Counter-Strike: Global Offensive celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2022, with the game and its competitive scene undergoing one of the biggest blow-ups in Esports history. Plenty of names have produced spectacular over the last decade, cultivating superstar legacies with fans and etching their names into the history books in the process. But which of these superstars is the greatest of all time? Check out Gamelevate as we run through our 5 best CSGO players from the last 10 years.
5. Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer
The CS:GO world owes players like Olofmeister a great deal. Perhaps the first true ‘superstar’ of the game’s competitive scene, the Swede was the talisman behind the all-conquering Fnatic side of 2015. Still one of the most legendary eras in the game, Fnatic won back-to-back Majors across the year, with Olof being placed at the top of the best CSGO players in the world.
He would also be the centrepiece in one of the biggest transfer sagas in the game’s history when he moved to FaZe in 2017, where he selflessly played multiple roles until 2021.
4. Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut
Arguably no player has had a rise as meteoric as ZywOo. The Frenchman burst onto the scene with Team Vitality in late 2018. Named as the best player in the world in consecutive years across 2019 and 2020, ZywOo has established himself as the face of French Counter-Strike and led Vitality to the summit of the world rankings.
However, despite a slew of personal accolades, the major thing holding ZywOo back is, well, a Major. Having yet to make it past a quarter-final at a Major Championship at the time of writing, ZywOo doesn’t quite have the pedigree of our next three entries.
3. Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač
Another one of the best CS:GO players perhaps more known for his gutwrenching losses than spectacular wins, NiKo is every inch one of Esports’ biggest names. Having burst onto the scene by dragging a mediocre Mousesports team to finishes they had no right getting to, NiKo transferred to FaZe in 2017 as the centrepiece in its Galacticos era.
His role as an IGL has continued to be one of the game’s great soap operas but, nevertheless, he remains one of the most consistent and versatile forces with both a rifle and an AWP.
2. Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
It seems crazy to label statistically the most acclaimed player in the history of a game ‘underrated’, but that is exactly where dev1ce finds himself in many people’s standings. An ever-present in the top 20 players in the world every year since CS:GO’s release, dev1ce has won 30 international trophies and 19 individual MVP awards (the second-most in the history of the game).
The AWPer in the all-conquering Astralis side, dev1ce has also won two MVP awards at four of the Majors he has won. We can’t wait to see him back in the server competing at the highest level again.
1. Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev
Prior to a move to North America with Team Liquid, S1mple looked set to go down in the history books as just another cheating, toxic player so many of us are used to finding in our matchmaking queues.
Instead, the Ukrainian used this opportunity to mature both in and out of the server, eventually earning a move to NAVI where he instantly became one of the best CSGO players in the world. Bagging 21 individual MVP awards, the one final criticism thrown towards S1mple was finally laid to rest when he bagged his first Major at PGL Stockholm. No other player in the history of CS:GO has ever managed to combine insane raw talent with this relentless pursuit of perfection in the way S1mple has; he is, quite simply, the GOAT.
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