Team Spirit triumphed at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, defeating Natus Vincere (NAVI) with a 3-1 victory. This marked Spirit's second major title of the year, having started 2024 with a win at IEM Katowice. During that tournament, Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets garnered significant attention with an impressive 1.70 average rating. At the BLAST Finals in London, he was once again crowned the MVP, this time with a 1.33 rating.

The 17-year-old Russian standout dominated the Grand Final, where Spirit secured victories on Ancient and Dust2. NAVI fought back with a strong performance on Mirage, but ultimately, Spirit clinched the final map on Nuke, showcasing a robust T-side to finish off their opponents.

The tournament will also be remembered for NAVI's resurgence after lackluster performances following their surprising win at the Copenhagen Major in March. NAVI convincingly defeated Astralis, FaZe, and Virtus.pro before falling short in the Grand Final.

Nicolai 'device' Reedtz delivered an inspiring individual performance at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals. As the new in-game leader for Astralis, device has been particularly spectacular on Nuke since taking over from Benjamin 'blameF' Bremer. However, his ratings dipped on most other maps. In London, device added Inferno to his stronghold, achieving a 40-20 K-D in the two matches he played on the map. The four-time Major winner ended the BLAST Spring Finals as the highest-rated player with a 1.38 rating. Teamwise, Astralis reached the playoffs but suffered a disappointing loss to Virtus.pro in the Quarter-Finals. Despite this setback, Astralis can take solace in their consistent performance, having qualified for four consecutive semi-finals prior to London, indicating an improvement from recent years.

Final Results of BLAST Premier Spring London

donk

device

Spirit

Astralis

Following the recent roster change, which saw Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz assume the role of in-game leader, Astralis has witnessed a significant improvement in their performance.

In the opening round of ESL Pro League Season 19, Astralis secured a victory against Eternal Fire, the quarter-finalist from PGL Copenhagen. Last night, they faced off against FaZe, the Grand Finalist from Copenhagen, emerging victorious once again. Throughout the match, Astralis demonstrated their dominance, particularly on the T-side of both Ancient and Nuke. Notably, Victor "Staehr" Staehr showcased exceptional prowess, earning a remarkable 1.28 rating, further solidifying his acclaim for adeptly handling challenging positions within the team.

This victory secures Astralis a spot in the playoffs of ESL Pro League. They are set to compete against 3DMAX in the Upper Final of the group, with the winner earning a direct qualification to the tournament's quarter-finals.

In Group A, alongside Astralis, 3DMAX has emerged as a notable surprise. Despite a narrow victory in the opening round against SAW, the French team delivered an outstanding performance in the semi-finals against Fnatic. Lucas 'Lucky' Chastang, Pierre 'Ex3rcice' Bulinge, Filip 'Graviti' Brankovic, and Thomas 'Djoko' Pavoni orchestrated a commendable display, thwarting Fnatic's chances of victory.

Disappointing start for new Falcons roster

In Group B, Falcons experienced a lackluster performance in Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen's debut match. While dupreeh showed promise against TheMongolz, the rest of the Falcons roster struggled against the Asian side. Despite a valiant effort to stage a comeback on Nuke, the Falcons narrowly lost 13-11 on Ancient. Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer, in particular, endured a challenging game, with statistics showing a disappointing 20-48 K-D ratio across all three maps.

For a comprehensive overview of all tournament results, please refer to the section below.

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$100,000 awaits the victor of IEM Chengdu 2024. The tournament boasts a mix of renowned teams alongside a few regional qualifiers, forming a total of 16 participating teams.

These teams will be divided into two groups of eight, competing in a double-elimination bracket. The top three teams from each group will then advance to a single elimination playoff bracket. Matches, except for the initial round of the group stage, will be contested as best-of-three, with the opening round being best-of-one.

 perform under their new in-game leader Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz? Following their unsuccessful qualification for the Copenhagen Major, Astralis has benched Benjamin "blameF" Bremer and recruited Alexander "br0" Bro. Additionally, Casper "ruggah" Due will be supporting the Astralis players for the first time in China.

, absent from the Major, unexpectedly finds themselves at the tournament in China due to Complexity’s withdrawal. This provides Casper 'cadiaN' Møller’s squad with an opportunity to redeem themselves after a lackluster start to their journey. Notably, cadiaN will face his former teammates Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck and René "TeSeS" Madsen in the tournament's opening round.

