CS:GO is competitive and full of surprise. Here we make a list of the top 10 contenders for you to understand more about the current CS:GO scene.
10.Renegades
The Oceanic squad has been shaky in 2018. After getting liazz and gratisfaction to fill in the positions of Utsilo and Nifty in October 2018, jks and Co. looked solid and ready to upset any team. Most notably, the team reached play-off in Katovice major 2019, finishing 3-1 in group stage, losing only to Astralist 1-2. When competing against the top teams like Astralis, Na`vi or MIBR, the team put up a decent fight. Though they have yet to achieve any title in big tournaments, the team has much room for improvement. Up until now, Renegades has a good start of 2019 with decent results:
#1 Minor Asia IEM Katowice 2019
#2 ESL pro league season 9 Americas
Trivia:
the team is often called “the boys”, intended as a pun.
The AWPer of the team “gratisfaction” has a beard contrary to his naïve looking appearance and is often called “gratata” as his in-game name
Jks is regarded as the best player in Australia.
9.NRG
NRG started 2019 with no much success. The American squad won the America minor, look set to attend IEM Katowice major 2019 as a heavy favorite. Although winning IEM Katowice 2019 Main Qualifier convincingly 3-0, they crash out of the tournament with an upset 0-3 in the group play, losing to NIP, Avangar and compLexity. After the disappointing result at the Major, the squad decided to bench Fugly, bringing in the Major MVP Tarik. The team enjoyed immediate success as they won the ECS season 7 North America week 2 to book a ticket to ECS season 7 finals. Later on, they attended the Star series I league season 7 against big names like Na`vi, NIP, fnatic, ENCE. Though reaching the semi-finals over Vitality, the team struggled against fnatic here, accepting a 0-2 defeat. Later on, they reached another semi-final in IEM Sydney 2019 only to see their ticket to finals taken away by fnatic one more time. Though failed to win any trophy, the squad look solid with the addition of tarik. Let’s see if the major mvp will step up in the upcoming matches to bring titles to his new team.
#1 America minor IEM Katowice 2019
#1 ECS season 7 North America week 2
#3 Star series I league season 7
#3 IEM Sydney 2019
8.NIP
NIP was once called the “magic team”, dominating tournaments in the time around 2013 and 2014. However, since then, the team has struggled to get back to their top performance. Get_Right and F0rest still remain but the team has experienced various changes in the lineup to bring back the old glory days. The Swedes had an unsuccessful 2018 with little to no decent results. However, the team still retained the top position in the ranking and put up a good fight against top contenders. NIP started 2019 with IEM Katowice. In the main qualifier, the team looked shaky as they dropped out of Major in the group stage, scoring 2-3. Later on, the team managed to reach play-off in StarSeries i-League season 7 but lost to Renegades in a Bo3. In IEM Sydney 2019, the squad fought their ways to the play-off, only to be taken down by their compatriots fnatic in a nail-biting 3-map series with 2 maps required overtime, with the second map reaching the 4th overtime.
The game could easily be named the best game so far in 2019 in CS:GO with 2 top contenders trading rounds. After the event, NIP put up a good show when defeating Na`vi on Dust2, Winning Nuke against C9 and dominated ENCE on Nuke in BLAST Pro Series Madrid. They finished 3rd in the tournament and played the stand-off series against Giants where they breezed through the Spanish squad to bring home an extra $20,000 in cash. In the latest tournament, NIP managed to win ECS season 7 Europe week 4 over AVANGAR to get $12,000 in earnings. All in all, although losing against the top teams, the team is still a name to consider when it comes to competitive CS:GO.
Achievements:
Reaching play-off in StarSeries i-League season 7.
Reaching play-off in IEM Sydney 2019.
#3 BLAST pro series Madrid.
#1 ECS season 7 Europe week 4.
Trivia: though being 30 years old, the longest standing member of NIP “f0rest” are called the “young, up-and-coming talent” due to his playful manner.
7.MIBR
The Brazilian powerhouse experienced a rocky year in 2018 under the era of Astralis. After an unsuccessful time with the all-star roster with tarik and stewie2k, MIBR decided to part ways with the two North American to bring back Epitacio "TACO" de Melo from team Liquid and felps to go full Brazilian again. It felt like the old time in 2017 where they fought under the banner of SK Gaming to shape their own era. However, this time it was much different under the reign of Astralis. MIBR started 2019 with IEM Katowice Major, trying out their old roster in the new environment. The team got a convincing 2-0 victory over Renegades to reach the semi-final.
