With more than three full years of competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive having passed, compiling a list of the top 20 players ensures many famous, well-loved and fondly remembered players are going to be left off such a list.
Deciding the names and order of such a list requires one to determine for themselves the weighting of different criteria’s to come to a coherent and consistent decision-making process. To determine this list and its order I considered a player's level of play, relative to the time; the importance of his role and impact within his team, including how much of a focal point he was; the success of his career, relative to who he had on his team and in the context of the best tournaments; domestic and international play, in their own contexts.
I've ignored domestic success, in terms of tournaments which featured no teams from outside of the individual countries of the competitor in question, to prevent a slight skewing in favour of players who have access to a lot of domestic competitions. Luckily, CS:GO has seen such a large and open circuit since even its early days, albeit with far less money and less travel budgets back then, that international play accounts for the vast majority of a player's career.
Others may weigh the criteria differently, but in the final part of this two part series, I will lay out places 10-1 in my Top 20 CS:GO Players of All-Time.
Thorin's Top 20 CS:GO Players of All-Time
Part 2: 10-1
10. Janusz "snax" Pogorzelski
Significant accomplishments:
2013 EMS One Fall (3rd-4th)
2013 Techlabs Cup Grand Final (2nd)
2013 StarSeries VIII (1st)
2014 Copenhagen Games (2nd)
2014 StarSeries IX (4th)
2014 ESEA S16 (3rd)
2014 Gfinity G3 (1st)
2014 FACEIT S2 Final (3rd-4th)
2014 ESWC (3rd)
2014 Fragbite Masters S3 (3rd)
2014 ESEA S17 (2nd)
2014 Acer A-Split Invitational (1st)
2015 iOS Pantamera (4th)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters I (3rd)
2015 Copenhagen Games (1st)
2015 ESEA S18 (1st)
2015 FACEIT Stage 1 (3rd-4th)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters II (2nd)
2015 ESL ESEA PL S1 (3rd-4th)
2015 CEVO-P S7 (1st)
2015 ESL ESEA PL Dubai Invitational (1st)
2015 Gfinity Champion of Champions (3rd-4th)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (9th-12th)
2014 EMS One Katowice (1st)
2014 ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (3rd-4th)
2015 ESL One Katowice (3rd-4th)
2015 ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th)
Major titles: 1
International Titles: 8
International Finals: 12
International Top 4: 26
International Top 8: 34
It can perhaps be considered unsurprisingly that my first exposure to Snax was hearing, back in CS 1.6, that he was both a prospective future talent that the Poles of FX/ESC might recruit and also considered a possible cheater by others. When one looks at the style of play he has made famous in CS:GO, moving through smokes as with an internal radar or spider sense, and with many ludicrous sequences to his name, showing a finely tune game sense, it is understandable that lesser mortals could mistake him for a cheater.
As a CS:GO player, Snax replaced legendary Supportive players when he joined ESC with byali in late 2013. The previous line-up's 1.6 success was powered by the super-star play of NEO and then a fantastic intuitive sense of team-play from men who had fought alongside each other for years at a time. Snax not only had to follow such expectations up, but step into the shoes of a legend, as NEO's time as a star had finished with the death of competitive 1.6.
pasha was now the best player in ESC and needed help, which Snax and byali would provide. That all three hit peak form at EMS One Katowice is an enormous component of the destructive dominance Virtus.pro showed at that tournament, thrashing both of the world's best teams, in Titan and NiP, en route to a major title. In 2013, ESC had seemed a confused line-up, but now everything had come quite clearly into focus and their style was defined: aggressive, abusive and bullying. Snax was an integral part of this new era for the team.
Where so many years of The Golden Five had seen them stellar at majors but then underwhelming over the rest of the circuit, Virtus.pro would change that trend, racking up more top four finishes than any other team in 2014. Snax was playing the role of both a big fragger and one known for huge impact rounds, pulling off plays which broke the spirits of opponents and buoyed his team's confidence. If Snax was rolling, then there was always a chance.
The great Polish star's slump in 2015 had seen him no longer worthy of star player status for most of this year, but that has changed in the last couple of months. From CEVO-P onwards, Snax has returned to his brilliant best. It could well be argued he has never played as well as over the last few months, with VP's run to the ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational title coming thanks to Snax single-handedly smashing apart the FNATIC line-up which I would argue is the greatest team in CS:GO history. In the final, TSM would likely have been able to ride device to the title had it not been for Snax matching him in fragging.