The Quarter-Final match against G2 at the Copenhagen Major may still haunt the players of 

. Despite a clear path to the Grand Final, they faltered under pressure, exacerbated by an unfortunate stage invasion targeted at G2, which seemed to impact the young MOUZ players even more. The IEM Chengdu 2024 tournament will offer insights into the mindset of the MOUZ camp.

07.30: FURIA – Lynn Vision (Group A) 13-9

08.30: Cloud9 – FlyQuest (Group B) 6-13

08.30: Wildcard – Virtus.pro (Group B) 1-13

09.30: Steel Helmet* – Astralis (Group B) 2-13

9-12th: Lynn Vision, FURIA, Cloud9, Nemiga ($5,000)

13-16th: Steel Helmet, Wildcard, TYLOO, 9z ($4,000)

*Steel Helmet replaced Monte as a last minute replacement.

Team Liquid

MOUZ

In the second part of our interview with the Director of Sports at Astralis, Kasper Straube, we talk about the benching of Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, the role of Alexander "br0" Bro, and what kind of considerations they have had making Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz the new in-game leader.

You can read the first part of the interview down below.

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The curious case of Benjamin “blameF” Bremer

In-game leaders in Counter-Strike are often players who are most likely to end up at the bottom of the scoreboard with low ratings. Individually they are suffering from the fact, that they are responsible for calling out the strats, keeping up with the enemy tactics, and often find themselves in some of the most difficult positions and spots to try and shoot heads on the server. But in Astralis, Benjamin "blameF" Bremer was not following the norm. Since he took over the responsibility as in-game leader from Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, he was the highest-rated player on Astralis and one of the highest-rated players in the world. In 2024 that trend continued with Benjamin "blameF" Bremer being rated at 1.15, while Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz is rated 1.08. Now he finds himself benched on the team.

So why was it necessary to bench the highest-rated player on the team? We asked Kasper Straube, Director of Sports at Astralis.

- As mentioned earlier, we have identified what we believe to be the reasons behind our team's underperformance. The realization that our Counter-Strike foundation was not robust enough prompted us to seek a new in-game leader. Additionally, we felt that Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard should revert to their original roles, the ones they played at Heroic, where they naturally exert more influence and assume more central positions. Given these considerations, it became evident that certain adjustments were necessary. Upon concluding that Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz both desires and is prepared to take on the captaincy, we were left with the task of determining who should assume the anchor position on the roster, acknowledging that resources would be allocated among the central roles on the team.

Q: So, Alexander "br0" Bro is brought in to be a support player?

Yes. He will be a support player to allow Martin "stavn" Lund, Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard, and Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz to take on the roles, where they can have the greatest impact. We have seen Victor "Staehr" Staehr make a big role change on the team, which he has handled superbly. He has been fantastic in doing a lot of the supportive roles. But on a modern-day Counter-Strike team, you need to have more than one to do that, and therefore by definition Alexander "br0" Bro will be a support player on the team, Straube explains.

With the recent signings of Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard from Heroic rumored to be around the $2M mark combined, it is obvious that Astralis were not going to switch out any of the new signings right away. Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz as the AWP’er and new IGL was obviously never going to be touched, which left Victor "Staehr" Staehr as the only possible candidate to change if you wanted to keep Benjamin "blameF" Bremer on the team.

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- I can fully comprehend your perspective on Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, acknowledging him as a remarkable player who is now benched. I completely agree. He is an exceptional player with high intelligence, exceptional skills, and has all the necessary qualities. However, our objective wasn't to add or maintain a certain amount of firepower or introduce additional voices. Instead, our focus was on becoming highly specific and precise about where we wanted to allocate our resources and vocal contributions, Kasper Straube points out.

- We would really like to make the team even more homogeneous in relation to playing the same type of Counter-Strike. And that is also why the choice has fallen on Alexander "br0" Bro to replace Benjamin "blameF" Bremer.

“Not Astralis.pro, but we will carve our own path”

The discussion to elevate Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz into the position as in-game leader was a big surprise for most of the Counter-Strike community who had guessed on various Danish in-game leaders as possibilities to take over from Benjamin "blameF" Bremer. All with the same playing style as a true team player, who was ready to sacrifice themselves for the greater good in any round that demanded it.

