECS S8 Finals (1st) ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (3rd-4th) BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 (1st) Bo5: 100T (IEM Beijing) Bo3: FNC (EPL), 100T (IEM Beijing), FNC (ECS), EG (ECS), TL (ECS), TL (EPL), TL (BLAST Global), NiP (BLAST Global), TL (BLAST Global) One map: TL (BLAST Cop), mouz (EPL) Astralis stay on top like a good housewife riding cowgirl. Winning BLAST Global not only saw them again best rivals Team Liquid, twice no less, but win another tournament in the last few months without dropping a map. They’ve won three titles in the last three months, have placed top four at every offline event and have a large collection of series wins. What’s not to like? Now the question becomes when Astralis will activate a second era. A video featuring will becoming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CSGO World Rankings – 30th April 2020 When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and an explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three-month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher-ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favorite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth-ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. Update: Due to the lockdown in many countries leading to essentially no offline play, I have taken the decision of covering online results, contrary to the usual precedent, in lieu of LANs. Once offline play resumes I will again return to ignoring online results. 30th January 2019 – 30th April 2020 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending): Jan 31 – Feb 16 BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season – Feb 01 – Feb 06 ICE Challenge 2020 – Feb 21 – Feb 23 DreamHack Open Anaheim – Feb 24 – Mar 01 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship – Mar 03 – Mar 05 Flashpoint Season 1: LAN Qualifier [NEW] – Mar 16 – Apr 12 ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe [Online] [NEW] – Mar 13 – Apr 19 Flashpoint 1 [Online] [NEW] – Mar 26 – Apr 12 ESL Pro League Season 11: North America [Online] [NEW] – Apr 22 – May 10 ESL One: Road to Rio – North America [Online] [NEW] – Apr 22 – May 17 ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe [Online] [NEW] – B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. MAD Lions [acoR, Bubzkji, roeJ, sjuush and AcilioN] [NEW] Recent form: ICE Challenge (3rd-4th) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (9th-12th) – Flashpoint 1 (1st) [Online] – Bo3: N/A One map: Mousesports (ICE), Evil Geniuses (IEM Katowice) The HUNDEN gamble paid off for MAD Lions, as new IGL AcilioN led them to an epic run to the Flashpoint 1 title, losing only two series along the way and to the teams who finished second and third in the end. Certainly, there were no top 10 ranked teams at the event, but there were a number of teams battling to get in and the format meant MAD Lions had to play a massive amount of series and the play-offs were double elimination. Victory at the event sneaks MAD Lions barely into the top 10, with a very precarious grip on a ranking. NiP could make a case for this spot but didn’t do that much work against ranked teams in online play. With both teams filled with potential talents on the brink of breaking through, the battle for ranking spots should be lots of fun in the coming months. 9. 100 Thieves [jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction, Liazz and AZR] [+1] Recent form: BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (4th in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (5th-6th) – ESL Pro League Season 11: North America (5th) [Online] – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Evil Geniuses (IEM Katowice), Mousesports (IEM Katowice), Evil Geniuses (EPL) [Online], Evil Geniuses (RR NA) One map: 100 Thieves were unacceptably poor in online play, with the exception of a win over EG. I suspect online play has saved 100T a little, largely due to the reduced competition in NA contrasted with global tournaments. All the same, 100T are hanging on and riding that top six at IEM Katowice from just before the lockdown. With kassad departing as coach and his replacement yet to be announced, one could easily speculate the Aussies time in the rankings may be limited. Failure elsewhere allows them to jump a spot, though, for now. 8. Evil Geniuses [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [-] Recent form: BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (3rd in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (9th-12th) – ESL Pro League Season 11: North America (2nd) [Online] – Bo5: N/A Bo3: 100 Thieves (BLAST Spring) One map: Team Liquid (IEM Katowice), 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice), 100 Thieves (EPL) [Online], Team Liquid (EPL) [Online], 100 Thieves (RR NA) EG’s runner-up finish online got them zero ranked series wins and just some single map wins in series, but they still finished second in EPL and thus they remain mildly relevant. Their coaching change, bringing in zews for ImaPet, will be the crucible to see if this team is headed gradually out of sight or if they can harness the power of their line-up and challenge for titles again. The clock is running, stan! 7. FaZe Clan [NiKo, coldzera, rain, olof and broky] [+2] Recent form: BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (1st in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (7th-8th) – ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (5th) [Online] – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Team Liquid (BLAST Spring), Team Liquid (BLAST Spring), NiP (BLAST Spring), Team Vitality (IEM Katowice), G2 Esports (RR EU) One map: Na’Vi (IEM Katowice), Na’Vi (IEM Katowice), Mousesports (EPL) [Online], G2 Esports (EPL) [Online], Fnatic (EPL) [Online], Mousesports (EPL) [Online], Na’Vi (EPL) [Online] FaZe are a tricky team, as their fifth place online doesn’t look that crazy until you consider how many series they went to three maps in and narrowly lost. The eye test says FaZe are so close to the cusp of both moving into the A class and potentially even beating most of the best teams in the world. All the same, they did not win those series and thus only get credit for single map wins en route to their losses. FaZe could really go either way, especially with the rapidly changing fortunes of the teams below them, but close is not good enough. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favorites 6. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [-1] Recent form: BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (2nd in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (5th-6th) – ESL Pro League Season 11: North America (1st) [Online] – Bo5: Evil Geniuses (EPL) [Online] Bo3: NiP (BLAST Spring), Evil Geniuses (IEM Katowice), 100 Thieves (EPL) [Online], Evil Geniuses (EPL) [Online], Evil Geniuses (EPL) [Online] One map: N/A Despite winning EPL NA online, beating their main NA rivals along the way, that competition didn’t allow TL to prove themselves against any of the teams ranked above them and their offline results were not good enough to give them a shout at a top ranking. The eye test says they are A class, but there are some clear issues to be observed and the team still doesn’t look ready to produce consistency and win against Europe’s best. Will both of NA’s stacked rosters continue to be repelled from championships in 2020? 5. G2 Esports [kennyS, AmaNEk, JaCkz, nexa and huNter-] [-1] Recent form: BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (1st in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (2nd) – ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (10th-12th) [Online] – Bo5: N/A Bo3: 100 Thieves (BLAST Spring), 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice), Mousesports (IEM Katowice), Team Liquid (IEM Katowice), Fnatic (IEM Katowice), FaZe (EPL) [Online] One map: N/A G2 were one of the teams with the steepest rises in 2020, with kennyS even looking like a top-five player in the world. Going offline actually has cost them big time, though, and hence they move down a spot after a disastrous tied-10th place finish in one of the weaker groups online. A strong resume of offline wins from Katowice count heavily in their favor, but there’s only a single map win to be added since then. If we stay online, G2 could well be headed back towards the bottom half. 4. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [-2] Recent form: BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (4th in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (3rd-4th) – ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (3rd) [Online] – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Team Vitality (IEM Katowice), Fnatic (IEM Katowice), Team Vitality (EPL) [Online], FaZe (EPL) [Online], Mousesports (EPL) [Online], Team Vitality (RR EU) One map: Na’Vi (BLAST Spring), Na’Vi (EPL) [Online], Fnatic (EPL) [Online], Mousesports (EPL) [Online], Fnatic (RR EU) Astralis are far from the world-beaters they were at the end of last year, but they have followed a nice Katowice run with strong form online. Considering they beat the first and second place teams, it’s a bit rough they ended up in third. Then again, the eye test suggests they probably are worse than those teams. Dropping two spots again puts Astralis further away from the top than feels normal, but 2020 has been far for normal, especially for Astralis. S Class – Elite Teams 3. Mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [-] Recent form: ICE Challenge (1st) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (7th-8th) – ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (2nd) [Online] – Bo5: Na’Vi (ICE) Bo3: FaZe (EPL) [Online], G2 Esports (EPL) [Online], FaZe (EPL) [Online], Astralis (EPL) [Online] One map: 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice), Fnatic (EPL) [Online], Fnatic (EPL) [Online] Mousesports hold steady in third, but only just. Their win online and adding a gang of resume results, allowed them to just sneak past Astralis, despite the latter having a better Katowice finish. Remember that mouz did beat Na’Vi in a Bo5 on LAN within this time window being considered. Karrigan and the gang remain one of the most overall consistent teams in the game. 2. Fnatic [KRiMZ, brollan, JW, flusha and Golden] [+5] Recent form: Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (3rd-4th) – ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (1st) [Online] – Bo5: Mousesports (EPL) [Online] Bo3: Na’Vi (IEM Katowice), 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice), FaZe (EPL) [Online], Astralis (EPL) [Online], Mousesports (EPL) [Online], Na’Vi (EPL) [Online], Astralis (RR EU) One map: G2 Esports (IEM Katowice) Fnatic were only down in 7th due to inactivity, contrasted with the other teams and largely due to not being included in the Blast circuit. Their offline results saw them making at least top four and more usually the final of everything they attended. CS:GO’s most entertaining team to watch delivered with a big-time online performance, beating seemingly all the big names, and snatching a second-place ranking. Fnatic have been in third place months ago, but reaching as high as the top two has not happened in these rankings since the end of April 2016, when the six in a row olofmeister/dennis line-up began to run its course as champions. Impressive stuff by this core of three remaining players and two newer names, relatively! 1. Natus Vincere [s1mple, electronic, flamie, Boombl4 and Perfecto] [-] Recent form: ICE Challenge (2nd) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (1st in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (1st) – ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (4th) [Online] – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Astralis (BLAST Spring), Team Vitality (BLAST Spring), FaZe (IEM Katowice), NiP (IEM Katowice), FaZe (IEM Katowice), Team Liquid (IEM Katowice), Astralis (IEM Katowice), Fnatic (EPL) [Online], Astralis (EPL) [Online], FaZe (EPL) [Online] One map: Mousesports (ICE), Fnatic (IEM Katowice) The CIS kings remain atop the standings, despite finishing only fourth online. Even in their online run they managed a few nice results. What keeps them at the top, naturally, is still that monster Katowice championship and the Blast group stage win. Nobody has been better on LAN than Na’Vi and by such a margin that three teams finishing above them online doesn’t displace them just yet. As much as it might be mildly comforting to s1mple and company to retain their ranking, missing out on the offline window to win championships and even maybe a major must be a huge source of frustration. Has there ever been a more unhappy world number one ranked team? A video featuring will becoming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – 27th November 2019 When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 27th August – 27th November 2019 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Aug 23 – Sep 08 StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 Sep 09 – Sep 09 Arctic Invitational 2019 Sep 13 – Sep 14 BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019 Sep 18 – Sep 22 V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2019 Sep 20 – Sep 22 Games Clash Masters 2019 Sep 26 – Sep 29 ESL One: New York 2019 Oct 01 – Oct 06 DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 Oct 21 – Oct 27 StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 Nov 01 – Nov 02 BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 Nov 07 – Nov 10 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing Oct 08 – Nov 18 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Europe Oct 08 – Nov 18 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Americas Nov 20 – Nov 24 CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. Ninjas in Pyjamas [REZ, f0rest, Lekr0, Plopski and twist] [NEW] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (15th-16th) [GTR] – BLAST Pro Series: Moscow (3rd) [GTR] – V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest (5th-6th) [GTR] – DreamHack Masters Malmö (5th-6th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (7th-8th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: EG (SLTV S8), Vit (EPL) One map: AVAN (Blast Moscow), Na’Vi (Blast Moscow), mouz (DH Malmo), Ast (Blast Cop), TL (Blast Cop) NiP entering the rankings again was not something many expected and even more so in such a feisty and competitive period. Sure, their line-up seems destined to be broken apart in the near future, but top eight at Starladder came with a ranked series win over EG and their finals run at Blast Copenhagen had them placing ahead of a number of much more favoured sides. NiP can fall so easily and probably will, but for now they again are considered a top 10 side. 9. FaZe Clan [NiKo, coldzera, rain, olof and broky] [NEW] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (13th-14th) [GuardiaN and NEO] – ESL One: New York (7th-8th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (1st) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: Vit (EPL), EG (IEM Beijing), EG (IEM Beijing) One map: mouz (Starladder Berlin), Ast (Blast Cop), Na’Vi (Blast Cop), Vit (IEM Beijing) New York made FaZe’s coldzera move seem far from worth the enormous price it cost them monetarily. Recent form suggests there may yet be another chapter in the NiKo IGL story. Victory at Blast Copenhagen came against a seemingly strong field, but didn’t add many ranked wins, as is the nature of Blasts. Top four at IEM Beijing doesn’t sound too crazy, but had olof and the gang beating EG in two Bo3 series, which absolutely should cause many around the scene to prick up their ears and get interested in FaZe again. They are fragging out, as has been the FaZe formula for some time, but when they all contribute to an event they again look like a line-up with a really high level aggregate of individual ability. 8. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [-6] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) – ESL One: New York (3rd-4th) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (9th-12th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (5th) – Bo5: Bo3: Ren (EPL), North (Starladder Berlin), mouz (Starladder Berlin) One map: Ast (ESL NY) From indomitable monsters of the summer, Team Liquid have fallen rapidly following the major. Their only recent activity was a Blast Copenhagen appearance where they did essentially nothing. They’ve been to two tournaments in a row without even a ranked win. With such placings and wins I’m even forced to drop TL all the way down from S Class to B Class, even if the eye test suggests they’re better than some of the squads ranked above them. These are troubling times for the most skilled line-up CS:GO has ever seen. 7. mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [+2] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (9th-12th) – V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest (3rd-4th) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (5th-6th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (9th-12th) – CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 (1st) – Bo5: Bo3: EG (DH Malmo), AVAN (CAC), EG (CAC), ENCE (CAC) One map: North (Starladder Berlin), Vit (DH Malmo), ENCE (CAC) As one of the teams who didn’t make a roster move, mouz seemed sure to be muscled out of relevance by all of the big on-paper upgrades the scene seemed to be receiving. Instead, they climb two places by virtue of a victory at the CS:GO Asia Championship. ENCE might be a lot of empty calories in the server, but they are a ranked squad and they count as a win. Likewise, AVANGAR aren’t world beaters, but lose to mouz they did. Beating EG, for the second time in three events, was a big deal and showed some of the potential mouz has repeatedly hinted at but rarely capitalised upon. Certainly, if TYLOO wins another round on inferno in regulation then mouz doesn’t have this new charge but that’s the nature of the game we play. mouz is a team with a decent set of placings and a pretty strong set of ranked wins, especially for a team in seventh place. 6. AVANGAR [Jame, qikert, buster, SANJI and AdreN] [-1] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (2nd) – BLAST Pro Series: Moscow (1st) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (9th-12th) – CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 (5th-6th) – Bo5: Bo3: G2 (Starladder Berlin), Vit (Starladder Berlin) One map: TL (Starladder Berlin), Na’Vi (Blast Moscow), ENCE (Blast Moscow) AVANGAR are giving out wins to a lot of teams, but their previous results cannot help but keep them relevant, for now. Underwhelming runs elsewhere are placed in such context only when looking at the rankings. Look at the team with the eye test and they are performing well enough and often exceeding expectations. I expect AVANGAR to sink once their first placings disappear, but for now they continue to remain a ranked squad. Lack of new ranked wins will start to hurt sooner rather than later, though. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favourites 5. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, shox and RpK] [-1] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) [NBK] – DreamHack Masters Malmö (2nd) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (7th-8th) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: mouz (Starladder Berlin), ENCE (DH Malmo), mouz (DH Malmo), Na’Vi (DH Malmo) One map: North (Starladder Berlin), FaZe (Starladder Berlin), 100T (IEM Beijing), FNC (EPL) After a near win at Malmo following the shox trade, Vitality have looked rough. Their only ranked wins are two single map wins from EPL and IEM Beijing. Their top four finish at the latter tournament was pretty dry of quality. Vitality are one of the squads who have been feeding the rest of the top 10 wins nonstop and as such they will soon drop unless they can legitimately show themselves to be a top side, just by virtue of pumping up everyone else’s records. 4. 100 Thieves [jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction, Liazz and AZR] [+6] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (3rd-4th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (4th) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: FaZe (Starladder Berlin), G2 (Starladder Berlin), ENCE (Starladder Berlin), FNC (SLTV S8), Vit (SLTV S8), ENCE (IEM Beijing), ENCE (IEM Beijing), Vit (IEM Beijing) One map: The former Renegades cracked top four at Starladder prior to moving to new organisation 100 Thieves and then immediately made new owner Nadeshot happy with a runners-up finish to Astralis at IEM Beijing. From hanging on to the final spot in the rankings last time and largely due to their major run, the Aussies have shown strong form and slapped a number of ranked wins on their resume to go with their two additional top placings. Never before has an Oceanic team ever come close to this kind of ranking and it’s fitting that they are now acknowledged as one of the better teams in world Counter-Strike, not simply the best from their region and in amongst the pack of NA sides, due to their relocation. As matters stand right now, there’s plenty of reasons to imagine 100T can go into next year and continue to be a team reaching semi-finals and matching up well with the rest of the top 10. 3. FNATIC [KRiMZ, brollan, JW, flusha and Golden] [+3] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (1st) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: Ast (DH Malmo), Vit (DH Malmo), mouz (SLTV S8), Vit (SLTV S8), Vit (EPL) One map: EG (SLTV S8) If FNATIC were supposed to be one tournament wonders after their epic Dreamhack run then they sure didn’t get the memo. At StarSeries S8, a double elimination tournament, they were one of the most potent teams in the field and appeared in another big final. Sure, they have feasted on repeatedly beating the new Vitality line-up, a squad they have firmly in their back pocket, but you can only beat who is put in front of you and Vitality were a team whose Summer run meant decay would not be quick. The eye test tells me FNATIC doesn’t deserve S Class status, but if they continue to put big placings on the board and add more ranked wins then sooner or later they’ll force their way into that grouping. S Class – Elite Teams 2. Evil Geniuses [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [+1] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (3rd-4th) – ESL One: New York (1st) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (15th-16th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (1st) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (5th-6th) – CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 (5th-6th) – Bo5: Ast (ESL NY) Bo3: Ast (Starladder Berlin), FaZe (ESL NY), Ast (ESL NY), Ren (SLTV S8), FNC (SLTV S8), FNC (SLTV S8) One map: TL (Starladder Berlin) EG put another trophy in the cabinet at Starladder, an event which also added some solid ranked wins, but elsewhere they have been lacklustre, especially for a team so clearly capable and vying for the top spot. Not only did their runs at IEM Beijing and CAC end without a top four finish but they also produced zero ranked wins. EG can take the top spot, especially if they continue to prove so difficult a match-up for Astralis, but their inability to take care of lesser teams is omenous for their potential future as the world’s best team. 1. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [-] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (1st) – ESL One: New York (2nd) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (3rd-4th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (4th) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (1st) – Bo5: 100T (IEM Beijing) Bo3: FNC (EPL), TL (Starladder Berlin), NRG (Starladder Berlin), TL (ESL NY), Vit (DH Malmo), 100T (IEM Beijing) One map: G2 (Starladder Berlin), EG (ESL NY), TL (Blast Cop) Failure at Blast Copenhagen might have disappointed the crowd in the Royal Arena but means little for Astralis’ ranking, not least since they followed it up with a flawless run at IEM Beijing, a tournament attended by key rival EG. The Danes have again established the best resume in Counter-Strike, with the best placings and number of ranked wins. Beating 100T in the IEM final brought back a ranked Bo5 to the table. It’s still tight at the top, with EG in theory keeping apace, but Astralis have a good chance of finishing the year as they began, on top. A video featuring will becoming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – 25th July 2019 It’s my pleasure to present the second edition of my CS:GO World Rankings report for Dexerto, breaking down exactly where some of the best teams in the world currently stand. When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and an explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 25th April – 25th July 2019 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Apr 30 – May 05 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Sydney May 10 – May 11 BLAST Pro Series: Madrid 2019 Apr 12 – May 23 ESL Pro League Season 9 – Europe Apr 12 – May 23 ESL Pro League Season 9 – Americas May 23 – May 26 cs_summit 4 May 28 – Jun 02 DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 Jun 06 – Jun 09 Esports Championship Series Season 7 – Finals Jun 15 – Jun 16 Moche XL Esports 2019 Jun 15 – Jun 17 DreamHack Open Summer 2019 Jun 18 – Jun 23 ESL Pro League Season 9 – Finals Jul 02 – Jul 07 ESL One: Cologne 2019 Jul 13 – Jul 14 BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019 Jul 13 – Jul 14 Good Game League 2019 Jul 13 – Jul 14 ESEA Season 31: Global Challenge Jul 17 – Jul 21 Europe Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 Jul 17 – Jul 21 Americas Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 Jul 18 – Jul 21 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Chicago B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. North [valde, kjaerbye, JUGi, aizy and gade] [NEW] Recent form: Dreamhack Masters Dallas (7th-8th) – ECS S7 Finals (3rd-4th) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (9th-12th) – Europe Minor Championship – Berlin (3rd) – Bo5: Bo3: Na`Vi (EPL), Vit (ECS) Bo1: Vit (DH Dallas), MiBR (ECS), TL (EPL), FaZe (EPL), MiBR (EPL) North’s slow but steady rise continues, as they break into the top 10. Their finish in Dallas was nothing to shout about, but it was a 16 team tournament. ECS was their crowning moment, placing ahead of fellow Danes Astralis. At EPL they fell early, though they grabbed some single map wins against ranked sides. Finally, their third place at the Minor means little in the context of these rankings, but their overall activity and resume puts them ahead of the likes of Na’Vi, who have been content to sit at home while other teams actually competed. 9. mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [+1] Bo1: RNG (IEM Sydney), MiBR (EPL), Na`Vi (EPL) karrigan’s boys were almost eliminated from the EU Minor, but rallied to win the event outright. It was a tournament featuring FNATIC and North, teams who aren’t in my top 10, so that isn’t the reason for their climb. mouz’s activity has helped them heavily and their wins are pretty solid for a team in their position. The major could do so much for this squad. 8. G2 Esports [kennyS, shox, AmaNEk, JaCkz and Lucky] [+1] Recent form: Dreamhack Open Tours (3rd-4th) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (5th-6th) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (2nd) – Good Game League (1st) – IEM XIV Chicago (5th-6th) – Bo5: Bo3: NRG (DH Dallas), FaZe (EPL) Bo1: ENCE (DH Dallas), NRG (EPL), TL (EPL), TL (IEM Chicago), MiBR (IEM Chicago) G2 only added single map wins, from series losses, against Team Liquid – very legit in the context of how good they are – and MiBR – far less, considering zews playing for the Brazilians. Na`Vi’s inactivity means that the French leap up a spot, though, and enter the top eight. Top six in Chicago sounds good, but in the context of who was there and placed outside of the top four it doesn’t mean much. 7. FaZe Clan [NiKo, GuardiaN, rain, olof and NEO] [-] Recent form: IEM XIV Sydney (9th-12th) [YNk + AdreN] – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (3rd-4th) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL One Cologne (9th-12th) – BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: NiP (DH Dallas), North (EPL), NRG (Blast LA) Bo1: TL (DH Dallas), NRG (Blast LA), MiBR (Blast LA) Blast’s new and improved format, featuring Bo3 semi-finals, allowed FaZe to keep a hold of the seventh spot, by virtue of beating NRG and finishing second at the event. They have a messy resume, for such star power, but still have the placings and wins to keep them relevant going into the major. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favourites 6. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [-2] Recent form: Blast Pro Series Madrid (2nd) – ECS S7 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: NiP (ECS) Bo1: NiP (Blast Madrid), Na`Vi (Blast Madrid), NRG (EPL), TL (EPL), Vitality (ESL Cologne) Astralis have attended no tournaments since Cologne, choosing to skip Blast LA and IEM Chicago, hoping to get an extended player break. Goodness only knows they need a break, right? Jokes aside, inactivity on both ends of the last five months has cost Astralis more than just the continuation of their era and the top spot. They now fall all the way down to number six, no matter who I might pick in a series against a number of the teams ranked above them. Rankings are about placings and wins, not that feeling in your ever-loving heart. If it weren’t for the eye test and how close some of their losses have been, Astralis would immediately drop to B Class without a deep major run. Shocking circumstances for them to find themselves in. 5. FURIA [KSCERATO, yuurih, arT, VINI and ableJ] [-] Recent form: Dreamhack Masters Dallas (3rd-4th) – ECS S7 Finals (2nd) – Moche XL Esports (3rd-4th) – ESL One Cologne (9th-12th) – ESEA Season 31: Global Challenge (1st) [guerri] – Americas Minor Championship – Berlin (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: FNC (DH Dallas), Vit (DH Dallas), Ast (ECS), Vit (ESEA) Bo1: NRG (DH Dallas), ENCE (DH Dallas), Ast (ECS) FURIA took their coach to ESEA and had some bizarre circumstances surrounding their win over Vitality, but they did win against that team on LAN in a Bo3 and got credited as such. Finishing runner-up at the minor didn’t mean much, since they blew the chance to beat NRG, but their continued activity and resume puts them ahead of perhaps the greatest team in history. That’s something to celebrate, FURIA! 4. NRG [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [+2] Recent form: IEM XIV Sydney (3rd-4th) [daps] – cs_summit 4 (3rd-4th) [daps] – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (9th-12th) [daps] – ECS S7 Finals (3rd-4th) [daps] – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (3rd-4th) [daps] – ESL One Cologne (5th-6th) – BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (3rd-4th) – Americas Minor Championship – Berlin (1st) – Bo5: Bo3: FaZe (IEM Sydney), MiBR (IEM Sydney), Ast (EPL), FaZe (ESL Cologne), FURIA (Minor) Bo1: FNC (IEM Sydney), RNG x2 (summit), ENCE (summit), TL (summit), NiP (ECS), FNC (EPL), FURIA (ESL Cologne), MiBR (Blast LA) The stanislaw era of NRG rolls on and has yet to deliver the big trophies they had hope to leverage with the gamble. But a top four finish at Blast LA was still decent and winning the Americas Minor is not too wild, but did involve beating FURIA straight up, who had been ranked above them previously. NRG loses a little for so much of their resume being centered around their time with daps, but pushing above Astralis is some kind of an accomplishment no matter the context. This resume of wins complements the placings, and shows that NRG have been consistently knocking on the door of elite status. S Class – Elite Teams 3. ENCE [segej, allu, Aerial, AleksiB and xseveN] [-] Recent form: Blast Pro Series Madrid (1st) – cs_summit 4 (3rd-4th) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (2nd) – Telia Esports Series S1 (1st) – ESL One Cologne (13th-16th) – IEM XIV Chicago (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: Ast (Blast Madrid), FaZe (DH Dallas), MiBR (IEM Chicago) Bo1: Na`Vi (Blast Madrid), Ast (Blast Madrid), RNG (summit), TL (summit), NRG (summit), Vit (summit), TL (DH Dallas) ENCE didn’t have to face any top teams until the final of IEM Chicago, where they were soundly thrashed by TL, but getting second-place at the event, and finishing ahead of Vitality, was a welcome points grabber for the team who had bombed at ESL One Cologne earlier this month. The major is next, so ENCE are not guaranteed to retain their spot, but Astralis have some serious work to do the overtake them. 2. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, NBK and RpK] [-] Recent form: cs_summit 4 (1st) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (5th-6th) – ECS S7 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (2nd) – ESEA Season 31: Global Challenge (3rd-4th) – IEM XIV Chicago (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: ENCE (summit), TL (summit), NiP (DH Dallas), NRG (ECS), ENCE (ESL Cologne), NRG (ESL Cologne), Ast (ESL Cologne) Bo1: NRG x2 (summit), TL x2 (summit), ENCE (summit), Renegades (summit) It was a weird few weeks for Vitality, as the number two team hit a speed bump. They are apparently bold enough to suggest they weren’t properly trying at the ESEA tournament, but their loss to FURIA still stands, and so does the missed opportunity to grab what would have been a small placing, which would have included an easy rankings addition of a win over FURIA, who were fielding a coach. More fool the French, as their inability to win any ranked series at IEM Chicago and letting ENCE go to the final has the Finns breathing right down their necks. What keeps ZywOo and the gang in second for now is that their resume of series wins is much better. 1. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [-] Recent form: IEM XIV Sydney (1st) – cs_summit 4 (2nd) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (1st) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (1st) – BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (1st) – IEM XIV Chicago (1st) – Bo5: FNC (IEM Sydney), Vit (ESL Cologne), ENCE (IEM Chicago) Bo3: NiP (IEM Sydney), MiBR (IEM Sydney), NRG (summit), FaZe (DH Dallas), ENCE (DH Dallas), MiBR (EPL), Ast (EPL), Na`Vi (ESL Cologne), NRG (ESL Cologne), Na`Vi (ESL Cologne), FaZe (Blast LA), G2 (IEM Chicago), Vit (IEM Chicago) Bo1: ENCE (summit), RNG x2 (summit), NRG (summit), NRG (Blast LA), MiBR (Blast LA), FaZe (Blast LA) Team Liquid not only retain their top spot but strengthen their hold on it even further. Since the last edition TL have won two more events, taking down Blast LA and IEM Chicago. Adding a Bo3 over Vitality and a Bo5 over ENCE is just another cherry on the top of an epic run of form. This is a resume of placings and wins that is probably the best of any team to ever be featured in the rankings. Sit back and enjoy witnessing history in the making every time these boys play. A video feature will be coming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CSGO World Rankings – 14th July 2020 When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and explanation of the various positions. [jwplayer 4DHHtO1B] My rankings run over an exact three-month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher-ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth-ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. Update: Due to the lockdown in many countries leading to essentially no offline play I have taken the decision of covering online results, contrary to the usual precedent, in lieu of LANs. Once offline play resumes I will again return to ignoring online results. 14th March 2020 – 14th July 2020 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Mar 03 – May 31 ESL Meisterschaft: Spring [Online] – Mar 16 – Apr 12 ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe [Online] – Mar 13 – Apr 19 Flashpoint 1 [Online] – Mar 26 – Apr 12 ESL Pro League Season 11: North America [Online] – Apr 07 – Apr 12 HomeSweetHome: Week 1 [Online] [NEW] – Apr 14 – Apr 19 HomeSweetHome: Week 2 [Online] [NEW] – Apr 22 – May 10 ESL One: Road to Rio – North America [Online] – Apr 22 – May 17 ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe [Online] – Apr 30 – May 17 ESL One: Road to Rio – CIS [Online] [NEW] – May 05 – May 10 HomeSweetHome: Week 3 [Online] [NEW] – May 12 – May 27 HomeSweetHome: Week 4 [Online] [NEW] – Apr 05 – Jun 13 LOOT.BET/CS Season 6 (3rd-4th) [Online] [New] – May 19 – Jun 14 DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe [Online] [NEW] – May 19 – Jun 14 DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: North America [Online] [NEW] – May 22 – May 24 Merkur Masters Season 1 [Online] [NEW] – Jun 01 – Jun 07 BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown [Online] [NEW] – Jun 01 – Jun 15 BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown [Online] [NEW] – Jun 02 – Jun 07 HomeSweetHome: Week 7 [Online] [NEW] – Jun 09 – Jun 14 HomeSweetHome: Week 8 [Online] [NEW] – Jun 15 – Jun 21 BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals [Online] [NEW] – Jun 16 – Jun 28 WePlay! Clutch Island [Online] [NEW] – Jun 16 – Jun 21 BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Finals [Online] [NEW] – Jun 22 – Jul 05 cs_summit 6 Online: North America [Online] [NEW] – Jun 24 – Jul 05 cs_summit 6 Online: Europe [Online] [NEW] – B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. Ninjas in Pyjamas [REZ, Plopski, twist, nawwk and hampus] [NEW] Recent form: ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe (5th) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe (5th-6th) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown (3rd) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals (5th-6th) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: Europe (8th) [Online] – Bo5: Bo3: FNC (RR EU) [Online], Ast (DH EU) [Online], MAD (Blast Show EU) [Online] One map: Ast (RR EU) [Online], FaZe (DH EU) [Online], Ast (Blast Show EU) [Online] NiP used to hover around this position, barely making the rankings, late last year, but the new look NiP has become quite the promising team and may yet climb even higher. They haven’t cracked top four at any of the big events, but they are just on the brink time and time again. That they compete in Europe, the most stacked and difficult region to score big placings in, makes their finishes worth more than some of the stronger finishes I’ve seen in NA or CIS. They still clearly have inexperience and a hole or two in their map pool holding them back, but THREAT’s experiment already seems to be yielding positive results. A year from now, this could well be a core breaking into the top five. Let’s see if one of them is ready to become a super-star and make that happen. 9. compLexity [poizon, blameF, oBo, k0nfig and RUSH] [NEW] Recent form: HomeSweetHome: Week 3 (1st) [Online] – HomeSweetHome: Week 4 (1st) [Online] – HomeSweetHome: Week 6 (1st) [Online] – HomeSweetHome: Week 7 (1st) [Online] – HomeSweetHome: Week 8 (3rd-4th) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe (9th-12th) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals (1st) [Online] – Bo3: mouz (DH EU) [Online], MAD (DH EU) [Online], Na’Vi (Blast EU Final) [Online], FaZe (Blast EU Final) [Online] One map: FNC (DH EU) [Online] When this line-up was formed they quickly became a meme. They are now firmly a dream and one many still cannot believe has come true. Winning a single event means a lot when it’s as big as the Blast Finals. Not only were they in the stacked European division, but the enormous scale of the tournament, allowing practically every top European team a chance to qualify, means taking the trophy is a serious accomplishment, online status or nay. coL’s grinding over the last few months has been admirable and they more than deserve their unexpected but epic event win. They will have a lot of sceptics when we go offline again, but their Blast Spring group stage suggests they are not to be written off just yet. Their resume of wins are nice and varied and their map pool means they should match up with a lot of bigger named teams better than you might imagine. They’re not one of the best teams in the world yet, but they’re certainly a fascinating story to follow and see where it will go next. The period from the last player break to this one could be a movie in itself. 8. Gen.G [BnTeT, autimatic, daps, s0m and koosta] [NEW] Recent form: Flashpoint 1 (5th-6th) [Online] – ESL One: Road to Rio – North America (1st) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: North America (5th-6th) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Showdown (4th) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: North America (2nd) [Online] – Bo3: 100T (RR NA) [Online], EG (RR NA) [Online], EG (DH NA) [Online], 100T (summit NA) [Online], TL (summit NA) [Online] One map: With this line-up of players, Gen.G should seemingly always have been battling to grab a top 10 spot, but their start in Flashpoint was so underwhelming the project looked to be a dud beyond the tier two win at Dreamhack. Since then, Gen.G have been a much more dangerous prospect and adjusted their roles to become a team capable of beating anyone in their region. A win at ESL Road to Rio and a second-place at cs_summit NA are no joke and put them in a great spot ahead of the major. With a number of the better Americas region teams ranked above them it’s not unreasonable to think they can maintain this kind of position going forwards. It will be very intriguing to see if they can stand up against the Europeans once fully international play returns. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favorites 7. FaZe Clan [NiKo, coldzera, rain, broky and bymas] [-] Recent form: ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe (3rd) [Online] [olof] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe (3rd) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals (3rd) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: Europe (11th) [Online] – Bo5: Bo3: G2 (RR EU) [Online], mouz (RR EU) [Online], FNC (DH EU) [Online], Na’Vi (DH EU) [Online] One map: G2 (RR EU) [Online] FaZe have been the biggest tease of the last three months. Every time they look set to reach a final they fall apart right when it matters most. Still, even with the bymas experiment being undertaken with questionable individual results, FaZe have played like a team who now very much deserve A Class status. Three top-three finishes in a row is more than respectable and if they can find the right line-up there’s little to stop FaZe from cracking S Class in the near future. 6. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [-] Recent form: ESL One: Road to Rio – North America (4th) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: North America (2nd) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Finals (4th) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: North America (3rd) [Online] – Bo5: Bo3: 100T (RR NA) [Online], 100T (DH NA) [Online], 100T (summit NA) [Online] One map: EG (Blast NA Final) [Online] The underwhelming feeling surrounding Team Liquid stems from the lockdown having trapped them in NA, but also granted a lot of prize money to win with only teams from the Americas to beat. Once upon a time that would have been easy for TL, but they have not won a single event in months now. Despite never placing below fourth and once making a finals run, TL have dropped the ball and missed a real chance to both hold their spot as NA’s finest and challenge the European teams for an S Class spot. With a number of other Americas teams returning to the rankings and climbing there will be chances for them to rack up a lot more ranked series wins, but TL look vulnerable when competitions reach the play-offs right now. 5. FURIA [KSCERATO, yuurih, arT, VINI and HEN1] [NEW] Recent form: ESL One: Road to Rio – North America (2nd) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: North America (1st) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Showdown (1st-2nd) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Finals (3rd) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: North America (5th-6th) [Online] – Bo5: TL (DH NA) [Online] Bo3: TL (RR NA) [Online], TL (RR NA) [Online], TL (DH NA) [Online], 100T (DH NA) [Online], TL (Blast NA Final) [Online] One map: EG (EPL) [Online], EG (Blast NA Final) [Online], EG (summit NA) [Online] When FURIA upset Astralis last year at ECS and made their strong run at that event few ever thought they could establish themselves as a legitimate top team. It took them a while, but the FURIA we see today are a special team. From their unique playing style to their ability to beat so many of the top teams in the Americas, FURIA are a team who are both a joy to spectate and a real heavy hitter in most of their games. They’ve had their issues closing the deal in the deeper portions of tournaments, but their Dreamhack win and their consistent top-three finishes are worthy of respect and there appears to be real promise of going further. S Class – Elite Teams 4. G2 Esports [kennyS, AmaNEk, JaCkz, nexa and huNter-] [+1] Recent form: ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe (2nd) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe (2nd) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals (5th-6th) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: Europe (9th) [Online] – Bo5: Bo3: FaZe (RR EU) [Online], Ast (DH EU) [Online], Na’Vi (DH EU) [Online], FNC (summit EU) [Online] One map: mouz (RR EU) [Online], Na’Vi (Blast EU Final) [Online] G2 climb a spot with their finals appearance at Dreamhack Masters and a respectable finish at the Blast finals. They are one of the teams that suffered from the long gap since the last edition of the rankings, as they could have possibly grabbed the top spot after Dreamhack. G2 might not be able to win a tournament, but their form has generally been impressive and while their resume is not too stacked with wins they should remain an elite side for a while. 3. Evil Geniuses [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [+5] Recent form: ESL One: Road to Rio – North America (7th-8th) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: North America (7th-8th) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Showdown (3rd) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 American Finals (1st) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: North America (1st) [Online] – Bo5: Bo3: 100T (DH NA) [Online], TL (Blast NA Final) [Online], TL (summit NA) [Online], TL (summit NA) [Online] One map: 100T (Blast Show NA) New coach zews has helped rescue EG from their slumping form, with the line-up returning to the top tier and winning two titles in a row. tarik and company have a resume looking significantly better than the team they were even a couple of months ago. They have three series wins over rivals TL to show how they’ve changed their fortunes also. Without the ability to compete in Europe or offline, EG will be hard-pressed to climb higher, essentially needing to be utterly dominant to even make a case for it, but they are already back where the strength of their line-up suggests they belong. 2. Vitality [ZywOo, apEX, shox, RpK and misutaaa] [NEW] Recent form: ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (7th-9th) [Online] – ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe (4th) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe (7th-8th) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown (1st-2nd) [Online] – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Finals (2nd) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: Europe (2nd) [Online] – Bo5: Bo3: FNC (RR EU) [Online], FNC (Blast Show EU) [Online], G2 (Blast EU Final) [Online], Na’Vi (Blast EU Final) [Online], FaZe (Blast EU Final) [Online] One map: Ast (EPL) [Online], G2 (RR EU) [Online], Na’Vi (DH EU) [Online], Ast (Blast Show EU) [Online] You would be entirely forgiven for thinking ALEX’s self-benching was the end of Vitality’s time as a relevant world contender, especially with him giving no indication of wishing to return to the team and making it known he wished to pursue opportunities elsewhere. After ZywOo, most considered him the second most important piece in the team. It’s not that new man misutaaa has been exceptional or a big revelation, but more the impact play of shox, who is revitalised, and the team generally looking much better across the board. Like fellow Frenchmen G2, Vitality have been cursed to reach finals but not win them, but the online era has been kind to them. That fourth-place finish at Road to Rio and a solid resume of series wins means their two finals appearances at notable events grant them the second spot in the world. Certainly, we must always factor in the online nature of the scene right now, but Vitality last year never went higher than second in the rankings. Says a lot about their improvement in form that they are right back where they used to be. 1. BIG [tabseN, XANTARES, syrsoN, k1t0 and tiziaN] [NEW] Recent form: ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe (16th-18th) [Online] – HomeSweetHome: Week 1 (1st) [Online] – HomeSweetHome: Week 2 (1st) [Online] – HomeSweetHome: Week 3 (2nd) [Online] – LOOT.BET/CS Season 6 (3rd-4th) [Online] – Merkur Masters Season 1 (1st) [Online] – ESL Meisterschaft: Spring (2nd) [Online] – DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe (1st) [Online] – cs_summit 6 Online: Europe (1st) [Online] – Bo5: G2 (DH EU) [Online] Bo3: FNC (EPL) [Online], Na’Vi (EPL) [Online], MAD (DH EU) [Online], mouz (DH EU) [Online], FaZe (DH EU) [Online], FaZe (DH EU) [Online], FaZe (summit EU) [Online], FaZe (summit EU) [Online], FNC (summit EU) [Online] One map: G2 (DH EU) [Online] BIG are not a team that even participated in the Road to Rio, so you know they must have been putting in serious work to not only crack this rankings list but actually make it to the top spot immediately! In this time of online, how can you call BIG’s play anything but S Class? They have won two of the biggest recent tournaments, numerous smaller events and put a ton of wins up against squads like FNATIC and FaZe Clan. They even won a Bo5 over G2. This is a much more powerful and consistent BIG than the team who famously made their Cologne finals run two years ago. Not only do they look set to continue battling for this tops pot, but they will be very much an exciting prospect when offline play returns. A video featuring will becoming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – 12th September 2019 It’s my pleasure to present the third edition of my CS:GO World Rankings report for Dexerto, breaking down exactly where some of the best teams in the world currently stand. When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 12th June – 12th September 2019 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Jun 15 – Jun 16 Moche XL Esports 2019 Jun 15 – Jun 17 DreamHack Open Summer 2019 Jun 18 – Jun 23 ESL Pro League Season 9 – Finals Jul 02 – Jul 07 ESL One: Cologne 2019 Jul 13 – Jul 14 BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019 Jul 13 – Jul 14 Good Game League 2019 Jul 13 – Jul 14 ESEA Season 31: Global Challenge Jul 17 – Jul 21 Europe Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 Jul 17 – Jul 21 Americas Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 Jul 18 – Jul 21 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Chicago Jul 24 – Jul 28 CIS Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 Jul 24 – Jul 28 Asia Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 Aug 23 – Sep 08 StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. Renegades [jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction, Liazz and AZR] [NEW] Recent form: ESL One Cologne (13th-16th) – Blast LA (6th) – IEM XIV Chicago (7th-8th) – StarLadder Berlin Major (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: FaZe (Starladder Berlin), G2 (Starladder Berlin), ENCE (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: Renegades were pretty crap coming into the major, but showed a surprisingly strong level of overall form from the beginning of the New Legends phase right through until their semi-final against AVANGAR. Top four at a major is a big deal for Renegades and the rankings, though it can’t do more than get them a ranking for now. Are the Aussies ready for another run up the rankings in the coming months? They have some nice series wins loaded up that will last a while yet. 9. mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [-] Recent form: ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (3rd-4th) – ESL One Cologne (7th-8th) – Europe Minor Championship – Berlin (1st) – StarLadder Berlin Major (9th-12th) – Bo5: Bo3: FaZe (EPL), FaZe (ESL Cologne), G2 (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: MiBR (EPL), Na`Vi (EPL), North (Starladder Berlin) mouz looked to have real potential to make the play-offs in Berlin, but their Bo1 results ended up costing them and leading to a murderer’s row of opponents in Bo3 play. Nonetheless, they added a series win over G2 and a bo1 over North. mouz still haven’t delivered a performance to prove they can challenge for titles, but they continue to gradually put placings and wins on the board. 8. AVANGAR [Jame, qikert, buster, SANJI and AdreN] [NEW] Recent form: EMF CS:GO World Invitational (2nd) – StarLadder Berlin Major (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: G2 (Starladder Berlin), Vitality (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: TL (Starladder Berlin) AVANGAR shocked the world to an extent nobody could have predicted coming into the tournament, including the players in their team, one imagines. The same squad failing to make play-offs at Dreamhack Summer, losing a Bo5 to FURIA on LAN and barely squeezing into the second phase of the major, overcame all odds to not just reach the play-offs but run all the way to the final. A single ranking doesn’t make a team world class, of course, and so that run is reflected in AVANGAR “only” grabbing eighth in these rankings. It’s also worth noting that the only ranked wins they got were Bo3s vs. G2 and Vitality and a single map over TL. Without more ranked wins, it’s difficult to justify pushing AVANGAR up much higher. 7. FaZe Clan [NiKo, GuardiaN, rain, olof and NEO] [-] Recent form: ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL One Cologne (9th-12th) – BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (2nd) – StarLadder Berlin Major (13th-14th) – Bo5: Bo3: North (EPL), NRG (Blast LA) Bo1: NRG (Blast LA), MiBR (Blast LA), mouz (Starladder Berlin) FaZe were entirely underwhelming at the major, yet still don’t move in the rankings. As other teams have seen their big results of the summer disappear, FaZe still have some solid placings next to their name. The major only added a map win against mouz, but FaZe’s now old line-up still crack a top 10, even if they are far from the everyday level of some of the teams ranked above them. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favourites 6. Natus Vincere [s1mple, electronic, flamie, Zeus and Boombl4] [NEW] Recent form: ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th) – StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) – Bo5: Bo3: FURIA (ESL Cologne), mouz (ESL Cologne) Bo1: mouz (ESL Cologne), TL (ESL Cologne) A welcome return to the rankings for Na’Vi came along with them finally returning to something resembling activity. There were some slip-ups in Berlin, but they did manage to make the play-offs. No ranked wins were added, but Na’Vi’s top four in Cologne and top eight in Berlin are enough to secure them a strong ranking all the same, with the player break greedily eating up some of the competitive window. As they move to a line-up without Zeus, some big results will be needed soon if Na’Vi want to again be a contender in this game. 5. ENCE [segej, allu, Aerial, AleksiB and xseveN] [-2] Recent form: ESL One Cologne (13th-16th) – IEM XIV Chicago (2nd) – StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) – Bo5: Bo3: MiBR (IEM Chicago), Vitality (StarLadder Berlin) Bo1: ENCE came into the major with a dead roster walking, having announced the benching of Aleksib before the event had even concluded. Nonetheless, they managed to beat Vitality in a Bo3 and 3:0 their way into the play-offs. Given one of the easiest looking brackets in history, they somehow lost to Renegades immediately and disappeared from Berlin. With the strong form of earlier in the year fading quickly, ENCE still remain a solid team, but far from the contenders they were only a month or so ago. They fall from S Class status as we await their new line-up. S Class – Elite Teams 4. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, NBK and RpK] [-2] Recent form: ESL One Cologne (2nd) – ESEA Season 31: Global Challenge (3rd-4th) – IEM XIV Chicago (3rd-4th) – StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) – Bo5: Bo3: ENCE (ESL Cologne), NRG (ESL Cologne), Astralis (ESL Cologne), mouz (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: North (Starladder Berlin), FaZe (Starladder Berlin) Vitality’s stumble in Chicago was followed by a massively underwhelming quarter-finals performance at the major. Under other circumstances, perhaps one could have forgiven such a placing, but they were playing an AVANGAR far below them in the rankings and with a seemingly wide open run to the final if they had not been slain so early. Vitality are already making moves to change their roster, so sadly the Vitality of the summer is now to be consigned to history and we look ahead to see what the new line-up can do with a decent resume to bolster their initial campaign. A series win over mouz and a few single map wins are nice enough to add, but Vitality have seen all of their titles fade into the irrelevant past. 3. NRG [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [+1] Recent form: ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (3rd-4th) [daps] – ESL One Cologne (5th-6th) – BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (3rd-4th) – Americas Minor Championship – Berlin (1st) – StarLadder Berlin Major (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: Astralis (EPL), FaZe (ESL Cologne), FURIA (Minor), Astralis (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: Fnatic (EPL), FURIA (ESL Cologne), MiBR (Blast LA), TL (Starladder Berlin) NRG were already breathing down the necks of the world’s best teams, but at the major they delivered on the promise stanislaw’s history made. Bringing in the fragging IGL saw them beating Astralis, who went on to win the major, in a Bo3 offline and also take down Team Liquid in a bo1. Sure, NRG later fell to Astralis when it mattered most, in the semi-finals, but they looked in form to win the tournament out-right had they somehow gotten past the Danes. The major may just be one tournament, but for now NRG move into the S Class of competition. There is much to be proven at ESL New York, but also much potential. Their recent form also sneaks them past Vitality and into the top three. 2. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [+4] Recent form: ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th) – StarLadder Berlin Major (1st) – Bo5: Bo3: TL (Starladder Berlin), NRG (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: TL (EPL), Vitality (ESL Cologne), G2 (Starladder Berlin) Astralis’ epic return to championship form arrived just in time for the play-offs of the major and saw them continue their incredible streak of sweeping major play-off series that goes back to over a year ago. Winning the major itself edged Astralis ahead of Vitality for the second spot, as the French team failed to “hold serve” and make any kind of a dent in their side of the bracket. Astralis having less big series wins is less of a factor than out-placing the French at the major by so much. All the same, Astralis add a big Bo3 win over TL and a strong series win over NRG too. As more of the summer results disappear, Astralis have the best possible single tournament result to establish potentially a strong run at number one in the coming months. TL still very much start with a big lead, for now, though. 1. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [-] Recent form: ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (1st) – BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (1st) – IEM XIV Chicago (1st) – StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) – Bo5: Vitality (ESL Cologne), ENCE (IEM Chicago) Bo3: MiBR (EPL), Astralis (EPL), Na`Vi (ESL Cologne), NRG (ESL Cologne), Na`Vi (ESL Cologne), FaZe (Blast LA), G2 (IEM Chicago), Vitality (IEM Chicago), North (Starladder Berlin), mouz (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: NRG (Blast LA), MiBR (Blast LA), FaZe (Blast LA) Failure at the major halted their epic march towards challenging for the best team in history, but it could not unseat TL from the top spot in the rankings. Even with the early portion of the summer’s results coming off the books, TL have a bunch of titles and a resume of wins nobody in the game can fuck with right now. A video feature will be coming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CSGO World Rankings – 10th March 2020 When I originally launched my CSGO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and an explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three-month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher-ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favorite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth-ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 10th December 2019 – 10th March 2020 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending): Dec 12 – Dec 14 – BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 – Dec 12 – Dec 15 – cs_summit 5 – Dec 17 – Dec 22 – EPICENTER 2019 – Jan 24 – Jan 26 – DreamHack Open Leipzig [NEW] – Jan 31 – Feb 16 – BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season [NEW] – Feb 01 – Feb 06 – ICE Challenge 2020 [NEW] – Feb 21 – Feb 23 – DreamHack Open Anaheim [NEW] – Feb 24 – Mar 01 – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship [NEW] – B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. 100 Thieves [jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction, Liazz and AZR] [-3] Recent form: BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (4th in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (5th-6th) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Evil GeniusesG (IEM Katowice), Mousesports (IEM Katowice) One map: N/A Coming into 2020 100 Thieves seemed like a strong bet to retain a good ranking, due to their impressive consistency and strong fundamentals as a team. The abject failure of their BLAST Spring Series performance thus far put all of their eggs in the IEM basket, and a respectable but not elite run there means 100T drop all the way to the brink of leaving ranked status. Series wins over EG and Mousesports, both top three ranked teams at the time, were key to ensuring the Aussies stuck around, with Heroic and some of the strong active tier 2 teams breathing down their next for this edition. 9. FaZe Clan [NiKo, coldzera, rain, olof and broky] [-1] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 (4th) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (1st in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (7th-8th) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Team Liquid (BLAST Spring), Team Liquid (BLAST Spring), NiP (BLAST Spring), Team Vitality (IEM Katowice) One map: Team Liquid (BLAST Global), Na’Vi (IEM Katowice), Na’Vi (IEM Katowice) NiKo and company turned their wack end to 2019 into a group phase win at Blast, besting Team Liquid in two sweeps, and managed a decent top-eight finish at IEM Katowice, losing only to winners Na’Vi in two close series. FaZe’s resume of ranked wins is big time for a team down at ninth, but they need some better tournament placings to vault up the rankings. 8. Evil Geniuses [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [-6] Recent form: EPICENTER 2019 (3rd-4th) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (3rd in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (9th-12th) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Na’Vi (EPICENTER), 100 Thieves (BLAST Spring) One map: Team Liquid (IEM Katowice), 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice) Even bigger than 100 Thieves’ drop was that of EG, who went from second to eighth in one edition. The NA boys were underwhelming at Blast, beating only 100T in terms of ranked squads, and then followed that up with a weak IEM run. That EPICENTER top four held EG in place, otherwise, they wouldn’t even be a top 10 team right now. How far this team has fallen since they were claiming trophies in the latter quarter of 2019. Based on how they are playing right now, EG don’t even get A Class status. That’s alarming for a team that was S Class only a few months ago. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favorites 7. FNATIC [KRiMZ, brollan, JW, flusha and Golden] [-3] Recent form: Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (3rd-4th) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Na’Vi (IEM Katowice), 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice) One map: G2 Esports (IEM Katowice) In terms of day-to-day play, there are at most three teams I’d take as better than FNATIC right now, but their inactivity has cost them. They skipped EPICENTER, didn’t play any Dreamhack Opens and were not given partner status for Blast. As such, everything was riding on IEM Katowice for the Swedes, but they showed again they are a world-class squad offline. Their only losses were to Astralis, ranked number one at the time, and a blazing hot G2. Add in that JW and the gang put series wins against Na’Vi, the eventual champions, and 100T, who are a stock dropping but a name nonetheless. The expectation for FNATIC is to put up top-four finishes at EPL and the major and again regain an elite ranking. Activity is the lifeblood of a good ranking. 6. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, shox and RpK] [-1] Recent form: EPICENTER 2019 (1st) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (3rd in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (9th-12th) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Na’Vi (EPICENTER), Mousesports (EPICENTER), Na’Vi (BLAST Spring), NiP (IEM Katowice) One map: FaZe Clan (IEM Katowice) Vitality have been wack in 2020, failing to get a top-two finish at Blast and coming nowhere close to the play-offs in Katowice. Luckily, their EPICENTER win is still good for some juice, but unluckily they just lost their IGL ALEX. There is a good chance ZywOo won’t be in a top 10 team by the next edition. Troubling times for the French scene. 5. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [+1] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 (2nd) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (2nd in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (5th-6th) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: FaZe Clan (BLAST Global), NiP (BLAST Global), NiP (BLAST Spring), Evil Geniuses (IEM Katowice) One map: N/A Team Liquid looked weak at Blast, but a favorable group ensured they still finished in second. Katowice was better, making a top six-run, but their only ranked win was against Evil Geniuses. TL look good, but far from a threat for titles right now. Amazingly, they move up a position, with so few Tier 1 tournaments to consider for this time window. Any period after a break is rough since it means enforced down-time for a bunch of the teams. TL were a rare team who benefitted from the break, but they need to get motoring if they want to again challenge for the top spot. 4. G2 Esports [kennyS, huNter-, nexa, AmaNEk and JaCkz] [NEW] Recent form: cs_summit 5 (2nd) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (1st in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (2nd) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: 100 Thieves (BLAST Spring), 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice), Mousesports (IEM Katowice), Team Liquid (IEM Katowice), Fnatic (IEM Katowice) One map: Mousesports x3 (cs_summit) One of the revelations of 2020 has been G2. Their international line-up looked to have completely stalled and failed as 2019 closed out, infamously highlighted by their inability to win the cs_summit title versus a Mousesports lacking both karrigan and woxic. Apparently maLeK- worked his magic, though, and G2 began 2020 with an electrifying Blast group win and then backed that up with a monster run to second place at IEM. G2 have added so many ranked wins, spanning the top placed squads. KennyS looks like a top-five player in the world again, after years of absence from such status, and G2 is a line-up that few have been able to match in terms of fire-power. They do have an EG feel to them, where poor fragging could have them failing to make any impact on a tournament, but right now they are one of the hottest teams in the entire world. Given another strong performance I’ll bump them up into the S Class. S Class – Elite Teams 3. Mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [-] Recent form: cs_summit 5 (1st) [NaToSaphiX + Rejin two maps] – EPICENTER 2019 (2nd) – ICE Challenge (1st) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (7th-8th) – Bo5: Na’Vi (ICE) Bo3: Evil Geniuses (EPICENTER), Evil Geniuses (EPICENTER) One map: Team Vitality (EPICENTER), 100 Thieves (IEM Katowice) Mouz won the ICE Challenge, which looks even more impressive now their Bo5 series win over Na’Vi makes them one of the few teams to have looked good against s1mple and his boys. IEM was underwhelming, especially considering their relatively weaker group draw, on paper, and they didn’t get any series wins to add onto their now diminished resume. Mousesports deservedly went right up the rankings late last year, but 2020 is about earning it again and showing they are one of the best teams in the game. Sticking at third is cool, but rivals Astralis are right there for the taking with a good run of performances over the next two months. Imagine a world in which karrigan was ranked ahead of both FaZe and Astralis. That’s strong fodder for bragging! 2. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [-1] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019 (1st) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (4th in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (3rd-4th) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: NiP (BLAST Global), Team Liquid (BLAST Global), Team Vitality (IEM Katowice), Fnatic (IEM Katowice) One map: Team Liquid (BLAST Global), Na’Vi (BLAST Spring) It seemed as if it would be some time before anyone could dethrone Astralis, with the exception of Mouz winning a big title, but already they are gone from the top spot. A last-place finish in their BLAST group was highly unexpected, especially with a loss to coL, and their IEM run was halted at the semis by a Na’Vi who would not be denied. Astralis added series wins over Vitality and FNATIC, but they find themselves questioned as even champions, nevermind gunning for a second era they were threatening late in 2019. EPL and the major will be a key turning point for the greatest line-up to ever play CS:GO. 1. Natus Vincere [s1mple, electronic, flamie, Boombl4 and Perfecto] [+8] Recent form: EPICENTER 2019 (5th-6th) – ICE Challenge (2nd) – BLAST Premier Spring Series Regular Season (1st in group) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – World Championship (1st) – Bo5: N/A Bo3: Astralis (BLAST Spring), Team Vitality (BLAST Spring), FaZe (IEM Katowice), NiP (IEM Katowice), FaZe (IEM Katowice), Team Liquid (IEM Katowice), Astralis (IEM Katowice) One map: Team Vitality (EPICENTER), Mousesports (ICE), Fnatic (IEM Katowice) Climbing a wild eight spots to claim the first world number one ranking of s1mple’s career is the Na’Vi squad he was always seemingly destined to help live up to their motto – Born to win. Na’Vi ended last year with one of the most powerful off switches in the game and GuardiaN dragging them down match-to-match. The addition of Perfecto has seen a knock-on effect which was taken the insane fragging the previous Na’Vi sometimes showed and made it seemingly a permanent factor in their matches. Na’Vi’s failure to win the ICE Challenge wasn’t the end of the world, but their initial loss to Vitality at Blast was troubling, especially since they had to face Astralis in the lower bracket game. From that second map of said series on, Na’Vi have never looked back. They went on to win the group, halting coL’s run, and then took over IEM to monster smash some of the best teams in the game. Just look at the resume Na’Vi can boast. Two series wins over Astralis, wins over the likes of FaZe, Vitality and Team Liquid to boot. This is a Na’Vi that can not only help the best player in the world win trophies but perhaps even maintain this lofty spot atop the game. Thrilling times for fans of the CIS powerhouse. A video featuring will becoming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – Mid-December 2019 It’s my pleasure to present the sixth edition of my CS:GO World Rankings report for Dexerto, breaking down exactly where some of the best teams in the world currently stand. When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and an explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three-month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance; the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher-ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S-class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A-class is composed of the teams ranked below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B-class is the teams below both of the previous tiers – solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth-ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 10th September – 10th December 2019 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Sep 13 – Sep 14 BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019 – Sep 18 – Sep 22 V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2019 – Sep 20 – Sep 22 Games Clash Masters 2019 – Sep 26 – Sep 29 ESL One: New York 2019 – Oct 01 – Oct 06 DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 – Oct 21 – Oct 27 StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 – Nov 01 – Nov 02 BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 – Nov 07 – Nov 10 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing – Oct 08 – Nov 18 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Europe – Oct 08 – Nov 18 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Americas – Nov 20 – Nov 24 CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 – Nov 28 – Dec 01 Esports Championship Series Season 8 – Finals – Dec 03 – Dec 08 ESL Pro League Season 10 – Finals – B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. Ninjas in Pyjamas [REZ, f0rest, Lekr0, Plopski and twist] [-] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Moscow (3rd) [GTR] – V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest (5th-6th) [GTR] – DreamHack Masters Malmö (5th-6th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (7th-8th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (2nd) – ECS S8 Finals (5th-6th) – Bo5: Bo3: EG (SLTV S8), Vit (EPL) One map: AVAN (Blast Moscow), Na’Vi (Blast Moscow), mouz (DH Malmo), Ast (Blast Cop), TL (Blast Cop), EG (ECS) NiP had tight competition for the final ranking spot with the likes of ENCE and FURIA, but their bevy of single map wins and some nice series to boot keep them hanging in there. Top six at ECS didn’t mean much, but they did get a map win off EG out of it. 9. Natus Vincere [s1mple, electronic, flamie, GuardiaN and Boombl4] [NEW] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Moscow (6th) [Zeus] – DreamHack Masters Malmö (3rd-4th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (13th-16th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (3rd) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: EG (EPL) One map: Vit (DH Malmo), TL (Blast Cop), FNC (EPL) Na’Vi’s top-four finish at EPL was a big deal, as the team had been disappearing below the water and out of the placings. s1mple and friends are back, even if their resume is shockingly empty of series wins for a team with top big top-four finishes. 8. FaZe Clan [NiKo, coldzera, rain, olof and broky] [+1] Recent form: ESL One: New York (7th-8th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (1st) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (3rd-4th) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (9th-12th) – Bo5: Bo3: Vit (EPL), EG (IEM Beijing), EG (IEM Beijing) One map: Ast (Blast Cop), Na’Vi (Blast Cop), Vit (IEM Beijing) All FaZe managed at EPL was a highly underwhelming finish and no ranked wins. They benefit, though, from having won their event relatively recently and seeing the major, which they failed to make an impact on, disappear from relevance. FaZe’s Blast win and IEM Beijing are aided by two series wins over EG and a generally pretty good resume for a squad ranked down at eighth. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favourites 7. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, shox and RpK] [-2] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (2nd) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (7th-8th) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: ENCE (DH Malmo), mouz (DH Malmo), Na’Vi (DH Malmo) One map: 100T (IEM Beijing), FNC (EPL) No activity since the last edition for the French side, but their placings and some solid series wins is good enough to put them in seventh. Finally, the NBK era does not affect their rankings and we can see the shox era stand on its own feet. Having this many teams in the A-Class really shows how much talent we have in the scene right now and the level of parity in the top 10. 6. 100 Thieves [jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction, Liazz and AZR] [-2] Recent form: StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (4th) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (2nd) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (7th-8th) – Bo5: Bo3: FNC (SLTV S8), Vit (SLTV S8), ENCE (IEM Beijing), ENCE (IEM Beijing), Vit (IEM Beijing) One map: 100T’s flunked their first tournament since back in July at IEM Chicago, finishing only top eight at EPL. Nonetheless, 100T has the placings and the resume of series wins, even if a number came seemingly for free from an Aleksib-less-ENCE, to keep a good placing, but did drop a few spots. Still a good team, without a doubt, but not an event champion right now. Their consistency has been such that I’ll keep them in A Class. 5. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [+3] Recent form: ESL One: New York (3rd-4th) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (9th-12th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (5th) – ECS S8 Finals (2nd) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (5th-6th) – Bo5: Bo3: Ren (EPL), EG (ECS), FNC (ECS), mouz (EPL) One map: Ast (ESL NY), NiP (ECS), Ast (ECS), Ast (EPL) A finals appearance at ECS and a decent but underwhelming top six at EPL are enough to again elevate Team Liquid to the A-Class and top-five ranking I expect from this line-up. Victories over EG, FNATIC, and mouz in series play are very positive signs, along with three map series against Astralis at both tournaments. Liquid are on the cusp of again being champions but have been unable to get it over the line. 4. mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [+3] Recent form: V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest (3rd-4th) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (5th-6th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (9th-12th) – CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 (1st) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (1st) – Bo5: FNC (EPL) Bo3: EG (DH Malmo), AVAN (CAC), EG (CAC), ENCE (CAC), EG (EPL), Ast (EPL) One map: Vit (DH Malmo), ENCE (CAC), TL (EPL) karrigan’s boys have won another event to make it back-to-back with the CS:GO Asia Championships. This time around, they again beat EG and added a semi-final win over his old running mates in Astralis. A Bo5 final win over FNATIC is big time stuff too, considering how competitive that squad has been with everyone else. mouz look a little like FNATIC when they began their recent won, with a lot of close games won to make it difficult to know how replicable these results are. If they continue like this then mouz will be an outside shot to win every event. If they do not, and especially if player form is tied too closely, then mouz are still a play-off squad but in an increasingly competitive period. S Class – Elite Teams 3. FNATIC [KRiMZ, brollan, JW, flusha and Golden] [-] Recent form: DreamHack Masters Malmö (1st) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (2nd) – ECS S8 Finals (3rd-4th) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: Ast (DH Malmo), Vit (DH Malmo), mouz (SLTV S8), Vit (SLTV S8), Vit (EPL), 100T (EPL), TL (EPL) One map: EG (SLTV S8), TL (ECS) A semi-finals appearance at ECS and a runners-up finish at EPL showed that FNATIC is far from the “on their day” team they initially appeared to be. This new FNATIC has legitimately been world class throughout their run since the major. Adding three series, including one over a good looking Team Liquid, keeps FNATIC in third and I can now confidently move them into the S Class of elite teams in the game. Welcome back JW, flusha and KRiMZ. 2. Evil Geniuses [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [-] Recent form: ESL One: New York (1st) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (15th-16th) – StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 (1st) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (5th-6th) – CS:GO Asia Championships 2019 (5th-6th) – ECS S8 Finals (3rd-4th) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (5th-6th) – Bo5: Ast (ESL NY) Bo3: FaZe (ESL NY), Ast (ESL NY), Ren (SLTV S8), FNC (SLTV S8), FNC (SLTV S8), NiP (ECS), 100T (EPL) One map: AVANG (ECS), Ast (ECS), FNC (EPL), mouz (EPL) A top four at ECS was fine, in the context of who was in the semi-finals, but finishing only in 5th-6th at EPL suggests EG are not the world beaters they looked like following the major. They’ve only been able to add two series wins over those two events, beating NiP and 100T. There is still much promise to be seen, but Brehze has not been the star he was earlier in the year and the team’s map pool has seen them losing their beloved dust2 and inferno way too often. While that NY result remains, EG are still locked into second, but there is a lot of competition gunning for them right now and they’ve even seen their status as Astralis’ kryptonite questioned. 1. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [-] Recent form: ESL One: New York (2nd) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (3rd-4th) – BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2019 (4th) – Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Beijing (1st) – ECS S8 Finals (1st) – ESL ProLeague S10 Finals (3rd-4th) – Bo5: 100T (IEM Beijing) Bo3: FNC (EPL), TL (ESL NY), Vit (DH Malmo), 100T (IEM Beijing), FNC (ECS), EG (ECS), TL (ECS), TL (EPL) One map: EG (ESL NY), TL (Blast Cop), mouz (EPL) Astralis broke their surprisingly quiet period of not winning titles since the major already with their flawless run in Beijing and at ECS S8 looked firmly like the best team in the game. Rematching the final of that event again at EPL had them looking as if they would win back-to-back events, but a shocking and close elimination to mouz ended that tale with just a top-four finish. All the same, they are riding a streak of top-four finishes since ESL One Cologne. The major has come off their resume of placings, but they have far and away the best record of any team in the scene right now. There’s also a strong collection of series wins, including three over TL and one over EG.

