CS:GO - The Top 10 Players to EVER Grace This Game - Video Essay (rough draft)

CSGO is a popular FPS game with a large community. The video discusses the 10 greatest players in CSGO history. Number 10 is Faze Rain, who started his career in 2014 and has been a consistent player. Number 9 is KennyS, known for his skills as an AWPer. Number 8 is GetRightz, who played for Ninjas in Pyjamas and was dominant in the early days of CSGO. CSGO. One of the most exhilarating FPS games over the last decade, having over a million people actively playing right now, at this very second. As a community over these last 11 years, we have all played and watched one of our favorite games every day, creating one of the largest gaming communities out there. Talking, messaging, and calling all of our friends to create memories on one of the world's most prestigious first person shooters. If you ended up clicking on this video, you're a member of this community that probably either watches or have previously watched Professional Counter-Strike at some point in time. With hundreds of teams and thousands of pros, it gives us an entire perspective on a level of the game that we may never achieve. This is honestly why all the CSGO pros are so great. With all their satisfying one taps to thoroughly thought out full team executions, it allows us all to enjoy the game at the highest level, without a care in the world how any of us are. That is why today, I am here to bring you for what I believe to be the 10 greatest CSGO players who have ever touched the game. With the amount of players and the amount of legends out there, narrowing it down to 10 players was extremely difficult. And I know for a fact there may be zero people in the entire world that agree with this list. Nonetheless, after watching many of these matches consistently for many years and enjoying the pro scene, I would like to present to you, number 10. Faze Rain Nicknamed Javi from current and previous teammates, has been one of the anchors of CSGO for the last 9 years. Starting extremely hot with a potentially controversial pick, Rain spends a lot of his early days in CSGO bouncing from team to team until he landed a spot in LGB Esports at the tail end of December 2014. Sadly, LGB was towards the end of their better days after they parted ways with their former roster, hurling a few players of Fnatic's core legendary roster before they all knew it. During Rain's 6 month stint on LGB Esports, the roster failed to hold a strong core, with players moving in and out of the roster. With no noticeable results, the team entered May 2015 in shambles, with nothing going for it. During the time though, Rain was still a promising young player who seemed to have some star power. All he needed was some patience for it all to come around. Suddenly, on May 5th, 2015, Rain made a move that would officially start his pro career, signing and joining Team Kinguin's CSGO roster. Kinguin signed Rain and his 4 other teammates all on that same day as well, creating some noise in the CSGO pro scene. Kinguin also signed ScreaM, and knowing the two would be playing together, there was some fear from the duo from the others in the pro scene, but this was only Rain's beginning. Throughout the rest of 2015, Rain and his team were a very strong European super team throughout their year, eventually with the roster being picked up by G2 into September 2015. Not before Rain and Kinguin ended off their run winning Gamers Paradise 2015. Even though the tournament was a disaster, Rain and his squad ended it off nicely. With the year ending strong, with a top 4 finish at Dreamhack 2015 Major, they proved that they were a strong super team and could compete. And with time, they would get a strong win under their belt. However, Rain and his days on G2 were much shorter lived than expected. What Rain didn't know was that entering 2016, his entire career was about to make the turn for the greatest. January 20th, 2016, was the day that FaZe signed their original roster, with Rain being the highlight of the team. Over the last 7 years, we have seen FaZe go from their highs, to lows, to highs, to lows, then highs again. Throughout all this time, some absolute legends of the game have made their way onto this roster, either standing in or playing full time, making FaZe one of the greatest teams over these last 7 years. Many know that a lot of these rosters were catapulted to the top of the HLTV rankings by the superstars, but only a few people understand that it could only have been done because Rain was there, the whole damn time. With 20 to 30 plus players who have been on the roster as FaZe, either as a player or a stand-in, have only been there for a fraction of the amount of time that Rain has been holding it down on FaZe. Known as one of the best big game players in CSGO history, Rain is a player that can always come to the occasion for FaZe