Even at the recent Gfinity Champion of Champions, where VP fell 2:3 to the eventual champion EnVyUs team, Snax was hard at working wrecking the opposition, but was let down by a putrid performance from NEO and shocked by a surprisingly wide map pool from the French side. Snax is back and few can hope to match him when he plays with this level of form. NEO is no longer a deity, pasha is not the player of early 2014 and byali continues to be as inconsistent as he is powerful, but in Snax VP can still trust and rely upon.
9. Freddy "KRiMZ" Johansson
Significant accomplishments:
2013 Techlabs Cup Minsk II (1st)
2014 Gfinity G3 (3rd-4th)
2014 StarSeries X (1st)
2014 Dreamhack Stockholm (3rd-4th)
2014 FACEIT S2 Final (1st)
2014 ESWC (1st)
2014 Fragbite Masters S3 (1st)
2014 ESEA S17 (1st)
2015 MLG X Games Aspen (4th)
2015 Clutch Con (1st)
2015 iOS Pantamera (1st)
2015 ESEA S18 (2nd)
2015 PGL CCS S1 Final (2nd)
2015 FACEIT Stage 1 (3rd-4th)
2015 Dreamhack Tours (1st)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters II (1st)
2015 Fragbite Masters S4 (2nd)
2015 Dreamhack Summer (1st)
2015 ESL ESEA PL S1 (1st)
2015 FACEIT Stage 2 (3rd-4th)
2015 Fragbite Masters Champions Showdown (1st)
2015 ESL ESEA PL Dubai Invitational (3rd-4th)
2015 Gfinity Champion of Champions (2nd)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (5th-8th)
2014 EMS One Katowice (3rd-4th)
2014 ESL One Cologne (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (5th-8th)
2014 ESL One Katowice (1st)
2014 ESL One Cologne (1st)
Major titles: 2
International Titles: 15
International Finals: 20
International Top 4: 27
International Top 8: 30
KRiMZ is such a monster, in terms of both fragging and game impact, from the Support position that he entirely breaks the conceived notions of the role, much like a great defensive player in a sport like basketball or football, where offense has nearly always been the preferred domain of the star player.
In LGB, KRiMZ was as quiet as his personality might suggest, but upon joining FNATIC, in the Summer of 2014, he immediately began destroying at a super-star level online. When the team finally figured out the formula for success and began taking down big tournaments, he was the man whose performances were spear-heading that success, delivering MVP level performances over three straight big tournaments.
In 2015, KRiMZ has continued to perform well from the Support position, but the shift from a CT dominant meta-game for both his team and the top level of the scene has seen him more a consistency player than one who is expected to drop 25 kills a game. The emergence of olofm, who often plays sites with him, has also seen KRiMZ taking a slight step back, as olof's excellence has the spotlight.
KRiMZ is a master of efficiency, showing an uncanny and yet entirely logical sense for where to be and what to do from that spot on the map. As a Terrorist, he grinds away at opponents, delivering the single and two kill rounds which put a T side in the game. On the CT side, he is still a special player on key maps, famously inferno and mirage, and is able to hold a site and spot by himself, allowing his team to swap players into his sites as well as gamble over onto the other with four men.
Many players on this list may have more skill than KRiMZ, but few could reasonably say they have been able to apply their skill to the extent KRiMZ has. One of the game's greatest overachievers and the lynch-pin of the FNATIC era of CS:GO.
8. Kévin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans
Significant accomplishments:
2012 Dreamhack Valencia (2nd)
2012 ESWC (2nd)
2012 Dreamhack Winter (2nd)
2012 AMD Sapphire CS:GO Invitational (2nd)
2013 Mad Catz Vienna (3rd)
2013 Copenhagen Games (4th)
2013 Mad Catz Birmingham (1st)
2013 EMS One Spring (3rd-4th)
2013 ESEA S13 (3rd)
2013 EMS One Summer (1st)
2013 Mad Catz Invitational (1st)
2013 StarSeries VII (1st)
2013 EMS One Fall (1st)
2013 ESWC (2nd)
2013 MSI Beat it Finals (1st)
2014 ESEA S15 (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack CS:GO Invitational (1st)
2014 StarSeries IX (3rd)
2014 Gfinity G3 (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack Stockholm (1st)
2014 StarSeries XI (3rd)
2015 ASUS ROG Winter (2nd)
2015 iOS Pantamera (2nd)
2015 StarSeries XII (4th)
2015 EPL Winter (2nd)
2015 ESEA S18 (3rd)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters II (3rd-4th)
2015 Dreamhack Summer (3rd-4th)
2015 Gaming Paradise (3rd)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (3rd-4th)
2014 EMS One Katowice (9th-12th)
2014 ESL One Cologne (9th-12th)
2014 ESL One Katowice (13th-16th)
2015 ESL One Cologne (13th-16th)
Major titles: 0
International Titles: 8
International Finals: 18
International Top 4: 30
International Top 8: 37
One reason NiP's dominance was so difficult to dissect for opponents was that there was little to emulate or disrupt. NiP had the two best players in the world, for the first six months at least, and so nobody could hope to simply put their own stars up against them and come out favourably. NiP's tactics were very basic and revolved around finding a good approach and brute-forcing it until the game was won, safe in the knowledge they could also dominate CT sides to get enough rounds.
