The best Counter Strike: Global Offensive Teams in the world
Counter-Strike has been the most famous and traditional eSport title for 20 years now. Making a list of the best Counter Strike teams of all time is, therefore, a nice task, although comparing teams over decades, different versions of the game, and in completely different frameworks is not easy and inevitably subjective.
For reasons of time and space, we decided to limit our list to the last and current version of the game, a list of the best CS players across all versions, and regardless of their team members can be found here. As far as the teams are concerned, there is such a high fluctuation in terms of the players but also sponsors, etc. that it is almost impossible to make a meaningful comparison here.
When discussing which CS: GO team deserves the title “Best Team Ever”, it should also be noted that players and even organizations change very often. For example, some teams have always been active in the scene, but of course, have put together many different cadres over this long period. Often there were also renaming or complete changes in the management team, and more than once in the history of Counter-Strike a team has changed employers as a whole and thus upset the balance of power in the scene.
Not surprisingly, even after 20 years, there are still new teams that appear on the professional scene regularly. The most prominent example is probably the Astralis organization founded in 2016, which consists of the former team from Team SoloMid, who became financially independent here.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene is a particularly diverse scene in the world of professional sports, even compared to other eSports. CS: GO teams can take part in countless larger and smaller events, players and even entire squads can be lured away or even fired at any time, and teams can achieve great success or drop their former sizes virtually out of nowhere.
To distinguish between the team that wins titles and the organization on whose behalf they do this, the term “core” has proven its worth. This term refers to a group of players who play together independently over a longer period of the team they represent. The problem here is that you have to find a name for this core if you don’t want to equate it with an eSports organization, this happened in the case of the Polish “Golden Five”, but other examples are rare.
For this reason, we have decided on a kind of middle ground here; in our analysis, we will treat the organizations, but always with a view to a certain core that has been able to dominate the professional CS: GO scene for a long time.
Most recently: The year 2019 up to the ESL Pro League Season 11
2019 was a turbulent year in professional CS: GO. Many teams got their time in the spotlight, both new and old faces were able to distinguish themselves and win big events. The rankings saw the strongest moves in the top 5 in years.
With so many titles won by different teams, it was at times extremely difficult to assess who the favorites were. Nevertheless, some outstanding teams have established themselves as front runners in the scene and have always been involved.
Astralis started 2019 as without a doubt the best team in the world. They won the IEM Katowice Major, the first major tournament of the year. After that, however, the Danish squad experienced a massive slump in shape. They couldn’t win a single top tier event from March to August. In the first place was mostly North America’s Team Liquid.
In one of the most dominant runs in recent history, Liquid won every single S-tier event they participated in during that time. The North Americans held the top spot in the rankings all summer after ousting Astralis after 406 days at the top. Liquid even won the Intel Grand Slam after winning the “ESL One Cologne” in July. At the StarLadder Major in Berlin, Liquid was therefore also the favorites to win the title, but clearly lost 2-0 to Astralis in the quarterfinals and spectacularly said goodbye to the tournament. Astralis won its fourth major title, which no team had achieved before. The situation at the top suddenly changed again.
After that, the hopes of American fans for a possible Liquid era were further clouded, because Team Liquid did not win a single important tournament for the rest of the year. Instead, Fnatic saw a big boost after a few squad changes. When Evil Geniuses bought up the entire squad of NRG Esports in September, the team with “Brehze”, “Ethan” and “CeRq” also regained power in professional CS: GO out of nowhere.
In the last half of last year, many teams made changes to the roster. Fnatic is also one of the success stories because the team had hit an all-time low before the changes. Furthermore, Team Vitality has taken over the French super team, and they are currently setting up the best player in the world according to the HLTV rankings: Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbau. At the ESL Pro League, however, they did not come out of the group stage.
During the autumn months, the new in-game leader Peter “Stanislaw” Jarguz on the part of EG and Maikil “Golden” Selim for Fnatic kept their teams up the rankings. EG won the Intel Extreme Masters New York and the StarSeries & i-League CS: GO Season 7, while Fnatic won the DreamHack Masters in Malmö.
When winter came back, Astralis came back too. The Danes were not satisfied with winning both majors this year and stormed back to the top of the rankings with victories at the Intel Extreme Masters in Beijing, the ECS Season 8, and the BLAST Global Final. The illusion that Astralis had been ousted from the top of the game was dispelled as quickly as it spread. Astralis was again number one at the end of the year.
A report in 2019 would not be complete without the mention of mousesports. The organization has been active at the top of the scene for years, trying out cadre by cadre. mousesports have always had potential, regardless of the lineup, but were never able to fully exploit it. At least until the end of last year, when all the wheels finally seemed to mesh.
The rise of mousesports
Starting with the CS: GO Asia Championships, mousesports took part in four major events, reached the finals in all of them, won three, and rose to the ranks of the best Counterstrike teams. This run included a win at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Final, in which mousesports Evil Geniuses, Astralis, and Fnatic had to beat in the playoffs. After defeating the top three teams in the game, mousesports shot to the top of the leaderboard.
Mousesports is one of the hottest teams in the game right now and they are undoubtedly aiming for the top. The individual talent in their team is undeniable, Robin “ropz” Kool and Özgür “woxic” Eker were able to play their way into the top 20 CS: GO, players of the year, thanks to these late successes. If mousesports maintain this level of competition they could be the greatest threat to Astralis and the other top teams in the future.
The team is currently in fourth place and is in the middle of a close battle at the top of the CS throne. Right at the top, however, are the Ukrainians with the best CS player in the world, “s1mple”, in their ranks.
Whatever the future holds for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is already one of the most interesting stories in eSports. Besides, the gameplay, which is constantly being further developed, enables unexpected developments and success stories for outsiders.
The different phases in the development of CS: GO
It has long been established in the CS scene to divide the time since the appearance of CS: GO into sections characterized by dominant teams. Of course, there are different opinions on this in the fan camps, but some cadres have put their stamp on the title so much that any discussion is superfluous.
Without further ado, here is our chronological listing of the most dominant cores since the CS: GO title came into being:
The NiP era: August 2012 – September 2013
Our CS: GO timeline begins with the NiP era. From day 1 on, the ninjas in pajamas were the most dominant team in the newly released Counter-Strike title. The first LAN tournament in CS: GO took place four days after it was released, and the ninjas won it without losing a single card. This began an incomparable period of dominance, NiP started a series of an incredible 87 cards won in official LAN tournaments.
This team, which consisted of today’s Counter-Strike legends such as the two players in our Top10 list, Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, had already formed in the beta phase of CS: GO and thus had a head start on the teams who decided to stay at 1.6 until the end. However, they weren’t the only team that was successful in this early period; VeryGames were also an almost unstoppable force in this era. Nevertheless, they could not withstand NiP’s dominance.
It was amazing to see what ninjas in pajamas and their star players did to the competition. Just like the historical ninja, GeT_RiGhT was practically invisible to his opponents before striking with deadly precision. He kept showing up exactly where the other team didn’t suspect him. It seemed like there were no rules for the ninjas during this time, so much had they made the game their own.
The question even popped up of whether NiP could ruin CS: GO because they won every game. This initial phase of the NiP era and the record winning streak of 87 cards that still exists today was ended by Virtus.pro, at the SLTV StarSeries V Finals, the NiP lineup lost 0-2 against the CIS team.
Cracks in invincibility
As a result, NiP remained the dominant team, but with the increasing competition, they seemed more real and believable. They were no longer the invincible gods they seemed to be at the beginning, but rather acted a little more on the level of demigods. They were beaten, but it took a tremendous effort to bring them down.
Of the 17 offline events that NiP participated in through 2013, they won 11, and they scored 6-2 at the premier events that NiP participated in. The two defeats were against VeryGames at EMS One Spring 2013 and against Fnatic at Dreamhack Winter 2013, the first major tournament in CS: GO. The defeat against VeryGames at EMS One should remain NiP’s only one against VeryGames.
Even though NiP had already been defeated, their loss to Fnatic in the first major tournament came as a big surprise. If NiP should lose, it would be against VeryGames, and since they had already been eliminated from the tournament, nothing seemed to stand in the way of NiP. But things turned out differently: NiP lost the final of the first CS major, and with that began a series of defeats at the most important tournaments of the year, the majors.