when they need it. From dropping 30 on Nuke on the final map of the 2022 Antwerp Major against Na'Vi, to starting out 20-0 on Dust2 against Liquid in the 2019 Blast Pro Miami Finals, Rain has been one of the most consistent to ever do it, for one of the longest periods of time we've ever seen someone doing it. Rain is not often a person you might think to be the best in the server on any game, but over these countless years, we all know that he can change that on any map against any team at any time. Not only that, but he has done it against all levels of competition throughout all of CSGO's lifespan. Rain has been such a cornerstone of CSGO for most of its entire life, and it only makes sense to start this list with such a remarkable veteran. Moving forward, here we have an icon of the game at number 9. KennyS Kenny, the magician. KennyShrub goes by many names. When KennyS reaches that full buy round, many CSGO pros know the feeling of being at the end of the boomstick. Starting his pro career in late 2012, KennyS spent his very early days on VeryGames and LDLC, working alongside some of the greatest French players in CSGO history. His first year was going quite well, as many knew KennyS as one of the most talented offers in the entire game. He spent some time bouncing around after his departure from LDLC in late 2013, but ended up joining Titan in mid-2014, and that is what made KennyS one of the biggest household names in CSGO history. Kenny and Titan were one of CSGO's strongest rosters, being one of the best in Europe and in the entire game. The team was strong, but failed to win a Major. However, during July 2015, after over a year on Titan with strong performances and upsetting results, KennyS was ready to join Team EnVyUs with his teammate Apex. With these two picked up, one of the greatest French rosters in CSGO history was created. Right at the beginning of his time on EnVyUs, it was clear that KennyS and his team were going to be a terror to CSGO. With one of the first tournaments being the 2015 Cologne Major, expectations were high for EnVyUs and be delivered by cruising all the way to the Grand Finals, where their storied run sadly came to an end by a legendary three-time Major winning roster of Fnatic. KennyS and EnVyUs were definitely happy knowing what they can do and compete with the best of the best, but they were not satisfied with them getting that Major win. Just a couple months after Cologne came the 2015 DreamHack Major. EnVyUs hungry to win, with KennyS at the top of his game and no one to stop him. After cruising through groups, they had their rematch with Fnatic in the quarterfinals. With a close battled series, EnVyUs came out on top 2-1 with sweet revenge and a chance for KennyS to win his first Major. After a close match with G2 and strolling by Na'Vi, KennyS had finally won his first Major, being at the top of the world known as the best AWPer to ever play CSGO. Moving on with his career, KennyS was still a star and a prodigy of the game, with very few even having a chance to compete with him on the AWP during his prime. His ceiling and peak showed up throughout his earlier days of CSGO's history. It brings me pain that there were many who never got to watch him live during his prime, as it was some of the most exciting and exhilarating counter-strike to ever watch. There were many people who started watching pro CSGO because of the way he used to use the AWP, inspiring thousands of players and showing them the level of destruction that a single AWP can bring to the table. As of this recording, it's been about a month since his retirement, and it hurts many CSGO Pro viewers knowing that they will never get a chance to see the Boomstick rack up any more nasty flicks or highlight clutches. Moving on, here we have an absolute nother legend of the game at number 8. GetRightz. Christopher Alisson may be one of, if not the most important person to ever play CSGO. One of the greatest who has pioneered CSGO into what it is today and what it always will be. A player who possibly has brought the most people into the game ever, GetRightz is one of the best legends and icons to ever grace this game. Starting out his CSGO career on Ninjas in Pyjamas and NiP, with a map record win of 87-0, it is known that GetRightz and NiP were the best team at the beginning of CSGO's release. And that's no question. GetRightz is one of those very famous players who brought their high level of play from this 1.6ish source to then dominate the CSGO community for many years, right after its release. It was not until March 2013, a while after its release, a star ladder, until GetRightz and NiP lost their very first map to Virtus.Pro. Even after losing their first map, NiP were still always the top team for many years after, with GetRightz being the star of this team. With only one major win, it was not until Cologne 2014, where Anders has it