It is impossible to name best of the best players in any sports. In case of esports things go even worse: you can’t pay attention only to statistics and the number of wins when choosing best teams. Sometimes, the level of synergy inside the team, the level of competition, the quality and confidence of victories matter much more than all stats together. I’ve tried to mention achievements of best CS:GO teams in history as fully as I could. I hope this list to be unbiased. Still, it’s all about your opinion.
Ninjas in Pyjamas (GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, Xizt, friberg, Fifflaren) August 2012 – November 2014
This was the legendary Swedish crew. People thought they were undefeatable during first years of competitive CS:GO playing. “NiP” was among first teams to believe in a new Valve discipline and began practicing it actively. In 2012 and 2013, they won 87 maps on LAN-events in a row. No other team could get even close to this result.
Success reasons: an early switch to the new CS version, the duet of GeT_RiGhT and f0rest, and the qualified leader.
Main achievements: ESL One Cologne victory, 87 victorious maps on LAN-events in a row.
VeryGames (shox, ScreaM, NBK, Ex6TenZ, SmithZz) May 2013 – April 2014
VeryGames is another star team of first CS:GO years. The previous French crew having RpK and kennyS instead of shox and ScreaM was one of the best teams in the world. VeryGames could deal with any competitor… except NiP. kennyS’s team suffered four complete final losses from Swedish players.
But after shox appeared, the game of VeryGames changed. Ruled by Ex6TenZ, the team broke their lose streak against NiP and got two additional victories. VeryGames entered Top-4 rankings of LAN tournaments seven times in a row. This crew can be rightfully called one of the best CS:GO teams in history.
Success reasons: many skilled players being on top of their possibilities and a careful and qualified captain who was able to use strengths of all four shooters.
Main achievements: StarSeries Season 7 victory, RaidCall EMS One Fall 2013 Finals victory.
Luminosity/SK Gaming (FalleN, fer, fnx, coldzera, TACO) November 2015 – December 2016
The Brazilian crew of Luminosity ruled by Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo maintained its underdog status throughout almost the whole year of 2015. Despite entering “legends” of all three majors of the year, the team could outplay only middle-class opponents. They couldn’t stand against top-rank crews.
Things changed during the DreamHack Winter 2015 tournament. Before the championship, Ricardo “boltz” Prass and Lucas “steel” Lopes left the team and were replaced by two Games Academy players – Lincoln “fnd” Lau and Epitazio “TACO” De Melo. After suffering a total 16:0 defeat from Fnatic, the new crew shocked everyone after they reached the final of the tournament. Luminosity left such teams as NiP, Team Envyus and TSM behind. In the final game, they fought against Fnatic once more and lost a close battle.
This tournament was the beginning of the unbelievable Brazilian dominance during the whole year of 2016. They won two majors, the ESL Pro League Season 3 and the DreamHack Austin tournament. Despite FalleN’s team continued successful playing after fnx left the crew, they were undisputed leaders of CS scene exactly with him.
Success reasons: the excellent synergy between players combined with the great skill of FalleN and coldzera and the crazy desire for victories.
Main achievements: MLG Columbus and ESL One Cologne 2016 victories.
Natus Vincere (Zeus, Edward, seized, Guardian, flamie) March 2015 – July 2016
This crew of Natus Vincere had every player on his place. As a result, Na’Vi became one of the most stable teams in CS:GO history. There was no tournament Na’Vi could fail totally without a fight. Despite many lost finals of 2016, they were among CS leaders with their original and beautiful playstile.
Success reasons: world class players. Slow attack style many top teams felt uncomfortable to play against.
Main achievements: IEM San Jose, ESWC 2015 and StarSeries Season 13 victories.
Fnatic (JW, flusha, pronax, KRiMZ, olofmeister) June 2014 – November 2015
Many old school Counter-Strike fans treat the tag of Fnatic team as a synonym for the word “domination”. Since the late 2013, crews of this organization stay among the best. The year 2015 became the most significant: they won eight tournaments including two major events. This team got so used to victories that disband happened after the first unlucky competition: DreamHack Cluj-Napoca, where Fnatic were defeated by Team Envyus in semi-finals. Then, the refreshed team won six tournaments in a row at the beginning of 2016, but never could repeat successes of a legendary roadster and disbanded in summer of the same year.