Since this is a historical comparison, it’s important to put the success of NiP – as well as its repeated failures with majors – in context. When NiP dominated, there were no majors, and when they did exist, ninjas in pajamas got into big trouble. If things had gone differently, if the majors had made their way into CS: GO a bit earlier, they might have been able to add more titles to their trophy case.
On the other hand, one must also consider the conditions under which NiP was able to celebrate its greatest successes. They played at their best when their opponents hadn’t quite found their way into the game, and that advantage is due to the early switch from NiP to CS: GO. The NiP core at the time was undeniably a great team, but to say that NiP would have won more majors had they come to CS: GO earlier is a bit shortsighted.
The year 2014 following the NiP era was characterized by a high level of play among several top teams. Virtus.pro and Na’Vi have finally managed to find their shape after a difficult start following their late transition to CS: GO. In the second half of 2014, the teams LDLC and Fnatic were involved in a fight, it was about nothing less than the successor to NiPs on the Counter-Strike throne.
The Fnatic Era: December 2014 – March 2016
The Fnatic era was in the eyes of many fans and experts the most convincing in terms of absolute dominance over the other teams. It can be argued that despite NiP’s impressive 87-0 record, Fnatic has set its records that even surpass it. Fnatic has won six tournaments in a row, and at their prime, Fnatic won 14 of the 26 tournaments they have entered. This win rate at CS tournaments could only be set by Astralis, who was the first to finish 14 of 23 tournaments in 2018.
Every player in Fnatics was great in their way, but “olofmeister” was in a league of its own at the time. With its outstanding form, at most exceptional players like s1mple, NiKo and Coldzera can keep up in their very best times.
The special thing about the Fnatic era is that 2015 was dominated by this team, but below it, there was an extremely high level of performance with several legendary line-ups. Compared to today, in 2015 the teams did not yet consider using SMGs and shotguns – except, of course, JW – nor did they understand the intricacies of today’s metagame, but numbers of the past cannot be judged on that basis. Isaac Newton wasn’t stupid either for doing his calculations without a calculator. There weren’t any calculators yet.
Younger fans, in particular, find it difficult to correctly assess the achievements of great players and squads in the past, and the tendency is to devalue historical successes with the argument that the game has developed a lot and therefore the current time is the best there has ever been an injustice to Fnatic’s performance.
2015 saw not only the appearances of perhaps the most dominant team in the history of CS: GO (we will discuss whether they still deserve this title in detail later in this article), but also many interesting “subplots”.
The challengers: EnVyUs, ninjas in pajamas
This includes the failure of the French roster from EnVyUs to shape its era. There were already high expectations when the core was still playing under the banner of LDLC, the predecessor of EnVyUs. This then team at EnVyUs was very similar in many ways to Fnatic from 2015. It was a group of star players led by a team captain who gave his teammates a lot of freedom.
Although they often competed against each other, the French never succeeded in breaking through against Fnatic and permanently shaking off the Swedes. Ultimately, the team broke up and traded Shox and SmithZz for Apex and Kenny. EnVyUs should revive soon after this roster change in July. They quickly found their rhythm and kept in good shape for a few months until Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, the last major of 2015, which they won, but soon went out of shape.
The second subplot was probably the creeping decline of the ninjas in pajamas after their former heyday. As it became more and more difficult for NiP to consistently show their potential talent and produce victories and titles, so-called NiP magic came to the fore. “NiP Magic” was a term that was coined by the well-known CS reporter Thorin and was originally viewed as derogatory by NiP players and fans. In the meantime, both have not only accepted it but have made it their own.
At some point, even the biggest fans could no longer ignore the fact that NiP was no longer the best team in the world and had to play above their normal level to win big titles at all. Virtus.pro fans are certainly not unfamiliar with this feeling, but NiP kept giving fans hope that it was only a phase and that the golden years would return from 2013 onwards. To this day, ninjas in pajamas are capable of magical moments and surprising title wins, NiP has become a team that occasionally works miracles, but these miracles seem to be getting rarer from year to year.
At the same time as the decline in NiP’s performance came the rise of Team SoloMid. Before 2015, this core of Danish later Astralis players – dev1ce, Xyp9x, dupreeh, and cajunb – lacked consistency, especially because they did not have a real T-side. Apart from that, many connoisseurs of the CS scene were already sure that it was a team with star talent. These young players promised Denmark a bright future as a CS nation and if they could overcome their nervousness in major playoff games, they should have the potential for title wins. Legendary team captain karrigan stepped onto the scene and was chosen as the in-game leader of Team SoloMid, who would take them to new heights.
TSM, Na’Vi, and Cloud9
Under karrigan’s leadership, TSM may not become the best team in the world, but they have had some success. Individual players like dev1ce developed rapidly and integrated well into the team. They weren’t the dominant top team they are back then and still struggled with the really big matches, but karrigan’s entry into the Dignitas core marked the beginning of the upward trend in the careers of some of today’s best players.
Although this wasn’t quite as noticeable as the rise of TSM, Na’Vi had also become a competitive team in mid-2015. This was mainly due to the ability of GuardiaN to remain relevant after the patch that devalued the AWP (Arctic Warfare Police) and the acclimatization of flamie within Na’Vi. The high level of performance of GuardiaN according to the AWP Nerf is not just a small factor, but the main reason why GuardiaN is considered one of the best CS: GO players of all time. The AWP Nerf had taken the wind out of the sails of other AWP players such as kennyS. But for GuardiaN, the AWP nerf meant that it would have an advantage over its competitors because of the way he played.
However, GuardiaN has only been able to carry his team up to a certain point so far. He had led his team to the final of Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, had given everything, and still failed. The story of Na’Vi’s success in the Fnatic era ends at the same time and in the same way that the Fnatic era itself ended. At MLG Columbus, both GuardiaN and olofmeister developed stubborn wrist injuries that prevented them from playing at their level. It was an unfortunate and almost tragic end for the two best players from last year.
Just as Na’Vi found their rhythm, Cloud9 rose to unprecedented levels for an NA team. Their famous “Summer Run” was not crowned with a big title, thanks in part to Na’Vi, but it is nonetheless one of the most remarkable events in the history of the North American Counter-Strike, which has always lagged behind the European one.
Cloud9 reached the final of three tournaments in a row, and in all tournaments, they showed a remarkable level of teamwork and skill that was unprecedented in the North American scene at the time. Although Cloud9’s Summer Run didn’t change the international pecking order much at that time, it had astonished all Counter-Strike fans, regardless of their nationality, and directed their gaze to the other side of the ocean.
The Brazilian contribution to the international Counter-Strike began with the participation of the short-lived KaBuM! e-Sports teams at the MLG X Games in Aspen, when the Brazilians rose to international success, however, it was under the banner of Luminosity Gaming and especially after the recruitment of TACO and fnx that joined FallN and fer. Her first big success was her participation in the FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 finals. Before this final, Luminosity’s best result was reaching the top eight. After this jump, Luminosity continued successfully, they reached a few finals and semi-finals at major tournaments. Luminosity steadily improved from tournament to tournament and became a growing threat to the two best teams of the time, Na’Vi and Fnatic.
Luminosity didn’t seem far enough to win a major. Ultimately, it was the injuries suffered by the superstars of their greatest rivals that allowed the Brazilians to get to the top.
Luminosity / SK era: March 2016 – December 2016 (?)
After olofmeister’s wrist injury, Fnatic tried to fill the gap with substitutes, which turned out to be a serious mistake. Then olofmeister returned to the team, and all the hopes of the fans and the eyes of the whole CS world were on him. He was supposed to get the Swedes out of their misery, but that misery had only just begun. Although olofmeister’s wrist was completely healed, he did not regain his old size for a long time due to psychological problems. Over time, the chances of olofmeister reverting to his old form seemed increasingly unlikely. Due to the growing tension in the team, at the end of July 2016 after the loss to Virtus.pro in the final of the first ELEAGUE season, half of the players left Fnatic and went to GODSENT. All hopes of Fnatic’s return to former glory were all but gone.
As it became clearer and clearer that Fnatic was no longer capable of being at the top, Luminosity ascended the throne of CS: GO in the hearts and minds of Counter-Strike fans. The Brazilian CS under the banner of Luminosity experienced a fascinating upswing and celebrated some top performances in 2016, and since the fans and especially reporters are always on the lookout for the next CS era, one often speaks of the Luminosity / SK- Era.
