Author: Gabriele "DauD" Mantovani
The last event of CS:GO’s final summer has begun in Malta, with 32 of the best teams in the world fighting for the EPL crown.With the transition to Counter-Strike 2 coming ever closer, the 18th season of ESL’s Pro League will be the final chance for many teams to secure a much-coveted big event title in CS:GO. Teams such as Vitality and G2 will be fighting for the title of best team in the world, while ENCE aims to secure their second LAN crown of 2023 and Heroic try to triumph in a non-BLAST LAN for the first time. Who…
Not long ago the overwhelmingly dominant force in international Counter-Strike, FaZe have since slowed down significantly, only securing a single title in the entirety of 2023. This negative trend, which was also attributed to a particularly heavy schedule, saw them almost miss out on the BLAST Paris Major altogether, before heading into the summer player break with hopes of a strong comeback. While FaZe returned to a more impressive level in BLAST Premier Fall Groups, securing 2-0 wins over Liquid and G2, their run at IEM Cologne ended after only three series and two maps won. What went wrong for…
As IEM Cologne comes to a close, the last event of its kind in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history, BLIX goes over the best players in each department at the German event. Through underdogs and superstars, prospects and returning legends, and international and domestic squads, the event showcased a plethora of talent and saw incredible plays across all teams. These are the key players who made IEM Cologne 2023 worth watching and those we’ll hope will do the same as the scene transitions into Counter-Strike 2.All stats used in this article were gathered on HLTV.org and refer to the main event…
With G2 lifting the trophy and IEM Cologne coming to a close, BLIX goes over the main takeaways from the Tier-1 event.G2 are back on topRasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen’s G2 arrived in Cologne without a tournament win since IEM Katowice back in February, having recorded a single top-four placement at BLAST Premier Spring Final in the rest of 2023. Even as transfer rumors piled up in the off-season the quintet stuck together and once again hit peak form in a premier event’ taking home the trophy with statement wins over Astralis, FaZe, Vitality and ENCE. The high quality of opponents G2…
With the IEM Cologne playoffs starting on Friday, BLIX goes over the main candidates who could lift the coveted trophy for the last time in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s history.#3: ENCEThe international quintet representing ENCE is aiming to establish itself as a true contender, recovering from a disappointing first half of the year with a single top four LAN placement to take the crown at IEM Dallas thanks to an exceptional Alvaro ‘SunPayus’ Garcia. The team didn’t excel in their Cologne debut, having to save five match points against 9INE to take the series 2-1 and overcoming Fnatic in two contested…
As Counter-Strike returns to Cologne for its yearly visit at the much-coveted IEM Event, BLIX goes over the key storylines for the event’s Play-In stage.The IEM Cologne Play-In marked the true start of the second half of the 2023 CS:GO season, with the best teams from each region congregating in the German city to fight for the first big title after the player break. While the tournament favorites would start the event from the Group Stage, sixteen hopefuls would fight it out for the chance to join them, including rebuilding giants like Astralis, MOUZ, FURIA and Liquid. With the event…
More than five years after first joining NAVI in a highly anticipated move, Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov will leave the Ukrainian outfit as one of the best riflers in the world.Hailed as one of the best riflers in the world for years, electroNic will leave Natus Vincere as the Ukrainian organization has chosen to leave the CIS scene for the first time in its history. Joining from FlipSid3 as one of the hottest prospects in the scene, the Russian rifler rapidly adapted to tier-one competition and became a driving force in NAVI’s long-standing presence at the top. From talent to titan,…
As the second half of the 2023 Counter-Strike season opens in Copenhagen with the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, BLIX goes over the key players and teams to watch for in each group.As Vitality’s unexpected triumph on home soil at the BLAST Paris Major gave way to the traditional post-Major summer shuffle, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene is now ready for a fresh start, with a number of high-profile moves rarely seen in the game’s recent history. With CS2 and the transition on the horizon, all but three of the teams present in the Danish capital (Heroic, FaZe and G2) will…
After a failed rendezvous with destiny at the Rio Major, FURIA is free-falling into irrelevance. Can a strong transfer window put Brazil’s finest back in tournament contention?Within the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene, FURIA’s decline is one of the hottest stories in 2023. A title contender for large portions of 2022, the Brazilian quintet failed to address its ever-growing tactical deficits and inconsistency, which progressively worsened after a failed Major title run on home soil. Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato is still in contention for the title of best rifler in the world, and Yuri “yuurih” Santos is a world-class partner. Still,…
With OG reportedly aiming to rebuild around Abdul ‘degster’ Gasanov, Adam ‘NEOFRAG’ Zouhar and Maciej ‘F1KU’ Miklas, will the Danish organization finally be able to build a true title-contending roster?After a disappointing 2023, which saw the organization struggle with roster issues and fail to make playoffs in any of their LAN appearances, OG will rebuild their roster around star AWPer Abdul ‘degster’ Gasanov and riflers Maciej ‘F1KU’ Miklas and Adam ‘NEOFRAG’ Zouhar. According to a report by BLIX’s Alejandro “anonimotum” Gomis, the organization will be forced to part ways with Israeli prospect Shahar ‘flameZ’ Shushan and potentially Serbian IGL Nemanja…