Thorin’s Top 10 Biggest Favourites to Win a CS:GO Major ESLWith Starladder Berlin coming up, I take a look at all of the teams in CS:GO history that were favourites to win their respective major. Team Liquid will arrive at the Starladder Berlin Major as a heavy favourite, riding five straight tournament titles and an Intel Grand Slam into the player break and hoping to exit it into our world championship and a sure-fire era of their own. Plenty of great teams and champions have headed to a major big favourites, though, and plenty have been sent home upset and underwhelmed. Here are my top 10 biggest favourites to win a major: 10. Shuffling towards more major success – EnVyUS at Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca 2015 Team: EnVyUs Lineup: kennyS, Happy, apEX, NBK and kioShiMa Period: Autumn 2015 Form over previous three months: IEM X Gamescom (1st) – ESL One Cologne (2nd) – Major – ESL ESEA Pro League Invitional (5th-6th) – Dreamhack Open London (1st) – Gfinity Champion of Champions (1st) – Result at the major: 1st Their core were champions of the major two prior (Dreamhack Winter 2014) and had been an excellent squad most of the year, but hitting a summer slump saw the French side implode internally and the result was another “French shuffle”, which this time brought kennyS and apEX over from Titan and sent shox and SmithZz in the opposite direction. This new look nV put together an impressive run of form, but with caveats to be added to some of those results. At IEM X Gamescom they won the event in dominant fashion, but it was an event where teams picked who other teams would play and there was fan voting on the maps to be played. There was also not a lot of top teams in attendance, notably lacking the likes of FNATIC and Virtus.pro. At ESL One Cologne 2015 the French side came close to winning another major immediately, but were upset by an epic comeback from FNATIC in the final. That big time result was followed up by the only disasterous result of this period, failing to crack top four at the ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational. Dreamhack Open London came with a very legit final win over TSM, but they were the only two elite teams in attendance in a pretty depleted field. Winning the Gfinity Champion of Champions event established nV’s claim to being favourites for the major, as they defeated Virtus.pro and FNATIC in Bo5 series play. With those wins nV had scored significant offline series play wins over TSM, FNATIC and Virtus.pro – the three other teams considered elite tier and contenders for the major. Having a strong match-up against TSM, the on form second favourites for the event, put nV in a powerful position. nV entered Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, CS:GO’s seventh major, as the on paper favourites. Little did the public know, but behind the scenes nV was falling apart. Practice for the major went so poorly that at one point their solution to losing too many scrims was to stop scrimming and the atmosphere was such that a poor run at the tournament itself may well have fractured the line-up. nV overcame such ominous issues and went on to win the title. Sure, they were a round from being eliminated by rain and Maikelele’s G2 in the semi-finals, but they prevailed to reach the final and there beat an underdog Na`Vi in a sweep. En route to the title, they had firmly closed the FNATIC era by taking down the Swedes in a three map quarter-final, the last offline game pronax played for FNATIC. 9. Securing an era in style – SK Gaming at ESL One Cologne 2016 Team: SK Gaming Lineup: coldzera, FalleN, fer, fnx and TACO Period: Summer 2016 Form over previous three months: Dreamhack Masters Malmo (9th-12th) – Dreamhack Open Austin (1st) – ESL ProLeague S3 Finals (1st) – ELEAGUE S1 (DQ – won group) – ECS S1 Finals (2nd) – Result at the major: 1st SK were the reigning major champions, winning MLG Columbus as Luminosity Gaming, and had routinely been placing top four or making the final of events prior to that. After getting into the winner’s circle in Columbus, FalleN and company initially flopped, failing to make the play-offs at the first Dreamhack Masters event, held in Malmo. Back in North America they cemented their dominant status over the region, beating out a field of teams from the Americas. G2 took them to an epic fifth map in the EPL S3 Finals, but the Brazilians emerged victors for a second big international title. At ELEAGUE they faced a group of teams from the NA region and continued to dominate, winninng all five series there and earning a spot in the play-offs. They would never get to play the bracket out, due to being disqualified as a result of leaving for the SK Gaming organisation – ELEAGUE being a tournament with spots allocated to orgs and not players directly. The first ever ECS Finals were the last tournament prior to the major and LG found themselves upset by G2, who again rode blazing hot form from shox and ScreaM to match-up surprisingly well with the world’s best team. That victory no doubt gave some pause in predicting SK to win in Cologne, but there were no other obvious candidates for the crown. G2 themselves were very streaky, clearly riding individual form; FNATIC had not had olofmeister back and he was not the monster individual performer he had previous been; VP were still working themselves back into shape and Astralis would not be able to field their full five man line-up for the major. Even with the ECS loss, SK came in as the clear favourites and proceeded to escape the group of death in first place. They then beat surprise play-off squad FlipSid3 in the quarter-finals; overcame an epic series with VP in the semi-finals and then cleanly swept flavour-of-the-week Team Liquid, who shockingly arrived at the final from the other side of the bracket. 8. A Very good chance to win – VeryGames at Dreamhack Winter 2013 Team: VeryGames Lineup: shox, ScreaM, NBK, Ex6TenZ and SmithZz Period: Autumn 2013 Form over previous three months: Starladder VII (1st) – EMS One Fall (1st) – ESWC (2nd) – MSI Beat IT (1st) – Result at the major: 3rd-4th NiP had been the best team in CS:GO from day one but their reign had been brought to an end prior to the first major held in the game. Ex6TenZ’s VeryGames, so often second best and unable to beat NiP offline, would finally best their white whales, defeating NiP in three straight Bo3 series meetings offline, firmly supplanting the Ninjas as the world’s best. That yielded titles at Starladder VII and EMS One Fall, but VG fell in a bizarre domestic upset to Clan-Mystik at ESWC. At MSI Beat IT, a tournament they had prevented NiP from qualifying for online, they thrashed the newly pronax-led FNATIC to take a third title in four offline events, with finals appearances in all four. Not only did shox and the gang have a strong winning record against NiP, but Astana Dragons, then ranked as the third best team in the game, had lost to them on a number of occasions also. With those teams the big names heading into the first major there was little reason to think anyone but the French would be leaving with the trophy. Clan-Mystik, the team who had slain them at ESWC, were expected to be a one event wonder and indeed failed to progress from the group stage at the major. Even the FNATIC team who went on to win the event and had some dark horse potential were poorly matched against the world’s best team. Even in the Summer, prior to over-taking NiP, this team had found championship form. They had beaten Virtus.pro to win EMS One Summer, after the CIS squad had helped take down NiP for them. After that they had won the Mad Catz Invitational Cologne, taking down the MODDII-era FNATIC line-up. VeryGames also had shox in their ranks, whose superlative all-around individual game had caused many to declare him the best player in the world now, replacing GeT_RiGhT in similar fashion to VG replacing NiP. At the major VG immediately slipped up, falling in a close bo1 inferno game to compLexity and a now infamous bomb site fake late. Reaching the play-offs they were drawn into the same side of the bracket as NiP, putting the two biggest favourites for the title on a crash course in the semi-finals. VG defeated the core of what is now Astralis in a three map quarter-final and headed into their ultimate grudge match against the Ninjas. Despite a rousing speech from Ex6TenZ, VG would fall on a deciding third map nuke. NiP themselves did not go on to win the title, leaving shox and NBK to wonder how they would have fared against the same FNATIC line-up they had tooled in the Beat IT final only weeks prior. 7. Clear path to a coronation – FaZe Clan at ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018 Team: FaZe Clan Lineup: NiKo, GuardiaN, rain, olof and karrigan Period: Winter 2017 Form over previous three months: ELEAGUE Premier (1st) – EPICENTER (5th-6th) – IEM XII Oakland (2nd) – Blast Copenhagen (3rd) – ESL ProLeague S6 Finals (2nd) – ECS S4 Finals (1st) – Result at the major: 2nd FaZe Clan had overall been the best team in Counter-Strike since the previous major. Bringing in GuardiaN and olofmeister was not just an on paper upgrade, as it would spawn one of the most powerful fragging teams history had seen. After an initial slip-up at Dreamhack Masters Malmo, karrigan’s team smashed everyone they faced to win ESL One York and ELEAGUE premier not just back-to-back but without even losing a map. Another poor event at EPICENTER, losing to the eventual finalists VP and SK, was put to one side as FaZe romped to the IEM Oakland final. Despite being heavily favoured to win the tournament, with rivals SK eliminated in the semi-final by an NiP team riding form they had not shown prior nor would after, FaZe managed to lose the Bo5 final in the fifth and deciding map, seeing NiP magic deny them a big title. A bunch of Best-of-1s at Blast Copenhagen saw them just miss out on the final, but the event was not of the same scale and prestige as others in the calender anyway. At EPL S6 Finals they again reached the final, this time finally facing SK again and falling to them in the Bo5 final in four maps. SK failed to qualify for ECS S4 Finals and FaZe took the crown, narrowly edging out mouz in a very close final. Going into the major, FaZe were the clear favourites in the field. SK, the only team who had shown anything approaching consistency in beating them, were unable to field Boltz, as he was ineligible for the tournament, and went with previous member felps, who had not been playing with the team for months. G2 were still ranked highly, but had not won a play-off series in months. Astralis had been without device for a couple of events and he was returning to active duty but as a rifler, with dupreeh taking over his AWPing duties. Finally, VP had fallen off hard and C9 had not beaten FaZe in series play. Lacking the real SK line-up, the field looked wide open for karrigan and company to waltz into the final and then lift the major trophy four of the five members still lacked on their career resumes. Three titles and a total of five finals was a very strong record to bring into the biggest tournament of the year. FaZe suffered only a single loss over the two swiss system phases, being taken down by CIS surprise package Vega Squadron in a loss they would later avenge. In the play-offs they drew the easier side and overcame a repeat match-up with mouz, the squad they’d beaten at ECS, to reach top four. There they met a s1mple-powere Na’Vi who were months from figuring out electronic’s role and thus rolled over nice and quick for NiKo and company. In the grand final of the major FaZe would meet Cloud9, a squad they’d won the last three series over in sweeps, and a map pool draw of mirage, overpass and inferno seemed to have all but written FaZe’s names onto the trophy. Cloud9 summoned a level of form not seen before or since and broke FaZe’s hearts, denying them a number of championship point conversions, to steal away the accomplishment four of them still seek to this day. 6. Strong but stung – Astralis at FACEIT Major London 2018 Team: Astralis Lineup: device, dupreeh, magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve Period: Autumn 2018 Form over previous three months: ECS S5 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th) – Dreamhack Masters Stockholm (2nd) – Result at the major: 1st After winning Dreamhack Masters Marseille, their third event with this line-up, Astralis had hit the top spot and never looked back. Despite falling in an epic IEM Sydney fashion to FaZe with a stand-in, the Danes came back to win EPL S7 and ECS S5 – the two offline finals of the online leagues – as well as the ELEAGUE Premier. Those wins all came in spectacular fashion, rarely ever losing maps and most times not even giving up double digits to their opponents and practically never being denied the kind of score themselves. What muddied their strength prior to their first major with this line-up was their key losses, though. Losing at ESL One Cologne had allowed Na’Vi to grab a big title and suggest the CIS side as potential Kryptonite for Astralis, with s1mple’s team having also beaten them at StarSeries S4, the first offline event of this magisk-era line-up. After the player break in the summer came Dreamhack Masters Stockholm, the warm-up event prior to the major. Astralis not only failed to win the title, but lost two full Bo3 series to MSL’s North, a side not even considered elite tier and who shocked everyone throughout the event en route to miraculously winning it and seeing MSL named MVP. That the Danes had also almost lost a series to TyLoo, unthinkable months prior, had many wondering if Astralis had blown their load over the summer and would not be replaced as the top dog in the post-player-break period or simply find the top a lot more crowded for contenders. Word behind the scenes was that Team Liquid, a side who had lost a number of finals to Astralis but had elected to skip Stockholm and continue bootcamping, were in fearsome form, with a number of analysts picking them to win the major. Astralis lost two maps over the swiss phases, falling in a close game against NiP on mirage and later to Team Liquid on inferno. In the play-offs they drew a hard bracket, but could not be denied. Sweeping FaZe Clan, Team Liquid and Na’Vi, Astralis were unaffected by any of the disturbing omens prior to the tournament and put an exclamation point on what was now at the very least becoming an era, if not one already. 5. Six in a row but not all the same – FNATIC at MLG Columbus 2016 Team: FNATIC Lineup: olof, flusha, KRiMZ, dennis and JW Period: Spring 2016 Form over previous three months: ESL Expo Barcelona (1st) – IEM X World Championship (1st) – Result at the major: 5th-8th Winning all six offline events you attend with your line-up might seem difficult to down-play, but FNATIC’s run badly needs context to be understood. After pronax had exited the team, following their failure to win a third straight back-to-back-to-back major, dennis, former LGB team-mate of olof and KRiMZ, joined as the team’s fifth player. They would embark upon a streak of championships of differing qualities and prestige. Dreamhack Winter 2015 was a stacked event and FNATIC downing Virtus.pro and upstarts Luminosity to take the title was impressive. Fragbite Masters S5 Finals was a much less stacked field and saw FNATIC lose a series to NiP and get pushed to three maps by the Danish SK Gaming line-up – a side who were relative nobodies in comparison to FNATIC. Meeting NiP in the final they got their revenge and took a second title, but not without significant casualties along the way. At ESL ESEA ProLeague S2 Finals, FNATIC managed to lose a Bo3 series to nV – reigning major champions – but defeated ex-TSM and Na’Vi to win the event anyway, the CIS squad having eliminated nV for the Swedes. Another big event title to add to their Dreamhack winter. StarSeries XIV was another meaningful event, with FNATIC again performing their feat of losing a series to nV only to again see Na’Vi oust nV and then beat Na’Vi in the final for another big title. ESL Expo Barcelona was an exhibition tournament, similarly in format and nature to the IEM Gamescom event won by nV the previous year, though with a better standard of teams. Winning here is not to be considered close to the level of tournaments like Dreamhack Winter, ProLeague or StarSeries. At IEM Katowice, FNATIC defeated VP and Astralis to reach the final. Facing Luminosity, they maintained their unbeaten streak against the team they’d beat at Dreamhack and StarSeries previously to take their sixth straight offline title in a row. As well as losing a number of Bo3s in amongst those victorious runs, FNATIC had been played close many times, even winning some games with “just FNATIC things” moves which seemed counter-intuitive and yet came off seemingly as a result of FNATIC’s intimidating aura and high average skill level. Going into MLG Columbus, there was no reason to suggest FNATIC would be denied the major title. Their only true rivals were nV, who came into the event in such poor form they would not even progress from the group stage. Na’Vi and Luminosity were the next best teams in the world after FNATIC and neither had ever won an offline series against them. What’s more, olofmeister was considered by many the best player in the world or at worst battling GuardiaN for that title. As it would happen, he would arrive at the major injured and has arguably never fully regained his form since. FNATIC fell to Team Liquid in a shocking Bo1 result, but made the play-offs anyway. Facing Astralis in the quarter-finals, they were matched with a squad they’d beaten in series at ProLeague and in Katowice. On this day, though, Astralis called back to their TSM days, smashing the Swedes and ending their tournament hopes early, with karrigan famously calling a time-out at series point to needle his Nordic rivals. Astralis themselves were eliminated in the next round of the tournament and thus ended an underwhelming event for FNATIC. 4. Smoking summer – SK Gaming at PGL Krakow 2017 Team: SK Gaming Lineup: coldzera, fer, FalleN, felps and TACO Period: Summer 2017 Form over previous three months: cs_summit 1 (1st) – IEM XII Sydney (1st) – ESL ProLeague S5 Finals (3rd-4th) – Dreamhack Open Summer (1st) – ECS S3 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (1st) – Result at the major: 5th-8th Bringing in felps to replace fnx had yielded mix results initially. SK had finished second at Dreamhack Masters Las Vegas, but then failed to make the play-offs at IEM Katowice or StarSeries S3, with new man felps playing well early. Astralis were the dominant team at the time and FaZe had risen up to best them narrowly in the StarSeries final. SK began cooking with a win at cs_summit, where none of the other elite teams were in attendance. After that they took down IEM Sydney, beating FaZe in the Bo5 final emphatically and placing ahead of Astralis. Their lone loss of that summer came at the EPL S5 Finals, where inspired play from kennyS and G2 halted them in the semis, the French super-team going on to win the title. At Dreamhack Open Summer, the other elite teams were again nowhere to be found and SK pushed through to take a third title. At ECS S3 Finals, the field was stacked at SK would defeat Astralis and FaZe in back-to-back close three map series to take the title, fer getting a rare chance to win an MVP award. ESL One Cologne saw SK pushed to three maps only once, surprisingly by the stanislaw-less-OpTic, prior to lifting the trophy. FaZe were swept in the semi and then C9 in a Bo5 final. SK Gaming entered PGL Krakow as a monster. coldzera was the best player in the world and cranking out MVP awards every few weeks. fer was in career best form and legitimately made for the scariest duo in the game, competing with each other for the MVP awards. FalleN had recovered some of his form and looked clutch once more. Youngster felps could at times look disconnected, but his skill level added fragging to put SK over-the-top against each the world’s best sides. Key edges over FaZe meant SK were even getting wins on maps outside of their best win-rates and thus seemed insurmountable. A long loss to BIG on inferno, following a big lead, could not prevent SK from crusing into the play-offs with a 3:1 record. There, they would be unlucky enough to draw Astralis, another 3:1 team and a strong dark horse for the title itself. One of the best performances of device’s career prevented the same result as ECS, this time Astralis took the series and in a sweep. Astralis would themselves be eliminated in the next round of the tournament and thus SK could not even boast of having at least lost to the champions, as they could after ProLeague. 3. Two majors; one era – Astralis at IEM XIII Katowice 2019 Team: Astralis Lineup: device, dupreeh, magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve Period: Spring 2019 Form over previous three months: ECS S6 Finals (1st) – ESL ProLeague S8 Finals (1st) – Blast Lisbon (1st) – iBUYPOWER Masters (2nd) – Result at the major: 1st After winning the FACEIT Major London, Astralis had seen some down moments, but only at Blast tournaments or en route to more success. Winning Blast Istanbul, a pretty weak field, and losing Blast Copenhagen did little for a team who were in the midst of an era – critics be damned! Winning four straight tournaments quickly silenced doubters, as IEM Chicago, ECS S6 Finals, EPL S8 Finals and Blast Lisbon all fell into the greedy mitts of gla1ve’s gang. At the seeming peak of the most dominant era in history, having just won the Intel Grand Slam S1 and a free additional $1,000,000, little seemed capable of derailing Astralis. Attending the ill-fated iBUYPOWER Masters event, which saw many complaints about playing and crowd conditions, Astralis would lose their unbeatable aura at the worst moment, the event right before the major. The team defeating them was the Team Liquid core they had beaten in every big series the previous year, but who had now added Stewie2k from MiBR and levelled up on overpass, previously their permanent ban map. The state of the event led most to still consider Astralis massive favourites for the title, but some analysts still favoured Liquid. Astralis won their second major with this line-up losing only a single map. That loss came in the play-off decider of the second swiss phase against Renegades, who barely snuck past them in overtime on mirage. In the bracket phase, Astralis swept all three opponents 2:0, repeating their epic feat from the previous major, to take another major title. NiP, MiBR and ENCE were all unable to land a significant blow against perhaps history’s best ever team. 2. Welcome to the FNATIC era, almost – FNATIC at Dreamhack Winter 2014 Team: FNATIC Lineup: KRiMZ, JW, olof, flusha and pronax Period: Autumn 2014 Form over previous three months: StarSeries X (1st) – Dreamhack Invitational II (3rd-4th) – FACEIT S2 (1st) – ESWC (1st) – Fragbite Masters S3 (1st) – Result at the major: 5th-8th Before FNATIC were able to establish their era in 2015, they had a legitimate crack at it to close out 2014. Since adding olof and KRiMZ to the line-up, the team had reached at least top four of all seven offline events they’d attended. Gfinity G3 was the first and they’d fallen only to kennyS’s Titan in the semi-finals. At ESL One Cologne 2014, a major, they’d reached the final and there been in good shape to take down NiP, only to become famed victims of NiP magic in the Ninjas’ lone victorious major campaign. Winning StarSeries X was mainly about beating Na’Vi, with other elite teams not attending. At the Dreamhack Invitational in Stockholm not all of their players arrived on time and they were shunted out of the event by a shut-down dual AWP stomp from kennyS and the now infamous KQLY. The next run of events would leave no question FNATIC were the best, though. Winning FACEIT S2, showcasing monster CT sides against seemingly everyone and on every map, they took the title over iBUYPOWER in the final. At ESWC they crushed LDLC, France’s new super-team, in front of the French side’s home crowd. At Frabite Masters S3 Finals it was more of the same, overcoming top teams to reach the final and there handling LDLC again. Going into Dreamhack Winter 2014, the fourth CS:GO major, FNATIC had won their last three offline events in a row. Added to that, the clear second best team in the world was the very LDLC who were losing so badly in their direct match-up with FNATIC, and indeed would never actually defeat FNATIC in an offline Bo3/Bo5 series with those exact line-ups. At the event itself, and surrounded by an unfortunate climate of cheating accusations, FNATIC showed weakness uncharacteristic of their pre-major form. In the group stage they were shockingly beaten on mirage in close fashion by s1mple’s HellRaisers squad. Pushed onto the same side of the bracket as LDLC they would be drawn against them. LDLC managed to win the series on the back of a forfeit, with FNATIC winning the deciding third map of the series from down 3:13, but thanks to olof’s cheeky boost usage seeing controversy overtake the result and public opinion skew hard against them. The Swedes decided to give LDLC the win rather than face fan hatred for moving on off questionable play. 1. Golden age keeps going – Team Liquid at Starladder Berlin Major 2019 Team: Team Liquid Lineup: EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie Period: Summer 2019 Form over previous three months: cs_summit 4 (2nd) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (1st) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (1st) – Blast Los Angeles (1st) – IEM XIV Chicago (1st) – Result at the major: TBD Astralis were still the dominant force up to Blast Sao Paulo, the last event they have won as a line-up. Since then, Team Liquid have taken over the throne as the game’s best side. Losing the next Blast to FaZe didn’t immediately let on TL would be the side to take the lead, but since then they have lost only a single Bo3 series. Winning IEM XIV Sydney was not so special, in the context of no other elite teams being in attendance, but counted as a win in the Intel Grand Slam S2. Losing cs_summit 4 to Vitality seemed worrying at the time, but the French side has since gone on to win more and establish themselves as strong world number twos. After that, nobody could stop Team Liquid. They won Dreamhack Masters Dallas to add another Grand Slam win. At EPL S9 Finals, they at last faced Astralis in offline play again, and bested device and the boys en route to a third straight Grand Slam title. At ESL One Cologne, the most stacked event of the year, TL were undefeated in series play and completed S2 of the Intel Grand Slam in record time, winning four events in a row. After that, they won Blast LA and most recently IEM Chicago, a fifth straight Grand Slam event and this time counting towards S3. Team Liquid have won their last five offline events in a row and played in the finals of their last nine events, winning six titles over that time span. Their last Bo3 loss offline was on the 26th of April, when Vitality beat them at cs_summit 4. Since then they have won 20 Bo3/Bo5 series in a row. Team Liquid comes into the major with no true rivals. The Astralis team who used to torture this core has a losing record in series play against this TL line-up (2:1 in series for TL) and is far from the winning team they were a year ago. Vitality looked dangerous for nitr0’s men at cs_summit, but have since convincingly lost a Bo5 finals and a Bo3 semi-final to show they are far from the answer. ENCE were the squad who handed TL their one finish outside of the finals this year, upsetting them in the quarter-final of the major, but since then have lost to them at Dreamhack Masters Dallas in close fashion and then later, following the Aug nerf, were utterly crushed flat in the first two maps of a three map sweep Bo5 final at IEM Chicago. The only potential contender that leaves is the new Na`Vi squad, who came close to beating TL in the group stage in Cologne only to blow it and lose in three maps. When they rematched in the semi-final TL swept them 2:0. Team Liquid have no rivals. As of this moment, there is no reason to predict anyone but Team Liquid will win the Starladder Berlin Major. They enter the event as the largest favourite for a major in CS:GO history.