However, the lack of significant tournament wins outside of the two major victories makes it impossible in our eyes to call 2016 the Brazilian era. While the subject is controversial, the Brazilians have not built constant dominance like other teams before and after them, and while winning both majors of the year is certainly of great importance, more titles outside of the majors are needed to make a team a year can claim for yourself and you can even begin to speak of an era.
That doesn’t mean that Luminosity or SK Gaming weren’t a great team at that time. While the post-Fnatic era is considered by many to be the SK era, the team has not won the required number of tournaments to truly deserve this award.
Realistically, it has to be said that there was quite a balance between the Tier 1 teams in 2016. The year 2017 was similarly competitive without one team being able to dominate for a long time. It seemed like Astralis had largely overcome their problems and at several points, in time it looked like a new golden age of Danish CS was about to begin. All that was missing was a few more tournaments wins to prove they were the best. Astralis, however, we’re unable to live up to these expectations after their first major win at ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017.
In contrast to the previous period of uncertainty, when the field was wide open, the year 2017 was initially dominated by four teams battling for a place at the top. These four teams were G2, who recently added two stars to their ranks through the recruitment of kennyS and apex, the redesigned SK team, the extremely focused Danes from Astralis and the starred FaZe Clan.
All these teams showed impressive performances until G2 and Astralis fell behind and a duel for the top began. Astralis had opted out of almost all of the smaller events to perform better at the big events, but this strategy didn’t work. You couldn’t win another major tournament that year. G2, on the other hand, had simply lost their magic touch, and the French players fell well below their previous level. For the fans, this was one of the most exciting times in CS: GO history. Nobody could predict who would win when these top teams met, and there have been several great games with legendary lineups during that time.
Astralis Era: January 2018 – Present
This exciting time continued at the beginning of 2018 until a team came to the fore where this had been announced for some time, at least since their first major victory, the boys from Astralis were considered the absolute top team, their true dominance developed after their victory at the DreamHack in Marseille in April 2018.
At first, things did not start optimally for Astralis, in January they competed in the ELEAGUE Major, the group stage took place in Atlanta, and the playoffs in Boston. Astralis, the former ELEAGUE champions, were eager to win the second title and, after a good run in the previous year, were hoping for a wonderful start to 2018. However, things did not go as expected, as the tournament began for Astralis with a loss to mousesports. The Danes found themselves in a rather difficult situation but they managed to win their second game against their old rivals North in a real Danish derby. They lost to Fnatic on the third day of the tournament, which meant the Swedes couldn’t afford to lose any more during the group stage. In the end, Astralis were eliminated after a surprise loss to Cloud9, the team that later won the major after winning a best-of-three grand final against the favored FaZe clan.
In February, Kjaerbye unexpectedly left Astralis to join North. Astralis had to look for a fifth player but luckily they signed Emil “Magisk” Reif a few days later. This should mark the beginning of an astronomical rise to the top and the longest reign of the Counter-Strike scene to date. After a quarter-final at the StarSeries S4 and a semi-final defeat at the Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice 2018, they reached the summit with a spectacular performance at DreamHack Marseille 2018 and convincingly defeated FaZe Clan, Fnatic, and Natus Vincere on their way to the title. Although they lost to the FaZe Clan in the IEM Sydney 2018 grand final, they recovered in the 7th season final of the ESL Pro League, in which they quickly defeated the FaZe Clan and defeated Team Liquid with a 3-1 win, to raise the trophy in the air. They continued their dominance with trophies at the ECS Season 5 Final and ELEAGUE CS: GO Premier 2018, only interrupted by a semi-final defeat against Natus Vincere at ESL One: Cologne 2018.
Astralis crowned their incomparable year 2018 in September with their second major title in the FACEIT Major: London 2018, here they defeated FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, and Natus Vincere without losing a single card in the playoffs. Just 6 days later they defeated MiBR in the grand finale of the BLAST Pro Series Istanbul 2018 with 2-1 – after an undefeated 5-0 group stage – to continue their dominance over the scene.
At the IEM Katowice Major 2019, they won their third major title, becoming the second team in CS: GO history (after Fnatic) to take home three major titles and the third to win two majors in a row could. After a convincing 3-0 result in the New Legends phase against Complexity Gaming, Cloud9 and Renegades, it went into the New Champions phase, where they beat ninjas in pajamas, MiBR, and finally ENCE without losing a single card to secure the major victory.
However, their dominance decreased significantly after this major victory, and the top position was temporarily taken by Team Liquid, which became the number one CS: GO team in the world. But that didn’t last too long either, later that year Astralis took part in the StarLadder Major: Berlin 2019. After winning their opening game against DreamEaters and G2 Esports, they lost their next game to NRG Esports, this game made history as it was the longest game in CS history with a total of 59 rounds. After losing to NRG, they defeated CR4ZY and made it to the playoffs. Astralis met their direct competitor for the throne, Team Liquid, in the quarter-finals and won the series convincingly after a surprising card selection. In the semifinals, they faced NRG Esports again, this time they could win the series. Finally, Astralis faced AVANGAR in the grand final. Astralis won the final, making it the first CS: GO team to win three majors in a row, as well as the first team to achieve a total of four major wins.
There is no doubt that CS: GO has been under the rule of Astralis for some time now. The Danish team is undisputedly the best in the world and is now facing a possible third year of almost complete dominance over the scene.
Liquid – is the new dominance coming from the USA?
Between their victory at DreamHack Marseille in April 2018 and today, Astralis has impressively demonstrated that they are not only the best team in the current CS: GO, but probably the best of all time. Even when compared to the legendary squads of Ninjas in Pajamas and Fnatic in the earlier years of the game, Astralis’ accomplishments are unique. Astralis not only holds the record for most major wins but has also earned by far the most prize money of any team with over $ 8 million in prize money. They also hold the record number one in the world for most days.
Until the impressive run of Liquid, during which Astralis was dethroned at the DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019, Astralis held first place in the HLTV rankings for over a year. Astralis won the Intel Grand Slam worth $ 1 million in 2018.
Just how impressive these numbers are, a comparison with Astralis’ main competition shows all the more. If you look at the careers of Team Liquid and Natus Vincere, who are widely viewed as number 2 and number 3 behind Astralis, you can see how dominant the Danes are by historical comparison.
As for Astralis’ players, experts agree that the Danish team does not necessarily have the best players in every position. What makes Astralis unique, however, is its persistence. Rarely does a player fall out of line and have a bad tournament. On the 160+ cards they played in 2018, Astralis players were incredibly consistent, averaging a rating of at least 1.14, with dev1ce unsurprisingly at the top of the leaderboards.
At the moment Astralis are still the favorites at every tournament they play and it is hard to say which team can be a reliable challenger to the Danes. At the moment, Natus Vincere seems to be the most likely candidate, but Fnatic has also made claims to the throne with their recent victory in the ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe.
The Astralis era seems to have come to an end, albeit not as spectacularly as it was with NiP or Fnatic at the time. Rather, the other top teams, above all Natus Vincere and most recently Fnatic but also mousesports and of course the Americans from Team Liquid, have caught up and at least approached their level.
At the moment Astralis seem to be just one of the absolute top teams in CS: GO, they have not given up their throne, but have some serious competition. On the other hand, they have won the last three majors, so one can hardly speak of a decline of the Danish top team.
The best CS teams of all time
Now that we’ve seen some kind of historical timeline and a summary of CS: GO history, we can move on to the next step, comparing all legendary lineups over time. As difficult as this may be, we still have some solid clues and so we want to present our list to you.
We have already mentioned this at the beginning, but because it is extremely important to understand it again: by the team we do NOT mean organizations in this context. “Astralis” is an organization, dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, gla1ve, and Magisk, the 5 men who play for the organization are their line-up.
This brings us to the top 10 of the best CS: GO lineups of all time.
10th place: FaZe Clan
Havard “rain” Nygaard
Nikola “NiKo” Kovac
Finn “karrigan” Andersen
Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson
Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs
(October 2017 – September 2019)
The well-known eSports organization FaZe Clan began its involvement in CS: GO with the commitment of the complete line-up of G2 Esports. They remained one of the Tier2 teams until they started the trend of creating “super teams” with the engagement of NiKo, GuardiaN, and olofmeister.