It's not much of an exaggeration to say Ex6TenZ was the first to teach the world how to play CS:GO tactically. There's a good reason why NiP was the only team beating Ex6TenZ's VeryGames for the majority of the first nine months or so of play, as the Belgian leader's teams applied the right tactical approach to take down practically everyone else in the world with an alarming consistency.
For his early failures getting kennyS and ScreaM to work in his system, Ex6TenZ was able to fully integrate the talent of shox to an often under-appreciated level of success, being as it came just prior to the major era. VeryGames were the second greatest team in history until the arrival of FNATIC in the latter quarter of 2014. The great leader was even able to bring kennyS back into the fold and find a way to make him not just a successful component in the machine, but the best player in the entire world, though kennyS's talent, of course, had a large say in accomplishing that feat too.
Almost every great player who has played with Ex6TenZ has had their peak during their time under his leadership, which speaks to the way he has used his teams and the baseline of success his tactical approach has delivered for his teams, allowing their raw talent to drive home good reads and put them over the top in close games.
Even his run in 2015, with a team robbed of fragging power, at least after kennyS stopped being the single greatest carry of the era, Ex6TenZ has been able to capture a surprisingly large amount of top four finishes and reach finals, within reach of victories on a number of occasions. Considering the talent he was working with, man for man, in an era where nearly every top French player has been sporting LDLC/EnVyUs colours, that speaks to the Belgian's ability to adapt to the new meta-game again and again.
Think of Ex6TenZ's play in the B bomb-site on cache, one of Titan's best maps, and one can immediately visualise the variety of trick smokes and flashes he employed to steal round wins which should often not have been possible with a site pairing of himself and RpK.
Finally, consider that the FNATIC line-up many acknowledge as the greatest in history have only lost 13 BoX series in their time together and three of those (23%) have been to Ex6TenZ-led teams, tying TSM for the most series wins over FNATIC in history. What's more, many of those wins have been as a result of winning on inferno, the home map which set the foundation for FNATIC's dynasty and which at one point in time Ex6TenZ owned half of FNATIC's losses on.
He has repeatedly failed to make his mark on the majors, outside of that first semi-final, but Ex6TenZ's tactical impact on CS:GO and repeated success, relative to the level of talent he has been working with, are truly undeniable. There are some leaders who have had more success, but none who have been greater as leaders.
7. Ladislav "GuardiaN" Kovács
Significant accomplishments:
2013 AMD Sapphire CS:GO Invitational (3rd)
2013 Dreamhack Summer (3rd-4th)
2013 EMS One Summer (2nd)
2013 StarSeries VI (3rd)
2013 StarSeries VIII (2nd)
2014 StarSeries IX (1st)
2014 Dreamhack Summer (2nd)
2014 ESEA S16 (4th)
2014 IronGaming (2nd)
2014 StarSeries X (2nd)
2014 Game Show S1 (1st)
2014 StarSeries IX (2nd)
2014 ESWC (4th)
2015 EPL Winter (1st)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters II (3rd-4th)
2015 Fragbite Masters S4 (3rd)
2015 Dreamhack Summer (2nd)
2015 StarSeries XIII (1st)
2015 ESWC (1st)
2015 FACEIT Stage 2 (3rd-4th)
2015 CEVO-P S7 (2nd)
2015 Gaming Paradise (2nd)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2014 EMS One Katowice (13th-16th)
2014 ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (3rd-4th)
2015 ESL One Katowice (5th-8th)
2015 ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
Major titles: 0
International Titles: 5
International Finals: 14
International Top 4: 21
International Top 8: 24
To begin to understand the unique impact GuardiaN has had on CS:GO it's worth mulling over the fact practically all of his success has come playing for CIS teams who speak Russian as their in-game language, yet GuardiaN neither comes from a CIS country nor was fluent in Russian early on. He is one of the truly great snipers in history, perhaps boasting the fastest firing speed ever witnessed. If success was predicated purely upon hitting the most difficult shots, I don't know that any sniper could stand against GuardiaN, such is the range of shots he can and will hit in a match.