best. Throughout the early and golden days of professional CSGO, there was never a time where GetRightz was not a threat on the server. Tied with KennyS, for the 4th most HLTV MVPs with 10, there is no question that he was dominant during all this time. GetRightz is unfortunately in the same situation as KennyS, where they were both magnificent to watch and revolutionized the game, but unfortunately time did not do either of them well, especially GetRightz and NiP, once 2017 came to a close. NiP were just outside a consistent top 5 team, seeing as it was finally past their own glory days. However, GetRightz proved he could still hang with the greatest, giving great performances for NiP until the end of his tenure in 2019, where he joined Team Dignitas, before finally retiring as one of the greatest legends in 2021. From his exciting plays, to his exhilarating attitude towards the game, many can thank GetRightz for shaping CSGO at its core, for how the game is played and recognized today. Being the best player for at least the first 2 years of the game, it is obvious why GetRightz is here on this list. If I made it years ago, there is a chance he could have been a little bit higher, but with the competition increasing over time, it sadly brings him down to this spot. Nonetheless, with all he has done, he is rightfully the true owner of this number 8 spot, being one of the biggest legends of the game. Ahead of one of the biggest icons of the game, here we have number 7. Twistz. Russell VanDalken is easily the greatest and most accomplished player in North American CSGO history, and it's just really not up for debate. NA has never been known for the best region, but has still produced some of CSGO's greats, such as Elige, Stewie2k, and even the glory days of Shroud, inconsistent but iconic. Twistz has been better in the game and has accomplished more than any of them, especially being the only player to ever win 2 IEM Grand Slams, one of CSGO's greatest feats. With being around 5 years younger than any player so far on this list, Twistz's consistency and improvement as he goes on is why he deserves to be on this list, higher than a couple legends of this game. Twistz. He started his professional career in CSGO in late 2015, passing through a few teams until he finally landed his spot on a strong roster, TSM, in March 2016. Unfortunately for Twistz and the rest of his teammates on TSM, they were stuck in the hellhole that was known as North American CS, and spent their first year not posting any significant results, besides one top floor finish in the EPS Season 1 Finals in around mid-2016, and becoming Talented Rifler from NA, one of the best in the region at the time. From this, even with poor results, he and a few other TSM teammates wound up on Misfits Gaming in early 2017, but still struggled to show consistency and results. However, during all this time, out of the dark shadows of Misfits failures, was an absolute shining star, Twistz. After only 3 months on Misfits, it was known by many that Twistz was easily one of the most talented players in NA at the time. With him turning 18 just around the corner, he was finally given his first big chance to make his mark in CSGO, signing with Team Liquid in April 2017, which eventually would be the birth of one of NA's most accomplished rosters in CSGO history. I'm not going to bore you, even though this team was strong, it was not until late 2018 to early 2019 where they finally had their strongest roster. After more than a year of a roster shuffling players in and out, Liquid entered 2019 as one of the best. However, after losing in the quarterfinals against ENCE, failing to win the first Major of the year, Catalyze 2019, Liquid were left with a sour taste in their mouth moving forward. Despite that, just before mid-2019 had turned around, Liquid made one of the greatest runs in CSGO history. May 5th, 2019. Twistz secured his first big main stage win, taking home IEM Sydney with Liquid against Fnatic in the Grand Finals 3-2. June 2nd, less than one month later, Twistz and teammates ran through the competition at DreamHack Dallas, getting their revenge on ENCE and winning 2-1 in the Grand Finals. June 23rd, exactly three weeks later, Liquid once again blew through the entire competition, beating G2 3-1 at the Grand Finals, giving Twistz three big wins in under two months. After starting out the year losing in the Major, going into Cologne, even though not the Major, Liquid knew this tournament they had to give it all they had to win. With some of the best teams here on one of CSGO's biggest stages, with a chance to make history and win the IEM Grand Slam. And wouldn't you guess it, but on July 7th, only 63 days after their win in Sydney, Liquid was able to hoist their fourth trophy during this short span of time, where Liquid again blew through the competition, winning Cologne 2019 and winning the