However, MIBR had to settle for $70,000 with Legend status after defeated by Astralis. Later on, the Brazilian squad attended WESG World 2018 Finals being the heavy favorite but ended up losing to the all fired-up Windigo, the eventual champion of the tournament. Another disappointing tournament for the back-to-back Major champions is BLAST Pro Series Sao Paulo 2019 where they finished last in the tournament without a win, even lost the stand-off series against ENCE right in their homeland. The disappointment was immeasurable. In IEM Sydney 2019, The Brazilians reached semi-finals over mousesports only to lose against the eventual champion Liquid. Not long after that, MIBR got the chance to take their revenge. The Brazilian squad took down Liquid 2-0 in ECS North American week 4 to bring home $12,000. coldzera and Co. got a good day and eventually defeated Renegades in the same day with the same 2-0 scoreline to top the group A round 2 in ESL pro league season 9 Americas.
Achievements:
#3 IEM Katowice Major 2019
#5 WESG World 2018 Finals
#3 IEM Sydney 2019
#1 ECS North American week 4
#1 group A, round 2 in ESL Pro League Season 9 Americas
Trivia:
The IGL FalleN is invited to the show-match between team UK vs team Australia as “bad FalleN”, wearing sunglasses while playing. He had even “fallen” during the round where all his teammates died, jumping off the map while facing the camera to give hype to the crowd.
FalleN even has a Youtube channel of his own, getting 1 million subscriptions and was awarded the gold Youtube button.
6. FaZe Clan
The all-star European squad closed out 2018 with no much success. FaZe decided to make a drastic change by benching the Danish IGL karrigan. They brought in another star player AndreN, hoping to achieve something big. However, the start of 2019 was rough as they crashed out of Ibuypower tournament after 2 upset losses against Ghost Gaming. The squad bounced back with a trophy in ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational 2019, scooping an MVP medal for NiKo. Unfortunately, the team achieved no much success in the IEM Katowice Major after losing to Na`vi in the play-off. The struggle went on as they could not find a way to win matches against other teams.
BLAST Pro Series Sao Paulo and StarSeries i-League turned out to be a disappointment. However, FaZe found out a way to come back, managed to win the BLAST Pro Series Miami with a convincing 2-0 victory over Liquid. Right after that, the European squad topped the group B in ESL Pro League Season 9 Europe to qualify for ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals. However, after the stint with the team, AndreN decided to part ways with the organization. FaZed signed NEO, the legendary player from Virtus Pro. Though struggling to find success, FaZe is always ranked among the top teams in CS:GO competitive scene.
Achievements:
#1 ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational 2019
#5 IEM Katowice Major
#1 BLAST Pro Series Miami
#1 group B in ESL Pro League Season 9 Europe
Trivia:
FaZe Clan is sometimes called “NiKo clan” due to the consistent performance from the Bosnian star.
olofmeister is a star player from the legendary fnatic lineup, he received the name “boostmeister” after the controversy about the boosting spot in the map Overpass during the match against LDLC in Dreamhack Winter 2014.
5.fnatic
The Swedish giant fnatic has long been a big name in CS:GO. The team crafted their own era during the time of 2014 to 2016. Though their era has long gone they still retained some of their performance till now. No longer a shadow of their former selves, fnatic brought in young talents like brollan and twist, hoping to come back as a top contender. Fnatic started out 2019 with no much success. They fell out of iBUYPOWER with a loss to Liquid, crashed out of IEM Katowice Main Qualifier and lost to G2 in WESG 2018 World Finals.
The team looked out of shape without much hope. However, they made a convincing comeback in StarSeries i-League Season 7 with a chain of victories over big names like NIP, NRG, Vitality, and North. They eventually lost to Na`Vi in the grand final but put up a decent show and performance. IEM Sydney turned out to be another good run for the team as they also reached the Grand Final against team Liquid in a tense five-map game. Overall, the team showed up well, putting decent performance to be considered a top team.
Achievements:
#2 StarSeries i-League Season 7
#2 IEM Sydney
4.ENCE
The Finnish squad was formed just in April of 2018 with the veteran AWPer Aleksi “allu” Jalli in charge. ENCE received much hype from fans and crows, with the famous twitch spams and meme “EZ4ENCE”. The squad had yet to find much success in 2018. The team entered 2019 with a bang, most notably reaching the Grand Final against Astralis in IEM Katowice. They defeated the likes of Liquid and Na`Vi to face against the eventual champion of the major.
Many people took it a fluke but the team proved otherwise. They continued the good form in BLAST Pro Series Sao Paulo, losing only to Astralis and Team Liquid. ENCE reached playoffs in StarSeries i-League Season 7 but lost to the eventual champion Na`Vi. Inactive for quite a time after that, ENCE took the world by storm, defeating Astralis on Nuke, ending the streak of 31 consecutive victories. They managed to win Astralis with a convincing score of 2-0, claiming $125,000 for themselves. That was a long era of Nuke for Astralis to be taken away by the Finnish.
