Will Virtus.pro be the next CIS super team? The question has been raised after the acquisition of Denis "electroNic" Sharipov from Cloud9. The first impression was not good, however. Against Fnatic at ESL Pro League, Virtus.pro lost 2-1.

The match ended on Ancient, where Fnatic used all 24 rounds to defeat VP 13-11.

Denis "electroNic" Sharipov went 52-49 in K-D during the three maps.

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In the same group, Astralis continued their resurgence under the new leadership of Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz. Against Eternal Fire, the Danes delivered an impressive match to take down the Major Quarter-Finalist 13-5, 13-9.

FaZe were also in control against Imperial. David "frozen" Čerňanský once again showed, that he is an excellent replacement for Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken. The Slovakian rifler played excellently on both Inferno and Nuke and guided his team to a 2-1 victory. FaZe and Astralis face each other in the upper semi-finals of Group A later today.

In Group B, both Vitality and BetBoom won their opening matches, but it was not without breaking a sweat. On Vertigo, Vitality went behind 9-3 against the Brazilian team Sharks, before they retaliated on their T-side. Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and Lotan "Spinx" Giladi were behind the comeback that secured Vitality a narrow 13-11 win before thrashing Sharks on Mirage 13-3.

BetBoom also had their difficulties against M80 losing Ancient 13-1. But on Mirage BetBoom managed to find a way back and lock in a win in the first round of Group B.

The tournament continues today with six matches.

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electronic

Virtus.pro

Astralis

FaZe

Team Vitality

For the 19th time in history, ESL Pro League will take place, when Groups A and B begin on Tuesday. The tournament will be played at the InterContinental Malta Hotel in Saint Julian’s, Malta. For the final stages of the Playoffs from May 10th-12th, the matches will be played in front of a live audience. You can buy tickets for the event [link:{"url":"https://pro.eslgaming.com/csgo/proleague/","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

These teams participate in ESL Pro League Season 19:

Group A: FaZe, Imperial, Astralis, Eternal Fire, Virtus.pro, Fnatic, 3DMAX, SAW

Group B: Vitality, Sharks, M80, BetBoom, Falcons, TheMongolz, TYLOO, G2

Group C: MOUZ, Bad News Eagles, ENCE, GamerLegion, FURIA, Liquid, FORZE, Monte

Group D: Complexity, PERA, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Heroic, BIG, BOSS, FlyQuest, Natus Vincere

ESL has moved away from the group stage format that we have seen previously. Now the teams face each other in brackets with an upper, and lower bracket plus a last chance stage bracket as well, which means that every team can lose two matches and still be able to qualify for the playoff stage.

16 teams will play in the playoff stage. The winner of each group qualifies for the quarter-final stage, while the 2nd place finisher of each group is seeded to the second playoff round. The 3rd place finishers and the four winners of the last chance stage brackets will face off in the first playoff round.

$750,000 is up for grabs at the tournament with $170,000 being handed out to the winners. A spot at the IEM Cologne 2024 tournament is also on the line for the winner.

The secondary prizes vary from $3,500 (29-32nd) to $80,000 for 2nd place at the tournament which will last from April 23rd until May 12th.

Tres "stunna" Saranthus, Freya "Freya" Spiers

Jason "moses" O'Toole, Janko "YNk" Paunović, Harry "JustHarry" Russell, Hugo Byron, Henry "HenryG" Greer, Chad "SPUNJ" Burchill, Alex "Machine" Richardson

Neo "Ne0kai" Caine, Harvey "Skriv" Rodgers, Lucy "LucyLuce" Eastwood, Brandon "BDog" Rawlings, Travis "Trav" Landaw Mott

Group A – B: 23rd of April – 28th of April

Group C – D: 30th of April – 5th of May

You can see the complete schedule and also find results [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/schedule-results-from-esl-pro-league-season-19","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

Teams to watch at ESL Pro League Season 19:

. With their recent signing of Denis "electroNic" Sharipov, VP has made their intentions clear about the future. But how will the former Cloud9 and NAVI star operate under the guidance of Dzhami "Jame" Ali? And will Virtus.pro be the next CIS superteam? We also keep a close eye on both Astralis and Eternal Fire in this group. Can the Danes build on their performances at IEM Chengdu, and what about Eternal Fire? We haven’t seen them in action since their playoff run at the Major.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/Magisk_dupreeh_Vitality_ep4gao","originalWidth":3840,"originalHeight":2160,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

dupreeh and Magisk are back together once again. The two players have won Major with both Astralis and Vitality.

Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen is back in action after he made the move to 

, where he has been reunited with both Danny "zonic" Sørensen and Emil "Magisk" Reif. The Saudi-backed team chose experience over the raw firepower, that Mohammad "BOROS" Malhas could provide, and now we will get the first glimpse of the new lineup in action at ESL Pro League. Falcons take on TheMongolz in their opening round.

We have to wait a while before Groups C and D begin. But already now, we have a couple of interesting teams that we are eager to follow. In Group C, 

 has decided to cut Andrei "arT" Piovezan from the roster and also removed Nicholas "guerri" Nogueira as the acting head coach for the team citing the need for “international intellectuality” in the position.

 is another team that is looking internationally in their recruitment. As of this moment, the Swedish Organization is yet to reveal its fifth and final member of the new iteration of the Ninjas. The Ukrainian AWP’er Artem "r1nkle" Moroz seems like a very solid prospect, while the former coach of Heroic, Richard "Xizt" Landström will look to continue his success in the coaching world as the new brain behind NIP. Naturally, the reigning world champions from NAVI will be in focus playing their first matches since the triumph in Copenhagen last month.

Tournament favorites for ESL Pro League Season 19:

dupreeh

r1nkle

FURIA

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Yesterday, in a sudden announcement, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov was unveiled as Virtus.pro's newest player. 

The 25-year-old rifler joins Dzhami "Jame" Ali and his teammates following an unsuccessful period at Cloud9, where he, along with the rest of the star-studded lineup, failed to meet expectations. In his new role at Virtus.pro, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov will be taking the place of Nikolay "mir" Bityukov, who only joined the team in July 2023. 

While Virtus.pro had been achieving decent results in recent months, they fell short of making the playoffs at the PGL Copenhagen Major and were eliminated in the Quarter-Finals at IEM Chengdu. 

Cloud9, on the other hand, has not yet revealed who will fill the gap left by Denis "electroNic" Sharipov. Instead, they have opted to withdraw from the upcoming ESL Pro League tournament due to a shortage of players.

Cloud9

The 1W-2L bracket appears increasingly perilous to descend into following losses from both Heroic and G2 in their second games at the Elimination Stage of the PGL Major Copenhagen.

On the map Ancient, Virtus.pro demonstrated an almost flawless T side, with Dzhami "Jame" Ali and his teammates leading 10-2 at halftime. Although Heroic attempted a comeback in the second half, Virtus.pro swiftly shut down their efforts. A 13-6 victory for Virtus.pro propels the Rio Major champions into the 2W-1L bracket.

In the match between G2 and Cloud9, one of the most intriguing narratives revolved around the clash between a team boasting one of the game's premier AWPers and Cloud9, who, following Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov's abrupt departure from the team last year, found themselves relying on in-game leader Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov to wield the AWP. In today’s encounter, Cloud9's absence of a dedicated sniper was hardly noticeable. Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov performed admirably as Cloud9 kept pace with G2 on their CT side on Anubis, a map that has tended to favor T-sided play.

During the second half, Cloud9 continued to impress, with Denis "electroNic" Sharipov making significant contributions for the team. The Russian rifler posted a K-D ratio of 26-12 in Cloud9's victory.

All four teams will return to action tomorrow, with all matches being either elimination or qualification games.

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Boombl4

G2 Esports

Heroic

All eyes are on the 16 teams that start their journey at the PGL Copenhagen Major on Sunday at the Opening Stage of the tournament. The biggest stars on the scene will enter the tournament in the next phase, where FaZe, G2, and the rest of the seeded teams for the Elimination Stage await. But until then, we will take a look at some of the players, that you should keep an eye on in the first stage of the tournament.

Filter: Against the top 50 teams (min. 15 maps) in 2024

1. João "felps" Vasconcellos (Imperial) – 1.19 rating (32 maps)

The 27-year-old Brazilian plays his sixth Major in his career. It’s been a while ago since the former SK rifler was part of any lineup that could win big tournaments, but in 2024 João "felps" Vasconcellos and his teammates have shown promising signs. The experienced Rifler is averaging a 1.25 rating overall, and a 1.19 rating against top 50 teams in the world.

2. Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing (SAW) – 1.19 rating (24 maps)

SAW is one of the most in-form teams that are going to the Copenhagen Major. With 9 wins in a row, the Portuguese fans are expecting their heroes to go far in the first CS2 Major in history. One of the key players for SAW will be Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing. The 21-year-old rifler has been amazing in the last couple of tournaments, where he has averaged between 1.21 and 1.32. Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing is one of the most in-form players at the tournament, and we can’t wait to see, what he brings to the server in Copenhagen.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/XANTARES_hsb0mh","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

3. İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş (Eternal Fire) – 1.19 rating (22 maps)

The Turkish Rifler is obviously going to feature on this list. İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş is now 28-year-old, but he can still shoot heads. The Rifler was great in Katowice but had issues performing against the likes of FaZe and G2. Against lesser prominent opponents, İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş is still lethal, and has a very respectable 1.19 rating in 2024.

4. Özgür "woxic" Eker (Eternal Fire) – 1.18 rating (22 maps)

We have long stopped counting the times that Eternal Fire changed their roster in the past. But now something seems to have clicked for the Turkish side, that are expected to be among the best teams in the opening stage of the tournament. One of the reasons is Özgür "woxic" Eker. The 25-year-old AWP’er has been fairly consistent for Eternal Fire, and sometimes we see glimpses of the player that were ranked in the top 20 of the world in 2019. At the IEM Katowice Play-in, Özgür "woxic" Eker gave one of the best performances of his career with a 1.51 rating. It will be interesting to see, how Eternal Fire plays at the event after nearly a month without competitive matches.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/yuurih_axkbad","originalWidth":4096,"originalHeight":2304,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

5. Yuri "yuurih" Boian (FURIA) – 1.18 rating (19 maps)

2318 days. That is the number of days, that Yuri "yuurih" Boian has been rifling for FURIA. The longest-standing member of the team is also the player in best shape before the start of the Copenhagen Major. The duo of Yuri "yuurih" Boian and Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato is always dangerous, and will without a doubt pose a threat to all the teams in the Opening Stage.

6. Michel "ewjerkz" Magalhães (SAW) – 1.17 rating (24 maps)

Another SAW player has found his way to the top of the ratings. Michel "ewjerkz" Magalhães has been very consistent in his performances for SAW with a minimum of 1.11 rating in the five events, that SAW has played in 2024. Michel "ewjerkz" Magalhães is 23-years-old and joined SAW in the summer of 2022. Can he bring glory to Portugal in CS2?

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/jkaem_Apeks_u88z2l","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1365,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: BLAST and Michal Konkol"}]

7. Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad (Apeks) – 1.17 rating (34 maps)

The Norwegian Rifler has played competitive Counter-Strike since 2014! Copenhagen will be the 9th Major in history for Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad, who went all the way to the Semi-Finals with Apeks at the last Major in Paris. At 30 years old, Joakim 'jkaem' Myrbostad will be one of the keystones for Apeks to replicate the impressive result from Paris.

8. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato (FURIA) – 1.16 rating (19 maps)

Often mentioned as the current best player from Brazil, Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato will once again be one of the key players for FURIA, if they want to succeed in Copenhagen. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato has been named among the best 20 players in the world by HLTV four years in a row. At the last Major in Paris however, Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato and FURIA were a long way from doing damage, so it will be interesting to see, what kind of FURIA we will see this time around.

9. Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren (TheMongolz) – 1.16 rating (16 maps)

TheMongolz has been the best team out of the Asian/Oceania region in the last couple of years. One of the stars of the Asian scene is 22-year-old Garidmagnai "bLitz" Byambasuren. The rifler plowed through the RMR tournament with a 1.46 rating and has greatly contributed to the fact, that TheMongolz is one of the teams to watch in the first stage of PGL Copenhagen.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/mopoz_mvbiph","originalWidth":4096,"originalHeight":2304,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: ESL Stephanie Lindgren"}]

10. Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández (KOI) – 1.15 rating (35 maps)

27-year-old Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández spent a lifetime (in Counter-Strike terms) playing under the banner of Movistar Riders from 2017 until the start of 2024. Now the team is named KOI, but it is still with the roots of Iberian Counter-Strike in mind, that the Spanish/Portuguese roster enters the first CS2 Major in history. As an entry-fragger, Alejandro "mopoz" Fernández has been an excellent spearhead for KOI in 2024, where he has averaged a 1.15 rating against the top 50 teams.