- This is the direction that I believe many anticipated us heading in. However, I also believe there are examples of alternative approaches that can prove successful. I'd like to highlight Casper 'cadiaN' Møller for his tenure with Heroic. Perhaps I'm a bit biased, but I consider it some of the best-looking CS ever played. If you turn back time to the good old Astralis era there wasn't a designated sacrifice player, but rather individuals who were willing to make sacrifices when necessary. It is probably also more the philosophy that we are looking for. We want to create a team where everyone can take the place they need, and everyone is willing to do it for each other, Straube, who has a past at Heroic, stated.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Heroic_cadiaN_aejyqn","originalWidth":5472,"originalHeight":3648,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: Adela Sznajder and ESL"}]

cadiaN and Jame faced each other in the Grand Final of the IEM Rio Major in 2022

Casper 'cadiaN' Møller and Dzhami "Jame" Ali are two of the most successful AWP’ers, who are also in-game leading at the same time. When asked about the latter, Kasper Straube breaks out in a smile.

- If I remember correctly, device is extremely fond of Dzhami "Jame" Ali and all that he has done as an AWP’ing in-game leader. I have no doubt that they also have some differences though. So, I don't think we should expect Astralis to become Astralis.pro. We must carve our own path, Kasper Straube emphasizes before putting full confidence behind the decision to let Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz be the new in-game leader.

- There are no guarantees, but there are prerequisites. When I joined Astralis, I engaged in discussions with all the players, including Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz. Naturally, I inquired about past experiences and his thoughts regarding the future, not just tomorrow, but in the months and years ahead. Already back then, he told me that he sees it as a natural thing that he could become an in-game leader at one point or another. He lives and breathes CS, and he aspires to continue doing so for as long as possible and he wants to do it where he wants to do it the most, and that is in Astralis.

- The primary consideration for me is that he - as every other player - has a certain number of years at the highest level. Along that time, he can either conclude an admirable career or choose to prolong it. A way to extend a career for players is to adapt like we see in a lot of different sports. When you look at his exceptional skills, his intelligence, strong work ethic, and the ability to stay abreast of developments on the server while maintaining enthusiasm for innovative gameplay, you undoubtedly possess qualities that will help you adapt into a successful in-game leader.

The new Astralis lineup is currently scheduled to make their competitive debut at the IEM Chengdu tournament in April. For now, the most important thing for Astralis is to find their feet in the new constellation.

- There's no certainty about the pace of progress. While we all aspire to secure a victory tomorrow, it's possible that it might take a bit more time before we position ourselves favorably to achieve that, Kasper Straube says.

Jame

cadiaN

With Benjamin "blameF" Bremer’s benching yesterday, the role of an in-game leader was vacant for Astralis. Most people had expected that Astralis would pick up one of the many experienced Danish in-game leaders, but instead, the Danish organization chose another route selecting their AWP’er Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz as the new IGL.

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- I've always been the secondary caller and right-hand man for both Lukas and Benja, so when there was a change underway, it naturally came up in the team if I could see myself taking the lead as IGL. It's obviously a very different role to be the IGL with more responsibility both on and off the server, but it's a good time for me to go this way. I also see it as an opportunity to do even more of what I love most in the world, playing CS at the highest level for much longer, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz stated in a press release from Astralis.

In Counter-Strike today we already have several AWP’ers as in-game leaders. Casper 'cadiaN' Møller and Dzhami "Jame" Ali are some of the most successful in the business. Being an IGL can also prolong an otherwise short career, which Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz also mentions as a good reason for him to step up to the role.

- It motivates me insanely because I don't just intend to continue this for a couple of years – it's my lifelong dream to play CS! Stepping into a new chapter in my career really excites me, and it's a role I see myself in for many years to come.  The hardest thing for me is to ask Astralis fans for patience because they have really been patient for the past 3 years. That's also why I'm fully committed, and although it's new, it's also in many ways a continuation of my own development.

Astralis will start the practice with the new setup on Friday, where their new fifth player Alexander "br0" Bro will join the team alongside their new coach Casper "ruggah" Due.

blameF

In 2020, when we launched Pley.gg, Astralis was on the top of the world. They had won three Majors in a row, and was the team to beat in the world of CS:GO. That feels like almost an eternity ago now.

Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz was the first to leave the magical core, but is now the only player left from the golden days of Astralis. In the 2024 edition of the team, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz is surrounded by some of Denmark’s most promising talents and players that have proved themselves on other teams in the past. So why can’t they perform, when it matters the most?

The current edition of Astralis is the strongest of the many different iterations of Astralis since their last Major win. There is a lot of firepower on the team, who had four players ranked among the 20 best players of 2023 according to HLTV. Oddly enough it is the only player not on the list, Victor "Staehr" Staehr, that has made the strongest impression in the past month at IEM Katowice and at the RMR.

So, who is the player, that makes everyone else better? That sacrifices himself, who opens up bombsites, or throws the perfect flashes? Often, we see the in-game leader being proactive.

(Filter: Last month) – Top 5 teams’ IGL’s on HLTV’s world ranking

So, it’s clearly not Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, who is setting his teammates up for success at Astralis. But there are other ways to play Counter-Strike. The best example is Dzhami "Jame" Ali, who has had lots of success playing passively with his AWP, while though setting his teammates up with minimum one flash per round.

On Astralis it is Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard that throws most flashes, while the opening attempts are very evenly distributed. Compared to the 2019 version of the team, it is obvious that the roles were clearer with Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth supporting the team with flashes, while Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen made most attempts to get the opening kill.

Astralis are right now playing some of the most important matches in recent times without a coach. At the end of 2023, the Danish organization chose to part ways with Peter "casle" Ardenskjold, but had no replacement lined up to overtake the duties. 23-year-old Mathias "R0nic" Pinholt has taken the role as an interim coach until Casper "ruggah" Due is free of his duties with OG.

In reality Astralis has not had a long-lasting coach since Danny "zonic" Sørensen departed the team in 2021. Looking from the outside the coaching role in professional Counter-Strike is probably one of the roles on a team, where there is most space for improvements. Danny "zonic" Sørensen has defined the coaching role for many years now without any real competition that can match his knowledge of the game, his understanding of the importance of team chemistry, and the ability to win big events.

Our guess is that most of the Counter-Strike teams in the world are eagerly awaiting experienced in-game leaders such as Finn "karrigan" Andersen, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, and Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo to retire and transition into a coaching career.

There is a huge job waiting Casper "ruggah" Due, when he takes over the reins at Astralis. The OG coach has not been able to take OG anywhere since he joined the team in 2020.

The tweet from Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz sent shivers down the spine on most Astralis fans. The mental side of the game has been the perhaps most important part of Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz’s game since he returned from his break from competitive Counter-Strike. No one could be in doubt that Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz and Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen had a great thing going on the team until Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen were benched to make way for Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard.

After the benching of Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz’s rating has taken a considerable dip.

There could obviously be multiple reasons behind the lack of impact on the server for Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, but its worth noting, that it has often been things outside the server, that has caused issues for the Danish AWP’er, who continuously has proven his consistency on the server throughout the years. 

Astralis would usually make changes after two hugely disappointing tournaments such as IEM Katowice and the EU RMR. But they’ve just changed the roster in November. So, what are the next steps for Astralis? Casper "ruggah" Due and the rest of the Astralis backroom certainly has some work cut out for them.

gla1ve

Buzz

The Danish brawl between Heroic and Astralis ended with a clear-cut victory for Heroic, who took control from the get-go. On Mirage it was Guy 'NertZ' Iluz dictating the match with supreme firepower during the match, where Heroic was up 6-0 before Astralis managed to answer back.

Astralis has had issues at the start of 2024 finding consistency. The good start yesterday on Day 1 of the tournament was quickly forgotten as Heroic continued to be one step ahead. Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz was once again not at his best, which was one of the key reasons why the match ended 13-7 in favor of Heroic.

In the other bo1 matches today, ENCE managed to turn a 3-9 deficit into a 16-14 victory to go 2-1 up. Here they are joined by ECSTATIC and Apeks, who took down OG and Monte.

From now on all matches at the EU RMR are either qualification or elimination matches, and will be played as bo3.

The first Tier-1 LAN event of the year is done and dusted with six teams qualifying for the BLAST Premier Spring Finals in London later this year.