Thorin Roasts Fortnite and FACEIT London Major During Stockholm Esports Awards Controversial analyst Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields was in attendance at the Stockholm International Esports Awards, and took a moment to throw a few hilarious digs at FACEIT’s CSGO London Major and the Fortnite community. With Thorin not invited to work on the analysts desk at the Major, the ‘Esports Historian’ used an interview with host Frankie Ward to take a few quick jabs at the event. Thorin began by stating that he could work on DOTA 2’s The International, because “they hire a lot of talent these days”. Then, while discussing esports’ past, he joked “I am part of history now”. When asked about his vision for the future of esports, Shields took a direct shot at the FACEIT Major, saying; “I just want to see esports get bigger, but crucially, better. Let’s not water it down or hire people who don’t deserve to be hired. Don’t know why I keep mentioning that, just on my mind at the moment… I might make an appearance. Any scalpers got a ticket? No? Nobody’s going anyway, are they?” Thorin, however, wasn’t content with just roasting the FACEIT Major, but also took aim at the popular battle royale game Fortnite’s community. Asked whether he thought Fortnite would make a good esport, Shield simply replied with; “I’m not 12 so I’ve never played that game.” Shields has been a regular feature of CS:GO analysis desks since 2013. He worked at a total of six majors in the past but hasn’t featured at one of the Valve sponsored events since the ELEAGUE Atlanta Major in 2017. The Brit hasn’t shied away from criticizing FACEIT’s handling of the London Major in the months running up to the event and even released a video titled “FACEIT’s Troubling Handling of the Major Thusfar” where he aired some of his grievances. While Thorin may not be working at FACEIT’s London Major, it will be interesting if he does indeed make an appearance at the event, which kicks off on Wednesday, September 5.

Cloud9’s new esports strategy is concerning claim Richard Lewis & Thorin In a recent episode of Thorin and Richard Lewis’ By the Numbers podcast, the duo discuss the uncertainty around Cloud9, their Counter-Strike team and OWL franchise London Spitfire, questioning decisions around roster moves and their status in the upper tiers of esports. Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields and Richard Lewis have been running By the Numbers on a semi-regular basis since August 2017, discussing the goings-on in the esports world, particularly in CS:GO. In the October 20 episode of By the Numbers, episode 94, the pair discussed the future of Cloud9 in esports, debating some of the interesting roster moves the organization has made in recent years in both Counter-Strike and Overwatch, with OWL franchise London Spitfire. “What’s depressing for me about the Cloud9 situation is some of the talent they had in the last couple of years were good people,” Thorin started. “ People like Flusha, people like Kioshima, you want to keep one or two of these but unfortunately you ended up with none of them.” Concluding, Thorin said: “In the next 6-8 months, we’ll know a lot about where Cloud9, the entire org, is in esports… Literally days ago, it was announced that London Spitfire, their Overwatch League team, has sold a whole bunch of their absolute best players, in a manner which implies they don’t want to be a big spender. You only sell those players if you’re desperate for money or want to get out of the game.” Thorin continues, “If you look generally at where they’re going at the moment… the CS teams are already on what seems to be cost-cutting measures, waiting to gamble on something that will actually make them money.” He goes on to discuss a North American CS:GO league, which we should know more about in the next 6-8 months, as something to note on whether C9 “wants to be a big player in esports.” While it’s clear that they are correct about the Cloud9 CS team, referring to the “musical chairs” of roster changes they’ve gone through to cut costs and find something that works, Thorin’s statement on the future of London Spitfire is incredibly telling. Saying that they might want to get out of the Overwatch League, the first city-based franchise league in esports, is a huge implication. What this means for Cloud9’s future remains to be seen, but these two believe we may start seeing them fall behind their opposition.

Thorin on How CS:GO Can Learn from Fortnite: “I think it could be twice as big” Epic Games / StarLadderDuncan ‘Thorin’ Shields has discussed the recent Fortnite Battle Royale phenomenon and what Counter-Strike: Global Offensive can take from it going forward. Fortnite Battle Royale has undoubtedly taken the world by storm in 2018 and has quickly become one of the most popular games in history. There are, of course, numerous factors that have contributed to the title’s incredible growth, but many people would point to the ease of access as being the most important one. Available to play on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and soon on Android, Fortnite can be enjoyed on just about any platform imaginable. Add to that the fact that it is free to play and it is clear that Epic Games is on to a winner. CS:GO is also one of the biggest games on the planet, and has one of the largest esports communities to boot, but many casual gamers have often lamented the steep learning curve and hardcore element of the game when trying to get into it. During a recent episode of “By The Numbers”, Thorin and Richard Lewis raised the question of whether CS:GO should consider moving to the “free to play” model and whether adding some more casual elements could boost the player count. Thorin first explained why only having the most hardcore version of a game can hurt it in the long run: “They didn’t learn the lesson of StarCraft 2, which is that a normal casual player doesn’t want to play a mimicked version of what you’re playing in the fucking Grand Final of a Major. They don’t want to do that. It would be like if I could only in my entire life have ever played football by having to get 11 players and play on a regulation size pitch and play 90 minutes with an official referee there. I’d have never played football.” The “Esports Historian” went on to detail just how difficult it can be for new CS:GO players to enjoy a game with their friends that already play the game and how this effectively stops any form of “snowball effect” happening. He details how Fortnite’s ease of access makes it the perfect candidate for friends of friends to all end up playing the game through little more than word of mouth and says that a similar model could have do the same for CS:GO: “I’ve experienced it literally directly in my life own life. Where you get a player that’s just started out and they’re like ‘oh I’ll play CS with you’, and you’re like ‘well actually mate, you can’t. Like, basically I’d have to get three other people since our ranks aren’t the same […] […] You’ll never get the snowball effect there of having like the Fortnite type numbers of players because here’s the thing: don’t think that Fortnite made that happen. What happens is you make a good game, you hopefully set up a lot of good conditions, and then whether it becomes a phenomenon like that is that’s like a social snowball, you know? That’s like, the reason you aren’t directly affecting that is because that’s like a friend of a friend of a friend got someone into the game and that’s so many people deep that you didn’t have any direct connection to the guy that then starts playing the game […] […] I think it [Counter-Strike] could be twice as big [as it is now] if you add a legit easy way to get into the game, a way to try the game, and then a casual way to play the game.” The entire discussion starts at around the 57 minute mark of the video and is an interesting take on both Counter-Strike and Fortnite from community members that have been around for longer than most of us have known what esports was. You can check out the entire video below.

Thorin: NBK is the French Kingmaker Nathan ‘NBK’ Schmitt is a clear-cut hall of fame level name in CS:GO. A two-time major winner. Selected three times as a top 20 player of the year by HLTV.org, and twice within the top 10. Only apEX and NBK have played with all of the best in-game leaders in the French scene: Ex6TenZ, Happy, and Alex, and have played with all the great superstars in shox, kennyS, and ZywOo. Yet, NBK has never been the best player in his country, nor has he ever been a great in-game leader. What he has been is the most influential figure in that space, successfully navigating roster shuffles and deciding the complexion of the best French team time and time again and returning to championship glory. In Counter-Strike, star players can have a tremendous impact inside the server, but without the right teammates, they will not find success. In-game leaders can craft and determine the style a squad plays in, but without key players will find their efforts less effective than they could otherwise be. The man who controls the roster and holds the most influence is the true power. This is the story of NBK, the kingmaker of the French scene. NBK is France’s most decorated professional CSGO player and by a wide margin. With 22 trophies in his cabinet, two of them majors, and the vast majority from Tier One competitions, nobody else from his region comes close. Former teammates apEX and shox can boast only 15 and even Happy, who won both majors with NBK, is an entire 9 trophies separated from his once-trusted colleague. Considering France has not had a world number one team in over four years, NBK’s level of success must be put into the context of his peers to be understood. Dev1ce, star of the Astralis team that has won an enormous amount of trophies over the year, has only two more trophies than NBK. Olofmeister, the player at the top of the list and famed star of FNATIC’s 2015 lineup has only 3 additional trophies in his haul over the Frenchman. NBK ascended to the top of French Counter-Strike upon joining VeryGames in early 2010 at the age of 15, winning numerous trophies with the legendary organization. When CS:GO arrived he was still a mere 17 years old, and yet remained among the elite in the game both in terms of team success and individual performance. The kingmaker of the scene at this time was Kevin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans, his in-game leader. The IGL of the best French team, it was Ex6TenZ who could choose to kick a young, but not yet fully formed, kennyS, could bring back shox from exile to become the best player in the world again and took VeryGames to the world number one spot and the brink of winning the first major, having dethroned the NiP dynasty. That period lasted up until September of 2014 and the infamous “French shuffle”. The old kingmaker attempted his latest manipulation of the scene, wanting to bring over apEX and Maniac from rivals LDLC who had just placed top four at the ESL One Cologne major. The assumption had been that NBK and kennyS would stay and a new French dynasty could be assembled. Indeed, superstar kennyS would stay, turning down a potential move to another strong line-up being formed by shox, the man he had replaced. NBK on the other hand, had a different perspective and decision in mind. Unhappy with SmithZz being removed from the Titan line-up, at odds with Ex6TenZ’s rigid adherence to in-depth tactical play, and frustrated with the formerly great winner having failed to progress from the groups at two straight majors, NBK would make his exit. Choosing to join with shox, they brought SmithZz in, added kioShiMa and rounded out the team with former LDLC IGL Happy. NBK and shox took their turns trying to lead the squad, but soon they allowed Happy to take the reigns and their winning ways would soon begin. In this LDLC line-up, later to be transitioned over to EnVyUs, NBK would win France’s first major, many other titles and place top four in his first 14 offline events in a row. When the team began to lose their winning ways around the Summer of 2015, with rivals FNATIC making a push to make that period their era, nV experienced a mutiny. Shox wanted to take over as the in-game leader and change his role in the team, with his long-time friend SmithZz was understandably on his side. That left two votes to be cast. KioShiMa was the least experienced in the team and Happy unsurprisingly did not want to have his power taken. That left NBK with the deciding vote and the French kingmaker opted to keep Happy as the leader, eventually sparking the “Second French Shuffle”, as shox and SmithZz were kicked out and replaced by kennyS and apEX, stars of rivals Titan. The new-look EnVyUs proved a wise choice, as they made the finals of the next two majors, winning the second, and became the top-ranked team in the world again. The nV core had finished in the top four at four straight majors, something even the era-defining FNATIC could not boast, and three times played in the final. This second heyday of championship success would only last around four or five months, though. NV began a gradual decline and eschewed kioShiMa along the way. In 2016 they would fail to make the playoffs of both majors and try numerous experiments, from bringing in former Titan player Maniac as a coach to NBK taking over as the IGL for a period and eventually again centering the best French team around kennyS’ sniping. By 2017 arrived, nV were nowhere close to a favorite for the biggest competitions. In the meantime, shox had built up G2 to become the best French team. Winning ECS S1 Finals and making the final of EPL S3 and narrowly losing, his absurdly explosive partnership with ScreaM, another former teammate of NBK’s, had again given France a team capable of winning trophies. Even so, it lacked for depth in the line-up and so a third French shuffle arrived after the ELEAGUE major Atlanta in early 2017. Discussions had long been held among the top players around what a potential French super-team would look like and NBK’s influence allowed him to ferry apEX and kennyS over with him, leaving ScreaM again on the outside looking in. Many fans at this time protested that ScreaM was a significantly better player than NBK, failing to understand the influence NBK held at this time and his unique role as a Support player. G2’s “French super-team” period would yield only a few trophies and outside of those inspired runs, the team were notorious for failing to make the deep playoff runs expected of them and at one point hit a slump of many months without a playoff series victory. A top-eight finish at the ELEAGUE Major Boston pointed to issues within the squad, and again power dynamics rose to the surface. NBK wanted to be the in-game leader of the team and create a different line-up. Shox, though, wanted to bring back Ex6TenZ, the only player he would describe as “a true captain” in the French scene, going back to a tactical playing style. The G2 organization would choose to give NBK’s experiment a try at first, giving the appearance that NBK was still the king-maker in the scene, but in reality, shox had to undergo wrist surgery and proposed to bring SmithZz back to active play from retirement, so some time would understandably be needed for him to regain a solid level. When NBK’s side failed their initial few events, G2 pulled the trigger on shox’s scheme and NBK was benched, indefinitely. While G2 would not find much better success with this second experiment, NBK began to plot to build another top French side. Taking fellow benched G2 name apEX, he would bring in nV players RpK and Happy and then finish the line-up with rising French prodigy ZywOo. Later in 2018 becoming Vitality, they would initially be underwhelming, but with the removal of Happy, in favor of former LDLC player ALEX, and NBK giving up the leadership role, Vitality rose up to become the world number two ranked team by the summer. Team Liquid’s near record-breaking streak of 22 series in a row won came following Vitality’s defeat of them in the cs_summit S4 final. Otherwise, the North Americans would have managed 31 series in a row without defeat. France’s kingmaker had found another way to be in the best French team. Following a disappointing upset quarter-final defeat at the hands of AVANGAR at the Starladder Berlin Major, NBK was immediately kicked from the team, signaling the end of his time as the scene’s kingmaker, for now. Who has taken his place? Not enough time has passed to really see yet, but current Vitality IGL ALEX seems the most likely candidate. Indeed he steered Vitality to a championship at EPICENTER to end 2019 and bring Vitality up the rankings again. NBK’s influence came from his strong work ethic and ferocious drive to win, not shared by many of his team-mates to the same degree. He also proved an exceptionally versatile talent, going from one of the fraggers to a strong lurker to arguably the best Support player in the world and later a serviceable entry. His attempts at being the IGL were misguided and unsuccessful, but those were rare failures or missteps in an otherwise fabulous career. To look at his impact, consider the effect he had on the careers of the other great names in the French scene. None of them ever won as much without him, indeed rarely winning trophies when he was not playing with them. None of them was ever in a top-two ranked team in the world unless he was by their side. NBK was the only thread connecting all of the best French line-ups. Ex6TenZ never matched NBK’s accomplishments and is now a forgotten campfire story. Shox won a major with NBK but then NBK went on to win another without him. KioShiMa had some success in FaZe for a few months, only to be kicked and later consigned to irrelevance as Vitality rose to become the second-best team in the world. ScreaM was left out of two shuffles. Happy was the player NBK aligned himself with after the first and second French shuffles but has not even played at a professional level for over a year now. Only NBK endures. Look not to the king, for kings come and go, but rather to the man who makes the king, for there lies the true power. For now, NBK exists outside of the French scene, but this story has not necessarily reached its end just yet.

Thorin makes surprise appearance at StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major with classic banter StarLadderBritish esports journalist Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields and his classic sense of humor made an unexpected appearance at StarLadder’s CSGO Berlin Major 2019. When it comes to CSGO, there are few with more knowledge and analytical experience than Thorin, one of the most respected journalists in esports. However, he hadn’t been seen on the analysts’ desk at a Major tournament in quite some time, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see him make an appearance at the currently ongoing Berlin Major. For those who had been paying attention to Thorin’s social media, his appearance wasn’t really that much of a surprise, considering he had dropped some clues and hints beforehand. Read More: Top 20 highest earning CSGO pros – However, many who were watching the competition on August 28 got a slight shock seeing the legendary journalist slide his way onto the main broadcast. In his own classic style, Thorin kicked off his appearance with a very eventful entrance, jokingly forcing a substitution on the main broadcast desk so that he could step in. “Listen, we had to bring a little bit professionalism back to the stream,” he said, tongue in cheek. “You guys have been too loose, there’s too much banter flying around. And also, eastern Europeans love me, what can I say?” The banter did not end there, not that it was expected to, as Thorin went on to give some insight as to why he hasn’t been seen at any Majors recently. Not missing out on the chance to throw some jabs at the other analysts, he jokingly suggested his breaks are to give others a chance to shine in front of the camera, since they won’t be playing professionally again anyway. Read More: How dropping Aleksib affected ENCE – “What I like to do is, every couple of years, I take a few years off the Majors, let some other guys give it a go,” he explained. “Let Pimp have a go, he’s never going to be a player again. I let Sean Gares go again, same thing obviously. Now I’m back, so let’s do this.” All that said, Thorin being a part of the broadcast talent will be a huge boost for StarLadder and CSGO esports, since the veteran analyst always lights up the room with his comedic approach and knowledge-base that’s second-to-none. You can watch him and follow along with all of the action via our dedicated Berlin Major 2019 hub.

Thorin: Karrigan Owns His Former CSGO Teams Mousesports’ Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen is one of the greatest leaders in Counter-Strike history, and perhaps the best to have never won a major. The champion of 15 tournaments over a five year span, his identity is one of a unique aptitude for drafting surprises, developing star talents to their peak potential, and calling game-breaking tactics on-the-fly. Equally impressive, though, is his uncanny ability to defeat the great teams he was formerly the leader of. That includes the current Astralis line-up, considered the greatest of all-time, and FaZe Clan, containing some of the game’s most skilled players in history. In FaZe, he managed a four series streak of wins over both of Astralis’ differing major-winning line-ups, and in Mousesports he has posted three series wins in a row over former teams. Over the last three years he has won 75% of the series he has played against them in semi-finals and finals. Karrigan does not just compete against and read his former teams well, he has them in his back pocket. Let’s examine Karrigan’s unending revenge tour in which he has forced his former teams, at least for a moment or two, to second guess their decision to remove him. Departure from Denmark karrigan’s time in Astralis, spanning back to their time in the Dignitas organisation and then TSM, saw him help them win five notable titles and beat then G.O.A.T.s FNATIC in the vast majority of the series the two teams contested. 2016 saw the team hit a skid, though, and become erratic in their results until they finally plummeted from elite status. With the players losing faith in his leadership and more power being put in the hands of coach zonic, karrigan was released. Moving over to FaZe Clan, it is easy to underestimate his impact if you did not follow the scene back then. Now, FaZe Clan is home to some of the best players in the game and carries the expectations of making deep runs in tournaments and potentially even winning them, having won a number of titles every year for the last three. At that time, in late 2016, though, FaZe were a team who never made the play-offs of tournaments and were considered a graveyard of lower tier one talents. Read more: Stuchiu: The Outsider, An Oskar Story – karrigan had that very same talent core transformed into play-off contenders instantaneously and then, upon acquiring world number one level talent NiKo, began winning championships and battling for the number one spot in the team rankings. During this time period, Astralis had much success themselves. His replacement gla1ve steered the team to the top spot within months and had won a Major just over three months after joining. Even at their lowest point, the Astralis core were still considered an elite side and expected to reach semi-finals or beyond at the big tournaments. Facing the kjaerbye line-up of Astralis, karrigan’s FaZe Clan won three of the four series they played and 7 of the 12 maps contested in those series. At one point he dominated the match-up with four straight series wins. This rivalry began at ECS S2 finals, months after departing from Astralis. zonic’s lads were set to become the best team in the world, and beat FaZe 16:3 on dust2. Months later, at IEM Katowice 2017, the two teams met in the group stage on train and again gla1ve’s gang were the winners, taking the map 16:8. The two teams would rematch in the final, where Astralis won what would be their last big tournament with that line-up, coming close to establishing an era then. The Danes’ 3:1 victory in the final was a closely-fought affair across the maps Astralis won and since NiKo had joined around a week prior and not had time to practice, it inspired karrigan’s men to believe they could dethrone Astralis. They would, but not to take the top spot themselves. Read more: Team Liquid CS:GO’s So Close Era – At StarSeries S3, the very next event, they again met device and company in the final, but this time it was FaZe coming out on top, winning a three-map affair. IEM Sydney was the following event and again saw the teams facing off, this time in the semi-final. This battle contained a unique contest centered around the pick-ban phase, as in the group stage they played chicken with both teams’ perma-ban of Cobblestone, letting it pass to become the map played. Astralis won that map and thus were lured into picking it outright in the semi-final series, only to lose it and then an eventual decider in another three map series. Later in the year, karrigan had again powered up his line-up, bringing in monster names olofmeister and GuardiaN, former best players in the world. His first game against his former team would be in the group stage of ESL One New York, where his super-star-infused line-up rampaged over Astralis 16:8 on Inferno, going on to win the tournament without losing a single map. At the very next LAN karrigan would meet Astralis in another final, this time at the ELEAGUE Premier. After a thrilling comeback on nuke, karrigan’s boys easily took Overpass and swept the final. Soon they would be the best team in the world themselves. At the ESL ProLeague S6 finals, FaZe slaughtered Astralis 16:5 on mirage to make it five maps in a row won offline against his former team. Astralis would gain a little ground again in the rivalry at the ECS S4 finals at the end of the year, winning an unusual overpass game 16:13 thanks to a monster 32 kill performance from Norwegian stand-in RUBINO. Thus ended karrigan’s fight against the kjaerbye era line-up of Astralis. By the end, his FaZe Clan were the better team in terms of ranking and placings, again giving credence to the angle that perhaps Astralis had created a monster rival by dispensing with his services. Standing against the G.O.A.Ts Astralis with magisk are a phenomenon in Counter-Strike. Universally hailed as the greatest five man line-up to ever play the game and so rarely having lost series, especially in their god tier dominant year of 2018, you could be forgiven for imagining karrigan’s aptitude for revenge would finally have been finished, but if so then you’d be wrong. Against the G.O.A.T. Astralis line-up, karrigan has won three of the five series played with him as the in-game leader and seven of the 12 maps in those series. Fittingly, the two line-ups met for the first time at another IEM Katowice, this time in 2018. This semi-final affair came with FaZe the number one ranked team in the world and Astralis attending only their second tournament together and yet to win a title with that line-up. FaZe swept the semi-final 2:0 and without Astralis getting over 10 rounds each map. Read more: Stuchiu: Why Mouz keeps beating EG – At Dreamhack Masters Marseille, the squads faced each other in the quarter-final and this time it was Astralis winning convincingly, taking the series 2:0, winning the tournament eventually. Before dupreeh and his dudes could take the world number one ranking, though, they had to face karrigan at the very next event, IEM Sydney. The two teams met in the final but a key wrinkle was the absence of olofmeister, who had been forced to take time off competitive play for personal reasons. Former NiP leader Xizt was brought in as a stand-in. With Astralis having smashed everyone they’d faced in Marseille, many were ready to crown them the best team in the world already. karrigan had a miracle up his sleeve, though, and his FaZe Clan would astonishingly sweep Astralis 3:0 in the Bo5 final, but with all three maps being 16:14 or over-time affairs. To put that in context, when Astralis had completed the main body of their era, winning a second straight major at IEM Katowice 2019, they held the distinction of only having been swept three times in series play offline over around a year’s worth of time and two of those instances being against karrigan-led squads. In his final match-up as the leader of FaZe, karrigan fell in a two map sweep at the ECS S5 Finals, but with the opener being a 30 rounds heart-breaker on train. Later meetings while still in FaZe came with karrigan having been usurped as leader by star player NiKo. Moving to Mousesports Joining mousesports in March of 2019, when Astralis had won a third major in the core’s history, karrigan would not face his former Danish team-mates for some time, with his mouz team far less impressive a collection of names than his FaZe Clan team had been, more in line with the first iteration of FaZe he had inherited. As such, he would not meet Astralis until late last year. In the semi-finals of the ESL Pro League S10 Finals, mouz met an Astralis coming off two titles won in a row. Eeking out an epic three map victory, with mouz’s wins being an over-time game on train and then a 16:14 thriller on dust2, the old Danish master had again shown his talent for teaching his ex-team-mates a lesson. To put karrigan’s wins over the G.O.A.T. Astralis line-up in the context of his peers, Team Liquid leader nitr0 has played 14 series more than karrigan against Astralis and yet won only as single additional series. FalleN, two-time Major winner, has played two series more than karrigan, yet has two fewer series won against the Danes. The only IGL with more maps won in series play against the G.O.A.T. Astralis line-up is the aforementioned nitr0, with 13 to karrigan’s 7, but nitr0 has played an extra 28 maps against the best team in history. Revenge against FaZe Torturing Astralis and proving a thorn in their side was business for karrigan, as his teams were contending with them for the top spot in the game and thus understandably met them over and over. Beating up FaZe Clan after they kicked him was a personal point of pride for karrigan. NiKo had not only usurped him, but practically cut off his balls as a leader in doing so, allowing him to remain in the line-up for many months after. karrigan has beaten FaZe in all three series he has faced them in and not dropped a map in doing so. When karrigan moved to mouz and won the tier two-or-three LAN DreamHack Tours in May of 2019, he had some back-and-forth banter with his former super-star, having beaten NiKo’s cousin Hunter and claiming he was coming after the Bosnian next. The two teams would meet that summer at the ESL ProLeague S9 finals, with karrigan sweeping them 2:0. At ESL One Cologne, the very next event, they again won a 2:0 group stage affair, this time with an over-time game on inferno to add a little spice. FaZe won their lone map against karrigan in a group stage game on mirage 16:8, but neither team reached the play-offs of the event. During the pre-Finals group stage phase of ESL Pro League S10, karrigan met FaZe and again had his broom out to sweep them 2:0, this one seeing an over-time session on Train yet again go the way of the man with the business degree as opposed to the Bosnian with the big ego. To be feared Certainly, karrigan’s reputation for making his stars comfortable and getting the best of them must play a role in his strength for helping his teams overcome those very same players later. karrigan can boast that most of his star players reached their peak form, to that point in their careers, under him, whether that be device and dupreeh or NiKo and ropz more recently. To know a man’s strength is to understand how he wants to play you. This manifests as a potential advantage both in the server and in the psychological war of wills between the two parties. A core strength of karrigan’s for his entire career as a leader has been using a conditioning style and then calling out of it in a manner difficult to predict. The Dane sets opponents up with numerous rounds which have the same initial openings, building up patterns in their minds, and then after himself reading his enemies switches up from a similar opening to a new mid-round call with seemingly no warning. One could imagine how this would prove effective against a team like Astralis, notorious for their diligent preparation and countering opponents, and FaZe Clan and their individual tendencies and reliance on raw fragging power. Similarly, karrigan has repeatedly used his knowledge of his former players and teams to his advantage in the pick-ban phase. The king of pick-ban is notorious for developing wide map pools with all of his teams and ensuring his pick throws his opponents off, making deep preparation on a specific map ever a danger against a karrigan-led side. Against the kjaerbye era Astralis he was able to beat his fellow Danes on all seven of the maps in the pool. Facing the G.O.A.T. Astralis line-up, perhaps the squad with the strongest map pool in history, he was forced to be more specialised, taking it to them on maps they had rare weaknesses on like cache, overpass, train and dust2. In beating his boys from FaZe, karrigan has won on five of the maps in the pool, missing only Nuke and Dust2. His frequent picks of Train harken back to the struggles his FaZe Clan line-ups had on that map towards the end, playing into their weakness on the T side. That FaZe has picked different maps on all three occasions and lost all of them speaks to the degree to which karrigan’s corner office in their heads is still very much occupied. Most impressive of all of these feats has to be the early ones in FaZe and those now in mouz, as karrigan was each time forced to start over with lesser-valued names than the team he had just been kicked from. Truly, karrigan is an ex to be feared and respected.