11. Henrique "HEN1" Teles (Imperial) – 1.15 rating (32 maps)

Immortals, Luminosity Gaming, FURIA, O Plano, 00 Nation, MIBR, and Imperial. The list of Brazilian teams that Henrique "HEN1" Teles has played on is long and windy, but recently Imperial has begun to climb up in the world rankings after the team has performed significantly better. Henrique "HEN1" Teles looks determined to prove his worth after a superb performance at the RMR averaging 1.62 on the four maps it took Imperial to qualify. The 28-year-old Brazilian is playing his only second Major in his career, after reaching the Grand Final back in 2017 at PGL Major Krakow with Immortals.

12. Denis "electroNic" Sharipov (Cloud9) – 1.15 rating (30 maps)

The Russian Cloud9 player is the only Major winner on our list. But since the switch from NAVI to Cloud9, the results have been lackluster, to say the least. The introduction of Kirill 'Boombl4' Mikhailov as the new in-game leader has proven to be pivotal for the experienced rifler, who has seen a significant spike in his individual ratings. At IEM Katowice and the RMRs, Denis "electroNic" Sharipov once again showed that he is reliable as ever.

The opening round at PGL Copenhagen starts this Sunday.

HEN1

mopoz

bLitz

KSCERATO

jkaem

ewjerkz

yuurih

woxic

arrozdoce

felps

The opening round of BLAST Fall Finals in Copenhagen has been announced. Two matchups have caught the attention with Cloud9's match against NAVI as the most prominent. 

Three former Natus Vincere players will be on the server with Cloud9. Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy joined the roster this summer from NAVI, while Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhaylov is the latest addition to the squad after the departure of Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov. All three were part of the 2021 Major winning lineup for NAVI.

In the other group, Team Vitality will face Heroic, who has Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen on the server. The 30-year-old Dane was kicked from the active roster of Vitality a month after having won the BLAST.tv Paris Major earlier this year. Now dupreeh is set to face his old teammates in the opening round in Group B, where Astralis and Complexity are also in the mix.

You can see the schedule from the event here:

Perfecto

Natus Vincere

The 2023 edition of IEM Cologne is shaping up to be a very exciting one. In the playoffs, we have a lot of the biggest teams and names in Counter-Strike, but oddly enough none of the teams have ever won the coveted trophy.

Vitality, Cloud9, Heroic, Astralis, G2, and ENCE are all looking to join these teams in the history books of CS:GO.

2014: NIP (f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, Fifflaren, friberg)

2015: Fnatic (JW, flusha, pronax, olofmeister, KRIMZ)

2016: SK Gaming (FalleN, fer, coldzera, fnx, TACO)

2017: SK Gaming (FalleN, fer, coldzera, felps, TACO)

2018: Natus Vincere (Edward, flamie, s1mple, Zeus, electronic)

2019: Team Liquid (nitr0, EliGE, Twistzz, NAF, Stewie2K)

2021: Natus Vincere (s1mple, electronic, Boombl4, Perfecto, B1T)

2022: FaZe (rain, broky, Twistzz, karrigan, ropz)

It is only electronic (x2) and Perfecto that have tried to win the title in Cologne of all the players that are left in the playoffs in Cologne.

The playoffs will start tomorrow, where Team Vitality and Cloud9 will play the first quarter-final at 15.30 (CEST).

NAVI is out of IEM Katowice after a semi-final loss to Heroic. But with wins against Cloud9, Team Liquid, and Outsiders earlier in the tournament, there were also a lot of good things to carry forward for the team. 

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And while all eyes are on the new addition of the team, Andrij "npl" Kukharsjkyj, it was a couple of the more experienced players in Denis 'electroNic' Sharipov and Valeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy that heavily underperformed in the semi-final. After the match Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev commented on the performance in the match against Heroic, and the Ukrainian did not hold back.

- Overall (the tournament) was nice, but on stage, some of the players still shit in their pants. The way some players played and communicated today was just awful to watch and hear.

The NAVI captain also gave praise to Heroic, who outclassed NAVI on the day.