The first four teams secured qualification on Saturday by winning their respective groups. Virtus.pro, FaZe, NAVI, and Vitality emerged victorious and left G2, Liquid, Astralis, and BIG to play for the remaining two spots available at the qualifier.

First up it was Astralis against BIG. Here BIG won Vertigo after overtime, while Astralis equalized the score on Overpass. Ancient was left as the decider and became a battleground for an intense closure to the match that ended in an overtime win for Astralis 16-14.

The Danes secured qualification despite Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz having one of his worst events in recent times with an average rating of just 1.00 during the 11 maps Astralis played in the event.

Another Danish AWP’er who has had a hard time delivering at the BLAST event in Copenhagen has been Casper "cadiaN" Møller. Team Liquid’s in-game leader had difficulties finding impact against G2, who started by winning Liquid’s map pick of Overpass. On Anubis, G2 destroyed Liquid in the second half winning 8-0 to seal the deal against the North American team.

The BLAST Spring Final in London will take place from June 12th-16th.

Spring Showdown will be played as an online tournament from March 6th-10th.

G2 Esports

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. {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut (Team Vitality) - 1.30 rating (133 maps) +829 K-D difference

2. {cflag:RU} Danil "donk" Kryshkovets (Team Spirit) - 1.29 rating (82 maps) +372 K-D difference

3. {cflag:RU} Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov (Cloud9/Team Spirit) - 1.22 rating (135 maps) +777 K-D difference

4. {cflag:DK} Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz (Astralis) - 1.21 rating (130 maps) +582 K-D difference

5. {cflag:TR} İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş (Eternal Fire) - 1.20 rating (109 maps) +238 K-D difference

6. {cflag:DK} Benjamin "blameF" Bremer (Astralis) - 1.19 rating (130 maps) +480 K-D difference

7. {cflag:SK} David "frozen" Čerňanský (MOUZ/FaZe) - 1.19 rating (127 maps) +464 K-D difference

8. {cflag:BA} Nikola "NiKo" Kovač (G2) - 1.18 rating (129 maps) +359 K-D difference

9. {cflag:RU} Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov (G2) - 1.18 rating (129 maps) +498 K-D difference

10. {cflag:UA} 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.

ZywOo

sh1ro

XANTARES

frozen

NiKo

m0NESY

s1mple

Team Vitality

One of the most successful partnerships in modern-day Counter-Strike continues. 

Astralis announced the contract extension of the four-time Major winner Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, who returned to Astralis last year after a stint at Ninjas in Pyjamas. The new contract will last until the end of 2026.

- I've said it before, but Astralis is my team, and I will do everything to get us back to where I feel we belong. There's a lot going on in the CS world right now, but for me it's about us thinking long-term and continuing what we've started. That is why I am extra happy about the extension, which shows how much both parties really want this, device says in a press statement.

- I'm really happy to be here and truly enjoy being part of it all. You feel a new optimism all around the organization, and although we still have a long way to go, I am completely calm about our future prospects and the possibilities of achieving our goals. We don't set dates and number of titles, but Astralis must be where it is the most fun to play, and that is on top. I am positive we will get there, says "dev1ce".

Since the Danish AWPer returned to Astralis, there have been both ups and downs in terms of results. For Sports Director Kasper Straube the extension of device's contract has been essential.

- Nicolai is in many ways synonymous with Astralis and the positive winning culture we work with every day. He is an extremely important part of the team and the development we are currently undertaking. He is rarely the loudest in the room, but you are never in any doubt about his commitment, and in every way possible, he is a role model for his fellow players. Both on and off the server, he is a natural focal point and his achievements speak for themselves, Straube says and continues.

- It has been important for us to show Nicolai that he is extremely valued and an important part of Astralis, and that we are very pleased with the great work he puts into the team and the organisation. I am personally incredibly happy about the joint commitment that lies in this agreement and to continue working with the development of the team, the culture, and the long-term objectives of Astralis. We are in a good place and must continue the positive development, so that we once again will position ourselves at the very top of the Counter-Strike world, Straube comments.

The next tournament for Astralis will be the Roobet Cup starting October 25th.

Order seems to have been restored at the top of CS:GO. After the upset-galore Major in Paris, it is the big and established teams that are dominating IEM Cologne 2023.