Thorin explains how CSGO’s best can learn from Kobe’s Mamba Mentality ESL / Wikimedia CommonsCSGO caster Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields opened up about the late Kobe Bryant’s “Mamba Mentality,” and how esports pros from across the world need to adopt his teachings by principle to “pursue greatness…and build a legacy for yourself.” The death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant rocked the sports world on January 26, with the 41-year-old tragically passing away in a helicopter accident. While he’s gone, he’s left a lasting legacy on fans around the world thanks to his attitude, and his mentality of always striving to be the best. Now, Thorin is urging others to adopt the so-called “Mamba Mentality” and start building out a legacy for themselves in esports, and not rest on their laurels. Speaking during BLAST London on February 2, Thorin put current esports stars under the microscope, reiterating the words of the late NBA great. “In light of the sports world’s recent tragic loss of retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, I want to talk a little bit to the esports world, but especially you CS:GO pros, about the Mamba Mentality — the philosophy that he lived his whole life by. “I’m sick and tired of some of the talking points that come out of these pro players, like people saying ‘well I’ve won a major so what is there left for me to accomplish.’ Think it through — two majors, three majors, how about being the best you could be? “You could win five majors, you could set the record, go ahead and go for that — that’s what the Mamba Mentality is about. It’s about pursuing greatness, it’s about building a legacy for yourself, it’s about trying to be the best you can be, whatever level you’re on.” THE MESSAGE w/ @Thooorin #MambaMentality #KobeBryant pic.twitter.com/Nqa4zF0eiG — BLAST Premier 💥 (@BLASTPremier) February 2, 2020 The Mamba Mentality isn’t exclusive to just pros. It can apply to regular players who might compete on an amateur level across any esport, or even the rank grinders looking to hit a new personal best. It’s also a mentality players have to live by regardless of social status, or the size of their bank account. “Everyone’s got all this money nowadays — everyone’s swagged, everyone’s flashing the cash everywhere. People think that’s an excuse like ‘well I’m making my money anyway, I’m getting paid anyway,’ that’s no excuse to just be fawning in your performance. “The whole point of that money, as you can see by a guy that got paid $300 million who was still grinding to his very last day, is you’re supposed to be the guy out there — your worldly concerns are taken care of — how about you actually try develop your game, master your craft, leave a legacy? “One day that money will be spent and all that will remain is your legacy and what you actually did and how you lived your life.” Bryant, a player who won five NBA championships, was an 18-time NBA All-Star, as well as a three-time MVP, didn’t let his money, family, or previous successes jade his judgment. He always worked for those he loved, always looking to put the hard yards in for them and make himself a role model, and Thorin wants some of CS:GO’s old guard to do the same. “People want to say ‘yeah, but, I’ve got a girlfriend now, I’ve got a wife, I’ve got kids, it’s distracting me, I’ve gotta think about them?’” he said. Read more: Stuchiu: The philosophy of CS:GO map vetoes – “How about actually competing for them? How about competing to take what’s yours for yours so you can get that money, you can secure that career, and then they have something to look forward to in their lives.” The talk seemed to spur on FaZe Clan in their BLAST London performance, with the struggling team connecting the dots to put on a throwback performance to topple Team Liquid in the final of the event. Bryant’s legacy is something that impacted millions across the globe, and now it’s time for some of CS:GO’s best talent to pave their own way for the future.

Thorin cuts ties with ESL over “unethical and unprofessional” Pro League ESLDuncan ‘Thorin’ Shields has criticized tournament organizer ESL after it was announced late that they would be adopting a new format, affecting many players who were expected to compete in Season 11 of the ESL Pro League. Valve’s willingness to allow outside tournament organizers to host different leagues and tournaments throughout the year has often resulted in many pro teams getting a chance to compete for large prize pools. However, one of the leading CS:GO tournament organizers, ESL, have received a lot of criticism after it was initially reported by DBLTAP that they had planned to cut half of their teams, some of whom had been offered slots, from the upcoming Season of their Pro League. As seen in previous seasons, the ESL Pro League was initially expected to feature 48 of the world’s top teams in total, including those who had competed in the previous iteration of the league. Read More: Renegades defeat Cloud9 despite broken mic – Unfortunately for many of the former EPL teams, the late announcement of the changes and introduction of the global format meant that they would have to compete in the secondary Mountain Dew League for a season, in order to fight for their spot again. Among those critical of the massive change was long-time analyst of the esport, Thorin, who revealed that he would be cutting all ties with the tournament organizer after hearing the news. I’ll now write an email literally turning down over a thousand dollars of shoulder content creation I had agreed to do with them. I won’t work with unethical scumbags who treat people like valueless pawns in a sick game that aims only for power and money. — Thorin (@Thorin) January 25, 2020 “In light of the unethical and unprofessional behaviour of ESL over their EPL dealings I won’t be working with their org under any circumstances.” he expressed, calling for those responsible for the decision to be removed from the company. Thorin also shared that he had previously planned on working with ESL on an upcoming project but turned it down despite missing out on “over a thousand dollars” for the agreed work. I don’t care if I one day go back to working for 10,000 Euros a year. It won’t be with piece of shit liars like you. — Thorin (@Thorin) January 25, 2020 “I won’t work with unethical scumbags who treat people like valueless pawns in a sick game that aims only for power and money,” Thorin explained, before continuing to show his disappointment with the decisions made by ESL. Along with the unwelcome changes to the ESL Pro League, many were critical over the lack of communication from the tournament organizer on much of what had happened, leaving certain teams unsure of what their future within the league looked like. Although many teams have been invited to take part in the global ESL Pro League, they have not been confirmed for the league as of yet. Some top teams such as Astralis are still considering joining the likes of MiBR and Cloud9 for FACEIT’s new ‘B Site’ League. Thorin himself has announced that he will be working as on-air talent and creative director of B Site. He helped design the format for the league along with former Overwatch League caster MonteCristo, who will also be joined as on-camera talent by Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat, after both casters left the OWL.

Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – 12th July 2019 I’m pleased to present the first edition of my CS:GO World Rankings report for Dexerto, breaking down exactly where some of the best teams in the world currently stand. When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and explanation of the various positions. As such, I’ve resurrected my rankings and will, in due time, update for the missing time period of this year thus far. There will also be a video version which outlines more information and contrasts more directly. My rankings run over an exact three month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time.The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 12th April – 12th July 2019 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Apr 12 – Apr 13 BLAST Pro Series: Miami 2019 Apr 12 – Apr 14 Charleroi Esports 2019 Apr 19 – Apr 21 DreamHack Open Rio de Janeiro 2019 Apr 30 – May 05 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Sydney May 10 – May 11 BLAST Pro Series: Madrid 2019 Apr 12 – May 23 ESL Pro League Season 9 – Europe Apr 12 – May 23 ESL Pro League Season 9 – Americas May 23 – May 26 cs_summit 4 May 28 – Jun 02 DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 Jun 06 – Jun 09 Esports Championship Series Season 7 – Finals Jun 15 – Jun 16 Moche XL Esports 2019 Jun 15 – Jun 17 DreamHack Open Summer 2019 Jun 18 – Jun 23 ESL Pro League Season 9 – Finals Jul 02 – Jul 07 ESL One: Cologne 2019 B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [NEW] 9. G2 Esports [kennyS, shox, AmaNEk, JaCkz and Lucky] [NEW] Recent form: Charleroi Esports 2019 (3rd-4th) – Dreamhack Open Tours (3rd-4th) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (5th-6th) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: FNC (EPL), Na`Vi (EPL), NRG (DH Dallas), FaZe (EPL) Bo1: ENCE (DH Dallas), NRG (EPL), TL (EPL) Vitality winning tournaments was the spark which brought French CS back to life, but G2 have played their part, albeit a little more quietly. After a lacklustre initial run with their newest line-up, they managed some quality wins in Dallas and followed that up with an epic run to the final of ProLeague. For a team ranked this far down they have some solid series wins to boast about and have French fans cheering for more than just the next ZywOo 30 frag performance. kennyS making his welcome return to top tier play certainly has helped make this a relevant G2 team once more. 8. Natus Vincere [s1mple, electronic, flamie, Zeus and Boombl4] [NEW] Recent form: Blast Pro Series Miami (4th) [Edward] – Blast Pro Series Madrid (4th) [Edward] – ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: FURIA (ESL Cologne), mouz (ESL Cologne) Bo1: MiBR (Blast Miami), mouz (ESL Cologne), TL (ESL Cologne) In another testament to the folly of skipping tournaments, Na`Vi find themselves all the way down at eight, despite having won a big tournament around four months ago. Failing to qualify for EPL meant that Na`Vi’s poor form at Blast events put them in a deep hole coming into Cologne. Thankfully, having the best player in the world and new recruit Boombl4 showing some potential was enough to still drag Na`Vi to a top four placing they desperately needed. Their resume of wins is light, but has some decent names in there. The next few months are a lot of pressure on this Na`Vi squad, with real potential to drop out of the rankings entirely. 7. FaZe Clan [NiKo, GuardiaN, rain, olof and NEO] Recent form: Blast Pro Series Miami (1st) [AdreN] – IEM XIV Sydney (9th-12th) [YNk + AdreN] – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (3rd-4th) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL One Cologne (9th-12th) – Bo5: Bo3: TL (Blast Miami), NiP (EPL), NiP (DH Dallas), North (EPL) Bo1: Na`Vi (Blast Miami), Ast (Blast Miami), TL (DH Dallas) For the names in the FaZe Clan it must be difficult to swallow having so many tournaments without a realistic hope of winning, but FaZe still manages to tick over and get some solid results. Victory in Miami is still on the books, albeit at a Blast, and their top four in Dallas was with their newer line-up. After that, things have been dark for FaZe, managing only a lone top six run in France for EPL. FaZe look very troubled, rumours of coldzera coming over or not, even though their fire-power can still turn up and get them wins in Bo3 series over some solid teams. That big win over TL from Blast won’t be around for much longer, so expect FaZe to drop quickly in coming months. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favorites 6. NRG [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [NEW] Recent form: IEM XIV Sydney (3rd-4th) [daps] – cs_summit 4 (3rd-4th) [daps] – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (9th-12th) [daps] – ECS S7 Finals (3rd-4th) [daps] – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (3rd-4th) [daps] – ESL One Cologne (5th-6th) – Bo5: Bo3: FaZe (IEM Sydney), MiBR (IEM Sydney), Ast (EPL), FaZe (ESL Cologne) Bo1: RNG (EPL), FNC (IEM Sydney), RNG x2 (summit), ENCE (summit), TL (summit), NiP (ECS), FNC (EPL), FURIA (ESL Cologne) NRG might seem like a surprise sixth place ranking, since they haven’t made a single final and have as a result won nothing, but their level of consistency in making semi-finals at big events has been remarkable and helped them past teams with some better peaks but far less everyday quality. Even changing out IGL daps for stanislaw doesn’t tank NRG much, with four notable top fours to their name and three coming in big events. Even their Cologne run saw them halted only by top sides, losing to TL and Vitality. Gambling on stanislaw was to bring them titles, so the ground work is there but now we must see whether stan is the man to elevate them to champions or find them still stuck as just a good team. 5. FURIA [KSCERATO, yuurih, arT, VINI and ableJ] [NEW] Recent form: DreamHack Open Rio de Janeiro 2019 (2nd) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (3rd-4th) – ECS S7 Finals (2nd) – Moche XL Esports (3rd-4th) – ESL One Cologne (9th-12th) – Bo5: Bo3: FNC (DH Dallas), Vit (DH Dallas), Ast (ECS) Bo1: NRG (DH Dallas), ENCE (DH Dallas), Ast (ECS) As MiBR have been in free fall, it has been FURIA who have redeemed Brazil’s respect in this game. Coming completely out of nowhere, this fresh set of five has stormed through tournament brackets to earn deep finishes in Dallas and at the ECS S7 finals, where they even reached the final itself. Beating Astralis in three out of four maps, including a Bo3, and taking down the deadly Vitality squad in a series are results which have left many fans eager to see how far the FURIA five can go. Their Cologne run was underwhelming and will see many labelling them a fluke of the summer, but their resume is very nice all the same. 4. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [NEW] Recent form: Blast Pro Series Miami (5th) – Blast Pro Series Madrid (2nd) – ECS S7 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (5th-6th) – ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: NiP (ECS) Bo1: Na`Vi (Blast Miami), NiP (Blast Madrid), Na`Vi (Blast Madrid), NRG (EPL), TL (EPL), Vitality (ESL Cologne) The greatest team in CS:GO history found themselves humbled even before they returned to play at non-Blast tournaments, failing to win Miami or Madrid. Their summer run was much hyped, but floundered and saw them claim only a single top four finish. A look at Astralis’ resume shows how weak their run has been over recent months, with their only ranked series win coming over NiP. In Cologne their placing was nice, but they had as easy a run as one could hope for at a stacked event like that. As of right now, Astralis are not an elite team and are a long way from the top of the rankings. Imagine saying that would be the case a few months ago. S Class – Elite Teams 3. ENCE [segej, allu, Aerial, AleksiB and xseveN] [NEW] Recent form: Blast Pro Series Madrid (1st) – cs_summit 4 (3rd-4th) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (2nd) – Telia Esports Series S1 (1st) – ESL One Cologne (13th-16th) – Bo5: Bo3: Ast (Blast Madrid), FaZe (DH Dallas) Bo1: Na`Vi (Blast Madrid), Ast (Blast Madrid), RNG (summit), TL (summit), NRG (summit), Vit (summit), TL (DH Dallas) ENCE cracked the top rankings a while ago, with their Blast win over Astralis and their general consistency of reaching deep finishes in big tournaments, as shown by their finals appearance in Dallas. Alas, ENCE have the placings but not the kind of resume of ranked series wins to really contest Vitality for the second spot. Finland’s finest suffered from being unable to appear at ECS or EPL, due to being such a new organisation. Failure in Cologne seems less worrying when one considers they played the powerful Vitality in the first round of the lower bracket. 2. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, NBK and RpK] [NEW] Recent form: Charleroi Esports 2019 (1st) – cs_summit 4 (1st) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (5th-6th) – ECS S7 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: ENCE (summit), TL (summit), NiP (DH Dallas), NRG (ECS), ENCE (ESL Cologne), NRG (ESL Cologne), Ast (ESL Cologne) Bo1: NRG x2 (summit), TL x2 (summit), ENCE (summit), Renegades (summit) Earlier in the year, Vitality was just a prison for the absurdly talented rookie ZywOo. Now, they stand as one of the very best teams in the world and have a resume few can match. As well as winning two titles at events featuring teams like TL and Astralis, Vitality finished second in Cologne. Their seven ranked Bo3 series wins, including wins over all of the big names, show both how consistent and elite their play has been. If you have an argument as to why ENCE should be ranked ahead of them then let’s hear it, because I can summon none. 1. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [NEW] Recent form: Blast Pro Series Miami (2nd) – IEM XIV Sydney (1st) – cs_summit 4 (2nd) – Dreamhack Masters Dallas (1st) – ESL ProLeague S9 Finals (1st) – ESL One Cologne (1st) – Bo5: FNC (IEM Sydney), Vit (ESL Cologne) Bo3: NiP (IEM Sydney), MiBR (IEM Sydney), NRG (summit), FaZe (DH Dallas), ENCE (DH Dallas), MiBR (EPL), Ast (EPL), Na`Vi (ESL Cologne), NRG (ESL Cologne), Na`Vi (ESL Cologne) Bo1: FaZe (Blast Miami), Na`Vi (Blast Miami), Ast (Blast Miami), MiBR (Blast Miami), ENCE (summit), RNG x2 (summit), NRG (summit) Team Liquid enter the first edition of my rankings for 2019 firmly in first place and with nobody in their rear view mirror right now. I will calculate the rankings for the rest of the year prior to now and publish them, for history’s sake, but it’s unthinkable to see a North American team so firmly positioned at the top of the scene. TL have four titles to their name – hence the Grand Slam million going their way – and reached two other finals. Their resume of ranked wins is exceptional, not quite on the level of Astralis’ peak form last year but within the context of the more depleted tournament attendance of this Spring there are a lot of big results listed there. Whether you think this is the Team Liquid era or not, there’s no denying they are the very best team in CS:GO. A video feature will be coming in a few days which summarizes this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – 10th October 2019 It’s my pleasure to present the fourth edition of my CS:GO World Rankings report for Dexerto, breaking down exactly where some of the best teams in the world currently stand. When I originally launched my CS:GO World Rankings concept in 2014 there were no other attempts at a global ranking, regularly updated, of the world’s top teams. Other rankings have since risen up and over time been tweaked to provide an accurate and reliable charting of the rise and fall of the many teams in the scene. What is lacking is an expert’s eye, to adjust for factors point-based systems cannot address, and explanation of the various positions. My rankings run over an exact three month span, extending back three months prior to the date they are published, and encapsulating all offline results within that time span. This allows for a sense of how good a team is to be established after they have had time to accomplish multiple placings, but without unduly letting teams who were fantastic many months ago hang on to top rankings when the game and time has moved on. As well as placings, the value of which is determined by the prestige of the tournament and the quality of the opposition in attendance, the opponents a team beats counts to their ranking. Teams who defeat Top 10 opponents, with the higher ranked teams more valuable scalps to claim, help determine their overall ranking and break ties with other teams who have similar kinds of placings. Likewise, victories in Best-of-3 (Bo3) series are of more value than Bo1 results and a single map won in a series over teams of a similar level. Unlike past editions of my rankings, I will also list the victories teams have had over ranked opponents. When a team changes players then past results are counted at a proportionally lower value, based on how many remaining players were present at that time. The key approach which changes the nature of these rankings is the addition of a tier-based system as well, taking cues from the “class” vernacular of the StarCraft: Brood War community of the 2000s and recent rankings by Esports Kingdom. S class are the elite teams, who can be expected to win tournaments. A class are the teams below them, good and capable of competing with them but not expected to be the favourite at tournaments featuring all the teams. B class are the teams below both of the previous tiers, solid sides and capable of being ranked but not top teams. The importance of this change is that it prevents situations where the scene, perhaps due to roster moves or a lull in form, has few elite sides and so a team finds themselves ranked fifth who likely will never win a big tournament. In other eras, perhaps even the fourth and fifth ranked teams are championship material. The class system will signify as much. 8th July – 10th October 2019 Tournaments impacting the ranking (due to teams ranked attending) Jul 13 – Jul 14 BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019 – Jul 13 – Jul 14 Good Game League 2019 – Jul 13 – Jul 14 ESEA Season 31: Global Challenge – Jul 17 – Jul 21 Europe Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 – Jul 17 – Jul 21 Americas Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 – Jul 18 – Jul 21 Intel Extreme Masters XIV – Chicago – Jul 24 – Jul 28 CIS Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 – Jul 24 – Jul 28 Asia Minor Championship – Berlin 2019 – Aug 23 – Sep 08 StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 – Sep 09 – Sep 09 Arctic Invitational 2019 – Sep 13 – Sep 14 BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019 – Sep 18 – Sep 22 V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2019 – Sep 20 – Sep 22 Games Clash Masters 2019 – Sep 26 – Sep 29 ESL One: New York 2019 – Oct 01 – Oct 06 DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 – B Class – Ranked but not top teams 10. Renegades [jks, jkaem, Gratisfaction, Liazz and AZR] [-] Recent form: Blast LA (6th) – IEM XIV Chicago (7th-8th) – StarLadder Berlin Major (3rd-4th) – Bo3: FaZe (Starladder Berlin), G2 (Starladder Berlin), ENCE (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: Renegades have done nothing since the last edition of the rankings, but their top four at the major and three ranked series wins there keep them holding onto a ranking spot and in position to do something meaningful in the coming months. If the major was a fluke, or just poor play on the part of ENCE, then we can forget the story of the team from down under, but the circumstances of the summer, with visa issues plaguing their practice level, are no longer a concern, then they are a team I would see becoming a consistently ranked side. 9. mousesports [karrigan, ropz, chrisJ, frozen and w0xic] [-] Recent form: Europe Minor Championship – Berlin (1st) – StarLadder Berlin Major (9th-12th) – V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest (3rd-4th) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (5th-6th) – Bo5: Bo3: G2 (Starladder Berlin), EG (DH Malmo) Bo1: North (Starladder Berlin), Vit (DH Malmo) mouz are a time brimming with potential, both individually and in terms of how close they have played top ranked teams in the last few months, but their full breakthrough still hasn’t come. Beating EG in a Bo3 on LAN was a big scalp to take, with the NA side having just won ESL One New York days before, but mouz couldn’t convert that into a top four run of their own. For a team ranked this low, they have a nice enough set of placings and a better set of ranked wins than you would expect, but they still need more big placings if they want to climb these rankings. 8. Natus Vincere [s1mple, electronic, flamie, GuardiaN and Boombl4] [-2] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) [Zeus] – BLAST Pro Series: Moscow (6th) [Zeus] – DreamHack Masters Malmö (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: Bo1: Vit (DH Malmo) Na’Vi looks to have handled the transition from one IGL to another with much more grace than ENCE, but find themselves ranked below the Finns. The Russian majority Na’Vi squad passes the eye test and looks dangerous but their top four in Malmo wasn’t quite strong enough to keep them high in the rankings and they lost their series wins from Cologne. Sadly, for Na’Vi, they weren’t able to beat any teams in ranked play in Sweden, so their placing is a little hollow or naked. A time primed for a strong run in the coming months, but not there yet. Na’Vi are a team, in contrast to AVANGAR, who look like they are destined to be A Class at a minimum, but don’t have the ranking to earn that status right now. 7. ENCE [segej, allu, suNny, Aerial and xseveN] [-2] Recent form: IEM XIV Chicago (2nd) [Aleksib] – StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) [Aleksib] – BLAST Pro Series: Moscow (5th) – ESL One: New York (5th-6th) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (9th-12th) Bo5: Bo3: MiBR (IEM Chicago), Vitality (StarLadder Berlin) Bo1: Vit (DH Malmo) ENCE finished second to last at the weak BLAST Moscow event, failed to make top four at ESL NY despite having facing G2 using a stand-in twice and then went out of Malmo before even the top eight. Clearly, the transition phase from Aleksib to suNny has been very rough on the team, but they have can thank Aleksi one last time, because the runners-up finish and major top eight he helped them get previously are what keep them hanging on in the rankings and losing only two spot, for now. ENCE’s resume looks pretty weak, which is telling, and only a single map win vs. Vitality has been added post-Aleskib. Look for ENCE to lose their ranking entirely if they can’t score a big placing in the coming months. A Class – Top teams, but not championship favourites 6. FNATIC [KRiMZ, brollan, JW, flusha and Golden] [NEW] Recent form: Europe Minor Championship – Berlin (4th) [Xizt + twist] – DreamHack Masters Malmö (1st) – Bo5: Bo3: Ast (DH Malmo), Vit (DH Malmo) Bo1: It might seem ridiculous that FNATIC’s single tournament performance with their new line-up of winning Dreamhack Masters Malmo can launch then to nearly a top five spot immediately, but that’s more a function of all of the roster moves turning the top 10 into a mess than FNATIC’s performance overall. Winning an event with that many good teams in attendance is big time, but FNATIC’s only ranked wins were the semi and final, which is telling of how much of a train-wreck the brackets became with some of the early eliminations. Nonetheless, FNATIC prevailed on home soil in incredible fashion and took the crown. As such, welcome them back to the rankings and a pretty narrow ranking position, but one that becomes much stronger if they can add any big placings in the coming months. To think FNATIC would be anywhere close to top five this quickly is amazing in itself. The eye test still looks wacky, due to how crazy some of the plays that got them their title were, but they did beat Astralis in series play, so they deserve to be A Class for now. 5. AVANGAR [Jame, qikert, buster, SANJI and AdreN] [+3] Recent form: EMF CS:GO World Invitational (2nd) – StarLadder Berlin Major (2nd) – BLAST Pro Series: Moscow (1st) – Bo5: Bo3: G2 (Starladder Berlin), Vit (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: TL (Starladder Berlin), Na’Vi (Blast Moscow), ENCE (Blast Moscow) When I had to rank AVANGAR last edition, by virtue of their epic major run, it was without the expectation of them staying in the rankings long, since I don’t think they are anywhere close to a top 6-7 team in the game. What I perhaps had forgotten is not just that their ranking will last a few more months, but also that as teams who were strong from the summer lost their placings it would make AVANGAR’s run even more valuable. Then they went and won Blast Moscow. Certainly, it was not a stacked event or one with much competition for the title, but AVANGAR won it and added a small to medium sized title to their resume. As such, by the magic of the rankings, they find themselves ranked fifth. Somewhat reminiscient of FURIA, in as much as so many will expect them to fall quickly, but very respectable in the context of their careers nonetheless. I don’t actually think they are an A Class team, so they are a rare case of someone whose resume boosts them past their overall level. AVANGAR does lack big ranked wins, outside of the major, and that is where one should look in the coming months to see if they have any chance of retaining a ranking. 4. Vitality [ZywOo, ALEX, apEX, shox and RpK] [-] Recent form: ESEA Season 31: Global Challenge (3rd-4th) [NBK] – IEM XIV Chicago (3rd-4th) [NBK] – StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) [NBK] – DreamHack Masters Malmö (2nd) – Bo5: Bo3: mouz (Starladder Berlin), ENCE (DH Malmo), mouz (DH Malmo), Na’Vi (DH Malmo) Bo1: North (Starladder Berlin), FaZe (Starladder Berlin) The new look Vitality, with shox on board, impressed with their runners-up finish in Malmo, even hinting at winning the final itself. Their previous results are obviously reduced, due to the player change, but their placings and resume of ranked wins are still solid enough to hold them for now at fourth. I did, however, remove S Class status from the team, as this squad needs to prove that against the best teams. Vitality picked up a bunch of ranked wins, but they were unconvincing against Astralis and losing to the new FNATIC is rough when you want eye test credit. Right now, there are only three clearly elite teams in Counter-Strike. S Class – Elite Teams 3. Evil Geniuses [CeRq, Brehze, ethan, tarik and stanislaw] [-] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (3rd-4th) – Americas Minor Championship – Berlin (1st) – StarLadder Berlin Major (3rd-4th) – ESL One: New York (1st) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (15th-16th) – Bo5: Ast (ESL NY) Bo3: FURIA (Minor), Ast (Starladder Berlin), FaZe (ESL NY), Ast (ESL NY) Bo1: MiBR (Blast LA), TL (Starladder Berlin) Evil Geniuses, as NRG are now known, retain the same spot despite winning a notable event title and beating Astralis twice to do so, even one time in a Bo5 final. That shows you how much their appalling last place finish in Malmo, jetlag acknowledged, hurt this squad. Even a play-off run there or a few more ranked wins would likely have boosted them to second or possibly even first in these rankings. Perhaps it is more fitting that they must prove it again, though. Beating Astralis is incredible, especially with the consistency they’ve managed to do it with, but there’s more to being the best team in the world. EG have a solid resume of placings and wins, especially some of the names on their list of wins, but their run for the top spot is still very much underway and not a done deal. 2. Team Liquid [EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, nitr0 and Stewie] [-1] Recent form: BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles (1st) – IEM XIV Chicago (1st) – StarLadder Berlin Major (5th-8th) – ESL One: New York (3rd-4th) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (9th-12th) – Bo5: ENCE (IEM Chicago) Bo3: FaZe (Blast LA), G2 (IEM Chicago), Vit (IEM Chicago), North (Starladder Berlin), mouz (Starladder Berlin) Bo1: NRG (Blast LA), MiBR (Blast LA), FaZe (Blast LA), Ast (ESL NY) In past rankings, I’ve pointed out how unlikely it is for Team Liquid to be knocked off the top spot, but that’s also because it seemed so implausible to imagine a result like Team Liquid going out of Dreamhack prior to even the play-offs. This Team Liquid squad were in every final minus the majors until ESL New York came alone. Even then, they could only be eliminated in the semi-final. Had I composed this edition of the rankings at the beginning of this week it would have technically counted the ESL One Cologne final, which would have kept Liquid holding on narrowly to the top spot, since it’s such a prestigious event and Liquid had such an insane resume of wins still. I think that would have been a very tenuous ranking, though, and so it made more sense to let them fall off and then recalculate. Liquid adding a top four at New York is still nice, not least since they won a map off Astralis, but the rest of their play didn’t have them scoring wins and their Dreamhack run was a complete bust not worth talking about. Liquid still have scary pieces, but they must return to their winning ways if they want to take the top spot again. 1. Astralis [device, dupreeh, Magisk, Xyp9x and gla1ve] [+1] Recent form: StarLadder Berlin Major (1st) – ESL One: New York (2nd) – DreamHack Masters Malmö (3rd-4th) – Bo5: Bo3: TL (Starladder Berlin and ESL NY), NRG (Starladder Berlin), Vit (DH Malmo) Bo1: G2 (Starladder Berlin), EG (ESL NY) Astralis followed up their major victory with another series win over Team Liquid, but could not win ESL New York and were forced to settle for second place there. At Dreamhack they were the only one of the teams vying for the New York title who still came in strong, but even the Danes fell earlier than expected and could manage only a top four finish. This was one of the closest ever races for the top spot on my ranking, especially outside of really poor periods without clear strong teams. There were arguments by which all three of Astralis, Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses could have been at the top, but Astralis win out by virtue of their best win being at the major and ultimately the major does have to carry more weight than any other title. In this case, Astralis have a worse resume of ranked wins than the two main rivals for their spot, but a major title overcomes that, just. On the one hand, a welcome return of CS:GO’s greatest ever team to the number one spot, but also a very precarious return. Much to be proven over the next few months, but who would have it any other way? Most interesting to watch out for me will be the Astralis vs. Evil Geniuses match-ups, with EG having beaten them so many times recently. A video featuring will becoming in a few days which summarises this top 10 and explains the placings in more detail and with more direct contrasts of teams competing for spots.

This “Japanese Princess” skin for the P250 in CS:GO looks flawless dC^A new skin for the P250 in CS:GO was posted in the Steam Workshop on August 15 and it looks absolutely dynamite judging by the comments it’s received. The skin, designed by dC^, colors the gun black with white and some red thrown in on the muzzle and sights. But the centerpiece of the skin, titled “HIME”, which means Princess is Japanese, is the female beautifully crafted with her neck emerging from the grip. It really is a work of art. Additionally, a bright filled red circle, perhaps emulating the Japanese flag, serves as some flush on the Princess’s cheek. Comments on the skin are very positive. “Ge-ni-us,” wrote ɌɅM V. “So pretty, just like the maker of the skin,” MultiH said. Because the weapon skin isn’t found in an official crate, you won’t be able to trade it in, not that you’d want to because it looks so cool. In order for a skin to go live it needs to be approved by Valve moderators after recent changes to the Steam Workshop were introduced earlier in August. Read More: When will s1mple be unbanned on Twitch? – According to PC Gamer, there is now a two-step moderation process. Firstly, new items will need to be verified through email to ensure they’re genuine. An email will arrive in the submitters associated inbox only 30 minutes after the item is submitted. Secondly, the submission will enter a moderation queue and await approval from Valve. There is no word yet on a priority queue for recognized workshop contributors. But if there was, someone as talented as dC^ could probably end up on that list if he/she keeps producing quality skins. It is possible that the skin eventually makes its way into the game. Back in June, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Counter-Strike, Valve invited workshop contributors to “create content for a themed Weapon Case and Sticker Capsule” with all items submitted eligible for future releases.

These amazing CSGO knife designs would make for some interesting skins ValveA collection of wild skin designs for Counter Strike: Global Offensive ranging from futuristic to downright hilarious are making some players wish they could be incorporated into the game. An artist known as ‘sparkwire’ showed off a couple of their newest creations for skin designs to Valve’s popular title. CSGO community members might remember this artist from past work that included the fan-favorite Plastic Knife skin of 2015. But showing off their entire knife collection so far, sparkwire put a spotlight on the Polymer Knife and the more CSGO-appropriate Kukri concept – both of which go to impressive lengths to show off their designs. “I make these knives on the side as a break from skins, and finally built up enough to show off together. I modeled, textured, and animated all of them,” Sparkwire said. The artist has over 400 Workshop items they created, many of which are skins for various CSGO weapons. The Polymer would be a huge leap for the current aesthetics of the game, since it takes away from the grounded approach of CSGO for a more futuristic style. The item has a blue color scheme and comes with its own sheath. While it looks like it would be out of place in the CSGO landscape, the in-game model for the Polymer Knife fits surprisingly well with the rest of the map. Though the Polymer looks like something Genji from Overwatch would take into a match, sparkwire’s other knife called the Kukri looks like a menacing weapon that the T’s would love to have. Shown with its curved design, the Kukri would be one of the larger knives if it was implemented in CSGO. It’s even more imposing than the popular M9 Bayonet or Huntsman knives that are already in the game. The same could be said about the artist’s Recon Knife, which is another design that would make a seamless transition to the game as it is. These designs have become a hit with CSGO players and each could be a fun addition to the main game, if Valve decides to experiment with implementing community created knives in their shooter.

There are McDonald’s ads in Denmark celebrating Counter-Strike: Global Offensive It seems than McDonald’s has decided to embrace the success of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in Denmark, with a new advertising campaign outside one of the nation’s biggest arenas. Originally posted on Reddit by a user named ‘kakipls’, the advertisements have been erected at Field’s Centre, which is the closest Subway station to the Royal Arena, which will host the CS:GO BLAST Pro Series starting on Friday, November 2. There are two sets of these boards outside the arena, with one referring to someone stealing a fry as a “frag steal”, a Happy Meal as an item for a “noob” and a McDonald’s cup without a straw as a “no scope.” The other set of advertising boards class the restaurant’s popular chicken nuggets as utility items, while the legendary quarter pounder cheeseburger is considered to be something purchased on an “eco round”, a term used when players on CS:GO don’t have much money to use to buy weapons and equipment. McDonald’s believe the Mac Junior meal to be a “full buy”, another Counter-Strike phrase which describes a round where players have so much money, they can buy every item they would like. The board finishes with “GL HF”, which simply means “Good luck, have fun.” These advertisements by the fast food chain are the latest example of Denmark getting behind the massively popular esport, with interest growing in the sport thanks to Astralis, who have dominated over the past year. The President of Denmark has even got involved in the hype, tweeting out his congratulations to the squad after their victory at the FACEIT London Major. The Danes will get to see their team in action, as they are scheduled to compete on home territory during the BLAST Pro Series.