On October 19, 2016, FaZe Clan signed Finn “karrigan” Andersen, the former in-game Astralis leader who was banked due to a series of poor results. For many observers, this was an interesting but thoroughly solid move as it was able to bring the team the much-needed leadership. What fans didn’t know was that this was going to be a real fresh start that would take most of a year and millions of dollars to complete.
Karrigan’s addition to the team was quickly reflected in the results as he began to make a huge impact on the team early on. Even though he had strong players to work with, it would make more changes to make FaZe Clan a top-four team in the world.
After aizy went to North, FaZe signed one of the top three players in the world, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac. This new line-up started causing a sensation in the first half of 2017. The team was able to win a LAN victory in the StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3 and the final in the first four LAN events, but could not take the last step and were divorced, for example. B. at the PGL major out early.
Following the PGL major, FaZe made other major changes to the roster. kioShiMa and longtime member allu were both benched, which meant Havard “rain” Nygaard was the only member of the active cast who was on the team before Kerrigan’s engagement as team captain. In their place FaZe brought two of the best CS players in the world: Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs and Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson.
To speak of a team with “great potential” would be an understatement here. Olofmeister was considered by many to be the best player in the world after his time at Fnatic, and GuardiaN just had two of the best years of any AWP player. Combined with the skills of NiKo and rain, under the leadership of karrigan, FaZe was one of the best teams the CS world has ever seen, and not just on paper.
With their new line-up came olofmeisters and GuardiaN’s first appearance for the FaZe Clan at ESL One New York, where they won convincingly. Another win in the 2017 E-League Premier followed. Their form deteriorated a bit as the team took many second places. After playing on this roster for just a few months, FaZe had already racked up three major LAN victories, including the ECS season four finals, which took home $ 250,000 in prize money.
At the E-League Boston Major they only just lost to Cloud9, and to this day the lack of a major title is a sore point for the players and fans of the FaZe Clan. The team currently consists of NiKo, rain, olofmeister, coldzera, and broky, which means that FaZe once again have what is probably the top-class squad in CS: GO.
The squad from the end of 2017 to the inactive time karrigans from December 2018 is in our eyes one of the best teams in CS history, even if they don’t have a major title, they have shown incredible games and at a time when it is arguably the greatest, There was competition in CS: GO, shone.
9th place: Cloud9
Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham
Tarik “tarik” Celik
Timothy “autimatic” Ta
Jake “Stewie2K” Yip
William “RUSH” Wierzba
(January 2018)
Cloud9 entered the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene on August 1, 2014, when it took over the North American roster from compLexity Gaming. Cloud9 made their first appearance at ESL One Cologne 2014, where they lost in the quarter-finals against the then unbeatable Swedish team Ninjas in Pajamas, which later won the tournament.
On January 28, 2018, Cloud9 defeated FaZe Clan 2-1 in the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 Final, becoming the first and to date only North American team to win a major. North American fans had waited a long time for one of their teams to win a prestigious major title, but after five years of waiting they finally got their heroes, and that too at a tournament on the home continent.
The all-American roster of Cloud9 battled its way through a number of the best CS: GO teams in the world – including the dominant team at the time, SK Gaming – to advance to the final of the 2018 ELEAGUE Boston Major, then triumphed in a nerve-wracking final match with three Tickets and two extensions against the European “Super Team” of the FaZe Clan.
On paper, before the match, it seemed to be one of the most one-sided grand finals in the history of the CS: GO majors. The FaZe clan is known for having the most expensive team in Counter-Strike, one of their players had won two majors in the past, and the rest of them had at least playoff experience at the largest events.
Cloud9’s line-up, on the other hand, consisted entirely of younger players with relatively modest résumés. As a team, they had never made it into the major’s top eight, so they went into this final as a total underdog.
The supposed outsiders not only prevailed here, but also did so in a way that led to one of the most spectacular final series in the history of Counter-Strike.
It started badly for Cloud9 and they lost their card selection Mirage 14-16 in an incredibly exciting and close match. After that, they had to face FaZe on Overpass, a card that Cloud9 had lost to FaZe four times in a row in previous tournaments.
Despite these omens, the young team started the first rounds with fireworks and used a series of aggressive, innovative plays to bring the score to an impressive 15: 4. Even though FaZe offered considerable resistance after half-time, the comeback was finally stopped by Cloud9, who won the card with 16:10.
This brought about the showdown on the final card of the tournament, Inferno, on which both teams had shown strong performances in previous games. Cloud9 got off to a strong start on the CT side and ended up with a respectable 7-8 result in the first half. Things looked bleak for the Americans in the second half, however, when FaZe lined up enough lap wins to decimate Cloud9’s budget, bringing them to the brink of defeat with an intermediate result of 15:11.
Then, to the visible frustration of the FaZe Clan who already felt they had this tournament under their belt, and to the frenetic cheers of the home fans, the Cloud9 players managed to win four consecutive rounds to bring the score to 15: 15 and force the extension.
It took them two extra times and a couple of incredibly messy-looking rounds, but Cloud9 had finally made it, with a final score of 22:19 they defeated the heavily favored FaZe Clan on home soil, securing themselves and the American fans their first major title.
For the young Cloud9 players, this marked the absolute climax of their Counter-Strike careers, and for Cloud9 fans and North American Counter-Strike fans in general, it marked the end of a period of drought that had already started to feel like a curse.
Cloud9 did not last their excellent run in early 2018 when they won the ELEAGUE Boston Major trophy in their home country. Constant changes in the squad and exchanged players in core positions have put Cloud9 in a very dangerous situation. After the departure of Stewie2K and tarik, Cloud9 had decided to abandon the concept of a purely American team and also sign international players.
Most recently, the entire ATK squad was signed in January 2020. It remains to be seen whether you can find your way back to the top of professional Counter-Strike. It won’t be easy due to the tough competition, but the organization and its legendary line-up of the ELEAGUE Boston Majors are still among the best teams in history. It was the biggest underdog success story in CS: GO.
8th place: Gambit Esports
Mikhail “Dosia” Stolyarov
Rustem “mou” Telepov
Daniil “Zeus” Teslenko
Dauren ”AdreN” Kystaubayev
Abay “Hobbit” Khassenov
(July 2017)
On January 8, 2016, Gambit Esports acquired a CS: GO roster that consisted mostly of former HellRaisers players. They achieved respectable results for a while, but couldn’t stand up to the top teams.
That changed when Daniil “Zeus” Teslenko and Abay “Hobbit” Khasenov came to Gambit on October 12th. With this line-up, Gambit first won smaller tournaments such as the Acer Predator Masters 3, where they defeated Team Kinguin 3-0 in the final in November 2016. On July 23, 2017, Gambit defeated the Brazilians from Immortals with 2-1 in the grand final of the PGL Major 2017 in Krakow, making them the first CIS team to win a CS: GO Major.
The PGL Major 2017 was the eleventh Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major event and took place from July 16 to 23, 2017 in Krakow, Poland. 16 professional teams from all over the world took part, eight teams qualified as well as Gambit Esports directly due to their top 8 placement in the last major, while another eight teams qualified through the offline qualifier. The PGL Major was the fourth major to win a $ 1 million prize pool since Valve announced the increase to the $ 250,000 prize pool at MLG Columbus 2016.
The playoffs consisted of eight teams. Astralis, Fnatic, Gambit Esports, North, SK Gaming, and Virtus.pro were already in the knockout phase of a major, while BIG and Immortals had come this far for the first time. With FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere, two favorite teams had already been eliminated at this point. The grand finale was eventually fought between two underdogs – Gambit Esports and Immortals. Gambit Esports had defeated Fnatic and Astralis while Immortals had knocked out BIG and Virtus.pro.
The major ended with Gambit Immortals beating 2-1 in a relatively tight best-of-three series. It was only the third time that a non-European team won a major (the Brazilian organization’s Luminosity Gaming and SK Gaming each won a major using the same squad), and the first time a CIS team won a major.
This finale was extremely exciting and offered some interesting moves, one of which was even immortalized by Valve as graffiti on Inferno. The experts among the readers are well aware that if you are standing in the far corner of Pit with enough life points, you will barely survive if the bomb on bombsite A goes off.