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Alongside them, it is also prolific players such as device, ZywOo, and m0NESY, that are among the best-performing players at the event. Most notable is Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz. The Astralis AWP'er features on almost all of the important leaderboards after the group stage. You can see them here below.

KAST (Percentage of rounds in which the player either had a kill, assist, survived or was traded):

IEM Cologne will continue on Friday with the Quarter-Finals of the event.

First of. Most players could only dream of having a year like Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev’s 2023. With a 1.19 rating, NAVI’s superstar is ranked 5th among all players in the elite level of Counter-Strike (vs top 30 teams) after the first half of the season is done and dusted. A season that ended without NAVI making it to one of the Grand Finals, which given the track record for NAVI and s1mple is almost unheard of.

The internal struggles on NAVI combined with the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war have been a dangerous cocktail for the 2021 world beaters.

With inhuman ratings during the last couple of years, 2023 has been somewhat of a downfall for the s1mple. Let’s take a look at the numbers:

Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev’s HLTV rating (vs top 30 teams) since 2016:

2016: 1.17 rating (Average of teammates: 1.01)

2017: 1.23 rating (Average of teammates: 1.00)

2018: 1.34 rating (Average of teammates: 1.04)

2019: 1.28 rating (Average of teammates: 1.03)

2020: 1.28 rating (Average of teammates: 1.02)

2021: 1.35 rating (Average of teammates: 1.06)

2022: 1.26 rating (Average of teammates: 1.03)

2023: 1.19 rating (Average of teammates: 1.03)

The second part of 2023 is waiting after the summer break, but the question remains what kind of NAVI we will get to see? Rumors have speculated in a new rebuild of the roster with an international focus leaving out Denis "electroNic" Sharipov, Ilya "Perfecto" Zalutskiy, and Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi. With this tweet, s1mple fueled the rumors even more about an upcoming change.

Natus Vincere

Who has been the best AWPer so far during the 2023 season? (Updated 5/6)

Let’s take a look at the numbers and statistics of all the players carrying around the “big green” at the very top of the game. Down below you’ll find a list of the most important AWP stats.

We at Pley.gg have made out own leaderboard giving the players points for their placements, in the end, you'll find the overall score to see who ends on top. The leaderboard works as follows: 1st place = 5 points / 2nd = 4 points / 3rd = 3 points / 4th = 2 points / 5th = 1 point

Rating (Against top 30 teams - min. 25 maps)

{cflag:FR} 1. ZywOo (Vitality) | 1.36 (62 maps)

{cflag:RU} 2. sh1ro (Cloud9) | 1.25 (84 maps)

{cflag:DK} 3. device (Astralis) | 1.24 (67 maps)

{cflag:UA} 4. s1mple (NAVI) | 1.19 (62 maps)

{cflag:RU} 5. m0NESY (G2) | 1.18 (55 maps)

{cflag:ES} 2. Martinez (Movistar Riders) | 0.43

{cflag:ES} 1. Martinez (Movistar Riders) | 67.7%

{cflag:ES} 4. Martinez (Movistar Riders) | 9

{cflag:RO} 11. regali (Copenhagen Flames) | 2

MartinezSa

IEM Dallas ended triumphantly for ENCE, who secured their first big title in four years. As always the MVP of the tournament was given to one of the finalists. Here ENCE's Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia stood out with a stellar performance in the Grand Final and overall in the tournament. This was the first MVP medal won by SunPayus. 

Statistically, the Spanish AWP'er was only the second-best player in the tournament though. Astralis' Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz played eight maps with an average rating of 1.42! This marks one of device's best tournaments in history, which is even more impressive given the fact, that Astralis actually lost four of the eight maps that they played in Dallas.

1. {cflag:DK} device (Astralis) - 1.42 rating

KAST (Percentage of rounds in which the player either had a kill, assist, survived, or was traded):

1. {cflag:DK} device (Astralis) - 1.59 rating

The next tier-1 tournament in the tournament calendar is BLAST Spring Finals in Washington, which starts on Wednesday.

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SunPayus

ENCE

We are less than one week away from the start of the last ever Major in CS:GO history. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 18 Majors. Today we have reached MLG Columbus 2016.