‘The team Sweden can cheer on’: JW and flusha revive iconic EYEBALLERS org EYEBALLERSFormer fnatic duo Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist have brought back EYEBALLERS, one of the most iconic names of the old days in Swedish esports. JW and flusha have a vision for Swedish Counter-Strike. And rather than wait for the phone to ring, they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. The Swedish pair, who won a series of international titles during their time together on Fnatic, including three Majors, have joined forces to revive EYEBALLERS, an old-school name in Swedish esports. The EYEBALLERS Are Back.https://t.co/1iETgyVx9a#EYEBALLERS pic.twitter.com/VMG17aB2Lq — EYEBALLERS (@EYEBALLERS) June 9, 2022 JW and flusha have acquired the branding rights from the previous owners and are now majority owners in the company, with the former taking up the role of CEO. Based in Avesta, Sweden, EYEBALLERS have already secured three partners: gaming headset manufacturer JBL Quantum, plant-based food company Peas of Heaven, and CS:GO skins site Bitskins. EYEBALLERS will initially focus on CS:GO, with Anton ‘Sapec’ Palmgren, Casper ‘SHiNE’ Wennerberg and Leo ‘Svedjehed’ Svedjehed joining JW and flusha. The team has been competing for several months under the name ‘Hellslayers’, reaching the 62nd place in HLTV.org’s world rankings in late March. “Inspired by the legacy of EYEBALLERS and the great memories that flusha and I have, we realised that acquiring an old brand would be the best case,” JW told Dexerto, pointing to Astralis’ return in 2016 after acquiring the rights from the original founders of the Finnish Counter-Strike team, and NIP’s multiple rebrandings over the years. “We think EYEBALLERS is the real deal. We believe in EYE in the long run and we are extremely excited to build an organization to really foster new stars and talents.” Who were EYEBALLERS? Founded in 1998, EYEBALLERS was a Swedish organization that competed in a number of first-person shooter titles, including Counter-Strike, Quake and Battlefield. EYEBALLERS featured some of the best talents Swedish Counter-Strike had to offer in the early 2000s, including Tommy ‘Potti’ Ingemarsson, Daniel ‘Hyper’ Kuusisto, and Harley ‘dsn’ Örwall. The team notably won CPL Summer 2004 after beating Swedish rivals SK Gaming in the grand final. In 2008, the organization closed its doors due to a lack of good results and the players wanting to leave for greener pastures. “EYEBALLERS was not only a successful Quake Clan but also a very famous CS team,” JW said. “It was also the traditional second team that rivalled the established teams (like NiP/SK) back then in Sweden and competed internationally. “This is a tone that we really like with the new EYEBALLERS. We are here to challenge, not to just stay around.” Challenging the status quo Time will tell whether EYEBALLERS will manage to live up to the legacy of the old team, but the project provides a much-needed boost to the Swedish CS:GO scene, where there has been a shortage of talent in recent years. Once one of the world’s top talent factories in Counter-Strike, Sweden has long been overtaken by Denmark. For the first time in history, it was not represented by a single player in HLTV.org’s most recent Top 20 Players of the Year list. Besides NIP, only Finest (29th) fly Sweden’s flag in HLTV.org’s top 30 world ranking at the moment. JW wants to change that paradigm and return Sweden to its former glory in the game “Sweden needs one squad to cheer on; EYEBALLERS will be that team,” he said. “Flusha and I will do our utmost for us to be that team, and with our players we believe we will revive the Swedish scene. “A project like EYE has been missing in Swedish CS for the past years, which is the biggest reason for talents not making a leap to the next level. There is plenty of talent out there in Sweden, we just have not been taking care of them in a good way. Until now.” EYEBALLERS CS:GO roster Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell – Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist – Anton ‘Sapec’ Palmgren – Casper ‘SHiNE’ Wennerberg – Leo ‘Svedjehed’ Svedjehed –

The story of the StarLadder Berlin Major: Astralis’ CSGO Hat-Trick StarLadderCounter-Strike: Global Offensive kings Astralis completed an unprecedented back-to-back-to-back Major success at the StarLadder Berlin Major. This is the story of how they managed to do it. When it comes to CSGO, top names stand out above the rest when entering tournament play. You’ve got FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, MIBR, and G2 to just name a few. Yet, one stands above the rest – Astralis. The Danish Counter-Strike kings may have lost their spot on the throne of the game’s world rankings when they started picking and choosing which events to attend, but they’ve still been a force to be reckoned with. Entering the StarLadder Berlin Major, many fans and pundits had already crowned Team Liquid as North America’s second Major winning team, but that wasn’t to be the case. Dexerto’s latest esports documentary tracks the StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major from start to end – including the heartbreaking exits of on the rise squads in CR4ZY and Mousesports and Renegade’s shock semi-finals appearance – before culminating in Astralis’ ascent back to the top. There are also exclusive interviews with eventual champions in Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen and Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander who detail Astralis’ rise back to the top, as well as how they felt winning another Major. On the other side of things, AVANGAR’s Alexey ‘qikert’ Golubev also gives his perspective on how the CIS-based squad shocked everybody to take on Astralis in the Grand Finals – even though they eventually fell to a 2-0 defeat. Aside from hearing from players involved, esports historian Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields gives his unrivaled insight on proceedings with a number of interviews about the action. Hosts James ‘BanKs’ Banks and Frankie Ward also giving their say-so on the intense CSGO Major action amid interviewing players. So, if you missed anything from the StarLadder Major, you can jump right in and get a complete rundown of everything that unfolded. We guarantee that you won’t want to miss it this time around, either.

The story of BOROS’ fast rise and the road to the BLAST Paris CSGO Major Michal Konkol/BLASTMohammad ‘BOROS’ Malhas has risen from complete obscurity to become one of the Major rookies in Paris, all within two years. He spoke to Dexerto about his journey so far and what the future might have in store. Until a few months ago, you could be forgiven for not having heard of BOROS. But as the BLAST Paris Major nears, this 19-year-old player from Jordan has emerged as one of the most impressive rising talents in the CS:GO scene. “I always knew that one day I would be playing at events like this,” he tells Dexerto as he prepares for the Major with Monte Esports. As recently as June 2021, BOROS was still trying to find his way in the CS:GO scene, with only a handful of appearances in international tournaments, mostly with Middle Eastern teams. His name then began to take on a higher profile thanks to a string of impressive performances in the FACEIT matchmaking platform, earning him an invite to the FPL Challenger hub. His journey in FPL-C was nothing but a quick stop. He was so dominant that he qualified for FPL, the top division in FACEIT’s ladder, featuring the best CS:GO players in the world, after just one month. Within a few days, he was offered his first professional contract by Endpoint, a British organization that has earned a reputation for developing young players. “It was obvious to me even before BOROS joined us that he was insanely talented,” Max ‘MiGHTYMAX’ Heath, BOROS’ in-game leader on Endpoint, says. BOROS spent the next 16 months learning his trade and getting accustomed to a higher level of competition in Europe’s gruelling tier-two environment, first with Endpoint and then with Monte, whom he joined halfway through 2022. He ended that year with an impressive 1.15 HLTV rating and 1.30 Impact but with plenty of question marks still hanging over his head because of his sub-par LAN showing at the European RMR leading to PGL Major Antwerp. “My goals for 2023 were to reach the Major, play well on LAN and prove everyone who thought I was an onliner wrong,” he says. “I only played one LAN event with Endpoint and we didn’t perform well as a team. I didn’t get the chance to prove myself.” Three months of strenuous work at the start of 2023 following the addition of Viktor ‘sdy’ Orudzhev, with a staggering 139 official maps accounted for during that period and three online titles in quick succession, culminated in Monte qualifying for the Major. The team, ranked 32nd in the world ahead of the RMR in Copenhagen, punched above its weight as it beat ENCE, Cloud9 and FORZE — all top-15 sides — to secure a spot in Paris. The tournament also served as an important test for BOROS. He averaged a team-high 1.31 HLTV rating and 1.54 impact in the RMR, putting himself on the map as a viable impact player on LAN and shaking off the ‘onliner’ tag. “To be honest, I always knew that it doesn’t matter whether it’s online or LAN,” he says. “I don’t feel nervous on LAN. I wanted to prove that and I did.” Major hopes and career goals BOROS is proud of being the sole Arab player at the Major, and he wants to go far in the tournament to properly represent the region. Moreover, he is only the second Jordanian in the history of CS:GO Majors, following in the footsteps of former HellRaisers and OG star Issa ‘ISSAA’ Murad, who switched to Valorant in 2022. “I started following ISSAA when he was on HellRaisers and I always wanted to be like him,” he says. “I’d tell my family that I wanted to be like this guy one day.” With the Major merely days away, the anticipation is rising. Just like every other Major rookie, BOROS is ecstatic about finally having his own autograph in the game. “I am so excited, he admits. “It means so much to me to have a sticker in the game.” Despite being the top seed heading into Challengers Stage, Monte have been handed a tough tie against none other than FaZe, who scrapped through the RMR via the last-chance qualifier. Most players in his situation would be cursing their luck, but BOROS is welcoming the challenge. “I am very excited to play this team, especially because they are really good,” he says. “I am not scared to face them. I want to prove that we can beat even one of the best teams in CS.” Monte’s team has been bootcamping to prepare for the event ahead, getting more reps in scrims while remaining active in online competitions, which they also use as a valuable source of practice. One of the key ingredients for their steep ascent this year has been the insane number of maps they have played, more than any other team in Paris. ”There’s no other way to go up from tier three,” lmbt recently said. Only yesterday, the team added yet another online title to their collection, increasing their tournament winnings since the start of the year to $113,000, the tenth-highest in the scene. It will be interesting to see how BOROS’ aggressive style will hold up against a team like FaZe and whether he will be able to find ways to remain impactful in games if opponents draw up plans to shut him down. MiGHTYMAX believes that his former teammate has hit a new level after learning the ropes of top-tier Counter-Strike: “With Monte, you can see that he has re-built the mindset that he is better than anybody on the server, going for insane entries and being incredibly annoying to play against because you know that if you peek him, you are going to get one-tapped.” As a team with four Major rookies and that is still taking its first steps at this level, Monte arrive in Paris almost free of the weight of expectation but with big hopes and dreams. “Our goal is set really high,” BOROS says. “We all think we go far at this Major. Our goal for now is to reach the Legend Stage and then we can think about the next goal. But I think we can go far.” If BOROS is able to maintain the level of performance that he showed at the RMR, there’s no doubt that his stock will really climb. lmbt, his coach, has described him as a “pure aim machine”, one that he can unleash if necessary to bully unprepared opponents. After the event in Copenhagen, several fellow pros reached out to BOROS, sending him encouraging messages. His meteoric rise seems to have caught everyone by surprise, even the game’s elite: Of the 20 players that made the most recent HLTV Top 20 ranking, not one mentioned BOROS as their “bold prediction” (a young player who is likely to excel in the following year) for 2023. As he prepares to play the biggest event in his career, what does he think the future might hold? “I am not thinking about it right now,” he says. “But of course, I want the best for me and I would like to be in a top-10 team. I don’t care if it’s with Monte or with another team. I just want to make it.”

The story of acoR: From MOUZ disaster to GamerLegion resurgence PGL & Helena Kristiansson/ESL Gaming via ESPATFrederik ‘acoR’ Gyldstrand is back at the top of the CS:GO scene after a barren spell with MOUZ. He leads the charge for a young and vibrant GamerLegion team that wants to impress at the IEM Rio Major. acoR is a name that many CS:GO fans had seemingly forgotten about. Almost a year away from the spotlight — a lifetime in esports — will do that to a player. They become yesterday’s news. But as he landed in Malta for the European RMR — the qualifying event for the IEM Rio Major — he reminded everyone of the player he used to be. He averaged a 1.21 HLTV rating as GamerLegion, a team ranked just 60th in the world at that time, qualified for the Brazilian event after beating Aurora, G2 Esports, and B8 in the Swiss stage. Perhaps more impressive than those victories was the way GamerLegion played in the two matches they didn’t win. They took reigning Major champions FaZe and CIS giants Spirit to their absolute limit before succumbing in overtime, wasting 11 game points across those two best-of-one games — a sign of the team’s immaturity and lack of experience on the big stages. GamerLegion are one of the great feel-good stories heading into the IEM Rio Major, their team assembled (at least officially, for what it’s worth) just two weeks before the RMR. It’s an interesting group of players that have one thing in common: A burning desire to prove themselves. Especially acoR, who is determined to show that his ill-fated MOUZ spell was not an accurate representation of his stock. “It feels really, really good to be back,” he tells Dexerto. The Danish AWPer is feeling on cloud nine, even if he doesn’t tend to let his emotions take over on the server or in interviews. In addition to marking his return to a top-tier event, IEM Rio will also give acoR the chance to have his name added to the list of Counter-Strike legends with autographs in the game. (PGL Major Stockholm, the first Major he qualified for, only had signature stickers for the players who reached the playoffs.) “Every player wants their own sticker in the game,” he says. “That’s what a lot of players play for, winning a Major or getting their sticker in the game so they have something to remember them by when they’re done.” The lack of a signature sticker in his first Major outing was just one of many things that didn’t go his way during his time on MOUZ. A forgetful period When acoR signed with MOUZ in January 2021, there was a great deal of hype surrounding the move. He had established himself as one of the most exciting up-and-coming AWPers during his time with MAD Lions, with whom he had won the inaugural edition of the $1 million Flashpoint league. MOUZ seemed like a natural fit for acoR to prove his mettle and continue to move up the CS:GO ladder, but he couldn’t replicate his MAD Lions form and was inevitably dropped to the bench in favor of academy player Ádám ‘torzsi’ Torzsás just short of a year after his arrival. All of a sudden, a career on the fast track had ground to a halt. “I went into this break trying to figure out what I could do to improve,” he says. “I thought, ‘What is the best thing that I can do to help myself in the future on a new team?’” During his time away from the spotlight, acoR did a lot of soul-searching to try to find an explanation for his disappointing performances for MOUZ. This is a team that has historically acted as a gatekeeper or a measuring stick to anyone who attempts to break into the senior echelons of the game. Did his struggles mean that he was just not cut out for tier-one Counter-Strike? Looking back, acoR says that “a mixture of things” explains what went wrong with MOUZ during his spell on the team, where he took up the AWP from Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong. He joined MOUZ during a time of transition as veteran in-game leader Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen was on his way out to rejoin FaZe. His replacement, Christopher ‘dexter’ Nong, took some time to adapt to the European style and also quickly became a target of criticism for not being able to put in the sort of numbers he used to on Australian teams in their international outings. There was also a clear lack of cohesion among the players, who at times looked like they were playing for themselves and not for a common goal. acoR acknowledges that he, too, was guilty of this. He regrets not taking a more active role in the team. “I wish I had taken more initiative and more control of my game,” he says. “The system was pretty open for me, but I was more laidback and didn’t help out a lot. Whatever dexter was calling, I would just do it and not really think about it. “It was more of a team problem, in my opinion, even though I didn’t play even close to what I can do.” acoR did have his moments during the first half of the year, but things took a dark turn after the player break. As the AWPer, he was the one expected to pull the team out of its slough, so when he struggled to perform, the community turned against him. There were insults, even death threats made against family members. The sheer amount of toxicity he had to endure eventually became unbearable. “The problem for me was that I knew I played really badly and I didn’t hit any shots at all, and at the same time I couldn’t open social media without being bombarded with messages and flames everywhere. I couldn’t even open HLTV to watch a CS:GO match without seeing my name in five places in the forums. “Normally, I’m not a guy that gets affected by it, but in the end there was so much of it that I couldn’t ignore. Even if I tried, I couldn’t. In the end, it became too much.” Finding his groove again acoR says that the difference between playing for MOUZ and GamerLegion has been night and day. “I have a lot more trust from my team,” he says, adding that he has rediscovered himself in the game after being shrouded in self-doubt for so long. “I have a lot more initiative and a lot more confidence because I feel I’m in a good period,” he explains. “This helps me read the game more easily. “Confidence in general is something that is really underrated. You just don’t care. It could be NiKo on the other side of the wall, you’re just going to go and peek because you have so much confidence.” But his contribution to GamerLegion goes beyond his fragging output. The team’s skipper, Kamil ‘siuhy’ Szkaradek, says that acoR’s professionalism and impact outside of the game have also played a significant role in their rapid ascent. “He is always putting in hours when needed,” siuhy tells Dexerto. “Working with him has been a pleasure from the start, and he’s one of the key factors behind our success so far.” GamerLegion’s team are currently bootcamping in Berlin ahead of the Major, where they will face South American side 9z in the opening round of the Challengers Stage. His team may be one of the least experienced in attendance (with just two Major appearances between the whole squad) but acoR remains optimistic. According to him, one of the reasons for the RMR success was that opponents had no material on his team, no way to anti-strat. “We have a lot of new stuff that we can take to the Major and surprise people with,” he says matter-of-factly. The IEM Rio Major will be the first opportunity to see this GamerLegion lineup lock horns with the world’s best in front of a crowd — an invaluable learning experience for the team’s young players. Just like at the RMR, they will come into this event completely free of pressure to succeed. And given the tournament’s upset-friendly format, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think GamerLegion can take a big scalp or two and move on to the Legends Stage. At the same time, the Rio Major could be one of the last chances to see this lineup, such is the way of the CS:GO scene, where rising teams often become victims of their own success and are unable to hold on to their prized assets. acoR and Mihai ‘iM’ Ivan have been GamerLegion’s standout players, and siuhy has earned himself a reputation as an in-game leader on the rise — a priceless commodity in today’s CS:GO market. acoR says that he is happy at GamerLegion, but he doesn’t close the door on a move to a bigger team. Before he joined GamerLegion, there was a brief interest from Complexity. The North American team ended up not qualifying for the Major. “I don’t want to leave GamerLegion, but if a really good team shows up I’ll probably take the offer,” he says. “I really want to win a Major at some point. It’s one of my goals. Individually, I feel I have the level to compete against the best players in the world.” acoR’s time on MOUZ was nothing but a pit stop he’d rather put behind him, though it helped him to mature and to become stronger and more impervious to pressure. A year later, he is back at a Major, bursting with confidence and happiness, ready to do what he couldn’t in Stockholm. And this time, he’s finally got his own signature sticker to show for it. “I got so much hate in the past that I just want to show everyone that my time on MOUZ was not close to what I am,” he says. “I want to come back and have a really good time. Win tournaments and go back to the top 20, top 10. I want to win against good teams.”

The stats that show why XANTARES is more than a CSGO onliner ESLBerlin International Gaming’s Ismailcan ‘XANTARES’ Dortkardes has been credited as a major reason for BIG’s recent online CS:GO success, and his stats show just why fans shouldn’t be quick to call him an “onliner.” In January 2020, BIG dropped to No. 46 on HLTV’s rankings, the lowest in the organization’s history. But, thanks to an upsurge of play during the online era, the organization has reached No. 1 on both HLTV and ESL’s lists. Unsurprisingly, detractors have looked to discredit one of BIG’s most improved players, XANTARES, as solely talented in online play — a criticism that statistics actually prove to be unjustified. As someone who has only played 44 LAN events in his career, the Turkish-Macedonian has a small sample size for comparisons between online and offline play. And it is true that he is exceptional online, as the rifler has never gone under a 1.14 yearly rating. But despite the small sample size and consistent online excellence, his LAN play has not been as inferior as detractors seem to believe. For example, looking back at 2016, XANTARES posted an impressive 1.21 yearly rating in online play, but also a formidable 1.35 on LAN, meaning he played just as well, if not better, at actual events. Ultimately, BIG will need to prove this form can last into offline play, but the critiques that their star is solely an onliner appear widely, unjustly exaggerated.

The Stats That Show Why FURIA & Mousesports Triumphed @ BLAST Showdown Mousesports and FURIA put together incredible moments at the BLAST Showdown to punch their ticket to the main event. Though the qualifier was stacked with impressive talent, it was ultimately masterclass performances from these lineups that pushed them across the line. The stats behind the games really tell the story of who shined for each team. While the path to the BLAST Premier Fall Final was a tale of two-teams in their respective brackets, the teams showed why they deserve a spot on the big stage. Though the Danes took off a map from mouz at the start of the series, every single player under Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen’s leadership stepped up to get the reverse-sweep. Robin ‘ropz’ Kool and David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský went off against Heroic, posting a 1.53 rating on Nuke and a 1.77 on Train, respectively. FURIA came into the Showdown looking to pick it up from their previous loss at the BLAST regular season. In the qualifier, they kept some series matchups close but leaned on each other to ultimately go through. Read more: BLAST Premier CSGO Fall Final schedule – Going by the numbers, FURIA were the third-best performing team at the Showdown. The mind-boggling 1.98 rating from Yuri ‘yuurih’ Gomes against Virtus.pro on the decider map of Train. Brazilian teammate Vinicius ‘VINI’ Figueiredo was equally as impressive against Team Liquid in the final series with a 1.33 rating in the series. These two teams lit up the BLAST Showdown in more ways than one, and will look to keep up their efforts once the Premier Fall Final kicks off December 8.

The stats that made Olofmeister a game changer in CSGO CS:GO veteran Olof ‘Olofmeister’ Kajbjer Gustafsson has had a legendary career, and already has a legacy that any player would be immensely proud of. He’s now taking another break from competition, hopefully just to reset and come back stronger than ever, but there is also speculation that his time at the top has come to an end. With that possibility in mind, we’ve taken a look back at his decorated career to find out exactly what made him so special. Stats are only one way to do this of course, but these statistics provide crucial insight into what is required to have your name go down in the history books. During his peak year in 2015 with Fnatic, the squad was crowned winners at 11 LAN events, of which he secured 4 MVP medals. Where Olof truly shines though, is his performances at CS:GO Majors. Where others may crumble under the dazzling lights and pressure of the biggest tournaments, they simply ignite a fire under the Swedish vet. Some of his best individual performances ever have come at the tail end of majors. His run of Major success, where he reached top 8 minimum at every single one, ended with the 2019 Berlin Major, where his FaZe Clan side crashed out early. This was the beginning of what would become a grueling six months for Olof, where he was consistently bottom-fragging and simply didn’t look like himself. Hopefully, he’ll be back to his best soon.

The Semifinalists for IEM Sydney Have Been Decided Following Some Crazy Quarterfinal Action – Highlights and Recap StarLadderThe IEM Sydney 2018 Quarterfinals have been completed and only four CS:GO teams remain to play in front of the Australian crowd. The $250,000 IEM Sydney Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition is getting towards the business end of things as the quarterfinal matches have been completed. With Astralis and TyLoo topping their respective groups, the Danish and Chinese teams earned a BYE into the semifinals, while FaZe Clan, Fnatic, Renegades, and Mousesports all remained to try to earn a spot. The first match of the day saw FaZe Clan take on Fnatic. After a slow start to the competition FaZe seemed to wake up in the Group A decider match against Cloud9 and they brought that same heat into their game against the Swedes. FaZe looked comfortable from the get-go on their map pick, Cache, running out to an early lead which they never looked likely to relinquish. Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács continued his impressive tournament form but it was Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström that stepped up to help FaZe close out map one with an impressive 16-8 score. Next up was Mirage and FaZe quickly gained a 14-6 lead before Fnatic finally started to show some signs of life and began to mount a comeback. Fnatic chipped away at the European superteam all the way until round 30 but FaZe finally showed the sort of determination that people have been hoping to see from them, securing the 16-14 victory and a spot in the semifinals against TyLoo. Next up was Mousesports against the hometown favorites, Renegades. While the Australian team certainly had the support of the crowd, Mousesports looked imperious on Mirage and quickly secured the 16-7 lead. Robin ‘ropz’ Kool had a particularly strong game alongside the team’s awper, Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný. Map two looked more promising for Renegades as they took the T side pistol round on Inferno and quickly extended their lead to 3-0. However, Mousesports picked up the first gun round and never seemed to look back, closing out the half 11-4. Renegades mounted an incredible comeback in the second half thanks to some impressive play from their in-game leader/AWPer Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis but it was Mousesports that made it to match point first at 15-14. Luckily the Australian crowd was granted overtime thanks to an impressive B retake from Renegades who seemed to be carrying all of the momentum into the MR3 $16,000 overtime rounds. The first overtime was a back and forth affair but once again Renegades managed to hang on to force a second. Aaron ‘AZR’ Ward was instrumental in keeping Renegades in the game, picking up multi-kill rounds and clearly acting as one of the team’s emotional leaders. The second overtime started with Renegades showing that they weren’t afraid to trade blows with the European team. This time around it was the Nifty show again as the dynamic AWPer proved to be a nuisance throughout, catching Mousesports off-guard on numerous occasions and helping to get his team to map point. Finally the Renegades players managed to close out the map off the back of yet another incredible Nifty round as the young in-game leader finished with a total of 51 kills. Renegades secured a third map decider on Train with this win, a map that Mousesports has a history of struggling to close out on. Mousesports got off to the perfect start on the final map of the series and quickly found a 5-0 lead on the T side before Renegades finally got on the board. However, the Australian side bounced back in the remaining rounds of the half and actually held a narrow 8-7 lead by the time they switched sides. Again it was Mousesports to take the early lead in the second half following yet another pistol round win. Once again ropz was on form and he quickly boosted his team’s economy with an impressive MP9 ace in one of the anti-eco rounds. Renegades were able to bounce back once the gun rounds started up again and this time around it was more of a team effort from the Australian side. Eventually the Mousesports players managed to get their noses out in front again and Renegades were forced to use their final timeout with the score at 13-12. The timeout seemed to work wonders for Renegades and they soon found themselves on match point but this time it was Mousesports that showed their resilience, forcing the third overtime of the series. Mousesports dominated the first half of overtime as oskar continued to shut down entire sections of the map with his AWP. Needing a perfect second half of overtime just to force another reset, Renegades looked nervous and were immediately shut down 19-15, ending their miracle run. Mousesports will now advance to play Astralis in the semifinals on May 5th in a match that promises to deliver even more fireworks.

The Playoff Bracket for IEM Sydney Features Some Surprising Teams as Favorites Fall Early ESLThe group stage at IEM Sydney has come to a close and some of the results will leave fans scratching their heads. The highly anticipated IEM Sydney event features a $250,000 prize and most of the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams on Earth, but some of them have already fallen. The earliest casualty was SK Gaming. Featuring the core of one of the most successful team’s in the history of Counter-Strike, the Brazilian roster was eliminated in last place following upset losses to TyLoo and Grayhound. Perhaps the TyLoo result wasn’t as much of an upset as originally thought, though, as the Chinese team then went on to beat both Cloud9 and Renegades 2-0 to qualify for the playoffs in first place from Group A and earn a BYE to the semifinals. Read More: MMA Legend Mark Hunt Sends Message of Warning to HenryG as IEM Sydney Gets Even More Exciting – Hometown favorites Renegades still got through to the playoffs in second place and FaZe Clan clinched the final spot while Cloud9, ORDER, Grayhound, and Legacy all fell short. After a scary first match against NRG in Group B, Astralis looked dominant in their remaining matches to claim the number one spot, followed by Fnatic and Mousesports as G2 found themselves eliminated in yet another group stage. On the lower side of the bracket Renegades and Mousesports will clash for the chance to meet the DreamHack Masters Marseille Champions, Astralis, in the semifinal. The popular event promises to produce some of the most exciting Counter-Strike action of 2018 but for the likes of G2, Cloud9, and SK Gaming, this will be a week that they want to forget.

The making of rain: why I’ve stayed loyal to FaZe CS:GO veteran Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard has had an extensive history within Counter-Strike, with a turbulent team history and over 20 different teammates, before finding his home at FaZe Clan. In this in-depth interview, Rain discusses his beginnings in Kinguin, his struggles with G2 and his own ability, as well as his bright future with FaZe Clan. Rain’s short journey with G2 Joining G2 in late 2015 following the org’s purchase of Kinguin, rain saw a hopeful future with the team and their roster. “I think we had a bright future there, even though dennis left afterwards to join Fnatic, but I think we had a good future in G2 and I always liked G2 as an organization.” G2 would later accept FaZe Clan’s offer to purchase the roster. When discussing the move, rain commented: “We switched because of some other reasons, but back then, a couple months after, maybe a year after, we kinda regretted our decision a little bit. Now I don’t regret it of course. I’m in FaZe, I love it here.” Rain’s long journey with FaZe Clan Following the purchase, it wasn’t always smooth-sailing for FaZe Clan’s new roster. After the ELEAGUE Major: Boston in 2018, they faced their biggest obstacle yet, falling short to Cloud9 in the final and losing key members ‘Olofmeister’ and ‘Karrigan’. “I think Boston created a lot of problems for our team and I don’t think that line-up was ever able to shake it. We came in super confident to the final, and we fumbled a 15-11 lead. Olof had to go into his break, I think that was the downfall of FaZe as it was in 2017. I think it was just a downward spiral ever since we kicked Karrigan.” Looking to the future, the roster introduced two new key members ‘Twistzz’, ‘Ropz’ as well as bringing back Karrigan, which kick-started their rise in the rankings. Following the star-studded additions, FaZe continued their path to victory, and were crowned champions of the PGL Antwerp Major 2022, with rain also winning the MVP award. They became the first international org to winner a major, and the first org to win IEM Katowice, IEM Cologne, and the Major in the same year.

The making of NiKo: my FaZe Clan regrets CS:GO veteran Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač has had a turbulent career, but he is still full of ambition and determination to be the best in Counter-Strike history. In this exclusive interview, NiKo discusses his deep roots within Counter-Strike, his difficult path as a member of FaZe Clan, as well as the goals for his future with G2 Esports. NiKo’s journey with FaZe Clan Joining FaZe’s roster in 2017, NiKo described it as his “final step into his career”, seeing him finally consistently make it to major events, and ultimately take him strides closer to his biggest goal of fighting to winning titles against the world’s best. However, after falling short at their major appearances against teams such as Cloud9 and Fnatic, NiKo and his teammates were left deflated and demotivated, and faced a huge struggle to adapt to their competition, resulting in a decision to step away from the game completely for a week. The struggles didn’t stop there, with the team continuing to fail in dethroning their competitors, and fellow rifler “Olofmeister” revealing that he would be taking a hiatus from professional Counter-Strike; NiKo announced in October 2020, after three and a half years as a member of FaZe Clan, that he would be leaving FaZe and transferring to European organization G2 Esports. Looking to the future… Discussing his future in CS:GO, NiKo has made his goals very clear, stating he aspires to finally win a major or grand slam, whilst also continuing to play alongside his teammate and cousin “huNter”. When discussing his competitive ability, NiKo commented: “I’m super proud that I can achieve not the same numbers like s1mple or ZywOo, but I can put decent numbers on the table and be close to them.” Adding, “I would like to do something that dev1ce did for example, where he was a top 5 for 5 years, 6 years, maybe even more. I would like to achieve something like that. I’m really gonna try to push the limits and see for how many more years I can stay on that list.” With Niko’s future at G2 looking bright, there is no doubt that he will continue to fight for his goals, and grow his competitive ability.

The making of Frankie Ward: why I took a huge risk for esports Frankie Ward is one of the most recognisable hosts and interviewers in esports, working for high tier CSGO events such as IEM Cologne, BLAST Premier, PGL and more, but it hasn’t always been smooth-sailing for the esports star. In this exclusive interview, Frankie Ward discusses her introduction to esports, her most memorable moments, the huge risks she has taken, as well as her future in the industry. Entering the world of esports Fresh out of university, Frankie Ward joined the team at the BBC as a producer, covering a wide range of content and most notably working as the senior producer on League Of Legends Worlds 2015, in which she was first introduced into esports. When discussing the experience, Frankie explained: “Once I got there I just fell in love with the whole atmosphere, all the fans, and the storylines, and I think I was very fortunate that my first encounter with esports was in a stadium because that’s where you understand, you get the emotion straight away.” Following this, Frankie discovered the streaming platform Twitch, which ignited her passion for the industry even more. She later left her role at the BBC to join the team at Twitch as a producer, alongside making some freelance host appearances at GinxTV and ESL UK, solidifying her future within esports. After facing an unexpected redundancy from Twitch, Frankie took a leap of faith and risked it all by deciding to go freelance within esports. Working as an interviewer and host, she said: “I gave myself three months… and my husband was like ‘if you can’t afford to pay me rent while you try this out then I don’t mind for a few months.’ So I knew I had that safety blanket not everyone else has. So yeah, I went for it, and I never didn’t pay rent.” Frankie’s most memorable moments Following her growing success within the industry, Frankie has worked on some of the biggest productions within Counter-Strike, DOTA and PUBG, with her even hosting a segment on the ‘PC Gaming Show’ in 2018. When discussing the broadcast, Frankie added: “I ended up with blooming, Day 9 on stage in Los Angeles, that show changed my life.” The life-changing show skyrocketed Frankie’s experience within the industry, seeing her become an interviewer at CSGO’s IEM Katowice 2019. She faced uncertainty within her role, though, stating: “I was very conscious that I wasn’t a stage host, so I was very much ‘this is not my role, this is not the job I’m meant to be doing’ and I think I was a bit shy about taking command about things. I feel like I’m a much better stage host than I was then.” This experience helped Frankie find her true passion as a stage host. Commenting on her interaction with the crowds, she added: “It’s very difficult when you tell people to turn on the torches on their phones and everyone holds it in the air, and you have to stand there and focus and not cry, because honestly, it’s the most incredible sight you will ever see when you’re in a role like mine.”

The making of dupreeh: my story of grief and glory Danish CS:GO star Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen has an illustrious career within esports, however, as with any great career, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. In this exclusive interview, dupreeh breaks down the highest and lowest points of his career, from the ground-breaking death of his father, to the heights of his victories alongside Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Emil “Magisk” Reif, and his future goals since joining Team Vitality. The tragic death of dupreeh’s father In 2010 tragedy hit the Danish player when his father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of chest cancer, turning his entire world upside-down. Despite the devastating news, dupreeh buried his head into his growing passion of becoming a successful CS:GO player, and ultimately achieving the unthinkable by becoming one of the world’s best. Dupreeh has been an active member of several world-beating CS:GO teams, such as Astralis, TSM, and now Team Vitality. Just days before one of the biggest achievements in his career, of Astralis being crowned champions at the 2019 Katowice major, dupreeh was hit with the unbearable news of his father’s passing, following an eight-year battle against cancer. Dupreeh opens up on losing his father right before one of the biggest tournaments of his career pic.twitter.com/xCRjdVCYox — Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) July 7, 2022 Despite the difficult circumstances surrounding their victory, dupreeh stood out from the crowd, and became a backbone for the Astralis team, ultimately overcoming all odds to achieve the unthinkable and fulfilling his father’s final wish. The downfall of Astralis Following three major wins, dupreeh’s Astralis era hit a rocky path when the team faced inconsistencies, causing them to have unexpectedly poor results within tournaments, seeing teams such as Team Liquid and ENCE overtake them. One of the largest downfalls for this Astralis line-up came in May 2020, when their captain ‘g1ave’ announced his hiatus from professional CS:GO due to symptoms of stress, and burnout, following advice from his doctor. Nine days later, the team was hit with more demotivating news, with Xyp9x announcing his indefinite break from the team, and professional Counter-Strike to focus on his mental health. Astralis’ loss of two key members caused shock waves throughout the Counter-Strike community, leaving fans and rivals querying the competitive ability of the remaining line-up. “”Is this actually the end?”” -CSGO star @dupreeh on dev1ce leaving Astralis. A move which shocked the CSGO world! pic.twitter.com/5hbiuYRSsl — Dexerto Esports (@DexertoEsports) July 7, 2022 In 2020, the team hit an all-time low, when key member ‘Dev1ce’ announced that he would not be renewing his contract with the team, after 5 years, and had instead signed a 3-year-long contract with rival team Ninjas In Pyjamas. This was the closing chapter to the Astralis era, with dupreeh, Magisk and their coach zonic announcing their move to Team Vitality.

The MADNESS of North in CSGO: A disaster from start to finish | Richard Lewis North has ceased operations including their once-promising CS:GO division, and Richard Lewis explains how mismanagement and missed opportunities eventually led the Danish disaster to end. Counter-Strike fans will likely remember North in passing. Even though they never won much, they were always backed by enough money to bring on great talent with an even more impressive team structure behind them to help the CSGO project. Unfortunately, they never amounted to more. Lewis was thoroughly impressed with the caliber of players North were able to pick up throughout their short history. Names like Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif, Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen, and René ‘CajunB’ Borg are just a few players that are or could have been backbones to truly great lineups. The organization had the aspirations of being a pound-for-pound rival with legendary org Astralis and, in multiple iterations, they had a chance to do so. Inside and out, it just wasn’t a well-managed organization. They squandered some of the best years of MSL, they signed players for rumored salaries reaching $20,000 per month with nothing to show for, invested in a questionable rebrand, and that’s just to start. There will always be a question of what could have been when it comes to North, but the CS:GO scene was already moving past them even while they were in operation. Danish Counter-Strike isn’t short of talent, and the org wasn’t short of opportunities to succeed. Ultimately, the four-year project has now come to a close with many lessons to be learned for other teams and organizations in the esport.

The KennyS dilemma: CSGO or Valorant? | First to 16 with Richard Lewis and NBK Richard Lewis welcomes Nathan ‘NBK’ Schmitt to Episode 5 of First to 16, covering everything from NBK discussing his own exit from OG’s active roster, to predictions for 2021’s top team. As well as his own career, NBK and Lewis also discuss Audric ‘JaCkz’ Jug replacing Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub on G2, and whether the Frenchman will now make the switch to Valorant. NBK says that he’s “in a good place” following his exit, working with a sports psychologist to help better himself and reflect on the situation. “Something had to happen, I think… I thought that there were more things that could have been done… we could have done things a bit differently. We had some good things, some good games, some good tournaments, but there were consistency issues,” said NBK. Looking at G2’s replacement of kennyS, NBK still believes that the star can retain a foothold in the CSGO scene instead of moving to Valorant. “I think [he] evolved a lot as a player… kenny is such a solid player. I do think that [he] has much, much more to offer. I would love to be playing with him again. It’s just a complicated period to build anything or speculate on all of that,” the French CSGO legend added. The pair also discuss the likes of Team Vitality’s turbulence and consistency issues of late, CSGO’s 6-7 man roster super subs, and NBK’s ultimate number one team of 2021. Make sure to check out the full video above, and for all CSGO news and events, stay tuned at our dedicated main page.

Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The Impact of FalleN, The Godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike ESLThere is no player in esports history who has been as influential in raising their region as Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo has been to Brazilian Counter-Strike. He has been the driving force of the most successful CS lineups in history. His individual play, tactics, and systemic approach have earned him the epithet as the Godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike. The Rise Up FalleN’s career has always been marked by a self-assured drive that he was going to make the esports thing work. He says as much in an HLTV article, “In 2013 I enrolled at the Federal University of Curitiba (UTFPR), but that only lasted two weeks. One day, a professor asked me ‘why are you here?’ and I answered “’this is my plan B. I need a future in case my life as a gamer doesn’t work out.’ I didn’t show up the following day. After thinking about that conversation for hours, I decided to risk even more and go all-in on my dream, putting 100% of my energy into Games Academy and other projects.” This belief is awe-inspiring as the Brazilian esports system had collapsed. There was no support to be had anywhere in the scene as there were no teams, LANs, or tournaments. The player-base was small and the people that were playing FPS focused on games like CrossFire. Brazil didn’t even get a CS:GO server until 2013. This was the starting hand that FalleN was given and he performed miracles. FalleN was originally a star AWPer in CS 1.6, but when CS:GO came around the scene lacked in-game leaders. FalleN realized that if Brazilian CS was ever going to succeed, it needed an in-game leader and FalleN took on that role. His determination crossed over to the overall scene as he established Games Academy in 2011. This created an ecosystem where players could learn, compete, and get better. The Tournament that Changed Everything For years, FalleN and the Brazilians continued to grind away waiting for a chance to compete on the international stage. This paid off as CS:GO started to grow as a game and opportunities started to arise. The most important chance came in 2015 at MLG X-Games Aspen. That event ran a Brazilian qualifier and FalleN entered with KaBuM.TD. At the time, his team consisted of himself, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Ricardo “boltz” Prass, Lucas “steel” Lopes, and Caio “zqk” Fonseca. In the finals of the qualifier they beat Dexterity 2-0. While Dexterity never made a splash in Counter-Strike, the lineup included future teammates: Marcelo “coldzera” David, Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, and Joao “felps” Vasconcellos. At MLG X-Games Aspen, KaBuM.TD surprised the world as they beat Cloud9 16-4 on Mirage in the group stages. Dignitas and NiP destroyed the Brazilians, but KaBuM.TD made their mark on the scene. People wanted to see them at more events and ESL contacted them to give them a spot at the LAN qualifiers for the ESL Katowice 2015 Major. The team didn’t have the money to make the flight over and had to run a donation stream to make the travel costs. The stream worked and the most notable donor was Fnatic star Robin “flusha” Ronnquist, who donated some of his IOS Pantamera prize money for the cause. just donated a part of my Pantamera winnings to the @KaBuMESports team so they can go to poland and try to qualify to the major in katowice! — Robin Rönnquist (@flusha) February 8, 2015 The team made it through the qualifier. Soon after the team switched organizations from KaBuM.TD to Keyd.Stars and got top 8 at ESL Katowice 2015 by beating HellRaisers and CLG in the group stages. In the playoffs of the tournament, the Brazilians lost 1-2 to the Polish veterans of Virtus.Pro. After the Major, ESL ESEA Pro League was announced. FalleN wanted to play in the league, but one of the requirements was living in the North American region. Fortunately for the Brazilians, Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia was willing to help them out. He hosted the team in his house and this allowed the squad to move to America and make their dreams come true. In the latter half of 2015, the team underwent a transformation. The Brazilians changed orgs as they went from KeyD.Stars to Luminosity. In addition, they made a lineup change as Zqk was kicked and Coldzera came in. It was a key move as Coldzera became one of the best players in the world and it forced FalleN to AWP while in-game leading. FalleN then instituted a structured tactical system that was built on fundamentally strong teamplay and power play positions. This made them a consistent playoff team, but by the end of the year, the progression had ended. The System that dominated the world This was untenable for FalleN, fer, and coldzera. Their aspirations were greater and while they were friends with boltz and steel, the team had to move forward. Days before the FACEIT Stage 3 2015 Finals, the team made a drastic change as they kicked boltz and steel for TACO and Lincoln “fnx” Lau. The tournament was a watershed moment for FalleN as a leader. There was no time to institute a structured tactical system where everyone knew their roles. Instead the team had to play more loose and rely on their mutual understanding of what they needed to do as a team and as individuals in their respective roles. After Fnatic blew them out 16-0 on Dust2, Luminosity made an incredible run through the rest of the tournament as they beat EnVy 2-1, NiP 2-1, and TSM 2-1. In the end, Luminosity lost to Fnatic in a rematch in the finals 1-2. While the team lost, this was their best ever result at an international LAN and it opened FalleN’s eyes to a new style of play that characterized his teams for years to come. Instead of having a structured flowchart where each player was a mechanical cog in the tactical machine, FalleN taught them a set of principles to play around. Fundamental ideas like trading, spacing, and roles became hallmarks of his tactical system. He explained this approach the best in an interview with Tomi “lurppis” Kovanen, “…with my teaching skills I could put in my teammates’ minds everything they need to see, understand, and react to during the game. I think I could make all of them better players and this is what is making the difference for us.” The FalleN style of Counter-Strike which characterized the Luminosity/SK lineups from 2016-2017 were centered around three themes. The first theme was the balance of two superstars: one aggressive and one passive. The aggressive star found the opening picks in the round. In the 2016 period, FalleN was the aggressive opener and later on in 2017 it was fer. Coldzera was the passive superstar that consistently closed out rounds for the team. The second theme was an adherence to fundamental teamplay. The team played a controlled default style of play. If the aggressive superstar player got the opening pick, they closed out the round with their strong fundamentals and man advantage. If they went down a man, the team’s default style allowed them to react accordingly. If the opponent committed too many resources to an area, the Brazilians could read that, take control of a different part of the map and use that space to get a hit on the site. Once they got into a post-plant situation, their superior teamplay and Coldzera could close out the round for them. The third theme that characterized the Brazilians was their ability to clutch. The players weren’t just calm under pressure, they rose to the occasion. They became a force of nature in the hardest rounds and situations. This final element wasn’t inherent in the team, but something they built in early 2016. During this time period, Luminosity were a top three team in the world, but could not win titles. They lost to 1-2 Fnatic at StarLadder i-League StarSeries 14. They smashed Fnatic on Mirage, but lost in the 30th round of the third map. At DreamHack Leipzig, they went 0-2 in the finals against Na`Vi where they lost both games in overtime. They had a rematch against Fnatic at IEM World Championship where they had a dominant 12-3 half against Fnatic on Overpass only for Fnatic to run it all the way back and win it in overtime. FalleN recalled that moment of time in Duncan “Thorin” Shields reflections series, “We were getting nervous in those games. People would be over communicating, people would be calling over me, even myself…Losing those finals was an important process in order for us to win the Major [Columbus].” Once that clutch factor fell into place, LG became the best team in the world. They won their first Major at MLG Columbus. They bombed DreamHack Malmo soon afterward, but went on to win DreamHack Austin Finals, ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals, get 2nd at ECS Season 1 Finals, and win their second Major at ESL One Cologne. FalleN’s GMing This gets into the final aspect of FalleN’s impact as a leader, his GMing, or General Managing. From 2014 through the end of 2017, FalleN’s Brazilian teams had the best roster moves. While it’s hard to know if FalleN had a hand in all of the changes, he was the leader of the team and ultimate responsibility lies with him. Broadly speaking, all of the roster changes fall under three general categories: cultural fit, role fit, and potential growth. Each time a player no longer had the motivation to be the best or evolve their game, they were removed from the team. Once they were removed, the team looked out for players that had large potential growth (Coldzera and felps) or players that fit into the roles they needed at the time (Fnx, TACO and boltz). This GMing resulted in another year of Brazilian Counter-Strike as an elite squad. After removing fnx at the end of 2016, the team picked up felps. This roster change also had an effect on FalleN’s playing style. In 2016, FalleN had been a superstar AWPer, but his style relied on an information advantage and fnx’s preternatural teamplay. The informational advantage came from the fact that FalleN came up with unique positions and angles that caught his opponents off guard. As for fnx, he was the perfect support as he went went to the exact spot his teammates needed him to without communication and this freed up FalleN to make all of his aggressive close angle peaks. With fnx no longer in the lineup, FalleN had to take a backseat and let fer become the aggressive superstar. While FalleN was no longer the same superstar AWPer, he continued to have some standout games and was one of the absolute best in clutch situations. The roster change paid off in mid 2017 as the team had an incredible summer run: 1st CS Summit, 1st IEM Sydney, top 4 ESL PL S5, 1st DreamHack Summer, 1st ECS S3 Finals, and 1st at ESL One Cologne. They were the favorites to win the PGL Krakow Major, but lost to Astralis in the playoffs. The Rivalry Against FaZe Soon after, FaZe made the all-star lineup of: Finn “Karrigan” Andersen, Havard “rain” Nygaard, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs, and Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer. FalleN took the creation of the lineup as a personal challenge, “When they created that team, bringing [in] olofmeister and Guardian, I wasn’t feeling that motivated to play Counter-Strike again. But then I was at home watching a movie, I think it was a Usain Bolt movie, and when he was talking I was like, “I wanna be the best in the world, and I wanna beat those guys. They think they can come here and overcome us? Well, that’s not true.” In response to the FaZe roster change, SK made their own. Felps was no longer a cultural fit in the team as he was no longer content with being a role player in the system. Instead, SK added boltz. It was an instant success as the team won EPICENTER, came top 4 at IEM Oakland, 1st at BLAST Copenhagen, and beat FaZe at EPL S6 Finals. Among the three LG/SK lineups, this roster was the strongest in the clutch. From rounds 26-30+, they were the best team in the world and all five players made hero plays whenever the pressure was on. They had an innate confidence that they could beat anyone at any time. FalleN described their insane clutch mentality in Thorin’s Reflections, “There is another state of mind where you are sure of what’s going to happen. You’re confident and it doesn’t matter if there are 7 seconds on the clock. You know it’s possible to win and you know someone will cover you. This state of mind was what allowed us to win a lot of rounds in a very difficult fashion.” That confidence translated to out-of-game swagger with FalleN trash-talking FaZe before the EPL 6 Finals: “You either cheer for @SKGaming, or we going to turn this place into a library again” DAMN @FalleNCS, what a personality!#ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/FM2LjBJJMF — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 9, 2017 BAD @FalleNCS bringing some :fire: ahead of the #ESLProLeague Finals! @SKGaming pic.twitter.com/G1jtwyaJOB — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 9, 2017 That final was the last time we saw the Brazilians win a tier one LAN in CS:GO. The Fall of MIBR At the height of their power in 2017, SK started to look untouchable. However, as 2018 rolled around, they hit a slump. Their first event of 2018 was the ELeague Boston Major. At the event itself, they had to play with felps instead of boltz. Despite the change, the team still got top four at the event. The SK players were annoyed to no end that they had to play with felps instead of their real lineup. They believed that once they got back on track, they’d return to winning ways. That never happened, and they started to break apart. 3rd at CS Summit 2, top 8 at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 4, top 8 at IEM World Cup 2018, and finally an embarrassing group stage elimination at WESG. While all of this was going on, rumors were rumbling that the Brazilians planned to make a symbolic organizational move. Reports came out that the MIBR brand was resurrected and the Brazilian team would eventually move from SK to Made in Brazil. The plan was to connect the past with the present. MIBR was a legacy name from CS 1.6, a team that won historic titles like ESWC and CPL. It was also the home of Raphael “cogu” Carmago, one of the most legendary AWPers of CS 1.6. The prestigious Made in Brazil name of the past and the most successful Brazilian core in any iteration of Counter-Strike seemed to be a match made in heaven. The move wasn’t smooth, though. The players had been tied into their SK contracts until June of 2018 and even chose to play without their SK jerseys towards the end of their tenure. Many believed that, once the stress of the organization change was behind them, the Brazilians would rise to the top once more while representing MIBR. Again, this was not the case. The cracks had started to show in the lineup in March, prior to the MIBR move, when Stewie2K was drafted in to replace a departing TACO. These cracks would only grow in the months that followed. So what caused the fall of the Brazilian empire? There were a few reasons. The first was the rise of the Brazilian CS:GO scene. After rising to the top of CS:GO, more money, teams, and support have started to flood into the Brazilian CS:GO scene. This has made buyouts nearly impossible in the scene and has stopped FalleN and MIBR from making the same GM choices that made them so successful from 2014-2017. The second was a lack of unity in vision. From 2018-2019, the team couldn’t agree on how they should proceed forward. In 2018, they went for an international lineup – Jake “Stewie2K” Yip’s fellow North American and former Cloud9 teammate Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik was brought into the team, but they continued to play the old Brazilian style of CS rather than come up with a new style that could utilize their individual characteristics of all five players. During that time frame, they tried changing in-game leadership from FalleN to Coldzera and back again. They had a brief respite in the latter half of 2018 after Janko “YNk” Paunovic joined as a coach, but the team wanted to revert to an all Brazilian lineup as they brought back TACO, felps, and Wilton “zews” Prado as coach. The team had an initial great showing at IEM Katowice Major 2019, but it has all been downhill from there. The tensions inside the team continued to grow until finally Colddzera demanded to be benched on the team. Thus the four year partnership of Coldzera and FalleN finally ended. Onward to the Future The FalleN and Coldzera partnership has given Brazilian CS the best results of its history. They have won two Majors together, established an era, been at the head of three different world number one lineups, and defined how CS was played at the highest level from 2016-2017. That Brazilian empire is gone and now the question is whether another will rise up. Can another Brazilian lineup ever become the best team in the world once again? The answer depends on FalleN. Brazil has grown in leaps and bounds in financial support and player base. They have plenty of talented players that can compete at world stages. However, great players can only decide matches. Teams well assembled win championships. In Brazil, no one has been better than FalleN at assembling teams. No one else even comes close. He has been the totemic figure and driving force of the Brazilians for the last four years. His tactics, knowledge, experience, and GMing have made him the most impactful player in Brazilian Counter-Strike history. Should Brazilian CS ever rise to those grand heights again, it will be off the back of FalleN. The Godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike.

The Hilarious Moment a CS:GO Coach Falls Off the Stage During a Match Screengrab: Good Game LeagueThe coach of a Polish CS:GO team fell foul of a strange stage design flaw at a recent LAN event and the results were absolutely hilarious. If you’re the coach or manager of a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team you might think that the worst thing that can happen to you is to watch your team get eliminated from some big tournament due to as you watch on helplessly. Well you would be wrong, as the coach, or supporter, or a Polish CS:GO team called Valkiria Gaming found out during the offline qualifiers for the Good Game League 2018. Taking place in Opole, Poland, the qualifier was eventually won by Illuminar Gaming who will now get a chance to play in the finals along with a number of high profile invites. However, it wasn’t Illuminar Gaming that stole the show. Instead it was the person that was sat behind Valkiria Gaming during their matches as he was quite literally swallowed up by the stage setup. During their match against x-kom team, the man acting as Valkiria’s coach sat down on his seat behind them and proceeded to fall back off the stage and through the banner behind it. Perhaps the best bit of the entire clip is that the players seem to have been aware that there was a noise or commotion somewhere nearby but there was absolutely no sign of their coach when they looked around. Assuming he had got up and left, the players simply shrugged it off as mildly confusing and continued to play out the round. The hilarious clip has quickly gone viral but we are still uncertain of exactly who the unlucky man is. Perhaps he wants to keep it that way! Valkiria eventually finished out the tournament in fourth place after losing 2-1 in their match against x-kom.

The G2 CS:GO Roster Saga Continues as Player Reportedly Tips the Scale in Shox’s Favor It looks like Richard ‘shox’ Papillon’s potential return to the G2 Esports Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster is imminent as Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro has reportedly agreed to join the team. Shox found himself on the bench for G2 in March after he proposed a total overhaul of the roster which would have seen Nathan ‘NBK-‘ Schmitt and Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire replaced by Edouard ‘SmithZz’ Dubourdeaux and Kévin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans. It eventually became apparent that the main reason for G2’s decision to stick with apEX and NBK- was down to bodyy wanting to continue playing with them and not try the more extreme measures suggested by shox. The team went on to pick up former OpTic Gaming star Oscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas on a trial basis but results have been unimpressive and recent reports suggested that the organization is now leaning towards trying out shox’s project after all. Read More: Shroud, seang@res and Co. Have Played Their First Matches With Their New Team and the ESEA Open Division Should be Very Afraid – The big question was who would be the fifth player alongside shox, Ex6TenZ, SmithZz, and Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub. G2 currently holds a “Legends” spot for the FACEIT London Major but would need to keep at least three of the players from ELEAGUE Boston in order to keep it. Insiders originally stated that NBK- could stay on the roster until the Major but now it looks like bodyy is on the brink of joining the team as reported by French scene insider, neL, on flickshot.fr. “Today, according to our information it seems that the last player of the formation has been chosen. While NBK had the opportunity to join this project, it is finally Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro who would be the fifth player, giving them a slot for the next major.” If these rumors are true, the eventual G2 roster would be the exact one that shox originally proposed back in March when this latest soap opera of French CS:GO politics began. With shox, kennyS, and bodyy remaining from the team that finished in 5th – 8th place at the ELEAGUE Boston Major in January, G2 will be guaranteed a spot in the Legends Stage of the FACEIT London Major which will take place in September. If pen is put to paper on the new roster, G2’s CS:GO team would consist of: Kevin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans – Richard ‘shox’ Papillon – Édouard ‘SmithZz’ Dubourdeaux – Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub – Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro –

The G2 CS:GO Project With NBK- and Mixwell Could be Aborted as the Organization Considers New Roster With Shox DreamHack / Jennika Ojala / Adela SznajderRichard ‘shox’ Papillon, the former in-game leader of G2 and a former CS:GO Major Champion, could be making a return to the team with an all-new lineup in a surprise move. Shox, who is now well on the road to recovering from a recent operation on his wrist, has been part of the G2 Esports organization since February of 2016 and spent a large portion of that time as the in-game leader. However, in March he was surprisingly benched following some internal disagreements about the direction that the French team was going in. Shox wanted to kick two members of the team, Nathan ‘NBK-‘ Schmitt and Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire, and replace them with Edouard ‘SmithZz’ Dubourdeaux and Kévin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans. G2 eventually decided to side with NBK- and apEX when Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro did not want to go along with these new changes, despite the fact that Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub liked the sound of it. The team then picked up Oscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas but the initial results have not been promising and on May 8th flickshot.fr broke the news that G2 are completely reconsidering their stance on shox’s project. The team would be the same as the one that shox originally proposed, minus bodyy. Who the new 5th would be is currently uncertain but there should be options out there with Envy’s current struggles or Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut finally reaching the end of his education. The big stumbling block comes in the fact that G2 would lose their guaranteed spot at the FACEIT London Major due to the fact that they would only have two members remaining from their ELEAGUE Boston roster. According to flickshot, this factor could mean that NBK- gets an offer to stay on the team as part of the new roster. However, his previous statements about not agreeing with Ex6TenZ’s in-game leading style make this seem unlikely. The proposed roster would consist of: Kevin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans – Richard ‘shox’ Papillon – Édouard ‘SmithZz’ Dubourdeaux – Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub –

The First Grand Finalist for the ECS Season 5 Finals Has Been Decided – NRG vs. Team Liquid Report The first Grand Finalist at the ECS Season 5 CS:GO Finals has been decided after Team Liquid blew past NRG Esports in swift 2-0 fashion. The two North American teams came into the first semifinal of the day looking confident but Wilton ‘zews’ Pardo’s statements about Team Liquid not underestimating their competition soon proved to be true. Liquid recently lost to NRG Esports at the StarSeries Season 5 Finals but they clearly made a number of adjustments for the rematch at the ECS Finals and blew past their rivals on their map pick, Inferno. Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic was in particularly good form – the Canadian eventually finished with a score of 23-11, and over 110 average damage per round, in the 16-6 victory. Inferno goes to Team Liquid! Nuke next, can NRG pull it back? Map score: @NRGgg 6 – 16 @TeamLiquid #ECS5 WATCH :red_circle: LIVE on https://t.co/eW08k0kGVr pic.twitter.com/vTPLpXP8z4 — ECS (@ecs) June 10, 2018 NRG Esports chose to play on Nuke despite the fact that Team Liquid had dominated Fnatic on the same map in the Group A decider match on day two of the competition. That decision would prove to be one that Damian ‘daps’ Steele and company would regret as Team Liquid once again proved to be virtually unstoppable. NRG got off to a strong start on the CT side but Liquid eventually turned things around to secure an 8-7 lead at the half. NAF and company then produced a near perfect CT side, dropping just one round, and quickly closed things the series out 2-0 with a 16-8 map score as Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski topped the table at 28-12. Liquid’s @EliGE rocked @NRGgg with an epic solo Nuke performance @TeamLiquid move onto the final against the winner of @FaZeClan and @astralisgg. — ECS (@ecs) June 10, 2018 The NRG players are now eliminated from the competition in a respectable 3rd-4th position, netting themselves $65,000 in process, but they will surely feel like their semifinal performance left a lot to be desired. Team Liquid will now keep a close eye on the Astralis vs. FaZe Clan match as they wait to find out who will join them in the Grand Final, which is worth $250,000 for the winning team.

The FalleN Fix: Why Liquid’s Brazilian Star is Already Having an Impact Team Liquid are looking rejuvenated after signing CSGO legend Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo, which could have major implications for the upcoming IEM Katowice’s Playoffs. The Brazilian Godfather of Counter-Strike, as FalleN (29) is often referred to, came over to the TL camp in early January, replacing one-time star of the organization Russell ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken (21). At the time of the transfer, there was speculation if the move really helped Team Liquid grow as a team. After a stellar 2019, the team largely fell to the wayside in the following. While they were trajecting upwards going into 2021, there were still glaring holes to fill. The team needed a dedicated AWPer and support in the in-game leading (IGL) role. So far, Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip has been stepping up to lead TL and molding his game around calling for the team. It’s been working out until now, leaving FalleN to concentrate on getting back to his comfort weapon on the AWP. The team has only played in BLAST sponsored events with FalleN thus far, but we’re already seeing flashes of brilliance as a result from the transfer. None of TL’s games have ended in a split margin since FalleN joined. It’s either been a series of 2-0 wins or 0-2 losses, but most have come against Top 10 teams or Twistzz’s rising FaZe Clan. While there are still kinks to work out, this Team Liquid roster is looking great going into IEM Katowice and are looking to upset some of the bigger teams there.

The FaceIt London CS:GO Major round four matches revealed as eliminations continue The Legends stage of the FaceIt London CS:GO Major marches on, and the fourth round will send more teams home. Round three took place on September 14, featuring both the first qualifying games for the playoffs and the first elimination games of the Legends stage. More was on the line in the latter than previous majors, as for the first time teams that finished 0-3 in the Legends stage will not automatically qualify for the Challengers stage at the next major, instead having to qualify through the Minor system. Defending Major champions Cloud9 hung on by the skin of their teeth in an elimination game against Winstrike, while Mousesports’ Major came to a disappointing end as FaZe Clan handled them easily to send them home. Read more: Fnatic’s JW missed a family funeral to attent the FaceIt Major but made it count vs Vega Squadron – On the flipside, compLexity became the first team to lock in a place in the playoffs with a win over BIG, making a compelling case for the surprise team of the tournament. Astralis faced Team Liquid in an intense game in which TL claimed what appeared an insurmountable lead in the first half, only for Astralis to come back for overtime. In the end, the NA side managed to close it out to reach the playoffs. Following the conclusion of round three, matches were drawn for round four, the final round of best-of-one matches of the event. Three more teams will qualify for the playoffs and three more will be eliminated on September 15, after which the remaining teams will be drawn once more for a best-of-three battle on September 16 to determine the final playoff teams.

The ESL Pro League Season 7 Playoffs Are Upon Us As Some High Profile Teams Bow Out Early in Dallas Images: ESLhttps://glhf.rivalry.gg/get-started/?utm_source=dexerto&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=dexerto&utm_content=dexerto-free-150 The ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals have reached the playoff stages and some high profile names have already bowed out of the prestigious event. After months of online competition, the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals descended upon Dallas, Texas on May 15th as the group stage matches got underway. Live bet on the ESL Pro League Season 7 finals with Rivalry.gg and get a $5 deposit bonus and $1.50 free sign-up. – Early casualties of the event included NiP, who lost to SK Gaming and OpTic to be eliminated in 13th – 16th place, and Cloud9, who were dismantled by Heroic in a surprising result which saw them finish 9th – 12th. Elsewhere, the Australian teams of Renegades and Grayhound were unable to repeat their IEM Sydney success OpTic Gaming narrowly missed out on a playoff spot following a close 2-1 loss to SK Gaming. Speaking of SK Gaming, the Brazilian team look to be in their best form since adding American star Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip but still gave up a comfortable loss to Astralis and only made it into the quarterfinals by the skin of their teeth. The two teams to secure semifinal places right out of the group stage were Astralis, who didn’t even break a sweat, and Na’Vi following an impressive 2-0 win over FaZe Clan where Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov put on a master class. The Group Stage is done and dusted! Dallas will get even hotter tomorrowJoin us at 11:30am CDT as the #ESLProLeague Playoffs kick off! pic.twitter.com/ZqkK0c67V5 — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 17, 2018 Na’Vi will play the winners of a quarterfinal match between Mousesports and Team Liquid. Mousesports were slow starters in the tournament 2-0 victories over NRG and Heroic to close out the group stage showed that they meant business. Finally, FaZe Clan and SK Gaming will play for the chance to meet Astralis in the other semifinal match. Astralis will likely be hoping to face SK as they have a better record against the Brazilian side and FaZe recently defeated them in the Grand Final of IEM Sydney. The quarterfinal matches will take place on May 18th beginning with the Mosuesports vs. Team Liquid game at 18:00 BST (10:00am PDT, 13:00 EDT).

The Danish Prime Minister celebrates Astralis’ CS:GO Major win The Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is having a very busy week but that didn’t stop him from keeping tabs on the progress of Astralis at the FACEIT London CS:GO Major. Astralis are, without a shadow of a doubt, the number one Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team on earth and they proved that point in London by defeating Natus Vincere convincingly in the Grand Final of the latest Valve sponsored Major. The Danes also tore through Team Liquid and FaZe Clan in 2-0 fashion in the playoff stages, meaning that, by the end of the competition, they had beaten the number four, number three and number two teams with ease. Lars Løkke Rasmussen was in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly discussing things that are probably a bit more important than a Counter-Strike match in London, but that didn’t stop him from supporting his fellow Danes from afar! The prime minister congratulated the team after their semi-final win over Team Liquid and wished them good luck in the final, saying “I’m confident that your team can go all the way,” then, when he was proven right he wasted no time in congratulating them! Excellent! :flag-dk: Good luck in the final. I’m confident that your team can go all the way. — Lars Løkke Rasmussen (@larsloekke) September 22, 2018 Så nåede nyheden os til NYC: Stort tillykke til danske team @astralisgg med en overbevisende sejr! #ToTheStars #FACEITMajor #DR3CS — Lars Løkke Rasmussen (@larsloekke) September 23, 2018 According to PolemicFox on Reddit, the Tweet translates to “The news finally reached NYC. Congratulations to Danish team Astralis on a convincing victory.” The level of dominance that Astralis showed in London suggests that Rasmussen will be congratulating the players many more times in the coming months.

The CSGO team on an unstoppable winning streak: “We want to be the best female team ever” Nigma GalaxyNigma Galaxy’s Female CS:GO roster is on a remarkable winning streak, dominating the European scene – and are now set to take on the international competition at the ESL Impact Season 1 finals in Dallas. We caught up with the players to talk about their streak, and the state of female Counter-Strike. Throughout Counter-Strike’s extensive history, there have been famous teams in the men’s game with remarkable winning streaks; NIP’s 87 map wins in a row is the most famous of all. Nigma isn’t quite at that level yet, but since Katarína ‘Kat’ Vašková joined the roster in March, the team has lost only one series and is currently on a 20-map win streak. The majority-Russian lineup also features Romanian and Slovakian talent, coached by Portuguese coach Ricardo ‘JTR’ Júnior. Their next big test will come when they move offline and back into a LAN environment in Dallas, for ESL Season 1 Impact finals, to face international competition for a $123,000 prize pool. Nigma Galaxy’s unstoppable streak Before qualifying for the Dallas event, Nigma worked their way through the online stages, taking down opposition with incredible consistency. Romanian AWPer Ana ‘ANa’ Dumbravă explained that the team’s goals include winning every female ESL event, and that those targets motivated their daily practice for perfection. “I believe that the consistency comes from hard work and dedication,” ANa said. “We are playing and practicing every day, trying to perfect ourselves and to show perfect CS.” “All six members of our team have the same goal to be the best female team ever,” added Alexandra ‘twenty3’ Timonina, another team member. “And it keeps us motivated each day to be the best version of ourselves.” The team is definitely on the same page in this regard, set in their ambition to become the greatest female team of all time. “We are working a lot on our mistakes,” veteran team member Ksenia ‘vilga’ Kluenkova explained. “We always rewatch and discuss our games, fixing anything we did wrong and bringing new ideas. “Everyone in the team is dedicated to the goal of becoming the best female team the world has ever seen.” Heading to Dallas: ESL Impact Season 1 finals While the team has dominated in online matches this year, their next challenge will be facing off against teams from around the world when the best female rosters travel to Dallas for the ESL Impact Season 1 finals. With their current form, Nigma fully expects rivals to be analyzing their gameplay in an attempt to end their streak. But, as vilga explained, they are just focused on playing their game, and not too worried about ‘anti-stratting’. “We understand it and prepared for it [teams studying us], but our game is very fluid, we can easily adapt or surprise with something new. Our coach is a demo geek, he loves watching games of pro teams and he constantly brings some new things to our gameplay.” And they’re not resting on their past success to carry them through, said Kat: “Good players need to keep up with developing themselves and keep on learning so they are harder for the opponents to predict them. There is never going to be a place in CS where you don’t need to learn more.” The team is clearly brimming with confidence ahead of their Dallas trip, and Victoria ‘tory’ Kazieva said it comes down to their practice. “The confidence comes from preparation, so I’m pretty confident in my team. We’re going to have a week-long bootcamp before Dallas to prepare as much as we can, to prove that we can be the best team in the world.” The state of female Counter-Strike The female scene came into the spotlight in December when ESL announced the Women’s Circuit for 2022, under their ‘#GGFORALL’ program, which includes a total prize pool of $500,000. The Dallas event in June is the first LAN tournament of the year for the circuit. While there’s been plenty of talk about this new circuit, one voice that has perhaps gone somewhat unheard is that of female players themselves. “First of all, I want to say that we are so grateful that ESL created this circuit for female CS:GO players,” ANa explained. She added that the female scene “suffered” as a result of the global health crisis. “Lack of tournaments, players leaving the scene for better opportunities and so on. We missed the LAN environment, the people who are cheering for us, the strong feeling that surrounds the stage.” vilga also highlighted the lure presented by Valorant. Riot’s work on the Valorant Game Changers circuits has clearly caught the attention of top CS players. “2021 was a very rough year for the female CS scene. Most teams switched to Valorant due to the flourishing competitive sphere. Thanks to ESL, we are reviving the CS scene again and seeing more and more players coming back and making new teams. Hopefully, more tournament organizers will start focusing on women’s CS so it can bring more viewers.” “The female scene has definitely improved since ESL announced a set of tournaments for 2022,” tory agreed. “We have a lot of competition and I think, depending on the number of female teams, organizations will be interested to sign more and more female teams, and I want to believe that in 2023 female teams will be able to compete with the guys.” For now, Nigma can just focus on the fierce competition they will face from the North American, Brazilian, and rival European teams in Dallas. ESL Season 1 Impact finals begin on June 3, with a $123,000 prize pool. You can watch the action on ESL’s Twitch channel.

The Astralis era is over | Richard Lewis reacts at ESL Pro League Richard Lewis sits down to discuss ESL Pro League Season 13. After a whirlwind showing, Astralis is no longer top dog, as NAVI sits at the number one spot. However, Lewis believes that it’s Gambit who are the true heirs to the CSGO throne. With Gambit’s result over Astralis, Lewis dubs it as “simply phenomenal.” Their performance not only shows the depth and strength of the team itself, but also their talent: “I think they’ve got the best competitive map pool right now out of any team,” he says. While nothing lasts forever, Lewis still states that Astralis is legendary, full of hall of fame talents and each member is still unbelievably talented. Read More: NAVI drop flamie – When it comes down to it, though, Gambit proved themselves against the iconic roster in unbelievable fashion. Calling their performance insane, he states that while the likes of Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov gets the most of the team’s attention, Sergey ‘Ax1LE’ Rykhtorov came out of their showing against the likes of dev1ce with almost double the kills over two maps. The whole team is stacked in talent, with each being interchangeable on who can have the most impact on a game. While rankings aren’t everything, the proof is in the pudding with the incredible teams that Gambit has taken down. The sky is undoubtedly the limit for the CIS going forward. For all CSGO news and events, keep it locked over at our dedicated main page.

Team Vitality sign OG CSGO star flameZ Helena Kristiansson/ ESLTeam Vitality has announced the signing of Israeli rifler and OG CS:GO standout Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan. Vitality is rebuilding its roster during the player break ahead of the switch from CS:GO to Counter-Strike 2. The French esports organization has announced that it has signed OG star flameZ to its team, replacing veteran Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen. flameZ joins fellow Israeli player Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi on the roster of the BLAST Paris Major champions. The team also won IEM Rio this year and placed second at the BLAST Premier Spring Final – dupreeh’s final event. Those tournament runs helped propel the squad to become the highest-ranked team on HLTV‘s and ESL’s rankings. Vitality pick up a young fragger in flameZ With this move, flameZ ends a two-year association with OG, who signed the Israeli from Endpoint in April 2021. The team bombed out of the Paris Major in 20th-22nd place and ended the season with a last-place finish at IEM Dallas. Despite OG’s struggles, flameZ held his own and put up decent statistics while with the team. He averaged a 1.10 HLTV rating and 1.13 Impact while with OG, who are rebuilding their roster around Maciej ‘F1KU’ Miklas, Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isaković, and Iulian ‘regali’ Harjău. “Super excited and proud to join the hive today!” flameZ wrote on Twitter. “I’m ready to put in the work for this new step in my career. I truly believe we can achieve great things together, let’s get started!” Team Vitality’s roster moving forward is as follows: Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi – Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire – Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut – Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif – Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan – Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen (inactive) – Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen (coach) –

Team Vitality reveal new CS:GO roster filled with Major winners Team Vitality has entered the CS:GO scene with the announcement of a star-studded roster of French players. Just hours after G2 Esports announced that they had released both Nathan ‘NbK’ Schmitt and Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire from their CS:GO roster, Vitality made a huge revelation detailing their new lineup. Joining NbK and Apex will be fellow Frenchman Vincent ‘Happy’ Cervoni, Cédric ‘RpK’ Guipouy, and Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut. Team Vitality, while a name that CS:GO fans may be unaccustomed to, is no stranger to the larger esports world, notably fielding teams in Call of Duty, League of Legends, and PUBG. The jump to CS:GO is one that has certainly been a long time coming for the organization and they have entered the scene with some of the biggest names in the game. We are not perfect, not everything will be perfect. But we won’t give up, we won’t doubt, we are ready to handle our responsibilities. Together, everything is possible #VforVictory Welcome Counter-Strike: Global Offensive :honeybee: pic.twitter.com/UMKxvITB6J — Team Vitality (@Team_Vitality) October 8, 2018 NbK is at the forefront of this team, as the video heavily focused on his struggles with staying passionate about the game. “For a short while, I thought about stopping. About leaving for new horizons. Even about leaving this continent,” NbK recalls in the video. After regaining his focus, however, NbK decided to stick around and that led to him to Vitality where he will join four of his fellow countrymen on a roster that he refers to as a family. For NbK, Apex, and Happy, this will be a reunion of sorts after the trio played together on Team EnVyUs before the team shook up the CS:GO scene back in 2017 when it swapped players with G2 Esports. Happy and RpK, meanwhile, had been playing together on EnVyUs ever since that move in early 2017. ZywOo is a relatively new face to the scene, coming in at just 17 years old, but has been making waves even before making his major team debut. Expectations for this latest French superteam will surely be high whenever they first take the stage together in the near future. Team Vitality CS:GO NbK – apEX – Happy – RpK – ZywOo –

Team Vitality Reportedly in Talks with New CS:GO Roster Featuring NBK, apEX, ZywOo DREAMHACK / ADELA SZNAJDERBenched G2 Esports CS:GO stars Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt and Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire are reportedly forming a new French lineup under Team Vitality. The veterans will reportedly be teaming up with former Team Envy stars Cédric ‘RpK’ Guipouy and Vincent ‘Happy’ Cervoni as well as the young player widely regarded to be hottest prospect in the French scene, Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut. News about the potential new lineup was originally broken by ‘neL’, a respected French insider. DBLTAP’s Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis then built upon neL’s report with news that the players are supposedly in discussion with Team Vitality as a potential organization. According to neL, NBK- would be the new roster’s in-game leader, meaning that Happy would take a step back from the role that he has been associated with for a number of years. The inclusion of ZywOo is the most exciting part of the potential Team Vitality squad. The 17 year old is seen as France’s next great hope and, now that he has finished his education, seems to be ready to focus full-time on a career as a CS:GO professional. Team Vitality is one of the biggest esports organizations based in France and is currently best known for its EU LCS team in League of Legends. With G2 reportedly asking for around $800,000 per player for NBK- and apEX, Vitality might be one of the few organizations willing to stretch its budget for the legends. The rumored team consists of: Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt – Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire – Cédric ‘RpK’ Guipouy – Vincent ‘Happy’ Cervoni – Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut –

Team Vitality CSGO fined $10,000 for stream-sniping at BLAST Premier Team VitalityThe Esports Integrity Commission have fined Team Vitality $10,000 “in response to stream-sniping breach of the ESIC Code,” the commission confirmed on January 23. [jwplayer f7GYaDHg] What happened? During their match against Team Liquid at the BLAST Premier Global Final, viewers spotted a screen behind the Vitality players which appeared to display the live broadcast of the match. This is strictly against tournament rules, as teams may be able to gain an advantage by seeing the opposing team’s point of view – even with a delay on the broadcast. Although ESIC did not find any “malicious intent” from Vitality, their zero-tolerance approach “mandates accountability from the organisation for the breach.” ESIC fines Vitality In their statement, ESIC says it “received and assessed VOD footage and player camera footage and found that this breach occurred in [the match against Team Liquid], as well as having occurred in map 2 of Team Vitality’s game against Complexity.” ESIC’s review “does not suggest that the players were information derived from the stream or that they gained any advantage in their matches as a result of the code violation.” They confirm that Team Vitality has accepted responsibility for the breach. ESIC issues $10,000 fine to team Vitality in response to stream-sniping breach of the ESIC Code. While there was no malicious intention detected by ESIC in its examination of evidence, ESIC’s zero tolerance approach mandates accountability from the organisation for the breach. pic.twitter.com/Gs7Kwut0le — ESIC (@ESIC_Official) January 23, 2021 BLAST’s commissioner Andrew Haworth said that they immediately told Vitality to turn off the stream and referred the incident to ESIC and assisted in the investigation. Richard Lewis, in a reaction for Dexerto, argued that Team Vitality should have been disqualified for the breach, to maintain competitive integrity. Team Vitality still move on ahead of Team Liquid, who drop to the lower bracket. Vitality will face Astralis in the winner’s final, while Team Liquid take on NaVi for a spot in the loser’s final. You can keep up with all the action at the BLAST Premier Global Finals with our coverage hub.

Team Vitality crowned champions at CSGO EPICENTER 2019 – Full results Closing out the year with a bang, French organization Team Vitality has walked away as EPICENTER 2019’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive champions after an intense six-day tournament. With a prize pool of $500,000 up for grabs, a number of the world’s best Counter-Strike teams descended upon Moscow, Russia on December 17 to partake in the EPICENTER 2019 tournament. One of the final competitions of the calendar year, the initial group stages featured the likes of North America’s Evil Geniuses, and hometown challengers in the Russian forZe lineup. With the Grand Finals now settled, here are the full results from EPICENTER 2019. Dropping a mere two maps throughout the entire six-day tournament, Team Vitality were crowned champions on December 22 after toppling the veteran European roster of mousesports. While mouz claimed a narrow 19-16 overtime victory on Inferno to open the explosive series, Vitality reversed the momentum and claimed back to back wins on Mirage and Nuke, 16-12 and 16-9 respectively. Marking the organizations second premier tournament championship of the year after besting FURIA Esports on June 9 at the Esports Championship Series Season 7 Finals, the predominantly French roster has rounded out 2019 with its biggest prize of the year at $250,000 for first place. 🏆 #EPICENTER2019 CHAMPIONS 🏆 There is no better way to end 2019 and to prepare 2020! #VforVictory pic.twitter.com/uJVr5ZP9QI— Team Vitality 🐝 (@TeamVitality) December 22, 2019 Predominantly a showcase for European talent, the end of year event saw the likes of Ukraine based organization Natus Vincere squaring off with the full Danish squad under the Heroic banners. Failing to make it out of the group stages of play, Chinese roster EHOME and Russian organization Virtus.pro will be looking to rebound in the new year after dropping all of their respective maps throughout EPICENTER 2019. The complete results for EPICENTER 2019 can be seen below as the conclusion of the Russian event marks the final competition of the year for many Counter-Strike rosters. Rosters around the world will be looking to take a short break following the conclusion of the final significant event of 2019. While the next landmark competition in the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season will not be kicking off until January 31, teams will still be hard at work behind the scenes practicing for another busy year of regular tournaments to come.