During the 11th round of the big final of the PGL Krakow 2017 between Gambit Esports and Immortals, Dosia from Gambit could no longer win the round because the Immortals bomb would certainly explode on Bombsite A. He knew, however, that Immortals’ steel and LUCAS1 were in the far corner of Pit. With the strategy mentioned above in mind, Dosia threw a grenade towards the pit, inflicting over 50 damage on both enemies, guaranteeing that they would die in the bomb explosion and lose their weapons, causing a huge setback for the Immortals’ budget. Dosia’s play was so sophisticated and advanced that the commentators, in their excitement, found it difficult to explain the strategy to the audience.
Valve added a poster to the brick house next to Dosia’s position, advertising a perfume in a grenade-shaped bottle, along with a slogan in Italian that means “No, you cannot escape”.
Gambit had earned an invitation to major for the second time in a row by their place in the playoffs of the ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta. Their first opponents in Krakow were mousesports, who finished 1-2 in the offline qualification. Had occupied space. Gambit achieved a 16:10 win on Inferno thanks to a strong performance by the entire team. In the second round, the team met G2 Esports and won 16: 6 on Cache, one of the favorite cards of their French opponents. In the third round, they continued their run with a 16:11 win on Train against the favorites Virtus.pro, who played at home.
In the quarterfinals, Gambit faced Fnatic for the third time in a row in the playoffs of a major. This time, however, they broke their curse in the quarterfinals by beating Fnatic 2-0. In the semifinals, Gambit faced Astralis, who had become favorites to win the tournament after knocking out SK Gaming in their quarterfinal game. Amazing performances from AdreN and mou helped Gambit to a 2-1 win over the Danes, after which they were to face Immortals in a surprising grand final.
Things didn’t go well for Gambit in the Best of 3 series at first after being beaten on Cobblestone and only able to win 4 rounds in the entire game. The next card was Train, which Gambit had looked solid on in the tournament so far when they beat Virtus.pro, Fnatic, and Astralis on that card. Here they won at 16:11 and brought the result to 1-1. So the decision should be made on the final card, Inferno, on which both teams had performed well.
The first half ended 11: 4 in favor of Gambit, thanks to the strong moves of the three Kazakh players AdreN, mou, and Hobbit. On the CT side, however, the Immortals then began to fill the void after winning the pistol round and winning four rounds in a row before Gambit took one round. In the end, however, the Brazilians couldn’t stop Gambit, the final score of 16:10 on Inferno marked the first big win for a CIS team in the history of the majors. AdreN was named the Major’s MVP by HLTV thanks to his amazing individual performances and consistent top form throughout the tournament.
Team captain Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko had a large share. Gambit Esports was the first CIS team since Natus Vincere to reach the finals at MLG Columbus 2016, and Zeus was part of this Na’Vi team. With a completely new line-up, Zeus Gambit again led into the final, by far the greatest achievement for the Russian eSports organization.
Shortly after this spectacular performance, the team’s captain, Zeus, and coach Kane left the team due to internal disagreements. Both players moved to Natus Vincere, Zeus ‘former team. Since then, Gambit has not been able to repeat this earlier peak performance, in recent years the great results have been missing, even if Gambit Esports continues to be involved in almost all important tournaments.
7th place: LDLC.com
Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer
Richard “shox” Papillon
Fabien “kioShiMa” Fiey
Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt
Edouard “SmithZz” Dubourdeaux
(July 2014 – December 2014)
LDLC grew up during the height of the “French Shuffles” and was able to put together a team of French superstars with SmithZz, shox, NBK-, Happy, and kioShiMa. With this very experienced and talented cast, the team set the pro scene on fire. LDLC had an extremely successful time in 2014, in only two of eight tournaments they did not make it to the final and reached the top 4 in every single one. At the time, they were the only serious competition for the Swedish powerhouses Fnatic and NiP. They cemented their legacy with a win at the Dreamhack Winter 2014 Major.
LDLC achieved its first success at the EMS One Katowice Major 2014, where they finished 5th to 8th place. The DreamHack Winter 2014 in November was the third major tournament of the year and the second CS: GO major in Sweden. Like the first one organized by DreamHack, it took place in Jönköping. It was a total prize pool of US $ 250,000, with a total of 16 teams including three former major winners in Ninjas in Pajamas, Fnatic, and Virtus.pro.
LDLC reached the quarterfinals against Fnatic. The omens were clearly against them because they had never been able to defeat the Swedes. To make matters worse, the last two meetings were the finals of the last two tournaments. After LDLC had won against Dust2 with 16:10 but had to back down on Cache with 8:16 against Fnatic, the big story of this major developed on the decisive third map, Overpass.
With a half-time score of 12-3, LDLC were able to build a comfortable lead and although Overpass heavily favors the CT side, LDLC also managed to win the pistol round on the T side, which gave them a very good chance in the second To make their victory clear at half time.
Now one of the most controversial chapters in the history of the CS: GO majors followed, with an intermediate score of 3:13, Fnatic successfully used a previously unknown boost, which was so strong that it influenced the rest of the game so much that it was immediately considered by many to be has been classified as illegal.
In the second half of the quarter-finals of the DreamHack Winter 2014 between Team LDLC.com and Fnatic, Olofmeister and his Fnatic teammates used a previously unknown boost that enabled an extreme view of most of the map up to the CT spawn. Although Fnatic was 3:12 behind at halftime, this strategy enabled them to win the card 16:13. However, due to the subsequent controversy over the boost and accompanying fraud allegations, Fnatic gave away their victory, which led to LDLC winning the quarter-finals.
Valve added a sign in German next to the place where olofmeister was being promoted, stating that bystanders are not allowed to climb over the railing. As a result, the Overpass map was also modified to make the boost impossible by simply bringing the truck closer to Bombsite B.
After spending the entire second half in utter helplessness in the face of the inexplicable losses of their teammates, LDLC lost 13 laps in a row. When it became clear what had happened, when olofmeister was hoisted to the full-map position for almost every round, LDLC protested the result and the DreamHack administrators spent the next six hours deciding what to do. When they decided the second half was to be played again, Fnatic protested in turn and the excitement continued.
Ultimately, DreamHack decided that the entire third card should be replayed, as they discovered that LDLC was also alleged to have used a potentially illegal boost. The community was outraged by the decision and Fnatic announced soon after that they would withdraw from the tournament and leave the victory to LDLC.
In retrospect, Fnatic probably knew that without the boost, their chances of winning were virtually nonexistent at that point. They took a risk because there were no clear rules against their move – but considering the overpowering effect of this move, the subsequent decision to forbid it was undoubtedly the right one.
After defeating the Swedes, LDLC beat Natus Vincere 2-0 in the semi-finals. In the Grand Final, the former VeryGames trio consisting of NBK-, shox, and SmithZz faced their long-time archenemy NiP, and this time they couldn’t be stopped. Like against Fnatic, LDLC won on Dust2, then lost 4:16 on Inferno, on the last card (symbolically again Overpass) they managed to save a 13:15 deficit in overtime, where their in-game leader was and MVP of the tournament Happy took the lead and led the French to victory.
LDLC peaked in 2014 with a line-up that rivaled the top teams of the era like Fnatic and Ninjas in pajamas. In the course of its history, the team has been the employer of almost all known French CS: GO players from this period, including Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt, and Richard “shox” Papillon.
LDLC’s decline began when the French scene became the talent pool for new teams. It lost most of its successful 2014 roster to Titan Esports, signed a new roster shortly thereafter, and then found itself without a team again when those players closed to join EnVyUs. The team then mainly competed in smaller events, while its best players were regularly recruited by larger European teams, a fate they share with many French organizations.
6th place: Natus Vincere
Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko
Denis “seized” Kostin
Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs
Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev
Egor “flamie” Vasilev
(Mid-2015 to mid-2016)
Natus Vincere was the best team of all time in CS 1.6, but never quite repeated the success in CS: GO. To this day, Na’Vi is arguably the best team in CS: GO that has never won a major title. Over the years the team has spawned several legendary lineups, which made it difficult to decide which lineup should be on our list here.
I chose your line-up from mid-2015/16 because it was during this time that they achieved their best major results. The team of Zeus, GuardiaN, Edward, flamie, and seized had risen to the top of the scene during this time. They took 2nd place in successive majors. They lost to EnVyUs at Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca Major and then to Luminosity Gaming at MLG Columbus Major.