Success reasons: the combination of qualified tactical rounds and aggressive plays.
Main achievements: ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015 victories.
LDLC/TeamEnvyus (shox, Happy, kioShiMa, SmithZz, NBK) September 2014 – July 2015
In 2015 Fnatic really were unstoppable, but there was an equal competitor for them in 2014. After the reshuffle, the French LDLC team got the first place of the 11 th SLTV Star Series Season and reached ESWC 2014 and Fragbite Masters Season 3 finals.
Their best performance happened on the major DreamHack Winter 2014 tournament where they took the 1 st place despite the scandalous technical defeat in the match with Fnatic. They switched the tag to Team Envyus in early 2015 and then won the MLG X Games Aspen Invitational, SLTV StarSeries XII and Gfinity Spring Masters. Despite some unlucky tournaments within their last months as a team, their statistics still look phenomenal: 17 top-4 entries in 19 tournaments played.
Success reasons: synergized and stable job from every player, a skilled captain and excellent pistol plays.
Main achievements: DreamHack Winter 2014 and MLG X-Games Aspen victories.
Universal Soldiers/Virtus.pro (TaZ, NEO, pashaBiceps, byali, Snax) October 2014 – January 2018
“We don’t change players, we change roles” – this phrase by Polish pro gamers perfectly describes their successes. 17 finals and 34 top-4 entries can’t be called the greatest result ever, but VP made top comebacks every time it seemed they reached a dead end and need a reshuffle. That is why they deserve their place in this list.
Even in late 2017 when such fresh teams as SK, Astralis, and Faze Clan were leaders of Counter-Strike competitive events, Virtus.pro were able to reach the Epicenter final and prove that individual skills are not the most important for the team in our times.
Success reasons: no reshuffles, hard work with the same crew, huge experience of elder players and mastery of younger ones.
Main achievements: EMS One Katowice 2014, ELEAGUE Season 1 and DreamHack Masters Las Vegas victories.
Faze Clan (karrigan, rain, NiKo, Guardian, olofmeister) August 2017 – Present Day
Rumors about this roadster actually confused the community. Is it possible to gather the crew where four players are used to be main stars? After their first tournament (DreamHack Masters Malmo 2017) where Faze Clan failed to pass through the group stage, confusion only got stronger.
Nevertheless, two weeks later Faze Clan won ESL One New York. They lost only 39 rounds during 7 maps (average 6 rounds per map). Even despite lost finals in further months, the European crew was incredibly stable as for the team having totally aggressive shooters. Even the loss of olofmeister for 2 months couldn’t prevent Faze Clan from winning the IEM Sydney where they defeated Astralis (3:0) in the final game.
Success reasons: Guardian, olofmeister, NiKo… should I continue?
Main achievements: ELEAGUE Premier 2017, ESL One New York 2017 and ECS Season 4 victories.
Astralis (device, gla1ve, dupreeh, Xyp9x, Magisk) February 2018 – Present Day
When Kjaerbye left Astralis in early 2018, many people predicted them to fall out from top rankings, shame on upcoming events and many other pleasant things. After Magisk joined the team, skeptics got a bit more silent but the device’s illness and no titles still made fans doubt.
But as a result, Astralis rolled over their competitors on DreamHack Masters Marseille and ESL Pro League Season 5. During the IEM Sydney they showed a high-quality performance despite the defeat in the final. Huge numbers of arguable reshuffles from other pro teams make the “age of Astralis” even more possible to come. We only can wait for upcoming majors of 2019 for now.
Success reasons: perfect role distribution, deep map pool and five skilled players ready to explode at the most suitable moment.
Main achievements: DreamHack Masters Marseille and ESL Pro League Season 7 victories.