Team Secret teases new CSGO lineup with iconic number sequence Team Secret teased on social media that they are in the process of acquiring a CSGO roster, but who will sport the Secret eye? Team Secret, the esports organization most notable for their championship-level Dota 2 teams, appears to be making their way back into the CS:GO scene. On November 21, Team Secret posted a sequence of numbers in an image on their Twitter account. The sequence is one that Counter-Strike fans should be aware of, as it’s the sequence that T side players enter when they go to plant the bomb. This would not be Team Secret’s first foray into CSGO, having previously managed one of the world’s best womens’ teams from 2016 until 2017. Secret signed the WeRunThisPlace roster after they won IEM Katowice Challenge in 2016. This roster featured some of the all-time winningest players in womens’ CSGO history, in Zainab ‘zAAz’ Turkie, Ksenia ‘vilga’ Kluenkova, and Julia ‘juliano’ Kiran. Their women’s roster left in June 2017, and the organization has been absent from the CSGO scene since then. Who could Team Secret pick up? A couple of rosters jump to the front of the list of likely candidates. BIG’s Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield alludes to both of them in his reply to Team Secret’s teasing tweet. Tricked Esport is a Danish roster on the fringes of breaking into the top tier of Counter-Strike. In the past two months they qualified for DreamHack Winter, came up second to GODSENT at WePlay! Forge of Masters, and most importantly, won their biggest event ever with a victory over legendary org Virtus.Pro to claim the trophy at V4 Future Sports Budapest. Tricked announced on November 20, the day before Secret’s tease, that an “undisclosed buyer” had purchased the lineup for a six-figure Euro sum. Sounds like this buyer wants to keep their identity….a Secret. But don’t get tricked into believing it’s Tricked, because there’s another option in a young international roster going by the name of m1x. Earlier in the month, Polish Leaks tweeted that this roster was en route to Team Secret. 🇵🇱 m1x w składzie sinnopsyy, tudsoN, rigoN, anarkez i juanflatroo prawdopodobnie dołączy do znanej głównie za sprawą doty organizacji Team Secret. 🇬🇧 m1x lineup (sinnopsyy, tudsoN, rigoN, anarkez and juanflatroo) likely to create new CS:GO lineup around Team Secret.— Polish Leaks (@PolishLeaks) November 4, 2019 They looked very impressive in ECS Season 8, beating their fellow Secret candidates in Tricked, defeating mousesports in a shocking upset, and putting up great fights in losing efforts to NiP, Astralis, and AVANGAR. Whether Team Secret has inevitably gone high investment with Tricked or low investment with m1x, they’ll be looking to grow a CSGO contender over time rather an acquire an instant contender with high expectations. They’re not the only big name in Dota going after CSGO talent, as Counter-Strike fans are still waiting for the highly anticipated OG roster to be announced.

Team Liquid’s Twistzz mindblown by insane Deagle kill in CSGO DreamHackTeam Liquid star Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken was shocked after being instantly deleted by a random player in one of CS:GO’s casual playlist modes. Popular professional CS:GO player, Twistzz, was warming up in between some FACEIT pick up games with some of his fellow teammates when he was mindblown after seeing how he had died in-game. While waiting for the queue to find him a match, the Team Liquid rifler was streaming some games from Valve’s casual mode playlist on November 15 on the Canals map. During his warm-up game, Twistzz found himself approaching one of the hotspots of the map where most of the action usually takes place to practice taking duels ahead of his match. For one round Twistzz decided to take a more strategic approach in picking up kills by making use of smoke and flash grenades to outplay the opposition. However, following his pop flash around the corner, Twistzz watched as his character was instantly deleted from the game, only seeing the shoulder of an enemy player and leaving him with little to no time to react. The North-American star was mindblown after realizing he had actually been wall banged with one-shot from a Desert Eagle, exclaiming “What, are you serious!?” before watching the replay of how he died. To Twistzz’s surprise, the opponent’s killcam revealed that he was randomly spraying with the lethal pistol after being blinded by the pro player’s flashbang grenade, when one bullet luckily managed to connect. The Team Liquid pro could not help but laugh after realizing how unfortunate his death was, although many viewers joked that the enemy player may have cheated to pull off the kill, spamming “VAC” in reference to Valve’s anti-cheat system. Although it would be hard to tell for sure, Twistzz joked with his viewers shortly after highlighting how unlikely it would be to get that kill, “I can’t believe this sh*t, that guy had the recoil down.” he sarcastically expressed. After winning numerous tournaments and even securing the Intel Grand Slam over the 2019 season, Twistzz and his teammates under Team Liquid will be looking to add a few more before the year ends with the ECS and BLAST pro Finals quickly approaching.

Team Liquid’s Stewie2k pulls off crazy Nuke rush to bag swift 4k in CSGO Fresh off the back of falling short to Astralis at the BLAST Pro Series Finals, Team Liquid’s Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip has yet again proven why he’s up there with the world’s best CS:GO players with a crazy four-man spree during a FACEIT match. Stewie2k developed a reputation for his audacious pushes through enemy smokes and finding kills in seemingly impossible situations. While his role on Team Liquid has become a lot more conservative, Stewie still pulls out the flashy plays as part of his role as an entry fragger. Being one of the most decorated American CS:GO players in history, Yip’s unorthodox playstyle renders him difficult to read and often catches his enemies off-guard. In typical Stewie2k fashion, the self-proclaimed ‘smoke criminal’ showed that he doesn’t need a smoke grenade to catch a team by surprise. While streaming FACEIT matches to his Twitch channel, Yip found himself on the T-side of Nuke and was looking to make a flashy play — and he achieved just that. After bursting out of T-spawn, the Liquid pro bunny-hopped his way up past silo and vents to catch his first opponent completely cold near A-main. Stewie then made swift work of an enemy AWPing near garage before flashing his way into heaven and taking down his blinded opponent. Yip’s only real gunfight came during his final engagement inside A-main, after which he exclaimed: “I’m a f**king speed-demon right now!” With the help of former Counter-Strike pro, Mohamad ‘m0E’ Assad, Stewie made light work of his opposition in just 27 seconds. Needless to say that while this wasn’t necessarily a high-stakes, professional fixture, the movement required to pull off this play underscores just how mechanically gifted Stewie2k is.

CSGO: Team Liquid’s Stewie responds to NAF transfer rumors ESL / Turtle EntertainmentCSGO star Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip has denied knowledge of any conversations taking place about Team Liquid removing longtime member Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic from the roster. RushBMedia reported on October 3 that sources close to Team Liquid had revealed that NAF could be removed from the active lineup due to tensions in the camp of the world’s number one team after a string of less-than-stellar results. Another source reportedly suggested that Cloud9’s Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – a former Major winner alongside Stewie2k – is being considered as a potential replacement for NAF, while another claimed that a straight swap between TL and C9 might be considered, but that NAF could also find a home on Evil Geniuses. NAF has been with Team Liquid since February 2018. Shortly after the report went live, Stewie appeared to refute the claims. The North American player suggested that no such conversations were taking place within the team and made it clear that if they were, he was not privy to them. The 21-year-old tweeted: “Do people know things before me or does this usually mean I’m out too?” Read More: Thorin’s Take: The tragedy of k0nfig – After a truly dominant summer run which saw them claim the $1 million Intel Grand Slam in record time, Team Liquid came into September’s StarLadder Berlin Major as the heavy favorites, but found themselves eliminated in 5th-8th place after losing to a resurgent Astralis who would eventually go on to win their fourth CS:GO Major. Do people know things before me or does this usually mean i’m out too? :shrug:♂️ — Jake (@Stewie) October 4, 2019 Stewie, NAF, and the rest of the Liquid stars looked to bounce back at ESL One: New York three weeks later. Unfortunately, their month ended in a similar way to how it started: defeat at the hands of Astralis and elimination from another event, this time in 3rd-4th place. With virtually no time to rest and recover, a number of the teams competing in New York flew straight to Sweden to compete at DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019. Evil Geniuses, the winners of ESL One: New York, were shockingly eliminated in last position but TL were not far behind, finishing in 12th-14th place after losses to OpTic and Grayhound Gaming with their sole victory coming against North. While their current run of form has certainly taken fans and pundits by surprise, the rumors that the team could potentially be considering a roster change already are equally shocking. Team Liquid were an unstoppable force pre-player break, winning the Intel Grand Slam in just 63 days. At the time of writing, NAF’s only activity on social media since the rumors began circulating come in the form of GIFs – one of which shows Evil Geniuses player Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov giving a thumbs up to a camera. Other members of the professional Counter-Strike scene, including Evil Geniuses coach Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh, have also stated on Twitter that the rumors are unsubstantiated. Whatever the future holds for Team Liquid, fans will be keen to see the North American powerhouse return to the form that saw them become the undisputed best team on the planet prior to the summer player break. It took the team just 63 days to win Season 2 of the Intel Grand Slam, taking home the $1 million prize that was introduced in 2017 for any team that could win four premier ESL or DreamHack tournaments out of 10. They were also the second team in history to achieve it after Astralis, but the rules have since been changed. It was during that run that Stewie2k became the sixth highest earning professional player in the history of CS:GO, trailing only the Astralis players in winnings with $978,890. The closest North American in prize money is NAF, the Canadian sitting 11th in the all-time rankings with a total of $879,265.66. While both Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses have been eliminated from Malmö early, Astralis have managed to overcome the jet lag and book themselves a semi-final spot at the $250,000 event. They will face Fnatic or NiP on Saturday, October 5, while the new look Na’Vi await Vitality or Mousesports in the other semi. You can keep up with all the results and action by visiting our DreamHack Masters Malmö 2019 event hub.

Team Liquid’s EliGE explains why he’s upset over The International’s massive prize pool Starladder / ValveCounter-Strike: Global Offensive star Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski shared his concerns regarding the major disparity between prize money from his respective esport to Dota 2’s the International. As a lot of esport enthusiasts know, the International is the premier Dota 2 event of the year. It’s a grueling event for all teams that dishes out “life changing money” for orgs thanks in part to its crowd-funded prize pool. Meanwhile, in the CS:GO landscape, pro players get special in-game “stickers” during big tournaments that contribute to their event earnings. Dota 2 and CS:GO share a commonality in their publisher, Valve, and some think that the company can be doing a lot more to facilitate the team-shooter like it has been doing for the MOBA’s competitive scene. The International teams can earn a lot, even without winning the tourney In a June 15 Tweet, EliGE was stunned at The International’s $18.4 million pot, realizing just how much money the tournament yields for teams: “literally playing at ONE TI going out in quarters would give you MORE than what a majority of players have ever made from stickers in CSGO.” His comment had a ripple effect throughout the community who shared opinions to EliGE’s comment. But the pro chimed in one more time to clear up some of the “misinformation” he sees people bring up when drawing parallels between TI and CS:GO’s sticker money. “… So many times people say that ‘it’s alright, CS players have sticker money so it’s basically the same thing,’” EliGE said. “Where they believe that sticker money is anywhere close to placing high at The International which, as I have said, is not anywhere close to true.” The International at 18.4 million right now jesus man.. literally playing at ONE TI going out in quarters would give you MORE than what a majority of players have ever made from stickers in CSGO :upset: — Jonathan Jablonowski (@EliGE) June 15, 2019 Furthermore, EliGE went on to say that the impact of sticker money has been going down from what he can tell: “At least from what I have experienced, it has (gone) down since Cologne and I am positive that the majority of players are not getting anywhere close to (a high) number every major.” A major point in EliGE’s discussion was how much teams in The International rake in for having a “meh result.” “Dota 2 players are receiving life changing money with just 1 tournament where they are making more prize money with even just a meh result,” EliGE said. “…One tournament placing at 5th-6th won (about the same) amount of money as Astralis, the most dominant team to ever play counter strike.” What can Valve do to grow CS:GO prize pools? The North American pro had great insight into what Valve can be doing to bolster the CS:GO scene like it has with Dota 2, including a “type of percentage like in-game loot like a compendium,” bring back player fantasy to boost signature sales, get esports cases back into the game, etc. Whatever it is, it looks like some think that Valve has a lot of options to explore if they want to show their support to the CS:GO community in a big way.

Team Liquid’s EliGE slams “terrible” CSGO tournament schedule ESLCSGO star Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski slammed the game’s tournament schedule as “completely terrible” as his team enters an incredibly busy period. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the biggest esports in the world, with tournaments taking place very regularly as multiple organizers seek to capitalize on the success of the game. With multiple organizers hosting tournaments all around the world the schedule can get tough for players and EliGE is just one of many criticizing tournament hosts as he begins an incredibly packed December. The end of the CSGO competitive season is fast approaching as players begin to settle down for the holidays. A final few tournaments have been scheduled to end 2019 with a bang, however, players are frustrated with just how many events there are. In the first three weeks of December, there are seven premier events taking place, leaving teams attending little breathing room. EliGE spoke out about this schedule in an interview with Dust2, citing it as “ridiculous” and “completely terrible with no fix in sight.” He also commented about how tough the schedule is, as the team is playing at three events on three different continents over 12 days. Team Liquid’s general manager even revealed that the team had to rush for their flight immediately after the ECS Season 8 finals and unfortunately missed it. This will result in them arriving in Denmark for the ESL Pro League Season 10 finals just one hour before their first match. Even if they had made their flight, they would have had little to no time to rest and since they are flying all the way from the USA they would have likely been in poor shape for the event either way. Looks like we will be landing in Odense about an hour before our match.. What could go wrong 😅 — Steve Perino (@jokasteve) December 2, 2019 Incredible! We won back to back tournaments and now we’re racing to the airport 😬❤️ thanks for the support guys and gg @TeamLiquid thanks for an amazing game — Nicolai Reedtz (@dev1ce) December 2, 2019 A tough defeat against Astralis again 1-2 but satisfied with this tournament’s showing! Congratulations @astralisgg ! Missed our flight to Odense, arriving 90 minutes before the match, and not able to come to another compromise… Lets see how mentally tough we are 🤔 — Jake (@Stewie) December 2, 2019 Other professional players like Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip and Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz have also spoken about the issue, with Stewie wondering how his team’s mentality can handle such a schedule, while device noted that it was “incredible” they had to race straight to the airport after the final. Tournament hosts have remained quiet about the issue, however, with a rising number of complaints from the top teams they may be forced to act.

CS:GO: Team Liquid finally break tournament curse at IEM Sydney – Final Placements ESLAfter a string of heartbreaking near-misses, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams, albeit without one or two big names, descended on Sydney, Australia for the newest installment of the Intel Extreme Masters event – looking to secure the $100,000 top prize. However, one squad stood out from the beginning and parlayed their early dominance into an overall victory – with Team Liquid finally breaking their big event ‘curse’ and ending up as top dogs. Team Liquid lead from the front While their arch-nemesis Astralis decided to not travel to Australia, Team Liquid capitalized and looked to cement themselves as the team to beat when the Danes aren’t around. In their opening game, the North American squad dispatched of BOOT-d[S] pretty quickly before turning that momentum into back-to-back 2-0 sweeps of BIG and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Despite putting themselves into an advantageous position, Liquid were set with the tough task of taking on MiBR in the semi-finals. However, Liquid showed why they are one of the best teams in the world, taking down the Brazilians in two maps – picking up 16-10 and 19-15 maps wins to give themselves a grand finals spot. Liquid and Fnatic battle in epic final With their eyes firmly focused on a potential tier-one trophy win, the North American squad were faced with the tough task of meeting the resurgent Fnatic – who had progressed to the final behind eye-popping highlights from Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin. From the first map of the best-of-five series, it appeared as if Liquid were destined to be in a classic knock-out brawl as the Swedes answered every round with one of their own – giving themselves a 1-0 map lead. Read More: Top 20 highest earning CS:GO pro players – Despite that, Liquid showed resilience and immediately answered serve with a 16-14 win on Overpass and rolled that into a 16-8 victory on Mirage. However, the Swedes responded with a dominant 16-6 Dust 2 win of their own to force the series to five maps. Yet, Liquid held their nerve and strung out a 16-9 win on Inferno to pick up the IEM Sydney title. First trophy towards the #IntelGrandSlam for @TeamLiquid :trophy: :white_check_mark: @IntelGaming #IEM pic.twitter.com/FUq8yd6iEc — Intel®ExtremeMasters (@IEM) May 5, 2019

Team Liquid star Stewie cracks major NA CSGO prize money milestone Team Liquid star Jakey ‘Stewie2K’ Yip has hit a major career milestone after his team’s loss against Astralis in the ECS Season 8 Finals, becoming the first North American Counter-Strike player to hit seven digits in earnings. The North American roster faltered at the final hurdle against Danish superteam Astralis during the tournament’s finals, after pulling out a shock 19-15 overtime win on Vertigo in the opening map of the decider. Stewie’s side couldn’t get the job done in Arlington, however, as Astralis rolled over them in the next two maps, 16-11 on Nuke and 16-8 on Dust 2, to clinch the 2-1 comeback and make sure Liquid collected the runners-up prize of $100,000. The second-place haul in Arlington may have been $125,000 short of the top spot, but the cash bundle still fired Stewie into the upper echelons of the game’s historic prize earnings, only sitting behind the entire modern Astralis roster. All five of the Danish squad’s star-studded roster are European, however, making Yip the highest-earning North American player on the CSGO circuit, and in the game’s long competitive history, with his seven-digit receipt of $1,006,090. Stewie isn’t the only Liquid player currently hovering around the $1 million mark either, with Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic closing in on the massive milestone after the ECS Season 8 Finals grand final loss clocked him up to $904,565.66 in earnings. US stars Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella ($861,851.73) and Jonathan ‘ELiGE’ Jablonowski ($852,496.42) come in at 12th and 13th in the esports’ overall highest earners. It’s perhaps most fitting that Stewie leads the way for the star NA roster, considering the 21-year-old playing a key role in keeping Liquid in the fight in their back-to-back map losses in the series. It wasn’t enough, however, to get TL across the line. Their Arlington run may not have ended in golden success thanks to an unstoppable Astralis, but Liquid’s calendar year has been fantastic nonetheless. The North American roster took full advantage of their Danish rivals’ drop-off at the start of 2019 to claim the Intel’s Season 2 Grand Slam, winning majors in Sydney, Dallas, Montpellier, and Cologne to bag the circuit’s $1,000,000 prize pool. Stewie and the team continued their success in Chicago, winning Intel Extreme Masters XIV to open the third Grand Slam season, before Evil Geniuses, Fnatic, and Astralis all claimed victories to blow Season 3’s race for the $1m wide open. Read more: CSGO veteran s1mple banned from Twitch again – The team also bagged a further $250,000 from their wins at the iBUYPOWER Masters IV and BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019 events, all of which helped Stewie march on towards the historic prize earnings for a North American player. Now the 21-year-old has the chance to add to his mountainous 2019 haul at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, which boasts a $600,000 prize pool, and the BLAST Pro Series Global Final, which has a $500,000 payout. Liquid start their EPL finals campaign against North in just 48 hours. They sit in the same bracket-side as European rivals Astralis and G2 Esports.

Team Liquid rumored to miss ESL One Cologne for BLAST Pro Series event ESLNorth American CS:GO organization Team Liquid are rumored to be skipping ESL One Cologne in favor of attending the BLAST Pro Series event in Los Angeles, California one week later. Team Liquid are coming off the back of an extremely successful weekend at IEM Sydney 2019, securing victory in the tournament with a tense five-map match against Fnatic. Many expected Team Liquid to ride the momentum from their win through the rest of the spring and into summer’s ESL One Cologne, but it now appears that will not be the case, at least according to tweets from Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields on Tuesday, May 7. Team Liquid secured victory at IEM Sydney with a win over Fnatic. An unhappy Thorin first broke the news that Team Liquid may not attend ESL One Cologne, which kicks off on July 7, on Twitter, stating that if the Americans were “really skipping ESL One Cologne but playing at BLAST Pro Series then that is some seriously disappoint shit.” Read More: DeKay Debrief: IEM Sydney 2019 – “It’s time we had a serious discussion about what the fuck the CS:GO tournament circuit even is anymore,” continued Thorin. “Events like ESL One Cologne are the life-blood of the scene, it’s literally the most prestigious title after the majors. You’re gonna say ‘nah, not for me, thanks,’ but then play in a bullshit [best-of-one]-fest a week later?” Events like ESL One Cologne are the life-blood of the scene. It’s literally the most prestigious title after the majors. You’re gonna say “nah, not for me thanks” but then play in a bullshit bo1-fest two day tournament a week later? Fuck outta here. — Thorin (@Thooorin) May 7, 2019 Why would Team Liquid skip ESL One Cologne? Team Liquid are yet to officially announce that they will not be attending the event in Cologne, Germany, but the news that they could miss it will come as a shock as many, including Thorin, view the tournament as the most sought-after victory in the CS:GO calendar aside from one of the majors. For a team based in North America though, travelling to Los Angeles rather than Germany is a much easier task, especially as the decision would give their players an extra week off in preparation for the event. Prize money is also much easier to come by at BLAST Pro Series L.A., as six teams compete for a share of the $250,000 prize pool compared to the 16 teams that will battle for a cut of the $300,000 pool in Cologne. Teams at BLAST Pro Series need to win at most four best-of-one matches to earn the same prize money as those who finish as runners-up in Germany – a much easier task than the one they would face in Cologne. Many have criticized the decision to host the BLAST Pro Series event just one week after ESL One Cologne, with some on Reddit stating that it is a “shame,” and that the organizers host too many events throughout the season. Whether Team Liquid attend ESL One Cologne remains to be seen, but if Thorin is accurate, it appears that the team many consider to be the second-best in the world right now will miss one of CS:GO’s most historic competitions.

Team Liquid right to ditch Twistzz | Richard Lewis reacts at BLAST Global Finals Richard Lewis reacts to Team Liquid’s crushing of NAVI on day 2 of BLAST Premier Global Finals, and says it’s all down to one man – Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo. The Brazilian sensation starred for Liquid as they knocked s1mple and co. down into the Lower Bracket. Richard doubles down on his call to cut Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken from the starting lineup, and makes an early prediction for the team after they’ve found a new lease of life. Coming right off of the bat with a 2-0 victory, Team Liquid is continuing to prove they’ve got much more to show than what we saw with their performance in 2020. Previously losing to NAVI at the Intel Extreme Masters Final, beating top-tier opposition was something that they struggled to grasp. Sinking low into the world rankings, getting deep runs was nigh on impossible for the team. When discussing why this happened, Lewis notes that he’s previously indicated that Twistzz was dragging the team down, without a proper AWPer and in-game leader. He even suggested previously that FalleN would be a perfect match for the team, and seeing this pay off in real-time is great news. Of course, the Team wasn’t pitch-perfect, with Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip still bottom in fragging, but a win of 2-0 is still an incredible landslide, showing fantastic tenacity against NAVI. To be updated on all CS:GO news and events, make sure to head over to our dedicated hub.

Team Liquid reportedly drop nitr0 from CSGO lineup for rising star StarLadder[jwplayer jztQHV6Y]Team Liquid’s IGL Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella is set to be benched for the upcoming DreamHack Open, with Michael ‘Grim’ Wince taking his spot. Update, July 28 (7:45pm PT): After news of his possible benching broke, nitr0 in a tweet has said: “until next time, friends.” Team Liquid also confirmed the roster shuffle, at least for the upcoming DreamHack event, to Rush B Media: “We can confirm that Grim will be starting for Team Liquid at Dreamhack next weekend. We’re not ready to share more at the moment, but we will have more to share with the community soon.” The move is only confirmed for Dreamhack however. Nitr0 could potentially make his return after the event, although it appears that it will be a more long term move. Team Liquid’s co-CEO Steve Arhancet posted a video shedding more light on upcoming changes to the roster. We know the news today in cs has taken people by surprise, and we don’t want to leave anyone in the dark – but, we just need a little more time to make sure we do what’s right by our players and the community pic.twitter.com/b2ANuVPON3 — Team Liquid Steve (@LiQuiD112) July 29, 2020 Earlier: Team Liquid are reportedly looking at benching long-time CS:GO star Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella after the team’s disappointing string of results in the last 12 months. The front runner to take his spot on the roster is Triumph’s Michael ‘Grim’ Wince, according to sources. Liquid are one of the few CS:GO rosters to have stuck together over the last 12 months. It was one of their hallmarks and their strengths, having won numerous events early in 2019 after the switch, and looked poised to continue that form in 2020. However, a disappointing online showing has forced the team to go back to the drawing board, and one of the original members is on the chopping block. Nitr0 is reportedly being replaced on the roster after a five-year stint at the organisation, according to DBLTAP. Nitr0 has already stepped down according to the report, after discussions about his potential replacement started over the last few weeks. The jack of all trades has been underperforming on Liquid since the move to online play, with a HLTV rating of just over 0.9. Despite recent performances, nitr0 has carved himself a legacy as one of NA’s best players of all time. With Team Liquid, he made it to the finals of the Cologne 2016 Major, and in 2019 helped lead them to a string of big wins, including IEM Sydney, ESL Pro League Season 9, and ESL One Cologne. Nitr0’s departure will be the team’s first roster change since December 2018, when they picked up major winner Jacky ‘Stewie2k’ Yip from MIBR. The main name in discussions to replace him is Triumph rifler Michael ‘Grim’ Wince. The 19-year-old has been a standout performer for Triumph, who has been slowly cementing themselves as a team to watch in North American Counter-Strike. His performances as cs_summit 6 turned the heads of many, including his 123-kill game against MIBR. Grim has been competing since 2017 on teams like SoaR, Dignitas, and Spacestation. His stint with Team Liquid will be his first with a tier-one organization in CS:GO. Read more: How BIG became CS:GO’s best in two months – The reported swap comes just days before Team Liquid are set to take to the stage again after the player break. The team will compete in DreamHack Open Summer, ESL One Cologne, and Pro League Season 12 over the coming months.

Team Liquid part ways with EliGE after eight years with CSGO team Team LiquidTeam Liquid has announced that the esports organization has parted ways with one of its veteran CS:GO team members, Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski, as it rebuilds its roster around European talent. Team Liquid has confirmed plans to change its CS:GO roster from North America to Europe after announcing it is parting ways with long-time team member EliGE. The organization also announced the addition of Bulgarian pro Aleks ‘Rainwaker’ Petrov and Russian competitor Robert ‘Patsi’ Isyanov. With the retirement of Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella, the Team Liquid squad now only has two North American players on its roster. The team will presumably compete in European RMR events moving forward. EliGE started playing for Team Liquid in 2015 and has seen the highs and lows of North American competition in his time with the team. “We feel deep gratitude to Jon and his time on TL, from a young talent to a mature adult who has helped us achieve our biggest moments: winning the Grand Slam, reaching many playoff stages, even creating one of the greatest CS memes,” Team Liquid said in its announcement. Team Liquid and EliGE part ways after almost a decade together EliGE was one of the longest-standing members of Team Liquid across its esports teams and creator lineups. The player was even given an ownership stake in the company in 2021. The North American player has been one of the best players to come out of the region and has been featured on HLTV’s top 20 rankings five times since 2017. With Team Liquid, EliGE won the Intel Grand Slam in 2019, the Americas Minor Championship in 2018 and multiple ESL Pro League seasons. EliGE also helped Liquid make multiple CS:GO Major appearances. The player has yet to comment publicly about the move at the time of writing. His next team is unknown, but multiple North American-based organizations are expected to try to snatch the player up before the competitive circuit resumes. Team Liquid’s roster is now: Patsi – Rainwaker – Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis – Joshua ‘oSee’ Ohm – Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic – Damian ‘daps’ Steele (coach) –

Team Liquid hold off Vitality to win ESL One: Cologne 2019 – Final Placements Team Liquid have secured the Intel Grand Slam with their stunning victory at ESL One: Cologne, taking down a fiery Team Vitality 3-1 in the grand final. Their win prevented Team Liquid securing the Intel Grand Slam, meaning Vitality earned an extra $100,000 for their efforts. As CS:GO returned to the Lanxess arena for another year, one of the most anticipated events did not disappoint, with incredible matches throughout. Finalists Team Vitality were involved in one such match, as they upset previous world number one Astralis in a nail-biting semi-final. Team Liquid were still favorites going into the final however, coming off an impressive 2-0 sweep over s1mple’s Na’Vi – despite Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov’s best efforts. Team Liquid vs Team Vitality – ESL One: Cologne Grand Final The grand final started as many would have expected, with Liquid dominating their map pick Overpass 16-6, thanks to repeatedly breaking Vitality’s economy with impressive Deagle usage. But Vitality immediately bounced back, forcing overtime on Dust2 when all hope looked lost, and then securing the second map thanks to an incredible 1v3 from young star Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut. Liquid started much stronger on map three, Inferno, despite losing the first pistol round, opening up a 11-4 lead at the half. They ended up taking the map 16-10. On map four, Mirage, Liquid once again took the lead at half 8-7. Liquid went on to take the victory and the Grand Finals. Team Liquid’s victory means they also win the Intel Grand Slam, securing a further $1,000,000 in prize money.

Team Liquid dominate ENCE to take IEM Chicago 2019 ESL TwitchThe Intel Extreme Masters Chicago 2019 Grand Finals between Team Liquid and ENCE was a one-sided affair as the Americans came into the United Center on July 21 looking to cap off a historical first half of 2019 with yet another trophy. TL out of the gates firing The series started out with a wild round that saw ENCE take a 1-0 lead. The round win came at the cost of the entire ENCE team which was foretelling of what they would need to sacrifice in order to get any advantage over Liquid’s stellar play. Liquid completely dominated the first map, taking a 14-1 lead only marred by ENCE’s opening round win on Overpass. Liquid pushed any opening they saw fit, and when tactics (rarely) failed them they would default to any one of their members to instantly take over the round. The Americans didn’t have too much to complain about on their first map pick, as the only two rounds they gave up were the ones they expected to lose. This star-studded Liquid lineup has long been self-aware that they’re pistol rounds “suck,” but that’s not really a concern since they can rely on any other aspect of their game to pick up the slack. While ENCE picked up both opening rounds of the halves, the stingy Liquid defense didn’t give them much else earning the Americans a 1-0 series lead with their 16-2 win on Overpass. Liquid running it back on Nuke The second map started in a similar fashion as the first with ENCE taking the opening pistol round, but TL once again came roaring back in the following round to even the score. For a long time in competitive Counter-Strike winning the pistol round usually meant having a good footing to get the following two rounds, but Liquid’s dominance is rewriting how conventional rounds play out in CS:GO. Read more: StarLadder Berlin Minor Americas and Europe results – CS:GO teams who qualified for the Major – Even though Nuke was ENCE’s pick, it didn’t go well for the Finns. In fact, they were only able to get one more round than the map before; three rounds total on Nuke and only two rounds on Overpass. Through two maps, TL had multiple members of their team over 100 ADR (average damage per round), and ENCE simply couldn’t compete with the American’s brute force blended with superior map control. With a 16-3 win, Liquid improved to a 2-0 lead over ENCE in the best of five. Inferno cooled off Liquid, until it didn’t The last map of the series went back to Liquid’s pick of Inferno where they wanted to put an end to ENCE, and claim their prize. But that wouldn’t happen for a few rounds as weaknesses in Liquid’s Marvel-designed armor were starting to show. ENCE put a valiant effort forward, matching the aggression of the Americans for the first time in the series. Their renewed playstyle gave them something to work off of, which eventually saw them get more and more rounds off of Liquid. Far more than they mustered in the previous two maps combined. The ENCE comeback was a real possibility for a minute, as their rifles were finally starting to come to life, pushing the game to a 14-15 scoreline in favor of TL. But the surge came too late for the Finns, as TL were hungry to be the first NA CS:GO team to win IEM on home soil. Who else to secure the victory but dark horse hero Jake ‘Stewie2k’ Yip who got the last kill at IEM which sent confetti of silver and blue raining down in the United Center. Team Liquid now has 10 first place finishes in 2019 alone. The Americans will look to ride that momentum to break Astralis’ record of six straight event wins and what better way to do it than at the StarLadder 2019 Berlin Major.

Team Liquid defeat G2 Esports to win ESL Pro League Season 9 – Final Placements ESLTeam Liquid have won the ESL Pro League Season 9 finals, after a convincing grand final victory against G2 Esports, where despite a valiant effort from the French side, the Americans cemented their place as the best team in the world on current form. Culminating months of intense competition, the top teams from the four regions (Americas, EU, Oceania and Asia) descended on Montpellier, France for the $600,000 finals. Some big hitters dropped out early, including Astralis who were first upset by NRG, and then eliminated by eventual finalists Team Liquid. Liquid actually got off on the wrong foot, with a surprise defeat to North sending them to the lower bracket immediately, but there troubles ended there, as they mowed down their competition from then on. Mousesports and NRG came out victorious from the upper bracket, securing their spot in the semi finals, with the former knocking down FaZe to do so. Mouz then faced a Liquid side coming hot off their victory over Astralis, and despite a potential play-of-the-tournament clutch from w0xic, it wasn’t enough to stave off the top NA team. G2 and Liquid face off in grand final G2 started the better of the two sides in the grand final, with a 7-1 lead early on, but after some incredible frags from Stewie2k and ELiGE, Liquid fought their way back to win a tight 19-16 overtime win on Dust2. Despite winning the early rounds on Overpass, map 2, G2 couldn’t capitalize and were steamrolled by Liquid on their map pick, a convincing 16-3. Nuke was a closer affair, and despite an early deficit, G2 were not going to lie down and be swept, and some big individual plays in crucial rounds (helped by an underwhelming performance for Stewie2K) earned them a 16-12 win to force a fourth map. A power outage at the venue put things on hold temporarily before Inferno began. G2 was able to make things very competitive, forcing triple overtime. Despite the resistance from G2 on Inferno, Team Liquid was able to hold on and secure a victory against a much tougher than expected opponent.

Team Liquid CSGO adds YEKINDAR as stand-in for IEM Cologne 2022 João Ferreira / DexertoTeam Liquid have brought on former Virtus.Pro ace Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis as a stand-in for its CSGO team during the $1 million IEM Cologne 2022 tourney next month. This comes on the heels of the American org signing former CSGO and Valorant pro Damian ‘daps’ Steele as head coach on June 19. Only a day removed after benching coach Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag and French legend Richard ‘shox’ Papillon from the active lineup. With a 2022 filled with middle-of-the-pack finishes, or worse, General Manager Steve ‘jokasteve’ Perino landed on a change ahead of the IEM roster lock deadline on June 21. The move left TL without someone to helm the squad and gave in-game leader Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella one less player to practice with ahead of the stacked IEM event. Team Liquid signs YEKINDAR as CSGO stand-in Team Liquid added YEKINDAR as its CSGO stand-in on July 7 to complete the five-man roster ahead of its IEM Group Stage debut. The 22-year-old rifler ranked 8th on HLTV’s Top CSGO Players 2021 during the height of Virtus.Pro’s form starting that year. The pro was ecstatic to get back to competition ahead of his debut on the blue-and-white. “Seemed like a lifetime of not playing tournaments but I’m back and ready to roll with Team Liquid CSGO at IEM Cologne!” he said. “Wish us good luck and lets make the most out of it!” Depending on how daps and nitr0 choose to build the roster after IEM, YEKINDAR could be a strong compliment to American talents Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski and Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic. Seemed like a lifetime of not playing tournaments but im back and ready to roll with @TeamLiquidCS at IEM Cologne! Wish us good luck and lets make the most out of it! https://t.co/XMbBthGzc0— YEKINDAR (@yek1ndar) June 21, 2022 The addition will give TL plenty of firepower to couple alongside Joshua ‘oSee’ Ohm’s AWP, with at least three more viable options to take the Big Green. Read more: xQc blown away by s1mple’s BLAST dominance – The Latvian pro will slot in under nitr0 along with oSee, NAF, and EliGE as they look ahead to the $1,000,000 event at the Lanxess Arena. Team Liquid CSGO roster: Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski – Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic – Joshua ‘oSee’ Ohm – Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella (IGL) – Mareks ‘YEKINDAR‘ Gaļinskis – Damian ‘daps’ Steele (coach) –

Team Liquid CSGO’s So Close Era ft. Thorin Team Liquid was nearly the best CS:GO team of 2019, but they had their era denied by the resurgence of Astralis late in the year. Thorin recounts the history of this unique “almost era” in CS:GO history. Team Liquid’s almost-era saw them accomplish what many in the CS:GO scene had long suspected was possible — North American dominance in Counter-Strike for nearly five months. During that period, the roster led by Nitr0 managed to lift five trophies and finish off the second season of the Intel Grand Slam with ease, meaning they should have been a shoo-in for the best team of 2019. This two-part video series dissects what went wrong for Team Liquid at the StarLadder Berlin Major, as well as looks back at what went right during the five months of absolute dominance in CS:GO. They could have been the best team in 2019, had they not faltered hard after the player break, and failed to even place top four at the majors. Just comparing Astralis and Team Liquid’s years, Liquid were successful at more events. However, without a Major victory to cap off their impressive streak, any hope of declaring them the best team in CS:GO for the year also went by the wayside. Not only that, but without a Major World Championship under their belt, it becomes complicated to define their run as a real era in CS:GO history, despite the sustained dominance for five months. While this roster has not quite returned to form, they did manage some impressive feats during that time frame. Stewie2k became the first North American player to break $1 million in total prize pool won thanks to his time on Cloud9 and the streak with Liquid. It’s difficult to say whether Team Liquid could have kept up their dominance if the player break had not been right before the StarLadder Berlin Major. It could be also argued that the absence of Astralis allowed Liquid to go on such a run just by their absence, with the Danes choosing to largely ignore bigger events in favor of the BLAST Pro Series or training behind closed doors. Had they continued to attend events, it is entirely possible that one of the best rosters CS:GO has ever seen would continue to dominate, and Liquid would continue their trend of high placements without winning many events. Team Liquid will be looking to run it back in 2020 with the same roster, hoping to rectify their late-season mistakes and have a second crack at claiming their own CS:GO era.