It's also worth noting how many of his teams have been abusers of force-buys, meaning his desired AWP has not even been in his hands as often as it might otherwise have been. With a rifle, he is a good player but not on the scale of his sniping. Put an AWP in his hand and load up mirage or dust2 and everyone and their mother knew GuardiaN was capable of single-handedly beating almost any opponent. His Virtus.pro line-up managed to take down NiP and his Na`Vi teams have again and again upset some of the world's biggest and best sides, with GuardiaN practically always front and centre as the driving force behind those wins.
GuardiaN has been known to shrink from the pressure of the big game at times, unable to deliver two elite level performances in some Bo3 series, but his play in the games he does show up in has been more than enough to ensure he is one of the best to ever touch this game. That his peak only came in the Summer of 2015 speaks to how good he has been throughout history, as over the Summer he was consistently dominating opponents.
6. Nicolai "device" Reedtz
Significant accomplishments:
2014 Copenhagen Games (3rd-4th)
2014 Gfinity G3 (3rd-4th)
2014 Fragbite Masters S3 (4th)
2015 MLG X Games Aspen (3rd)
2015 StarSeries XII (3rd)
2015 Copenhagen Games (2nd)
2015 PGL CCS S1 Final (1st)
2015 FACEIT Stage 1 (1st)
2015 Fragbite Masters S4 (1st)
2015 FACEIT Stage 2 (1st)
2015 IEM X Gamescom (2nd)
2015 Fragbite Masters Champions Showdown (2nd)
2015 ESL ESEA PL Dubai Invitational (2nd)
2015 Dreamhack London (2nd)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (5th-8th)
2014 EMS One Katowice (3rd-4th)
2014 ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (5th-8th)
2015 ESL One Katowice (5th-8th)
2015 ESL One Cologne (3rd-4th)
Major titles: 0
International Titles: 4
International Finals: 9
International Top 4: 17
International Top 8: 27
As I alluded to in the section on dupreeh, device and dupreeh were supposed to be the next generation of super-stars in CS:GO. Both possessed the skills and had the team behind them to be reach finals and win titles, yet they did neither until April of 2015. device, in particular, came under intense but justified scrutiny for his inability to deliver a super-star performance, in line with his talent level, in the big matches. Time and time again, device and his teams would fall apart against elite level competition in semi-finals and quarter-finals.
It made so little sense, beyond assigning his problems to psychological issues like performance anxiety, as device was always one of the most fabulously skilled players in the game, capable of seemingly anything. His skill-set was all around from day one, capable of dominating pistol rounds, possessed of fantastic rifle fragging power and with one of the best AWPs of any primary rifler. Much like olofm, device is one of the few players in CS:GO who can truly do it all and to the highest level in every regard.
The story changed for device and his team with their break-out victory at PGL CCS, winning the tournament beating FNATIC in two BoX series, when FNATIC were the world's number one side. TSM have since made their trophy haul as many as four and have reached an incredible nine finals this year. device has been the star of the team, despite playing with what has long been the most individually talented team in the game.
dupreeh consistently frags and cajunb has the monster maps which opponents fear, but device is the man who frags well in practically every single map, hits the hardest shots and can be relied upon to play at a star level against any team. It speaks to the level device has reached in terms of performance in the big games that TSM have lost the last two finals, playing a total of seven maps over those two finals, and yet device average 20 kills a map. From a very talented but flawed player, device has blossomed into the super-star player he was seemingly always destined to become.
Even if he had never reached this zenith of excellence, device already had a career which would have warranted a position on this list, due to the sheer number of times his teams had reached quarter and semi-finals, with big performances against the lesser teams, but the incredible performances of the last seven months have allowed device to climb as high as he now places in this list.
5. Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg
Significant accomplishments:
2012 Dreamhack Valencia (1st)
2012 ESWC (1st)
2012 Dreamhack Winter (1st)
2012 AMD Sapphire CS:GO Invitational (1st)
2012 THOR Open (1st)
2012 Northcon (1st)
2013 Mad Catz Vienna (1st)
2013 Techlabs Cup Moscow (1st)
2013 Copenhagen Games (1st)
2013 StarSeries V (2nd)
2013 EMS One Spring (1st)
2013 ESEA S13 (1st)
2013 Dreamhack Summer (1st)
2013 EMS One Summer (3rd-4th)
2013 StarSeries VI (1st)
2013 ESEA S14 (1st)
2013 Dreamhack Bucharest (1st)
2013 StarSeries VII (3rd)
2013 EMS One Fall (2nd)
2013 ESWC (3rd-4th)
2014 Dreamhack CS:GO Invitational (2nd)
2014 Copenhagen Games (1st)
2014 StarSeries IX (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack Summer (1st)
2015 MLG X Games Aspen (2nd)
2015 ASUS ROG Winter (1st)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters I (2nd)
2015 StarSeries XII (2nd)
2015 PGL CCS S1 Finals (3rd)
2015 FACEIT Stage 1 (2nd)
2015 Dreamhack Summer (3rd-4th)
2015 Gfinity Summer Masters I (2nd)
2015 ESL ESEA PL Dubai Invitational (3rd-4th)
2015 Gfinity Champion of Champions (3rd-4th)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (2nd)
2014 EMS One Katowice (2nd)
2014 ESL One Cologne (1st)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (2nd)
2015 ESL One Katowice (2nd)
2015 ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
Major titles: 1
International Titles: 22
International Finals: 34
International Top 4: 41
International Top 8: 48
Those who have only seen the last year to year and half of f0rest's career will not appreciate what a force he was in the server during the early days of CS:GO. While it's true that NiP had the best player in the world by far, in GeT_RiGhT, they also had the luxury of nearly always having the second best player too, with f0rest making up a deadly duo with his former FNATIC and SK Gaming team-mate from 1.6. Over the first six months of CS:GO, f0rest's form was unreal, only exceeded by that of his stellar team-mate.
In the days since 2014, f0rest has still been present as a player capable of re-entering the top 10 players in the world, but he has rarely had consistency to earn super-star status back. Instead, f0rest would be good for a few big rounds or a half or a map. As NiP began to struggle, first to win and then to place as highly, he was understandably looked at as someone who had dropped from his earlier level.
In 2015, f0rest has truly experienced slumps, dipping down to runs of form where he was legitimately unable to impose his individual game upon opponents of nearly all levels. More recently, there have been some resurgent performances, but f0rest's peak has come and gone and his first year of play is a large part of how highly up this list he is placed. As a second star, his accomplishments resume is utterly incredible.
4. Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer
Significant accomplishments:
2013 Techlabs Cup Minsk II (1st)
2014 Gfinity G3 (3rd-4th)
2014 StarSeries X (1st)
2014 Dreamhack Stockholm (3rd-4th)
2014 FACEIT S2 Final (1st)
2014 ESWC (1st)
2014 Fragbite Masters S3 (1st)
2014 ESEA S17 (1st)
2015 MLG X Games Aspen (4th)
2015 Clutch Con (1st)
2015 iOS Pantamera (1st)
2015 ESEA S18 (2nd)
2015 PGL CCS S1 Final (2nd)
2015 FACEIT Stage 1 (3rd-4th)
2015 Dreamhack Tours (1st)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters II (1st)
2015 Fragbite Masters S4 (2nd)
2015 Dreamhack Summer (1st)
2015 ESL ESEA PL S1 (1st)
2015 FACEIT Stage 2 (3rd-4th)
2015 Fragbite Masters Champions Showdown (1st)
2015 ESL ESEA PL Dubai Invitational (3rd-4th)
2015 Gfinity Champion of Champions (2nd)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (5th-8th)
2014 EMS One Katowice (3rd-4th)
2014 ESL One Cologne (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (5th-8th)
2014 ESL One Katowice (1st)
2014 ESL One Cologne (1st)
Major titles: 2
International Titles: 15
International Finals: 20
International Top 4: 27
International Top 8: 30
While so many of the great names on this list have seen their primes already come and go, olofm is the rare exception, as he is still currently at his apex as an individual player. olofm was an obvious rising talent as far back as 2013, when he was playing with LGB, and would make solid runs, relative to the unknown quality of those line-ups, in the first two majors. Many speculated he would surely end up wearing NiP colours, but instead it was FNATIC who came knocking in the Summer of 2014.
The first six months of olof's time in FNATIC were fairly tame, by the standard he has since unleashed. KRiMZ was playing super-star CS:GO and JW was going off in every tournament, so olofm became the ultimate luxury in the game, a phenomenally skilled player, skilled with all weapons, yet who simply played with KRiMZ in certain bombsites and was rarely needed to secure victory. Perhaps one in five maps, olof would come with a big game, reminding spectators of his ability level, but FNATIC was winning all the time and it was easy to imagine he would never be a star.