- Today we played a much better team 100%. Individually they played really, really good and hit some insane headshots, but as a team, they just rolled us. They snowballed us on their T-side.

NAVI's next tournament is ESL Pro League, where they will play in Group D.

s1mple

B1tGOD

Natus Vincere took down Outsiders 2-0 to secure themselves a spot in the Semi-Finals. The 25-year-old took things into his own hands as he delivered a stunning ace to close out the series against their rivals from Outsiders. With only 40 seconds left on the clock and three players below 50 health, electroNic turned into god mode.

Read more about the Quarter-Final match between Natus Vincere and Outsiders in the article below:

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Outsiders

It’s fair to say that the CIS titans from NAVI are nowhere near their top level from 2021. Going into the new season, Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and company look like a squad with a lot of problems and a lot of things to repair to keep up with the very elite. 

If you ask the renowned CS:GO analyst and expert Jacob “Pimp” Winneche what NAVI’s biggest problem is, the Dane is very clear; the in-game leader position. Something he touched on in the latest [link:{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJb_UvjFZR4","isNewTab":true,"text":"episode "}]of HLTV Confirmed.

- electroNic shouldn’t be in-game leading NAVI whatsoever. That’s the main issue they need to solve and to figure out a guy who can come in – I was even thinking of Jerry [forZe IGL] or someone like that to come in a be the IGL so you can free electroNic to do what he should be doing on the server.

- We were obviously blindsided by what happened at the beginning with the whole Boombl4 situation. electroNic did well at Lisbon [BLAST Spring Finals] where he was in-game leading and having a fantastic tournament buying him you know three or four months where no one would question that move whatsoever. But we’ve seen him struggle a lot from an individual point of view.

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- I think when you watch NAVI play from a strategic point of view as well, they’re not really coming up with a lot, and it’s not like they have a clear playstyle bringing in npl and sdy. It’s not easy in the NAVI camp. There are so many questions within NAVI right now, but I feel like the main thing they need to address is whether or not to bank on electroNic being your IGL for the entirety of 2023. I wouldn’t personally do that, Pimp concluded.

Full HLTV Confirmed episode [link:{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJb_UvjFZR4","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}]. 

We have spoken with NAVI’s head coach Andrii "B1ad3" Horodenskyi on multiple occasions towards the end of 2023 both times confirming that they are not considering changing the IGL role going forward.

- We know everyone who’s on the market, and it’s not like there are talents who are hiding from us. This is obvious and should be obvious to everyone, and I don’t understand why everyone is asking this.

You can watch the entire interview with b1ad3 down below.

Denis “electronic” Sharipov has followed the footsteps of his NAVI teammate and Russian countryman Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy and decided not to play under the Russian flag going forward.

So when you’re visiting NAVI’s Liqiupedia page in the future you’ll be met with a neutral banner standing next to both Perfecto and electronic’s names. Something both players have formally requested to Liquipedia.

The decision not to represent the Russian flag comes after Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, which has had huge consequences in the Eastern European country. The war has also taken its toll on the otherwise super-successful NAVI squad which hasn't been near as powerful this year as in 2022. This was an aspect NAVI's star player Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev spoke with us about at BLAST World Final - You can read the article down below.

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With the 18th Major being in full swing at IEM Rio, we have taken a look at who has been the best player in Major in history.

On our list, you will have to have played at least 20 maps to be part of the ranking.

1. {cflag:BR} Marcelo "coldzera" David - 1.25 rating (72 maps)

Widely considered one of the best CS:GO players of all time. The Brazilian has been incredibly consistent at the nine Majors in his career winning two of them back in 2016. He is still most famous for his insane double no-scope shot at Mirage that saved Luminosity down 9-15 in the Semi-Final of the MLG Major Championship: Columbus 2016.

Coldzera's play inspired his team to a fantastic comeback and was later rewarded with a graffiti from Valve. Coldzera is back in action this year for 00NATION, who was one of the 24 teams, who qualified for IEM Rio. The Brazilian is currently the best player at a Major.

2. {cflag:UA} Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev - 1.21 rating (92 maps)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"Gamle billeder/S1mple_ukraine_1_dn8xxh","originalWidth":1279,"originalHeight":719,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

Probably the best CS:GO player to ever play the game. The Ukrainian finally won a Major last year in Stockholm but has shown some incredible consistency in his performances on the big stage. He has attended 11 Majors, and will always be remembered for his double no-scope kill on Cache.