Between those two main results, Na’Vi had reached the finals of every major tournament in which the team had participated. Three titles and three-second places were the results. Na’Vis breathtaking shape during this time and with this line-up remains unforgettable. The team represents the most successful epoch to date of one of the most consistent teams in CS history.
The Na’Vi team is also known outside of the esports scene. The legendary Ukrainian organization has been on the Counter-Strike scene since the game gained popularity. In the early days of CS: GO, Natus Vincere was unable to get their preferred 1.6 lineups to work. After a series of disappointing results, star players Yegor “Markeloff” Markelov and Ioann “Edward” Shukhariev should leave the team. Na’Vi had to look for new talent and eventually signed Denis “Seized” Kostin and Anton “Kibaken” Koleshnikov.
The results didn’t improve and after finishing last in the first CS: GO Major, Dreamhack Winter 2013, it was time for another change. Na’Vi dismissed Kibaken from the line-up, along with long-time player Arseny “ceh9” Trynozhenko. Instead, Edward returned to the team, but more importantly, Natus Vincere should finally find the star who let them take the next step: Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs. The signing of GuardiaN proved to be the right step for the team, which subsequently won their first title at the SLTV StarSeries IX Finals. Na’Vi still had a long way to go before they could consistently compete for tournament wins, but the addition of GuardiaN was a significant step in that direction.
However, this was only the first step for Natus Vincere to become one of the CS: GO, titans. Although they now had an absolute superstar in their line-up in Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovacs, it was not enough to secure the desired title for them. Na’Vi needed even more firepower. They found this in April 2015 when they accepted Egor “flamie” Vasilyev into the team. Flamie should switch to the active squad and replace Sergey “Starix” Ischuk, who later became the coach of the team and continued success.
Flamie had proven beforehand that he was a great talent. Now it was just a matter of showing your skills on the big stage. Starix played a decisive role as a coach in this development, with flamie in the team, Na’Vi managed to win her first important CS: GO events since the aforementioned StarSeries victory. They continued this form when they won the Electronic Sports World Cup 2015 as well as another StarSeries event, the SLTV StarSeries XIII.
Despite this title wins, flamie was not yet a top player at the professional level. His performances were still very erratic, and as a result, the entire Na’Vi team suffered from these form fluctuations. In autumn 2015, the team made an internal change, instead of Zeus, their coach Starix took over the lead in the game. With Starix at the top, flamie’s overall performance improved dramatically, which resulted in Na’Vi having a fantastic final run from late 2015 to early 2016. They reached the finals of two majors and took home several tournament titles. The only teams that could stop them from having one of the best runs of all time were some of the best teams in CS: GO history, EnVyUs, Fnatic, and Luminosity Gaming.
The Ukrainian team, Natus Vincere, managed to maintain a reasonably constant form throughout the history of CS: GO. The team currently has one of the best rosters of all time in Counter-Strike, in which flamie, who has always remained loyal to the team, works with star players such as s1mple, electronic, and, most recently, perfecto to keep Natus Vincere at the top of the world rankings. But they have still never been able to win a major title, their two most successful epochs were once from the end of 2015 to the beginning of 2016 and the second seems to be on the way, 2018 was also an impressive year for Na’Vi, but they were clearly in the Shadow of Astralis.
5th place: Virtus.pro
Viktor “TaZ” Vojtas
Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski
Jaroslaw “pashaBiceps” Jarzabkowski
Filip “Neo” Kubski
Pavel “byali” Bielinsky
(February 2014 – February 2018)
These five have stayed together for what feels like an eternity by CS standards and have become one of the most popular teams in the world due to their passion for the game and their entertaining style of play.
Virtus.pro is best known for some famous former members who previously made up the roster. Jaroslaw “pashaBiceps” Jarzabkowski, Filip “neo” Kubski, and Pawel “byali” Bielinski formed a now-legendary team in the first three to four years since this squad was taken over by a team called AGAiN.
When fans and competition from all over the world gathered in Katowice, Poland, in March 2014 to host what was only the second CS: GO major, it was up to Virtus.pro to defend their home country in the Spodek Arena. To say they represented their homeland worthily would be an understatement, as the Poles defeated NiP’s hitherto incredibly dominant Swedes with a clear 2-0 win in front of the enthusiastic domestic crowd and sent them home.
The home team Virtus.pro started the grand final with a quick 3-0 run against NiP on the B-bomb site on Mirage. Their fourth-round attack on B was stopped by NiP, but the Poles persisted and another attempt at B broke the Swedes’ defense.
In the meantime, the score fell to 2:10 from NiP’s point of view, but the Swedes finally found some answers to Virtus.pros tactics and were able to achieve at least two round wins before the break, so that they went into the second half with 4:11.
However, irtus.pro was also able to win the pistol round of the second half, which left the fans of NiP little hope, the ninjas were only able to get three more rounds in the entire second half on the T side before Virtus.pro scored a convincing 16: 7- Victory on Mirage.
Virtus.pro made another flying start on Inferno, won the CT pistol round, and routinely eliminated NiP despite early purchases, which gave them a 5-0 lead. A triple kill by Friberg brought NiP victory in round six and NiP also won the next round by planting the bomb on B.
pasha and byali hit back in the next round and together scored four kills to put VP 6-2 in the lead. The local audience was ecstatic, the support that evening was definitely on the side of Virtus.pro. The surprise was perfect when the local heroes marched to a 16:10 win on Inferno, only to wrap up their underdog success story with a 2-0 win over the favorite ninjas in pajamas in the final series.
Virtus.pro had the second CS: GO major ever on home soil, which EMS One Katowice won in 2014, and in addition to immortal fame, they also took home $ 100,000 in prize money.
Virtus.pro dominated the whole year and was by far the best team of the year. They maintained this status until 2015, placing themselves in the top 4 of several premier tournaments and winning a few too.
2016 was similarly successful for VP, although they suffered a slight loss of shape. From 2017, however, they recovered with a second place in the E-League Atlanta Major 2017. After they managed another top 4 placement at the PGL Krakau Major, it suddenly came to a break.
Shortly after the PGL Major, they had poor results and only finished 13-16. Place at the E-League Boston Major, her first place outside the top 8. After the bad result in Boston, their team broke up.
In the four years of its illustrious career, Virtus.pro’s Polish line-up has participated in well over 100 tournaments, collecting 47 top 4 placements, 16 titles, and a record for a squad to participate in CS: GO majors. With this four-year-old core, Virtus.pro has created a dynasty with which no team except Astralis can compete in terms of longevity and constant top form. Their long-standing, successful collaboration is unique in the CS: GO Pro scene.
Virtus pro remained a top team until the end of 2017. Their high point remains their success at the beginning of 2014 when they won the EMS One Katowice 2014 Major in their home country Poland. Virtus.pro in 2020 has a completely different logo, new management, and a completely new line-up of players. They are a long way from the heyday of the “Polish Five”, but are still at the top today.
4th place: ninjas in pajamas
Adam “friberg” Friberg
Richard “Xizt” Landström
Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg
Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund
Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson
(August 2012 to August 2014)
In the early days of professional CS: GO there was a team that was superior to the competition: Ninjas in pajamas, consisting of Adam “friberg” Friberg, Richard “Xizt” Landström, Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, and Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson dominated the scene in 2012/2013, winning an incredible 87 games in a row. Back then there were no official major events in CS: GO, but NiP won numerous major tournaments, including the DreamHack Winter 2012, the AMD Sapphire Invitational 2012, NorthCon 2012, TECHLABS Cup 2013, and Copenhagen Games 2013, to name a few.
In 2014 the long-awaited first major title followed after they were barely denied it as the second in the first two majors in CS: GO history. The history of ESL One Cologne began in 2014 and thus established what is probably the most important major tournament that CS: GO has to offer. The event is also known as the Cathedral of Counter-Strike.
The ESL One Cologne 2014 was the third Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major, which took place during Gamescom 2014 from 14.-17. August 2014 was held at the Cologne exhibition center. It was the second CS: GO major of 2014.
After two second places in major tournaments, ninjas in pajamas finally won their first big tournament trophy after an emotional journey for the Swedish team and especially for GeT_RiGhT. NiP defeated all opponents with 2-1 scorelines and prevailed in the quarterfinals against Cloud9 and in the semifinals against Team LDLC.com, whereupon their Swedish arch-rivals Fnatic in a close series with 16:11, 8:16, and 16:13 could shake off successfully. In addition to the prize money of 100,000 US dollars, NiP also earned the first and only major victory of the traditional eSports organization at the Cologne exhibition center.