second ever IEM Grand Slam. Twistz was on top of the CSGO world, known by the community as probably the best NA CSGO player to ever exist. Even though that was sadly the end of Liquid's miracle run, it was not the end of Twistz' career. After moving to FaZe in early 2022, Twistz and FaZe have been one of the best teams in the world, since FaZe gained that current core they have now, and Twistz has been an integral part of this lineup's success. Not only that, Twistz was able to not only get his first ever Major under his belt, but became the only person to win his second IEM Grand Slam in March 2023 with Pro League Season 17, tying off an incredible performance from Twistz and FaZe throughout all of 2022. At only 23 years old as of the time of this recording, no one knows how high Twistz's ceiling is going to reach, and the community is joyed to watch this man compete through the rest of CSGO and beyond for many years. He is one of the best players to ever pick up a rifle, while also having some of the best consistency in the entire world during his 7 plus year career. Time will only tell where he might end up on this list in the future, but there's a chance he could be at the top 1 one day, and no one in the community would hate to see that. And moving on with this list, here we have number 6. Olofmeister. Only a matter of time until you saw him on this list. One of the most recognizable names in all of CSGO, right up there on top of GetRight for how much he did for the game, while also being one of the best at it. Having a career even before the release of CSGO, Olof came into CSGO hopping through a few teams until he finally found himself a nice spot in LGB Esports. With Krimz and Dennis on his side, two of his future eventual teammates, with one of CSGO's greatest rosters. During this 11 month stint on LGB, the team failed to get any successful results, not making it to the finals of either one of the majors they were in. It was not until June 2014, until Olof joined Fnatic to create one of the best teams in existence of CSGO. NiP was the origin of Pelaya, but Olofmeister and Fnatic quickly took the reins from them once the team was at its highest strength. During what many considered to be some of the golden days of CSGO from 2014 to 2016, Olofmeister was either consistently a top 3 player, or the best in the world during this entire period. Only winning two majors, there is a lot more to just wins that Olofmeister has brought to the table. For a lot of his days on Fnatic, he was the face of the team that was the face of CSGO, bringing a lot of attention to not only himself, but for many other curious players to see what the world of pro CSGO has to offer. Having some of CSGO's most iconic plays, the scout boost, the last second overpass defuse, Olofmeister is a household name to all professional players and viewers to this day. Many people do not understand how truly great he was. Even after the golden days of Fnatic, Olof was still always a threat to everyone on the server, even during his days on FaZe, from the beginning all the way to the end. There are not many other players who have touched CSGO that have been as iconic as Olofmeister, and everyone can agree he is one of the GOATs of CSGO. Even having some of the highest mechanical skill around his peak, throughout his career, Olof has had an extremely strong understanding of how the game and how his enemies played, no matter who it was. Even once his mechanical skill fell behind some of the newer players, and later in his career on FaZe, it is a fact that the reason he always kept himself towards the top of the scoreboard was his understanding of the game. Watching Olofmeister inspired thousands of players to play the game at a higher level than they even played the game in the first place. This is all because watching Olofmeister made the game of CSGO look so easy, as if being the best was just a natural reflex. Old and new, many of us in this community can thank Olofmeister for his importance in the CSGO community, and what he has done for us all, and for the game. And I would like to bring you... Number 5. Dupreeh. First name Peter, is the man who has done it all. With five majors under his belt, he is one of the most accomplished players in CSGO history, while also being one of the best players Denmark has ever had to offer. Starting his career at the beginning of CSGO, his first two years were spent on some of his future core teammates moving around from teams such as Copenhagen, Dignitas, and eventually TSM. During this time, Dupreeh and the rest of his team were always known as an overpowering force in the CSGO community, but they always failed to win the major. Once the team went from TSM to Astralis in early 2016, they were still known as one of the top rosters, but were labeled as major chokers. Ironic, right? The greatest Danish roster in CSGO history, known for choking