What changed for olof and FNATIC was the decline of JW, in 2015, and the meta-game moving away from the CT side dominance of late 2014. In this new world of CS:GO, olofm emerged as the dominant individual force in the world, taking the title of the world's best player back in March, winning his first major title at ESL One Katowice, and he has since yet to relinquish it.
Unlike some of the other god tier players in this list, such as those above him, his dominance has less been every map and more to be so good on specific maps and at specific points in tournaments so as to ensure FNATIC victory in some series and tournaments they otherwise almost certainly would not have taken down. This quality is particularly noticeable on cache, where FNATIC likely would not have even been considered a good team, in the context of the top sides, but leaned heavily on routine 20+ frag performances from olofm.
olofm really deserves his name, as the Swede has mastered the game. With the pistols he is one of the most powerful figures in the scene, particularly known for showing just how broken the tec-9 was earlier this year. With the AK and M4a1, olof can match any elite rifler in the game and what sets him truly apart is that his AWP is legitimately world class in its own right, making him part of a very small club of players who can boast mastery of both the AWP and rifles.
That his prime has still yet to conclusively end makes olof's place on this list so exciting, as he could yet continue to climb further. In terms of success, he is absolutely one of the most accomplished and his level of play has reached a tier of excellence that few have ever experienced in CS:GO history. Before olofm's peak, no team has ever won two majors, since he entered god-mode, FNATIC have won back-to-back majors.
3. Kenny "kennyS" Schrub
Significant accomplishments:
2012 Dreamhack Valencia (2nd)
2012 ESWC (2nd)
2012 Dreamhack Winter (2nd)
2012 AMD Sapphire CS:GO Invitational (2nd)
2013 Mad Catz Vienna (3rd)
2013 Copenhagen Games (4th)
2013 Mad Catz Birmingham (1st)
2013 EMS One Spring (3rd-4th)
2013 ESEA S13 (3rd)
2013 Dreamhack Summer (3rd-4th)
2014 StarSeries IX (3rd)
2014 Gfinity G3 (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack Stockholm (1st)
2014 StarSeries XI (3rd)
2015 ASUS ROG Winter (2nd)
2015 iOS Pantamera (2nd)
2015 StarSeries XII (4th)
2015 EPL Winter (2nd)
2015 ESEA S18 (3rd)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters II (3rd-4th)
2015 Dreamhack Summer (3rd-4th)
2015 IEM X Gamescom (1st)
2015 Dreamhack London (1st)
2015 Gfinity Champion of Champions (1st)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (5th-8th)
2013 EMS One Katowice (9th-12th)
2013 ESL One Cologne (9th-12th)
2014 ESL One Katowice (13th-16th)
2014 ESL One Cologne (2nd)
Major titles: 0
International Titles: 5
International Finals: 14
International Top 4: 25
International Top 8: 31
kennyS was always a talent in CS:GO, the best AWPer in most people's mind from the very beginning of competitive play right up until earlier in 2015. What set the first half of his career apart from the second is that kenny seemed to have difficulty finding his place within VeryGames during his spell there. When he was removed from the team he went off into the wilderness of playing with the third best French line-ups time and time again.
His results with those teams, still able to reach relatively impressive placing’s, kenny was written off as the kind of highlight player who shines best in bad teams, left to be a one man show. Since rejoining Titan, the new organisation for the VeryGames core, in early 2014, he showed that his talent had been refined to the level that he could perform at a super-star level with good players surrounding him. Titan may have underperformed at the majors, but they were able to pull of numerous top performances elsewhere on the circuit, with the runner-up finish at Gfinity G3 being of note.
After the French shuffle, kennyS took his game to another level and helped powered Titan through FNATIC and LDLC, both to become two of history's great teams in the coming months, to win Dreamhack Stockholm. Team-mate KQLY's ban ruled kenny out of playing at Dreamhack Winter and he experienced the tragedy of entering his absolute peak level when he didn't have a team around him capable of winning big tournaments. It speaks to the performance peak he reached in late 2014 and early 2015 that kenny was practically able to push, drag and force Titan through elite opponents and into top placing’s.
kennyS at his peak was perhaps the most high-level CS:GO player we have ever seen and perhaps ever will. He could hit any shot with his AWP, routinely dominating clutch rounds and taking down multiple frags a round. No AWPer could really stand against him, as Titan's ability to play FNATIC closely came down in part to kennyS's ability to bully JW off the sniper rifle and away from his usually aggressive peeking style of play. kennyS was in god-mode and spectators simply knew he would perform in every match and against any level of opponent.