Some CS: GO teams have seen periods of the sharp rise in form, even over a long period, but, NiP founded an era. From the beginning of CS: GO until the end of 2014, the CS scene only knew one top team, ninjas in pajamas. The legendary team of Fifflaren, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, f0rest, and friberg started immediately with the new title CS: GO and did not stop dominating the scene for a long time.
When the title CS: GO was released, NiP immediately entered the professional scene of the game. From the start, NiP started an undefeated streak that is unmatched to this day. They won 87 cards in a row over several months, a dominance that a team will probably never achieve again.
Their legendary series began with SteelSeries GO and was finally ended by Virtus.pro in the finals of SLTV StarSeries 2013.
During their two year reign of terror in professional CS: GO, NiP has played and won so many tournaments that it is impossible to list them all here. Around 20 tournament victories have been recorded during this time. Since most tournaments were not rated major at the time, their actual record could be even more impressive.
After the defeat against Virtus.pro, NiP never achieved this absolute top form again. One by one, all members left the team until only the name remained.
However, it was recently confirmed that the US-based organization has signed Dignitas f0rest, who will play again after many years with friberg, Xizt, and GeT_RiGhT in their new squad, even Fifflaren is back, but this time in the role of coach. The legendary NiP squad is back together again, and regardless of what success it will achieve, the older CS: GO fans will undoubtedly watch this with great interest and a touch of nostalgia.
Dignitas has now brought all five members of the original NiP team together. With Fifflaren’s resignation from active CS in 2015, the fifth-place will go to Norwegian AWP player Hakon “hallzerk” Fjaerli, who was taken over by Nordavind in November.
As for ninjas in pajamas, the organization peaked with this roster in 2013-14. One could never build on this achievement again. In recent years NiP has mostly played weakly with occasional upward outliers. The team is currently far from the heyday at the very highest level.
3rd place: Luminosity Gaming / SK Gaming
Gabriel “TrapN” Toledo
Fernando “fer” Alvarenga
Marcelo “coldzera” David
Lincoln “fnx” Lau
Epitacio “TACO” de Melo
(Total 2016)
The Brazilian dream team has proven that it has earned a place in the CS: GO Hall of Fame. This applies at the latest after winning the first tournament with a $ 500,000 prize money – until then the tournament with the highest prize money.
On July 29, 2015, it was announced that Luminosity would be firing its entire squad and taking on a Brazil-based team consisting of Gabriel “FallN” Toledo, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga “, Lucas” steel “Lopes, Ricardo” boltz “Prass, and Marcelo “coldzera” David passed.
In November 2015 Luminosity reached the quarter-finals of the DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015, after which steel and boltz left the team and were replaced by Epitacio “TACO” de Melo and Lincoln “fnx” Lau, and LG Wilton signed “zews” Prado in the role of the coach.
This Brazilian line-up was to become one of the most successful and legendary teams of all time, Luminosity became the first non-European team to win a major, they achieved this at MLG Columbus 2016 in April 2016.
In a game that has always been dominated by European teams, Luminosity Gaming’s unprecedented rise to the top of professional CS: GO was an unparalleled success story. The team, consisting of FallN, fer, coldzera, TACO, and fnx, exceeded all expectations when it began to defeat supposedly top teams with ease. Luminosity was one of the favorite teams for the MLG Columbus 2016 Major, the biggest CS: GO tournament of all time to date.
MLG Columbus was the first CS major outside of Europe. It was also the first time that a non-European team was in the final. This tournament victory marked the beginning of the “reign of terror” of LG and later SK Gaming, which is also referred to by many as the LG / SK era. In this tournament, the Brazilian team impressively proved that it was the best team in the world, they showed two unforgettable comebacks in the semifinals against Team Liquid and coldzera infamous jumping AWP quadruple kill was even immortalized as graffiti on the map.
During the 25th round of the semi-finals of the MLG Major Columbus 2016 between Team Liquid and Luminosity Gaming on Mirage, coldzera intercepted the entire Team Liquid, which attempted an attack through the apartments in the direction of Bombsite B. After coldzera had scored the first kill from his vantage point, he fired his AWP twice from the jump at his opponents, killed EliGE and s1mple with a single bullet with a no-scope before knocking out nitr0 with another no-scope. This incredible one-off action was the start of a 10-round winning streak with LGs 9:15 behind, which forced overtime and decided the card for the Brazilians with a score of 19:15.
Developers Valve added permanent graffiti to the wall behind the van next to coldzera’s position, showing a winged AWP with four red skulls above it.
Luminosity beat Team Liquid 2-0 in the series and was finally able to win the grand final against Natus Vincere to become one of the few teams that could win a CS major title.
On May 8, 2016, Luminosity also won the DreamHack Austin after beating Brazilian team Tempo Storm 2-0 in the final. A few days later, on May 16, 2016, the team won the ESL Pro League Season 3 Final after beating G2 Esports 3-2 in the final.
However, the era of Luminosity Gaming should not last long. On June 24, 2016, it was officially announced that the Brazilian squad would join SK Gaming on July 1, 2016. The squad’s last tournament with Luminosity was the Esports Championship Series Season 1 final, where they finished second and lost to G2 Esports in the final.
Shortly before the second major of 2016, the ESL One Cologne 2016, the players got into a contractual dispute and switched to a new organization: SK Gaming. Many will remember this major mainly because of the incredible performance of s1mple with Liquid, which made it a star on the world stage, including his falling AWP highlight against Fnatic, also immortalized as graffiti. The Brazilians, now playing under the banner of SK Gaming, dominated again and the squad became the second team to become champions in two consecutive CS: GO majors with a 2-0 win over Liquid in the final.
Overall, in 2016, before fnx was kicked off the team, Luminosity / SK played in 18 premiers / major tournaments, won seven of them, finished second in five, and achieved a top 4 result in the remaining six tournaments. In their run in 2016, the team did not miss the top 4 in any major tournament they played. The Brazilians showed such dominance this year that four of the five players (all except TACO) were voted into the top 20 of the year, with coldzera coming in first and FallN in second.
2nd place: Fnatic
Jesper “JW” Wecksell
Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson
Robin “flusha” Rönnquist
Markus “pronax” Wallsten
Freddy “KRiMZ” Johansson
(June 2014 – November 2015)
When Fnatic switched to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, they immediately became one of the top teams in the world there. Already at the end of 2013, Fnatic won their first major tournament in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive under the leadership of their newly signed team captain Markus “pronax” Wallsten and defeated what was then probably the best team ninjas in pajamas in the final of the first CS: GO major the DreamHack Winter 2013.
In 2014 Fnatic took on two ex-LGB players, Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer and Freddy “KRiMZ” Johansson, in this line-up they finished second at ESL One Cologne 2014, where they just lost to NiP.
During the 29th round of the semifinals of ESL One 2014 between Team Dignitas and Fnatic, olofmeister successfully defused the bomb placed on Bombsite B, although the area was covered in the flames of the Molotov by dev1ce. Even if olofmeister didn’t survive the round, he finished the disarming just milliseconds before dying in the flames.
In honor of this legendary move, Valve added permanent wall graffiti to the Overpass map depicting a heroic olofmeister standing in a sea of flames.
After the ESL One Katowice 2015, where they again defeated NiP in the final, Fnatic also won the next major in August 2015, the ESL One Cologne 2015 after defeating Team EnVyUs in the Grand Final. Because of the successive major titles of this squad and eleven other international trophies, some consider this Fnatic team to be the strongest squad that has ever played together in the history of CS: GO.
Fnatic’s 2014-15 roster was something we’ll never see again. Fnatic was already one of the top teams in the world, but under olofmeister and KRiMZ, Fnatic became a legend. JW, pronax, flusha, olofmeister, and KRiMZ became one of the most successful squads of all time and won two consecutive majors, they were the first team to achieve this feat.
They dominated at the beginning of 2015 and won the first major of the year at ESL One Katowice 2015 and were able to consolidate their era with another big win at ESL One Cologne 2015.