3. {cflag:UA} Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi - 1.18 rating (22 maps)

From two veterans to a newcomer on the big stage. The headshot machine of NAVI was brought in before the PGL Stockholm Major. And what an impact he had! b1t gave NAVI the last push to elevate the team to become the best in 2021 without any doubt. He rocked a 1.21 rating in Stockholm in his Major debut!

4. {cflag:LV} Helvijs "broky" Saukants - 1.17 rating (21 maps)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/broky_FaZe_jpl5dy","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

The Latvian could be looking into grabbing another Major in Rio in November. FaZe is one of the big favorites for the tournament, and luckily for them, they seem to be able to rely on broky as a difference-maker. At his first Major in Stockholm, broky was the best player for FaZe, who had a disappointing run. In Antwerp, he played a big part in FaZe winning the title. The AWP'er also has the ability to perform some sick clutches and is definitely a player to keep an eye on in the future.

5. {cflag:SE} Andreas "znajder" Lindberg - 1.17 rating (21 maps)

29-year-old znajder has had a long career in CS:GO. He won a Major in 2013 with Fnatic, but was also taking part in ELEAGUE Major in 2017 for GODSENT. The Swedish rifler was also skilled with the AWP, and performed at the highest level in all three Majors that he played. At the start of 2021 he was announced on the Lemondogs roster, but has not played any competitive games since the summer of 2021.

6. {cflag:FR} Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut - 1.16 rating (46 maps)

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/ZywOo_Vitality_dhr4lu","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: PGL"}]

It was always meant to be for ZywOo. He was born on the same day as Counter-Strike's commercial release on November 9, 2000. Dubbed the "Chosen One", ZywOo has also delivered on the big stage. In his four Majors so far, ZywOo has been outstanding on an otherwise mediocre team. Team Vitality has not made it past the Quarter-Final stage despite ZywOo's individual brilliance. Will Rio be the tournament, where ZywOo and Team Vitality breaks through?

7. {cflag:DK} Nicolai "device" Reedtz - 1.15 rating (123 maps)

When is device coming back? Is device coming back? Where is device now? The questions surrounding the Danish AWP god are many, which all seem fair looking at device's Major results. As part of the legendary Astralis roster, device won four Majors and earned two MVP's along the way. His best individual Major was IEM Katowice 2019, where device scored a rating of 1.32.

8. {cflag:US} Timothy "autimatic" Ta - 1.15 rating (29 maps)

The North American player earned himself a reputation from 2017-19 on Cloud9, where the rifler performed consistently in four Majors in a row. The highlight was undoubtedly the Boston ELEAGUE Major in 2018, where Cloud9 on home turf shocked the world and won the Major. Now the American rifler is back and will play his fifth Major at IEM Rio, where he and Evil Geniuses will look to build on their rising form.

9. {cflag:PL} Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski - 1.14 rating (83 maps)

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As part of one of the most legendary rosters in Counter-Strike history, Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski has made his mark on the game, which we all love. The Virtus.pro rifler has attended 13 Majors in total and finished among the four best in seven of them. On home turf in Katowice in 2014, Snax and Virtus.pro cemented their names in history with a win. His best individual performance was in 2014 at the DreamHack Winther 2014 event.

10. {cflag:RU} Denis "electroNic" Sharipov - 1.14 rating (69 maps)

The now NAVI in-game leader has played eight Majors in his career mostly for NAVI. He made his debut at a Major for the team FlipSid3 together with Andrey 'B1ad3' Gorodenskiy, who is the coach of NAVI now. At the FACEIT Major in London 2018, electroNic was the highest-rated player at the event with a 1.36 rating! The Russian star has won one Major and been in three Grand Finals in total.

(The list is made without the statistics from IEM Rio)

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Here are the best players at Majors

We are now less than one week away from the start of the much-awaited IEM Rio Major in Brazil. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 17 Majors. Today we have reached the second-most recent Major: PGL Major Stockholm where NAVI secured their first-ever Major title with a flawless run.

