Best Counter-Strike:Global Offensive rosters of all time
After eleven years of being the people’s go to tactical-FPS of choice, CSGO is finally on its last legs, It won’t be a surprise if the ongoing ESL Pro League S18 is the last CSGO tournament. Throughout these 11 years there were certainly teams and players who were a cut above the rest, and as CSGO esports comes to an end, it is a great opportunity to commemorate these teams and players who dominated their competition.
Best Best CSGO rosters rosters of all time:
Despite not being “Global”, CSGO still has had a lot of teams, and to stand above all these teams is a tall task. At any point in time, CSGO has had atleast 6-7 teams aiming for the trophy, teams constantly in contention to take it all. But the following five teams were pure unadulterated domination. Some of these established their “dynasty” and won multiple tournaments in a single calendar year.
2018-19 Astralis [Dev1ce, Dupreeh, Gla1ve(IGL), Xyp9x and Magisk]:
In February 2018, Astralis lost their young prodigy in Kjaerbye. Kjaerbye’s loss was a massive one, and no one expected Magisk to be nearly as good as Kjaerbye. But, what followed the Magisk signing was a story for the CSGO history books. The signing started the single greatest era in CSGO.
Between 2018 and 2019, Astralis’s lowest placement was 5th-8th, their first tournament with Magisk. They won 15 S-tier tournaments, placed below 4th place in only five tournaments. Oh, yeah also became the first three-peat Major Champions. Astralis was so dominant, people deemed CSGO boring due to lack of competition. With such dominance and the silverware to support the claims, Astralis has to be the best CSGO roster ever.
2014-15 Fnatic [Olofmeister, KRIMZ, pronax(IGL), JW and flusha]:
Fnatic brought in Olofmeister and Krimz in June, 2014 after two years with Devilwalk and schneider. Fnatic were always the “villains” and the “bad boys'' of CSGO but the infamous ‘Olofboost’ at the final Major of 2014 added fuel to that fire. After winning almost every other S-tier event in 2014, Fnatic decided to forfeit from the major after being asked to replay the match, a match they won.
And one would think, they cracked under the heat and won’t be as good. But Fnatic owned their brand and came back in 2015 with vengeance. They accepted their moniker and did what no team could before them. Won back to back CSGO Majors. While almost dominating many other tournaments. The only reason Astralis is ranked higher is the duration, but at their peaks both teams dominated their competition.
2016 Luminosity/SK Gaming [FalleN (IGL), fer, coldzera, fnx and TACO]:
The Brazilian superteam was formed first under the Luminosity Gaming banner in 2015. LG acquired the Keyd Stars roster with FalleN, fer and coldzera. They later acquired TACO and fnx, creating the greatest Brazilian CSGO roster till date. FalleN was already an established star in Brazil but the roster was going to make him a household name.
With Fnatic still a strong contender, LG was constantly making strides and standing up to the Global competition in 2015. But their peak came with the Columbus Major, where they defeated Natus Vincere 2-0 to secure the first Major win for a squad outside Europe. After signing under the SK banner, the squad followed the previous major win with another trophy. They are the only American team to win two majors till date.
2012-14 Ninjas in Pyjamas [f0rest, GeT_RiGht, friberg. Fifflaren and Xizt(IGL)]:
Credits: Ninjas In Pyjamas FacebookNo best of CSGO list can be complete without mentioning the 2012-14 Ninjas in Pyjamas. After CSGO was announced, Ninjas in Pyjamas was one of the first organizations to field a CSGO roster. The roster revolved around the f0rest-GeT_RiGht duo and were the crowd favorites. Both players left behind a decorated CS1.6 career to play the latest edition of the game.
There is no round about way to say it, Ninjas in Pyjamas was undefeated. With the first tournament they attended, the team went on to win a total of fourteen tournaments in a row. They still hold the record for the longest undefeated map win streak with 87 wins in a row. Their first loss came in 2013. The team was still one of the strongest and kept winning the majority of s-tier tournaments, but missed on winning the first and second CSGO major. Their major win finally came in 2014 solidifying them as one of the best CSGO rosters of all time.
2019 Team Liquid [nitr0(IGL), EliGe, Naf, Twistzz, Stewie2k]:
Despite the Astralis domination in 2019, one North American team stood strong in their way. In 2018, Team Liquid started gathering the pieces for a team that can go against Astralis. Their final piece came with Stewie in December of 2018.
The team was the only team going toe to toe against Astralis and during the peak Astralis domination, Team Liquid went on to win seven tournaments in a row. They completed the Intel Grand Slam in a record 63 days. Unfortunately, they fell short at both the majors and are definitely the best CSGO roster to not win a major.
There are definitely many more teams that could be considered, especially Natus Vincere and Faze Clan post-COVID. But the aforementioned teams did something that was inimitable. It’d be hard to justify any other rosters out of these five as the objectively best CSGO rosters of all time. With CS2 we turn a new leaf, and start a new chapter in the Counter-Strike history book. And we’d have to see if we ever witness such dominance. For now, let’s bask ourselves with the CSGO nostalgia as we eagerly wait for the release of CS2.
Read More:https: When is Counter-Strike 2 coming out?
Featured Image Source: ELEAGUE