The top thirty spots in the HLTV world rankings are seen as the CS:GO elite but there are talented sides outside of it as well.
Sprout
Current rank: 33rd
Led by Timo “Spiidi” Richter as in-game leader, Sprout are a German side owned by Rush B Esport and currently only behind BIG in the rankings for the region according to HLTV. The side boasts the experience of Denis “denis” Howell, and the entry fragging potential courtesy of twenty-one-year-old Josef “faveN” Baumann, helping to give the org a good cohesive balance.
On top of that, Sprout have proven themselves to be one of the best breeding grounds of talent in the game, with the likes of Niels Christian “NaToSaphiX” Sillassen, Jesse “zehN” Linjala, and BIG duo Florian “syrsoN” Rische and Nils “k1to” Gruhne all coming through the turnstiles at Sprout.
Dignitas
Current rank: 34th
Dignitas are among the most influential and important orgs in the entire history of competitive CS, hosting lineups across the three major titles ever since 2004. The org broke headlines in January 2020 with the announcement that they had acquired the famous 87-0 NiP core.
After a couple of tweaks that saw Richard “Xizt” Landström and Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund make way for the significantly younger Ludvig “HEAP” Alonso and Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson, the side seem to have found the lineup that brings a respectable level of consistency.
Adam “friberg” Friberg and Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg have showcased their incredible longevity within competitive CS, and the core have already reached a peak placement on 22nd in the world so far this year.
SAW
Current rank: 35th
The highest-ranked side in Spain and Portugal, SAW have had a remarkable rise ever since their founding in early 2020. The Portuguese org have already threatened to break onto the big scene with appearances at BLAST and DreamHack A-Tier events, and they had spent a hefty twenty-two weeks in the top thirty core before eventually dropping out in April this year.
Renegades
Current rank: 52nd
The Renegades orgs of old were responsible for putting the Oceania region on the map, helping to push CS:GO into another sphere as a global esport, and the era heralded by the coaching work of Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović marked the definitive high point for the org as they romped to a 3rd-4th finish at the StarLadder Berlin Major and a peak positioning of 5th in the world.
Renegades continue to absolutely dominate their regional matchups, winning their respective ESL Pro League Season 12, IEM Beijing, DreamHack Open, DreamHack Masters, and ESL One: Cologne events throughout 2020. Unfortunately for them, the continued online era has made traveling near-impossible, stunting the potential of the core, allowing for in-game leader Christopher “dexter” Nong to be poached while also restricting the amount of opportunities Renegades have of moving up the rankings with the Oceania competitive calendar naturally being far more sparse than those in EU or NA.
Nevertheless, Renegades’ respectable performance at ESL Pro League Season 13, their first EU S-Tier event since February 2020, should give fans hope that Renegades will be back amongst the best once the online era comes to an end.
GODSENT
Current rank: 55th
In terms of raw talent and the potential skill ceiling available to be unlocked, few sides currently outside of the top thirty can match GODSENT and their current Brazilian experiment. The org already have a long history within CS:GO however, with an average player age of just over twenty-one years old, it’s clear that this marks an exciting new chapter in GODSENT’s history.
Led by two-time Major winner and contender for the most underrated CS:GO legend of all time, Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, GODSENT have accrued the finest prodigy talents from the Brazilian space, and if Bruno “b4rtiN” Câmara and Eduardo “dumau” Wolkmer especially can continue to develop at the rate they have showcased so far, GODSENT could soon find themselves firing up the world rankings as the big spectacles of LAN events return.