The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 was the 16th CS:GO Major Championship and the most anticipated event of all time because the Covid-19 pandemic made it impossible for organizers to arrange a championship with an audience for two years. Other than that, the PGL Major Stockholm was the first Counter-Strike Major broadcasted in 4k, while the event also had the biggest prize pool in the history of the franchise: a whopping $2 million! 

 Natus Vincere (s1mple – electronic – B1T – Boombl4 – Perfecto) 

 Ancient, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Vertigo. 

The Russian-Ukrainian squad was undoubtedly the best CS:GO team coming into the PGL Major in Stockholm and it seemed impossible to deny them this Major achievement. All of NAVI’s players were full of confidence as well as momentum, as they had just completed their Intel Grand Slam a month before the event. And with consistently high placements in the CIS Regional Major Rankings (RMR) events throughout the year, NAVI earned themselves a top-two seed at the PGL Stockholm Major. This meant that Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy’s troops got to start in the New Legends Stage as a part of the top 16 teams. 

However, their journey to glory wasn’t easy at all, as NAVI had to face multiple tough opponents on the way such as Heroic, NiP, Team Vitality, and Gambit before ultimately taking down G2 in the grand final. 

Kirill “Boombl4” and company started the event with a match against Casper “cadiaN” Møller’s men from Heroic who were sitting in 5th place in the HLTV world ranking at that time. In a very tough match, NAVI came out on top of Ancient with a 16-11 scoreline. Later, NAVI took upon Dzhami “Jame” Ali and the rest of Virtus.pro in a matchup where NAVI left no chance for their opponents, closing out the match in dominant fashion on Overpass, 16-4. 

A bo3 match against Ninjas in Pyjamas for a spot in the playoffs as an undefeated 3-0 team awaited for Born To Win. The match was expected to deliver some nail-biting action, but both maps turned out to be one-sided affairs, as NAVI booked themselves a ticket to the playoffs with back-to-back 16-9 wins against the Swedes. 

Their first opponent in the playoffs was Team Vitality. Many predicted that the Frenchmen were going to be the first team to steal a map away from NAVI, but s1mple and company made quick work of them. NAVI took Vitality’s map pick of Dust2 16-11 before returning to their home of Nuke to extend their map-win streak to 17 with a 16-13 scoreline. That victory led them to the semi-finals where their rivals from Gambit waited for an exciting CIS derby. On two maps, NAVI gave away only 11 rounds in total and locked in a spot in the grand final. 

The grand final was the most closely contested match for NAVI at the event and the closest they came to losing a map. Boombl4’s men registered a somewhat comfortable 16-11 victory on the newest map in the rotation, Ancient, a planned curveball from the French-Balkan squad which took fans by surprise. G2 hoped to catch NAVI off guard but failed. G2 would need to deliver some magical individual performances to keep the series alive, considering NAVI’s home of Nuke was up next, where the Russian-Ukrainian squad held a 17 map win streak. 

On Nuke, NAVI were tested to their very limit by G2 who looked dangerous with some strong showing from the Kovac’s and Audric “JaCkz” Jug who all three pushed their team to a 10-5 advantage. The roster of G2 continued their strong form and secured match point at 15-10. However, s1mple and company resurfaced from the depths of defeat to force not one but two overtimes. In double overtime, NAVI secured match point and eventually snatched Nuke away from G2’s grip right in front of their eyes. 

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With a 2-0 victory in the grand final, NAVI not only repeated Astralis’ flawless Major playoffs in the past but went a step further by not dropping a single map throughout the entire event, claiming the title with an incredible 10-0 map record. NAVI made history and completed the most dominant run ever seen at a CS:GO Major. 

Watch highlights from the Grand final right here: 

The Ukrainian beast, Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev capped off a fantastic Major event with a powerful final performance as he inspired NAVI to a stellar 2-0 victory over G2 with a server-leading 1.51 rating and took home the MVP medal in the process. s1mple’s first-ever Major MVP and the 17th MVP medal of his career at the time. 

s1mple topped the charts in several categories across the event, most notably leading in rating (1.47), KD-diff (+106), and kills per round (0.95). The arguably best player of all time finally achieved his dream of winning a Major trophy and he showed up on every single map to become the only player in history to be both Major MVP and the highest-rated player. 

Highest rated players at PGL Major Stockholm 2021

1. Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (NAVI) – 1.47 Rating 

2. Nikola ”NiKo” Kovac (G2) – 1.36 Rating 

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Player stats

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