When ESL One returned to the city of Katowice for the second CS: GO major in 2015, the Swedes were looking for revenge after the French from LDLC knocked them out of the tournament in the previous major and later emerged victorious. Once again, 16 of the absolute top teams met on Polish soil in the Spodek Arena. In addition to Fnatic, Virtus.pro, the former LDLC squad under the new banner of Team EnVyUs and NiP, were all keen on the coveted title.
Home favorites Virtus.pro reached the semifinals after beating Keyd Stars’ Brazilian squad, which consisted of some of the later Luminosity / SK stars, but lost 0-2 to Fnatic in the semifinals. Fnatic met their Swedish rivals from Ninjas in Pajamas in the grand finale, where they won 2-1 and won their second major title within two years.
At ESL One Cologne 2015, Fnatic should write history again. For the second major in the city of Cologne, the LANXESS Arena hosted 16 world-class teams that had flown in from all over the world for three days.
Fnatic was incredibly dominant through the tournament and lost only one card during the entire event, on Mirage against Virtus.pro in the semi-finals. In the grand final, Fnatic won convincingly against the French from Team EnVyUs with 2-0 and took the third major trophy as well as the late revenge for the lost quarter-finals at the DreamHack Winter 2014. Fnatic has thus perpetuated its era in the history books as that first team to ever win two major tournaments in a row.
Also, Fnatic is the only team that has been immortalized with three graffiti in the game, all three have to do with unforgettable stories that this line-up offered the fans. In addition to the already mentioned boost against LDLC and olofmeister’s burning bomb disposal, another move (at least temporarily) found its way into the game world.
During the 33rd round of the grand final of ESL One Cologne 2015 between Fnatic and Team EnVyUs, Fnatic bought four AWPs and let their entire team, except JW, focus on the middle. Although this unusual move only led to one kill – pronax, which turns apEX off – the strategy was so unconventional that viewers and commentators were both amazed and amused.
Valve added permanent graffiti on a wall near T-Spawn depicting a terrorist holding 4 AWPs at a time. However, when Dust2 was updated in the October 10, 2017 patch, the graffiti was removed.
In November 2015, pronax decided to take a break from professional CS: GO after some disappointing tournament performances. He was replaced by Dennis “dennis” Edman from Team G2 Esports. In December 2015, Fnatic defeated NiP 2-1 in this line-up and secured their second victory at the Fragbite Masters tournament, where they were able to win in the third season. Fnatic returned to first place in the HLTV.org team rating after this tournament and remained No. 1 in the world until April 18, 2016.
In April 2016, olofmeister suffered a wrist injury and John “goon” Eriksson temporarily took his place. On August 15, 2016, Fnatic announced that flusha, JW, and KRiMZ would switch to GODSENT, which finally dissolved the legendary line-up.
On August 21, 2017, Fnatic announced that olofmeister would also leave Fnatic after more than three years to join the FaZe clan. This marked the end of an era, although nowadays there has been a small reunion of the old guard under the banner of Fnatic.
Since December 2019, the line-up of Fnatic consists of JW, KRiMZ, Brollan, flusha, and Golden, so that three of the legendary line-up play together again for the same organization. Together with the old NiP squad reunited at Dignitas, 2020 promises to be a festival for nostalgics. Fnatic has remained one of the best teams in the world to this day, and with winning the most important tournament of the year so far, the ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe, they got off to a fantastic start and are currently third in the HLTV rankings, only eight points behind the runner-up Astralis.
During the approximately 17-month-long Fnatic era, Fnatic played 27 major/premier tournaments. They won a total of 12 tournaments, took second place in five tournaments, and made it into the top 4 in five tournaments, a total of only five times they were not in the top 4. It is this dominance that has already earned Fnatic’s legendary roster second on this list.
1st place: Astralis
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
Emil “Magisk” frost
(March 2018 – today)
Above we spoke of Virtus.pro and its Polish line-up as an example of longevity in the turbulent world of the CS: GO Pro teams, but there is a core that does not only apply to the time since they have been playing together. but above all in terms of their successes far in the shade. We are of course talking about the Danish core, whose three regular players dev1ce, dupreeh, and Xyp9x have been playing together without interruption since 2013.
In this regular line-up, they went through some organizations and successful attempts that could undoubtedly have placed themselves lower on this list separately, but their real heyday came after they made themselves independent with Astralis.
The team that played with the Copenhagen Wolves since the early days of CS: GO was then signed by Dignitas and has already achieved some respectable success in the European scene, but after joining Team SoloMid they made their first breakthrough internationally.
When the North American organization Team SoloMid signed five Danish players for their team, little was initially expected of them. But dev1ce, dupreeh, Xyp9x, karrigan, and cajunB have all proven otherwise.
The team’s first big challenge was the ESL Katowice 2015 Major, in which they could not prevail and finished 5th to 8th place. The team should maintain its shape and continue to land in the top half of each tournament. Even then, their consistency spoke for itself, during the 2015 run the Danish team proved that it deserves its place in the CS: GO scene.
During this time Astralis participated in 15 premier and major tournaments, won seven tournaments, and managed to get into the top 4 in six other tournaments. So it was already clear in the line-up at the time that the Danes had great potential, but it took two changes in the squad to make the players, who are now inseparable from the Astralis name, the most dominant team in CS history.
The first important step on the way to success took place at the end of 2016, this year the legendary team captain karrigan left Astralis for FaZe Clan to take it to new heights. What at first looked like a big loss for Astralis turned out to be the opposite in retrospect, when Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander was hired, who took on the role of team captain and still holds it today.
In CS: GO, good communication is the key to victory, given the speed of the game and the short time it takes to react and get information about your opponent’s movements. Astralis’ dominance is largely thanks to team captain gla1ve and coach zonic, who made the whole thing possible. The coach and the team are good friends outside of the game too. They have a close relationship with each other and show a level of team play in the game that is unmatched. Also, the entire line-up is exclusively Danish, so you can exchange information in the game without any language barriers.
The Astralis squad received its current and one could almost say final form in 2018 after Astralis made a rare change in the squad. Kjaerbye moved to North and was replaced by another Danish player in Emil “Magisk” Reif, with this line-up Astralis reached a new level.
After a bad run in the first major of the year, where they were eliminated after just one win and three lost games, the team looked for a solution. Once Magisk joined the team, the results turned in their favor.
After gla1ve, dev1ce, dupreeh, and Xyp9x completed their line-up, Astralis began to win everything they could win. Astralis raised over $ 1 million in prize money in 5 months and dominated absolutely every event they played.
Within five months from March to July, Astralis took part in seven premier tournaments, won four, once reached the second, and finished 3rd / 4th in the remaining two. Space.
What stands out on the team is the exceptional skills of star player dev1ce, but it’s also the way dupreeh and Xyp9x always seem to be in the right place at the right time that makes Astralis so impressive. But their success is undoubtedly related to their longevity, the lack of consistency is the stumbling block for most of the other top teams. When a lineup does not quickly produce the expected results, many organizations tend to change the roster. Changes can be beneficial, but inevitably mess up the chemistry within the team. New players must first find their way into a team. That always takes time and effort until the synergy between the team members is right.
In stark contrast to the otherwise extremely short-lived CS: GO Pro scene, four out of five players at Astralis have been playing together for almost four years, dev1ce, dupreeh, and Xyp9x for almost seven years. All of their players have been in the professional CS: GO scene for a long time and have gained a lot of experience. Coach Danny “zonic” Sörensen is also one of the most experienced CS: GO players and is widely regarded as the best Counter-Strike coach due to Astralis’ success.
Astralis have won numerous tournaments and developed a style of their own that other teams have so far tried unsuccessfully to reproduce. Astralis dominate their opponents in such a way that they feel helpless. The Danes have perfected the use of grenades, the teams that compete against Astralis are often wounded in each round before they could even see their opponents.
Sometimes, of course, the best teams find ways to beat Astralis, but until now, in years of domination over the CS world, no permanent challenger has emerged. Again and again, Astralis was able to recover even after heavy defeats and weaker phases and shows that the team deserves the title of “Greatest Team of All Time”.
During their 406 days at the top of the leaderboard, Astralis was without a doubt the best team of all time. Not even the legendary NiP squad in its heyday in 2012/13, Fnatic with the successive major victories, or the legendary Brazilian line-up with coldzera and Co. can question this.