Achievements:
#2 IEM Katowice Major
#1 BLAST Pro Series Madrid
Trivia:
After the successful run in IEM Katowice, a music pack named “EZ4ENCE” was released, bringing hype even more.
EZ4ENCE was intended as a meme at first, but now isn’t it actually “easy for ENCE”?
3.Natus Vincere - Na`Vi
The CIS powerhouse has yet to craft their own era. The famous name Na`Vi is popular since CS 1.6. However, the squad has been struggling to find great achievements. After a hard fought 2018, the CIS squad enter 2019 with the great determination of dethroning the Danish powerhouse Astralis. However, they got an upset defeat by ENCE in the semi-finals of IEM Katowice Major and had to settle for the Legend status. Unfazed, the team bounced back with a strong performance in Star Series i-League Season 7, hoisting the trophy with Aleksandr “s1mple“ Kostyliev scoping the MVP for himself. However, the team once again struggled against other top contestants as they attended BLAST Pro Series events, finishing low in both Miami and Madrid.
Achievement:
#3 IEM Katowice Major
#1 Star Series i-League Season 7
Trivia:
s1mple is nominated for best player in 2018. It was due to the stellar performance he showed in playoffs, carrying his team through events.
Denis “electronic” Sharipov was ranked #4 player in 2018, due to his consistency in helping his team achieve success.
Egor “flamie” Vasilyev showed up well in IEM Katowice, winning a double ACE in the Inferno match against FaZe in the playoffs. Unfortunately, that couldn’t help the CIS squad through to finals.
2. Liquid
The North America squad was famous for their “curse” in the grand final. With an all-star lineup, team Liquid currently possesses the strongest firepower in the game, ready to demolish any team. However, after an unsuccessful 2018, the team decided to swap their Taco with MIBR for Stewie2K. Team Liquid kicked off 2019 with a trophy in iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 against Astralis. But the success didn’t last long, as they got an upset defeat against ENCE in IEM Katowice, missing the chance to dethrone Astralis. They got the chance to do so in BLAST Pro Series Sao Paulo but eventually went down 1-2. In BLAST Pro Series Miami, where Astralis crashed out of the final, Liquid fell down to FaZe 0-2, yet another missed time with the trophy. IEM Sydney witnessed a strong Liquid with convincing 2-0 victories over the likes of BIG, NIP, MIBR. They struggled for a while until eventually defeated Fnatic 3-2 in a five-map Bo5 series. With strong performance and consistency when facing against top teams, Liquid is the most probable challenger of Astralis.
Achievements:
#1 iBUYPOWER Masters 2019
#5 IEM Katowice Major
#2 BLAST Pro Series Sao Paulo
#2 BLAST Pro Series Miami
#1 IEM Sydney
Trivia:
The young star of the team Stewie2K is called “smoke criminal” as when the first time he entered pro scenes, he pushed through smoke quite a lot, just like playing in pug. It remained a controversy as many people regarded it as “unprofessional”, some saw it as a surprise factor to bring into the game.
The rifler star “twistzz” got a meme with his hairstyle. For a time, his hair was stylized like spikes, giving him the name “shampoo god” or “super saiyan”
1.Astralis
The Danish powerhouse, also the “world’s best team” has dominated the CS:GO scene since their victory in DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 in April 2018. The team has kept up their good performance until now and never fallen out of their throne from that on. However, there is a high chance that they might be worrying about their #1 position as team Liquid has closed the gap with them. Still retaining consistent performance like in 2018, Astralis continued their supreme reign in 2019.
Astralis kicked off 2019 with an upset loss against Liquid in iBUYPOWER Masters 2019. Unfazed, they came back with a stellar performance in IEM Katowice Major, dropping only one map to Renegades in overtime on Mirage, winning the event. They continued their good form in BLAST Pro Series Sao Paulo, winning another title. However, the following 2 BLAST Pro Series events turned out unsuccessful for the team, as they finished #3 in Miami and #2 in Madrid. After that, the team decided to skip some big events to prepare their best for the more important events.
Achievements:
#2 in iBUYPOWER Masters 2019
#1 in IEM Katowice Major
#1 in BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles
#3 in BLAST Pro Series Miami
#2 in BLAST Pro Series Madrid
Trivia:
When the team was accused of cheating to shoot through smoke, the IGL Lukas “gla1ve“ Rossander playfully made a meme.
Emil “Magisk” Reif or “magiskboy” was once dropped by North. At that time, he was crying in the lobby after getting dumped. At that moment, some Virtus Pro members came to offer beer and cheer him up, saying that whole stunning carrier is still in his reach. After that, he joined the current best team in the world. The rest is history.
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