majors. Well, for their first year, that story really held true, as they failed to win either of the majors in 2016. Going into 2017, Astralis was in the hot seat, as there was some potential that this team could eventually disband if they kept failing to win majors. Luckily for them, the 2017 ELEAGUE major was not only exactly what they needed to keep their team alive, but it was the start of Dupreeh's and Astralis' dynasty. After winning the ELEAGUE major, Astralis continued to dominate, but failed to win the next two majors. They were still known as a dominant team, but passed their days of the major chokers. Luckily for them, Astralis would go on to win the next three majors, taking over the CSGO world during 2018, 2019, and some time beyond. It was unquestionable that Astralis was the team to beat, and Dupreeh made sure that it was always the case. Being one of the rocks of Astralis, keeping his consistency and star power above most of the CSGO pro community. However, once the COVID era started and Astralis slowly disbanded, Dupreeh found himself on the bench, seeming that it could possibly be the end of his CSGO career. Luckily for him, he was about to make his final mark in CSGO history with what awaited him. At the end of 2021, Dupreeh ended up making the jump onto Vitality's roster, the first time he has been without his core since the very beginning of CSGO. However, this did not unsettle him, as Dupreeh and Vitality have been a powerhouse ever since he was added. It was not until recently, at the time of this recording, until results have fully paid off, winning the Blast 2023 Paris Major, cementing himself as one of CSGO's most decorated players, capturing his record-breaking fifth major win. With CSGO ending just around the corner, Dupreeh is ending at one of the highest highs that any CSGO player is at right now, closing off his chapter of winning the last ever CSGO major. Ever since his start in CSGO 11 years ago, Dupreeh stands up there as one of the best players during this entire period, which is something only a few players can say for themselves. As an entry, a lurker, a rifler, secondary AWP, Dupreeh has managed to get it all done during his CSGO career, and it is unlikely we will ever see anyone else with a trophy case as big as his one day. Dupreeh is an icon of CSGO, and that is just not up for debate. Even though he might not be the biggest household name in the game, he is infinitely recognizable to many and hopefully all in this community. No matter when you watched, either at the birth of CS, in the middle, during COVID, or at the end, you always saw Dupreeh consistently always at the top of the scoreboard, clearing his way through all the competition of all sides of the world. Dupreeh could be coming to an end of his days, especially with CS2 right around the corner, but hopefully he can stay and swing into the next era of Counter-Strike at the top of his game with Vitality, showing the world that he will still be one of the best, no matter the competition. And moving on, here we have number 4. Niko. Nikolaj Kovac is exactly what everyone thinks of him, an all-star and legend of CSGO. Reaching the top 4 players on this list, we see what the ceiling of CSGO can be, and Niko portrays that to everyone perfectly. Playing Counter-Strike for many years, Niko started his CSGO days at the beginning, bouncing around European teams trying to find a tier 1 spot. Finally, in early February 2015, Niko started his days on Mousesports, the birth of his dominant CSGO career. At the start of his days there, Niko was already considered one of the most mechanically talented players in CS, but he was a very raw prospect and sometimes difficult to work with. Even though he was dominant on his days on Mousesports, they were not much of a dominant team at all. Finding some results and random wins, the inconsistency of Mouz would have never let Niko reach his dreams, winning a CSGO Major. For about 2 full years, Niko was the heart and soul of Mouz, clearly known as one of the best players in the entire game by the end of 2016. Good news for him though, entering 2017 was finally about to be the biggest break in Niko's career, signing with FaZe in January 2017. Also luckily for Niko, FaZe was definitely a step up from Mouz. Although not the best roster on paper in the world, Niko was immediately surrounded by strong veteran talent all across the board, which clearly showed, as Niko became a mastermind of CSGO quickly after joining FaZe, gaining his first big win only 3 months later at StarLadder in April 2017. Crackout 2017 was Niko's first ever real chance to win the Major, with FaZe coming in as one of the favorites. However, we all know what happened, the Major was just not meant to be, and an absolute disaster as they went 0-3 to start and finish the Major. With total disaster, FaZe made a move, signing all-star veterans Guardian and