Pro CS:GO - The Teams to Watch
This is the second part of a guide on understanding the professional Counter Strike: Global Offensive scene. You can read the first part here. This part of the guide will explore the story lines and composition of the the teams that participate in the highest levels of professional competition. Because of the rate of change within the top echelons of the scene, it is possible that any team I pick to dissect will, within a few months, have completely changed composition or be failing to achieve any meaningful results. To try and mitigate this I will first be writing about the teams with more in mind than just current form, or those who are at the top of the ratings, instead picking teams with a previous track record of winning and with a style of Counter Strike that I personally find worthy of watching or I believe can be useful for improving your own gameplay.
It is important to note for a new viewer that just watching the most skilled or competitively viable teams is not always the best viewing experience, so I will add some honourable mentions to highlight some teams that although perhaps not likely to be winning top tier tournaments, are fan favourites or worthy of your regard for miscellaneous reasons.
Astralis
Add four superstars with a world class in game leader and multiply it by the best work ethic in the game and the result is Astralis. They are the perfect team to start following closely, as, when they play at their best, they play an almost faultless brand of Counter Strike. Nicolai ‘device’ Reedtz has been in the conversation for the worlds best player for at least the last four years and as the teams Awper provides all the necessary flair for great games. Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth, the Clutch Minister, is perhaps the best 1vX player the scene currently enjoys. Reading the game as if a children’s story, he provides the stability and the skill to win out those nail biting final seconds of the round. Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander is the brains behind the operation; replacing the lineups previous in game leader Karrigan and implementing a tactical style that revolutionized maps such as Inferno and Vertigo with impeccable utility usage. Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen, perhaps by virtue of being mainly typecast as simply an entry fragger, often lives in the shadow of his teammate device. However, his world class aim with the rifles and especially his desert eagle proficiency provides the base firepower for this lineup. The newest edition to the lineup, and the youngest, is Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif. Magisk always had potential in his previous lineups, but this has come to the fore with the backing of his Astralis teammates. Already achieving so much at only 21 years of age, Danish Counter Strike can look to him to continue to build on the already established success of their country in the CS:GO scene. These five players together have skill, but that is in abundance within the professional scene. What drives Astralis to the top of the rankings and a main contender for any tournament they have attended over the past two years is their ability to innovate and set the meta. This can only be achieved through grinding away behind the scenes, on empty servers and with pen and paper. Watching Astralis you get the sense that whatever the score, whether with two Awps or five USP’s, the round will unravel to reveal an Astralis masterstroke.
Team Liquid
Everything seemed to be going so right for Team Liquid. The addition of Jacky ‘Stewie2k’ Yip facilitated the speed running of the Intel Grand Slam Season 2, a feat that many saw as impossible, especially in the style within which Liquid achieved it. However, since then, things have seemingly taken a turn for the worse. Although still ranked second by HLTV’s ratings, best of three losses to Greyhound, eUnited and Sharks have marred any sparkle in Team Liquid. Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic and Stewie2k seem like the missing pieces currently, and have faced some criticism within the wider community. In game leader Nick ‘nitr0’ Cannella perhaps gets a pass, as from the outside it seems as though it is not the strategic side of the team that has fallen by the wayside, but the confidence and ability of the two previously mentioned stars. Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski retains his spot in the conversation for the best player in the world, with his name surely at the top of talent within North America and Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken seems the future of the lineup and already achieving more than his 19 years of age would suggest. Although definitely not living up to the hype, their past glory still holds a lot of sway when assessing the team. It seems extremely likely that the pendulum will swing back into their favour, and they will regain their gusto and storm back onto the scene and take the top spot back from Astralis.
Natus Vincere (na’vi)
Natus Vincere are propelled by over a decade of experience within the Counter Strike series, their stability and consistency earning them title of being the only organisation to have attended all majors within CS:GO. With Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács taking the place of stalwart in game leader Danylo ‘Zeus’ Teslenko this team seems to be only gaining in firepower and explosivity. It would be remiss to not mention that this team currently houses the worlds best player, Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev, taking a step away from the AWP to facilitate the returning GuardiaN. Leaked screenshots revealed earlier this year suggest GuardiaN’s wish to retire after finally lifting a major trophy, and it seems time is ticking before s1mple takes his chances and his skill elsewhere. But, with the likes of Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov, who can sometimes share within s1mple’s limelight and the addition of QBF/Winstrike star Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov now seems like one of the last remaining oppurtunities for Na’Vi to live up to their name and their potential and achieve success on the largest stages. Egor ‘Flamie’ Vasilev, now the longest serving member of this roster, has sparks of brilliance and single maps where his performances can set records, but in a team with s1mple, electronic and GuardiaN there are only so many frags to go around. Flamie must be content to provide the basis for the star players to flourish, a role in which he exceeds. From this summary, it seems the only thing that is lacking between Na’Vi and the top dog Astralis is the tactical. For this, legendary godfather of CIS Counter Strike Andrey ‘B1ad3’ Gorodenskiy finally takes his natural position as coach. Hopefully, with his input and the players fragging output, Na’Vi can provide the breathtaking viewing that is now expected of them.
Honourable Mentions
The following teams are not likely to pick up tournament wins, but are worth looking out for none-the-less.
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Perhaps the most iconic name and lineup within the game. We will never see the likeness of their golden undefeated 87-0 winstreak at the birth of the game again. That was, however, a long time ago. Only Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg remains after the emotional departure of long time friend and teammate Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund. This new look lineup, incorporating the youth of Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Zamora, looks set to improve on the dirge of results over the previous few months. Ever present figure in the Swedish scene Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson finally links up with the Ninjas, after years of speculation as to his future within the game. Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson and Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner round out the lineup, solid fundamental players yet still to properly secure themselves as top 20 talent. At the time of writing, during the group stages of StarSeries i-League Season 8 LAN finals, NiP look ready and willing to showcase their ability and new tactical acumen under returning strategic mastermind Björn “THREAT” Pers. Will they ever get close to living up to their legendary past?
Virtus Pro
It would be impossible to label Ninjas in Pyjamas as the most iconic name within the game without also mentioning their long standing Polish rivals, Virtus Pro. A continuation of the ‘Golden Five’ lineup that dominated the Counter Strike 1.6 scene and lead by the same immutable duo of Wiktor ‘TaZ’ Wojtas and Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski, Virtus Pro are, in my opinion, the only team worthy of being compared to the dominant Ninjas in Pyjamas lineup. Perhaps not because of the amount of success they achieved, although for a time they were the best team in the world and won the Katowice Major on home soil, but because of the ‘Virtus Plow’ style of Counter Strike that made them so intoxicating to watch. Joined by the ever charismatic Jarosław ‘pashaBiceps’ Jarząbkowski, the solid Paweł' ‘byali’ Bieliński and rounded out by the rouge trickster Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski, this lineup would become the longest serving, most resilient and one of the best loved within the game. Although their current iteration is nothing on the legacy of this lineup, the name value alone still warrants some interest in the organizasions’ pursuit of attempting to regain their vacant spot at the very top of the scene.