Team Liquid CSGO rebuild starts with rising AWPer oSee Team LiquidTeam Liquid have signed Extra Salt AWPer Joshua ‘oSee’ Ohm to start the org’s CSGO rebuild after benching Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip, Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo, and Michael ‘Grim’ Wince. TL head coach Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag will slot oSee next to Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski and Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic on the starting roster. The primary AWP role and in-game leader (IGL) responsibilities fell on FalleN before his leave from the team. oSee was previously a part of Cloud9’s 2020 roster when the org acquired the ATK lineup for Flashpoint Season 1. After a few stints on open teams, the American AWPer will look to help revitalize Liquid CSGO. “Coming into Team Liquid I’m honestly really excited,” he said. “It’s going to be a huge learning experience for me. I think we have a lot of firepower to be a top team.” Team Liquid CSGO signs oSee Today we welcome @oSeecs to our roster! Thank you to @ExtraSaltGG for the smooth transition. pic.twitter.com/ZOyISgkbBS — Team Liquid CS (@TeamLiquidCS) December 27, 2021 The NA org is entering a new chapter of its CSGO squad, but are still missing an IGL as well as a fifth starting member. Read more: BIG sign faveN in German-record CSGO deal – But 22-year-old oSee is already liking the direction of the team — which he thinks could lead to taking home some hardware in 2022. “Everyone’s dream is to lift that Major trophy so that’s definitely something I would like to do,” he said. “Obviously that’s going to take a lot of work and time to get to that level, but I think we have the potential to lift that trophy.” Team Liquid CSGO rebuild progress After benching two Major winners and a foundational member of the squad, Liquid are retooling their CSGO side around NA stars EliGE and NAF. TL are going to look for two more members to round out its CSGO team to prepare for the ESL Pro League Season 15 and IEM Katowice that will kick off the 2022 season.

Team Liquid CSGO players pay tribute to Nitr0 following his exit ESLTeam Liquid CSGO players praised the impact of Nicholas ‘Nitr0’ Cannella after it was revealed that he would be departing the North American roster after five years. [jwplayer CeoYrVaS] The rifle and once-reluctant IGL, nitr0, has competed under the Team Liquid brand since 2015, and has been a major factor in their success, as seen during their swift Intel Grand Slam run in Season 2. However, the once-dominant CS:GO roster has started to decline in recent months and, with rival teams like Evil Geniuses stepping it up, it was reported that Team Liquid would be looking to make some changes to their core line-up. From prospect to champion. From underdog to leader. So few can say they’ve achieved what you have, and no words will ever be enough to describe how proud we are of how far you’ve come. Thank you for five amazing years, Captain.https://t.co/thy6SznTba pic.twitter.com/3hP4bCKxJQ — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 1, 2020 On August 1, Team Liquid officially confirmed that nitr0 would be moving on, releasing a short video to highlight his achievements and plays in recent years. The CS:GO star filled many roles during his time on Team Liquid, even taking up the AWP and IGL positions when it has been needed. Each of his teammates followed up with their own responses, thanking the 24-year-old and wishing him well in future career moves. Team Liquid players respond to nitr0’s exit A flood of flashbacks of all the great moments we had together. In and out of the game. Forever cherished and never forgotten. Wishing you the best on your next journey…carry the flag, Captain 🇺🇸 https://t.co/JSxbOOoQGn — Jake (@Stewie) August 1, 2020 “Never easy saying goodbye,” admitted long-time teammate, EliGE. “One of the best teammates I could’ve ever asked for when I started my career 5 years ago and you were there for all of it.” Nitr0 was also the final member remaining from Team Liquid’s initial CS:GO roster, as players such as daps and FugLy had all moved on to other teams. Never easy saying goodbye 😭 One of the best teammates I could’ve ever asked for when I started my career 5 years ago and you were there for all of it. We did great things together and I hope you are going to do more great things in whatever you choose next ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/PPOaLA4KSV — Jonathan Jablonowski (@EliGE) August 1, 2020 Twistzz claimed that it was difficult for him to part ways with nitr0, revealing that he had acted as an “older brother” and that he will always be a fan of his former teammate. This hurts the soul. Difficult parting ways with a person that really acted like an older brother to me. I was a nitr0 fan before I joined liquid and I always will be no matter where he goes. Thanks for giving me the best beginning to my esports career. I’ll miss you. https://t.co/z2Z2tq1Co1 — Russel van Dulken (@Twistzz) August 1, 2020 NAF also responded to the post, simply calling nitr0 a “Legend” for his efforts on and off the server. It has been reported, by Rush B Media, that young Triumph pro Michael ‘grim’ Wince will be stepping in for nitr0 during the Dreamhack Open Summer 2020. However, Team Liquid’s plans for the long-run are yet to be confirmed. They said that they will have “more to share with the community soon,” with more roster changes potentially on the way.

Team Liquid CS:GO player Twistzz shares concerning update on his health Monster GamingRussel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken has given fans an update on his health, revealing that it has “gone downhill” recently. The CS:GO star posted a TwitLonger statement on Sunday, October 21, providing details about his situation, stating that he hoped speaking about it would help to “relieve stress,” as he is mentally and physically in pain. “I know being extremely stressed can cause pain and damage within the body,” Twistzz said. “I feel the pain inside, it’s affecting everything negatively, my sleep and just my life over all.” Twistzz states that he recently discovered that he was sensitive to a lot of the food he was regularly eating, and says that his stomach is “pretty damaged”. VanDulken believes this is why his body isn’t healing, but is currently taking medicine to try and help with this issue. VanDulken states that his current condition is stopping him from sleeping, and that he lies awake “with a strong feeling that something isn’t right,” but isn’t sure what is wrong with him. The Canadian has also undergone tests in an attempt to find out what is wrong with him physically. He says that he has found out that he is “highly sensitive” to a number of foods – something he believes has been harming him long term. While Twistzz admits that he is not the kind of person that would get depressed easily, he’s hoping that his career in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will help distract him as he tries his best to stay positive through this difficult period.

Team Liquid CSGO officially sign Grim following nitr0’s exit Dreamhack / Team LiquidTeam Liquid has announced the signing of Michael ‘Grim’ Wince following Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella’s departure from the CS:GO roster. Team Liquid’s CS:GO roster has been one of the top North American squads over the past few years, winning multiple events and even the Intel Grand Slam in Season 2. However, following their decline in recent months, it was revealed that they would be shuffling their roster, with long-time member nitr0 stepping down on July 29. After reports surfaced about who could replace the popular rifler, it was shared that Triumph pro Grim could be stepping in for some of the upcoming events. The new addition has now been confirmed by Team Liquid, as they officially announced the signing of the rising CSGO star on August 4. “We’re very happy to introduce you to Grim – one of the most talented riflers in North America,” their blog post added, “while he does have some big shoes to fill, he has shown us nothing but hunger and determination to help elevate us back to the #1 spot in the world.” Announcing the newest addition to North America’s finest: Help us in giving a warm welcome to @1grimcs into the Liquid Family 💪 Grim will be making his TL debut this week at DH Summer, be sure to watch and cheer him on 🏆 📖: https://t.co/jvdyORnHvA pic.twitter.com/pv69Aobpxw — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 4, 2020 Grim is known for his individual talent and carry potential on the server, which was seen after he picked up 64 kills during a single match against MIBR in the cs_summit qualifiers. He does not seem to be the only change coming up for Liquid, however, as the esports organization followed up, teasing that they would have “one big CSGO announcement” later in the week. We’ve got more than one big CSGO announcement coming your way this week, stay tuned 👀 pic.twitter.com/wXi4c72Au2 — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 5, 2020 As of now, it is unclear what or who will be revealed in this “big announcement,” leaving TL fans to speculate about what could be coming next. The new CSGO signing Grim will make his official debut under the Team Liquid brand in DreamHack’s Summer Open 2020, which starts on August 8.

Team Liquid CS:GO give hilarious sneak peek into StarLadder Major preparation Twitter: StewieTeam Liquid will head into the StarLadder Berlin CS:GO Major as favorites, but that doesn’t mean they’re not taking their preparation for the event seriously – but they’ve also had some fun along the way. The squad of Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip, Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic, Nicholas ‘nitr0’ Cannella, Johnathan ‘ELiGE’ Jablonowski and Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken, along with coach Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag, are expected to, at a minimum, reach the final of the major. Their form over the past six months has been nothing short of remarkable, bringing an end to the Astralis reign and ushering in a new era of North American dominance. While they’ll no doubt be hard at practice, with the New Legends stage beginning on August 28, Liquid have found the time to put together a sitcom-style intro for the team and management. Recreating their version of the intro to ’80s and ’90s sitcom ‘Full House’, complete with the classic theme tune, the roster is seen lazing about the island of Malta. AdreN is also spotted trying to pull a pint, while nitr0 and Twistzz smell the flowers, and NAF simply chills out catching some sun. In case you were wondering, our prep for the major has been going extremely well. :flushed: pic.twitter.com/FJcHB91aAZ — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 19, 2019 Of course, the real reason they’re in Malta is not for a holiday, but rather a grueling boot camp before heading over to Berlin to start the tournament. While their matches in the New Legends stage should be routine victories for a team of their caliber, taking anyone lightly at the major can always be costly, and Liquid will want to ensure they’re not on the wrong end of an upset. Champion’s jersey :fire: Malta Bootcamp, prepping for the Berlin Major. Calm before the storm #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/bDfIBqasux — Jake (@Stewie) August 17, 2019 First, the New Challengers stage at the StarLadder Berlin Major will have to take place, starting on August 23, which will decide the eight teams that will join Liquid and the others in the Legend stage. Liquid will be aiming for no less than first place and the $500,000 prize, to add to their already brimming trophy cabinet, and further cement their legacy.

Team Liquid bring in former EG coach and CS veteran daps João Ferreira/DexertoTeam Liquid have announced the signing of Damian “daps” Steele to be their new head coach on June 20. He was previously the head coach of Evil Geniuses before he stepped down due to differences with the organization. Team Liquid announced on June 19 that they have benched their previous head coach Eric “adreN” Hoag as well as their big signing of 2021, French veteran Richard “shox” Papillon. daps comes into the teams six months after Team Liquid originally signed adreN and shox and retooled their roster around Keith “NAF” Markovic and Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski. Before Team Liquid, daps led an Evil Geniuses squad from June 6, 2021 to December 24. He also had a stint in Valorant playing for NRG Esports after years of Counter-Strike experience. daps and his time on EG In a statement about why he moved to the bench at EG, daps said that he did not get to make the changes he wanted in terms of players, like potentially adding NAF, along with other frustrations with the org. “I propose a roster with NAF as the center piece but that falls through for various reasons and I also inform EG at the same time that I do not want to coach anymore after my experience over the last half of the year,” daps said at the time. He also stated that he would like to return as a player but could come back as a coach if he had power to make changes to the roster. Welcome our new coach @daps! A veteran of CS:GO, we’re excited to bring his leadership, motivation and structure to put NA back on top #LetsGoLiquid pic.twitter.com/P68XuQ4QuE— Team Liquid CS (@TeamLiquidCS) June 20, 2022 Now with a team centered around the player he wanted on EG, daps is joining a Team Liquid side that has an underwhelming year in terms of results. The squad has not had any notable results in the past six months, bombing out of the PGL Antwerp 2022 Major in the Legends Stage with a 0-3 record and missing the playoffs at IEM Dallas as well. Team Liquid also have yet to announce who will replace shox in the current lineup at the time of publishing.

Team Liquid bench CS veteran shox and head coach adreN João Ferreira/DexertoTeam Liquid have announced that they have benched Richard “shox” Papillon and their head coach Eric “adreN” Hoag from their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. The last event that the French veteran and American coach will compete in a Team Liquid jersey will be IEM Dallas where the squad placed in the top eight after losing in the group stage to Cloud9. In the announcement on June 19, Team Liquid said that they are exploring options for their future lineup. shox’s departure was first reported by Dot Esports in May. Today we are announcing that shox & adreN are stepping down from our active lineup as we explore all of our future options for our roster. — Team Liquid CS (@TeamLiquidCS) June 19, 2022 “Today we are announcing that shox and adreN are stepping down from out active lineup as we explore all of our future options for our roster,” Team Liquid said. adreN has been a part of Team Liquid’s CS team multiple times over the years, both as a player and coach. The organization signed him as a coach in 2018 before parting ways in 2020 to make way for Jason “moses” O’Toole. He then rejoined the team in 2021. shox is a storied player from Europe that has played CS for over a decade. The 30 year old has played for various European team like Team Vitality, Titan and G2 Esports. This is his first stint with a North American team. Team Liquid went through a retooling of their roster at the end of 2021 and early 2022 releasing the core of the 2020 and 2021 squad in Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip, Michael “Grim” Wince and Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo. In that time they added shox, Nicholas “nitr0” Cannella after his time in Valorant and Extra Salt stand out Joshua “oSee” Ohm. In the six months that the squad has been together they managed a few top eight finishes at ESL Pro League Season 15, IEM Dallas and in the North American RMR qualifiers for the PGL 2022 Major Antwerp. At the PGL Major, Team Liquid failed to make it out of the Legends Stage, winning no maps in that phase of the event.

Team Liquid become first ever #1 ranked CS:GO team from NA, community reacts DreamhackThe Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community are reacting to the news that Team Liquid are set to become the first North American team to take the number one spot in the game’s world rankings. Team Liquid secured victory in the grand final of the DreamHack Masters Dallas event on Sunday, May 2, taking home the $100,000 grand prize – but not the trophy as it had been lost by UPS! Their 2-1 victory over ENCE also seems set to propel the Americans to the top of the CS:GO World Rankings, leapfrogging juggernauts Astralis to take their place at the pinnacle of the list. With Astralis’ 406 day reign at the top of the rankings looking like it is now finished, the community have been reacting to the huge news – including some who believe that Team Liquid’s jump up shouldn’t be happening. Team Liquid reach the top Unsurprisingly, Team Liquid fans were ecstatic with the news that their team no sits atop the world rankings, with comments of celebration pouring out across the internet, including on Reddit where a number happy supporters simply posted: “WE’RE NUMBER ONE! WE’RE NUMBER ONE!” Others celebrated the magnitude of their accomplishment, with ESL Lead CS:GO Producer @DGN_csgo tweeting their success was “earned and deserved after a long streak just below the top.” Congratulations to @TeamLiquid on their #DHMastersDallas win. 2nd #IGS win. And claiming the #1 spot in the world rankings. Earned and deserved after a long streak just below the top.#CSGO — Mr. Tom-Eric (@DGN_csgo) June 2, 2019 Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields also passed on his congratulations to the team as they became the first ever North American squad to top the rankings, calling the moment a “special achievement.” Congratulations to @teamliquid, the first North American line-up to ever become the best CS:GO team in the world. Special achievement @NAFFLY @EliGE @Twistzz @nitr0 @Stewie @ThixNation @jokasteve @LiQuiD112 — Thorin (@Thooorin) June 2, 2019 The end of the Astralis era? While many celebrated the new kings of the CS:GO castle, others discussed the end of perhaps the most dominant run in CS:GO history, as Danish powerhouses Astralis finally lost their stranglehold on the world rankings after 406 days. The North Americans may be on top for now, but the consensus seems to be that it won’t last, and may only serve to fuel Astralis’ hunger as they try to snatch back pole position. One Reddit user commented: “Astralis ended [their first] era so they can be the only team with [two] eras,” joking that Astralis will quickly return to dominance once again, while another imagined the conversation taking place inside of Astralis HQ. Some are overjoyed with the news though, with one fan creating a special “Astralis era is over” video using the ever-popular crab meme. Should Team Liquid top the rankings? While the CS:GO World Rankings are based on numerical values and fact, a large number of fans believe that while Team Liquid may be the leaders now, they are still not the best team in the world. There is an argument that Astralis’ decision to compete in BLAST Pro Series tournaments, which feature significantly less matches for similar prize pool, has cost them their spot at the top, and not Team Liquid’s improved performances. This can be seen when comparing the amount of matches the two teams have played since the Danes lifted the IEM Katowice Major back in March. Since then, Liquid have played 15 matches that we are least best-of-three maps, while Astralis have played just five, a statistic that doesn’t sit well with some fans. LAN series played by HLTV’s Top 10 teams following the IEM Katowice Major: pic.twitter.com/i1mItMod4Q — Bünyamin Bektaş (@BenjaCSGO) June 2, 2019 This has caused many to claim Astralis cost themselves the top spot, with one commenter on Reddit writing: “Liquid didn’t end Astralis’ era, Astralis ended that themselves.” Thorin compared the finale of the Astralis era to the conclusion of another epic saga, HBO’s blockbuster television spectacle Game of Thrones, which left many fans with a sour taste in their mouth when the final episode aired back in May. The Esports Historian wrote: “The Astralis era had a less satisfying ending than Game of Thrones [Season 8].” The Astralis era had a less satisfying ending than Game of Thrones S8. — Thorin (@Thooorin) June 2, 2019 While the Americans find themselves at the top of the tree now, their reign could be short lived, especially if Astralis can secure victory at the Esports Championship Series Season 7 Finals. The tournament kicks off in London, England on June 6, and with Team Liquid not in attendance, their spell as the number one CS:GO team in the world could last just over a week, before Gla1ve and the powerhouse Danes steal their spot back.

CS:GO: Team Liquid beat ENCE in DreamHack Dallas grand final – Final Placements DreamHackIn partnership with Chipotle. Find out more about the Chipotle Challenger Series here. North American CS:GO side Team Liquid another big win in 2019, but will have to take down the always dangerous Finnish squad of ENCE if they are to take home the $100,000 prize pool at DreamHack Masters Dallas. Having emerged victorious from a grueling group stage with only a single map loss, Team Liquid is in fine form, and with their main rivals for silverware, Astralis, not in attendance it’s another golden opportunity. ENCE, meanwhile, have maintained their status as the best dark horses in CS:GO – never the favorites, but never to be ruled out either – and their 2-0 win over FaZe Clan in the semi-finals proved they’re more than capable of dealing with the big name players. Elsewhere in the tournament, it was a very disappointing event for the other North American teams, as both Cloud9 and NRG crashed out early, in top 16 and top 12 respectively, placing the weight of expectation for the NA region firmly on Liquid – although they’re used to that by now. FaZe Clan’s new lineup, now featuring former Virtus.Pro legend Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski, showed flashes of brilliance, but it’s clear they will need more time to mesh and find their footing as a roster. Still, there’s plenty of positives from their top 4 finish. The all-Brazilian lineup of FURIA did well to finish alongside FaZe too, with impressive wins over Fnatic and Vitality ensuring they shared the 3-4th spot. The grand final between Team Liquid and ENCE began at 2 pm EST /7 pm BST /11 am PT on Sunday, June 2, and you can watch the action below from DreamHack’s official Twitch channel. Watch live video from DreamHackCS on www.twitch.tvTeam Liquid were able to keep it together and walk away as champions of DreamHack Dallas 2019, despite a valiant attempt at a comeback after ENCE was down 9-1 in a back-and-forth third map.

Team Envy’s SIXER Faints On Stage While Celebrating Win Over Heroic at CS:GO Asia Championship HLTVTeam Envy’s CS:GO roster has been having a tough few months to say the least, so when they made their first semi-final in a long time, Christophe “SIXER” Xia almost fainted celebrating. Envy are over in China for the 2018 CS:GO Asia Championship, and advanced to the quarter final to face Heroic after finishing third in their group, and were underdogs given Heroic’s recent form. But Envy looked an entirely different team than in their recent LAN performances, especially on the first map Inferno, winning 16-9. Heroic did take the second map in a very close game, winning 16-12, and this would typically be the time when Envy would fall apart. But on map three on Train, a map that hasn’t been particularly kind to Envy recently, star player Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom hit 32 frags to guide his side to the win. SIXER himself also stepped up where he has been sorely lacking in recent games, finishing with 24 kills himself, +8 overall. Heroic still put up a valiant effort in the face of the fragging from Envy, but ultimately it was too much for them, as nV won 16-13 – causing SIXER to nearly faint in celebration. The win clearly meant a lot to SIXER and the team, especially since SIXER was recently removed from the starting roster due to his own individual poor performances. Teammate Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey commented on how much passion SIXER playes with, which ultimately caused him to be so overjoyed in victory he almost passed out. This guy has a love for CS, putting all his emotions towards every game he plays. Just amazing. @nV_SIXER_ https://t.co/8ZzuSVmWCj — EnVy kioShiMa (@kiocsgoo) June 17, 2018 Envy move on to face Na’Vi in the semi-final, a team that already beat them 2-0 in the group stage, so it will be no easy task for Envy to reach the grand final, but will look to cause their second big upset of the tournament.

Team Envy officially releases full CSGO roster Adela Sznajder / DreamhackAmerican esports organization Team Envy has officially released every member of their CSGO squad, but the move doesn’t really come as much of a surprise. Envy has been one of the most well-known esports orgs in the CSGO scene since 2015, but with the wild year esports has gone through, some insiders are claiming that it’s no longer financially profitable to operate a professional Counter-Strike team. One of those was Envy owner Mike ‘hastr0’ Rufail, who likened running a CS team to “lighting money on fire” in the current moment. Actually, operating almost any CS team is lighting money on fire right now. There are no underlying assets that support the spend where top player salaries are. I’m sure you could run a fantastic team if you had unlimited cash, but what happens when you can’t cover your cost? — Mike Rufail (@hastr0) January 8, 2021 “Operating almost any CS team is lighting money on fire right now,” hastr0 wrote just a few days before the news broke. “There are no underlying assets that support the spend where top player salaries are. I’m sure you could run a fantastic team if you had unlimited cash, but what happens when you can’t cover your cost?” With that on the table, it’s no surprise that Team Envy announced they would be officially disbanding, and placing their entire roster on the transfer list on January 11. This means that players Thomas ‘Thomas’ Utting, Nikola ‘LEGIJA’ Ninic, Michal ‘MICHU’ Muller, Bugra ‘Calyx’ Arkin, Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis, and coach Jakub ‘kuben’ Gurczynski will all have to find new teams going forward. Today we bid farewell to Envy CS:GO. Thank you to all of our players & staff for your time and dedication while on Envy. We wish you all the best in the future. 📜: https://t.co/PagAYz9WqN pic.twitter.com/jMIAoeTF8f — ENVY (@Envy) January 11, 2021 While the news is certainly disappointing to Envy CSGO fans, hastr0 didn’t rule out a return to the esport for the org in the future after a “hard reset.” “Let’s be honest, we haven’t performed the best in CS for a while after being former world champions with our great French rosters,” Rufail wrote on Twitter after the news broke. “It was time for a hard reset and we are performing at a top level in so many other games right now. Will keep you guys posted.” Let’s be honest, we haven’t performed the best in CS for a while after being former world champions with our great French rosters. It was time for a hard reset and we are performing at a top level in so many other games right now. Will keep you guys posted. — Mike Rufail (@hastr0) January 11, 2021 It’s still unknown where any of the former players or coaches will end up following this shakeup, but be sure to stick with Dexerto for all the latest CSGO esports updates as we head into what could be a wild 2021.

Team Envy add three new players as part of CS:GO roster overhaul North American professional esports organization Team Envy have completed a major overhaul of their pro CounterStrike: Global Offensive roster. Envy announced on March 22nd that they had signed Sam ‘s0m’ Oh, Bradley ‘ANDROID’ Fodor, and Jacob ‘FugLy’ Medina to their pro CS:GO team. In order to make room for the three new players, Envy also announced that they had parted ways with Taylor ‘Drone’ Johnson and Steven ‘reltuC’ Cutler. The roster already had a vacant spot following the IEM Sydney: North American Qualifier when stand-in player Finn ‘karrigan’ Anderson left the team to return to FaZe Clan. With Envy’s roster shuffle now complete, the three new players have already been thrust into action with their new team, joining ‘Nifty’ Francis and Josh ‘jdm64’ Marzano in the Dreamhack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier. Join us in welcoming our latest additions to #EnvyCS! We’re kicking things off right away as we take on @eUnitedgg in the Dreamhack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier later today! Details: https://t.co/2K6Lejn4OA pic.twitter.com/xkbl6fEQ9c — Team Envy (@Envy) March 22, 2019 The three new additions to Envy’s roster all come from different backgrounds and levels of experience. ANDROID, who joined from compLexity Gaming, played an instrumental role in his former team’s first place finish at the Americas Minor Championship – London 2018. FugLy joined Envy after spending over two years with NRG Esports and was part of the squad the took first place at the recent Katowice 2019 Americas Minor. s0m, who has the least playing experience of the three, is widely considered a promising talent, and is coming off a successful spell with Swole Patrol. Thank you to @Dronecsgo and @reltuC for their time with #EnvyCS and we wish you guys the best in your future endeavors. pic.twitter.com/I2bznK13iQ — Team Envy (@Envy) March 22, 2019 Envy will certainly hope that their new recruits will help take the team to a whole new level after what has been an up and down past few months. The trio will certainly have a chance to make an instant impact with their new squad, as a victory in the Dreamhack Masters Dallas Closed Qualifier will guarantee them a spot in the $250,000 major tournament.

Team Dignitas has Released its Male CS:GO Team Team Dignitas has announced it has parted ways with its male CS:GO team. The release comes after a turbulent year for the squad, which was relegated from the ESL Pro League with a shocking 2-20 record. We have parted ways with our Men’s CS:GO team. We thank them for their time and wish them the best of luck in this season’s Mountain Dew League. We’ll be keeping an active eye on the CS:GO community as we look to adopt a new strategy going forward. — Team Dignitas (@TeamDignitas) 29 August 2018 Mitch ‘mitch’ Semago, Gage ‘Infinite’ Green, Peter ‘ptr’ Gurney and coach John ‘shinobi’ Abastado are all now free agents and will be looking for another organization to represent in the Mountain Dew League. The departure comes just six months after the former SoaR roster joined Team Dignitas, who was hoping to have a successful North American team in the pro league. After its relegation, Team Dignitas attempted to rectify the squad’s performance by changing its roster several times, until only mitch remained from the original team signed in February. Following a disappointing year of results, it seems Team Dignitas has decided it can go no further with the current roster. Fans of the organization don’t need to worry though, as it said it will be keeping a close eye on the CS:GO community and looking for a new strategy going forward, suggesting it won’t be long before they move back into the scene.

Tarik unboxes $4,000 CSGO knife in the middle of Valorant tournament Twitch: TarikTarik unboxed a Butterfly Knife Lore on CS:GO while watching Sentinels vs MIBR during the Valorant Champions Tour 2023: Americas League tournament, and it’s safe to say he was pretty shocked by it. Counter-Strike cases are loot boxes that can be opened for various cosmetics. Of these cosmetics, knives are typically the most expensive, though, weapon skins can be made more valuable with the right stickers. The main reason for this high valuation is that knives are just extremely rare. Much rarer than even Red rarity skins that regularly sell for over $100. According to a community case study of over 2000 crates, the chance of getting any knife from a case is thought to be around 0.5%. The butterfly knives are the most valuable of these due to their flashy inspect animation. Tarik gets $4,000 butterfly knife in CSGO while watching Valorant Champions Tour Tarik was watching the Sentinels vs MIBR play during the Champions Tour 2023: Americas League. The Sentinels content creator opened up CS:GO during the map transition only to land something special. Opening a handful of Dreams & Nightmares Cases, Tarik scored himself a minimal wear Butterfly Knife Lore. It only took nine cases to land the knife. Checking the Community Market, Tarik believed the knife to be worth $1,700 but this price wasn’t accurate. Instead, the Butterfly Knife Lore has a street price of around $4,000 which Tarik described as the “best knife he’s ever opened.” Tarik won’t have to worry about losing his new knife in the transition to Counter-Strike 2 either. Developer Valve has already confirmed that all player skins and cosmetics will transfer over to the sequel. Also, as part of the overhaul to visuals, CS2 will feature new upgraded models for all stock weapons. Some weapon finishes will be able to take advantage of this potentially resulting in some of CS:GO’s most sought-after skins looking even better.

Tarik slams PGL CSGO Major watch party rules: “Worst piece of sh*t ever” StarLadderFormer CS:GO pro Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik has criticized the watch party rules in place for the PGL Stockholm Major, explaining why he hasn’t hosted one yet. PGL released on October 21 the community broadcast guidelines in place for the Major, whereby content creators can stream tournament matches as long as they do it in a non-commercial manner. Since the start of the Major on October 26, there have been watch parties in multiple languages as PGL and Valve want to give the CS:GO community multiple ways to follow the tournament. This helps explain why the first day of the Stockholm Major had a peak viewership of 667,000 — an impressive figure, considering that most of the big names will only enter the fray in the New Legends Stage, which will begin on October 30. 667K Peak Viewers on 1st day of Challengers Stage PGL Major Stockholm 2021. @ENCE vs @FaZeClan is the most popular match of the day. More stats of #PGLMajor:https://t.co/7JfiRnadGg@pglesports @CSGO pic.twitter.com/UGg0iYsaJm — Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) October 26, 2021 Tarik slams Major co-stream rules But not all big streamers seem to be happy with the guidelines in place. Tarik, who was part of the Cloud9 team that won the ELEAGUE Boston Major in 2018, has criticized the event’s strict co-streaming rules, which include a mandatory two-minute delay. The North American player, who has hosted Valorant watch parties in the past, also expressed his disappointment with the fact that third-party channels can only stream from GOTV, without commentary from casters. “I don’t know if I’m going to do a watch party for the Major tonight, probably not,” he told viewers. “I might wait until the next stage. “It’s also super scuffed, man, it’s super f**king scuffed how PGL has it set up. You have to have a two-minute delay on your stream, you have to remove all ads from your stream, you have to remove all the panels below your stream that have any ads, you can’t listen to the casters while you’re in the GOTV so you can just hear the gameplay. “Not only are you in the GOTV with delay, you have to add a two-minute delay on top. It’s ridiculous, it’s the worst piece of sh*t I’ve ever heard. It’s the worst piece of sh*t ever. “I’m sorry if this comes off as rude, but it’s the worst piece of sh*t.” The PGL Major is currently in the Challengers Stage – you can keep up with all the action from Sweden on our event hub.

Tarik set to join NRG Esports’ CS:GO roster after disappointing IEM Katowice Major exit NRG had a disappointing performance at CS:GO‘s IEM Katowice Major and they are wasting no time trying to correct their roster as reports claim that they have made a swoop for former Cloud9 and MIBR star, Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik. After finishing in 16th place at the Major with a shock 0-3 record in the New Legends Stage, VP Esports is reporting that NRG are looking to swap Jacob ‘FugLy’ Medina for Tarik, who is currently an inactive member of Made in Brazil. The latter half of 2018 and the start of 2019 has been rough for tarik, who was benched on MIBR after their international experiment failed to yield the desired results. However, the 23-year-old’s Major winning performance with Cloud9 back in January of 2018 means that his stock is still high. FugLy failed to stand out in Katowice, but was by no means NRG’s weakest player, outperforming both Damien ‘daps’ Steele and Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov in terms of raw statistics in the New Legends Stage. However, daps is the team’s in-game leader and CeRq is the main AWPer and one of the star players despite his poor form in the Major – FugLy is, perhaps, the easiest member of the team to replace. NRG dropped all three matches in the New Legends Stage, losing to NiP and AVANGAR in best-of-one matches before falling in 2-0 fashion to their fellow North Americans, compLexity. This was in stark contrast to their 3-0 record in the New Challengers stage, where they appeared to be in cruise control. Should the move come to fruition, there will be some rust for tarik to shake off as he returns from an inactive position, last appearing in an official match back in December 2018. The clear talent is there however, with tarik being a key piece in the successful Cloud9 team that won 2018 ELEAGUE Boston Major. In fact, the veteran was the in-game leader for Cloud9’s Major run, and his loose calling style and experience could be something that daps calls upon when NRG are struggling like they did in Katowice. For the time being, this move is unconfirmed.

Tarik opens up about time with MIBR and plans for the future in CS:GO DreamHack / Adela Sznajder2018 couldn’t have started better for Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik as he lead Cloud9 to victory at ELEAGUE Boston to become the first and only North American team to ever win a CS:GO Major. Unfortunately, the Cloud9 train was derailed just as quickly as it started rolling. Despite winning the Major in January, a number of underwhelming results and a new opportunity at MIBR saw Stewie2K leave the team. A few months later, in July, tarik followed his former teammate to join the majority Brazilian roster. Unfortunately, the team never managed to gel and MIBR decided to try a full Brazilian roster once again. Stewie2K went to Team Liquid as part of a swap for Epitácio ‘TACO’ de Melo and Wilton ‘Zews’ Prado, but tarik found himself benched when he didn’t receive an offer that he wanted to pursue. Now, the 22-year-old has opened up about his time with MIBR and his plans for the future in a statement on TwitLonger. “I knew that joining MIBR was a risk and unfortunately it didn’t pan out. Some difficulties in language and culture, but most importantly a clash of play styles brought it to an abrupt end,” he said. “Regardless of everything, having the chance to learn and work with the Brazilian core was a unique and thrilling opportunity for me. Although it was short-lived, it was an honor to play with the legends. I have no regrets, everything happens for a reason.” Unfortunately for fans of the North American, it doesn’t sound like we’ll be seeing him in action any time soon, as he has opted to remain on the MIBR bench and wait for the right opportunity rather than rushing into any decisions. In the meantime, he says he will be concentrating on his Twitch stream and improving as an individual in CS:GO: “At this time I’ll be sitting out with MIBR, streaming and working further on my personal game, until another opportunity arises.” It seems likely that tarik will wait until the IEM Katowice Major concludes in early March before he looks at joining a new team. Most Majors are followed by an intense transfer period as many of the world’s top teams look to make improvements.

Tarik explains why NRG “expected” to beat Team Liquid at StarLadder Berlin CSGO Major StarLadder/ESLIn a post-game interview with Sue “smix” Lee, Tarik ‘tarik’ Celiks said that he and NRG Esports “expected to win” against the current number one Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team in the world, Team Liquid. With a ton of momentum behind them, NRG Esports met their NA rivals in team Team Liquid in the second round of the Legends Stage at StarLadder Berlin. While Liquid is considered the best team in the world, there wasn’t a lot of team excellence on display against NRG, just a showcase for one individual. Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski had an incredible game, 28 kills and 14 deaths, but no one else on Liquid stepped up. NRG won forcebuys after both pistol rounds were won by Liquid, preventing Liquid from gaining any momentum, and in a stunning 16-9 fashion, NRG defeated Liquid, and ruined a lot of 3-0 Pick’Em picks. In the post-match interview, Tarik acknowledged that he expected the scoreline to be closer to 16-13 or 16-12, but said that NRG came into the map expecting to win. Tarik attributed their high level of play to the momentum and hype that they carried into the match, and praised their new in-game-leader Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz for his ability to help NRG finally get one over on Liquid. “We’re a new team now,” Tarik told smix. “You gotta show respect to us.” NRG Esports has been in tremendous form, more than worthy of respect, and there’s no denying that. Throughout the summer, the North American squad has looked more and more impressive, finishing 3rd at BLAST Los Angeles, 3rd/4th at the ESL Pro League finals, and then going undefeated at the Americas Minor, finishing first and qualifying for the major. In the Challengers stage, NRG looked just as crisp. Going 3-1 and only losing in overtime to DreamEaters, who would go on to defeat Team Vitality and qualify for the Legends stage themselves. In their Challengers stage wins against TYLOO, Syman Gaming, and AVANGAR, NRG Esports didn’t let a single opponent reach 10 rounds in any map. They were the statistically superior team, as tarik, Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov, and Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold all finished in the top five for player ratings, and NRG’s team rating was far above any other team’s. After wrangling some rowdy Renegades in a 16-14 round one Legends stage match, their date with Team Liquid was set, and their message was sent. NRG have a tall task in round three of commanding respect from Astralis in a best-of-three. If they win, they punch their ticket to playoffs.

Tarik in disbelief after random teammate fails and “throws” CSGO match After giving crystal clear instructions during a CS:GO match, Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik couldn’t believe his eyes when his teammate threw a seemingly easy round win. Tarik is one of North America’s finest CS:GO professionals; after claiming his first major with Cloud9 at the beginning of 2018, he went on to represent MiBR before finding his home with his current roster. Now playing under the Evil Geniuses’ banner, Celik’s entry fragging abilities have led his squad to become one of the best in the world. After a convincing ESL One New York win, tarik and co. had a brief spell as number one team in the world. Yet, despite tarik’s long list of accolades and recent run of good form, even he couldn’t help his teammate win a one-versus-one during FACEIT match against Team Liquid pro, Jonathon ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski. With the game poised at 12 rounds apiece, team_TaRiK found themselves in a do-or-die situation. Since the 23-year-old ‘Content King’ wasn’t at the helm, he could only guide his teammate. Given Celik’s advanced in-game IQ, he quickly realized that the opposing player usually defended the B-bombsite. Based on this, he advised his teammate to plant the bomb on A-site in an open spot and head up the ladder towards Palace. The EG Rfiler then advised his ally to slow-peek after hearing the defusing chime. Up until this point, tarik’s teammate listened (and executed) every instruction given. As predicted by Celik, their foe tapped the bomb to bait a peek. As per the instruction, the T-sided player slow-peeked out of Palace, lined-up his crosshairs with the enemy, but then inexplicably failed to shoot. Unfortunatley, tarik didn’t think to tell them to shoot. “No way, bro!” he yelled. “Dude, report this kid for throwing… This kid’s such a nerd, he’s throwing on purpose, dude — are you kidding me? No f**king way, bro.” While Tarik’s coaching did not pay off, his team was still in a position to full-buy thanks to a three-round winning spree beforehand. Of course, the EG player’s comments were likely made in jest as he did not continue to report his teammate, despite losing the match 13-16.

Tarik hits out at critics after yet another Evil Geniuses CSGO event win DreamHackTarik has been seeing heaps of success with his current team under Evil Geniuses, but it seems he doesn’t feel the team is getting the props it deserves, as implied in a recent tweet aimed at their critics in the CSGO community. Tarik “tarik” Celik first joined up with his current teammates on NRG Esports in March 2019, before the team was bought out by North American giant Evil Geniuses in the following September, ahead of ESL One: New York 2019. They have seen huge success in the months spent teaming, with a win at ESL One: New York and, most recently, at StarLadder’s StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8. In a tweet posted on October 28, just a day after the team won the event, tarik called out people who wanted to chalk up Evil Geniuses’ wins to external features, rather than the team simply being the best there. Using a classic Spongebob Squarepants meme format, tarik said: “Before: tHeY wOn BeCaUsE oF tHe cRoWD. Now: tHeY wOn BeCaUsE oF tHe SG.” before: tHeY wOn BeCaUsE oF tHe cRoWD now: tHeY wOn BeCaUsE oF tHe SG pic.twitter.com/NZo4nE9Zhe — tarik (@tarik) October 28, 2019 When they made the grand final at ESL One: New York, the crowd was firmly behind their local heroes, who were taking on Astralis, one of the greatest teams in the history of Counter-Strike. Many detractors started saying that the crowd is what pushed EG to the win, with some users on different forums and platforms even implying that the New York crowd was calling out to help EG during rounds. Now, after winning StarSeries & i-League Season 8, people have called out EG’s use of the SG 553 assault rifle, claiming that it’s overpowered. This is despite the weapon being readily available to every team at the event, with many using it. Tarik has clearly had enough of the detractors, but hopefully, with a bit more money in the bank account, he won’t let it affect him too much.