Olofmeister, and on paper, FaZe in late 2017 was supposed to be the greatest super team CSGO has ever seen. It was looking great for FaZe. After the Major flop, the new FaZe was looking revitalized and ready for anything, as they ended 2017 on top of the world, picking up two big wins at the end of the year. Coming into 2018, FaZe was the clear favorite to win the Boston 2018 ELEAGUE Major, and up until the Grand Finals, it seemed Niko would finally achieve his dream of winning a Major. However, even as the favorites in the Grand Finals matchup against Cloud9, not even Niko and FaZe could stop the home soil Cinderella story of Cloud9, breaking Niko and the spirits on FaZe. As iconic and memorable of a tournament that was, it was Niko's best chance to ever win, and he let it slip away. Moving forward with the career, after the Major, Niko was still considered to either be a top 3 player in the game, or at the top of the world at all times. He has been doing it for years, and the years of hard work were working, as Niko kept being one of the best in the world. However, it was the opposite for FaZe, as they eventually started falling flat as 2018 went on, leading to Niko's eventual departure on a G2 in the late 2020s. During his time after losing the Major, it was clear that Niko easily still had what it took to win a Major, and he felt G2 was his home, especially with his cousin Hunter waiting for him on the roster. Sadly for Niko, as much as an amazing player he is, it was never meant to be. Niko has been one of the greatest the whole time he's played, but he again missed his chance to win the Major going into PGL Stockholm 2021, when Na'Vi stole it in the Grand Finals against him for a second Grand Finals Major loss. I mean, does this Niko deco clip not sum up how the match went? As it shows, it just wasn't meant to be. To this day, Niko is the best player in CSGO so far to never win a Major. Some people may say it makes no sense to have Niko this high, having never won a Major or even had a good chance in an IEM Grand Slam. Nonetheless, people who have been watching CSGO for years know why he's here. From everything mentioned so far, it may seem that Niko is just a star player in CSGO who can never make it high, but it's just not the case at all. With one of the highest ceilings and mechanical skill CSGO has ever seen, Niko is an absolute legend of the game and deserves this spot on the list with honor. With some of the previous players so far, either they've been very consistent as one of the best or have been the best for a certain period of time. Not Niko. He has been one of, if not the best, for 7 years and been dominating CSGO for even longer. He is not one of the best players in the server most of the time, but he is one of the best players in CSGO for a long time. He is not one of the best players in the server most of the time, he is the best player in the server most of the time. Not many times will Niko slip up, but having some higher achievements and flattening out when it matters most could have gotten him higher on this list. However, Niko rightfully deserves this number 4 spot, being one of the best players to ever touch this game since its release and there won't be many players that will ever exist that we consider to be as good as him. With some of CSGO's greatest performances and creating some memories for his plays throughout his career, Niko is easily at the top of the CSGO world and will continue to be one of the best players in Counter-Strike as long as he is in the server. And moving on, here we have number 3. ZywOo. Matthew Herbau is that guy. He just is. There is only one flaw with ZywOo's entire career, his longevity. Originally, even before ZywOo was a player on Vitality, he was already considered one of the best players in CSGO, destroying people on Faceit and ESEA and playing strong on AAA against all authority in his early days in late 2017. ZywOo came out of nowhere and many people even thought he was cheating. He was following the path of Ropz, being a great online player and rolling others but was not proven on the main stage. Even though Ropz is an all-time great, he's just outside this list. ZywOo was even greater than anyone could have ever imagined. Just before the age of 18, he finally made his blockbuster move into the tier 1 pro scene, joining Team Vitality in late 2018. As of June 2023, this wasn't even 5 years ago. After all the players, legends, icons so far previously mentioned on this list, it is beyond wild that ZywOo could even be up in this spot. Well, as we've seen for the last 4 and a half years, ZywOo, and I'll say it again, is that guy. He made it on Vitality in late 2018, so his first full rookie year was in 2019. Luckily for him, he was easily the greatest player in CSGO that year, named the best player in the world by not only HLTV, but the rest of the CSGO world. He later did the same