Credit: Gambit

CIS teams have conquered the CS:GO throne in 2021

Gambit, Virtus.pro and Spirit has alongside Natus Vincere altered the power structure at the very elite of Counter-Strike.

2021-03-11 | @PleyTB

We are now one quarter deep into 2021 and the big talking point on the CS:GO scene so far, must be the complete and utter dominance by the Eastern European region called CIS. The region holds a long track record of impressive achievements and accolades on the very top of the game, mostly represented by the Russian top team Natus Vincere.

However, this year things have changed up a bit. The CIS region has gone from an absolute monarchy with NAVI sitting on the throne, to a more diverse and broad scale. Young and promising teams as Gambit, embodied by the former Gambit Youngsters roster, Spirit and Virtus.pro has skyrocketed onto the top tier scene of Counter-Strike, presenting huge victories at some of the biggest events in the world.

IEM Katowice 2021

The most distinct example of CIS’ dominance must be the newly concluded and prestigious IEM Katowice. At the $1 Million event, the four attending CIS teams in NAVI, VP, Gambit and Spirit cruised through the competition, as the quartet crushed every opponent on their way, including an already iconic 16-1 victory by Spirit over Astralis.

The four teams all ended in Top 6 at the event and a full-CIS Grand Final seemed rather inevitable with the Flashpoint 2 winners from Virtus.pro taking upon the youngest roster on the Top 30 World Ranking in Gambit.

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/team-spirit-stuns-astralis-wins-last-map-with-16-1/","text":"Read more: Spirit stuns Astralis and wins the last map with 16-1!"}]

Led by the later revealed MVP Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov and the veteran Abay "Hobbit" Khassenov, Gambit overpowered VP in the Grand Final, where they not only cemented their own name on the top of CS:GO, but an entire region.

Here's the list of the best players from 2021. And you might think it's only from one region, owing to all players being from CIS. However, that isn't the case - It's representing the best players from the entire CS:GO landscape!

Top 5 Highest-Rated Players 2021 (Top 30)

1. Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev | Natus Vincere

Age: 23

Role: AWPer

2021 stats: 1.36 Rating / 86.6 ADR / +255 K-D Diff

2. Aleksey "El1an" Gusev | Winstrike

Age: 21

Role: AWPer

2021 stats: 1.26 Rating / 83.9 ADR / +148 K-D Diff

3. Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis | Virtus.pro

Age: 21

Role: Rifler