The most memorable highlight of that god-mode was dropping 50 on FNATIC on inferno in the iOS Pantamera final, only to lose the map and series. What set kennyS's peak apart from those of players like olofm, shox and GeT_RiGhT is that those players were all members of the best team in the world at the time, with the back-up to allow their talent to be converted into trophies and dominance over the scene. kennyS played world beating CS:GO while a member of a team which reasonably should never have been close to the top five and yet was granted top four finishes by virtue of kennyS's talent and indomitable will.
The AWP nerf of Spring 2015 seemed to hit kenny hard and he suffered five months or so of a slump, albeit it never truly dropping off from being a good player but no longer near to his impossible power level of earlier in the year. Since joining up with nV, kenny has begun to return to the status of a star player. His shocking cobblestone game in the final of ESL One Cologne aside, kennyS has begun to show consistent flashes of the AWPer who stood above all other AWPers previously.
When you talk about kennyS, you think of that one man army who legitimately could win any game seemingly by himself. There's a good reason that olofm, having just entered his own prime, called kennyS the only player in CS history he feared.
2. Richard "shox" Papillon
Significant accomplishments:
2012 StarSeries IV (3rd)
2013 EMS One Summer (1st)
2013 Mad Catz Invitational (1st)
2013 StarSeries VII (1st)
2013 EMS One Fall (1st)
2013 ESWC (2nd)
2013 MSI Beat it Finals (1st)
2014 ESEA S15 (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack CS:GO Invitational (1st)
2014 Dreamhack Summer (3rd-4th)
2014 Dreamhack Valencia (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack Stockholm (2nd)
2014 StarSeries XI (1st)
2014 FACEIT S2 Finals (3rd-4th)
2014 ESWC (2nd)
2014 Fragbite Masters S3 (2nd)
2015 MLG X Games Aspen (1st)
2015 iOS Pantamera (3rd)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters I (1st)
2015 StarSeries XII (1st)
2015 EPL Winter (3rd-4th)
2015 PGL CCS S1 Final (4th)
2015 Dreamhack Tours (2nd)
2015 StarSeries XIII (2nd)
2015 Gfinity Summer Masters I (1st)
2015 ESWC (3rd-4th)
2015 Gaming Paradise (3rd)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (3rd-4th)
2014 EMS One Katowice (9th-12th)
2014 ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (1st)
2015 ESL One Katowice (3rd-4th)
2015 ESL One Cologne (13th-16th)
Major titles: 1
International Titles: 12
International Finals: 20
International Top 4: 30
International Top 8: 35
shox is hailed by many as the greatest CS:Source player that ever was and from seeing his time in CS:GO I can understand why. There have been a number of great players who have dominated and shown off fantastic skill, but when shox has done so it has looked so effortless. He plays with a cavalier nonchalance that makes it seem as if the game simply comes too easily for him.
shox was good from early on in CS:GO, playing with Imaginary, but VeryGames was the best French team and he had been in an out of that team numerous times in Source, often leaving due to not vibing with the more disciplined environment there, spear-headed by the strict leadership of Ex6TenZ. When the kennyS and ScreaM era of VG failed to allow them to break through NiP's dominance the team turned to shox once more. Upon arriving, the team immediately began winning notable tournaments.
In October of 2013, VeryGames finally overcame NiP to become the best team in the world and that was largely as a result of shox hitting his peak form in the game. The master of the mid round, he would come into bomb-sites which had been opened and finish rounds outright or battle back from numbers deficits to win clutch rounds. shox's impact on the game made VG dangerous at all points of a match.
Where previously NiP had always had a little extra against every opponent, largely due to GeT_RiGhT practically always being the best player in the server, there was suddenly a player who was performing at an equal or better level than NiP's CS:GO deity. That form would continue into 2014, as Titan held the number one spot for the first few months. Perhaps most tragically, there were few events over the first months of the year and thus shox was doing much of his damage online.
After departing from Titan, shox was never quite the same player again, as his spell in Epsilon had a few superlative flashback maps but never with the same kind of game in and game out dominance of 2013. In LDLC, Happy successfully subjugated into the role of a secondary entry fragger, taking away the comfort of his mid round playing style. Early on in that role, though, he had shown an uncharacteristic uneasiness in big games. In time, shox would find success from that role, most notably helping them win MLG X Games Aspen.
In the latter days of EnVyUs, shox would both take over in-game leading for a while and shift back to his more mid-round-centric playing style. That transition saw him putting up strong carry performances again, but nV were never quite as effective a team again. Moving back to Titan, he has been returning to form and showing glimpses of the old shox.