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 Luminosity Gaming (coldzera, fer, FalleN, fnx, TACO)

 Cache, Cobblestone, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Train, Overpass

For the first time in history, a Major took place in North America. It was also the first time, that a Counter-Strike tournament had a $1,000,000 prize pool. 

16 teams were again ready to fight for the Major and the $500.000 in first prize. Fnatic entered the tournament as the number 1 ranked team in the world and was considered tournament favorites to win their fourth Major title. Defending champions from Team EnVyUs had not been on top of their game since the win at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015. Instead, NAVI, Luminosity Gaming, and the newly formed Danish roster from Astralis were potential candidates for the Grand Final.

All four favorites made it out of the group stage with only Fnatic losing a match along the way. The Swedish favorites immediately crashed out of the playoffs after Astralis dominated them hard. For the first time in history, there would be a non-European team in the Grand Final. Team Liquid and the Brazilians from Luminosity Gaming were paired in one of the Semi-Finals. Here the Brazilians got the better of s1mple and Team Liquid after two maps with overtime, where Team Liquid missed out on 15 match points before Coldzera finished the NA team off in Luminosity's first match point. 

Over in the other side of the bracket, it was Natus Vincere who qualified for their second consecutive Grand Final with a clear 2-0 win against Astralis.

The battle for the title stood between two rosters, who had started to form a rivalry. The two teams had faced each other in several Grand Finals or late stages at tournaments in the previous year. It was NAVI who went into the match as favorites. Luminosity chose Mirage as their map pick, while NAVI leaned on Overpass. The Brazilians got off to a difficult start trailing the CIS team 6-0 before fighting their way back. Natus Vincere had not lost a single map in the tournament, but on Mirage they were finally defeated after overtime.

Now the fight was moved to Overpass which quickly turned into a catastrophe for NAVI. On their own map pick, NAVI lost 16-2 to a well playing Brazilian side, who managed to become the first team outside of Europe to win a major title. 

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Highest rated players at MLG Columbus 2016:

1. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/coldzera","isNewTab":true,"text":"Marcelo 'coldzera' David"}] (Luminosity Gaming) - 1.32 rating

2. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/niko","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač"}] (MOUZ) - 1.30 rating

3. Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev (NAVI) - 1.28

4. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/flamie","isNewTab":true,"text":"Egor 'flamie' Vasilev"}] (NAVI) - 1.25

5. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/s1mple","isNewTab":true,"text":"Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev"}] - 1.24

6. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/device","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nicolai 'dev1ce' Reedtz"}] (Astralis) 1.22

7. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/shara","isNewTab":true,"text":"Oleksandr 'Shara' Hordieiev"}] (FlipSid3) 1.21

8. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/dupreeh","isNewTab":true,"text":"Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen"}] (Astralis) -  1.20

9. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/rain","isNewTab":true,"text":"Håvard 'rain' Nygaard"}] (FaZe) - 1.19

10. [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/bondik","isNewTab":true,"text":"Vlаdуslаv 'bondik' Nеchуроrchuk"}] (FlipSid3) - 1.19

coldzera

flamie

dupreeh

Fnatic

2023 has started promising for Astralis. The former powerhouse of CS:GO managed to secure a spot at the BLAST Spring Finals early on, and today they followed up by booking a ticket to IEM Dallas as well.

The Danes won the upper final at the closed qualifier against Cloud9 and ended the CIS teams' seven-match streak.

Astralis had to fight off a phenomenal playing sh1ro, who kept Cloud9 in the match despite some lackluster performances from his teammates. The Russian AWP’er was 65-25 in K-D after the first two maps of Ancient and Mirage. Astralis won Ancient 19-16, while Cloud9 took Mirage comfortably 16-7.

Overpass was left as the decider. This time Astralis managed to keep sh1ro quiet, which left Cloud9 in shambles. A 10-5 lead at the break saw the Danes take a fine lead into their T-side. Here Astralis found themselves in several good afterplant situations, but multiple times Cloud9 found a way back into the match. 

Astralis had five matchpoints at 15-11 and closed off the match at 16-13 after winning a semi-eco round. device finished off the match with his 34th kill on Overpass. A monumental victory for the Danes, who at certain maps look like a dangerous team on the server.

Astralis - Cloud9 2-1 | IEM Dallas Closed Qualifier

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

device

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