2023 was the year where CS:GO was replaced by CS2 during the year, that otherwise were dominated by teams such as Team Vitality, FaZe, and G2.
Player-wise the story of the year was the decline of Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, who ended the year by taking a pause from the game after the release of CS2. Despite a drop in performance from the Ukrainian, s1mple is still ranked in the top 10 players of the year. A testament to the insane levels that the NAVI players have shown in the past years.
Another revelation of 2023 was the emergence of the 16-year-old Danil “donk” Kryshkovets. In the summer of 2023, donk was promoted to the first team of Team Spirit, and has since been dominating CS2. 2024 looks promising for the Russian roster, who got Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov onboard at the end of the year. With two players in the top 3 of the best-performing players of 2023, Team Spirit will have high hopes for the new year.
Highest-rated players of 2023 (Ranking Filter: Top 30 teams – min. 50 maps played):
1. 
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut (Team Vitality) – 1.30 rating (133 maps) +829 K-D difference
2. 
Danil “donk” Kryshkovets (Team Spirit) – 1.29 rating (82 maps) +372 K-D difference
3. Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov (Cloud9/Team Spirit) – 1.22 rating (135 maps) +777 K-D difference
4. 
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz (Astralis) – 1.21 rating (130 maps) +582 K-D difference
5. 
İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş (Eternal Fire) – 1.20 rating (109 maps) +238 K-D difference
6. Benjamin “blameF” Bremer (Astralis) – 1.19 rating (130 maps) +480 K-D difference
7. 
David “frozen” Čerňanský (MOUZ/FaZe) – 1.19 rating (127 maps) +464 K-D difference
8. 
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač (G2) – 1.18 rating (129 maps) +359 K-D difference
9. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov (G2) – 1.18 rating (129 maps) +498 K-D difference
10. 
Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev (NAVI) – 1.17 rating (105 maps) +401 K-D difference
Also rated 1.17 in 2023: KSCERATO, Spinx, Jame, deko
Team Vitality was the highest-rated team during 2023 with a 1.11 rating, with Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, FaZe, Heroic, Monte, and Astralis being the closest competitors rating-wise.