thing again the next year. And for these last 2 and a half years, he's still deemed as one of, if not the best player in the world, at all times. Throughout his days on Vitality, the team was always a top roster with ZywOo winning left and right, racking up HLTV MVP awards all the time. However, he would have to wait patiently until mid-2023, where he could finally win his first major with Vitality, at Blast Paris 23. It was a storybook ending for ZywOo, ending off his CSGO major career with a big win under his belt, especially because this is the highest competition CSGO has ever faced. ZywOo's story is a lot shorter than the others on this list, being the youngest player with the shortest career so far. Despite that, the only word to describe ZywOo's level of play since entering Vitality is magic. There has never been a prospect as strong as ZywOo, who rose to the top of the world as fast as he did, and it is unlikely it will ever be seen again. ZywOo is a god of the CSGO world, and his time in the pro scene has proved that map after map, series after series, tournament after tournament, and has not slowed down one bit the entire time he's been at the top of the CSGO world. With the shortest career on this list, he holds the third most all-time HLTV MVPs with 15, and will be racking up plenty more the longer he continues to play Counter-Strike. ZywOo is the greatest player of the newest generation, and undoubtedly one of the greatest players CSGO has and will ever see. Moving on, here we have the second best player on this list. Nikolay Rits is one of the greatest, and by far the most consistent CSGO player to ever exist. Dev1ce has the same career-defining moments as Dupreeh up until 2021, bouncing around early on a stint with the Danish core until reaching Astralis, where they ended up winning four majors, the most by any team ever. Even though he is one less major as Dupreeh, and Astralis is not at the same peak vitality he's been over the last six months, there is no question on why Dev1ce deserves this number two spot, as he was the highlight and life of Astralis the rest of the time in that Danish roster. We all know the greats of Astralis. Dupreeh and Magisk, CRB before Magisk, were the all-star riflers, Gla1ve was the mastermind, Xyp9x the clutch master, and Dev1ce, well, he was the all-star AWPer. However, it was clear to anyone that Dev1ce was the face of this team, consistently as the best AWPer in the world with a signature style of extreme discipline. As mentioned earlier in this list, kennyS may have been the best AWPer to reach the highest ever ceiling, but Dev1ce is the best to ever do it throughout the entire history of CSGO. Even after the golden Astralis days where Dev1ce joined NiP, he was still a star on the team and still one of the best in the world, even being older than a lot of the strong talent CSGO has to currently offer. Dev1ce, honestly, could be one of the least flashiest players in this entire list, but that does not put a stain on his legacy. Being the best AWPer on the best team, Dev1ce was the legend of the game and will forever be iconic to CSGO. And as it seems moving forward, that still does not look to change, with Dev1ce back on Astralis and leading them with the AWP again. It was not fair to the rest of the CSGO world when Dev1ce and Astralis were winning everything left and right, and Dev1ce was one of the keys to making it all happen. Winning 19 HLTV MVPs, second all time. It shows that during the dominance of Astralis being the best team, even before in the early days of TSM and Dignitas, Dev1ce was always the best player on that team and ruled over the CSGO world for almost all of its history. It would be a shame to put Dev1ce anywhere lower on this list as there is nothing he can't do. Even without consistent flashiness, Dev1ce is always a pleasure to watch by anyone in the CSGO community. With one of the largest brains in the whole community, with one of the most disciplined and most consistent play, Dev1ce can kill any player on the server no matter who faces him. An all time legend and GOAT of CSGO, Dev1ce will never be forgotten on how he took over the game every single time he stepped onto the server. Now, I'd like to present to you the greatest ever player in CSGO history. S1mple. Was it obvious before the video even started? Before starting this, I really wanted to make a case for Dev1ce to be at number 1, as I believe he has contributed more to the game than him while also competing at the highest level. However, with more research, it's just not possible as looking over S1mple's career, there is no one that will ever reach his ceiling and he will forever remain the greatest CSGO player to ever touch the game. Early in his career, starting in 2013, S1mple hopped around from team to team. Despite it being known that he was an all-star prospect with a chance to become one of the best in the