Throughout the history of CS:GO, shox has repeatedly returned to top form in a way very few other top players have been able to, with most experiencing a sharp rise in form followed by a steady and inevitable decline into merely being good players. At his very peak, shox was a superlative force in the game, delivering so much impact on pistol rounds and with a rifle in the mid round that seemingly every team and opponent feared to face him. He was a player who was always capable of turning around to his team's favour with a couple of precise headshots.
It's no coincidence success has followed shox his whole career, from team to team, as he has that phenomenal of talent for the game.
1. Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund
Significant accomplishments:
2012 Dreamhack Valencia (1st)
2012 ESWC (1st)
2012 Dreamhack Winter (1st)
2012 AMD Sapphire CS:GO Invitational (1st)
2012 THOR Open (1st)
2012 Northcon (1st)
2013 Mad Catz Vienna (1st)
2013 Techlabs Cup Moscow (1st)
2013 Copenhagen Games (1st)
2013 StarSeries V (2nd)
2013 EMS One Spring (1st)
2013 ESEA S13 (1st)
2013 Dreamhack Summer (1st)
2013 EMS One Summer (3rd-4th)
2013 StarSeries VI (1st)
2013 ESEA S14 (1st)
2013 Dreamhack Bucharest (1st)
2013 StarSeries VII (3rd)
2013 EMS One Fall (2nd)
2013 ESWC (3rd-4th)
2014 Dreamhack CS:GO Invitational (2nd)
2014 Copenhagen Games (1st)
2014 StarSeries IX (2nd)
2014 Dreamhack Summer (1st)
2014 IronGaming (1st)
2015 MLG X Games Aspen (2nd)
2015 ASUS ROG Winter (1st)
2015 Gfinity Spring Masters I (2nd)
2015 StarSeries XII (2nd)
2015 PGL CCS S1 Finals (3rd)
2015 FACEIT Stage 1 (2nd)
2015 Dreamhack Summer (3rd-4th)
2015 Gfinity Summer Masters I (2nd)
2015 ESL ESEA PL Dubai Invitational (3rd-4th)
2015 Gfinity Champion of Champions (3rd-4th)
Accomplishments at the majors:
2013 Dreamhack Winter (2nd)
2014 EMS One Katowice (2nd)
2014 ESL One Cologne (1st)
2014 Dreamhack Winter (2nd)
2015 ESL One Katowice (2nd)
2015 ESL One Cologne (5th-8th)
Major titles: 1
International Titles: 20
International Finals: 33
International Top 4: 40
International Top 8: 48
The king of CS:GO was never really in danger of losing that title, even from the beginning. As of the first tournaments NiP played, GeT_RiGhT was immediately the best player in the world. During the latter years of CS 1.6 he had consistently been a top five player in the world, but in CS:GO he stood without equal. While his former 1.6 peers struggled to adapt to the new game, GeT_RiGhT came in at a level nobody else could hope to match or replicate.
In games against top players, GeT_RiGhT would consistently frag massively, with incredible efficiency, and win near impossible clutches with such consistency that it defied belief. Early on in CS:GO, many rightly complained about the limitations of spray control compared to other games in the series, yet GeT_RiGhT seemed to at times break through those limitations and display control that did not seem possible for others at that time.
GeT_RiGhT's stay at the top of the game did not last 3-6 months like some of the other demi-gods on this list, but rather for at least a year of continuous play. Beyond that, he remained a star for the year following that, allowing NiP to still pick up titles in eras when other great teams rose up to challenge and beat them. In the last year of play, GeT_RiGhT did suffer his first true slump, particularly around the end of the fifflaren and beginning of the Maikelele era, but has since gone on to revitalise his game. Around ESL One Katowice 2015, the magic appeared to be back and he would showcase carry performances again.
No players has been the best in the world for longer, a top 10 player for as many months of their career or won as many competitions as the primary carry of his team. shox at his peak was an unbelievable talent, kennyS perhaps had the highest apex of any star and olofm has bested the top tier in the most competitive era in history, yet none can truly be considered ahead of GeT_RiGhT and his first two years of play.
That first year exceeded anyone else's peak, due to length, and his consistency when adding in the second year blows away anyone else's time as a top player. That he did it all as the main star of his team for the entire time, barring his slump of a few months, is something which seems impossible for any future star to mirror or even aspire to.
GeT_RiGhT is the player who should be considered the iconic CS:GO star and likely always will be.
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