game, there is one major issue that we all know, his extreme levels of toxicity. While being known as a strong prospect, all the top teams were afraid to pick up S1mple because it might cause tension throughout the team, as S1mple's toxicity was clearly one of his most talked about traits as a player. Starting his tier 1 career early in 2015 with FlipSid3, the toxicity issue was very apparent. He was trashing over pros on his time there, but he was the problems of the entire team. By July 2015, FlipSid3 had enough of his toxicity. After bouncing around a bit more, S1mple finally landed on Hellraisers in September 2015, but only as a stand-in. During this short time, yet again, he was still toxic showing that nothing had changed. Luckily for him, going into 2016, he would make his first official headline move, joining Liquid in the first week of January 2016. During his time on Liquid, S1mple posted amazing results and was deemed one of, if not the best player in the world. However, unfortunately for him, it all ended in mid-2016, where Liquid had had enough of his toxicity and booted him from the team, despite their very noticeable performance improvement on the server as a team with S1mple. It was very clear that he was a problem in the CSGO community, being one of the most frustrating players to play with and play against. Finally, in August 2016, S1mple returned home to Ukraine, signing with his team that holds his legacy, Na'Vi. As of now, this move was just about under 7 years ago. During this time, one thing is for certain, S1mple proved that he is easily the best player in the entire world. Right after joining Na'Vi, they quickly won ESL New York 2016, starting the dominance of S1mple's career over the CSGO community. Unfortunately for S1mple, Na'Vi was not always the best team in the world, with teams like Astralis, FaZe, and Liquid constantly thwarting their major dreams for years. Until PGL Stockholm 2021, where S1mple finally came together and Na'Vi won its first major. Up until this major, S1mple was the best player in the world for all this time. ZywOo might have messed that up for some time in 2019 and 2020, but ever since 2021 and winning the major, no one has taken S1mple's rightful spot as the best player in the game. This major win created one headline throughout the CSGO community. Is S1mple the greatest to have ever played the game? It was talked about for years before, as his record-breaking 21 HLTV MVPs has proven that he is the best in the world while he's played. This major just solidified it as if it wasn't clear before. S1mple was now the greatest player to ever touch CSGO. Even since then, just under 2 years, S1mple has continued to prove that he is the greatest player to ever play this game, with iconic plays left and right throughout his entire career. Back during the early days of CSGO, you rather thought of players like Dev1ce, GetRight, KennyS, or OlafMeister to be the greatest in the game. Always up for debate, though. After 11 entire years of CSGO, though, it is clear that S1mple is easily the best player to ever grace this game, and it can be unanimously agreed upon. With some very hot takes and some new players over older legends, I strongly believe this list represents the 10 greatest and most important players CSGO has ever had. It's really impossible to fit these thousands of CSGO pro players into a top 10, easily confusing some of you, asking, where's Coldzera? Where's Snax? Where's Flusha? Where's Forest? Maybe even where's Rofs? The sad answer is, just below these top 10 players. There is many debatable things about this video, such as having Rain on here, why he's twists higher than some of the most iconic players, and how in the world is ZywOo even this high, even though he's competed for less years than any other player. I invite all of you here to comment down below your takes and opinions on this list, either hopefully agreeing with me, or how awfully stupid it was to put one player here when another one deserves it. This list took me a while to make, and putting all the research together took even longer, but it was really fun to do so. In the future, I might make something like Greatest Teams, Greatest Ever Plays, Best Ever Performances, and so on. Comment below which one you like best, and whichever idea is the best, I'll fire on a video for it. Thank you all for sticking through this steamin' hot list, and thank you all more for being a part of this amazing CSGO community. With the CSGO chapter of Counter-Strike coming to a close, and CS2 right around the corner, there's excitement, anxiousness, nervousness, and most of all, happiness for what this new era of Counter-Strike has to offer, either by playing the game, or for watching for the pro scene. Thank you all for watching, and I'll see you in the next one. Please like and subscribe so you can get more in the future. Thanks for watching!